Miskatonic University Podcast

                  This panel was a collaboration between the MU Podcast and Legends of Tabletop podcast. It features women in gaming who represent different aspects of the industry. This was one of our efforts for Women in Tabletop Gaming Month. This turned out to be quite an interesting discussion and it’s well worth a listen. Guests include Dani Neary, Monica Speca and Naomi Clark. We mainly provided background support and coordination for the event, but a big thanks to Leah Bond and John Haremza for hosting the panel and letting us use the audio that’s already in their feed – in our own feed. This was recorded on June 13th. If you don’t already know about Legends of Tabletop, you should go subscribe right away. They do tons of actual plays and excellent interviews. And they’re just good humans. Here’t a link to show notes for the panel on the Legends website, where you can also find more background on the guests. http://www.legendsoftabletop.com/?p=3635]]>

This episode is the fourth and last for Women in Tabletop Gaming Month. Murph talked to writer and game designer Becky Annison about the game Lovecraftesque, among other topics. The interview was recorded on June 9, 2018. Once again, check out the Women in Tabletop Gaming Month website to hear more interviews, as well as Lynne Hardy’s blog series on women creatives who contributed to Chaosium over the years. Women in Tabletop Gaming Month >> Chaosium Blog, with Lynne Hardy’s interviews >> Black Aramada >> 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 << ]]>

This episode, we have the third installment in our series of interviews with women in the horror-RPG realm, with Lisa Padol, staff editor for Golden Goblin Press. Plus, a Campus Crier catch-up, listener segments and feedback. The intro and Crier was recorded on June 7, and the interview was recorded a few weeks back on May 17, 2018. Please don’t forget to check out the Women in Tabletop Gaming Month website, and catch up on Lynne Hardy’s blog posts about women creatives at Chaosium! 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 There’s an update on Miskatonic River Press’s Punktown Kickstarter, (now nearing 5 years since it was launched in November 2012). Last year backers received a PDF of the first half of the book, and Angus Abranson of Chronicle City was overseeing completion of the second half. Chaosium has recently received the finished, laid-out book for final review. Angus has advised backers that printing and shipping is slated to start in mid-June. Call of Cthulhu books Down Darker Trails and The Two-Headed Serpent were named as recipients of 2018 UK Games Expo Awards. The two were picked from over 200 nominations. The Two-Headed Serpent garnered Best Roleplaying Adventure and Down Darker Trails landed the Best Roleplaying Expansion award. The winners were announced at UK Games Expo on Sunday 3rd June. Seth Skorkowsky has reviewed Jon’s Age of Cthulhu scenario Transatlantic Terror on Seth’s YouTube channel. It’s a nice thorough look at the adventure with some spoilers, FYI. But check it out if you’re thinking about running it. Issue #3 of Dark Times Magazine has been released. That’s the fanzine that picked up the ball from Protodimension. Lots of great articles and adventure seeds and content. Check it out, and if you have any inkling to write this stuff, submissions are rolling, contact the excellent humans behind the veil of secret history at darktimesfanzine@gmail.com. Pre-Order Dark Adventure Radio Theatre – Masks of Nyarlathotep from the HPLHS – Masks of Nyarlathotep – Gamer Prop Set 2018 200 Word RPG Challenge – fun contest, Max & I have entries. Max: Jordan: A Lifetime in One Hour, mine is Torture Traps: The Last to Die, Wins! BY THE WAY, a huge thank you to MAX, who is graciously editing this episode. Feedback From Forrest Aguirre: “Really enjoyed the episode on Tomes, but I felt like Jon’s idea of the binding (and, I assume, cover material) of the book having some mechanical effect didn’t get enough thought. I know, I host a podcast too, and “thinking” isn’t high on the agenda when you’re recording, I get it. Anyway, Jon’s question got me to thinking about the BBC production of “The Stone Tape,” written by Nigel Kneale, wherein some research scientists discover that a stairway carved of stone in the past recorded impressions of certain events that happened there, particularly traumatic events. I thought it might be cool to have a copy of (insert your favorite mythos tome here – the Necropnakoticthusspokezarathustraofglaaki, for example) bound not just in human skin, but in the human skin of a high ranking sorcerer of the cult who possessed the book. Because said sorcerer was SO powerful, those trying to cast a spell from this book will lose even more sanity than expected if they fail their sanity roll, however, they might be “rewarded” by lowering the number of magic points required to cast a given spell or by getting a temporary boost to POW to throw some extra “oomph” into the spell. Of course, you’ll want to make it very tempting and even more punishing for player characters to use, hence the risk of increased