The End of John Company-India 1857

Please post here if you're trying to gauge interest in a NEW game, which you'd like to run on Play@YSDC
Lammomedes
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 626
Registered for: 17 years 7 months
17
Location: Florida
Contact:

The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Lammomedes »

Setting: Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, January 1857

The days of the British East India Company's rule over South Asia are coming to an end. But it is the start of a a new year, and the troubles that are about to spring forth are only vague rumors and distant stories slowly filtering to the teeming populace of Calcutta, the administrative heart of British rule on the subcontinent. The soldiers of the EIC are proud of their victories over the Sikhs (who in return seem to respect their conquerors, especially the British officers and the fierce fighting skills of the average Indian sepoy) and the company's political control is spreading outwards, to the northwest. This control, both political and economic, emerges in the recently conquered province of Oudh and then beyond, including the lands that will eventually become Punjab province. Peace, it seems, is being achieved through unification and pacification.

For the young British officials employed by what is affectionately known as "John Company" it is a chance to make a fortune before one day returning to England with money in one's pocket and a substantial financial investment in India's growing commercial development. The so-called "fishing fleet" is due to arrive, bringing with it a score of young women from Britain, hoping to score a husband among the many bachelors on India service. The sounds, the sights and smells of their arrival on this foreign soil is nearly overwhelming, as it seems ever so much more crowded and less sophisticated than the rapidly industrializing Britain they have just left. But in the 1850s, Victorian pluck and courage allows for adjustment and what passes for acceptance to quickly appear. India is a mystery, and a welcome one, for so many Britons wishing to escape the coal and soot of the factories, as well as the oppressive tyranny of the clock on their daily lives, now spreading across the "Green and Pleasant Land" they have only departed.

You are the young East Indian Company officials or Company soldiers, or perhaps their spouses or fiancees, who are assigned as staff members to a newly appointed District Commissioner for the recently pacified region of north India the British are calling the Oudh. Destiny is calling, as is adventure and mystery. Are you willing to participate in this call to your duty as well as the lure of potential profits beyond even your wildest beliefs?
............
I plan on starting this game by 15 November if there is enough time to build sufficient interest.

My last campaign "The Season of Our Discontent" is located in the Hall of Fame. I think its time to start something new, and in the relatively under played time of the Indian Mutiny (1857-1858). Kali cults and the Thuggee still linger in the more remote areas of the countryside, as do ancient Islamic mysteries brought by the Mughals centuries ago, now covered in dust and left forgotten in palace libraries or abandoned madrassa. Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet still remain remote distant areas, little explored by the British authorities, but full of exotic mystery that tempt many travelers.

Are you intrigued enough to give this game a shot?
Last edited by Lammomedes on Tue Oct 18, 2011 4:34 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Collector
Layman
Layman
Posts: 10
Registered for: 12 years 5 months
12
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Collector »

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

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Mr. Handy »

I'd be up for this too. It's good to see this era get some more attention. I've read and enjoyed The Season of Our Discontent, so I know this is going to be good. I'll be away for the weekend of November 18-20, but I'll have more free time after 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
Lammomedes
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 626
Registered for: 17 years 7 months
17
Location: Florida
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Lammomedes »

I hope to have five or so players (that usually works, due to attrition and player burnout) at the start. I don't envision the game taking more than a year or so to finish (which seems to be quick these days).
Hopefully I'll be able to grab up two or three more interested players before the middle of November.
User avatar
Philulhu
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 7472
Registered for: 17 years 8 months
17
Location: Derbyshire, England
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Philulhu »

Count me in.

This is set about 30 years before the Season of Discontent so I could bring in a younger Major Michaels, if you like? (Probably not a Major though - more likely to be a lieutenant?)

Cheers,

Phil.
Lammomedes
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 626
Registered for: 17 years 7 months
17
Location: Florida
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Lammomedes »

Phil,

I don't see why not. Yes, he'd likely be a lieutenant at best, perhaps even a newly commissioned ensign (still an official rank until 1871).
We will have to decide whether he is a British Army regular or one of the remaining EIC presidential army officers.
User avatar
Mr. Handy
Admin
Admin
Posts: 46364
Registered for: 17 years 5 months
17
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Mr. Handy »

