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The Latest News- This Site, Chaosium, and beyond Latest Update: 3.27.08 Boy, am i lame. I can't even come up with a decent excuse as to why it's taken me over a frikkin' year to update this thing, so i won't even bother to insult you with one. Last year saw the release of Secrets of Kenya, as well as Mysteries of Hungary, a monograph that i also did the layout on. I also landed a layout credit for Secrets of Los Angeles, which is a damn fine book, imho. As of right now, i'm in the midst of laying out a Magic sourcebook, which is to be a supplement for the Basic Roleplaying book due out in a couple of months or so. Might be doing some art for it too- we'll see how things go. Speaking of the BRP book, that will contain about thirteen pieces of artwork of mine, which i have to say are way better bits than what i did for the Secrets of San Francisco book. Those character portraits were done in pencils, scanned, and then completed digitally. I have to say i was less than happy with the results, and i wish i'd stuck with traditional pen and ink to finish them off. I learned my lesson with that, and so this new batch of art was done with minimal computer interference (except for scanning them so i could send them off to the office, and a tad bit of clean up). One other thing that i'll be starting momentarily is more art for a secret project of Dustin's- so secret, i don't even know what it is. :). I can say that the subject matter is varied, covering many different subjects and genres. I'm taking a hard look at this site, and i feel like it's severely out of date, design-wise. Definitely long in the tooth. I'm not sure if just a Word Press-type journal will work, because i have a number of sub-pages that i need to be navigable. On the other hand, i want to have the ability to allow comments and such for the main news entries. Sounds like i'll need to do some more research before i implement anything. Hopefully i won't drag my ass and take five years to put it up. (10.22.06) It's been a long time, but i'm finally posting here again...i've been working the past few months on Secrets of Kenya, a new sourcebook written by David Conyers. I turned it into Chaosium a few weeks ago, to get it in house, and so that Charlie could finish it off. Right now, they're in the midst of getting hardback editions of Beyond the Mountains of Madness, Masks of Nyarlathotep, and the new Malleus Monstrorum in the hands of people, so i wouldn't expect Secrets of Kenya out until...end of year, maybe? Next up...i believe i'll be doing some art pieces for the new BRP rulebook next, and there's a possibility of some work with another company. We'll see... Our campaign is running in fits and starts, and has been doing so for the past several months. For a few reasons. I've been content to just running small scenarios, getting people slowly ready for a bigger campaign. So far that's working well. Not a lot of Mythos exposure, and what they have seen has been small time- a ghoul pack here, some cultists there, maybe a frenzied wizard tossed in for good measure. But things will start getting more intense very soon... Be seeing you. (3.1.06) Greetings! Sad that i haven't updated this since last year. And i obviously blew the deadline for the joke contest for...oh, about a month. I suck. But we have a winner! Bruce P came up with this gem: Q: Why doesn't Joseph Curwen drink whiskey? A: It makes him mean. The other major news is that Secrets of San Francisco is at the printer! 
Hopefully it'll be here in about a month, but we all know how finicky printers can be. Keep your fingers crossed! And i've already moved on to my next project: Secrets of Kenya! I'm dreadfully behind in getting the letters for Beyond The Mountains of Madness up. Its on my mind, i just have to dedicate a chunk of time to it. Now that we're done, i want to write up a separate Keeper's section from all of my notes and corresondence with Chaz. That won't be for a while though. In the meantime, we'll be starting a brand new campaign. Should be fun, although i'm not sure what journaling, if any, will take place. I'm sure i'll put something up...but of course i need to get BtMoM finished first. Be seeing you... (12.26.05) Hi all- short update this time. I've decided to extend the deadline for the joke contest until the end of the year, and make the announcement of the winner on Saturday, Jan 7th. That should give y'all enough time to get the rest of your entries in. That's it for now. Have a great x-mess, holiday, or whatever you want to call it. (11.26.05) So much for a quick update, eh? *sigh* Trust me, though, it's not like i haven't kept busy. Let's get straight to the news, shall we? I'm happy to say that Secrets of S.F. is in final layout stage. All artwork and words have been submitted, and the bulk of the has been worked out. I had a meeting with Lynn and Charlie today to go over the next lot of fine-tuning corrections, so i've got that to take care of. But this is all little tweaking now. As a present for all of you who have been waiting so damn long for this book to come out, i've posted up some character portraits that i've done for the book- to not only say thanks, but maybe tease y'all a little more. ;) In other news, my group finally completed our Beyond the Mountains of Madness campaign last night. It was a terrific end to an amazing run for us. As an added special bonus, we were lucky enough to have Chaz Engan, one half of the author team for the BtMoM book, come visit us for most of the night. He was gracious enough to answer all of our questions, tell some entertaining tales, and was even cool enough to sign my book. Woot! I big thank you to Chaz and his girlfriend Kris for coming by! Also, i've decided to bring back the Sort-Of-Every-Once-In-a-Blue-Moon-Kind-Of Annual Cthulhu Joke Contest back! For those of you unfamiliar with the contest, entering is easy. Merely send me a joke, riddle, or pun involving Call of Cthulhu. I'll pick the best one, and post it on this site. The writer of the winning joke will also receive a free copy of Shadows of Yog-Sothoth! So get those fingers tappin! You can send your joke entries to cthulhu (at) badgerswarren.com. Deadline for entries is December 23rd. The winner will be announced here on December 30th. Good luck! Right. I think that about covers it for now. Oh, and before i forget, here are those pictures i mentioned. Enjoy!
