Play@YSDC

Hi everyone,

this is the thread for any out of context chat, discussion about the game, obituaries, etc.



You’ve been invited by the noted psychical researcher, Harry Price, to undertake an investigation into the unusual aspects of a murder in a Highland village in Scotland. Without giving too much away. You will assemble in London before travelling to Scotland, where you may undertake your investigation.

I know some of you have already found The Dhole’s House website for character generation (we also have one player using a Coptic priest from an earlier investigation). I don’t intend to be prescriptive about the characters you play. If you can think of a reason why they’re in London and why they responded to an adventure north of the border then it’s all good. Just send me a copy via Discord chat when it’s done.

I will add a Characters thread. You can transfer your skills over if you like, but it isn’t compulsory. What I’d like to see there is a brief description of your investigators and a character photo.

Any questions or queries, just ask. As soon as your characters are ready, we’ll make a start

Hey! I'm thinking either an asylum attendant, forensic surgeon, scientific researcher, or undertaker... forensic surgeon seems to fit best but I'll think on it for a bit

No problem

Added a photo, kinda.....hope I've got it right....

BoyBlunder78 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 22, 2022 11:08 pm Added a photo, kinda.....hope I've got it right....

It didn’t seem to like the fact it was a Google image but I saved it as one of mine and that worked.

what can we know about the murdered man?

I'll be joining too, and I have a character idea, but not enough time tonight. I should be able to build my character over the weekend.

danyw wrote: ↑Fri Sep 23, 2022 1:29 am what can we know about the murdered man?

All in good time

Once you’ve got characters sorted, we’ll make a start but in the meantime, I’ll try to post an Introduction so you have a bit of a better idea of what lies in store.

Introduction posted: https://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/pbp/vi ... 493&t=7611

I’ve locked it for now and we can start once we have characters sorted.

Just to see if understood correctly. This Harry Price is asking to go to the scottish village ourselves, without the presence of any of the institute he represents, to prove that there is no ghost on that house? Or is he asking us to interfere in a police investigation and find the scottish murderer? Because if he is asking us the second I have made the wrong character.

The first one. They use volunteers who have no connection with the university college so their findings are independent.

And it isn’t to disprove it, per se. It’s to investigate and report on what they found.

Just to see if understood correctly. This Harry Price is asking us to go to the scottish village ourselves, without the presence of any of the institute he represents, to prove that there is no ghost on that house? Or is he asking us to interfere in a police investigation and find the scottish murderer? Because if he is asking us the second I have made the wrong character.

Managed to get into the Dholes House today, was pretty cool when accessible. I have created Hugo completely, just let me know when and where to put the sheet.

Hugo is an "outdoorsman", by the by.

Also, hello players I haven't met before! I'm Snapper, looking forward to the game.

Snapper wrote: ↑Sat Sep 24, 2022 11:44 am Managed to get into the Dholes House today, was pretty cool when accessible. I have created Hugo completely, just let me know when and where to put the sheet.

Hugo is an "outdoorsman", by the by.

Are you on the Discord group? You could PM me there.

Alternatively, you could post the details here, as we’ve done for other games.

Snapper wrote: ↑Sat Sep 24, 2022 11:46 am Also, hello players I haven't met before! I'm Snapper, looking forward to the game.

Hi there, looking forward to having my very first (of many) bouts of insanity with you all.

Philulhu wrote: ↑Sat Sep 24, 2022 1:43 pm
Are you on the Discord group? You could PM me there.

Alternatively, you could post the details here, as we’ve done for other games.

I've uploaded the pdf that the Dholes House created but might upload the character in normal fashion too. Not overly familiar with Discord but I probably should learn.

How do you download your characters completed stats sheet from Dholes House? Or is it easier to physically write it out and attach photo?

Snapper - Whatever works for you and you can access it, then that’s fine with me

BoyBlunder78 - There should be an option to download it from the Dhole’s House and you can send it my via Discord or edit your character post and upload it there.

