How Painter, NY Got Its Name

I decided to treat myself this evening and put some design work aside so I could play with my own creations for a change. I’m in the midst of laying the groundwork for a Call of Cthulhu campaign set to start in the late summer/early fall and that means more paranormal fun in Wildwyck County. The first investigation focuses around the small hamlet of Painter, NY. Those of you who have Fight On! #13 will find it in area A3 in the map on the magazine’s back cover.

Half the fun for a Call of Cthulhu Keeper is creating the background and evidence an investigation requires. The following emerged from this enjoyable aspect of writing an adventure, but it’s a little too long to be included in the gazetteer portion of the Wildwyck County series of articles so I’m sharing it here.

Located in the upper northwest part of Wildwyck County is the tiny hamlet of Painter, NY. Situated at the edge of the Catskill Mountains with the towering crags of Windswept Mountain staring down at it, Painter is a quiet and quaint community far off the beaten path. With slightly more than 200 residents in the hamlet’s central community, Painter is only occasionally visited by hunters and outdoorsmen seeking recreation in the wilds of the mountains beyond.

Although the name conjures up images of bohemian artists at work, the town’s name is actually a regional derivation of the word “panther,” and its origin can be traced back to an event which occurred prior to the American Revolution. That tale, recorded by the author Allen Vanderlyn in his book, Curious Tales and Fanciful Legends of Wildwyck County (Royal Oak Press, 1901), appears below:

Simon De Witt had a frightful encounter with the catamounts along the shore of the pond that now bears his name. One of the many brilliant silver oases found throughout our fair county, this pond was conspicuous, in times gone by, for its large trout, and for the numerous deer that took drink from its waters. One day in late summer, De Witt visited the pond in search of deer. He sat beneath a towering tree that stood watch over the pond’s tranquil waters, waiting for his quarry to come. While thus engaged, his attention was drawn to a curious sound above him, and looking up, De Witt glimpsed a large catamount (or as was known in the dialect of the time, a “painter”) perched on a branch directly overhead. The animal stared down at him intently with luminous eyes as if internally discussing the merits of taking De Witt for his supper rather than a succulent doe. Believing there could be no benefit in procrastination, De Witt brought his musket to his shoulder and fired. The next moment he heard the satisfying sound of the great feline hitting the ground at his feet, the turf and fallen leaves now awash in crimson.

The report of his shot startled other feline forms in activity amongst the tree-tops and De Witt feared the wood filled with painters. Fear clutching his chest, the hunter realized his great peril.

Knowing the aversion the cat-tribe bears for water, De Witt waded into the pond up to his waist. As he reloaded his musket, taking great pains to avoid wetting his powder as his endeavored to complete his task with alacrity, De Witt counted no less than five panthers amongst the shoreline trees. This number is uncommon for catamounts, who hunt not like wolves in packs, but as solitary terrors, and the hunter concluded the beasts to be a mother and young; the latter being nearly full-grown yet continuing to follow the older cat on the prowl.

The hunter unleashed a fusillade of shots aimed at his sinuous foes from the pond, bringing down three more of the beasts in swift succession. The other two took to flight and were seen no more. De Witt then waded ashore, skinned the four painters and made his way homeward, sensibly concluding that it was a dangerous locality for the pursuit of a venison supper.

The legend of De Witt’s encounter—spread largely by the hunter himself—became a popular one in the ‘Wyck amongst the homesteaders and eventually grew to be part of the local canon of myths. When the first residents arrived in the area in 1817, they named the nascent settlement after the numerous beasts that legend held ruled the sylvan vale and dubbed the waters that pooled there “De Witt’s Pond” in honor of the legendary hunter.

I’ll leave it up to the reader (and the investigators) to decide whether this story has any truth to it or if it’s just a frontier “tall tale” or perhaps a bit of a red herring devised by a fiendish mind to throw them off the track of what might be really occurring in the shadows of the Catskills. If there is some truth to it, what could it mean? Are there were-panthers prowling the woods of the ‘Wyck? Could there be a temple dedicated to Bast erected by Hyperborean refugees hidden in the mountains? Did De Witt later meet a horrible demise when he wandered into the Dreamlands and found himself in Ulthar? I know, but I’m not telling…

New Goblinoid Games Playtesting Underway

Regular readers will remember that I hinted at (well, OK, blatantly plugged) the fact that I've written a new game for Goblinoid Games using the Pacesetter System. As of today, the playtest document is now open to Labyrinth Lord Society members. If you want to get in on the action, you'll need to sign certain documents writ in the burning blood of Orcus and become a Labyrinth Lord Society member.

The following except is from the email that went around to Society members this morning. If it piques your interest, why not go to the LLS page and sign up!

I'm looking for playtesters for a new Pacesetter System game developed by Michael Curtis. The genre is urban fantasy, particularly of the dark urban magic variety.

Playtesters will receive credit in the book and free PDFs of the final release.

In order to be a playtester you need to have a currently active gaming group willing to play, and be willing to commit to playing three sessions before September 1st. I would also ask that the GM submit a playtest report, briefly describing your experience running the game and any comments by the players. Ideally you will already have played similar games like TIMEMASTER, ROTWORLD, SANDMAN, etc., but this is not mandatory.

