Call of Cthulhu creation 'William Bailey's Haunted Mansion' wins history award

-- David Waldron receiving the prize at the awards ceremony in Melbourne, Australia --

Congratulations to Miskatonic Repository creator David Waldron, whose Call of Cthulhu creation William Bailey's Haunted Mansion is a winner at the 2023 Victorian Community History Awards. 

This commendation for the History Interpretation Award, recognising "projects which use unique formats of historical interpretation", was given in a ceremony in Melbourne, Australia today by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria in conjunction with the Public Record Office Victoria.

First presented as a live actual play production at the Ballarat Heritage Festival in May 2023, William Bailey's Haunted Mansion was published as a one-shot adventure on the Miskatonic Repository, Chaosium's platform for independent Call of Cthulhu creators at DriveThruRPG, in October 2023.

Set in the turbulent 1890s of the historic city of Ballarat in Victoria's Goldfields, Australia, the scenario explores some of the places, figures and legends in that folklore and the machinations of a real but today largely forgotten cult which operated in western Victoria in the late 19th century; the New Lights or Stephenites, named after their ruthless and charismatic leader Stephen.

Chaosium vice president Michael O'Brien said, "William Bailey's Haunted Mansion is a masterclass of showing how you can deftly concoct a (fictional) Cthulhu Mythos tale out of real historical happenings, bringing in known locations, authentic artefacts and documents, and actual people who lived at the time. We congratulate David Waldron and the talented players and musicians who brought the story to life at the gaming table, and have now published the scenario and received recognition with this award."

William Bailey's Haunted Mansion is available in PDF and print (POD) formats at DriveThruRPG.