doomedpc

Damn it, now I want one! 🙂

Hi Folks, It's the Peter Cakebread half of Cakebread & Walton. Thanks for all the lovely words I can't really express how much the support and encouragement means to me, I'm passionate about our games and know that you all are too! Long story short, C&W is still on hiatus, although our stuff is still available. Whether I'll be able to resurrect the company and get back to publishing new material is very uncertain. I really want to find a way to move forward, but, as some of you have guessed already, things are not that simple. Long story, long... The really good news is that Ken is in remission from cancer and all seems clear so far. He is still suffering from diabetes and sarcoidosis. Unfortunately the sarcoidosis is of the severe and debilitating kind. So Ken retired from the company in 2015, although he still helps me by sending files and things (more on that in a bit!). He knows if he ever is up to it, there is Ken shaped hole ready and waiting for him to fill. Before Ken officially left, he had been getting increasingly unwell for quite some time. As a little insight into how we worked, Ken and I would regularly meet to bounce ideas off of each other, then structure our books and decide who was writing what. Then for the duration of a project, we'd gee ourselves up over the phone and via email, batting ideas off each other, re-writing, going "wow" at each other's extra ideas for a project, reviewing the evolving final book layout, etc. We probably worked more than standard f/t on the company, as do most business owners - although our reasons were more to do with being consumed with our flights of fancy than having any real business acumen or spending time doing the sorts of things that people who want to be really financially successful do. In fact, those important but boring things were pretty much anathema to us - we just wanted to make stuff up that we found cool. Anyhow, I'm a Luddite. I got to 40 and suddenly lost all tech ability to use anything other than rudimentary word processing software - oh, how the mighty had fallen, I used to be the go to person to sort out people struggling with their Amiga's and could layout an agitprop fanzine in Quark Xpress in a heartbeat... Anyhoo, Ken hadn't been hit by the same stupid stick, so he did all the technical things - layout, print uploads, dealing with publishers and download platforms, our website, etc. While I got on with doing the lion's share of the writing for most of the books and the art haggling. We still had lots of input into each other's spheres (Ken would tell me if I wrote something that didn't work and I'd tell him when something didn't look right - well, obviously it was a lot more complex than that, but you get the idea). Even at the point we were working on Dark Streets, Ken was already contributing less to the writing side of things. After the Pirates & Dragons Corebook, it became clear that he wasn't really able to work on anything other than layout. At this stage, neither of us knew how seriously ill Ken was, although he was obviously physically exhausted and mentally frazzled. He was seeking help and we hoped things might get back on track. But he felt increasingly worse and couldn't get the layout and print liaison side of things done either. When Ken finally had his cancer diagnosis, he had already retired due to ill health. I kept the company producing for a while, and Gary Buckland (who has done quite a lot of our covers and some of our interior art) helped out with the layout of the final few books. He put in great work, but was busy with other things and the finances weren't healthy enough to bring him on board for as much time as was needed. It became increasingly less fun - I think Ken and I had a working style that fitted very neatly. I could still edit and release other people's work (such as OneDice), and write my own solo efforts, but once Gary got a full time job, I couldn't even do that. And I missed the regular contact with Ken to go "Squeee" about how things were progressing. So, for the last three or so years, things have drifted terribly. I still want to take things forward, but I want to do it at the right time and in the right way. Whether that will be possible is unclear. Frustratingly, I have about a dozen projects in various stages of writing, and already have the art for three books which have not been completed. I still love the hobby (and still game a lot), still want to write for it and have plenty of mojo for writing. The reality is that it is not a lucrative job. I don't really mind that, I can live quite happily on half a wage, but I can't afford to buy in the expertise necessary. Also, I like working cooperatively - it's hard to get the mojo - we went into business because we could support each other and because we loved each other's ideas, buying that in is not impossible, but somehow the balance isn't the same. Where I go from here is genuinely unclear. I'm unlikely to ever be bothered to skill up on Indesign. I also don't really want to plough on alone. I am bursting with ideas and still have the discipline to write, so things aren't necessarily finished for good. It's possible that the same synchronicity that bought Ken and myself together, or Gary into the tribe, or all the other wonderful writing and art contributors, will throw something up. Or, I might get over myself and just take up the keyboard again and finish off the outstanding projects and buy in the tech side. Nothing might happen. Who knows? At the moment, I'm putting new releases on hold and keeping our stuff out there - trying to decide what to do and not putting pressure on myself to do a half-assed job. I only work part-time, so I'm not time poor and could go back to C&W full-time. I hope you don't mind me massively oversharing. I'm happy to answer any questions, and, if there is any new news, I'll let people know straightaway. Once again, if you've got this far, thank you all. So, perhaps more undead than dead or alive, but more lich than zombie.

