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Miskatonic Monday #--: More scenarios for Cthulhu Dark Ages, plus new releases Miskatonic Monday #59: The Bloated Saint and other new Cthulhu Dark Ages community content releases

Lead writer Jason Durall did a Basic Roleplaying Q&A at the Randomworlds TTRPG Chatroom; you can read the transcript here: [Q&A] Jason Durall (Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine)

A free demo of the Glorantha game Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out is now available for Windows or Mac at Steam (nb download button is to the right). Our friends at A. Sharp expect to release the full game in Q3 of this year. The first Six Ages game is available now from Steam, GOG and iOS, where it is currently rated 4.82 in the Apple App Store. And these Six Ages games are the 'spiritual successors' to the magnificent King of Dragon Pass!

Basic Roleplaying Actual Play: Salt and Serpent Episode 4 is on YouTube Salt and Serpent's finale! In Pixel Circus's swashbuckling tale of rainbow romance and revenge, our crew must choose to align their loyalties once and for all. With Saige Ryan, Kailey Bray, Surena Marie, Rowan Hall, and Aabria Iyengar. Salt and Serpent uses the Basic Roleplaying Universal Game Engine, Chaosium's system of core rules for tabletop roleplaying. Whether you’re a seasoned roleplaying veteran or new to the hobby, Basic Roleplaying has everything you need for years of entertainment! The following code can be used for 10% off store-wide on Chaosium.com, once per customer: SALTSERPENT

Community content ambassador Nick Brooke writes: "Our community content pop-up store at Chaosium Con was a great success, so we will be repeating the exercise next month when Chaosium attends UK Games Expo at the Birmingham NEC next month!" In addition to regular Chaosium titles, there will be a selection of print copies from the Miskatonic Repository and Jonstown Compendium available at the Chaosium booth (1-1035), while stocks last. And the Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest independent creators who wrote them will all get paid their normal revenue share. Thanks again to DriveThruRPG for giving us special permission to showcase our indie creators' work in print. UK Games Expo takes place from Friday 2nd - Sunday 4th Jun 2023.

In this Chaosium Interview with James Coquillat, Jeff Richard talks about some of the central ideas that underpin combat in the RuneQuest TTRPG. Get your copy the RuneQuest Starter Set – it contains everything you need to play our epic roleplaying game of gods, cults, magic, family, and fantasy!

- - Ben Aaronovitch with Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game line editor Lynne Hardy at the game's Berlin launch party on May 1st - - "Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted my own roleplaying game", begins Rivers of London creator Ben Aaronovitch's foreword for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, which is out now in hardback. Here's Ben's foreword in full: "Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted my own roleplaying game. I lie—it’s actually ever since I was given the three original beige Dungeons & Dragons books in a box all the way back in the late seventies. Either way, it’s a long time. Other authors dream of film and television, radio and comic adaptations, and, even more recently, a computer game. But what I wanted was a pen and paper roleplaying game with maps, player handouts, and funny shaped dice. Why? It’s all about the worldbuilding. I was a terrible gamemaster, and, to be fair, I was never particularly brilliant as a player—I was always more interested in the scenarios than the gaming. To this day, I have an insane number of RPG supplements, including a large number of campaign and setting books whose original systems I’ve never even heard of. I read voraciously of intricately thought-out fantasy worlds; Glorantha was a favourite, but I’ve always had a soft spot for City State of the Invincible Overlord (Judges Guild) and Pendragon’s Albion that never was. I wanted to create one of those worlds, to make something so detailed, so credible that people would sit around a table and lose themselves in the experience. But worldbuilding isn’t just confined to secondary world fantasies or the far-flung planets of space opera. You can build a world in the past or present that is just as fantastical as anything in Greyhawk or the Imperium. The impulse to world build can encompass the 17th century France of En Garde (GDW) or the nightmare haunted Jazz Age world of Call of Cthulhu. So, when I started Rivers of London, there was always a seductive voice in the back of my head that said, “One day, this might be an RPG, too.” Then that one day came when Lynne Hardy approached me at Waterstones in Newcastle and said she represented Chaosium, legendary creators of Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, and Elric, amongst others, and would I like to talk about doing a Rivers of London RPG… And here is that RPG! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do." Explore Ben Aaronovitch's magical version of London today! Hardback: USD$59.99 - price includes PDF Special leatherette version: USD$99.00 - price includes PDF

Sure. If you are basing your work on Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine, you'll have to wait until the ORC license is finalised. If you're basing it on the now superseded BRP SRD, cite that (nb we will never rescind, decertify or modify this older license).

