OOC

The year is 1999. A group of agents with the FBI quickly discover a routine case is anything but. Thrust into a world that's as incomprehensible as it is deadly, can this team hope to hold back the darkness?

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Re: OOC

Post by Silver Priest »

I think Cold Dead Hand is actually DG, but set in Russia so the connection is rather limited.

Night Floors is a very highly regarded scenario. I think my group did not take to it for two reasons. First, for a lot of them it was their first CoC campaign( we had played mostly vampire:the masquerade up to that point) so it might have been a bit of adjusting to the new system. Secondly and more critically, it's a very atmospheric scenario. I think it was difficult to keep that built up in the pbp format. Still you never know, I may eventually pull it out again.

I don't want to let you all know everything I plan to run, since at least some of that depends on how things go in game. But there are a few modern non DG scenarios I'm eyeing up for conversion.

But great, seems like you guys are rather unspoiled. Hopefully I'll be able to lead you all on a journey of madness and intrigue. ;)
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Re: OOC

Post by Mr. Handy »

I was in those games of Dave's and Norm's as well. Cold Dead Hand is also set very specifically in 1991, so it wouldn't be part of this campaign as we're already past that. I liked that one too, but we didn't get very far.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
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The Masque of Nyarlathotep
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Re: OOC

Post by Cearlan »

Fancy restarting CDH then? Could be a blast
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Re: OOC

Post by Mr. Handy »

Da, Tovarisch!
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: OOC

Post by Silver Priest »

I'm tempted to call for a san roll for helplessness for Nik and Rue at seeing all these papers they have to sort through, but I'm not that cruel. :D
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Re: OOC

Post by HoneyDog »

Nik has another plan up his sleeve...
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Re: OOC

Post by Silver Priest »

Nice rolls from everyone. I probably should have made that check a bit harder even for succeeding, but live and learn. ;)

Now that Vanessa has become hardened to violence, I'll offer a quick explanation. When a player becomes hardened to violence or helplessness, they auto succeed on every check of that type. So if a roll of 1/1d10 comes up in the future, you'd not even need to roll for a hardened agent; they'd just take the 1 point. In this way many sources of minor san loss can be avoided all together, and even severe situations won't cause that much grief for the agent. (For those curious, the Unnatural cannot be hardened to. Well, it can be if your agent reaches 0 san, but as you all can imagine that cure is worse than the disease.)

Being hardened to a type of san loss does come with drawbacks. Fundamentally it means something in your agent has died, and they become a bit less functional. For violence, this means an immediate loss of 1d6 CHA and a 1d6 loss from every bond. Even if the agent hides it well, the trauma is visible to those close to them to various degrees, and something seems off. For Helplessness, it's a loss of 1d6 POW as the agent loses their personal drive and grow accustomed to losing control.

In the book as written their is no avoidance against hardening. As a house rule though I'm going to give you guys a choice when you reach this state. Mr.Handy and anyone else who reaches 3 notches, think about your agents as a person. Faced with what they've seen, would they be the type to grow numb or remain horrified to the violence they've witnessed recently? If you think they'd grow numb or try to compartmentalize it, you can consider them hardened to violence. If you think they'd try to resist the state, roleplay out their horror. In that case, you can erase all three notches for now and consider the agent still "normal." Maybe later on in the game if they hit 3 violence notches again with a lower san they'll react differently, or maybe they'll continue to try and resist apathy and nihilism until the bitter end. It's up to you.

Actual post will come in a bit.
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Re: OOC

Post by Mr. Handy »

Thanks, I think Vanessa would resist, so I'll erase my checks.
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: OOC

Post by Silver Priest »

Another scenario is done. Hope you guys enjoyed. This went in an unexpected direction for me, but I'm overall happy with it.

Improve any skills you failed by one percent, and roll for your san rewards:

1d3 for Completing the mission. When Delta Green called, your agents answered.

Reflect on how your agents feel about what they did. If they've convinced themselves "Marlene" was nor Marlene and was a threat, gain 1d3 for doing what you had to. If they harbor doubts that this was a monster that needed to be put down though, they lose 1d3 san.
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Re: OOC

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Last post was the san gained, so look at that if you've not already.

