Skotos Brings H.P. Lovecraft to the InternetBERKELEY, CA, August 27, 2002 — Skotos Tech, under license from Chaosium Inc., has formed a design team and begun intensive development of a new prose game centered on the works of horror writer, Howard Lovecraft. Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night, a game of horror set in the early 1930s, is intended for release in early 2003. Arkham by Night will initially be set around Arkham's infamous Miskatonic University. Players will begin the game by filling out an application for admission to that fictional Ivy league college. After entering the university as Freshman, players will learn that the college, and the town of Arkham itself, has a decidedly dark side. "The title Arkham by Night should be taken very literally," says Christopher Allen, President of Skotos and Lead Designer for Arkham by Night. "The fear of the dark is one of the most primal human terrors, and so that's where our game will be set — amidst the gloomy streets of Arkham, before the blackened storefront windows, in the darkest hours, when the sane and the safe are abed, asleep." Though Lovecraft's horrors will ooze their way into Arkham by Night, they will be a rarity and the town itself will be relatively safe. "The theme of the game is 'Act as if Nothing is Wrong'," says Christopher Allen, "and that motto will be of central importance to every Arkham citizen." In truth there are horrors hidden in the dark places of Arkham; expeditions to Egypt, Germany, and other foreign lands will be even more prone to the depredations of mythos monstrosities; and the spectre of madness looms even within Miskatonic University. But the citizens of Arkham would have you believe all is well. Ignorance is the last refuge against insanity in a dark world. Although primarily a social game, Arkham by Night will include a number of notable game systems intended to set the mood for Lovecraftian horror. A dreaming system will allow players to interact in their sleep with horrors they could not imagine in their waking moments. An insanity system will twist players' perceptions of the world — and their impressions of other players. Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night is based on the popular series of supplements produced by Chaosium, detailing the cities of H.P. Lovecraft's Miskatonic Valley. Chaosium's book are, in turn, based directly on the works of Lovecraft himself. Classic Lovecraft stories, such as "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Dunwich Horror", and "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", have influenced entire generations of horror writers, including best-sellers Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, and Stephen King. Many classic horror movies, including Alien, Reanimator, and The Thing are also Lovecraft's heirs. Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night will be a member of the Skotos Tech community of online games. It will build upon the strong social systems already proven in Skotos Tech's Castle Marrach, a game of online storytelling and roleplaying that has been active for almost two years. ABOUT SKOTOS TECH INC. Founded in 1999, Berkeley, California-based Skotos Tech Inc. (http://www.skotos.net) is a developer and publisher of multiplayer games. Its games all center around socialization and new Internet-based communities. Other games currently published by Skotos include Castle Marrach, The Eternal City, Galactic Emperor: Hegemony, and Monsters! Monsters!: Grendel's Revenge. A group of external developers known as "The Skotos Seven" are already working on the next generation of Skotos games. For further information, please contact Skotos Tech Inc.: |
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