dce

That's a great pick -- and it was only reprinted a year or two back by Golden Goblin Press (in "Tales of the Crescent City"). Kevin also wrote a new scenario for that book which is a direct sequel to "Tell Me Have You Seen The Yellow Sign?" Other suggestions -- "Tatterdemalion" by Richard Watts & Penelope Love (in the book "Fatal Experiments") ... and for modern-day conspiracy creepiness, the obligatory "Night Floors" by Dennis Detwiller (in "Delta Green: Countdown"). Honestly, though, there are quite a lot of creepy and not-at-all-cheesy scenarios out there which showcase The King in Yellow -- it's a shame that those encountered by the OP weren't like that Dean (from Adelaide)

Those are all sensible and valid points, and as you say it really all comes down a question of personal preference. I would mention, however, that my own experience has been that the tone of any CoC game depends a lot *less* on rules than it does on the particular player group and the specifics of the pre-written scenario (if using a published scenario). This seems to be the true for CoC even moreso than any other RPG I've played. So -- for both 6e and 7e rules I have seen a huge variance in the "tone" of the game, based on the direction that the Keeper and players want to take the game and how "pulpy" or "gritty" the scenario. Given that, my own personal alarm bells would have gone off if the "7th edition" scenarios that have been published subsequent to the new rules were written in a way which seems to promote a different style of game. And really that has NOT happened as far as I can see (with the exception of the Pulp Cthulhu rules and campaign, which are intentionally different). BTW: while I can see the potential for "pushed" rolls to be abused, my own experience of seeing folks play 7e is that more often than not players turn down the offer of a pushed roll, out of fear of a truly awful outcome if they fail the second time. Usually people seem to only want to take the chance if it is a truly critical game-changing roll. Of course that assumes that the Keeper has made it clear that he or she is willing to devise appropriately terrible outcomes of failed pushes -- but most CoC Keepers I've seen running 7e seem to have enough "evil streak" in their kit-bag to impress the gravity of the situation upon their players. Also: with respect to the chase "mini-game" ... I am with you, I have no time for it either. But, like most of the parts of the CoC rules (in any edition) it's just a tool that a Keeper *can* use if he or she wants to. Personally I'd never use it, but I don't think having it there detracts from the game (if other people like it). Dean (from Adelaide)

I'd agree with nclarke -- it's probably easiest to think of 7e as still being "almost BRP-based" with the changes being more cosmetic than radical. The most obvious deviation from the established BRP stream is that the main investigator attributes (STR, POW, INT, etc) are now on a 1-100 scale, avoiding the need for rolls against POW x 5 and the like. But as long as you are able to do a bit of mental arithmetic (dividing by 5 or multiplying by 5) this isn't really a major departure and certainly doesn't change the "feel" of the game in any way. As nclarke also said, the 7e rules do change the flow of combat and damage, though, aiming to optimize out some things that lots of people find "less fun" -- like endless rounds of both sides missing, or characters dying from an accumulation of very small damage attacks. A second area of departure from pure BRP is the idea of "pushed rolls" which effectively give players the choice of re-rolling some rolls if they are willing to risk the outcome of the second failed roll being something truly awful. Another more substantial addition is the optional rule for treating Luck as a "resource pool" which a player can burn points from in return for improving the value of a die roll. All up, these more substantial deviations from BRP seem to have been accepted by most long-term CoC players as being an incremental evolution which enhances the "net fun" of the game ... but there are still some that prefer the older, sometimes more arbitrary, rules because they present players with a more bleak set of options. It's a personal preference really ... and like nclarke said, Chaosium have made a Quickstart version of the 7e rules available for free as a PDF, so you can always give it a spin and see if its for you. Regarding the long-term future of 6th Edition ... I'm sure that some people will continue playing it, and there are 30 years of published scenarios that work "out-of-the-box" with those rules. And if you really want to stick with those rules and are willing to do some mental arithmetic, you can easily port newer material over to 6e rules without too much fuss. You should be aware, though, that nobody will be publishing NEW material for 6th Edition -- Chaosium have made it a condition on licensees that they only produce books for the latest edition of the rules (and right now, that means 7e). Dean (from Adelaide)