insanity. You can just bump it up the die chain, so if reading the tome would normally cost 1d6 sanity, the “improved” version would cost 1d8 sanity, or bump up from 1d10 to 1d12, whatever. You get the (nefarious) idea. — Just my 2 cents worth of tuition. From Ian Sandford: Hi Folks I just wanted to big thank you from here in Goatswood. I hit a brick wall writing a scenario based on “From Beyond” but through listening to your banter in podcast 143 my muse returned and blessed me with horrors upon horrors for my players. (Just in time for my game at the UK Games Expo this coming week!) I have not caught up with the podcast for a while but I still have fond memories of playing with you at Gencon a few years back. The memories of Chad’s character being hit by roof tiles after ‘pushing’ his luck too far still make me laugh. Anyway, I am back subscribing and enjoying. BTW – any thoughts on game ideas based around “From Beyond” and other technology based Cthulhu adventures would be very welcome. Though I guess that you probably won’t come up with WW2 German POWs trapped in a Goatswood Prison Camp like me. Cheers, Ian Sandford, Severn Valley, England Voicemail from “Ritterton from the Columbia River” Voicemail from Mr. Tyler about last episode’s The Great Fire of Meireki Card Catalog The affable and scholarly Canageek wrote in to share a link to a recording of The Raven read by none other than Christopher Lee. He says: “Recordings of Poe by Christopher Lee seems like the sort of thing that fans of your podcast might enjoy.” Segments Now we have a contributor segment from Mr. Tyler, with the third in his series on SATH-ogwa. Once again, if you have any interest in producing a segment for the podcast, please contact mup.feedback@gmail.com. Topic Pre-recorded interview with Lisa Padol of Golden Goblin!]]>

This episode Jon and Chad talked with Ruth Tillman, co-host of the Double Shadow podcast and contributor to Pelgrane Press. We’re releasing one episode per week during Women in Tabletop Gaming Month, so this time we skipped the Campus Crier, but tune in next week when we catch up on news updates, listener segments and audio feedback in Episode 148. Plus, on Wednesday, June 13 at 8:00 p.m Eastern Time, tune in as we team up with the Legends of Tabletop podcast for a LIVE forum with women representing various aspects of tabletop games. The audio from that will be re-broadcast in our feed, but click on the link below to watch on Wednesday and PLEASE ask some questions if you can stop by! LIVE: MUP & Legends of Tabletop – Women in Gaming Also, make sure you check out the Chaosium site for blog interviews from Lynne Hardy as part of Women in Tabletop Gaming Month. So far she has released interviews with Michelle Lockamy, artist for 13th Age Glorantha and RuneQuest, and Linda M Jones, full-time freelance artist who has illustrations RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu. By the time this episode airs you will also be able to read interviews with Marion Anderson, Shel Kahn, Mara Braun and Kerie Campbell. And please stop by Women in Tabletop Gaming Month website to read and listen to more interviews with women in the RPG industry. Topic During the conversation with Ruth, we mentioned a few things to link to. Here is the first episode of The Double Shadow, a Clark Ashton Smith Podcast. Here is a feed of posts about her work on Pelgrane Press. She mentions some of her exploration of BIG STUPID SPACE WORMS with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan for one of the “Cuttings from Hideous Creatures” installments.]]>

This episode, we are kicking off our part of Women in Tabletop Gaming Month, which is the month of June. We’re talking to a number of women in the realm of horror and Lovecraft-related role playing games. To start it all off, we have a previously recorded interview with Lynne Hardy on a bunch of topics including a series of interviews with 18 women who have contributed to Chaosium for the company’s blog. The intro and Crier sections were recorded on May 24, and the interview with Lynne was recorded on May 13. 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 MUP has joined forces with Women in Tabletop Gaming Month as an official partner. This episode is the beginning of a series of interviews with women in our corner of the RPG realm, namely horror and Lovecraft-related RPGs. You’ll hear more about Lynne Hardy’s part of this in the main topic this episode. There has been an update from Adam Scott Glancy on the Horrors of War Kickstarter. He has informed Chaosium that the product will not be delivered by GenCon this year as promised in a meeting with them last year. Due to the number of complaints they’ve received about this Kickstarter, they have given him a deadline of December 31 this year to complete the work or lose the Chaosium license for this product. Chaosium issued its own statement that confirms this. To help appease waiting backers, he has sent the first part of a draft he submitted for a new Delta Green RPG scenario called “Iconoclasts,” that’s set in contemporary Ninewa province in Iraq. Dark Adventure Radio Theater has announced later this year