[Call of Cthulhu] Crack'd and Crook'd Manse (Again!)

There's an old holiday tradition, not oft practiced in these debased times, of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve.

Now it's a few days after that date, but - as the Esoteric Order takes this weekend off for the winter holidays (and to roll their skill checks and make their aging rolls) - we wanted to present you, the listener, with a treat in the vein of that august Christmas Eve activity.

Esoteric Order members David S. and Scott co-host a biweekly midnight radio show at our local college radio station, and every once in a while they turn their microphones over to doing a real-time live-play of an RPG scenario. This past Thanksgiving Eve, they invited some friends of the Order to join them in a play-through of "Crack'd and Crook'd Manse", a scenario the Order has tackled once before.

So please enjoy this holiday treat; the usual Great Pendragon Campaign posts will resume next week.



Featuring:

David S.
Joseph
Russell
Stephen

With Scott White as the Keeper of Arcane Lore.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 523 - In Search of Merlin

Merlin's back! Or his he? A search for the old wizard leads our heroes down many unexpected paths.



Featuring:

Renae
Jen
Jade
Dave S.
And…Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 522 - Four of Your Finest Kittens

The Order of Dragonslayers is again on the trail of a foul wyrm, this one dwelling far to the north near the village of Lambton. But are they prepared to pay the price to defeat it?



Featuring:

Renae
Jen
Jade
Dave S.
And…Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 521 - For the Love of Morgan

After years of plotting behind the scenes, Morgan le Fay makes her move--and one of the player-knights is right at the center of her deadly plans...



Featuring:

Renae
Jen
Dave S.
And…Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 520 - Wyrmsbane

Following on from their adventures in the Penines last year, Archade and his companions elect to pursue the so-called Dolorous Wyrm of the Forest of Dean. Meeting at Sir Edern's manor in Gloucester, they plunge off on the hunt, bound for death or glory...



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Jen
Dave S.
And…Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 519 - Into the Dragon's Den

Following the events of Badon Hill, Count Cynrain returns to Salisbury to honor the final request of his oldest friend. This simple mission leads to a far stranger quest, however.



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Jen
Dave S.
And…Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] Great Pendragon Campaign - An Adversarial Interlude

Due to a combination of illness, travel, and bad weather, we were forced to cancel our planned session for this week. Instead, we bring you our resident adversary as she sits down to create a new character to torment the players with, and to discuss future adversarial plans. Obviously, if you're a player in this campaign, light spoilers abound. All you other listeners, please enjoy!

We will (weather and health permitting) be back to our regular schedule next week!

[Cthulhu-a-thon '14] Episode Three: Progeny's Nightmare - World of Darkness: Innocents

It's been a long-standing tradition among certain of the more august members of the Esoteric Order to do up a big horror gaming extravaganza around Halloween every year. Since time immemorial, this event has been referred to as the "Call-of-Cthulhu-a-thon"...even if no actual CoC is run that day.

Last year, we did one big six-hour scenario. This year we decided to go for the "rock festival" approach and offer several smaller scenarios over the course of a day and let folks filter in and out as the mood struck them.

The third and final scenario, run by David S., is a homebrew for World of Darkness: Innocents based on a nightmare he had recently.

Fair warning: the fact that this came at the end of a long day of tense horror gaming and near-constant junk food snacking, along with all of us getting into the characters of playing 12-year-olds, made for some pretty punchy gameplay. Still and all, lots of creeptastic fun was to be had. Enjoy!



*Featuring*

Scott
David L.
Des
Jade
Brendan

[Cthulhu-a-thon '14] Episode Two: "Digging Up a Dead God" - Achtung Cthulhu

It's been a long-standing tradition among certain of the more august members of the Esoteric Order to do up a big horror gaming extravaganza around Halloween every year. Since time immemorial, this event has been referred to as the "Call-of-Cthulhu-a-thon"...even if no actual CoC is run that day.

Last year, we did one big six-hour scenario. This year we decided to go for the "rock festival" approach and offer several smaller scenarios over the course of a day and let folks filter in and out as the mood struck them.

