Miskatonic University Podcast

This episode, Sam Riordan of MetaArcade joins Jon, Chad and Murph for a discussion about the interactive storytelling game Cthulhu Chronicles, as well as new angles on cosmic horror. And we’re happy to announce that this episode is sponsored by Squamous Studios, and we’ll have some more to say about that in a little bit. Thanks to Squamous Studios for the support! This episode was recorded on January 17, 2019. Sponsor Message Thanks very much again to Squamous Studios for signing on as official sponsor for Episode 165. We’re pleased to announce that the company has launched the first expansion of Feed the Shoggoth: Morsels of Madness! Feed the Shoggoth!: Morsels of Madness will include 42 cards, featuring: New Cult Factions, New Artifacts, New Spells, New Minions, Rules Summaries for the players, and more! We want to hear from you! By email: mup.feedback@gmail.com By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron <<   Campus Crier The ENWorld forum had a poll for favorite gaming podcasts, and the results were announced on the Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk podcast. They did 10 of each in the categories of Talk and AP podcasts. Go listen to their podcast if you want to hear the whole list. For the “Talk” category: #1 Good Friends of Jackson Elias #2 Grognard Files #3 Fear the Boot #4 Ken and Robin Talk about Stuff For AP category #1 Adventure Zone #2 Glass Cannon #3 Androids and Aliens #4 Dungeons and Randomness THE CAMPAIGNER magazine #26 has a 8 page special feature about Call of Cthulhu, with a long interview with line editor Mike Mason. The digital edition is just $1, and well worth a read! Chaosium is looking for GMs for the upcoming year. Chaosium announces latest CoC licensee – Dog Might Games, who make wooden Keeper screens and dice boxes. Golden Goblin Press has posted a teaser about an upcoming Kickstarter. The project is called An Inner Darkness. “The dark and malevolent forces of the Cthulhu Mythos mostly ignore humankind. But these entities are also shrewd opportunists. Many of them see humans as a resource to be harvested, corrupted or enlisted for their dark plots. Humanity, with all its noble aspirations, has many flaws. Greed, lust, envy, hatred and fear are ripe fruits for these forces to exploit. Division and separation makes the humans easier to control. As investigators square off against the worst aspects of mankind, they also find themselves entangled with the parasitic powers of the Mythos.” Also, a new free downloadable PDF has been added to the GGP website, it’s called The Adepts of Teris, it’s a group for Cthulhu Invictus. Also, there’s a tip jar on the company website now. Stygian Fox has announced the release of an overarching campaign framework written by by Jeff Moeller that ties together scenarios in The Things We Leave Behind. It was a backer-only reward for the Kickstarter, but now that it’s been fully delivered that mini-campaign frame is now released publicly and you can get it on DTRPG. Cthulhu Reborn has released a free-slash-pay what you want 27-page PDF scenario for Dateline: Lovecraft – written by Noah Lloyd, who is half of the Reckoning of the Dead website. It is described as ”a rather gruesome newspaper-linked scenario called “Smoke Green” set entirely in Arkham. “When millionaire industrialist Reinhart Laine picked Arkham to be the site of his grand new Tobacco Rolling Factory, few could have predicted the rapid good fortune that his new “Reinhart Cigarettes” would achieve. A cover image for an upcoming Chaosium book “Secrets of Berlin” has been stealth released on social media. At press time, we’ve only seen the cover which tells is the subtitle is “Unveiling the Mythos is Weimar Berlin” – and we know David Larkins is the lead writer on this, “with Mike Mason and Lynne Hardy.” Chaosium now has an official Twitch channel. digital content producer Jamie Coquillat is leading the Twitch initiative. He said, “Our aim here is not only to promote Chaosium games and build up our content library, but also to engage with the Twitch and Youtube communities, and to reach new players – especially younger players who make video platforms their home. Each time we Stream, we will be uploading the stream, and a “best of” recut, to Youtube. We’re beginning with a session of Horror on the Orient Express. Thank you to all those involved. Roll sanity, and let’s go!” The Listening Room Agent Dinos is back with another FBI dossier to review, redact, or shred. This time listeners may detect a familiar recommendation… Please remember that if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact mup.feedback@gmail.com. Feedback Hey guys, it’s like a Christmas miracle, all four of you are in at the same time. In regards to the titles that Chris Spivey is working on, I seem to recall him mentioning that he was working on a Chthulhu with superpowers themed game. So that could be the Stillwater one. Or not, you know. Keep up the good work and go pods! Judge Jim Yoder Here’s one from Mike Medwick! “Greetings, esteemed gentlemen– I greatly enjoyed your extended discussion of “Crack’d and Crook’d Manse” — a venerable scenario that can offer a very serviceable introduction to the Lovecraftian milieu for those new to the game. It’s also one that’s well suited to allow new keepers to stretch their riffing and tweaking skills to address some of those awkward scenario elements you dealt with in this episode. I was tickled—absolutely tickled, I tell you—to hear that you have fond recollections of the single session of “Crack’d and Crook’d Manse” I ran for you back in 2015. Dan’s private investigator truly stood out in that session. But If I recall correctly, you all originally decided that the ENTIRE PARTY would be comprised of lawyers—which set me scrambling to invent some kind of skulduggery on the part of the Dodge Brothers that the party could uncover during their investigation of the house. I think Murph is absolutely right to say that somebody needs to die in this scenario to showcase what the monster can