The Mystery of Loch Feinn

Game Master greg white 722

In the spring of 1941, agents of Department M, a branch of England's security services dealing with the most outré of threats, is sent to the remote Scottish Highlands, to investigate a possible Nazi menace on the shores of desolate Loch Feinn.


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So I have an idea for two possible games:

"The Gatherer of Nightmares" : This would be a very short game (should be able to wrap it up within two weeks, with regular posting) set in 1910 London. Think Rohmer and M.R.James.

"The Mystery of Loch Feinn": So this is converted from the 3rd ed. Call of Cthulhu . I've adapted some elements from the Achtung! Cthulhu line and the scenario has been "reset" in the spring of 1941.


I am interested. they both sound like a potential good time, though I am leaning more toward "The Mystery of Loch Feinn" What system would it be played under?

Sczarni

The second one sounds great.


Trail of Cthulhu. I believe that the quick start rules are posted on the Pelgrane Press website.


Oh. I never heard of it. I thought the name was just meant to encompass your theme not the name of the system. I'll look into it.


I'm always interested in losing my mind to "Horrors Man Was Not Meant To Know™"

Looking up the quick start rules. (Work filters might block it, so I may not be able to have a character ready until I get home)


So, have not found Quick Start rules, cannot purchase a pdf w/o buying the hard copy book. I'll pass. If you could do the Chaosium version, I already have pdf's of that AND a character builder on Hero Lab for CoC.


They're on the site, under 'Free Downloads and Resources,' 'Condensed Rules.'

But to quickly summarize the Gumshoe system: skills are either investigative or general. Investigative skills, which reveal clues, pretty much work automatically, you just have to be in the right place and say that you're using them. You can spend points, with investigative skills, to gain additional knowledge.

An example, at the scene of a grisly murder:

"I use my forensic skill to determine the time of death."

"He was killed within the last twelve hours."

"I use my forensic skill with a 1 point spend to determine the time of death."

"He was killed at approximately three o'clock in the morning."

The main mechanic is a simple roll of 1d6: trying to beat a difficulty number set by the GM (4-8, usually). If you have points in the pool for the associated skill, you can add them to your die roll. Pool points refresh somewhat slowly, so you have to marshal them as a precious resource.

And that is pretty much 80% of the system.


I'd be interested, probably as an Adventure driven Dilettante.
And while I've played a lot of Call of Cthulhu, I've never actually played Trail of Cthulhu before.

I am currently readying to run Achtung! Cthulhu for my face-to-face group (using CoC 6th rules) so I have thoroughly read through both the players and keepers guide for that, if it has any impact. I'm happy with either setting.


ok, found the good stuff. I'm looking at Antiquarian (how Lovecraftian!)


So, everybody is happy with door # 2: "The mystery of Loch Feinn"?

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32

I would love to be a part of this, if you still have space. Trail of Cthulhu looks intriguing.


Sounds good.


And come on down James Martin.

I'll post Monday on character creation specifics.

Mainly bear in mind that your character should possess some quality that would make them valuable to an intelligence agency established to protect the Home Islands against 'unusual' threats.

You're not, by any means, scholars of the Mythos: but you do have an inkling that there is something out there.


Count me as tentatively interested. It really all depends on whether or not I have enough time on my hands to play, depending on some pending recruitment threads.


So you get 65 Build Points for General Abilities. As you have all received some basic military training, you get 1 free point in each of the following: Athletics, Bureaucracy, Scuffling and Shooting.

You each get 16 points to spend on Investigative abilities. You probably don't need to spend more than a single point in an Investigative Ability unless you want to be a an expert in that ability.

Your highest General Ability can only be twice that of your next highest General Ability.

You cannot, at this point, buy any points in Cthulhu Mythos .

You may, as color, describe some incident in your past, that "opened your mind" to the possibility of the supernatural, making you an ideal recruit for Department "M".

To reiterate, the stripped down, basic rules are available as "Condensed Rules", under "Downloads and Resources" on the Pelgrane Press website.


Never actually made a character for this before, I'm running form the "Players Guide".
It seems to conflict on what ratings you should have on General Abilities, so I can spread them around more or up them more if suggested?

Maisie Chase:

Maisie Chase
Adventure driven Dilettante

Sanity 8
Hit Threshold 4
Stability 8
Health 8

Special
May use Credit rating to call on personal connections in any field, generally relatives, schoolfellows and similar people of my social class.

