How to write more
Every November, the Playhouse hosts a writing challenge. We gather a group of like-minded horror writers onto our Discord server and we challenge ourselves to write every day. After a challenging personal period where I’ve not been writing, I (Hedge) led from the front. Attempting to complete the first draft of a short Modern Cthulhu campaign titled ‘The Tontine’. Overall, I fell short of my goal of 30,000+ words in a month, landing somewhere in the region of 25,000 words. It became clear fairly early on that I wasn’t going to hit my goal, but I opted for a landing amongst the stars approach.
The Dream-Quest of the Playhouse
When the Miskatonic Playhouse was founded back in 2022, our aim was World Domination to play Community Content for Call of Cthulhu 7e. Each year we’ve been iterating and changing, searching for something to finally grant us peace from the haunting Call of Cthulhu. In 2025, under a deluge of requests to run more games, we focused on getting as many out as possible. 25 full scenarios, a bundle of interviews and panels, and a dozen short videos from Chaosium Con later, we have over 100 hours of content we’ve managed to put out into the world in just one short year.
Creating a catalogue of Mythos tomes
It is often said that every one of us has a good book inside us. Unfortunately, given the nature of some of the texts listed in this collection, this idiom may end up being more literal than desired. From memetic graffiti and maps of non-existent streets, to the wisdom of the Cats of Ulthar and a forbidden text written on the skin of the last reader, this supplement is a catalogue of the weird, powerful, and downright dangerous tomes of eldritch lore that are housed in the script library of the Miskatonic Playhouse.
Newman on Chaosium Con UK
Thursday
After a rather significant drive with my excited passenger, the venerable Mr The Cosmic Outpost, we arrived at the Con. It was a matter of mere minutes before I found myself swept into a conversation with the wonderful Mr Paul Fricker who later introduced me to the story machine that is Neil Robinson the Chaosium CEO and the Icelandic boys who were telling me all about the first courts of the vikings and its inspiration in Age of Vikings, which immediately set the tone for the weekend - talk to anyone, take an interest.
The Playhouse at Chaosium Con (2025)
Thursday
After hitting the open road, it wasn’t long before the shining towers (or, more correctly, the mid century brickwork) of Cranfield University hove into sight. I remember feeling some consternation when the venue was first announced: a business school in the wilds of Bedfordshire? But with a stout heart, I took my first steps on the terra incognita that was to be my home for the next few days. It took surprisingly little time to navigate the corridors of the venue, and I soon found myself in the company of friends both old and new, including Hedge, my roommate for the weekend.
‘The Day of the Beast’ campaign thoughts
At the beginning of October 2022, my gaming group and I met up in a pub in Bradford to complete the 40th and final session of ‘The Day of the Beast’ (DotB) (by Keith Herber et al., originally published as ‘The Fungi from Yuggoth’). It was the first long campaign we had played as a group, and a bit of a learning curve. Although not as flashy as MoN and HotOE, DoTB has its charms and its problems. To that end I thought I’d share my experiences for posterity, so that anyone thinking of running the campaign in the future can see what others have done. I hope it is useful.