actually do, but I never really liked the Joe Viirelli angle. Instead, my plan was to have Reginald Dodge send some hired muscle to the house to deal with the investigators while they were on site. The idea was to engineer a gonzo, three-way confrontation between the party, the monster and the bad guys in which several NPCs could get killed in some spectacularly gruesome ways. Eh, maybe it would have worked, maybe not. In any case, I bitterly regret not finishing that scenario with you guys. As always, the MUP crew really shines when they turn their attention to workshopping scenarios in this way—and what a treat to hear all four of you together again for this episode. Keep up the great work, and greetings from the Great Plains of Nebraska—kinda like living on the Plateau of Leng, only more desolate and wind-blown. GO PODS! Topic Sam Riordan is: “An Interdisciplinary writer with a passion for interactive storytelling and unique gameplay experiences. Seeking to push the importance of diverse characters and their emotional connection with the audience.” MetaArcade has put out a call for creators for the MetaArcade platform – the launch of a closed beta for new universes. Smash this link to read more >> Blurb from Chaosium: “Cthulhu Chronicles is an interactive fiction game set with light RPG elements, adapted from Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG. The game comprises several stories, which tie together into a single plotline. You have 6 characters to choose from when playing, and each has different attributes and backstories that affect how the game unfolds. The story is set in 1920s Massachusetts within the Cthulhu Mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft. Players grapple with safety and sanity in a world of ever-encroaching horrors.  ]]>

This episode, all four hosts are back together to delve back into scenario analysis with a classic, The Edge of Darkness! This episode was recorded on January 3, 2019. We want to hear from you! By email: mup.feedback@gmail.com By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier Congratulations to the winners of the 2018 Delta Green Shotgun Scenario Contest. The winners are: >>First Place (shared) – Rendezvous in Rama or “Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder” by Marco Menarini >>First Place (shared) – Mairzy Doats by James Estes >>Third Place – Yummy Yummy in My Tummy by InterstellarOwl Also, for the first time, a new award. Handler’s Choice. This was awarded to Ed Possing’s, (the 2018 Handler), personal favorite of the scenarios that didn’t place. This author is awarded a $5 gift certificate to DTRPG. And that winner is: Don’t Forget by Colleen Sellay It was a record-breaking 58 entries in this year’s contest. Update about Éditions Sans-Détour regarding preorder customers. From Chaosium: “Please be advised we have told Éditions Sans-Détour to cease all presales of Les Masques de Nyarlathotep (Masks of Nyarlathotep) and Le Jour de la Bête (Day of the Beast) on their website. As the license has been withdrawn due to non-payment of royalties and other cardinal violations of the contract, ESD has no legal right or authority from Chaosium to continue presales, or offer these books for retail distribution, or elsewhere.” Bret Kramer of Sentinel Hill Press announced in December that issue #4 of the Arkham Gazette is that the issue will be split into two. Both halves will cover Kingsport, but will loosely focus on a different ‘side’ of the city. Issue #4 will be “Kingsport: Dreams”. Highlights include new locations, The Hall School, a private school for girls, a look at the Cape Verdean community of Kingsport, 100 Items from Neal Hazlitt’s shop (Charles Gerard wrote a few of them, plus a profile of Neal himself), “Bones of Contention” – A short Call of Cthulhu scenario by Kingsport: City in the Mists author Kevin Ross! It’ll clock in at about 80 pages, and it’s still in the works. Issue #5 already has 12 articles lined up, including a new scenario by Christopher Smith Adair. A cover preview shows that it is to be called “Kingsport: Nightmares.” Also from SHP, artist Galen Pejeau has sent along a revised, color version of the cover for the Keeper’s Guide to Lovecraft Country Scenarios. It’s now in the layout phase. The initial PDF release will be just scenarios from Chaosium books, then it will expand to include licensees, magazines, MULA monographs, Miskatonic Repository works, and oddities as possible. Check the link in the show notes. Golden Goblin Press last month unleashed a “Free but Vicious Nemean Lion” to celebrate the holiday season. It’s a creature from the Cthulhu Invictus setting. The link to download the PDF is in the blah dee blah. Check out the Chaosium YouTube channel to see a new video series to mark the release of the CALL OF CTHULHU STARTER SET. The videos are hosted by someone named “Jess,” and they are specifically pitched to newcomers to roleplaying games and Call of Cthulhu, with very basic topics like “What is an RPG?”, “What is Call of Cthulhu?”, “How to Play”, “The Starter Set”, and “What Next?” https://www.youtube.com/embed/vnMcyGMdzgQ The Listening Room Agent Dinos takes us to the Keystone State with a look at something what lurks below. Please remember that if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact mup.feedback@gmail.com. Feedback Chris Fisher: Word of general support for Chad: I also don’t pay enough attention to the MPAA screens to talk that lingo. Also, the fish pedicure vector topic was really interesting to me, and between the gaming potential and the general “Icky! How neat!” factor, I wish it hadn’t gotten squashed. From the MU Forums, trevlix: (summarized) If you look at my posting history on any CoC site, you’ll see that Crack’d & Crook’d Manse is my #1 scenario of all time. There are so many great things about it, and I’ve probably run it 15-20 times in my gaming career. I’ve even previously posted some tips here on running it. Needless to say, this was a great episode for me. Also, as in the episode, here be spoilers. One thing that wasn’t