Play@YSDC

The Brotherhood of Death is the fourth adventure in a campaign combining classic Doctor Who with Call of Cthulhu. The first adventure, The Terror Out of Time, took place in 1930 London. The second, The Ninth Planet, took place on Pluto in 2112. The third, The Shadow Over Dunwich, took place in 1985 in Dunwich, England (a real place, not the fictional Dunwich in America). You may read them if you wish, but you do not need to know anything about them (or about Doctor Who) to play in this adventure, which takes place in Rome in 44 B.C. Surviving characters may become companions and travel in the TARDIS for further adventures. The game is set to begin in early July, but I may be able to get the TARDIS crew started in late June. Players will be expected to post at least twice per week, and I intend to match that pace. Players from previous games in this campaign are welcome to return, though except for those playing the Time Lord and his companions, you'll be playing new characters. New players are welcome to create characters as well.

I would like to play but im confused, do i make a new character or am i gordon again?

I would like to take part in this game, what sort of characters are needed this time?

You have my gladius!


Any particulars as to the time and circumstances in which we'll be?

When can i start building my character? also, resources?

Welcome back aboard, everyone!

Jaysun81, Yockenthwaite, and Thorn can reprise their roles as Story, Elizabeth, and Brook, but the rest of you will need to play new characters. Gordon wasn't around in ancient Rome, and he doesn't have access to a TARDIS. However, ImpInTraining does not have time to rejoin, so the character of Lucius Verres is available for whoever wants to play him. Ideally you'd want to read his parts of the first three adventures to get the best feel for him, but that's probably not feasible. I do recommend at least looking at his portion of The Shadow Over Dunwich if you want to play him, though. He is from ancient Rome, but from 36 years before this adventure takes place. Some things will be familiar to him, but he will not be aware of the current political situation. He is also indefinitely insane, having a terrible fear of magic, and his Sanity is relatively low.

Everyone else will be playing new characters. After I create the forum for this game, which might not be until this weekend, I'll post character creation instructions and background information. For now, I can tell you that it's March of 44 BC. The Roman Republic has recently endured a bloody civil war, where Julius Caesar has triumphed over Pompey the Great and is now in sole command of Rome. There will be more information when I post the background thread. You'll be able to choose from a wide variety of professions, which I'll detail. There isn't any character type that's needed, so play whatever you feel like playing. Once I post the character creation thread, which will have full instructions, you'll be able to start building your character. I'm off from work next week and will have more free time before I leave for a convention on July 1, so it's the perfect time for me to get things set up for the game.

You can find five free downloads related to Cthulhu Invictus on Chaosium's website's free downloads center, including a character sheet. One of them describes Roman names and how they're constructed. You don't have to play a Roman, of course. You could play someone from one of the provinces or even beyond. All roads lead to Rome, after all.

Brook reporting for TARDIS duty

Hey, everyone! I would be really interested in participating if you still have an open slot. This scenario looks really fun.

As mentioned, if there is space I will hop on board.

I was thinking of either playing a rich politician (senator or tribune type) or a retired army man. Or maybe a combination of the two

Story checking in.

Welcome to all players, new and returning!

Wumpus wrote:Hey, everyone! I would be really interested in participating if you still have an open slot. This scenario looks really fun.

Welcome to the board and the game, Wumpus! I've validated your account, so now you can post on the game boards.

DrPeterson wrote:I was thinking of either playing a rich politician (senator or tribune type) or a retired army man. Or maybe a combination of the two

That sounds like a great character concept, and one that would fit in perfectly!

Excellent, Tiberius Tullius Germanicus reporting for duty then!

Ave, Tullius!

I looked through the free Invictus downloads, but none of them actually had a list of Roman names or described how to construct them. It's in the book, which I have, but I can't very well copy it down. I can describe how Roman names are built (Tiberius Tullius Germanicus is built correctly) and give some examples, as well as locate and point you to resources online that list Roman names. That will be included with the character creation instructions when I have time to write them, hopefully this weekend.

It's not that hard, really. If you're rich enough you have trianomina, the threefold name, consisting of your praenomen, nomen and cognomen.
The praenomen and nomen are basically you're first and last name and are used to refer to and address people of all social strata, cfr. Titus Pullo or Marcus Antonius.

In very fancy families the first name is usually limited to a very select few names. This to further enhance the prestige of the name, Marcus and Gaius being prime examples.
The nomen signifies the gens the person belangs to. In case of Gaius Julius Caesar, his nomen indicates being a member of the Julii.

The cognomen is more of an officialised nickname. If look back at our favourite dictator here, Caesar actually refers to his rather limited hairdo, the latin refering to a rough brush. It is only in later times, when the cognomen became hereditary that it took on the meaning of emperor. Similar for Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero actually means pea. This too is a reference to his baldness.

Happy to play Elizabeth again Looking forward to the game. Welcome to all the players.

I'm glad to see you back! I should be able to get the forum up, hopefully with the TARDIS crew's starting thread, this weekend.

Thank you, DrPeterson! I hadn't known that Caesar and Cicero's cognomen were derived from their hairstyles, or lack thereof. Both of them may make appearances in this scenario, by the way.

Just a heads up, I'll be away on holiday most of July, and will only have random internet access.

