For 24 Hours, Cryptworld On Sale And The Sketchbook of Grotesqueries Is Back!

Cryptworld is Drive Through RPG's Deal of the Day! For the next 24 hours, the PDF of Cryptworld is only $4.77! If you've been trying to decide whether to check it out, now's the time to do it!

And, to entice new players (and reward current fans), I'm making The Sketchbook of Grotesqueries available again for 24 hours! I have compiled 17 Cryptworld things that have appeared here at The Savage AfterWorld into a handy booklet for use at your gaming table! The Sketchbook of Grotesqueries contains these 17 unique monsters for your Cryptworld campaigns:

Bloody Bones

Bloody Mary

Carnivorous Swarm

Cut-Up

Flotsam

Gravedigger

Humansquito

Krampus

Puppeteer

Screaming Skull

Slender Man

Smiley Face

Snallygaster

Strix

The Tooth Fairy

Werestag

White Noise

UPDATE: The 24 hours are up! Sorry you missed out. 

[Cryptworld] Cursed Item: Gacy's Clown Nose

A Cursed Item for Cryptworld

GACY'S CLOWN NOSE
Description:
The object in question is simplicity itself -- a red foam ball, about 2 inches in diameter, with a slot cut into one side. The clown nose is designed to slip over the nose of the person wearing it, giving their nose a big, bulbous appearance.

Background:
This particular costume appliance was at one time owned by John Wayne Gacy, a notorious U.S. serial killer who murdered 33 young men in the 1970s. Gacy became known as The Killer Clown, due to his hobby of entertaining at fundraisers and children's parties as "Pogo the Clown." Although there's no evidence that he ever killed while in costume, his personal effects may have somehow been psychically imbued with his murderous intent. After his arrest, conviction, and eventual execution, some of the evidence from his trial vanished from the police holdings (whether taken by souvenir hunters or lost over time is unknown). One of those missing items is this simple clown nose.

"You know... clowns can get away with murder."

--John Wayne Gacy

Effect:
Wearing the nose, even if for a few moments, fills the wearer with seething hatred as a wide rictus grin crosses their face. The skin starts to bleach and the hair becomes stringy and changed to a bright primary color. Within moments, the person will have transformed into a Cut-Up , a deranged Psycho Killer with a theatrical flair of murderous mayhem. The transformation lasts until the Cut-Up has claimed a victim, at which time the cursed victim will change back into their normal facade. Their bloodlust sated, they'll remove the nose and cover up any evidence of their involvement. They'll be able to keep their murderous urges at bay for a month or so until the craving for mayhem returns and they find themselves reapplying the nose for another evening of "slaying their audience."

Non-Gaming Things That Remind You Of Gaming

Earlier today, I was at the local grocery store picking up a few necessities. As I walked through the laundry detergent aisle, I saw something that reminded me very strongly of my first roadtrip to Gen Con. What was that item that has such a strong connection to a gaming memory? This bottle right here...

I'll explain in a moment, but it's funny how memory works. A piece of music, a specific smell, anything can trigger a memory, even if that trigger is only loosely connected to the event. For example, I think most of us recognize this:

But how many of you are wondering, "What the hell is that bottle of booze doing in that dice bag?" That's what we're discussing today: non-gaming items that, to you, are absolutely connected to your world of gaming experiences. Here are mine:

1. A disc-firing plastic gun

When I first began playing D&D with my friends, we often played in Roger's basement rec room. There were always toys, games, gadgets, and gizmos scattered about as Rog was a bit of a collector. During one game, he had one of these guns on the table, playfully firing it here and there. I picked up one of the discs and began chewing on it absent-mindedly as I considered an action -- kinda the way you might gnaw on a toothpick. Anyway, I picked up that as a habit and, during future D&D games, I had a handful of those stupid discs nearby whenever I considered any character action.

2. Toto's "Africa"

One of my favorite D&D books is the Fiend Folio. I absolutely love that monster book, as it's filled with the most gonzo and bizarre fantasy creatures I had encountered in my early gaming history. I bought my copy at Waldenbooks (remember them?) and raced home to pour through it. As I plunked down in my bedroom to read my new treasure, I turned on the stereo. This song was just starting as I began to read. During the 4-minute runtime of this song, I flipped through the book, looking at the pictures and glancing at the names of the monsters: The Bonesnapper, The Sons of Kyuss, The Crypt Thing, The FLAILSNAIL. Ever since that day, this song reminds me of Githyanki and Xvarts.

3. The smell of Gain laundry detergent

Told you we'd get back to this. In 2011, I went to my first Gen Con. It had been a dream 20+ years in the making to get there, so I was super-pumped as I packed my stuff and prepped my car for the roadtrip. One of my little travelling quirks is that I have to scrub my car inside and out before any long trips. I dunno -- a clean car runs better, feels more "comfortable", and just makes the trip a bit better. Early that morning, as I climbed behind the wheel for the trip, I placed one last item in place -- a car air freshener I had picked up. I thought I had grabbed a pine-tree scented freshener as it was green. Wrong, I had picked up an air freshener that was scented with -- you guessed it -- Gain laundry detergent. I didn't even know Gain was an official "scent"! So, for 4+ hours as I drove to Indiana, my car and my sinuses were filled with the smell of Gain. My clothes smelled like Gain. The gaming materials in my car smelled like Gain. When I got to Gen Con, I forgot about the smell of Gain...until it was time to come home. My car still reeked of Gain so, for another 4 hours, all I smelled was Gain. That was 5 years ago. And, since then, the smell of Gain is absolutely connected to one of my favorite con experiences.

So let's hear from you. What non-gaming thing is forever connected to gaming in your expereinces?