mentioned is that Crack’d & Crook’d Manse was originally written as a tournament scenario for Phantastacon 1984 and then published in the Multiverse magazine (issue 3)*. To me, this means this scenario was originally meant to be played as a one-shot at a con. I bring this up because I think thats where some of its quirks come from. The goal of the scenario was to run it for a bunch of people within a short time period and make it enjoyable. To that extent, I think it succeeds. In a con scenario – especially a tournament one – the players are more likely to go to the house even though in different circumstances they may not (e.g. they were in a long campaign). My own experience mirrors this. The majority of the times I’ve run this have been at cons, and even with people new to Call of Cthulhu, and it has always succeeded in that respect. IMO, the brilliance of this scenario is not that its a mythos take on a haunted house, but in how the creature works within the house. Since it moves within the walls of the house, it has agency to avoid the PCs for as long as you want it to. If its early in the scenario and the PCs really want to explore the basement, the creature can move upstairs (with the house moaning and creaking as it does). If its later in the game and the PCs are nowhere near solving it, have it appear and all hell break loose….Also, loved that you guys did this. Please analyze more scenarios like you did here in the future! Read the full post here >> Topic We talk at length about the Edge of Darkness scenario by Keith Herber, which is now part of the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set. Along the way, we mention Seth Skorkowsky’s video review of the scenario: https://youtu.be/6OiP8yvK59k Here is the randomly referenced movie The Car >> Here’s the trailer that you have to watch >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6-yVoJTCo8 This is a bit of My Mother The Car >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riOcOgUE-W8]]>

This episode, all four hosts (welcome back, Dan!) gather for a spoiler-filled discussion of the classic scenario by Mark Morrison called “Crack’d and Crook’d Manse.” This episode was recorded on December 20, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: mup.feedback@gmail.com By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier Golden Goblin Press is offering two collector packages via their website. The Tales of Collection . This includes the long out of print Tales of the Sleepless City from Miskatonic River Press, Tales of the Crescent City, and Tales of the Caribbean, as well as PDF’s of the bonus scenarios, Goblin on Bourbon Street, Chicken Merry Hawk De Near, and the PDF of Golden Goblin Press’ Guide to the Caribbean. The Cthulhu Invictus Legacy Collection . This includes a copy of the 7th Edition Guide to Cthulhu Invictus, the original version of Cthulhu Invictus autographed by Chad Bowser, the scenario collection De Horrore Cosmico, and one of two remaining numbered hard cover versions of the 7th Edition Guide to Cthulhu Invictus. Only a dozen of these were produced, and there are no plans print more of these, and if they are every reprinted they won’t be numbered. Chaosium announced on December 8 that Éditions Sans-Détour (ESD), the Chaosium licensee that has handled all the much-celebrated Call of Cthulhu materials in French, that it is not going to consider license for any more Sans-Detour products, and that it no longer has permission to use trademarks, logos or any related intellectual property. Basically, Sans-Detour has not paid Chaosium any royalties on any of its sales since late 2016. The CALL OF CTHULHU STARTER SET has been released. Details of the set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWwVlrCyYWI Join the Harlem Unbound 2nd Ed Preview List – Earlier this year we were pleased to announce that Chaosium is to publish a new edition of Chris Spivey’s critically acclaimed Call of Cthulhu supplement Harlem Unbound. Chris and his team are now hard at work on the new edition, which features additional scenarios, new maps and new art. And if you sign up to our special Harlem Unbound 2 pre-release list you’ll be able to get an insight into the creation and development of the new edition, as we share exclusive previews, art, maps and special content. Mike Mason FB post: This year I have worked on the following books for Call of Cthulhu: Masks of Nyarlathotep (published) Shadows Over Stillwater (soon to be published) Secrets of Berlin (soon to be published) Terror Australis (published) Scritch Scratch (published) Call of Cthulhu Starter Set (published) Gaslight (in writing) The Dreamlands (in writing) Plus a load of books in early development and writing – and that’s not counting the others sat waiting for editorial or play testing. It was just a handful of years ago that Chaosium were publishing zero to two books a year. I’ve been working to improve output, quality, and range of books for the line. I hope that you enjoy playing these and are ready for more adventure, mystery, and horror in 2019 – we have some amazing things in the pipeline that’ll be bursting into life! Upcoming Chaosium Books (announced by Mike Mason) Shadows Over Stillwater (soon to be published) Secrets of Berlin (soon to be published) Gaslight (in writing) The Dreamlands (in writing) Heads up… Hellboy trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_tkfKeWEro Chaosium announced that it acquired the rights to King Arthur Pendragon and Prince Valiant: The Storytelling Game from Nocturnal Media. King Arthur Pendragon was designed by Greg Stafford, and was originally published by Chaosium in 1985. Stafford himself considered King Arthur Pendragon to be his greatest work in the role playing genre. Prince Valiant was published by Chaosium in 1989. A new edition of the game was launched in 2018. David Larkins will continue to act as the line editor for King Arthur Pendragon, now under the auspices of Chaosium. Cthulhu Reborn, by Dean Engelhart, has announced the release of a fifth (and final) Convicts & Cthulhu