that they plan to release six hours of “audio action”… and a special “Masks RPG Edition” with over 100 props! HP Podcraft is switching over to Patreon, and all of the episodes will be available now in the feed. “We’re still offering one free show a month, three additional shows for subscribers and if you sign up on Patreon you can get a listener comments show monthly as well as an additional show discussing whatever you want us to discuss…We’ve been at this show for almost ten years, and we’d really love to be with you for ten years more. Cthulhu Reborn has announced the release of the eleventh in the series of “Tickets of Leave” supplements for Convicts & Cthulhu, the Australian setting. It’s a 14,000 word, 25 page PDF. You can download it right now for free. It has a short sourcebook section, exploring an aspect of life in the colonies, followed by a lengthy scenario seed. The title for Ticket of Leave #11 is kind of irresistible – “The Dispensatory of Doctor Macdead,” which delves deeply into the seedy and somewhat primitive world of medical practice. A video game version of Mansions of Madness: Mother’s Embrace has been announced on Steam for release in the first quarter of 2019. In 1926, a mansion seems to be surrounded by mysteries and unexplained events… A team of investigators is trying to solve this mystery, but they will encounter traps, monsters and other Lovecraftian horrors as they descend deeper into the depths of madness. Topic Women in Tabletop Gaming Month has its own website, where you can see all the other partners, blog features, and a whole list of podcast episodes with women in the RPG realm. Check out Lynne Hardy’s series of blog posts about women who have contributed work for Chaosium over the years. And here is the official website for Women in Tabletop Gaming Month.]]>

In this episode, Jon and Chad chat with award-winning author, Stuart Boon, about Mythos and folklore fodder hooks for horror games set in the UK and many other topics along the way. But first, all four of the hosts jump in to go over Crier news and segments. The interview was recorded on May 6, and the Crier and introduction was recorded on May 10, 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 Squamous Studios has a couple of big announcements coming out. The first is an expansion for the Feed the Shoggoth card game! Final play testing is underway, art is in production, and a Kickstarter for this is expected in the Fall! And there is also a completely new game in the works! It’s called Arkham Relic Hunt, designed by Damon Gregory. In this game players move their Acolyte around Arkham collecting Relics and Cultists to add to their Cult and rack up points. It plays in about 30-60 minutes. 2-4 players. This is tentatively slated for a Kickstart in early 2019. You can look for them at Kublacon in Burlingame, California, this year from May 25th through the 28th. Lynne Hardy has a new scenario out called Scritch Scratch that will be available on the Cult Library on June 8th, just in time for FreeRPG Day. “Scritch Scratch is a one-sitting adventure, easily played in four hours. Perfect for an afternoon at the game store or an evening at your home (after Free RPG Day, of course). And we will have the PDF uploaded to the Cult Library on Friday, June 8th.” The list of participating games stores is here. There is a new short film from Boom Studios called Eldritch Code that is pretty sweet. UK Games Expo is having an all-star party line-up with a live audience adventure extravaganza! If you’re attending UK Games Expo on Saturday, June 2nd, you can be witness as Mike Mason, Benjamin Loomes of Syrinscape, John Kovalic of Dork Tower and Munchkin, Jason Bulmahn and Amanda Kunz of Piazo’s Pathfinder play Call of Cthulhu! This “Live RPG Plus” event is being hosted by Knightmare Live’s Paul Flannery. The audience members will also get to participate by offering up game twists and other suggestions to frustrate the players! The Kickstarter for the Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection Board Game finished out very successfully with $106,994 pledged of $25,000 goal. A BIG THANK YOU TO SEAN for editing this episode! Feedback Cyaegha Episode Feedback – Hey guys, Yet another great episode. It was great getting information from the source material. I’ve never thought of using Cyaegha in a scenario before, but I am working on one with the Nagaae. In it, the PCs are a TV crew for a cryptid-hunter show. Their newest episode is on the “Loveland Frog” (which is an existing cryptid if you haven’t heard of it), and unlike their previous episodes that turned up nothing, this turns out to be real, and the “frog” is a Nagaae. Cheers, Danial – P.S. It’s true, my name is pronounced “Daniel” 🙂 Voicemail from Bret Kramer (posting Google’s transcription because it’s just too great not to): Hello, Miska tonic University podcast, it’s Brett Cramer from Sentinel Hill. Press I enjoyed episode 144 Darkness deliver my players into the just had a couple of days now. I wanted to mention one. Is that okay? And I think a little bit of other coverage of Tioga show up in the keepers companion to in the article on like