I'm really excited about this game! I think Michael Curtis has done a great job with it.

Dan Proctor

Goblinoid Games

The October Country: Project Sleeping Village

In 1972, the Central Intelligence Agency, working under the auspices of Project MKULTRA, erected a facility fifteen miles outside of Gilead, Maine. This facility consisted of six Quonset hut-style dormitories and five auxiliary buildings. Surrounded by razor wire and guard towers, the purpose of the facility was ostensibly to house an overflow of non-violent criminals incarcerated in the Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport. In truth, the site was the home of an illegal C.I.A. human research program designed to stimulate and test psychic phenomenon. This program was dubbed Project Sleeping Village.

When the facility, known as “Town Hall” in declassified records, began operations, one hundred human guinea pigs were transported to the site and installed in the prefab dormitories. These one hundred test subjects came from various sources: federal prisons, college campuses, military bases, and as a result of classified intelligence operations around the globe.

Once inside Town Hall, the subjects were treated with a synthetic chemical known as Chimera, a drug that purportedly caused laboratory animals to exhibit spontaneous psychic talent. Testing of Chimera on the human subjects in Town Hall continued for six months, during which time 17% of the subjects experienced psychotic episodes, 5% lapsed into catatonia, and 1% displayed what was referred to as “anomalous sensory phenomenon.” The cost of these results: $2 million USD or approximately one-fifth of MKULTRA’s operating budget at the time.

Lack of statistically significant results combined with high operating costs doomed Project Sleeping Village and Town Hall was closed down the following year. The site was abandoned for almost a decade before the land and remaining buildings were allotted to the state of Maine and eventually became a summer camp for special needs children. Most of the classified records pertaining to Project Sleeping Village were destroyed in 1973 when CIA Director Richard Helms ordered a purge of all materials pertaining to MKULTRA. A few documents survived destruction, and an even smaller percentage has come into the possession of “interested parties” outside the U.S. Federal Government.

Considered a failure at the time, Project Sleeping Village and Chimera have displayed an unexpected longevity. Although the drug had little effect on developing psychic talents in the initial test subjects, the offspring of the original one hundred have demonstrated an abnormally high predilection for psychic ability. Three in five children with a parent who participated in Project Sleeping Village displayed some sign of extra-sensory talent before the age of ten, with the strength of this ability increasing significantly during puberty. Although no official tally exists, children of “Sleepers” reportedly displayed talents ranging from psychometry, telepathy, cryokinesis, telekinesis, precognition, and biokinesis.

These children are now in their mid to late 30s and can be found scattered around the country and overseas. Because of the broad spectrum of the original test subjects and the destruction of the records relating to Project Sleeping Village, it is virtually impossible to determine who bears the legacy of the that research. One common trait is prevalent, however: anti-social and even sociopathic tendencies brought about by constant abuse and ostracism during adolescence. Anyone dealing with a suspected Village Legacy should exercise extreme caution.

As a related note, recent intelligence reports have determined that a drug based on the original Chimera agent is being developed in nations unfriendly to the West. In twenty years, a new generation of psychically gifted adults could pose a threat to national security; operations to curtail the development of this chemical are currently underway. Those aware of the October Country worry that the drug could cross the barrier, with the results of a psychic stimulator in the Autumnal Lands causing widespread havoc in that magic-rich environment.

It Arrived By Mi-Go This Afternoon

Man, I have been waiting for this one! My interests have fallen largely away from sword-and-sorcery (exposure overload) in the past year and the Victorian Era is a favorite of me (sans Steampunk thank you very much). I may have to get a CoC Gaslight game going set in Wildwyck County once I take care of some big changes in my life. Now if only that Colonial Cthulhu source book that I've been hearing about for the last three years gets published, my archivist's heart could rest easy.

Wildwyck County: Paul Strohd, Alternative Historian

A hint at things to come in the Wildwyck series. Again, this entry is set in the modern era, but its roots go back to the 1920s...and beyond.

Throughout New England and New York there are Neolithic anomalies. The most famous of these is Mystery Hill in Salem, New Hampshire, but numerous, less-famous examples exist. Of these lesser sites, many are slab-roofed chambers of stone, some of enormous size. Mainstream archeologists explain away these constructions as Colonial-era root cellars. More controversial historians speculate that they may have served as Native American tombs. Outright crackpots call them evidence of a widespread but undocumented Irish (or Norse, Atlantean, etc.) presence in the area. There is, however, another very unusual theory.

Paul Strohd lives just outside the village limits of Rotskill, New York. A thin, severe-looking man in his mid-fifties, Strohd hardly fits the image of the crazed crank arguing his favorite theory. He is always immaculately dressed and carries himself with an almost old-fashioned grace. He conducts himself in a precise and orderly manner, never succumbing to haste when working at a task. It is for this reason that so many people have difficulty reconciling the man with his work.

