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I just hope I can get it printed in time...
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Trail of Cthulhu was nominated for an Origins Award for Best RRG, but the honours were taken by Mouseguard. I must play it. Oh, there was another game nominated, but it was fairly obscure. Read more...
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You might consider friending Jérome's journal for regular art updates. I repost his latest post as a taster.
I just love drawing menacing cultist ! I like the enigmatic face, questionning the viewer, is it a mask ! A cthulhu face ? my grandma ?
This last pic is for the "suprise" book for Trail of Cthulhu that might be (if the stars are with us) at gencon indy.
I now have my plane tickets for gencon so you will see me there (well if you want to !)
I will be signing books at Pelgrane place. Well, maybe not all the time, as it is the first time I come to this great convention. Simon Rogers will plane some signing sessions I guess.
I am pretty excited, mostly because I will be with the Pelgrane team (Kenneth, Robin, Sacha, Ralf, Steve), not only job partners, but enjoyable fellows that I don't see enough... lost I am in the east of France...
I also hope to play some game, wich I never have a chance to busy drawing for enthousiastic fans !!! wich is a very enjoyable feeling too ! and a great exercice ! you have to creat a cool drawing in about 10 minutes with no computer help or image references...
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James Semple, who has written music for Esoterrorists and Trail of Cthulhu, has just released a new superhero-oriented piece for Daring Entertainment, called City Rampage which is now available from rpgnow.com.
An excerpt from the Esoterrorists theme can be found here.
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Disguise“I jam the pieces of mirror in front of my eyes, like a toff with two monocles. Once I feel the blood flow from my cheeks, I just walk up to him and wait to see who he thinks he sees looking out at him. If it works anything like it does in my nightmares, he probably thinks I’m his dead brother.”
( Creepy art behind the cut. )
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The Armitage Files brings improvisation to the GUMSHOE system, and to Trail of Cthulhu. It's still Keeper-lead, but players contribute, too. The heart of the book is a series of documents and pictures sent from the future (or is it an alternate time line?) but Dr Henry Armitage. The PCs must follow the leads, and prevent disaster. The Files have been subject to rigorous playtesting, and now include extra practical material on improvising in actual play for both players and the Keeper. Oh, it's written by Robin Laws.
I'm also pleased to announce that Sarah Wroot, our amazing Dying Earth layout artist and illustrator has returned to create the documents themselves. Here is a section:
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A surprise supplement for Trail of Cthulhu will be released at GenCon, printers willing. This is the front cover image. You know who created it.
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There is a review of the Esoterror Fact Book over on the Pelgrane Press forums.
I just didn't get what Esoterror was supposed to look like ... The Esoterror Factbook changed all that for me.
...
The part that really struck me was the section on the Special Suppression Forces. To be sure, all the crunchy combat rules you could possibly want are available here. The good news is, they stick to the theme of genre and narrative use, and do not take GUMSHOE too far down the wargame path. But here's the better part: embedded in this section, along with the sample adventure, is a thinking man's wargame. Mr. Laws has managed to show how the GUMSHOE paradigms of resource management and clue finding can be used in a tactical combat environment. Now, taking down the bad guys guns blazing is more about managing your pools, and using your noggin to get the best advantage. And one by Pookie on Game Cryer for Trail of Cthulhu supplement, The Dying of St Margaret's: There is something awful about the Purist nature of The Dying of St. Margaret’s, but a stark beauty too, one that exemplifies Lovecraftian horror’s uncaring nature.
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Welcome to the CityScene Type: Introduction Clue Clue: The Moon-Tower The characters find themselves sprawled on an onyx parapet, in the middle of a bizarre alien city. Huge buildings loom above them like some opium-nightmare vision of Manhattan. Most of the buildings are featureless black stone, but others are decorated with intricate arabesques or green-gilded carvings. Few of the buildings have entrances reachable by the characters, as if the city was designed for things that could fly or at least levitate. The tops of the taller towers are lost in a thick purple fog. Shapes move in the fog far above. A 4-point Stability test is needed.
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I'm pleased to report that two Pelgrane releases made it on to the RPG Countdown top ten list. These were XPS 7/8 - Tooth, Talon and Pinion for the Dying Earth and The Dying of St Margaret's for Trail of Cthulhu. Listen here. In it, Graham Walmsley comes up with a good working definition for a Purist adventure. If you do use a gun, it will only be to shoot yourself!
Trail of Cthulhu has been nominated for an Origins Award. Let us say that we are up against somewhat stiff competition (D&D 4e and Star Wars Saga), so we won't win. Still, it's good to be nominated - that gets us more metaphorical silver for the cabinet. The excellent Mouseguard from Archaia Studios Press by Luke Crane and David Petersen also has a nod.
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Dan Harms has written a review of DoSM, here.
...this is a chilling scenario epitomizing Lovecraft’s cosmic horror. It not only recommends itself to Trail of Cthulhu purist players, but it’s also an excellent resource for Call of Cthulhu players who want more cosmic horror in their games. Also, Graham and I were also rather chuffed to note this comment from Dr_Locrian on the yog-sothoth forum: The Dying of St. Margaret's is an awesome scenario, all kinds of win! I just love the story, it feels like an old school Val Lewton production (is it a leftover from Shadows Over Filmland?). I'm tempted to contact the writer so I can write a screenplay adaptation!
