Campus Crier

 Pelgrane Press News
http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=10941

Ken Writes About Stuff – subscribe now to 12 issues of Ken Hite-ly goodness. Topics have been given in advance!
Talking at Yourself by Robin D. Laws, useful advice on how to manage conversations with multiple NPCs.
The Call of Chicago: Expediting, Ordering, Inquiring – a sneak peak at the upcoming Mythos Expeditions by Kenneth Hite
How to play GUMSHOE – Kevin Kulp explains General Abilities and Investigative Abilities for new players

The H.P. Lovecraft Bronze Bust Project will erect a life size tribute to the iconic author in his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66144730/the-hp-lovecraft-bronze-bust-project

HPPodcraft Live at NecronomiCon has succeeded and we get a new podcast on the way!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2084279113/hppodcraft-live-in-providence?ref=live

Artist Jason Thompson, at www.Mockman.com

 This guys is freaking amazing. He illustrated Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, and has tons of Mythos pics on his site, and a full color poster map of the Dreamlands. Freaking awesome!

Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion

Listen to it get funded while recording!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/621718369/island-of-ignorance-the-third-cthulhu-companion?ref=live

Murph also mentions copies of the Express Diaries have arrived at Chaosium.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/448333182/horror-on-the-orient-express-a-chaosium-publicatio/posts/471829?ref=activity

We now have a new RSS/iTunes feed exclusive to live play games. Last weekend we released a game recorded and run by our guest Oscar Rios. Look over at the right to grab the link!

In the wings we have a Delta Green one-shot game run by EddyPo, and a MAPS game with three sessions run by Dan.

Card Catalog

This week’s hidden online resource for keepers is:

WWI propaganda postcards

http://www.ww1-propaganda-cards.com/

Main Topic

The Side topic and Main topic were combined together into one longer conversation. We start off with a talk about Robert E. Howard’s work in the Mythos, then we go into all the things happening at Golden Goblin Press.

The Fire Of Asshurbanipal

The Black Stone

Masters Of Horror – the original stories in audio

The Campus Forum topic to discuss this episode is here.

MU Podcast 031 – Golden Oscar

Campus Crier

Jon has comics to pimp. –
Where’s My Shoggoth?   http://wheresmyshoggoth.com/
The web site has coloring pages, video, and an audio reading of the book!

I.N.J. Culbard‘s Mythos Tales-
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

Deadbeats (Buy it here with free global shipping)

At the Mountains of Madness

And The Shadow Out of Time is on the way!

HPPodcraft Live at NecronomiCon Kickstarter.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2084279113/hppodcraft-live-in-providence?ref=live

Island of Ignorance – The Third Cthulhu Companion!
http://www.goldengoblinpress.com/island-of-ignorance/

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/621718369/island-of-ignorance-the-third-cthulhu-companion?ref=live

GM Baal is going to be running us through some CthulhuTech via Skype!
Here are some FREE quickstart rules!
Core Rulebook

Polls on the forum.
Split the Live Play games into their own feed?
Separate Mini-Episodes just for non Cthulhu RPG Kickstarters?

Card Catalog

This week’s hidden online resource for keepers is:

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
This is a handy inflation calculator site that allows you to enter the start and end years of your calculation. It makes figuring out the cost differences fast and easy.

Lecture Series

The lecture from Dr. Gerard at the Miskatonic University History Department, is on “Trees of Death!”

Review
From Gladius on: Daily Life in the Ancient World

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=3810

Side Topic

Logar’s Bribes topic from the forum

Main Topic

We have a great time talking with Brian about his gaming group, as well as his past, present and future projects. We even get an exclusive upcoming title that you’ll have to listen to find out what it is!

Brian’s Home Page
Robert E. Howard- Cthulhu: The Mythos and Kindred Horrors

The Campus Forum topic to discuss this episode is here.

MU Podcast 030 – Mr. Prolific

This episode has only Keepers Murph and Dan, but we think it’s still a pretty full show. We talk about a scenario-inspiration-filled TV show called Cities of the Underworld, a Lecture, and a nice conversation with Chris Birch of Modiphius Entertainment about the recent Achtung! Cthulhu Kickstarter that blew the doors off of its initial goal.

Campus Crier

HP Podcraft- Live in Providence! Help Chad and Chris from HPPodcraft.com get to Providence for NecronomiCon in their Kickstarter.

Obsidian Portal Reforged is another Kickstarter, and this is to fund the rebuilding of the RPG campaign organizer Obsidian Portal.

Ken Writes About Stuff from Pelgrane Press-

Ken describes it as so:
“A burst of Hite goodness that you can imbibe or not as you see fit, secure in the knowledge that there’s another one coming down the pike in a month at a reasonable price. I’ll be putting about 4,000 words worth of fun together every month — maybe an optional rules system, maybe a longish DramaSystem Series Pitch, maybe a “ripped from the headlines” mini-scenario, maybe a campaign frame or a mini-setting, maybe an extended riff on some worthy intelligence organization or serial killer or astrophysical anomaly. Leave requests in the comments, and I shall take them most indubitably under advisement.”

CthulhuProject7 has released the first trailer for their new short film ‘Vomica’, due for release in December 2013. ‘Vomica’ is a horror story set in World War 2 and inspired by the works of H P Lovecraft. Similar to how the HPLHS began, Project 7 started as a Call of Cthulhu RPG group that moved to Live Action play, and then started using their existing props and costumes to make short films.

Newly Named Mercury Craters Honor Hawaiian Guitarist, Beloved Young Adult Author, and HP Lovecraft!

Scientists find Cthulhu, Cthylla ‘monsters’ in termite gut-

Scientists have discovered two new species of “parabasalian symbionts,” members of thriving microbial communities in the prolific viscous hindgut of Prorhinotermes simplex and Reticulitermes virginicus, better known as termites.

The newly discovered microbes were named for two Lovecraftian monsters, Cthulhu (Khlûl’-hloo/”Ke-thoo-loo”) and Cthylla (“ke-thil-a”).

According to researcher Erick James of the University of British Colombia, in a study published in the March 18 edition of the journal PLOS ONE, entitled “Cthulhu Macrofasciculumque and Cthylla Microfasciculumque, a Newly Identified Lineage of Parabasalian Termite Symbionts,”
Murph shares the sad news that one of his favorite authors, Iain Banks, has late stage terminal cancer. Our thoughts are with Mr. Banks and his loved ones in this terrible time.
We are taking submission for naming the upcoming MUP Newsletter! And as a bonus, the winning submission will get a free piece of commissioned art from artist, Ian MacLean, winner of our Celia’s Cilia contest.
Be sure to sign up for our mailing list to get notifications about the newsletter, or website updates to your inbox on a daily or weekly basis.

Update-
@JMAbrassart told us that the Beyond the Mountains of Madness campaign has Ubbo-Sathla in it. All I can say is that we either don’t own it, or haven’t read through it thoroughly enough to have seen the mention.
Dan is considering making a separate short audio segment talking about Kickstarters that would be relevant to Lovecraft fans and gamers. There will be a poll on the Campus Forum to get a feel for if that would be something folks would be interested in. Then we can take the Kickstarters out of the Crier unless they were specifically of relevance.

There is also thought of making the live plays their own RSS feed. We have another poll up to see if the community would like that or prefer to keep them rolled into the main show feed.

Card Catalog

This week’s hidden online resource for keepers is:

The National Portrait Gallery. This is a UK website that has painting and photos of people from all over the UK, and they’re categorized by period, or with a rather nice search feature.

http://www.npg.org.uk/

Lecture Series

The lecture from Dr. Gerard at the Miskatonic University History Department, is on “Colonia Dignidad”

6-Word Adventure Update

We found our tunnel system. We will be using the Camden Catacombs for the scenario. There are great pictures here from an Urban Explorer.

Side Topic

We discuss the History Channel show Cities of the Underworld. This show is a wealth of inspiration for amazing real world settings under the earth.

Main Topic

For the main topic, we have a lengthy talk with Chris Birch, president of Modiphius Entertainment about the fantastic Kickstarter campaign that blew the doors off of their funding goal.
He mentions the Kickstarter for zombie mugs and cups that he partnered with to produce Cthulhu and Nazi zombie mugs.

Did you miss getting in on their Achtung! Cthulhu Kickstarter? Although the campaign has closed, there is a short window for people to join in, please message Modiphius using the Contact Page and they will let you know how to get in on it even after it’s done.

The Campus Forum topic to discuss this episode is here.

MU Podcast 029 – Achtung Underground

Campus Crier

• The Achtung! Cthulhu Kickstarter will wrap up 2 days after release of this episode!

• Also, check out the details on this Rise of Cthulhu: Battle for New York City new game. Want.

•
The Doom that Came to Fiddle Creek

• And, check out this Kickstarter for a new short film called Miskatonic University, inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

• A hearty shout out to a couple of new sponsors — thank you “DrDarkspeed” and “WitchDoctor,” a pair of pseudonyms that would make a great Lovecraftian superhero duo. Anyway, thanks very much, guys!

• And, announcing the call for submissions on our yet-to-be-named newsletter. Check out the details here.

Card Catalog

This week’s hidden online resource for keepers is:

Online newspaper clipping generators from Fodey.com and Presentation Magazine. Great for creating in-game news items, clues and props for your sessions.

Mutable Deceptions, Vol 1: Jazz Age Newspapers

Lecture Series

The lecture from Dr. Gerard at the Miskatonic University History Department, is on “Saint John’s Dance”

Review

Jon gives us a spoiler-free review of the much-anticipated Chaosium release, Atomic Age Cthulhu.

Bestiary

And this week’s secret Bestiary word is: Ubbo-Sathla! Ahhhhhh!

Sponsor Side Topic!

For our first sponsor-suggested side topics, we dive into an idea EddyPo gave us as part of his generous sponsorship back a few weeks ago.

Based on his request, we bring you a veritable buffet of goodies for making your Skype or Google Hangout games…er…more better.