(7.27.05) A bit more news regarding Secrets of S.F. - work continues on my end for completing the character portraits. It goes well, i'm happy to say. Be cool to see the end product. Bigger news on the art front, however, is that i got the first of Paul's pieces in today, and omigods, are they frikkin' awesome. The rendering of Yog-Sothoth alone is worth the price of this book, imho. I met with Charlie and Lynn the other week to go over the book in general. Some bits of advice here and there, but overall, positive feedback. As far as this site goes, i'll be posting many more of Caroline's letters. Things are really starting to heat up in the BtMoM campaign! Sanity is just flying everywhere. Back to the grindstone with me. I'll be back with more updates soon, and i might even be extra nice and post a preview of some of the art in the upcoming book. Be seeing you... (7.11.05) Right. I shouldn't even bother apologizing now. *sigh* I certainly won't make any promises as to when i'll update this site again, as i don't want to insult your intelligence anymore. But i am sorry for the lack of posting here. The latest scoop on SoSF - Paul Carrick has been wrangled in to do some additional art for the book, for which i'm extremely stoked. In addition, yours truly will be doing some artwork as well, mostly character portraits. The book is now manuscript complete, and most of the layout is done...but can't be completely finished until the art is all turned in, of course. I refuse to speculate any more as to when this may be coming out. I'm hoping for this year, but you never know. Speaking of releases though, Secrets of New York just came out, and i encourage all of your to pick up a copy. It looks excellent, and is done by William Jones, he of The Book of Dark Wisdom. As for the Beyond the Mountains of Madness campaign, it's been on hiatus for a month while a couple of our group return from vacation. But i'll have another massive posting in the BtMoM letters section soon. That's it for now. Thanks for your patience and continued support here. Be seeing you...(4.2.05) My gods, i've neglected this site. It certainly wasn't my intent to let it go this long without an update. Between Normal Life, working on the Secrets of San Francisco book (more on that in a bit), getting my gaming group back in shape, and other various stuff, some things had to be put on hold for a while. I'm afraid this site was one of those things. :( So yeah, about the book. Recently, i was given a deadline of the end of March (two days ago) to finish and hand in what i had, so that Chaosium could have it in house, look it over, etc. Totally understandable, but it put me suddenly in a mad dash to get it as complete as i could. Which brings me to the status of it. Alas, it's not quite done yet- there's still some art elements i'm waiting on for one of the scenarios, which will then need more layout. And there are a couple of other chapters that will need additional layout. But it's almost there. And it's got some fantastic new art in it, courtesy of Paul Carrick. At the moment, the book is in house, and i'm waiting to hear back from Chaosium as to what's next. Speaking of Paul, i've added a link to his site on my links page, if you want to get an idea of his style. Very creepy and atmospheric. As far as the BtMoM campaign goes, it's chugging along nicely. The party *just* reached Antarctica last session. Now the real fun begins. >:) I've got about five (count 'em!) letters that i've posted- you'll notice that there is now a third page for them, and that's where you'll find the latest additions. I think that brings everything up to date now. Honest, i swear i'll be updating more often from here on out. Be seeing you! (12.15.04) My apologies for the lack of updates around here. There was some serious events going on in my gaming group that, without going into detail, caused much distress, and nearly broke the group up. The problems have only recently been resolved. There hasn't been much, then, to post about- the campaign was suspended for several weeks until we could figure out things. Happily, we look to resume once the new year begins. With that, i've posted the latest letter from Shelby. Please feel free to check it out. As usual, work continues on the SoSF guidebook. The end looks a bit nearer. (10.21.04) Welcome! Not that much news to report. I've updated several journals to the site; feel free to check them out. They've grown so large, that i'm already splitting them off into two pages. Woot! The Secrets of San Francisco guidebook is coming along. The scenarios are starting to come in, and editing has begun. Yeesh, i've never used a red pen so much in my life. ;) 'Tis fun, though, and some nifty adventures will be added to the book soon. Hope all of you have a happy and fun Halloween. Be seeing you... (9.26.04) Greetings and salutations. Our group has finally