Cthulhu Dark

Ten ways to look at horror
almost 7 years ago – Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 07:38:35 AM

Here's one thing I've always thought was missing from Cthulhu games; they don't really explain how to write horror scenarios. Not really. They give you some advice, but they don't really explain how to do it, from beginning to end.

And, so, I wanted to do that in Cthulhu Dark.

In Cthulhu Dark's Writing A Mystery section, I take you through the process of writing a Cthulhu Dark mystery, step by step. I start at the beginning, with things that scare you, then explain how to find the horror in that and how to represent it with a Mythos creature. Then I go into detail, thinking about the Investigators, locations and people in a mystery, with tips on how to do horror well.

One of the best tools is Creeping Horrors. These are unexplained, unsettling moments of weirdness, which repeat throughout the game. They're Cthulhu Dark's signature move and they work beautifully: they instantly make any game more horrific.

Then there's the section on Rewriting A Mystery. This is about looking at what you've written, then tweaking, polishing and refining until it's as good - or as horrific - as it can be. It's an essential skill.

To do this, I give you ten different ways to look at a mystery and make it better. One of them is called The Fearmonger: it's about making sure your mystery creeps your players out. Then there's The Technician, which is about fixing things that could break the game, and The Tempter, in which you think about your mystery as a story of personal horror. You consider your mystery from each perspective and you fine-tune it until it runs smoothly.

I've been trying to write all this for years. It's finally come together with Cthulhu Dark. I hope you'll like it. I think you will. It'll give you new ways to write horror for your games.

Welcome to Arkham 1692
almost 7 years ago – Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 07:27:57 AM

I remember when Kathryn Jenkins first wrote to me. She wanted to write about British witches, in the reign of Charles I. That's great, I said, but if we want to do witches...

And that's how we decided to reinvent Arkham, Lovecraft's iconic city.

Arkham 1692 is a city of witchcraft, fear and superstition. It's based on Salem, the main inspiration for Arkham, and the witch trials that happened there. Her writing perfectly captures the feel of Puritan England: the crops were failing, war was near and God seemed to have abandoned the city. It seemed like the end times. Arkham was alone against the dark.

Kathryn writes gory horror. She does it better than me (my writing is more psychological). Sometimes, I'd read her stuff late at night and creep myself out: "Every bone in his body has been crushed, his skin being the only thing keeping the viscera inside".

Now We Are The Sons Of God
almost 7 years ago – Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 07:27:43 AM

Good morning! There are eleven days left to the Cthulhu Dark Kickstarter. And we just hit the last stretch goal, so here are two more.

First, the big one: a Cthulhu Dark mini-campaign in London 1851, by Scott Dorward, one of the writers for Call of Cthulhu Seventh Edition. It's called Now We Are The Sons of God and it has three parts, all exploring different parts of Victorian London: Walk In The Light Of Your Fire, The Brightness of the Firmament and The Truth Shall Make You Free.

If you know Scott's writing, you'll know why I'm excited: he has a love of dark horror that fits perfectly into Cthulhu Dark. I don't know whether to be happy or scared. I'll set a level for that stretch goal next week, but for now, here's one more.

If you really want to understand Cthulhu Dark, how to use it to full effect and how to publish your own work for it, you'll need to get inside my head. 

So, if we reach £50,000, I'll release my design notes for Cthulhu Dark. I'll tell you about every decision I made in designing and publishing Cthulhu Dark. I'll talk through about everything I've added since the original version - Creeping Horrors, Haunting Memories, the rule that Investigators are people with little power, investigating a horror at the heart of the power - and why it's there. And all this will go in the book.

As always, keep talking about Cthulhu Dark, and we'll smash through these stretch goals in the next eleven days. Thanks so much for all of your support.

The artists
almost 7 years ago – Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 07:26:59 AM

There won't be many words in this update, but there'll be lots of art.

Let's start with the cover artist, George Cotronis. For Cthulhu Dark, I wanted a dreamlike, photographic style, which George does perfectly. He's done two covers, one for Cthulhu Dark itself and one for Cthulhu Dark Zero.

You've seen the main cover a lot, so here's the Cthulhu Dark Zero cover, with its eerily pale background.

For the interior, I wanted a stark, black-and-white aesthetic. I found Matteo Bocci on the website Deviant Art, with an astonishing portrait of H. P. Lovecraft (go and find it, it's wonderful). He's been a joy to work with, delivering beautiful thing after beautiful thing.

Here's his illustration for Chris Spivey's scenario The Whole Is Greater, which you'll get if you have the Season Pass.

Finally, Stentor Danielson has produced incredible maps. You'll have seen his London 1851 map before, but I want to show you how detailed it is. 

And there are more artists!

Banana Chan did the Kickstarter video, which I love: it's much better than me talking into camera. And, because this Kickstarter has been so successful, I've asked Nathan Paoletta to draw bespoke text ornaments. They'll make the interior even more beautiful.

As always, thanks for your support. Nine days left!