I normally run a Forgotten Realms campaign, but I've been asked to run a CoC one-shot for Halloween. Anyone else running a Halloween game?
Anyway the idea I had come up with I think is ok... but might be a bit too ambitious. At the Wizards CoC message board, someone posted a "true" story about an eskimo village that dissapeared and I really liked the idea (http://www.qsl.net/w5www/disappearances.html scroll to the last one).
It would be set in a tiny Alaskan town (Cthulhu meets Northern Exposure, I haven't thought of a good town name yet) that has recently been affected by an extremely rare disease. The disease had only been previously seen in remote parts of Africa and was thought to be currently extinct. A large number of the townsfolk have become ill and some have simply dissapeared or wandered off into the local nature reserve. The disease isn't deadly, but it does lead to extreme disfigurement. What has the CDC (Center for Disease Control) most worried its spread. The disease is normally not very contageous and had not previously led to severe schizophrenia as this outbreak has. Some of the PC's would be CDC personell from Atlanta others might be official personel from Juneau escorting the handful of CDC guys (I'll have a stack of Pre-Gen PC's available for the players).
As the PC's begin their investigation either one or more murders will occur. For an interesting twist, I have asked one of my players if she would be the main villain of the story. She's working on a character background for her psycho-killer (I have requested it be someone that can get along well in normal life, someone the other players wouldn't suspsect). Anyway, she beleives that her character will be the main villain of the plot... she's actually incorrect
. This player is a jaded horror fan and has played alot of horror RPGs before (the other players have never played any horror games). Her thinking she's the "Big Bad Guy" is a red herring. It'll simply add to the paranoia and fear of the situation. Here's what really going on...
The Alaskan town the PCs are in is built near to the location where the Eskimo village was. At the turn of the century an extremely wealthy, slightly mad, doctor and pharmacist (basing him very lightly on H. Holmes; http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/holmes/index_1.html) named Ezra Denton became obsessed with the dissapearance. Ezra was an afficianado of the occult and beleived that whatever happened to the village involved a great power. Doctor Denton left his family in the mainland and constructed an expansive mansion (this will be the basis for it http://www.serianni.com/wh13.htm) close to where the Eskimo vilalge was so he could study it in detail.
The Eskimo village had tapped into a Shoggoth that was sealed, ages ago, in an underground temple. Unfortunately through their shaman's rites (or some other method) they awoke it... once the village was destroyed it returned to its slumber. That was until the Doctor Denton came, he awoke the Shoggoth and struch a number of unholy deals with the creature. Some sort of blood right was conducted and the doc was changed... part of the essence of the Shoggoth was combined with him, granting him immortality (or at least death from old age). He had immortality but his physical body began to go through subtle changes, which worsened every year.
As time passed, the Doctor Denton (who has now mutated considerably and looks more and more like his benefactor) watched his children and grandchildren, and great grand children grow into maturity. Though he could not die of old age, he had become crippled by his mutations and could barely move about. He needed to return to Alaska, to the Shoggorth, to regenerate himself. That is when he approached Joshua Denton, one of his grown, great grand children to help him.
Joshua is a pharmacological researcher for the company his great-grand father had long ago founded. Also, like his great-grand father, he is obsessed with the occult. Once the truth of Ezra Denton was known to him, he eagerly sought to help. He arranged transport for both of them to the small town. Ezra is staying at the abandoned mansion he had built so long ago and Joshua has become the town doctor. Beyond housing Ezra, the mansion also has a number of the more severe cases from the town. These people are now barely recognizable as human.
Ezra is gathering his energies in order to attempt to awaken the Shoggoth. Joshua, meanwhile, has been taking blood samples from the shoggoth and is hoping to create some sort of immortality serum (he's had no success though). He has been using the serums he's concocted on the local populace to test results. That is the "disease" the disease the CDC is trying to study. Anyway, If Joshua cannot find a way to make a useful serum, he plans to betray Ezra once he awakens the Shoggoth, wishing immortality for himself.
That's the basic story... I'm just trying to capture that Lovecraftian feel more then anything else. Any suggestions? Criticisms? Ideas? Comments?
