Play@YSDC

Hey guys,
Due to the rather obvious fact that there appears to be no COC games set in 1920s China on this forum, and the relative success of running a mini-campaign with my friends set in this era. I've decided to do something similar on this site. It is almost completely homebrewed, so I may adjust the plot based on the number of people showing interest. It is completely okay to use old characters as long the Mythos knowledge is under 10. To maximise the experience, please make sure that if you are playing a Chinese character, then you'll have to have at least 60% in Other language: English as that makes the story more realistic and less of a headache as compared to a Chinese character travelling with foreign characters without any knowledge of what they're saying. Last thing to watch out is Credit Rating, please have a Credit Rating of at least 45 or higher if you plan to RP a foreigner that isn't an illegal stowaway on a boat.

Custom professions is a-okay as long as you contact me first. You can be an acupuncturist, herbalist, mystic, or anything else era-appropriate as long as you ask first.

Please comment below if you're interested.

Premise: On the lunar calendar, it is the twelfth of July, 1920; in three days' time, the good people of China will celebrate 中元節, the festival of the dead. On this day, it generally considered a good idea to burn paper money as offerings to the dead, make offerings to your ancestors, and the dead in general, to comfort them in the afterlife and keep them from troubling the living. It is also during this month that the 阴气, the aura of death (rough translation, don't burn me at the stake), is at the strongest and the dead can cross over to the living realm. You are here in Beijing (Peking at the time, I believe) to observe the festival of the dead. Something is brewing...

House Rules (homebrewed, not canon with the rulebook. Assume every other rule is made in 6th edition):

• Psychic/ESP abilities. During this time, the cultural revolution has yet to happen Taoism, Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Hinduism are all there in the melting-pot that is 1920s China, before the government decided to crack down on mystic beliefs. You can learn psychic abilities and use them (at the cost of your SAN points), acquire talismans, craft ceremonial artefacts using eastern knowledge, etc. ALL at the permanent cost of SAN and POW. Be very careful there.
• No Investigator are allowed to be in possession of more than six items at any given time.
• A sixth sense for Mythos activity will automatically develop when your Mythos Knowledge hits 10 or above.
• Please, no guns. I still haven't gotten my head around it yet. It's okay to use guns, I got my head around gun rules (somewhat). Sub-machine guns, on the other hand...
• If you're alone during nighttime, on a street, there's a 72% chance that you'll enter dreamland and very possibly die.
• Any and all in-game objective are secondary to survival. It will be difficult to complete this without at least one person dying.
• Infighting can and will occur. When you least expect it to happen.
• The police can and will appear and mess you up if you have a Credit Rating of lower than 40%, even to this day, police brutality towards others is still a thing in some parts of the world.
• Yes. If Beijing doesn't work out well, the location will be transport elsewhere in China.
• Don't be an ass. Seriously, just don't.
• If you see any contradictions or anything that could be fleshed out more. PM me.

If you're interested, please reply below. No, please don't post character sheets yet. Post it when we have a special forum for this game.

I'm intrigued! But now, especially with the start of the academic year, I'm going to have very little free time... So I'm afraid to commit to another game.

Yeah. Maybe I posted it at an unfortunate time.

I'm definitely interested!

By the way, there was an adventure that ran on this board before: Forbidden Journey: An Adventure in China. You might want to read it, both for ideas and because it's quite good. It ended on a cliffhanger, so it never truly concluded. It was set in 1935 rather than the 1920s, but I'm sure there's plenty you'll find useful. I played diplomat's daughter Elisabeth Grey in that one. While I'd like to play her again, that wouldn't really work here. Not only would the events of this adventure alter her timeline, but she'd also be six years old. Maybe I could play a relative of hers, though.

Sure. I'll look into it.

I'd be interested in being some sort of herbalist or medicine man

Sure. There's plenty of traditional practitioners such as Herbalists, physicians, Acupuncturists, naturopath, and ultimately 'doctors' at the time. Pick a medicinal philosophy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradition ... e_medicine

Alright. So I'm openly recuriting an assistant GM for this campaign to help me run the scenarios, sort through character drafts, and cover for me when I'm unavailable due to logistical matters (read: life). No experience necessary, but experience in CoC and PbP systems preferred. Don't worry, I'll send over a Google Docs that will address all your worries.

I'll do the magic dance to get us a RP forum topic when we have at least 4 players and an assistant GM.

So, any takers?

I probably won't have time to be an assistant GM. I have my hands full with the campaign I'm running now and all the games in which I'm a player, though I'll happily play in this one too.

When you're ready to start, all you need to do is post here to let me know. I'll need a short text blurb as the forum's description, but what you have under Premise in the initial post would work well. I can create the forum for you and make you its Keeper.

Thanks for letting me know, mr. Handy! I'll wait for another while just in case there's more people that are interested in the concept.

I could try to be an assistant GM. I'll be honest I'm no expert on 1920s China.

That is great! I'll PM you a .Docx file as soon as reasonably possible. You should be able to take of side quests and other troublesome stuff when I'm not around and it should Ben okay as long as it is fine by you, I suppose.

Alright. We are all set, Mr. Handy! Leestriter and I have offically worked out the details. So please make the two of us the moderator for the board if that's okay.

Done! The board is here.

Thanks!

Is this game still running and are you looking for more players?

Is a knowledge of chinese culture and history necessary?

Whats the expected posting frequency?

What edition of the rules are you using?

It is still running. Yes, we are looking for new players. No, history/cultural knowledge not necessary unless you are willing to PM me about your enquiries (I am willing to answer the questions as long as it is within my sphere of knowledge). Post once or twice a week if possible, tell me when you are going to be absent for a long period of time, I'll NPC you. 6th edition, can't get my hands on Seventh Edition yet, bit out of my price range.