Academic Abilities
Accounting 1
Art History 1
*Languages 4 (German, Russian, Latin, French)
Law 1
Library Use 1
Occult 1
Physics 1

Interpersonal Abilities
Bureaucracy 1
*Credit Rating 7
*Flattery 2
Reassurance 1

Technical Abilities
Art (Music) 1
Outdoorsman 1
Photography 1

General Abilities
*Athletics 10
*Driving 15
Health 10
*Riding 10 (Horses + 4 more)
*Piloting 15 (small boats, single engine light aircraft + 8 more)
*Mechanical Repair 15
Sanity 8 (pillars: Epicureanism, Progress)
Scuffling 6
Shooting 8
Stability 8


Danforth CHambers:
Danforth Chambers
Adventure driven Antiquarian
Sanity (6) 10
Hit Threshold ?
Stability (6) 7
Health (5) 6

Special
<<Not sure if I have any special rules as an Antiquarian>>

Academic Abilities
*Architecture (2) 4
*Art History (2) 4
*Languages (2) 4 (Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Scots, Mandarin, Akkadian)
*Law (1) 2
*Library Use (3) 6

Interpersonal Abilities
*Assess Honesty (2) 4
Bargain (1) 2
*Credit Rating (2+3) 5

Technical Abilities
Forensics 1

General Abilities
*Athletics 6
*Driving 4
Fleeing (6+3) 12
Health 5
Sanity 6 (pillars: Human Dignity and Value, Artistic Sensitivity)
Scuffling 3
Shooting 5
Stability 6
Sense Trouble 5
Shadowing 3
Weapons 10

(Fairly certain this all adds up. Wherever possible, I put points spent in parenthesis)


Here's the character profile and stuff! YAY!

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32

Working on this. I'm leaning toward a Duty-driven Reconnaissance pilot for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, 702 Squadron. On a routine reconnaissance flight he observed an island that was not supposed to exist according to the charts, filled with squamous buildings of non-Euclidean architecture and dominated by a vast squid-like thing. He returned to his carrier babbling about shapes that were monstrous and alive and was promptly removed from duty due to "combat fatigue." In an effort to salvage his career, he was sent home to serve in a desk capacity until such time as his mind was healthy enough for duty.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32

Lt Cmdr Henry Readington-Smythe:

Lt. Cmdr Henry Readington-Smythe
Duty-driven Pilot
Sanity 8 (pillars: Family Honour and the Rightness of Our Cause)
Hit Threshold 4
Stability 10
Health 12

Special
Credit Rating 4

Academic Abilities
Languages +1
Law +1

Interpersonal Abilities
Assess Honesty +1
Bureaucracy +1*
Cop Talk +1
Credit Rating 4 (3)
Interrogation +1
Intimidation +1
Reassurance +1

Technical Abilities
*Astronomy +2
Photography +1

**Trading 4 investigative pts for 12 general ability points

General Abilities
Athletics +10* (9)
*Driving +6 (3)
*Electrical Repair +8 (4)
Firearms +10* (9)
First Aid +2 (2)
Health 12 (11)
*Mechanical Repair +14 (7)
*Piloting +16 (8)
*Sense Trouble +2 (1)
Sanity 8 (4)
Scuffling +8* (7)
Stability 10 (9)
Weapons +3 (3)


I'm going to alter LCDR Readington-Smythe's history a bit: he himself did not see the dread corpse-city of R'lyeh, or its hideous lord. He was a co-pilot on a Short Singapore (a bi-plane flying boat, used mainly for long-range naval reconnaissance), flying out of Wellington New Zealand, in April of '38. He had briefly left the cock-pit, to check on equipment issues when the pilot's babbling over the intercom brought him hurriedly back. The pilot gasped a largely incoherent tale of shifting, non-Euclidean architecture, and a horrible thing that ambled through avenues thick with primeval muck.

Circling the area, a strange, faintly luminous fog was seen, hanging in a tiered cloud over the sea. There was no sign of "a city, with buildings that were all strange and shifting."

The plane made a return to Wellington. The stricken pilot was hospitalized, and the plane's camera, and film, seized. LCDR Readington-Smythe suddenly, and inexplicably found himself attached to Department M.


So if you don't choose a Motivation, we'll just use "Duty", as you're all military. Additionally, everyone can begin with the rank 2nd lieutenant (British Army): unless, like LCDR Reading-Smythe, you select another service and rank. Major/LCDR is the highest rank I'll allow anyone to take.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32

I have no problem with any of those! I'm pretty keen to start.


So it's Danforth Chambers, LCDR Readington-Smythe, and Maisie Chase?

If there's anyone 'lurking' who would like to join in, in the words of Madame Zera "spirits, make yourself known!"


Anybody still there?


yup! Errr...I mean "indubitably!"


It's been ages since I played any Cthulhu, and I'll have to grab the rules, but this sounds like fun.

Posting schedule is generally limited to once a day... usually at night (after 6pm PST).

...

So reading it, I kind of like the idea of a pilot. Not sure why, but it was that or hobo.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32

Ready and willing!


Oh...there's already a pilot. Hobo it is...


Thought I last everybody there!

Tom, keep in mind that you do have abilities or knowledge that would make a very covert intelligence agency consider recruiting you! You may have been down on heels for a while, but before that...


So are the 16 points to be spent solely on the 'class skills'?


You can pretty much spend them as you see fit, among the investigative skills.

Consider the 'career' definitions as suggestions. When possible, it's best to have as a broad coverage among the investigative skills through-out the party, so nothing vital gets missed.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32

A physicist who saw something more in the data than man was meant to know, and who went a little nuts and became a hobo would make for a great character.


I think I've got the character stats sorted out (crossing fingers). Have never used this system, so I'm ready to be lambasted. :)

Should have it all typed up with a background tonight.

