Cthulhu Reborn

Cthulhu Reborn Bundle Investigator! This Cthulhu Reborn Bundle presents nearly two dozen Mythos investigations in many eras from the open-license Cthulhu Eternal tabletop roleplaying game line produced by Cthulhu Reborn. C...

HPL's BoYS is just one of 30+ books available in PDF as part of the current Bundle of Holding deal (and in fact is included in even the lower-tier offer).

The bundle is available until November 17 -- full details here: bundleofholding.com/presents/Cth...

A montage of pages from the book "H.P. Lovecraft's Book of Yog-Sothothery"

We went all out with illustrating this book and also wrote a small additional section on Unnatural Places invented by Lovecraft. We think it's the most "purist" depiction of HPL's mythos, since it eschews all details not explicitly mentioned in one of his tales. It's less "gamey" than many versions.

The SRD is extensive (40 Mythos Entities, 20+ rituals, and a bunch of cults, artifacts, and tomes) ... but is just text. People kept asking for an illustrated version to serve as a kind of "Monster Manual" and Grimoire book to go with their Cthulhu Eternal core books. And thus was born HPL's BoYS.

The Open Cthulhu Mythos SRD - Cthulhu Reborn | DriveThruRPG “What primal, inconceivable source of age-old myth-cycles and haunting nightmares might I be on the brink of uncovering?”   IMPORTANT NOTE: This PDF contains the text of a full set of game statistics ...

When we released our own open game some years later, we had this resource translated into English ... becoming our Open Cthulhu Mythos SRD. It's an invaluable free resource for anyone who wants to build Cthulhu game material free from IP that may be contested.
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/4...

I wasn't the only person fascinated by this discussion: the German Lovecraft Association (who produce a German-language game called FHTAGN, amongst other stuff) took it upon themselves to exhaustively map out exactly what elements are 100% Lovecraft (and thus Public Domain) in name and depiction.

The essence of the debate seemed to revolve around the divide between which elements of the gaming version of the Cthulhu Mythos were pure Lovecraft inventions, which were wholesale inventions of game publishers, & which were embellishments by gamer companies of vague hints made in Lovecraft tales.

The Safewords of Cthulhu There has been many interesting things to come out of recent debate over on YSDC about the intersection between Intellectual Property law, the Cthulhu Mythos, Chaosium, BRP, and the Open Gaming Lic…

Although I had no relationship with the individual who released the open rules, I was fascinated by the reasons that were given about why such a thing would be illegal. I blogged about it, including here: cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/t...

Things kicked off when a previous (crude) attempt was made by someone to build an open Cthulhu-themed RPG; something that triggered a degree of public angst and legal threats from one of the bigger game publishers. It was heated enough that the company PR guy was permabanned from one of the forums.

The origins of this book (we lovingly abbreviate it as "HPL's BoYS") goes way back to an online debate -- or brouhaha really -- in mid-2019 about the copyright status of the various Cthulhu Mythos creatures, tomes, artifacts, and spells which appear in various games.

Cover of the book "H.P. Lovecraft's Book of Yog-Sothothery" subtitled "A Comprehensive Lovecraftian Worldbuilding Toolkit for Cthulhu Eternal, FHTAGN and APOCTHULHU"

Our Bundle of Holding deal is steaming along, having just passed 420 bundles (~13,000 books) sold. The deal (link @ end of thread) runs 8 more days.

I promised a "behind the scenes" anecdote for every 100 bundles sold so I now owe two.

Here's one .. about H.P. Lovecraft's Book of Yog-Sothothery.

A montage of artwork, originally by Brad Hicks but remixed into a simulation of a page from an ancient weathered scroll. Shown are two fishy humanoid figures, one labelled "Dagon" another labelled "Hydra".

We rarely use stock art 'out of the box' to illustrate stuff, instead chopping it up and remixing it to make our covers etc. But even so the task of guaranteeing 0% AI content (which everyone wants, including us) is becoming harder as time goes on. We want human horrors (like this), not GenAI slop.

.. not least because, as big users of commercial stock art we've seen how many libraries have been 'polluted', usually with spotty and unreliable labelling of AI-content. Prior to 2022, stock art used to be an easy way to illustrate, now we are forced to 'police' every montage we make using stock.

