In the fall of 1846, eighty-seven members of the Donner Party were forced to make a camp near Truckee Lake (now Donner Lake) when the passes over the Sierra-Nevada mountains filled with snow. Having already endured many hardships crossing the deserts the majority of the settlers were unable to continue. They dug in as best they could and waited for a break in the weather, or rescue. The first rescue party reached the main encampment in April of 1847. Of the 87 pioneers who entered the mountains that fall, only 48 survived. How they survived has become a thing of legend. To celebrate the eventual rescue of the Donner party and the Feast of St. George (we assume no connection between these events...) Chaosium.com will be holding our annual sale. Save 30% on Chaosium books, monographs, and over 100 PDFs beginning April 23rd through May 1st, 2010. While everyone may not like cannibals, they are quite fond of everyone else! We also have a slew [...]

I've always wanted one of these for my classroom. :) http://instantsfun.es/

Call of Cthulhu gamers have quite a bit to cheer about this month. Here at Chaosium, we've been tinkering with a number of forthcoming projects, and our licensees have been working-away as well. NEW AEONS OF ADVENTURE The Great Old Ones are cosmic evils that have existed since before time, and shall exist long after humanity has gone the way of the dinosaurs. With this agelessness at the core of H.P. Lovecraft’s works, STRANGE AEONS II illustrates the eternal struggle between man and the forces of the mythos. No roaring-twenties mobsters or modern-day secret agents will be found here, but you might spy a caveman or a spaced-out flower child or two. STRANGE AEONS II contains nine scenarios for Call of Cthulhu that run a chronological gambit from prehistoric times to a distant future. Each adventure comes with six pre-generated characters for the players to use, allowing for quick play with a minimum of fuss. AND A NEW AGE OF ADVENTURE In SECRETS OF LENINGRAD [...]

After a winter filled with wild, possibly Mythos-affected, weather, everyone here at Chaosium happily welcomes the arrival of Spring. To celebrate, we offer an array of free downloads for our CTHULHU INVICTUS setting for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. These four downloads add new story ideas, creatures, NPCs, and notes about Roman Patronage for this popular Call of Cthulhu supplement. • FABULAE — story seeds for your next game session. • POPULOUS — non-player character statistics. • PATROCINIUM — notes on Roman Patronage. • BESTIAE — new creatures. NEW TEE We've heard from a number of fans who wanted to see our ARKHAM FIRE DEPARTMENT TEE on a navy shirt. We are happy to oblige, and want to remind all customers that Chaosium offers a variety of tee-shirt designs inspired by the businesses, personalities, and facilities dotting Lovecraft Country. Here are a few of our personal favorites: • ARKHAM AIRFIELD • INNSMOUTH EMS • M.U. ASTRONOMY CLUB • MISKATONIC EXHIBIT MUSEUM Happy to See [...]

Published Saturday March 27th, 2010 The Canadian Press So you think your pile of comics is going to shoot up in value with the next big comic-book-based movie? Maybe Iron Man really is the Golden Avenger and there's a hunk of green in Green Lantern? Whoa, Sparky. Rein in those Richie Rich fantasies a bit. Not everything is hitting the astronomical $1-million-plus that a couple of rare comics have fetched recently. "There's really only certain films which generate interest in characters that have translated into dramatic increases in prices," says Gareb Shamus, founder and CEO of New York-based Wizard Entertainment. Like Iron Man, for example. His debut issue in 1968 originally cost 12 cents and now goes for $500. "There's no question the first Iron Man movie really put Iron Man on a blazing path from a collectibility standpoint and an awareness standpoint," Shamus said. "In comic book circles, he was a popular character but on a worldwide basis most people walking down the street [...]

Posted 3/8/10 7:31 pm ET by Rick Marshall in Dark Horse, Hot Stuff, News Much like his "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" universe, the world of Joss Whedon's space-based series "Firefly" still manages to live on long after the final episode aired. In June, actor/comedian Patton Oswalt will add yet another chapter to the "Firefly" universe with a one-shot comic titled "Serenity: Float Out," picking up where the 2005 film left off. Written by Oswalt with interior art by Patric Reynolds and a cover by "Buffy" artist Jo Chen, "Float Out" explores how the end of one character's life spins out into the beginning of a new chapter in the "Serenity" universe. "Post-'Serenity,' a bunch of Wash's friends who we haven't met on the show, they're basically buying a new ship and christening it," said Oswalt of how the death of Serenity's pilot, Wash (played by Alan Tudyk), plays into the comic. "It’s called a 'float-out' when you christen a ship." "As they’re christening a new [...]

GM's DAY Chaosium is happy to help support and honor GM's Day, March 4th. This is a day to celebrate the hard work and hours of forethought that game masters invest to present thrilling adventures for their players. As a token of this day, with any website order of $8.95 or more, we offer a FREE DOWNLOAD of the Call of Cthulhu KEEPERS' COMPANION v. 1 for the next couple of days. Come celebrate GM's DAY by offering to host a game for your favorite GM, or by running a game for local kids and introduce them to the wonders of tabletop roleplaying. Our Recent Releases ARKHAM NOW ARKHAM NOW PDF ARKHAM NOW MAP SECRETS OF THE CONGO and BRP WITCHCRAFT Thank Your GM! The Guys at Chaosium

Published Tuesday March 2nd, 2010 John Rogers, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES - Time to dust off that resume, Spider-Man. You're fired! Don't fret, the web-slinger will still be keeping New York City safe from Venom and Carnage and any number of other dastardly villains he's tangled with over the years. But beginning Wednesday, he's going to have to do it between trips to the unemployment line. That's the day Peter Parker, Spider-Man's nice guy alter-ego, hears the words, "You're fired" from his cranky, long-suffering boss, Mayor J. Jonah Jameson. Worse still, Jameson not only sacks Parker, who makes his living as a photojournalist, he blacklists him with every news organization in town. This of course raises all kinds of interesting questions: -How will Parker maintain his Spider-Man costumes? Dry-cleaning bills alone must run to several hundred dollars a year. -How will he keep buying the stuff he uses to spin those industrial-strength webs needed to hop from building to building? Surely he doesn't pick [...]

Do you live in Saint John? Do you like supporting Charities? Do you like superheroes? If the answer to all of those questions is yes, then you can support the Relay for Life by seeing a movie on March 13, at 11 AM, at Studio 10. They're showing Spiderman - and family members are encouraged to come to the movie dressed up as their favourite superheroes. The tickets are on sale from the Canadian Cancer Society.

It's getting close to that time! MARCH TO OBLIVION, this Saturday March 6th from 8 AM to 11 PM, $10 for the whole day. Gaming, gaming, and did I mention MORE gaming! We look forward to seeing all of our old freinds and piles of NEW friends at the Chinese Commerce Center on Coburg Street (our fave place!) Check out the website for forum, schedules of events and other strange occurences that will be found at the event. The future ain't what it used to be!