Howard Osborne - Hobo


A disgraced, penniless physicist would be very interesting indeed.


Did we loose "Maisie Chase" then?


Sorry, I'm still here, not been well and wasn't sure if you wanted more purely military characters, so been quiet


DominoMasque wrote:
Sorry, I'm still here, not been well and wasn't sure if you wanted more purely military characters, so been quiet

"Tish tosh my dear girl. If you wish to be part of our 'august assembly' you simply need to speak up! Remember: "Audentes Fortuna Iuvat!"


Well, they'll certainly find a use for some-one fluent in Deutsch .

CMDR Readington-Smythe, you get pick to a language for your 1 point.

I let everyone finalize their characters, then we'll start Monday.


You're more spies in the John LeCarre mode, rather than Ian Fleming.

So, we're still on for Monday, and I'm anticipating:

Danforth Chambers.
CMDR Readington-Smythe.
Maisie Chase.
Howard Osborne.

Grand Lodge

cirle wrote:

You're more spies in the John LeCarre mode, rather than Ian Fleming.

So, we're still on for Monday, and I'm anticipating:

Danforth Chambers.
CMDR Readington-Smythe.
Maisie Chase.
Howard Osborne.

Is recruitment closed?

If not I was wondering if you'd be willing to consider another.
I actually own the Trail of Chtulhu rules, but I've never played it.

I am an old RPG guy... as in, started in 1978 with original D&D.

Curiously, I'm a physicist in real life, but that role is taken.

I could create a science fiction writer ("scientific romance writer"), who's been slowly losing it ever since he discovered one of his stories came true.

If you're closed it's cool, but if you're still open I could try to create a character over the weekend.

Thanks,
Keith


Just noting that it appears the Gameplay and Discussion thread are open...


Keith: If you think you can throw a character together really quick you're in. I'm not sure if we have a vagabond physicist or not.

Maisie: Yep.

Grand Lodge

cirle wrote:

Keith: If you think you can throw a character together really quick you're in. I'm not sure if we have a vagabond physicist or not.

Maisie: Yep.

Thank you. I created one this afternoon for fun and on the off-chance you were still open.

I'd like to introduce Dr. Edward R. Carter, III

Edward R. Carter, III:
About Edward Carter III
Investigator Name: Edward R. Carter III

Drive: Sudden Shock

Occupation: Author

Sources of Stability: Dr. Stephanie Harrison, Dean of the College of Women (confidant)

Pillars of Stability: His own fictitious worlds; Ancient manuscripts from the Holy Land

Dr. Edward Carter was a successful author of "planetary romances" who inexplicably quit writing at the height of his career in 1930. One of his novellas, "The Thing in the Trenches", which was based on his experiences during the Great War, turned out to have been a real incident. The horror of that experience has shocked him into disavowing any writing, despite an incredibly successful career both in England and America. He had been called the next H.G. Wells.

During the Great War he worked in mechanical cryptography, and gained substantial experience in code breaking and repairing (or manipulating) mechanical and electrical equipment.

Born in London in 1899, Dr. Carter spends his days as a scholar on the Holy Land. He wants to return to his literary career, but every time he tries it induces sheer terror.

Now, his only sources of stability are his dear confidante, Dr. Stephanie Harrison (Dean of the College of Women) and the strange manuscripts that have been brought back to London from Jerusalem.

Academic Abilities:
Archeology -- 1
Cryptography -- 2
History -- 1
Languages -- 1

Law:
Library Use -- 2
Theology -- 1

Interpersonal Skills:
Assess Honesty -- 1
Credit Rating -- 1
Flattery -- 1
Streetwise -- 1

Technical Abilities:
Evidence Collection -- 2
Forensics -- 2
Locksmith -- 2

General Abilities:
Athletics -- 4
Conceal -- 5
Electrical Repair -- 5
Firearms -- 4
First Aid -- 4
Fleeing -- 5
Health -- 5
Mechanical Repair -- 6
Preparedness -- 4
Sanity -- 5
Stability -- 4
Sense Trouble -- 4
Shadowing -- 4
Stealth -- 4
Weapons -- 3

Link to Edward R. Carter, III:

Grand Lodge

Keith the Thief wrote:
...

I think I posted a broken link. Trying again...

Link to Edward R. Carter, III

Edward R. Carter, III

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32

I will put my profile together and post shortly!


Our intrepid agents have sent out a call for back-up!


So this a Trail of Cthulhu game, set in Scotland, during the spring of 41. Our characters are agents with Department M, an agency tasked with defending the Empire from more 'outre' threats.

Our agents have just arrived in the field, tasked with investigating a mysterious Nazi operation Wasser Pferd (Water Horse), that, if sources are to believed, is unfolding at the site of a remote Scottish Loch.

So our pair of agents are feeling a little overwhelmed: anyone care to help out?

A minimal set of rules is available at the Pelgrane Press website, under Resources and Downloads.

You'll either be fellow agents from Section M, locals recruited to help, or colleagues outside of military service that the active agents have reached out to.


Hmmm. Well it appears our duo will just have to keep calm and carry on, as reinforcements do not seem to be imminent.

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