Malted Meeple - A Community Loss

On January 11, 2021, The Malted Meeple posted an announcement: as of that day, they were permanently shutting their doors. At the start of the pandemic they had to close their doors. When they were allowed to open up, they were never more full than 25% of their capacity. As with any business, with only 25% of expected business, they have no choice but to close down.

This is sad for many, many reasons. The Malted Meeple was a staple of the gaming community and brought something that NE Ohio really didn't have - a place for people to gather, drink, eat, and game. The Meeple holds a special spot for me for so many reasons.

I first heard about The Meeple at an Oddmall where Jim, the proprietor, was there at a booth for Ravenwood Castle (which they also own). He told me it was opening up in a few months and I was excited. I followed it closely and as soon as they were opened I scheduled my wife's birthday party there. This was at the original building in Hudson (the amazing former horse stable) and despite having to hold the party later than expected due to delays in construction, the party was amazing. Jim, Karington, and the rest of the Meeple staff were incredible and we had an amazing time.

After that, we would head up to The Meeple every so often to have a good time. My daughter had her 16th birthday party there as well. It was a great place to go, hang out, and relax. Then they started to run RPGs.

Being an avid gamer, I unfortunately didn't have a gaming group so I was excited to hear this. Dungeons and Dragons 5E had just been released and they were running some demo sessions, so I decided to sign up for a game to try it out. As always, I had a lot of fun. Due to time constraints, I wasn't able to show up for any more D&D games, but kept watching their announcements. 

Some time later, one of the newsletters mentioned they were looking for other GMs to run games. I immediately emailed them and volunteered to run Call of Cthulhu. I honestly think I shocked them with the speed of my email, but it seemed like a great opportunity. We set up a date and I became the first non-Meeple employee to run an RPG there (to my knowledge). When the night arrived, I had a full table and ran my favorite scenario - Crack'd & Crook'd Manse. The game was superb, with many of the PCs having memorable deaths and everyone having a great time. I set up a monthly game and would run Call of Cthulhu over the next two years (at least).

The experiences I had running CoC at the Malted Meeple were some of the best gaming experiences I've had. I've documented many of them on this blog, but some of the highlights include:

• Running my first full campaign ever. It was Call of Cthulhu's A Time to Harvest. While had some players jump in and out, two players stayed through the whole thing and in the end I created custom print-on-demand copies of the campaign as gifts for them.
• Running a campaign I had written for Pulp Cthulhu. While not every session was a hit (I am personally disappointed with the way the climax was written), it was still a blast. The first session is still one of the most memorable games in my entire gaming career.
• Introducing I don't know how many players to Call of Cthulhu. Some of those players have gone on to run CoC games themselves and even publish a few scenarios online.
• GM'ing one of the most immersive and atmospheric CoC games I have ever done. You might think that it might be impossible to do that in the middle of a gaming cafe, but The Meeple worked with me and the result was indescribable.

I had many other amazing adventures directly due to The Malted Meeple. I played my first games of Numenera there and got to work in the Origins convention hall for them (which let me get in before everyone else, which really was the highlight).

The Malted Meeple also set the standard of gaming cafes for me too; not only as a customer but as a GM. You see, running a game at Malted Meeple wasn't just a thing you did. Sure, every time you ran a game you got a free non-alcoholic drink (I still don't forgive them for getting rid of the French Press coffee). But they also treated their GMs well. They set up a program where you got free stuff. I was able to get a GM T-Shirt from them (I still have it) and some books. They held back Free RPG Day stuff for their GMs and set up special meetings for them to talk about what was going to be coming. I have never seen any other place do this, and thats a little sad.

I feel horrible that I was not been able to go to The Malted Meeple for the last few years. A new job, moving, and many other responsibilities prevented me from doing so. We would still go up every so often, but when Covid hit that pretty much stopped us from doing anything there.

The loss of The Malted Meeple has surely been felt throughout the NE Ohio gaming community. I have yet to find any place like it and I doubt I ever will. I hope the closure is a temporary thing and some day in the future they reemerge. If and when they do, I guarantee I'll be there on opening day.

Play Report: Pulp Cthulhu Campaign Sessions 2-4

Its been a while since I've posted on here about anything, so I figured I'd play a little catch up with my play reports. I've continued to run my Pulp Cthulhu campaign at the Malted Meeple, and we've had more sessions. Here's a quick recap:

• Session 2, Romanian Monastery - The PCs themselves in a monastery in the mountains of Romania looking for the next piece of the artifact. Trailed by a Nazi spy that was close after them, they found it in an underground cavern protected by a demon.
  
• Session 3, Arabia - Traveling to an unnamed tradecity in Arabia (in an airship no less!), the PCs fought rocket-packed Nazis, Byakhee, and crash landed just outside the city. They discovered the city was built on top of another, ancient city, and the fragment was there. Finding the city, they narrowly escaped its ghostly defenders only to find the Nazi Thule colonel holding Marilyn Ellis - a companion from the Order - at gunpoint. In order to save her they gave him the fragment, but he killed Marilyn anyway. The colonel was mortally wounded, but by the time the PCs got to his body, it was gone.
  
• Session 4, King Solomon's Mines - In our latest adventure, the PCs traveled to Angola to find King Solomon's Mines. After finding a hidden map containing its location, going up river through the jungle, they found the mines. They got the fragment and escaped just as the mines filled with lava, finding themselves once again face to face with the Nazi colonel. However, their airship came just in time to save them, and they escaped. The landed in the Sahara Desert, just outside an ancient ceremonial chamber. After each drinking a potion, they walked down 70 steps to be greeted by the priests Nasht and Kaman-tha, and began their journey down the 700 steps into the Dreamlands.

Yes, I'm being vague on everything for a reason, while I'll reveal at a later date. The last session was amazing, at had the most pulpiest scene thus far in the campaign.

The PCs were traveling up-river when they rounded a bend in time to see a Nazi sorcerer melding two natives and two crocodiles together - creating two crocodile men that immediately jumped into the water toward them. Behind the sorcerer was a Nazi soldier behind a large machine gun that opened fire on them. So, imagine they're in the boat, which has caught on fire because of gunfire hitting the engine, fighting two crocodile men, when they realize the boat is heading straight for a waterfall!

Fortunately, the PCs were barely able to make it out of the boat before it exploded and went over the falls. The whole scene took maybe 10 minutes, but was one of the most exciting and tense ones so far.

There should only be two more sessions in the campaign before they are done. Thus far the players have been enjoying it and have I, and I have big plans for it in the future. Can't wait to tell you all that later!

Play Report: Pulp Cthulhu Campaign Session 1 (Part 2)

In my last post, we left our brave pulp adventurers recovering from an attack by the Nazi Thule Society which ended up with the Sun Fragment, an ancient piece of a larger tablet that could summon Cthugha, stolen. The rest of the pieces were lost to history, but a scroll within the Library of Alexandria might contain clues to their locations. With a "gate" opened up to the hiding place of the Library deep under the Mediterranean, our fearless group strode forward.

They found themselves in a dark cavern, the ceiling too high to see. Water could be heard dripping from the ceiling and the smell of salt water in the air. At the opposite end of the cave they could make out a large, marble building with grand columns, jutting out of the rock. However, what assaulted their senses was the smell of burned paper and flesh, and the numerous charred bodies scattered on the ground and up the steps to the library. Even after all these centuries, the corpses still looked fresh.

The PCs made their way into the library and began searching. Unfortunately, many of the scrolls had been lost to time and humidity, falling apart on their hands. The only clue they had been given was that "the all seeing eye would guide them". This proved useful when they realized that above each door was an Egyptian Hieroglyph - and one of them was the Eye of Horus!

This room was different as, instead of the back being lined with shelves, there was a statue of Horus holding a staff. This room was also noticeably colder than the rest of the library. The staff was pulled and the statue slid to the side, revealing a small room with a raised platform in the middle, a number of blocks on it.

