We have fed it days, weeks; the slow ruin of our waking hours; and still it gapes, patient and bottomless, awaiting the next morsel we throw screaming into its depths.
We haven't made much progress on the core book layout. We discovered the document was set up at the wrong page size, so the layout had to be resized and reflowed. That's all done now, so there isn't much left to do; just adding the final art (new Occupations headshots and the adventure illos) and maps (which are due by the end of March), and the index, which Ken will be starting on once the layout's finalised.
We have one map finished, which is Ralf Schemmann's Bishop, OK map. He offered us a couple of different options, and we unanimously preferred this one. I think it'll make a great poster:
To speed up the layout process, we've got three parallel streams going (which I'm almost certain is a new company record for one project). As well as Gareth at Moonblade on the core book design, we've looped in Jen McCleary to work on the GM screen and Kingsbury Horror layout, and new (to us) layout artist Francita Soto is laying out Boundary of the Darkness. This should put us in a good place to have final PDFs for the new books by the end of April.
To keep you going until then, for backers I've attached a sneaky peak at the (nearly) final layout. It will be split into two books, the Trail of Cthulhu Player’s Guide and the Trail of Cthulhu GM’s Guide,and we'll be doing two different slipcase sets:
If you've backed at a level that includes a GM screen, or you've added a GM screen to your pledge, you'll be upgraded to the larger slipcase that holds both books & GM screen.
If you've backed at a level that includes just the core book(s), or added just the book(s) to your pledge, you'll get the smaller slipcase with both books.
It's been a while coming, but development has been progressing along in the background.
The core book layout is done; all that's left is to add the new 2e appendices, some new art, the table of contents and the index. Our layout artists at Moonblade Creations are on a well-deserved holiday break, and will be making tweaks based on our feedback and adding the remaining pieces in the new year, while Ken gets to work on the index.
Now that I've seen the layout, the book is big. It's currently at ~425 pages, and will only increase as we add back matter. I need to confirm the pricing with our printers (who are also now on a holiday break) but I think it may end up being...*drumroll*... two books.
Provisional discussions with Ken and Gareth suggest that splitting out chapter 6 (the campaign frames), and chapter 7 (the two new scenarios), into a separate book is the best course of action; however, we could also split it into a kind of "player book" featuring chapters 1 (Your Investigator), 2 (The Rules), and 8 (Sources & Resources) and a "GM book" featuring chapters 5 (GM advice), 6 (Campaign Frames), and 7 (Scenarios). Interested to hear your thoughts!
If we do make structural changes to the core book, we will do it so that we don't charge anyone extra, and it will not delay fulfillment of the project. At the moment, we are on track to send you the final core book(s) PDFs at the end of January, and starting to ship books at the end of April.
But, what we might do is look at how all the elements work together, and offer some new add-ons; for example, now that we've seen the 13th Age Second Edition slipcase set, I'd love to have something similar for Trail 2e. Or, we could look at adding the new GM screen in with the books instead of having it separately.
Once I get some printer quotes in the new year, I'll get back to you with more concrete options. But in the meantime, here's a sneak peak of the first half of the 1930s chapter.
Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season, and a fantastic New Year in 2026.
Work coils outward like the limbs of some unknowable thing, each writhing in its own direction. One limb writhing strongly at the moment is the layout progression. We've moved in a different direction to previously, and so I wanted to share some updated layout samples that our layout designer, Gareth Moore of Moonblade Creations, has done.
The revised layout has that same-same-but-different look we were going for, with new boxouts for stats, and a running chapter identifier adding enhanced usability.
Here's a note from Gareth on Moonblade's approach.
In approaching the Trail of Cthulhu second edition, we wanted to go back to basics and reimagine the look and feel with fresh eyes. To do this, we developed three distinct visual concepts, drawing from Lovecraftian themes, literature, and visual language across different eras and media, while always keeping a nod to the design aesthetic of first edition. Our goals were to make the pages flow more smoothly, improving readability and contrast where needed.
