The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

1985, Dunwich, England: Will the Time Lord, his companions, and a team from UNIT uncover the secrets that this decaying town harbors, or will they fall prey to its horrific perils?

This is Classic Doctor Who meets Call of Cthulhu, the third of a series of connected adventures set in different eras and locations that started with The Terror Out of Time and The Ninth Planet.

Moderator: Mr. Handy

User avatar
Mr. Handy
Admin
Admin
Posts: 46364
Registered for: 17 years 5 months
17
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

Don't worry, I'm not waiting for you. I was waiting for the other PCs in your thread to make a decision. Since it's been a while, and since one of the players of those PCs actually logged in and did not post, I'll go ahead and have the NPCs decide without them.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
User avatar
Mr. Handy
Admin
Admin
Posts: 46364
Registered for: 17 years 5 months
17
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

I plan to wrap things up this weekend. If there's anything you want to do or say in your IC thread, please do so over the next couple of days.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
User avatar
BenTheRat
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 3792
Registered for: 12 years 8 months
12
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by BenTheRat »

I am going camping and will not be back till next Saturday. Feel free to NPC Elliot to finish things out.

All he really wants is to reduce casualties and end up with Victoria.

I had a great time, hope I didn't screw up the game for everyone else.
Call of Cthulhu
Arkham Horror
Cthulhu Wars
****************
The Rat's Haunting
A Star on the Shore
****************
A Dream of Japan
Watch the World Burn
Shadows over Dunwich
User avatar
Mr. Handy
Admin
Admin
Posts: 46364
Registered for: 17 years 5 months
17
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

No, you made it a lot more interesting, I think. Elliot will probably get what he wants, as it happens.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
User avatar
Mr. Handy
Admin
Admin
Posts: 46364
Registered for: 17 years 5 months
17
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

Congratulations everyone on finishing The Shadow Over Dunwich! I hope all of you enjoyed playing it as much as I enjoyed running it. I'm sorry it took so long to complete, but we've finally made it. Though this adventure is over, the campaign will continue. The fourth adventure, The Brotherhood of Death, is set in Rome in 44 B.C. It should start in early July, though I may be able to get the TARDIS crew going in late June. Look for a thread in I'm Thinking of Running a Game... that should appear tonight. All of you are welcome to join, though except for the TARDIS crew you'll need to make new characters. You're all now free to read all of the threads in this game.

First, I'll give out rewards. The original UNIT team members other than Elliot (Chad, Leonek, Tinker, Tobias, Salem, and Valerie Soames) gain 1d4 Sanity for rescuing Dr. Kirby. Everyone except Elliot gains 1d4 Sanity for defeating Deep One Hybrids, 1d6 Sanity for defeating Deep Ones, 1d20 Sanity for defeating Rover, and 1d20 Sanity for defeating the Star-spawn. While the latter two were killed by NPC UNIT soldiers, all of you were part of the team. Elliot was on the other side at the time, but he does gain 1d10 (instead of 1d4) for rescuing Dr. Kirby because he personally went up and freed her by himself. The Deep Ones maintained their beachhead in Dunwich, so you do not get the Sanity award you would have for dislodging them. These rewards may take your Sanity above its starting level, but under no circumstances will it go above 99 - Cthulhu Mythos.

Also, look at your character sheets. Wherever you see a * next to a skill, that means that you've successfully used it during the adventure and have a chance to improve it. Roll 1d100 for each of these skills and post your results here. If you get higher than your current level in the skill, then roll 1d10 to see how much it increases. If you raise one or more of your skills to 90% or higher this way, you gain an additional 2d6 Sanity for each such skill. Again, this may raise your Sanity above its starting level. If you roll less than or equal to your current level in the skill, it does not increase. The TARDIS crew already rolled for skill increases.

Except for the TARDIS crew, these characters will not be proceeding to the next adventure, but time and space are vast, and anything might happen eventually. If a future adventure takes place not more than a few decades after this one, you may be able to bring your character from this adventure into it, older and (hopefully) wiser.

Chad managed to get through this with 1 Sanity remaining, barely avoiding permanent insanity. Those Sanity rewards will help him claw his way back, but he'll still be indefinitely insane and require months of institutionalization before he can function again.

