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Episode 136: It Says Necropolis Right in the Name

April 17th, 2015 | Robin

Robin hijacks an Ask Ken and Robin question about running an Armitage Files-style campaign set after Sherlock Holmes’ plunge over Reichenbach to ask: do the master detective and the Mythos go together at all? Then of course we do answer Sami Uusitalo’s question, because what kind of podcast would we be otherwise?

Ken tells us about Tomb-Hounds of Egypt, his latest Ken Writes About Stuff single, in Among My Many Hats. That hat is a pith helmet and the topic is 1930s Egyptology.

Heads spin in the Cinema Hut as we look at The Exorcist and its cyclical legacy of fluid-spewing demonological horror.

Finally Time Inc. entertains a Bob Jamieson request to use Ken’s Time Machine to repair or avert the 1690s Scottish debacle known as the Darien Scheme.


Attention, class! Anchor sponsor Atlas Games wants to enroll you in Mad Scientist University, the card game of evil genius, insane assignments, and unstable elements. Act now, Ken and Robin listeners, and they’ll throw in the Spring Break expansion set for free. Shipping within the US is also free.

 

9 Responses to “Episode 136: It Says Necropolis Right in the Name”

  1. Bret Kramer says:

    Here’s a Time Inc. question for Ken: How might the Shimabara Rebellion have succeeded? What impact might that have on future Japanese history?

  2. Mike Schiffer says:

    Re student loan horror, wouldn’t that point to a revival of the Deal with the Devil subgenre? Young person made a deal for worldly benefit (which optionally turns out to have been hollow and unsatisfactory even on its own terms), and now is on the hook for eternal consequences?

    (Unless Daniel Webster can make it dischargeable in bankruptcy, anyway.)

  3. darren t. says:

    Interesting spin with Holmes & the Armitage Files, I’ll have to try something like that after running the soon assembled group to going through the core Armitage Files first before diving into Victorian life version.

    One thing that is in the 6th ed of Cthulhu by Gaslight book is a whole host of fictional? characters like Holmes, Fu Manchu, Dracula & more (and pretty sure some of them are real (to me)) so those characters are fleshed out as NPCs in the rules to play with for some Keepers. Now it’s just putting them into Gumshoe to mix with the Armitage Files.

    With the more Egyptian section of the hats, three other ideas from keepers is the sand people, serpent people & the mad Arab himself all would fit in that section of the world plus the great little scenario in Shadows over Filmland. The sand people could be mixing things up with some ghoul cult or have the players get hired by some ghoul or serpent person (in disguise) who are paying the players to find some hidden tomb or trigger all the traps inside & get killed so the ghoul/serpent person can just go in afterwards to claim the rewards. Going off the ghoul front, the players could get caught in the middle of two groups of ghouls as they’re fighting over some ancient tomb.

    There are a few Secrets books (Morocco & Kenya) in Call of Cthulhu nearby that might have stuff too being in that general area of the world but I don’t have them to know but it’s a hunting source for information.

  4. Derek Upham says:

    If you are running a Mythos Egyptian Archaeology scenario without using (a) tomb positions matching upcoming stellar alignments, and (b) removal of human organs and placement into containers in preparation for transitioning to another world, then I have to question your life choices.

    Extra points if the techniques of mummy preparation are hinted at in the notes of a certain Dr. Muñoz, formerly of New York City.

  5. Charles Picard says:

    If you’re interested in DramaSystem, and I suspect folks around here are, you can pick up a bunch of (free) PDF series pitches, and vote for the three you think are best.

    Contest is here at RPGGeek.com…
    http://www.rpggeek.com/thread/1328058/voting-phase-rpg-geek-dramasystem-contest-2015

    I labored long on my pitch set in the waning days of Hadrian’s Wall, Eagle’s Twilight, and any consideration given it by other KARTAS fans would be much appreciated!

  6. heyjames4 says:

    Time Incorporated and Ken’s time machine seem to be nudging all of human history towards the brightest timeline. You’ve mentioned before nefarious ne’er do-wells from an alternate timeline who nudge it the other way. What point or points-of-departure in human history are the weakest links, the events at which the “good” timeline is most vulnerable if things go awry?

  7. Rob Whitaker says:

    On the subject of Egyptian tombs, it seems odd to me that the pharaohs are buried with so much stuff, but never with their red/white crowns. In a game setting it would suggest to me that the two crowns must have some magical qualities that are too valuable to stick in the ground.

  8. Simon Hibbs says:

    Re. The Cinema Hut. Opening the film with a demon exorcism was done in the Keanu Reeves Constantine movie. I’d have liked to know what the team thought of the new Constantine TV series as well.

  9. Charles Picard says:

    Woot!

    The Gumshoe Bundle, maybe the best deal in gaming, is back on Bundle of Holding until May 3rd.

    https://bundleofholding.com/presents/GUMSHOE2015

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