Simon J Rogers

New Export Dialog

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:58:32 GMT

This is the new CC3 export dialog box for update 8. As well as the aforementioned antialias option, we've added the ability to launch an editor for the image you've just saved, and restrict the export to the map border. Lots of images have a mask around the outside to hide symbols which overlap the edge, and this option ensures the mask isn't included on the export. I can export a 6500x5200 resolution image on my mediocre XP system.

CC3 Work

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:59:05 GMT

Peter Olsson, who is responsible for half the CC3 and all the add-on code, has been working with me in the London nerve centre, with Ralf testing at a distance. Peter's cut the bug list in half, including some rare but persistent Vista bugs. He's also finished off the Cosmographer 3 software features. Now, with a bit of jiggery-pokery, we'll be able to import 3D star data into CC3, so that it looks like this:

He's also done some work on export, for example, we now support Zoomify, a deep zoom file format, as demonstrated on the front page of the Profantasy website. We are hoping this will encourage our users to add high resolution zoomable maps to their websites - Zoomify itself is a free Flash application.

CC3 export also has built-in anti-aliasing, which significantly improves the quality of the images.

No aliasing:

Aliasing:

New Projects

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:13:09 GMT

I've got five delightful new Pelgrane Press projects to announce.

Jason Morningstar, best known as creator of of the Shab-Al-Hiri Roach, is writing a Trail of Cthulhu adventure called The Black Drop.
Something slowly gathers strength beneath the frozen basalt of the remote Kerguelen archipelago - a monstrous thing once worshipped and then betrayed, a terrible god from the antediluvian past. It's time has come again, and mysterious forces gather. Will they usher in its rebirth - or put an end to it forever?
Castle Bravo, a Purist Trail of Cthulhu adventure set in the Atomic Age, is being written by Bill White, who wrote the excellent Ganakagok. It is approaching playtestable form.
The Investigators are sailors and scientists deployed aboard the USS Bairoko to the South Pacific as part of Joint Task Force One to participate in a series of secret thermonuclear test shots in the Bikini atoll called Operation Castle. After the first detonation, the PCs will have more than just radiation to fear...
Bill is also designing a complete stand-alone game, code name New World, it is inspired in part by Jared Diamond's work. The PC are in a colony at a crisis point and confront the combination of their cultural mores and limited resources in an alien environment.

Robin D Laws will be creating an SF iteration of GUMSHOE, as yet untitled.

Finally, cavalorn co-creator of the Book of Unremitting Horror is writing a big book of GM'ing wisdom, provisionally called Bott's RPG Miscellany. You can see an example of his GM advice here.

An Interview With an Actor

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:12:34 GMT

Graham Walmsley, author of The Dying of St Margaret's is interviewed here for yog-sothoth.com, talking about Trail of Cthulhu, and using the opportunity to pitch games to me.

Armitage Files

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:18:46 GMT

D&D Actual Play

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:13:01 GMT

Descriptions of roleplaying activities behind the cut.

Following on from the previous post...

There were five players in all, with me as the GM, and we were playing 1st Edition AD&D, with the Tome of Magic and the usual house rules. The party was not balanced in the traditional sense, with two magicians, a druid and a fighter/assassin.

What I did with them:
A bunch of people they'd messed with before attacked them in their bases of operations, using a powerful anti-magic force. They only just managed to win. They were angry, and sort out a solution to the anti-magic. It turned out, a sure fire way was for them to leave their bodies behind to occupy convenient bodies on another plane, and then open a way for them

I dumped them in a chain gang, with the exception of the Druid, whom I stuck in the body of a pack mule. I handed them new character sheets - same mental stats (toned down after magical improvements were taken into account) but the physical stats of the body they occupied. I ruled that the bodies' untrained brains weren't capable of holding a large complement of spells.

I had just made them low level.

After the initial shock at being beaten up by a few orcs, they really got into it, and were reminded of what it was like to be low-level, scrabbling round for spell ingredients and strangling gaolers with crude iron chains. They fought their way to a temple, opened the portal, and their spirits returned to their usual bodies and stepped through, giddy with their new-found power.

This is a small fragment of play.

I'll write a full account if there is any demand.

AD&D

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:14:13 GMT

Thank you for all those excellent AD&D ideas

Anything which involves a moral quandary is fairly useless, because they are still a bunch of big kids playing evil characters and doing unpleasant things. To give you an idea of how unpleasant, one character was "aggressively interrogating" an NPC, who died. The character used his single Wish to bring him back to life on the basis that "he hadn't finished with him yet." The NPC later slipped on a bar of soap.

