End Time-press release
John W. Goodrich
Subject: Announcement: End Time
System: End Time
PRESS RELEASE
Sunday, October 31, 1993
PAGAN PUBLISHING TO RELEASE POST-CTHULHU HORROR ROLE-PLAYING GAME
"That cult would never die till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb and revive His
subjects and resume His rule of earth. The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones;
free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and reveling in joy. Then
the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with
a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom." - H.P. Lovecraft
Welcome to the holocaust.
Welcome to the end of humanity.
Welcome to the END TIME.
WHAT IS END TIME?
END TIME is Pagan Publishing's first role-playing game. It is set in the year 2094, after the stars have come right and Cthulhu and the
other Great Old Ones have risen and laid waste to humanity. It's a sequel of sorts to Chaosium, Inc.'s award-winning Call of Cthulhutm
RPG, and is based in the same universe - a universe of cosmic horror, as created by writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft, in which
malevolent entities beyond the understanding of humans bring unspeakable terrors to our world.
END TIME answers the questions that have been asked by Lovecraft and Call of Cthulhutm fans for years: When will the stars come
right? What will happen when Cthulhu rises from the depths and strides the surface again? What will be the ultimate fate of humanity?
END TIME will show you the answers and they aren't very pleasant.
In the END TIME game, players take the roles of humans in a makeshift colony on Mars. The group escaped the devastation on Earth
and fled to the red planet, where a scarce 1200 people comprise the future of the human race. The Earth they left behind is a mystery;
the last few decades saw rising madness, horror, chaos, and destruction as had been foretold in xons past.
A dead world, alive with secrets
The planet Mars is no haven. Relics and ruins of ancient civilizations hold threats beyond belief. The terrible forces that have lately
afflicted Earth did the same to Mars long ago, and remnants of that devastation linger still. Exploration of these remains is a major part
of the game, for the surviving humans are all but doomed unless they can unlock the secrets of the past and prevent the apocalypse
from happening again.
Threats to mind as well as body
The humans of the Mars colony have lived through the greatest disaster in the history of humanity. The end of the world came and left
them behind, and these survivors are now split into seething factions. Religious beliefs have been drastically revised to account for what
has occurred, leading many down the paths of fanaticism. Others have embraced a cold rationality that leaves them incapable of
emotion. Dealing with the strains of life and work in the pressure cooker of the colony is the other major portion of the game - the
passions of sex, violence, and survival rule the human animal here as strongly as ever and pose perhaps the greatest threats of all.
WHAT ARE THE RULES LIKE?
Rather than invent yet another rules system and force players to learn it, we have made arrangements with Chaosium, Inc. to use their
tried-and-tested rules in END TIME. Specifically, the Call of Cthulhutm game rules will form the basis for the END TIME game. This
system has won awards around the world since its inception and has been revised and tested for more than a decade. It excels at
resolving problems of physical action quickly and without over-elaborate detail, leaving the gamemaster and players free to role-play
their characters.
Some changes will be made in the system to fit the milieu of END TIME, but the tens of thousands of people who have played Call of
Cthulhu tm over the years will find they can jump right in. Players unfamiliar with the game needn't worry - Chaosium's system is
justifiably famous for its simplicity and ease of use.
No prior experience with Call of Cthulhutm is necessary, because END TIME will stand entirely on its own. END TIME should appeal to
fans of science fiction as well as horror, or for anyone who has ever wanted to explore what drives the human animal and what makes
us who we are.
The game's principal authors are Dr. Michael LaBossiere and Pagan editor-in-chief John Tynes. Some of the best writers in the gaming
industry are contributing as well.
WHEN'S IT COMING OUT?
The initial release of END TIME will come in the summer of 1994. This release will consist of three softcover books.
END TIME: A large book for the gamemaster with complete rules, background information, descriptions of the Mars colony, campaign
outlines, sample scenarios, details of the secret history of the apocalypses on Earth and on Mars, and much more.
END TIME Player's Guide. A much smaller book with the core rules, player-specific background, and information on the Mars colony.
All of this information can also be found in the END TIME book, but the separate Player's Guide preserves the secrets of the game for
the gamemaster's eyes only, and also dramatically lowers the cost of the game for players.
END TIME Glimpses. A large anthology of scenarios for END TIME. Paradoxically, Glimpses does not use the Mars Colony setting of
the game. Instead, Glimpses presents numerous one-session scenarios set during the fall of humanity on Earth. Each scenario sets
up a very specific situation with pre-made characters, and emphasizes dramatic role-playing. Each scenario is for 2-4 players, which
means that not everyone in the gaming group will play all of the scenarios. Instead, these will become a shared body of experiences for
the group - much the way the characters in the Mars colony will have a shared body of memories and history from the destruction on
Earth.
All END TIME releases will carry a RECOMMENDED FOR MATURE READERS advisory, as the subject matter of the game is not for
the squeamish nor the faint of heart.
WHAT'S THE POINT?
The point is simple: to explore the human condition in a challenging and imaginative setting, utilizing the best aspects of science fiction
and horror to create a living world of malevolence and existential despair.
Humanity is dead, but humans live on. Will we be strong enough to rebuild what we've lost? Can we rise above our animal passions?
Or are we doomed, outmoded, and obsolete?
END TIME provides a vehicle to examine these questions and others, through the kind of thrilling interactive entertainment that only a
role-playing game can provide.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For more information about END TIME, contact:
John Tynes
Pagan Publishing
403A N. 8th St.
Columbia, MO 65201
(314) 442-4301
America Online: Pagan Pub
Internet: PAGA...@AOL.COM
This press release is Copyright 1993 Dr. Michael LaBossiere and John Tynes. It may be freely distributed.