A while back we had a creepy rhapsody over archived crime scene photos from the NYPD, as useful handouts in Trail of Cthulhu games. On a like note, let’s applaud the team who took historical photos of New York as digitized by the New York Public Library and keyed them to a map of the […]
Category Archives: Trail of Cthulhu
Pookie reviewed Dulce et Decorum Est on Reviews from R’lyeh. You can check out the full review here. Thanks Pookie! “Dulce et Decorum Est gives the tools for the Keeper to run scenarios set during the war, plus numerous good ideas…Physically, Dulce et Decorum Est is solidly presented. The art is excellent” On the Vaterland […]
By Tony Williams This exercise was far more difficult than previous character sheet designs I’ve done. My first problem was getting past the intimidating presence of the great art in itself and then the second was doing something I felt lived up to the design work put into the book. I was flummoxed trying to […]
Here is an example of Trail of Cthulhu combat, in which three plucky adventures confront a crypt-dwelling corpse-eater. Dramatis Personae The consumptive Professor Oberon Lankwiller Player: Larry Health 5, [no rating in Firearms], Scuffling 4 Weapon: Webley revolver +0 Hit Threshold: 3 The brash Tag Hunter Player: Tina Health 13, Firearms 10, Weapons 8, Scuffling […]
For a minimal prep game, I use a potted version of the suggestions in the Trail book, that is, work backwards from the Horrible Truth to the Hook. I’ll do this now on the fly. Horrible Truth Professor Legato is a puppet controlled by Mi-Go. He is performing sinister experiments on paid subjects. The Mi-Go […]
It was our intention with Eternal Lies, our epic Trail of Cthulhu campaign, to create a book to be brought alive by actual play, not just a handsome shelf-filler. And so it’s proved, with an Eternal Lies Keeper’s Community on Google+, advice and historical props over on the Yog-Sothoth forum, an interactive campaign map and […]
A flood of vintage NYPD crime photos will be resurfacing digitally, thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Many date from the prime period of Lovecraftian horror, making them ideal handout fodder for your Trail of Cthulhu games. These images, including crime scene images from murder investigations, bring real-life grit to […]
On the Flames Rising blog, reviewer Steven Dawes says about the epic Eternal Lies campaign: “Eternal Lies is simply the most well developed and well designed adventure book I’ve ever seen!” Steven adds, “The campaign storyline is loyal to and very worthy of the Cthulhu Mythos. The rules and organization of the book are easy […]
Jason Thompson, over on his blog, mockman.com, reviews The Dreamhounds of Paris. Jason says, “This is great stuff. The Surrealists and the Mythos belong together.” Adding, “The idea of the Surrealists being Randolph-Carter-level Dreamers (or even better than that Carter dude) is genius; I can’t imagine historical figures who fit the role more.” “In short, […]
A GUMSHOE core clue can be seen as a key, giving the PCs access to a door, behind which more of the story waits. With the key, they can interact with, change, master, and adjust that story. Sometimes a core clue can be a literal key. Literal for the characters, that is, and imagined by […]