I'll put the ideas in my kit bag and throw them out as required. I'll report back with those I've used.

Big D&D session

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:44:29 GMT

I'm running a big AD&D session for the old group this weekend. They are super powerful - 25th level plus. In the past, they have made Tarrasque carpaccio, Lich luncheon meat, Slaad Lord Spam and Leviathan sushi.

Think of some nasty unpleasantness I can throw at them.

Not so fast, gbsteve!

Arkham Detective Tales and Rough Magicks

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:50:39 GMT

The latest Trail of Cthulhu releases are now available from Indie Press Revolution as PDF and PDF+Print versions. The PDF is free with the print version. Arkham is here, Rough Magicks here.

Trail of Cthulhu

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:03:58 GMT

Here are a couple of graphs for GUMSHOE sales. They are monthly cumulative sales from the first date of release, through the distribution channel (that is via Impressions). This excludes retail and mail order sales through IPR, conventions and direct mail order (in total, over 20% of total print sales). PDFs and foreign licenses are a post for another day.

The non-Trail sales are swamped by Trail, so the second one details the sales without Trail.

The continuing sales of Trail, and the total number of copies sold. mean the market for supplements is sufficient for me to do offset print runs.
I took a risk with Shadows Over Filmland, doing it hard cover, and I think it will take about three years to sell through the print run.
The Screen and Resource Book, I am very happy with. I think it means people are playing the game, unless there are screen collectors out there. I couldn't have done this non-offset
Esoterrorists continues to sell reliably - the same every month for 18 months now. It will be interesting to see how the FactBook does.
Distributors and retailers have more confidence in the ability of a Trail supplement to sell than Mutant City Blues. The sales for MCB are a little flatter than I would have liked, but the confidence inspired by previous GUMSHOE releases meant a reasonable initial order. The MCB graph is a little flat for my liking, but it's a little early to say. I think Hard Helix, the MCB supplement will help - it was released much more quickly after MCB than we've managed with other lines.

When I run out of the second Trail print run, I'm going to have a difficult printing choice. Risk another hard back? Switch to perfect bound? Should I do a minor edition update?

Rough Magicks Review

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:29:34 GMT

A review of Rough Magicks by Dan Harms.

DDI?

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:54:43 GMT

Is there any way of someone demonstrating they are or have been a DDI subscriber in straightforward fashion, and without giving any secret info away?

I GUMSHOE, he GUMSHOEs, you GUMSHOE

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:53:46 GMT

Overheard in a 4th Edition D&D game, when PCs were looking for info leading them to the next stage of the adventure. The player had dice in about to roll against an information skill.
The DM said: "Actually, you need the info to continue. Why don't we just GUMSHOE it?"

You know you are having an impact, when they start using you as a verb.

Something I'm Considering

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:40:10 GMT

Courtesy of Bill White, creator of the excellent Ganakagok.

Pour Encourager Les Autres

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:21:09 GMT

gbsteve point me at a lovelyGUMSHOE thread on rpg.net. It's gratifying that we've reached the stage where there are some people I've never heard of being enthusiatic enough about the actual play resulting from the game to encourage others to try it. Wonderful.

GenCon Photos

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:19:33 GMT

Photos of GenCon behind the cut, courtesy of Jerome.

...he's just a naughty boy.
gbsteve demoing Trail of Cthulhu

Canadian RPG writers, Kenneth Hite and Robin D Laws prove that they do smile.

Ralf uthoroc (foreground) and Steve Mulhern work the ProFantasy booth

New Releases

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:12:32 GMT

Rough Magicks and Arkham Detective Tales, two new releases for Trail of Cthulhu are out now from the Pelgrane Press webstore.

Rough Magicks: a magic supplement for the best-selling and award winning Trail of Cthulhu

Rough Magicks

A magic supplement for the best-selling and award winning Trail of
Cthulhu, written by the master of Lovecraft Lore, Kenneth Hite.

IÄ! IÄ! YOG-SOTHOTH NEBLOD ZIN!

The latest eldritch tome for Trail of Cthulhu unfolds the darkest secrets of Lovecraftian magic to the shuddering gaze of Keepers and Investigators alike! Read it ... if you dare!