Cthulhu Reborn is delighted to announce the release of the fourth in the Tickets of Leave supplements for Convicts & Cthulhu. This PDF -- our largest yet, weighing in at 14 pages -- is titled "The Vanishing Ensign". It's written primarily by Geoff Gillan (with minimal tinkering from yours truly). Ticket of Leave #4 collects together two different types of game resources -- an overarching campaign frame, and a much more detailed sketch for a specific scenario. Both of them revolve around a real-world historical incident: the Grand Muster of 1807, an attempt to undertake a huge survey of the full extent of the (badly provisioned) military forces in the colony of New South Wales. Everybody who lived in the colony was well aware of the short-comings of the force of troops that had been sent out by the Colonial Office to keep the peace, and even more aware of the poor quality of military equipment at their disposal. This "census" was supposed to prove to those back in London that this far-off colony really *was* on the brink of rebellion, anarchy, or invasion by the French. Of course in the world of Call of Cthulhu, there are much more terrifying things that might consume the poorly-defended fledgling colony before any of those ... In addition to providing resources to allow a Keeper to use the circumstances of Bligh's muster as the basis for an ongoing series of scenarios, Ticket of Leave #4 also presents a detailed sketch for one specific scenario, an investigation into odd anomaly -- a soldier who turns up on every record book, but cannot ever be found. Rather than presenting just one Mythos explanation for these dark events, three different Mythos "solutions" are offered, allowing the Keeper to pick something that ties in best with his or her ongoing game. Ticket of Leave #4: The Vanishing Ensign is available right now at RPG Now. Because this supplement is considerably larger than those we've previously released, we've chosen to make this a "Pay What You Want" title rather than simply a free download. You are, of course, more than welcome to grab it free of charge (with our blesing) -- but if you do want to chip a dollar or two our way to help us keep making these titles, your donation would be very welcome! We hope your players enjoy scouring the grubby streets and bushland of early New South Wales, in search of that damn Vanishing Ensign. Dean (from Adelaide)

Hmm ... while it's not specifically related to Chinese New Year, perhaps the one-shot scenario "Master Wu's Marriage" from Chaosium's Strange Aeons II (CHA23117) might fit the bill? It's set in 7th Century China, which is quite a unique setting for a Call of Cthulhu scenario ... but if your group is up for something unusual, they'll probably enjoy it. Dean (from Adelaide)

Folks who are running Convicts & Cthulhu games (or contemplating doing so) might be interested to hear that today Cthulhu Reborn released the third free PDF mini-supplement with cool resources for Lovecraftian gaming in the penal colonies of early Australia. You can download Ticket Of Leave #3 -- Criminal Enterprise right now from RPGNow. This 8 page free PDF expands upon the C&C setting by providing details of the seedy criminal underworld that existed in the townships of early New South Wales, and giving players the opportunity to see life through the eyes of gang members. The majority of the Europeans living in the penal colony of New South Wales are there because of their guilty association with the world of crime. This is just as true for the gaolers as it is for the convicts they guard. Not surprisingly, incarceration in a large and remote prison has done little to turn felons from their criminal ways (despite brutal attempts to enforce "law and order"). The larger cities are rife with shadowy criminal groups -- some merely thieving to survive, others plotting sketchy political and business dealings. But in a place where the forces of the Cthulhu Mythos are never far away, there is always the chance that "a simple plan" might lead criminals into something far, far more dangerous. Ticket of Leave #3 - Criminal Enterprise provides Keepers with resources to portray the seedy criminal underworld, and allow players to take on the roles of gang members. The PDF includes backgrounds and CoC 7th Edition stats for a ready-to-use gang of nefarious folks; it also includes a detailed scenario sketch which focusses on a double-crossing smuggling mission that leads the criminal investigators into the clutches of some rather unsavoury Mythos forces. We hope that folks who are running Convicts & Cthulhu games will find this a useful (freebie) addition to the setting. Dean (from Adelaide)