Combs, I think and then monsters at the end of it over they have stats in the game. I think of course when the Mally it’s months program and also one thing I wanted to mention is this actually a fans in called kayak. I think it’s put out by I’m not sure actually who but it comes periodically mostly could do a Mrs. Fiction, very small numbers. I think if you were the 100 copies So you might want to check that out. I can shoot you a link to put in the show notes. So they are up to think episode 20 is Justin out if I recall correctly. I don’t actually own it, but it is something that might be of interest to complete your Kai a good discussion. Anyway, so thanks for the show and go pods. Segments Oscarius Tabularis has sent us the sixth and final episode in this “season” of Glimpses into the Empire. He’s taking a little vacation in idyllic Ravenna for a while, but plans to come back for another series later. So sit back, peel some grapes, recline in your comfy “triclinium” and enjoy Episode Six – The Heretic. For those of you lamenting the end of Season One of Glimpses into the Empire, don’t fret. Oscarios has agreed to keep in touch while he’s away and answer questions the audience might have for him. So, if you want to know more about just who is Oscarios Tabularius, his personal life, his opinions on Roman history, politics, religion, and culture, or even about The Shadow War being waged in the empire against the forces of the Cthulhu Mythos, email them to Oscar@goldengoblinpress.com. The cut off date to submit questions is July 15th. He’s promised to record a bonus mid-break episode where he’ll answer some selected questions. The person who submits Oscarius’s favorite question will receive a small bag of coins, a Cthulhu Invictus Keeper’s Screen, and copy of the fiction collection of short stories Further Tales of Cthulhu Invictus as a prize. Next up, we have a segment from the strangest detention hall evar with Mr. Tyler, who’s back with something TOAD-ally weird. Mr. Tyler’s blog, Skullduggery in the Smoke, is here! Find out more about the UTTERLY HORRIBLE thing baby koalas put into their mouths with the Rifftrax crew. Topic Interview with Stuart Boon, author of Cthulhu Britannica: Shadows Over Scotland, a sourcebook for Scotland and Scottish adventures for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game published by Cubicle 7. Shadows Over Scotland was published in 2011 and went on to win a number of awards, including Best Roleplaying Supplement or Adventure at the 38th Annual Origins Awards (2012), Best Setting at the ENnie Awards (2012), and Best Adventure Collection at the Diehard GameFAN 2011 Tabletop Gaming Awards. He has since logged lots of writing credits with Chaosium, Sixty Stone Press, Savage Mojo, Golden Goblin Press, and others. Stuart is working on a scenario for Golden Goblin for the upcoming book of scenarios for Catthulhu in the Invictus setting called “Tails of Valor,” and a setting book for Invictus in Britannia as well. A scenario called “Resurrection” for Fear’s Sharp Little Needles from Stygian Fox is also on the way.]]>

In this episode Dan, Jon, and Murph talk about the green eye in the sky, everyone’s favorite god of the caves, Cyaegha, and we also have some listener feedback to respond to. Plus, we have another addition to the Card Catalog, and two more listener submitted segments. This episode was recorded on April, 27th , 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 Call of Cthulhu Leather Campaign Journals The Kickstarter completed only hours before the recording of this episode. Classic Lovecraftian boardgame Mansions of Madness is coming to PC. Fantasy Flight’s award-winning board game Mansions of Madness is getting a video game adaption, which is due for release next year. Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection boardgame FUNDED IN 16 HOURS, now graduating through Stretch Goals Hellboy: The Board Game Inspired by the visionary comics by Mike Mignola, Hellboy: The Board Game is a thrilling co-operative experience for 1 to 4 players. New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley 2ed for Call of Cthulhu ‘New Tales from Miskatonic Valley’ 2nd Edition produced under license for the Call of Cthulhu RPG by Chaosium Inc. A BIG THANK YOU TO MAX for editing this episode! Feedback: From: Justin The Darkhold ran as 9 issues for a comic book when they tied in the supernatural comics in the Marvel Universe into the Midnight Sons in the ‘90s. Each page of the book was a spell, and many of the spells had escaped as separate pages and a Group was trying to collect them together. It had a very Friday the 13th The Series feel and was a decent read, worth picking up since it was only a short run before being ended. Oh, and there was a dark little person associated with handing out the pages, this could be a servant of Nyarlathotep spreading discord. From: Keeper Michael Subject: Podcast and beginner keeper thoughts Hi everyone, I am a new keeper, though have had many years playing “that other medieval fantasy game” for over 20 years. A friend in my group turned me on to c.o.c. About a year ago and was instantly hooked! I listened