Lovecraft Country

Return to Arkham

Lovecraft Country

Return to Arkham

Lovecraft Country

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Lovecraft Country

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Throughout its history, Arkham has been home to many strange occurrences, including witch burnings, Fortean phenomena, and bizarre rituals. Though all is not well in Arkham, life goes on there with at least a veneer of normalcy.

About the Comic

Ive been a fan of H.P. Lovecrafts works for at least ten years. Ive read almost all of his fiction, Howard & Smiths contemporary works, many of Derleths additions, Campbells wonderful Severn Valley stories, most of Robert Prices collections, and more. Ive got 17 feet of shelved Mythos books, running from Ackroyd (First Light) to Zelazny (A Night in the Lonesome October). Ive written chronologies and histories of the Mythos races and the Mythos world, which you can find in the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, and scattered online. Ive flown with the Fungi, danced with the Dark Young, and swum with the Star Spawn. Which is all a fancy way of saying that Im familiar with the horrors that haunt the Mythos and the dark places that they inhabit. And perhaps that makes it all the more surprising how little upfront horror there is in this comic. Certainly there is a Yellow Sign, some dark dreams, and the hints of something more, but no monster presents its scaly face to the readers of this comic, no protoplasmic prodigy lurches into view, even briefly. Instead the horror is left to the reader. And this is, I think, as it should be. Any true horror story is largely about the mundane, about our safe, rational, sane universe. About our world of 100-watt bulbs burning away the darkness. And then we see, on the edges, or perhaps hidden in the fabric of the sane world itself, something else. And there is the horror: the terror is in our rational world made unsafe. And this is the core of Skotos online game, Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night. The games motto is Act as if Nothing is Wrong, and its about an Arkham that pretends that horrors do not exist, that tries to go on with its own life. This is the mood that Ive tried to create in this comic as well. I should also admit that the comic is a bit of a teaser. It offers a brief look into the world of Miskatonic University, and I hope that you have enjoyed the beautifully portrayed black and white streets of Arkham. I think that the core story, of one person coming to terms with the true nature of the world, is a good Mythos tale. However the larger plot of what happens to Seth next, of whether he ever finds closure for his brothers death, can only be continued in one place: the online game. I invite you to the online streets of Arkham by Night, to discover therein your own truths. Return to Arkham is my first Mythos story. In looking through my writing archives I found a Dreamlands fragment I wrote years ago called When Death Came Knocking, but I could never get the poetry of the words right, and so I eventually discarded it. The heart of Lovecrafts Mythos has always been in the divers hands that have contributed to it over the last 80 years. Im pleased to now be two of them. --Shannon Appelcline, July 2005

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Return to Arkham

About the Setting

Lovecraft Country is set in the ancient and haunted New England town of Arkham, home to the prestigious Miskatonic University, one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Throughout its history, Arkham has been host to many strange occurrences, including witch burnings, Fortean phenomena, and bizarre rituals. Though all is not well in Arkham, life goes on there with at least a veneer of normalcy. Students attend classes by day and, at night, spend time with clubs, practicing sports, attending special lectures, or simply relaxing at the Garden Cafe or Dantes Pub. Residents of the town go about their lives acting as if nothing is wrong. Newland to attend and make sketches on a prestigious expedition to some ruins in Morocco. Embarking in the summer of 1928, Carlton never returned. Professor Julian Harding Former Professor of Archaeology. Arkham Sanitarium currently houses a deeply disturbed man who was once a respected and ambitious professor at Miskatonic University. Professor Harding led the ill-fated Moroccan expedition where Carlton Fletcher met his end. Alas, Professor Harding now remembers only disjointed snatches of what happened on that fateful journey. Professor Richard Newland Professor of Anthropology. A recognized scholar, Professor Newland has made a career out of espousing some of the more outre theories of human development. Regardless of his rather outspoken personal opinions, Newland is a highly respected anthropologist who publishes carefully-researched monographs on early and prehistoric cultures. Miskatonic University was a natural home to Professor Newlands continual interest in fringe theories about the sudden depopulation of Easter Island, the mysterious Pango-Pango tablets, and the obscure ritualistic worship practices of certain Sumatran tribes. Newland is a widely acknowledged expert on early Middle Eastern and African cultures, including Babylonians, Israelites, Egyptians, and Phoenicians. He accompanied the 1928 Moroccan expedition where Carlton Fletcher supposedly drowned.

