RIP Lynn Willis

Chaosium reported today that Lynn Willis, co-creator of Call of Cthulhu, has passed. As a long-time fan of CoC and Mr. Willis' work, I suspect I speak for many when I say he will be greatly missed.

We are sad to announce the passing of Lynn Willis, a pillar of Chaosium,Call of Cthulhu,and of the roleplaying community. Lynn had been combating aging and illness for several years, and passed while in a hospital for treatment. He is survived by his partner Marcia, and a community of friends and admirers. 

Lynn began in gaming as a board game designer, and entered Chaosium with Lords of the Middle Sea. He was the third employee of Chaosium, first as an editor and then as the mastermind behind the entire Call of Cthulhu line, as well as other projects, for the decades that he was with us. He loved his work and brought all his abilities to the job. He was incredibly smart, astonishingly widely read, detail oriented, and capable. He is largely responsible for the high quality, playability, and popularity of the leading horror RPG in our field.  

CREDITS: Chaosium Dude since 1978; co-creator of Call of Cthulhu. Other credits include BOARD GAMES: Dragon Pass, Lords of the Middle Sea, Stomp, Reich, Raiders and Traders, Panzer Pranks, Arkham Horror. ROLEPLAYING GAMES: Basic Roleplaying, M.U. Graduate Kit, Keeper's Kit 1, 2, Engage & Destroy, Vive l'Empreur, Thieves' World, Thieves' World Companion, Worlds of Wonder, Ringworld, Ringworld Companion, King Arthur Companion 1, 2, 3, RuneQuest 1, 2, 3, etc., Apple Lane 1, 2, etc., Snakepipe Hollow 1, 2, etc., Cults of Prax 1, 2, etc., Cults of Terror, Borderlands, Pavis, The Big Rubble, Questworld, Stormbringer Companion, Demon Magic, Cities, Carse, Tulan of the Isles, Elric, Melnibone, Fate of Fools, Bronze Grimoire, Atlas of the Young Kingdoms, Seas of Fate, The Unknown East, Cthulhu Live, Call of Cthulhu 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5.5, 6, Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, The Asylum, Cthulhu Companion, Fragments of Fear, Masks of Nyarlathotep, Alone against the Wendigo, Alone against the Dark, Cthulhu by Gaslight, Dreamlands, Spawn of Azathoth, Terror Australis, Great Old Ones, Cthulhu Now, Arkham Unveiled, At Your Door, Fatal Experiments, Blood Brothers, Blood Brothers II, Horror on the Orient Express, Cairo Guidebook, Dark Designs, Fearful Passages London Guidebook, King of Chicago, Miskatonic University, Taint of Madness, Compact Arkham Unveiled, Booke of Monstres 1 and 2, No Man's Land, Horror's Heart, Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep, Resection of Time, Secrets, Dreaming Stone, Before the Fall, Last Rites, Beyond the Mountains of Madness, M.U. Antarctic Expedition Pack, Unseen Masters, Keeper's Companion 1. FICTION: Castle of Eyes, Hastur Cycle, Singers of Strange Songs, Complete Pegana, Nightmare's Disciple, Percival, Bear of Britain, Book of Dzyan, S. Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters, S. Petersen's Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands. 

 He will be missed. We trust that he is at peace. We give Marcia our thanks and blessings for her devoted love and support for Lynn, and wish her joy, happiness, and success in her future endeavors and memories of the past.  

Charlie Krank, President Chaosium Inc.
Greg Stafford, Founder Chaosium Inc.

The Ashgate Academy

I’ve been a vocal advocate for the “shared world” experience in role-playing games. Although the referee is responsible for the majority of the heavy lifting when it comes to detailing the campaign world, I don’t believe he or she should be the only one carrying the load. As a game master, I encourage player creativity to help fill in the unpainted corners of the world we’re all exploring and experiencing together. It not only jump-starts my own creative process, but allows for a greater investment in the setting on the part of the players.

The following is a result of that refereeing style. In my Kingmaker Pathfinder game, the party’s wizard often refers back to his time at the magic university he studied at prior to his adventures in the Stolen Lands. Player Rich has elaborated a wonderful backstory about how his wizard paid his way through college as a bootlegger brewer and regularly provides bits of information and lore with the preface “When I was studying magic in Strormfast…” I, for one, believe such creativity should be rewarded, and, inspired by Rich’s anecdotes, have sketched out a brief description of the hitherto unnamed university his wizard attended. Rich’s wizard is of the evoker school and, based upon his usual method of prying information from prisoners, I thought the benefit provided for studying evocation at the Ashgate Academy is fitting.

The Ashgate Academy can easily be dropped into any 3.5 or Pathfinder campaign with a name change or two. Older editions of the game can utilize the Academy with a little mechanical tweaking.