Syrinscape

MorphVox Pro

Screenleap

Dropbox

Roll20

Maptool

Skype

Google Hangouts

Mumble

Invisible Castle — a virtual die roller to keep players and Keepers honest. Great for play-by-post games.

Call Graph

Call Burner

Pamela

Infrno — An online gaming community where you can recruit players or join VOIP games. Games are usually played over Skype, and they have their own shared tabletop application that you can try out.

Obsidian Portal — a campaign Wiki that you can use for ongoing games on or off VOIP. Nice for keeping track of long narratives and scads of NPCs.
What we didn’t know at the time of recording was that Obsidian Portal is having a Kickstarter to rebuilt and update the entire site!

Main Topic

We went back into our 6-word improv adventure and looked at a number of the historical accuracy issues we created last time.
And since we recorded, we found our tunnel system. We will be using the Camden Catacombs for the scenario. There are pictures here from an Urban Explorer.

MU Podcast 028 – Digital Cthulhu

Campus Crier

• From February 28th to April 2nd, Cryptocurium  will offer a small collection of limited edition items made to coincide with the rising of Cthulhu’s city of R’lyeh. After April 2nd they will sink beneath the waves never to be seen again…

• Yog-Sothoth.com is having their March into Madness Patron drive. Paul has a large list of amazing raffle prizes, as well as huge discounts on the Innsmouth House store.

• The Achtung! Cthulhu Kickstarter has been stomping all over their stretch goals. They’re about to reach a goal to add a Guide to North Africa and Middle East, and they’ve already started two new campaign guides, Shadows of Atlantis, and Assault on the Mountains of Madness! Who doesn’t want to fight Mythos-powered Nazis in an Antarctic Elder Thing city!

• Miskatonic River Press has released Tales of the Sleepless City! This is a New York City sourcebook with a list of adventures from some of the top talent in writing Call of Cthulhu adventures.

• Friend of the podcast Joe Broers has released his latest sculpture: Yig, Father of Serpents. Bring this into your Yig CoC adventure and blow your players’ minds.

• The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society has a new audio drama from their Dark Adventure Radio Theatre line: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. It’s available in download format, as well as CD. I’d advise getting the CD version, as it comes with some amazing props!

• The Unspeakable Oath 22 is out! Arc Dream Publishing has released another amazing issue that has some of the biggest names in horror gaming. Now available in PDF at drivethrurpg.com and will be shipping in paperback in a couple of weeks. Arc Dream is looking for submissions for Oath 23. Submission guidelines are at theunspeakableoath.com.

• Arc Dream has an ebook edition of the Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia by Dan Harms. Perfect for reading all about Y’golonac on your mobile device. It’s on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and DriveThruRPG.

• More Delta Green fiction is available in Delta Green: Strange Authorities and its sequel, Through a Glass, Darkly. They’re in paperback at Amazon and from ArcDream.com, and ebook versions for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and at DriveThruRPG.

Card Catalog

This week’s hidden online resource for everyone, players & keepers alike, is: Relic Radio

Lecture Series

This week, we hear from our British Columbia correspondent, Mr. Koakai, who takes us to Pacific shores for another Field Trip from the Miskatonic University Department of History, on the mysteries of “Ripple Rock.”

Special Collections Vault:

We talk about the Eltdown Shards.

The episodes of the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast that cover the story with the boxes and replacing minds begins with episode 108 and goes to episode 110.

Main Topic:

And now for something completely different. The crew improvised the outline of a scenario based on six-word plot hooks that listeners posted on the forum here. It was too hard to choose only one, so we each picked one from the list.

Chad picked: “A strange stone from a shipwreck.” (Koakai)
Murph picked: “What the hell just bit me?” (EddiePo)
Jon picked: “First victim marked with curious symbols.” (EddiePo)
Dan picked: “Subway repairmen discover pale, carnivorous plants.” (mjmedwick)

From these seeds, we sowed a weird Gaslight tale of vikings, magical geodes, emergency amputations, heat-seeking alien vermin and malicious subterranean vegetable thralls.

More details as this story develops…
And yes, we realized afterward that there were no offshore oil drilling platforms in the North Sea in the Gaslight period.

Thanks very much to our official sponsor!

We would love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus Forum with your ideas!

***Here is the discussion thread*** on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

MU Podcast 027 – 6-Word Brainstorming

Campus Crier:

Episode 26 has the first Shout-Outs for our listener sponsor program. Thank you all so much to all the community members that have helped us to cover outstanding expenses.

Card Catalog:
The Card Catalog for this episode is from our forums.
Maps, Mapping, and You. From Koakai

Then we have three more threads that supply a wealth of 1920′s information for Boston from Logar.
Boston Map 1921
Boston Region 1922 – Hotels / Prices
Boston Region 1922 – Boarding room / Apartment prices

Main Topic:
This episode’s Main Topic is the interview with Graham.
Please be aware that Graham uses some adult language in the interview. If you listen to the show in speakers with kids around, you might want to switch to headphones.

We talk a lot about Stealing Cthulhu and Cthulhu Dark. And we also hear about his upcoming Jon Pertwee 3rd Doctor source book for Cubicle 7‘s Doctor Who RPG. The full collection of books can be seen here.

Mikey Mason‘s work can be found here and here.

We have an official sponsor for a number of episodes, starting with this one.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus Forum with your ideas!

***Here is the discussion thread*** on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

MU Podcast 026 – Borrowing Walmsley

In Episode 25, we talk about a murder of topics, including unruly players and the Idea roll. We crack open the Bestiary again, and search for the elusive Lloigor. Plus, we take another trip to Pickman’s Art Institute for an interview with Joe Broers.

Campus Crier

• Happy Birthday Great Cthulhu!

• It’s been 10 years since the first RPG Live-Play recording was released online. That honor goes to YSDC and Paul MacLean for accidentally recording part of a D&D game a decade ago.

• A new book for The Laundry RPG has been released — check out God Game Black

• And, finally, Chaosium’s The Atomic Age book is OUT!

• Mythos Buddies – check out this cute little bit of Lovecraftiana from Dreamland Toyworks — they’re $11.95 each, under 3″ tall. These little collectibles were designed by John Kovalic and sculpted by Tom Meier

• An appeal to the MUP Nation: we’ve got bills coming up. We’ve set up a new page for people to become supporters. Check out our sponsorship levels and fun thank-you gifts.

• We’ve got a Guest Post page for the site. We’re not going to link to it in the show notes, because we want to hold back the tide of Spam for now. But the address is www.mu-podcast.com SLASH guest. Shhh. Don’t share this with the robots.

• We’re ramping up to launch a newsletter pilot issue — no date has been set, but we’ll be calling for submissions soon. Please feel free to share your ideas on the MU forum. We will be adding an e-mail list to this site soon for everyone to sign up to get the free quarterly newsletter.

Card Catalog

“Alpope-23” from the forum suggested we share one online resource for Keepers each episode. We like the idea, so here we go.

To kick this thing off, we’re endorsing the Vintage Ad Browser, which has awesome period advertisements that you can use for inspiration or props at your table.

History Department Lecture

This week takes us to the U.S. capital for another Field Trip from the Miskatonic University History Department, entitled “Mrs. Lincoln Talks to the Dead.”

Pickman’s Art Institute

In the second installment of our new Mythos art segment, Murph talks to Joe Broers about making props out of Sculpey, and about his amazing catalog of Lovecraftian sculptures. His stuff can be seen on Deviant Art here.

Bestiary

We talk about the illusive and pessimistic Lloigor.

Main Topic

For this show, we cover a couple of topics instead of just one. First, some suggestions about how to use the mysterious Idea roll. Then, a little about how to handle conflicts at the table, including play-versus-player problems and other disturbances that can throw off a game session.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus Forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

MU Podcast 025 – Ideas about Distractionary Unruliness

In Episode 24, we’re down to a skeleton crew due to a couple of pretty nasty colds. But Keepers Chad and Murph forge on, with a show dedicated to props and handouts. To kick it off, we cut the ribbon on our new Pickman’s Art Institute segment, with special guest and prop-master Jason McKittrick. And this show has our final 7th Edition segment, in which we discuss an MUP favorite — chase rules.

Campus Crier

• We take a moment to honor the life and achievements of Lynn Willis, who passed away on January 18th after a long health battle.

Here are some links to thoughtful obituaries.

Charlie Krank and Greg Stafford
Paul of Cthulhu
Bret Kramer

And here are links to forum threads where you can add your own tributes to this founding father of Call of Cthulhu.

YSDC Thread
MUP Thread

• Announcing our Build an Elder God contest winner!

The cultists have spoken! The voting is in, and the winner is Agmar! This being is the creation of Marco Subias, who used Agmar in his Delta Green game, which had taken W Cell to the Dreamlands. Congratulations Marco! Check out his backstory of a human king in the dreamlands under a terrible curse.

Honorable mentions to…

-Clvau Xenthoi – the chaotic bundle of multidimensional energy ribbons by Simon Yee

-Plagiarius – poisonous sharp-toothed larvae with a potent hive mind by Randall Padilla

Another heartfelt thanks to the sponsor of this contest, Signal Fire Studios, and especially Jamie Chambers and Ben Mund.

History Lecture Series

This week, we look at the origin of modern museums and side shows, as Doctor Gerard at the Miskatonic University History Department speaks on the topic of “Doctor Worm and his Cabinet of Curiosities”.

7th Edition Segment

This week, we wrapped up our coverage of the 7th Edition playtest with a discussion of one more proposed mechanic: the chase rules.

Pickman’s Art Institute

To launch our new prop-focused series, we’ve got the talented thing-maker Jason McKittrick to talk about his art and how he got into Lovecraftian props. We also rope him into giving us an actual tutorial on how to make prop pages from the Necronomicon, using PDFs that you can download and use in your games.

Jason McKittrick’s Deviant Art Page  (The Dunwich Cthulhu Idol that Murph has.)

The Cryptocurium site

Here are the files for creating the Necronomicon page that Jason and Murph discussed.