The Characters
Seth Fletcher New Student. Seth came to Miskatonic University seeking his lost elder brother, Carlton, who had attended years before and who disappeared on an expedition to Morocco. He is a lanky and delicate-looking young man with dirty blonde hair, a fine example of vigorous New England breeding, both polite and intellectual. After arriving in the summer of 1933, Seth began to unravel the tangle of bureaucracy and obfuscation surrounding his missing brother. He decides to stay at Miskatonic University to get at the truth, a decision he may live to regret. Carlton Fletcher Former Student. The second eldest son in the Fletcher family, Carlton bore himself with grace and made friends easily. He was particularly skilled at art and was pursuing his study of archaeology when he was tapped by Professor Richard

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About the Game

A text-based, multiplayer, online role playing game, Lovecraft Country has a social rather than combat-oriented focus. The game recreates the horror genre thrills of settings inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft (1890 1937) and other authors who have followed in his style. Lovecraft Country currently offers two types of play. Arkham By Night is the main game where players will spend the majority of their time interacting and preparing for excursions across the globe. The setting recreates the Arkham of H. P. Lovecrafts writings and the popular Lovecraft Country role-playing game supplements for Call of Cthulhu, published by Chaosium. Arkham serves as a backdrop to the discovery of horrors both human and alien. Expeditions, such as In the Tomb of the Desert God, are almost separate subgames in Lovecraft Country. Expeditions allow your Arkham By Night character to depart with other player-run characters and professors for far-flung locales to experience dangers and adventure. An expedition may involve a trip to an African temple, a climb to a deserted mountaintop, an auction of rare occult artifacts in Russia, or a day trip to Boston. Expeditions may only take place during limited hours, depending on the nature of the trip. Arkham By Night is in its beta testing phase in the Summer of 2005, meaning that core systems are in place for game play while secondary systems are still under development and testing. The game is, however, open for regular players to enjoy.

Welcome to Arkham
The year is 1935, the height of the Great Depression in the United States. As the world wrestles with the rising horrors of Nazism and Fascism, the United States reels from a savagely devastated economy. Jobs and food and a roof over your head are valuable commodities that not everyone is lucky enough to have. You start the game as one of the privileged, a freshman student at Miskatonic University. It is a lovely night for a walk to Dantes Pub to meet your friends or a quick trip to the library to study for tomorrows chemistry test. The wide world seems full of promise and beckons you with its secrets and opportunities.

Gaming Style
Playing in Lovecraft Country requires a certain mindset. Like most of Lovecrafts settings, the world in which players will find their characters is essentially rational, or one which at least expects rational behavior in the context of early twentieth-century United States of America. The game world follows certain styles of gameplay that are important to understand before playing:

Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night Links

http://www.lovecraftcountry.com The main site, with info about the games and stages. http://www.lovecraftcountry.com/comic The online version of this comic, in a screen version or PDF. http://www.skotos.net/games A listing of all 15 of Skotos games, including prose adventure, strategy, and more.

24 Horror Lovecraft Country is a game of personal horror, more akin to a supernatural thriller or gothic novel than a slasher film. It emphasizes mood and atmosphere over blood and gore. Arkham is a town of crumbling buildings and armigerous New England families with tenuous bloodlines. Fear-shrouded secrets--not rampaging monsters that terrorize, and cut a violent swath through the town in plain sight-are the center of the game. Cooperation Players who create characters in Lovecraft Country will need to cooperate to survive in difficult circumstances. While you may at times need to pit your character against others, that will be the exception and not the norm. Arkham itself is relatively safe for those who do not look too closely, but expeditions outside of the town can be extremely perilous and carry a high risk of madness, death, or worse. Socialization The game emphasizes social interaction and role playing. You learn and advance by interacting with professors, joining student (and other) groups, and trying to earn a place on expeditions. Unlimited Hours Lovecraft Country: Arkham By Night is a Grand Theatre--a large-scale setting that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, in the Arkham By Night game setting, it is always nighttime. It is assumed that your character has spent the day attending to classes and study. At night, you are free to make your own appointments, attend special lectures, join clubs, go to sporting events, or simply socialize with close friends. Expeditions (excursions outside of

Return to Arkham Arkham) are an exception and may only be open for play during limited hours. Game play for expeditions may be set at day or night and will usually be limited to select groups of players whose characters have qualified for a special event.

