That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange aeons even death may die.
I needed some time away.
There wasn't anything happening in the blogosphere the pushed me to stop blogging that past month. Real life just took over for a bit - tons of work-related travel and project responsibilities - and much of my free time when I was home was going towards Magic (the card game). Since April, we've managed to build a thriving tournament scene at the neighborhood comic store, getting 12-16 regular tournament participants and teaching most of the neighborhood kids how to play as well. Now that the card scene is rolling along, it's time to get back to other things (like table top gaming).
One of the players took a round at refereeing a Call of Cthulhu one-shot scenario, "No Man's Land"; I'll get a game report up shortly. I've been a little uninspired by fantasy right now, so we're rolling up characters this weekend for a short Call of Cthulhu stint. I've never run the classic campaign, MASKS OF NYARLATHOTEP, so that's what the Spitsberg Pirates are taking on next. Running a published campaign will free up time to detail the lower levels of the Black City for a return to fantasy. We're also going to generate DELTA GREEN characters for some modern Cthulhu one-shots.
In the meantime, I'm going to watch all the back episodes of the history channel show "Vikings" to get inspired to detail the larger world around the Black City. Anyone know a good book that covers dark ages Scandinavian demographics?
So what have I missed out here in the blogosphere? I saw the Autarch guys ran their Kickstarter for Domains at War. I've become a bit disenchanted with Kickstarter (too many campaigns are going off the rails) but I'm confident that particular one will go smoothly - versions of the manuscript have been available to ACKS supporters for a while. Anyone else feeling a bit "unfulfilled" lately?
And with strange aeons even death may die.
I needed some time away.
There wasn't anything happening in the blogosphere the pushed me to stop blogging that past month. Real life just took over for a bit - tons of work-related travel and project responsibilities - and much of my free time when I was home was going towards Magic (the card game). Since April, we've managed to build a thriving tournament scene at the neighborhood comic store, getting 12-16 regular tournament participants and teaching most of the neighborhood kids how to play as well. Now that the card scene is rolling along, it's time to get back to other things (like table top gaming).
One of the players took a round at refereeing a Call of Cthulhu one-shot scenario, "No Man's Land"; I'll get a game report up shortly. I've been a little uninspired by fantasy right now, so we're rolling up characters this weekend for a short Call of Cthulhu stint. I've never run the classic campaign, MASKS OF NYARLATHOTEP, so that's what the Spitsberg Pirates are taking on next. Running a published campaign will free up time to detail the lower levels of the Black City for a return to fantasy. We're also going to generate DELTA GREEN characters for some modern Cthulhu one-shots.
In the meantime, I'm going to watch all the back episodes of the history channel show "Vikings" to get inspired to detail the larger world around the Black City. Anyone know a good book that covers dark ages Scandinavian demographics?
So what have I missed out here in the blogosphere? I saw the Autarch guys ran their Kickstarter for Domains at War. I've become a bit disenchanted with Kickstarter (too many campaigns are going off the rails) but I'm confident that particular one will go smoothly - versions of the manuscript have been available to ACKS supporters for a while. Anyone else feeling a bit "unfulfilled" lately?
When I burn out on RPGs, I usually just go play Magic for a few months and recharge.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good plan. I've kicked around the idea of chronicling our efforts to build a local FNM scene on a separate blog, just to keep writing when the RPG stuff goes dry.
DeleteOur shop streams the FNMs on Twitch, which is pretty fun ... it adds a little extra pressure to play tight, and you can go back and watch your matches to see if there are alternate lines, play mistakes, etc.
DeleteNot so much Scandinavia, and not exactly demographics, but William R. Shorts "Icelanders in the Viking Age" (http://www.williamrshort.com/icelanders/) is an excellent description of settlement and way of life and such like. And if I remember correctly, it's got a decent bibliography to check out.
ReplyDelete-Jeff Russell
P.S. His book on Viking Age Weapons and Combat is great if you're at all interested in Western Martial Arts
I was looking for a dose of lich house dreams. :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder what people would do with CoC is they started to re-work-imagine it like people have done with D&D retro clones. I mean like starting from the same base but to drift toward a different game like the equivalent of DCC or LotFP, etc. Or even something more primordial like the equivalent of the White Box.
My interest has just died, lately, but I think it may be because 2 out 3 of my players make D&D into something more like work than it should be. There are still good blogs out there, but the single to noise ratio is kind of hosed. I need to purge my stream, that is for sure. Jack Vance memorial post anyone?
ReplyDeleteBeedo, did you read the Thorgal series? The other day I was looking at it at the library and it made me think about your Black City Project. Especially in the scene where the vikings try to enter a spherical alien structure.
ReplyDeleteIt a belgian comic book, maybe the english version is available in a library.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorgal
I'm thinking, once the Black City picks up again, the players will have a load of silver to return home, fealty to a new Jarl, and a desire to buy and outfit their own ship. Although they'll likely return to Thule and the ruins of the Black City, it would be get to have a gazetteer or large scale campaign map of the Scandinavian world in case they went raiding.
ReplyDeleteBetween the historical Danelaw, invasion of Normandy, settlement of the Rus and tons of other explorations made by dark ages Scandinavian folks, it's perfect for a mid-to-high level D&D campaign where characters carve out domains and new kingdoms.
I'll check out the "Icelanders" book and see if Thorgal is in English anywhere. I'll let everyone know if I find a good atlas or demographic resource for dark ages Europe to act as a starting point.
If it is an option for you, you might want to consider the "Fungi from Yuggoth" it is from the same period of the game's history and a better module.
ReplyDeleteStructurally the 6 or so chapters of Masks of Nyarlathotep are identical. Arrive, find clues, go to heart of cult, violence is a solution. Rinse, repeat. Only the locations and the clues change.
If that does not bother you then go for it. I think that I have a copy of the module. When are you wanting to run it?