to a few of your actual gameplays, and loved how taking a basic introductory adventure like The Haunting and turned it upside down on its head. Sadly you didn’t have time to finish it, but was curious about the table in Corbitts basement that had some random astrological stuff, books,etc. I am running this for the first time and would love to get some ideas as to how to spin what’s on the table into another adventure. I was thinking, if successful with this, to go either into dead mans stomp, or dead light, unless perhaps you think there may be something better to tie this into something just as creepy? Keep up the great work guys, I always look forward to each and every podcast! Regards, Keeper Michael From: Grotonomus Date: Wed, Apr 18, 2018 at 10:43 PM Subject: Sears Roebuck 1918 Hello Gents, Grotonomus here, Your friendly USFS Field Archaeologist with a secret weapon of mine when working on historic sites. The archive.org Sears Roebuck and Company listings with a few complete catalogs. https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Sears%2C+Roebuck+and+Company%22 1918 Catalog https://ia800209.us.archive.org/27/items/catalog1918sear/catalog1918sear.pdf Be mindful of the pdf load times. They are 1600 pages and about half a gigabyte. These catalogs are a treasure trove of consumer culture in the late 19th and early 20th century. Replete with some color art, prices, and shipping costs. You can find just about everything available at the time in these fine tomes. There are also home building plan catalogs and headstone/monument catalogs. Best wishes, and game on my good chums! Adam P.S. Yes, CoC helped me on my way to becoming an Archaeologist. Well, that and Indy of course. From: Danial Date: Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 10:48 AM Subject: Cop Talk Feedback Hey Guys, Great episode. I just wanted to throw in another option I don’t believe you covered (I listen while driving so it’s possible I just missed it), but what if the police recruit you? They show up after your misdeeds and realize you’re chasing the same people so they look the other way in the hope that you’ll do all the hard work for them. This could be handled as either a “we could really use your help on this one” type deal, or a “do this or we’ll throw you in the slammer!” type jerk maneuver 🙂   Segments: Oscarius Tabularis has sent us the next Glimpses into the Empire; Episode Five – Devotio Next up, we have another segment on horror folklore in Japan from Jonathan. This episode is about Hitobashira, or Human Pillars Topic: Created by Belgian sci-fi/horror writer Eddy C. Bertin in the story Darkness, My Name Is. Cyaegha is the god of caves that is worshiped by a small village in Western Germany. He is served by the Nagäae, a strange toad-like servitor race. And guarded and contained simultaneously by five lesser demon-like beings called the Vaeyen. He is a giant mass of black tentacles with a giant green eye in CoC. In the source material, he is made of a dark that is blacker than black and his tentacles are shadow and darkness. His eye is mistaken for a green moon. In combat he floats over an area and grabs victims and crushes them. CoC makes it sound rather dull, but the source material describes it as blotting out the sky and replacing the sky in the valley between the hills. One of the Nagäae is a giant transparent toad that slides across the ground, pushing itself forward with its hind-legs. This made Dan think of the 2nd for of Shin Godzilla. https://www.google.com/search?q=shin+godzilla+2nd+form&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjky7CzgdzaAhVKMd8KHRz-CooQ_AUICigB&biw=1440&bih=735]]>

In this episode, all four hosts are back together again to tackle a topic suggestion from “Uncle Tim” about how to use law enforcement without disrupting the flow of your game. Plus listener segments and more! This episode was recorded on April 12, 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 A new 12-page Delta Green scenario by Dennis Detwiller called “Sweetness” is available via DriveThruRPG in both PDF and Print on Demand. Blurb: “The Bernier family of Tampa, Florida, has been terrorised by a fire and weird graffiti. Police suspect a hate crime. The mark on the door, carved with a horn or a claw and smeared with blood and effluvia, makes Delta Green think otherwise. One of their experts says it’s the symbol of Kore, queen of the underworld, goddess of an ancient mystery cult.” A new rules-lite Lovecraftian-style roleplaying game from Les Livres de l’Ours is available on DriveThruRPG. The makers say the system was inspired by Advanced Fighting Fantasy, Traveller and others. This version is 34-pages and “art-free” at a pay-what-you-want price. Promo copy “So grab a character sheet, 2D6, pick a profession and a reputation and go fight the Old Ones or die screaming.” The money made by this version will pay for the art of the final version. Syrinscape and Chaosium have announced a new partnership to release “official sounds” for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. Syrinscape is an app that creates movie-like, immersive sound for tabletop games. There’a a