Lovecraft Original Publication Up For Grabs

A copy of the March 1936 publication of Astounding Stories is the the drool-worthy prize of a contest over at Red Wasp Designs (Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Lands.)

Astounding Stories, March 1936

Red Wasp Design, the developers of the new Cthulhu-mythos horror/strategy RPG ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ have announced a competition where you could win an original 1936 copy of a pulp fiction magazine featuring the writing of H.P. Lovecraft.

The prize is an original March 1936 issue of ‘Astounding Stories’ which features part of Lovecraft’s classic tale of Antarctic horror, At The Mountains of Madness. Not only that but it has the amazing cult illustrations of Howard V. Brown, who was commissioned to bring Lovecraft’s dark imaginings to life.

To win this rare prize what you have to do is submit a review to the App Store (how to) or rewrite the text of an existing review (how to) of their game ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ in the style of H.P. Lovecraft. Red Wasp’s designer Tomas Rawlings explains, “Lovecraft was famous for his distinctive writing style; long descriptions with lots of adjectives, using obscure words, plenty of indescribable and nameless things crawling through the text. He was an evocative writer, which is part of the reason why he is still so widely read today. We want people to go Lovecraftian-crazy in reviewing the game with gibbous, visceral pleasure and wild Bacchanalian abandon!”

If you want to win this bit of horror history then simply submit your review to the App Store then email a copy of the review, your App Store username (to prove it is your work) and which country store it was posted on to: contact at redwaspdesign dot com with the subject line ‘review competition’. The developers will feature the best entries on their site and pick the winner on Friday 9th March so get entries to us by the 8th.

So dear reader, ’tis time to retire to the study, shut out the world, ink the writing quill and let the horrors of uncaring cosmic madness guide your fragile scratchings…

Please note: This competition is not open to employees of Red Wasp Design or their families, residents of Innsmouth or Deep One hybrids. Sorry 

So if you’re the spawn of the antescendant who shares the same fishy bloodline as one who works over at Red Wasp, your stars are have not lined up. Anyone else who shares the non-euclidean dreams of this madman’s works, get over to the iTunes store and get writing.

Also, because I feel the need to spread Lovecraft’s original works, here is William Hart readingAt the Mountains of Madness.

** Originally published on levelsave.com **

Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Lands HD Screenshots

** Originally posted on levelsave.com **

Have you ever wanted an app so horror-inducing that it dements the mind and perverts the soul? Have you ever wanted to play a game based on the award-winning Chaosism Call of Cthulhu tabletop role-playing system right in the palm of your hand? Have you been wanting a new tactical turn-based RPG for a portable format? Well it’s coming January 30th and it’s entitled Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Lands.

Set in World War I, you play as a group of investigators and soldiers pitted against, you guessed it, a cult bent on using the anguish and fear of the state of the Theatre of War to open the gates to another dimension. The story screams H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote the Cthulhu mythos and upon who’s works this game is inspired.

Initially to be released on iPhone and iPod formats, indie developer Red Wasp Designs also intends to create versions for the iPad, Android, PC and consoles. The game has been developed in co-operation with Chaosism, so I’m hoping that the basic gameplay mechanics feel authentic and similar to their tabletop counterpart.

Along with this announcement came several HD screenshots to whet our appetites for facing our fears and beating down betentacled fish-men. From what can be told of the screenshots, the game looks like it will implement a gridless tactical combat system with a fairly simple list of what can be done on each combat round, as well as a sanity system. A post by the designers relieves any fears I had about this game having a broken sanity system (as nearly all of these systems are in video games) and leaves me interested to see how their’s actually works within the game.

But instead of telling you, why don’t I just show you?