Hyde Park is a greenspace of leisure for the burgeoning middle and upper classes of London alike, but beneath its rolling lawns and carefully tended horse paths lie phenomena beyond human comprehension. An individual flung far from home takes up with the mysterious Hargrave House. Hags stalk the sewers, unseen forces steal voices from the agitated masses, and floating lights abduct hapless citizens from surrounding streets. And behind it all a shadowy entity lurks, spreading foulness from his fetid palace deep beneath the Thames…
What is The Hauntings of Hyde Park?
An unofficial zine supplement for The Between by Jason Cordova, a game about monster hunters in Victorian London, focusing on the supernatural happenings in London's historic Hyde Park. If fully funded, it will contain:
- 1 Playbook (The Dispossessed)
- 1 Mastermind (Tamesas, the Lord Putrescent)
- 3 Threats (Hark! A Ghastly Serpentine, Silence Falls at Speaker's Corner, The Lights of Rotten Row)
- 4 Unscenes (The Nightmen Cometh, The Boy and Dolphin Fountain, The Deer of Hyde Park, Her Night Off)
For an early glimpse of the contents of this zine, here is a text-only early access version.
If the zine is already written, what is the funding for?
The funding goal goes toward printing costs and labor costs for writing/editing/layout/etc. I am excited to be working with Jonah Knight as an editor for this project, and I am shouldering the rest of the work (writing, layout, art, logistics, etc.). Once the project funds all profit from this campaign will be split equitably between both myself and the editor, regardless of how many stretch goals are or are not hit.
Funding goal: $1200 - zine is fully funded
Stretch goal 1: $1425 - add another Threat (The Lord of The Ring - a traveling circus settles in Hyde Park)
Stretch goal 2: $1725 - add another Threat (Specters at an Exhibition - ghosts of modernity past haunt the Crystal Palace)
Click here for a more detailed breakdown of how this funding goal was determined.
What's the deal with donating physical copies?
This is an experiment I'm trying out with this campaign. Everyone who backs at the Financial hardship and Digital copy levels will be eligible to enter a raffle to win a physical copy of the game at no additional cost. The number of copies available will be determined by the number of people who back at higher levels.
If there are excess donated physical copies, I will explore options to stock them at my local public libraries and/or make them available to non-backers.
Contributor biographies
Nico MacDougall (he/they, writer/layout) is a TTRPG designer and editor, as well as the coordinator for The Awards 2023 and 2024. He has previously designed The River Spirit (a solo journaling game about memory, loss, and hometowns), wrote the Sweeps Week mystery Brain, Brain, Go Away for The Unofficial Brindlewood Bay Mysteries Volume 2, and edited i know the end by Sam Dunnewold.
Jonah Knight (he/him, editor) is currently a game designer/writer for the tabletop RPG Brindlewood Bay and he produces the actual play podcast Roll to Meddle. He was a seven-time musical guest of honor/featured musical guest at cons from South Carolina to New Jersey and has released 11 albums of songs about ghosts, steampunk, epic fantasy, and South Dakota. His most recent play, Time of Death, was produced in Sacramento in 2022. He trained at the Supreme Pro Wrestling Training academy and worked as a pro wrestling referee and manager in the NorCal territory for about four years.
Lane Stephens (he/him, cover artist) of LaneToTheMoonArt is a Cuesta College graduate who is involved in their local art scene as an experimental artist engaging in many medias such as collage, jewelry, sculptures, ceramics, and performance art. His works have been featured around the Central Coast of California for the past four years and he is excited to continue his career as an artist and see where it takes him!
Gustave Doré (he/him, original artist) is the 19th century celebrity printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor whose book London: A Pilgrimage is the source of most of the art contained in the zine.
Associated risks
As you can see if you follow the link above, the game is already written and just needs to be edited, art created, and everything laid out. I already have one successful Crowdfundr campaign under my belt, and my coordination of The Awards 2023 demonstrates my ability to manage complex logistics.