Fonts, colours, and image treatments have all been given more vibrancy and clarity, while still retaining that sense of foreboding dread and creeping sanity loss. Staying true to the purist and pulp feel of the book, each chapter begins with a large image spread, evoking either high-octane adventure or a more atmospheric, unsettling scene. These pages are still in development, but of course I’d welcome any feedback or comments to help make this the strongest version of the game it can be.
The GM screen is finished, and Alessandro's final is so moody and atmospheric! I can imagine a whole campaign taking place in these remote desert ruins. Here's a crop of the middle section:
The dice are being manufactured as I type, by a great USA-based company (we're taking no chances!)
We've commissioned our good friends at All Rolled Up to make the dice bags, which can either feature the 1e Pulp and Purist logos, or the new 2e logos - I've done another poll.
Steven Hammond has finished the Black Book update for 2e. We've had some back and forth about when to kick off the one-year subscriptions; my feeling is that it's best to wait until we've sent you at least the final text, if not the final PDF. If you're already playing with the Alpha draft and would like your Black Book sub to start now, email us at the usual address ([email protected]).
A different Steve has finished the Syrinscape soundscape for Stranger Shores, the quickstart adventure, and is about to add James Semples' evocative Trail of Cthulhu soundtrack to it. I had a play around with it recently, and was impressed by what they did for the "research" part of the adventure 😁 Here's a screenshot of the dashboard:
Rudy at Metamorphic, who's working on the Roll20 Trail of Cthulhu character sheet, recently sent me through a draft to play around with. It's not how I pictured it, but it looks good and the functionality is really cool. If you'd like to test it out and give feedback on it, get in touch and we'll give you access to the test PC.
Okay, I think that about covers it for now - until next time!
Gareth & Ken have finished the writing, and I've finished my edits, of the Trail of Cthulhu 2e core book, which included incorporating feedback from some above-and-beyond-going backers (you know who you are! 😅)
Now that we've revised the core book adventures - the Purist Afterlight and Pulp Hammer of the Gods - we're looking for playtesters for them. If you're interested, email us at the usual address ([email protected]) and we'll send you through the details.
We're still waiting for some of our HUNTING HORROR backers to get back to us with details of the NPCs they want included. If you backed at that level, consider this a gentle reminder to check your inboxes for an email from Gareth, and send us the details of your custom NPC. We want to move on with getting the book into layout, so if we haven't had a response from you by the end of July, we'll include your NPC in a future supplement.
We've decided to revise the Pulp and Purist icons, so our resident Foundry VTT expert Neil has designed these beauties, which we feel better represent the two modes:
Cartography for the four main corebook maps - Bishop, Chicago, The Armitage Inquiry and Lovecraft Country - is ongoing, as are the adventure maps for Afterlight and The Hammer of the Gods.
New interior art for the corebook is also ongoing. Here's a WIP sketch of Whitney Maers from Afterlight, by artist M. Wayne Miller:
While I'm working on the corebook, Robin's steaming ahead with Boundary of the Darkness. The adventures have just finished a round of external playtesting, and Robin will be making the final text adjustments once he gets back from his holiday. IIRC, about half of the art for BotD is finished; here are some sneak peeks of completed art, also from M. Wayne Miller:
I'm reviewing the existing Kingsbury Horror at the moment, to see how we can expand it to make it a printable book - it's only 14 pages at the moment, which is too short. I'll be bringing it more in line with what we've done in 2e, as well as adding a scene flow diagram and scene lead-ins and lead-outs, but expect some new interior content, too.
And finally, Ken's finished writing the Outside Entities stretch goal. The issue is, it refers to the 2e book which isn't yet laid out, and so there are loads of "see page XX" references throughout. So a question for you all: would you like it now, without these being linked, or would you prefer to wait until we can include the 2e page references? (We will be updating it once we have the final page numbers, of course). LMK in this poll!
