11 minutes ago, Network57 said:

There's a difference between being a good writer and being a good storyteller.

Yes and? Donel said Lovecraft wasn't a good writer and people jump out of the woodwork to defend him. I guess I don't belong in this community.

5 minutes ago, Meretrix said:

Yes and? Donel said Lovecraft wasn't a good writer and people jump out of the woodwork to support him. I guess I don't belong in this community.

What do you mean, "yes and"? There is no "and". You made a point, I countered it. Lovecraft tells a great story but is a weak writer. As an aside, I'd argue the same for Tolkien.

You shouldn't take it personally when someone disagrees with you. No one's asking you to leave. I hardly think 3 posters counts as a woodwork exodus, especially when at least 2 of them are quite frequent visitors here.

(deleted)

That escalated quickly. I agree with Network57 on nearly all points including Tolkein. I also find it odd that it would be assumed people with differing opinion don't read. We would have no opinions at all if we didn't read. Don't take it personally, that was not, I'm sure, how it was intended. Sometime people just have different tastes and perspectives.

I agree with you: don't take it personally. We can be critical of Lovecraft and still enjoy his work and his world. We can't set up a false dichotomy between "readers" and "gamers." I reasonably expect almost everyone on here has read works from the mythos [and if anyone has not, this community would be very happy to get you started!].

The mythos have also always included other authors besides Lovecraft, even within his own lifetime. We can compare him with his contemporaries and others who have added to the lore.

53 minutes ago, jjvreed said:

I agree with you: don't take it personally. We can be critical of Lovecraft and still enjoy his work and his world. We can't set up a false dichotomy between "readers" and "gamers." I reasonably expect almost everyone on here has read works from the mythos [and if anyone has not, this community would be very happy to get you started!].

The mythos have also always included other authors besides Lovecraft, even within his own lifetime. We can compare him with his contemporaries and others who have added to the lore.

I haven't! But I love AH: LCG!

This was a bizarre thread... predicting what cycles will come up to "If you don't think Lovecraft is an amazing writing, I don't want to talk to you!" was an interesting turn of events!

50 minutes ago, Adira said:

I haven't! But I love AH: LCG!

If you'd like something approachable to whet your appetite, might I recommend The Shunned House, which you could find on YouTube read by Wayne June. It's about an hour and will help build flavor into your game (we love reading the text out loud in funny voices).

It's weird to me how anyone could get into the Arkham Files games if they're not already Lovecraft fans or fans of the mythos, but different strokes. Reading old fiction is about like watching old movies or driving classic cars. Everything can seem a little commonplace but obscured by anachronisms we're not familiar with, but there's a wonderful moment where you realize that this thing you're experiencing was the first time someone had ever done XYZ before, and it's like you've travelled through time and get to experience this awesome moment from history and feel how people must have felt when they were reading it for the first time.

My absolute favourite Lovecraft stories:

"In the Vault" — Non Mythos. Could almost be a (fairly cliché) horror story nowadays. It's a short read, and you could almost see how you could adapt it into an early episode of Supernatural or something.

"The Dreams in the Witch House" — The main character's mentions of non-Euclidean geometry, "corners that curve," and hints of travel to other dimensions all came back to me reading the Norman Withers novella.

"The Colour Out of Space" — Lovecraft's best, by a long shot. If I read it right now for the hundredth time it'd still creep me out.

None of the other Mythos authors hold a candle to Lovecraft, at least in terms of being horror writers, but if it weren't for people like August Derleth his work may not have even survived into the present. In my opinion the most readable of the lot is Robert Chambers who gave us The King in Yellow, and who was an inspiration to Lovecraft.

On the subject of what may or may not become narrative arcs, I think it's funny that the OP listed the Aztecs and Yig as the least likely but we now know they're next.

On 1/15/2018 at 4:49 PM, ReyD said:

(Narrative arcs)

Antartica/Ithaqua : Less known than egypt but with Eldritch Horror's expansion it gain a great popularity so I bet on it too.

At the Mountains of Madness would be fun. I would love a Ithaqua based cycle, although it would have to be set in the Arctic/ Canada. Chance to hunt some Wendigoes.

21 minutes ago, Moon-beast King said:

At the Mountains of Madness would be fun. I would love a Ithaqua based cycle, although it would have to be set in the Arctic/ Canada. Chance to hunt some Wendigoes.

Well with the Council cards from last years Arkham nights the arctic seems like it could be in the future. Specifically with Ikiaq looking to be an Eskimo/Native American.

A bit of research indicates that "Ikiaq" is, indeed, an Inuit name.

these cards will come in an Ithaqua cycle for sure. the antartica feeling of one, and adventure-like of the second one is for sure.

I think the next cycle will be a Cthulhu one, or a mountain of madness one.

Ithaqua in the Antarctic would be a bit of a thematic mix-up though.

You know where Ithaqua would be fun? Russia. That's a fun place in this time period.

Does the fire expansion symbol on those promos give anything away?

nope, this the same symbol on all arkham nights promo I think ^^ But as we seen in the Circle Undone the first promo card ( from Arkham Night 2017 ), So barely a year and a half from the promo version, we can admit these cards are preview for one of the 2 or 3 very next cycles So I would say Mountain of madness confirmed to be annouced this year, or in the worst, in 2020. ( because FFG release for now 3 cycles every 2 years, so : cycle 5 - annouce may 2019 and release september 2019, cycle 6 annouce january 2020 release may 2020, cycle 7 annouce October 2020 release january 2021 )

And if we want to continue on theory, with Jaqueline Fine and Marie Lambeau out this cycle, we can think Silas and Norman will be out in the same time lapse of three cycle from now ... This is why I think cthulhu and Ithaqua are the most probable ones for coming in the next years.

