Play@YSDC

Here's where people can sit around and have a bit of a conversation about life, the game, philosophy, or what-not. You don't have to be a player to post in here. That's cool. It's just a chance for folk to relax, take it easy from the perils of the train, and talk about whatever's on their mind. For example, I just now drank a whole can of Mother and I'm one of those people who reacts strongly to caffeine if I haven't had it in awhile. Like, bouncing off the walls strongly. I'm a bit more chill at the moment but I'm sure that the energetised caffeinated excitementorific times still await.

Howdy yall! Here's hoping for a great campaign looks like our campaign is going to be a good one!

So just because I'm excited (this is my first CoC game) who all am I playing with?

I certainly hope so!

Game will begin on Friday (Australia-wise) which means tomorrow so feel free to start posting then. Basically each thread represents a different location. You can pass between locations freely. Just remember to leave a post saying something to that effect. As an example:

"After taking a brief look around the store, Clive headed over to the cafe."

Then you start posting in the cafe thread.

Yeah, it'll seem a bit clunky at the start but you'll soon get the hang of it and it enables me to run several individual plots / threads with greater ease without getting in the way of what you want to do.

Please don't read the threads you're not present in simply because this game is based around layers of deception and it's easier to be deceived if you don't already know the answers - especially as the other PCs are most likely to end up your allies (even if they are enemies masquerading as allies).

Also please don't read any language spoilers unless you have the language. The spoilers are the easiest way to cover up the dialogue you can't understand while easily revealing any dialogue you can. This is because I don't want to have to keep sending PMs to those people who are in the same area who share the language. You can, of course, use Psychology to read their interactions and might get a pretty good understanding that way.

I hope you have loads of fun and if you have any questions, need advice, or are starting to get frustrated on what to do next, please don't hesitate to let me know. If you notice any inconsistencies in the plot, feel free to PM me if you're unsure whether it was a Keeper mistake ... or just a startling realisation based on the evidence.

jdd2035 wrote:So just because I'm excited (this is my first CoC game) who all am I playing with?

Welcome! I'll be playing Elena Orloff in this game.

Hi! I'll be playing Harry Simmons - this is my first game too.

You will find your choice of platforms in the platform subforum over here: viewforum.php?f=267

Character sheets are in Sheets, Handouts and Things. Please only refer to your own. Feel free to add posts in that forum for any notes, comments, or anything else. I will be adding the handouts you've grabbed to your sheet thread.

And on that note:

Game On! Pick a Platform Thread and start posting. Let's get this game underway.

My, my, that newspaper stand is popular! Always the way in retail. First there's nobody and then half a dozen people come in vying for newspapers!

I suggest buying some of those gossip rags, because we all know the old say "Gossip is pow..." Wait... Wrong saying.

You guys can all start posting in the cafe when you please.

Elena's got admirers!

Don't mistake Vergil's gentlemanly ways for infatuation. I mean he has studied a broad.... Or two. -Comedy drum effects here-

You all have your ticket numbers in your Carried inventory. Please only enter your own compartment unless you are invited (or break into) a different compartment. You can always access the corridor or toilets. The toilets are especially a nice private place to stow your character if you're off for a week, though I wouldn't recommend leaving them for hours. There might end up being a line up! I'd put them in your sleeping compartment if that were the case. If you disappear for awhile and don't get the chance to do so, I will puppet them into your sleeping compartment and send you a PM to let you know where they are.

I will be editing everyone's inventory to ensure you all have your passports. Let me know if you're carrying any cash and in what denomination, lighters, cigarettes, medicine, flashlights, chewing gum etc. Otherwise you'll need to ask people on the train for it. Most of you are in the Second Class Compartment. Harry is in First Class. Fernand and Vergil both have double cabins. Everyone else has a single cabin.

Once you end up getting into your compartment, you'll need to think about where you're stowing your luggage. There is a rack, an inlaid little table, or your couch (though the couch will become a bed soon enough).

A box of camping matches would be nice

It's a good idea to quickly flick through the new time stamped posts when they appear in your thread even though much of it will doubtless be a copy / paste as there may be new information or changes in behaviour highlighted within them.

I've given you all a Special Ability or Special Equipment depending on your background as well as a reasonable skill boost to a particular skill. You'll find it in your character sheet under all of your skills. Feel free to dispute it if you don't like what you've received. I'm happy to change things about for you.

Also, when there's a link attached to phrases like "the man" or "the woman", the link actually takes you to the correct post in the Passengers Thread so that you can see their faces. Will this work for people or would you rather if I embed the links so that the face pictures were visible?

I'll be following this campaign with great interest, it promises to be a very interesting story and congratulations to Laraqua too! Your fingers will be typed bare to the bone when this is over.

Yes, yes I have sensed that predicament....

Just trying to figure out what it all means

I prefer to have the image in the post itself. Having to click each link is a little inconvenient, and as the page with the portraits loads, the browser scrolls it as the images load so that you're not even looking at the same one from the link.

