The Descent into Madness (Lovecraftian Horror) [Recruiting]

Started by Totoro, September 13, 2017, 07:56:24 AM

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Totoro

Quote from: Remiel on September 14, 2017, 06:20:42 PM
After seeing the others' ideas, I'm leaning toward a bruiser/the muscle at this point.  Perhaps someone who fought in the Great War, in the same unit as Peel and/or Evans.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=275054.msg13518068#msg13518068

Here are the two brothers. I didn't go massively into the background as they're NPC's so what unit they were in is fairly open-ended for now. I'm imagining fairly front line trench infantry for at least most of the early years of the war, moving up to lower-tier officers by 1918.

I'm picturing the two of them mostly around average height with fit but not incredibly bulky builds. Likely around 5'10-11" and weighing in around 165-175lbs or so. Just in case you want a frame of reference on what the muscle'd be like relative to the two of them.

As far as I'm concerned a character with a more Christian leaning faith/occult interest is still absolutely welcome but what you play is up to you. Any which way much of the PC's occult knowledge will very rapidly turn out to be either mostly or entirely wrong anyway, as is the nature of trying to understand the unknowable. 

Anouk Daae

I'm wondering what sort of positions are available in the agency.
the character I was working up was a secretary type, but I see someone's already called that.

Next I'd  be interested in a nurse-type. Someone whose day job has her working in a hospital, so she keeps her ear to the ground for any and all *weird* cases. maybe a tech aid in a morgue. Then she moonlights as a nurse for the agency, patching her coworkers up at HQ, so they don't raise any eyebrows with mysterious gunshot wounds or tentacle-removals.

Another idea that could be fun is a nun who maybe works with the priest character (if he gets made over the muscle), as an assistant.
Still brainstorming, but if the nurse position is available - I'll get started on an app and backstory for her.

Totoro

Quote from: Anouk Daae on September 14, 2017, 06:45:20 PM
I'm wondering what sort of positions are available in the agency.
the character I was working up was a secretary type, but I see someone's already called that.

Next I'd  be interested in a nurse-type. Someone whose day job has her working in a hospital, so she keeps her ear to the ground for any and all *weird* cases. maybe a tech aid in a morgue. Then she moonlights as a nurse for the agency, patching her coworkers up at HQ, so they don't raise any eyebrows with mysterious gunshot wounds or tentacle-removals.

Another idea that could be fun is a nun who maybe works with the priest character (if he gets made over the muscle), as an assistant.
Still brainstorming, but if the nurse position is available - I'll get started on an app and backstory for her.


Unfortunately there's already a nurse type CS that's been handed in.

Similarly as of right now the agency is very mundane, so there are no tentacle-removals to speak of. The workers would mostly be treated normally and there aren't a lot of gunshots or anything too severe very often. The Agency covers things the police fail people on and some unusual stuff, but nothing out of this world.

Not sure what's happening with the priest character, looking like the muscle might be more likely at the moment as far as I know.

The main things I'd probably be looking for is 1-2 actual 'investigators' as it's looking like we have a secretary, nurse, muscle and possibly herbalist.

Probably the biggest gaps in the group are a knowledge of history, people with a law enforcement background, maybe some more 'nerdy' characters with an interest in law enforcement who are more grounded in reality and less likely to believe in anything supernatural. But really just people who'd do the actual detective work would be my main goal to find at the moment.

Kuroneko

Quote from: Sun Wukong on September 14, 2017, 06:16:48 PM
Yeah, Herbalism makes more sense for the setting and depending on how much the character's willing to kind of include 'fake' medicine with the real say providing a genuine cure as well as a hallucinogen for a placebo effect when the patient thinks they've had that kind of supernatural experience. Perhaps someone who misleads sometimes with the aim of doing good overall. Why they do it is totally up to you though, as long as one way or another they'd believably want to work with Evans and Peel. Sounds like they'd more likely be a contact than an employee but again, up to you.

Given a Romany background a Great War refugee might be an idea for a history/connection to the Agency. If you wanted they could've even met the two brothers while they were at war.

It's also up to you how spiritual the character is. We, as players, know there's nothing spiritually supernatural in this game world. But none of the characters do and many of them will likely believe certain events are closer to magic than science.