We’re waiting for Mr Handy’s stats but it won’t hurt to make a start.

Just a note about the usual posting format here. The name of an investigator is usually in bold and use coloured text for speech i.e. “”Do you have any questions?” asked Price. If you tap. The colour icon above (the teardrop shape) you’ll see the colours fall into roughly five ‘blocks’ - my tip would be to choose a colour on one of the corners as they’re easy to find

If you want to add any spoiler text or out of context chat, please use the spoiler button:

Just click the spoiler-button button then add your text between the brackets.

For clarity, this investigation may include body horror, occultism, impenetrable accents and occasional light relief. If you have any concerns about the content please let me know.

We have players from around the world and I will try to make sure everyone has had time to contribute before moving on but I will also try to keep the game ticking over. If you’re struggling to find time to post or you’re going to be away, just drop me a line.

Finally, it’s possible that you may decide for whatever reason that this game isn’t for you. It happens so if you decide that you’d rather not continue, that’s fine but please just let me know.

Ok. On with the show…

Hopefully you should have it now.

Got it, thanks

Now I am not sure if to firm or not do so.
I was going to make the father do it as the last one to do it. But I was sleeping when the last character did so.
It's there a problem for the father to had firmed it? Or to stay in all of this the father needs to go to scotland by himself?

I am good with moving to the next scene, by the way

Joajackson wrote: ↑Mon Sep 26, 2022 1:56 pm Now I am not sure if to firm or not do so.
I was going to make the father do it as the last one to do it. But I was sleeping when the last character did so.
It's there a problem for the father to had firmed it? Or to stay in all of this the father needs to go to scotland by himself?

It’s entirely up to you. There is still time for the Father to sign the contract but if he doesn’t that doesn’t stop him from travelling to Scotland and taking part in investigations but he won’t be a formal part of the team.

danyw wrote: ↑Mon Sep 26, 2022 2:41 pm I am good with moving to the next scene, by the way

Thanks, Dany.

I’ll try to post the next scene later tonight if I can.

Philulhu wrote: ↑Thu Sep 22, 2022 11:51 pm

BoyBlunder78 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 22, 2022 11:08 pm Added a photo, kinda.....hope I've got it right....

It didn’t seem to like the fact it was a Google image but I saved it as one of mine and that worked.

OK, cheers. How can I avoid that in the future?

I saved the image to my iPad and then uploaded to my postimage account: https://postimages.org/

You can then use Image button (9th from the left) to put in the image tags and then paste the direct link url of the image:



Try quoting this post and you’ll see how I posted the image above.

Thank you.

Wait, I definitely thought the murderer was arrested. I'm going to look and if I'm wrong I'd really like to recant my reply because that's on me

"”As for the murderer, the suspect is under arrest so I do not think you are risk.”" ahh okay in The Appointment. So not the murderer themselves but a suspect

“… shepherd boy Jamie McLeod, is helping Police with their enquiries.”

‘Helping with enquiries’ generally means that the Police have someone they think may be responsible but have yet to find/manufacture (depending upon the time period) the evidence required to charge the suspect.

Just waiting from input from Dany and joajackson. Just let me know which thread you’re in - exploring the town in The Sneck or making enquiries with Inspector Sinclair in The Pollis.

Thanks

Philulhu wrote: ↑Sun Oct 02, 2022 8:28 am Just waiting from input from Dany and joajackson. Just let me know which thread you’re in - exploring the town in The Sneck or making enquiries with Inspector Sinclair in The Pollis.

Thanks

In the Pollis, I just don't have anything to say for now

Ok, thanks.

Just a couple of things occurred to me if you hadn’t played before (or have moved over from the 6th edition rules to 7th). If you fail a roll, you have a couple of options. You can choose to spend Luck to make up the difference between your unsuccessful roll and your target e.g. you roll 42 against your Spot Hidden skill of 47 - you could spend 5 points of Luck to make that a successful roll instead.

