Chit-Chat

[Seon]

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.

[Laraqua]

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.

[Seon]

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

[Laraqua]

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.

[Laraqua]

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!

[Laraqua]

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....

[Mr. Handy]

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

[Laraqua]

Oh, that's awesome!

[TheVaultTech]

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

[aine]

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.

[Laraqua]

That's pretty cool. I like it!

So many cool ideas.

[Seon]

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

[Laraqua]

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.

[DrPeterson]

Welcome back, mate!

[Seon]

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

[Laraqua]

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.