The Ponape Scriptures: My Edition

With all this discussion of tomecraft I thought it would be appropriate to share some of my own efforts. All of these pictures are from a small run of about a dozen copies of the "Ponape Scriptures" that I did around ten years ago. I thought I'd lost all the pictures I'd taken of them, but I discovered these shots on an old memory card a few months ago. That should help explain both their small size and poor quality.



One of my better cover treatments, featuring hand tooled sheet copper and flame-aged wood. The copper was patinated with a mixture of ammonia and salt water.



A closeup of the cover embossment. The copper was attached to the cover using brass brads.



An alternate cover embossment using un-aged copper. The Cthulhu sigil on the cover was one I came up with while trying to mimic some of the design elements of art from the South Pacific using the tribal-styled Tatooz font. Most of the artwork rearranged bits and pieces of that font to create the dozens of illustrations, such as they were, that I needed to fill the book.



This shot gives you a look at the the alternative binding I used for a few copies.



Interior pages, with a good shot of the Cthulhu sigil. As you can see, the pages had a very light aging treatment. That tendency to under-weather props is something I've had trouble with for years because of my fondness for neatness and cleanliness. It's not quite at the level of suffering from OCD, but it's definitely had a negative impact on my propmaking efforts.

I need to embrace the dirt. Heh.



One of the summoning circle designs.



I believe this was the Dagon sigil.



Another summoning circle.



I can't even remember what this one was supposed to be.

With the distance of time I can see a lot of flaws in these, but I think that overall the Scriptures project was a decent effort. The biggest problem with it is that most of the illustrations are only mildly reworked and recombined symbols from the Tatooz font, something that I'd be loathe to do today. There's a line between inspired and derivative that this project's artwork definitely crossed.

The weathering treatment is also far too light. As I've done more prop artifacts over the last few months I've grudgingly begun moving towards adding more extreme distressing to items. I've even posted a sign saying "More Dirt! More Grime! More Wear!" above my workbench as a motivational tool. I know it sounds weird, but it takes a major effort for me to really dirty things up the way they should be. I know intellectually that they'll look better that way, but my innate psychological aversion to dirt seems to apply even to fake filth.

The Necronomicon: Launet Edition

As mentioned yesterday, there's one artist who I think has truly captured the look and feel of the Necronomicon- Francois Launet. His whole site is filled with incredible artwork, but if you visit the "Goomicronicon" section of his gallery you'll find his unique interpretation of the Necronomicon's pages. His approach draws on real-world inspirations like DaVinci's journals, but adds a wonderfully evocative sense of the arcane and alien.





This is the artwork I see in my mind when I think of the Necronomicon, and when I win the lottery I'll be spending a significant portion of my winnings to have Launet create the illustrations for the Uber-tome I've always wanted.

The Necronomicon: Sauber Edition

One of the holy grail props of Mythos fans is the Necronomicon, the infamous tome of forbidden knowledge. It's Lovecraft's most well known creation, outstripping even Cthulhu himself in terms of awareness thanks to it's widespread appearances in popular culture. To date, I don't think anyone has created a fully realized copy. There have been numerous prop versions featuring some incredible bookcrafting and a limited number of pages, but the immense amount of original artwork the project would require is a stumbling block that isn't likely to be overcome anytime soon.

In the meantime we can still enjoy the prop versions that are floating around, like this one created by Pete Sauber for a production of the "Evil Dead: Live!" stage show.



Update: The discussion in the comments has reminded me that I've somehow failed to link to what I think is the single best depiction of the Necronomicon ever created. I'll correct that oversight tomorrow.

Our Finest Hour

If you're running a WWII era game you'll find a plethora of prop paperwork over at Hardscrabble Farm. The site's collection of military ephemera is intended for historical reenactors, but I can think of a lot of ways they could be incorporated into scenarios. Just looking at the transit passes, signal corp envelopes, and explosives labels (!) brings to mind all kinds of possibilities.



Browse around the site and you'll also find some great WWII and Civil War era prop photographs.

More Paperwork

Cephalopod Productions has posted some nifty prop documents, including a very nice Miskatonic University collection tag and a medical examiner's report.

Moko-Style Deep One

From the "Ponape Scriptures", a Deep One illustration in the style of Moko tattoos from the South Pacific. Click through for the full-sized version.

Home Is Where The Haunt Is

Over the last decade the haunt industry has exploded in the United States. Much of that growth is thanks to the internet allowing amateur-level home haunters to exchange information on techniques and technology. That in turn created a growing pool of semi-professional haunters that created an unparalleled demand for new props, tools, and materials as they moved up into the ranks of the old school "dark attraction" professionals.

Naturally, trade shows have become an integral part of the industry. One of, if not the, most important is Transworld, an annual gathering where dozens of vendors display their wares. The latest show wrapped up last week and there were was some amazing stuff on display.