Episode 361: Step Away From the Arras
September 13th, 2019 | Robin
We take a closer look at Ken’s new Pelgrane Press book Hideous Creatures by way of the Monster Hut, which seems to be full of our pals, the Deep Ones.
In How To Write Good we talk about foils and how to use them.
The Culture Hut hosts a discussion of a painting by none other than Robert W. Chambers, which peskily revealed itself too late to include in Ken’s annotated edition of The King in Yellow from our eldritch buds at Arc Dream.
Finally the Eliptony Hut goes CanCon as we meet the Ottawa Prophet, Ezekiel Stone Wiggins. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Does your head buzz with game ideas? Then you need The White Box! This indispensable toolbox gives you not only the meeples, cubes, dice, tokens, and discs you need to prototype your design but the deep expertise of 25 essays ranging from the theoretical to the practical. Brought to you by Atlas Games and Gameplaywright. 
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!
Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.
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My etymological dictionaries agree with Mrs McGinty! John Ayto’s magnificent Dictionary of Word Origins says it best:
English has three separate words FOIL. The oldest, ‘thwart’ [13th cen] originally meant trample. It probably comes via Anglo-Norman *fuler from Vulgar Latin *fullare, a derivative of Latin fullo ‘person who cleans and bulks out cloth, orig. by treading’ (whence English fuller [OE]). Foil ‘metallic paper’ [14] comes via Old French from Latin folium ‘leaf’ (souce also of foliage [15] and folio [16]. It orig. meant ‘leaf’ in English too, but that usage died out in the 15th cen. The modern notion of ‘one that enhances another by contrast’ comes from the practice of backing a gem with metal foil to increase its brilliancy. The source of foil ‘sword’ [16] is not known, although the semantic development of blade from ‘leaf’ to ‘cutting part’ suggests the possibility that a similar process took place in the case of foil ‘leaf.’