Arkham Pharmacy Labels

Technically it's an apothecary and not a pharmacy, the difference being that the first concentrates on producing custom blended compounds while the second primarily dispenses, but it's a bit of a tomatoe/toomato distinction for game purposes. You can print these out on sticker paper or use regular paper and then adhere them to a bottle or package using a glue stick. Both the color and black and white versions are at 300 dpi and sized for a 3" by 2" label. As always, click through for the full sized graphic.

Black and white version:



Color version:



The upper half of the label is used to identify what the preparation or compound is and how it should be used. In the 1920's that included insecticides and cleaning compounds in addition to the more traditional pharmaceutical goods.

The People That Time Forgot

It's going to be some time before a film version of "At the Mountains of Madness" ever hits the big screen, but if you're in the mood for another disturbing tale of an Antarctic expedition gone horribly wrong you need to pay a visit to Hulu. The site specializes in streaming episodes of television shows and full-length movies, and one of their featured films is "The People That Time Forgot".

It's a mostly-forgettable 70's era adaptation of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs story, but for my purposes it's a goldmine of potential material. I expect I'll be recycling some stills and video from the film in my games, particularly the opening and closing segments featuring a steam-powered barque that can double for the "Arkham".



Amazingly, it also features a Dornier Wal!

Well, kind of.





It looks like the studio had the hull of a Wal handy, but both the model and live-action versions of the amphibious plane used by the adventurers features a bizarre biplane wing configuration. The upper wing and engine are attached to the mounting struts present on the Wal, but the lower pair of wings use the distinctive sponsons of the plane as wing roots.

Beyond it's prop potential there aren't many reasons to recommend the film. It's obvious the production design suffered from serious budget problems. Everything from the late 19th/early 20th century setting of the film looks great (since they could draw on the studio's collection of props, costumes, and sets), but the quality totally tanks once the party crashes into the hidden tropical paradise beyond the Antarctic mountains.

Arkham Trolley Ticket

If you're running a prop-heavy "Call of Cthulhu" game this Arkham trolley ticket makes a nice wallet filler, but it can also serve as a useful clue to someone's movements around the town. It looks best if it's printed out on a light-colored sheet of construction paper or card. If you have a color printer you might want to modify the ticket number to print out in blue or red ink for a more realistic appearance. Since it's sized for a 1" by 2" ticket you can print out a couple of copies at once on a sheet of paper and then trim each ticket out individually.

If you're really dedicated there are a couple of things you can do to make it even more realistic. Duplicating the perforations of a real roll ticket can be accomplished by running a pounce wheel along the short sides. Hit the corners with a hole punch and you'll have a good facsimile of the notches used to make ripping the tickets off the roll easier. If you have a any custom punches you can use them to simulate a ticket that's been used on a transfer.

Just click on the picture for the full-sized version.

Replica Prop Forum Registration Open

The Replica Props Forum, one of the oldest and largest communities on the net, is currently accepting registrations. While discussions of Mythos related props are relatively rare the amount of information to be found there is truly amazing, ranging from obscure tidbits about the golden idol from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to how to paint a screen accurate phaser . If you would like to sign up just head over here. The current round of registrations will close on the 15th.

Martha Stewart And Cthulhu- Photocopy Transfers

Few things compare to combining Martha Stewart and Cthulhu in a post to get the ol' hit counter up. Heh.

In Part Two of the "From the Mountains of Madness" project I mentioned that you could use a photocopy of an image to transfer it to an object, in that case a muslin bag, without giving any real details on how to do it. That was a bit of a dodge on my part, since I used a rubber stamp and permanent ink to put the Miskatonic University seal on the example bag in the post. If you don't happen to have a stamp, like the vast majority of people in the world, my post was a bit light on actually providing any help.

Luckily, not everyone is as lazy as me. There are a number of tutorials on doing a photocopy transfer available, starting with the very simple Martha Stewart method that takes advantage of the solvent in a regular art marker to effect the transfer.

A poster on Gardenweb has an incredibly detailed tutorial over here. Her method uses xylene, but any paint thinner will do the trick. One of the easiest to obtain solvents is acetone, which you'll find in almost every grocery and drug store in the world. You'll find it in the nail supplies section because it's used to remove nail polish and the adhesive that attaches acrylic nails. Just make sure you get pure acetone and not the acetone-with-conditioners used in conventional nail polish removers. It's also a good idea to make sure you have good ventilation and a pair of rubber gloves, since the chemicals involved aren't exactly benign.

From the Mountains of Madness: Part Three

In Part One of the "From the Mountains of Madness" project I talked about selecting a case to hold all the artifacts and why I chose the one I did. Part Two discussed scientific specimens you might want to include based on what Lovecraft's story actually describes, with a brief foray into making muslin storage bags for the samples. This segment of the project will deal with a specific example of those samples- the rock cores bored out by Pabodie's revolutionary drilling rig.

One of the nice things about this particular stage of the project is how easy it is to obtain what you'll need. Stop by at any gem and rock shop on the internet (or in the real world) and for just a few dollars you should be able to pick up absolutely authentic examples of the core samples produced by a rock drill. While collectors can inflate the price of borings tied to a particularly interesting historic site or mine you'll find that generic cores are absurdly easy to come by. If you can't find them at a rock shop you can always hit Ebay, where they pop up at reasonable prices on a regular basis. Here's what they look like:



These three are all about 3" in length and cost me around $5. The calipers next to them, another artifact that would logically be part of Dyer's collection, cost $1 at a junk shop/antique store. Add some labels describing where the samples were taken, drop them into one of the sample bags from Part Two, and this part of the project is complete.

Well, almost complete. For the finishing touch you can add a copy of Pabodie's original specification for the drilling rig. Just click through on the example pictures below, print them out, and age them.





The Pabodie rig diagrams are CC licensed, so they're freely available for personal use.

Revised "At the Mountains of Madness" Trailer Revised Again

Happy New Year! I did indeed finish the lightbox, but I have to pick up some more lights this afternoon. In the meantime I finally added annotations detailing the source material in my fan trailer for a "At the Mountains of Madness" movie on Youtube. Click on through to watch the high-res version, or you can watch the low-res video here.