Smoke Green: Another Fine Miskatonic Mystery

We are delighted to announce the publication of the third in our popular Miskatonic Mysteries series of scenarios playable using the Cthulhu Eternal Jazz Age SRD. This one is titled “Smoke Green” and written by the super-talented Noah Lloyd — you can grab it right now over on DriveThruRPG.

This Arkham-based scenario is one of my personal favourites, in part because I have run it LOADS of times at different gaming conventions around the world (and elsewhere). It was one of our featured games at Necronomicon 2019 in Providence, and also memorably run as part of the Yog-Sothoth.com online convention in 2020.

Smoke Green presents protagonists with an intriguing mystery. Something odd is going on in Arkham. The founder and president of Reinhart Cigarettes, a popular brand that recently opened a curious pyramid-shaped factory/HQ down by the Arkham docks, has been murdered!

Reinharts have a curious selling point: the smoke from them has a curious green color. The manufacturers are famously secretive about what makes their cigarettes unique. Could it be that a rival tobacco has gone to the extraordinary length of murdering the company president … just to find the formula? Or is this somehow tied to the strong support Reinhart’s head honcho has been giving to one of the candidates in Arkham’s bitterly-fought Mayoral race?

The protagonists are hired by the current Mayor to clear him of any involvement … but is there more going on here than anyone imagines? Is there something … uncanny … at work? Something with a Mythos flavor? Only by investigating this most baffling of cases, will the truth be uncovered.

Reinhart Cigarettes: the only cigarette with an emerald smoke

The scenario is available right now over on DriveThruRPG. As with all of our Miskatonic Mysteries, the adventure is written in a way that offers the GM three possible Mythos backstories, each with additional clues and a thrilling conclusion. Pick the one you like … or run the scenario multiple times using different options.

The Yellow Sign Wants to be Free

Recently we saw an online post from an advertising manager at a well-known game publisher reminding people that any use of the well-known (Kevin Ross designed) depiction of the Robert Chambers “Yellow Sign” is subject to Intellectual Property constraints. They own the rights to said symbol.

We cannot argue that what those marketing people are saying is true … except that is only PART of the story. It neglects to mention that more recently, a far more benevolent publisher (the ever-amazing Pelgrane Press) commissioned a re-designed version of the Yellow Sign for their super-classy “Yellow King” TTRPG … and true to their community-minded nature, THEY decided to release their version of the foul sigil into the Public Domain.

So … yes … if you’re looking to publish something based on Robert Chamber’s vision you COULD pay a game company for the right to use a well-known version of The Yellow Sign … but honestly why would you when there is a perfectly good alternate version that you can get for free?

And the Yellow Sign WANTS to be free!