Unreal Worlds: Sons of Liberty
Apr 08
So we’ve established previously that we here at the Illuminerdy are big fans of historical games, and it may have become apparent that one of our favorite eras is the 55 years of tumultuous history in North America from 1765 to 1820. This includes the run up to the American Revolution, its aftermath, the formation of two different United States of America, conflicts with North African...
Unreal Worlds: Seeing Shadows
Mar 25
So the other day, my good friend Ruth (the Arkham Archivist) was complaining that there were no extant conspiracy theories “tying reptoids and Machen-esque little people to Punxatawney Phil,” I suspect in a fit of pique over the increasingly winterish weather assaulting the mid-Atlantic United States this week. Not one to let so blatant a challenge lie, I picked up the gauntlet and...
Unreal Worlds: Return to Lake Vostok
Mar 08
It’s been a while since the last time we talked about the fortean potential of the scientific expeditions to Antarctica’s Lake Vostok, at which point we mercilessly teased you with the idea that there would soon be a post about Antarctica-as-Atlantis that never came. Still, since the subject is somewhat close to our conspiratorial hearts here at the Illuminerdy, it was with some glee...
Unreal Worlds: Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
Mar 01
It’s important to remember that Secret Histories need not be limited to, well, actual history. You can get a lot of dramatic mileage out of taking any story that everyone thinks they know and then putting a new spin on it — or, in this case, just spinning it a little faster or a little harder in a direction it was already going. We’ve already demonstrated that we’re not...
Unreal Worlds: Rocks from Space and the Fine Art of News Hacking
Feb 20
So sometimes the inspiration for a good game just falls out of the sky. And then, of course, it crashes into Russia with the force of a nuclear explosion. In case it’s not completely clear, I’m talking about the exploding meteoroid that caused massive amounts of damage in and around the Siberian town of Chelyabinsk, ending in an explosion that, according to the New York Times,...
Unreal Worlds: The Sinister Secret of San Benito
Feb 05
As students of the kids of forteana that supply games with interesting plots and drama, it should be no surprise that we’re more than a little interested in Witchcraft and its modern expressions, including the Santa Muerte cult that has — over the last 10 years or so — become widespread in Mexico and the American Southwest. We’ve tended to associate this with the...
Connect with Us