Few suspect that the McMichael Gallery of Canadian Art, nestled in formerly bucolic, now exurban, Kleinburg Ontario, houses a forbidden eldritch wing that can be entered only when the stars are right. I myself had no idea until an anonymous informant slipped me these electronic images. Having shared them previously on social media, with only […]
Tag Archives: Trail of Cthulhu
“While America needs you, my son, you shall not die!” — Bruce Carter I, to the Fighting Yank (Bruce Carter III), in Startling Comics #35 (Sep 1945) The Shield was the first, and Captain America was the greatest, but lots and lots of heroes donned the red-white-and-blue and punched Nazis in the 1940s. Many of […]
April 30th rolls ‘round again, season of doors and frightful manifestations. You may know it as Walpurgisnacht, the Witches’ Sabbath – at least according to poor Walter Gilman, the ill-fated protagonist of Dreams in the Witch House. Now he was praying because the Witches’ Sabbath was drawing near. May-Eve was Walpurgis-Night, when hell’s blackest evil […]
Both Trail of Cthulhu and Fear Itself feature protagonists who are comparatively (or cosmically!) feeble compared to the foes they encounter. By no coincidence whatsoever, both games also incorporate the Fleeing ability, an ability that’s used only for running away. To make Fleeing a bit more complex and combat-like, here are some optional expanded Fleeing […]
The modern age began with Enlightenment, and Enlightenment exposed the darkness. The time is the 18th century, and the place is Britain – a land just discovering new sciences and creating new technologies. But these new sciences discover mind-shattering truths; the age of the Earth, the impermanence of living species, the sheer scale of the […]
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“Tall, gaunt, cynical, with tragic eyes … like a man who had seen the inside of hell.” — description of Liam Tobin by IRA mole David Neligan Michael Collins, the George Washington of Ireland, picked a 23-year-old man named Liam Tobin to be his spymaster. If I were related to George Washington’s spymaster, I’d never […]
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“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 […]
The following articles originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in June 2008. In this issue Robin D Laws discusses the use of genre conceits in Mutant City Blues, we have more music from James Semple, and a second interview by Luke Crane. This issue sees the return of Mystic Moo – […]
The following articles originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in February 2008. Tools, toys and transport are the theme for this issue of Page XX. Robin D Laws discusses the use of music to end scenes in GUMSHOE games, and James Semple provides some stings for Trail of Cthulhu. Jamie Maclaren […]
This post originally appeared on DyingEarth.com between 2004 and 2007. A column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws [Ed.—This was originally an internal design document, but it should come in useful for anyone interested in GUMSEHOE background creation.] The GUMSHOE system departs from standard RPG design practice in a couple of significant ways. Neither of […]