Two PCs strode forward and very quickly they heard an audible *click*! The statue slammed back into place and water started to pour out from underneath the platform.

Completed Eye of Horus Puzzle

This is where I had the most fun as a Keeper. Before the game, I had taken an image of the Eye of Horus, cut it up into 16 squares, and numbered the backs. During the game, I shuffled up the blocks, handed them to the PCs, and told them they had 3 minutes to put it back together. I then started a timer. Every 30-45 seconds, I had one of the PCs make an Idea roll. Depending on how well they succeeded, they could turn over a number of squares to look at their number.

The PCs on the outside weren't totally useless. In another room was a carving of the eye - if they pressed it (which they did), the timer would stop for 30 seconds.

This went amazingly well. The PCs finished the puzzle with 10 seconds to spare! The water immediately receded, the statue opened back up, and a second door in the trap room opened revealing a long passageway - at the end of which was the scroll they were after, hovering in air over a pedestal.

This new room was exceedingly colder - so much so that the PCs were shivering and could see their breath. On either side of the pedestal were two braziers, small fires burning. One PC could have sworn the fires were following their movement as they crept forward. They reached up and felt intense cold surrounding the scroll, which burned their hand as they grabbed it.

Immediately, the cold of the room disappeared. For a second, everything seemed fine - but then three things happened. First, the flames in the braziers shot up to the ceiling and them combined into a huge, fire creature. Second, all of the charred bodies in the Library began to move and animate. Third, the entire cavern began to shake and cave in.

This is where one PC - the same PC who had the scroll, went temporarily insane. He rolled that he went psychoanalytically blind from the fire creature, so another player had to (quickly) guide him out.

The rest was a mad dash out of the library, dodging falling stone, fighting fire zombies, and trying to avoid the huge creature behind them. As they got near the spot where they had to re-open the gate, the earth shook and a crack in the ground opened up...with zombies and the fire creature at their back, they had to get across. Some of them were able to jump, and they threw back a rope for the others, who barely made it across.

The gate was opened and, just as they were all diving in, the fire creature threw a huge fireball at them. Luck rolls were called for. Two of the people failed and I described the fireball heading towards them as they dove into the gate to safety on the other side....when I called the game for the night.

You have to end on a cliffhanger!

Pulp Cthulhu Thoughts

This was my first game of Pulp Cthulhu and, while there are minor changes to the rules, I think overall it fits smoothly into the pulp genre. Since this was our intro game to the campaign, and Pulp Cthulhu, I didn't want to throw in too much of the new, so I didn't use things like insane traits or psychic powers. However, those will definitely be in upcoming games.

The only issue I have, and this is really my own issue, is that I am trying to find a good way to fuse and balance the investigative aspects of a normal Call of Cthulhu game with the pulp action you would expect. I have some ideas, and the scenarios in the back of the book give me some great ideas.

Chaosium did just release the PDF version of their own pulp campaign, The Two-Headed Serpent. However, I'm avoiding this on purpose as I don't want any of the ideas from there to seep into my campaign. It does look amazing though and I look forward to reading it once I'm done with mine.

Play Report: Pulp Cthulhu Campaign Session 1

This past week I ran the first game of a Pulp Cthulhu campaign that I'm running at the Malted Meeple and it went amazingly well. I had advertised the game in multiple places, and it paid off as I had 7 people show up to play in the game - the largest table that I've run in years. Two of the players had never played Call of Cthulhu before, and for one this was their first RPG ever.

This is my play report of the game. Its probably going to be long. :)

Character Creation 

For the first hour we did character creation. The character creation process for Pulp Cthulhu is pretty straightforward and doesn't deviate much from the 7th edition character creation process. Since Pulp Cthulhu is a more action-oriented game, the characters get better stats, higher skills, and more HP.

In Pulp Cthulhu, there are two additional things the PCs get: an archetype and talents. The archetype is different from their occupation, and describes the PC's look on life. Some example archetypes are adventurer, hard boiled, and rogue. The archetype gives them more skill points in specific skills, and a core characteristic in which they get to roll (1d6+13)*5.

Talents are special skills or abilities the Pulp character has. Talents are broken up into four categories: physical, mental, combat, and miscellaneous. These are used to give the PC just a little more of an edge to make them just a little better.

In the end, we had 2 author-explorers, 3 criminals, and 2 detectives. Not super balanced, but as a group they ended up doing well.

Play Report - The Initiation Ceremony

The game started with the PCs being invited to a mansion on the outskirts of Arkham to join a secret society called the Order of the Hawk. Each arrived and were led to a magnificent ballroom where they met a number of the members, including the Order's leader, a gruff British officer named Major Rupert Ellis; his daughter, Marilyn; and the Order's resident "researcher", Professor Arthur Emery.

After being led to a secret ceremonial room encircled by men in robes, Major Ellis explained that the Order was hundreds of years old and worked to prevent evil from succeeding in the world. All of the PCs had exemplified themselves somehow and were being invited to join.

As an example of what they protect, the Major showed them the Sun Fragment, a circular obsidian fragment engraved with the black circle, an ancient occult symbol. The Major explained that this fragment had been entrusted to the Order many years ago to protect it from those who would wish to use it to do evil. As if on cue, explosions, gun fire, and screaming could be heard from the mansion above.

The door was flung open and in walked a Nazi Thule Society officer, Colonel Hariman Muller, followed by a man in occult robes. The men around the room threw off their robes, revealing themselves to be Nazi soldiers holding machine guns. Colonel Mueller, wanted the Sun Fragment. The Major refused, and soon a gunfight ensued.

Unfortunately for the PCs, the man in occult robes began to chant and soon transformed into a Formless Spawn. Unfortunately for the PCs, again, they only had guns which proved ineffective. Fortunately, Prof. Muller was there with his experimental lightening gun that seemed to hurt the creature. As the melee was winding down, the group saw the Colonel leaving with the fragment.

A car chase then occurred, with the PCs tailing the Colonel. It ended with the PCs shooting out the tires of the Colonel's car, it flipping through the air, and landing on the banks of the Miskatonic River. Unfortunately, a boat was waiting on the edge of the river for the Colonel who sped away, victory in hand.

The PCs met up again and - with the help of an ancient Greek paper found in the Colonel's car, and a captured Nazi soldier who mocked them before biting on a suicide-tooth - learned that the Sun Fragment was the center piece of a tablet that was broken up thousands of years ago by unknown ancients. The fragments were scattered around the world, as if they were joined together the tablet could be used to call down Cthugha to rain fire and destruction on any location.

No one knew where the fragments were at. However, a scroll within the Library of Alexandria gave hints as to where the fragments were located at. The paper stated that while most of the Library had been destroyed, ancient protectors had transported a portion of it to a cave beneath the Mediterranean Sea to protect it from Cthugha cultists that wanted the scroll. With the location in the paper, Prof. Emery was convinced he could use his new "gate" technology to transport them there. (It was perfectly safe - all of the monkeys had came back fine, just only losing a little hair.)

To allow them to return, the professor gave them a sphere, which they could throw at the location the gate appeared at to reopen it. However, they could only use it once.

The PCs were reluctant, but Major Ellis begged them to go. They were part of the Order now, and most of the other members were injured or dead. If Col. Mueller were to get his hands on the fragments, the devastation would be immense. The PCs agreed to go, and before they knew it, they were stepping through the gate to the hidden Library of Alexandria.


This was only the first half of our game, but this post is getting long. In my next post, I'll detail their exciting adventure at the Library, and how I freaked two players out by giving them 3 minutes to survive in my trap of watery doom!

Glancing Back and Looking Forward

The first day of 2017 is upon us, and like many I am glad 2016 is over. There were too many tragedies that occurred during the year, which I would prefer to forget and move on. So with one exception, I will instead focus on the good that happened in 2016 and what I am looking forward to in 2017.

