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Cthulhu Dark (Recruitment Closed)

Started by Ebb, April 17, 2013, 04:35:05 PM

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Ebb

We have our fill of willing victims for now. Thanks all, and watch this space for future game opportunities.

Required:

Four to six brave persons willing to sacrifice their health and sanity in exchange for a depressingly small chance of saving the world.

The year is 1925, the place is Boston, and the system is “Cthulhu Dark”, which is an extremely lightweight version of the popular “Call of Cthulhu” roleplaying game. This is a system which is eminently accessible, even for those who have no experience, or even a negative experience, with system roleplaying games. The entire thing fits on one page (depending on how small you print), and can be freely obtained at this address: Cthulhu Dark. Call of Cthulhu is a game based largely on the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote a particular sort of nightmarish horror fiction in the early part of the 20th century. It’s the sort of thing that you’ll like a great deal, if you like that sort of thing.

Player Requirements:

I’m looking for players who enjoy the bleak mood of the Lovecraft stories more than the pulpy adventure-y side of things. Monsters in this world must be outwitted or, preferably, run from at great speed. They are not to be defeated with guns or fists. I’d like players who will relish the inevitable descent to the brink of madness as the hidden truths of the Mythos are revealed to them. This is not the place for jaded adventurers or mystics already half off their crocker.

For this game I’ll be running a published adventure, but I’d rather not reveal which one at this time. I can’t fathom why someone would want to spoil their fun by reading ahead, but I suppose that sometimes temptation might be too strong. On the other hand, if you’ve already either read or played the scenario in question then your fun might be limited; you’re the best judge of that. Feel free to PM me if you’d like to rule this out.

My preference is for players who can commit to posting every other day or so. If that’s potentially a burden then please consider whether this is the right game for you. Of course extenuating circumstances arise for all of us from time to time. My policy will be to carry along inactive characters in a semi-invulnerable and largely inaudible state until the suspension of disbelief becomes ridiculous, at which point they will be eaten. Pre-arranged absences may be easily covered by sending the character off on a separate investigative trail which may or may not bear fruit upon their return.

Character Selection:

I will not be taking players on a first-come, first-served basis. All are welcome to post their character submissions here. If I’m fortunate enough to garner more interest than I have slots for, then I will apply a completely biased and capricious selection algorithm, offered with no justification whatsoever. Common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large, after all.

If a character should die or become otherwise unable, unwilling, or undead, then the player of that character will have the first right to roll a new investigator to take their place. All replacement characters must establish a personal link to one of the existing characters, and then the rest of us will politely excuse the introduction of the stranger into our merry band and proceed to trust them with our very lives. If a player doesn’t wish to continue then we may maintain a waiting list; I’ll see about that.

It’s always more fun to have a gender mix of characters, but I won’t be stringent about that. There are no defined character roles necessary -- we needn’t necessarily have a professor, a doctor, a priest, a big game hunter or a scientist, for instance. That having been said, it’s nice to have some individual niches for people so everyone has their chance to shine.

Character Specifics:


All characters must meet the following characteristics. Character submissions should be made using the sheet below.

- Must be present in Boston in 1925, and be of adventuring age (18+) at that time.

- Must be ordinary, non-magical humans.

- Must be able to leave the country on short notice. We’ll be doing a little bit of globe-trotting. Don’t worry overmuch about expenses.

- Must have an occupation, though this could be something like “wastrel” or “hobo” if you like. This ties into the system.

- Must be plausible for the year 1925. Yes, this is a supernatural universe, but the supernatural works best when displayed against a background of normalcy. Please strive for a reasonable degree of period authenticity and adherence to genre.

- Must be friends with a certain Frank Walters, a photographer for the Boston Globe. You may be old school chums, more recent acquaintances, ex-lovers (not current, though), or the like. Yes, this is how I’ll rope you all in at the start.

- Must have a tie (other than Frank) with at least one other character. This should not be part of your character submission; we’ll work it out based on the group we end up with.


Character Sheet:



[b]Player:[/b] Your screen name.

[b]Name:[/b] Your character's name

[b]Occupation:[/b] This is required; see above for details.

[b]Age:[/b] At least 18.

[b]Gender and Sexual Preference:[/b] Just in case it comes up.

[b]Appearance:[/b] You may add an image if you like, but it is not required. If you do, please use a photograph, not a drawing. Furthermore, I’d appreciate photos that look appropriate to the period.

[b]Personality:[/b] A short paragraph to describe what makes her or him tick, and how they come across to others.

[b]Bio:[/b] A brief history of your character.



Select the above (Ctrl+c), paste into your own PM or reply (Ctrl+v), and fill out the bits that want filling.

On Sex:

Sex was never a huge element of HP Lovecraft’s writing, to put things mildly. I’m willing to relax that genre element a bit in this game, given the nature of the site we’re on. Plus, sex is fun. Relations between PCs are restricted only by mutual desire and convenience. Relations between PCs and NPCs may occur but will not be required to advance the plot. If a play-by-play seems warranted I’d ask that it be taken to a separate thread so the rest of the group can get on with things, and have the boot-knockers return to the fold when they free up. In the unlikely event that the entire party is involved in the same sexual encounter, then I suppose we could use the main thread, as it would just be awkward to have everyone shuffle out of the room leaving the GM to knit or what have you. (“Yes, it appears you’re all royally fucked,” is not considered to be a group sexual encounter.)

The Fine Print:

The game will likely run under “Extreme Small Groups”, though I expect that little to no actual NC activity will occur, save for violence. Better safe than sorry. I’d expect a single IC thread, an OOC thread, and a character thread.

Dice rolls will be made using the Elliquiy dice bot. We’ll do a couple of practice rolls to get started to make sure everyone knows how to work the thing.

My preference is for third person past tense posting. (“Reginald entered the parlor, his thoughts occupied by the horrific sight he had glimpsed through the window. He sighed and poured himself another brandy.”) I’m not going to be a real stickler about it, though.

Be excellent to each other, etc., etc. You know the drill.


Zillah

Color me interested. :)

I'll have a character posted for you in the not-too-distant future.

BruceTheCat

Me as well. I will try to have a character sheet up here later this evening.
“Also I've seen that movie, if they're any similar to it, then those guns do not fuck around, please take cover“
- scribus1000

Malrunar

You already know that I'm in. Ditto as to what those above have posted.

Lurking

Interested. I've never even heard of Cthulhu Dark before, let alone rped it, but very interested. I came to E to try some new rps, and I think this one would be great to sink my teeth into. I'm going to stick to my name & lurk for a while, re-read the Cthulhu Dark rules a few more times to get fully acquainted with it, then I might post a character.
On Hiatus

Ebb

Welcome all, I look forward to seeing your characters. And a special welcome to Elliquiy for you, Lurking. If you're unfamiliar with Lovecraft's stories and you have the time, you might want to read a few. They're all available on-line, having passed out of copyright. This site has many. I'd recommend 'The Dunwich Horror' as a good typical example of the genre. 'The Rats in the Walls' is quite good too.

Not that either of those will have anything to do with this adventure, necessarily.


Malrunar

#6
Player: Yggdrasil

Name: Maxine White

Occupation: Dancer, Amateur Actress

Age: 22 years

Gender and Sexual Preference: Female. Bisexual

Appearance:



Personality: Maxine, or 'Maxi' as her friends call her, is always buzzing within the social-circles, armed with a dazzling smile and the latest gossip. Not only is she friendly, she's open minded and often the first to give something a try, whether that be the latest in trends or something as simple as a new drink on the menu of her favorite restaurant. She suffers from no absence of confidence and sees life as a beautiful thing, often supporting peaceful causes and protests in hopes of getting out the message, whatever it might be.


Bio: Maxine was born and raised by a family of comfort who lacked imagination. Their idea of a family vacation was a two hour drive west to their grandparent's house for a long weekend; then a two hour drive back, a stop by a familiar ice cream parlor, until reaching home as their final destination. This was a comfort with its familiarity for a few years, but as soon as Maxine began to grow up and have her own experiences, her wonder and curiosity only increased. Instead of going to college, she traveled Europe for four months and returned home. Her love of dancing caught notice of a few talent agencies, and from there her career as an entertainer to a thespian took flight. Maxine is content with the more local gigs, including occasional appearances as backup dancers in movies, and occasional roles in film, and would rather stay on the East coast than to move to California to 'make it big'. She's a strong believer in good things coming to those who patiently work for it.

Ebb

A Bit on the 1920's

A question has come up as to how historically accurate the game is going to be. In general, the answer is "kind-of, sort-of". I'd very much like to capture the feel of the 1920's, but I'm not going to stress unduly if someone mentions carrying an item that wasn't common until 1930, or remarks on an historical event that hadn't happened yet. (Okay, if someone starts talking about their WWII experience, I might have to draw the line.)

