Hello and welcome to the Roll4Sanity blog as we close out May. Let’s enjoy the weather we have, and take a look at the calendar image – which I’d like to think represents the final scene of the Eternal Lies campaign. If you recall this was a Trail of Cthulhu camping where three characters who went through so much together and came out the other side. One who died and came back from another dimension, another who lost dear friends along the way and there’s Ellie, the adventurer sitting and toasting them with what looks very much like tequila. Despite that wonderful bright smile on her face, her friends can probably tell she’s drinking rather heavily to forget the horrors witnessed during that campaign. Cheers, Ellie.

Productions & Editing

It’s been a busy month in the real world, as the cosmic outpost of life tends to remind us from time to time. The Overhead Encounter is shaping up nicely so not finished as expected, but certainly very enjoyable to edit. Plans for the next Miskatonic Playhouse games are also in, but if you’ve had a chance to read the Chaosium Con 2026 blog, you’ll already know what the main emphasis of productions was this month. More on that over there!

Adventures Played

We wrapped up, to a certain extent, Horror on the Orient Express. Sixty-six sessions, and we managed to fall for the final trap as we were supposed to, which was rather unfortunate as it led to a near-TPK. For the uninitiated, that’s a Total Party Kill, and we came uncomfortably close. Fortunately my doctor had just enough sanity left to live to fight another day, and I was very pleased to find that the sanity rewards at the end left him more sane than when he first joined the campaign. It turns out that running a continent-spanning campaign and losing all your friends to horrible monsters is very Sanity-reaffirming. Who knew!

As for whether I’ll do a full overview of the Horror on the Orient Express campaign — I’m not sure. I’ll have to think about that one. We did elect to play the additional Horror on the Orient Express side quests, and I’ve actually found some of them more enjoyable than the main campaign. We’ve begun a modern-day adventure, and for this one I’ve decided my character is a descendant of my doctor — his children having married into the aristocratic family who ran the embassy in Constantinople during the climax of the main campaign. A nice bit of connective tissue.

The following week brought something rather different: a one-shot called Filmriss. The German title, I’m told, carries a double meaning — it can refer to either a tear in the film, or the subliminal messages hidden within one. No spoilers, but that second meaning features very heavily in the game. It was a lovely little mystery with some action and some genuine life-or-death rolls, and I think it’s a strong contender for game of the year. Real life had been rather heavy at the time, and Filmriss ticked every box I needed it to. I was very glad to have enjoyed myself so thoroughly.

Next up, I played a game of Pendragon — as I mentioned last month. Lots of bonus reading for you this month, folks!

Forever GM – Masks: Conclusion of Peru!

We concluded the Peru chapter of Masks of Nyarlathotep, and it was a fittingly eventful ending. Mystery, combat, misdirection, encounters with elder beings and outer gods, Sanity loss — it had everything. And then, rather unfortunately, the investigators ended up arrested for the murder of one of their own party. Understandable, all things considered.

This is one of the great things about long campaigns: downtime. I think downtime is enormously valuable, and it’s a real opportunity to talk with your players about where things are going — because ultimately, the campaign is their story. Throwing them in gaol and having them beaten up endlessly isn’t going to be fun for anyone. So the offer was on the table: how does this play out? Are you facing prison time, or is there some penance to be done? Some players might be content to sit in a Peruvian jail; others might prefer extradition to an American prison. It opened up some really good conversation.

There will also be a time jump between the Peru chapter and the next, and we’re going to take a break from the main party to spend some time with their backup characters. It’s important to keep those characters familiar and up to date — if you never play your backups, they can end up two or three advancements behind the main investigators, and that becomes a real problem when you need them most.

Conventions – Chaosium Con 2026

As mentioned above, the full Chaosium Con 2026 blog is up for you to read, but I’ll say this: it was designed to be relaxed, and mostly it was. There were some hectic moments — the blog will tell you all about those — but the overriding memory is one of fellowship. I think that word sums up Chaosium Con 2026 perfectly. You come to the end of it feeling sad it’s over, but already looking forward to the next one, having re-established old friendships and perhaps made a few new ones. There’s a lot to read elsewhere this month, so go and explore!

That brings us to the close of the May blog. Let’s turn the page to June’s calendar image: a Miss Investigator sitting atop a very proud camel in the middle of a desert, studying a treasure map. I wonder where that will lead. Thanks for reading, and we’ll Roll4Sanity again soon.