Strohd maintains that these Neolithic anomalies are evidence of an undocumented culture in New York and New England, but one that even the alternative history theorists are loathe to embrace. It is Strohd’s belief that these chambers were constructed by beings from another dimension, one that shares permanent yet uncommon connections with Earth. He has written three books on this subject, Uncanny Colonists, Walking Through Walls: A Guide to the Thought Temples of New York State (both self-published), and Ancient Anomalies Explained (Shadows Gather Books, 2004).

Strohd’s theory is that, prior to the arrival of Native Americans to the region, there were several seed colonies settled by extra-dimensional visitors scattered about the Northeast. These beings, dubbed “Exonauts,” arrived on Earth as refugees of a horrendous upheaval in their home dimension. It was their hope to establish dimensional beachheads in this world that would allow others of their species to escape the chaos raging in their native world. Unfortunately, the Exonauts were unable to achieve their plan and either died out or where absorbed by the native tribes when they arrived in the region. Their stone chambers and other anomalies remained untouched as they were considered cursed by the indigenous peoples.

Despite how ludicrous Strohd’s theory sounds, there are some campfire tales that seem to confirm that these sites are home to unexplained phenomenon. White-robed figures, hooded Viking-like entities, cloaked dwarves, and even Sasquatch-esque creatures have been glimpsed in and around these stone chambers. Whether these are the spirits of the long-gone Exonauts, glimpses of their home dimension, or some other phenomenon is, of course, unknown.

Strohd engages in regular speaking tours and is quite popular amongst the New Age crowd. His speaking fees allow him to continue his research and writing while maintaining a frugal lifestyle. This coming summer, he plans to take a three-week foray into the Adirondacks in search of more Exonauts sites and is currently looking for research assistants willing to work for room and board (or in this case, a tent and MREs).

The October Country: The Ghost Machine

I'm still banging away on projects and preparing for GaryCon (14 and a wake-up!) so the consolidation of blogs continues. Today's post is all about a strange device that appeared in my dreams.

I mentioned at the end of last year that the October Country material has taken on a sometimes uncomfortable life of its own, making it difficult for me to escape its powerful allure. It is indeed heady stuff to my mind and the autumnal land and its parts have invaded my dreams more than once…or maybe I’m merely travelling there more often in my sleep. The following came from a dream I had two nights ago. I was exploring the attic of a decaying hotel and found this bizarre, unwieldy-looking, antique typewriter there. After blowing the dust off of it and figuring out how it worked, I began having a two-way conversation with the ghost of a murderer. The typewriter model cited in the post below is a different one from my dream, but of all the antique typewriters I could find, it comes closest to the strange device I found in that attic.

The device known in certain circles as the Ghost Machine is unusual in appearance, but not abnormally so. It tends to draw stares not because of the function it can perform, but rather because it is rare to encounter a typewriter in the 21st century—especially one that is more than 100 years old.

Those few individuals knowledgeable of the history of these obsolete business machines recognize the Ghost Machine as being a North’s number 1592, manufactured in London in 1892. The machine (and the company that manufactured it) gets its name from the obscure English lord who financed it. Individuals with more than a passing knowledge of Victorian Era spiritualism know that Lord North held a deep interest in the afterlife, so it comes as no surprise that the Ghost Machine serves as a conduit for the dead.

The Ghost Machine allows for conversation between the living and the dead—even with those who have never demonstrated the slightest talent for mediumship. When using the Ghost Machine to communicate with the dead, PCs with the skill of Medium add a +20% bonus to their percentage. Those without the skill can utilize the device with a base 20% chance of success, modified by other conditions as normal.

The Ghost Machine is simple to use. When a clean sheet of paper is inserted into the typewriter’s “holding basket”, the machine is ready to function. The typewriter’s operator need only type a question onto the paper and wait for a reply. If the Medium skill roll (or the base 20% chance) is successful, and there is a cognizant spirit within a half-mile of the device, that ghost will become aware of the Machine and likely be drawn to its location. Spirits with a POW of 13 or less are compelled to seek out the Machine and its operator; those with POWs of 14 or better will be intrigued but cautious, and may or may not approach the location of the Machine depending on their personalities and goals.

Once present, the spirit can communicate with the living by means of typing out a reply via supernatural manipulation of the Ghost Machine. The Machine seems to operate on its own as the keys strike and the reply appears on the page. Although the typewritten reply is typically in the same ink as the original query, there have been cases where the reply seems to be typed in blood, ectoplasm, or even ordinary water. The ghost must spend one MP for each full minute spent in typewritten correspondence, and once it does, is compelled to answer any question typed during that period. After the minute expires, it can choose to spend another MP or cease conversation. If during the minute period, the Machine’s operator ever types a question the spirit wishes not to respond to, it and the operator must engage in an POW Opposition Test. If the spirit is successful, it can obfuscate the truth or simply not reply.

For unknown reasons, the Ghost Machine tends to attract angry or harmful spirits. If there is more than one spirit within the area affected by an operating Ghost Machine, the most dangerous of the ghosts present will always be the one to make contact. It is for this reason that would-be mediums lacking proper talent and training are cautioned against using the Ghost Machine without proper precautions and supervision.

