Chit Chat Thread

The Big Apple - a booming city in the grip of a bitter winter and the excitement of an upcoming eclipse.
A close friend returns home a changed man; the fate of the world is now in his hands, but it may already be too late.

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Chit Chat Thread

Post by Raiko »

I'm creating this thread for any out of character posts that aren't about events in the game itself.

To start with I'm going to post some general boring/serious stuff about posting frequency, game length, etc. And also introduce myself! :) I should have posted this in the recruitment thread, but you took me by surprise, as most of you recruited yourselves before I’d even started recruitment!!!

My real name is Gary, if you don't want to post a real name on here then that's fine by me, but at least half the players already knew my name, so I put it here. I live in the UK, in Lancashire. I’m a software engineer and although I’m usually fairly busy I doubt that I’ll ever be so busy at work that I cannot keep up with the game. I can’t access the site from my work PC, but I can get on by phone, and I can email posts to myself at lunchtime.

I’m very busy at home, I’ve got a very big family, but I can spend an hour or two online every evening, so I’ve no excuses for not posting without warning.
Just in case I disappear (nothing kills the game like a vanishing Keeper) I’m going to PM contact details to every player before we start. I’ll include a different email address that I always see, my facebook page and my mobile number (I’ve got WhatsApp so it’s actually the best way to get in touch). I’m not planning to do any disappearing acts, but if I do then give me a nudge and I’ll be back. The only other forums where I’m currently active are the official Elite: Dangerous forums where I post under the same name. I’m most active in the Buckyball Racing Club threads, especially this one – it’s actually thanks to the awesome community on there that I realised how much I missed this place!

My favourite PC game is Elite: Dangerous at the moment (for the last year!), other PC/Video games that I like are the Company of Heroes series, the Arkham Batman games and the GTA games. I’ve never tried any MMO games other than Elite.

On TV I like Game of Thrones (I also love the books), Walking Dead (I’ve not read the comics), True Detective and Breaking Bad (not finished watching it yet on dvd, so no spoilers!). That’s all American stuff, from my side of the Atlantic I most enjoy Doctor Who (new and old) and Sherlock.
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by Raiko »

About The Game – It’s really long:
Before the game starts and everybody gets too invested in it, I think that it's best to give fair warning of just how big an undertaking it is! As you mostly (all?) know I've attempted to run The Masks of Nyarlathotep (called Masks from now on) on these forums before, it was great, the best game that I've ever been involved with anywhere, but it failed, several times in fact. I'd already failed to finish Masks once before (as a tabletop game), so I really want this game to be both successful and to have an ending - good or bad.

Last time I naively thought that I could finish all of Masks in about two years, the actual game ran on and off for about six years with first me, then Laraqua, as Keepers. Chapter One took almost exactly one year, and there are at least six chapters. So assuming that everyone can post regularly - preferably daily if you're needed to reply to other posts - then I should hopefully be able to run one chapter per year :o and we might be able to play out the entire campaign in five to six years!

As this is a pretty huge commitment, I'm going to double check with each of you as we approach the end of each chapter whether you'd like to press on. If at least one player wants to then I'll run the next chapter, otherwise we'll try to make the end of the chapter as climatic as possible, and if necessary we'll run a short epilogue thread and wrap up the game there.

It's actually entirely possible to conclude the campaign at the end of any chapter, and it's also really easy to introduce fresh victims investigators at the start of each chapter, so one way or another this game's going into the Hall of Fame rather than the Graveyard. :)

Posting Rate:
In order to make sure that the game moves forward at a reasonable pace, I'd like everybody to be able to commit to posting almost daily most of the time. Weekends always seem less busy in play-by-post games, so let’s say that you should be able to manage at least 4-5 posts per week, and you should be able to commit to that for the next year at least (to get through chapter one).

Absence:
I'd also like you to post in the absences thread in the lounge, or in this thread if you know that you're going to be offline for more than a day or two, and please make a quick post if you're ill - even if you just post "I'm ill, sorry!"

Most of the players are forum regulars, who've been here for ages - indeed Mr Handy and Job have been at it for longer than me as they arrived on these forums with long running games from other sites - so hopefully we'll be good for at least the first chapter, but I understand that real-life gets in the way sometimes and it's inevitable in a long game.

Carnage Lee has PMed me and said that he'll be reading along with the game, and he kindly volunteered to take over the characters of any missing players, this is great because it's thing that I've struggled with the most in past. So please try to post within 24 hours if someone is waiting for you too reply. If you haven't replied within 24 hours then I'll give you a nudge via email/PM. After 48 hours we'll have to try and continue without you, and Carnage Lee will temporarily take over within a week.

Anyone who CL is running will be considered Byakhee Fodder until their original player returns and will be likely first to die. Any abandoned investigators will be written out at the end of the chapter if you haven't returned. I tried recruiting fresh players to take over last time, but it doesn't work well enough and requires too much work on my part to bring them up to speed, it's easier to kill characters off and recruit a new player with an entirely unknowing character.