The second scenario, run by David L. and originally written for Call of Cthulhu, was run using the Achtung Cthulhu rules and features a fun little romp in which all the PCs are Nazis... Enjoy!



*Featuring*

Renae
Scott
David S.
Des
Jade
Brendan

[Cthulhu-a-thon '14] Episode One: "The Millionaire's Special" - Trail of Cthulhu

It's been a long-standing tradition among certain of the more august members of the Esoteric Order to do up a big horror gaming extravaganza around Halloween every year. Since time immemorial, this event has been referred to as the "Call-of-Cthulhu-a-thon"...even if no actual CoC is run that day.

Last year, we did one big six-hour scenario. This year we decided to go for the "rock festival" approach and offer several smaller scenarios over the course of a day and let folks filter in and out as the mood struck them.

The first scenario is for Trail of Cthulhu, and was run by Jen in her debut as a Gamemaster for the group. Enjoy!



*Featuring*

David L.
David S.
Des
Jade
Brendan

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 518 - The Battle of Badon Hill

In this special super-sized episode, the greatest of Salisbury's knights march to war under King Arthur's banner against an old, implaccable foe...

"From that time, the citizens were sometimes victorious, sometimes the enemy, in order that the Lord, according to His wont, might try in this nation the Israel of to-day, whether it loves Him or not. This continued up to the year of the siege of Badon Hill, and of almost the last great slaughter inflicted upon the rascally crew." - Gildas



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Jen
Dave S.
And…Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 517 - Grim Tidings

Arthur returns north with a full army in tow this time to finish what was started last year. But it's not just the Saxons in the North who have been busy, as the player-knights discover when they return to Salisbury...



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Jen
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

The source of all our giggling about "ch'arki" towards the end of the session can be found at this link, home to a pretentiously "artisanal" brand of beef jerky I was ranting about before the session recording started.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 516 - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Wedding

This year begins and ends with weddings, but it's what happens between the two events that bodes most ominously for times ahead.



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Jen
Dave S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 515 - The Grey Knight (Part II)

The quest to save the good name of King Arthur and the kingdom continues as the Salisbury crew travels the world and elsewhere in a desperate race against time...and it becomes increasingly apparent that some agent is working at cross-purposes to their objectives.



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Jen
Dave S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 515 - The Grey Knight (Part I)

Arthur's Easter tournament takes an unexpectedly dark turn as heinous accusations are levied against him from a horrifying source. In response, the knights of the land take on a great quest in a race against time to save the king's good name.



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Jen
Dave S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 514 - A Marvelous Wedding

With his throne secure, Arthur chooses a wife. The ensuing wedding is nothing like what anyone in attendance was expecting…



Featuring:

Renae
Jen
Dave S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 513 - The Fields of Terrabil

A strange tragedy galvanizes the northern kings, and they march south under the banner of King Lot to quash the Boy King once and for all. In the midst of the ensuing slaughter, our intrepid heroes are busy fighting their own battles upon the bloody fields of Terrabil, and a great warlord arises from among their ranks...



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Jen
Dave S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Trail of Cthulhu] The Black Drop

The Order is taking a break from its regularly-scheduled Pendragon game this week (no fears - we'll be back next week), so I'm posting a Trail of Cthulhu one-shot I ran about six months back. This one's actually two short sessions edited together into one big one - bargain!



Featuring:

Jen
Jade
Dave S.
And...Happy and Max the Dogs

Tonight's adventure can be purchased here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 512 - For Dole and Sorrow

A local miracle brings King Arthur to Salisbury, and the knights find out that things are never quiet or predictable when Arthur's around...



Featuring:

Renae
Jen
Dave S.

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 511 - Retribution

A young king sits on the throne, promulgating strange new ideas of knighthood, yet the ghosts of the past continue to haunt Salisbury and its knights. A triptych of mediations on retribution and the quality of mercy.



Featuring:

Jade
Jen
Dave S.

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

Pictures of the dioramas mentioned in this episode can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 510 - The Year of Three Battles

We wrap up the year 510 with the Boy King Arthur desperately defending his newly-won crown against the challenge of King Lot and his allies from the north. "Blood! Blood! Blood!"