product for 2018 … and the launch of a brand new line of supplements. Available for free download right now is Convicts & Cthulhu: Muster #1 — The Turbulent Mason. There’s more controversy surrounding White Wolf, the company behind the classic Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop role-playing setting. Leadership changes are underway after the studio used the imprisonment, torture, and murder of Chechnya’s LGBTQ community as the backdrop for a major plot point in that game. An independent team at White Wolf, owned by Paradox Interactive, has been working on a revamp of the game with a fifth edition. Paradox’s vice president of business development, Shams Jorjani, wrote in a statement that due to a lack of attention, “the result was a chapter that dealt with a real-world, ongoing tragedy in a crude and disrespectful way. We should have identified this either during the creative process or in editing. This did not happen, and for this we apologize.” EN World — Vote for Your Favorite RPG Podcasts of 2018 (this closes on January 8th). The Listening Room Agent Dinos is back with a case file from icy Greenland… Please remember that if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, contact mup.feedback@gmail.com. Feedback Hey Guys, While listening to this episode, I couldn’t help but think of the classic “Attract Fish” spell. There is a Deeper Magic option in the Grimoire, but it’s more like an alternate version to me. My thinking was that a Deeper version could be that it can be cast upon a human target, and that fish would literally become magnetized to them. Walk past an aquarium and they’ll start piling up on the glass, or walk through a stream and they’ll become stuck to their legs. You could even go the horror route and have dead fish included, so walking along a beach might result in countless fish skeletons “jumping” out of the sand to envelope the victim. Cheers, Danial Topic Crack’s and Crook’d Manse]]>

This special bonus piece is a live show presented by Oscarius Tabularis, recorded live at the CarnageCon convention in Killington, Vermont on November 2, 2018. It includes several previously  We hope you enjoy this year-end audio treat!]]>

This episode, Jon, Murph and Chad delve into the depths of Deeper Magic! This episode was recorded on December 6, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: mup.feedback@gmail.com By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron <<   Campus Crier: Chad talks a little about Masks of Nyarlathotep. In relation to Masks and how the latest edition tackled problematic material, check out two episodes of the Good Friend of Jackson Elias. Episode 133 – The Good Friends try on Masks of Nyarlathotep Episode 134 – The Good Friends try on more Masks of Nyarlathotep BBC Radio 4 has released a fantastic audio drama, “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.” It is not a reading of the story, but instead it is a full cast radio drama that reinterprets the story as a podcast. The podcast hosts have a show called “The Mystery Machine,” and they do reference a lot of pop culture in the show. It is 10 episodes long, and they each average less than 30 minutes long. It is very well produced and the writing also pulls in many other Lovecraftian elements. This is an amazing production. At the time of release of this episode, voting is now open in the 2018 Delta Green Shotgun Scenario Contest. In a change from previous years, all of the entries were required to be no longer than 1500 words. So it shouldn’t be too difficult to skim through and read many, (if not all), of the submitted scenarios. Our own Keeper Jon has a scenario in this year’s contest, but he hasn’t revealed which one is his, even to us! We hope you roll a crit-success on your Luck, Jon. Squamous Studios is about to launch a Kickstarter for the first expansion-Feed the Shoggoth!: Morsels of Madness! It will include 42 cards, featuring: New Cult Factions, New Artifacts, New Spells, New Minions, Rules summaries. And it’s worth mentioning – Chad made the semi-animated intro video for it! The Yellow King RPG by Robin D. Laws update – The latest Kickstarter update contains both good news and bad. The Good: The PDFs for the four core books, one game supplement, and one novel, (depending on your backer level), are available for download. Backers should check their emails. The Bad: Pelgrane Press is having some printer issues, but they are working hard to resolve them. For more details, the backers can check the Kickstarter Updates. The Miskatonic University: Restricted Collections board game Kickstarter. The manufacturing is complete, and will begin shipping from China very soon. Backers should expect an update that contain the names of the cargo ships bringing the goods! The Listening Room: Due to Chad’s lack of being together in his act, we’re taking a break on the Listening Room despite having a few items in the bank. Agent Dinos, sorry about that. Jon suggests Project Bluebook, Chad suggests the Teapot Dome Scandal, Murph suggests a cabinet of curiosities gone wrong. However, please remember that if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact mup.feedback@gmail.com. Feedback: “I know I’m months behind in my response but I have a name suggestion the great old one: Xaryoop, (Zar-you-P) the Spark of Life, from the Rings of Saturn. Go Pods – Investigator Cory” Topic: Deeper Magic – Considering the Deeper Magic rules from Call of Cthulhu and then riffing on a variety of spells and possible deeper magic versions of those spells. Jon – Steal Life’s Blood (Grand Grimoire – pg.174), and Summon Byakhee (Keeper Rulebook – pg.263) Chad: Wither Limb, Powder of ibn Ghazi Murph: Summon Dimensional Shambler, and Lassitude of Phein]]>

