MOB

All Cult of Chaos members must adhere to our code of conduct to remain in the program. We here at Chaosium get along with everyone. We expect you to do the same while representing us among your community. Remember, our hobby is all about having fun and being inclusive. Disrespect and intolerance have no place here. A Cult of Chaos GM will: behave in a professional and courteous manner in all their Chaosium related activities. be friendly and fun at all times. maintain a presentable appearance. Your appearance should never frighten or offend the participants! be punctual to all events. be professional and courteous when dealing with fellow gamers, game shop staff, and convention staff. We would be! work with other Cult of Chaos members to grow the Chaosium community. never harass, discriminate against, or insult anybody. Period. avoid using vulgar language or otherwise insulting those around them. adhere to any rules or codes of conduct for the venue in which they operate. Primarily, the reward for being a member of the Cult of Chaos is community involvement. Your actions are building a larger player base with which to enjoy and celebrate Chaosium games. Additionally, you will have access to scenarios and adventures and insider information with which to entertain your players. Running events, and properly reporting them before and afterwards, will be rewarded with $3.00 in store credit at Chaosium.com provided we can verify the event took place. Please note, we only give credit for events using the Chaosium (English language) editions of our games, predominantly played in English. If you are using a foreign language edition of our rules we cannot offer Cult of Chaos credit. Members will have the opportunity to submit scenarios and adventures for use by other Cult of Chaos Gamemasters. These adventures will also be read by Chaosium staff and may lead to other opportunities. Cult of Chaos members may receive promotional materials from us to give away at their events. Anti-harassment Policy for the Cult of Chaos Harassment of the GM, players, spectators, or anyone else, is not tolerated at a Cult of Chaos organized play event. If you are harassed at a Cult of Chaos event, find an organized play GM immediately and report it. If you ARE the GM, report it to the store owner, convention organizer, or whoever’s in charge of the space where you’re running the event. If you disagree with how a GM or event organizer implemented or enforced this policy at an event, please email our director of organized play, Todd Gardiner, at todd@chaosium.com. Please be specific about who, what, where, and when. We’ll investigate and take appropriate actions, up to and including removing the infringing party from the Cult of Chaos organized play program. You don’t have to keep playing with somebody who’s harassing, belittling, insulting, or offending others. If someone at a Cult of Chaos organized play event is violating this policy, the GM can take any action that he or she decides is necessary to stop the harassment – ranging from a simple warning to removal from the game. If it’s necessary to resolve the situation, the GM can escalate it to the store owner, event organizers, or onsite security. Final Note Chaosium Cult of Chaos members are volunteer promoters of Chaosium games and are not employees of Chaosium. Chaosium reserves the right to refuse membership or terminate the membership of any applicant or member at any time. A member may terminate their membership with the Cult of Chaos at any time by notifying us at dustin@chaosium.com. If the information provided by a member on an application or in an event report is found to be false or misrepresented, Chaosium will immediately terminate the Gamemaster’s membership. Chaosium assumes no responsibility or liability for the health or safety of anyone during events. Chaosium reserves the right to cancel or change the requirements for Cult of Chaos membership at any time. In fact we have probably already done so. http://www.chaosium.com/cult-of-chaos-code-of-conduct/

Munchkin is the success it is because there is just so much silly stuff to parody in AD&D. Ducks seem far more believable than Rust Monsters or Gelatinous Cubes.

Later this week via Backerkit we'll be sending out emails enabling all backers to review their backer level and rewards and, most importantly, make sure we have their current addresses. After that we'll be ready to send the stuff, once they have cleared customs and arrived at our distribution centres (nb UK ship still on the way...) Once backers have had a chance to update their details we'll be opening things up to take preorders too - these will be sent out after backers are sent theirs.

RPG Relic Hunt interviews Rick Meints about RuneQuest - what made it so unique back in the Golden Age, why it is still special now, and what's forthcoming for RQ. This was "by far the most requested Relic Hunt" the interveiwer had been asked for.