The one exception is the passing of my brother-in-law, Jimmy, which occurred in February. His death was a shock to everyone in the family - many of whom have not yet recovered. He was a gamer and a talented artist, and it saddens me that we only got to game together once. If we are to take anything from this, its that we should not wait and let things sit - enjoy those around you while you can.

So, the good stuff from 2016. Personally, I think I gamed more in 2016 than I have since my middle school days. Much of this is due to The Malted Meeple, where I run a monthly Call of Cthulhu game.

In the last half of 2016, I also ran the first organized campaign I've ever run - A Time to Harvest from Chaosium. This was an amazing experience, much in part from the reoccurring players that I had in each game. These were the type of players that every GM dreams of - they were passionate, exuberant, and completely into their characters. Two of the players - Maggie and Adam - were two of the best players I have ever had the pleasure to GM for. At the end of the campaign, I printed off a special copy of it for them, including an obituary for one of the characters that sacrificed his life.

One last highlight of 2016 was that I got to participate in my oldest daughter's first RPG. We played in a game of Cold Steel Wardens at Origins. After finding out that this was her first RPG, the GM helped her out and made her feel at home at the table. This, if nothing else, has helped spur her interest in gaming more.

I can already see that 2017 will be a busy year gaming-wise. I am starting up a new campaign at The Malted Meeple, this time using the recently released Pulp Cthulhu supplement. I will be involved in at least one RPG kickstarter (which I technically wrote for in 2016, but it won't be KS'ed until 2017 so close enough), and possibly more on the horizon. Coupling this with a number of other non-gaming commitments, I can already see I will be quite occupied.

But that is a good thing! Keeping busy means that I am getting things done. To me, there is nothing worse than having all these ideas in your head and letting them sit. In my experience, that means that eventually someone else will get your idea too and put it into practice.

And I will continue to blog on this site. Aside from being therapeutic, it gives me a chance to talk about one of my passions - gaming. So expect more from this site this year. Granted, I have no illusions that anyone is reading my posts, but then again I'm doing this for myself. In any case, if you are reading it, thank you, and I look forward to hearing what you have to say about what I have to say!

Here's looking forward to a great 2017!

Play Report: Under the Sea

Let me tell you about this amazing Call of Cthulhu game I just ran! I split out the post into two parts: the game I ran, and the way I created the atmosphere.

The Game

I recently finished the A Time to Harvest campaign I was running at The Malted Meeple, and had mentioned to the players that I was thinking about running a one-shot that was a bit more immersive than I normally did. They were all for it. After getting permission from the Meeple, I started to plan for a game that would either fail miserably or succeed spectacularly well. I ran that game the other night.

The scenario I had originally wanted to run was Pagan Publishing's Grace Under Pressure. I wanted to immerse the players into the under the sea submarine horror experience. Its an amazing scenario, but I had different ideas in my head. So I did what any self-respecting Keeper does...I stole ideas from multiple sources. In the end, I ran a scenario that was a mix of Grace Under Pressure, Chaosium's The Derelict, and Event Horizon. Spoilers ahead.

The synopsis of the game (not to spoil it if I run it again) is that the PCs were on a US research vessel in cold war 1980s. They were contacted by the US government to find a sunken Russian ship that had been carrying a secret weapon. Fortunately, the PCs were testing a mini-sub capable of reaching extreme depths. After getting their CIA handler (another PC), the PCs set off to find the ship.

Submerging the sub to depths it had not yet gone, the PCs found the ship. The area surrounding the ship was filled with a forest of black, rotting seaweed. Additionally, oddly, the ship had not been crushed by the extreme depth they were in, when it should have. In fact, they could see power on inside and a few shadows indicating life. When the seaweed started to attack the sub, they had to ram it into a hole in the ship, which allowed them to get out. Somehow, the pressure was not affecting them.

The inside of the ship was explored. Eventually, they found a Russian crew mate still alive but insane and trying to kill them. They also found the secret weapon, but it had opened a gate to another dimension and let through a number of shadow creatures. The PCs barely escaped when all hell started to break loose, and found themselves floating on the ocean surface in their pressurized vessel, waiting for rescue.

In the end, 1 player went crazy and 2 were hurting badly...and they were captured by the Russians.

Malleus Monstrorum 

Before I go on, I want to say that the Malleus Monstrorum is perhaps the greatest resource to a Call of Cthulhu Keeper. It is more than just a monster manual, it is a hotbed of ideas. There has never been a time when I've paged through it and not been inspired.

In this scenario, I was at a loss for which creatures to use. I had to go no farther than the first few pages. There I found the Adumbrali, shadow creatures I used as a basis for my own; and the Dark Sargassum, a seaweed version of the Dark Young. If you don't have this, buy it now.

The Ambiance

So what made this game so awesome? The ambiance I was able to create.

When we started the game, all of the lights were on and the game went as it normally did. However, when the PCs went down into the depths of the ocean things in the room changed.

A view from behind the Keeper's screen.

First, the lights were turned off. Before the game started, I had taped cardboard to all the windows to make sure the light from the outside rooms would be blocked; the shades had also been pulled. Some light still seeped in, but honestly, it was very little and added to things.

The only real light the players had to see by were green glow sticks I had handed to them; this created an eerie glow in the room.


If the glow had been the only thing, the atmosphere would not have been complete. What finished it was a bluetooth radio I had set up near the table to play sounds from ambient-mixer.com.

While on the sub, I played the Steampunk sub mix which added steam engine and other under the sea sounds which echoed through the room.

Once the PCs got onto the ship, I changed it to a ghost ship mix. This played eerie noises, dripping water, and an occasional scream. I knew it was working the first time to scream played - everyone jumped. At one point, the sounds stopped playing (the speaker battery ran out) and everyone tensed up - they weren't sure if something was about to happen!

The combination of the lack of light and the sounds from the speaker elevated the game to a whole new level. All of the players raved about it, and even the staff at the Malted Meeple were jealous (some even threatened to clock out and sit in there just to experience it). This is not something I'll do all the time, but it worked so well that I'll absolutely be doing it again. I already have ideas for the next game I use this in.

Call of Cthulhu Session: A Time to Harvest Chapter 3

Last night I ran my monthly Call of Cthulhu game at The Malted Meeple in Hudson, OH where we are working our way through Chaosium's organized play campaign A Time to Harvest. This month we went through Chapter 3. Some spoilers ahead.

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Still here? Cool.

Play Report

This chapter saw the PCs dealing with the aftermath of the attack on the campus from Chapter 2. I had two players returning from the previous game with their PCs, and a new one that was easy to get involved by retcon'ing some of the activities slightly. They found themselves in the police station, getting berated by the chief of police and MU president who were looking for a scapegoat for everything that had happened. Luckily for them, the lawyer from Federated Oil and Chemical, a business who has been in the background until now, stepped in to save them if they agreed to meet the president of the company, Michael Abelard.

Shortly thereafter, the PCs found themselves in Detroit talking to Mr. Abelard concerning his organization, his life's mission, and how they fit into this. (I'm being somewhat vague here so as not to reveal too much.) The PCs agreed to join on a mission that would take them back to Cobbs Corners, VT to do additional research and fact gathering.

The rest of the scenario involved the players roleplaying talking to the people from F.O.C. that would join them on the trip, and ensuring all their questions were answered. They learned a lot from the people there about their enemy (again being vague on purpose), and by the end felt they knew a lot more than they did before. The players did an amazing job roleplaying and ensuring everything was ready for the trip, including making sure additional supplies and weapons were gone.

The night before the trip was to start, a party was thrown to toast their assured success. Unfortunately, halfway through the power in the building went out. The PCs volunteered to turn it on, heading down into the basement. Almost immediately they knew something was wrong (the screams and gunshots helped this one). However, they continued down into the basement, where they discovered the source of the issues.

