Fellowship of the Witching Hour OOC Thread (Full)
- Thread starter Dlsharrock
- Start date
Dire Lemming
First Post
White... Athiest.... um.... uh... Super Pasty?
Well I got the first letter right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestant
Well I got the first letter right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestant
Dire Lemming
First Post
greenstar said:
Wow, this is great, I'm getting everyone to make their female characters have large breasts!
Well I suppose I can have built a prototype in her size too. I'd assume Sam is bigger boned and more muscular from having a more active lifestyle.
Dlsharrock
First Post
Absolutely not. Nobody gets to wear the brassiere.
I already have dibs, being the Keeper. And intend to wear it on my head throughout.
Yes, a description of WASP is in order kouk. I'm assuming its some kind of New York racial purity thing?
Attached to this post is a Notepad file that I've given out with previous incarnations of Fellowship of the Witching Hour and I'd appreciate if you could all download it and read it.
I'll also be emailing it to all players.
It really is rather precious to me that you read it.
It basically outlines turn based methods and general in-game courtesy along with some house-rules about attendance and so on that you'll need to know before you play. Some stuff in there that all players will be doing when the game starts and if you aren't doing it, it'll be rather obvious you didn't download the file and read it and somewhat annoying for me to explain to you what you should be doing. Annoying in a rip your arm off and slap you over the head with the soggy end kind of way.
I'll be looking at character creation tonight and sending out the RAW overview for those of you guys who aren't familiar with Call of Cthulhu
Kouk, I'm assuming you *are* familiar?
I already have dibs, being the Keeper. And intend to wear it on my head throughout.
Yes, a description of WASP is in order kouk. I'm assuming its some kind of New York racial purity thing?
Attached to this post is a Notepad file that I've given out with previous incarnations of Fellowship of the Witching Hour and I'd appreciate if you could all download it and read it.
I'll also be emailing it to all players.
It really is rather precious to me that you read it.
It basically outlines turn based methods and general in-game courtesy along with some house-rules about attendance and so on that you'll need to know before you play. Some stuff in there that all players will be doing when the game starts and if you aren't doing it, it'll be rather obvious you didn't download the file and read it and somewhat annoying for me to explain to you what you should be doing. Annoying in a rip your arm off and slap you over the head with the soggy end kind of way.
I'll be looking at character creation tonight and sending out the RAW overview for those of you guys who aren't familiar with Call of Cthulhu
Kouk, I'm assuming you *are* familiar?
Dlsharrock
First Post
Greenstar: I'm wary of including psychic ability in terms of soothsaying, primarily because it would entail knowing what's going to happen next in the game, and as I avoid overly-linear games I may not know that myself.
I'd be happy to include some kind of telekinesis tendency that only really exists as a state of mind in her own head and isn't true telepathy in the traditional sense. She gets 'funny feelings' for example in certain parts of a house, or interprets her dreams and bases her actions on those interpretations. She reads tarot and tea leaves, basing her readings more on the person she's reading to and the telltale signs they give away than the cards or the tea (this being a subconscious method, not a conscious deception on her part. As far as she's concerned she's reading their fortune).
It won't be real psychic ability, but the projection of what she thinks is a psychic ability. In many real life psychics I suspect this is the case anyway and I think it'll be more fun to roleplay.
Granted, you don't get the in-game benefit of knowing what might be lurking around the next corner, but I think that may be a bit too much of a gift. Especially as she already has the sidecar and cow
I'd be happy to include some kind of telekinesis tendency that only really exists as a state of mind in her own head and isn't true telepathy in the traditional sense. She gets 'funny feelings' for example in certain parts of a house, or interprets her dreams and bases her actions on those interpretations. She reads tarot and tea leaves, basing her readings more on the person she's reading to and the telltale signs they give away than the cards or the tea (this being a subconscious method, not a conscious deception on her part. As far as she's concerned she's reading their fortune).
It won't be real psychic ability, but the projection of what she thinks is a psychic ability. In many real life psychics I suspect this is the case anyway and I think it'll be more fun to roleplay.
Granted, you don't get the in-game benefit of knowing what might be lurking around the next corner, but I think that may be a bit too much of a gift. Especially as she already has the sidecar and cow
kookalouris
First Post
An unearthly child
OK, my serve...
Building on what has gone before (and, of course, always subject to group feeling).
Please don't be daunted by the sheer SIZE of this writeup. I tend to write psychological sketches of my characters for my own benefit, like some actors do. Cherry-pick only what you like (and let me know what you don't like) and I will know what to focus on. Right now, this is what is commonly known about Samantha's life up to her adoption. More to follow.