Down the line there may be opportunities for most characters to have moments of utilising the supernatural but nobody will ever be flinging 'Spells' around regularly by any means.

That all sounds perfectly workable. Maybe their skills are sometimes needed to cloud or erase memory as part of investigation cleanup, along the lines of your suggestion regarding intentional misleading. Meeting during the war sounds like a great way for the connection to have been made, thank you for offering it. I completely understand the no spells aspect.

Tomorrow is my long day of teaching and tonight I have sketches to finish for a design meeting tomorrow, so it will likely be the weekend before I can finish a character sheet.
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Current Posting Time - Once a Week or More

"One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art" ~ Oscar Wilde
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Lustful Bride

*kind of interested but unsure if there is room/what I could play.*

Totoro

Quote from: Kuroneko on September 14, 2017, 09:52:43 PM
That all sounds perfectly workable. Maybe their skills are sometimes needed to cloud or erase memory as part of investigation cleanup, along the lines of your suggestion regarding intentional misleading. Meeting during the war sounds like a great way for the connection to have been made, thank you for offering it. I completely understand the no spells aspect.

Tomorrow is my long day of teaching and tonight I have sketches to finish for a design meeting tomorrow, so it will likely be the weekend before I can finish a character sheet.

I'm sure I wont be pressing people for finished character sheets any time before then. I could see them using herbalism to trick people into not quite recounting events properly.

Quote from: Lustful Bride on September 14, 2017, 10:42:44 PM
*kind of interested but unsure if there is room/what I could play.*

I'm looking for six characters. I've seen concepts I like for around four of those and then about 2-3 more people's interest. But that doesn't mean there's not room anymore. I'm taking characters on a CS by CS basis rather than a first come first served system. The main thing I'm looking for would be a couple of investigator characters so that the angle of investigation has some people with some skill at it in the group.

Valerian

Ironically, part of the reason I decided against the researcher / librarian concept was because I started thinking everyone would be doing an investigator type and I wanted to make sure there was more diversity.   ::)  Also, I nearly always play the brainy type and I wanted to try something a little different this time around.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

TheLaughingOne

Ssooo... i got my character sheet in... and had an idea.. my guy thinks pretty much all of his family is dead, father and  4 brothers died in WWI, and mother and 2 sisters sometime while he was at war....


Or did they..?

Figure maybe one sister survived whatever happened, but was told all her brothers died at war with their father, neither knowing the other is alive, and by chance both end up working for Evan and Peel..

If your interested, and up for a twist, let Wukong know... But not me, he can let me know someone is interested and we can go with that as a mystery, or if a little to complicated let me know and can work out detail things with ya!
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Anouk Daae

Hmm, I don't know if i have the know-how for an investigator character. Especially as it seems they would be big parts.

Guess I'm gonna have to pass for now.

Totoro

Quote from: Anouk Daae on September 15, 2017, 04:04:10 PM
Hmm, I don't know if i have the know-how for an investigator character. Especially as it seems they would be big parts.

Guess I'm gonna have to pass for now.


It's unlikely that anyone else has any kind of real experience working as an investigator.  I'd also say all the characters will be big parts due to the small and focused nature of the group.


If you have an idea for a character who's not an investigator feel free to pitch it because considering that Evans and Peel themselves were the two main investigators most of the rest probably aren't. I'm also happy to consider having the other investigators as 1-2 NPC's if it means getting an interesting player character in the game.

Remiel

Quote from: Anouk Daae on September 15, 2017, 04:04:10 PM
Hmm, I don't know if i have the know-how for an investigator character. Especially as it seems they would be big parts.

Guess I'm gonna have to pass for now.


Well, shoot.  The first idea that popped into my head when reading the game description was the stereotypical Film Noir-type down-on-his-luck gumshoe.  But then I thought, "Nah, everyone's going to want to do that."

I can certainly step into that role, if need be.

Totoro

Quote from: Remiel on September 15, 2017, 04:20:31 PM
Well, shoot.  The first idea that popped into my head when reading the game description was the stereotypical Film Noir-type down-on-his-luck gumshoe.  But then I thought, "Nah, everyone's going to want to do that."