Leonek, Salem, Valentine, Carla, and Newton are released as part of the prisoner exchange.

Tinker will eventually recover from post-regeneration trauma and convince UNIT that she's Raymond MacIntyre, and she will once again be UNIT's Technical Advisor.

Tobias will one day be able to reverse engineer the alien weapon he obtained and manufacture a version of it that's reliably usable by humans.

Victoria's spell is temporary and will wear off. Leonek got the shortest duration and will be over her by mid-morning on Saturday. Valentine and the other UNIT marine will recover in the afternoon. Elliot, however, got a double dose with longer durations each time, so it will last until Sunday morning. He'll be happily married to Victoria on Saturday, but the honeymoon will be over quickly, leaving him trapped by circumstances. She could cast the spell again, but doing so requires her to take a big Sanity hit. Once she turns into a full Deep One, she'll be at 0 Sanity, so then she can cast it freely (and she'll probably need to do it).

Valerie Soames is shaken, but she should recover quickly, having gotten herself and Dr. Kirby out alive and seen a terrifying creature destroyed.

Gordon will have plenty of time to look through his findings. The Japanese papers, which he can get translated, were written by the commander of the Imperial Japanese forces garrisoning Ponape in the South Pacific during World War Two. They had killed all of the hybrids they'd found living on the island when they first occupied it, burying them in a mass grave along with anything they thought worthless, such as the bag of stones and some parchments that detailed a spell in an unknown language. As Captain Josiah Lake's diary will reveal, he led the Royal Marines in defeating the Japanese on Ponape and seized the papers. He found the mass grave, the stones, and the parchment. Eventually, he deciphered and learned the spell (Contact Deep One). He returned to Ponape after the Japanese surrender on his way back home, where he cast the spell, met Y'Hali, and made a deal with her. The tome is a spellbook, written by Lake, with English versions of that spell and others taught to him by the Deep Ones. Gordon has the tools to become a powerful (if insane) sorcerer.

Peter came through this all right, having missed encountering the Star-spawn while he went to fetch the APC and thus not losing a single point of Sanity. He may even manage to max it out at 99 with the rewards he gets. Evert probably won't get that high, but he should be okay. The two of them will no doubt be needed for further intelligence work for UNIT.

Donald will be decorated and promoted for his leadership and preserving his squad (which managed to kill the Star-spawn) completely intact in an otherwise disastrous operation.

The recruitment thread for the next adventure is here.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
User avatar
yockenthwaite
Disciple
Disciple
Posts: 1451
Registered for: 17 years
17
Location: Scotland
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by yockenthwaite »

Well done UNIT team! I haven't read the adventure since leaving, but will enjoy doing so now. Sounds like you all did a marvellous job. Sorry again the TARDIS whisked us away prematurely!

MrHandy I'm assuming that the sanity rewards for "everyone" don't apply to the TARDIS team cos we were whisked away early.

Looking forward to the next adventure!
DrPeterson
Disciple
Disciple
Posts: 2182
Registered for: 11 years 3 months
11
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by DrPeterson »

Well that was great fun.
Cheers and props for the wrap-up, Mr. H!
"He said we were all cooked but we were all right as long as we did not know it. We were all cooked. The thing was not to recognize it."
User avatar
Mr. Handy
Admin
Admin
Posts: 46364
Registered for: 17 years 5 months
17
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

Thank you! Yes, the TARDIS team doesn't get Sanity rewards. I thought I had posted that, but I guess I forgot to mention it.

As to how successful the UNIT forces were, they did manage to kill the big monsters. I was expecting Rover (who was an albino shoggoth) to go down eventually, but I didn't think the Star-spawn would be slain before it even had a chance to fight. This particular Star-spawn was a lot tougher than most, as I rolled extremely well on its stats. It had 115 HP, 10 points of armor, and a 16d6 damage bonus. It had SIZ 170 (that's a 6th edition stat, not 7th ;) ), which meant anyone firing at it had +70 to the base chance to hit. The assault rifles carried by the UNIT soldiers wouldn't normally be very effective, but two soldiers rolled natural 1s, and critical hits bypass armor. One critical hit probably wouldn't have killed it by itself, but it could have brought it down enough to make it killable with enough regular damage. It would most likely have fled and healed up (it regenerates 3 HP per round), which would have preserved it alive but allowed the mansion team time to escape.

