An Interview with Cosmic Dark’s Graham Walmsley

[Exchange pre-mission psychological test record begins]

Game Designer, please acknowledge.

Game designer here.

Identify your name and your credentials.

I’m Graham Walmsley. I’m best known for horror writing, especially Cthulhu Dark and my work for Pelgrane Press, which won an Ennie Award.

I’ve also written for Doctor Who: Adventures In Time And Space, Blades In The Dark and lots of other games. And I’ve written a bunch of weird indie stuff too.

What is Cosmic Dark?

It’s my tabletop roleplaying game of weird space horror. 

How does this game differ from its predecessor, Cthulhu Dark?

It has no character creation. You sit down and start playing straightaway, when the GM says “You’re on a shuttle, descending to the surface of a planet”.

And it does campaign play. The book comes with six scenarios in a mini-campaign.

And it’s about weird space horror.

Cosmic Dark appears to have had quite the development cycle, how has it changed?

It hasn’t much! It’s one of those games that worked the first time it hit the table. 

I wrote the scenarios over about two years. The ideas came really quickly: I’d write a scenario about alternate universes, then think “I should do something about memory”.

Please describe an experience from your games which is indicative of Cosmic Dark.

I remember Alex Roberts, who designed For The Queen, screaming because rock had invaded her throat. In character, obviously.

Given the one-shot nature of Cthulhu Dark, why is Cosmic Dark a game that encourages campaign play?

If you read or watch space horror, there are one or two people who survive at the end. They might be injured, they might be mentally changed, but they get out.That’s different from a Lovecraft story, which leaves every one broken at the end. 

And so the surviving characters can go to the next scenario. 

Cosmic Dark also has new campaign rules. When you finish a scenario, you get a Burnout score, which goes up slowly over time. 

And then the company you work for gives you surgery, adjusts your attitude if needed and sends you out on the next mission. 

Which part of the human body feels the most alien to you?

Eyes are really weird.

What guidance is there for running and creating scenarios?

Lots! And it’s different from the advice in Cthulhu Dark. 

Cosmic Dark tells stories about life, technology and reality going wrong. If you’re writing a scenario, you decide what’s gone wrong, then work from there. 

And the game is structured so it gives you tools as a GM to tell the story.

Please name the crew who will be joining you in this project?

For the art, I’m working with Matteo Bocci, who did the beautiful interior art for Cthulhu Dark, and Paul Bourne, who did an astonishing cover.

Nic Rosenberg designed the cover around Paul’s art. Nathan Paoletta did the wonderful text ornaments that make the layout so unique. And Jon Hodgson did the amazing Kickstarter video.

There’s also an incredible crew of stretch goal authors, including writer and designer Kieron Gillen, Call of Cthulhu author Scott Dorward and Julian Simpson, creator of the Lovecraft Investigations.

Which of this crew is most likely to commit murder?

I think Jadzia Axelrod, who’s also doing a stretch goal, could kill if you pushed her too far.

What is next for you and Cosmic Dark?

When the Kickstarter is done, I’ll finish the text and publish it, and the stretch goal authors will get writing.

I’ll run Cosmic Dark at the online convention A Weekend With Good Friends in June. And I’ll be at the 3w6 convention in Vienna in August.

And then there are lots of exciting things in the future! I’ve mentioned a game called Dragon Dark, although who knows whether that’ll come off. There’s a weird little game set in a forest court. And who knows what else.

Thank you for your answers, game designer.

[Transmission ends]

Cosmic Dark is currently on Kickstarter.

Graham Walmsley’s Patreon is found here.