(Updated 12/26/21)

The Arkham Gazette is a Role-playing Game journal, focused on “Miskatonic Country”, as invented by H.P. Lovecraft and organized by the late Keith Herber in the book series (formerly called “Lovecraft Country”) by Chaosium for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. We welcome submission! Send submissions to – arkhamgazettemagazine@gmail.com.  docx or .rtf files preferred. Contact above address with formatting questions.

Types of submissions we are looking for (each category is described afterwards):

• New Persons {500 – 1500 words}
• New Places {500 – 1500 words}
• New Things {500 – 2000 words}
• Curios {200-500 words}
• “The Biblio-file” {2000-4000 words}
• “From the History Books” {1000 – 5000 words}
• “Deep Background” {1000 – 5000 words}
• “Curious New England” {1000 – 5000 words}
• Encounters {1000 – 2500 words}
• Documentary Evidence {500 – 2500 words or more}
• Scenario Seeds {500-1500 words}
• Scenes {1000-4000 words}
• Scenarios {5000 – 15,000+ words}
• Artwork and photographs (worth a thousand words, figuratively)

Articles are generally intended for the Keeper but pieces for players are welcome. Faux-historical documents, such as a period newspaper account, notes from a lecture, or academic journal pieces are very welcome. While historical accuracy is not always wholly possible, it is desirable. When possible, please include a bibliography of sources to aid Keepers in further reading or research on the topic.

New Persons/Places/Things should enrich and add depth to the Miskatonic Country setting. Please be familiar with the setting as it appears in Chaosium’s line of books (see here for more detail); submissions should not duplicate something already extant in Miskatonic Country.  If there is already a person/place/thing of that sort, your submission should have a different approach or hook for the Keeper or some element that makes the new item uniquely compelling.  Example – Curtis Sloan, Encyclopedia Salesman (#0)

Curios are similar to “new things” above, but are more succinct, with a focus on how said item might draw investigators into a scenario or the Miskatonic Country setting, possessing some of the qualities of a scenario seed in this way.   Usually several of these are collected together into an article rather than appearing on their own. Example – Kingsport Curios (#4)

The Biblio-file covers articles about books, Mythos content or no, that might be encountered in Miskatonic Country. Layout should generally follow what I call the ‘Masks Companion’ style, providing a physical description of the book, a summary of what might be learned by skimming, a summary of what a careful reader might uncover, notes on what additional research might discover about the text, statistics for the book, and sample quotes. For an example, see here.  Example – De Vermis Mysteriis (#4)

From the History Books covers historical topics based on the real world – a history of the Massachusetts State Police, the development of Danvers State Hospital, or the Vermont floods of 1927. Ideally these would provide a general discussion of the topic with an eye towards how this information would be applicable in play – in tone, imagine if wikipedia articles were written primarily for Call of Cthulhu Keepers.  Example – New England’s Witch Trials (#3)

Deep Background articles are similar to historical articles but are instead focused on fictional persons, places, and things in Miskatonic Country – a history of Arkham’s St. Mary’s Hospital, an overview of Miskatonic University’s archaeological digs, or an expanded profile of the Believer’s of Dunwich.  Example – Innsmouth’s Cemeteries (#2)

Curious New England pieces focus on topics of occult, paranormal, or cryptozoological interest. Topics might include the Gloucester sea serpent, the Moodus Noises, or the Spectral Moose of Maine. Include statistics, if applicable, when talking about paranormal entities.  Example – the Feejee Mermaid (#2)

Encounters; not quite a scenario, encounters are something or someone that can occupy investigators for a few moments – a scholar who unexpectedly snaps at the  Orne library, a stranger following the investigator at a distance, or a broken-down car by the side of the road. These typically require some investigator action – a decision on whether or not to intervene in a street fight, a skill roll to spot the spoor of a passing monstrosity, etc. – but do no necessarily connect to some larger scenario.  If desired, you can provide the Keeper multiple options as to the nature of the encounter and allow them to customize it to best fit their game.  Example – Mr. Pickett Goes a Huntin’ (#0)

Documentary Evidence: Are prop documents that can be used as handouts, scenario seeds, or simply as bits of color in a game. They should be written as documents in context from Miskatonic Country and should have some particular connection to the people, locations, or institutions of Miskatonic Country or neighboring communities. The Arkham Gazette can handle formatting the document to appear as a period piece, as needed.  Example – Kingsport’s Ghosts (#4)

Scenes: Events, normally unrelated to a scenario and without the need for investigator action, that help establish mood and setting.  These are probably unrelated to the current scenario (but could foreshadow some future one) but serve to highlight the unique qualities of the setting and immerse the players in it – for example, notes on how the political campaign of 1928 might play out in Arkham and  impact the investigators or perhaps an ongoing prank war at Miskatonic University between fraternities. Example – Dr. Goddard’s Rocket Test (#4)

Scenario Seeds: Not a fully-fleshed-out scenario, as below, but notes and ideas for the Keeper to develop their own.  A good ‘seed’ includes a strong hook to draw in the investigators and typically offers around 3 potential direction in which a resultant scenario might go.  Not every idea has to be expanded upon in detail, but there should be compelling framework for others to build upon.  Example – The Dried Cat (#3)

Scenarios: ideally we will include at least one scenario with every issue. Scenarios should be set in Miskatonic Country or its vicinity (New England generally) and make good use of the region – there should be a reason the scenario happens here and not somewhere else.  The ideal scenario will break some sort of new ground – either a foe not previously encountered in Miskatonic Country, a unique hook to involve investigators, or some other compelling factor.  There are more than 100 scenarios already set in Miskatonic Country – there is room for more, so long as you find a way to stand out from what has come before.  Example – The Queen of Night (#3)

Artwork and photographs would be great!  Submit a sample of your work and tell us what sorts of work you prefer to work upon – NPC portraits, maps, Mythos monsters, etc.

If you have an idea for a submission that does not seem to fit within the description above,

What we are not looking for:

Fiction – There are many better places to submit fiction pieces.

Reviews – There are better places for reviews. Additionally, most of the works germane to Miskatonic County were published over a decade ago, often longer.

Stats for your investigators – While they are very fun to play, unless your character would be useful to someone else in their game, please hold onto them.

Payment

Contributors to issues 5 and beyond will be paid 5¢ per word, after publication, of their piece.  Artists will be paid depending on the size and complexity of the work.