On the other hand, UNIT failed in its objective to get the Deep Ones and their hybrids out of Dunwich. UNIT should have won handily, with only Rover posing a huge threat. However, Elliot's capture changed all of that. He had made multiple escape attempts and almost gotten away a couple of times, but even a trained escapologist can't escape all the time. Victoria Lake's spell made him fall in love with her, and he warned her and her family that the military was going to attack soon in order to convince them to abandon Dunwich so that Victoria would stay safe. However, Y'Hali had other plans, and now she knew that the enemy was coming, which made all of the difference. Ordinarily, the Deep Ones would not have figured that the rescue of Dr. Kirby would be quickly followed by a large-scale military invasion. Their security would have been heightened, but they would still most likely have been caught flat-footed and overwhelmed. Any Deep Ones that didn't flee to the sea would have been exterminated, and the Brigadier would have imprisoned the hybrids in a concentration camp (with genetic testing performed by Dr. Kirby to determine who was tainted). In short, it would have gone down much like the 1928 raid on Innsmouth.

Instead we got something more like the 1942 raid on Dieppe. It still could have gone either way, and UNIT came very close to winning outright in spite of all the screwups. The two-pronged assault on the caves was doomed to failure. The Deep Ones and hybrids teamed up to cast Wave of Oblivion to sink the destroyer, and the Deep Ones breached the submarine's hull to wreck it. The marines did reach the sea entrance to the caves, but that's when the summoned shark and the Deep One/shark hybrid slaughtered some of them. Had UNIT not been in such a rush, they could have waited for low tide and waded into the cave, thus avoiding that initial onslaught. The surviving marines ran into Deep Ones and Emilia Lake (who is a Beloved of Cthulhu hybrid) once they entered the caves. They killed some Deep Ones and wounded Emilia, but in the end they were butchered. One of the marines had gone insane from seeing Emilia and was captured unharmed, and Sergeant Valentine Hale took a nasty wound from an impaling spear that knocked him unconscious, so they both awoke as prisoners. The squad that entered through the secret stairs under the ruins fared a little better at first, at least until they ran into Rover. The UNIT soldiers actually took off more than half of its HP in the first round, but after that they couldn't manage much and got eaten. Unfortunately, Sergeant Ecarg had left two of the soldiers and most of the rockets guarding the entrance, or they might have made a difference in the battle. Instead, they later ended up as shoggoth chow when Rover attacked them from behind. Leonek tried to arm explosives which would have blown up Rover (not to mention collapsing the throne room), but he critically failed, ruining the detonators and making the explosives useless. He and Carla managed to flee, but the Deep Ones chased them and trapped them with one of their fishing nets, so they were imprisoned with the other survivors.

The Brigadier was wise to heavily defend the Ship Inn, which he had turned into a command post, but the defenses weren't quite enough. After the caves were secured, Rover and all of the uninjured Deep Ones came at the inn from the rear while Y'Hali and one of the hybrids waited in front for their chance, with a couple of Royal Navy hostages that Elliot had conveniently asked them to rescue from the sinking destroyer. Rover led the way, providing cover for the Deep Ones. The squad guarding the back door was broken. One went insane and fled into the inn, five were engulfed, and Rover missed the other, who also made it into the inn. Two of the soldiers who were swallowed managed to get free, as Rover bit off more than he could chew. Salem, left in command of the inn's defenses, sent four of the soldiers guarding the front around to the back to help. They took an APC, but when Rover rolled into view, three of them went mad. The fourth fought back using the APC's machine gun, along with the two soldiers on foot who had escaped from Rover. The machine gun scored a critical hit with 18 bullets, shredding Rover to bits. If that had been a regular hit, it would have only caused 18 damage (1 per bullet), but that would have been enough to finish off Rover after all of the times it had been shot. Then the UNIT survivors headed for the back of the inn and saw the Deep One horde. This drove the APC driver insane, and he fled in terror by driving the APC away down the road (taking his equally crazy comrades in arms with him). As a result, the Deep One horde was able to breach the rear of the inn and storm the command post while a few remained outside to take care of the two foot soldiers who remained. The fight inside the inn was going UNIT's way. Salem and the rest of the guards out front rushed through the inn to the rear, leaving the lobby unguarded. This was the opening Y'Hali needed. There were only a few Deep Ones left standing by the time her group showed up with their hostages. Y'Hali bluffed and acted like the inn was surrounded, but they had shot their load. The remaining UNIT forces could have mopped up the Deep Ones as long as they didn't care what happened to the hostages, but they surrendered.