So as not to spoil everything, I'll stop there. Suffice to say, one PC ended up within seconds of losing his life, only to be saved by a last minute First Aid roll. All the PCs survived, but were not left unscathed. Time will tell what the next chapter brings and who, if anyone, survives.

Thoughts

I'll admit that I was worried about this chapter. The main part of the scenario is short, and although it comes with an optional mission, I knew I wouldn't be able to run it. Since I am running this once a month, I am attempting to get each chapter done in one session. This usually means cutting out something from the scenario and getting to the meat of it. In this case, that was the optional scenario. This left the main part, which really wasn't that long and was mostly a fact-finding investigation (until the end).


My concern was if it would be enough, and wasn't sure if the players would enjoy a roleplaying session where they were talking for the majority of it. To my delight, at the end the players thoroughly loved it!

They told me that it went perfectly. There was a great balance of investigation, revelations, and in the end, combat. Additionally, they said they were on the edge of their seats during the last part where they didn't know if they'd live or die, and the tension is carrying over to the next chapter.

I have to say that the players really did make this game. They did wonderfully, and one particular player - who is actually new to Call of Cthulhu - is playing a PC who is quickly becoming my favorite to GM. They are a group that makes GM'ing a game like Call of Cthulhu worth it. I only hope they show up to the next game.

One last thing happened last night that defies the odds of it happening - one player rolled in the 90s 11 times in a row. Now think about this, that means that with their percentile 10s die, they rolled 9 11 times in a row. The odds of that are 1 in 10^11, or 1 in 100 billion.

Was it the dice? No. After the 6th or 7th time, he used one of the other player's die and rolled in the 90s again. Then he switched to an app on his phone - same thing happened. It was truly unbelievable. Sadly, none of them were critical failures and none occurred on SAN checks. That would have been too much fun.

The players and I are looking forward to Chapter 4, where they make their return to Cobbs Corners. Fortunately, they have no clue what is about to happen to them!

Origins Recap

Its been almost two weeks after Origins and I'm finally getting around to writing a recap. Overall, it was an awesome con - in fact, probably one of the best in years. I'm only going to hit the highlights, but suffice to say there were many other great times that were had.

The first highlight was my wife and I were able to snag a copy of Imhotep, a board game which sold out almost instantly. To be honest, we had not even heard of the game before the con, but everyone was grabbing it so we grabbed one as well. The best part was when someone in the board room asked why we hadn't been tackled yet since we were carrying it around.

I only played in two RPGs the whole con. The first was a Quantum Black game. I recently got my hardcover copy of the rulebook from the kickstarter and have been itching to play it again. In case you don't know, in Quantum Black you are part of a corporation that researches, captures, and fights the occult and mythos. Unlike an organization like Delta Green, whose goal is to wipe out the mythos, Quantum Black wants to get as much knowledge on it as possible to use it to make money.

In our game we were a clean-up team sent to investigate a research facility that had gone dark. I played a tech guru girl who was callous and more interested in downloading the latest movie torrents. I had so much fun playing her! The game was only two hours, so we had time to get in, find bad things, blow them up, and get out. I highly recommend playing the game when possible.

The second RPG was one of the biggest highlights of the con for me. It was a great game, but it was also my oldest daughter's first RPG. We found a supers game called Cold Steel Wardens, and the GM was amazing. He helped her go through, figure out what to do, and let use her character how she wanted. I know it was a success as she said she wanted to try more RPGs. Now to just find some...

We made a number purchases (probably too many), but one stands out. For a while I've been looking at getting a copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics from Goodman Games. I have a fondness for the OSR clones, and have heard great things about it. When I went over to the booth and saw that they had some copies of the latest softcover printing for sale. The best part, it was only $25.

That price is amazing. If you've never seen it, the DCC rulebook is over 400 pages. For $25, its a steal.

I've been reading through the book and have fallen in love with it. The book itself is incredible. Its well written, and the art is evocative of the old D&D books. The book is worth purchasing for the art itself.

So far I've been loving the system as well. Its very simple, but also allows for that old school feel that I've been looking for. I'll do a better review later on, but its already high on my list.

Overall, Origins was a blast. While the con has had its low points over the last few years, it has started to recover and the gamers can tell. Every year seems to be better than the previous, so I can't wait until next year!

Origins Game Convention

In a few days I will be heading off to Origins with my family. This is my 13th Origins. As I look back over the last 14 years (I missed one year), it truly amazes me the experiences and friends that I have had and made at this convention.

The first few years I went to Origins I went with my cousin Ryan. I honestly had no idea what to expect from the con, and I suspect he didn't either. The first year, he didn't play any games and just sat in while I did. However, I think we both still had a blast - being introduced to Zombies!!!, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, and most importantly, Call of Cthulhu.  (I should still apologize to my uncle for driving all over Columbus looking for Ryan Sunday morning while he was in a game with me.)

The next year Ryan came with my friend Brian. This year Ryan played, and the three of us had some great games. We introduced Brian to Call of Cthulhu and AFMBE, and those are still some of the most memorable games to me. I still remember playing a Marine in a CoC game and almost braining a Deep One that I was trying to knock out, and being Japanese Princess PePe in an AFMBE game.

The next few years are a blur. Our friend Tony replaced Ryan, and the three of us played even more Call of Cthulhu, run by the excellent Rogue Cthulhu group. More importantly was the decision for us start running games there.

Tony and I hooked up with the guys running shoggoth.net, Matt and David, and starting running Call of Cthulhu games at Origins. Our first year we ran the first (out of two) Call of Cthulhu RPG tournament with an amazing success. By the next year we had many more GMs working with us and were running over 80 games at the con. I remember many game sessions starting up with people lined up along the wall to try and get into a Call of Cthulhu game, when we were already overflowing with people in our current games. It was truly amazing.

I met so many great people through running games who I am still friends with - David, Matt, Bill, Michelle, and the late, great, John Addis; there are so many others too. Origins is where I also met, and roomed with, Oscar Rios, one of today's greatest Call of Cthulhu masters.

In the previous few years, my wife and daughters have started to come to the convention with me. It has become a yearly tradition for us. While this does take time away from me playing in games I otherwise might, I don't find that as a problem because I get to experience having new gaming experiences with them. My oldest has even shown an interest in trying some RPGs at this year's con, which I am really looking forward to doing with her. I know of another father/daughter duo that has been playing and running games at Origins for as long as I have been going; I will be ecstatic if I can ever emulate 1% of what they do.

13 Origins is a lot of conventions, with a lot of games. However, despite issues that inevitably happen at every con, each one has had its bright moments. Will I be going to another 13 Origins? Only time will tell. However, despite that, I know that I can look back at the amazing moments I've had and the friends I have made, and know that it has been time well spent.

See you at Origins this year! If you are going, try and find me and we'll play something!

Play Report: Special Delivery

Last night I once again had the opportunity to run a Call of Cthulhu game at the Malted Meeple. I've actually been running a number of games in the last few months; this is just my first opportunity to report on one.

I ran a Delta Green game using my 2014 shotgun scenario submission, Special Delivery. Warning: spoilers ahead. If you plan on playing this game (as I plan on running it again), do not read any farther.

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Still here? Good!

I knew the game was not going to last 4 hours, so we started by creating characters using the Call of Cthulhu 7th ed quick start method. Things went quickly and within 45 minutes everyone had their character. We had 2 criminals, a lawyer, and a PI. Not your typical DG cell makeup, but still made for a lot of fun.

The game started with the agents being briefed that they needed to retrieve a Russian Icon that was reported contained the spirit of Rasputin (spoiler: it did not). The icon had been sent from an antique shop known to sell mythos and paranormal related artifacts. However, the agents only had a delivery address that was a PO box with an obviously fake name.