MAGIC AND MYSTERY

This book assembles the core of Lovecraftian magic from hints and allusions -- and blasts all certainty aside with twelve contradictory explanations for it! Keepers revel in a dozen new spells, and dubious new versions of some old spells, while Investigators find out what their abilities tell them about this stone circle in the woods ...

MAGIC AND MAYHEM

Using the new optional Magic ability has its own costs, and its own rules, revealed for the first time to a quailing humanity! Gain it how you will, from a grinning Nyarlathotep or a groaning tomb, you will never be the same again. Even the lore of Idiosyncratic Magic, strange fruit grown from the seeds planted in the Trail of Cthulhu corebook, will bleed you while worse things wait ...

MAGIC AND MONSTERS

Learn the sorcerous practices of the unthinkably alien and ancient beings of the Cthulhu Mythos, or scan the dizzying heights to which even human wizards may
ascend! Poring over this dread work reveals all of this, plus variant Elder Signs, names to conjure with, and other ...

ROUGH MAGICKS!

Arkham Detective Tales: Cyclopean skyscrapers, bizarre cults, and eerie alleyways – the city of New York stands on the threshold between the modern age and the Mythos. Four labyrinthine and spine-chilling mysteries for your Trail of Cthulhu investigators!

A magic supplement for the best-selling and award winning Trail of Cthulhu, written by the master of Lovecraft Lore, Kenneth Hite.

Arkham Detective Tales

Down these mean streets no man should go...

Cyclopean skyscrapers, bizarre cults, strange foreigners and eerie alleyways – the city of New York stands on the threshold between the modern age and the Mythos. No-one in the NYPD speaks of it, but everyone knows that certain neighborhoods are to be left alone and that there are worse things than criminals in the shadows. Only the foolhardy or the desperate follow the trail down these haunted streets.

Four labyrinthine and spine-chilling mysteries for your Trail of Cthulhu investigators!

The Kidnapping: An infant has been snatched from the cradle. Can the investigators track down the kidnappers before the parents are forced to pay the ransom?
The Book: Two men die under similar circumstances within a day of each other, victims of a serial killer that stalks New York. As the investigators delve into the mystery, they discover the perils of learning too much…
The Wreck: The tramp steamer Star of Mauritius is discovered drifting in the harbour. Her crew are all dead or missing. What secrets lie within her rusting hull?
Return to Red Hook: Thomas Malone led the police into the slums of Red Hook ten years ago, and dozens of officers died there. Now, the horror at Red Hook has returned, and once again New York’s finest must risk their lives amid the crumbling bricks tenements.

The Investigators are law enforcement agents and their civilian consultants, answerable for their actions, but will the full force of the law be enough to stem the tide of the Mythos?

Watching for Playtesters

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:36:11 GMT

We are looking for playtesters for a new Purist Trail adventure,Watchers in the Sky the follow-up to the excellent Dying of St Margaret's. Email me simon@dyingearth.com if you are interested.

GenCon

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 03:44:26 GMT

Random GenCon musings.

ProFantasy and Pelgrane booth traffic at GenCon have been brisk, with no customers so far being unfamilar with our products. Rough Magicks and Arkham Detective Tales were delivered succesfully, and selling nicely.

Cash takings are solid, but there has been a decline in credit card order. The credit crunch?

I have heard a disturbing rumour that Ken Hite was in fact born in Canada. Until we see the full form of his birth certificate posted online, or the "Lazy X" brand he allegedly received at birth in Oklahoma, I think the jury is out.

I'd love to track down the Games On Demand person at GenCon who was apparently running Mutant City Blues, as by now I think I owe him a beer or something. Allegedly he was Grant somebody.

GenCon

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:43:34 GMT

I'll be at GenCon this week, along with Ralf, who will be running the ProFantasy stand, and Jérome, who will be on the Pelgrane stand signing and drawing for some of the time. Robin Laws and Kenneth Hite may also make an appearance.

Pelgrane will be releasing two new products at GenCon, UPS willing, Rough Magicks and Arkham Detective Tales, both for Trail of Cthulhu. Steve Dempsey will be running quick demos of all the games, as well as a four-hour Trail of Cthulhu adventure.

ProFantasy will be demoing all of our products, including the Annuals and the latest subscriptions.

See Page XX

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:54:27 GMT

We've got a new Page XX up which uses Wordpress. It's not linked into the main website yet. If you see any errors, or have any comments, please let me know so we can make changes.