I'll fix that up for you then. Also, for those including images with your posts, could you please resize them to make them smaller? And ideally center them to satisfy the perfectionist inside of me? If you're unsure how to do it without losing image quality, then I can do a resize for you.

I started a new job, so I will post when I can. It will be rough until I get on my new sleep schedule. I fell asleep at 9:30PM last night. -GASP-

hehe, lunchtimes maybe? Ah well, don't worry. Worse comes to worse I'll make sure your PC boards the train.

Hopefully I am going to get a new phone when I get paid next week so I can use it to post at work. haha. They're strict about computer searches or that is what I have been told.

Fair, fair.

I have included a compartment list in the Timetable & Compartments thread below this one. While your characters don't have access to these lists, they may help you - the player - remember where your compartment is alongside the compartments of those people whom you have seen enter a given compartment.

Sorry yall, I am very very sorry but I just can't hang. I wish i could it's been fun but I just can't maintain. I'm sorry.

That's okay. Hope everything is well with you. I'll give you a month in case you change your mind before setting anything dastardly in the motion.

The best of luck, jdd2035, I hope it all turns out well!

The doctor has returned.

Welcome back! You'd better hurry up, the first dinner service has already started.

Take care, jdd2035!

Welcome back, Yigcredible!

Anyone want to join my character in the search of answers to one of his mysteries from his past?

From the last Time stamp I managed to find it would appear that the train has departed from Paris. Is this correct? if so I can get onboard at Epernay I suppose.

I think you'd best find some allies on the train to help you with your dark past. I'm sure there's plenty potential victims/assistants

Oh I think I have at least one at this time. Not sure about whom else would be interested though and I do not want to give away too much at this time.

At this stage, folks aren't aware of everyone aboard the train so it should be easy to justify you just springing from your compartment as though you boarded earlier on and no one should be surprised. There's a number of NPCs I haven't even described yet who are in the Dining Car at the moment even!

Oks, I suppose I can pop out of my cabin from the Jeanette Second Class Sleeping Car and wander over to see what there may be to dine upon.

Absolutely. Normally you'd have to wait for Second Service but due to small numbers (and a desire to not make the Dining Car seem like a ghost town), all have been invited to dine at either service.

Very good to know! Now who is making all that noise outside my compartment?

Wow I just took a look at the compartments free and realised I can fit another 10 PCs in this game! Whoo-hee!

If you need even more room, I'm sure we can give someone a shove, dear

Or let go a car or three...

I think I got lost in the crowd within the dinning car. Stop hogging the staff!

The waitor recommended the Plover Eggs for the entree. Bottom part of my mutli-spot post.

An hour and a half later and no one's dead yet! Congratulations everyone.

Gimmie a minute...

Dinner first, then intrigue, killing and passion.

In that order?

Well, not necessarily.
If you do the killing before dinner, you can save a few quid.

Which is nice.

It seems like there's plenty of intrigue already.

Oh yesss, but it's the Orient Express and thus there is a requirement for murder on the first night.

Eeny meeny miney mo, who shall catch a copse by the toe?

Unfortunately due to other committments, both the PCs Johnny and Charles have been officially handed over and will now become NPCs. Their backgrounds and histories will remain as they were.

god my characters anti social.

Also I endorse my wife's blog. Not because I have to but completely because I want to.... No really I've just started reading it and it is awesome.

*Puts down the kitchen knife....*

Good boy, Raziel.

I wouldn't normally do this but this line from Mr. Handy ... "He was speaking English all right, but it's the sort of English that only the English can fully understand." ... about Aine's character was fantastic.

I second that wholeheartedly!

Thank you! I actually do understand that sort of English, having watched a lot of TV and movies from across the pond. It amuses me when some of them actually air with subtitles, since I have no trouble getting it, but I can see how others would have trouble with some of the dialects.

They subtitle English shows in the US? Wow, that's...uhm...quite interesting.

Although they do something similar over here when people are using dialects.

They don't usually do it, but I've seen it a few times. They probably do mainly use it for dialects that might be hard to understand.

Some British accents are impossible to understand even by some of the other Brits, or so I've heard!

I'll be away at conventions October 31-November 3 and November 8-10, so I probably won't be able to post then. I'm not sure if I'll even be able to post between them, as I work during the week and will have little time to catch up, though I am off November 11.

Sorry about the late time jump. I'll have it that it'll only jump to 9:30 on Friday, so only four minutes rather than 15. At this moment it seems suitable, pacing-wise.

Raziel, I have a feeling I might have worked with the man in Dr. Bedal's photograph in real life - what are the chances of that? It's certainly spooking me out each time you post.

Need to find out where he sourced the picture from.

I'll be gone till Monday.
Feel free to npc my character should the need arise.

♫ Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks ♫

/dances out

Yeah, that's stuck in my head for eternity now.
Cheers

Thank you everyone for your patience. It was a slow start but I feel like there's some solid intrigue and mysteries going on at this stage.

Only seven beds left aboard the train! Soon enough the train will be full and I will need to start hurtling folk overboard.

I'm starting to get the impression that Kadael likes Victorian era dresses.

