Shoggoth Explained

Shoggoths are strange things. As described by their creator, the author HP Lovecraft, they are giantic black amoeba like things covered in eyes, blobby tentacles, and possibly mouths. They inspire dread and awe because of their amorphous and horribly alien nature. They are always shifting, changing, and on the move.

None of that directly explains what this blog is all about but it does give a vague notion of where I'm headed. I've never kept a regular blog before, in part due to my suspicion that I'd have a hard time keeping on track with a given topic. Topical blogs interest me greatly (especially gaming blogs like James Maliszewski's Grognardia) but my own interests shift around quite a bit from month to month and year to year. So what would I blog about?

I think I've hit upon a solution. I've been recently prompted to create this blog because of the following realizations (not necessarily listed in order of importance):

1. Whatever my interests in games, movies, books and so forth happen to be at any given moment they always find their way back to the kind of weird monsters, mythology, and odd historical minutiae embodied by the Cthulhu Mythos.

2. I really like the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game and its many Basic Roleplaying system relatives. After witnessing the umpteenth round of Random Internet Persons on a Game Forum dismissing CoC for its 'clunky, dated rules' I began developing strong defensive feelings about the game. I'd like to do my bit to help promote it.

3. I like making pictures but I seldom show them to anyone. After burning out on the business of illustration many years ago I became pretty private with my doodles. Often when someone sees my work nowadays, they say that I really ought to put it out in front of people somehow. After becoming a fan of D&D Doodle, I'm a believer in the power of illustrated blogs to give a unique perspective on one's game of choice.

4. As a teacher I use games a lot in my classroom. I've made heavy use of the Basic Roleplaying rules, other roleplaying games, and more board and card games than you can shake a stick at. I believe strongly that gaming ought to play a bigger and bigger part in education in years to come, and I'd like to think that sharing my teaching experiences can hasten that process along in some small way. Also, I enjoy the cocked eyebrows that result when I explain that I use Call of Cthulhu with schoolkids to teach history.

So with these realizations in mind I've arrived at the decision to create Shoggoth: an amorphous blog of well-intended weirdness. I hope you enjoy the trip.