Back in 2007 (nearly 10 years ago, mind you), I promised myself I was going to work as hard as I could until I finally (Finally!) published a Call of Cthulhu scenario. I made two distinct efforts to make this happen: one, I responded to an ad from Keith “Doc” Herber to write a large scenario for his Outer Gods book; second, I responded to a request for materials written for an upcoming companion to the classic Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign for Call of Cthulhu. And while I wrote and wrote and wrote over the next couple years, producing at least 50k words for those two project, neither was ever published.
Well, as you know, Sun Spots will finally see the light of day (pun ultimately intended, after a few minutes of thinking about it) next year after my Kickstarter last October. And the latest posts from SixtyStone on the Masks Companion say that its actual publication is eminent. But still, neither of those has been published. So, as of the end of November 2016, I still had not seen my name associated with a Call of Cthulhu publication.
Oh yes, there was He Who Laughs Last, something of which I’m very proud of, and I do not diminish in the least. But it is still not a Call of Cthulhu scenario. However, back
in the summer of 2014, I was first asked to pitch a Call of Cthulhu scenario to Golden Goblin Press for their upcoming Tales of the Caribbean book. So I pitched, then wrote and playtested, and finally rewrote and handed-off a scenario about evil under a volcano, all under the guidance of Oscar and Lisa, who kicked my ass to write the best possible scenario.
And so, finally, nearly 10 years after I made up my mind, I finally have published my first Call of Cthulhu scenario. And it’s out before both the Masks Companion and Sun Spots.
What’s more, it came out under the guidance of Oscar Rios, who has dozens of published CoC scenarios to his name. Many of the people I’m working with now are in the same boat, with plenty of published gaming materials to their names. The last couple years have been amazing as I’ve worked with more and more of these people, and become friendly and friends with some of them. Even across continents and oceans, I’m building relationships with a small circle of very talented, imaginative, and really sorta crazy people. It’s really been fantastic.
I was first published in the Oregon State University Daily Barometer sometime in 1990/1. My first story (a 300 word piece about some committee’s decision) was a brutal, drag-out affair that took me hours to write. I had never done anything like it and I was so thankful that my second piece took half the time to produce twice as much. After college, I wrote for other newspapers, and as an intern wrote for ComputerLife magazine (RIP). So being published is nothing new.
But this piece is something else, and I wanted to pause and reflect on my journey. I’m very proud of the work I did for the Masks Companion, and clearly am excited to help Sun Spots finally get published. But Wrath of the Sulfurer will always be my first, and I thank all the readers and gamers who supported the project. I can’t wait to write some more.