The mansion team fared the best. They managed to sneak inside the mansion without alerting the Star-spawn (which was hiding behind the mansion, the only thing big enough to conceal it). The Star-spawn would not have been present had the Deep Ones not had advance warning, because Father John Stewart needed time to contact it. The team could have gone on to confront Bertie Lake and Father Stewart had news of the inn's capture not changed their plans. They decided to withdraw, but the Star-spawn (which had been alerted by a gunshot) was waiting outside for them. Virgil Soames covered their retreat with a helpful spell that produced an obscuring mist, but it had a short duration. Only a few of them had a chance to get over the wall by the time it dissipated. One of the soldiers went insane with homicidal mania, so he fired at the Star-spawn, thus attracting its attention. Otherwise, it might not have noticed them. All but a few of them got over the wall by the time it arrived, and that's when the lucky UNIT soldiers cut it down before it had a chance to attack. But at least it drove them nuts first!
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
johnson41996
Initiate
Initiate
Posts: 86
Registered for: 8 years 11 months
9
Location: Dallas, TX
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by johnson41996 »

Damn i knew i should of pushed and tried to confront the target after the others left lol. i had alot of fun, it was pretty much what i expected from my first CoC game. Pretty stoked for the invictus game as well. my only regret was being unable to fully explore the madness of the cthulhu magic :D
We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.
User avatar
Mr. Handy
Admin
Admin
Posts: 46364
Registered for: 17 years 5 months
17
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

Confronting the two of them alone probably would not have been the best idea. They both know spells and had full Magic Points, so it's best you got out of there with the goodies. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
User avatar
Mr. Handy
Admin
Admin
Posts: 46364
Registered for: 17 years 5 months
17
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

So far nobody has rolled for Sanity rewards or skill increases. If you don't do so in the next few days, I'll roll for you.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
DrPeterson
Disciple
Disciple
Posts: 2182
Registered for: 11 years 3 months
11
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by DrPeterson »

We're all in Rome already, Mr. H. :D
"He said we were all cooked but we were all right as long as we did not know it. We were all cooked. The thing was not to recognize it."
DrPeterson
Disciple
Disciple
Posts: 2182
Registered for: 11 years 3 months
11
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by DrPeterson »

Leo's rolls:
Sanity rewards:+43 Sanity! :,[dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice] [dice]2[/dice]
After this whopping increase of sanity and conviction, Leonek will ask Dr. Kirby out on a date. :D

Skill checks:,Hide 10% [dice]3[/dice] Listen 45% [dice]4[/dice] Mechanical Repair 65% [dice]5[/dice] Sneak 10% [dice]6[/dice] Spot Hidden 25% [dice]7[/dice] Swim 25% [dice]8[/dice] Throw 25% [dice]9[/dice] Knife 25% [dice]10[/dice] Handgun 35% [dice]11[/dice]
Skill increases:,Hide 10% [dice]12[/dice] Listen 45% [dice]13[/dice] Sneak 10% [dice]14[/dice] Spot Hidden 25% [dice]15[/dice] Swim 25% [dice]16[/dice] Throw 25% [dice]17[/dice] Knife 25% [dice]18[/dice] Handgun 35% [dice]19[/dice]
"He said we were all cooked but we were all right as long as we did not know it. We were all cooked. The thing was not to recognize it."
User avatar
BenTheRat
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 3792
Registered for: 12 years 8 months
12
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by BenTheRat »

Just got back from camping. Not sure its worth bothering to roll for Elliot, doubt he will be a playable character in the future.