Ashgate Academy 

Founded in 1499 G.C.R., the Ashgate Academy is one of the few renowned and respected schools of the magical arts in the harsh northern kingdoms. Situated in Strormfast, the college earned its name from the site of its construction. The Academy stands at the base of Pyre Cliff, the traditional site of cremation for the city’s dead. Following the incineration of the deceased’s mortal remains, the funeral procession bearing the ashes pass through a wrought-iron gate erected at the base of the cliff. The Academy’s main building faces this “Ashgate,” thereby earning its designation. The Academy’s sigil is a crimson flame inside the archway of an argent gate on a field of deep azure.

The Ashgate Academy is best known for producing exceptional practitioners in the schools of enchantment, evocation, and necromancy. Instructed by masters of these magical arts, the graduates of these three schools enjoy a minor benefit from their education. These benefits manifest as follows: 

Graduates of Ashgate Academy’s enchantment college are well-schooled in the identification and classification of magical auras. Enchanters of the Ashgate Academy gain a +1 circumstance bonus on Spellcraft checks made to determine the school of magic involved in a magical aura or to identify the properties of a magical item when using the detect magic spell. 

Graduates of Ashgate Academy’s evocation college are famed as battle wizards and feared for their ability to rain destruction down upon enemies. Evokers of the Ashgate Academy receive Intimidate as a class skill. 

Graduates of Ashgate Academy’s necromancy college receive intense training in the funeral practices and beliefs of many diverse cultures. Necromancers of the Ashgate Academy receive a +1 circumstance bonus on Knowledge (religion) skill checks regarding funeral rites, afterlife symbolism, and the identification of deities possessing the Death domain.

The 2013 Gaming Resolutions

Here we are with twelve brand-spankin’ new months ahead of us. Naturally, it’s time to make resolutions for the coming year. I’m going to keep mine short, simple, and realistic so as not to disappoint myself too greatly in 365 days. Therefore, my gaming resolutions for the coming year are:

1) Finish Stonehell 2: I’ve made a great deal of progress on the book in the past several weeks and the three-year-long delay is finally being defeated. I’m finishing up Level 9 at the moment, leaving me with just four more quadrants to complete before the most daunting portion of the book is conquered. I remain hopeful I can debut the book at Gary Con V, but will settle for unleashing it in June at NTRPG Con if things go amiss. Regardless of actual release date, this is the year it escapes into the wild and I can cross it off my “to do” list.

2) Keep writing: Like academia, freelancing is strictly “publish or perish.” My workload in 2012 grew larger and I intend to exceed what I did this year in 2013. I’ve got some scheduled projects already and a few pitches in the air that I’m waiting on responses to. There’s also a post-Stonehell project of my own which I intend to get out there this year. I’ll have more on that in the near future.

3) Broaden the scope of my design work: Most every writer and designer wants to prove their talents are applicable across a wide field and that they’re not limited to a single system or genre. I’m best known for my old school fantasy RPG material, but I want to do more with different games and genres. The game I did for Goblinoid Games that should see print in 2013 is a step in the right direction, but I hunger to do more. This desire will hopefully take me out of my comfort zone, but that’s the only way to grow and to build a reputation for versatility. Hopefully, this is the year I make that break.

4) No more damned miniature buying until I get some figs off the damned worktable: A refrain everyone who dabbles in painting minis is no stranger to. I don’t especially need more figures and I’ve got enough to keep me busy throughout the year. Once the backlog gets hewn away at, then I’ll consider future purchases.

5) Run games: Outside of the convention scene and a few pick-up one-shots this year, I played more than I refereed, and that’s not what I enjoy most about this hobby. I’ve got three campaigns in mind for 2013. One is Pathfinder’s “Kingmaker” Adventure Path, which I started, but never got a chance to finish. The second is Gamma World, a game I often dabble with, but never get off the ground. The third is a playtest campaign for my new project. The “Kingmaker” and Gamma World campaigns are symptomatic of my wish to step away from the dungeon-centric game and get back to the hexcrawl. Once Stonehell 2 is done, I need wide-open spaces and exploration on a geographic scale. I’m itching to world-build, and both those games will give me the opportunity to do so.

That’s it. Although apparently short and simple, those are pretty sizeable goals for the New Year, ones that will occupy a lot of my time. But I’m happiest when I busiest and these five look like the makings of a pretty happy 2013 to me.

The 2012 Roundup

Since December was yet again not another banner month of activity here at the Society and another year draws to a close, I want to take a moment to gaze back upon the last twelve months and summarize the accomplishments, both personal and professional, that occurred.