Anyway the idea I had come up with I think is ok... but might be a bit too ambitious. At the Wizards CoC message board, someone posted a "true" story about an eskimo village that dissapeared and I really liked the idea (http://www.qsl.net/w5www/disappearances.html scroll to the last one).
It would be set in a tiny Alaskan town (Cthulhu meets Northern Exposure, I haven't thought of a good town name yet) that has recently been affected by an extremely rare disease. The disease had only been previously seen in remote parts of Africa and was thought to be currently extinct. A large number of the townsfolk have become ill and some have simply dissapeared or wandered off into the local nature reserve. The disease isn't deadly, but it does lead to extreme disfigurement. What has the CDC (Center for Disease Control) most worried its spread. The disease is normally not very contageous and had not previously led to severe schizophrenia as this outbreak has. Some of the PC's would be CDC personell from Atlanta others might be official personel from Juneau escorting the handful of CDC guys (I'll have a stack of Pre-Gen PC's available for the players).
As the PC's begin their investigation either one or more murders will occur. For an interesting twist, I have asked one of my players if she would be the main villain of the story. She's working on a character background for her psycho-killer (I have requested it be someone that can get along well in normal life, someone the other players wouldn't suspsect). Anyway, she beleives that her character will be the main villain of the plot... she's actually incorrect
. This player is a jaded horror fan and has played alot of horror RPGs before (the other players have never played any horror games). Her thinking she's the "Big Bad Guy" is a red herring. It'll simply add to the paranoia and fear of the situation. Here's what really going on...The Alaskan town the PCs are in is built near to the location where the Eskimo village was. At the turn of the century an extremely wealthy, slightly mad, doctor and pharmacist (basing him very lightly on H. Holmes; http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/holmes/index_1.html) named Ezra Denton became obsessed with the dissapearance. Ezra was an afficianado of the occult and beleived that whatever happened to the village involved a great power. Doctor Denton left his family in the mainland and constructed an expansive mansion (this will be the basis for it http://www.serianni.com/wh13.htm) close to where the Eskimo vilalge was so he could study it in detail.
The Eskimo village had tapped into a Shoggoth that was sealed, ages ago, in an underground temple. Unfortunately through their shaman's rites (or some other method) they awoke it... once the village was destroyed it returned to its slumber. That was until the Doctor Denton came, he awoke the Shoggoth and struch a number of unholy deals with the creature. Some sort of blood right was conducted and the doc was changed... part of the essence of the Shoggoth was combined with him, granting him immortality (or at least death from old age). He had immortality but his physical body began to go through subtle changes, which worsened every year.
As time passed, the Doctor Denton (who has now mutated considerably and looks more and more like his benefactor) watched his children and grandchildren, and great grand children grow into maturity. Though he could not die of old age, he had become crippled by his mutations and could barely move about. He needed to return to Alaska, to the Shoggorth, to regenerate himself. That is when he approached Joshua Denton, one of his grown, great grand children to help him.
Joshua is a pharmacological researcher for the company his great-grand father had long ago founded. Also, like his great-grand father, he is obsessed with the occult. Once the truth of Ezra Denton was known to him, he eagerly sought to help. He arranged transport for both of them to the small town. Ezra is staying at the abandoned mansion he had built so long ago and Joshua has become the town doctor. Beyond housing Ezra, the mansion also has a number of the more severe cases from the town. These people are now barely recognizable as human.
Ezra is gathering his energies in order to attempt to awaken the Shoggoth. Joshua, meanwhile, has been taking blood samples from the shoggoth and is hoping to create some sort of immortality serum (he's had no success though). He has been using the serums he's concocted on the local populace to test results. That is the "disease" the disease the CDC is trying to study. Anyway, If Joshua cannot find a way to make a useful serum, he plans to betray Ezra once he awakens the Shoggoth, wishing immortality for himself.
That's the basic story... I'm just trying to capture that Lovecraftian feel more then anything else. Any suggestions? Criticisms? Ideas? Comments?
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