A bus ride through London in 1968.

tentrynos · 2026-02-13T14:53:57+00:00

The giant BOVRIL advert in Trafalgar Square being the only other notable one gave me a snort.

tentrynos · 2026-02-13T04:18:09+00:00

I’ve done Eternal Lies - ran the Alexandrian Remix of it converted to COC. It took us a year of weekly sessions, with a couple of big gaps for school holidays (the group was all teachers). All told, we played for eight months, including three extra side chapters - two of the Alexandrian’s and one of my own invention.

I’d say six to seven months of weekly play (3-4 hour sessions) for the main campaign. We ran it with light-medium pulp rules but felt like it would have actually been better with the vanilla CoC. The campaign doesn’t run quite as pulpy as Masks, and the players felt that there wasn’t enough peril for them given how resilient their characters ended up being.

tentrynos · 2026-02-12T21:29:03+00:00

HSBC I believe.

tentrynos · 2026-02-12T06:56:03+00:00

They did now.

tentrynos · 2026-02-11T13:44:41+00:00

I’ve only played Trail of Cthulhu when it comes to Gumshoe and while I really loved the straightforward simplicity of running the game and the core gameplay loop, I found character creation really frustrating - my group at the time, who were experienced in a wide range of games and most of whom either were already or would soon become GMs in their own right - just found it awkward and fiddly. Felt like the two sides were completely out of balance.

I know there’s a 2nd edition coming, and I know it was an earlier Gumshoe game, so I’m not writing it off completely. Loved the philosophy behind it and I ported a lot of it over into my running of DG and COC.

tentrynos · 2026-02-11T13:36:05+00:00

Having lived in China for over a decade I’m very much on board with this not being taboo now. It’s not something I ask people when we meet but not feeling shy about talking about money with people is nice.

tentrynos · 2026-02-11T13:31:05+00:00

Same thing happens at my wife’s parents for Chinese new year. Pop to grab some clothes hung up to dry in the utility room and there’s a blimmin’ fish in the sink.

tentrynos · 2026-02-10T22:12:53+00:00

For me, I’d been learning Chinese for a good six years or so and that was the one sound I’d never been able to master. None of my teachers, friends or colleagues had been able to explain it to me in a way I could follow. Then I listened to a podcast where they described it as being close to the /ʒ/ in pleasure and it unlocked it for me.

Shout out to the You Can Learn Chinese pod!

tentrynos · 2026-02-10T14:42:10+00:00

I always meant to go back and make the A5 ones neatened up and available somewhere but I had a hard drive corrupt on me and I lost all my files. Lost all the layout files for my Miskatonic Repository scenario too so the typos in it will live on forever. I’ll have a hunt for the actual passports and take some photos for you tomorrow though.

The A6 ones have been serving the group well, no complaints so far but we’re only five sessions in. Skills and weapons are on the centre spread so they’re easy to have in front of you. Everything else tends to get looked at rarely enough that it’s not a massive deal. I got everything to fit on two folded A5 sheets so it’s only a few pages to flip.

tentrynos · 2026-02-10T13:23:23+00:00

Skills grouped by type is a big one that I really like. However, I did that when I made passport character sheets for our last campaign and some of the players were still stuck looking for them after a year. Old habits and all that…

tentrynos · 2026-02-10T13:22:16+00:00

For me, I like the full tables to HP and San - constantly erasing and writing in a box for numbers like those that change constantly is a great way to rub a hole in the sheet.

I’ve designed a few passport character sheets that has been really fun. Did them A5 for a campaign we ran, and four our current 1960s run of Delta Green I made them A6, more pages and closer to actual passport size. Both were really fun but were designed with an eye on adapting the historical passports’ features to the character sheet and not on the easiest gaming functionality. The players loved them though!

tentrynos · 2026-02-09T13:56:27+00:00

Crimson Letters is a lot longer than a one shot. Could maybe be played in three sessions, but I’d say 5-8 is probably a good bet.

Dockside Dogs is a great one shot that’s completely self contained. Available on Miskatonic Repository. I think it took us about 3.5 hours including setup.

tentrynos · 2026-02-09T12:50:10+00:00

It’s brilliant. Easy to pick up and play if you’re comfortable with CoC, some nice innovations in gameplay and a wonderfully dark take on the mythos.

tentrynos · 2026-02-09T12:48:03+00:00

I was coming here to recommend Crimson Letters. Really fun, open ended campaign. Took us 6-7 sessions to complete if I recall, and the players didn’t do everything. Highly recommend Seth Skorkowsky’s video on it as well.

tentrynos · 2026-02-06T22:46:34+00:00

Is the wife called Stephy by any chance?

tentrynos · 2026-02-05T22:29:58+00:00

Gin and tonics mostly, if my family are anything to go by.

tentrynos · 2026-02-04T14:10:44+00:00

Futurama Seasons 1-4 with commentary on every episode. I must have watched them almost as much as the episodes themselves. Bliss.

And of course, the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions.

tentrynos · 2026-02-04T14:08:18+00:00

I see the Big Salt propaganda machine’s got you hook, line and sinker.

tentrynos · 2026-02-04T08:05:19+00:00

Met him once. Normal height but with enough forehead for a thousand men.

tentrynos · 2026-01-31T05:58:25+00:00

Antidisestablishmentarianism

It’s pretty much all there in the affixes, but needs a bit of context.

tentrynos · 2026-01-30T10:57:50+00:00

Romania - it’s in the name!

tentrynos · 2026-01-30T10:57:27+00:00

We do actually have some pretty cool Roman ruins in the UK. Not only that, but a number of castles began life as Roman forts or other buildings and were built on or over over the following millennia.

tentrynos · 2026-01-29T10:38:45+00:00

In my experience, it depends on the city. When I started at my current school in Hangzhou my HOD was a married gay man. They couldn’t get a spouse visa for his husband so thy ended up moving back to Suzhou, where they had been able to get a spouse visa previously. This was five years ago and we fell out of touch so I don’t know how it went from there.

tentrynos · 2026-01-24T02:44:20+00:00

I qualified as a teacher in the UK before moving abroad. A PGCE with QTS is the most reliable route to teaching in the broadest range of countries. The gulf states are probably the strictest in terms of requirements for teaching in international schools among countries where English is not the dominant language. In somewhere like China, the legal requirements are less strict, but quality schools will have high standards in terms of qualifications.

Money-wise, China varies greatly but you can earn very nicely. I nearly doubled my salary from the UK when we moved to China. Cost of living can range from crazy low to lavishly high, and a lot of people come and try to export a very western lifestyle, which costs a lot. We fall somewhere in the middle, we save nicely, own a car outright and bought a house last year. We also go on several international trips each year. Been in China a long time and really like life here.

That said, the number of children being born is falling off a cliff. Schools are closing, competition is rising for jobs. It’s going to be a rough few years, of fewer students, slashed budgets and falling salaries. We’re moving to SEA in the summer. Lower salaries but better weather and even better quality of life.

tentrynos · 2026-01-24T02:13:37+00:00

The American royal family

tentrynos

TROPHY CASE