“He had lately become a devotee of the William Mortensen school of photography. Mortensen, of course, is the leading exponent of fantasy in photography; his monstrosities and grotesques are widely known.” — Robert Bloch, “The Sorcerer’s Jewel” (1939) William H. Mortensen, the “leading exponent of fantasy in photography,” was born in Park City, Utah in […]
This post originally appeared on DyingEarth.com between 2004 and 2007. A column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws Click here for part II of the “Fear of Structure” With The Esoterrorists now available and a series of GUMSHOE products in the pipeline, it’s time to embark on a series of columns supporting the game. Even […]
The following article originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in February 2008. Distractions are Your Friend Using Props and Toys in Your Game by Jamie Maclaren Role-playing is a very specific type of group interaction, but many of its features are not unique. There are many activities that involve sitting, talking, sharing […]
“My shadowy visage, grey with grief, In sunken waters walled with sand, I see — where all mine ancient land Lies yellow like an autumn leaf.” — Clark Ashton Smith, “The Kingdom of Shadows” Robin has staked out Paris with his customary élan, and Robert Chambers has toured us through Brittany, but there’s at least […]
A 13th Age GM recently asked for advice on using Backgrounds in a modern setting. At first I didn’t see the problem—”Former circus performer” should work the same in the modern world as it does in the Dragon Empire, right? But when I really gave it some thought, I saw the difficulty. “Former circus performer” […]
This months’ View is more remote than usual, coming to you from the heady heights of New York City, where I’m waiting for my flight back to Europe after PAX Unplugged. This was our second time at this Philadelphia-based show, and it went very well for us this year. I’m very excited by how our […]
Both Senior Pelgranes are freezing our pinions off here in these Pretanic Isles, as inclement weather descends on us. I can hear the mocking laughter of Toronto-based Robin and Chicago-based Ken as we complain that -4C is cold. At least we can all agree that Farenheit is a nonsense, eh? From London, it feels like […]
September ended with ThawCon, my annual 13th Age fest, so this is a 13th-Age-heavy issue. I’ve also been playtesting GUMTHEWS, Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner’s GUMSHOE fantasy game, and an indie game we are publishing (more on that another time). This month, we release the second adventure for Langston Wright, the veteran investigator first featured […]
In December, we advertised a vacancy for a Production Assistant. We’re a small company, so this is really significant for us, and we wanted to make sure that we recruited the right person for the role. Simon and I discussed it extensively, and realised that there were two key aspects we were looking for. The first was experience […]
by Jason Fryer “There are eight million stories in the naked city; this has been one of them…” ~ The Naked City (1948) Be it police procedural, horror, or spy thriller, characters are integral to the GUMSHOE campaign, influencing and expanding the narrative with their personal stories. However, although ever-present, one vital character remains oft-forgotten […]