I did have a blast being forced onto the "other" side. But I didn't mean to make things so difficult for the rest of you.

I really had no idea if they would attack or not, I just figured that is what I would do if I was the general, so I went down that path. No idea it would let them summon a star spawn. Really surprised they managed to kill it.

I really enjoyed it. Sorry guys, but I think Elliot got the worst end of this deal in the end. Being a stud breeder for a deep one. Hahahahaha.
Call of Cthulhu
Arkham Horror
Cthulhu Wars
****************
The Rat's Haunting
A Star on the Shore
****************
A Dream of Japan
Watch the World Burn
Shadows over Dunwich
dustakr
Acolyte
Acolyte
Posts: 270
Registered for: 9 years 3 months
9
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by dustakr »

I liked my IC experience Mr. Handy created with every post reply. I am not sure of How to go about leveling of RP character or reusing my char.
If there is not any task that can be assigned to Newton, he would be working somewhere in Unit hq behind desk with his trusty coffee bin machin nabbed from Inn.

On other thought, is it possible for me to investigate Newtons' pre-U.N.I.T story somewhere, using rolls. I just wake him up from that place to be part of U.N.I.T team.
DrPeterson
Disciple
Disciple
Posts: 2182
Registered for: 11 years 3 months
11
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by DrPeterson »

You did great, Ben, you really nailed our arses. But I bet that'll be Elliot's future now too. ;)

Let's hope next game neither of us will turn out to be dubious :D
"He said we were all cooked but we were all right as long as we did not know it. We were all cooked. The thing was not to recognize it."
User avatar
aine
Disciple
Disciple
Posts: 4661
Registered for: 12 years 7 months
12
Location: Bristol, England
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by aine »

Image
I think Tobias Maddox will be returning to his own company R.I.O.T., a fledgling company of his father's, Tobias Vaughn of International Electromatics. After successfully infiltrating U.N.I.T. and acquiring alien technology to further R.I.O.T.'s weapon technology, he is sure to be amply rewarded; hopefully with a lucrative but safe consultancy job. Thanks for another great episode, Mr. Handy!
sanity check,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4825687/]2d4=6, 1d6,2d20=[6], [10, 11][/url] = 33 in total. Tobias feels pretty good about himself!
skill increases,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4827682/]12d100=579[/url] [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4827685/]7d10=35[/url]: electrical skill 4, physics 7, psychology 9, spot hidden 7, swim 3 electric gun 3 handgun 2
Last edited by aine on Thu Jul 09, 2015 6:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Mr. Handy
Admin
Admin
Posts: 46364
Registered for: 17 years 5 months
17
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

I'm glad all of you enjoyed the adventure!

Leonek, Dr. Kirby will gladly go out on a date with you!

Elliot could possibly be playable in the event of a followup to this adventure, but it would be quite some time before that happens. You can go ahead and make the rolls anyway.

It will probably be years before there's another adventure in which Newton can participate, but feel free to roll for his increases. I posted full instructions above in this post. The mystery of who he is will have to remain a mystery for now. Finding that out could be an adventure in its own right.

Tobias, please don't forget to roll for your skill increases too.

I'll probably roll for the rest of the characters' Sanity and skill increases this weekend, and I should be able to set up the forum for the new game then as well.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
User avatar
aine
Disciple
Disciple
Posts: 4661
Registered for: 12 years 7 months
12
Location: Bristol, England
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by aine »

Previous post edited with skill increases added.
User avatar
TheVaultTech
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 152
Registered for: 9 years 4 months
9
Location: Visiting Three Dog
Contact:

Re: The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

Post by TheVaultTech »

*coughs*
Hey, sorry about the unannounced extended leave...
According to every service provider, there just wasn't enough internet for me to get in on it.
I couldn't make this up if I tried.
And my laptop broke, so I couldn't leach off Starbucks nearby. I am finally back, though I'd understand if you were hesitant to let me back in. Flaky is flaky, regardless of reason.
Also, hi again!
Post Reply

Return to “The Shadow Over Dunwich”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest