Large scale Victorian-style boarding school... with a twist.

Started by Aoife, January 28, 2012, 03:04:46 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Aoife

I'm planning on putting together a macro-scale game for the Elliquiy community. We'll be creating characters, teachers, and a number of locals to live and work around the Saint Agatine Miskatonic Academy for the Gifted (colloquially referred to as 'The Academy') and the broader Arkham, Massachusetts area.  The game will use Call of Cthulhu rules, with a couple tweaks if interest is shown in the game. The game will primarily focus on romance, daily life, interactions between individuals in various ways, and some major meta-plot events for people who want to delve deeper into the mysteries of the city itself.

Players should remember that this is, in many ways, a period piece.  There are certain attitudes and behaviors that were present in the late 1920's that are not present today.  Segregation of blacks and whites is still alive and well (although becoming heated).  Suffrage is a very new concept (less than a decade), and by and large women are still treated as second class citizens by modern standards. Openly deviant sexual behavior is not only considered immoral and disgusting but is also, in many cases, grounds for legal prosecution. Racism against both Germans, Irishmen, and Chinese is rampant and in many cases outright violent. I encourage players and GM's to both know and understand the conceptualization of late 1920's America before jumping in with both feet first.  Arkham Academy is more progressive, but the same cannot necessarily be said for the surrounding area.

I need both players and additional GM's, who must possess Skype.  GM's will be responsible for overseeing threads, providing interesting activities and responses from NPC's, and for resolving player disputes.  It is more than okay for a GM to also run a player character or two, so long as they never GM a thread they have one of their players involved in.

I've put a lot of thought into this game upon getting to experience the Elliqiy community, and really hope to make this labor of love something everyone here can enjoy for years to come.

(Sections exerted from academy brochure, entered as court evidence, Exhibit B, 1942)

Saint Agatine Miskatonic Academy for the Gifted is one of the finest boarding schools on the East coast. The Academy prides itself in preparing students between the ages of 18-24 with the fine educational and trade skills they need to succeed in life. Located in Arkham Massachusetts, the Academy is one of the premier educational institutions for the rich and famous to dump the children that prove to be in some way an embarrassment to their families.  Nonetheless, many of the students are incredibly talented, or possess other unique talents that give them an edge.  The Academy provides a premier learning environment, and despite the staff knowledge of the reasons why many of their students are in attendance, they still provide one of the best private educations anywhere.  Many of their students go on to being leading authorities in many academic disciplines.

The staff are a diverse lot; economically, socially, and even geographically.  Indian professors rub elbows with Germans and South Africans, and the Academy is especially unique in allowing in African and Asian students to their classrooms, so long as their families pay the egregious fees, of course. The Academy also has a long standing habit of inviting professors to serve interim placements, allowing for a degree of staff flexibility to pursue their own interests.  This style has also led to a great number of outbuilding and private research centers in the Arkham area, staffed by professors and their charges and funded from the generous coffers of the Academy. These extracurricular projects oftentimes comprise a significant amount of student time.

Nonetheless, the school has a long string of strange circumstances from disappearances, to noise complaints, and even to a number of stress-related ailments. The Arkham Center for the Terminally Insane hosts a small number of Academy professors, and even a small pool of students.  Psychology is a young discipline, only now beginning to get out of it's formative years, but the Academy has pioneered some radical new techniques - the promising of which is the lobotomy which has shown to curb criminal behavior by a significant degree. The Academy upholds its image very strongly, and it claims that any linkages between such events and their school is 'patently preposterous'.

Evidence entrance ends.

The year is 1929, the Great depression has just begun, and the world is changing in many ways.  The gangs of Chicago and New York are alive and well, and Arkham is a large enough town to have caught the eye of the New York dons.  Likewise, the Prohibition is in wide effect, and is just as unpopular as it is in the larger neighboring cities. Given the size of the town, and the proximity to the coast, there exists a vast bootlegging operation all throughout the area, and law enforcement has had little luck shutting it all down.  Smuggling is also a booming trade, either by importing alcohol from Euope or through the introduction and shipment of controlled substances through the sieve that is Arkham's law enforcement.  Surprisingly enough, smuggling is curtailed by a staggering number of boats that simply go missing, leading to the joking term of 'little Bermuda' for Arkham's coast.  Finally, while not nearly as pervasive as in the larger cities, Arkham boasts a quiet sex trade, with an unofficially recognized union of prostitutes, show girls, and street walkers.  Such members carry a simple card with their licensing, and authorities look the other way so long as they pay their union dues on time.  Those that don't are viciously persecuted and jailed, if not remanded to the Institute for being of sufficient 'moral degeneracy'.  This implied threat makes for a surprisingly honest sex trade, and men and women in the industry can expect to bring in a tidy profit from their labors.  They also enjoy significant protection from law enforcement, for whom the Union revenues support their salaries.

Law enforcement agents in the region are greeted with a relatively thankless, grueling task.  Arkham boasts less than half of the number of uniformed officers it should have, and only a single unit of detectives.  This massive under-staffing in law enforcement is what makes the city such an attractive area for organized criminal enterprise. Nonetheless, officers receive a massive amount of respect from the community, as they, almost to a man, are both honest and hardworking.  It is a rare evening when an officer isn't invited to dine at a citizen's home, and many citizens are on first name basis's with a least one patrol officer.  Minor offences are largely ignored so long as no one is harmed, and a 'common sense' approach to law and the attending officers opinion of the crime scene is encouraged.  Whispers, however, speak of deeper and more pervasive corruption within the fraternity of officers, although any ties to organized crime are fervently denied. All in all, this has led to a massive influx of private investigators, men in trench-coats with recording devices and broad-brimmed hats who, for a fee, pick up the slack of the police department.