Main Topic

The main topic is a continuation of the prop theme, in which Murph and Chad talk about how to use props and handouts in your game, working them into the story, and easy ways to get started. Keepers Dan and Jon were pretty disappointed they missed this show, but they’ll be back to share their thoughts about props another time.

The HPLHS is a fantastic place to start your prop-making experiments. They have a number of free downloads to start with, along with detailed instructions to make the props as historically accurate as possible.

Cthulhu Reborn also just released their first retail product, which is called Mutable Deceptions, Vol 1: Jazz Age Newspapers

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus Forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

MU Podcast 24 – Propilicious Verisimilitude

This week, we’re starting to sift through the sands of time to explore particular eras that are available for Call of Cthulhu — we start with Invictus: Lovecraftian tales in the age of the Roman Empire. We also cover 7th Edition’s proposed changes to the skill list,  some thoughts about using the Mythos skill, and another show-and-tell from Monterey Jack, with an invention to help with watery escapes.

Campus Crier

• Voting is underway right now for the Build an Elder God contest!

The entries are posted, and the community is currently able to vote on them to determine the winner. The voting will be open until January 22, 2013. That’s only two days after this episode drops, so get over there if you haven’t already!

• 1D4 Con 2013: James from the 1D4Cast (known as amvteknoboy on our forum) has announced a new gaming convention in northern Virginia coming up in April. April 26-28, a 3-day pass is $20 for pre-registration, $25 at the door, and a $10 discount for anyone who runs three games while table slots are still available. More details on the convention website or on the forum thread here.

• In response to some discussion of the Fate system in our pulp episode, FNH emailed a link to a document he created on how to incorporate insanity into that system.

By the way, the Kickstarter for a Fate system core rule book still has a few days left!

• We get another excellent voicemail from Brian Courtemanche in Massachusetts, in which he responded to Pulp Up the Volume with a little background on the as-yet unpublished Pulp Cthulhu supplement. He also mentions:

BRP Astounding Adventures, a pulp source book that could easily inform a pulp-style Call of Cthulhu campaign.

Blood Brothers Book II features a Lucha Libre adventure just like the one we mused about in MUP Episode 21. Bret Kramer also mentioned that scenario in our YSDC thread a couple of weeks back.  Looks to be an excellent book, with lots of great B-Movie scenarios.

• By the way, Bret also mentioned that he didn’t know of any scenarios with Gugs in them, but that you could easily fit them into an adventure called “His Wildest Dreams” from The Unbound Book #0. Oh, and the cheese that you eat with live maggots in it is from Sardinia, not Corsica. It’s called Cazu Marsu.

• Trevlix mentioned Hollow Earth Expedition (HEX) on our forum as an awesome Pulp RPG, with an adventure called “Frozen City of Terror” that seems similar to Mountains of Madness. Oh, and he mentions the intriguing Pulpfest in Columbus, OH coming up this summer.

• Going back a bit, Eibon rightfully called Keeper Chad out for saying Lovecraft was unfamiliar with Theosophy before Lumley pushed it on him, and offered a really excellent article from Bob Price about HPL’s relationship with Theosophy that you can read here.

• We also mention Koakai’s amazing posts in National History Honors Society about his archaeology work in Ecuador, with awesome photos of bone-inlaid floors and tombstone staircases, as well as all kinds of great posts about creepy history.

History Lecture

There’s no lecture from Doctor Gerard this week, but here’s a list of excellent history podcasts to tide you over.

Hardcore History with Dan Carlin

Stuff you Missed in History Class

The History of the World in 100 Objects

The Military History podcast

BBC History Magazine

BBC 4′s In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg

The History of Rome

History According to Bob

Jon mentions his tour with Bob at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City.

Monterey Jack: The Klepper Jack

This week brings another visit from our intrepid professor, and a seminar on his souped-up portable battle kayak for navigating the world’s treacherous rivers.

7th Edition Playtest

This week we cover proposed changes to the skill list, including consolidations,

Note: We’re planning to wrap up our coverage of the 7e playtest soon. We’re months on from when the version we have was shared, and there have likely been many changes by now.

How to Use the Mythos Skill

For our side topic, we talk about how to handle players’ requests for a Mythos skill check. The topic was suggested by Gladius,who is running an actual play game that you can listen to Signals from Celaeno – The Legacy of Arrius Lurco Live Play.

Main Topic: Roman era – AKA: Invictus!

We mention Invictus campaign materials like The Legacy Of Arrius Lurco by Oscar Rios from Miskatonic River Press.

Here’s a list of other books to support the Invictus setting:

Cthulhu Invictus Companion - a fully laid out and edited setting companion book from Chaosium.

Cthulhu Invictus Bestiae - an Invictus bestiary.

Cthulhu Invictus Patrocinium - notes on Roman patronage.

Cthulhu Invictus Populus - full of NPCs for your Invictus campaign.

Cthulhu Invictus Fabulae - scenario seeds.

Malum Umbra - Chaosium’s first monograph companion for the setting.

Extrico Tabula - “Expanding Borders,” the second monograph companion from Chaosium.

Lux in Tenebras - a kind of Invictus starter kit from Miskatonic River Press.

Rome: The Life and Death of the Republic — a non-mythos BRP Sourcebook for historical setting details.

Good sources of inspiration include the HBO series Rome, and Spartacus, 300- graphic novel, & movie. You can even see what lies beneath modern day Rome.
And if all that serious stuff gets old, let Mel Brooks and Monty Python remind you that sweaty men with swords wearing sheets are hilarious.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus Forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

MU Podcast 23 – Do You Like Movies About Gladiators?

In Episode 22, we’ll launch the New Year from the other side of the Keeper screen with some tips for players, burrow into the Dreamlands Underworld for a visit to the Bestiary, and we’ll talk about the proposed “Connections” mechanic in the play-tested draft of 7th Edition.

Campus Crier

• Only one more week to enter the Build an Elder God contest. So far, we’ve got two entries. Enough for a Cosmic Cage Match of Doom! Who will survive? Who — or what — will join them in this epic battle?! 

To enter, write up a new Elder God, Great Old One, or Outer God. Stats aren’t what we’re looking at so much as a creative description of the being, history, location, and ways Investigators might come in contact with it or its servants or cultists.

You can submit the entries to contest@mu-podcast.com, and the due date for entries is January 15th. The entries will be posted, and the community can vote on them to determine the winner. The voting will be open until January 22nd.

• Punktown from Miskatonic River Press was funded successfully, with more than $13,000. Not bad, considering they were shooting for $9,000 to print the book.

• And the NecronomiCon Kickstarter for convention seed money has met its funding goal.

• Jon mentions the Roll for Initiative podcast, a show focused on old school Advanced Dungeons and Dragons that often mentions Call of Cthulhu along the way. In one of their early episodes, they interviewed TSR giant Jeff Grubb, who talked about some Call of Cthulhu war stories along the way.

One of the show’s hosts, DM Nick, occasionally posts on our forum as Blackstone.

• Achtung! Cthulhu is launching a Kickstarter to craft a line of WWII 28mm Heroes and Villains Miniatures.

Check out the briefing from Modiphius’s Chris Birch.

(Note: During the show, Chad mentions that this might be compatible with the Lovecraftian miniatures game system Strange Aeons, which turns out to be at the 25mm scale instead of 28mm.  However, minis fans have told us that 25mm and 28mm are reasonably compatible.)

• Speaking of zombie Nazis, there’s a great Norwegian indy film called Dead Snow that scratches that itch. We checked — it’s available to stream on Netflix.

• While we’re on a movie tangent, Dan mentions checking out Finnish film Rare Exports during the holiday — a story he says could easily be a Call of Cthulhu investigation!
The Rare Exports movie is based on two short films, available to watch HERE and HERE. (Not Safe for Work!)

MU History Department Lecture

This week’s lecture from Dr. Gerard delves into a real-life inspiration for pulp adventures, in  Percy Fawcett’s “The Lost City of Zed.”

7th Edition

And we finally get around to one of the draft rules that didn’t sit well with our group. Check out our coverage of the storytelling mechanic known as “Connections.”

The Bestiary 

In our latest installment of the monster menagerie segment, Gugs!  Another image

Jon mentions the appearance of a Gug in Fantasy Flight’s novel Ghouls of the Miskatonic, written by Graham McNeill.

Main Topic 

Tips for players and character background ideas…

We kick off the discussion with an old standby, the 10 Commandments of Cthulhu Hunting, which appears in The Cthulhu Casebook, by Sandy Petersen and John B. Monroe, and also Keeper’s Compendium I.

1. Keep it Secret
2. Stay Together
3. Act in Haste, Repent at Leisure — Dan mentions regretting an impulsive move while playing in Skype of Cthulhu’s Grave Concern. The module he plays in is from a book of solo scenarios called Monophobia.
4. Always Have a Plan
5. Scout It Out
6. Guns are a Last Resort
7. Know Your Enemy
8. Things Are Not Always as They Seem
9. Never Give Up
10. Be Prepared

Jon pulls his copy of the Theron Marks Society off his bookshelf. It’s out of print, but we’re looking for a way to make this material available (legally).

Chad mentions some ways to role play skills like Spot Hidden and Fast Talk. He’s working up a list of techniques that will be posted on the forum.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

MU Podcast 022 – Survival Tips for Players

Campus Crier News

• What? Another Lovecraftian Kickstarter, you say? Yes, indeed! Achtung! Cthulhu, the beloved WWII Lovecraftian game source book, has come out with a standalone rule system based on the storytelling engine “Three Kings – PDQ.” It’s wartime role playing — with Tentacles!

• Also, vote for what kind of Kickstarter rewards you would like for their upcoming fundraiser in January 2013!

• And, announcing the MUP “Build an Elder God” contest.

We have a digital print-and-play copy of a new card game called Building an Elder God to give away. Not only the game, but Ben Mund, artist for Signal Fire Studios has agreed to include a personalized Elder God head for the game to the winner.

When this was a Kickstarter, the custom picture was granted for a $100 and $150 level pledge. Check out the awesome example Ben made up for us using Keeper Dan’s shaggy face!