Another option is to ‘push the roll’, where you re-roll a failed roll but you have a pre-agreed outcome (with the Keeper) if you roll a second time. For example, you fail a Stealth roll and you fail to sneak past a guard. If you pushed the roll and failed, not only did you fail to sneak past the guard but you also knocked over a vase, attracting the attention of everyone in a 50 yard radius.

If you have questions, just ask.

Hey y'all, a bunch of things just dropped in on my life all at once that suck pretty badly so I'm gonna respectfully drop out of this game so that everyone can continue without me. It was fun while I was a part of it, and thank you for letting me at least somewhat enjoy an introduction to CoC PbP. Enjoy the rest of the game!

Hey, shame to see you go. Life can be shit at times. It's been fun playing with you short and sweet (unfortunately). Hope everything sorts itself out and your OK. Hopefully (fingers crossed) We get to play again sometime.

Hi Dany, sorry to see you go. If anything changes and you’ve got the time, just drop me a line and we can write you back in again.

I'm sorry to see you leave too. I hope things get better for you.

On the map, how far away is Loch Ness from Strathmorn?

About a mile or so. It’s 25 miles from Inverness.

Would the PCs have heard of Nessie? Or was she a more modern phenomenon? I have no idea.

Alleged sightings date back to the 6th century. There was one in the 19th century (technically two but the second wasn’t reported until the 1930s) but the main interest came in 1933: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness ... kay_(1933)

As Aldie Mackay later said, there was an oral tradition of Loch Ness being home to some kind of ‘beast’. Chances are that locals would know about it but visitors probably wouldn’t.

She can be a happy discovery for the investigators!

You never know… …

Cthulu on water ski's pulled by Nessie.....

I forget about that 7th Ed pushing skills rule.

It’s optional so some Keepers use it and some don’t.

Philulhu wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 12:12 am If you’ve successfully passed a skill check, don’t forget to make a note somewhere. This is a one-shot but that’s how Servants of the Lake started and four years later…

I'm a big fan of putting a red asterisk * after successfully used skills. Which is why I eventually posted the whole character to this forum. PDF not so user friendly.

If you’ve just got a pdf of your player character then you could see if the website where you created it allows you to record the successful check.

I'd suggest everyone give your Track skill a roll. You never know, even if it's default you can get lucky!!

(PS Failing which, I may see if the GM will let Ascot "push" his Track skill...)

Feel free to try, even if it’s a skill in which you don’t have many points (even 1%!)

If your first attempt fails you may try to ‘push’ the roll, but be aware that there may well be deleterious consequences if you fail a second time…

Just while the Inverness thread is locked, this might be a good point for some OOC discussion...

1. At the library, it might be worth having a look for relevant newspaper back-issue articles too. Ascot has had a fairly average education, growing up in the Rhodesian bush, and probably never got much past reading Enid Blyton. He definitely failed his roll the first time at the library.

2. On the drive back to Inverness, Ascot will explain the dead sheep trail, such as it was, was heading approximately towards the abandoned manor. No surprises but he didn't want to tell the farmer and local doctor that, as he didn't want them heading off that way and getting themselves killed by a wild something-or-other.

3. Ascot himself was planning on leaving the party swots at the library while he headed off to find a hardware store in Inverness where he could - hopefully - buy some binoculars.

Was hoping in the library to look up any history of the manor, and if there was any record of odd animal killings through the years, aswell as the old priests journals.

BoyBlunder78 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 14, 2022 1:49 am Was hoping in the library to look up any history of the manor, and if there was any record of odd animal killings through the years, aswell as the old priests journals.

Excellent plan!

Don't forget, the rest of us won't have read any spoilers directed to just one PC. If anyone has had some useful insights, your PC might be able to raise them now during the conversation with the good doctor?

I hope someone learns something from Dr McBride, because I feel like Ascot has discovered nothing.

Snapper wrote: ↑Mon Dec 05, 2022 10:39 am I hope someone learns something from Dr McBride, because I feel like Ascot has discovered nothing.