Hi all - if you're a Keeper running A Time to Harvest, we've set up a private forum where you can divulge campaign secrets without any players sneaking a peak. That's the best place to share ideas, ponder questions, and generally support one another in realizing the campaign on the tabletop (or computer screen). The password for the forum went out with an email to all Cult of Chaos members. If you didn't get it, check your spam/junk folders in case it ended up there; otherwise drop dustin@chaosium.com a line. Cheers, MOB

Guidance For The Cult Of Chaos from Mike Mason Thank you for agreeing to run A Time to Harvest! I hope that you and your players will have an exciting, fun, and horrifying time playing through this new six-part campaign for Call of Cthulhu. To help assist you, dear Keeper, here follow some notes and guidance. Structure and Format Each month you will receive a new episode of the campaign. The first ‘pack’ sent out will include the following material: Chapter 1: Introduction and Campaign Background Chapter 2: The Town of Cobb’s Corners Chapter 3: Episode One Spell Appendix Chapters 1 and 2 provide key information that will be of use throughout the running of the campaign. Chapter 3 is the start of the campaign proper. The Spell Appendix provides updated spells that may be referred to and used by NPCs during the campaign (in addition to those found in the Call of Cthulhu Keeper’s Rulebook). Thereafter, each month, you will receive one document containing the next episode of the campaign, which ends when you receive Episode Six. Game Time Each episode should be completed in about a month – naturally, some groups will meet weekly, others fortnightly, others maybe just once a month. Trying to keep everyone on the same time track just isn’t feasible, so if you finish an episode early or late, no worries. We’ll release each chapter on a monthly basis and then it’s down to you how and when you run it. Episodes One and Two have the potential to run long, but allow the Keeper to decide when major events take place, allowing you to time things for your group. Later episodes have a sharper focus, with less scope for ancillary sidetracks, so you’ll probably get through these more quickly. Ultimately, though, you decide the timing and have fun. No pre-generated investigators are provided. Guidance is given on creating Miskatonic U students, and one of the things we’d like to hear about is the differing PCs your players create for the campaign – we might even ask you for copies of investigators to use in the published version! Playtest Feedback Rolling out A Time to Harvest through the Cult of Chaos gives us all a chance to thoroughly play test the campaign before it’s formatted for full publication. Thus, I’d like to hear your feedback on what worked well or what didn’t work so well. Likewise, if you spot any typos or inconsistences, please let us know. Rather than sending in drips of feedback, and to help me keep a handle on things, please gather any feedback or corrections, per campaign episode, into one document and email it to mike@chaosium.com. In terms of format, I’d be grateful if you used the following convention for corrections, amendments, etc. Chapter or Episode: number Page: number Paragraph: number (count from top) Line: number (count from top) Correction: state the nature of the correction E.g. Ep 2, page 14, para 3, line 6 – insert comma after “big tentacle” Ep 4, page 3, para 2, line 2 – “Yug-Sothot” is misspelt – Yog- Sothoth Sending such corrections, as well as general feedback, for one episode at a time in one concise document, once per month will help immensely. Thanks. In addition, I’d like you include any feedback on how key campaign events went when you ran them. If you are able to send one or two paragraphs describing what your players did (or what you did) that would be great – approximately no more than 100-200 words. We may feature some of these in the final publication and credit you! Mutual Support We’ve set up this thread on the Call of Cthulhu message board here at www.basicroleplaying.org - so you can share experiences and advice with other Cult of Chaos Keepers during the course of running the campaign. Please feel free to post up pictures of your games in action. So, there you have it. Many thanks for supporting this campaign and Chaosium. Your work in helping to run Call of Cthulhu across the world is greatly appreciated. It’s one of the fantastic things about working with Chaosium – it’s such a large extended family! Cthulhu fhtagn! Mike Mason Line Editor, Call of Cthulhu Chaosium Inc. mike@chaosium.com www.chaosium.com

Cult of Chaos members - look out for your "Free Digital Download from Chaosium at DriveThruRPG.com" email. A Time to Harvest - Month 1 is ready to download! A further email from Chaosium.com is on the way, with Guidance for Keepers and the special password to access the "Keeper's Only" section in our forum here.

If you received the DTRPG email, you're on the Cultist list. If you didn't, email dustin@chaosium.com and he'll be able to help you out

Cult of Chaos members - look out for your "Free Digital Download from Chaosium at DriveThruRPG.com" email. A Time to Harvest - Month 1 is ready to download!

