Call of Cthulhu: Beyond the Mountains of Madness [OCC]


log in or register to remove this ad


playing

Can I get in on this as well? I have a knife wielding insomniac in mind. He can't sleep because he hears voices in the darkness. It all started when he saw something strange that he can't quite recall, that was when he began carrying knives. Lemme know if I can get in or not.
 


Prologue

In September of 1930, researchers from Arkham's Miskatonic University set sail for the Antarctic continent on a bold venture of exploration and discovery. the Miskatonic University Antarctic Expedition, privately funded with support from the Nathaniel Pickman Foundation, left Boston Harbor in two ships. Two months later they landed in Antarctica near Ross Island: twenty men, fifty-five dogs, and five large Dornier aeroplanes were set up on the ice. Their mission was to survey a geologic history of Earth's last frontier, to chart from the air where no human foot had stepped, and to determine at last, once and for all, whether Antarctica was indeed one land mass or several.

In much of this they were successful. From November of 1930 to mid-January of 1931, the expedition achieved goal after goal, milestone after milestone. Their results where broadcast daily to the world, via the waiting ships and the great listening station at Kingsport Head. Thousands of square miles of previously unexplored terrain were overflown and mapped. Sled teams and aerial explorations led by Professor Dyer and Lake took core samples from scattered spots over nearly a quarter of the continent. Advanced lightweight drilling apparatus, designed and operated by Doctor Pabodie, enabled the teams to extract core samples from deep within the ice, as well as the ancient exposed rocks of that frigid land.

However, history does not remember the Miskatonic Expedition for its successes but for its final tragic failure.

The end of the expedition came just as the team seemed on the brink of their most spectacular triumph. On January 23rd, a large aerial party , lead by the biologist Professor Lake, broke through into a unbelieveable treasure trove of anicent bones and fossils in a series of caverns at the foot of a hitherto-unknown mountain range. For two days they explored the caves, bringing up specimen after specimen ina a fantastic palimpsest of earthly history. Some of the specimens uncovered by Lake's teams were utterly unlike any living things that have ever been studied by science - and they had been preserved, through some freak combination of cold and terrain, to such an extent that even tissue had remained intact after millions of years.

Lake's initial reports were seized upon by the scientific world. The photographs and samples he collected promised to lead to whole new fields of biological knowledge. The transcriptions broadcast of his first crude dissections have been copied untold times, and are available in every library of science worthy of the name. He would, it is certain, have gone on to report still greater marvals of science - but even heroic efforts must end, and Lake and the others chose at last to rest, after nearly two days of frantic activity.

They were never heard from again.

On the afternood of January 24th, a tremendous Antarctic gale swept the campsite, killing every man in Lake's party and scattering his samples, notes, and equipment beyond recovery. A rescue mission the following day found only silence, useless scraps of machinery, and a few pathetic remains of the tragedy. None of the men at Lake's camp ever returned home. The remainder of the expedition retreated north a few days later.
 
Last edited:

May 26, 1933

"ANTARCTICA OR BUST!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Renown Adventurer Sets His Sights on the Bottom of the World.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