(Dan, we are all well impressed with the facial hair.)

To enter the MUP contest, write up your vision of a new Elder God, Great Old One, or Outer God. Stats aren’t what we’re looking at so much as a creative description, history, location, and ways Investigators might come in contact with it or its spawn, minions or cultists.

You can submit the entries to contest@mu-podcast.com. The due date for entries is January 15. The entries will be posted, and the MUP community will be able to vote to determine the winner.

The voting will be open until January 22, 2013.

More information about the game can be found at Signal Fire Studios web site.

7th Edition

In this week’s 7E segment, we finally get to talk about the proposed Push mechanic that we’ve referenced several times. Due to the non-disclosure agreement, we can’t spell out the details here, so check it out in the podcast!

MU History Department Lecture

Then, we take a trip north to the snowy woods of Maine, for a “Field Trip” from Dr. Gerard — on the “The Dyer Book of Lisbon, Maine.”

Monterey Jack’s Adventuring Outpost

We also unleash another new segment! Hear a seminar from one of Miskatonic U’s most popular Archaeology Department instructors — the infamous Monterey Jack! In this inaugural installment, ‘ole Jack tells us how to make our own “popper,” a delicious-sounding device for getting out of those tight spots in the back country.

Pulp Combat

Then, in a special discussion segment of the show this week, we talk about some specific ways to make your combat two-fisted and cinematic.

Here’s a few of them:

• Double PCs hit points.
• For a critical success in combat, roll for normal damage and add the maximum instead of doubling the damage as usual. (2d6 = a 2d6 roll +12)
• Allow Dodge rolls against bullets.
• Fill your combat environment full of potential improvised weapons and movement tools (like chandeliers and cranes).
• Set interesting traps and hazards for the heroes.
• Give villains the same amount of advantages that PCs have, to make them more durable in the story.
• Don’t count ammo.
• Lower hit points for “mooks” and Nerf their armor.
• Increase number of mooks for drama.
• Make durable villains, so they can recur in the story arc.
• Create a good lieutenant to do the bidding of the villain.
Allow heroes to use armor.
• Use Luck points (under the possible 7E rule) to soak damage points.
• Use Luck points as “bennies.”

Main Topic: Pulp Style

The rest of the show continues our discussion of the pulp flavor, including lots of recommendations for pulp books, movies, radio shows and other media to help you get into the proper mood for your game.

By the way, the foundation music for the pulpy “Main Topic” bumper this week is from YSDC’s Gracehoper, who has put together five hours of free ambient Egyptian-themed music.

Links for the North African music are here, here, here, here and here. There’s an automatic popup ad on these links, but hang in there, because it’s worth the minor hassle. Did I mention they’re free?

Gracehoper also has a couple of Southern Gothic audioscapes here and here.

Examples of dark pulp:

Solomon Kane

Solomon Kane (2009 movie)

Robert E. Howard’s Horror Stories (book)

Robert E. Howard’s Horror Stories (audio book)

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (book)
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (audio book)

The Shadow
In a short diversion, we also wander into some examples of Body Horror, including Dee Snider’s “twisted” flick Strangeland.

Dan mentions the Stainless Steel Rat Series, and suggests that an elevator pitch for the pulp style of Call of Cthulhu, to entice unfamiliar players, is to describe it as a combination of The Untouchables, Ghostbusters and Hellboy.

We also mention:

Mall of Cthulhu

The Rocketeer

Princess Bride

Flash Gordon

Buck Rogers

Phantom Empire

Hopalong Cassidy

Undersea Kingdom

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar

Lights Out

Suspense

The Phantom (and the The Phantom cargo cult in Papua New Guinea)

Masks

Grendel

Tales from the Crypt from Seeing Ear Theater

Creepshow

Tales from the Darkside

Night Gallery — Pickman’s Model

The Midnight Hour

For a list of pulp media we just didn’t have time to mention on the show, please check out our list on the forum, where you can add your own recommendations.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

MU Podcast 021 – Pulp Up the Volume

- Explicit Language Warning-
Episode 20 has a special guest , Adam Scott Glancy, president of Pagan Publishing!
We forgo much of our usual format to cover a wide range of topics with Scott, from the new Delta Green material they’re working on at Pagan, to the new Bumps in the Night book for Call of Cthulhu, to the development of 7th Edition. He was kind enough to join us despite being ill, and we had a wonderful time talking with him.

The plugin that gives the download link seems to have stopped working, so here is a direct link to the file.

Campus Crier News-
MUP fundraiser died at 77%. So, if you pledged, we thank you very much for your support, but you won’t be paying out anything. If you would still like to support the show, use the donation link on the front page.

We also have a new store up on Zazzle! If you want a shirt with the Mythos Babies, or to proclaim your love for Dr. Gerard’s History Lecture series, you can get them on the shirt of your preference.
http://www.mu-podcast.com/zazzle

Punktown Kickstarter from Miskatonic River Press-
You got Cthulhu in my Cyberpunk! You got Cyberpunk in my Cthulhu!
Help bring an all new setting to squamous life by supporting the Kickstarter by friend of the show Tom Lynch, president of MRP!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1799183063/punktown-an-rpg-setting-for-call-of-cthulhu-and-br

We got a voicemail from our friend Brian in MA, discussing the pulp and purist scale of game play we discussed in episode 19. It sounds like he has a great balance in his games. He mentions Keeper Jon’s Timeless Sands of India book from Goodman Games‘ Age of Cthulhu collection.

We then talk a little about Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition, and Scott’s take on the proposed changes to the system.
Scott mentions the character creation system for the Fallout Series, which was apparently based on GURPS; another percentile skill system like BRP.

Scott brings up the story A Colder War, by Charles Stross.
North Korea’s interesting details, the Unicorn Tomb (or was it?), the Ryugyong Hotel, and the Pyongyang Traffic Girls.
Scott references the Harry Paget Flashman books, by George MacDonald Fraser

We have a new lecture from Dr. Gerard at the Miskatonic University History Department — on the topic of ”The Dream Hunters of Corsica”

Development of new Delta Green game involves being completely compatible with BRP/Call of Cthulhu. It will also feature separate Player and Keeper books.
They might be using the Legend core rules by Mongoose Publishing. All of their books with the plain black cover are all Open Gaming License, and the main book is only $1.00 US!

Murph has questions about the production for Sense of Slight of Hand Man, by Arc Dream Publishing.

Q: For new Keepers, what do you suggest for a first scenario? Any other advice for first-timers?
A: First DG scenarios: Last Things Last, Puppetshows and Shadowplays, PX Poker Night, (Free PDF!)
Scott didn’t mention this one, but there is also A Victim of the Art (Free PDF!).

We feature part of a new Mythos related song by Mikey Mason: Scoobythulu
Mikey is a very gamer & geek-friendly comedian and songwriter, who regularly appears at the RPG convention Fear the Con, run by the guys at the Fear the Boot podcast.
http://www.mikeymason.com/
You can listen to his music and purchase here: http://mikeymason.bandcamp.com/releases

There’s mention of Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, and the Conan stories.

We talk about Scott’s experience of using Kickstarter to fund Bumps in the Night.
Then we talk about Non-Mythos threats and how they approached it in writing Bumps in the Night

Scott mentions the audio drama Three Skeleton Key, available free here at Archive.org.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 020 – Bumps in the Night With A.S.G.

This week’s show dredges up an old debate in the Call of Cthulhu community – between the “pulp” and “purist” styles of play. We also preview another proposed 7th Edition rule; changes in the Luck stat and how it might be used in the game. Then, we’ll visit the Special Collections vault and crack open a copy of the Theosophist bestseller – The Book of Dzyan.

The plugin that gives the download link seems to have stopped working, so here is a direct link to the file.

Campus Crier

Voting for the Celia’s Celia giveaway is closed, and we’re announcing Mythos Babies as a clear winner! Congratulations, Ian MacLean (Nvision on the forum) for your incredibly awesome and pro-quality entry. This is truly an unforgettable image.

Note: the hosts did not know the winner of the contest at recording time, as it was before the last day of voting.

Thanks very much to the runners-up who submitted “Welcome to Leng” and “Cthulhu Family.” Both of those entries were very much in the spirit of the contest and both suggest a pretty sinister backstory.

We mention the MU Radio station, where you can stream a constant shuffle of our content or pick out individual elements.

Another push for help with our CrowdTilt fundraiser for server costs and better sound equipment.

And a big thank you to Hugh for his generous donation! Thanks also to Andy Y from the AIE and AIE Podcast for his contribution.

We also thank our new sponsor, Audible.com, which will help lots with the aforementioned costs. There’s plenty of great Lovecraftian and horror content on there for us to recommend, so it seems like a great fit. If you sign up, you get a free book out of the deal and we get a kickback that we will use to boost show quality. Go buy all of the things.

We answer an email from Tyler asking whether BRP could be used to bring the worlds of the Dresden Files and Call of Cthulhu. A resounding “yes!” and tips for how to make it work.

We hear a voice mail message from Doctor Domino, who provides some insight into the identity of The Whisperer in the Darkness. Thanks for the feedback!

Seventh Edition Segment

As we continue our survey of new 7E rules, in this week’s installment we discuss how Luck is derived and spent. We don’t want to publish anything concrete in print about any of these rules, so you’ll just have to listen to the show!

Our Miskatonic University History Lecture Series this week is a field trip to “Brazil’s Alien City.”

Side Topic: Special Collections

Then, down in the moldering basement of the Orne Library’s Special Collections, we find a copy of the Book of Dzyan, a text that Theosophical movement founder Helana Blavatsky claimed she’d read in Tibet.

Lovecraft mentioned this book in only two of his stories, The Haunter of the Dark and a collaboration with William Lumley called The Diary of Alonso Typer.

We mention many possible tie-ins, including Venus, Atlantis, The Continent of Mu, Lemuria, Leng and the Dreamlands.

Keeper Murf mentions that Theosophy figures prominently in the beginning of Masks of Nyarlathotep, which concerns the Eye of Amara Society that has connections to the movement.