Yes, I do. But there's a better reason than that for this character to be wearing one

Also, I am pleased to be joining you all. Excitement and mystery and all that!

You're not meant to be reading other people's threads!

Oh wait, you're the same person.

I couldn't help myself! I was curious as to how Kadie's new character looked :p

Welcome aboard, guy and girl.

Don't eat the salmon, it seems to have high Yellow Sign and lead levels.

Tee hee hee. Now you know.

Good point on the salmon.

Now I'm curious about the salmon.

HEY KADAEL'S CHARACTER! I FOUND SOME DELICIOUS DELICIOUS SALMON STEAK!

Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

An acquaintance who dabbles in the Mythos is convinced that our destination is Carcosa rather than Istanbul (not Constantinople). "Cthulhu eats 1d4 investigators," he tells me, predicting how things will end.

I eat another bite of my salmon and feel the gentle shattering of my mind.

Phew, those are some big section time stamped posts.

Oh well.

Hmm, so Kadael's got a theory about what's gonna happen / is going on.

What are some of your most off the wall ones?

It's not really my theory; I was having an actual conversation with this guy about this campaign. I just framed it strangely.

"Oh no. You're going to Carcosa."
"No, we're going to Istanbul."
"Nope. Carcosa. You're all fucked. Cthulhu eats 1d4 investigators."

My actual off-the-wall prediction is that the sock puppet show will be completely innocent and fun for the whole family.

My theory is that we aren't on the Orient Express in 1939 at all, but that we're all taking part in a detailed simulation in 2013, and that we're all actually different people in that world than we are in this one, controlling our 1939 avatars who have no knowledge of any of this.

Ridiculous, right?

So Laraqua, you wrote that nobody intercepted me as I went into wherever it is I wanted to go (to be perfectly honest, I'm not all too sure of that myself), does that mean that I can just start posting in the place were I wanted to go?

Give me a nudge if you're ever bored or don't have anything to do. There are plots and intrigues aplenty aboard the train. It's all just a matter of laying a few more hints. Things will become more obvious and easier to grab hold to as the game progresses and the other passengers begin to let down their guard....

I find it amusing to note that Kadael posted in both of the threads that I was in right after I left.

It's like my Kadael-dar is telling me to escape before she, obviously some evil Victorian poisoning femme fatale, tries to kill me.

Well there's some intrigue for ya.

I find it amusing that you don't know who I am yet

She's a very famous Victorian poisoner.

Now you aren't even trying to deny it! You evil evil little seductress you.

Wait, hang on, that's totally not Kadael's style. Let me get into Kadael's head... She's probably playing someone who is more or less in a relationship where she has unhealthy emotional dependence on somebody else. She's probably acting, one way or another, in order to regain or usurp control over herself. She's probably doing some ultimately meaningless stuff in order to attain this goal. Oh, and she probably ultimately does not have the guts to take control of the situation and will most likely become a hopeless alcoholic abused by her emotional superior.

And her wardrobe will predominantly be black, she will have brown hair, and will most like be described as being slightly more attractive than the norm and having average female height.

Ah damn, you caught me. Have you seen my daughter anywhere? I think we should go to the lake one of these days.

It's funny how you accuse me of being a murderous seductress when you're the one who attempts murder and seduces lawyers, boy.

That was my job! I was sanctioned by the government to do so! Not so much murder, but proxy murder through seduction.

You can't fault me for doing my job well.

Actually, that does describe the typical femme fatale well who, in many Film Noir movies, was as much a victim as the men she latched onto. I've often found them to be half ingenue (the innocent version) and half femme fatale rather than being wantonly abusive or violent. At least during the forties. The Bond women not so much.

Kadael, are you playing a Bond woman?

Kadael's a Bond villain?

No. And no.

I am James Bond.

Feeling emotionally vulnerable and generally depressed. I apologize in advance if I act increasingly neurotic.

That's all good. I remember churning it out through some very interesting IRL times that spilled over to Masks of Nyarlathotep. It was why my character, Maksim Rukov, was so damnably moody.

Hope you feel better soon.

Dr. Bedel will be able to post tomorrow so just give it one more day.

10:00PM reached and no deaths ... or have there been?

Beware the dangers of clumping!

At present, I totally get the grouping up that's going on in the Lounge Car and wouldn't recommend artificially breaking out of it, just bear in mind that this isn't a usual party game which is why there's an unusually high number of PCs. Everytime a large group of players joins the same thread there will be lag as folks need to wait for the right person to hop online to post.

This isn't too big a problem in the short term with out 6 player group in the Lounge Car but I foresee it being an issue if it either becomes the norm or if the other three get involved (9 players).

So please feel free to drop into what others are doing if it is interesting (as is currently the case) but remain independent and either float away or, if you are going to stick together for the sake of numbers, do so with only one or two other PCs.

There *are* plenty of sub-plots to go around in the other corridors and social cars so you don't need to worry about that. Even a casual stroll to the Water Closet could net you something cool.

We'll take a break over Christmas from this Saturday to the Saturday after New Years.

