Tome of Strahd

It's been interesting to watch the "Curse of Strahd" campaign for Dungeons and Dragons become the equivalent of Chaosium's "Masks of Nyarlathotep".  Both are lengthy, multi-part adventures driven in large part by a plethora of documents and handouts, and gamemasters have embraced expanding the sheer number of props for players to interact with.

This recreation of the "Tome of Strahd" from AdSuccessful1184 is a good example.  They used an off-the-shelf leather journal from Amazon as the base, then customized it with both printed and pasted in pages.  The results are pretty impressive.  Click through on the link above to see an entire gallery of the tome with a lot more of the interior pages. 

 

 

Idol of Ra

The latest pagan idol from Slagovir is this carved wooden depiction of Ra, the ancient Egyptian god of the sun.  I really like how he incorporates the traditional ship of the sun into the design. 

 

Give My Regards to Broadway

Pomchop returns to our pages with another collection of excellent handouts.  This time it's for "Great Old Ones on the Great White Way" from Chaosium: 

I’ve just run ‘Great Old Ones on the Great White Way’ as a one-shot for some theatrical/roleplaying friends. Here are the handouts I made for the game. Unfortunately the investigators didn’t find them all, but they go to the bottom of the mystery with one indefinite insanity and no deaths.

For those of you who don’t know the scenario, it was originally printed in the Chaosium halloween monograph ‘Dead Leaves Fall’ and features a missing actress and a fishy broadway show. I feel to get the most out of the scenario the players should have a knowledge of musical theatre which, thankfully, my group did. It went down well and took 4 1/2 hours to run (with breaks).

He's very kindly made all of them available for free.  You'll find a PDF with most of them over here, while the playbill for the show is over here.

 

 

Crime in Arkham

I'm shocked, simply shocked, to discover bootleggers are active in the beautiful city of Arkham, Massachusetts.  Abraham Marsh of El Primo de Innsmouth reveals the awful truth with these pictures of his ne'er-do-well cousin smuggling illegal liquor disguised as bottles of maple syrup.  

 

 

Clickity Clack

"Brave-as-a-noun" went completely old school to produce props for a new Call of Cthulhu campaign.  He used an actual vintage typewriter to produce teaser messages that he then mailed to his players.  That's insanely cool. 

 

Clay Tablet Props

Avason created these clay tablet props for a Dungeons and Dragons adventure.  The process was pretty straight forward.  They rolled out a sheet of polymer clay, sculpted the raised figures, then used a toothpick to engrave the writing.  The results demonstrate a pretty high effort/reward ratio. 

 

Glue Gun Wax Seals

There are few things more evocative in a tabletop RPG session than a hand-written letter with an impressed wax seal.  The only problem is that traditional melted wax can be tricky, not to mention messy, to work with.*  As an alternative, artist Katrina Crouch has an incredibly detailed tutorial on how to create them with a glue gun.  It's aimed at brides doing their own wedding invitations, but the techniques are equally applicable to prop use. 

 *Personally, I also have some concerns about the safety of sealing wax.  Most of the commercially available products are manufactured in China and carry a non-zero risk of being contaminated with lead and other heavy metals.  I religiously use a respirator, but that just adds to the hassle factor of prepping a prop document. 

The Bound Prince

Ebrahel Lurci brings us Lucifer, the Bound Prince.  Another wonderfully creepy piece combining a wildly imaginative sculpt with with a worn and weathered patina.

 

 

Cthulhu Fhtagn! Nigeqb Edition

This cool little Cthuhu idol comes to us from Nigeqb.  Sculpted in epoxy resin with a very cool opalescent finish. 

 

Grimoire of the Skull

Another glorious example of tomecraft from MilleCuirs.  His latest grimoire features a hand-tooled leather cover and custom skull hardware.

 

 

Seraph's Needle

The talented Jason Soles of God's Below returns to our pages with his latest jewelry piece, Seraph's Needle.  Made from cast bronze and inset with a hessonite garnet cabochon. 

 

 

Great Cthulhu

Manas SUM brings us this massive, 14" tall Cthulhu idol sculpted by Yoneyama Keisuke.  It's a beautiful design made even more impressive by the incredible paint job.  The only negative are those long, delicate tentacles.  They make me extremely nervous about how it will survive shipping. 

 

And My Axe!