Featuring:

Jade
Jen
Renae
Dave S.

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Years 509 and 510 - The Sword in the Stone

Salisbury is under the boot of Saxon domination, its ruler just a young boy. A tournament is called in London to find the rightful king at long last. But who shall it be, and how will Salisbury fare?



Featuring:

Jade
Jen
Renae
Dave S.
And…Edie the Dog.

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 508 - A Mixed Bag of Death

It’s a battle for the future of Logres as King Nanteleod and King Cerdic face off at Netley Marsh, with the fate of Salisbury in particular hanging in the balance.



Featuring:

Jade
Brendan
Jen
Renae
Dave S.
And…Edie the Dog.

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 507 - The Dragon of Norton Fitzwarren

A vision from Amesbury Abbey guides the knights to the site of a long-forgotten battle in the wilds of Somerset, and the ancient evil that slumbers there. But beyond the timeless marshes, the machinations of ambitious men may be spelling doom for Salisbury...



Featuring:

Jade
Jen
David S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 506 - The Tournament of Wandborough

In an effort to stave off war, Countess Ellen and Duke Chaleins arrange a tournament for Cornwall and Escavalon, and our plucky band of knights are invited to come along for the big show.



Featuring:

Brendan
Jade
Jen
David S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 505 - Back to the Swamp

Cornwall calls upon its allies, and once more the player-knights must venture into the treacherous swamps of Somerset. But neither is all well at home, as Salisbury once again finds itself under threat from its former ally...



Featuring:

Brendan
Jade
Jen
Renae
David S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Years 503 and 504 - Enter Cornwall

This session features a one-two punch of two game years, over the course of which alliances shift, sieges are fought, an old friend returns, and another departs forever.



Featuring:

Jen
Renae
David S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 502 - Black Annis

Various and sundry cancellations left us with our smallest group yet, but that didn't stop Salisbury's finest from taking a detour to confront the cannibal hag Black Annis, where they learned the hard way why she was so feared by the locals.



Featuring:

Renae
David S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 501 - The Big Pict-ure

There's a royal wedding in the offing, and Salisbury's finest are tapped to escort the bride to her destination. But can they survive the locals when they venture "beyond the wall"?



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
David S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 500 - Of Horses and Rabbits and Ravens

In the wake of Cynrain's departure, the remaining knights of Salisbury travel far and wide outside their county borders...and things get pretty weird.



Featuring:

Brendan
Renae
David S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 499 - Return to Sauvage

A bloody siege in Rydychan leads the knights back into the dark depths of the Forest Sauvage, where many strange wonders await.



Featuring:

Brendan
Jade
David S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 498 - Merely the Continuation of Policy by Other Means

The knights of Salisbury get political this year, choosing sides, supporting factions…and raising armies and launching invasions!? Yep.



Featuring:

Brendan
Jade
Renae
Jen

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 496 - Anarchy! (Part II) and Year 497 - The Knight of the Tusks

We get a two-fer this episode, as the group finishes up their quest in the Forest Sauvage then moves on to Year 497, where many surprises await.



Featuring:

Brendan
Jade
Renae
David S.
Jen
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 496 - Anarchy! (Part I)

With the leaders of Logres dead, anarchy reigns throughout the kingdom, leaving the knights of Salisbury to decide where their loyalties lie, and who to side with. All this, and a monstrous baby, too.



Featuring:

Brendan
Jade
Renae
David S.
Jen
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

Swanky New Logo

My dad is a fine artist and graphic designer, so I've been bugging him for a while to take my painfully amateurish logo for the Esoteric Order and clean it up a bit. He finally made room in his busy schedule and boy, did he ever clean it up! I art-directed plenty of suitably esoteric references, and I couldn't be more pleased with how things turned out.

The group is now emailing back and forth, deciding on which objects and clothes they want to slap the logo onto via Cafe Press. We'll be suitably big pimpin' soon.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 495 - The Battle of St. Albans

It's make-or-break time for King Uther and his army as Octa and Eosa once again invade Logres. Can the ailing king pull out a victory?