Information about the Cthulhu Reborn Bundle of Holding (available until November 17). Background is a montage of covers from six of the Cthulhu Eternal SRDs. Foreground boxes contain text about the deal, as follows: Top box: "Open source Mythos tabletop roleplaying. Cthulhu Reborn. 20 historical investigations + SRDs for many Cthulhuoid eras" Bottom left box: "Jazz Age Collection $9.95. 8 Jazz Age scenarios for Cthulhu Eternal or any Mythos RPG, plus Yog-Sothothery and 12 Cthulhoid rules sets for horror in any era" Bottom right box: "Eternal Collection. 9 more investigations in many eras – Middle Ages, World Wars, Cold War, 1800s, and today – plus Lost Masterpieces by Kevin A. Ross"

Our Bundle of Holding deal (on for 10 more days) just hit a milestone -- 400 big bundles in the hands of wonderful gamers. We'll need to find another "behind the scenes" story to share.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Cth...

A few folks have asked about our policy on GenAI. TLDR: We hate it. A lot ...

6 years 1 month and 13 days after being published, Bayt al Azif issue 2 is now a Platinum Best Seller on @drivethrurpg.com !

Bayt al Azif issue 1 is also a Platinum Best Seller.

Only 2.19% of the 63,000 titles on their site ever reach this level.

www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher...

For the supernatural TTRPG fans, do yourself a favor and pick up John the Balladeer or any of the other Silver John stories.
Appalachian myth and folk horror with a side of humble courage. Absolutely perfect fuel for your game. 🤘🏻😊

Cthulhu Reborn Bundle Investigator! This Cthulhu Reborn Bundle presents nearly two dozen Mythos investigations in many eras from the open-license Cthulhu Eternal tabletop roleplaying game line produced by Cthulhu Reborn. C...

These two adventures are just a taste of the 20+ Lovecraftian adventures (+12 period rulesets & open-source mythos sourcebooks) in the current Bundle offer. Hours and hours of horrific fun.

You have until November 17 to nab them for a super-reduced price. bundleofholding.com/presents/Cth...

BTW: We even went a bit crazy and used the Bolton soft drink labels into various Redbubble products ... which explains why I can sometimes be seen wandering the halls of my sunken R'lyehan vaults dressed in a Bolton Brewing sweatshirt or T-Shirt:
www.redbubble.com/people/crebo...

Lots of folks have had a great time with both Smoke Green and Bottoms Up! and have told us tales of epic gaming moments.

One of the great things about both is that they each have 3 possible Mythos themes and endings. The GM picks one to play each time ... which means you can run it over again.

Four vintage soda labels, in a 1920s style. The four flavours are: Moon Tree Ale, Njamura Pod Soda, Djingula Bean Soda, and Xuin Flower Elixir.

But the very best thing about a 1920s scenario based around the cut-throat world of soft drinks was ... inventing some labels for odd vintage sodas (or tonics, historically). These offer amazing prop potential for in-person games ... stick some labels on actual bottles of your player's beverages.

Map of the township of Bolton

This was an inspired choice for a number of reasons. The grungy town of Bolton (mentioned by HPL in passing in a few tales, most notably Herbert West: Reanimator) is an interesting counterpoint to the lofty academic vibe of Miskatonic U. We were able to invent a whole new town map for Bolton, too!

Cover of an adventure: "Miskatonic Mysteries #5" -- Bottoms Up!. A Jazz Age scenario by Rachael B. Randolph.

When asked to contribute a Lovecraft Country scenario for Cthulhu Eternal, Rachael decided on an unusual locale and theme. Her scenario "Bottoms Up!" is primarily about weirdness in the new soft drinks by a brewery in Arkham's industrial neighbor, Bolton.

Station S - Stygian Fox | Call of Cthulhu: Classic Era | DriveThruRPG.com Station S is a one night scenario for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game published by Chaosium, Inc.  Written by

Before that I was very fortunate to play in a game that she ran at Necro19. Set in an unusual time (WW2) in an unusual place (a Scottish loch), Rachael's convention game was really memorable. It was eventually published by Stygian Fox: it's called Station S.
legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/3343...

At the same convention, I was very VERY fortunate to meet in person several great writers who I had known for some time online. One of these was Rachael Randolph, who went on to eventually write another Miskatonic Mysteries scenario.