And we play an excerpt from the first episode of a new interview series, “Inside the Cultist Circle.”

Keeper Dan invokes Hot Fuzz, a British horror-comedy that explores some cult-related paranoia.

Main Topic: Pulp vs. Purist

For the main topic this week, we chat about the differences between what has come to be known as the pulp and purist flavors of Lovecraftian gaming.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 019 – Smooth or Pulpy?

In Episode 18 we have some news from the Campus Crier, an MU History “Field Trip,” a visit to The Bestiary, and this week’s centerpiece: advice for Keepers who are just starting out.

News:

● Time’s running out for our ongoing contest: Celia’s Cilia Giveaway

In honor of Keeper Jon’s new daughter, Keeper Celia, we’re holding a baby Mythos art contest.
But after the first two weeks, we have only received one single entry! Whaat?  Does no one seriously want this lovely copy of the Book of Cthulhu II??

Stories by Laird Barron, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette, Caitlín R. Kiernan, W.H. Pugmire, Molly Tanzer, Fritz Leiber, Livia Llewellyn, Michael Chabon, Ann K. Schwader and Molly Tanzer. Did we mention Neil Gaiman?

To enter, all you have to do is send us your sketch of a baby Mythos creature – Little Cthulhu, Toddler Formless Spawn, Infant Rat Thing – whatever seizes your imagination.
-Or-
Send us your version of a Mythos creature, as drawn by a child. Crayons and scribbling outside the lines encouraged, but not required.
We’ll pick the top three, and post them on our forum for a final vote from fans.

So, send in your entry (scanned copy, cell photo, etc.) to: contest@mu-podcast.com
Deadline is November 12^th

● We’re also announcing Miskatonic University Radio, our live streaming and on-demand service. Drop in on our station as it plays a random shuffle of all of our content 24/7, or select specific show segments like the History Lecture Series, the Special Collections, Bestiaries — and look out for streaming-only bonus material we’ve got in the pipeline.

● Another shout out to Aethercon, a free online gaming convention coming up right around the corner from November 16 to 18. The event uses the Roll20 system to bring gamers together at a virtual table. Poke around for a game to join! The organizers are still looking for help with Call of Cthulhu character tokens, so get in touch with them if you’re able to contribute a little artwork. You can read more in the Ice Cream Parlor on the Campus forum about this.

● Keeper Jon joins us a little late in the podcast (after taking care of something he mysteriously calls “burping time”), and we talk about places to find good mug shots to use in your games, including the archive of Australian mug shots at the Justice and Police Museum, which are curated in an easier format to find here. Keeper Jon mentions the BBC show Coppers, which has a nifty app that will turn your picture into an old-timey mug shot.

● Some clarification about the Non-Disclosure Agreement for the 7^th Edition rules and playtest we’ve been doing behind the scenes – we’re allowed to talk about the rules, but we can’t release them. So we’ll start to mention our thoughts on some of the rules changes on a regular basis – starting with this show!

● Jumping right in, we talk about the new 7^th Edition mechanic for bonuses and penalties to a skill check – instead of spelling it out here in the notes, listen to the show for details. All three hosts give this particular new mechanic a hearty thumbs-up!

This week’s Miskatonic University Lecture is another Field Trip, this time from MU graduate student H.G. Bukowski, reporing from Texas on the mysterious Saratoga Lights.

This week’s Bestiary covers the amorphous, brutish and deadly shoggoths – the hired thugs of the Mythos world.

Keeper Dan cleverly ties the flavor of licorice to the Mythos, and Keeper Jon posits that “10 percent of a shoggoth is Pine Sol.”

You’ll have to listen to the show to find out why.

We play a mysterious recording of what might be the call of a shoggoth…

Keeper Dan mentions a shoggoth-like creature in the Dean Koontz novel Phantoms.

Keeper Chad mentions the Shoggoth Lords, which are explored in a Michael Shea novelette called Fat Face.

Keeper Jon proposes a Lava Shoggoth, which would be like Horta from Star Trek.

Our main show topic this week was inspired by a forum post by Cthulhugh, who asked for some basic advice for new Keepers who are facing their first sessions from behind the screen.

Keeper Jon suggests that since Call of Cthulhu is a story-based game, new Keepers in particular should make sure that player characters will be a good fit for the adventure at hand.

Keeper Chad suggests asking players who insist on playing unusual character types (tribal fishermen of the world, you know who you are) to define for themselves how their concept fits with the story. Veto if needed.

Keeper Dan suggests providing a framework within the story to unify characters, like an investigative group or a family connection.

We talk about working with your group on how strike the right tone in the game, working with players’ preferences and tastes. Jon says in con games, there’s only so much customizing that can be done, so it’s good to set the tone in a blurb for the conference sign-up site or catalogue, so the players will self-select for according to their interests.

Jon suggests that new Keepers play Call of Cthulhu at conventions with experienced Keepers to get a feel for how to run a game. Keeper Chad mentions a scenario he played in at RinCon in Tucson run by Jason Corley from Pulp Gamer, which helped to re-ignite his interest in running horror scenarios.

The encoded message that Dan mentions has been found and can be seen here:  

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 018- New Keepers & Blob Monsters

Celia’s Cilia Giveaway

Prize: The Book of Cthulhu II

To enter, we’d love to see kid art of baby cthulhus/cthuloids/tentacles/squid/whatever….
-Or-
Mythos artwork that looks to have been done by a child.
Deadline is November 12. Send entries to contest@mu-podcast.com
We will determine a top three from all entries, then we’ll post a poll for the listeners to vote for the winner.

We have a voice mail from Mikkel, (BarlOwe on the forums).
He asked who we thought were some of our favorite underrated horror authors. What resulted was a lengthy discussion with the following mentions:

The Double Shadow Podcast about Clark Ashton Smith
Laird Barron The Imago Sequence
Brian Lumley
Dean Koonz Phantoms is particularly Lovecraftian.
Weston Ochse (pronounced “Oaks”) Empire of Salt
John Horner Jacobs  Southern Gods
Fritz Liber
W H Pugmire
Cody Goodfellow
Ramsey Campbell
Adam Scott Glancy
Delta Green Books and stories

There is also A Podcast to the Curious about M.R. James

We got an E-Mail from Shaun telling us about the SCP. SCP stands for Secure Contain Protect.
I just recently stumbled upon this site and it has upwards of 1000 unique items, living things and even people that could make for a great horror or CoC game addition. Each entry has a short description written in the style of a censored lab report and normally includes several logs that make for good story building elements.

http://www.scp-wiki.net/

It’s a blending of Warehouse 13 and Delta Green.

There was a mention of a Delta Green free scenario.
The base rules for the new Delta Green game are from Mongoose Publishing‘s Legend system.

For another podcast mention, Dan brings up Ken & Robin Talk About Stuff. A podcast by Ken Hite and Robin D. Laws.
http://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/

Their episode 7 has their views of CoC 7e as based on the Seminar Mike & Paul held.

Just a few more days for the DriveThru RPG Trick-or-Treat Promotion!

Murph read an audio presentation for SFF Audio.com

Out Of The Storm by William Hope Hodgson
Murph was on an episode of their podcast to discuss the story.

We have the next lecture from the Miskatonic University History Department, but not from Dr. Gerard. This is the first Field Trip lecture, from Ben Wenum — on the topic of ‘The Witchfinder General’.

Doctor Gerard is looking for people interested in recording History Segment “Field Trips” that are recorded on location.
Anyone who wants to do something like that, talk to Dr. G. He’d love to get some more voices and field recordings into the Hist segments.

The  Scarifyers episode with the Witchfinder General is episode 3- For King and Country.

In the Special Collections Vault, we talk about all the possibilities from the Revelations of Glaaki series.
The Severn Valley
Cthulhu Britannica
The adventure The Pale God is in the book The Great Old Ones.
YSDC has a live play game of The Pale God.

Main Topic:
Creating custom creatures and monsters for Call of Cthulhu.

Inspired by an e-mail from James from the 1d4cast Podcast

Malleus Monstrorum

Fish with a transparent skull:
http://deepseanews.com/

Halloween caterpillar
Lumpfish
Pickled Punks

Examples of custom monsters will be forthcoming:
Jon’s Homunculus.
Dan’s shark-man Creature inspired by the TV mini-series, though of course the book is better.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 17- Made to Order Monsters

Call of Cthulhu 7e playtesting is under way. Rules have been sent out, and Keepers are running their games.

Horror on the Orient Express Kickstarter ended with $207,804
There are going to be a lot of people playing HotOE next summer.

Don’t forget about the TWEET RPG VS ACHTUNG! CTHULHU THIS MONTH
Modiphius, the publisher of Achtung! Cthulhu is teaming up with a site  called Tweet RPG to try a new type of online roleplaying.

This October 2012, Twitter fans had better brace themselves as Tweet RPG launches WWII-themed adventure Kontamination, set in the Lovecraft-inspired world of Achtung! Cthulhu.

Visit the Tweet RPG Press Release for the full details.

Aethercon, the world-wide online RPG convention. November 16-18, 2012

http://www.aethercon.com/

The convention is being powered by Roll20, but they don’t have any character tokens that are not fantasy or modern military, and no Mythos monsters at all.
Any artists interested in helping to correct this lack would be very appreciated. Roll20 is a great game platform, but it needs tokens for more genres of gaming.
There is a post in the Ice Cream Parlor on the Campus forum about this.

We got a voice mail from Mike. He’s enjoying the Campus forums and the occasional background visit from Host Spawn.

We then have a new lecture from Dr. Gerard at the Miskatonic University History Department — on the topic of ‘Tuyul’.
Dr. Gerard is looking for interested parties to record Lecture Field Trip segments. Anyone interested can contact him on the Campus forum.