Thank you for letting me know. I'll be away myself July 1-5, and the rest of the time I can NPC Brook if needed. You should be able to get started in the next few days before you go, once I create the forum and the IC thread for the TARDIS crew.

Tiberius Tullius Germanicus would also make a great patron for other new characters, which is a good way to get them starting off together. It's also an excellent way to introduce new characters should players join in the middle, or should something horrible happen to a PC resulting in the player creating a new character. They can simply be more clients of his.

Wish I could join in and be another Brutus, but July is looking super busy for me. So I'll pass on this one for now, maybe I can join in later. Too much going on right now.

Good luck all

Take care! If you want to join in later when you have time, that shouldn't be a problem.

Depending on interest and how we do attributes, I would be interested in playing the deformed hunchback servant of Tiberius Tullius Germanicus: Possibly as his scribe?

"Yeth, Mathter..."

I am open to all sorts of creatures in my menagerie, uhm, I mean household.

Being a Greek slave would make you wanted despite your deformity. I could call you Igor..os.

That character concept can work. A scribe can be useful. Having a slave in the party can be an advantage, as most people don't notice slaves and might say all sorts of things in front of them, and you could talk to other slaves to get inside information that would be harder for other characters to get out of them.

Igorus the slave works for me!

I have no clue what I want to be I looked at those resources linked earlier bur they were each only a page long, nothing to really go off of, and im not to familiar with roman culture. Maybe a ex gladiator or soldier idk :p

When I post the character creation information, there will be a variety of character occupations (with occupational skills) posted. I'm not sure if I'll have time to do this before I leave, but I'll try to get it done if I can. A former (or even current) gladiator or Roman Legionary are perfectly good options.

I'm going to have to pass as well. The next few weeks are going to be really busy. Sorry.

That's okay. I'm very busy too, so it might not even get properly underway for a few weeks anyway. If you have time later, you'll be welcome to join then.

I'm about to leave, and I haven't yet had time to set up the new board. There's a chance I can get it up tonight, but the character creation information will most likely have to wait.

Enjoy your trip, Mr. H!

Happy 4th everyone!

Can I sign up too? As a medical person of some sort perhaps. Either a brilliant and eccentric physician patronised by the wealthy but who has questionable ethics and methods. Or a female character. It looks like it's quite tricky being a woman in ancient Rome as they don't have many rights beyond the home which may make being a character rather limited. If I played a woman physician, her father could be very well respected so that she has some social standing amongst the men in Rome and they give her some leeway in making decisions for herself(!) She would be a much 'nicer' person than the eccentric.
I'm happy with either, whichever will make for a more interesting party!

Thanks, Dr. P!

Yes, you're welcome to join, Aine! A physician would be great, and either of your character concepts could work. Women in ancient Rome had property rights and could own and run businesses, I believe, and there are more options for them than you might think at first glance. There were even a few female gladiators (the Sarmatians were known for having female warriors). While the Roman legions were almost universally male (though a woman could theoretically disguise herself as a man), auxiliary soldiers from the provinces might possibly include the odd woman. Priestesses are also an option for female characters. Female physicians would have been rare, though it's not impossible. They would most likely be thought of primarily as midwives, but there's no reason they couldn't have all the skills and knowledge that a male physician would.

It'll probably be at least a few days before I can set up the board. I'm still getting caught up on things.

I've created the forum, which can be found here. So far only the OOC thread is up, but starting tomorrow I plan to add more threads to it, including a character sheet thread (to which I'll transfer the TARDIS crew's updated sheets), an introductory story thread, and character creation information.

Mr. Handy, I'd like to join your game if you'd have me again.
I'm finally out of Korea and back home in the States (and finished with that terrible job). I have pretty much all the time on my hands as all I do is study now. Sorry I dropped the game with no-notice, the pace dropped to less than 1 post a week or so and I started teaching 30 classes a week, I just couldn't keep up with anything at the time.

I just go around to reading the end of Shadows over Dunwich, crazy. Then I saw that essentially Story and the others already left by the time Tinker was killed, so there was no chance for her to escape like s/he wanted to, sad.

Welcome back! Yes, you're welcome to join The Brotherhood of Death! It is a shame Tinker didn't get to leave in the TARDIS, but she could still be around for some adventure that takes place on Earth after this one if I ever get around to running one set in that timeframe. I had wanted Tinker to go with Story and the others to the caves, but Tobias volunteered first, and he couldn't leave Salem by himself.

Great! Who knows, Tinker will (presumably) live long into and passed the modern era - provided she doesn't go insane in that time then perhaps she can still join up somewhere down the line.

Mr Handy, is there any room left for new players?

Cheers,

Andy

Yes, there's still room! Feel free to head on over to the forum.

I would like to join. And I'll play Lucius Verres if he's still available.

Welcome, hexelis! I've validated you, so now you can post on the game boards. Yes, I'd be glad to have you join and take over the character of Lucius Verres. When you've read enough of his previous adventures and you're ready, you may start posting as Lucius in the All Roads Lead to Rome thread.

I am completely new to play-by-post, so I'll be asking some noob questions, like where do I find Lucius' stats?

That's a perfectly valid question to ask. Lucius's character sheet is here. It's the third post in the Cast of Characters thread.