This episode, Chad and Jon join Edwin, one of our fastidious audio editors and a podcaster in his own right, to talk about player-characters in horror games, who they usually are, how we might rethink the casting, and the whole “outsider” nature of protagonists in horror. This episode was recorded on November 16, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: mup.feedback@gmail.com By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier The Cult of Chaos Convention Scenario Competition 2019 has been announced and…according to the announcement, “With Call of Cthulhu already covered, we can turn our eyes to the other major roleplaying game that Chaosium publishes, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.” Mike Mason announced through social media that several special Call of Cthulhu adventures are available for free on Chaosium’s website. Along with the introductory solo scenario, Alone Against the Flames, Keepers can also download The Dead Boarder – Extended Demo Scenario (by Todd Gardiner with Mike Mason), What’s in the Cellar – One Hour Demo Scenario (by Jon Hook), and Camp Sunny – Convention Scenario (by Paul Fricker with Mike Mason based on an idea by Keary Birch). Terror Australis is available to purchase now on the Chaosium website. Feedback Greetings Keepers! I am an avid listener to your fantastic podcast, and had written previously, as a new keeper about questions regarding how to run The Haunting. While that was nearly a year ago, my group still meets every Saturday to play Call of Cthulhu, or Delta Green and we are having a blast! We are also planning on transitioning our C.O.C. campaign to Pulp Cthulhu, by the requests of my intrepid investigators. In our Cthulhu campaign, I have introduced them to some famous Lovecraftian characters (Jackson Elias,etc…), taken them through many of the classic Lovecraftian locations, and now plan on taking them to Innsmouth, running the classic C.O.C adventure Escape from Innsmouth / Raid on Innsmouth. My question to you guys, do you think the second part of the adventure, Raid on Innsmouth can be converted successfully into a Pulp Cthulhu adventure? Or should it stay traditional to the standard Cthulhu ruleset? My reasoning? Well, I was also planning on transitioning into the new “Pulp” converted Masks of Nyarlathotep, after introducing them to Jackson Elias in previous investigations, and thought running Raid on Innsmouth as pulp would help the jump from traditional Cthulu to Pulp Cthulhu. Am I over thinking this? I would love your input to my minor dilemma. Keep up the fantastic work gentlemen! P.S. I was curious why you reference Miskatonic University’s mascot by saying “Go Pods?” when in Chaosium’s Miskatonic University Dire Secrets & Campus Life resource book on page 18 notes their mascot as a badger? – Keeper Michael (Listen to the show for answers on all of this, but look here for info on how the “Go Pods” thing started.) Topic The topic is representation in horror RPGs, examining and challenging the default assumption that investigators should usually be Westerners. We also talk about the trope of PCs being “outsiders” or “fish out of water” in any given setting, and how that can be both an asset and a problem to grapple with.]]>

This episode, Dan and Chad join guests Badger McGinnes and Editor Sean to talk about Issue 1 of the horror gaming zine Hypergraphia, which has an overarching theme of language, words and books in horror gaming. This episode was recorded on November 9, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: mup.feedback@gmail.com By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier First, Keeper Dan announces that he’s taking a bit of a hiatus from MUP. He’s pretty overwhelmed with his mechatronics school program, so his appearance as co-host on MU will be spotty at best through the end of the spring semester. We all wish him best of luck at school, and look forward to his return. It seems that he’ll be able to jump in It’s time for the annual Delta Green Shotgun Scenario Contest! As usual, the aim of this year’s contest is to write short scenarios. How short? 1500 words or less short! Please note: There are two major changes to the rules this year. First, there will be a hard word count limit of 1500 words. Longer pieces will not be accepted. Second, in the voting period, voters will be asked to rate their top five favorite scenarios from the pool. Winners will then be determined by instant run-off voting. Horrors of War – yet another update. Yet another delay. Michael O’Brien granted Pagan Publishing a 6-month extension on the license for Horrors of War, until June 30, 2019. He granted the extension because of the following, according to a KS update. On October 1st Adam Scott Glancy heard from his co-author, John H. Crowe III, that he wanted to withdraw from the Horrors of War project and wanted all of his material removed from the proposed book. In his email, he mentioned unspecified personal and medical crises. John’s share of the project is three out of the eight scenarios and the weapons and common soldier’s equipment compendium for the various combatants. Glancy talks about the possibility of using partially finished scenarios to replace the lost work, and ways to get the investigator weapons section covered. Also of note: “given that extra time has been allotted by Chaosium, and since so much time has passed since this project was first solicited, I am also considering converting the project to 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu rules. I would appreciate any feedback from you concerning this possibility.” Here’s something that has been brought to our attention by a number of listeners. On Oct. 29, a post from one of RPG.net’s moderators spells out a new rule that bans any discussion of Trump support on the site’s forums. The post states that the move is “the result of over a year of serious debate by the moderation team. The decision is as close to unanimous as we ever get. It will not be the subject of further debate. We have fully considered the downsides and ultimately decided we have to stay true to our values. We will not pretend that evil isn’t evil, or that it becomes a legitimate difference of political opinion if you put a suit and tie on it.” And it says that the administration’s values no longer allow allow the site to remain neutral, and that “We can be welcoming to (for example) persons of every ethnicity who want to talk about games, or we can allow support for open white supremacy. Not both.” The post gives extensive citations and examples of policies and statements at the root of this move, including racism, hostility to transgender people, attacks against journalists and press freedom, mocking disabled people, use of “nationalist” identifier, stoking fear of outsiders. The official Call of Cthulhu video game has been released! The game “brings you deep into a world of creeping madness and shrouded Old Gods within Lovecraft’s iconic universe. 