Time for my thoughts on the scenario and what was really going on. I'll spoil a little here for any of you who want to remain in the dark.
Scenario overview and thoughts,Since Mr. Handy played this, I did change a few things, but I may have decided to make those changes anyway. The basic gist is that in the scenario as written, Marlene is in fact a monster. She came back wrong. She's not particularly malevolent and as written she poses no threat to the agents so long as they help her, but she's still only pretending to be human. While I like the scenario, I felt it would be more interesting to have the creature in fact be Marlene. The basic idea is that she was dying of cancer when Baughman got word of the DG operation dealing with the church. After seeing that the pastor could raise the dead, he caught the man and interrogated him into giving up the spell so that he could save his own wife. He then went home and remove his wife from hospice care, and took her to their cabin,w here he could conduct the ritual unnoticed. As soon as Marlene died he cast the spell, and it succeeded in bringing her back. Things were fine for a few days. But the ritual had an unintended side effect; Marlene started to crave raw flesh and blood. Unsure what was happening from her she kept it from Clyde, and though she felt an urge for even his, she had enough of a hold on herself to resist the impulses to murder her beloved husband. The urges did not go away though, and they naturally found another target in the Baughman's dog, Darcy. Marlene tried to avoid the animal, but she had been affectionate towards it during life, so it naturally sought her out. One moment she was petting it, the next, tearing into her flesh. Clyde happened on the sight. Already reasonably unstable, he concluded this thing was not his wife. He was able to subdue her and put her in the septic tank. He tried many times to destroy her, but hearing his wife's voice made him reluctant every time. He'd somehow do the thing a kindness and feed it raw meat, but after awhile he stopped even this. Marlene wasted away at the bottom of the tank. Lacking the blood that she needed, she gradually became hideous and corpselike. Despite it all, she retained her personality and intelligence, and somehow, much of her sanity. The agents avoided another nasty san roll to look at her, 1/1d6. Had they fed her though, she would have slowly begun to look like she had before she died the first time; it was only the lack of blood that made her hideous. I was expecting to roleplay out a great debate over if she could be trusted and whether or not to release her, but the agents chose a more direct approach. ;) Had they released her, Marlene would have tried to stay in the area near the cabin, and solely hunt the game around her. This would have worked, at least for awhile, but there would always be the risk her san would dip to low and she'd be willing to feed of humans. A bigger concern is her children. They'd have stumbled upon the cabin eventually. Or she would have grown lonely and if not given a good reason not to, would have tried to seek them out. This would have been bad for all involved. If you've any other questions or comments, feel free to ask or share. Thanks for another great scenario guys. :)
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Re: OOC

Post by Mr. Handy »

Thanks, that was great! It did play out differently than the first time I played it. In that one, "Marlene" leapt out of the septic tank and attacked us when we continued to pour the kerosene into it and ignored her pleas. Of course, in that one, I played an agent who started adapted to violence and had absolutely no compunction about doing what needed to be done. It actually came to blows between some of the other agents when deciding what to do.

Sanity gain for completing the mission:
[dice]0[/dice]
Sanity loss for destroying "Marlene":
[dice]1[/dice]
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: OOC

Post by HoneyDog »

Nik

Mission completion: SAN gain: 1d3 1

I think Nik knew that Marlene was not the same, and so he felt he did the right thing, however shocking it felt.

SAN gain: 1d3 1

This brings his SAN back up to 59.

That was an enjoyable scenario SP - thanks very much. I think, from my perspective, that the earlier scenario made the characters prepared to take the actions they did. The encounter with Emanuel Santana and the Traveler showed that what is on the surface is not always the reality. If they hadn't that experience, they probably wouldn't have acted so quickly and decisively.

Shades of The Monkeys Paw and Pet Semetary in this adventure.
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Re: OOC

Post by Silver Priest »

Glad you both enjoyed. Cearlan can make the rolls when they're able. In addition, the three of you need to decide your downtime activities. Please see here if you need a refresher viewtopic.php?f=399&t=5891#p190805 Remember to select two each.
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Re: OOC

Post by HoneyDog »

Nik is still working on white-collar fraud cases, and feels he should review and revise his knowledge of accounting practices by taking a community college course.

Accounting 30: Accounting: 1d100 75

Accounting skill increase: 1d10 6

Stay on the case: He also pores through the paperbacks taken from Baughman's foot locker; "Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation" and "The Interrupted Journey". He hopes to gain more insight about the nature of the alien threat they face, and also if there is any mention about Saint Yig.
Last edited by HoneyDog on Mon Apr 10, 2017 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: OOC

Post by Mr. Handy »

1) Fulfill Responsibilities: Vanessa spends time with her mother Angela, having been reminded of mortality and wanting to treasure the time she has with her while she's still around.

Sanity roll (current level 69):
[dice]0[/dice]
Critical success! Vanessa gains 1 Sanity, bringing her to 70.

2) Back to Nature: Vanessa spends a weekend relaxing at a resort to get her mind off of things.