I apologize for my absence: I've had finals to complete.

What awaits the passengers across the border?
Will the sock puppet show be as sinister as anticipated?
And just what is in that salmon?

Find out next time on...
THE LAST EXPRESS

On that note, this game's current 15 minutes will be extended across at least two weeks due to people's holiday needs.

Sorry about the delays over the silly season. Since this fifteen minutes has been pivotal to some characters, I will extend the period until next Friday before resuming the usual one week = fifteen minutes routine.

Lily's new secret weapon = https://www.facebook.com/kotaku/posts/10102568841268309

"I have no idea what she is talking about. If I had a secret weapon it would look more like this."

That's either a frighteed Edwardian cat.

....

Or a mesmerist.

My word George, what seems to be all this commotion?

Pay no attention to the Plebians, darling Alexandra. We should not interfere among their little quarrels and struggles. They are unsuitable for birds of our class.

But George! I thought I heard scraping of metal plates! What if these pissants are arming themselves? George, I insist that you look to ensure our safety!

Well honey, why don't you look then?

Why don't I loo- what did you say, George? This is no way to treat a lady like myself. Don't you 'why don't you do this' to me sir, you still owe me for what happened yesterday night.

Oh for crying out loud, please don't-

Noooo excuses George. You sir, are still grounded from the bedchambers after nearly braining me with your damned clubfoot. I mean, think about my delicate constitution! Pah, some man I chose. Making me look at the plebians.

Oh for... very well honey.

...

By the Flaming Orca's Great Teeth!

What? What is it George! I demand that you tell me immediately!

It's.... it's horrible! It's an armored cat! Damn them! What have they unleashed upon the world? Gods forgive us all, they do not know what unknown forces that they mess with.

Should... should we run?

Yes dear, we must away. Others must know of this.

Hello gentlepenguin and ladies, and welcome back to the Antarctic News. The Penguin High Council again wishes you all a happy and fruitful day. Domestication of the sea lion is nearly complete and future is looking bright for the Penguin Race.

Today, we bring you disturbing news from just beyond the Mountains of Utter Sanity: we have special reporter Ralph at the scene.
Hello Ralph! How's the weather down there?

Hello Charles! I'm glad to be here. The weather is sunny and grass is actually growing pretty well, but that's not important right now Charles. What's important is what's there right on top of that hill.

Now Ralph, I don't know about you but the image quality isn't that great and the thing that you are pointing to looks really tiny. Could you describe what you are seeing?

Sorry Charles! This is as far as the guards are willing to let us. That thing on top of the hill seems to be some sort of a large and armored housecat with a sword.

I'm sorry Ralph, but could you repeat that? I thought you said... a large armored housecat with a sword.

That is what I said Charles! It was spotted by a couple out on a walk about 2-3 hours ago. It apparently emerged from the sea, crashing through some towns and villages, and made its way on top of a hill where it has been stationary for the last couple of hours.

My, Ralph, this all seems quite fantastic! You say it was stationary?

Well, not moving from the top of that hill there. It has been doing some normal cat behavior like mewling or licking itself, bu-

Well, uh, has any word been released from the local authorities on the identity and the origin of this cat?

I was getting to that Charles. So far, the scientists are unable to explain where this cat was able to get its armor and why it is here. It's all a big myster- oh my god.

What. What is it Ralph?

It's coming this way!

What?!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

Oh. Oh dear.

HELPGURGLEGURGLE HELLLP

Oh my, that seems quite-

Arrrghjarea-

Should we...umm...send out advertisements?

*gurgle* geeeehhhhhhh-

Oh. Too late. Umm... we'll come back right after a commercial break.

Also I apparently lost my mind.

The Antarctic News and The Last Express are brought to you by Myth*Os.

Myth*Os: They're blasphemously delicious!

Penguin High Council Secret Antarctic Base

Meet Doctor Emma Heimreich. She is one of the leading mamalogist in the field and is merely 7 years old: young for a penguin with her credentials. Yet she will never make it to be the head of her department. She is a female working in a male dominated field, like gynecology and woman's studies. However, that might change today.

On this particular day, she is dealing with P3X-1029- a seemingly immortal species of cat with an armored carapace. It took a small tank and a few dozen civilian casualties to simply capture the beast. Now it set squirming restrained in her lab. So far, it survived drowning, incineration, decapitation, and even the cold of winter.

"Son of a bitch, this thing is hard to cut through," Emma thought as her scalpels were being dulled by the carapace of the cat. "Am I going to need to borrow a cutting laser? Mother of fuck."

Eventually she got the idea to lift the carapace and dissect it that way. She smiled, as far as her beaks allowed, as this succeeded.

Upon its death, the cat released a pheromone into the air. It was undetectable to a penguin, but to a cat of the same species, it could be detected from over a hundred miles away. It was a call to arms: to destroy whatever it was that have harmed one of their brothers.

2 hours later,Doctor Heimreich released a report saying that this was not, in fact, a house cat, but rather a very small juvenile tiger.

heheh, I look forward to the next thrilling installment of this series.

Meanwhile at the Tigerreich, New Zealand
Day breaks in the newly established realm of Tigerreich, formally held by Great Penguinaria. All is quiet.

In fact, it is to quiet. As the tigers found out, there was a small flaw in the plan to rule over a place whose population you just exterminated in the effort to conquer it: there was nobody left to rule over. Oh, there were the parrots and the butterflies, of course, but they do make dreadful company.

"You know what, Bertha?" asked Tony, the Overlord of all Tigers, a few weeks after the death of the Penguin governor. "I think we really got ourselves in a pickle here, you know. I mean, we invaded and beat down the Penguins twice for this bloody two-bit piece of land, and now, trying it for the third time, it was so stupidly easy! I mean, we didn't even break a sweat doing this."

Bertha, the Overlady, stopped midswing with her croquet mallet: a stuffed corpse of one of her Penguin victims. "I've been thinking about this too, you know, Tony," she said. "And you are right. We wasted too much time trying to conquer this godforsaken two-bit island. We really need to start thinking big. Something to make our mark upon this world other than as rulers of some tiny island off the coast of Australia.

"What are you thinking, Bertha?" Tony asked.

"Our armored tigers are unstoppable, Tony. Today, New Zealand. Tomorrow, THE WORLD!!!!" Bertha stopped to cackle maniacally for a minute before calming down momentarily to focus on her swing.

"Hmm..." Tony was thinking deeply. "We are going to require a secret fortress, where we may plot world domination in peace and comfort. A place whose magnificence will make all the world quiver at our might."

"You thinking where I'm thinking for the base?"

"Oh yeah."

"Antarctica."

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The next day, Tony and Bertha addressed small group of juvenile tigers in the ruined hulk of a Penguin Town Hall.

"Welcome! Your task is to help prepare for the invasion of Antarctica!" Tony blared!

"Our goal is to build this!" Bertha tapped on the projection on the wall.
"Isn't that a screenshot from-"

"Shut up!" Tony shouted. "Can you find any better picture of a secret antarctic base? No? That's why you are a minion and we are Overlords."

"Your job is to find the headquarters of the Penguin High Council located on this continent and die trying," added Bertha.

Silence. "Don't you mean 'or' die trying?" asked one of the juvenile tigers.

Tony sighed. "Did she say 'or'? Did she? She specifically said 'and.' Step 1, find headquarters. Step 2, die. Step 2 is not optional, it is an inherent follow-up after Step 1. Without the condition of Step 2 being optional, the use of 'or' instead of 'and' would be incorrect. Grammar is important. We know you are only a henchman and cannot be expected to understand simple things like sentence structure, but please do put in some effort."

Bertha turned the lights back on. "Now I want you to know that no henchmen ever found an enemy secret base for their masters by dying. They did it by making the other poor dumb fuck die for their masters."

Tony whispered something into Bertha's ears. Bertha frowned. "Oh yes, I suppose it is so."

"Now, an evil organization is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, builds as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of . The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Gahzette don’t know anything more about real henching than they do about fornicating."

"We have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit and the best leaders in the world. You know, by God I actually pity those poor bastards you’re going up against. By God, I do. We’re not just going to shoot the bastards, we’re going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tractors. We’re going to murder those lousy bastards by the bushel."

"Uh...sir?" asked one of the juveniles. "Who exactly are we going up against?"

Tony looked exasperated. "Penguins, duh. Oh, and each other."

"But I thought you just said that we were a tea-"

"YOU ARE!" screamed Bertha. "A team competing against each other, ruthlessly killing each other whenever it's necessary to further the goals of the team!"

"Now, some of you people, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you will all do your duty. The men and women standing beside you are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood. Shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo that a moment before was your best friend's face, you'll know we're proud."

"Alright now, you know how we feel. Oh, and we will be proud to execute you guys – anytime, anywhere."

The hall remained silent for a long moment.

"That’s all."

New prediction from my acquaintance:

"You're all going to Carcosa and everyone on the train who isn't a player character is a ghoul."

He is a very silly man.

Laraqua, maybe we should tell her the truth about the train.

Wait wait, Miss Gavigan, we can talk about this. See, I'm the one who's supposed to have gone crazy in the corridors and stabbed vulnerable people when they are alone, not the other way around! D:

♫ Jonathan's afraid of Lily
Jonathan's afraid of Lily ♫

She's gonna kill meeeee

Don't worry, the German who has no clue what you're on about will save you.

"With all due respect, Mr. Parker, you are so full of [REDACTED]."

My motives in conducting and saying particular action remain as transparent as ever.

Either you can see right through them or you can't see them at all.

Sorry about the lack of Friday update but I have the flu and its knocked me for six.

Yup a flu during a heat wave, go figure.

Anyway due to this I will do another 15 minute update nex Friday.

Feel better and stay cool.

The joys of AC...

Get well!

I'm feeling much better now though still have a cough.

I'm going to be away from the night of Saturday, February 15 until Monday, February 24 and will probably not be able to post.