Amongst the OSR community, I believe 2012 will forever be known as the year Goggle+ achieved supremacy over the previous “go to” venues of the blogosphere and message forums for disseminating gaming-related information, material, and most importantly, avenues of play. The blogosphere and forums still have their place, but this year belonged to Google+, thanks to FLAILSNAILS, Meetup pickup games, and the ability to customize and control readership to fine tune your personal “signal to noise” reception quality. Obviously, Facebook isn’t trembling in its boots for fear of usurpation of its status as King of Social Media, but Google+ definitely found a place in the hearts of the old school role-playing community. Whether this is a flash in the pan development or not remains to be seen.

Speaking of flashes in the pan, Kickstarter got a big boost this year from the gaming crowd. Certain projects like Reaper Miniatures’ crowd-funding of their new line of plastic minis demonstrated that when a Kickstarter campaign works, it can work really, really well. But for ever success story, there are literally hundreds of projects that either failed to fund or proposed deadlines they couldn’t meet. And with these failures and delays, the backlash against Kickstarter projects seems to be building. Other bloggers than myself have been keeping a keen eye on Kickstarted RPG projects, so I won’t go into depth about this subject, but even a cursory glance at recent developments seems to indicate 2013 will see gamers being a smarter with their wallets and RPG publishers, especially established ones, are going to have to get wise to this trend and develop their goals and funding plans accordingly.

What were the big releases in the OSR community this year? To be honest, I have no clue. Professional responsibilities and personal developments meant I wasn’t keeping tabs on everything pumped out by gamers and publishers over the last year. DCC RPG hit the stores and demonstrated that it’s not another retro-clone, but a beast unto itself (and one well-received enough to hit the Top Five RPG Sellers’ List). Rappan Athuk made some waves with its Kickstarter campaign. Adventurer, Conqueror, King debuted. We saw the megadungeon trend continue in Barrowmaze and the next installment of Anomalous Subsurface Environment. Others were undoubtedly embraced by the community upon release, but it’s hard for a single person to keep track on what’s going on these days—even when you have the free time to do so.

On the personal front, I can’t complain about 2012. I’ve been busier than ever with projects and, as much as I occasionally gripe about the workload, I remain grateful to be able to continue doing what I do and get paid for it. This year saw my name show up in the DCC RPG rulebook, Goodman Games’ Free RPG Day release, and Emirikol Was Framed! I wrote a new game system for Goblinoid Games and finished up revisions for a new supplement to be released by Goodman in the coming year. I also had the opportunity to create my own 1920s’ historical horror setting (“Wildwyck County”) for Fight On! magazine, and I have plenty more in store for that series as publication allows.

This was also the year that I hit the convention trail in earnest, travelling to the gaming motherland of Lake Geneva, WI and moseying down to Texas for NTRPG Con. At those events, idols became colleagues, colleagues became friends, and people I’ve only known through online correspondence joined the ranks of my valued fellow gamers. I’m looking forward to 2013 when I get to do more new conventions and return to old favorites.

I’ve got a few announcements coming in the days ahead, but I’ll close things down for now as I’m battling an end of the year illness and need to get more rest. I’d like to wish you all a very happy, healthy, and productive 2013. May Chance favor the bold in the year ahead!

Curriculum Vitae (Current as of 2.16.14)

There is now an online index of Fight On! articles assembled by “elf23” from the Original Dungeons & Dragons Discussion forum. It contains a list of all the articles appearing in issues #1-#13 and can be viewed by issue, article, author, and other criteria. If you’ve ever wondered who contributed to what issue or what exactly appears in a magazine you don’t own, go check it out.

That’s the important part of this post and what follows is mere vanity on the part of the author. Upon examining the FO! index, I realized that it’s getting to the point where I don’t necessarily recall all that I’ve written for various projects and publishers. My body of work is not extensive, so I fear it’s my collapsing mental faculties that are to blame for this. To help combat this encroaching decrepitude, I’m listing my current oeuvre for reference and as a reminder to myself. I’ve got more irons in the fire for 2013 and look forward to expanding this list as announcements are made.

Author

"The Fane of St. Toad"

The Dungeon Alphabet (2009)

The Dungeon Alphabet Expanded Third Printing (2012)

Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls

Stonehell Dungeon Supplement One: The Brigand Caves

Stonehell Dungeon Supplement Two: Buried Secrets

Emirikol Was Framed!

The Sea-Queen Escapes!
The Croaking Fane
Frozen in Time
MAJUS RPG
The Tower out of Time
The Old God's Return
Intrigue at the Court of Chaos

The Adventurers’ Almanac (to-be-released)
A Single Small Cut (to-be-released)
The Chained Coffin (to-be-released)
Stonehell 2 (to-be-released)

Co-Author

Realms of Crawling Chaos (random artifact generation tables & eldritch tomes rules)

Magazine Articles

“The Dungeon Alphabet: Part One,” Knockspell #1

“Dungeon Oddities,” Knockspell #2

“Stealing the Histories,” Knockspell #4

“With New Old Eyes,” Silver Gryphon Monthly #4 (January 2009)

“Random Rooms,” Fight On! #4

“A Few for the Road,” Fight On! #5

“A Few for the Road, Part 2” Fight On! #6

"Old School Game Determination," Fight On! #6

“Sites to Seek,” Fight On! #8

“It’s All in the Cards,” Fight On! #12

“In the Shadow of the Catskills" Fight On! #13
"Gnatdamp: Sanctuary in the Swamp." Gygax Magazine #1
"The Wildwyck Gazetteer" Fight On! #14
"Artifacts to impart ancient lore" Gygax Magazine #3 

Contributing Author

Open Game Table: Anthology of Roleplaying Blogs Vol. 1 (“The Commonplace Book”)

Red Planet RPG (revised magic chapter)

Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game (additional spells)

Dungeon Crawl Classics Free RPG Day 2012 (“The Undulating Corruption”)

Fragments 1: The Way of Tree, Shadow & Flame (deities, encounter tables, and rogues’ gallery)

Tales From the Fallen Empire (additional spells & crafting magical items)
The Monster Alphabet (additional entries; to-be-released)

Judge

The One-Page Dungeon Contest (2009)

Mystery Map Adventure Design Competition (2012)

Awards

Three-Castles Award (2011)

Forty Odd Years

Today is the fortieth anniversary of my birth. For two score revolutions around that big ball of fire in the sky, I’ve made my home on this third stone from the Sun. They’ve been a mixed forty years, filled with many pleasures and many sorrows, much like everyone’s life, but the hills usually outnumber the valleys, and it sure beats the alternative.

I have big schemes in mind for the coming year, and if the universe is kind, I’ll see them to fruition and be able to share them with you, the loyal and long-suffering reader who has shared the past five years of my journey here on the Society of Torch, Pole and Rope.

Looking back on the trip, I remain in awe of how different my life is now than it was when I first posted “Saha” back on August 21^st, 2008. I’ve gone from a lapsed gamer to an industry professional. The men and women who I idolized in my youth are now my colleagues, and in some cases, my friends. I get to share my words and my creations not with a handful of friends around the gaming table, but with thousands of people around the world. The bizarre ideas that percolate in my head are no longer granted the breath of life by my ill-trained hands, but by an incredible array of talented artists and cartographers. I get to take this little dog-and-pony show of mine on the road, where I meet fellow gamers, sign autographs for fans who seem genuinely pleased to meet me, and greet people who I hitherto only knew from online correspondence, putting names to faces and sharing some laughs around the dealers’ tables. It’s a strange celebrity, a type that my non-gaming friends and family don’t quite understand, but one I cherish immensely. And none of this would have happened if I hadn’t had the support of you, dear reader. To every one of you who ever bought something with my name slapped on the credits page, who took the time to read my words here, who signed up to play in one of my games, or simply offered a hand in friendship, you have my sincere and utter thanks.

I wish I could celebrate my birthday in true hobbit-fashion, giving you all gifts for coming along on the journey so far with me, but alas, there are too many of you now and doing so would strip my smial bare (worse than even the Sackville-Baggins did poor Bilbo’s). Please accept my thanks and the knowledge that I’m very grateful of your ongoing support, instead.

For those who practice non-hobbit birthday traditions and would like to do something nice to celebrate my slow journey away from the hunter’s fire to that of the clan elders, I’d ask this: Help spread the word and keep me employed! Purchase a copy of my work and give it to a friend. Write a review of Emirikol Was Framed! or the new Dungeon Alphabet. Add the new Stonehell Dungeon Google+ page to your circles. Pre-order one of my upcoming adventures from Goodman Games. Even a kind word to a friend about something I’ve penned would mean a lot to me. I’ve gone far in these past forty years, but if I’m blessed, my journey’s far from over and I hope there’s still some life in these seven-league boots of mine. With your on-going support, I intend to keep walking this professional path and sharing my dreams (and nightmares) with others.

-Mike

Reminder: I’m at Anonycon next month (Dec. 7-9, 2012)

I’ll be in Stamford, CT in just a few weeks to run some DCC RPG and OD&D fun. If you’re in the area and looking for an interesting and enjoyable weekend of gaming, please come on down! I’ll be doing the usual "meet my fellow gamers, sign some books, and referee some cool games" over the course of the weekend. Hopefully, I might even get to play a few games, too.

My schedule is:

• DCC-Emirikol Must Die! (Friday, Dec. 7^th @ 8 PM to 12 AM)
• RPG-Party Like it’s 1975! (Saturday, Dec. 8^th @9 AM to 1 PM)
• DCC-The Croaking Fane (Saturday, Dec. 8^th @ 8 PM to 12 AM)
• DCC-Frozen in Time (Sunday, Dec. 9^th @ 9 AM to 1 PM)

For more information, registration, hotel details, and more, please visit the convention website. I hope to see some of you old school (and new school) folks there!