Interested in a Grogheads Cthulhu Forum Game?

Started by airboy, May 14, 2018, 10:08:42 AM

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airboy

I've written a very detailed Call of Cthulhu (pulp Cthulhu variant) adventure.  I think it could be run as a forum game.

I would need six people to play characters.  There is a pretty intensive initial combat scene which starts out.  Then investigation.  Then probably more combat.

I think it could be run with two threads - one with what everyone in the party knows and then a second thread which lets the general reader know what is going on overall if you knew what every player knows.

So if there is interest by at least 6 people I'm willing to give this a try.

This is what all 6 of the characters know at the start of the game:
1] It is April 2, 1915

2] In Europe, World War 1 rages.  The two sides are the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and the Entente (France, United Kingdom and Russia).  The German Army swept through Belgium and almost knocked France out of the war inflicting huge casualties.  The Russians had success in their initial offensives.  But the Germans counter-attacked the Russians and destroyed the Russian 2nd Army at Tannenberg.  In less than a year of war, there are more than 2.5 million dead in Europe not counting the wounded, missing or prisoners.  Everyone expects the wholesale killing to resume in Spring, 1915.

3] President Woodrow Wilson has declared the USA to be neutral in the conflict.  Military equipment will not be sold to either side.  Non-military items are sold freely to everyone.  The USA wants freedom of the seas and freedom of trade.

3] Baltimore is the 6th largest city in the USA.  Business is booming because of exports to the Great War combatants.  Anyone willing to work can get a job.  Wages are rising. 

4] Baltimore is the oldest Archdiocese of the Catholic Church and James Gibbons was appointed Bishop at the young age of 34 in 1877 and is still serving. 

5] Crime is rising.  The Nicosa crime family supposedly controls most of the drugs, prostitution, gambling, and other crimes.  Most crime and vice is located in the dock area.  The docks and surrounding housing is racially mixed.  This year a new negro crime organization – The Yellow King Gang gained a foothold in Baltimore.  Killings of lowlife criminals and their cohorts is on the rise.

6] Last week a medium sized warehouse caught fire, exploded and was destroyed.  Surrounding buildings were heavily damaged.  Newspapers claimed the warehouse had illegal munitions for smuggled export.  German agents destroyed a British Warehouse, or vice-versa.  Like most big cities in the 1910s, Baltimore has many newspapers and different newspapers blame different groups for the warehouse fire.

7] A new addictive drug appeared last year (1914) called "Yellow Smooth."  Some users become violent.  Sometimes the offenders strip their clothes and attack others.  This has alarmed law-abiding citizens and the police.

8] The sixteen year old daughter of a prominent Methodist Minister (Dorothy Sawyer) was kidnapped last month.  The papers reported she was recovered after being ransomed.  Dorothy is reportedly in a Pennsylvania care facility recovering.  Her parents, the Reverend John and Mrs. Amelia Sawyer thanked God for answering their prayers.

bbmike

Never played Cthulhu. Would we need the rules or anything. Count me in as interested.
"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."
-Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

"There's a horror movie called Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you!"
-The Doctor

"Before Man goes to the stars he should learn how to live on Earth."
-Clifford D. Simak

airboy

Quote from: bbmike on May 14, 2018, 10:18:12 AM
Never played Cthulhu. Would we need the rules or anything. Count me in as interested.

Rules are very simple.  You want to "roll low" on a percentile die.  There is a lot of investigation.  This is more combat based than most Cthulhu scenarios.  If you have ever played any RPG you should be able to play this.

bbmike

Ok. I have the 7th edition Quick Start rules. I'll take a look at it.
"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."
-Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

"There's a horror movie called Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you!"
-The Doctor

"Before Man goes to the stars he should learn how to live on Earth."
-Clifford D. Simak

Nefaro

Aw, man.  Hopefully I can get in on a future one, or start a later play-by-post myself.

Getting down to crunch time for selling house & moving so I'll probably be intermittent for awhile.  Have fun guys!

Dammit Carl!

Sounds interesting; what kind of schedule are you thinking of in terms of posting and replying?

airboy

Quote from: Dammit Carl! on May 14, 2018, 07:34:53 PM
Sounds interesting; what kind of schedule are you thinking of in terms of posting and replying?

There will be consultation with the players, but my initial idea is a seven day turn-around after information is posted on investigation.
Combat - it would run faster if I did all of the rolls based on specific guidelines from the players - but this would be after combat is actually engaged.  Otherwise, we would need to have everyone either online or with a proxy to another player to run all of the combat rolls.  The combat part is the only segment that I think could bog down badly if everyone had to roll and we had a long time lag.



BanzaiCat

I hate to commit to any forum games as my schedule's been really wonky for the last year or so. I wouldn't mind giving it a try though.

Dammit Carl!

#8
I'm certainly game; so 7th edition Pulp Cthulhu then?  Pregens or we make our characters?

(primes DriveThru account accordingly as I flipping love "pulp," stuff)

airboy

Quote from: Dammit Carl! on May 15, 2018, 10:56:17 AM
I'm certainly game; so 7th edition Pulp Cthulhu then?  Pregens or we make our characters?

(primes DriveThru account accordingly as I flipping love "pulp," stuff)

Pregens.  Some have personal "backgrounds" that others don't know.  Some are open books.  Some are known to their friends but not others.  If I get 6 interested I'll give a description of the pregens and let people choose.

Dammit Carl!

Sweet.  Random character pick for me, then, as I'm wacky like that.

bbmike

Nice! I hope this works. If so I just might start a Post Apocalyptic or Star Trek forum game. Or a combination of both. Don't laugh, I already have that campaign outlined.  8)
"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."
-Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

"There's a horror movie called Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you!"
-The Doctor

"Before Man goes to the stars he should learn how to live on Earth."
-Clifford D. Simak

Dammit Carl!

Or Post-Apocalyptic Star Trek?  That'd be wicked.

Their tattered, red shirts flapped in the wind as, in a frenzy, the humanoid figures gripped the sides of the speeding groundcar while they chased after their victims' similar groundcar over the blasted, dusty plain.

Quickly closing the distance with their target, the groundcar carrying the red clothed berserkers erupted in greater noise as the passengers began screaming in a mindless bloodlust - their prey was within reach at long last!

Pulling alongside the first groundcar, the berserkers made themselves ready to jump on board the doomed machine. "Captain," the largest of the red clothed madmen cried as he shook his crude spear skyward, "Witness me!"

besilarius

Schedule is so iffy, afraid I'd be a drag on the game.
It looks like you've done a log of research on Baltimore?  If you haven't read it, Mencken's autobiography "Newspaper Days" is really immersive.
Also, the German agents in Baltimore worked out of the Charles Street Kinkos in downtown.  *Well Fedex Office now.)
"Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out until too late that he's been playing with two queens all along".  Terry Pratchett.

During filming of Airplane, Leslie Nielsen used a whoopee cushion to keep the cast off-balance. Hays said that Nielsen "played that thing like a maestro"

Tallulah Bankhead: "I'll come and make love to you at five o'clock. If I'm late, start without me."

"When all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman." — Abraham Lincoln.

"I have enjoyed very warm relations with my two husbands."
"With your eyes closed?"
"That helped."  Lauren Bacall

Master Chiefs are sneaky, dastardly, and snarky miscreants who thrive on the tears of Ensigns and belly dancers.   Admiral Gerry Bogan.

airboy

This is not looking so good.  We need 6 participants.  I've PMed a couple of people.  Most responses are: I don't want to do this, but I really want to read the AAR."