Big in Japan

For once the YouTube algorithm kicked out a banger.

If you're a Call of Cthulhu tabletop player you're probably aware the game has a huge following in Japan.  What I never actually grasped is that Chaosium's creation effectively is tabletop roleplaying there.  The Weird Place channel has a great look at some of the cultural quirks that made that happen.  

There's a lot to digest here.  I was vaguely aware of how important "Record of the Lodoss War" was to popularizing pen and paper RPGs, but never realized CoC campaign recaps were so insanely popular with the Japanese fanbase.  More importantly, now I know why a Japanese schoolgirl and her friends pop up whenever I Google "Nyarlathotep".

 

Giant Cthulhu Animatronic

Thanks to Alibaba, you can purchase a massive animatronic Cthulhu from the Gengu Dinosaurs Technology Company in China.  Just $6,380, not including shipping.  It's a goofy sculpt, but the fact it exists at all is absolutely mind-boggling.  Click through on the link to see a video of this beast in action.

What a time to be alive. 

 

Wilbur Whately

 

It was partly human, beyond a doubt, with very man-like hands and head, and the goatish, chinless face had the stamp of the Whateleys upon it. But the torso and lower parts of the body were teratologically fabulous, so that only generous clothing could ever have enabled it to walk on earth unchallenged or uneradicated.

- H.P. Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror 

This incredible sculpt of Wilbur Whately from Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror" comes to us from professional motion picture makeup artist and designer Joel Harlow.  I'd love to see this maquette translated into a CGI creature.

 

Shrunken Head

MonsterLabs Studios is back with this excellent recreation of a traditional tsanta, or shrunken head.  What really sells this is the pore work on the skin.

 

 

Mask of the Black Pharaoh

"Then down the wide lane betwixt the two columns a lone figure strode; a tall, slim figure with the young face of an antique Pharaoh, gay with prismatic robes and crowned with a golden pshent that glowed with inherent light. Close up to Carter strode that regal figure; whose proud carriage and swart features had in them the fascination of a dark god or fallen archangel, and around whose eyes there lurked the languid sparkle of capricious humour."

- H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

The talented Creadores a Sueldo brings us the mask of Nephren-Ka, the Black Pharoah, one of the thousand forms of Nyarlathotep.

 

Cthulhu in Bone

This is a first.  Dolan Carag returns to our pages with this WIP Cthulhu mask crafted from real bone and horn.  

 

Hydrocephalic Skull Specimen

This massive hydrocephalic skull specimen comes to us from professional artist Tom Kuebler.  You really need to open the full sized pictures in another tab to appreciate the level of detail.  The second picture in particular gives you a great look at a small, but telling part of the sculpt- the deformation of the skull sutures created by the massive cranial vault.

 

Mummified Dryad

Umbrateca returns to our pages with this wonderfully creepy mounted mummified dryad.

 

 

Cthulhu in Ebony

Samudra Art brings us this Cthulhu figurine hand-carved from ebony.  I would lose my mind trying to do something this delicate.

 

 

Quick and Dirty Dossiers

The novelty site PhotoFunia has a pretty nifty "Spy Dossier" generator.  Fill in the blanks, upload a photo, and you can download a great handout for a character or NPC.

 

 

The Sunsword

Akoloutheo77 brings us this recreation of the Sunsword from the "Curse of Strahd" Dungeons and Dragons campaign.  He downloaded the basic form from Thingiverse (I think he used this model from screenowl), tweaked the shape and added more details, printed it out in a combination of PLA and resin, then finished it off with paint and a pair of inset faux gems.

 

The Devil's Dowry

This over-the-top handout for a tabletop Dungeons and Dragons game comes to us from professional graphic designer Stormageadon.  A fantastic piece of work, both in the aesthetic and plot-supporting sense.

 

I was asked to design a libretto to accompany a theater heist that's happening in Waterdeep in my girlfriend's campaign. 

I styled it off of late 19th century showbills, borrowing the art of the devil from a 1930s pulp novel. It was built entirely in Photoshop, in my experience in graphic design, finding a good font is 80% of the battle and I relied heavily on Hermann Ihlenburg’s typefaces for inspiration. 

One of the biggest challenges with designing something like this is that a lot of the very fun and engaging titles were all drawn by hand, which meant me doing a similar thing, drawing everything with Sharpie and scanning it and then tweaking it to make it look more contemporary. All in all, this is the result of about five and a half hours of work, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

 

 

 

Great Cthulhu

I'm normally not a fan of Cthulhu toys, but this idol from Altar Toys is an exception.  Despite the color scheme (and it's available in even more finishes best described as "eye-catching"), I really like the sculpt. 

 

 

Shaman's Belt

Ordacraft of Brutal Workshop returns to our pages with this WIP shaman's belt.  I love the wonderful blend of textures between the soft textile elements and the bones and teeth.

 

 

Carved Cthulhu

This carved wooden Cthulhu idol comes to us from Ukrainian artist Luna Wood Workshop.  It's rare indeed that we get an idol that doesn't have a stone or metal finish.  Ones made from actual wood are few and far between.