Great to see hacking of The Cthulhu Hack, with Clarky the Cruel running Rogue Trooper: Operation Blue Moon at Mersey Games Knights games day. He’s posted a brief report over on his blog, where @thegrampus notes: System-wise Hack is just as impressive as I’d hoped. Its fast and intuitive, and the declining resource dice mechanic is perfect for a […]
Category: Adventures
A complete adventure, either generic or using our home-grown Chimura system
Delta Green: Observer Effect
If we look too deeply into the roiling chaos of reality, chaos may look back. I ran the Delta Green adventure Observer Effect for Free RPG Day. I had intended to run a couple of sessions, but on the day we didn’t start until an hour after I’d planned – and as it turned out, […]
Save Innsmouth Actual Play
The Whartson Hall Recording group playing Save Innsmouth: Chapter 0 with v1.0 rules and a strong notion of the connection to The Black Hack / Old School style of play (which I feel has lessened a little with the release of The Cthulhu Hack v1.5). Interesting listening to anyone playing the game. I can run as […]
The House of Hell
It was an experiment in the possibilities of solo gaming that occurred to me at work. I genuinely have no recollection of why this struck me when it did, but I had the thought that one or two of the classic Fighting Fantasy books might provide an interesting challenge as solo sessions for The Cthulhu Hack. […]
Strength of the Wendigo
The remit for Three Faces of the Wendigo – write an adventure with the Wendigo at the heart of it. In the hands of three writers you get three chilling takes on the same theme with a very different perspective. Each writer – Richard August, John Almack and myself – came at the tale independently. […]
Three Faces of the Wendigo
“That stern quality of the tangled backwoods which can only be described as merciless and terrible, rose out of these far blue woods swimming upon the horizon, and revealed itself. He understood the silent warning. He realized his own utter helplessness.” – Algernon Blackwood, “The Wendigo” Three authors. Three chilling tales of malevolence and inhuman appetite for The […]
Brace For Impact
For those moments when your players hit the JUMP button too soon or warp right out of the path the adventure has set for their rendezvous with doom, Brace For Impact! takes a leaf out of the random table book established by From Unformed Realms. Brace For Impact! offers 18-pages packed with tables presenting high sci-fi encounter seeds […]
Random Tables
I believe random tables have their place in the creative process. Like my collection of Rory’s Story Cubes or my three volumes in the classic Central Casting books by Jennell Jacquays, the table often provides an essential spark to my creative process. I don’t always include a random table in my books, but when I […]
Cthulhu Hack at UK Games Expo ’17
UK Games Expo sprawled across the last weekend. I have spent much of that time standing up, behind the Just Crunch Games stall, regaling people with the virtues of The Cthulhu Hack. As if getting up at 6.30am to hit NEC Hall 1’s floor for 8.30am wasn’t enough, I also signed up to GM games […]
Advantage and Disadvantage
Nobody said it was easy / No one ever said it would be this hard… The Cthulhu Hack includes a section on Advantage and Disadvantage that I think warrants a little consideration. To be clear, Coldplay got this one spot on. Top marks to them. When you see a character Class offering Advantage on something, […]
Handling Threat
Characters in The Cthulhu Hack handle Threats in different ways. Sometimes, the situation doesn’t allow any kind of decision making; or at least, it doesn’t allow any careful finessing. A teacher battering seven shades of hell out of a bully in a car park might Save versus the Threat with Strength or Dexterity, dependent on […]
The Listening Game
Save Innsmouth benefits heavily from listening to and acting on the players’ responses. A Gamemaster should always be listening and taking notes, but noting the mood, tone, individual response and banter can prove valuable tools in setting the dials and measuring the pace for the adventure. A tired group of players need more push and […]
Debate Night in America
Two powerful figures square up for a final debate certain to spell defeat for one – and recent media attention seems to have swung hard one way. The investigators have a chance to uncover the truth, but they have precious little time to do it and an immovable deadline looming. I’ve been a fan of […]
Thro’ Margins Fixed
Since I wrote The Haunter in the Dark, my appreciation of Lovecraft’s stories has changed considerably. I find myself unable to simply read one of these tales; I have to take a mental scalpel to them to slice them into gameable slivers and chunks. I still enjoy the stories; I actually feel like I’m getting […]
Thro’ Centuries Fixed
You wake groggy; your body stiff, your sight obscured. You stir; vigour oozing slowly back into your muscles like you’ve slept for an age. As your vision clears, you find your surroundings unfamiliar, the colours and light queer. You struggle to call out for help, but cannot find the words; You struggle to remember much […]