New York (AP) - World famous explorer James Starkweather annouced today that he would lead a party of scientists and explorers into uncharted parts of the Antarctic continent this fall.
Starkweather, accompanied by geologist William Moore of Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, intends to continue along the trail first blazed by the ill-fated Miskatonic University Expedition of 1930-31.
The Starkweather-Moore Expedition will set sail in September from New York City. Like their predecessors, they intend to use long-range aircraft to explore further into the South Polar wilderness than has ever been done before.
"This is not about the South Pole", Starkweather explained ths morning , in a prepared speech in his hotel in New York. "Many people have been to the Pole. We're going to go places where no one has ever been and see things that no one alive has seen."
The expedition intends to spend only three months in Antarctica. Extensive use of aeroplanes for surveying and transport, according to Starkweather, will allow the party to chart and cover territory in hours that would have taken weeks to cover by ground.
One goal of the expedition is to find the campsite and last resting place of the twelve men, led by Professor Charles Lake, who first discovered the Miskatonic Range, and who where killed by a unexpected storm. The mapping and climbing of the mountains in that range and the aerial survey of the lands on the far side are also important goals.
"The peaks are tremendous," Starkweathe explained. "The tallest mountains in the world! It's my job to conquer those heights, and bring home their secrets for all mankind."
"We have the finest equipment money can buy. We cannot help but succeed."
Starkweather, 43, is a veteran of the Great War. He has led expeditions into the wilderness on four continents, and was present on the trans-polar flight of the airship Italia, whose crash near the end of its voyage on the North Polar ice cap received worldwide attention.
Moore, 39, a full Professor of Geology, is also the holder of the Smythe Chair of Paleontology at Miskatonic Univeristy. He has extensive experience in harsh climates and has taken part in expeditions to both the Arctic and the Himalayan Plateau.
 
Last edited:

Ok there is the basic background to the game. Your characters are to be a party members of the Starkweather-Moore Expedition or will try and get onto the expedition:D

The expediton is recruiting now and they are looking for people with useful skills. Also they are looking for financial backers. Dilettantes and others with no useful skills may purchase berths in this fashion. Journalist are also wanted.

So think about what a arctic expedition would need. I will want 3rd level characters. If you don't have the rules come up with your character idea and I will build him/she for you. Stats will be generated buy rolling 4d6 and dropping the lowest die.
 
Last edited:

hmm I have two concepts so far...which do you think fits better?

Lara Croft type - more money than she knows what to do with so she spends it trying to get the best adrenalin rush money can buy so she doesn't have to suffer boredom. Finances crazy expeditions - its all about the glory and excitement baby - some people think she has a death wish, she just says she has an adrenalin addiction - she's just a little unbalanced - gunslinger - academic - adventurer - risktaker - wild child product of the 20's

or

mild-manner professor, a bit timid, but very brillant. she couldn't resist the treasures that the previous expedition had done and overcame her fear to go on this expedition. Utterly not a survivalist - a complete city girl. She is wild about knowledge, about learning, and about what the expedition found. She wants the glory of bringing it out to the public, hoping it will ensure her tenure at the university
 

I'm going to hold back on ideas a bit because I want to:

a) see what other people are doing
b) wait for my CoC book to arrive
c) read a bit more about the time period and mythos to get in-setting.

That said, I would love (if it's okay with YellowSign) to have some pre-established links, so those of you coming up with concepts, if you want a sibling, parent, class mate, significant other, or whatever, leave those hooks dangling, and I'll see if I can pick some of them up.
 

I first thought about making a crazed mathematician, think John Nash (A Beautiful Mind) meets Max Cohen (Pi). He might want to join the expedition due to something that the previous expedition found, something that is very interesting for his 'new theory'. He definately is a bit unstable to start with, don't know if you could fit this concept in or if it's a bit too much for this CoC campaign.

Alternatively, I might like to try a pilot, someone from an old noble family, who was cast out because he joined the army in the war. All the more tragic because he never really got to act in the war, make a 'difference'. His life has been uneventful since then, and he has been wallowing in selfpity. Now, he feels that he is growing older and that his body will soon fail him. He realizes that he only has one more chance to make a name for himself, achieve something and thus take revenge on his family for casting him out. He's willing to take risk in order to make an accomplishment, for this is his last chance. He's not in for the glory, but for his personal self-worth (think severe midlife crisis, combined with a grudge against his family).

While typing this, the pilot seems to get much more well-rounded than the mathematician, I think he'll offer more opportunities for RP.
I'll switch preferences. I'll go for the pilot, keep the mathematician as back-up in case you're not happy with him. Fickle me. :p

Fanog

EDIT: clarified a little bit.
 
Last edited:

Remove ads

Top