This tends to come up in Call of Cthulhu games particularly in relation to the not terribly fun topics of gender inequality and racism. The rule here is that fun trumps accuracy, for me. If you have a fun character concept for a brain surgeon who happens to be a woman, then we'll see what we can do. She'll likely be treated as an exceptional specimen by NPC's you run across, but I'm not going to block you from playing her. Similarly, anyone who wants to take on the challenge of playing a non-white character in 1925 America certainly doesn't need more impediments from me. We'll make it work.

This website is not mine; I found it by Googling. But it gives a nice broad picture of the 1920's for anyone looking to get a feel for the period. And of course the good old Google image search (for "1920's") gives all sorts of flavor.

Baalborn87

Player:  Baalborn87

Name: Markus Smith

Occupation: Librarian Intern/University Student (Library is in the University)

Age: 19.

Gender and Sexual Preference: Male Hetero

Appearance: 5'9", slim lean build

Personality: Often seen as too smart for his own good. He often suffers from "verbal diarrhoea" when nervous or excited. Can often be found with his nose buried a book. An almost spongelike thirst for knowledge. Despite his faults, he tries to be a friendly likeable chap.
Bio: Born to a mid wealth family. He always had an active imagination and would love to write short stories. His parents started to worry when his stories became increasingly dark. Involving a large character with glowing red eyes and bat like wings.
After a psychologist examined him and found nothing wrong, his parents dissuaded him from writing. However his love of writing didn't fade as hoped and he enrolled in University on an English Literature degree. Interning at the University Library to help pay his way.

Wargtass

Cthulhu Dark you say? Count me in!  ;D
O/O

Ebb

Quote from: Wargtass on April 18, 2013, 11:21:54 AM
Cthulhu Dark you say? Count me in!  ;D

Terrific, Wargtass. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Zillah

Player: Zillah

Name: Maggie Delaney

Occupation: Former magican's assistant; dancer; presently unemployed vaudevillian

Age: 23

Gender and Sexual Preference: Female; bisexual

Appearance:



Personality: Maggie is a carefree, fun loving young woman. She’s a free spirit who lives for the moment, who loves a glass of champagne and a good party. She’s been the center of attention for a long time during her career in vaudeville and theater, and is eager to please. She’s not exactly the brightest girl in the world, but her eager, friendly disposition usually makes her well-liked by those she meets.

Bio: Maggie was born the daughter of aerial circus performers – the Daring Delaneys, part of the world-famous Reginald Brothers Circus. She participated in the act with her family for some time, but shortly after the Great War, she met a stage magician named the Amazing Dashini. Maggie left the circus to become part of Dashini’s act, where she started to become famous in her own right, as part of Dashini’s famous “Vanishing Girl” trick … and she also began a secret affair with the dashing (and married) Dashini. It was also during this time that Dashini introduced her to the idea that handcuffs could be used for more than magic acts.

Recently, Maggie and yhe Amazing Dashini finished up a one-year-engagement in London, with a new one-year engagement in New York City. Maggie was sent by the Amazing Dashini to head to New York early, to help set up the theater hosting their act. However, during her voyage home, she learned that Dashini never had any intention of leaving his wife - he'd been lying to Maggie the entire time during their affair. Dejected and depressed, Maggie headed up to Boston, hoping to audition at the Orpheum Theater as a solo vaudeville act.

Ebb

Looks great, Zillah. Also Yggsdrasil and Baalborn.

Anyone else want to throw on your glad rags and hop the jitney down to the speakeasy to get spifflicated?

(This post brought to you by Slang of the 1920's.)


Wargtass

#13
Player: Wargtass

Name: Allister Cooper

Occupation: Former Officer of the Army, currently Agent of the Bureau of Investigation.

Age: 33

Gender and Sexual Preference: Male, heterosexual

Appearance:


Personality: In his line of work it usually doesn't pay to be kind and pleasant. Outwardly he is a very strict man, colored by his background and current occupation, but he's no stranger to being social and have attended his fair share of social happenings. Outside of his work he is rather positive to be around, but if left alone for any period of time he often becomes brooding and a little bit too dark for most.