They began by visiting a local green box to see if there were any supplies. While they found a number of ... interesting ... items, few would help them out. They left wondering why someone would leave a full length human tongue wrapped in bubblewrap in a fridge. Some things agents are just not meant to know. I have to give my thanks to the Delta Green Green Box Generator - that site is amazing.

The post office was the agent's next stop. While the office was small, they found that it was extremely busy as it was short-handed. Through an amazing persuade roll, two of the agents convinced the person in charge they were from the USPIS and "were here to help". Given such a good roll, they got access to all of the information they wanted and quickly generated two leads.

The first was the person who the package was supposed to be delivered to, Benjamin Hale. The second was a postal worker, Harold, who had not been showing up, and who they found had an unusually high number of missing packages along his route.

While two of the agents cased out Hale's apartment, another called him and found him to be extremely irate that his package was missing. Through some sly investigative techniques, the agents deduced that while Hale was a cultist, he didn't appear to have the icon and that Harold may have taken it. Two agents then went to Harold's house to stake it out.

In the mean time, a plan was set into motion. Hale was telephoned and told that his package had been found and was in his PO box. In the PO box, they placed a fake note from Harold saying that he had the package and gave his address. Their plan was to have the Harold and Benjamin fight it out, and hopefully taking care of their problems on their own.

This was actually a brilliant move and one that I had never anticipated. I was impressed with the group at this point, but had also started to form my plan for what was about to happen.

After finding the note, Benjamin went back to his apartment. Two agents followed him and waited for him to leave. The agents then went up to his apartment and broke in. They botched the locksmith roll, so I still allowed them to open the door, but it was apparent that it had been broken into. This also triggered a neighbor calling the police.

The agents ransacked Hale's apartment and found a number of cultist-related artifacts they grabbed. They also noticed a place on a shelf where a statue had recently been, but was now missing. Had Hale taken it? What was its purpose? (Cue evil Keeper laugh here.)

Police sirens were heard approaching, so the two agents knew they had to leave. To "hide" any evidence, they broke open a gas line and lit a candle, barely making it out of the building before it exploded. At that point they received a text from the other agents that something bad was going down.

The agent at Harold's house (there were originally two, but one player had to leave) saw Hale arrive and proceed to the front door. He heard shouting, and decided to dial 911 to hopefully get either arrested or killed. Seconds later he heard gunfire as Hale started shooting into the house from the front door while Harold exchanged fire with a shotgun blast. Wounded, Hale moved to the driveway where he was shielded from any shotgun blasts, bent over and began to chant.

Soon a creature appeared from a statue that Hale had placed on the ground and burst through the front door. This was a formless spawn Hale had summoned to take care of his problem. Unfortunately for Hale, inside the house the formless spawn was met with something equally formidable and was wounded. Shortly after, Harold burst through the garage door in his truck, running Hale over and killing him.

The poor agent witnessing this then saw the formless spawn exit the house, and seeing the agent as the only person around, proceeded to move toward him. The agent was able to get into his car, but not before the formless spawn shattered the back window and proceeded to attempt to enter the car. As the agent sped through town, swerving to avoid any attacks, he rolled a 02 on his Drive Auto. He slammed on the breaks, did a J-turn, the rear-ended a phone pole, causing the formless spawn to get knocked off the car. The agent then hijacked another car and sped off in pursuit of Harold, leaving a number of dazed and confused cars to deal with the formless spawn on their own.

The agents quickly figured out that Harold was heading back to the post office when they got a call from the manager that Harold was there shooting everyone. By the time they got there, Harold had killed two workers and had begun to turn the shotgun on himself. One agent tried to talk him down while the other went to sneak behind him. Unfortunately, before they could prevent anything from happening, Harold began to vomit swampy water and choked to death.

One agent found a duffel bag with the Icon in it, while the other grabbed Harold's shotgun. The agent with the duffel bag ran out to the car, while the other started to leave. That agent quickly stopped when he saw something rise out of the water that Harold had spewed out. This was the Bolotianyk, a Russian swamp demon that had actually been imprisoned in the Icon.

The demon immediately attacked the agent as began to ran. The other two agents were waiting in the car outside as they saw the other agent running toward them, the demon following close behind. The demon landed a great hit on the agent, wounding him severely and taking him down to 1HP. The agent jumped onto the car and tried to hold on as they sped away, but failed his roll and fell off. Fortunately for him, due to some lucky rolls by his fellow agents, they were able to stop and opened fire on the demon. The demon was obliterated, and they sped off to deposit the Icon in the green box. (A shotgun blast, a glock and a magnum at point blank range (with an extreme success) does alot of damage.)

They later found out that the Icon, which they had never actually looked at, was blank and that due to a number of suspicious drowning deaths in the vicinity of the post office, they had never actually destroyed the demon. But that was for another team to deal with.

Overall, the game was a blast. One player ended up with 1HP, and all three were 1 SAN away from going indefinitely insane. When seeing the demon, one PC lost 8 SAN in one shot, but failed his INT roll (lucky for him).

This was my first time running Special Delivery, and I was really pleased with the results. Based on running it here, I'm not sure a team of more than 4 players would work well without throwing additional things at them. However, for 1-4 PCs, this is perfect. I have a number of ideas that I can throw in, and may expand it later on.

Until next time!!!

Play Report: Consider Yourself

Last night I had the opportunity to run another Call of Cthulhu 7th edition game at The Malted Meeple. I was particularly excited to do this, as I had to cancel my August game. I had 5 players, one who was new to Call of Cthulhu and one who was new to RPGs; the other 3 had played in my other games.

This time I ran a scenario I wrote called Consider Yourself, which I have run multiple times in the past. I won't go into specifics as I plan on running it in the future and possibly submitting it for publishing. The summary of the scenario is the PCs are asked by an oil tycoon to discretely find his missing daughter. This leads them down a road to where they dig up the past sins of others and have to deal with them in the present.

The game ended with 1 PC dead (more on that below), the rest hurt badly, and the only book that could banish the big bad vaporized in an explosion. The players had a good time, especially the first time player.

A couple things on the game:

One part of the game takes place in a homeless shelter. The PCs decided to go undercover and send one in. Who do they meet there, but Walt 'Mash Potatoes' Johnson, an NPC of Oscar Rios (and a former PC IIRC). Upon introduction, the PC introduced himself as Mike "French Fry" Fry. Walt regaled the PC with tales of riding the rails, the "hobo council", and the supernatural encounters he's had. Immediately another player exclaimed, "I'd watch that show. Mash Potatoes and French Fry, two hobos riding the rails and fighting evil." Expect a script soon, FOX. (Walt is stat'd up in GGPs Island of Ignorance. Purchase it.)

I originally wrote the game as a 50s noir scenario and had originally tied an NPC to a pre-gen to give the scenario a little more meat. However, I took that out this time and was afraid the scenario might suffer. Fortunately, it did not and I don't think anyone could tell a piece was missing. I'll likely reintroduce some of the clues into it through another fashion, but am glad things worked out.

In my opinion, this is probably one of the best scenarios I've written. However, I'm struggling with the fact that there really isn't much horror until the end. I'm usually OK with this, as I look at horror in Call of Cthulhu scenarios as an arc - it starts off slowly with a few SAN checks, builds up with the checks becoming worse, until it peaks toward the end. I feel this one needs a bit more though. I've never had any complaints and I know I'm my own worst critic, so it may be fine. I think the best thing for me to do is compare it to a number of well done scenarios and see how they work.

Finally, I love the way magic works in 7th edition. Essentially, when a PC wants to cast a new spell they sacrifice the number of MPs required and then make a POW check. If they succeed, it works. If they don't, they may attempt to push the roll (roll again). If they succeed, then the spell is cast. If they fail, the spell still goes off but bad things happen.