Gaming Theme
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age. The Call of Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft Arkham By Night was designed with one dominant theme, that sometimes it is safer and saner to remain ignorant of truth than to seek, analyze, and understand even a fraction of the enormity of a mad, uncaring cosmos.

THE PORTAL INTO LOVECRAFT COUNTRY

Lovecraft Country Whether as a player you choose to have your character pursue the life of a relentless and intrepid Seeker of Truth or a retiring academic living a quiet life in Arkham, the world you experience will be one where, for most, ignorance is bliss and knowledge is hellish torture. Learning the secrets that underlie the founding of Arkham, the history of the earth, or the true nature of the universe may lead to paths of power, but knowledge has its price. Madness might claim your characters perceptions, separating him or her inextricably from the rest of humanity. Death from unexpected, primal, cosmic forces might swiftly visit to mete out an inglorious end. Or, in some cases, a horrific transformation may irrevocably change and utterly destroy both body and soul. Tantalizing, enticing mysteries may beg you to solve them. But do you dare to answer the call, despite the potentially dire consequences of that knowledge? There is a simple power, safety, and comfort if one will simply Act as if Nothing is Wrong.

25 At present, every player of Arkham By Night must start the game as a freshman student at Miskatonic University. As the game progresses beyond its beta test release, however, other, more complex and varied roles will be available, both mundane and occult.

Telling Stories
Arkham By Night is not a game where you will be running around with a shotgun, killing endless hordes of monsters and powering up. It is a more realistic sort of game about telling storiespersonal stories. The town of Arkham is a stage and you are an actor upon it. But rather than having a set script, the action is up to you. Sometimes, major events may occur to which your character may respond; but, more often, the drama and action that you create is your own, inspired by your characters interactions with other players characters. There are no clear-cut goals that players need to achieve in order to win. A story might have any number of outcomes, depending upon the actions of the players who become involved. The challenge arises from creating compelling, dramatic situations that bring your character to life. In essence, if you experience fulfilling role play, you have already won.

Playing Roles

A central concept of playing Arkham By Night is your adoption of a persona, a Role within the town of Arkham. Before you can play, you will be asked to create a character with a name, personality, skills, and physical descripArkham by Night Sources tion. Many people enjoy role playing for the opportunity to Adventures in Arkham Country (Chaosium) pretend to be someone H. P. Lovecrafts Arkham (Chaosium) completely unlike themH. P. Lovecrafts Dunwich (Chaosium) selvessomeone stronger or Miskatonic University (Chaosium) wiser; more truthful or decepMiskatonic U. Graduate Kit (Chaosium) tive. Others choose to adopt Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (Chaosium) Roles very close to their own personality and disposition, in At the Mountains of Madness (Arkham House) order to play out how they Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (Arkham House) might act under different The Dunwich Horror and Others (Arkham House) circumstances.

26 As you play, you may choose to set certain goals for your character. These goals may bring success or failure, and those successes or failures will affect the growth and complexity of your character. For example, in choosing a major field of study for your character, in studying the Ponape Scriptures for a magic spell, in investigating the disappearance of infants on every Walpurgisnacht, you may meet with success or abject failure after, sometimes, months of real-time game play. But the success or failure of these endeavors is less important than the ways in which the adversity affects your character. As you begin to play, you will have the opportunity to become involved in many of the stories already taking place in Arkham. Sometimes, if these are particularly large stories, they may be advertised ahead of time on the Lovecraft Country web site (http:// www.lovecraftcountry.com). However, you will probably be most affected by and more fully enjoy telling your own stories in Arkham, either on your own or with the cooperation of other players. Have you had a disagreement with a bully in your dormitory? Is the professor whose lectures you are attending impossible to please? Has your family been cursed with an evil spell that has brought you to Arkham to try and find its cure? Will you choose to join a club that your friends clearly disapprove of? What will happen? You are the hero of the piece. Or the villain, perhaps. The choice is yours. A staff of volunteer story plotters are frequently present to help provide ideas and support for running your stories. Occasionally, they will run broader, overarching tales that will involve large numbers of players, including adventures in Arkham and expeditions across the world and beyond.