I think it also has what I would consider the Platonic ideal for Trail of Cthulhu scenario writing format: a non-linear collection of scenes and clues and multiple ways of obtaining information listed. Also liked the hints on how to roleplay the key NPC's.
Bravos all around!
Finally, Indie Pete reviewed it on RPGnow.com. Watch out for the very early spoiler. "The Dying Of St Margaret’s" is a professionally presented and evocative Mythos scenario in the Purist vein...Cheerful stuff, presented in a no-nonsense fashion... this is great, more scenarios and RPG-writing should be so direct.
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Shadows Over Filmland for Trail of Cthulhu is out now! Pre-ordered copies have shipped, and you can get it at the Pelgrane Press webstore and IPR.
Following the success of the ProFantasy implementation of paypal, the Pelgrane store now takes paypal, too.
Dying Earth Update
Fields of Silver, a Dying Earth supplement was accidentally missed out of our PDF releases, and is now available until the end of May from our store and rpgnow.com. Read the author's article about her design intentions for this early-style campaign.
Since our sale began, we have sold over 1000 Dying Earth games. 100 people have bought the core book from rpgnow alone. I'm very chuffed; I am sure there is some element of "get it while it's available", but I've had a number of people emailing me, wondering why they hadn't tried it before. A few items are now completely sold out, including Turjan's Tome, and others are disappearing fast. Perhaps a closing down sale was the best thing for the Dying Earth! It would have taken until the sun died to sell that many, otherwise.
The Dying Earth rule set might not die though. I'm contemplating a use for it, but I'm open to suggestion.
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Shadows Over Filmland has been reprinted correctly following the flawed first print run and will be ready for shipping shortly. Now I have to decide what to do with 1500 books I am very unlikely ever to sell.
Before:
After:
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Graham Walmsley ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) spencerpinewrote a Purist adventure for Pelgrane, and he playtested it on our group. Bleak, but enjoyable, it forms the first of a trilogy of GUMSHOE advetnures.
It's now out, as PDF from rpgnow.com, IPR and the Pelgrane store.
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I was away two weeks ago, and delayed my shipment of Shadows to arrive the week I got back. They actually turned up yesterday, as DHL required a VAT number. Of course, Pelgrane Press is not VAT registered, so I had to juggle things with ProFantasy.
They are beautifully printed and bound - even better than Trail, very sturdy, smythe-sewn with head and foot bands. The artwork glows with silver-screen light. The black end papers contrast effectively with the lurid cover.
But there's one great big bloody problem, and I can't release the damn books. In fact, I'm demanding a reprint. See if you can spot the problem.
( More on this printing nightmare )
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This is a graph of cumulative sales just through distribution for the five best selling GUMSHOE products to date. Mutant City Blues has sold in the first two weeks about as many as Esoterrorists had by month five. Note the slow build up of Eso - it was very hard to persuade distributors to stock Eso in depth, as it was a new, untried system. I had to phone them a couple of times to get them to stock a decent amount.
The later products had better pre-orders and then a shallow increase. Distributors are still very conservative - some will only stock the exact pre-order amount they've received from retailers. With Mutant City Blues this has happened again, and now after two weeks, three major warehouses are out of stock of MCB at prime buying time. It's a little frustrating. I won't know for three months if MCB will live up to these relatively large retailer expectations, or if it will quickly flatten out.
Trail sales have yet to flatten noticeably. If it follows the Eso curve, I'll run out of stock in a couple of years.
Other interesting data - our early adventures sell consistently between 30 and 35% of the total core book sales across all lines. Our later material (and I only have Dying Earth to go on) sell significantly less. I have reason to believe that Trail and Eso supplement percentages will hold up better than Dying Earth, and I think the Esoterror Fact Book will be the proof of the pudding. It could be that the percentage just naturally falls off with the age of the core book, though, and there's nothing I can do about it. The super-sweet spot is to have sold enough of the core book that you can litho print your supplements. I've nearly reached it with Trail. I had to do that with the Screen, but whether I'll sell them all I don't know. Shadows Over Filmland is a bit of a gamble as a duotone hard back, but it had to be that for aesthetic reasons. I just hope the sales warrant it.
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Shadows over Filmland is available for pre-order exclusively on Indie Press Revolution, to ship out on 6th March. The pre-order will get you the PDF free, now.
It will be up on the Pelgrane Store and available in your FLGS 10th March.
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robin_d_laws has completed the first draft of The Armitage Files, a campaign setting for Trail of Cthulhu, and I'm looking for playtesters. Please </a>email me subject Armitage Files if you'd like to playtest it.
Edit: Playtest slots are now all filled.
Documents, apparently written by Dr Armitage have appeared in the Miskatonic Library. Dr. Armitage has no recollection of having written them, nor of the people or events laid out on their grime-stained pages. Speculation rages as to the provenance of the files. Is this an elaborate prank, or a hoax played by one of the Inquiry’s growing list of occult enemies? Or do the weird warnings in these impossible documents portend real doom, if not investigated?
This book provides the raw materials for an open-ended epic campaign, in which the PCs investigate the cryptic references laid out in the files as they see fit. As the players choose which leads to follow and which to leave on the backburner, the Keeper improvises a series of scenarios allowing them to avert the future cataclysms the files foretell.
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I'm pleased to announce two new conversions for Trail of Cthulhu, Death in Luxor and The Reeling Midnight, courtesy of Goodman Games and Miskatonic River Press respectively. Get the free downloads here.
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