Wildwyck County: Clunker Heaven

The Sheer Mountain Mining Collective made a small fortune for itself in the late 19th and early 20th centuries cutting and shipping bluestone, a distinctive colored sandstone found only in New York and Pennsylvania. When the early sidewalks of the Big Apple demanded slabs of this stone, Sheer Mountain provided it, carving it out of the side of the mountain from which they took their name. When the mansions along the Gold Coast of Long Island cried for bluestone patios and pools, Sheer Mountain was there. Unfortunately, between the Great Depression and the growing concrete industry, the demand for bluestone waned. In 1933, the company went under, leaving nothing but rusting machinery at the bottom of a great pit hewn into the mountainside.

Nobody knows who started it, but the old bluestone quarry has become the final resting place for scores of decrepit automobiles, ones so rundown that even selling them for parts isn’t worth the effort. Instead, these junkers are abandoned at the bottom of the secluded quarry, left to rust amidst the briars and blackberries that are slowly reclaiming the old mine.

The variety of makes and models that rest quietly some 120’ below the lip of the quarry is simply amazing. A once-fine Cadillac sits beside an ancient Packard, now crimson and pitted with rust. Hulking trucks and 4x4s loom menacingly over sub-compacts. Raccoons and mice nest amongst the spilled upholstery while deer nibble at the grass growing around the dented hubcaps of forgotten Mazdas, Subarus, and Hondas.

On warm summer days, the quarry, called “Clunker Heaven” by the locals, is a popular site for teenagers to gather. They take their own rundown cars and trucks up a dirt road that winds along the slope of Sheer Mountain for miles, a route overshadowed by verdant branches and crossing chuckling mountain brooks, before arriving at the gravel patch that once served as the mine’s main yard. From there, it’s a short hike down the switch-back road that leads to the quarry's bottom. At the bottom, far from the sight of authority figures, they’re free to indulge in all the vices and pleasures teens find so attractive.

There are many tales told about Clunker Heaven, the kinds that would be called “urban legends" if they were told in a less bucolic setting. A popular tale is that one of the rusting autos contains a fortune in drug money, stashed here by dealers in an unsuccessful attempt to escape arrest. They’re up at Snake Hill Penitentiary now, but their stash remains undiscovered.

Another legends is that the ghost of a dead Prohibition-era mobster haunts the quarry, his bones moldering in the trunk of one of the ancient heaps from that era. He supposedly lurks amongst the rusting cars, angry at his violent death and unconsecrated grave. He inflicts horrible wounds on trespassers by causing them to cut themselves on the jagged pieces of metal which protrude from the briars and brambles. Those who do so are certain to succumb to tetanus or die from blood poisoning.

There is another legend about the place, but it’s not often repeated and only known by a few. These select folk maintain that there is something living down amongst the heaps, something that should not be. Decades of gasoline, oil, brake, and other fluids have seeped into the soil down at the bottom of the pit, polluting the water table and working its way into the plant life. These chemical have upset the natural order of things, giving birth to life that should never have seen the light of day. This mutation (or mutations) lairs amongst the cars, feeding on the larger animals that wander into the area. These meals have been sufficient to keep its hunger in check—so far. Who knows what might happen should the deer stop foraging in Clunker Heaven?

BÖC-Hurricane Party Video Mix

If you never hear from me again, I was swept out to sea.

Odd Job for Odd Linguists

Captain America is all in the news lately and I’ll admit that I’ll be waiting for the DVD if ever to catch it. However, the buzz around it got me thinking about Cap’s old nemesis, HYDRA. I was shocked to discover that HYDRA, despite its spelling, is not an acronym. I always assumed it was like S.H.I.E.L.D. and was some god-awful stretch of names to make a cool acronym. Then I was reminded of P.A.G.A.N. (People Against Goodness and Normality) from the forgettable 1980s’ Dragnet movie and one thing led to another.

I’m playing around with a new setting and I want to throw in some enigmatic cabals with weird ass names. The atmosphere I’m going for is League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets Hellboy—steam-punk, Victorian Era, world-shaking cabals, etc.

It’d be easy to create a half-dozen groups with acronyms that spell out appropriate English words, but I’d like to throw in a few world-spanning evil groups. So, with that in mind, does anyone with a command of a language other than English have any suggestions? The acronym could be a word in any language, but since the target audience is English speaking, an organization whose name “coincidentally” spells an English word would be most appreciative. Perhaps K.R.A.K.E.N. is something particularly fiendish in German, Russian, or even Portugese…

If anyone has any suggestions or personal favorites, I’d love to hear them.

"The door opens and you see this!"

I never heard of Shrek the Sheep until his passing, but now that I've seen a picture of him, I want to include a monster based on him in Stonehell 2. He looks like some sort of coral-encrusted beastie or maybe a laboratory-bred "brain sheep."

Thank You All Very Much

As reported over at Grognardia, The Dungeon Alphabet received the first Three Castles Award last night at the North Texas RPG convention, culminating a process that began back in October of last year. I am immensely honored and humbled that the judges, all of whom have many years of experience in the game industry, chose my debut book as worthy of the award. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the convention this year to accept the award, so I’ll have to present my acceptance speech here.