Here's hoping for some Christmas magic with the dice rolls.

So what’s your theory? A wild animal brought back from Africa?

Well, that's Ascot's theory but wild animals from Africa are essentially his wheel-house so his theory may be subconsciously biased.

Presumably Ascot’s a fully paid up member of the A Rhino Sank the Titanic society?

Hell yeah! Those #&$#*! aquatic rhinocerii are a a menace on the seas.

(Is that a thing, BTW, does someone believe that?)

Honestly, you wouldn’t believe what sort of wacko ideas some people believe in: A Rhino Sank the Titanic Society

I'm impressed! AGMs must be excellent.

Nothing surprises me anymore though. COVID revealed that even here in Australia, we have people like the Sovereign Citizens. Crackpot theories are more enticing than tough truths.

But just in case, I shall have an elephant gun in the front hallway for any rhinos I see stomping down my street.

Philulhu wrote: ↑Mon Dec 05, 2022 11:39 pm Honestly, you wouldn’t believe what sort of wacko ideas some people believe in: A Rhino Sank the Titanic Society

I wanna read the society's charter.

Free to all members. DM for membership rates - very reasonable

Forgive me, I am a little Lost. In which rooms we were until now? I understood we already looked trough the ground floor, but have we gone trough the first floor?

As I understand it, the investigators headed up the left-hand (north-west) staircase as shown on the map below:



They have emerged from the staircase onto the first floor landing, where they found the bones. I’ll do a map once you’ve finished exploring this level but your investigator could assume with some certainty that this floor is very likely to be laid out like the ground floor below.

Unbelievable! The one STR roll Ascot will probably ever make and he fails it!

A high skill as well!

Oh well.

Are there still more floors to go up, or have we reached the uppermost?

Aside from part of the second stairwell that we didn't go up or down, do we think there are rooms we didn't check? I feel like we pretty much covered the place.

Or are we thinking a very stealthy adversary has been creeping around the manor avoiding us as we explore?

Possibly stealthy, I think in all the excitement of finding the bones, the body, the statue. We completely forgot about the other staircase and the foot prints and just assumed that we had found its lair. I can't even remember if we even mentioned the tracks

All good. Unleash the searching!

Party split!...er...are they pre-gens with this scenario?......asking for a friend......

I don't know that splitting the party immediately dooms our PCs. Especially in a play by forum setting, the party can often times accomplish more by dividing and hopefully conquering...

You’ll be fine… what could possibly go wrong…?

Sorry for the absence, I wasn't getting the notifications for this thread. I thought it had gone a bit quiet......

No problem

This is literally the worst result possible. Unarmed bait for the monster.

The final tragedy is Ascot won't live long enough to gloat about being right.

You never know, inside maybe safer than out.........

Team, to quote the great Maxwell Smart, "Sorry about that, Chief. Missed it by that much."

Now we're in terrible danger...and loving it!

Oh dear...

Yes.....oh dear indeed.......things may have just got interesting......

The Dice Gods giveth, and the Dice Gods taketh away.

Impressive roll though!

The dice gods don't like us to get too cosy......
Yes, I thought so too, didn't think I'd be that close.

Close, but no bout of madness save, as the saying goes

Phagophobia!! You've been sitting on that one for a while....lol

Possibly…!

With a desire to stick to DEX order, I'll let the flatulent Father Shaban post his action first.

It isn’t mandatory. I can sort it out in the edit

BoyBlunder78 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 2:11 pm

Still crazy?

That post made me laugh out loud. I have this mental image of a variation of the Beach Boys' "Still Cruisin'", in which they are singing "Still crazy after all this time..."

All too appropriate for that band too...

Especially if you know about their connection to Charles Manson...

Just googled that, did not know the story! Absolutely bizarre.

Whoever ends up being subsequent spokesperson for Our Heroes, it really should not be old Ascot. Not exactly his skill set.

And the good Doctor is a gibbering mess....

