Play@YSDC

During my time on this forum I have not had the most envious history running games. However one game that I did mange to see through to its conclusion was my 'Leagues of Adventures' story 'Dragons of London'. As a result I am very interested in revisiting this system from the Gothic Horror aspect, following the release by 'Triple Ace Games' of their 'Leagues of Gothic Horror' source book.
So if anyone here is interested in a spot of ghost hunting or such, please let me know. The rules used are the Ubiquity system as developed in Hollow Earth Expeditions

I'm interested in playing. I read along with Dragons of London, though I didn't play in it, so I'm vaguely familiar with the system. I'd been hoping to play in the follow-up you were talking about when that one finished (The Great Game), but I'm up for this as well.

Of course you will be more than welcome. I remember how you expressed a desire to participate in any future LOA adventure. I shall hope for four players, maximum, three others plus yourself. As of yet the idea for an adventure is still in the early stages, and may be subject to changes. However as a taster and in the hope that it might attract other participants;

'Picture the following dear reader. An age weary stagecoach, pulled by a team of six equally age weary horses. Creatures which had seen better days and should have been long turned to pasture.
Slowly amidst a symphony of creaking leather, snorting animals and the merciless crack of the drivers whip, the heavy vehicle was hauled to the crest of the steep, snow covered road. I say road but a better description would have been an ill maintained track, pitted with wheel rut and covered with loose stone, slipped earth, all mixed with recent snow bordered on one flank by cliff and the other by sudden drops into oblivion.
Within the coach’s blind darkened interior, squeezed together through lack of space, yet thankful for the warmth close proximity supplied, six passengers released their pent up breaths simultaneously, as the overburdened vehicle ended its long, seemingly endless, climb.
Its burden lightened somewhat by the cessation of that struggling ascent, the coach came to a halt as the driver, at once so tireless in the application of his long whip, allowed the panting horses a brief moment of respite. At the same moment the passengers began the ritual acts of relaxation, happy in the knowledge that the long climb to the top of the pass, called in the local Croat dialect ‘Cesta od drevnih' or 'road of the ancients' was now behind them.
One of the six, an elderly man dressed in the ubiquitous sheepskin coat favoured by the local population of this mountainous land face almost hidden behind equally ubiquitous fiercely bristling mustachios, produced a gaudily decorated accordion and began to play the lively music of the land. As if in unison, a sombrely dressed female, her widows weeds as black as the many crows that seemed to frequent this area, who had managed to squeeze her age spreading figure into the midst of the opposite seat, pulled a foul smelling vegetable from some hidden place, ripped a large piece from it with her few remaining teeth, muttered something unintelligible which ended in a horse laugh and began to chew with gusto, as she held forth the unfathomable item in offering to her fellow travellers.
A sudden jolt, a scream of protesting wood and horses, announced the recommencement of the journey. From outside and above came the crack of the whip amidst a few snarling, guttural exclamations that you assumed were curses. From here the road led downward, the rapidity of the coach’s headlong descent making the journey no less fraught with danger than it had been on the ascent.
Outside the warmth of the coach interior the sun, weak as it must be in the winter months, sank below the tall, imposing mountains to the west. And with the fading daylight came the bitter cold of night. From somewhere the cry of a beast burst unwelcome into the silence of the coach. The old man, his accordion long forgotten, nodded, his bristling mustachios bobbing with the movement, “Vuk (wolf)” he whispered to the travellers...'

I have been thinking on this, I may continue the adventure begun with the 'Dragons of London' into part one of the 'Great Game' story, 'The Dreaming Spires'. Then developing the story into 'Gothic Horror' when that is finished. LOA will, I think, become my 'go-to' system.
So if I can get the original players on board (they know who they were), I will use the characters from the first adventure (Horatio Wellington, Arthur Klevendon, Peter Roxborough and Miss Nellie Bly). If they are unavailable I shall recruit new characters to participate in the adventure (The original characters would be nice, but not essential).

For those not in the know, 'Leagues of Adventure' (Triple Ace Games) is a quasi historical adventure game, set amongst the glories of the late Victorian age (1889). It is to quote from the core rule book;

"Leagues of Adventure is not intended to be a historically accurate Victorian roleplaying. Instead, it freely blends fact with fiction to create an exciting world. In this semi-fictitious world, Sherlock Holmes and Professor Lidenbrock are not works of fiction, but living, breathing members of society. Dastardly villains like Professor James Moriarty and Doctor Moreau vex civilized society with their nefarious schemes. Huge airships already ply the skies, and the armies of the world's nations experiment with tanks and submarines. Mad inventors push the boundaries of science ever outward with their wondrous inventions. Forgotten settlements like Machu Picchu are found decades before their actual historical discovery, and beyond the realms of civilization lie places once thought mere fables."
It goes on;
"...a roleplaying game set in the late Victorian Age. It follows the grand traditions of fiction such as H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and The Time Machine, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan series, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days, Five Weeks in a Balloon, and The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be
King, and H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines and She—works which laid the foundations for the later pulp and steampunk genres."

Reality blends with the fantastic, real historical persons walk the same streets as fictional characters. Meet Holmes hot on the trail of some dastardly crime, take care at night lest you attract the attention of Mr Edward Hyde. And then of course there is the Gothic Horror element, dare you visit the forested land of Transylvania; the castle of Baron Frankenstein; or walk at night on some mist covered moor?

So, Mr Handy has expressed interest in this, who else will step up?

Sounds great! You might want to PM the original players if you haven't already. Three of them are still around.

Will there be pregens again, or will new players be able to create characters? I have a cool character idea.

Mr. Handy wrote:Sounds great! You might want to PM the original players if you haven't already. Three of them are still around.

Will there be pregens again, or will new players be able to create characters? I have a cool character idea.

I was thinking the same thing, I'll pm them.
New players (yourself etc) will be able to create new characters, as will any returning players if they'd rather.

I'd be interested in playing. In the last year I've scooped up the HEX line, as well as the LoA and LoGH books. While I haven't played a Ubiquity game yet I do like what I've read.

jaysun81 wrote:I'd be interested in playing. In the last year I've scooped up the HEX line, as well as the LoA and LoGH books. While I haven't played a Ubiquity game yet I do like what I've read.

Okay your in, just need a few more players and we are good to go.

Priest wrote:Okay your in, just need a few more players and we are good to go.

Excellent.

It seems that one of the original group is returning to the fray. Papa Gateaux may be reprising the role of Lord Peter Roxborough - Noted big game hunter, crackshot, and member of some of the finest cullinary establishments of the Empire.

Mr Handy,
Please create a board for this game. Here is the blurb;

The Dreaming Spires

Journey with us to an alternative 1898, where history rubs shoulders with imagination. Where ‘what was’ is replaced by ‘what might have been’. Leagues of Adventures presents, for your edification – ‘The Dreaming Spires, episode one of the Great Game Campaign’.

“... A time when science itself stands poised to usher in a new golden age, or doom the world to terrible war.
In the ancient university of Cambridge, the scion of an aristocratic family has gone missing, unearthing a plot which threatens to plunge the British Empire into chaos.
Can the intrepid globetrotters solve the Cambridge conspiracy before it’s too late? What secrets lie hidden beneath its dreaming spires?”

Indeed Roxy is back to save the day!

I've created the board here and made you the Keeper, Priest.

Welcome back, Papa G!

My thanks Mr Handy.
We now have four intrepid adventurers. The game is open to two more, on a strict first come basis.

We kick off this Wednesday, prior to then there is time for two more players to join. After that date recruiting is closed.