Weird of Hali: The RPG update

[ecosophia]

I'm delighted to report that the rulebook for Weird of Hali: Roleplaying the Other Side of the Cthulhu Mythos is speeding through the publication process. I've received the first page proofs, with all edits; the very few corrections will be going back to the publisher later this evening. All that has to happen now is layout, final corrections, and publication. Thanks to everyone who contributed advice and playtesting experience, it's been a smooth process and I think the resulting game will be a lot of fun to play. 

I'll post again once I've got a tentative release date. I know a couple of people are already working on supplements and/or adventure modules for WoH the RPG -- for that matter, the rulebook contains a mini-module, "The Tablet from Sarkomand." If anybody else is interested in doing something of the kind, let's talk. 

Also, those of my readers who are writing (or considering writing) stories in the Haliverse, as discussed in a post a couple of days ago, might want to consider using the rulebook as a resource, since it covers a lot of information not given in the novels. In the meantime, if you have questions about any Secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know related to the stories or the game, you know who to ask. ;-)

Comments

minimum number of players

[deborah_bender]

I've read a lot about tabletop RPGs but I've never played one. Matter of being a little too old when they first caught on. I have elementary questions, most of which probably apply to RPGs in general, but perhaps some answers are specific to this one. If any of these are going to be covered in the rule booklet, I can wait. I expect to be all the way through the original series by the time the game comes out.

1. What is the minimum number of players to make a good game?
2. Is it important to have an experienced game runner for the first time playing the game?
3. If the game runner and the players are mostly novices, is there a website somewhere that offers general tips?
4. How many of those many sided dice are required?
5. Are tokens of some kind to represent the characters required?
6. Is it one character per player?
7. How long would a typical session of WoH last?
8. Is there, or can there be, carryover from one game to the next, other than experience points for the characters?

Re: minimum number of players

[ecosophia]

1) That varies, but 3 seems to be a good minimum and 10 a good maximum.

2) The Mythras rule system underlying WoH is fairly complex, so yes, it would probably be a good idea to have somebody with some experience as GM (Games Master) to start with.

3) Hundreds of them. If your local area has a store that focused on roleplaying games -- those are very common -- you can also contact them, and get connected with the local gaming scene, which is typically full of people who would love to help.

4) You'll need one 20 sided die (d20 in gamer jargon) and two ten sided dice (d10s) for percentage rolls. If you also have a d8 and a d6, that can be helpful.

5) Nope. It's all in the imagination.

6) Usually, yes.

7) A couple of hours.

8) Of course! It's standard in RPGs to assemble games into "campaigns" stretching over many sessions of play. Each session leads to the next, and that to the next. The rulebook contains a "mini-adventure" which is designed to be played by inexperienced characters in a single session; as the label "mini-" might suggest, most adventures are meant to play over a longer time scale

Re: minimum number of players

[deborah_bender]

Thank you for answering all my newbie questions.

[packshaud]

Seeing this image made me contemplate the idea of your psychiatrist always pulling the ball. I guess I'll take Cthulhu instead.

And now I thought this is a binary. Well, I guess training is having some effect.

[ecosophia]

Glad to hear it.

[(Anonymous)]

Congratulations JMG!

By the way, "Sarkomand" sounds very similar to Samarkand. Interesting...

[ecosophia]

"Sarkomand" is an invention of Lovecraft's, and yes, I'm pretty sure it war originally based on a childhood mishearing of Samarkand.

[(Anonymous)]

So you won’t miss it on the 300+ comments page:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/porn-is-demonic-says-top-occultist/

You’ve come a long way from little old Arkham...

—Lady Cutekitten

[ecosophia]

Okay, this is going to be entertaining. I'll post something here later today or tonight responding to his post, and to some of the inevitable mistakes Dreher made.

[(Anonymous)]

If I were to get in touch with him, and he were to agree, any chance you'd be willing to have a public dialogue with him?

[ecosophia]

Sure. I'd be willing to host that here, or we could do it on a venue of his choosing.

Uzuladaroum?

[(Anonymous)]

Samarkand - check. What's the source of Uzuladaroum?
Also - any chance of a discussion board for WoH RPG fans?

Re: Uzuladaroum?

[ecosophia]

That's an invention of Clark Ashton Smith's. In his Hyperborea stories, Uzuldaroum was the second capital of Hyperborea, after the abandonment of Commoriom. I don't think he got it from anywhere else -- he had a keen ear for names, and made them up wholesale.

The Crawling Chaos

[migrantharvester]

This might be more appropriate on next Monday, but these two posts on the Haliverse have spurred me to ask a question that has been floating around me as I've read and re-read the 8 books thus far... as a musician and especially as a guitarist, who are some of the "variety of Pagan gods" who along with the "crossroads devil of blues tradition" you invented your version of Nyarlahotep from? And by chance does Hesus have anything to do with them? Also, I wanted to say thanks, because these books have really struck a chord with me - and I'm waiting with bated breath for the last 5 books to come out in hardback! (Who do I prod to get those printed?)

Sorry that it's been a while since I've had time to comment much... life happens...
Best,
Oliver

Re: The Crawling Chaos

[ecosophia]

My version of Nyarlathotep draws on the Egyptian god Anubis, the Greek god Hermes, the west African god Legba, the Welsh god Arawn, and several Native American Changer deities -- and of course the crossroads devil of blues tradition, who is probably an echo of Legba. No, Hesus didn't have anything specifically to do with the image, but Hesus has a similar role in modern Druid Revival tradition as a liminal deity. (I didn't put Druids into the Haliverse, though I could have; sinister Druids who worship the Black Goat of the Woods appear in an early Robert Bloch story, "Notebook Found In A Deserted House.")

The hardback editions were supposed to come out from Miskatonic Books, sensibly enough, but I understand sales were very slow and I don't know what current plans are. If that falls through, I'll be discussing a new hardback edition with another publisher.

Re: The Crawling Chaos

[migrantharvester]

Thank you, that gives me a lot to ponder and investigate. Ever since I read about Nyarlahotep and the Carolina Cotton Pickers, I've had the crossroads (and I suppose Legba) on my mind. The one experience that comes up for me as a result of the desire to meet this being was a dream I had where I was meeting you at a bar, and when I was about to buy you my favorite locally (Salt Lake City) brewed black ale, it turned out that the bar had practically no beer and all you wanted was the stew (it was a hearty stew)... but then you were replaced by a man with short dark goat hair all over his face and very nice goat horns (its entirely possible that the billy goat I had just had to slaughter and turn into stew was pushing his way into my dreamland). But that had me wondering for a while if Hesus is ever considered as having horns - I thought I might have read something to that effect but couldn't find it. Do you know if that's the case?

As to Bloch's Druids, I've been hanging out with some black goats in my corner of the woods ironically enough... We've had as many as thirty, but they almost ate us out of house and home after forest fires caused a hay shortage last year and now we just have four.

As to Miskatonic, I'll send them an email because I would really love to complete my set!

[(Anonymous)]

What I can't wait to do is have parallel Call of Cthulhu and Weird of Hali campaigns, with players on either side trying to sort out what's going on in the other.

[ecosophia]

Hah! That would be complicated to run, but it could be a lot of fun. The Radiance in my novels and the game drew some inspiration from Delta Green, so the fit ought to be fairly close.

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings!

Seems like we have not had a status update on this in a while. Has it launched somewhere else?

Thank you,
Matt

[ecosophia]

No, it's been delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak. I've done the page proofs and the publisher is getting the artwork done at this point. I hope to have an announcement in a few months.