De Profundis - an overview {Cthulhu}

Right, it's no secret that I love H.P Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos, so when I came across Cubicle 7's De Profundis at my local game store I knew I had to buy it. Not only do I like collecting Lovecraftiana, I was also incredibly intrigued by the premise of the game.

In essence, this is a game of letter writing. Yes, that thing we used to do before email. It forces you to actually become a character in a Lovecraftian story, writing to other players in order to uncover some sort of mystery. While the rules are badly laid out and written in needlessly convoluted prose, when you get to the nuts and bolts it's a hugely immersive experience.

You have the option of setting the story in the 20s or present day. You're also encouraged to send parcels, photos and journals as props in order to create an authentic atmosphere. Another aspect that attracted me to the game was that it's possible to play it solo. You can create a journal and use dice and tables as well as logical questions in order to progress the story.

A really interesting part of the game is that it's part LARP. The author encourages you to go out and experience things instead of just sitting and writing whatever comes to your head. If you want to go and explore a dark ruin, actually go and do it - experience it. This will allow for a much better account in your writing - or so it's claimed.

I really want to get a game of De Profundis going. I've signed up to the official Yahoo Group, but it doesn't look like there's a whole lot of activity on there. I have posted a scenario idea to see if there are any takers, but I figure I'll open it up to you guys too, so let me know if you fancy playing and we can sort something out. Here it is:

The Horror in the Trenches

Convention: Weird Fiction/ Historical

Time and Place: Europe 1918 and 1920-1921

Plot: The Great War seems like a horrific nightmare for a group of ex-soldiers who fought in it, but the horror is only just rising to the surface. One member of the group receives a letter and a journal from the wife of his friend Jonathan Cook, a friend who served in the same platoon and has suddenly died. While the wife does not know the significance of Jonathan's journal, he had always told her that if something happened to it, he was to send it on to his friend. 

The journal contains odd entries regarding the war, especially in 1918 during the battle of Amiens. Jonathan makes suggestions that high ranking officers were up to something and he had recorded evidence of it in his journal - particularly of the strange markings he found around the trenches and the blasphemous artefacts he came across after much prying. 

The game will seek to uncover what exactly Jonathan found in the trenches and how he came to die so suddenly at the age of 28. His journal from 1918 will be referenced in letters by his friend, who will seek help from the men he served with in the war. Preferably the ex-soldiers will consist of a journalist and academic researchers - but occupations can be fairly loose. 

I wouldn't mind taking on the mantle of the friend who receives the journal from Jonathan. Just let me know if you're interested because I'm looking to get this kicked off soon. 

Review: Call of Cthulhu - The Doom from Below

Last night was one of the rare occasions I got to play Call of Cthulhu and it was definitely worth the wait. I was Keeper as usual and I decided to go with The Doom from Below by Super Genius Games. Clearly I don't want to give anything away, but SGG have put a lot of effort into fleshing the back story of this one-evening module. You're given a very rich and detailed history of the White Mountains and the surrounding forest where the adventure is set - details that will likely never be revealed to the players but are important context-wise to the Keeper. I had a lot of fun just reading this, never mind playing it.

The quick synopsis is that a circular pit has been found in a New England forest that seems a tad out of place, so the investigators go to, well, investigate it by descending into its dark depths.

Again, not giving anything away, but this is a classic exploration adventure where the investigators uncover the mystery of what happened in that forest and the horrors that lurk within. I highly recommend this adventure.

Cthulhu Mythic: session one

As I said last week, I've begun a solitaire Call of Cthulhu adventure because I'm a sad, sad loner. I'm using the fabulous Mythic GM engine that does most of the work of the GM, along with the Call of Cthulhu 5th edition ruleset.

My first session lasted around an hour I reckon and it's actually turning out quite nicely. However, I am finding that an investigative game is a bit fiddly to play, since the aim is to unveil stuff as you go on, but since I'm playing on my own it's difficult not to know what's going to happen and who the big bad is.

In a nutshell, here's what happened in my first game. My character, Harold Greengrove, a physics professor in the Miskatonic University (where else?) grew concerned that his assistant, Robert Tapert, had not returned to work in three days and won't answer his calls. Harold went to see Robert at his apartment and found the man a nervous, pale wreck. Apparently he had witnessed a cult of some sort summoning a creature as he was walking through the park. Harold decided to investigate but the park was swarming with police, who were there because of a seemingly unrelated incident, but they weren't forthcoming about it. Harold decided he would come back later that night. Robert appeared at Harold's door that night, appearing to have mostly got over the fright he had and asked if he could help Harold, if only to settle his mind. They set out into the park at midnight but found nothing except a burnt out fire.
The day after Harold went to the University library to check the newspaper records of anything suspicious going on in the park. He only found a story about the police in the park, but there was no other information. After asking around students and staff to see if they saw anything in the park, an art student called Emily Harris had witnessed the same thing and had drew a picture of it. Harold noticed the cultists' robes had symbols on them, so he spent the day researching to find out what they meat. He found that it was the symbol of Yig, a snake-like god that is said to communicate with snakes, sending them after anyone who he sees as a threat to his cause.

To be continued...

Call of Cthulhu - adventuring alone

Call of Cthulhu is one of the best roleplaying systems I've ever played. I occasionally get to play it with the guys when we're not doing D&D but I'd love to play more.

Since the system is pretty simple, I had an idea. I'm going to run a short campaign by myself with the Mythic GM emulator when I get some spare time. I'm not sure it would still have the tension of the original game, but I'm sure it will scratch the Cthulhu itch.

I've just rolled up my character, Harold Greengrove, a Physicist working at the Miskatonic University. He's a level-headed individual whose social skills leave something to be desired. Although he can function in social situations, he never really gets out much, prefering staying in the university or at home researching and working on his latest paper on the arrangement of electrons in atoms.

I figure the beginning premise of the campaign should be that his lab assistant hasn't reported into work for three days and Harold hasn't been able to get hold of him/her. This will lead to some horrors etc that will unfold as Mythic weaves its web.