Pawel “Chimera” Cybula returns with another translation. This time, he’s undertaken the mammoth task of creating the Polish version of The History of Promethea. It’s now available in our Dark Texts.
All of us would like to thank Pawel for his amazing work. Cheers matey!
As many of you know, DH:LoF owes a great deal to one event – Conpulsion, a games con run in Edinburgh, Scotland.
This year’s event sees the first ever Griffie awards, and Dark Harvest is eligible. It would mean a lot to everyone involved with the game to even get a nomination. Conpulsion was where Iain met Angus Abranson, leading to the deal that saw Dark Harvest published by Cubicle 7. Over the years, Conpulsion was where Iain met pretty much all of the other people involved in creating the book.
To nominate DH:LoF for a Griffie, you need to email the organisers a description of the game (less than 100 words) to conpulsion_at_gmail.com (obviously not that exact address – use an @), with “The Griffies – Roleplaying” in the title. The original notice on how to vote can be found here.
Just to make things easier for you, feel free to cut and paste the following description (including the publishing details), but be sure to give your own reason for voting for us:
Description: What if Frankenstein got it right? Welcome to Promethea; a country carved from the chaotic politics of the Balkans in the mid-19th Century by Victor Frankenstein. Imagined as a bright focus for the industrial and scientific revolutions that were changing the world for the better, the reality is a dark, brutally feudal regime where all but the elite must fear the Harvest. The game was published by Cubicle 7 in May 2011. Further information can be found at: http://
The very wonderful Pawel Cybula, who wrote the great review of the core book for Polish website Poltergeist, has done us a great service.
He translated Andrew Harman’s story Magdja’s Runner into Polish for us, and was kind enough to allow us to post it to this site. We’re hoping to put up another bit of sterling work from Pawel in the near future so that his countrymen can get a feel for the whole Promethean ‘thing’.
Thanks Chimera!!
We’ve had our twelfth review turn up, and it’s also the first non-English language review that we’ve found (so far).
Go have a look here. Google translate, and the 8.5/10 score, will give you an idea of what the site thought of the book. 🙂
(Since posting this, we had a translation of the review from the original author – have a look at the 12th review for the full transcript. Thanks Chimera! 🙂 )
Paco is an excellent interviewer and a very charming, funny chap.
Proof of this can be found in the latest GMS Magazine podcast wherein he and I chat about the DH:LoF range and a whole bunch of other stuff. It’s a great little interview in a great podcast. Go have a listen. 🙂
Byron and Liz, hosts of gaming podcast Rho Pi Gamma, invited Iain back to chat about the future plans for the Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein range. Author and card game designer Andrew Harman joined in the fun, and much old toot was discussed over a lengthy interview. You can download the podcast from here.
Dragonmeet 2011 has been and gone, and many were the revelations!
During the event, held once again at the Kensington Town Hall in London, various Dark Harvest – related shenanigans occurred. A new product was being playtested for the first time outside of the developer’s inner circle and, at the last seminar of the day, other new projects were revealed or better defined.
Over the next little while, both here and on our Facebook page, you’ll get to read more details on our cunning plans, and also have a chance to participate directly in shaping the new products – something eight players did at Dragonmeet yesterday. In the meantime, here’s the basics.
DH:LoF – Resistance
This one you already know about. We’re still on course for a May 2012 release. Folks at Dragonmeet got to see Sara Dunkerton’s six page opening comic, something that will not be revealed again until the final release of the book. However, more solid details of the other contents will emerge over the next few months.
DH:LoF – The Card Game
Working title, obviously. This is what was being tested at the convention, and it will be tested again in the near future with various other willing victims. We’ll let you know when and where so you have the chance to join in. It’s not a CCG or any such thing; more a sort of after dinner, during drinks kinda thing. It’s a bit more light-hearted than the usual DH stuff, and is currently being tested with between 2 and 6 players. It’s strategic, devious, cruel, funny and entertaining. More info to follow!