The Call of Cthulhu rulebook gives examples for these bad things, and IMO most are rather benign. In the game, I look at spells and magic as something that man is not meant to play with, so the consequences are dire. Very dire.

In this case, the PC had attempted to learn a spell called "Summon the Fires of Hell". They failed their check to learn up, but I told them that their PC thought they knew it. During the final confrontation, the PC cast it and failed their POW check. I explained they could push it, and what would happen. They decided to risk it and rolled again; they failed.

I described how they felt the spell go off and flames start to shoot from their hands. They also felt an intense pain as their hands began to melt and they could feel a burning inside of them. The PC charged into the center of the room where they burst with a fiery explosion, injuring everyone in the room (all the PCs, some NPCs, and some possessed attacking them). The sole copy of the book that contained the banishing spell they were trying to cast was destroyed.

While most of the PCs survived, it was definetly a dark and Lovecraftian ending in my opinion. They had no way to get rid of the evil entity plaguing them and thus decided to encase its frail prison in cement and dump it into the ocean. Too bad some Deep Ones are going to find it. ;)


In the end, a fun game was had by all and two new players were introduced to the game. A successful night.

#RPGaDay2015 - Days 26-31!

Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment to thank Dave Chapman for coming up with #RPGaDay. This was it's second year, and I've enjoyed writing my entries and reading others. With that, onto the days!

Day 26 - Favorite Inspiration For Your Game

Inspiration for my games come to me all over - from short stories I read, to TV shows or movies, to a glimpse of something I see in my daily life. The last thing that inspired me to write a scenario was the book Pines by Blake Crouch - the first of the Wayward Pines trilogy. I won't go into spoilers, but the unique twists in the book gave me a great idea for a low mythos but highly weird Call of Cthulhu scenario. I've run it once with some of the guys from the MU Podcast, and it went exceedingly well. If anyone is interested in playing in it, hit me up; I'd love to run it again!

Day 27 - Favorite Idea For Merging Two Games Into One

I think a cross between the Dresden Files RPG and the Army of Darkness RPG would be incredible. I mean, Harry Dresden and Ash?!? Groovy!

Day 28 - Favorite Game You No Longer Play

2nd Edition AD&D and Ravenloft. I played that so much when I was younger, but there just hasn't been the opportunity to play. I'd love to play in a one-shot for AD&D or Ravenloft, but can't see myself in a long term campaign for it.

Day 29 - Favorite RPG Website/Blog

There are a number of RPG websites that I like to read, but the #1 for me is www.yog-sothoth.com. (Disclosure: I am an admin on the site.) Ole Yoggie has been around forever and is the place to go for information and help on Call of Cthulhu. Paul does an amazing job keeping the site going and it has become a fixture in the CoC community.

Day 30 - Favorite RPG Playing Celebrity

This is hard, as I don't know many RPG playing celebrities. I will probably have to go with Wil Wheaton. While I think many gaming geeks don't like him for whatever reason, Wil has done a tremendous job of advancing the hobby and putting it in the spotlight in a positive light. Any time that happens is nothing but good for the rest of us.

Day 31 - Favorite non-RPG Thing to Come Out Of RPG'ing

Friends. Plain and simple. I have met so many friends - both online and at the gaming table - from RPGs that I have lost count. Enough said.

#RPGaDay2015 Days 21-25

Alright - lets go!

Day 21 - Favorite RPG Setting

When I think of an RPG setting, there's one that comes immediately to mind: the Forgotten Realms. My first experience with a setting was FR, and I remember looking through the boxed and being amazed at how much was there. Unfolding the maps, I would stare for hours at the vastness of the place, and plan where I would run my games. There was something magical about it, and to this day there still is.

The best thing were the large maps in all the supplements, that if you got multiple copies would line up perfectly. I always dreamed of getting them all and putting them together. Did anyone ever actually do this?

Day 22 - Perfect Gaming Environment

Some place quiet where you can add the atmosphere you desire. This can be a basement, a kitchen, or a desk for an online game. Quite honestly though, it can be anywhere - as long as you have good friends or those happy to be gaming.

Day 23 - Perfect Game for You

My ultimate game would be a Call of Cthulhu game, in a cabin deep in the woods, with the only light from a dying fireplace.

Day 24 - Favorite House Rule

I can't honestly think of any real house rule I use, except an overall one: don't let the rules get in the way of the story. When I run a game, if the story is going well and everyone is enjoying it, I would rather make an on-the-fly decision that is outside of the rules than stop the game, look up a rule, and break the tension/excitement/fun.

To me, RPGs are about the story. The rules just help streamline that and at times are optional.

Day 25 - Perfect Revolutionary Game Mechanic

I can think of two, which when they came out may not have been revolutionary, but were to me when I first encountered them.

The first is Sanity in Call of Cthulhu. In all previous RPGs I had played, I had only dealt with hit points as a measure of your character's vitality. When I first played CoC, the sanity mechanic blew my mind. It was so simple and obvious, yet so powerful. Since I started playing Call of Cthulhu I've seen sanity duplicated in multiple other games, but none ever have quite the impact as Sanity does.

The second are style points from Hollow Earth Expedition. These are points that are given to players for doing good things in a game, and can be returned for benefits such as rerolling a die or a temporary boost. Yes, I'm sure this has been done in other games, but HEX was the first time I encountered it. When I first saw it, I thought it was just a gimmick and something that would never really work. Then I used it, and saw others use it, and realized how powerful it could be. Their use becomes viral in games too; once one players throws in a style chip, more are soon to follow from the other players as they see their power.

#RPGaDay2015 Days 13-20

Running a bit behind, so these will be shorter than normal.

Day 13 - Favorite RPG Podcast

I'm going to split this up into favorite RPG podcast, and favorite RPG Actual Play podcast.

For my favorite RPG podcast, I'll have to go with the Miskatonic University Podcast. They consistently have great shows that I always listen to...and are a Silver Ennie winner this year! Congrats!

For my favorite RPG AP podcast, thats tough. Its probably a 2-way tie between:

• Skype of Cthulhu
• Knights of the Night 

There are multiple other podcasts I download, but these are the ones I most consistently listen to.

Day 14 - Favorite RPG Accessory

Generically, I'm going to have to go with..dice! While I realize there are diceless RPGs out there and ones that use different mechanics (like poker hands in Deadlands), I can't really imagine playing an RPG without dice.

Day 15 - Longest Campaign Played

Sadly, I've never really played in what I consider a true campaign. When I started out, we played for 2 or 3 years with the same group of characters, but the adventures were mostly one-shots.

Day 16 - Longest Game Session Played

Again this goes back to when I first started playing RPGs. We would play for hours - 8-10 hours easily at one sitting. Ah, the good ol' days.

Day 17 - Favorite Fantasy RPG

To continue the theme of when I first started, I'll have to say that my favorite fantasy RPG is AD&D 2nd Edition. Thats what I grew up on and what I love. THAC0 rules!!!

Day 18 - Favorite SF RPG

I have not played too many science fiction RPGs. In fact, I can't remember the last time I played one. However, I have read a number in the last several years. My favorite to date is probably Age of Rebellion from FFG.

I've never played a Star Wars RPG, but FFG's line seems to provide something that I would like to try out. While I still don't get their dice mechanic, I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Day 19 - Favorite Supers RPG

I am not really a fan of supers RPGs at the moment, but my favorite is the original Marvel Superheroes RPG. My brother had actually bought this and we played it constantly - creating our own superheroes against the many villians of the Marvel universe. Somehow, when I was the GM, the villian was always Red Skull.

Day 20 - Favorite Horror RPG

Wow...anyone that reads my blog knows what this is gonna be.

Call of Cthulhu

Hands down, my favorite horror RPG. While there are currently edition wars and kickstarter issues, I will still come back to it. The game is about 35 years old and has stood the test of time. I can't think of too many other RPGs that are just as old and still have such a tremendous fanbase.

