I am going to start a new Call of Cthulhu campaign within the next couple of weeks and I am looking for players. CoC is a pen-and-paper RPG based on the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The players take on the role of investigators who uncover esoteric knowledge, discover eldritch cults and (probably) descend into madness as you discover the cosmic insignificance of the human race.
The main campaign will be set in the 1920s but I am proposing to run a “prequel” adventure set 10 years earlier. This will give new players a chance to try the game and decide if you want to continue into the main campaign.
If you are interested in joining, please post below. No previous experience of Cthulhu or RPGs is required. Once I have enough people interested we can fix a date to play.
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That said, as much as I would like to join I am about to start the YCC season, so unless you’re ready to run the campain at Port Choiseul it won’t be easy for me to spare another day of the week to CERN extra-work activities.
Well, let’s say that you can count on me as a potential visitor without a commitment until the sailing season is of.
Some background information: this game will be set around 1910. This is the Edwardian era in Britain. King George V is on the throne and the Liberal party are in government under H.H.Asquith. Britain is on friendly terms with France (thanks to the Entente Cordiale) and Russia. The other great European powers are Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Britain is still at the height of its Imperial Power, controlling India and vast areas of Africa. But it is a period of relative peace: the Boer War concluded a decade ago. The Summer Olympics were held in London a few years ago.
It is also a time of advancement in Science and Technology (Rutherford published his studies on radioactivity, the first transatlantic wireless transmissions, music recorded on wax cylinders, invention of the typewriter, the Wright Brothers’ first flight) and Art (Matisse and the post-Impressionists, Art Nouveau, Charles Rennie Mackintosh). Also women’s rights are coming to the fore with the Suffragette movement.
So think about what type of character you would like to play. You might want to be British or someone from the colonies; French; American; another European nationality. Maybe you are a retired soldier, a Gurkha, an explorer, an Imperial civil servant, a suffragette, a scientist. You could even be an early kind of data scientist, working on programming Hollerith Machines. These are just suggestions, the only limit is your imagination. Let’s hear your ideas!
Hi, I have a question: is it hte kind of campaign where passbyers can join for 2-3 sessions while they are at CERN or do you only take full-timers? Just asking: I personally prefer full-timers, but sometimes I structured some campaigns to have flexible participants.
The first session in this game will be a kind of stand-alone prequel. Some people may want to bring their characters into the main campaign, but if you don’t want to continue that’s fine.
For the main campaign, it works best if people show up every week. But so long as there is a stable core of players, it’s possible to accommodate a few extra people who are only there occasionally. The population at CERN is quite mobile so there are always people coming and going.
@btse, yes, this game has not started yet and it’s open for new players. Ideal group size is around 8 people. I will try to accommodate whoever wants to play, but I think the maximum size is 12. Beyond that it becomes too unmanageable.
Think of the type of character you would like to play based on the info in my post above (Edwardian era). If you like, post your ideas in this thread and we can discuss.
It’s not necessary to read any of the rules before play, but if you are driven by the lust of knowing what should not be known*, you can read Chapter 1 of the CoC 7th Edition Quickstart Rules.
* Bonus points for identifying the Edwardian author being quoted.
Everyone still up for Sunday? I propose to meet in R1 around 12.30 for lunch+character generation with a view to starting the scenario by 14.00. Does that work for everyone?
If you want to read some more background info on the era (Europe c.1910), here are a few Wikipedia articles:
So far a couple of people have given me their character ideas. If you have an idea for your character, let me know in advance so I can weave it in to the scenario. If not, don’t worry, you can choose from one of the standard archetypes.
In case anyone is curious, the answer is James Elroy Flecker (1884–1915), from the poem « The Golden Journey to Samarkand » :
We travel not for trafficking alone;
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
For lust of knowing what should not be known
We take the Golden Road to Samarkand.