A newspaper advertisement in vintage 1920s style. It is for a brand of cigarettes called "Reinhart Cigarettes" -- Arkham's Own. The tag line for the ad is "To achieve greatness one must Smoke Green".

"Smoke Green" is a nifty little scenario that blends weirdness (the arrival of a new manufacturer of weird green-smoking cigarettes) with the political intrigue of Arkham's mayoral election. It also presents a challenge to players whose first solution to everything is "burn it down".

Cover of an adventure: "Miskatonic Mysteries #3" -- Smoke Green. A Jazz Age scenario by Noah Lloyd.

As part of the vibrant programme of Lovecraftian RPG sessions at the con, I ran two sessions -- one was the scenario that became "Smoke Green", the 3rd in our Lovecraft Country scenario series. Written by the talented Noah Lloyd it was a big hit when run on the top floor of the jazzy Biltmore Hotel.

NecronomiCon: An Acolyte’s View, part 1 A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend NecronomiCon Providence for the first time. This particular conference/convention has always held some special intrigue for me, as (from…

Back in 2019, before Cthulhu Eternal existed, I made an epic trek to Providence to attend NecronomiCon. I blogged about it in 3 lengthy blog posts, shortly afterwards:
cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/2019/09/10/n...
cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/2019/09/13/n...
cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/2019/09/14/n...

Cover of an adventure: "Miskatonic Mysteries #3" -- Smoke Green. A Jazz Age scenario by Noah Lloyd.

Cover of an adventure: "Miskatonic Mysteries #5" -- Bottoms Up!. A Jazz Age scenario by Rachael B. Randolph.

Hallowe'en may be over but, like the Great Old Ones, our Bundle of Holding deal lives on in the secret places -- at least for another 14 days.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Cth...

Last week I posted a behind the scenes anecdote about a scenario in the bundle; here's another featuring two more.

Text of a poem titled "Halloween in a Suburb", written by H.P. Lovecraft in 1926. The black text is surrounding by an orange glow and there is a creepy hound-like monster lurking in the bottom-right. The poem text is: The steeples are white in the wild moonlight, And the trees have a silver glare; Past the chimneys high see the vampires fly, And the harpies of upper air, That flutter and laugh and stare. For the village dead to the moon outspread Never shone in the sunset's gleam, But grew out of the deep that the dead years keep Where the rivers of madness stream Down the gulfs to a pit of dream. A chill wind blows through the rows of sheaves In the meadows that shimmer pale, And comes to twine where the headstones shine And the ghouls of the churchyard wail For harvests that fly and fail. Not a breath of the strange grey gods of change That tore from the past its own Can quicken this hour, when a spectral power Spreads sleep o'er the cosmic throne, And looses the vast unknown. So here again stretch the vale and plain That moons long-forgotten saw, And the dead leap gay in the pallid ray, Sprung out of the tomb's black maw To shake all the world with awe. And all that the morn shall greet forlorn, The ugliness and the pest Of rows where thick rise the stones and brick, Shall some day be with the rest, And brood with the shades unblest. Then wild in the dark let the lemurs bark, And the leprous spires ascend; For new and old alike in the fold Of horror and death are penned, For the hounds of Time to rend.

Happy Hallowe'en, to those who ... revel in the spirits of the holiday.

Not quite 100 years old, here's a poem by H.P. Lovecraft celebrating the spookiness of the season.

Also: this may just be the creepiest poem ever written mentioning lemurs. Just saying.

Cthulhu Reborn Bundle Investigator! This Cthulhu Reborn Bundle presents nearly two dozen Mythos investigations in many eras from the open-license Cthulhu Eternal tabletop roleplaying game line produced by Cthulhu Reborn. C...

"Starlight in the Gutter" is just one of about 20 scenarios in the Cthulhu Reborn Bundle of Holding. The deal is available until November 17.

bundleofholding.com/presents/Cth...

Starlight on the Gutter (Cthulhu Eternal Actual Play: Victorian London, Oscar Wilde) - YouTube Actual Play recordings of online tabletop RPG sessions run in December 2021 and January 2022. The game was run using the (freely available) Cthulhu Eternal R...

A few different Actual Play recordings exist online for "Starlight on the Gutter" (most in English, but I did find one in French). Here is one (5 hours, split across three game sessions): www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...