Return to Arkham be-all and end-all of playing. Theres plenty of room for advancing your character in the town of Arkham. As you play, your characters skills and knowledge will increase over time. He or she may learn about Arkhams secrets or become deeply involved in university clubs, civic groups, or other interesting, less publicised societies. He or she may advance in class standing, graduate, and proceed to graduate school or even a professorship. As the game develops, you will have the opportunity to play characters who live and work in Arkham or nearby towns such as Innsmouth, Dunwich, or Kingsport. Of course, the loftiest achievements come only to those willing to take risks. In Arkham By Night, great power or success may also separate a character from the rest of humanity. Madness, disease, corruption, and mutation are possible outcomes whenever a character pursues forbidden knowledge. Your character may choose a safer path instead, defining success by more earthly, less inherently perilous sorts of power.

Meeting Friends
Like other game offerings from Skotos, Arkham By Night is designed for multiple players over the Internet, and so it is composed of a global community of players. When you play, youll be doing more than just telling stories, playing roles and seeking out success. Youll also be meeting real people who are interested in interactive fiction, role playing, and gothic horror stories.

Playing the Game

Arkham By Night runs on your computer on most Internet browsers and is text-based with the exception of a small graphical window that provides a map of your characters immediate surroundings. Since the interface is based on textual descriptions of everything, the games success is based to a large degree on the words you choose to describe your actions,

Seeking Success
Though important to Arkham By Night, role playing and cooperative story-telling arent the

Lovecraft Country not on the power of your video card. Arkham By Night is about role playing in a creepy setting, and the textual description helps your imagination to play a large part in ways that graphics could never manage. Parsers and Imperatives The parser is the part of the Arkham By Night game that figures out what you mean when you type in a command. It expects commands to be delivered to it as imperatives (in real life, words like Stop! or Wait!). Youre telling your character what to do. Theres no need to include a pronoun like you or I because the system automatically adds it:
> stop You stop.

27 mands like these:

> go north > smile happily at professor > slyly wink to third police officer

Hundreds of commands can be used to say things in Arkham By Night. For instance, you can state, question, mumble, or shout. Use the command that best conveys your characters emotions. After the verb, put what you want to say in quotation marks:
> say I think youll like it here You say, I think youll like it here. > whisper to pin Give me a tattoo? You whisper to Pin Liou, Give me a tattoo?

When you type something like this, all of the other players in the game who are nearby will see a short sentence naming your character and the action he or she performs:
Seth Fletcher stops.

Finally, you can attach spoken evocations to many gestures, like frown, smile, or wink. This allows you to speak while engaged in another activity:
> smile broadly, Hello, my friend! You smile broadly, Hello, my friend!

Commands should be simple, singular thoughts. A complex command might involve a verb, an adverb, a preposition, an adjective, and a noun (wave tiredly to a tall student), but not much more. Arkham By Nights parser system can understand simple comWELCOME TO ARKHAM BY NIGHT You are in ancient, mouldering, witch-cursed, legend-haunted Arkham, whose huddled, sagging gambrel roofs and crumbling Georgian balustrades brood out the centuries beside the darkly muttering Miskatonic River. The year is 1935, at the height of the Great Depression that has devastated the economy and ravaged the spirit of the United States. Act as if nothing is wrong. You inhabit Seth Hansom Fletcher. Seth Hansom Fletcher enters the world. It is Tuesday, the 12nd of July, 1935, sometime at night. [OOC - 4:54pm ET] A dark section of lawn near the center of campus.

You can find more complete online tutorials for getting acclimated to Arkham By Night and its game systems at http:// www.lovecraftcountry.com/home/help/. You can also find more detail about the game setting, including in-game happenings, history, and background, by registering for the site and visiting its Community and Games channels.

Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night uses a prose-oriented browser. A map of the nearby area eases navigation, while drop-down menus can be used to instantly access common commands.

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Return to Arkham

In this Comic: Seth enters Arkham at the Train Station (across the river). He visits with Professor Newland at Atwood Hall (the Science building) and then checks in at the Hotel Miskatonic, on the edge of campus. The Arkham Sanitarium, where Professor Harding is staying, is on the far side of town, past the River (explaining why Seth decides to take a room first). Seths visit to a graveyard takes him to the Hill Street Burying Ground. Blake Street, named after author Robert Blake, is also off this map.

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