1924. Private Investigator Pierce is sent to look into the tragic death of the Hawkins family on the isolated Darkwater Island.” Badger has announced he has been names as Art Director for Stygian Fox. Congratulations, Badger! Hideous Creatures: A Bestiary of the Cthulhu Mythos for Trail of Cthulhu has been released. It’s on pre-order at Pelgrane’s web site, but an article comment reveals that you’ll receive the PDF as soon as you place the pre-order for the print edition. This is a new bestiary of Cthulhoid creatures. A new Cthulhu gaming magazine has launched: Bayt al Azif is 80 pages containing three scenarios and a solo adventure, reviews, interviews with Rogue Cthulhu and Chris Spivey, history pieces, comics and more. You can pick up a copy (PDF and POD) via DriveThruRPG. “With The Unspeakable Oath moving to a Patreon model, Bayt al Azif joins The Arkham Gazette as another traditional-style The Masks of Nyarlathotep Slipcase Set is available for purchase! The Listening Room First, Agent Dinos opens another dossier from the FBI files, and then, the last episode of Season Two of Glimpses into the Empire, this time on a man of “Iron.” If you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact mup.feedback@gmail.com Topic Hypergraphia, available for download here! ]]>

This episode, Murph and Jon go back to the mixing cauldron to pair locations with monsters again! This episode was recorded on October 25, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: mup.feedback@gmail.com By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron << Campus Crier Keeper Chad contributed to a thing you can buy! He wrote part of a D&D supplement called “Dread Encounters: 13 Horrifying Hooks for Ravenloft.” This includes the work of four writers, Noah Lloyd, Tyler Hudak and Ed Possing, and “Charles Gerard.” AKA Keeper Chad. Each wrote three hooks for the Ravenloft/Strahd/Barovia setting, and then all collaborated on one single hook to make a total of 13. There are side encounters and strange items and NPCs and weird monsters that you can easily integrate into your Ravenloft campaign. This is now available on the DM’s Guild, as a PDF for $3.99. They are putting this up for sale with a generic cover, but the first $300 in profits will go toward an original cover to make it more appealing. Look for a shamelessly large link in the show notes. Click Here To Check Out This Shamelessly Large Link for Dread Encounters >> Type40 has created three official Chaosium Call of Cthulhu collectable enamel pins. Available at the Chaosium PAXAus booth, DT720. So if you’re Down Under go get your pins! Frozen Hell – The Book That Inspired The Thing – A newly discovered and expanded version of the classic sci-fi story, “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell, Jr. A Kickstarter to fund the new book. Friends (and editors) of the show Sean Murphy and Edwin Nagy are planning their 4th annual game-a-thon in support of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Starting Nov. 16 at 6 PM Eastern on twitch.tv/enn321 (link in the show notes), they will stream live for 24 hours. At midnight, Sean is running Call of Cthulhu. During the entire event, your donations allow you to mess with the game (add monsters, design a trap, whatever!), make you eligible to win gaming prizes from their sponsors at Gallant Knight Games, Chaosium, and Frog God Games, and, of course, help sick children. Special this year for a donation of $100, Edwin will run (using 5e D&D) one hour of story of your choice. You can send him something ahead of time, or chat real time with him while he runs what you write. He will provide mechanics on the fly, if necessary. Contributions can be made at any time to Team NEG (New England Gamers) at Extra-Life.org. Link for donations >> Link to Twitch stream >> The Listening Room Back in the “Listening Room” of Orne Library, first, Agent Dinos opens another dossier from the FBI files, this time on something called the “Kuala Tahan.” Next up, we have an episode of Glimpses into the Empire, this time we hear the story of “Tutula, Savior of Rome” Once again, if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact mup.feedback@gmail.com Feedback Hi there, I’m a keeper from the north of Spain currently preparing to run The Two-Headed Serpent. First of all I would like to say congratulations and thank you for your podcast. I have been listening to it for the past few months since I discovered it and well, I guess the time has come to say hi and thanks! It is really entertaining and useful, I have come across a lot of very interesting resources and products related to rpgs as well as having a very good time listening to it. I recommended it to all my friends and gaming group and even though the language is a barrier some of them have followed the advice. As I told you I plan on running TTHS in the near future and as part of preparation I listened to some old podcast concerning Pulp Cthulhu (amazing book, btw) to refresh rules, get new ideas… In installment 128, the one you interviewed Tyler Hudak (Trevlix), he talked about a globe-spanning pulp campaign involving occult/cthulhu horror and thulean nazis he run for his group. It sounded absolutely great and so much fun to play and I think he said something about officially writing it and perhaps releasing it. Did it finally happen? Is there any way to get a copy? Once again thanks so much for such a great podcast and Go Pods!! – Ilmaris Hey