After months of waiting to reveal Secret Project Y, I can finally announce to the world that my first Cthulhu Adventure is published in the new book by Miskatonic River Press, Lux in Tenebras. I am VERY happy to see this one come out. I've been nagging Osk for over a month, begging to let me post about it. But he held firm.
Finally I am free of my NDA! I can talk about it! WOOHOO!
It all started the week before PaizoCon when my IM window began flashing. Innocently I opened it. There was my good pal Oscar “Osk” Rios asking something to the effect of “Do you want to write something for an upcoming MRP PDF-only book?” I’ve been wanting to work with Osk and Tom (the head honchos of MRP) for a while and kept in touch with them, offering my services.
My answer was an immediate “YES”.
A thoughtless, excited and immediate "Yes".
His follow-up was “I need 1,000 words by Friday. Oh! And send me a short resume of your idea first...” That’s when I realized the trouble I was in and what I signed up for: it was the Monday before PaizoCon. I would have to prep my adventures for the con, make sure I had everything ready for the Premiere of Encounter at Ramat Bridge, pack up my wife and kids (they were leaving for a road trip to Montreal), some work on the Grand Melee to complete and now I had to write something very fast, something that would get me some “return-business”.
I pleaded for more time, but Osk proved unmovable. So I sat up, began thinking of something in the format he wanted. Found my idea, using a Mythos monster I am fond of then wrote something around it. Got my concept approved (actually I sent him three concepts and he liked one of them for this project).
What about the experience? It was fun and challenging. For one thing, I had only 1,000 words to include everything: background, encounter, stat block, and NPCs. One page. Writing for Basic/ Call of Cthulhu is very different than writing for Pathfinder or D&D. The flow of the game is different, what you assume from the game is different, and the PCs’ skill sets are different. Lucky for me, Basic/ CoC is not stat-heavy.
In adventure writing, some things don’t change regardless of system, era, genre or author. A good adventure relies on a good premise. A good adventure does not require the GM to explain the plot for an hour. A good adventure presents common theme with a twist. A good adventure is something that when you read it as a GM, you immediately go I can see my players going through this.
I haven’t seen the other parts, only my own, but with the names in there: Osk and Tom (of course), but also Chaw Bowser – mind behind Cthulhu Invictus (I admit I do not know the others). That is one great line-up. I am very proud to find my name next to those.
Get it and let me know what you all think.
Again, thanks to Osk and Tom for believing in me. Anytime guys. Anytime.
JP
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