This month we have GM advice from Adrian Bott and Belinda Kelly, Marcus Bone delivers the first two installments of his new irregular GUMSHOE zine, Rap Sheet, Jérome Hugeunin gives us an insight into his amazing photomontage technique with the cover from our forthcoming Rough Magicks, and Robin tells us what he’d do with a million bucks.

View from the Pelgrane’s Nest by Simon Rogers
See Page XX by Robin D Laws
Cthulhu Playtesting Article by Belinda Kelly
Antagonists and Motivations: giving enemy NPCs depth by Adrian Bott
The Invitation a pick a path adventure for Call of Cthulu by Sam Friedman
The Rap Sheet Gumshoe Fanzine by Marcus Bone
Photomontage Technique for a Trail of Cthulhu Cover by Jérôme Huguenin

Esoterror Factbook Competition

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:26:13 GMT

Due to an oversight, we missed an important clue from the Esoterror Factbook competition. I've extended the deadline to the end of August. Here it is:

Original Briefing

This briefing was conveyed to Agents Roark and Losada by their Mr. Verity on assignment to Operation Marble Shanty, Phase One:

You are tasked with an investigation into the deaths of self-styled guerrilla artist SELMA POOLE. POOLE was murdered in a courthouse confrontation by pool cleaner ZEKE KULA, in an apparently unmotivated incident. POOLE had been arrested for a disturbance created through an unauthorized art installation project held at the FAIRBORN GALLERY MALL in FAIRBORN, CT. Although we have no concrete confirmation of supernatural or Esoterror involvement, our media team analysis has flagged the case for the following reasons:

* Psychologically destabilizing nature of POOLE’s art installation

* Potential example of heightening anxiety surrounding a news event already generating considerable anxiety and cognitive dissonance

* Use of Esoterror keywords in POOLE’s press statements

* Shocking public nature of POOLE’s death

* Puzzling lack of motivation on part of KULA, opening possibility of arcane influence

You will be provided with identification & clearance as FBI agents following up details of case on a supporting basis. Like any case assigned as MTA work product, may prove entirely innocuous. Potential for Schrödinger backlash is high; observe requisite protocols and exercise extreme caution. Deflect and dampen case’s inherent drama, laying preliminary groundwork for veil-out throughout investigative phase. Do not allow your investigation to contribute to conspiracy theories or other psychologically troubling rumors. Avoid media attention!!

Esoterrorists Competition Update

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:17:36 GMT

We've extended the deadline for the Esoterrorists competition, as we missed out the original briefing document. We'll update the competition website next week.

Hard Helix Released

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:15:18 GMT

Hard Helix has been released. It's a set of four adventures for Mutant City Blues, and you can get it in the Pelgrane Press Store. It'll soon be available on IPR, rpgnow.com and your local game store.

THERE’S MURDER AND MAYHEM IN MUTANT CITY...

...and you’ve got four tough new cases to clear.

Mutant City Blues creator Robin D Laws brings you four ready-to-play case
files to puzzle and challenge your local Heightened Crimes Investigative
Unit.

The Hard Helix: A controversial researcher into mutant
powers Sidney Dorris is found murdered the evening before his scheduled
announcement of a stunning scientific breakthrough. What was his secret, and
who was willing to kill him for it?

The Vanishers: The squad’s intervention in a jewelry
store robbery leads them into an operation against the new school,
mutant-bolstered forces of organized crime.

Super Squad: A sudden death at a mutant-related riot
leads the unit into the twisted world of the Super Squad, an elite policing
group who work the city’s toughest streets—and have, in the process, gotten
more than a little dirty.

Cell Division: The detectives confront a homegrown
terrorist threat from a previously unknown group of mutant supremacists. Can
they uncover the truth behind the Mutant Revolutionary Front — one that
remains shrouded even from its own suicidally indoctrinated followers?

Grab your coffee, scarf down a donut, and unpop your six-inch claws... it’s
time for the squad to hit the streets!

Trail of Cthulhu Review

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:28:51 GMT

A new five-star review of Trail of Cthulhu by OBS staff reviewer, Megan Robertson.

Overall, this is a masterful melding of the Gumshoe system with classic Cthulhu Mythos gaming, an inspired match. There's so much goodness in this that I'll be back again and again, not just to play but to mine for ideas whatever I am doing.