Featuring:

Brendan
Jade
Renae
David S.
Jen
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 494 - Estregales

Salisbury's finest are once again tasked with a diplomatic mission at the behest of their ailing king. Wulfram's singing voice is missed sorely. Leaves are collected.



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Dave S.
Brendan
And…Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 493 - Malahaut

Salisbury's greatest knights escort their Earl to Malahaut, where all is not as it seems. Back home, they find even more woes awaiting...



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Dave S.
Brendan
Jen
And…Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 492 - The Trial

The knights are asked to help Merlin once more, but this time suffer grave consequences for their actions.



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Dave S.
Brendan
Jen
And…Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] The Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 491 - Tintagel

Uther's fragile alliance with Gorlois collapses, and the PCs find themselves witnesses to history in the making.



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Dave S.
Laura
Jen
And…Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 490 - The Fields of Lindsey

The gathering storm clouds of war finally break open...and rain blood.



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Dave S.
Brendan
Jen
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 489 - The Kingdom of the Circle of Gold

Clouds of war continue to gather, although not from the expected directions. An enchanted kingdom is uncovered. Rules for death and dying are consulted.



Featuring:

Jade
Renae
Dave S.
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 488 - Against the Franks

The long-promised invasion of the continent finally comes, and the PCs get a taste of the grim realities of Dark Ages warfare.



Featuring:

Jen
Jade
Brendan
Dave S.

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] Great Pendragon Campaign - A Poetical Interlude

With both GMs unavailable due to travel plans, the group takes a break from its regular schedule this week. But fear not! We've got some poetry to tide you over. . .



The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 487 - Northern Embassy

Merlin has a present for King Uther, and, as the player knights' reputation waxes strong, Uther decides to take an embassy north to pay a visit to some old friends...



Featuring:

Jen
Jade
Brendan
Renae

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 486 - Sword Lake

With most of the group newly knighted, what should be a routine patrol of the county's borders leads to an encounter with Merlin himself…and to bloodshed and madness.



Featuring:

Jen
Jade
Dave S.
Renae
And...Edie the Dog

The campaign's wiki can be found here.

[Pendragon] Great Pendragon Campaign: Year 485 - The Battle of Mearcred Creek

Earl Roderick nominates three of the squires for knighthood, and they are baptized in the fire of battle at a small waterway called Mearcred Creek. Also, there is much talk of sweetmeats.



Featuring:

David S.
Jade
Renae

[Pendragon] Great Pendragon Campaign: Character Creation and Introduction

The group convenes, characters are created. The introductory scenario from the rulebook is run. Two animals with names starting with “b” are slain.



Featuring:

David S.
Jade
Jen
Renae

[World of Darkness] Session Four

The intrepid crew of The Oracle do their best to figure out the cause behind a string of assaults and murders now sweeping San Kaissa, but not everyone makes it through intact. The conclusion of the story arc.



Featuring:
David L.
Jen
Renae
Des
Jade
And…Edie the Dog

[Call of Cthulhu] Crack'd and Crook'd Manse

A classic-era Call of Cthulhu one-shot in which a group of investigators go out to a crumbling mansion to check up on a missing millionaire. What could possibly go wrong?



Featuring:
Jen
Renae
Des
Jade
Brendan
And…Edie the Dog

[World of Darkness] Session Three

The Oracle crew continue their investigations and the body count continues to grow. Will one of our own be the next to die?



Featuring:
David L.
Jen
Renae
Des
Jade
Brendan
And...Edie the Dog

[World of Darkness] Session Two

We cut the character creation portion from the recording, since it was mostly people reading and writing and asking brief questions, but we kicked off the campaign proper with an ensemble of folks in the employ of supernatural-investigation news site The Oracle heading out to drum up details on a potential story.



Featuring:
David L.
Jen
Renae
Des
Jade
And...Edie the Dog

[World of Darkness] Session One

The start of a short campaign, a prelude featuring pre-generated characters.



Featuring:
David L.
Jen
Des
Jade
And...Edie the Dog