started the Beyond the Mountains of Madness campaign! If you want to read up on the exploits of the goings-on, you can check them out here. I've been in contact with Chaz Engan, one of the authors of the book, so as things progress i'll start putting up our conversations as well. There's hope of me doing a character booklet for BtMoM sometime soon, and if i do, i'll be certain to put a copy of it here for people to check out. And i'll make sure that this one will be in .pdf format, so that it'll play nice with all computers. ;) Had fun at Con-Quest earlier this month. Worked the Chaosium booth a couple of days, which was fun as usual. They're getting a *lot* more goodies and stuff to sell- gotta love the Innsmouth Brewery pint glasses! This was my first time attending Con-Quest (which, as we all found out on Sunday, has been sold to someone else, and will be called...um...something else next year. Avalon or something? I forget), and while it was certainly the smallest of the three (the other two being DunDraCon and KublaCon), it was still pretty darn keen. The dealer's room was miniscule, however; who's idea was that? There were almost no booths there at all. Nutty. Anyway. Got in on a fun Cthulhu game, and yet another Traveller game run by Michael Siverling- Mike's the best, and if you ever spot his name in a convention book, sign up for his game. You won't be disappointed. Not much Chaosium news...still plugging away at the book. 'Nuff said. Guess that's it. Be seeing you... (8.1.04) Man, has it been *that* long since i've updated this? My apologies. I think part of it has to do with the fact that my Cthulhu group has been on hiatus for the past several months, while various people go off and do their respective trips and other personal stuff. Ever since we concludedthe Horror on the Orient Express campaign, it's been real quiet around that camp. Which is fine, because it's given me time to prepare for Beyond the Mountains of Madness, which believe you me, takes quite a bit of time and effort. We should be starting up shortly, however, so expect more news on that in the coming months. In the meantime, i've been busy with actual stuff for Chaosium. As mentioned last year (!), i was published for the first time in the Book of Dark Wisdom. Woot! Thanks, guys! But i've also been banging away at the Project That Will Not Go Away, a.k.a. the Secrets of San Francisco Guidebook. I now have three authors working on different scenarios for the book, which is great- more adventures are sorely needed for it. However, this will push back the street date to gods-know-when. On the plus side, however, i completed a bunch of maps for the revised edition of Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, and that book is slated to appear later this month, i believe...assuming that there have been the correct sacrifices to the gods of printing. I also have other writings in various stages of completion, but it's way to early to talk about those just yet. What else...oh, yeah. If yer a Ministry fan, go pick up their new album. It's so much better than the last two or three, it's not even funny. It's on par with Psalm 69, it's that good. Okay, that's it for now. I promise that my next update won't take so damn long. Be seeing you. (9.30.03)
Greetings! I hope everyone had a great and swell Halloween. Got several topics to take care of... First off, I'm pleased to announce the winner of my Cthulhu Joke contest! It wasn't an easy decision, as there were some damn good entries, but i'm happy to give the award to Paul Robinson! Congratulations to him, and you can view his submission here.
It was suggested to me that i make .pdf versions of the Orient Express character booklet i have for download. Good idea, and it's definitely in the works. Main problem right now is finding the right conversion program for the job, but i'm working on it!
I'd like to wish this site a little happy birthday, as it's been little over a year since it went online. Thanks for the support for the past year, and i plan on using this place to help support Call of Cthulhu for a long time to come.
In terms of projects in the works...it's time for the monthly Secrets of SF update! I've got another contributor to the book, Matt "Trollboy" Wiseman, who's gonna be writing some more supplemental material to beef it up a bit. You probably recognize Matt from his excellent Shoggoth.net site. I know, i know...this means that the book will get pushed back a bit more, but the additions will be worthwhile, trust me. In the mean time, i'll be helping out with another project for Chaosium (more on that in a future posting). I'm also going to be getting my first original article published. Yes, little ol' me will have a short adventure published in the upcoming issue of The Book of Dark Wisdom! I'm currently working on another adventure for them, but we'll have to see how that turns out.