During Combat or Other Times of Danger:
Most importantly if the game is in a life and death situation such as combat or opening the wrong book in a library, then please let me know if you’re going to be missing for a few days. If you leave everyone hanging when you should be rolling dice, then I’ll assume that all of your rolls fail in order to keep the game moving. Sorry, but that’s how it’ll be – I used the same system in BtMoM and it worked out great, except for the player who went missing for two weeks after volunteering for something dangerous. Unfortunately his character fell overboard in a storm halfway across the Southern Ocean.
I’ll try to handle anything turn/initiative based via the OOC thread and/or PMs – you can make IC style posts there during combat if you prefer an IC description. Then we don’t need to wait for multiple passes though the World’s time zones. I’ll cut and paste the IC parts of your combat stuff into the IC thread. This worked okay last time for Masks, and also when I ran a play-by-post DnD game once.

Splitting Up:
If you separate during a dangerous situation, then I’ll create side-threads, but I’m planning to merge these posts back into the main IC threads afterwards. It got a bit too unwieldy last time. I’ll also merge IC private messages back into the main threads later on if it’s not stuff that needs to remain secret.

The Rules:
If you’re a rules lawyer then please drop out now, I hate receiving PMs telling me that I’m handling the rules wrong, I don’t care! The rules are great because almost everything that you need is on your character sheet. If I ask you to make a skill roll, then we’ll be abiding by the result of the roll, but if I don’t then please trust me to run a good game and tell a good story, don’t try and put the rules in the way.
I also hate being told that the combat rules are unrealistic, I am quite aware of that. If you’re a gun nut, or a martial arts expert, then please describe your awesome knowledge with your IC combat declaration and I’ll do my best to handle it with dice rolls. I’d prefer for combat "realism" to be roughly at the level of a Michael Mann film or Game of Thrones (the books), but as the protagonists you’ll be a bit better protected than the NPCs, via luck or whatever.

Going Insane:
I’d prefer for you to choose a suitable temporary / indefinite insanity that you’re comfortable to play and that fits the situation, I’ll decide myself or roll randomly if you’ve no ideas of your own. This worked well last time. If your character goes permanently insane, then it’s up to you whether you want to continue with them or retire them. It’s probably best not to carry totally bonkers investigators over to a new chapter though unless it’s the only option to avoid a "technical TPK".

Dice Rolls:
What do you prefer? I can’t access invisible castle from work and it wasn’t always there for us last time. If I write a post on my works PC then you’ll have to trust my macro driven dice roller in MS Word. At home I’ll use whatever method you all prefer, we can go off trust (in which case you’ll be victims of my Horror on the Orient Express dice set), or I’ll use an online dice roller like invisible castle.
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by Raiko »

Please read though the stuff above and let me know if there's anything that you disagree with. I don't want to start the game and then find out that half the players hate my way of playing after the first couple of weeks. :)
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by CrackheadC. »

Everything looks pretty good to me. A question on the posting part, if I have nothing to add at that point as a character and I'm not being waited on to do something would you prefer a post saying I have nothing to add, or simply post nothing so it doesn't break up the IC post flow?
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by Raiko »

If nobody is waiting for you to reply, then there's no need to post. I'm not really as strict as my post might imply, but I do need to make sure that we keep the game moving once it starts.

I'll always pm or email you if we're waiting for a reply.
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

I'm fine with everything too.

The boards also have a built-in dice roller that carnage_lee installed. We could use that.
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
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by andyw666 »

Heya Guys,

All good with me!

In RL, I'm Andy, I'm an Australian cop, and I have previously been a player in the Haunting (Redux), Grants Military Bookshop and Walker in the Wastes, all of which sadly tanked. So I may be the cursed PC. Maybe I should stop saying H*stur into the mirror...

Andy
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by kabukiman »

Hi!
I'm Fabiano and I'm portuguese. I'm archivist. I'm fine with the rules.
If you need some info, just ask.
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

I'm Jon, and I live in Philadelphia, where I'm a civilian computer programmer working at police headquarters. We're not allowed to use the Internet for non-work related things, so I won't be posting at work. I also don't have time to post in the morning before I leave for work, so usually I'll be posting in the late evening (Eastern U.S. time). On weekends and on days when I'm off from work, I may be able to post during the day as well.

My favorite PC game is Civilization IV with the Beyond the Sword expansion. I'm playing a great PBEM multiplayer game now with a friend from another board and five AI players. I like the other games in the Civ series as well, and Master of Magic and Master of Orion 1 and 2. I don't play MMO games, but I also like and have recently been playing the Ultima series, the Tex Murphy series, Wasteland 1 (I've got Wasteland 2, but I haven't had time to play it yet and I'm waiting for the GOTY upgrade), and a couple of obscure but excellent games from the late 1980s called Star Saga: One and Star Saga: Two. I waited over 25 years to play the second one because I couldn't find a copy at a reasonable price until this year, but it was worth the wait! I also enjoy Fallout 1 and 2 (3 not so much), but it's been a while since I played them.

