@Taskerland For what it's worth, as a member, I would generally see a batch of new member approvals each day. So I don't think it's just that he wasn't doing it, which would be the way I'd be likely to fail at something like that.

@RogerBW Is it that there was a backlog or some IT problem maybe?

@Taskerland "A few clicks south of paying HPLHS for their doctored version" Sir.

I remember them before they locked down and they created a library of props, a wiki of published materials, and they pioneered actual play stuff.

I had a friend who posted there and he said it was mostly old lags slapping their fins on the water and getting nostalgic while not really engaging with people trying to do anything new but they had a reputation.

@Taskerland I have no reason to suppose that. I think there may have been reluctance to join a thing when you couldn't see what you got until you joined; and judging by some of the Reddit comments people conflated "sign up" with "subscribe". Overall I think it was just not enough money coming in.

@Printdevil I hope they also have the even more intense range of mountains alluded to at the end of the story when Lovecraft realises he probably should have stopped writing at the discovery of an enigmatic ruined city.

@RogerBW Ah yes because there was a point where there was tiered access then he locked that down too so you'd register but there was nothing there to see let alone participate in.

@Taskerland The South Polar Regions map I like (vs this one) I liked because it's from the Times Supplement, but has "unexplored regions" which is always good for games

The Mountains of Madness for Arkham RPG has a bonkers amount of stuff in it, but all in that "nerfy battlemap" way we scowl at.

@Taskerland I cancelled my subscription in 2025. At that point I had the forum, but no access to the files or the live shows. (And no private messages.)

@Printdevil Interestingly, I found a shop that sold RPGs the other day and while they didn't have any CoC they did have the Arkham horror game.

@Taskerland @devilsjunkshop Due to issues with living in Northern Ireland, he chose the missionary in "savage lands" approach, popular amongst aspiring Paisleyites.

Man... The reddit thread on YSDC is absolutely fascinating:

(www.reddit.com)

Dozens of people talking about how they have been trying to join and to give that guy money for *years* only to be ignored or turned down.

I complain a lot about parasociality and predatory influencers in RPG spaces but this is somehow even more pathetic and sad.

Guy builds up a forum and then begins locking it down as he grows more paranoid and exclusionary while people are begging him to take their money.

@Taskerland I wouldn't put much faith in the comments on that thread, to be honest. Paul certainly is not paranoid or a scammer. I do regret that he didn't communicate more openly about the impending closure and approach it in a more staged, structured way, as its abruptness caught almost everyone out.

@BigJackBrass I think a lot of the grievance in that thread is down to the way that YSDC's reputation lingered in the community long after the site had been locked down and he had put up multiple roadblocks to joining.

I don't think he's a scammer but I think the failure of the site was avoidable and entirely a product of his weird ideas.

@Taskerland The scammer allegation crops up in the Reddit comments more than once.

@Printdevil I do remember being shocked on discovering that his career choice turned out to be 'missionary' and not 'mercenary'. @Taskerland

Having seen pictures of his missionary work, there was a hint of "manifest destiny" about it.

@devilsjunkshop @Taskerland

@Printdevil @devilsjunkshop Converting the locals into corpses.

@BigJackBrass I don't think it, but I can see why they would think that.