Many Investigators, Many Voices – Part One 

This week, the previews continue for The Thompson Files, the upcoming bestiary for Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game from Edge Studio. Lead developer Sam Gregor-Stewart interviews several of the book’s writers concerning the process of bringing the book to life: 

One of the things that makes The Thompson Files so unique is that each of its nine chapters is written in the voice of a different famous investigator from the setting. Well, to make sure those voices sounded truly different, we hired a different writer for each section as well!  

We wanted to see what it was like for these writers to get into the heads of their subjects, so we sat down with them and asked! The following is part one of a two-part interview with each of the writers who worked on The Thompson Files. 

Edge Studio: What was your favorite part about working on The Thompson Files?  

Keith Ryan Kappel (writing for Silas Marsh): Any time I get to write NPC special abilities, I’m having a good time. Finding ways to merge the narrative concept of a creature or NPC with the mechanics that bring that aspect to life at the table is always one of my favorite things to work on. There’s something very satisfying about getting it just right. 

Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫 (writing for Kōhaku Narukami): Getting to research my home city in the 1920s. I did already know a lot but I wanted to nail down specifics. Kuala Lumpur has so much history in a small place with people from all over the world from Britain to India to China and Java all leaving their marks on it in just the last two hundred years. My favorite part of history is daily life and the little rituals we do so getting to learn about those for The Thompson Files made me feel more connected to my own culture. 

Lisa Farrell (writing for Luke Robinson): The weird and the strange are my favorite things about the Arkham setting! So I was very lucky to get to write about some of the weirdest and strangest beings and places.

Karington Hess (writing for “Ashcan” Pete): Cryptids have always been a fascination of mine. When approached to work on this project I practically begged to work on the cryptid chapter! I went on a deep dive into the lore of the Sasquatch, Jersey Devil, Mothman, and more! It was so fun to watch “documentaries” with my wife about various cryptids. Designing the Mothman as a Mythos creature that feeds from the psychic torment of its victims was especially fun. After concluding my research, while I remain skeptical of other cryptids, where the Mothman is concerned… I believe!

Edge Studio: What did you find yourself doing to get yourself “into character” and adopting the voice of one of Arkham Horror’s investigators? 

Daniel Lovat Clark (writing for Dexter Drake): I just thought about magic, and what it means to know magic. And I thought about Dexter Drake, who is a character who has Seen Too Much. And I thought about what veterans who come back from war talk about, how alienating the experience of war is from civilian life. So, the parallels seemed obvious to me, and I just drew them: people who learn magic are like combat veterans. They’ve seen things that no one else can really understand. They can never un-see them.  

Darren West (writing for Father Mateo): I listened to 1920s radio music, news, and shows. For radio I found post-war news, mystery serials, soap operas, plus people started to have more money to spend on personal purchases during that time so lots of commercials. Alka-Seltzer, Wheaties, Oldsmobile, and cigarettes commercials were a reoccurring theme! 

Father Mateo is quoted often in the LCG (Arkham Horror: The Card Game) and board games so I was able to use some of that voice as a framework for his character. Also, coming from a spiritual background, like Father Mateo, I filtered his belief into his investigative experiences.  

Lisa Farrell (writing for Luke Robinson): I’d actually written as Luke before, for The Investigators for Arkham Horror aeons ago, and he was the voice that came most readily back then so I was keen to put his dreamer’s hat on again. He’s an odd and rather lovely character. When he appears in novels, he always seems to be helping people. If only all dreamers were so benign. 

Christopher Hunt (writing for Akachi Onyele): Although separated by decades of time, gender, and ethnicity, I was able to do a few things to bridge the divide and better know Akachi. Both my parents come from different countries that were under British imperial control which, added to my knowledge of period history, gave me a bit of a starting cipher. My mum’s family being from South Africa was extra helpful; but also in part a watch out to avoid homogenizing African cultures. Remembering the voices of strong women on my mum’s side played a big role.  

I also have the privilege of living and working with a growing Nigerian population in my city and so I hear modern voices from the region on a daily basis. Finally, I often listen to music while writing and can report there are some amazing traditional and modern pieces of West African music on the internet to set the mood. Music was a double-edged sword, though, as half the time I would get so excited I’d rather dance or run than write! 

Thanks everyone! Be sure to tune in next week for the second part of our interview with these amazing writers on ArkhamHorror.com. And also be sure to pick up The Thompson Files when it hits stores on June 26!