#RPGaDay2015 Day 11-12

Days 11 through 12 of #RPGaDay2015.

Day 11 - Favorite RPG Writer

I think we are in a golden age of RPGs at the moment. There are so many great writers and game designers pushing out amazing material that its hard to choose just one as my favorite. Instead, I'll list a few.

These writers appeal to my interests and I've found always push out quality material. These are the writers that, when they publish something, I'm immediately interested and extremely likely to pick it up.

Oscar Rios - Oscar writes for, and runs, Golden Goblin Press - a Call of Cthulhu licensee. Oscar has been writing and running games for as long as I can remember, and I've been extremely lucky to have met and gamed with him on multiple occasions. In the Call of Cthulhu world, there are a number of authors who are reinventing the game - Oscar is leading that pack.

Graham Walmsley - Graham is the author of Cthulhu Dark, along with multiple Trail of Cthulhu and other books and scenarios. More importantly, he is the author of Stealing Cthulhu, a book which lays out the Cthulhu mythos and describes how GMs can steal directly from Lovecraft's stories for their own games. If you run any type of Cthulhu mythos game, you need to read this book.

Ken Hite - Ken Hite should be familiar to anyone who is in gaming, especially horror gaming. Author of Trail of Cthulhu, co-host of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, as well as multiple (hundreds?) of other RPG-related material, Ken is at the forefront of our industry. He is also the author of another RPG-related book that anyone who runs horror games should read, Nightmares of Mine. This book breaks down horror RPGs into their basic components and describes how they should be run to make them the best they can be.

Day 11 - Favorite RPG Illustration

This was an easy one. Whenever I think of RPGs and my RPG experience, especially when I first started out, this one always comes to mind.

On page 34 of the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (at least the one with the City of Brass on the cover) is an illustration by Will McLean depicting two adventurers in mouse costumes and stating "This had better work!".

While the AD&D DMG is full of incredible art, this one always stood out to me. Its fun and perfectly describes what can happen in an adventure. I even attempted to recreate this in my 9th grade computer art class! Fortunately, it has been lost to time.

#RPGaDay2015 Day 7-10

Days 7 through 10 of #RPGaDay2015.

Day 7 - Favorite Free RPG

Normally, I would say Cthulhu Dark, but I think last year I talked about that. Instead, I'll say Everyone is John. 

For those unaware, Everyone is John is a free RPG where the players are voices and personalities in the head of a man named John. Each player has their own goals they want to accomplish and compete for control of John, which can be easily lost.

Unfortunately, I have yet to play this game, although the actual play's I have listened to have been amazing. I highly recommend the One Shot Podcast AP of the game, especially their Everyone is Joker episode.

Day 8 - Favorite Appearance of RPGs in the Media

This is a hard one, especially since I have not seen too many of these occur. However, I would probably have to go with the latest one I saw - Gravity Falls Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons. 

In the episode, Dipper plays the latest version of his favorite RPG DD&D with his Great Uncle Ford. When their infinity die is accidentally rolled the game comes to life and they must battle against in a real world DD&D set. 

Have no clue what I'm talking about? Go watch the show. Actually watch both seasons. It's amazing.

Day 9 - Favorite Media You Wish Was an RPG

There are lots of media I wish were an RPG, some listed below. However, I should caveat this by saying I wish there were RPG components for this media out. I don't necessarily think each of these should have their own RPG as there are already so many great systems out there. So, the ones listed below also have systems I think they would work well in, if they don't already exist.

• Gravity Falls - Fate, FAE, or Monster of the Week 
• The Secret World MMORPG - Unknown Armies or Delta Green
• The stories of Marcus Calvert - Fate or FAE

Day 10 - Favorite RPG Publisher

Another hard one, especially considering there are lots of publishers with material that I truly enjoy. Pelgrane Press, Golden Goblin Press, and Exile Game Studio definitely make the top of my list.

However, I still have to go with Chaosium. Despite the issues they have, and their uncertain future in the face of major changes, they are still my favorite publisher. They have put out my all-time favorite RPG for over 30 years and you can't fault them for that.

#RPGaDay2015 Day 4-6

Days 4 through 6 of #RPGaDay2015. Here we go!

Day 4 - Most Surprising Game

This is pretty hard. I'll say the most surprising game for me that I've played in is De Profundis. This is an immersive RPG where you find another player, or players, and write letters to them in the style of your character. You immerse yourself in the character, writing as they would and responding to letters you receive. Through this you create the game and its story as it comes up - making it up as you go in a manner that adds to the overall story.

I've only played this once, but it was amazing. Its a very different experience to sit down for even just 30 minutes and get yourself into the mood of your character, and physically write something to another player/character. This forces you to think in a different mindset and play in a different manner. Plus, there's something amazing when you open your mailbox and see a returned letter!

Day 5 - Most Recent RPG Purchase

The shelf behind me is full of books and games I have purchased over the years. My most recent acquisition to that is The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen which I got at a Half Price Books for a few dollars. I had only heard of the game and quite frankly was surprised to see it in a used book store, so I grabbed it.

From what I've read (and admittedly I've only skimmed it), the players are trying to outdo each other with their outlandish exploits and stories. I've heard nothing but good things about it and really can't wait to try it out.

Day 6 - Most Recent RPG Played

Not surprisingly, the most recent RPG I played is Call of Cthulhu 7th edition, specifically the Cult of One scenario from Secrets. I described the play report in a previous post.

This was such a great game in both how it played out, how the players reacted, and how it set everything up for a future over-arching villian. As a Keeper, you can't ask for much more than that, especially for a semi-regular game.

#RPGaDay2015 Day 1-3

#RPGaDay is happening again! For those unaware, #RPGaDay was created by Dave Chapman of Autocratik and is composed of a set of topics that gamers can post about once a day for all of August. The purpose is to get gamers talking positively about gaming and to share their passion. Welcome to #RPGaDay2015!

Day 1 - Forthcoming Game You're Most Looking Forward To

I would normally say Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition as the game I'm looking forward to, but one can argue that its technically available so I'll bypass that. Instead, I will say World War Cthulhu: Cold War.

World War Cthulhu: Cold War takes Cubicle 7's great World War Cthulhu setting and advances it into the cold war of the 60s and 70s. Spies, backstabbing, political intrigue, and the Mythos. Having grown up in the tail end of the Cold War, and being obsessed with it, this is a setting that I have been looking forward to since I initially heard about it almost two years ago. Unfortunately, I was not able to back it so I'll be purchasing it when it is released.

Day 2 - Kickstarted Game Most Pleased You Backed

This is a difficult one to choose as most, if not all, of the games I've backed on Kickstarter have been winners, even with the issues that some have had. To narrow it down is difficult, but if I had to choose one I would say Island of Ignorance by Golden Goblin Press.

This was GGP's premier book and was hands down a winner. Acting as the third Cthulhu Companion, it was filled with articles to assist a Keeper as well as multiple amazing scenarios. Admittedly, I'm a bit biased on this - I wrote one of the articles. However, it is still a great book and showed the quality GGP would put forth - and has continued to do so to this day.

Day 3 - Favorite New Game of the Last 12 Months

I'm going to cheat on this a bit and name my 2 favorite new games of the last 12 months - once that I've played and one that I've run.

My favorite new game in the last year that I played is Quantum Black, a new modern day horror RPG that uses the Ubiquity system. (The game is currently in being kickstarted - go support it!)

In 2014, I saw games for this being run at Origins, but was unable to get into it. This past year, I was able to get into a 2 hour demo of it at Origins and loved it! In the game, you are members of an organization named Quantum Black, which is tasked with saving humanity from the horrors plaguing mankind. It takes the best things from shows like X-Files and Fringe, adds them to a great system, and in the end comes out amazingly.