Guys, Really enjoyed this episode. So many writers come up with their own Mythos monsters, but it’s rare for someone to come up with a new deity. Jon’s “Spark of Life” brought to mind Annihilation. The whole zone was bursting with life, but in overdrive, so perhaps that could be one of the side-effects of its presence? Kind of like a bizarro Cthugha 🙂 Chad’s GOO made my mind melt for the most part (in a good way), and with yet another pop-culture reference, reminded me of Langoliers. Instead of living just behind the present however, it’s living just in front. While I love the concept as a whole, I personally think the barnacles felt out of place (though I do agree that barnacles are creepy creatures). As for Murph’s, it’s reminiscent of a film called The Signal. Again, I really like this concept, and I was thinking, along the lines of what Chad was saying, that a certain frequency could be its kryptonite. Especially when you consider that inverted frequencies cancel each other out.I hope my comparisons with films doesn’t sound like I’m disparaging the ideas—I’m not. I’ve just seen a lot of movies is all, and it makes concepts easier to convey if compared to existing examples. I really liked all these ideas and hope they get to see life some time in the future. Cheers, Danial Carroll I wanted to start off by saying thank you for the birthday wishes and memorable song; 😉 and especially to Murph for all the help/ideas you gave to my wife and ultimately me. We were getting breakfast ready when I remembered a new episode dropped and started playing it, she was present and eating with me while that segment came on. Quite fortuitous. 😊 Also, great job on the work-shopping new Great Old One concepts, it was nice to have a glimpse into how your minds work and develop ideas in a new type of challenge. – Jeremie Hi MUP Guys! I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your help and the birthday wishes for my husband Jeremie. We both listened to it and laughed and smiled; it was just perfect! I then gave Jeremie his books that I purchased and he was grinning from ear to ear. As I went to work, he started reading the books. We are both excited for our first CoC games. Thanks again! – Kerrie Topic 1. Coordinates: Latitude: 14.15193, Longitude: 103.11216, Distortion: 1.06 PLUS Spawn of the Winds Malleus Monstroum pg. 85 2. Coordinates: Latitude: -70.65189, Longitude: 11.12174, Distortion: 9.11 PLU Gnoph-Keh pg. 85 3. Coordinates: Latitude: -1.04924, Longitude: 144.24045, Distortion: 1.00 PLUS Skinless One pg. 204 4. Coordinates: Latitude: 34.87963, Longitude: 110.38426, Distortion: 1.49]]>

This episode, Murph, Chad and Jon concoct and stew over a few of our own new Great Old Ones. This episode was recorded on October 15, 2018. We want to hear from you! By email: mup.feedback@gmail.com By phone: (401) 400-0MUP (0687) By Twitter: @MU_Podcast By Speakpipe: (Click the floating tab on the far right of this page) On our forum: mu-podcast.com/campus. Like what you hear? Please become a Patron! >> mu-podcast.com/patron <<   Campus Crier Once again, heartfelt condolences go out to friends and family of Chaosium founder Greg Stafford, who passed away on October 11 at the age of 70. There is a condolence thread on the Chaosium site, which you can find here. Chris Lackey has announced that he is working on a CoC supplement for Chaosium called Cults of Cthulhu. He said on YSDC’s News from Pnakotus that it involves using Cthulhu cults as antagonists an comes with three scenarios across different eras. Look for it “vaguely next year.” No more details have been released. There’s a new novel by Ben Monroe, who is the originator of the Monterey Jack character. In the Belly of the Beast and Other Tales of Cthulhu Wars: A Cthulhu Wars Novel – it’s inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the game Cthulhu Wars, published by Petersen Games. There are eight short stories and a complete novel Grave-tober: Bret Kramer of Sentinel Hill Press has been posting an item a day for the whole month of October – you may remember previous “Octoberganza” posts. This time, each item is a New England gravestone of particular interest to him, for reasons of artistic value or insight into some facet of history or folklore. They’re each short, around 250 words, but there are weird and horrific carvings nuggets like stones carved with undead imp creatures bearing darts, and freaking skulls with extra rows of teeth…check it out. Cody Goodfellow wrote an interesting piece about Lovecraft’s legacy and ongoing controversies about his racism. It recaps some of the upheaval in the community over the last few years, including his once-friend Robert Price’s comments and the World Fantasy Award statue – as well as more recent conflicts it’s a nice thoughtful read that adds something new to the convo. Sean Hillman of ENWorld interviewed Chris Spivey of Darker Hue Studios about various projects. It’s a cool rundown of work in both Cthulhu and non Cthulhu realms, and his work process, his influences, his goals. Good read. LATE-BREAKING – Sentinel Hill Press is offering a bundle of Print-On-Demand softcover books PLUS PDFs for all four Arkham Gazette issues on DriveThru RPG at a significant sale price of $45, which is down from a $78 cost to purchase all of them separately. Check it out! Click here to read more via this special MUP link >> The Listening Room This episode, a second installment from the cold files of Agent Dinos – this time, we’re looking at a strange item from the Istanbul station… And a holiday-themed episode of Glimpses into the Empire, about “rituals for the dead.” Once again, if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact mup.feedback@gmail.com Audio Credits for show notes… Scattered Ghost: http://www.freesound.org/people/qubodup/sounds/211646 by Iwan ‘qubodup’ Gabovitch http://freesound.org/people/qubodup under CC-BY 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode Feedback, Corrections and Comments On “Nuclear” in Azathoth: Danial Carroll — I believe HPL used the term “nuclear” with Azathoth