Some of the smaller companies that publish Call of Cthulhu have made a scenario book's set of handouts available in either a separate free PDF (Stygian Fox and Golden Goblin have done this) or as paid PDFs which were somehow "enhanced" beyond the basic handouts (Sixtystone has done this). Chaosium haven't yet done much like this. In this day and age, I can't help but wonder whether it would be better for *all* publishers to skip including collated copies of all the handouts at the end of the book (which just takes up space) and instead provide a free PDF of all handouts online. I don't think anyone these days seriously wants to photocopy handouts from a book -- or even tear them out of a special "handout book" (like the one included in 2nd Ed "Horror on the Orient Express"). People would rather print them. Also, releasing the handouts for free would be a great way for Keepers getting their hands on colour versions of handouts even if they were only published in B&W in the actual book ... That's just my $0.02 on the subject Dean

Spicy, The game you have planned for your players sounds like it would be really fun. Regarding the two different games with similar titles -- I will admit that it's pretty confusing, but here goes ... Sixtystone Press released a book called "Cathulhu" which is a translation of something that was originally written in German. That material was all based off Call of Cthulhu (6th Edition) and so has stats relating to Chaosium's system. At about the same time, a fellow called Joel Sparks ran a Kickstarter to re-release a tiny independent RPG that he had published a year or so previously, which had a similar premise but uses its own rule system. Unfortunately that game had a very similar title -- it's "Call of Catthulhu" (note the two "T"s in Catthulhu compared to one "T" in the Sixtystone name). The Kickstarter for "Call of Catthulhu" went pretty well and not only did the book get re-released in greatly expanded form but a setting book got commissioned as a stretch goal. So ... when this *non*-Chaosium system book hit the streets it was as three volumes -- Vol 1: The Nekonomicon (player's book), Vol 2: Unaussprechlichen Katzen (cat herder's guide), and Vol 3: Worlds of Catthulhu (setting book). It sounds like you own the second of these ... and no, it has no relationship to the rules system in the Sixtystone book. I hope this helps you wade through the confusion Dean (from Adelaide)

I'm not what you're basing that off ... Over the years the Dreamlands book has been published in five editions; the most recent one was released in 2004 -- although it doesn't state it anywhere in the book itself, it is written to be compatible with the 5.6th Edition Call of Cthulhu rules (the current one at the time it was released). Converting the full-book material from CoC 5.6th Edition to CoC 7th Edition would theoretically not be too hard from a mechanical point of view -- the hardest part would be translating the mechanics for each of the spells in the Dreamlands grimoire. One thing that would help a little in running Dreamlands with 7th Edition is the few pages of 7e Dreamlands mechanics included in Chaosium's slim setting book "Cthulhu Through The Ages" which also includes a 7e Dreamlands character sheet (for humans, not cats :)) BTW: I believe there have been rumours lurking around on other forums (possibly based on things mentioned in convention panels) suggesting that Chaosium are planning to revisit the Dreamlands again in a new edition specifically targetting 7th Edition ... Dean (from Adelaide)

The short answer is that the Cathulhu book (the BRP-based one from Sixtystone Press, not the similarly titled RPG by Joel Sparks) does contain a small rules section which is based off Call of Cthulhu 6th Edition. So, for example it still refers to stats like INT, POW, DEX, etc as though they are on a 3-18 scale rather than the 1-100 scale used in CoC 7th Ed. But, realistically, "converting it" to be usable with 7e would not be very hard -- mostly just remembering to multiply stat modifiers by 5. As an example of the sort of thing you'd need to do: one of the "tricks" you can purchase for your cat during character generation is "Fence Runner" which adds +2 to your DEX; for use with the 7e rules that would need to be +10 to DEX. Pretty much everything would fall into that kind of category .. So: yes, it would need some kind of effort to use the material with 7th Edition, but not much. Dean (from Adelaide)

Fantastic to see this released -- I've just nabbed one of the incredible-looking Deluxe editions (although I think paying for international shipping for that beast has permanently knocked my credit rating back a few points). Dean (from Adelaide)

Yeah, that's the "Bundle of Tentacles +4" ... [ BTW: if you collect Dreamlands scenarios, there are two freebie PDFs over on Cthulhu Reborn that would be right up your alley (Penelope Love's "Porphyry & Asphodel" and Geoff Gillan's "Machine King"). You can either get them as free products on RPGNow or download them from the CR Download page.] Dean (from Adelaide)