I think cats are Servitors of the Outer Gods considering how they won't let us sleep in after 7:00AM and strain to awaken us earlier no matter how late we all stay up the night before. It's like they're getting in their practice for awakening the Outer Gods!

I keep my bedroom door closed, so my cat can't jump on my face or anything, but he is still a master of Meowing Very Loudly and Running Around Very Loudly.

MEOW thumpathumpathumpa MEOW thumpathumpa MEOOOW etc. until somebody goes downstairs. Doesn't matter if he has food or not--he doesn't seem to know it exists until a human comes down with him.

Desna doesn't stop until *everyone* in the house is awake.

Your cats need some new years resolution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqG0wWGzz5U

Sorry about for being missing in action-had a 103.2 fever.

That is 39.56 Celsius for all you unamerican people.

Damn, that's hot! (I mean that in the consolation with sickness way, not the wow I think it's sexy that you're temperature is so high way.)

A windstorm broke a tree branch and dropped it on my head the other day.

So that's something.

-----

Sorry to hear about your fever. Hopefully you're feeling better.

My mental state lately have been rather unstable. I apologize for the absence.

No worries. Lily hasn't blown up the train yet so you still have time to do things.

wat

Oh sorry,

*spoiler warning*

See, I was under the impression that the plan was to try and [REDACTED] with [REDACTED], preferably Miss

This is all so very, very true.

Can those who are plan to have their PCs sleep, post themselves going to sleep? It'll be a little while before we can pop on to the new day but never fear, plot is here to help soothe your ruffled dreaming feathers.

Planning a CoC game in RL is hard...

Yes, yes it is.

Yeah, tell me about it, we just had to put our Tatters of the King on hold for half a year because of conflicting schedules.
Balls.

I'll admit. I actually have no idea what Carcossa, Yellow Sea lions, (or yellow seal or sign or whatever), or whatever else creepy shizzles that are happening in the train is. It helps me RP as a totally hapless stupid English gentleman prick who has no idea what kind of hell that is about to happen to this train because I really don't.

We should be close to breakfast time by next Friday. Did anyone ask to be awoken with breakfast in bed? And if so, when? Basically you pre-order your breakfasts and it's brought to your door or the Lounge Car, as you please.

I said earlier that I'd take my breakfast in the Lounge Car.

Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Handy.

And everybody else?

Lily would like to have breakfast in the Lounge Car, but that decision may not be up to her.

Wolfgang would prefer to have breakfast on the other side of Germany. (and in the dining car)

Had a dream wherein Lily was nattering at Cecil all "Well, if you don't love me, then [blah blah blah]" She may or may not have slapped him, and then stormed off angrily?

This is weird for a number of reasons.

Any room for an additional player?

Absolutely! Happy to have you on board.

Did you want to create your own character or pick up an NPC? I have a few pretty impressive NPCs on display though nothing beats a personally constructed character either.

Either/or works for me! I should be able to roll up a char without too much trouble. What's the process like on this board? Do I need to fill out an actual sheet and post it somewhere?

Just as a caveat, I've read the corebook and am familiar with the mythos, but this will be my first CoC outing. So some of the finer points of the rules may escape me.

Strength:
Size:
Dexterity:
Constitution:
Appearance:
Education: (Know Roll 80%)
POW: (Luck Roll 50%)
Intelligence: (Idea Roll 85%)

Make your rolls for these on www.invisiblecastle.com and include the links. You can swap equivalent stats around.

Hit Points:
Magic Points:
Damage Bonus: 0
Sanity: %

SKILLS : (Important: Non-default skills BOLD, Professional Skills ITALICS, Hobbies preceded by a DOT)
Accounting (10%):
Anthropology (01%):
Archaeology (01%):
Art (Painting) (05%):
Astronomy (01%):
Bargain (05%):
Biology (01%):
Chemistry (01%):
Climb (40%):
Conceal (15%):
Craft (05%):
Credit Rating (15%):
Cthulhu Mythos (00%):
Disguise (01%):
Dodge (DEX×2):
Drive Auto (20%):
Electr. Repair (10%):
Fast Talk (05%):
First Aid (30%):
Geology (01%):
Hide (10%):
History (20%):
Jump (25%):
Law (05%):
Library Use (25%):
Listen (25%):
Locksmith 01%):
Mathematics (01%):
Martial Arts (01%):
Mech. Repair (20%):
Medicine (05%):
Natural History (10%):
Navigate (10%):
Occult (05%):
Opr. Hvy. Mch. (01%):
Own language (EDU×5%): 80%
Other Language (???) (01%):
Persuade (15%):
Pharmacy (01%):
Philosophy (10%):
Photography (10%):
Physics (01%):
Pilot (01%):
Psychoanalysis (01%):
Psychology (05%):
Ride (05%):
Sneak (10%):
Spot Hidden (25%):
•Swim (25%):
Throw (25%):
Track (10%):

Hand-to-Hand:
Fist/Punch (50%):
Head Butt (10%):
Kick (25%):
Grapple (25%):

Firearms:
Handgun (20%):
Machine Gun (15%):
Rifle (25%):
Shotgun (30%):
SMG (15%)

Special Ability: (You can pick one special ability that reflects who your character is and what they have done. It could be anything from a Mythos spell to a special contact or piece of equipment).

