Since we've been having trouble keeping a fourth slot full, I'm going to give each of you 2 more investigative ability points for your characters to be used on one skill that you have a 0 rating in that no one else has a point in. This way, if we get a fourth player they can specialize in something but if we keep losing people, we'll just be able to continue with the three of you.
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I'm at our national sales meeting till Thursday evening, but hope to find time to see what needs to be covered and update.
We'll hit pause until after the Memorial Day weekend- there is a summary in the campaign tab to get up to speed. We can hit fast forward, relocate you to a new hotel and introduce our new PC, Mr. Capone.
The immediate dangling threads are:
- The gardener claimed a hissing mouth grew in his garden after Mr. Trammel engaged in some unseemly activity in the yard next door. A crucifix thrown down its throat turned it to stone.
- Freddy noticed that the Trammel mansion boasts a staff of large Mexican men with no clear jobs besides standing around and looking imposing. More days in a stakeout situation can glean further intel on the grounds.
- Freddy was stabbed after tailing one of these Totally Not Guards from the Trammel mansion. He heard the name "Walker" while he was eavesdropping on the man's conversation with his wife or girlfriend.
Other considerations:
- If Ramon Echavarria, the leader of the cult surrounding The Thing With A Thousand Mouths in the '20s was a monied individual with a vast library, perhaps an estate sale was held for his personal effects?
- The PI, Jack Pizner, has beaten and threatened Dr. Udko and seems determined to drive you all out of town.
Sounds like we's after some godless preverts. Nothin' a wood shampoo won't fix.
Travelling till Wednesday. Please DMPC my character.
Sorry all, my wife and I just had a baby and I'm trying to catch up on my pbps. I've got a some reading to do on this one, so it's taking a little longer than the others. I'll get there soon though, promise!
Hey folks, I'm at my busiest time of the year at work. I'll try to keep up as things roll along, but it's tough for my to check in super regularly. This pbp isn't very fast paced, so it may not matter much, but I figured I give a heads up anyway.
Hey folks, I'm at my busiest time of the year at work. I'll try to keep up as things roll along, but it's tough for my to check in super regularly. This pbp isn't very fast paced, so it may not matter much, but I figured I give a heads up anyway.
Thanks for the heads up. One of the other students in my night class is actually a graduate from the school where you work! Good luck.
Nice! They will understand the CMU level of workload. :-D
How's it going out there, guys? I know Jam412 is busy with work, how are the rest of you holding up? I know the game's pretty slow paced but there hasn't been a lot of posting lately. Is there anything that I can do? If you feel like you don't have the skills to do what you need to do for the investigation, we can always discuss a character respec if that's the problem- just throwing it out there.
I'm good, and enjoying the game. The intimidation and questioning are not really Anatoly's forte's. I think we lost momentum somewhere, and are having a difficult time recapturing it. I'm ready and willing to up my post rate.
Also... Do you know what happened with "Bottles"? This scene should be right up his alley?
I've sent him a private message to see what's up.
No response yet from Bottles; I may also give Amadeus a poke to see what's up. I can also put up a floor plan for what you've found of the blueprints for Trammel's mansion so you can plan better.
Maybe I'll try recruiting again to bring activity up?
The last of my big summer projects is over! Huzzah! I've got some loose ends to take care of still and then I should be a little better with posting.
I agree with recruiting. We've got a couple of good posters, but sometimes the speed of this AP can be frustrating... especially for someone new to the game. Maybe we can pick things up a bit... at least temporarily if we can add a couple of new players.
I've given Amadeus and Bottles a poke and I'll reopen recruitment. I'm hoping maybe there will be more than one person willing to join in, but it seems like a long shot. Hopefully the other guys are still in.
We're reaching the point where things get more exciting in the game, rest assured- there's a long period of build-up and then it opens up more. Assuming we have more than two players to continue with.
No word from Bottles or Amadeus yet. I'll give the recruitment thread a poke. I feel like if this week doesn't have some definite reappearances or new recruits, we may have to consider doing something else, unfortunately.
Hopefully Amadeus is just still recovering form Gencon before coming back to the boards. If we just get him back, would you be comfortable GMNPCing one of the Dr types? Sometimes small groups can be a little more efficient. Not sure if that carries over to PBPs though..
Yeah, if Amadeus is back I can keep Dr. Udko on as a support PC. But it is more fun for everyone if there are more players, I think. We've had such a high player turnover (completely unrelated to PC madness, even) that I feel discouraged at our chances of continuing.
I know. It's a shame. This is such a fun adventure, and ToC adapts so well to PbP. It's a shame more people don't know about it. I'd hate to have to stop playing after we've come this far... and it's just starting to get juicy. I'll ask around with some of the other players I play with to see if I can generate some interest... and I'll bump the recruiting thread again.
I'll do the same.
Hello all! I'm Mitch! I'll be playing Ralph Haas, collector of rare books and basically a vulture picking apart whatever bits of rare goods left behind by dead people
Welcome, Mitch! I'm looking forward to having you!
Looking back, Amadeus did say that he would be out for Gen Con and post Gen Con, so I'm not writing him out- just fingers crossed that he'll be dropping back in soon, as I know conventions can easily lead to illness and travel to and from Indianapolis was pretty rotten this year from what I've heard.
Once we're settled with another player or two, I'll write introductions for Mr. Haas and company and we can start hatching a plan for madness!
I'm caught up and ready to roll!
Great! I'm going to wait for the rest of the new recruits to get aliases ready and we'll introduce the new members of the gang.
Off topic a bit, but I'm assuming everyone here is a Lovecraft fan. Does anyone listen to Black Tapes Podcast or Tanis?