I can certainly step into that role, if need be.

You're the second member of that club. Only thing is we'd be swapping a muscle character to an investigator. So we'd still have concepts in for a secretary and what I'll term a herbalist for now, with sheets in for an investigator and a nurse.

If all of those get turned in I'll only have space for one more PC in total. I'd also like to note that this game isn't 'reserve your spot'. People submit CS's and if I like them and they fit with what's approved so far, they're in. In other words the only people with a garunteed spot are people with approved character sheets. Hopefully doesn't seem harsh but I think it's more fair to judge on finished sheets than concepts.

AthenaSimone

Hello, would a close relative with a concept of human behavior or criminal psychology work? Perhaps even an empath or clairvoyant?

Thanks in advance.

-A

Totoro

Quote from: AthenaSimone on September 16, 2017, 02:18:14 PM
Hello, would a close relative with a concept of human behavior or criminal psychology work? Perhaps even an empath or clairvoyant?

Thanks in advance.

Close relative of who?

And there are no empaths or clairvoyants in this game. Essentially, as far as all characters are aware, there is no evidence whatsoever for the supernatural existing. They may believe in it just like people in the real world do, but there's nobody superhuman walking around.

AthenaSimone

Quote from: Sun Wukong on September 16, 2017, 03:05:20 PM
Close relative of who?

And there are no empaths or clairvoyants in this game. Essentially, as far as all characters are aware, there is no evidence whatsoever for the supernatural existing. They may believe in it just like people in the real world do, but there's nobody superhuman walking around.

So there's monsters but no supernatural people walking around. Not arguing, just trying to grasp a better understanding of what I read.

Also, you said "Of the 5-6 characters I'd like I think at least 3-4 will need to be from the Agency and 2-3 can be close relatives or specialists who help them out."

So I suppose a close relative of an agent.
-A

Totoro

Quote from: AthenaSimone on September 16, 2017, 03:24:20 PM
So there's monsters but no supernatural people walking around. Not arguing, just trying to grasp a better understanding of what I read.

Also, you said "Of the 5-6 characters I'd like I think at least 3-4 will need to be from the Agency and 2-3 can be close relatives or specialists who help them out."

So I suppose a close relative of an agent.

Basically the supernatural elements aren't here yet. They will unfold later as they're discovered. So right now nobody has any real knowledge of the supernatural. However it may in particular circumstances be possible for a human to do something supernatural. But there's not really anything 'Walking around' so to speak. The game will feature more twisted and evil humans than monsters, and what monsters are there will be almost impossible to fight or even look at without losing your mind.

So far the only detectives of the agency are Evans and Peel themselves, although Remiel may be creating one depending on whether he's changed his mind. They could be a relative of Evans and Peel but they'd have to be close, which would likely mean having worked with them at least a little as the two men don't have any sisters or relatives closer than that. I'd say if Remiel is going for his detective that might be the best person to be related to, if he's up for the idea.


Totoro

Quote from: Remiel on September 16, 2017, 04:59:26 PM
I'll work up an actual character sheet over the weekend.

Sweet. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Imogen

-raises hand- Same here, both on the looking forward to seeing Remiel's character, and the other characters, and that I'll draw up my own sheet as well :-)  Tomorrow will be busy for me, but I hope to have it done by monday morning latest.
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Totoro

Quote from: Imogen on September 16, 2017, 05:43:27 PM
-raises hand- Same here, both on the looking forward to seeing Remiel's character, and the other characters, and that I'll draw up my own sheet as well :-)  Tomorrow will be busy for me, but I hope to have it done by monday morning latest.

Awesome.

Now's a good time to say that, once approved, the OOC and CS threads are up.

Approved Characters: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=275243.0

OOC Chat: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=275241.0

Don't post any character in the characters thread without it being approved by me, and please refrain from posting in the OOC chat prior to approval, just to keep things cleaner/neater. Looks like the majority should be heading in over the next few days with any luck.

AthenaSimone

Quote from: Sun Wukong on September 16, 2017, 03:29:56 PM
Basically the supernatural elements aren't here yet. They will unfold later as they're discovered. So right now nobody has any real knowledge of the supernatural. However it may in particular circumstances be possible for a human to do something supernatural. But there's not really anything 'Walking around' so to speak. The game will feature more twisted and evil humans than monsters, and what monsters are there will be almost impossible to fight or even look at without losing your mind.

So far the only detectives of the agency are Evans and Peel themselves, although Remiel may be creating one depending on whether he's changed his mind. They could be a relative of Evans and Peel but they'd have to be close, which would likely mean having worked with them at least a little as the two men don't have any sisters or relatives closer than that. I'd say if Remiel is going for his detective that might be the best person to be related to, if he's up for the idea.

Ohhh, gotcha. Thank you for clarifying again. If Remiel doesn't mind, I don't mind, but I suppose I'll talk to him later after he's made a character and see if he wants that. All in all this concept is really great.

Do we create our own character sheets?
-A

Totoro

Quote from: AthenaSimone on September 16, 2017, 06:20:40 PM
Ohhh, gotcha. Thank you for clarifying again. If Remiel doesn't mind, I don't mind, but I suppose I'll talk to him later after he's made a character and see if he wants that. All in all this concept is really great.

Do we create our own character sheets?

If you want a bit of background reading on the kind of things that may occur in this universe for a bit more of an idea of what Lovecraftian horror entails I can recommend his own work. It can be a bit of a challenge to read as most of it is around a century old now, but fortunately because it's so old it's public domain and so it can easily be found legally online for free. I'll link one of his shorter stories for anyone who's curious at all.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Colour_Out_of_Space

Everyone will be creating their own character sheets and PM'ing them to me for a check over and approval. If you press the select button beside the code beneath and then copy it you can paste it into any document editor like word or a PM on here directed to me or yourself. You can then fill out the segments with a little about your character and replace the placeholder image link with one of your character. If you need a hand with finding a mostly time-appropriate faceclaim let me know. And generally any questions anyone's got you can always feel free to PM me whether it's questions about character creation or this game particular, or lovecraftian horror and a general idea of what to expect. I can't state enough that this game is horror and will go very dark.

[float=right][img height=300]https://athlonecommunityradio.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/placeholder.png[/img][/float]
[b]Name:[/b] (Try to go for something mostly time appropriate.)
[b]Gender:[/b] (Self Explanatory)
[b]Birthdate:[/b](Current date is September 13th, 1920. Game will run on the 2017 calendar for ease.)
[b]Occupation:[/b] (Likely more 'role within Evans and Peel Agency'. Some characters may be close aids of them such as a helpful police officer or solitary investigators who join up for this case.)
[b]Personality:[/b](What they're like. How they see themselves and how most others see them.)
[b]History:[/b](General description of their past, likely including how they came to the agency.)
[b]Skills:[/b](Everything ranging from marksmanship to knitting can go in here. Don't make anyone too capable of everything, though.)

Kuroneko

As much as the premise of this intrigues me, after spending much of the day working on my sheet, my character idea just isn't gelling on paper. So, I'm going to politely bow out.

But I'll certainly be peeking in to read ;)
Ons & Offs//Requests//Where is the Black Cat?
Current Posting Time - Once a Week or More

"One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art" ~ Oscar Wilde
"I dream of painting and then I paint my dream" ~ Vincent Van Gogh

Totoro

Quote from: Kuroneko on September 17, 2017, 12:15:33 AM
As much as the premise of this intrigues me, after spending much of the day working on my sheet, my character idea just isn't gelling on paper. So, I'm going to politely bow out.

But I'll certainly be peeking in to read ;)

If you have any other ideas and we've got space there'll always be room.

Other than that you're always welcome to read along.





On a separate note because I  think we might have the interest for it I'm going to be upping the amount I'm happy to take to around 7-8 players. Happy to start with less but if more are interested they're welcome.

Kuroneko

Thank you, I appreciate it. Honestly, it's probably my brain's way of telling me I have too much on my plate already ;) (she says, while grading 50 weekly assignments  :-\ )
Ons & Offs//Requests//Where is the Black Cat?
Current Posting Time - Once a Week or More

"One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art" ~ Oscar Wilde
"I dream of painting and then I paint my dream" ~ Vincent Van Gogh