In my role as Creative Director of Story & Setting for Fantasy Flight Games, I had the opportunity to talk along with designer MJ Newman to NPR’s James Perkins Mastromarino about the ways Arkham Horror differs from “pure Lovecraftian” horror, as well as the recently released The Scarlet Keys campaign expansion for the card game. Working to make the game world one where everyone can have fun and feel included hasn’t been without its challenges, but I’m so proud of the team and grateful to our cultural and sensitivity consultants for making The Scarlet Keys so special.

You can read the interview “How ‘Arkham Horror’ games take the nihilism and racism out of Lovecraft” on WBUR’s website.

Part of my day job involves reading the amazing tie-in fiction from Aconyte Books featuring Fantasy Flight Games’ proprietary IPs, and now you can grab up to 22 titles from their backlist at an amazing price as part of this month’s Humble Book Bundle. Plus, you’ll be supporting Worldreader, a global nonprofit bringing digital books children and their families, empowering them to read, think, and grow in order to improve their lives and their world.

From June 30th through July 21st, you can get an incredible collection of books by Aconyte’s fabulously talented authors. Explore the settings of Arkham Horror, Legend of the Five Rings, Twilight Imperium, and a slew of other fantastic properties for just $1, $10, or $18.

The collection also includes an anthology of the first four Arkham Horror novellas I edited. It was amazing to work with the authors of Dark Origins: The Collected Novellas, Vol. 1 to bring some of the investigators of the famous board game to life. If you haven’t read how Jenny Barnes, Roland Banks, Norman Withers, or Silas Marsh first encountered the Mythos, now’s your chance!

Head over to @HumbleBundle where you can snag 3, 8, or 22 titles from across our many worlds! You get an amazing deal, and you're also supporting a great cause.

Check out the bundle here: https://t.co/LiTh5ibkgJ pic.twitter.com/VbHO2uedcV

— Aconyte Books (@AconyteBooks) July 1, 2022

As part of the #GenConOnline programming this year, I got to chat all things Arkham Horror with my colleagues MJ Newman and Philip D Henry as well as some of the awesome authors at Aconyte Books.

Arkham Horror is the classic board game of Lovecraftian adventure originally designed by Richard Launius in 1987 and revitalized in 2005 (2nd edition) and 2018 (3rd edition) by Fantasy Flight Games. As a setting, its stories primarily revolve around a group of ordinary folks investigating mysteries of cosmic horror in and around Arkham, Innsmouth, and creepy New England. Unlike some traditional Cthulhu Mythos games or stories, Arkham Horror has strong pulp and even noir influences, so during the game players can end up with a nun riding a motorcycle shooting Cthulhu in the face with a blessed shotgun. That’s one extreme, anyway, and other games and novels explore the creeping dread and horror aspects of the setting.

Like many people, Arkham Horror 2nd edition was actually my first “hobby” board game. I’ve been working on the Arkham Horror brand since 2014, first as the editor for the Investigators of Arkham Horror anthology and the seven Arkham novellas that are soon to be collected in Aconyte’s first omnibus, Dark Origins. As time went on, I also began coordinating FFG’s internal story group for the Arkham Horror setting, so I’ve gotten to work with MJ and Phil on games such as Mansions of Madness 2nd edition, Arkham Horror 3rd edition, the Living Card Game, and more. Now I get to work closely with Aconyte to get the tone and feel and details of the setting right.

Check out the full video on YouTube here, or watch it below!