Bio: Allister was born to a privileged military family out of Long Island. There was no doubt he would become an officer like his brother and father before him, but his road would ultimately lead in another direction. He was enlisted into the academy of West Point in 1910 and graduated with with grades and recommendations. He served as Lieutenant in the Pancho Villa Expedition and as the United States made its way to the European theatre of WWI, Allister was among the first to set foot on French soil. The terrors of this war etched deeply into his soul however and by November 1918 he returned with the rank of Captain and being changed on a fundamental level.

Resigning from his position in the army, to the great chagrin of his father, he instead signed up to become an agent in the Bureau of Investigation. Given his background in the military, family contacts on his mother's side and his reputation, he was accepted into training in 1919. Come 1921 he was ready for his first assignment and was connected to a BOI-group investigating cult activities on the East Coast. In 1924 during a raid gone wrong against a cult compound in Massachusetts, he was made witness to something that no man should ever have seen in the basement of the compound. After a brief visit to a sanitarium he was released and given a less stressful assignment which he could do as well in his sleep. When he recieved a letter from his old school chum Frank Walters inviting him to Boston for some sort of affair or another, he cheerfully accepted and got the earliest train he could catch. After all, he could work well enough out of town...




Done, kept the bio brief as is and added class with a touch of Vincent Price.  ;D
O/O

Ebb

#14
Looks great, Wargtass. One question, though: Did you mean to use the word "unscrupulous" there? And as to Price vs. Cushing, well that's just an impossible dilemma.

I hadn't specified, but I'm fine with people coming in with a range of experience with What Man Was Not Meant To Know. I think what you've got in Cooper's background is about the high limit of where I'd target. Some of you may have seen some things that you just can't quite get your mind around, but no one has really peered behind the curtain yet.

I'm going to leave the recruitment up for another day or so, and then we'll get this ship of fools out of dry dock. So anyone still out there considering (Red? Lurking?), please either post here or drop me a PM to at least get your foot in the door.



Miroque

Player: Miroque

Name: AnneMary Walkers

Occupation: Student

Age: 18

Gender and Sexual Preference: Female; Virgin; Naive

Personality: AnneMary is youthful and freespirited woman. She thinks herself being the new Maria Agnesi and find an way to be Math professor in one of the more prestigious Universities. AnneMary is strong believer in the  Prohibition and Volstead Act. She knows her bother would dissagree with her, but both of those laws were ment to protect the civilians.

Bio: AnneMary is younger sister of Frank Walters. When their parents died, when they were young, Frank was forced to raise her. AnneMary wanted to follow her bigbrothers path to academician life, and her math skills were quickly found by the University seekers, and when she was given the scholarship she was able to seek her dreams. Last few years, they have been parted, as she was living in the Arkham University Campus, but they kept frequent correspondence via letters.

In the university, AnneMary was thrown into the world of adults quickly, and being social, she made many friends and one of them was Markus Smith, the intern in Campus Library.
She found an analytical minds fashinating and she´s more that a little infatuated by him, but being too shy, AnneMary have not found an way to tell him that.

Wargtass

Quote from: Ebb on April 18, 2013, 10:30:17 PM
Looks great, Wargtass. One question, though: Did you mean to use the word "unscrupulous" there? And as to Price vs. Cushing, well that's just an impossible dilemma.

Probably not, deprived of coffee and and very sleepy when I wrote this. Going to comb through it for more muckups. And it really is, isn't it, think I'll go with ol Vincent in the end though.

Quote from: Ebb on April 18, 2013, 10:30:17 PM
I hadn't specified, but I'm fine with people coming in with a range of experience with What Man Was Not Meant To Know. I think what you've got in Cooper's background is about the high limit of where I'd target. Some of you may have seen some things that you just can't quite get your mind around, but no one has really peered behind the curtain yet.

I kept it to the classic concept of seeing what you can't believe in. He has no real memory of the incident, but it was a mind-shattering experience and he frequently has nightmares (more so than from the trenches). Trick is to keep that first encounter vague, once you start describing anything in depth you are just going to ruin the surprise.  :P

Going to finish it up soon as I have bought a fresh shipment of coffee that needs to be brewed first to kick the higher functions into gear.
O/O

Ebb

Quote from: Wargtass on April 19, 2013, 09:35:42 AM
I kept it to the classic concept of seeing what you can't believe in. He has no real memory of the incident, but it was a mind-shattering experience and he frequently has nightmares (more so than from the trenches). Trick is to keep that first encounter vague, once you start describing anything in depth you are just going to ruin the surprise.  :P

Going to finish it up soon as I have bought a fresh shipment of coffee that needs to be brewed first to kick the higher functions into gear.

