View from the Pelgrane’s Nest: March 2014

This month I have more 13th Age projects to announce, Cthulhu Apocalypse reaches its – well – apocalyptic conclusion, and we reach the final installment of the first Ken and Robin Writes About stuff.

Cthulhu Apolcalypse

Graham Walmsley’s epic and award-winning Cthulhu Apocalypse concludes in Slaves of the Mother, crafted with Gareth Hanrahan. It includes our ridiculously belated rewards for the Black Book character builder – so expect alternative endings, cities crushed an mysterious tomes.

Praise for previous episodes:

“The text of {The Apocalypse Machine] deviates away from the neutral, descriptive voice that many RPG authors prefer and instead takes a direct and prescriptive tone. This results in a lively, readable book that shows Walmsley is both excited about the Cthulhu Apocalypse setting and is keen to describe how such games run, leaving little doubt for both players and keepers about what to expect and how to achieve it.”

“I think it is this degree of control that makes this supplement so unique and what appeals to me – that the apocalypse might be slow and insidious or has already occurred or happened in the distant past.”

“Everyone was very happy with [The Dead White World] at its end. It was bleak, very Lovecraftian, and will be remembered as a gaming highlight by myself for many years to come. A lot of the credit for the excellent series of sessions must rest on the author – Graham Walmsley – who has crafted a horrible situation for players to navigate that is not a familiar Mythos monster charging down upon you, or a cult needing foiling. For this original conceit, I must applaud the author. His many sidebars, ideas, and notes (including the Save Vs. Apocalypse sidebar on escaping Dover as it is destroyed) make the scenario an inspiring piece to run.”

13th Age

• 13 True Ways, like 13th Age before it has turned out to be far more work than originally planned, but it’s much better than even my expectations. I will be very disappointed if it’s not off to Kickstarter backers by 1st August. The original Fire Opal team are working on this, so you can be assured it won’t be delayed by other 13th Age projects from
• We’ve provided the laid-out version of the 13th Age Bestiary for download from your order page and it’s on target for a May release.
• Gareth Hanrahan continues his work on Eyes of the Stone Thief,. He’s incorporating playtest feedback, hammering out art direction and working with 13th Age line developer Cal Moore to polish the manuscript.
• Gareth has also began work on The Book Of Loot a collection of new magic items, including more potions and runes with 13th Age story focus you expect along side the crunch.
• ASH LAW has taken Shards of the Broken Sky and is writing it under Rob Heinsoo’s guidance. I hope to have a first draft by April.
• Cal Moore will be working on a collection of pre-designed encounters for each Icon which GMs can slot into their games. We don’t have a name for this yet – suggestions in the comments are welcome.

Ken Writes About Stuff

Ken’s subscription offering reaches the end of its first year this month with Lilith. Get a subscription now to download all twelve issues now. Next month, KWAS 2 begins. We are polling our subscribers to ask you what you’d like to see next year. Read what Paul Baldowski over at GeekNative says:

“I consider this series a wake-up call to the lacklustre, to remind them tales of the Mythos, using whatever system, should instil uneasiness, upset and fear. Grasp the potential of the unearthly and inhuman, and make sure next time the investigator’s meet a Shoggoth they have have a truly memorable encounter.”

This year featured Ken’s take on Lovecratian Hideous Creatures Deep Ones , Star Vampires, Ghouls, Shoggoth, Mi-Go, and Hounds of Tindalos; GUMSHOE settings and extras such as Moon Dust Men, Martial Arts, Mind Control, and Mumbai and the mysterious Nazi artifact, Die Glocke.

 GUMSHOE

Our main logjam is art direction and a shortage of artists, but we are working through it. Cat is working as hard as humanely possible.

• Ken has continued his work on Dracula Dossier, and you can see an example here in Call of Chicago: A Tremor of Foreboding.
• Gareth is wrangling the maps and final text for Accretion Disk, the Ashen Stars supplement.
• The TimeWatch RPG early Kickstarter suveys are going out- but you can still pledge here. We’ll get the PDF add-ons out by the end of next week.
• Mythos Expeditions is being illustrated.

• Dreamhounds is in art direction, and our French licensees have helpfully checked the French for us..
• Dulce et Decorum Est, Adam Gauntlett’s Great War collection is being illustrated, as is Soldiers of Pen and Ink.