Since releasing the core rulebook for APOCTHULHU — just a few months ago — we have been excited to see a number of great (and mostly complimentary!) reviews published in a range of online venues.
Today, the much-read “Reviews From R’lyeh” posted their review … which is also pretty complimentary. You can read it here.
BTW for the several folks who have asked how things are progressing with future books in the APOCTHULHU line, the answer is … “very well, thanks for asking” :). We have the written manuscripts for the next two titles submitted and queued for editing. One will be an anthology of epic-sized-scenarios (each the same size as the ready-to-run adventures in the back of the core rulebook, ~50pp each). The other will be the highly-anticipated full sourcebook for William Hope Hodgson’s “Night Land” setting. For this, Kevin Ross has crafted a trio of amazing and imaginative journeys of exploration out into the pitch-black wastelands …
We are predicting both these books will be 2021 titles, with the scenario anthology arriving first. I don’t want to jinx things by setting actual release-dates yet, but rest assured we are working flat-out on getting these out there for folks to use in their Lovecraft and/or Post-Apocalypse games!
We’ve recently been stoked to see mention of APOCTHULHU turning up on several discussion boards and other RPG-related channels. As a micro-sized publisher, we don’t have a lot of funds (or indeed time) to devote to comprehensively advertising our game in all the different places that gamers lurk, so having some word-of-mouth recommendations out there is gold for us.
One interesting (and unexpected) theme that’s emerged from a few comments posted online is the idea of adapting APOCTHULHU to solo play (that is, for running by yourself without a GM). I guess the continued locked-down state of many parts of the world means that a lot more people are getting their gaming fix in this way … and the free (and we think pretty awesome) scenario at the back of the APOCTHULHU Quickstart makes a great self-contained solo game.
Or so it would seem based on this recent comment accompanying Bob V.G.’s 5-star review of the Quickstart on DTRPG:
This week, I soloed my way through APOCTHULHU Quickstart Rules. I used the Mythic Game Master Emulator as the solo engine. It is in a unique setting about a gritty life in a Lovecraftian Post-Apocalypse. I used the six characters that are included with the adventure. The adventure quest is to meet up with a scientist. When the characters get near the town, everything starts going wrong. While they were waiting for him to show up, they had time to explore a town for food and weapons. In the hardware store they found Adam Hanes, a teenager. They got some information from him and agreed to meet at his place later. After exploring for a few hours, they visited Adam and two things happened there, (1) Adam fell in love with the dog that was travelling with the adventurers and (2) Adam’s sister told them that the scientist was taken by the cultists. The dog was left with Adam and the characters went to the “Church of the Blessed Rain”. There was a huge shootout inside the farmhouse. The characters managed to kill the cult leader and three cultists. And then a grenade was thrown into the kitchen where the PCs were fighting. Mariano died. Sig was the second to die as they were escaping. They did not want to lead the remaining cultists to Adam, so they went back home. They were not able to find the scientist, so the quest failed. Maybe you will have better luck. This quickstart has 72 pages – 31 pages for the rules, 24 pages for the adventure, 13 pages for the characters, and 2 maps. It was designed for a game master and several players. Give this exciting adventure a try!
Bob V.G. on DriveThruRPG
Bob isn’t the only person who has thought of adapting APOCTHULHU for solo play … in fact we were most excited to see an entire product turn up on DriveThruRPG dedicated to just that purpose. “Sole Survivor” is a PDF written by Peter Rudin-Burgess who has a blog called Parts Per Million which somewhat specializes in solo RPG adaptations. While we haven’t seen a copy of Peter’s PDF, the video on the DTRPG page does sound quite intriguing.
Cthulhu Reborn 