The Bestiary goes into discussion on our favorite buzzing fungi, the Mi-Go.
The HPL story Whisperer in Darkness can be read here at the HP Lovecraft Archive, and we mention the HPLHS film Whisperer in Darkness.
Jon is reading Ghouls of the Miskatonic from Fantasy Flight Games fiction line. There are some great Mi-Go scenes in there.
Dan mentions the RPG CthulhuTech, which has a lot of Mi-Go involvement (though it’s spelled Migou in this game).

Main Topic:
Optimizing published adventures.

Murph mentions a book called The Burrowers Beneath, by Brian Lumley. He thought Dans’ Miskatonic University Paranormal Society group was inspired by the Wilmarth Foundation from that book. MAPS was actually ripped off from TAPS.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 16- Brain Jars and Jackson Elias

We start things off with the Campus Crier.
Our first piece of news is that the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Play test is underway. Keepers got their info packets, and rules are being learned, and games are being played.

Chaosium’s Horror on the Orient Express Kickstarter is almost done! They have added some more great stretch goals, including a special edition version of the soundtrack by Alex Otterlei, a metal Medallion of Ithaqua, and a Cthulhu Invictus adventure called OMNIA VINCIT SANGUINIS!

TWEET RPG VS ACHTUNG! CTHULHU THIS OCTOBER
Modiphius, the publisher of Achtung! Cthulhu is teaming up with a site  called Tweet RPG to try a new type of online roleplaying.

This October 2012, Twitter fans had better brace themselves as Tweet RPG launches WWII-themed adventure Kontamination, set in the Lovecraft-inspired world of Achtung! Cthulhu.

Visit the Tweet RPG Press Release for the full details.

Trevlix from the forum told us about an online RPG convention in November called Aethercon. It’s a 24-hour online con so you can run or play a game at any time.
The con is using the Roll20 site to power the tabletop and dice for the games.
Here is the original post in the Ice Cream Parlor on the Campus forum about this.

We then have a new lecture from Dr. Gerard at the Miskatonic University History Department — on the topic of ‘The Count of St. Germain‘.

We play a promo for the Cthulhu Podcast.
We’d love to play promos for other shows, so if you’re involved in a Mythos/weird fiction/RPG podcast, let us know and we’ll play your promo.
Also, if you’re an artist or musician, let us know and we’d be happy to feature your work on the show and website.
And if you have a podcast and would like to play our promo, you can find it on our feed or right here.

Other work that FNH has done lately can be found in the notes for episode 15.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 15.5- FUBAR

**Update**
I changed the attached MP3 file to remove a length of blank air at the end of the previous release. If you have the prior one, just delete it and use this newer one. The length should be 1 hour, 47 minutes.

We start things off with the Campus Crier.
Our first piece of news is, of course, the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Play test, detailed here.
The NDA agreement file will be pulled on September 17 2012, so get them submitted asap!

Neil (Ebs on Yog forums) wrote to let us know about the new Call of Cthulhu character generation program he’s developing. He’s coming along in development, and an official version 1 should be available soon. It’s built for the Windows platform, but many Macs and Linux machines are capable of running Windows programs with an interpreter program.
We’ll give it a review here once he’s gotten the program to an official version 1 he’s happy with.

Bert from the Of Steam, Steel, and Murder podcast wrote to mention that they’ll be playing our promo in their show.
They seem to be creating a fascinating custom world with an alternate history for their steampunk RPG. You can check out their Obsidian Portal page for more details.

We then have a new lecture from Dr. Gerard at the Miskatonic University History Department — on the topic of ‘Galvanism‘.

We play a promo for the 19 Nocturne Boulevard podcast.
We’d love to play promos for other shows, so if you’re involved in a Mythos/weird fiction/RPG podcast, let us know and we’ll play your promo.
Also, if you’re an artist or musician, let us know and we’d be happy to feature your work on the show and website.
And if you have a podcast and would like to play our promo, you can find it on our feed or right here.

We have two reviews on this episode.
The first one is a submitted recording by Ben, for the new Bumps in the Night book by Pagan Publishing.

The second is for Cthulhu and the River of Doubt. This is the book Through the Brazilian Wilderness by Theodore Roosevelt, with footnotes added by FNH of the Cthulhu Podcast. These notes supplement the tale with roleplay story hooks and character stats. It appears that it’s currently only available in print form.
He also produced a similar book called Cthulhu and How I Found Livingstone. Print  DriveThru PDF
See all of FNH’s list of games here.

Jon mentions the book: The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey
Here is a page with a lot of images from the expedition.

Murph brings up the fantastic progress of Chaosium’s Horror on the Orient Express Kickstarter campaign.

Main Topic:
The Dreamlands
For inspiration of the amazing landscapes and views of the Dreamlands, look to the world around us.

We would also love to hear your ideas for topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 15- Sweet Dreams

Here is the NDA in PDF format: Call_of_Cthulhu_7E_PlayTest_NDA.pdf
Here is the official announcement:

Call_of_Cthulhu_7E_PlayTest_NDA

Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Playtest is running out of time!

Chaosium has released a public playtest for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition! Interested groups (it must be a group to play, at least 1 Keeper and 1 player) must sign a non-disclosure agreement, and sent it back to the e-mail in the NDA. This offer is only for a limited time, so get on it! The file will be removed on September 17th 2012!
Here is the official announcement:

Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Playtest is open!

We misplaced Murph again, so we cast Summon Co-Host, and we snared a Keeper Chad. We then crammed his brain into a Mi-Go cylinder and plugged him into our Skype.

We start things off with a well populated Campus Crier.
HPL’s 122nd birthday was on August 20th. The site with the cakes is here, and you can listen to Happy Birthday on a theremin!

We then discussed a great article called: Bringing history to life in a game setting. The designer behind Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land , Tomas Rawlings, has written an article on how they took real WWI medical tech and integrated it into their game.
For Keepers setting their game up through the 20′s, this is great information on what kind of first aid supplies are likely to be seen in various locations.

There are several pictures for examples and many links to additional information sprinkled through the article. A great read.
The article is hosted by Wellcome Trust.
We then talk about the fantastic progress of Chaosium’s Horror on the Orient Express Kickstarter campaign.
Dan mentions Edition Wars, from Gamer Nation Studios.
We also discuss the Kickstarter from Caleb Stokes for several Depression Era scenarios for any horror RPG.

The Reaper Miniatures Kickstarter can be found here. This is one of the largest Kickstarter completions to date. Over 3.42 million dollars raised.

We have a couple of voice mails. Starting with Brett Kramer reminding us that there was indeed an Innsmouth sourcebook.

Voice mail number two is from Brian Cortemanche, who is all signed up for NecronomiCon Providence. He’s hoping to meet other MUP listeners at the con!

Jon mentions Robert M Price will be at NecronomiCon. He had a great interview with the Monster Talk Podcast.
Here’s a mention of last years Cthulhu Prayer Breakfast.

We then have a new lecture from Dr. Gerard at the Miskatonic University History Department — on the topic of ‘Stalin’s Ape-Man Army‘.

We discuss the original Planet of the Apes book, Gorilla Grodd, cyborg gorillas, and the HPL Literary Podcast episode 13.

We play a promo for the HP Lovecraft Live podcast.
We’d love to play promos for other shows, so if you’re involved in a Mythos/weird fiction/RPG podcast, let us know and we’ll play your promo.
Also, if you’re an artist or musician, let us know and we’d be happy to feature your work on the show and website.
And if you have a podcast and would like to play our promo, you can find it on our feed or right here.

We then cover the 2012 ENnie Awards winners that are in the Horror genre.

Best Art, Cover
Cthulhu by Gaslight (Chaosium Inc.) *Silver Winner*
Cover art by Paul Carrick. Chad mentions this video.

Best Electronic Book
Cthulhu Apocalypse: The Apocalypse Machine (Graham Walmsley & Pelgrane Press) *Gold Winner*
The Yog Radio episode with Graham is number 46. (Patrons can listen to the Yog Radio back catalog)

 Best Podcast
Role Playing Public Radio *Gold Winner*
These guys do a lot of CoC content. Their live plays have a lot of Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green and some Trail of Cthulhu and Invictus.
Jon’s Murder of Crows Actual Play is here. The Doom From below is a loosely connected sequel.

Best Setting
Cthulhu Britannica: Shadows Over Scotland (Cubicle 7) *Gold Winner*
Purchase from RPG Now The other two Cthulhu Britannica books are here and here.
Amazon offers all three books as well. Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3.

Best Supplement
GURPS Horror, Fourth Edition (Steve Jackson Games) *Silver Winner*
Cthulhu by Gaslight (Chaosium Inc.) *Gold Winner*

Best Writing
GURPS Horror, Fourth Edition (Steve Jackson Games) *Silver Winner*
The Investigator’s Guide to Occult London (Pelgrane Press) *Gold Winner*
(Order here)
The Yog Radio episode with the interview with Paula Dempsey is number 48. The interview is available here. (Whole episode here)

Other products mentioned:
Night’s Black Agents, by Ken Hite (Order here)
The Savage Worlds version of Cthulhu gaming is called Realms of Cthulhu. Adventures available for Realms.
Hardback of Realms of Cthulhu.

Main Topic:
Published adventure modules vs. sandboxing your game.
The Dresden Files RPG has group creation of the setting an integral part of the rules.
DriveThru RPG bundle. Hard Cover: Book 1, Book 2

The site Ideology of Madness has the Funnybooks podcast, and some RPG live-play stuff as well. Their Knights of Reignsborough superhero campaign is one of the games Dan mentioned, and their Star Trek: Aegean game (that apparently fizzled). Both are fascinating examples of group setting creation.

We also went into our thoughts on clue finding for player characters.
Jon suggests giving out bare clues to progress the plot without a roll, and added detail with a passed roll.

Chad said that granting the info and implying that there may be more on a pass can move the plot forward.

Dan suggests allowing characters that have:
(A) The needed skills as part of their profession skill list.
-or-
(B) if they have 70%+ in the skill. (Another % can be used too.)
They get the clue automatically, and a roll would grant the skill check and additional benefits on a success.