DH:LoF – The Anthology
As many of you may be aware, Cubicle 7 have launched a fiction imprint. The first book in this range, a Mindjammer novel by the very excellent Sarah Newton, is out both as an e-book and – launched at Dragonmeet – as a paperback. I’m delighted to say that, pending the usual contractual and organisational stuff, a Dark Harvest: The Legacy of Frankenstein Anthology will be one of the titles in the near-ish future. Short fiction has always been, and will always be, an important part of DH:LoF. We’re lining up a great bunch of writers to bring you an amazing mix of stories from Promethea that will add detail and flavour to the world and to your games. I’m looking to add website content based on those stories to allow you to bring across elements from the fiction, linking the two as closely as possible. Guess what? Yup – more details to come as we get it all worked out.
DH:LoF – The Stuff We Can’t Talk About Yet
Yup. There’s a couple of other related projects that still have to be kept under a big tarpaulin in the Garage of Greatness, slowly leaking the Oil of Awesome onto the Floor of Wonder. Or, erm… something. So, yes. Details. Later. Stuff.
Thanks to everyone at Dragonmeet; organisers, staff, the person who left a hair at the bottom of my tea cup, players, everyone at Cubicle 7 and, gosh, well, just everyone!
Sara has finished four illustrations for the Resistance supplement.
Sneaky peeks at all four are now up on her blog, so go have a look. There will be more news on the supplement, and more of Sara’s art, at Dragonmeet next week.
Speaking of Dragonmeet, over on our Facebook page, we’ll shortly be looking for volunteers to test out a super secret new DH:LoF thing at the event. If you’re planning to attend, keep an eye on the Facebook page (and ‘Like’ it if you haven’t already).
Onwards!
Last time, we had a Design A Character event, resulting in some brilliant work by Sara Dunkerton. This time, we’re going to give Robert Coles – our esteemed mapmaker – a chance to get together with one of you to produce a map of a location within Promethea.
One winner will have the chance to see their sketched-out map and location descriptions recreated in obsessive detail by Robert Coles and posted to this ‘ere site. The winner will also receive an exclusive copy of said map signed by Robert. There is another part to the prize which, as yet, I cannot talk about. Believe us, though, when we assure you it’ll be worth the wait!
What we’re asking is this: come up with a location in Promethea, one with lots of potential for gaming encounters. Draw it out (you don’t have to be a great artist – Robert will handle that side of things), marking key places. Include some of the surroundings (where appropriate) to give the location context. Provide a key to your map if necessary. Lastly, give us a description and some history to the place. Who does it belong to? What happened there, or maybe still happens there? The more detail you can give, the more Robert can do to bring the whole location alive.
We’re leaving a long time for you to enter, as much to give Robert time to finish the work he’s undertaken for the Resistance supplement as anything else.
The closing date is Saturday the 17th of December. The winner will be announced as soon as possible after that.
Please send all entries to the competition e-mail address: darkharvest.lof@gmail.com
(Only one entry per person. Anyone directly involved in the various official Dark Harvest: The Legacy of Frankenstein projects is not eligible for entry.)
One of the things that can really make a game session is the detail provided by both players and the GM. Finding that detail can be a struggle, so I like to share little discoveries from time to time.
The wonderful Colin Chapman, who is part of the team working on the DH:LoF – Resistance supplement, pointed me at Cornell Publications. Based in the US, they (well, Abby in her basement) sell scanned, laser-copied and nicely bound reproductions of old retail catalogues. While Abby focuses on guns, the catalogues themselves (some European, mostly American) contain other goods.
For example, the 1910 Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (of 57 Reade Street, New York) catalogue contains, well, everything. The prices are in dollars, but a quick internet search will likely find you the exchange rates. Want to know how much a live frog harness (…”holds the frog perfectly, and keeps it absolutely alive.”) would cost your adventurer? 50c to you, ma’am. Leopard skin waistcoat, sir? $15, single breasted with fly front. Why just pitch your tent when you can pitch a 12 foot Tanalite Waterproof Sibley Tent, weighing 16.5 lbs, costing you $32.35 with an additional $1 for the poles and stakes?!
While some of this info can be found online, there’s something hugely satisfying about having a catalogue to hand that can be thumped down on the table to cut off any ‘enthusiastic discussions’ (and a few fingers). It is possible to track down, often remarkably cheaply, original booklets and the like from the time in antique shops, at book sales, and so on – as Colin has done. Still, if you don’t get out much, it’s nice to know you can have reproductions delivered to your door.
Anyone have any other sources for this kind of information? Drop us a comment.