The Koln Machinations is now available in hard or softcover. 1610. All of Europe teeters on the brink of war. A Clockwork & Cthulhu adventure for 4-8 adventurers. The Köln Machinations is the second part of a campaign for Clockwork & Cthulhu which started with The Heydelberg Horror. Written by Jeff Mason and published by C&W. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/248901/The-Koln-Machinations?src=hottest_filtered

The Köln Machinations is available now as a PDF. Hardcover and softcover versions will follow soon. It's 1610. All of Europe teeters on the brink of war. The Köln Machinations is a Clockwork & Cthulhu adventure for 4-8 adventurers, set in The Rhine River Valley in The Holy Roman Empire, in the Year of Our Lord 1610. The Köln Machinations is the sequel to The Heydelberg Horror and part of the A Clockwork of Orange campaign. Requires the Clockwork & Chivalry Core Rulebook, 2nd Edition, to play. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/248901/The-Koln-Machinations?src=newest

Cliches and dodgy jokes, moi?

It depends on the individual Catholic and Protestant though. Whilst your Scottish Kirk member might be forced to do public penance, many independents might merely spend every waking hour tormented by their inevitable unworthiness and eternal damnation. So, while some Protestants subscribed to all sorts of unpleasant punishments of the body (particularly for their enemies), others preferred a life of miserable inner turmoil. Very Foucault!

I guess your secret Alchemist has to make himself useful and popular before all is revealed! Or your shady bosses might need to enforce cooperation. Or it's trial time I'm sure your GM will have it in hand!

Also, this is awesome, if a little later: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/18913TdKcy5894Y7hckntgN/the-17th-century-sci-fi-trailblazer-you-ve-never-heard-of?intc_type=singletheme&intc_location=arts&intc_campaign=greatexhibitionofthenorth&intc_linkname=article_scifitrailblazer_contentcard3

Lol, I'm currently reading about what would be in private libraries 30 years later. I do know that there were more books published in the 1640's than ever before in England and Scotland. I also know almanacs, guides to herbs and plants, and religious texts were popular. Mythos-wise, you could always supplement the books written on Witchcraft with some made up ones, alongside the older texts. At this time most folk didn't own books, but some rich people were collecting them in their private home libraries. Off the top of my head, there were also trends for stern (often self-loathing) Puritan texts, romantic cavalier poetry or something hot off the press from Hobbes or Descartes. Early scientific observations were prolific, if often a little bizarre in hindsight. I'll have a look in more detail and refresh my memory if I get the chance!

I'm over-generalising here, but a Frenchman in England should (by the rules of etiquette, which not everyone follows!) be offered courtesy by other nobles - while being treated with suspicion and as fair game by any non-nobles!

Tell Talon they cost squillions!

Oh, no, I think it is very fair to say such things are scarce and to use getting them as a hook ("everything has been requisitioned!"). Lots of people held back munitions too - I think Rupert burnt down Birmingham on his retreat north, because they wouldn't sell him weapons (they hid them) on his progress south. I can imagine a pre-war purveyor to gentlemen, a smuggler, or the like, being the only means in a pinch!

In the civil war period, at least the regimental commanders would have provided kit. You don't have to go to far forward to find the regular army didn't! The bullets and weapons were about all you got free then, most of the rest of your kit would be paid for out of your "bounty" (the amount you were promised when you joined) and/or pay!