Kickstarter for Call of Cthulhu leather campaign journals to enhance your gaming experience. “Be the dread author of your own story.” A new edition of Alone Against the Dark: Defying the Triumph of the Ice is out now from Chaoisum. This has been revised and updated to 7th Edition and is by Matt Costello. Murph got his RPGCoaster of Cthulhu last week, and it is awesome…. From Michael O’Brien: “The launch date for our Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection Kickstarter has been set—April 17th. And they say they are excited to be launching our first Lovecraftian board game since 1987!” A BIG THANK YOU TO EDWIN for editing this episode! Segments First up, strap yourselves in to the Wayback Machine, Sherman, we’re on our way to Ancient Rome for a tale from Oscarius Tabularis about…the worst dinner party ever. Then, get your paper footballs ready to snap through the goalposts of ennui, as we settle into Mr. Tyler’s detention hall – for some more thoughts on a Mythos minion we’ve covered here recently. To read more from Mr. Tyler check out Skullduggery in the Smoke. Topic “Hello Miskatonic University Podcast this is Tim McGonagle here, long time fan of the show and occasional minion for Golden Goblin Press calling you gents from New York City. I have an idea for a topic regarding the authorities and consequences in Call of Cthulhu and the role the police and similar types may play in scenarios. When do the police become part of scenario if a player character crosses an obvious line into blatant illegal activity? As a GM, how do you balance keeping the game realistic and grounded if a character goes overboard with an illegal action and gets busted? How does a Keeper not let realistic consequences stymie the game when say one or more PCs are picked up by the coppers and are looking at an extended stay at the old graybar hotel? This topic could also be expanded to authority figures in relationship to a player character’s profession, and the consequences for them breaking the rules as it relates to their “day job” when they are doing Mythos investigator work. Would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Keep up the great work you guys and of course G-O P-O-D-S, GO PODS!” Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #451 Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #696 Scenarios where you can find info on crime and law include: King of Chicago – Secrets of Marseilles And here is a handy YSDC link for a list of scenarios where the players are criminals. Including: Toying with Humans The Eyes Between Worlds from Strange Tales of Dread & Wonder. Players take on the roles of Chinese Triads who have come to the Kingdom of Bhutan. The scenario in the Escape from Innsmouth book involves law enforcement in some interesting ways, including a potential jailbreak scene With Malice Aforethought from Arkham Country, there is a whole court case situation.]]>

In this episode, Dan, Jon and Murph dive into the old Special Collections vault to talk about tomes as story points. Plus, we have more audio segments from contributors, news and more! This episode was recorded on March 29, 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 Campus Crier is Miskatonic U’s student paper. Here’s where we go through Mythos related news and feedback to the podcast. This episode was recorded on March 29, 2018. Chaosium announced last week that they will be Kick Starting a new board game by Reiner Knizia and Greg Stafford. Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection is the company’s first foray into board games in 37 years. Thanks to Chaosium’s continued pre-launch updates we have also got some looks at the game mats in their final form. The Kickstarter is set to launch in April, and you can find links to everything in the show notes as always. This just in from Bret Kramer of Sentinel Hill Press: “The Arkham Gazette 2 has been raised up from its essential saltes and is now available on DTRPG. This issue was about Innsmouth and for $12 you get a pdf with over a dozen articles and a scenario. Print version coming soon” Also, Bret has a new $3 patron level on his Patreon page. “Vile Minions” will get all the lower level Sentinel Hill Press rewards plus an occasional post-card, short letter or possibly a few pages from an upcoming release. Links to find out more about both are in the show notes. Reports are coming in that the Raiders of R’lyeh RPG, which launched back in August of 2013 and we covered initially on Episode 38, has started showing up in people’s hands in the last few days. So if you are a backer be on the lookout. Congrats to creator Quentin Bauer for getting it out the door finally. Modiphius has released the next installment of their Living Campaign for Achtung Cthulhu. The scenario is called The Blessed of the Wind and is by Richard August, and centers around a Nazi troopship that is anchored in a nearby fjord. The scenario is free and available to members of the Living Campaign at Modiphius. A new kickstarter for Maximum Apocalypse: Gothic Horrors Expansion, for the popular card game Maximum Apocalypse, has been funded in two hours. The update will allow