I remember many gratuitous references to Arkham University, but I can't recall a single Asylum reference in Lovecraft. I haven't READ Lovecraft in about a dozen or so years now either, so I could be suffering from fading neurons.
Arkham Sanitarium is where Edward Derby was locked up when he broke down because of Asenath (or possibly Ephraim) Waite's slow possession of him, end was eventually shot by Our Narrator. It's in "The Thing on the Doorstep", does not figure heavily in the story (I think it's visited once, and nothing dramatic happens), and I cannot find any mention of it in any of his other works.
The reference I keep finding when pages online are saying Danvers is an inspiration for Arkham Sanitarium is Morales on the Historic Asylums of America site. Said site has a link to Joseph Morales' page A Short Tour of Lovecraftian New England, which says (possibly repeating information from someone named Donovan Loucks, it's not clear) that Danvers is "mentioned in passing in some of Lovecraft's stories, and might also be the inspiration for HPL's fictional Arkham Sanitarium".
S'yeah. A reference to a site that links to another site that observes (possibly secondhand) that Danvers might have been an inspiration for Arkham Sanitarium, to my mind, does not warrant saying that it is known that Danvers inspired Lovcraft's Arkham Asylum (which does not exist, dammit, it's a Sanitarium).
Damnable sloppy Wikipedians. I will correct it later tonight.
Yeah, so true. Especially when they come back as NPCs and the few remaining PCs are then outnumbered about 10 to 1. I think there were a couple games, back before the organiser decided he wanted to run an actually connected campaign, where all thye players ended up dead and the bad guys won hands down.
Yeah. Such a pity. The gaming scene in NZ is wicked. We actually have a NZ LARP society. With games running under its auspices in several major(ish) cities on both islands.
Nickname for the place, due to the geographical tie to the Witch Trials. I first ran across it here and was sceptical; however, a Google on "The Witches' Castle" danvers turns up enough hits from varied enough sources that I'll certainly believe it's a nickname now.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 02:23 pm (UTC)I saw Session 9... it was neat
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 04:42 pm (UTC)AFAICR, there is no asylum in Arkham, dsepite the crying need. Arkham Asylum was a tribute to Lovecraft that the DC writers came up with.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 04:50 pm (UTC)Wikipedia sez: DC's Arkham Asylum was a ripoff of Lovecraft's Arkham Asylum.
Wikipedia has been known to be wrong, before.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 04:58 pm (UTC)I am positive there is no asylum in Arkham. I will check to see if there is a sanitarium.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 05:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 06:25 pm (UTC)Arkham Sanitarium is where Edward Derby was locked up when he broke down because of Asenath (or possibly Ephraim) Waite's slow possession of him, end was eventually shot by Our Narrator. It's in "The Thing on the Doorstep", does not figure heavily in the story (I think it's visited once, and nothing dramatic happens), and I cannot find any mention of it in any of his other works.
The reference I keep finding when pages online are saying Danvers is an inspiration for Arkham Sanitarium is Morales on the Historic Asylums of America site. Said site has a link to Joseph Morales' page A Short Tour of Lovecraftian New England, which says (possibly repeating information from someone named Donovan Loucks, it's not clear) that Danvers is "mentioned in passing in some of Lovecraft's stories, and might also be the inspiration for HPL's fictional Arkham Sanitarium".
S'yeah. A reference to a site that links to another site that observes (possibly secondhand) that Danvers might have been an inspiration for Arkham Sanitarium, to my mind, does not warrant saying that it is known that Danvers inspired Lovcraft's Arkham Asylum (which does not exist, dammit, it's a Sanitarium).
Damnable sloppy Wikipedians. I will correct it later tonight.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 10:29 am (UTC)Lovecraft is wicked. having a LARP in town based on his works is better. having a large portion of the players die each game is best.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 01:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 07:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 08:08 pm (UTC)Too bad.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 08:10 pm (UTC)well, We have had a player die, just not at that game, at a more violent (boffer) type, i believe.
I'll check and get back to you, you bloodthirsty man you.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 01:56 pm (UTC)New Zealand. Dammit. Not within driving distance.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 07:57 pm (UTC)Yeah. Such a pity. The gaming scene in NZ is wicked. We actually have a NZ LARP society. With games running under its auspices in several major(ish) cities on both islands.
*happy dance* NZ is a good place to be a gamer.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 04:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 04:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 05:27 pm (UTC)You know Danvers was the site of the Salem Witch Trials, right?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 06:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 06:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 08:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 08:34 pm (UTC)...and the answers is "knees up! knees up!"
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 04:43 pm (UTC)