Lovecraft Country
"You can always come home to Arkham."
Cthonic Communities is a new series here at the Herald that focuses on the variety of Lovecraft- and Cthulhu Mythos-oriented groups out in the greater world. Mostly it's an excuse to crash parties by attending conventions, where Tanith E. Howard happens to be, in-between my ecological-minded travels over North America. Hey, Edgar approved the expenditure request so I have to show something for it.
While at Gen Con in Indianapolis, IN, this year, I was able to get a hold of a couple of the people that are making Lovecraft Country, a text-based, online RPG where Howard Phillip Lovecraft fans can get together and adventure not only in the Miskatonic Valley, but also at various places throughout the world during the 1930's. These two were Todd Nilson and Shannon Applecline, and they both agreed to a quick face-to-face interview. Here's what followed:
So tell me about Lovecraft Country.
Todd: Lovecraft Country is a text-based online RPG set in 1935, centered in Arkham, MA, where players can assume the role of investigators in their own fashion. Using references to the Miskatonic University, the Necronomicon, and the Great Old Ones developed by Lovecraft, Ashton Smith, and say Robert E. Howard, as well as later contributors like Brian Lumley and Robert Bloch as a focus to the dark and mysterious events occurring throughout the stories. It is text-based, which makes it rather like how Lovecraft, Smith, Howard, and Bloch created their literary shared world.
Shannon: I'm the writer for Lovecraft Country, the comic, which I see you have copy of.
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Todd & Shannon at Gen Con. Shannon is the one with his hand up Cthulhu's ass. |
I was lucky enough to answer one of the questions correctly to win a copy in your little "Answer and Win" game here at the booth.
Shannon: Funny. Most people needed two correct answers.
Okay, I gave the guy three bucks. In any case, it is a very well written piece. Well, worth the price.
Shannon: It's a follow-up story to our online game/story "In the Tomb of the Desert God." The characters Seth Fletcher, Professor Julian Harding, and Professor Richard Newland are brought together by the disappearance of Carlton Fletcher. Basically Seth, Carlton's younger brother, is trying to find him. The other two were involved with the expedition.
I have been hearing rumors of an "Arkham County" online community for about a year and a half. When I saw Skotos Games booth advertising Lovecraft Country last year at Gen Con, I figured this was what I had been hearing about. How long has Lovecraft Country been around?
Todd: I have never heard of the Arkham thing, but Lovecraft Country has been around in BETA testing for about a year now. I have been expanding it as time merits and the community looks ready for general admission.
How has response been to date?
Todd: We are only just now coming out of BETA-testing, but a lot of people have been involved in the game and helped out in other ways. Even some would like to expand further into the contemporary period as opposed to 1930's.
Would you say that the Cthulhu Mythos has a tendency to lend itself to various time periods--like the modern, as well as the "classical" '20s and the 1890s and before?
Shannon: Oh yes. There's a timeless quality to it. And there is some room in Country to do some of this.
So tell the readers about yourselves.
Todd: I have been with Skotos Games for a while, and a great Lovecraft fan for even longer. I have been leading Lovecraft Country over the past year. It is a great place to come together move into our threads as well as develop your own.
Shannon: I've been with Skotos Games for a while now. I have done some work with Chaosium and always had interests in graphic layouts. (Interrupted by clammering hordes of people at the front of the
booth)...Yes, the cake and pudding is free. Compliments of the RPG.Net for H.P. Lovecraft's Birthday.
Oh yes. Happy HPL B-Day everyone! (Interview date is 20 August, 2005)
Todd>: 1890 until today.
I bet he doesn't like to be wakened up early. So gentlemen, let's get to some really important questions. Which rates better in your book for movie quality? Bombs, explosions, lesbians, or robots?
Todd: I'm all for android lesbian bombs myself.
Shannon: That's funny. I was thinking of exploding android lesbians, myself...
And soon enough I was escorted out of the booth, after they checked my
pockets.
Clark Ashton Lumley
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