player to “[f]ace off against life draining vampires, ghouls and werewolves in a classic monster set or try and stop a bunch of cultists from summoning Cthulhu or other unspeakable Lovecraftian horrors.” They have already funded and are just chasing stretch goals for the remaining 27 days. Last episode Chris Spivey mentioned that a shop in Brooklyn called Anyone Comics was going to host a special game day for Harlem Unbound. Well, our very own Keeper Chad stopped by to check it out. He reports that the event was well attended, with two game tables set up in a basement room of the comics shop, with a total of about 15 players – their biggest attendance for “Indie RPG Day” yet since starting last year. Chad ended up playing a 4-hour session of a scenario seed from the book called “Blood is Blood,” and had a blast. There is even talk among attendees of a spinoff local group to keep playing Harlem Unbound. Shout out again to Anyone Comics for hosting! “Anyone” who wants to check for upcoming “Indie RPG Game Days” should check out the store’s Facebook page. A BIG THANK YOU TO SEAN for editing this episode! Segments: We have three episodes of ongoing segments from MU Nation. We open a window into Ancient Roman weirdness with another dispatch from Oscarius Tabularis. This time, we travel across the Mediterranean to Carthage for a parable of a….marine nature… Get ready to carve some heavy metal graffiti into your desks as we head back to detention hall for Part Two of Mr. Tyler’s gamer-eyed view of the story “Earth to Earth.” Here’s the for Mr. Tyler’s Blog, Skullduggery in the Smoke!  We have another segment on horror folklore in Japan from Jonathan. This episode is about the legend of the “Slit-Mouthed Woman.” Card Catalogue: Hi Guys, I’ve stumbled across an archive site devoted to comic books that fell into the public domain, thought it might make a useful addition to the cardfile. The comics can be viewed online, but you need to register to the site if you want to download them. – Graham Topic Tomes: Are they simply diaries to impart knowledge, spells, etc, or can they be used in different ways? Can a tome be the central focus of a scenario (the tome is the source of the horror/mystery)? Also, what is a tome? How does language affect the tome? Along the way, we mention: Darkhold, a fictional grimoire appearing Marvel comic books. Flag Books, a thing you should just click on the link to find out what it is. Unusual bindings for possible Mythos tomes. And a Pinterest collection of strange tomes to check out. Audio Credits d0 Meatslap on Glass 2 by dav0r | License: Creative Commons 0 Meat Slap 5.aif by MWLANDI | License: Attribution storm door slam 01.wav by volivieri | License: Attribution jungle ninja.wav by stk13 | License: Creative Commons 0 Scary Horn by ScreamStudio | License: Creative Commons 0 Horn002.wav by freefire66 | License: Creative Commons 0 crowd ext medium excited entertained walla and audience reactions to talent show performers raucous laughter and applause Uganda, Africa 2016.wav by kyles | License: Creative Commons 0 Dolphin Song 2.mp3 by abrez | License: Attribution Ambience, Seaside Waves, Close, A.wav by InspectorJ | License: Attribution Seagull on beach by squashy555 | License: Creative Commons 0 Coins by olver | License: Creative Commons 0 01260 water swimming splashing 1.wav by Robinhood76 | License: Attribution Noncommercial Splash, Small, A.wav by InspectorJ | License: Attribution Horror, Violin Tremolo Cluster, B.wav by InspectorJ | License: Attribution Horror Sounds by GowlerMusic | License: Attribution ]]>

This episode, we catch up with Chris Spivey of Darker Hue Studios to talk about Harlem Unbound and upcoming projects. Then we riff a bit on how to pull Mythos ideas from TV shows. This episode was recorded on March 15, 2018. Campus Crier Golden Geek Awards have been announced for stuff released in 2017, and Tales from the Loop got best RPG. It also got runner up for Best Artwork & Presentation. That’s the most notable horror-adjacent winner on the list. Check out the rest of the winners on the RPG Geek website – we’ll post a link in the thingy. Jon talks about a new ‘zine about Dungeon Crawl Classics that is available on DriveThruRPG called Crawl-thulhu. This ‘zine is written and produced by John Potts, and introduces a Sanity mechanic and DCC stats for 1920s firearms. It also includes an adventure titled “A Horrible Day at the Dunwich Fair.” This is all DCC compatible. If playing Call of Cthulhu with DCC rules interests you, then go check out this ‘zine quick. The advertised cover price is $8, but at the time of this recording it is on sale for $3. Chaosium has announced winners of the Cult of Chaos Scenario Writing Contest – there are seven of them and we’re not going to read them all, but there are two notable winners from MU Nation, including David Larkins for Wailing Woman for Down Darker Trails, and Shannon Mac for The Search for Brian Boru, Cthulhu Dark Ages scenario. Congratulations to all of the winners! There is a Kickstarter in progress for is a horror detective comic based on the works of HP Lovecraft called Hellcraft. The blurb reads: “Private investigator