Yeah, that's correct (2 Trail of Cthulhu bundles and 1 Call of Cthulhu bundle). The Bundles sort of go crazy around Halloween with multiple horror-themed packs coming up at the same time. It's definitely a good time to pick up some cheap PDFs. Dean (from Adelaide)

Yes. All the books in the "Bundle of Tentacles +4" (with the exception of the generic references I mentioned before) are designed for the D100 BRP-compatible game (i.e., "Call of Cthulhu" rather than "Trail"). For the most part they are scenarios designed for CoC 6e, but easily converted to the latest edition with some basic mathematical modification ... Dean

BTW, although there *are* two Trail of Cthulhu bundles running at the moment, the "Bundle of Tentacles +4" (which is linked here) is mostly made up of supplements for Call of Cthulhu (plus some generic Lovecraftian bits like Cthulhu Reborn's newspaper prop templates and the Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia). I can easily see how folks can get these confused, though -- having three Cthulhu-related Bundles running concurrently is going to do that Dean

I hope Polish-speaking folks can get some use out of these translated sheets -- and that they enhance your games of Zew Cthulhu. Also I'd like to particularly thank Chaosium (in the form of Mike Mason and Rick Meints) for being extremely easy to deal with when it came to sorting out the rights to release this variant version of the official Chaosium character sheet. Dean (from Adelaide)

Folks who have grabbed themself a copy of the Convicts & Cthulhu PDF (or awesome-looking softcover printed book) might be interested to learn that today Cthulhu Reborn has released the second mini-supplement for the C&C setting -- Ticket of Leave #2: Tricolour Terror, by Geoff Gilland & Dean Engelhardt. You can download it right now for free from RPGNow. This supplement provides 6 pages of detail helpful to creating horror tales which incorporate elements of French explorations of early Australia. The PDF includes historical background, some ideas about French occult interests in the South Pacific, a pair of new professions and a scenario sketch. While most of the known history of the early Australian colonies revolves around British interests, France was also very active in exploring this part of the world. Britain and France were, at this time, mortal foes (soon to be enemies in the Napoleonic Wars). This fact meant that the constant presence of French ships "sniffing around" the still-unsettled parts of the Australian continent made the colonists feel fearful and not a little paranoid. These fears -- part rational, part irrational -- can readily be woven into fabric of a Convicts & Cthulhu tale. And then there is the well-established French Occult tradition with its intricate web of societies and cults ... are some of those organisations involved in explorations of the new continent? And why is France so hell-bent on owning as much of the South Pacific as they can ... it's almost as if they know something is there ... To use this PDF you will need the original Convicts & Cthulhu core book -- which is still available in PDF or print as a Pay-What-You-Want title over on RPGNow. We hope you enjoy this bite-sized addition to the Convicts & Cthulhu setting. Dean (from Adelaide)

At the risk of dragging this thread even more off-topic (sorry) ... I agree in general with what Mankcam has said above about Australian TV -- historically, the content that is made locally is generally not genre-oriented enough to be of much interest as a source of gaming inspiration. However the last few years have seen a bunch of really interesting short series being made by our non-commercial broadcasters (i.e., our ABC, SBS). In the last year we've had Cleverman (an interesting show about Aboriginal myth and lore in modern-day Sydney), The Kettering Incident (a sort of spooky alien abduction type thing in the wilds of the Tasmanian bush) and Glitch (people who died years or decades ago suddenly re-appearing in a small town in rural Victoria, seemingly tied to dark deeds in the town's history). And if you stretch the net to include streaming-only content there is also the new series adaptation of Wolf Creek made by Stan. So ... the interesting Australian-made shows ARE actually out there (at the moment at least) ... but do many people watch them? Probably not ... Dean (from Adelaide)

Glad you liked it In terms of supplements which have 7e stats it's also worth mentioning that last year I released a free PDF upgrade pack which took an old Chaosium title ("In The Shadows) from the 1990s and gave it brand new -- and for the first time legible -- handouts plus included notes and stat blocks which upgraded its three scenarios to 7e. You can get this free upgrade pack from RPGNow. I am hoping to release another one of these upgrade packs later this year. Dean (from Adelaide)