I haven't, though I think I've heard of the black tapes. I've mostly listened to actual play sessions from Role Playing Public Radio for Cthulhu (and Eclipse Phase) games.
They're both mythos-tinged story podcasts that are a bit like This American Life meets spooky demons and otherworldly forces.
This game has been on silent for a week. Is it still happening?
It is, sorry. I'm trying to poke our other recruits into having their aliases ready.
Let's get going on Monday, whether they're ready or not. We need to get this rolling again.
That will be the plan- Monday or sooner.
New guys have their entrance! Post away!
Welcome! Jump on into the gameplay thread!
By all means keep roleplaying as long as it's interesting- I'm hoping our third player will drop in soon.
Leads:
- The former real estate broker Samson Trammel and his associate 'Walker' hired Jack Pizner to run off anyone asking about the '24 Summoning at Echavarria's farmhouse. Coupled with the discovery of the mouth next door and the men that attacked Freddy, it seems there's definitely something going on there. You can continue the stake out or come up with a plan to get inside.
- There may be a police report on file for the '24 Summoning that Winston and company disrupted. It would flesh out your picture of what happened to Walter Winston to cause him to become so depressed and withdrawn before his passing and could give you a bit more on what you're potentially up against.
- According to his sister, the B-movie star Richard Spend was involved with the cult in some way and "in a barn fire in a hail of gunfire". She said he was involved with something called "Nectar" which she posited was a pornographic film or a hooker.
- Edgar Job, the former cultist locked up with Douglas Henslowe at Joy Grove in Savannah, mentioned his former UCLA professor George Ayers. Speaking with the head of the history department, Ayers had headed to Ethiopia on sabbatical shortly before the '24 Summoning in order to work on a dig- a privately funded dig. In his things was a travel itinerary of his trip, from which he never returned. His unpublished and unpublishable papers mostly concern an entity known as Gol-Goroth (aka "The Fisher From Outside") and The Liar From Beyond ("Those old things, they got a lot of names" as Job had said). He harbored suspicions that Echavarria, then leader of the cult, was not being honest with his followers and that Gol-Goroth was a mask for his true veneration of the Liar From Beyond.
- In Ayers' things was a signed poster from Olivia Clarendon, the movie star, which seemed to suggest that the two of them were acquainted. ("Thanks for all your help!")
Other things to highlight:
- The blackmail photos that Henslowe had secreted away in the '20s, while disgusting, may help to identify certain participants in the cult. Your recognize a much younger looking Edgar Job within them, for instance. Keep them away from the Vice Squad.
- A stone carving of an eye that apparently belonged to Echavarria and that Henslowe believed shielded him and his things from The Thing With A Thousand Mouths' gaze. It looks to have traits in common with other artifacts from the Aksum empire... which was located in what is now Ethiopia.
That's what I can remember off-hand in terms of useful leads.
This is also a great time to ask the three experienced investigators- where are you keeping your materials? Specifically, I'm thinking the stone and journal that you got from Henslowe and the account book and envelope of photos from the safe deposit box formerly at the First Bank of Long Beach?
I'm assuming the book of accounts and the photos are in your own safe deposit box at a bank that's still running. But who has the stone and who has Henslowe's journal?
Since staying in LA, Anatoly had a brief encounter with a young Russian girl, who was staying in the same hotel. She had come to LA to make it as an actress, but was unfortunately just another pretty face. She had however picked up some part time work in a studio makeup department, and let Anatoly borrow one of the texts she used to learn the techniques. When they were kicked out of the hotel, he accidently kept the volume, and has been studying it in his down time.
Mechanical Effects
Spend (2) new build points for 2-points of disguise.
Since he hasn't ridden in ages he'll move 1 point from ride to disguise giving him a 3 in disguise.
Anatoly will I guess keep the journal, but makes a false bottom in his worn duffle bag to carry it in. He also takes a dust jacket from a modern western novel and puts it on the journal as backup... (If possible)
In addition he will spend the CM point to research Gol-Goroth.
Dr. Malley will be rejoining the group shortly- same character, now played by Mahorfeus.
Ultrageek- are you roleplaying Westmore as being unaware of what's going on or do you need more of a recap as a player?
Hello everybody.
I am definitely the real Dr. Malley and not an evil impostor.
Ultrageek- are you roleplaying Westmore as being unaware of what's going on or do you need more of a recap as a player?
I've read the campaign info, where the recap is. I got most of it down, but one thing is confusing me: The recap doesn't mention an actress. Can you guys tell me how the actress fits into all of this? You guys don't have to types it, you can just paste a link to the gameplay post?
But, yeah, I am rp'ing Joseph as being unaware for the most part. Is that ok? Sorry if it isn't
It is completely okay, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't actually in the dark. It would be a great way to alienate a new player by just assuming they were roleplaying when maybe they needed clarification.
As far as Olivia Clarendon- when Anatoly and Udko went through George Ayers' (the UCLA professor that introduced Edgar Job to the cult and then disappeared in Ethiopia) things, they found a poster of one of her movies signed, "Thanks for all the help!". She's a potential lead about Ayers at least and possibly the '24 cult.
Evelyn, feel free to jump in whenever you like.
Ah, sorry, missed my cue. Should I just have her knock on the door?
Sure, maybe you had a change of heart at the airport and just got back in a cab? Janet gave you the new hotel address on the phone.
Hope that was okay. There's a recap just a few posts earlier, so I guess we don't have to linger too long on what Malley missed while she was gone.
Hoo boy, lots of action this weekend.
Once you find the covert sex dungeon, shit gets real.
Once you find the covert sex dungeon, s$@+ gets real.
It usually does!!