Hank Hellcraft must contend with a troubled family past, while becoming engulfed in mysteries that reveal indescribable horrors hidden just beneath the surface.” Check it out! Adam Crossingham posted some updates about SixtyStone projects on YSDC. The SixtyStone website is currently down, so after some speculation about the fate of the company, Adam posted updates on the forums. He says his top priority is getting the MONC KS finished, he’s still converting Colonial Mythos Country to 7e, the next two Investigator Weapons books have gone back to “Hans” for 7e integration, there are a lot of corrections to make on the Cthulhu by Arclight layout files, and he hasn’t decided whether to convert it to 7e or to DG. Other books will basically be done when they get done. More details are in the conversation thread on YSDC. Golden Goblin Press is holding a Spring Cleaning Sale, so you can get 20% off all physical items, an 30% off orders over $60 in for physical items. That includes RPG and fiction material. That sale runs until April 15th. The discount code is: G0blin$pr1n6. The Brazilian-Portuguese version of Call of Cthulhu successfully Kickstarted back on February 2 at about $71,000 (231,000 Brazilian Real). Behold: “Chamado De Cthulhu”! Chaosium has released Petersen’s Abominations in PDF and Hardback. As always, the PDF is free with a Hardback purchase. These are five of the modern-day con-games that Sandy Petersen runs at conventions each year. And a BIG THANK YOU TO MAX for editing this episode! Card Catalog We wanted to salute MUP’s resident librarian, Graham, and thank him for keeping the Card Catalog fully stocked. He recently sent in links to an amazing list of naval ships that are listed as fictional, though many are historical ships with fictional names. This is an amazing list of vessels broken down by nation and Year. Part I: Fictional Warships 1850-1899 Part II: Fictional Warships 1900-1945 – Section A-GB Part II: Fictional Warships 1900-1945 – Section Gr-Y Part III: Fictional Warships 1945-2020 Nations A-I Part III: Fictional Warships 1945-2020 Nations J-U Part IV & V: Fictional Warships Fictional Warships 2025-2100 & Non-State/Alternate Universe Warships 1850-2100 Appendix I/II/III: Fictional Aircraft/Weapons/Electronics Feedback Since we want to catch up on some of the lost feedback backlog we got over the last year, we’re going to roll the dice and read one now. Hi Keepers! I’ve been running Call of Cthulhu again after a year and a half off. My first few games have been for new to Call of Cthulhu players with other RPG experience. As they got more comfortable with the system, they began to make Sanity rolls all on their own when they encountered anything weird. It was a bit weird to me but not really annoying. That is until they reached the final portion of the scenario (Amidst the Ancient Trees) and had very little SAN left. Two of the three players went insane before (avoiding spoilers) the end was revealed. The other ran away. So I didn’t get to finish the scenario, really. I’ve also been listening to a lot of live plays where players are voluntarily losing SAN without rolls. I was just wondering your thoughts on player initiated SAN loss and rolls. Thanks for the great show! Goooooooo Pods! – Keeper Kent Segments Three listeners have graciously submitted segments for us to enjoy this episode. Thank so much to each of you for the hard work and the richness you’re adding to the show. To the rest of you, if you still have ideas for segments simmering, it’s not too late to send us a pitch at mup.feedback@gmail.com. Introducing the second episode of Glimpses Into the Empire: we take a trip back to ancient Rome for “Episode Two – Omens.” (by Oscar Rios of Golden Goblin Press) Next, we have the first installment of a little segment called “Detention with Mr. Tyler” – this episode is called “Earth to Earth.” [Play Earth to Earth] (by Samuel Tyler) The link is for my Blog, Skullduggery in the Smoke https://skullduggeryinthesmoke.blogspot.com/ And finally we travel to the Land of the Rising Sun for a segment about “Stigmatised Properties in Japan” [Play Stigmatised] (by Jonathan, also known as flashbackj) Topic Chris Spivey and Darker Hue Studios! Below are some reviews and responses to Harlem Unbound: R’lyeh Reviews (Pookie) Gnome Stew Rolling Boxcars The Esoteric Order of Roleplayers Reckoning of the Dead During the discussion, we mention the X-Card, a concept first proposed by John Stavropoulos. X-Card. Chris also has a Patreon account that’s well worth supporting. If you want to see Chris’s advice about how to add depth and accuracy to the New York chapter of Masks of Nyarlathotep, check the community section of his Patreon page here. Riffingness What TV show plot could you rip off for a Cthulhu scenario or campaign? Chris – Life on Mars- the Cthulhu Campaign Chris – Ashes to Ashes (spin-off from Life on Mars) Jon – Misfits Dan – X-Files (Tombs episode) Chad – Dallas, the Roll Playing Game (designed by war-gaming superstar James F. Dunnigan – a review on RPG Geek here.) Murph – River Shout out to Anyone Comics in Brooklyn! 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