The Many Deaths of Edward Bigsby

by Adam Gauntlett

As I write this, The Many Deaths of Edward Bigsby has been out for about a month. It’s been favourably received – many thanks to those who reviewed it, and I hope those who play it enjoy it – and I’m told sales are going well! Especially the limited print run that Paul Maclean of YSDC kindly put together; round of applause for that man!

So, why do it at all? Well, back when the GUMSHOE OGL was being promoted, it occurred to me that this was a good opportunity to get my work out there. As it happened I was in the UK on other business, and had a chance to talk to Paul about collaborating, as soon as we had a better idea what the license would offer. He’d publish via YSDC, I’d write. That was how it stood for a while: we waited until we knew more, but there was a deal on the table.

Then the license came out, and I began talking with Simon to get a better understanding of what I could and could not do with it. Simon did one better than the license: he offered to let me write it for Trail of Cthulhu, provided all profits went to YSDC. Trail is something the license wouldn’t let me touch, and it’s a system I’m already very familiar with. I didn’t have a problem with that, and so we forged ahead with Edward Bigbsy.

Bigsby isn’t going to be the only scenario I publish via YSDC. There are several others, some of them already written, which will come out over the next year or two. Eventually I plan on taking another stab at the GUMSHOE OGL, which means I won’t be writing a Trail scenario, but it will be horror. I already know what I want to write; the only question is when.

Next up, The Long Con, a Trail/Bookhounds scenario set in London. I don’t want to talk too much about that here, but it will be available in .pdf very, very soon. A brief teaser:

Sidney Pryce wants the protagonists’ help to set up a Big Store, to sucker a rich American into thinking he’s buying into a Burnt Auction. The rewards, Pryce promises, are incalculable; but soon after Pryce enlists their help, strange bird-creatures haunt the protagonists. How, they wonder, does Japanese folklore figure into it?

I hope you enjoy Bigbsy! Look forward to more, coming soon!