Call of Cthulhu - Talbott's Investigators of Mysteries Enlightened
"Wise men interpreted dreams, and the gods laughed at them."
-H.P. Lovecraft.
-H.P. Lovecraft.
Overview
Setting: The United States of America, but many more places awaits us all.
Time Frame: Mid-1920', the golden age of jazz and everything illegal.
RPG system: Call of Cthulhu - 7th Edition
Beware of following topics: Cosmic horror, slice of life, realistic, social encounters, survival, history, violence, discrimination, death... It's a horror game, be warned.
Welcome to Call of Cthulhu, the fan favourite tabletop RPG that's entertained and terrified their players for decades. I'm looking for a group of three to five devote players to partake in this adventure, in order to better manage the story. But before we're presented with the story, what exactly is "Call of Cthulhu"?
Call of Cthulhu is a tabletop roleplaying game made by Chaosium, based on the fictional works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors who have contributed to what is known as the "Cthulhu Mythos". Quote, An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of mankind in the face of the cosmic horrors that apparently exist in the universe." These horrors, either beings associated with gods or inhuman monsters, are unaware or not interested in humanity. Some use humanity for their own evil purposes through their many cults around the world, or seek to wipe us off the face of the Earth for good. But what about us, humanity?
Not only are us non-hairy primates insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe. Humanity would go mad if we were to know the awful truth; "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."
What is the goal of Call of Cthulhu then? What are you supposed to do? The player characters, referred to as "investigators", are normal human beings with average jobs who live every day lives. Mostly. For one reason or another, your investigator gets involved in a mystery connected to the Cthulhu Mythos. Either directly or indirectly caused by the dark powers unknown to mankind, your goal is to solve the mystery and make sure the Mythos doesn't cause further damagehis of course strains the investigators mental health, their amount of sanity. The more you learn about the truth about the cosmic horrors, the closer you crawl towards the abyss of madness. Lucky investigators die as heroes, while the rest live long enough to become the villains themselves. Until then, you are the first and last line of defense against the Elder Gods, Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep and the rest of the Mythos.
Enjoy the madness!
Plot
Arkham, Massachuttets. May of 1925. Arkham is just like any New England town you might find at the first quarter of the 20th century. A small town of old stock, Arkham traces its roots back to the days of colonial America when the first settlers settled down at the banks of the Miskatonic river. An old and quiet town, time has refused to entirely leave the Massachuttets society behind in its revolving past. Just like America, really the world as a whole, time is ticking…
Like the rhytmic beats of a steam locomotive or your fancy new jazz records, Arkham has been dragged more or less into the modern age. Its cobbled streets are lit up by electrical lamps, while your mass-produced Ford automobiles rattle at sometimes alarming velocities. In the distance you might at first hear, then behold a strange contraption flying far, far above you up in the sky; an aeroplane. Turning the corner and spying through a large window pane, you witness a local Arkhamite converse over a telephone. The marvels of the modern age are endless, just like the booming economy and never-ending pursuit of knowledge of the local Miskatonic University.
Arkham's pride, and also source of headache, the Miskatonic University brings the bright future together with an rich past, just like the town itself. Modern sciences of psychology, engineering, economics, chemistry and fathoms of bottomless sujects, the Massachuttets seat of learning subsequently breaches the once foggy layers of what once was; history, archeaology, ancient languages, philosophy, the occult and mythology, the past is dug up and lifted up into the light.
A past perhaps better left alone…
So is the way we find Arkham. A modern age refusing to leave behind the town resting on the Miskatonic river, the past holds firmly onto Arkham's residents. Tales of witches and wizards, Native American rituals and unspeakable oaths of isolated New England communitiets, Arkham never runs out of a past to disturb.
Just be weary, as things disturbed might find its wake-up call worthy of the big sleep.
Enter you, or more specifically the agency you find yourself working for; Talbott Investigators of Mysteries Enlightened, or The TIME agency for short. A new detective agency in Arkham, other brances are found it a handful of major US cities. Lead by the enigmatic Mr. Allistair Talbott, TIME focuses on cases not usually taken by your average Private Detective. Missing persons and suspicious of strange behaviour, sure there's overlap with the common gumshoe, but it's to the TIME you ask for assistance on strange lights or sounds in the night; sightings of ghosts, theft of esoteric books, unexplainable bouts of madness, and the list of cases goes on.
