Inspired by old scifi pulp covers, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

While Chaosium’s most known game is Call of Cthulhu and CoC is known for being populated with tentacled menaces this image was actually inspired by the weird demons that I saw in some of the Hong Kong movies when Derek and I were “doing research” for Mandate of Heaven. Have I mentioned how really freaky some of those creatures were?

Inspired in part by Carnacki and his scientific methods for confronting supernatural forces.

One assumes that the guys our heroine is slicing up are bad sorts who deserve grisly ends. One assumes.

Inspired by all those action movies where the tough guy takes more punishment than humanly possible and still has quip for the schmuck he kills next.

Presenting the finest in bulletproof formal wear.

Just a couple of adventurers engaging in typical adventurer horseplay.

Marvel and DC comics hold a joint trademark on the words “superhero” and “superheroes”. If you want you can tell stories about superheroes. You just can’t use the term in your advertising and marketing. Superman and Spider-Man can be called superheroes. Doc Savage and the Shadow cannot.

I’m currently illustrating two books for Chaosium. The one needing to get finished first is the Basic Roleplaying Manual. I’m having a lot of fun with it. Since the manual is a rule book rather than a scenario book my role is provide inspiration for the players rather illustrate a specific scene. I’m making an effort to be as diverse as possible with my illustration subjects.

I’ll be presenting preliminary sketches for many of the illustrations over the next few weeks. Some of the sketches have stories behind their inspiration. Some of them, like the one here, just came to me without a lot of thought.