Well, the end of another month at Roll4Sanity, and our blog which of course starts with our calendar image! I think this is one of the best characters that has been generated for me. I was in ChatGPT and asked them to create a Victorian barmaid character – and they came out with this wonderful result. I was very impressed, so I asked for a slight change, and ChatGPT said, “No, sorry, it breaks our community guidelines.” I’m thinking, well, you generated the image – how can it break the community guidelines if you were making it to begin with? Apparently it did, though, and that made me even more determined to use this character. More relaxed AI image editors were able to help me put this Speakeasy scene together, where we have a lovely, diverse group of people in a modern Speakeasy setting. There are still some inconsistencies – I’m sure there is supposed to be a microphone stand that our lovely ginger-haired singer is resting upon – but pulling the character into a really nice image is something I’m pleased with. And hey, if you’re still having the “it’s not art” argument, it isn’t, this is simply a personal piece of creation to put a smile on my face and give me something to talk about in a blog.

Productions & Editing

We have started some good work on the next campaign character video! If you remember, we are doing a series this year on investigators you could create for your Call of Cthulhu campaign, and as a sneak preview – it is going to be a Harlem Hellfighter, taking on the Two-Headed Serpent Pulp campaign. Hopefully by the next blog that video will be out, so look for that link in the April blog, or subscribe to the YouTube channel. That was a really fun one to do because Pulp Cthulhu lets you go all out in what you want to create. I wanted to build a soldier who’s happy holding a machine gun – and yes, the amount of damage a Lewis gun can do is extraordinary. Please do watch the video, even if you just tune in for the Lewis gun damage description. It’s quite remarkable.

I’ve also made a start on a bonus character video, because in April – all being well – Campfire Tales should be released from Chaosium. This is Scouts Against Cthulhu, which is apparently all about Eagle Scouts. We call them Boy Scouts in the UK, and we have some stories of Baden-Powell, which will be fun to touch on when the video comes together. If I can get hold of the book, I’ll put out a little scout character creation video. Scouts were never really my thing growing up, but given the kids on bikes rpg and Stranger Things success we’ve seen in gaming, I think this could be a product with real longevity – though that’s always down to market forces. If you do see it, pick it up and see what you think. I’ll be intrigued by how the character creation differs from regular Call of Cthulhu investigators, particularly the scout badges that grant abilities to your character. I’ve done a lot of the writing for that video already and have some visuals too, so hopefully the post-production won’t be too painful.

Speaking of post-production – every so often when I’m editing an actual play podcast, everything just goes right, and you’re able to sit back and simply enjoy the project. The Overhead Encounter was one of those times. We had a good time recording it, and now in post-production it’s still a good time. Everyone’s audio is coming out clear, everyone was really in character and engaged with the story, and there was very little of what I call chit-chat to cut out – the “how do I roll this?” and “sorry, I just need to feed the cat” moments. Yes, we had some of that, but it just worked and flowed. After some of the nightmares I’ve had with other productions, it’s just nice to have a bit of a win and get on with the next project.

Adventures Played

We are on the Orient Express, coming towards the climax of the adventure, and we are facing the meat grinder. In the past two sessions, characters have been nearly dying on a dice roll – injured in combat, attacked, with first aid rolls and Luck bends keeping them alive. My doctor was stabbed, suffered a major wound, and was unconscious. It was just like that dreadful time on the steps in the bell tower where he couldn’t roll a success on pretty much anything. It was touch and go – I had to make a Hard POW roll just to come around. Meanwhile, one of the other characters was rolling their CON to survive, and we’ve had to bring in a backup character as our investigators are running at very low on sanity.

A backup character we met at the station didn’t last long! As this is a railway-based game, the investigator was up on the roof on the train battling clutists – and didn’t see the tunnel coming. He took only 12 points of damage, which is a low roll for 5D6, he did lose all his hit points in one go. A very event-packed session of Horror on the Orient Express. Between the four of us I think we have about six hit points left, and we still have to face the showdown with the big bad before we close this chapter. I’m not holding out much hope – but we’ll see.

Forever GM – Masks: Peru

I have a wonderful cast going through Masks of Nyarlathotep and it’s really good fun to be running it. There are the standard parts of the campaign that everyone will know, but then there are the parts I get to add in to make sure our Masks feels just that little bit different. We’re well into the Peru chapter and well into the mechanics of it all. Alchemy – the virtual tabletop system we’re running on seems to be behaving itself, which is a relief.

I’ve also started doing something new to help with recaps. With permission from my players, I record the sessions and put the transcription through an AI to help me write the session summary for the next episode. It doesn’t work perfectly every time – my players do have to read through things they apparently did but definitely didn’t do – and the AI can get a little overenthusiastic if you don’t keep a firm hand on it. But overall it’s been a useful tool. The great thing is, I’m having a lot of fun running Masks with my friends, and that’s what matters.

Special Mention – Conventions

Finally, a special mention for conventions! The Miskatonic Playhouse is going to Chaosium Con, and I have the wonderful task of figuring out how everything gets streamed to the world. We want to show you the games we’ll be playing – I think we have two Call of Cthulhu games and a couple of Rivers of London games lined up. If you’re going to be at Chaosium Con, do say hello! I’ll either be floating around or possibly running around like a blue-arsed fly – I’m not entirely sure which – but I will be there.

I should also be sitting in a lecture theatre for a good three hours taking in all the wonderful things Chaosium are bringing us in 2026, which I’m very much looking forward to. There are so many things coming out this year, and so few actual plays out there covering Call of Cthulhu content – I’m very tempted to have Roll4Sanity step up and help fill that gap, but that’s obviously far too much work given everything already on my plate.

That’s a lot of rambling so let’s turn the page on the calendar: the April image is a deep-sea diver at the bottom of the ocean, striding towards… is that a temple? I’ll just leave that there for next time. Thanks as ever for reading, and we’ll Roll4Sanity again soon.