I also enjoy Game of Thrones (both the TV series and the books, moreso the books) the Walking Dead TV show (haven't read the comics either), True Detective Season 1 (I've only seen the first episode of Season 2, and it didn't grab me like the first season), and Breaking Bad. And I too love Sherlock and Doctor Who, both new and old (moreso the old series). In fact, I'm running a Doctor Who/Call of Cthulhu campaign that is just starting its fourth game here on these boards. I like a lot of other British TV as well, and I'm currently watching Foyle's War.
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
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by CrackheadC. »

I suppose I should do a quick intro as well. My name is Colin, I live out in California right now. I am not quite a student - I am studying for the GREs. I am a former teacher, I lived in Korea for three years. I play probably more computer games than I'd care to admit. I can post at most any time, but the later I post in the day the better because my coffee will have time to kick in.
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by Dave Syrinx »

Popping in to say hello and see how this fares.
Let me know if I can be of use as a resource at some time, Gary.
Cheers!
/Dave
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by royya »

Hi,
I'm in and I'm ok with the houserules.
I'm Roy, a physics teacher in highschool and I'm doing a PhD in atmospheric sciences in Tel Aviv University, Israel.

-Roy-
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by DrPeterson »

Hey gang, home at last :)


I'm Thomas, I live in Belgium and I teach Philosophy and Modern History and am an archaeologist. I like reading, travelling and mucking about on the internet, amongst many other things and am particularly fond of whiskey, pipes and intelligent women.

I'm a regular poster and check the boards virtually every day, although august will have a few tricky moments: I'm in France from the 2nd till the 9th and in Germany from the 22nd till the 29th. While I think I'll have some internet in both places, it will probably affect my post rate, but I'm sure we can work around that somehow.

I look forward to playing this campaign and I'm sure I can spare a few years :)
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by CrackheadC. »

Three teachers, an archivist, a cop, a computer programmer and a software engineer. Sounds like a CoC modern investigator group already.
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by kabukiman »

A group of students vanishes. Three teachers start investigating and a friend archivist discover that they had stolen an old manuscrit. They contact a policem that find this similar to another case 20 years ago. All this is related to a misterious site in the internet that a computer programmer find, and must use the skill of a software engineer to crack the system from the database.
So, we even have a scenario!
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by andyw666 »

Three teachers, an archivist, a cop, a computer programmer and a software engineer walk into a bar...
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by Job »

Hello all. Job = Joe. :)

The rules look fine to me, however I really won't be able to post every day as you've requested.
Raiko wrote:Posting Rate:
In order to make sure that the game moves forward at a reasonable pace, I'd like everybody to be able to commit to posting almost daily most of the time. Weekends always seem less busy in play-by-post games, so let’s say that you should be able to manage at least 4-5 posts per week, and you should be able to commit to that for the next year at least (to get through chapter one).
I can probably post 4 to 5 times a week, but my work schedule during the week is terrible, usually 12 to 13 hours a day, so that limits what I can do on Monday through Friday. But on the weekend, I usually shake loose from my commitments and get to have fun on the boards, so I make up for it. I hope this is OK.

As a bit of background, I have a large family: a wife, 4 adult kids and 4 grandkids, and a many, many extended relatives. My immediate family and I play boardgames as a family every Wednesday night, including "Elder Sign" and "Eldritch Horror", two of our favorites.

As you might imagine, I love everything Cthulhu and I fancy myself a collector (although limited money does dampen my ability to fill up my house). I do have a certain painting that would be well known to any fan of CoC...

I live near Philadelphia and have actually had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Handy in real life! And I'd like to get back down to Philly soon to meet you again, Jon. :)

Job.
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by Dave Syrinx »

Sounds great to meet f2f with gaming mates! A long trip from Sweden, unfortunately.

Have a great game!
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by DrPeterson »

Well, I'm in Belgium, so if anyone is ever around, feel free to drop by for a beer.

I'll be in Ann Arbor and possibly New England at the start of November, by the way.
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Re: Chit Chat Thread

Post by Mr. Handy »

Thanks, Joe! It was great having you and Rachel come over, and I'd really like to do it again sometime too. :)

Since then I've greatly expanded my collection of board games, having discovered discount online retailers Cool Stuff Inc. and Miniature Market. I have all of the expansions for Mage Knight, including the new one, Shades of Tezla, which just arrived before I left on vacation. I didn't even have time to open the package. I also have Eldritch Horror and all of its expansions (including the new one, Strange Remnants, which I got in the same order), as well as Arkham Horror and Elder Sign and their expansions. I have Fortune and Glory and its two major expansions. Finally, I picked up Mansions of Madness (also in the same order), after having bought the Call of the Wild expansion at half price.
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
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