Help Celebrate Robert W. Chambers Birthday By Download The Horror Classic The King In Yellow For Your Old School Campaigns

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Yesterday was the birthday of R.W. Chambers whose responsible for the creation of the King In Yellow this horrid little book with its deep supernatural connections which are forever linked to the Cthulhu cycles by Lovecraft. But is there simply more then meets the eye then simply a horror writer whose work has been attached to the work of another forever more. We'll take a quick look into the actual book 'The King In Yellow"

What Is The King In Yellow? 

Along the shore the cloud waves break,

The twin suns sink behind the lake,

The shadows lengthen

In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,

And strange moons circle through the skies,

But stranger still is

Lost Carcosa.

From The King In Yellow by R.W. Chambers

Besides being a play that induces insanity and madness with its weird deity like figure floating in and out of the book. What is the book really about?
According To Wiki: 

The King in Yellow is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published by F. Tennyson Neely in 1895.^[2] The book is named after a fictional play with the same title which recurs as a motif through some of the stories.^[3] The first half of the book features highly esteemed weird stories, and the book is described by S.T. Joshi as a classic in the field of the supernatural.^[3] There are ten stories, the first four of which, "The Repairer of Reputations", "The Mask", "In the Court of the Dragon" and "The Yellow Sign", mention The King in Yellow, a forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those who read it.

There's more to the book then simply a line or two linking what at first might seem to be anathology of stories with a common supernatural theme, once again according to Wiki : 

The first four stories are loosely connected by three main devices:

• A fictional play in book form entitled The King in Yellow
• A mysterious and malevolent supernatural entity known as The King in Yellow
• An eerie symbol called The Yellow Sign

These stories are macabre in tone, centering, in keeping with the other tales, on characters that are often artists ordecadents. The first and fourth stories, "The Repairer of Reputations" and "The Yellow Sign", are set in an imagined future 1920s America, whereas the second and third stories, "The Mask" and "In the Court of the Dragon", are set in Paris. These stories are haunted by the theme: "Have you found the Yellow Sign?"

The weird and macabre character gradually fades away during the remaining stories, and the last three are written in the romantic fiction style common to Chambers' later work. They are all linked to the preceding stories by their Parisian setting and artistic protagonists.

The stories in the book are:

• "The Repairer of Reputations" – A powerful, weird story of egotism and paranoia that carries the imagery of the book's title.

• "The Mask" – A dream story of art, love, and uncanny science.

• "In the Court of the Dragon" – A man is pursued by a sinister church organist who is after his soul.

• "The Yellow Sign" – An artist is troubled by a sinister churchyard watchman who resembles a coffin worm.

• "The Demoiselle d'Ys" – A ghost story, the theme of which anticipates H. G. Wells' "The Door in the Wall" (1911).^{[citation needed]}

• "The Prophets' Paradise" – A sequence of eerie prose poems that develop the style and theme of a quote from the fictional play The King in Yellow which introduces "The Mask".

• "The Street of the Four Winds" – An atmospheric tale of an artist in Paris who is drawn to a neighbor's room by a cat; the story ends with a macabre touch.

• "The Street of the First Shell" – A war story set in the Paris Siege of 1870.

• "The Street of Our Lady of the Fields" – Romantic American bohemians in Paris.

• "Rue Barrée" – Romantic American bohemians in Paris, with a discordant ending that playfully reflects some of the tone of the first story.
  
  Who Was  

R.W. Chambers The Writer

 Once again Wiki here :

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers (1827–1911), a famous lawyer, and Caroline (Boughton) Chambers, a direct descendant ofRoger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island. Robert's brother wasWalter Boughton Chambers, the world famous architect.

His most famous, and perhaps most meritorious, effort is The King in Yellow, a collection of Art Nouveau short stories published in 1895. This included several famous weird short stories which are connected by the theme of a fictitious drama of the same title, which drives those who read it insane.^[1] E. F. Bleiler described The King in Yellow as one of the most important works of American supernatural fiction.^[2] It was also strongly admired by H.P. Lovecraft and his circle.

Chambers returned to the weird genre in his later short story collections The Maker of Moons, The Mystery of Choice andThe Tree of Heaven, but none earned him as much success as The King in Yellow. Some of Chambers's work contains elements of science fiction, such as In Search of the Unknown and Police!!!, about a zoologist who encounters monsters

Chambers later turned to writing romantic fiction to earn a living. According to some estimates, Chambers had one of the most successful literary careers of his period, his later novels selling well and a handful achieving best-seller status. Many of his works were also serialized in magazines.

Want to know more go right over HERE 

You can find more of Chamber's works right over HERE

The 1d10 Random Remains Table From The Passage 

Of The King In Yellow

1. A bunch of random citizens of Carcosa left behind twisted and slightly mutated by the passage of the King. They insist everything is fine even though their features are slightly melted. There is 20% chance of these folks having some type of minor Lovecraftian artifact or treasure on them. 
2. A strange colourless substance coats everything, There is 40% chance of it being alive. The stuff will do 1d8 points of damage to any metal it encounters and 1d4 points to any flesh. 
3. There is a strange cloth like flesh material that is found on the ground. Should anyone pick it up the stuff will be revealed to be flesh, This stuff will try to take over the nervous system of anyone picks it up. 
4. A cut crystal glass jar that contains various surgical instruments and eyes. The eyes will have 50% chance of looking directly at a PC and are able to cast magic spells. 
5. A strange powder is being offer and it will repel monsters. Its made from the ground up bones of the worshipers of  Hastor. 
6. A strange little man offers to help with any supernatural occurrences and to repair any damage done to the party's reputation. . The little man is actually a manifestation of the power of the King and has extensive knowledge of various local supernatural events. 
7. A small wooden pyramid that is actually a device to teleport a party right over to the planet Carcosa and its environs. The pyramid will teleport away once its mission is done within 1d4 rounds. 
8. A small wooden statue of the King which will randomly steal a magic item or technological item only disappear to Carcosa itself. 
9. A small fish like statue calls upon the power of the elements and enables a party member to repel the power of the King for 1d8 rounds but this will anger the supernatural power and it will remember the fool who has done this and seek vengeance later the party within 1d4 weeks
10. A small multi faceted gem is found on the ground as soon as its picked up The King In Yellow will come.. within 1d8 rounds.
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