Artedarme Workshop brings us this Mythos-themed LARP axe, complete with swirling tentacles on the shaft, strange runic inscriptions, the sigil of the Necronomicon on the blade, and an embossed Elder Sign on the pommel. 

 

Making Hieroglyphic Tablets

Jake Hellbach has posted a detailed look at how he created Egyptian hieroglyphic tablets for an upcoming video project.  The end results are impressive.

 

Hail to the King

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.

Stranger: Indeed?

Cassilda: Indeed, it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.

Stranger: I wear no mask. 

Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda) No mask? No mask!

 - Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

I have a deep and abiding fondness for those that dare to clothe themselves as the King in Yellow.  This take from KMK Designs is an absolute banger of a costume.  There's so much to like here.  The frayed and tattered robe, the embroidered glyphs, and that mask.  When you look at the closeup shot you realize the empty hood is actually a maw lined with dozens of human teeth. 

 

"Day of the Beast" Handouts

In many ways, "Day of the Beast" from Chaosium is the little brother of "Masks of Nyarlathotep".  Both were originally published back in 1984 ("Day of the Beast" as "The Fungi from Yuggoth") and involved a globe spanning fight against creatures of the Mythos.  In the case of "Beast" that was the Mi-Go, as the original title gave away.

Over on Reddit, Pomchop put together a plethora of handouts for their running of the adventure.  Even better, they've made all of that impressive prep work available for free.  Yet another example of the awesomeness of the "Call of Cthulhu" community. 

 

Mounted Tommyknocker

"The Knocker, Knacker, or Tommyknocker (US) is a mythical, subterranean, gnome-like creature in Cornish and Devon folklore. The Welsh counterpart is the coblyn. It is closely related to the Irish leprechaun, Kentish kloker and the English and Scottish brownie."

- Wikipedia 

Despite their propaganda, there are vanishingly few beneficial fae.  One of the few helpful types are the Knockers that dwell in mines.  This example of the North American Tommyknocker comes to us from Caleb Volek of Wendigo Oddities. 

 

Great Cthulhu

Raven Rachelstone brings us this traditional-style Cthulhu idol.   

 

Dragon Trophy

 

 

What better accessory for your gaming room than a massive, mounted dragon head?  This monstrous 46 inch long beast comes to us from Lozthegreat over on Reddit.  Click through on the link for a full description of the build process and over a dozen additional pictures of the final product.
 

The Great Old One

James Ewing just started experimenting with metal casting, and was kind enough to share his very first piece- this nicely done Cthulhu design in pewter. 

 

Shaman's Mask

Brutal Workshop returns to our pages with this fantastic shaman's mask.  I love the contrast of the brown organic elements and the squamous texture of the mask itself.  It's rare indeed that I get to use that wonderfully Lovecraftian word in the proper context.

 

 

'Tis the Season

Halloween is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than a trip to Innsmouth?  The Haunted Rose is an over-the-top home haunt heavily inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, including an entire section set in the quaint seaside town that serves as the setting for "The Shadow Over Innsmouth".  You can check out their full gallery over here, or attend the event in person October 31st and November 1st in Whittier, California. 

 

Rosicrucian Tome

Professional bookbinder AlexLibris returns with this bespoke Rosicrucian-themed tome.  Hand bound in a tooled leather cover with custom hardware and embossment. 

 

 

Cthulhu Ritual Dagger

 This well done Cthulhu ritual dagger comes to us from artist Travis Holmes.

 

 

Nemini Parco

 This creepy mask celebrating the duality of life and death comes to us from Mor Design.  

 

 

Dead Fairy Specimen

Grim Reliquary brings us this outstanding dead fairy specimen.  The sculpted anatomical detail is stunning, particularly in comparison to similar figures made with cheap plastic skeletons.  Nothing wrong with that sort of thing, but this kind of work is on a totally different level.  The only thing I'm not crazy about is the apparently AI-generated background artwork.

 

 

Elder Dragon Fang

The talented Burned Raven Tales returns to our pages with this Elder Dragon Fang trophy, complete with presentation box.

 

 

The Sleeper

This impressive collection of props from the Morrowind video game comes to us from Silverrend Props.  It includes the game's skooma pipe, ash statue, and a variety of artifacts from House Telvanni.  They'll all be appearing in a "The Sleeper" a Morrowind fan film.  Click through for an extensive gallery of the collection.