Fellowship of the Witching Hour OOC Thread (Full)

[Dlsharrock]

Seeking players for a new Call of Cthulhu game set in Arkham, circa 1941, with a WWII backdrop.
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Mystery, occultism and mythology; compelling subjects best left to the open minded among us, perhaps, but with America teetering on the brink of war, and the onset of conscription seeming more and more inevitable, many are eager to distract themselves from the horrors of the real world by amusing themselves with the levity of the imaginary. Thus do a group of likeminded individuals seek solace in the Witching Hour bar, an atmospheric 'haunt' on the corner of Garrison and Main. Here they meet once a week to enjoy one anothers' company and to discuss mysteries, intrigue and strange local news.

Soon their casual interest and discussions progress, to be replaced by a more deep-seated fascination. So captivating do their discussions become, and so intriguing the news they share, that they begin venturing out together, beyond the safe confines of their favourite bar and into the moonlit streets and shadowy avenues of Arkham, there to observe first hand those many places where strange events have supposedly taken place.

This begins as entertainment, a way to experience exhileration in the spooky surrounds of a graveyard at midnight, or a purportedly haunted stretch of road in the gloomy forests outside Arkham. But when the group begin to experience first hand the things they have only previously talked about, their initial amusement escalates and becomes something altogether more exciting. Evidently, strange things really are abroad in the dark streets of Arkham.
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I'll be running this on one of two forums (haven't decided which yet). My current preference would be Enworld, but I'm also advertising for spaces on Play@Yog-Sothoth. Whichever forum I get more interest, I'll probably choose that as the venue. Either way, this is your standard play by web format

So if you're interested in exploring Arkham, unravelling eldritch mysteries and battling the chaotic forces of a world at right angles to our own, get in touch with character suggestions. Chaosium Call of Cthulhu rules please, not d20 CoC. (Yes, I realise this is Enworld, which makes that blasphemy, but there you are).

 

[Dlsharrock]

Bumping/editing this as I felt my original plug for this game was probably a bit confusing and not entirely what I wanted it to be. This is a more straight forward introduction. I'm also hoping to garner at least one interested player from here on Enworld to join others I'm seeking from Play@Yog-Sothoth and various pbem ad centres.

 

[Dire Lemming]

I'm interesting in Call of Cthulu but no nothing about the rules.

 

[Dlsharrock]

No problem. I'd be more than happy to be the lucky son-of-a-tentacle to introduce you to CoC! Though, be warned, you may never look back

This also applies to anyone else who is interested but reluctant because they don't know Basic Roleplay rules (Chaosium's version). I know them inside out and will happily lead you through the character creation process and point out the more important aspects of play, like sanity. As the name suggests, it's a very easy system to pick up.

My suggestion for you Dire Lemming, and anyone else who'd like to play but doesn't (or does) know the rules is to simply submit a character proposal including name, gender, age, occupation, background and any other information you want to include to flesh him/her out. You can do this in the time honoured tradition by listing the basics then writing the background, or provide him/her as a kind of narrative introduction. Depending on your preference I'll then either roll up your character for you using the details you provide as the skeleton or help you do so by email (probably best as you'll then have a better understanding of what each stat represents). If you know Basic Roleplaying and the CoC system, of course, feel free to submit a completed character. There are no restrictions other than the need for your character to have an interest in the mysterious and the strange (as they will be joining the group introduced in the first post of this thread) and must fit with an early 1940s theme.

The town of Arkham has a very famous/infamous university which may be an excellent premise for your character if you're stuck for ideas. Professors, -ologists, students, scholars, scientists etc. can all feasibly hail from Miskatonic University, especially as the Witching Hour bar is within walking distance.

In-game I'm more than happy to lead players through processes like combat and so on.

 

[greenstar]

Never played the game but interested in learning. Is a eccentric female artist name Arabella Ruthers good enough?

 

[greenstar]

Haven't thought of all the details for the background yet.

Name: Arabella Carrington
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Occupation: Artist
Background: Arabella is the daughter of a rich family in Boston. Her parents wanted her to be a proper woman but she was always eccentric and thought everyone was boring. She got tired of her family and moved to Arkham to be a artist. She hangs out at the Witching Hour with a few other people to talk about strange things.

 

[Dlsharrock]

Arabella sounds good to me: an artist is one of the example occupations given in the character gen chapter so you've hit the perfect note. The background could use some more meat though. Why was she drawn to the idea of the Witching Hour group? She probably heard about it from a friend, or maybe she saw a small ad looking for new members in a local paper. Does the strange and occult interest her? Or is she just after something a bit different?