I was honestly surprised to discover that the book had won. After the final nominees had been announced, I was certain that Jim Raggi’s the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Roleplaying was going to take the award and I sent him an email to wish him luck and to say that I thought LOTFP: WRPG was the title to beat this year. Jim replied that he was certain the Dungeon Alphabet was a shoe-in, which goes to show that not only does Mr. Raggi have a better sense of prophecy than I do, but that writers are wracked with self-doubt about the quality of their own work. In this case, I am pleased to have been proven wrong.

This is not to slight the other nominees. I own a copy of Rob Conley’s Majestic Wilderlands and found it to be a great book. Plus, as a fellow Goodman Games alumnus, I simply have to support his efforts and wish him well. Jonathan Becker’s B/X Companion has garnered its own fair share of acclaim and he too came out of nowhere to produce a book that was welcomed and respected by the old school roleplaying community. It was an honor to be included amongst them and I certainly hope they continue their efforts and submit their follow-up work for adjudication next year. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for them.

Winning this award is a fitting coda for a very strange and unexpected chapter of my life. I don’t speak much about my personal life on this blog, preferring to keep such matters to myself outside of the occasional game-related anecdote or observation. But in this case, a revelation is in order. A little over three years ago, I was quite literally homeless, living in my car and in skeazy motels when I could afford it. My life was in shambles and I was trying to follow a wildly-spinning compass that provided no direction. Luckily, before things could get any worse, I managed to find new guidance and started putting my life back in order.

Part of that process involved rediscovering what I enjoyed doing, which led me back to my earlier love of roleplaying games. That rediscovery guided me to the then burgeoning old school renaissance and then to this blog, a venue where I hoped to record my efforts to return to the hobby I had enjoyed and to give something back to the online community that had welcomed me. I expected nothing more.

Then, in November of 2008, what I considered a throwaway series of posts intended to buy me some relaxation time away from the blog caught the attention of the gaming blogosphere and catapulted me into the upper echelon of old school game blogs. This resulted in my getting noticed by Joseph Goodman, who approached me with the opportunity to expand those essays into a book. As a native New Yorker, I was skeptical (“What sort of scam is this?” was my first impression upon reading his email if I remember correctly), but some research allayed my fears and I started down a most unexpected path.

Like a lot of gamers, I remember wanting so badly to grow up and work at TSR. I read the TSR profiles in Dragon magazine with great interest, imagining how cool it would be to work with what appeared to be the most diverse and zaniest crew my young mind could comprehend. And while my interests shifted as I grew older and began worrying about making a living that could pay the bills and/or allow me to create art, I never truly lost my desire to maybe make games for a living. Joseph Goodman was kind enough to take a chance on an untried writer and designer to give me that opportunity—something which I will always be grateful for.

The Dungeon Alphabet continued to grow after I submitted my draft, nurtured by Joseph Goodman’s efforts. The occasional emails I received on its status staggered the mind as Joseph gave me progress reports on who was signed up for the art: Easley, Holloway, Roslof. Only Dee escaped the drag net due to other obligations. When the email that Erol Otus was doing the cover arrived, I knew that there must be some mistake. This was all intended for somebody else and an oversight at the Karmic Bureau had obviously occurred. I waited patiently for celestial agents to arrive on my doorstep and inform me that I’d be going back to sleeping in my car down by the river now. But that never came. The book, however, did and you fine, discerning folks embraced it and praised it. It remains (probably for only a short while longer) the most successful book Goodman Games has produced.

The success of the book and its suitability for winning this award does not rest solely on my shoulders and I’d be a fool and hypocrite to suggest otherwise. My writing merely served as a framework that Joseph Goodman provided the land for. Jeff Easley, Jim Holloway, Doug Kovacs, William McAusland, Brad McDevitt, Jesse Mohn, Peter Mullen, Erol Otus, Stefan Poag, Jim Roslof, Chad Sergesketter, Chuck Whelon, and Mike Wilson made that frame aesthetically appealing. Peter Bradley made sure the beams were lined up and the concrete had settled. Elizabeth Bauman ensured that the floors were level and free of typos to trip over. And David “Zeb” Cook, one of those people covered in Dragon’s TSR Profiles which I had read with great interest decades ago, stepped in to cut the ribbon and welcome visitors across the threshold. Without their efforts, The Dungeon Alphabet would still be a moderately successful, three-year old post series and nothing more. They are as worthy of this award as I am. For simplicity, I’ll keep it at my place, but they are all welcome to stop by to see it any time.

The Dungeon Alphabet led to other opportunities, the first being my other nominated book, Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls. I’d like to think that that book had something to do with my receiving the Three Castles Award as well, allowing me to demonstrate my design talents above and beyond the construction of interesting tables and instructive essays. Stonehell Dungeon would never had occurred had it not been for the work of David Bowman and Michael Shorten, both of whom I’m very grateful to and who I hope continue to produce and share their own creations with a wider audience. You guys both have talent you’re keeping under the bushel basket. Stonehell also owes a debt to Dan Proctor of Goblinoid Games who assisted me with my questions and was impressed enough to ask me to play with his Lovecraft action figures in that horrific sandbox know as the Realms of Crawling Chaos.