PM me this sheet when you're ready with it and give me a concept, history, and some baggage car and regular car items. If your concept matches something I already have in play, I'll recommend that NPC to you (most haven't had much interaction). You don't have to pick it up, but it does make things easier for me. Naturally any differences between your concept and the existing NPC are resolved in your character's direction (in other words, the NPC is adapted and adjusted to match your PC). Either way you can keep your own designed sheet.

You can find some of this game's rules here (such as how to deal with languages) over here: viewtopic.php?f=261&t=4207

And information on the train here: viewtopic.php?f=261&t=800

We'll be back to an update every 15 minutes this Friday. If you could PM me with your character plans (if any), it'll help me figure out what your current needs go and if you're feeling a little lost for things to do also let me know. Now is also a good opportunity to go over your three goals if you haven't been over them in awhile to see if there is any way you can advance them thusly.

I was waiting for a reply from Wolfgang. Dr. Peterson is out of commission for most of the summer, as his computer got fried.

... Am I already in Carcossa?

You're assuming you ever left!

D:.

The train isn't going to Carcossa! IT IS CARCOSSA!

Who is this Ambrose fellow by the way Laraqua. I don't think he's been mentioned anywhere else before.

Too many names...

Too many games...

Would you believe that I was away rescuing charming orphans for thirty days?

Because that didn't happen. I'm not heroic, I'm just a ditz with an alarmingly short attention span and a huge capacity for distraction.

ADHD high five!

Wow, we have been playing for about a year. Presuming characters no longer get to sleep and we continue this 15 minute per week format, the game will take 4 more years to finish! Someone better derail the train.

"Just give me a moment to collect the people who matter, and I'll be right on that."

Is that a request, Laraqua, a joke, or a challenge? :p

It's an assumption, really. More like a prophecy than anything else knowing you all!

Sorry I haven't posted recently: little baby arrived a week early. got my hands ffull I'll post when I can otherwise please npc Cecil to move the story forward.

Oooh!

Thing is though ... I'm not sure what Cecil would do. Drop me some hints?

Also ... MASSIVE congratulations!!!

Thanks! I think! Back posting but probably not as often as before, until I get the hang of feeding and typing at the same time.

Naww.....

That's okay. I'm sure things will go swimmingly for you ... nothing like cosmic horror while you have a baby on your lap.

Are any of you any good at cartography or artsy things and can help me make a square grid map of a city?

Sorry, no, I only know the programs that do that.

...

I get the feeling y'all need a byakhee attack. Just a feeling....

If we feed it pop rocks and soda, that'll make it explode, right?

Failing that, a lit stick of dynamite or a live hand grenade should have the desired effect.

Is that what you would do to my presents?

Well technically anything pressurized enough to withstand the vacuum of space should basically implode within Earth atmosphere. But... Eldritch sciences are not meant for the human mind I suppose.

Well at least it's not a goddamn Hunting Horror. Maybe if we had a dog whistle we could tame it.

Laraqua wrote:Is that what you would do to my presents?

Aww, poor byakhee... You're right, that would be mean, and it's an endangered species too.

Seon wrote:Well technically anything pressurized enough to withstand the vacuum of space should basically implode within Earth atmosphere. But... Eldritch sciences are not meant for the human mind I suppose.

Well at least it's not a goddamn Hunting Horror. Maybe if we had a dog whistle we could tame it.

If it's made of silver and meteoric iron, perhaps.

A Hunting Horror would just want a hug. Unfortunately, they hug you back...around the neck.

Well than we have to talk about why it only has 1 point armor rating when... Say... A heavy leather trenchcoat has the same armor rating.

Are you looking my Gift Byakhee in the mouth again?

That's almost as dangerous as vampires!

Obviously the only solution to our looking at your gift celestial steed in the mouth is to provide us with a gift shoggoth.

That thing has way too many mouths for us to look at!

Or a gift nightgaunt, which has no mouth!

But can it scream?

hehe, the Chit-Chat thread here really makes me chuckle.

Laraqua, the forum says it's your birthday! Does it speak the truth?

~*~HAPPY BIRTHDAY~*~

One year closer until your appointment with Herbert!

It depends on where you sit in the space-time continuum but ... more generally ... yes, it speaketh the truth.

Herbert???

I already spoke too much.

Mr. West will be displeased

That's Doctor West. He didn't go to medical school for six years to be called Mister.

Happy Birthday, Laraqua! It's still October 2 here for the next several minutes, so I'm not late.

Maybe those accursed tomb-legions will not be so silent. Maybe they will sing a birthday song!

Yay! You just slipped in!

I am inordinately pleased to be happy birthdayed on an international basis.

How do you people usually deal with flirt checks in the games? When do you roll for them?

One of my investigators in a campaign I'm running almost constantly rolls for flirt checks and has... surprisingly good luck with most of them. In fact, she rolled a natural 1 against an evil sorceress at one point...