Is she already a professional artist, is she a student studying a fine art degree (or graphic design, history of art, etc etc) at MUAM (Miskatonic University of Arkham Massachusettes)? She could even be a newly qualified teacher! In the case of the latter two, she might have read about the group meet up on a bulletin board or heard rumours about it in the university grounds.

Some things to think about (for anyone who wants to play, actually):

- the character's basic demeanour and physiognomy. Are they strong, weak, well educated, intelligent, lacks common sense, hard-nosed, practical, unusually brusque, shy, extraordinarily beautiful, ugly as a bulldog? In short, physiological and psychological aspects that might contribute to the basic stats covering strength, constitution and health, dexterity, appearance, size, intelligence, education, general knowledge, power and luck.

- Do they have any notable skills or talents? BRCoC is largely skill driven so this, along with above details, will help me determine what skills best suit your character.

- If the character isn't not at MUAM, do they have any degrees, college education? They needn't have studied at MUAM. Any college/university anywhere in the world is fine provided it ties into the background.

- Birthplace, nationality.

- Marks, scars, mental disorders. I prefer emotional scarring to be represented by nothing more serious than phobias and no more than one phobia per character to keep things on an even keel at the outset. There'll be plenty of scope for the character to turn into a gibbering wreck once the game gets going IME, a well thought out phobia, particularly one that ties in with the character's background, adds a fun dimension to the game.

 

[Dire Lemming]

Adam West
Age: 32
Sex: Male
Occupation: Medical Doctor

For some reason I'm just feeling incredibly uncreative today. Adam became interested in the occult for similar reasons to most people. Because it was something unusual. However, he ended up getting more and more interested, and has a shelf full of related writings. He then heard about bar and decided to check it out, finding a nice place to discuss his favorite subject with like minded individuals.

I suppose he's intelligent and well educated, but not particularly remarkable in other ways.

He was born in Maine and went to school there, then decided to move to warmer climes.

He hates clowns.

 

[greenstar]

Arabella Carrington
Gender: Female
Height: 5'3"
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Occupation: Artist
Age: 24
Appearance: Attractive
Personality: Stubborn, energetic, practical
Skills: Art, history
Other: Average strength. Dexterous. Born in Boston. American/British
Background: Arabella is the second child of a wealthy family in Boston that got rich selling perfume and has a few politicians. Her parents wanted her to be a proper lady but she is eccentric and thought her family was boring and so were other wealthy people. When her parents started telling her to look for a husband she got tired of them and moved to Arkham to be an artist. Arabella used her families money to get into MUAM so she could get an art degree. Part of the reason is because her family didn't want her to go to a university. One day she heard about the group at the Witching Hour from one of her friends at the university and because she is interested in anything weird she joined them.

 

[Dlsharrock]

I have three interested players so far. Plenty of room for more.
Any other Enworlders fancy donning their trilby, loading their revolver and stepping out of their comfort zone into a world of tentacular fun? Go ahn, It'll be great!

[SBLOCK=Greenstar]
Thanks Greenstar for meating out the background of the character a bit more. That's great. Do you have an email I can use to contact you? (Write format: you AT email.com). I'll flesh out your character stats and discuss things like skills with you. I'm also writing up a quick introduction to the basic ruleset so you know a little of what to expect.[/SBLOCK]
[SBLOCK=Dire Lemming]
Dire, I'm feeling your heart's not in it! Don't push yourself to do something you don't want to do my friend. If you'd like to take a couple days to think about your character please feel free, but don't play if you don't really want to. Seriously.

If you're happy to get stuck in with us though, post your email (format name AT email.com) and I'll get in touch to flesh out your stats and such. It'd be great to have you in the group! Oh, I'm also writing up a quick introduction to the basic ruleset so you know a little of what to expect.[/SBLOCK]
Positions are still open. Looking for some great investigator ideas- as a non-forum applicant has pointed out characters related to the war would work well, European refugees fleeing wartorn countries, or American conscripts killing time between training. Other less orthodox 1940s professions could include movie or news bulletin voice over artists ala Don LaFontaine, a barber seeking something a bit more interesting than hair in his spare time, an architect with a particular interest in spooky gothic mansions, a politician or rich politician's disillusioned son/daughter (could be a cool angle for you Greenstar), an electrician, a famous actor or actress seeking obscurity in a small Massachusetts town, engineer, mechanic (lots of work for these in pre-war America), dress-maker or tailor, museum curator, inventor and so on...