Yes, your book will need a different title. But you can say your book uses the BRP system, and use the logo:

Rick Meints' newest 'Out of the Suitcase' post talks about Origins '78, which took place Ann Arbor, in his home town. Alas, 12 year old Rick had no clue about the convention, which saw the debut of RuneQuest, the first RPG to be published by The Chaosium, a quirky 3 person company from the Bay Area. https://www.chaosium.com/blogout-of-the-suitcase-41-if-12-year-old-me-would-have-known

Create. Explore. Play. Basic Roleplaying (BRP) is a system of core rules for tabletop roleplaying. Whether you’re a seasoned roleplaying veteran or new to the hobby, Basic Roleplaying has everything you need for years of entertainment. This book contains the core system rules, as well as character creation, advancement, monsters and antagonists, as well as GameMaster advice. You can download the free 12 page BRP Character Sheets Pack from the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine product page, and at our Itch.io page. The pack features BRP character sheets, NPC sheets, and Vehicle and Mount sheets, including fillable versions. Print them and use them again and again! Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine is available now in PDF: Buy the PDF direct from Chaosium.com and get the cost of the PDF off the physical version: we'll email you a discount coupon when the hardback is released later in 2023. Also available in PDF at DriveThruRPG. BRP’s Universal Game Engine is available royalty-free for personal and commercial use under the ORC license. Use these rules, and focus on creating your worlds, scenarios and even books to sell!

Here's what attendees have said about last month's Chaosium Con: click through for their full reviews about the wonderful weekend we all had in Ann Arbor! "What I found was nothing short of a sublime environment and experience. A community unlike any I’ve ever seen before. A sense of camaraderie that, if we could bottle it, we could probably solve world peace or something." — Matt "Doc" Tracey says he didn't know what to expect at his first-ever gaming convention, which was Chaosium Con 2023. "These two days saw a gradual accumulation of attendees, some of whom were old friends, and many who would become new friends." — Call of Cthulhu 7th edition co-author Paul Fricker. "The show felt like a really good size, big enough to have lots of events, but intimate enough to easily run into people again and have time to chat with each other." — Bayt al Azif Magazine. "I'm a massive fan of ChaosiumCon... I love the content the company puts out, I love the people I've gotten to meet in the process (both as employees of the company and those who simply love their games), and I have had an exceptional time both years. So yeah...very much looking forward to year three." — Bucho, Under a Black Rainbow. "ChaosiumCon was awesome. Saw some old friends I haven't seen since the Before Times. Got to meet several friends I've only known online. And got to meet a lot of new friends." — Seth Skorkowsky. "I came out of ChaosiumCon with some cool loot, a mix of new books and auction items plus a few extras, like some prints of Katrin’s art, or a copy of Khan of Khans... (and) I’m happy to have completed the achievement of playing every single currently published Chaosium game in one week-end." — Ludo from The God Learners Podcast. "Chaosium Con is a gathering of friends, a thriving community, and a fount of infectious delight. If you’ve never been or never even played one of this company’s great games, you should come next year." — Keeper Doc, Prospero House. Chaosium Con will be back next year: we hope you can join us!

Pics of last night's Rivers of London the Roleplaying Game release party at the Otherland Bookshop, Berlin. Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London novels have a big fan base in Germany. Many thanks to Otherland for hosting the event!

What's your favourite fusion of sci-fi and horror? Mike Mason, creative director of Call of Cthulhu, shares details about Call of Cthulhu TTRPG's ventures into the future. What is the story of Cthulhu in space? He's talking to James Coquillat as part of our Chaosium Interviews series.