Samantha Celeste Gilman was born to the Gilmans of Massachusetts, one of the founding colonial families. Originally fleeing England to practice their own odd beliefs, the Gilman's had no real trouble increasing their numbers by 'sampling' the local natives and whatever other bloodlines they brought with them (mostly unwilling to both the trip and the sampling).
Over the centuries, the Gilmans eventually found that old money (which usually means undiscovered crimes) can buy a kind of respectability. The clan centered on the coastal town of Innsmouth where the Gilman's almost inhuman talent for fishing is the main explanation for their relative wealth. As other types of peoples were gradually 'removed' from New England, the Gilmans began to mix with old but impoverished revolutionary families and only some digging can show that Gilmans weren't always just displaced English nobility.
It began to seem almost a family imperative for the Gilmans to learn more about the world around them, particularly the stranger parts of it. The clan helped fund the Miskatonic university and use those funds to 'orient' the school towards more esoteric pursuits.
Which brings us to Sam's father, Professor Henry Gilman was a noted archelogist who went to strange places and brought back stranger treasures. To his mind, the greatest treasure Henry brought back was his foreign wife, Maya. No one outside the Gilmans really knew where Maya came from, or what combination of peoples would explain her exotic appearance and mannerisms. Or how fast Maya learned to acclimate to New England society, right down to a near-flawless accent.
What was never in doubt was how much the odd couple did care for each other and how they seemed complete in each other. It seemed the entire Gilman clan eagerly awaited the birth of the couple's first child. When Samantha was born, she seemed perfect (the clan was only slightly disappointed in a girl and there was expected to be many other siblings to follow).
But it was not to be...
On a sudden family outing, the couple's sailboat was attacked by what could only have been sharks. Or at least that was the conclusion of the sailors who had found ...most... of Henry. Maya was found gibbering and chanting, clutching her unharmed child.
After the accident, Maya oddly refused the sanctuary of the Gilman clan and practically fled to Kansas where the Ripleys lived. The Ripleys were related to the Gilmans by some marriages a generation or so before but had largely avoided the more prominent family, there was something ~off~ about the Gilmans. And the Ripley were nothing if not down to earth, right down to being generations of farmers.
Despite not being related by either blood or marriage, Martha Ripley could recognize a fellow mother in distress in Maya Gilman. Both mother and child were welcome at the Ripley farm without any real speculation as to why Maya was wary of her husband's family.
Welcoming as the Ripleys were, Maya's mental delusions and paranoia increased until she was committed to the local sanitarium where she seemed to have committed suicide in a manner so strange the staff still whispers about it to this day. Sam was less than a year old.
More to follow...
Notes:
I have always been fascinated both Lovecraft's monsters and the reactions of the hapless humans who encounter them. Thus, the most interesting characters to me have been the ones with a slightly inhuman heritage, how do you run from your own DNA?
I hope this background hints at a strange background but doesn't necessarily commit to one. It could be that Sam is merely the child of a foreign woman that didn't get along with her father's kinfolk if that better suits the game.
The Gilman clan is actually from Lovecraft, specifically Innsmouth. Those familiar with the story will get the pun. And, if not, I encourage you to read 'Shadows Over Innsmouth.' for the sheer joy of it.
The name Celeste can mean 'heavenly' or 'from the stars.' The name Astrid would work as well.
Some people would have realized that the name Maya means 'illusion' making it unlikely that was the real name of Sam's mother. Although no one would question the Gilmans outright. (current inspiration, the character Maya from the series 'Heroes', saddled with a terrible curse of her own). This allows Maya's heritage to be determined by game needs if at all.
Martha Ripley is a play on Martha Kent, Superman's mom. Superman started out in '39 only two years before. And both Sam and Clark are very unusual strangers in the most common of places, initially believing themselves to be as mundane as the people around them.
Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome as always...
Gerry
OK, my serve...
Building on what has gone before (and, of course, always subject to group feeling).
Please don't be daunted by the sheer SIZE of this writeup. I tend to write psychological sketches of my characters for my own benefit, like some actors do. Cherry-pick only what you like (and let me know what you don't like) and I will know what to focus on. Right now, this is what is commonly known about Samantha's life up to her adoption. More to follow.
Samantha Celeste Gilman was born to the Gilmans of Massachusetts, one of the founding colonial families. Originally fleeing England to practice their own odd beliefs, the Gilman's had no real trouble increasing their numbers by 'sampling' the local natives and whatever other bloodlines they brought with them (mostly unwilling to both the trip and the sampling).