Chad mentions a game site called The Alexandrian. There are a number of useful articles on there.”
3-Clue Rule
Node-Based Scenario Design
Don’t Prep Plots
Game Structures
Part 5 of the Game Structures series is Mysteries

Jon’s adventure, The Lock-In is mentioned. The live-play can be found here.
The Lock-In can be found in the Dead Leaves Fall monograph published by Chaosium. Print Version   PDF Version

We would also love to hear your ideas for player-based topics for us to talk about. Send us a note directly, or go to the Campus forum with your ideas!

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 14- Sandbox or Published?

Our feedback for this episode is all from the forums. There are some great conversations going on in there.
Mentioned are the Skype of Cthulhu podcast, and the local gamer’s group Dan found is called M.A.G.E.
Here is the Skype of Cthulhu forum section.
The IRC channel Murph set up can be found here. Look for #MiskatonicU

We have another installment of the Miskatonic University History Department’s Lecture Series, brought to you by MU professor Dr. Charles Gerard. This lecture covers the topic of The Angel of Hadley.
There is a page set up with details of the Lecture Series, in the History Department section under Gaming.

Our Bestiary visit covers Deep Ones. These highly versatile beings can be used in so many ways, and there are just as many ways to interpret them.

The thread Jon mentioned on the Yog-Sothoth forums is here. Many of the images are gone from the thread, but they can be found on the blog of the artist, Paul Carrick. His art has been in several Call of Cthulhu books.
The images Murph found are in this thread.
The Yog-Blogsoth renditions of Deep Ones and Dagon
There are an amazing number of images available online for Deep Ones and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
And here are some pics of Abe Sapien, from Hellboy.
Where the Deep Ones Are.
The CthulhuTech RPG

Inspirations from the real creatures found in the deeps: Here, Here, Here, Here, and Here.

The film The Last Lovecraft can be found here. The trailer with the line we mention is here, and you can buy it on Amazon here. (affiliate link)
The the trailer for Dagon is here on YouTube, and the movie is available here on Amazon. (affiliate link)
Jon mentioned some water creatures from Dresden Files that had cool tech, but I had no luck in finding reference to them online. If you know what book it is, or any other details, let us know via e-mail, voice mail or the Campus forums.
Chaosium published two supplements for Innsmouth: Before the Fall, and Escape from Innsmouth.
They are both out of print, but can be found on the secondary market.
Amazon link for Before the Fall (affiliate link)
Amazon link for Escape from Innsmouth (affiliate link)

It’s Beginning to look a lot like fish men- by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society Buy it!

And the show ends off with a discussion of the optional rules contained in the Keeper’s Toolkit section in the Call of Cthulhu rulebook.

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasions

We feature an e-mail that had a couple of alternate methods of determining critical/impale rolls.
“…if the die result multiplied by 5 is equal to or smaller than your skill level, you scored a critical.
Another way to do it, that I came up with, would be to simply roll your d100 and a d5. In case of a success, it’s a critical if the d5′s result is a 1. Voila, no more need of tables or calculations. ”

Chessex selection of non-standard dice: d3, d5, d7, d14, d16, d24, d30, d34

We got a voice mail commenting on Trail of Cthulhu, specifically the Dying of St. Margaret’s adventure. We couldn’t make out the name in the voice mail, so if it was you, let us know. (Pookie’s review)

We have another installment of the Miskatonic University History Department’s Lecture Series, brought to you by MU professor Dr. Charles Gerard. This lecture covers the topic of The Demons of 1866.
There is a page set up with details of the Lecture Series, in the History Department section under Gaming.

Keeper Jon then discusses his newly announced book, Age of Cthulhu 7: The Timeless Sands of India, published by Goodman Games.

And the show ends off with a discussion of the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition rules written by Paul Fricker & Mike Mason. They hosted a seminar panel at Continuum 2012. Even among our hosts, there is a lot of disagreement in the proposed changes.

To listen to the seminar, visit this thread at Yog-Sothoth.com.

A good breakdown of the information is on the Unspeakable Oath website. (Issue 21 of The Unspeakable Oath Magazine is out!)

Here is the discussion thread on the Campus forum, and this is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 12- Grab your torch and pitchfork, the edition wars are coming!

Dr. Bob sent in another voice mail via our Providence RI number. He enjoys listening to us argue about the different perspectives we bring to the game.

We have a poll up here on the site asking your opinions for what we should do for a forum option. Let us know what you want!

We have another installment of the Miskatonic University History Department’s Lecture Series, brought to you by MU professor Dr. Charles Gerard. This lecture covers the topic of The Society of the Woman in the Wilderness.
There is a page set up with details of the Lecture Series, in the History Department section under Gaming.

Jon tells us about his time at KantCon, where he ran or played in several Cthulhu related games.
KantCon has its own iTunes feed for their live-play recordings. We will also be putting Jon’s games into our feed once they’re ready to share.
Jon participated in Cluethulhu, a reworking of Clue using CoC themes. He ran a game of Mansions of Madness (official page), and a Call of Cthulhu adventure called The Iron Ghost, from the Fearful Passages book.

Keeper Dan is beginning plans to go to Gencon 2013. He’s hoping, at least.

And the show ends off with a discussion of the magic rules for Call of Cthulhu.

**Update**
The Book of Alternate Dead Names has been found! Listener Chad Out of Space on the YSDC forums has looked into it, and found a copy of the site, and news that the original data from the creator, Allicorn, is safely stored for eventual republication on the web.
The content can be found on the Wayback Machine website.

This is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 11- I cast Magic Missile at the darkness!

Feedback for the show starts off with a big thanks to Stu from the Happy Jacks RPG Podcast.

Mike sent an e-mail letting us know about Michael Bukowski’s website: yog-blogsoth.blogspot.com
“This blog will be an attempt to draw all the creatures Lovecraft ever wrote about or mentioned. In some cases his descriptions are very detailed and precise (Elder Things in At the Mountains Of Madness), and in other cases he simply names creatures (Voonith in Dream Quest Of Unknown Of Kadath) but all require a level of interpretation and imagination.”
I’ll be adding links from the Bestiary descriptions to the pages on Yog-Blogsoth that feature the creature we discuss.

We have a voicemail from Dr. Bob commenting on how awesome Dr. Gerard’s Lecture Series is.

We have a poll up here on the site asking your opinions for what we should do for a forum option. Let us know what you want!

We have another installment of the Miskatonic University History Department’s Lecture Series, brought to you by MU professor Dr. Charles Gerard. This lecture covers the topic of the Pangboche Hand.
There is a page set up with details of the Lecture Series, in the History Department section under Gaming.

In the Bestiary, we discuss Ghouls as Lovecraft wrote about them.

The main topic for the show was an examination of the Call of Cthulhu rules for reading ancient forbidden tomes.

We mention Bookhounds of London. Buy from Amazon in hardback. Or PDF on DrivethruRPG.
We also mention the podcast Monster Talk, and specifically their episode Cthulhu Rises. It’s a fun listen.

The contest entries are up! Just go to the Publications page under Gaming.

This is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 10- Reading is Fundamental

Our listener feedback is going to be pared down a little bit to make room for more content. We’ll be reading to all your e-mails, but questions and audio feedback will be the main on-air type we include.

We got a great voicemail from Brian Courtemanche. It looks like he’ll be at the NecronomiCon-Providence next year, and he’ll send us info from the con.

In other MUP news, it looks like we’re not getting into the podcast network we were hoping for. So, I’m looking for solutions for a bulletin board attached to this site.

We premier the first installment of the Miskatonic University History Department’s Lecture Series, brought to you by MU professor Dr. Charles Gerard. This lecture covers the topic of Blood Rain.

There will be a page set up with details of the Lecture Series, in the History Department section under Gaming.

There is also a visit to the Special Collections vault to inspect the Cultes de Goules.
The Paris Catacombs are very real, and cover nearly all of the territory within the city. Here are a handful of links:
Les Catacombes de Paris
National Geographic
Photo Blog of the Catacombs
Urban Explorers visit the Catacombs

We have the roll-off to determine the winner of the Cthulhu by Gaslight contest!  Here are the three contenders:

Murph’s character- (with Cliff as proxy)
Ira Eugene Kelly, 1920′s Occult bookstore owner, and paranormal fanboy.
Creator- Troels (“Gracehoper” on the YSDC forums)

Jon’s Character-
Viktor Filnshkin, MU Medical Student, and heir to Russian nobility.
Creator- Ty Snouffer

Dan’s character-
Lewis O’Neil, 1890′s schoolboy with a big future ahead of him.
Creator- Tariq

The rolls were… Ira:49  Viktor:43  Lewis: 12
Meaning that the winner was Lewis O’Neil. Tariq has already been contacted, and the book will be sent out to him shortly!
The sheets will be added to the Publications page over the next week or so.

The main topic for the show was an examination of the Sanity rules for Call of Cthulhu.

This is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 9 – Roll SAN!

Our listener feedback included the following…

John from the Nerdbound podcast wrote in to ask the difference between Art skills and Craft skills. He also left us a great liner at the beginning of the show.

Tracie writes to share that she’s about to GM for the first time, and it will be in Call of Cthulhu.

Tyler asks what kinds of spells would be good for Mythos being to posses. We talk about the obvious ones, and we end up with a deadly combination we call the Yig-Young!
He also mentions an adventure set in modern times called Goddess that uses Dark Young in an environmental way.

We got more iTunes Reviews! Please stop by there and leave us a review and rating.

The Campus Crier wraps up with an audio comment from Randall, one of the members of the Skype of Cthulhu crew!

The main part of the show is a mixture of interview and topic discussion with Tom. We discuss the regions of what has been come to be known as Lovecraft Country, and what we all find appealing about it as a setting.

We find out about some of the new products in the works over at Miskatonic River Press, including a New York based sourcebook called Tales of the Sleepless City. Expect to see this book later in 2012.
Desktop images of the cover art are available on the MRP Downloads page.

Tom also mentions The Strange Dark One: Tales of Nyarlathotep, a fiction book they’re working on.
They also have a book called A Season In Carcosa that will go into depth on the King in Yellow and Carcosa tales.