Good news! - after an unfortunate shipping delay to the antipodes, Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is now available from our Australian warehouse! Plus US, UK, and EU. "The whimsical and at times humorous Urban Fantasy setting of Rivers of London makes it ideal as either a first TTRPG or a transition game for players looking to expand beyond Dungeons & Dragons. There’s just enough familiar fantasy stuff to be engaging, but not so much that it feels tired or cliched... It goes without saying that if you’re a fan of the novels, Rivers Of London: The Roleplaying Game is a must-have addition to the bookshelf, and stands alone in its own right as an excellent and accessible TTRPG with something to offer everyone." — GameOnAUS Explore Ben Aaronovitch's magical version of London today! Hardback: USD$59.99 - price includes PDF Special leatherette version: USD$99.00 - price includes PDF

It's down to the fact that the Gloranthan gods are immanent. IRL gods are not.

Not yet. We need to finalise the text for the print version first before looking at alternative presentations.

Chaosium Unveiled reveals Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, based on Ben Aaronovitch's best-selling Urban Fantasy novels. Out now in full color hardback and special leatherette edition! What the critics are saying about Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game A superb realization of a much-loved series, dripping with character while offering fast and streamlined mechanics. Another classic in the making, and deservedly so... Chaosium have been pushing out great game after great game for years now, and this is no exception. A delight." — Paul Mackintosh RPGNet. "Rivers of London is in good hands... Gamers new to the system or new to RPGs will find a surprisingly clear and concise presentation of the rules in a step-by-step procedural format, complete with meaningful and relevant examples that are both easy to understand and easy to find." — Runeslinger. "A fantastic gateway into tabletop role-playing games… All in all, if this was your first ever role-playing game, you’re in good hands... If you’re a fan of the series of novels, this game is probably a must-have. Alternatively, if you’re looking for something that isn’t loaded with well-worn fantasy tropes, then this might be worth considering, especially for novice gamers." — British Fantasy Society. “A superb adaptation" — Rolling Boxcars.

Our friends at Alchemy have launched the world's first virtual tabletop built specifically for cinematic immersion and theater of the mind gameplay. Its scene-based structure empowers gamemasters to tell incredible stories with animated environment, particle effects, and ambient sound, and music. And Call of Cthulhu is one of its supported game systems! Alchemy VT is live now on Kickstarter, blazing through stretchgoals! Check it out and back it here.

As you yourself point out, Chaosium's current AI policy only covers art. So what you're asking here isn't applicable. We have no official policy on AI text yet, and may be guided by what DTRPG/Roll20 come up with.

Yes to all those questions. Regarding Q1, you are welcome to ask Chaosium for advice about using the ORC, but you don't have to get Chaosium's permission.

Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, based on Ben Aaronovitch's bestselling urban fantasy series, is out now in hardback. GameOnAUS says: "The whimsical and at times humorous Urban Fantasy setting of Rivers of London makes it ideal as either a first TTRPG or a transition game for players looking to expand beyond Dungeons & Dragons. There’s just enough familiar fantasy stuff to be engaging, but not so much that it feels tired or cliched... It goes without saying that if you’re a fan of the novels, Rivers Of London: The Roleplaying Game is a must-have addition to the bookshelf, and stands alone in its own right as an excellent and accessible TTRPG with something to offer everyone." Read the full review here: https://www.gameonaus.com/rivers-of-london-the-roleplaying-game/

For a definitive answer on such questions we'll need to wait until the final version of the ORC is out. People also want to know what they can say asserting compatibility with Pathfinder, D&D etc.

No Yes

"Ever since I can remember, I‘ve wanted my own roleplaying game“ - with these words, Ben Aaronovitch introduces the roleplaying game to his Rivers of London novel series. So here it is, Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, developed and published by Chaosium, publisher of the legendary RPGs Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest. Celebrating the release, you can join Ben Aaronovitch and Lynne Hardy, the principal author of the Rivers of London RPG in Berlin, Germany on May 1st! There‘ll be drinks, a Q&A with Lynne and Ben moderated by Jason Durall (himself line-editor of Chaosium‘s RuneQuest), the opportunity to get your books signed and even to join a short game run by Lynne or Jason. The party starts at 6pm and will have to wrap around 9, so better be on time if you don‘t want to miss the best parts! 1st of May 2023, 6pm at the Otherland Bookshop (Bergmannstraße 25, 10961 Berlin, Germany) admission free.