Gauntlet Con, Tome of Mysteries, Dark Streets & Darker Secrets, Tides of Gold

Michael Sands Interview

Monster of the Week: Tome of Mysteries Review

+1 Forward podcast talking about the Tome of Mysteries

Heads up: Michael Sands and Steve Hickey did an interview for the +1 Forward podcast talking about the Tome of Mysteries.

You can give it a listen over here: 

https://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/1-forward/monster-of-the-week-tome-of-mysteries

The Tome of Mysteries Monster of the Week Expansion is now for sale on Amazon! And Drive-thru RPG!

Monster of the Week: Tome of Mysteries---Street date is May 13th!

Open the Tome—if you dare!

https://www.evilhat.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=79&products_id=352

In the Monster of the Week roleplaying game, hunters must solve all manner of mysteries before they can save the day. The Tome of Mysteries expands their options—and magnifies their peril-—with a wide variety of GMing advice, essays, rules, and mysteries from the Monster of the Week “Roadhouse Regulars” online community.

Tome of Mysteries requires Monster of the Week to play. In this supplement, you’ll find:

• Eight new alternative Weird Moves that go beyond Use Magic.
• Four new Hunter playbooks: The Gumshoe, the Hex, the Searcher, and the Pararomantic.
• Support for weird phenomena type Mysteries like those found in Fringe or The X-Files.
• Tips and techniques used by experienced Keepers.
• 29 fully detailed mysteries ready to drop into your game.

Grab your friends and your gear.
It’s time to unlock the Tome of Mysteries!

Monster of the Week SUPPLEMENT INFORMATION

Number of players: 2-6
Age of players: 12+
Length: 2-8 hours
Type of Game: Roleplaying Game
Languages Available: English
Product Number: EHP0046
ISBN: 978-1-61317-171-4
Suggested Retail: $25
Game Designers: Matthew Aaron, Aaron Burkett, Kane Cathain, Sean Clancy, Jason D’Angelo, Bruno Dias, Felix Girke, Marek Golonka, Luke Green, Bryanna Hitchcock, Sophie Lagacé, Zed Lopez, Paul McBride, Arturo Martinez, Jamie Sands, Michael Sands, Daniel Steadman, Jacob Steele, Chris Stone-Bush, Chloe Sutherland, Mark Tygart, and Michał Werder.
Release Date: May 2019

More from Evil Hat!

Monster of the Week:
Tome of Mysteries
(Ships May)

Open the Tome—if you dare! In the Monster of the Week roleplaying game, hunters must solve all manner of mysteries before they can save the day. The Tome of Mysteries expands their options—and magnifies their peril-—with a wide variety of GMing advice, essays, rules, and mysteries from the Monster of the Week “Roadhouse Regulars” online community.

Tome of Mysteries requires Monster of the Week to play. PDF included free with preorders, available immediately after your purchase. (Stand-alone PDF will be made available closer to the release date in May.)

• Preorder now! Your order will ship in May.
• Check out the core Monster of the Week book as well!
• Listen to the beginning of The Adventure Zone's Monster of the Week campaign: Amnesty
• Learn more on our site.

Tome of Mysteries Pre-order is Here!

Monster of the Week: Tome of Mysteries [Book+PDF] [Preorder] [EHP0046] - $25.00 : Evil Hat Productions Online Store

BOOM!

Open the Tome—if you dare!

In the Monster of the Week roleplaying game, hunters must solve all manner of mysteries before they can save the day. The Tome of Mysteries expands their options—and magnifies their peril-—with a wide variety of GMing advice, essays, rules, and mysteries from the Monster of the Week “Roadhouse Regulars” online community.

Tome of Mysteries requires Monster of the Week to play. In this supplement, you’ll find:

• Eight new alternative Weird Moves that go beyond Use Magic.
• Four new Hunter playbooks: The Gumshoe, the Hex, the Searcher, and the Pararomantic.
• Support for weird phenomena type Mysteries like those found in Fringe or The X-Files.
• Tips and techniques used by experienced Keepers.
• 29 fully detailed mysteries ready to drop into your game.

Grab your friends and your gear.
It’s time to unlock the Tome of Mysteries!

SUPPLEMENT INFORMATION

Number of players: 2-6
Age of players: 12+
Length: 2-8 hours
Type of Game: Roleplaying Game
Languages Available: English
Product Number: EHP0046
ISBN: 978-1-61317-171-4
Suggested Retail: $25
Game Designers: Matthew Aaron, Aaron Burkett, Kane Cathain, Sean Clancy, Jason D’Angelo, Bruno Dias, Felix Girke, Marek Golonka, Luke Green, Bryanna Hitchcock, Sophie Lagacé, Zed Lopez, Paul McBride, Arturo Martinez, Jamie Sands, Michael Sands, Daniel Steadman, Jacob Steele, Chris Stone-Bush, Chloe Sutherland, Mark Tygart, and Michał Werder.
Release Date: May 2019

Watch the skies!

New Monster of the Week Review

Tome of Mysteries 2019!

From an Evil Hat press release (https://www.evilhat.com/home/refocused-resized-hat-mode-activated/)

Projects that remain with us from now through 2019 include:

• Monster of the Week: Tome of Mysteries: Michael Sands from Generic Games, designer of Monster of the Week, has been working on a supplement for the game for a while now. We’re happy to confirm that we will publish this as well. Layout is currently underway.