Despite these successes, it’s not been an easy year. Like a lot of Americans, I was hit by the downturn in the economy. My career is always somewhat dicey at best, being largely dependent on grant monies and other financial windfalls that can blow away all too easy in the financial breeze. I’ve been out of full time work for over two years now, making end meet with frugal living and by the occasional royalty check my game design work earns. Needless to say, any opportunity to do paid design work and writing is a welcome one, and I find it impossible to say no to those opportunities. (If you’re reading this and are looking to hire a new and now award-winning designer and writer, feel free to contact me. I can be there in a week if it’s a full time gig.) This award came at a time when I’ve been feeling especially low. It was a welcome respite from the doubts that have been plaguing me. Now, I’m filled with all new ones, the kinds experienced by the winner of “Best New Artist” each year in the record industry. Do I share the ultimate fate of Hanson, now? I shudder at the thought.

I think that I’ve carried on long enough. I’d like to close by offering my sincerest and deepest thanks to my friends who’ve supported and encouraged me during the last few years and to those designers who’ve welcomed me across the line between gamer and professional and offered me their own insights and wisdom in the process. And of course, I give my complete and utter gratitude to my family for being there for me even when I wasn’t. I love you all.

Michael Curtis
June 5th, 2011

Topographical Mapping Help Wanted

At the risk of biting off more than I can chew, I’ve had an idea for a project in my head now for several months. This would not be a for-profit piece, but rather a submission for one of our beloved fanzines. I’ve already talked with Iggy of Fight On! and got the go ahead to submit it, but I got sidetracked and had to put the piece on the backburner. Now, to give me an outlet from Stonehell 2 when one is needed, I’d like to continue to tinker with it for eventual submittal.


Without going to much into it, the piece really needs a map to accompany it and I have the perfect topological map for it. I’ve taken a stab at it, but I’m not satisfied with my efforts. The map I’m working from is an old U.S. Geological survey map so it is quite detailed. What I’m now looking for is a gifted mapmaker who could render such a map into one more suitable for a roleplaying aid, but retain the character and sense of realism found in the original. It would end up being a large map, roughly 11” x 17”, suitable for a two-page spread and lots of room for adventuring locales. This is not necessarily for a fantasy world, so an eye for the realistic is a plus on this. If you could give it a 1920’s feel too, that’d be even cooler. In return, I’d gladly share the byline on the eventual article with you.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, please drop me an email at poleandrope AT gmail DOT com. If you’ve got a sample of your work or a link to some, feel free to include that as well.

NEA: Video Games are Art

The National Endowment for the Arts has expanded their list of art forms deemed acceptable for the awarding of grants to include "interactive technologies and media delivered by satellite or internet" meaning that interactive games are now recognized as an art form. Developers looking to create works that enhance the public good are eligible for grants up to $200,000 so long as they intend to release their work for free.

As tabletop roleplaying and technology continue to merge, one can only wonder if this means that traditional RPGs will eventually be granted the same "interactive game" status as video games and what this might mean to the future of the industry. Could we one day see the rise of "roleplaying artistes" who survive on their avant garde gaming contributions to society?

The Internet is Useless in Certain Endeavours

Such as determining what a certain flower smells like, for instance. In perhaps my strangest search yet, I've been attempting to pinpoint and identify a specific floral scent that I always associate with my time in Los Angeles, and I'm finding that near impossible without "scratch and sniff" computer technology. Just when you think we've made great strides with technology, we discover new limits.

Any L.A. natives (or as close as one gets to being native in a city composed of transients) know the scent I'm thinking of? A light, floral smell that seems most potent in the winter months? I may have to start haunting florists to nail it down

The Society will now come to order.

Yes, it’s May and the month-long A-Z meme has come to an end. At last, I feel free to emerge from my cave, blink the bright spring sunshine out of my eyes, and eat a hiker. For those of you who participated, I’m glad you all had fun. It wasn’t to my liking because I thought it was too forced and too long a meme (I thought the same about “Hot Elf Chicks” but that was only a single day so I grinned and endured it). Happily, I get to have my own opinions without caring what everyone else thinks or needing to justify them just like you do. I nevertheless hope this turns out to be a one-time experiment.

While everyone was alphabetizing themselves, I decided that it was a perfect excuse to dodge out of the blogosphere and attend to other business—and I got a hell of a lot done. I didn’t miss composing posts at all, leaving me even more certain that my decision to draw things to a close here on the Society of Torch, Pole and Rope is the right one. It’s definitely getting to be time to move on to the next thing for me. What that is, I’m uncertain, but this is the final year of the Society for sure.

April saw the near completion of the two projects that stand between me and committing myself full time to the Stonehell sequel. There likely remains a little cleanup work to be done on those, but I anticipate that in the next few weeks, Stonehell 2 will be my main concern. It’s time to finish that once and for all. More details on the mystery projects will be forthcoming when I’m allowed to speak openly about them.