You are TIME's first employees, Investigators to be specific about the title, in Arkham. For one reason or another you've decided to leave your usual line of work to join the ranks of what sceptics call "ghost hunters". TIME doesn't appear to mind though, with their other investigators coming from a wide array of occupations; Private detectives and police officers, geologists, journalists, occulists, boxers, students or professors, pilots and what-not, Mr. Talbott has no shortage of occupations they want.
For reasons befitting your individual character, you've decided to sign up as a investigative detective for the agency. Perhaps you were fired for focusing too much on unusual news events in the papers, and thought your interests could be useful? Did you leave your place of employment volunterily, hoping to finally find your purpose in life investigating the strange and unknown? Were you picked for that hospital stay you had after the Incident?
Whatever your motivations might be, you are sure to be put to a baptism of fire. Having been called to the Arkham office to be briefed on your case, you are eager to begin the journey into the unknown.
How hard could it be to locate a missing New England milionaire? Only TIME will tell.
Rules
- GM's word is law. Discussions and in-put is much appriciated during the course of the campaign, but I have the final say on whatever matter is on the table.
- Previous experience and rulebooks. I'm not requiring previous experience with Call of Cthulhu for participation in the RP, neither that you actually own the Investigator's Handbook. Both are of course recommended and useful, but if not I will be assisting as much as I can. The free CoC quick-start rules is a recommend quick read to get the gist of the rules.
- Posting-Habits. In order to keep the story going on for as long as I think it will take, players are required to post at least once a week. If you can't make that commitment, this campaign is not for you. A post consisting of something between 200-250 words spread between paragraphs is desired.
- Even more posting-habits! Posts are to written with a provided header that includes character's portrait, location, skills used, current HP and Sanity Points. Edits to your own posts are prohbitited, and must be given permission by me in case an edit is needed.
- Realism and Horror! This is a slice-of-life RP, where actions have real consequences for your characters and their surrounding world. Only realistic characters are accepted, in true Lovecraft fashion. Terrible things will happen that your characters can't simply shrug off. Prepare for gore, cursing and such will occur.
- No Meta-gaming. Seriously, this is the worst. Know the difference between player knowledge and character knowledge. The characters will learn the horrific truth in the end, it's the slow burn that's fun.
- Character Creation. Only characters made using the Guild's built-in dice roller and the character sheet provided below will be accepted. You're mostly free to decide for yourself who and what your character will be, though I reserve the right to request changes I see fit. Believable characters are more fun to play. Only characters ACCEPTED by me personally can be placed in the character thread and gain entry to the story.
- Skills skills skill. Throughout the RP we'll be using skill rolls to determine what your characters can or cannot do. CoC uses a percentage-system, meaning that a skill has a certain percentage chance of being successful compared to how many skillpoints have been invested in said skill. Either I'll request a roll from your characters in the Keeper's Post, or you can request a roll that sounds appropriate for the occasion. In order to get your rolls, go to the Guild's dice roller and create your own campaign under the name "Call of Cthulhu - Talbott's Investigators: Your Character Name". Remember to link the campaign to your character under the "Anything else" section, and link the respective roll in your posts when done. Add a description to what the roll was for.
- Have fun! No matter the rules and cosmic horror I as Keeper hold, we're all here to have fun, aren't we? I certainly am, and steps will be taken in order for the story to remain entertaining in the long run.
Character Sheet
Here is the provided character sheet we'll be using. Copy-paste the text and fill it out as approriate. Remember to pick a different colour than what's provided in the code as it is, to add at least one character portrait that fits your character and ask for my approval before they're accepted into the RP. If in any doubt and in need of assistence, PLEASE do ask! Better to ask once too much than too little.
Posting In-Character
When your character is done and accepted, we'll come to actually posting in-game. When you post as your character, you'll be using a header-template as to make it easier for both you and the rest of the group to identify your post and your character information. The header includes:
- Character name
- Small character portrait
- Character's current location
- Character's Hit Points, Sanity Points and Luck.
- Character's current mental state: Sane, Temporary Insane or Indefinete Insane.
- Character's attempted skill