One year is about the minimum for a play-by-post game, if it moves quickly. I managed to finish The Terror Out of Time in just under a year. Space Oddity has been running for over two and a half years, though it moves slowly. It's actually moving faster now that there are fewer players. It goes more slowly when you have multiple PCs doing different things in multiple threads and sometimes even working at cross-purposes. Now there are only three PCs, and two of them are working together. And Zombie Apocalypse has been running for over five years and four months. We're just starting the second day of game time. I see players come and go from my games all the time. Zombie Apocalypse can continue indefinitely as long as I have at least one player. Space Oddity and my Doctor Who/Call of Cthulhu campaign, currently progressing swiftly through its second adventure, each have a "linchpin" character who is key to the story, but I made certain that the players who were playing them knew what they were getting into and could commit before we started. Philulhu is playing one of them in Space Oddity. It would be difficult to find a replacement for either of these characters, and I wouldn't want to have to run them as NPCs.
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
markh
Initiate
Initiate
Posts: 62
Registered for: 12 years 5 months
12
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by markh »

I would be interested, provided you're happy with a PbP newbie. I've been interested in trying different play methods for a while now, as my real life group are restricted to once per month. I have played and run CoC before.

Mark
(I saw your ad on YSDC. If you'd like to semi-verify that I'm not just going to disappear, my YSDC username is markhepworth, with a small but hopefully reliable looking number of posts)
User avatar
Philulhu
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 7472
Registered for: 17 years 8 months
17
Location: Derbyshire, England
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Philulhu »

Lammomedes wrote:Phil,

I don't see why not. Yes, he'd likely be a lieutenant at best, perhaps even a newly commissioned ensign (still an official rank until 1871).
We will have to decide whether he is a British Army regular or one of the remaining EIC presidential army officers.
Excellent stuff. I've got the book Redcoats somewhere, so I'll get on with my research (I've also got a number of Flashman books, but I'll try not to use him as inspiration too much!) :)

Cheers,

Phil.
User avatar
Gaffer
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 1223
Registered for: 17 years 6 months
17
Location: Orlando FL USA
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Gaffer »

Oh! Oh! Dibs on Flashman then!

I'm joking, I'm thinking more like Daniel Dravot or Peachey Carnehan, brave rogues.
"Two in the head, you know he's dead." <heh>
User avatar
Seon
Disciple
Disciple
Posts: 1476
Registered for: 12 years 5 months
12
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Seon »

I am also interested, if you are alright with playing with a complete newbie :p.

I've been trying to get into this game for a while, but you can't really find a group of like-minded people easily.
Lammomedes
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 626
Registered for: 17 years 7 months
17
Location: Florida
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Lammomedes »

It looks like with the following people who have already expressed an interest that I have a pretty good list of players or potential players:
Collector
Mr. Handy
Phil
Markh
Gaffer
Seon

I am more than willing to have a bunch of new players, because we were all newbies at some point. Having played with or acted as keeper for Gaffer and Phil, and seen a lot of Mr Handy's work around the site, I am sure the new players couldn't be in better company.

Gaffer, either of those latter two archetypes are fine, just no Flashman, or Carry On up the Khyber stuff. <grin>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashman_in_the_Great_Game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carry_On..._Up_the_Khyber

If anyone is interested about the situation in India during the Mutiny period, I can recommend the following source material:
David Gilmour, The Ruling Caste: Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj (2005)
Richard Holmes, Sahib: The British Soldier in India, 1750-1914 (2006)
Lawrence James, Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India (1997)
Margaret MacMillan, Women of the Raj: The Wives, Mothers, and Daughters of the British Empire in India (2007)
Stanley Wolpert, India, 4th edition, 2009

Those are all books I am using in the college course I am teaching currently: The British Raj and Its Legacy, 1858-1947: Britain and South Asia--the Intersections of Many Cultures.
I do have a more extensive bibliography if anyone is interested in other topics and titles, along with some potential movie sources. If you have a chance, I do recommend trying to catch at least these two movies if you have the ability to track them down: The Deceivers (1988) and Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005). The first stars Pierce Brosnan and is about a local EIC district commissioner investigating the Thuggee and Kali cults in the 1830s/1840s, while the later is a westernized Bollywood film about one of the original Indian sepoys at the center of the Mutiny.

Since we have 6 or so players, I'll see about getting our own forum set up and start posting some of the preliminary information I have for background and character generation.
User avatar
Seon
Disciple
Disciple
Posts: 1476
Registered for: 12 years 5 months
12
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Seon »

I think I will play as a criminally-minded EIC agent.
User avatar
Mr. Handy
Admin
Admin
Posts: 46364
Registered for: 17 years 5 months
17
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Mr. Handy »

Thanks, Lammomedes! I frequently have new players join my games, and I can help out if anyone has any questions.

