Spectrum Games is pleased to announce the "Tale of Terror" contest! If you're an aspiring writer/designer who is interested in getting your work published and winning a copy of Spectrum's newest role-playing game, Macabre Tales, then you could be in luck!

We are looking for short adventures (called "tales" in the game) for inclusion in an upcoming supplement. That's where you come in! To enter, simply submit a summary/premise of your tale (between 500 and 1,000 words in length) to cynthia.spectrumgames (at) gmail.com by December 6th, 2011.

On December 8th, three entries we feel are the most intriguing will be selected as the winners. The three authors in question will be sent the PDF version of the Macabre Tales rulebook so that they can learn the game rules and flesh out their respective tales into a short adventure (between 4,000 and 5,000 words in length). The tale must be received before January 15th, 2012 at which point Spectrum Games may suggest alterations. The final draft will be due on January 28th. The softcover version of the Macabre Tales rulebook will be sent to the individual authors when their final tales have been turned in.

To reiterate, here's the timeline:

Dec. 6th: Summary Deadline
Dec. 8th: Three Winners Announced
Jan. 15th: First Draft Deadline
Jan. 28th: Final Draft Deadline

BASIC RULES FOR TALES:
• Tales must be set in the 1920s or 1930s
• Tales must be designed with a single primary character in mind.
• Tales should stay as true to the spirit, themes and tropes of Lovecraft's stories as possible.
• You can only use tomes, characters, artifacts, entities or creatures taken from H.P. Lovecraft's fiction or from your own imagination. Anything created by H.P. Lovecraft's successors or peers (August Derleth, Brian Lumley, Robert E. Howard, etc.) is off limits.
• Submissions must be sent via email as attachments in Word or txt. format. Should you include any maps or handouts, they should be sent in TIFF or PNG format.
• The subject line of the email with the summary entry should be "Tale of Terror Submission – [name of your tale]"
• On the attachment file itself should be your name, email address and telephone number.

OTHER CONTEST RULES:
• The contest is not open to employees of Spectrum Games or their personal friends or family members.
• Participants may submit up to three tale summaries, though only one tale per person can be selected. That is, we will not select more than one tale from a single participant.
• Spectrum Games gains ownership of the three tales chosen as the winning entries.
• This contest is subject to federal, state and local laws, where applicable.
• Should the author fail to meet the stated deadlines, his or her submission may be withdrawn by Spectrum Games in favor of a runner-up.
• Spectrum Games reserves the tight to withdraw the contest at any time.
• Spectrum Games reserves the right to edit the text as needed in order for it to be as professional as possible.