30 minutes ago, phorcys12 said:

nope, this the same symbol on all arkham nights promo I think ^^ But as we seen in the Circle Undone the first promo card ( from Arkham Night  2017 ), So barely a year  and a half from the promo version, we can admit these cards are preview for one of the 2 or 3 very next   cycles  So I would say Mountain of madness confirmed to be annouced this year, or in the worst, in 2020. ( because FFG release for now 3  cycles every 2 years, so : cycle 5 - annouce may 2019 and release september 2019, cycle 6 annouce january 2020 release may 2020,  cycle 7 annouce October 2020 release january 2021 )

And if we want to continue on theory  , with   Jaqueline Fine and Marie Lambeau out this cycle, we can think Silas and Norman will be out in the same time lapse of three cycle from   now ... This  is  why  I think  cthulhu and Ithaqua are the most probable ones for coming in the next years.                     

I need some help understanding this. Why is " Mountains of Madness" to be announced in the next 1 or 2 releases? I have no doubt they will do a MoM cycle, but how is it more clear now? I hope they do a "Legacy" style campaign for MoM.

Also when was Jaqueline Fine released?

36 minutes ago, Jobu said:

I need some help understanding this. Why is " Mountains of Madness" to be announced in the next 1 or 2 releases? I have no doubt they will do a MoM cycle, but how is it more clear now? I hope they do a "Legacy" style campaign for MoM.

Also when was Jaqueline Fine released?

I think confirmed is a strong word to use. The main evidence is that one of the cards designed at the 2017 Arkham Nights event was just released. This is just a little over a year since it was designed. The assumption then is that if cards designed at Arkham Nights are released about a year and a bit after they're designed. Then, Ikiaq the card that was designed at the 2018 Arkham Nights will probably be released in about a year. That puts her solidly in cycle 5 or cycle 6... Which will be released later this year and early next year. And since she's clearly an Eskimo... Then we're likely to have a MoM cycle soon since it takes place in the arctic.

55 minutes ago, Jobu said:

Also when was Jaqueline Fine released?

I think he meant Carolyn Fern.

1 hour ago, Antimarkovnikov said:

I think confirmed is a strong word to use. The main evidence is that one of the cards designed at the 2017 Arkham Nights event was just released. This is just a little over a year since it was designed. The assumption then is that if cards designed at Arkham Nights are released about a year and a bit after they're designed. Then, Ikiaq the card that was designed at the 2018 Arkham Nights will probably be released in about a year. That puts her solidly in cycle 5 or cycle 6... Which will be released later this year and early next year. And since she's clearly an Eskimo... Then we're likely to have a MoM cycle soon since it takes place in the arctic.

But Mountains of Madness is set in the Antarctic, the various Inuit tribes are all in the Arctic, there are no indigenous people (and only a handful of non-indigenous people) in Antarctica! If we’re assuming an Arctic setting for an Innuit character to appear in, I would suggest Ithaqua/Wendigo is a more appropriate theme, as mentioned previously.

26 minutes ago, General Zodd said:

But Mountains of Madness is set in the Antarctic, the various Inuit tribes are all in the Arctic, there are no indigenous people (and only a handful of non-indigenous people) in Antarctica! If we’re assuming an Arctic setting for an Innuit character to appear in, I would suggest Ithaqua/Wendigo is a more appropriate theme, as mentioned previously.

Ah! I got confused about that. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I'll have to read up on Ithaqua/Wendigo since the only thing I know about them is what I've ready in Hellboy and the BPRD.

There's not much to read up on. The Wendigo is a North-American mythological monster. It looks like a gaunt, almost starved human, grey-skinned, boney, often covered in blood. Though sometimes much bigger than a human. It's a cannibal and eats people. IN some versions, cannibals may become Wendigos.

Algernon Blackwood wrote a tale called "The Wendigo" in 1910. A group of hunters is in the wilderness in Canada, one of them sees a Wendigo. Spooky stuff happens, he goes mad.

Then Derleth wrote a variant of pretty much the same story, except he called the creature "Ithaqua" and said it could also fly and control the weather and that it has a cult in Canada and Siberia. It eats people, it causes a lot of death, it makes the weather cold.

And... that's pretty much it. Honestly, it's one of the most boring old ones out there.

There have also been Ithaqua stories by Brian Lumley ( The Moons of Borea , The Spawn of the Winds , etc.) and Glenn Rahman ( Alone against the Wendigo ), and there are many other authors included in Robert Price's Ithaqua Cycle anthology. Lumley's Borea is another planet where Ithaqua was imprisoned, and it offers interesting opportunities for adventure--but as far as I know the Arkham Files have never touched it.

I feel like Ithaqua might actually be better for a pair of side-scenarios, like "Guardians of the Abyss", one scenario helping the RCMP get to the bottom of weird cannibalistic murders, and a second scenario in the Arctic wilderness thwarting a horrible ritual and surviving the cold.

You could make a full cycle out of it but it might be a bit stretched thin, unless you do something involving 1920s Russia and investigating during the post-revolutionary turmoil; I know that Delta Green has gotten a decent amount of mileage out of both Canadian investigations into Arctic Ithaqua cults and the juxtaposition of Soviet Russia with Ithaqua savagery.

Ithaqua is certainly not high on my wish-list, I'd much rather see Cthulhu (obviously), Innsmouth (obviously), Dreamlands/Hypnos, Nyarlathotep (mega-campaign?), Antarctica, Japan and Shudde M'ell.

I mean, we are probably getting some Nyarlathotep in the current cycle, possibly Dreamlands too. Though the Dreams in the Witch House doesn't actually go to the Dreamlands.

You know what would be out of the left field and they'd probably never do it? Adaptation of the game for a Sword and Sorcery Setting. Hyperborea, the Hyborian Age, Atlantis... Ithaqua would fit right in.