Owner Paul Maclean | Launched June 1998 | |
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Yog-sothoth.com (otherwise known as YSDC) is an ENnie award-winning website devoted to the works of weird-fiction author H.P. Lovecraft, and the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game from Chaosium.
Contents
Description
Yog-sothoth.com's focus is on two main areas. Firstly, the works of the early 20th Century weird-fiction writer, H.P. Lovecraft, and the associated 'Cthulhu-mythos'
Secondly, the website focuses on the various roleplaying, board, and computer games that have been developed in response to Lovecraft's works. In particular, YSDC looks at Call of Cthulhu, the classic roleplaying game from Chaosium inc.
YSDC publishes news about new releases from Chaosium and the various Call of Cthulhu licensees, mythos-related films, books, games and conventions. It has a very active forum community which discusses all aspects of the mythos created by Lovecraft, and hosts a variety of mythos-related documents and files.
The website also produces a regular podcast, Yog Radio, discussing aspects of the roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu. In December 2009 a streaming audio channel was also launched (Yog Radio Radio ).
The host of the site is an enthusiastic player of Call of Cthulhu, and the site also produces podcasts of his gaming group, The Bradford Players, running through classic Call of Cthulhu scenarios such as Masks of Nyarlathotep, Horror on the Orient Express and Walker in the Wastes. The group recently began playing through the scenario Tatters of the King. In 2009 the collected podcasts of Masks of Nyarlathotep and Horror on the Orient Express were released on a DVD along with a great deal of supplementary material, as 'Lovecraftian Tales from the Table'.
History
Yog-sothoth.com has been online for over ten years, and has passed through numerous different iterations. Paul Maclean (also known as Paul of Cthulhu due to his long-standing love of Chaosium's roleplaying game) has been running the site from its inception in 1998.
The site has fans all over the world, and is most popular with its US and UK viewers
Awards
Yog-sothoth.com won a Gold ENnie in 2006 for Best Fan site.
Yog Radio won a Silver ENnie the following year for Best Podcast.
Lovecraftian Tales from the table won the UK Games Expo Award in 2009 for Best Roleplaying Game.
Community
YSDC has a thriving and forum community - active participants includes many of the original Chaosium writers, as well as newer writers from Miskatonic River Press, Pagan Publishing, Pegasus Spiele and others. The forums are some of the friendliest on the web, due to Paul of Cthulhu and his moderator's policy of keeping the boards civil
The focus on the forums is largely on the roleplaying games associated with Lovecraft's mythos, but can also range from the original works of Lovecraft and his fellow authors, through mythos-related films, books, games and real-world events than could be interpreted from a mythos standpoint.