For those who have grabbed a copy of the PDF or print copy of Convicts & Cthulhu, you may be interested to know that Cthulhu Reborn has just published a free 4-page PDF add-on called "Convicts & Cthulhu: Tickets of Leave #1." We're hoping to do some more of these in the future (hence the "#1" in the title). The goal of these small bite-sized additions is to give Keepers small self-contained nuggets of information which include a variety of different elements which could conceivably be put together into a short scenario or alternatively picked apart to provide pieces for an all-original scenario of their own devising. Thanks ... and enjoy your time in the prison colony! Dean (from Adelaide)

Thanks to folks here and elsewhere, Convicts & Cthulhu has been selling extremely well over on RPGNow. Quite a number of people have asked me whether there was any way of getting a Print On Demand copy (i.e., a physical book). As of today ... you can. I have just activated a softcover print copy (96 page B&W interior with glossy colour covers) -- cruise over to this page on RPGNow and select either the "softcover print" or "print & PDF combo" and you will be on your way. If you're curious about how the print copies turned out ... attached is a pic of the print proof that I received today (but be aware this is just a photo taken on my phone, so not exactly the most high-res of images). For those who are contemplating grabbing this book in print, check out the info over on this blog posting for some idea of cost etc. In short, we are releasing it as a "Pay-What-You-Want" print title which means that there's a fixed minimum cost (the price of printing and shipping the book to you) but you can pay more if you want to, with the extra money going to Cthulhu Reborn. The base printing cost for the book is about US$4.00 and average shipping might be around $5.00 depending on where you are. So realistically you might be looking at around US$9 or so to nab a copy. Thanks again to those who have already grabbed the PDF copy ... and I hope folks enjoy adding a print copy to their shelves! Dean (from Adelaide)

Talking about books that haven't yet been released always feels a bit like tempting fate ... but if you read through Convicts & Cthulhu you'll see it refers to two other forthcoming books focussed on Australia for CoC: Secrets of Australia (a total rewrite of the classic Terror Australis) and Australian Aeons (scenarios in various eras). Both of these titles are already written and waiting with a publisher ... they will hopefully be released in the not-too-distant-future (I don't know anything more precise than that). I agree with you about the Snowtown connection -- you just have to watch the rather creepy film version of this horrible real-world event to see its potential as a springboard for things horrific. Dean (from Adelaide)

Indeed ... but appropriating nationals from other countries when they have had either a colourful life or eventful death is sort of an Australian tradition Dean (also notes that Leichhardt disappeared, and presumably died, 50+ years before Australia existed as a coutnry ... which only makes my earlier statement even more ambiguous)

Hey Sid ... you are fairly correct: Adelaide is the only large Australian city which can claim never to have had convicts transported to it. It was envisaged from the outset as a purely free-settler colony (of the "better class" of people). Of course that shonky and elitist plan fell in a heap fairly quickly, but we never resorted to shipping in convicts for free labour ... we did manage to generate a steady stream of home-grown criminals, though. Regarding your question about Ludwig Leichhardt ... he doesn't make an appearance in Convicts & Cthulhu (since it's set earlier than his time), but he *does* get a mention in some other Aussie Call of Cthulhu material which will hopefully be making its way into print in the near future. He is one of a handful of famous Aussie disappearances so it would be a shame not to weave him into the Mythos backdrop somehow. Dean (from Adelaide)

Hi, Dean from Cthulhu Reborn here ... thanks to MOB for alerting the Call of Cthulhu playing world to the existence of our humble little colonial Australian sourcebook, Convicts & Cthulhu. The response to this product has been unexpectedly great: we've been lurking at the top of RPGNow's "hottest" titles list ever since the book was mentioned here, with many hundreds of copies now having been downloaded. So ... thanks to everyone, and especially those who chipped in a small donation (much appreciated). We're currently looking at options for making a Print-On-Demand version of Convicts & Cthulhu available for those who'd like to get the book in hard copy. And in response to the suggestion by @SentinelHillPress that we'd included an Easter egg on the cover (in the form of a soldier sticking his tongue out) ... I only wish my Photoshopping skills were that good! Thanks again to all who've grabbed Convicts & Cthulhu. We hope you enjoy your time as prisoners and gaolers in early Australia. Dean (from Adelaide)