to mean that it is the centre. It was subsequent writers that mistook that to mean nuclear energy, yet it has pervaded, so I guess it’s as canon as anything else From Max: Hollow Man is the bad movie with Kevin Bacon. There is a episode of The Twilight Zone from the 80s related to an “emo” version of The Invisible Man – “To See the Invisible Man.” Hi guys, Greetings from Melbourne, Australia. Just wanted to drop you a line and thank you for the great job you do in producing quality content that is both informative and entertaining! I’ve gotten back into Cthulhu recently after a twenty-year hiatus! Loved the recent idea of creating on the fly using the Malleus Monstrorum and random Earth locations. You should seriously consider making it a regular thing. Compile them all as one-page adventure briefs and kickstart it, you’d have something very cool to share with the CoC community! If you haven’t already, you should definitely put out a shout-out to the Sassoon Files (on Kickstarter at the moment), a series of very cool 1920s Cthulhu sessions set in Shanghai! Have a fantastic day! Thanks again for your hardwork, it is much appreciated. – Phillip Some notes you might be interested in with regards to your discussion of Spanish flu on the podcast. Canada, despite being at many of the bloodiest battles of the first world war had more people die to the flu then the war. The flu hit the central powers first and hard: When you have a flu hit on top of feeding your people on bread stuffed with sawdust, and already had a winter so bad it was known of the Turnip Winter due to the fact that is all there was to eat, having a pandemic is the last thing you want. There are historians who claim one of the major reasons for the end the war was the number of casualties Germany was taking from the flu. I’ve heard it reported that young, healthy people where actually more likely to die from it then the sick and the elderly. So instead of seeing the old and young die, you watched a lot of young, strong men, just back from the front die. We are in the middle of the 100 year anniversary of the Spanish flu. I follow three twitter accounts that are retweeting the events of WWI in ‘real time’ so you get a sense of how far apart things are. One of today’s tweets was: “The Spanish Flu has reached #London; 700 fall ill.” It has been tracking reports from around the world as various cities record the flu reaching them. It is too bad my report on the 2016 Evil Clown Epidemic wasn’t the first one I sent in, it would have been perfect for this episode. – Canageek Hey Guys, My takeaway from this episode was the disease victims with the message across them that needs to be assembled like a morbid puzzle. That was great. Also loved the new Miskatonic Repository segment. Crossing my fingers that mine gets covered at some point. It’s not only my first Repository submission, but my first ever “home brew” scenario, so feel free to rip it to shreds if you do 🙂 Cheers, Danial A hotel dieu is a French term for a hospital. That episode was sick. – Bill Hi MUP guys! My husband, Jeremie, loves your podcast and has been a reader of the mythos for a very long time. He’s played and run various RPGs for over 2 decades ranging from Robotech, D&D to Supernatural and more recently Deadlands and ETU (from Savage Worlds). He would really like to get into Mythos type RPGs but isn’t sure which one to buy as there is some contradictory info out there. He’s looking at Call of Cthulhu, Pulp Cthulhu or Delta Green. What would he need for each of those and is CoC and Pulp Cthulhu mostly the same system? Looking at maybe getting some of this as a gift for him for his birthday at the end of the month. Also, if you guys could send him some birthday wishes on your podcast, that would be fantastic! His birthday is Oct. 28th. 🙂 – Kerrie Topic This episode, Jon had the great idea of each of us creating an original Great Old One and then present it here for some workshopping. Chad: The Unraveling Jon: Sauthoth, The Spark of Life — needs a new name, calling out to the listener community for help. Murph: 10^18 Exahertz]]>

Many in this community have heard news that Chaosium founder Greg Stafford passed away on October 11 at the age of 70. He founded the company in 1975, and was also designer for Pendragon, co-designer of RuneQuest, Ghostbusters, Prince Valiant and HeroQuest, as well as founding Chaosium and Issaries. Our thoughts and condolences go out to friends and family at this difficult time. There is a condolence thread on the Chaosium site, which you can read or contribute to here. We collected a few messages of condolence from people in the community, which we play in this short special report. Thank you very much to Chris Spivey, David Larkins, Scott Dorward and Lynne Hardy for sending these special messages on such short notice. Here’s the quote that David Larkins sent from a Gen Con 2014 panel on Gaming as Mythic Exploration: “For me, we are all mythological creatures. We all have some part of ourselves that we’re not aware of and mythology is a language. It’s like a sense like sight and smell and sound. Unfortunately, we’ve lost most of it these days. It’s been learned—out of us. But, to me, role playing games are a way to interact with that. We have an unconscious ability to deal with myths. They have meaning. They have meaning that we don’t understand. They have intuitive meaning. They have obvious meaning. They have storytelling medium. A good game is one that taps into all of these things. I think every roleplaying game in which you make up and create an imaginary character activates that mythological self. The best games are the ones that fulfill that hunger within us.” We may add other messages later in Episode 158, which we hope to air next week on October 22. If you want to add your thoughts about how Greg Stafford’s legacy affected you, or just send a message of condolence, please feel free to leave your own voice message on Speakpipe via the right-hand tab on this page, or as an attachment in an email to mup.feedback@gmail.com. ]]>