I think that's it for now. I'll be posting more news soon, i promise. Be seeing you.
(9.30.03)
Got a few announcements to make- first up is a free download i'm offering, of a character booklet i put together for my Cthulhu group. It's tailored to the Horror on the Orient Express campaign, but you of course can change it to whatever suits your needs. Check it out on this page. Also, i'm starting up my first contest. The First Cthulhu Joke Contest has now begun! You can read more about here. I swear, we're nearing completion on the Secrets of S.F. book. We're *puts thumb and index finger a millimeter apart* that close. I know, i know, seems like i say that every couple of weeks. Honestly, folks. It's almost there. No letters from Caroline this time 'round, but i've been told that a new submission should be forthcoming shortly. Lastly, i heard a rumor last night that there might be some Cthulhu slippers coming out soon...i'll try to get more information on this in the next week or so. And yeah, you read that right. Cthulhu slippers. Be seeing you... (8.27.03) Well, i've been slackin'. Unfortunately, i don't think Con-Quest is happening for me this year either. It's just been a bad year for me with conventions. Pisses me off, too. I guess the stars aren't right this time 'round. However, work continues on the Secrets of San Francisco book. In fact, i'm to meet with Charlie at Chaosium again about it tomorrow. Also, it looks like the Chaosium Liaison program is changing and mutating...sprouting new limbs and tentacles, and calling itself the Chaosium Missionary program. I'll let you know when i have more details on that. Finally, there's new stuff added here. The "Letters from Caroline" section has grown so much that i've split it into two sections. Part 2 contains a slew of new letters from our esteemed investigator- four, to be exact. I've also posted a review of the Keeper's Companion vol. 2. Check it out. That's all for now. Be seeing you... (6.6.03) Hi, it's been a while. I've been out of circulation for a bit with some personal stuff, but i'm getting back in form. Alas, i was not able to attend KublaCon this year, much to my disappointment. I'm hoping to make it to Con-Quest in September, so we'll see. As for this site, i made a minor addition to the last page of the article detailing the events of the Day of the Beast campaign, having to do with rules changes i've made with our group. You'll probably also notice that i've added another review of the first issue of The Black Seal. Check it out. I'm hoping to have more reviews up soon...no really! I swear! Unfortunately don't have a letter from Caroline to post...with any luck, i'll have something to put up by the next update. Be seeing you... (2.19.03) Sorry for the delay here. I'm happy to report that DunDraCon was a blast. Me and my cohorts enjoyed an excellent CoC adventure Sunday night, and in general spent the entire weekend enjoying ourselves. Hats off to the DunDraCon staff for making this, again, a great con to attend. I put up a lot of flyers advertising the West Coast Order of Keepers, and judging from the amount of little tags torn off of them, it seems that there's a lot of players and keepers interested in getting in touch with one another. Always nice to see. In terms of the site, we have not one, but two new letters from Caroline. That should tide you over for a little while. Things are getting veeery interesting in the Orient Express campaign... That's about it for now. Should have another update soon. Be seeing you... (1.15.03) Greetings. Kind of a short entry this time 'round. Not one, not two, but *three* more Letters from Caroline have been posted! Other than that, not much going on here. I have some more reviews in the works, but i have to find the time to actually read the stuff, first...also, and i don't know why i didn't do this before, but i've put my email address on the front page. I'm real curious for feedback about the site from you, so if you have something to say, say it! Locally, convention time is gearing up around here soon, with DunDraCon in San Ramon next month, and KublaCon in May. Since i am the official Chaosium Liasion 'round these parts, i'll be attending both, and harassing any of you who decide to attend and run/participate in any Cthulhu games. ;) So just thought i'd give you all a heads up. Be seeing you... (1.3.03) Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were filled with Shoggoth dreams, and Yig delights. Lessee, where should i begin? In terms of the site, i've posted another new letter from Caroline. I must say, our Orient Express campaign is going at quite a quick pace...it's very possible that we'll have it completed before summer. Which is great, because, while i'm enjoying this campaign greatly, i can't wait to get started on Beyond the Mountains of Madness... In Chaosium news, i met with Charlie last week, and we went over the SF Guidebook. He would like it to be more spruced and fancied-up, so it's back to the drawing board with me...it looks like we're going to shoot for a publish date