A number of RPGs have tried to do this in the past, but I don't think any of them did it successfully enough for them to pull it off. From the game play I did, this one worked. The game evoked a sense of fear and uncertainty in the right parts, and played out the action well in the others. I liked it enough I backed it on Kickstarter; so should you.

The other new favorite game that I ran in the last year is End of the World from Fantasy Flight Games, specifically the Zombie Apocalypse setting (I have not read/ran the others yet). In this game, the players play fictionalized versions of themselves in some world-ending scenario where they try to survive. I ran this at Origins where the players were at the con when the zombie apocalypse broke out.

The thing I love about this system is it is very lite. It gets out of the way of the GM and players and allows them to tell their story. The system isn't infallible, but I think with a few house rules it will play more smoothly. Despite that, the game is great and I look forward to running it again in the future.

I've only run the Zombie Apocalypse setting, and Wrath of the Gods has just come out. I have some hesitations on it, mostly due to price point and duplication of some of the material, but if you have not picked up either I would highly suggest it. Its a game worth playing!

Play Report and Review: Call of Cthulhu Cult of One

Last night I ran another Call of Cthulhu game at the Malted Meeple. Previously, I had run classic 20s era games, but this time I decided to run a modern game. Not only a modern game, but I wanted something where I could introduce the players to Delta Green. After some searching, I decided to run Cult of One by Brian Sammons and in the Chaosium Secrets book.

Note: Spoilers ahead!

Game Play

There were 6 players in my game - 5 of which had played in my previous Call of Cthulhu game at the Meeple; the last new to Call of Cthulhu. I guess I don't suck that much as a Keeper if they came back.

Cult of One is a modern day scenario dealing with a sorcerer that has fallen out of favor with Nyarlathotep and is cursed to age rapidly. After many bloody sacrifices, the big N gives him a spell called Apportion Ka which allows him to place his essence into his organs. He bribes a coroner to place his organs up for transplant, and they get placed into 4 individuals. When 2 of the 4 come together, the wizard regains his powers but won't be fully whole until all 4 are together. The catch? His original head/brain must remain intact.

Since this was an intro to Delta Green, I decided to forego the original hook and instead had each PC be from a federal agency brought together by the DHS to investigate a potential outbreak of an unknown disease in two transplant patients. The DHS agent bringing them together was an NPC I created who would eventually become their DG handler.

The PCs jumped right in and started the investigation at the hospital, immediately finding that both transplant patients had disappeared. One had walked off and the other, a 12 year old girl, evidently kidnapped by the first. After discovering that the organs came from the same donor, and all information in the hospital records on that donor had been erased by the hospital coroner, the chase was on to find out what happened and find the patients.

This led to the party splitting up - some going to the coroner's house, and others going to the organ bank to get more information on the donor and then to the donor's house. The group at the coroner's house found an undead coroner, a bath of sulfuric acid, and a partially dismembered corpse. The other found the journal of the wizard and details of the third transplant recipient.

After meeting back up (at Dennys!), the group went to the third recipient's cabin...in the dark woods...next to a lake. After answering the door with a .357 pointed at the investigators, the third transplant recipient was tranq'd and the PCs started searching the cabin and surrounding area. Shortly thereafter, a Byakhee crashed through the door, while the other two transplant recipients (controlled by the wizard) were outside. Two PCs went temporarily insane, one almost died as the Byakhee threw him against the wall, and another went blind as he was hit with a spell. Two of the PCs were out back by the lake and decided to run/swim away.

In the end, the Byakhee grabbed the third recipient and flew away, escaping with the first two recipients. Shortly after, three black SUVs pulled up, and out stepped the DHS agent who brought them together. She explained she was part of an organization that investigated unusual matters like this. The PCs were invited to join. All but one agreed; the one that didn't was driven off and never seen from again.

I ran the scenario like I did to see if the players were interested in modern/Delta Green, and as a way to re-use characters from game to game. Since I only run games once a month there, running a campaign would be difficult. However, running something that is interconnected, like Delta Green investigations, is completely doable. The overwhelming answer was yes, they loved it.

Scenario Review

As for the scenario, its a winner in my book. It takes a unique approach to the cult/cultist villain, and runs with it very successfully. It has enough scenes to be able to run it in a single 4-hour session, and has enough weird/horror things in it to make it a good Cthulhu scenario. While I did have to modify it to fit my keeping style and the DG theme, those modifications were few.

There are some things I didn't like about the scenario, and either purposely changed or didn't use.

• One of the player's handouts - a pencil rubbing - is very hard to read. I ended up recreating this on my own. (I suspect this was just something that didn't work in the printing process.)
• At the wizards house/cabin, there is supposed to be a shed in the back that contains a mirror that allows the viewer to see visions of the Outer Gods. I left it out. Truthfully, it feels very out of place. I understand what it could be used for, I just didn't want to bother with it.
• The end calls for a Hunting Horror to burst through the door. I ended up opting for a Byakhee, as the Hunting Horror felt like overkill. I also added a few lines to a clue about the third transplant recipient stating how "the winged servant shall be sent to helpe in his retrieval." Just to serve as a hint of what was to come.

One thing I'll point out too is that even with 6 investigators, 4 of whom were armed, the final scene can be very deadly. The sorcerer is allowed to use all of the MP from the recipients he controls (40+ MP), and has a POW of 95. This means that it is very unlikely that the PCs will be able to avoid any spells that are cast. Combined that with a Byakhee rampaging, and you have a recipe for insanity and death.

This isn't a bad thing; in fact, it makes a very good scene, especially for a one-shot. After the game was over, one of my players remarked how he didn't expect the last scene to be as brutal as it was...and he loved it!


Despite the minor issues with the scenario, I think Brian did an excellent job creating it and I highly recommend running it. My players had a great time, loved the plot and ending, and I would love to run it again. I don't think you can give higher compliments than that.


* One last thing, I noticed that the spell Grasp of Cthulhu is not included in 7th edition. Thats a shame, because its a great spell. Powerful, but offset by the number of MP it costs/minute.

Review: Protected by Marcus Calvert

I love to read short stories. Its not that I don't like to read novels, there's just something satisfying about reading through a complete story in one sitting. That is why I tend to gravitate toward short story anthologies - I can get through a story and not have to devote a lot of time to it.

This past Oddmall, I was wandering around the vendor room and came across a man pitching his books. This man was Marcus Calvert. In front of him were three books named Protected, The Book of Schemes, and Unheroic. He described the books as short stories related to the overall theme; Unheroic, for example, all had short stories that dealt with people who were anti-heroes or those who you wouldn't expect to be in the lime light.

The price for one book was right ($15 convention special), so I bought Protected. I'm glad I did.

Protected contains 36 stories and is about 265 pages long with no story more than 8 or 9 pages. From the beginning, I was hooked. Calvert has a style in which he quickly sucks you into the story and then twists it on you, in a very good way. There were many stories I was reading where I thought it was going in one direction and then BAM, something flies out of left field.

The subject matter of the stories are wildly varied. There are some on zombies, super heroes, science fiction, and even angels vs demons.  Each story, however, makes excellent use of the setting no matter its length. Calvert does a great job of fleshing out the scene so that, even if he doesn't spell out all the details of the world it takes place in, you can infer them.

Because of that, I think that this would be an excellent book to design RPG scenarios around. Pick a short story, read it, and start playing in that world 15 minutes later. All through this book I kept thinking how I would love to run a game in the story I just read.

My only complaint is that I actually wish some of the stories were longer. Some are so good that when they ended I wanted more. Many times I thought that I could see myself reading more about this place or what was going on. I suppose, however, that if I did run an RPG in one of these stories I could do that. (More ammunition to run a game based on one of them.)

While not every story is a gem, there are enough in this book to make it worth picking up. Calvert's price is right too - you can pick up all 3 books of stories for $30. While I have not read the other two books yet, I plan on purchasing them in the future. I recommend you do as well.