If you've been following our "Ships of Cthulhu" updates over on our Facebook Page, G+ site or Twitter, you'd know that two of the three ships bearing precious cargo from China - the printed copies of Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition - have safely arrived in Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. The Australian ship has copies for Australia - New Zealand. The ship in Vancouver has copies for both Canada and the United States. A third ship is still making its way to the UK via the Suez Canal; the latest report via marinetraffic.com has it in the Gulf of Aden, about to enter the Red Sea. These copies are for the UK and rest of Europe. We'll be shortly sending a link out to all CoC 7e Kickstarter backers, enabling them to check and update their addresses. Once our distributors have sent copies to the Kickstarter backers, the remaining stocks will sent to retail distribution and will also be available for direct purchase. We'll be announcing preorders for this soon!

It's not too late to join the Cult of Chaos to receive the first installment of our new Organized Play Campaign, 'A Time to Harvest'! On Thursday this week (March 31st), ALL Cult of Chaos members will receive a DriveThruRPG coupon enabling them to download their own copy of the first installment for free. http://www.chaosium.com/join-the-cult-of-chaos

Falconer and Trystero - if you haven't got your OSR download sorted, just drop Rick a line either by email or via the Kickstarter page and he can assist. Cheers, MOB

Yes, the new "rune points" approach to Rune Magic will definitely assist here, especially as "Heal Wound" is a common Rune spell

As the new RQ doesn't have rules for firearms, and neither "Shoplifter" or "Police" are options in the previous experience let's get the discussion back on topic... Here's something interesting: unlike RQ2, Heal-6 will not put a severed limb back on. For that you need what Jeff calls "big healing magic" (Rune Magic like "Regrow Limb" or "Heal Body")

Newsflash! If your local FLGS isn't taking part in Free RPG Day this year, or "The Derelict" is all gone by the time you get there, fear not: on July 1st every member of Chaosium's Cult of Chaos will get a coupon to download a free PDF. You can join the Cult of Chaos gamemaster/organized play program here: http://www.chaosium.com/organized-play

First review here! http://2ndage.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/the-sea-cave.html

The "Old School RuneQuest Pack" (including Greg Stafford's unpublished scenario "The Sea Cave") is ready to download if you backed it - look out for your email from Rick letting you know what to do to get it!

The "Old School RuneQuest Pack" (including Greg Stafford's unpublished scenario "The Sea Cave") is ready to download if you backed it - look out for your email from Rick letting you know what to do to get it! Cheers, MOB

For personal use, no worries!