Sounds like you're right on point here. I suspect you've played CoC before.

And coffee sounds like an excellent idea. I think I'll join you.

Wargtass

Quote from: Ebb on April 19, 2013, 09:38:33 AM
Sounds like you're right on point here. I suspect you've played CoC before.

And coffee sounds like an excellent idea. I think I'll join you.

Played my fair share and have freelanced as a Mythos-writer for a magazine (not so glamorous as it sounds, mediocre pay and not many readers) so I'm fairly experienced in the field.  ;D
O/O

BruceTheCat

I am going to have my character up shortly here Ebb! I'm leaning towards a sort of Prohibition gangster, since we seem to have the other mix of character archetypes already covered.
“Also I've seen that movie, if they're any similar to it, then those guns do not fuck around, please take cover“
- scribus1000

Ebb

Thanks for letting me know, Red. When I get some free time tonight after work I'll throw everything in the hopper, roll some dice, examine the entrails of a chicken and then get things kicked off. I do appreciate everyone's interest, and patience.

Period photos to keep everyone in the 1920's spirit: Fuck Yeah 1920s


Miroque, thanks for your submission. If I could make one suggestion: That is a very fetching character photo. In the language of the times, "A dame like you could make me wear balloon pants." However, it also looks pretty modern to my eye. Do you think you could keep an eye out for something more sedate? The tumblr linked above has lots of ideas, or just Googling "1920s" and looking at the images. I don't want to make you do a bunch of extra work, though, at least until after characters are selected.

Wargtass

There we go, added the last parts and left the bio as is, didn't want too add to much more than my comrades after all. Finally went with good ol Vincent.
O/O

Miroque


Miroque, thanks for your submission. If I could make one suggestion: That is a very fetching character photo. In the language of the times, "A dame like you could make me wear balloon pants." However, it also looks pretty modern to my eye. Do you think you could keep an eye out for something more sedate? The tumblr linked above has lots of ideas, or just Googling "1920s" and looking at the images. I don't want to make you do a bunch of extra work, though, at least until after characters are selected.

Well, thats picture of me :) prolly thats why its modern. (taken for Gangsters bride character to one Larp)

BruceTheCat


Player: RedLobster

Name: Jonathan Hellyer

Occupation: Freelance smuggler/muscle for hire trying to make it big.

Age: 29

Gender and Sexual Preference: Male, Heterosexual.

Appearance: Person on the far right.


Personality: John does everything in his power to convince everyone else that he is a true, classic gangster. Over his life he's proven on more than one occasion that he is perfectly willing to get into a bar brawl or exploit the weakness of another for his own gain. However, beneath all of this he has also proven that he is too much of a coward to make the final leap into something bigger. While quite the active man in looking for business, his brains side of the spectrum simply has never been fine tuned enough to place him into a higher position then just your average grunt. He often comes off as overconfident, even a cocky asshole with really nothing to prove that justifies this attitude. Still, on a good day when not on a job John can sometimes come off as being charming, maybe even kind of she's a good looker after a few drinks.

Bio: Jonathan "John" Hellyer fancies himself a ladies man entrepreneur, though in truth he is not much of either. A gangster grunt still trying to find his big score, John has spent his entire life on the wrong side of the law. Fortunately for him he has never been brave enough to try something so big that he actually ended up behind bars for any significant period of time. With the arrival of Prohibition, and the boom in organized crime, John has made his living since smuggling small amounts of alcohol to the local speak-easies. John ran away from home as soon as he was old enough to survive on his own, beating up or hurting whoever he needed to earn a quick buck. More often then not he looses everything the next night in the gambling den's.

The one main thing he does take pride in, which is seemingly true, is that John know's how the real world works. He's seen the dark side of things for almost his entire life, before and after leaving home. He has no illusions about the evil's of human nature, and what a desperate person is willing to do to survive.
“Also I've seen that movie, if they're any similar to it, then those guns do not fuck around, please take cover“
- scribus1000

BruceTheCat

Posted my character. I left it pretty vague overall intentionally as I've learned I do not like marrying myself to a personality or backstory before I know really what the game is going to be about or feel like.
“Also I've seen that movie, if they're any similar to it, then those guns do not fuck around, please take cover“
- scribus1000