sometime in the 2nd quarter, but don't hold me to that. I got my hands on a copy of the Keeper's Companion Vol. 2, and so far it looks real good. I'll post a review of it some time soon. The upcoming Arkham book is just about done, and is a pretty sweet book. Guess that's it for now. Be seeing you... (12.16.02) Howdy. Just a little update right now. We have a new letter from Caroline up, detailing the group's adventures in sullen and dreary Venice. I should have another letter sometime this week, and that'll be posted soon. Also, i've added the list of characters participating in the Orient Express campaign, though i must note that it's incomplete- still wating on a couple of players to give me their write ups. With the exception of the table of contents and the index, and any comments/changes from Charlie, the SF Guidebook is done. I plan on meeting him either this week or the next to go over the book with him. Hopefully i can sniff out some inside scoops to share with you. Be seeing you... (11.29.02) Hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving, and filled up on turkey, ham, turducken, tofukey, or whatever it was you decided to eat. Not much rumblings in the Chaosium camp that i can share with you, alas. The holidays make it pretty quiet...even the nightgaunts are taking it easy. Though i'm not sure i want to know what they eat on Turkey Day. At any rate, two new things up here- first my review of the Keeper's Companion is finally up- take a looksee. Second, we have a new letter from Caroline, discussing the goings-on of her group on the Orient Express. The SF Guide book is nearing completion on my end...just a couple more sections to take care of, and then it'll all be in the hands of Charlie and the gang. I'm sure they'll have even further changes to make once i'm done with it... Be seeing you... (11.14.02) Hi again. This time 'round i've mostly site news to talk about. As you can see, i've been cleaning up the place here, and adding a few graphics to pretty it up. Hope you like it. The Keeper's Companion review is moving along, but not done as of yet...hopefully by the end of the week. Next up is a summary of the characters that are participating in my current Horror On The Orient Express campaign. One new addition to the site that i'm proud to announce is "Letters from Caroline". "Caroline" is one of the characters from our Orient Express campaign, and these letters are a nifty way to let all of you know what's been going on with this campaign, from a player's perspective no less. You should know that this first letter dicusses events that occurred in the fourth chapter...but i'm going to see what can be done about getting back letters printed up. On the Chaosium front, i'm proud to say that i've subscribed to the Strange Aeons mailing list, hosted by Chaosium themselves. A great group of people all over the world. I highly recommend subscribing, which you can do by going over to Chaosium's site. Also, i got an email from Chaosium, and they want to make me their official West Coast Liaison! Woot! Non-CoC recommendation: "Rise Above" benefit album. This CD, put together by Henry Rollins, contains 24 Black Flag songs sung by various artists, such as Mike Patton (Faith No More/Tomahawk), Corey Taylor (Slipknot), Ice-T, Iggy Pop, Chuck D, and a whole lot more. The album was put together to benefit the West Memphis 3, who's story is waaaaaay to long to go in to here; you're much better off reading about it by going to their website, www.wm3.org. If for no other reason, buy this album for an awesome array of singers covering some of the best punk songs ever written. I mean, Ice-T doing "Police Story". How fucking cool is that? Be seeing you...(10.31.02) Greetings to all, and Happy Halloween. This is the first news entry here, so i'll try to start off with a bang. I'll try to let you know about stuff you won't hear on any other site...the inside scoop, as it were. Also, what's going on with this site. So on to the news. First, you might want to know about the Secrets Of Japan sourcebook. I got to take a look at it, and wow, will we be blown away. The art and layout are incredible, and as far as information goes, this books is going to be *huge*. Definitely worth the wait. Also coming down the pipe is the revised edition of the Necronomicon. If you like collecting Mythos fiction, keep an eye out for this one. I'm currently working on the San Francisco Guide book, and it's coming along nicely. The layout of the first 5 or 6 chapters are done, and i've got about another 4 to go. Barring corrections and criticisms from Charlie, of course. As for this site, i have a review of the Keeper's Companion that i'm working on, and as soon as i get my grubby little paws on the new Dunwich book, i'll be posting a review of that as well. In addition, i plan on making the site a bit fancier in terms of look and feel...stay tuned. Lastly, i gotta say that i picked up Grand Theft Auto: Vice City...whoa. Fookin' incredible. If you're a fan of GTA: III, run out and get a copy of Vice City. Be seeing you... |