The Doctor might still do a better job!

Only able to communicate through telephone calls or written notes so as not to see anyone's face. He will travel around in a sedan chair and take walks wearing a shower curtain......

I admit, his conversational skills may be a little bit hamstrung. Dates are going to be a challenge for the young doctor too.

Nevermind the awkwardness of dealing with patients.......at least he's not a dentist......or vet.

If he were a vet, particularly a country vet, he’d be ok for 50% of the time, as they seem to spend that amount of their time with an arm up a cow’s arse…

True...swapping one dripping orifice for another......

And there’s a lovely mental image for a Sunday…

Don't ask Bonnie to do the talking. She's not exactly a people person.

I'm still picturing cows with big sharp teeth at both ends. That never happened to James Herriot.

He never failed a roll........got a first in Miskatonic non euclidean veterinary practises. Yorkshire campus.

He sees Freddy Krueger...

And his hands come out the mirror and grad his face.

I have this nagging suspicion that every significant decision our PCs have made has been wrong...

And the rolls have aided that.......

Snapper wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 7:45 am I have this nagging suspicion that every significant decision our PCs have made has been wrong...

Not every one… … (just the important ones )

Well....where would the fun be if we got every choice right......

That’s true!

Not sure why we are debating this.

No readon, just seemed something my character would question. No intention of dragging it out any longer.

Thank you GM, that was a most excellent game indeed!

Some very classic CoC themes were definitely happening:
- gradually building dread;
- classically unwelcoming, unhelpful, and occasionally untrustworthy locals;
- moments of great tension and / or panic.

And excellent team role-playing of course!

(And despite Ascot's best efforts, not a single shot fired in anger by the team, bullet-holed tree notwithstanding.)

Thank you GM and fellow investigators. This was my first time playing COC so thank you for making it an amazing experience and I (hopefully) look forward to many more.
Too many highlights to mention but a couple were:

When Beth got the Crit on the statue I gave an audible cheer........only to be brought down to earth when it was just a statue.
When McBride had us all back in the mansion as the creature was attacking and we were desperately trying to barricade the door and arm ourselves with anything we could. Loved the tension.
My first bout of madness!!!!

So thank you for letting me join your game, and hope my role-playing was ok.

You’re welcome. Glad to hear you enjoyed it

It’s an old scenario (1980s, I think) so I did wonder how it would hold up but it worked well.

BoyBlunder - your roleplaying was definitely up to scratch so no worries on that score.

Snapper - sorry you didn’t get to shoot anything. Getting tooled up is a bit of Call of Cthulhu trope so it doesn’t hurt to subvert that from time-to-time

I’ve got two or three scenarios under consideration for my next game (all in different time periods to this one) so keep an eye out as you’d all be welcome to join in. Some do have shooting in them and you might even get to keep your guns next time around…

Thanks for playing

I'm good! Classic Cthulhu to have all the guns and never shoot (or else traditionally encounter a Cthulhoid monstrosity that is basically bullied-proof). Fear not, Ascot will go shoot a few pheasants to relieve his gun mania.

Would love to play in any further game you have planned.

Yes, thank you, that was a great game! Getting that high-damage impale on the statue was still pretty cool. I'll be interested in whatever you run next too.

Snapper wrote: ↑Tue Aug 29, 2023 2:07 am I'm good! Classic Cthulhu to have all the guns and never shoot (or else traditionally encounter a Cthulhoid monstrosity that is basically bullied-proof). Fear not, Ascot will go shoot a few pheasants to relieve his gun mania.

Would love to play in any further game you have planned.

It reminds me of the line by the Brigadier in the Doctor Who story Robot: "Just once, I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets!"

"Five rounds rapid Sargent!".....the Brigadier orders...looking on hopefully.

The writers of Dr Who must have been big CoC fans!

And vice versa!

Ditto.

Just a heads up, in case anyone is looking for another game: New game - you decide!

Here is the correct link.

Thanks, Mr H!