Sanity roll (current level 70):
[dice]1[/dice]
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: OOC

Post by Silver Priest »

I plan to get the next scenario started this weekend. Getting over a bit of a cold but should hopefully be good to go by then.
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Re: OOC

Post by HoneyDog »

Okay, looking forward to it!
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Re: OOC

Post by Cearlan »

Maynard

Mission completion SAN gain:
[dice]0[/dice]

I think, like Nik, Maynard was all to aware that Marlene was not the same little old lady that Buchwald 'reanimated' after her passing, and so he felt he was correct in his mind, although it did affect him deeply.

SAN gain:
[dice]1[/dice]

This brings Maynard's SAN back up to a full 70% (assuming you cannot go over your initial San score - if you can then my SAN is now 73%).

Downtime;

Spends time with younger sister Amy. The young girl in the video reminds Maynard of Amy, young and vulnerable. The protective big brother comes out to play.

Stay on the case (kinda links with the above and Amy). Pours over the video time and again looking for something he may have missed, but finding nothing - other than Pastor Michael's manipulative machinations on a congregation of credulous people.
Playing;
Paris: City of Tears
Horror on the Orient Express

Keeping;
The Curse of Nineveh
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Re: OOC

Post by Silver Priest »

Alright. Make sure you all add one point to any skill you failed to use, if you've not done so already.

For Nik and Rue staying on the case, I'm going to roll the better of Criminology or Occult for them. I won't tell you guys what I roll, so you won't know if the info you get is useful or dangerously wrong. I will roll for san loss or gain now (And yes, san appears to only go up to pow*5. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm tempted to house rule it away, but I can see an argument being made that the stronger willpower one has the stronger mental fortitude they might have. I'll leave it as is for now.)

Spoilering for size, all can feel free to read.

Nik,Nik reads though the books, both of which take considerable time. The first book [i]Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation"[/i] Sounds very... unhinged. The author postulates that America going back to its Founding Fathers has been controlled by a satanic conspiracy to undermine democracy. He makes a lot of connections Nik feels are spurious. There seems to be little evidence to support any of it, aside from brief circumstantial ties. Nothing Nik reads in this is anything he's inclined to believe. The second book is more of a report on the Barney and Betty Hill case. The author seems to be a reporter of some sort, and he lays out their case without making judgements either way. The married couple were returning to their home from a roadtrip when they encountered a flying saucer shaped like a large pancake. After a short pursuit, they experienced alleged missing time, which the author explains is common in many alien abductions cases. Both of the Hill's were interviewed by the military and went under hypnosis, and were found to be repressing some memories. Nonetheless, generally they were found to be credible. Though Barney died in 1969, Betty continued her crusade for UFO disclosure until the present day, when she is still apparently alive. However, She seems to have experienced some sort of change starting in 1980, and apparently many within the UFO community now find her to be an attention seeker and delusional. The author raises the note that before 1980 she was well spoken and lucid, while afterwards she apparently seems to be not mentally right. Her latest book, released in 1995, asserts that she has seen dozens of UFO's since the incident and a truck levitating in broad daylight above the freeway. While the author does not come out and say it, it seems clear he thinks she's suffering from sort to dementia. Others think they They have gotten to her, though who They are depends on the speaker. Of most note is Clyde's notes in the margins. He writes about something called the Greys and how the Hill's initial report seems like a textbook case of their work. Nik can look it up, or perhaps he even knows it, but he finds the Greys are a common type of alien reported in abduction cases, perhaps the most common. [ooc]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_alien[/ooc] It would take some time to read up on the history, but Baughman seemed to think they were real and connected to what happened to the Hills. He also seems to have encountered them, referencing seeing them at one point in his diary, during a Platte operation. He does not elaborate on what Platte is. Nik gains/loses [dice]0[/dice] san
Edmund,The video remains disturbing. Some of Michael's congregation are as young as Amy. All seem desperate, and seem to regard the pastor as a sort of messiah figure. If Edmund does some research, he can find a few hints to a Pastor Michael Thomas. He appears to look quite similar to the man in the video. The odd thing is, he was last seen in the early 1920's. Reports indicate that his church, located in Boston, housed some disturbing content, and after scandalous reports of the worship the church was engaged in got out, the police raided it. They found that many of the congregation were using it as a form of depraved sex cult. Even worse, the bones of several missing children were found in the church's basement, torn apart as if by some animal. It was a big scandal for two days before being eclipsed by President Harding's death. After that, no further mention can be found of the church or its Pastor. Perhaps the Michael in the video is a grandson continuing the family business? If it's any consultation, the agents know that Baughman said he killed Thomas. Hopefully, unlike the people he revives, he stays dead. Edmund gains/loses [dice]1[/dice] san
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Re: OOC

Post by HoneyDog »

So, UFO abduction is real. Sorry SP, does it mean that Nik loses SAN?
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