Five Years of "Horror on the Orient Express" (Audio Game)

PoC

Published on 25th January 2012 05:11 PM

13 Comments

Horror on the Orient Express - audio game

Today, (25th January) marks the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Innsmouth House Players' idiosyncratic version of Horror on the Orient Express.

In actual fact we started with Randy McCall's The Auction - a "one-nighter" that ran to four sessions, providing an indicator of just how long it would take the group to play through the campaign (along with the odd shopping stop and restaurant visit).

You can still listen to Horror in the Orient Express in its entirety, online. Every word, every roll of the die recorded and set in digital aspic. HotOE lives on and continues to inspire; at this very moment Lordof1 (Nick Marsh) is finishing the manuscript to its novelisation in, The Express Diaries.

It may be half-a-decade on but our fond memories remain of the story and characters and we thank you for listening along (still!) to our game.

HotOE was the first time we had used the Binaural 3D Surround Sound recording technique that we still use today (and will be using again for our latest campaign: Beyond the Mountains of Madness, 2nd edition).

We recently found a small cache of the Lovecraftian Tales from the Table DVD which includes not only the higher quality audio recordings but also contains a plethora of extra material relating to the campaign and the Innsmouth House Players' version of the game. Over at Innsmouth House we also have signed copies of Alex Otterlei's Horror on the Orient Express soundtrack as used in the game.

You can read an excerpt from Nick Marsh's novelisation in his Yog Blog (an entry from Prof. Moretti) as well as see some of Eric's Smith's artwork that's also due to appear in the Innsmouth House Press publication later this year.

A big thank you is also due to Chaosium and the writers of the original HotOE (most ex-Cthulhu Conglomerate) for bringing this roleplaying campaign to the world. Here's hoping after 20 years that an RPG reprint will soon be seen. In the meantime, if you haven't already, we hope you enjoy our take on this seminal Call of Cthulhu campaign.

Categories:

Yog Radio

13 Comments

DrVincent - 25th January 2012, 05:40 PM

Still my favorite audio game ever. Grats on your anniversary guys.

Dr. V
- Reply

squawky - 25th January 2012, 06:28 PM

Oh my, that takes me back - when I ran Orient Express (right after it came out), we started with The Auction... and the one-nighter took the players on a wacky diversion that took multiple sessions to play out (so we never finished OE).
- Reply

PhoneCallOfCthulhu - 26th January 2012, 02:25 AM

I've only listened to "The Auction" part of HotOE since someone in my group might run the campaign at some point but I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
- Reply

Noble - 26th January 2012, 08:05 AM

I did enjoy that romp around Europe, it doesn't feel like 5 years ago, sigh, that's a sign of getting old isn't it , when the years blend in to one!
- Reply

Pickman - 26th January 2012, 10:20 AM

Blimey that long ago already.

One of my favourites. Thanks guys listened to it a couple of times and still really enjoyed it.

Can't wait for the next one.
- Reply

JonHook - 26th January 2012, 02:28 PM

I recently got the dvd with Horror and Masks on it. I think I'll dig back into Horror; I too listening to that campaign originally.
- Reply

cpt_machine - 26th January 2012, 05:49 PM

The cake auction blew my mind
- Reply

AirborneXO - 28th January 2012, 11:03 PM

So awesome had to become a patron halfway through just to get episodes quicker and I have never looked back - my group head to Venice next weekend and I always listen back to the relevant section before I run the game - Paul's Keeping is inspirational!
- Reply

PoC - 29th January 2012, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by AirborneXO

I always listen back to the relevant section before I run the game - Paul's Keeping is inspirational!

You are too, too kind, sir! (Cheque's in the post. )
- Reply

AirborneXO - 29th January 2012, 08:07 PM

Well you got me back into CoC (and roleplaying in general) after 15 years away from it, so I don't know what other word there is for it! You saved me from becoming 100% wargamer! Cheers, Hal
- Reply

mjmedwick - 31st January 2012, 02:43 PM

I suspect that the recording of this campaign remains a real milestone for role playing game resources on the net. What an outstanding example of good group composition, quality role playing and game master technique. At the time of its recording and release, had there been any other similar examples of live play of comparable continuity and production quality?

I've been listening to HotOE regularly from start to finish for the first time while waiting for Beyond the Mountains of Madness to kick off. What a treat it's been - and I'm only about 2/3 of the way through!
- Reply

Paradroid - 1st February 2012, 08:07 AM

I've said this before, I'll say it again: the Horror on the Orient-Express audiogame has been a huge inspiration for me.

It showed me exactly what good role-playing sounds like, and what kind of role-playing style suits me. It made me want to delve deeper into Call of Cthulhu. It was instrumental in my not only running the campaign myself, but joining the CoC demo team for Pegasus Spiele, which in turn lead to me joining the Pegasus editorial team as a translator.

I am now working on my sixth assignment. Believe it or not: I also met my soulmate running Call of Cthulhu at a convention. So let me put it like this: Your efforts are much appreciated.
- Reply

Andrew Beard - 8th February 2012, 01:28 PM

I just started listening to the audiogame this morning on my way to work and I'm already hooked. Hopefully this will help me get off my butt and get my own campaign moving (and provide a couple ideas to steal).
- Reply