Arkham is a very diverse citizenry, from a large amount of lower class individuals who live and work around the docks and the fountries in the countryside, to the middle class who run the stores and boutiques in the outer city.  The Upper class live and work around the Mountain, a local term for the large hill in the center of Arkham that boasts the cream of societies homes and the impressive collection of museums and art galleries.  The peak of the mountain holds Arkham Manor, the oldest building in Arkham, inhabited by the Dean of the Academy.  The house has remained in the same family for nearly two centuries now, and seems slightly out of place among the gleaming marble and granite structures that currently make up the rest of the Mountain.  The Academy sits nestled near the middle, surrounded by parks and a number of art galleries, the Arkham Museum of Higher Technology, and the Arkham Gallery.

Unfortunately, some things that should have been lost to the wastes of time... still live. Arkham is a city of mysteries in many ways, and has many dark corners and shady alleyways winding between the buildings. It is an old city, and it is a brave man or woman indeed who begins to investigate beneath the veneer of bustling citizenry.

Welcome to Arkham...

Enjoy your stay.

Reia

This sounds amazing! I'm definitely interested - most probably in being a professor. I'd also be up for being a GM.
[tr][td]

Updated: 03/24/19
[/td][td]
Updated: 06/24/12
[/td][td]
Updated: 07/20/15
[/td][td]
Posted: 11/24/14
[/td][td]
Updated: 03/04/19
[/td][/tr][/table]

Aoife

Excellent!  I wasn't planning on putting a cap on the number of characters, so long as players avoid having their characters ever meet or in any way directly influence one another.  What kind of subject would you teach (you don't actually need to know a TON about your subject, but you should know something), and remember it can include some slightly odd things (Call of Cthulhu style) like 'experimental geometry' or 'practical applications of metaphysics'.

If you'd like to GM, mind PMing me your Skype name?

Loves

This sounds like so much fun. I love romance and interacting with other characters. The way you have explained the setting and time period sounds like there could be so many adventures. I would be interested in playing a female student, possibly way to curious for her own good. Looking forward to exploring area's where she shouldn't  ;D
ON HIATUS AGAIN

Aoife

Sounds great?  Any particular field of study?

If you're willing to start prodding deeper and darker areas, there will be plenty of things to discover which depend entirely on how far you're willing to descend.  The Mythos always has an interesting way of handling horror, in that your imagination is always left to fill in the details.  These kind of investigations will comprise meta-plot events, and can involve multiple characters from vastly different walks of life coming together to investigate one particular instance.

Loves

I am assuming that she would be required to study something useless, but interesting, being a girl at that time... wouldn't it be more important that she find a husband? :P I was thinking about something to do with history or art. I don't know much about art but google is a wonderful tool  ;D

I am open to anything dark and dangerous. I see her as a curious girl, more so than any "respectable" girl should be.
ON HIATUS AGAIN

Aoife

Funnily enough, there's no requirement towards studying anything. If she really went into a hard science, the expectation would be, quite simply, that she would fail as she wouldn't possess 'a logical masculine mind'.  Art could be interesting, especially if you went into theater or sculpture(which allows me to incorporate the King in Yellow or the Gallery of the Seven Veils, respectively).

Loves

Theater sounds like it could be interesting. It would certainly give her a chance to be dramatic with her personality, and who doesn't enjoy a good dramatic dame ;)
ON HIATUS AGAIN

Jalynn6

I would love to get in on this! I would like to play a male student!  I hope the interest picks up! Ill be working on my character and doing research on the era!

Aoife

Theater can be really interesting too!  You're in the era where 'talkies' were just starting to pick up the public interest, and theater in the US was reaching an all time apex for performances.

Welcome Jal, a male student sounds perfect.  Any particular interest area?

Reia

Quote from: Aoife on January 28, 2012, 08:53:16 AM
Excellent!  I wasn't planning on putting a cap on the number of characters, so long as players avoid having their characters ever meet or in any way directly influence one another.  What kind of subject would you teach (you don't actually need to know a TON about your subject, but you should know something), and remember it can include some slightly odd things (Call of Cthulhu style) like 'experimental geometry' or 'practical applications of metaphysics'.

If you'd like to GM, mind PMing me your Skype name?

I know art, design, and English - so I'm not sure. Maybe a weird combination of all three? And I'll PM in just a moment. :)
[tr][td]

Updated: 03/24/19
[/td][td]
Updated: 06/24/12
[/td][td]
Updated: 07/20/15
[/td][td]
Posted: 11/24/14
[/td][td]
Updated: 03/04/19
[/td][/tr][/table]

Alysanthia

This sounds really interesting!

Perhaps a young female student that doesn't follow the 'women and children should be seen, not heard.' So she is sent to the school in hopes that her idealistic ways are finally put to rest and she acts like a true lady.

Cosmo_ac

From the sounds of things, this sounds like a "School life meets horror" type game, which has potential, IMO.  However, i don't have the rule books for this game, and if the rules are overtly complicated, I admit, i tend to shy away from the games.  That being said, depending on what its like and what the expectations are, I could posibly slip in a blue eyed, blond haired, large penised young male for the game.

Featherfall

Same boat as Cosmo; I'd be interested, but not familiar with Cuthulu rules.

Aoife

Rules knowledge isn't super essential, so long as you have a passing knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos and theme.  I may even shy away from using a rule-based system altogether in the interest of keeping people comfortable and increasing the 'ease of play' potential.

Alysanthia

Cthulhu Mythos I'm good on... But the actual Cthulhu game, not so much. :\

Cosmo_ac

might i suggest something more akin to the board game, as far as a system goes, if you go that route?  I find that it's not overtly complex, and gets the job done.