John Hall

I am in! I am so in! It looks amazing. How heavy is it? More importantly does it do +1 bludgeon damage? 😁

I'm so glad to hear that it will be back and a hard cover is coming. I bought the pdf a while back and it's probably one of the best sourcebooks I've ever read. I will definitely be picking up the hard cover when it comes out. There is just so much information, well written and well laid out. I'd certainly put it on any "must own" list for CoC fans. Thanks for the update! I was worried it had been locked back up in the Miskatonic University library with all the other arcane tomes no one was meant to see.

The great thing about weird science is it's weird enough to do just about anything imaginable and unimaginable but flawed enough to yield unintended, horrible and horrific consequences. If it makes a good story for a mad scientist to tap into Mythos knowledge and spawn a Shoggoth in his lab, there's certainly a story hook to get the investigators involved when it goes on its inevitable sanity-bending rampage. The easiest limit Keepers can put on investigators delving too deeply into their own weird science experiments would be SAN loss during the research process. But I don't think there's any reason to put a limit on the weird science the Keeper can throw at the players in the name of good story-telling and hair-raising cosmic horror.

I'm loving the channel Bill! Thank you for the positivity and the great reviews! I especially enjoyed the flip throughs of Bayt-Al-Azif and Japan - Empire of Shadows. Keep it up. The content is great and the subscribers are growing.

Mjollnir, I don't know that it's so much a matter of not liking the themes of Lovecraftian Horror, as addressing the unfortunate stereotypes prevalent in much of adventure fiction in the late 19th and early 20th century and determining how to address those stereotypes in a social setting like a game, where others might be offended. Whether discussing Kipling, Haggard, Howard or Lovecraft, or any number of writers, the trope of the "civilized" Anglo Saxon versus the inscrutable, mysterious, dangerous, and feral "native" has not aged well. This is not to say that these books and short stories should not be read and enjoyed. Quite the contrary. I like reading Lovecraft and Howard. I just happen not to share their sentiments on certain subjects. Bebs is making a reasonable request, asking for suggestions about DBTH, to mitigate some of its more offensive elements. I think there's a lot that can be enjoyed in the scenario, and mechanically it's a good way of introducing new Keepers and Players to the game, but I personally would not run it as is. It's up to the Keeper to gauge his or her own group and adjust the game so that it's fun for them.

The Darkness Beneath the Hill from Doors to Darkness is pretty problematic. The slave-trade history is embedded deeply into the storyline, so it's not easily excised, but it's a thought-provoking touch. No matter how you cut it, though, suggesting that anyone is a degenerate ape man, regardless of heritage, smacks of racial superiority. One suggestion would be to turn the Ape Men into undead Reanimates of the slaves and smugglers (see page 111 in the Malleus Monstrum), but with the stats and behaviors of the creatures kept from the DBTH scenario. As Bill noted, you could also add into that mix people who have gone missing for centuries with the Reanimates having clothing and features from a broad spectrum of times and cultures. I'm not into censorship, or rewriting someone else's work because I may not agree with it, but I think most people are able to objectively read Lovecraft's works as products of a specific time and society and enjoy the sum of them while conscientiously drawing a moral distinction between past and present attitudes. Sadly, DBTH does not have this shield of time. Having come out in 2016, the argument can strongly be made, "they should have known better." Does it rise to the level of book-banning? No. Does it rise to the level of maybe giving it a pass as a Keeper looking for a night's entertainment for a group of friends in its current state? Yes. Can it be fixed with a little revision? Absolutely.

I bought the pdf for EoS and am waiting with great anticipation for the hardcover. It really is an amazing book. The amount of detail, information and gaming content is impressive. I have SoJ, and EoS is a very different beastie. It's set in the 1920s, not present day. It does a really good job of respecting the culture without resorting to stereotypes. And it's crammed with maps, locations, NPCs and Japanese inspired creatures in a really well structured way that keepers can use like a massive sandbox/toolkit. I haven't tried running any of the three scenarios yet (I'm still reading the book), but the stories are engaging. I'm also very excited to see Nan Madol included in the south Pacific, since that's what Lovecraft supposedly based one (or more) of his stories on. I sadly can't remember the title(s). I love the cover. I can't wait to add one to the shelf (after reading it, of course).

There's an in-depth review of it over on the 5d gaming blog. It sounds pretty sweet. A Review Of Japan – Empire of Shadows. A Sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu RPG (5d-blog.com)

This book sounds so amazing, you may get me to put aside Call of Cthulhu and try RuneQuest if for no other reason than to justify buying this book!

It sounds great! I'm really looking forward to joining this Kickstarter. Any word on if the elements are backward-compatible as props/maps/events for the roleplaying game version?

Bookshops of Arkham was outstanding. Glad to see it get the nomination. I voted for it! Best of luck!