FYI, we'll be posting this FAQ about A Time to Harvest on the Chaosium website shortly, and will add to it as other questions arise: A Time to Harvest – Organized Play Campaign for Call of Cthulhu - FAQ Q: What is the "A Time to Harvest" Organized Play Campaign? A: A Time to Harvest is a Call of Cthulhu campaign unfolding over six episodes, with each episode released on a monthly basis. The campaign is set in 1930, with the players taking on the roles of students from Miskatonic University in Arkham who are drawn into a dark web of intrigue. Each episode follows on directly, building the story and taking the students to a variety of locations in Lovecraft Country and beyond. Q: What edition of Call of Cthulhu is the campaign written for? A: Call of Cthulhu 7th edition. Q: What if I don't have 7th edition yet and still want to play? A: The full Call of Cthulhu 7th edition rules are available in PDF, epub, and mobi formats from www.chaosium.com now. The hard copy rule books will available from mid-April 2016. Q: What is the launch date? A: The campaign officially kicks off on Saturday April 16th, 2016, to coincide with the release of the physical copies of Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition. We don't expect Keepers to begin running the campaign until sometime in May (when they have read it through and have the new rulebook in their hands), although of course, you can start as soon as you wish. We'll be sending out episode 2 in mid May. Q: If I want to take part, what do I need to do before then? A: Anyone who wishes to be a Keeper (Game Master) in the campaign needs to join the Cult of Chaos, Chaosium’s Organized Play and Game Master program. Joining up is simple and free: http://www.chaosium.com/gamemaster-program Q: If I’m already member of the Cult of Chaos, do I need to do anything to register? A: If you're in the Cult already, you don't need to do anything further at this stage. All registered members of the Cult of Chaos will be invited to sign up to run the OP Campaign and receive the first installment by the end of March. Q: If I’m going to be a Keeper, how will I receive updates and instructions? A: Each month a new episode of the OP campaign is released, which we’ll send you by email. We’ll also host discussions about the campaign for Keepers and players in the Call of Cthulhu area of BRP Central – The Chaosium Forums (http://basicroleplaying.org/forum/7-call-of-cthulhu) Q: How does the Campaign unfold? A: Each episode follows on sequentially towards the OP campaign's climax. It is a linear progression, although within each episode, the investigators usually have a range of things/routes to take - some episodes being more sandbox than others in this fashion. As to frequency of play, that's up to you as the Keeper. Ideally, you will run one episode per month (either weekly, fortnightly, or monthly), but obviously some groups may take longer or shorter. Each episode contains what's needed for that month - preparing an episode is basically down to how long it takes you to read it through and make whatever notes you require. Month One provides episode one but also general campaign information of use throughout the campaign, thus you’ll have a lot of key info upfront. Q: What is the minimum age for participants? A: Keepers/GMs in the Cult of Chaos must be eighteen years and over. For players, A Time to Harvest should be fine for most teenagers - if necessary, the Keeper can of course tone things down according to their play group (equally, ramp things up for older and "hardened" gamers). Q: Where can I play this? Is playing at home acceptable, or does it have to be in a game store or at a convention? A: Playing at home is perfectly acceptable! Your friendly local game store is an ideal place to help spread Call of Cthulhu to new players, so also highly recommended! We will even be providing sign-up flyers to help you recruit players. A convention may not be ideal, since the campaign is being sent out in monthly installments and the story is meant to build on what happened in previous sessions. Q: Can I play in the campaign online? A: Absolutely! We've heard of people planning to play through Roll20, for instance. Some groups may even stream their play through TwitchTV. Q: How many people does the campaign accommodate? A: The campaign will work best for groups of 4 to 6 players, plus a Keeper. Q: What does it cost to participate? A: Participation is completely free, for both Keepers and players. Q: Who has written the campaign? A: The authors of A Time to Harvest are Brian M. Sammons, Charles P. Zaglanis, Glynn Owen Barrass, and Mike Mason (mike@chaosium.com), all well-established Call of Cthulhu writers whose other works you might be familiar with. Mike is Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu line editor. Other people directly involved in the OP program at Chaosium are Todd Gardiner (todd@chaosium.com), Dustin Wright (dustin@chaosium.com) and Michael ‘MOB’ O’Brien (mob@chaosium.com). Q: Will there be a book release of A Time to Harvest at some stage? A: Yes, Chaosium will publish the whole campaign as a full color supplement down the line, after the OP campaign has concluded. We’d love to incorporate feedback from the Organised Play run in the book version. Q: Err… is organized play possible for a game where characters can easily die or go insane? A: Fortunately the player characters are Miskatonic U grad students... an infinitely renewable resource!

If you're in the Cult already, you don't need to do anything further at this stage. All registered members of the Cult of Chaos will be invited to sign up to run the OP Campaign and receive the first installment by the end of March.

Vice has a story about the game with some interesting details about the conceptual approach: http://www.vice.com/read/the-new-call-of-cthulhu-is-eschewing-horror-video-game-predictability-112

It goes without saying that we are very excited about this: http://callofcthulhu-game.com/

I should have said that the explanation for DI I provided above is just for initiates. An initiate would end up with 18 POW and no rune points. A Rune Priest would end up with 18 POW and 5 rune points. A Rune Lord would also end up with 18 POW and 5 rune points, but they don't roll for Divine Intervention on d100 like initiates and priests.

Missing the roll, no POW lost, no RP lost. The God just didn't deign to notice. If the roll equals POW + RP - just like in RQ2, the character's soul becomes a spirit in the service of the god, but the requested effect still occurs. So, in the example above, if Coriander's player rolled a 20, his body would be still be whisked to safety, but Coriander's soul is taken to Orlanth. RQ2 gives a similar example with Oshkosh the Odorous (p.55)