Over the centuries, the Gilmans eventually found that old money (which usually means undiscovered crimes) can buy a kind of respectability. The clan centered on the coastal town of Innsmouth where the Gilman's almost inhuman talent for fishing is the main explanation for their relative wealth. As other types of peoples were gradually 'removed' from New England, the Gilmans began to mix with old but impoverished revolutionary families and only some digging can show that Gilmans weren't always just displaced English nobility.
It began to seem almost a family imperative for the Gilmans to learn more about the world around them, particularly the stranger parts of it. The clan helped fund the Miskatonic university and use those funds to 'orient' the school towards more esoteric pursuits.
Which brings us to Sam's father, Professor Henry Gilman was a noted archelogist who went to strange places and brought back stranger treasures. To his mind, the greatest treasure Henry brought back was his foreign wife, Maya. No one outside the Gilmans really knew where Maya came from, or what combination of peoples would explain her exotic appearance and mannerisms. Or how fast Maya learned to acclimate to New England society, right down to a near-flawless accent.
What was never in doubt was how much the odd couple did care for each other and how they seemed complete in each other. It seemed the entire Gilman clan eagerly awaited the birth of the couple's first child. When Samantha was born, she seemed perfect (the clan was only slightly disappointed in a girl and there was expected to be many other siblings to follow).
But it was not to be...
On a sudden family outing, the couple's sailboat was attacked by what could only have been sharks. Or at least that was the conclusion of the sailors who had found ...most... of Henry. Maya was found gibbering and chanting, clutching her unharmed child.
After the accident, Maya oddly refused the sanctuary of the Gilman clan and practically fled to Kansas where the Ripleys lived. The Ripleys were related to the Gilmans by some marriages a generation or so before but had largely avoided the more prominent family, there was something ~off~ about the Gilmans. And the Ripley were nothing if not down to earth, right down to being generations of farmers.
Despite not being related by either blood or marriage, Martha Ripley could recognize a fellow mother in distress in Maya Gilman. Both mother and child were welcome at the Ripley farm without any real speculation as to why Maya was wary of her husband's family.
Welcoming as the Ripleys were, Maya's mental delusions and paranoia increased until she was committed to the local sanitarium where she seemed to have committed suicide in a manner so strange the staff still whispers about it to this day. Sam was less than a year old.
More to follow...
Notes:
I have always been fascinated both Lovecraft's monsters and the reactions of the hapless humans who encounter them. Thus, the most interesting characters to me have been the ones with a slightly inhuman heritage, how do you run from your own DNA?
I hope this background hints at a strange background but doesn't necessarily commit to one. It could be that Sam is merely the child of a foreign woman that didn't get along with her father's kinfolk if that better suits the game.
The Gilman clan is actually from Lovecraft, specifically Innsmouth. Those familiar with the story will get the pun. And, if not, I encourage you to read 'Shadows Over Innsmouth.' for the sheer joy of it.
The name Celeste can mean 'heavenly' or 'from the stars.' The name Astrid would work as well.
Some people would have realized that the name Maya means 'illusion' making it unlikely that was the real name of Sam's mother. Although no one would question the Gilmans outright. (current inspiration, the character Maya from the series 'Heroes', saddled with a terrible curse of her own). This allows Maya's heritage to be determined by game needs if at all.
Martha Ripley is a play on Martha Kent, Superman's mom. Superman started out in '39 only two years before. And both Sam and Clark are very unusual strangers in the most common of places, initially believing themselves to be as mundane as the people around them.
Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome as always...
Gerry
Dlsharrock
First Post
There's something to be said for in-game character development and there's a lot here she probably wouldn't share with our two resident bar flies. But very detailed and surprisingly, this time, I'm not going to be a spoilsport I kinda blinked when it turned out she was linked to the founding fathers of MUAM, but so long as that doesn't carry any weight in-game it's ok.
Oh right, character sheets...
I kinda blinked when it turned out she was linked to the founding fathers of MUAM, but so long as that doesn't carry any weight in-game it's ok.Same way you turn around and look at your own back, very very fast
Hm. Reminds me of someone. It remains fascinating to me to this day just how incredibly painful Lovecraft's own life was. Certainly he had plenty of inspiration for the horror he wrote so well.
Oh right, character sheets...
Dlsharrock
First Post
Not necessarily oh he of extremely concise posts. I've studied the RAW a bit about this and I think we could wrangle something with Magic Points. Not seeing into the future maybe, but... hm. Let me have a look at it and get back to you when I sort out your character sheet.
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