Monster of the Week Mystery Starters Free Archive

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7cav44145d9NEU5NE55U1d0RHc

New Monster-of-the-Week Creature

Name: Penanggalan
Type: Devourer (Desires to consume people) Powers: Body Separation, Blood Drain, Flight
Weaknesses: Fire, Decapitation
Attacks: Slam 2-harm close 2-harm area, Blood Drain 3-harm intimate restraining
Harm: 5 ☐☐☐☐☐ | 0 armor

The Penanggalan or 'Hantu Penanggal' is a creature of Southeast Asian folk mythology. "Penanggal" or "Penanggalan" literally means "detach" or "remove".

According to the folklore of that region, the Penanggalan is a detached female head capable of flying about on its own. As it flies, the stomach and entrails dangle below it, and these organs twinkle like fireflies as the Penanggalan moves through the night. In Malaysian folklore, a Penanggal may be either a beautiful old or young woman who obtained her beauty through the active use of black magic, supernatural, mystical, or paranormal means which are most commonly described in local folklores to be dark or demonic in nature. Due to the common theme of Penanggal being the result of active use of black magic or supernatural means, a Penanggal cannot be readily classified as a classical undead being. The creature is, for all intents and purposes, a living human being during daytime or at any time when it does not detach itself from its body. Sometimes they are depicted as able to move their intestines when exposed like tentacles.

A Penanggal is said to feed on human blood although local folklore (including its variations) commonly agrees that a Penanggal prefers the blood of a newborn infant, the blood of woman who recently gave birth or the placenta (which is devoured by the Penanggal after it is buried). All folktales also agree that a Penanggal flies as it searches and lands to feed. Once the Penanggal leaves its body and is safely away, it may be permanently destroyed by either pouring pieces of broken glass into the empty neck cavity, which will sever the internal organs of the Penanggal when it reattaches to the body; or by sanctifying the body and then destroying it by cremation or by somehow denying the Penanggal from reattaching to its body upon sunrise.

Peterson on Horror Module Creation

"It’s Still Sparta" Monster-of-the-Week Mystery Review

Marek Golonka seems like a very nice person. Many Tabletop Role Playing pundits will not publish even mildly negative reviews. They make you enemies, they discourage authors from sending you free stuff and they depress fellow hobbyists who are generally doing something creative for love while forced like most of us to still work dull jobs to pay the rent. Marek Golonka is the first person I know of to go forward and publish professional mysteries for Monster-of-the-Week besides Michael Sands and she submitted them to me for my “expert” approval. I should have made excuses and written up a review praising Gardens of Ynn like everybody else and simply noted her chutzpah. I didn’t. I published lukewarm reviews of her first two Monsters of Europe mysteries.

I found her first two mysteries were professional but uninspired. A European write-up of their version of the Bell Witch incident (The Haunted Case of Eleonore Zugun) is simply not terribly meaningful for Americans. It was followed by Blood in Budapest; a valentine of sorts to that city. I wondered why did she use tired Romanian inspired vampires instead of something from Hungary’s own rich mythology instead? Both mysteries also suffered from the fact that they were long and overstuffed with material the writer dearly loved but foreign to the lean and mean appeal of Monster-of-the-Week’s usual two to five page mystery format. I felt like I should have received at least a small mystery arc or thematic mystery collection for this length and price. My general reaction was guilty indifference.

Marek Golonka bravely sent me her third mystery for review.

I am happy to say indifference was not my reaction.

It appears that the third time is the charm.

Most of her basic problems are now solved. Marek Golonka’s third mystery is a wildly creative adventure sending the hunters on a quest into classical myth. It is sort of like a Supernatural episode where Sam and Dean travel back in time to the Old West or an alternate reality. The length of the mystery and additional material is justified by the strangeness of the setting: the players are not in Kansas anymore!

If you want to send your hunters into the world of greek mythology this is your ticket to ride. I still think she would be better served in the future by writing mystery arcs in a more compact format and adding additional game material like a new playbook with each mystery; the crushing reality of Tabletop RPG PDF supplements is the current price point is still arguably too high. Very few authors make any real money in this market. A Patreon or Kickstarter publishing model for a bigger product "might" serve the author better. My review copy also had no art; I don’t know if this is the case in the finished product. 

However, anything with content this wildly creative deserves “kudos” and is inspiring. Maybe my desire to send my hunters the Planet of the Apes is doable after all!

You can find copies of Its Still Sparta here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/250707/Its-still-Sparta

Monster-of-the-Week Playbook Revised: The Operative

This revised version seems to be play testing well...many thanks to Michael Sands and Felix Girke for their insightful comments and helpful advice.

Any additional feedback very much appreciated!

if anyone is willing to play test this in a group and report back I will try to write a small "thank you" reward for you your group.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=109IuXQlPIkB04I4galcNbsDbcH_bMvIe

Monster of the Week Playbook:The Operative

This is my second serious attempt at a new Monster-of-the-Week play book "The Operative" a former covert monster hunting operative burned by his Bureau for mysterious reasons and hoping for payback. I would very much like the Roadhouse to review and would love play test feedback. I can tell you the feedback on my Gumshoe and play testing was the reason the revised version will hopefully be in the rules expansion. Play testing is really key to playbooks. I'm willing to write a short mystery for the Roadhouse dedicated and inspired by the gaming group with the best play test report or some other reward as per their desire.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=109IuXQlPIkB04I4galcNbsDbcH_bMvIe