Tom mentions a number of the guests coming to NecronomiCon-Providence in late August of 2013.
Their Facebook address is here, and they have a Twitter account too.

We have a lot of mentions of various things in this show:
Cthulhu ski masks
Mystic Order of the Elder Gods fez
Arkham Now
Colonial Lovecraft Country
Biblionihilistica
Necronomicon Replica Pages from the HPLHS
HPLHS Free Prop Documents

This is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast 8- MRP on MUP

Our listener feedback included the following…

Mike sent in a note suggesting that I make a version of the skill percentile cheat-sheet with rounded numbers. I made one that had everything rounded up to whole numbers, and it can be downloaded here. The Resources section I mention in the show is now the Game section.

Petter wrote in to say that our coverage of the Bestiary has been helping him out with creating his own adventures. We’re thrilled to help!

Derek wrote us a while back to mention that he took the plunge and got a CoC group together! He requested a live play game, which we do now make. This was sent in to us a while back, and I missed mentioning it on the show previously.

Sean wrote us from Tokyo, Japan giving his feedback on swords and the length of the show.

John from the Nerdbound podcast wrote in to say that he’s a listener. (And I’m a listener of Nerdbound!)

David is enjoying our different takes on the creatures of the Mythos. We’re happy to give you guys content you want.

Wesley offered to run a game for the MUP faculty over Skype. Our schedules are full at the moment, but we’d love to work something out later.

We got more iTunes Reviews! Please stop by there and leave us a review and rating.

And then we wrap up the Crier with an amazing voicemail from Chad. You have to listen to this… No, really.
He asks about our tactics for dealing with pulp and purist styles of gamers at the same table. He also recommends the Cthulhu Dark game and the book, Play Unsafe by Thieves of Time.

We then visit the Bestiary to talk about the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath. We go into how to use the creature in different ways in your games.
Keeper Dan’s favorite picture of the Dark Young at the moment is this one.

The main topic covers the reminder of the Spot Rules for combat in the Call of Cthulhu system.

This is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast Episode 7- Lock & Load

We got more great feedback from our listeners. We love to hear from you!

Erik wanted to know what other games we enjoyed, and if we used any other systems to run Cthulhu Mythos adventures. He recommended Precis Intermedia’s genreDiversion and Eden Studios‘ offerings.

Brian Sammons wrote in to compliment the sound quality and production values. Thank you very much Brian!

Brian Courtemanche wrote us back to tell us about the publications he’s had a hand in: Arkham Now sourcebook (Chaosium, 2010) “Grave Secrets” scenario in Terrors from Beyond (Chaosium 2009) “The Crystal Cavern” scenario in More Adventures in Arkham Country  (PDF) (Miskatonic River Press 2010).
Episode 42 of Yog Radio has a great interview with Brian shortly after his Arkham Now book came out. (The episode is available to Yog-Sothoth Patrons)

Phil recommends the alliterative title, “Antiquarian Analyses” for our reviews section. I rather like it, and I’ll see what I can cobble together for a bumper.

Not only did Hugh send us our first true liner, but he also left us a great iTunes review for his region.

We love your iTunes Reviews! Please stop by there and leave us a review and rating.

Postcards from the Dungeon podcast episode 77 had a great interview with a gamer archaeologist. They talk about his occupation in great detail and he goes into how he creates new cultures for games based on his training and several questions he put together for guidance.

In the Special Collections vault, we crack open the cover of the legendary Unausprechlichen Kulten, known in English as Nameless Cults.
I used the Keeper’s Companion Volume 1 for details about the tome.

Our main topic covers the skills for combat. We talk about the various attack skills available to characters, and then begin covering the Spot Rules with Armor. It turns out that swords is a skill family that gets a lot of mileage in this show.
The remaining Spot Rules will be covered in coming episodes. That will include dodge, parry, block, impales, and the Spot Rules for firearms.

This is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast Episode 6- Hit me if you can

We then go into  feedback, both written and audio.

Simon writes to tell us about Edwardian Shopping, for your early 1900′s UK shopping needs.

Josh asks us about our proclivity for bouncing around to different game editions, and mentions Keeper Murph sounds a lot like Wilbur Whateley from Dark Adventure Radio Theatre. He has no connections to the HPLHS, but there may be Whateleys somewhere in the family tree.

Erik writes to suggest our joining a couple of gaming podcast networks. http://www.rpgpodcasts.com/ and http://rpgcrosstalk.webs.com/
We’re also on http://rpggeek.com.

Tyler and Brian sent us voicemails! Thank you all so much for writing and sending in the audio feedback. We love your input!

We also got more iTunes Reviews! Please stop by there and leave us a review and rating.

The Call of Cthulhu Quick-Start rules are now on DriveThruRPG. This is similar to the one on Chaosium’s site, but has the pre-generated characters added as well as the newest character sheet.

Murph mentions a company called Night Shade Books which has collections of original new Cthulhu fiction. Their books include:
The Mall of Cthulhu
The Book of Cthulhu
The Book of Cthulhu II

Any ideas for show topics are very welcome, so please send them in! We also would love to get listener-submitted segments, and we need ideas for a bumper for Reviews.

Keeper Murph goes into his great review of Chaosium’s new Cthulhu by Gaslight 3rd Edition.
Purchase here from Chaosium in physical book form, or from DriveThru RPG in PDF.
There is also a Gaslight Equipment Catalog.

Our main topic is opening up combat in the Call of Cthulhu game. We were short on time, so we ended up going through the Initiative phase of combat. We’ll go into the further sections in future shows.

We’re also wanting entries to the contest we announced in episode 4.

This is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast Episode 5- Draw!

Your character now has an occupation and skills to perform their chosen job. Well, now its time to find out how much they get paid by that employment, and start to accumulate stuff with the money.

There’s not a lot of major crunch to discuss here. After all, it’s shopping. This is some of the most enjoyable times your Call of Cthulhu investigator will have. The rest of their time is usually spent looking for weird stuff and then running away from the weird stuff they were looking for that turned out to be hungry.

We also peek into the dark mists of time to get the attention of the nastiest critters that ever wanted to lick your face off.
This pretty well wraps up the actual character creation series. We’ll be going into the rules on playing the game after this point. Combat, insanity, and magic are all on the schedule. If there are other topics you want covered, please contact us and let us know.

We’re also announcing our first contest!
The MU Podcast is proud to announce that we are having our first contest, and up for grabs is a copy of the new Cthulhu By Gaslight, by Chaosium Inc., who have generously donated the prize for this contest.

How can you win this fantastic new book? Well, if you’ve been following our podcast, you’ll know that we’ve begun our podcast by detailing how to create a character. So for this contest, we’d like to see your character!

Any edition and any version of Call of Cthulhu is fair game, be it 1st ed through 6th ed, or Invictus, Dark Ages, Gaslight, Modern/Delta Green, or the Classic 1920s. Follow the rules and roll-up your new character, and then email it to us at: feedback@mu-podcast.com.
Please include what era/rules you used for the creation.

The hosts of the MU Podcast, Keeper Dan, Keeper Murf, and Keeper Jon, will each select our personal favorites from the submitted entries. The hosts will then have a roll-off for the winner.

Also, please let us know if we can use your name on the show, or what you’d like to be referenced as. And, please let us know if it is okay for us to use your character in any possible future adventures, documents or actual plays the MU Podcast may create.

All submissions for the contest must be submitted on or before midnight Central US Time, May 31st 2012.
Good luck and get rolling!

1920′s Investigator’s Companion (PDF Version)
1920′s Investigator’s Companion (Print Version)

The 1923 reprint of the Sears catalog can be found at Amazon, or on eBay.

This is the discussion thread for this episode posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Miskatonic University Podcast Episode 4- Paycheck, then shopping spree!

Now that you have your character’s attributes finalized, it’s time for that layabout to get a job and learn to do something.  You may already know what career path your character will take, or you decided to let your attributes tell you what would work best. Either way, you now have to find some profession to make your character a contributing member of society.
Or they could be a hobo, we’re not here to judge.

What we are here to do is help you to get a feel for what your skills should be for the career you want for your character. Then there are the skills he or she knows just to keep themselves from going batty from their job. May I recommend the ukulele?

So here in episode 3, we go into the Careers and Skills phase of character creation.
Oh, and Keeper Dan finds out that he’s been using a house rule for the last 20+ years and never bothered looking in the book to see if it was official or not. There goes the credibility!
Here is the poll on the Yog-Sothoth board we talked about.

1920′s Investigator’s Companion (PDF Version)
1920′s Investigator’s Companion (Print Version)

Free Call of Cthulhu Quick-Start rules.

We also take our first visit to the Special Collections room, where we pour over the many-times translated Book of Eibon. There’s talk about how to use this book in a game, as well as the pronunciation of the name Eibon (EE-bon or EYE-bon).

Here is the BRP/CoC Skill Percent Cheat Sheet we talked about.
The RPPR episode that inspired this document!

This is the discussion thread for this episode posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

Byakhee, byakhee- by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society

Miskatonic University Podcast Episode 3- Learn to do something and get a job!

In this second episode, we go into the character creation series beginning with character attributes. We go into depth on what the attributes mean and how they interact with their derived characteristics.

Here is the page with the free Call of Cthulhu Quick-Start rules.

This episode also has our first side segment, The Bestiary. In this first installment, we cover one of the most common beasts of Call of Cthulhu games, the Byakhee. Another image

“There flapped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things … not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor decomposed human beings, but something I cannot and must not recall.”
—H. P. Lovecraft, “The Festival”

Byakhee, byakhee- by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society

Miskatonic University Podcast Episode 2- Roll the bones

Some of the things we discuss include:

Call of Cthulhu
Trail of Cthulhu
Macabre Tales
Chill (I couldn’t find any current links to it)

Cthulhu bath time, by Liz Frank

Miskatonic University Podcast Episode 1! Tales of death and dismemberment

1 Minute Promo for the MU Podcast