I can also set up a new board for you, or Raiko can do it. We will need a text blurb describing the game (similar to the ones you see for the other games on the site's home page). I could use what you have in your initial post, but that seems as though it would be a bit long.

I might play the fiancee of one of the officials or soldiers. Margaret MacMillan's book would be very helpful there, but I don't have all that much time to do background research.
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
markh
Initiate
Initiate
Posts: 62
Registered for: 12 years 5 months
12
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by markh »

Excellent, an excuse to buy another Richard Holmes book. I've got Redcoats somewhere, too. I'll avoid the temptation to find the box with Flashman in though :)
User avatar
Philulhu
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 7472
Registered for: 17 years 8 months
17
Location: Derbyshire, England
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Philulhu »

How about playing Michaels (I don't know whether I ever gave him a first name?!) as a young ensign in the British Army? He may not always see eye to eye with his John Company counterparts.

Cheers,

Phil.
Lammomedes
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 626
Registered for: 17 years 7 months
17
Location: Florida
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Lammomedes »

Philulhu wrote:How about playing Michaels (I don't know whether I ever gave him a first name?!) as a young ensign in the British Army? He may not always see eye to eye with his John Company counterparts.

Cheers,

Phil.
Sounds good to me.
Lammomedes
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 626
Registered for: 17 years 7 months
17
Location: Florida
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Lammomedes »

markh wrote:Excellent, an excuse to buy another Richard Holmes book. I've got Redcoats somewhere, too. I'll avoid the temptation to find the box with Flashman in though :)
The Holmes book is quite good, full of detail if you are a military historian, but also accessible to a general audience despite its 500 page tome like heft.
Lammomedes
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 626
Registered for: 17 years 7 months
17
Location: Florida
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Lammomedes »

Mr. Handy wrote:Thanks, Lammomedes! I frequently have new players join my games, and I can help out if anyone has any questions.

I can also set up a new board for you, or Raiko can do it. We will need a text blurb describing the game (similar to the ones you see for the other games on the site's home page). I could use what you have in your initial post, but that seems as though it would be a bit long.

I might play the fiancee of one of the officials or soldiers. Margaret MacMillan's book would be very helpful there, but I don't have all that much time to do background research.
Okay, playing the fiancee of one of the soldiers or a Company official is fine. Don't worry about the background research, its just for those who are interested in immersing yourself. To be honest, the Wikipedia page on the Indian Mutiny isn't that bad from a historian's viewpoint.

Here's the edited blurb:
Calcutta and the Oudh, 1857: The days of the British East India Company's rule over South Asia are coming to an end. But it is the start of a a new year, and the troubles that are about to spring forth are only vague rumors and distant stories slowly filtering to the teeming populace of Calcutta, the administrative heart of British rule on the subcontinent. Peace, it seems, is being achieved through unification and pacification. For the young British officials employed by what is affectionately known as "John Company" it is a chance to make a fortune before one day returning to England with money in one's pocket and a substantial financial investment in India's growing commercial development. The so-called "fishing fleet" is due to arrive, while the sounds, the sights and smells of this foreign soil is nearly overwhelming. But Victorian pluck and courage allows for adjustment and what passes for acceptance to quickly appear. India is a mystery, and a welcome one, for the young East Indian Company officials or Company soldiers, or perhaps their spouses or fiancees, who are assigned as staff members to a newly appointed District Commissioner for the recently pacified region of north India the British are calling the Oudh. Destiny is calling, as is adventure and mystery. Are you willing to participate in this call to your duty as well as the lure of potential profits beyond even your wildest beliefs?

Hopefully that isn't too long?
Lammomedes
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 626
Registered for: 17 years 7 months
17
Location: Florida
Contact:

Re: The End of John Company-India 1857

Post by Lammomedes »

Seon wrote:I think I will play as a criminally-minded EIC agent.
Corruption seems to be the standard for the day. Outright criminality, perhaps not so much, for who are you going to steal from? Poor Indians?
But someone who has some less than legal and ethical skill sets are always welcome, especially when a little breaking and entering are necessary.
Post Reply

Return to “... I'm Thinking Of Running A Game”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests