Great Old Writers/At the Mountains of Madness
The following was submitted by Dustin Wright (in response to a previous thread):
>And there are a lot of us who are hoping they'll get back to publishing
>game supplements, too. :) Maybe even trying to lure back some of the
>Great Old Writers like Kevin Ross.
I share your Grim desire!
As I'm sure most of you are aware, we haven't been publishing as many books for COC lately as we'd like. This is simply a matter of boring old economics. Even a laid back and art driven company like Chaosium is limited in what we can do with limited resources.
Right now, we're pouring a lot of creative energy (and creative economics) into Beyond The Mountains of Madness. It's an awesome book and quite, quite, big. Cyclopean in fact. There are also two related projects that will come out at the same time, or nearly so. The Miskatonic University Antarctic Expedition Pack is full of player/keeper aids for BMOM as well as some nifty stuff like an expedition patch etc.
The Antarktos Cycle is a new Fiction anthology that includes Lovecraft's Mountains of Madness and a handful of cool Antarctic related weird fiction/adventure stories.
Another COC book awaiting it's moment in the sun is 2379 Last Rites. This book keeps getting delayed for the same reason any Chaosium release usually gets delayed, the printer wants money up front before printing it.
We here at Chaosium Labs are doing everything we can think of to get books printed in a more timely fashion. It takes far more work to do this on a small publishers budget than I would have ever believed. But we're doing it none the less.
I too would like to continue working with the "Great Old Writers" who have worked with us in the past. I also look forward to working with the Great New Writers we haven't met yet. So long as writers are willing to work with us, and we have the resources to work with them, we will certainly do so. The same goes for the artists who have, and will continue make our books look so good.
I really dislike having to work within the limits of the resources we have at hand. But as each book releases, and our distributor invoices for those books gradually come in, we become a stronger company. I have no doubts that we will again see the days when we can afford to print a Call of Cthulhu RPG and Call of Cthulhu fiction book each month. It just takes some time, and the support of the rest of our Chaosium Tribe: the folks who write, illustrate, purchase, and enjoy our books and games.
The future of Chaosium is very bright indeed. We have some projects in the early stages of development that will open up new worlds of wonder for our little part of the Cthulhu Mythos. As a company, we just "simply" need to bridge the gap from this moment to that future. Every book we release will bring us closer.
So forward into the night! The End-Times approach and it will soon be a new millennium. Chaosium will be there with bells on.
Shannon Appel added:
Gary Sumpter replied:
Although I certainly don't presume to speak for any of the "Great Old Writers" you mention, there are a number of reasons you haven't read much by many of them lately. Most are well into their thirties: some have families, all have jobs; this greatly reduces the amount of time they can spend on writing -- which generally remains a hobby, not a career. Although their output has been greatly reduced of late, both Kevin and Scott have contributed to CoC in the past couple of years. The manuscript for Scott's massive Goatswood campaign is now complete, and it'll be going to the publisher soon. I believe Fred Behrendt is still working on "Children of the Deep", a post-raid Innsmouth book (it's been listed on Amazon.com for ages).
There are probably other factors at play.
Hugo Barbosa replied:
On a differente note, I am trying to obtain a copy of the original Arkham Unveiled book with the four scenarios included. Last year someone from this list said he had a mint copy to sell me but he failed to reply any of my messages. Is there any possibility that someone else on this list has a spare copy or knows someone who has a spare copy of this book in excellent condition? I am trying the used bookstores on the net but still is worth a shot...
Bob Cernohous replied:
I saw this item for sale at eBay, the world's largest personal trading community, and thought that you might be interested.
Title of item: ARKHAM UNVEILED CAMPAIGN FOR CALL OF CTHULHU
Seller: theophobic@prodigy.net
Starts: 05/19/99, 02:38:26 PDT
Ends: 05/26/99, 02:38:26 PDT
Price: Currently $5.00
To bid on the item, go to:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=106301239
Item Description:
ARKHAM UNVEILED CAMPAIGN FOR CALL OF CTHULHUNO RESERVE!This campaign for 1920's CoC contains 158 pages of info, everything you need to know to base your game in the mythical city of Arkham, MA, including an in depth description of Miskatonic University. The book has a few scuffs. All of the handouts are intact and uncut.Buyer pays shipping of $3.55 for USPS 2 Day Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. Cashier's checks and Money orders ship immed, personal
checks held for 10 business days.
Cthulhu Bob added:
And the expedition pack is exciting too !!!
Thanks for the advance warning, ( now to put the advance warning to my distributors!)
Rich added:
This is just a guess, but they've probably moved on to something more lucrative, since eating and having a roof over your head are kinda important.
That seems to be the case with a lot game supplement authors. Either they get burned out or they have to move on to the corporate arena and make a living. I would be very curious to know what percentage of game supplements are written while the authors are in college.
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