Hmm, you could either use Fast Talk or APP versus APP most likely.

Yeah, but I guess I'm just not quite familiar with what flirting is supposed to accomplish in gameplay terms. So far, I mostly simply ignore the effects/change behaviors of NPCs to be slightly more friendly.

I've never used it before but I've come to think of it as a first impressions thing. If you win the flirt, they feel more positively toward you and see you in a more romantic light as either a possible suitor (if their sexual preferences swing that way) or someone who is fun but barking up the wrong tree (if you're not their type). It's a good way to prevent the brush off and begin a game of verbal cat and mouse in this particular case.

Sorry about being MIA. I was recently diagnosed with depression and life was becoming quite interesting. Quite interesting indeed.

Depression, by it's very nature, is really crummy. Crummier than words can describe. Hope things settle down for you and those little moments of happiness and contentment multiply.

That moment when you realise that your DAMN post didn't POST meaning that the reason you didn't spot any new POSTs was because the damn Play-by-Post ATE it and didn't even tell you.

Damn ... damn ... damn ... and many apologies.

I actually responded the day that Mr. Handy and Yigcredible posted though I think my new and improved posts are even better.

Not to self, always check to see if those posts go through. I don't blame the site, as the site gives fair warning, but maybe a problem with this computer.

Either that or I blank and hit X?

I blame Cthulhu!

So ... posting this here because my players will never be able to find this. I'm planning on creating a kooky mini-LARP with my own players set aboard a ghost train. I'll be getting folks to play these NPCs and I want to make it as creepy / hammy as possible as most vampire LARPs are pretty low key so it should wow and terrify them better than a slower and more chilling build. We've got a room for the Private Car, room for a Sleeping Compartment, room for the Dining / Kitchen Car and room for the Lounge Car. I can get 4 - 5 different folks to play NPCs.

Okay, my question is ... what could be some creepy and crazy NPCs that could be aboard this train? Lovecraftian twists are more than welcome, as I'm a Cthulhu GM at heart and these players like their horror. Don't worry too much about the vampire "term", genre-neutral stuff would be more than welcome. All of the NPCs are motivated to be chosen to leave the train, though I'm still unclear on additional minor motives.

I have in mind some form of the following:

Butler / Train Manager who is overly into bowing and scraping. He will ideally wear a tail coat and top hat or something similar. He'll bring out a platter of off-kilter food (mushroom looking tarts, etc.) that actually smell and taste good despite the fact they are vampires. He will tend to wave away the other NPCs and perhaps be prone to violence toward them. I vaguely have in mind that he might tend to violently slay the other NPCs -- who later come back, but I'm not sure how to do that without it passing straight into pure ludicrousness.

The Doll wears Victoriana with a Day of the Dead skull-like facepaint mask. I see her as non-verbal but with a list of random actions that she will occasionally perform that causes problems for the PCs. Things like stealing or just plain taking one of their items, blocking one PC from following the others, mock flirting with a fan, things like that. Sort of like a child acting up for attention but with a disturbing coquettish aspect.

Some kind of Maid who follows them around resolutely and who seems somewhat clockwork / robotic, which is basically just an In World stance for a GM to follow them around. She's most likely to die a lot, if things happen. She'd be wearing an ankle-length Victorian maid's uniform and long blue hair.

Basically, I'm going for a surreal horror blend ... kinda like an acid trip nightmare to shock all of their expectations out of them. Any ideas welcome! The NPCs could at one point pray to an idol of Nyarlathotep or babble lines of verse. Whatever you can think up! No idea is too crazy....

Maybe a chef who is very insistent that people try his meat stew, yet he refuses to identify what kind of meat it is.

Oh, that's awesome!

The guy constantly going on about his "next big hunt" and constantly eyeing up the PC's, and asking them about their health is almost a given.
An almost skeletal man with a crow is subtle and telling

Mr Oswald Gump - 'A regular passenger, sir, often travels this route.''

A skinny old man in an oversized tatty dark overcoat. He wears glasses that make his eyes look enormous. He's just a non-assuming passenger who is always in the background...but always there. Once he has chosen his prey, the victim will find him gradually being closer and closer until he finds the old man sitting opposite him. The old man has a mesmorising stare, hypnotic almost, and the prey finds himself drawn in to the gaze and the old man reaches out in embrace and envelops the hapless prey as he struggles to escape...

There is never any sign of the prey ever again but the old man is now nicely plump and fills out that old tatty overcoat, he reads a book with a small, satisfied, smile.

That's pretty cool. I like it!

So many cool ideas.

So I failed a San check in real life and ended up in a mental institution for the last few weeks. Back now

Shouldn't have read that tome....

Hope things work out better for you in the year ahead. Or at the very least, that you have a good weekend.

Welcome back, mate!

Seriously though I feel like i need some help getting up to speed

A weird seeming guy he's never met before comes barging into the Smoking Car, demanding to speak to Parker alone. He only speaks German. Wolfgang offers to translate. Apparently the man thinks Parker has been spying on him.