Somehow I managed to fit in a sci-fi and fantasy convention during the 90k words I was writing, and I spent three days annoying the hell out of Frank Mentzer and the rest of the gaming guests at ICON 30. Having first attended ICON 7 or 8 and sporadically returning throughout the years, this was the first time I felt that I was on the other side of the wall. I was not attending as a fan, but as someone with a vested interest in the state of gaming. In the past, I’d be doing the celebrity Q & A thing. This time, I was attending workshops on the future of RPGs or how to sustain your interest and finish a freelance writing project in order to keep yourself and your publishers happy. The last one was responsible for one of those “Holy shit, I’m actually a writer” moments. Ending the convention by playing OD&D with Frank Mentzer was a nice way to bring the weekend to a close, although it didn’t really end then. I left the con to run my Labyrinth Lord game and promptly killed the entire party when negotiations with a young red dragon broke down.

Between the TPK and breaking for Easter, I think the year-long campaign has started to lose momentum, something which can be terminal for a game if not corrected. Today’s game had to end early because I was in too much pain from an old back injury to keep things going until our normal stop time. Plus, we lost 3 of the 6 replacement PCs on the first level of Stonehell (exploding flame toad & two potions of poison) so it was time to call it a night. With Mother’s Day next weekend and a playtest of something else the week afterwards, it won’t be back to Labyrinth Lord until May 22nd. That’s a long break and I hope we can recover.

A lot of my uncertainty about the future of the campaign can be blamed on the fact that it’s now spring. My long-time friends know that as soon as the weather changes, I get spring fever and go a little flaky. The last thing I want to do is sit inside and pretend to be outdoors when there are woods to be walked, beaches to be visited, and friends to see. But I can’t pretend this is the sole reason. I’ve been running hot and cold on vanilla fantasy for a while now and it might be time to do something very different. I’ll have to see how things play out in the next couple of weeks.

On the “News of the Highly Implausible” front, due to some strong suggestions by unnamed individuals, I finally broke down and got on Facebook. Some of you have already discovered this and sought me out. I’m pretty open about befriending fans and contemporaries, but don’t expect exciting insights into the mind of Mike and whatever I’m working on. I did join the Stonehell fan group though, and I might release advance looks at the dungeon through that page a week before I post them here. We’ll see.

The blog roll will be returning slowly starting tonight. I’ll undoubtedly overlook some folks, so please don’t take it as a slight if I do. There’s just so much more out there now and I can’t (and don’t) follow everyone’s work. There are more comprehensive lists than my own.

And there we go. I hope we have some fun again together before I turn off the lights and lock the door.

In Which Misreading Leads to Creativity

I was reading the paper this morning and quickly glanced over a headline that read “Steep Gun Laws Considered.” In my haste, I read “Sleep Gun Laws” and thus the following was born. Use it in your next weird science fantasy campaign or have it left over from the Elder Race that founded the campaign world.

Sleep Gun: Formed from an unearthly substance similar to glass, yet stronger than adamant, this object is of a fluted, Baroque design. The device features a protruding grip by which to hold it while aiming the object’s tulip-shaped barrel towards an opponent. When operated, the item fires an invisible, soundless beam of slumber-inducing particles, causing the victim to fall into a deep sleep. This beam acts like the 1st level magic-user spell, sleep, but only affects a single individual of up to 4+1 HD. Although the victim does not receive a saving throw to avoid the effects of the beam, the sleep gun must successfully strike its target and requires a successful “to hit” roll on the part of the operator. The sleep gun ignores armor for the purpose of determining a successful strike, but DEX adjustments apply to both the operator’s attack roll and to the defender’s adjusted AC. Sleep guns have 2d10 power charges when found.

Engaging the Weird Gear

I’ve been very neglectful of my tertiary web project, Secret Antiquities, as of late. I’ve been more concerned with getting projects finished, running Watchfires & Thrones, and playing in the radiation for next year’s Gamma World campaign. It is October, however, a month that has historically been one of great creativity for me and an all-around enjoyable time of year.

To celebrate October and to train myself to be more attentive to my weird history project, I’ve challenged myself to make thirty-one posts over on Secret Antiquities between now and Halloween. I’m trying to formulate some parameters for my planed GORE project in 2011 and I need to flail about wildly for a bit to find where my creative boundaries lie. Therefore, what will be appearing over on that blog is a potpourri of strange ideas, intellectual artifacts, and dream relics come to light. I can’t promise everyone’s going to be a Maserati of creativity, but hopefully the signal-to-noise ration won’t suck too badly.

Stop on by if this sort of thing sounds like your cup of ichor.

Donning the Traditional Cotton Raiment

To give you all a better idea of exactly how scattershot my head was this summer, I’d like to mention that this blog hit its second anniversary one month ago and I didn’t even notice. August 21st, 2008 saw the first post here on The Society of Torch, Pole and Rope, starting off a process that would have entirely unforeseen results—ones which are still continuing.

Rather than dwell on what has been or anticipate what is coming, I’d just like to humbly thank everyone who has made this endeavor a success and supported my efforts (wittingly or not) to get the voices in my head down on paper and distributed to the masses. According to some reports, this blog is #8 on the Old School Hit Parade, making me a 7th level Pundit, a title that I would never willingly claim for myself.

I’m in awe that so many of you have seen fit to stick around and even willingly part with money to buy the ideas from my head. It is I who has become your biggest fan.

Hopefully, I’ve got another year in me and we’ll repeat this again in 2011.

In sincerity and with best wishes,

Mike

File Under “Things I Wish I Had Said”

Leave it to Red to sum up my feelings at the moment. Man, am I beat.

This week was pretty much shot to hell, but in a good way. I managed to continue to beat the book into submission and I can see the end of the path through the forest of prose now. I’m confident that I’ll everything but the crying done by the end of the month, just in time for me to enjoy a nice break for the Fourth of July. I’ve even managed to start in on this next mysterious project and, after the literary knife fight which the current book began with, the manner in which this one is rolling off the fingertips is an oasis in the Drast of Creative Desolation. I have a good feeling about this one. Hopefully, I won’t be the only one.

GWAR was an unfortunate disappointment and if the show hadn’t been cheap and local, I’d be mighty pissed. The problem was mostly with the venue and with the people I was forced to share my quadrant of it with. I was glad that I finally got to experience them live, as it confirmed something that I’ve long suspected: GWAR is one of those rare bands which is much more smarter than the majority of its audience. If only some of those knuckleheads at the show realized that the butt of the joke was them… Luckily, it looks like Mike’s Punk Rock Summer 2010 has gained a new date, for Blondie’s playing in the city come August. GWAR and Blondie in one summer; one can’t dispute that I have a wide range of musical appreciation.

I haven’t so much as looked at the swag I got on Free RPG Day. I wish I had snagged a copy of D-Infiity, but I missed that it had Mutant Future content and put it down as another indie and 3.5 RPG game mag. I did walk away with the Harn quick start and adventure. Since I’ve had absolutely no experience with the system or setting, I’m looking forward to reading it…as soon as I get a free moment, that it. So, September, maybe?

I’ve got a few things on the line for next week, possibly a piece of news or two to reveal, but we’ll see where we end up after the weekend. I still need to polish up a few things for my Watchfires & Thrones session on Sunday and I’ve got a handful of minis that have been begging for a coat of paint—so I can unleash them on the players in the next session or two.

Enjoy your weekend, folks. I’m off line until Monday.

Mike Comes Clean About His 3.5 Past. Is a Run for Public Office to Follow?

From the July 2006 issue of Dungeon Magazine (#136)

Dear Dungeon,

I just wanted to write you a brief letter in regards to Matthew Hope’s adventure “And Madness Followed,” in issue #134. I’ve been a long time fan of the works of Robert W. Chambers and H.P. Lovecraft, especially those stories that involve Hastur and the assorted trappings that accompany those tales. When I saw Dungeon #134 on the magazine rack, the blurb about the King in Yellow immediately caught my eye. I thought to myself, “That can’t mean THAT King in Yellow!” I was quite pleased to be wrong in this regard.

Mr. Hope has crafted an excellent adventure that seamlessly intertwines all the inherent creepiness of the King in Yellow with the fantasy adventure of D&D. As a DM who has used Hastur and the Pallid Mask in some of my own D&D games over the last two decades, I was very excited to see them appear in an adventure that is sure to win a few more fans (err…lost souls?) to the King. The sidebars add to the usefulness of the adventure by providing not only descriptive background color, but the crunchy bits for the DM as well. It is adventures like these that make Dungeon such a valuable aid to the DM. I know I plan on swapping out a few of my old Carcosa house rules with those introduced in “And Madness Followed.” Kudos as well for including a selected bibliography for DMs looking for more information about the King in Yellow. In addition to those mentioned, I’d also suggest Pagan Publishing’s Delta Green: Countdown sourcebook, which includes an excellent chapter on a slightly different way of using Hastur in a game setting.

Matthew Hope deserves a hearty round of applause. Excellent job, Matt! I thought I was the only DM twisted enough to use the Yellow Sign in my adventures. Excellent job as well to you folks at Dungeon for publishing this adventure.

While I have you, let me add my accolades to the pile in regards to the Age of Worms Adventure Path. The Hand of Vecna, the Rod of Seven Parts, and Kyuss AND Dragotha? It warms my old first edition heart. Bravo!

Michael R. Curtis
Via Email

Thanks for the heartfelt response, Michael! All of us on the staff are obsessive nerds about several things, and “weird” fiction and first edition D&D top the list! I was introduced to the work of Lovecraft, Moorcock, Leiber, and dozens more by Dungeons & Dragons, so running adventures and articles that point to the literary foundations of our hobby is just one way of paying back D&D for all of the great stores it’s led me to over all these years. When James and I first started talking about this stuff years ago, we feared we were in the minority of D&D fans, but if anything, enthusiastic letters like this one make us realize that we are legion.

Erik Mona