RolePlay onLine RPoL Logo

, welcome to The Hunt for Dracula

15:03, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Musings -- for OOC Discussions.

Posted by haruspexFor group 0
haruspex
GM, 1 post
Wed 13 Jan 2021
at 15:13
  • msg #1

Musings -- for OOC Discussions

Every game needs a place to ask questions and vent.
Mina Harker
player, 1 post
Wed 20 Jan 2021
at 01:18
  • msg #2

Musings -- for OOC Discussions

Welcome, Professor! :D
Professor Van Helsing
Occultist, 1 post
Natural Philosopher
Metaphysician
Thu 21 Jan 2021
at 20:57
  • msg #3

Musings -- for OOC Discussions

Thank you, my dear. I look forward to playing with you.
Mina Harker
player, 2 posts
Sat 23 Jan 2021
at 02:02
  • msg #4

Musings -- for OOC Discussions

The love of my life may be joining us playing Jonathan Harker. :)
Jonathan Harker
player, 1 post
Mon 25 Jan 2021
at 16:45
  • msg #5

Musings -- for OOC Discussions

And Indeed he has my Mina.  I trust you are feeling well this morning my love?
Mina Harker
player, 3 posts
Mon 25 Jan 2021
at 18:40
  • msg #6

Musings -- for OOC Discussions

In reply to Jonathan Harker (msg # 5):

Good morning, Beloved. Another fun day at work. :D
Jonathan Harker
player, 2 posts
Mon 25 Jan 2021
at 19:26
  • msg #7

Musings -- for OOC Discussions

In reply to Mina Harker (msg # 6):

Alas, your Vlad goes under the surname of Covid
haruspex
GM, 4 posts
Keeper of Arcane Lore
Tue 26 Jan 2021
at 20:32
  • msg #8

Game mechanics

OK -- it's a game, so we have to have some rules to decide who wins conflicts and such. In general my games are mostly narrative, but if you try to climb a wall or skewer a wolf, you will need to roll successfully.

Are you guys happy with D20 rules? I could go D100 (which was how I learned to play Call of Cthulhu) but I have more of an intuitive feel these days for the D20 system. I will be using the CoC Gaslight supplement stuff for reference and whichever flavor you chose I will be using a highly abbreviated character sheet.

Let me know.
Mina Harker
player, 4 posts
Tue 26 Jan 2021
at 20:47
  • msg #9

Game mechanics

I haven’t played CoC in strange, endless aeons but I’m fine with either.
Jonathan Harker
player, 3 posts
Thu 28 Jan 2021
at 00:18
  • msg #10

Game mechanics

I’m good with whatever you wish.  I’m afraid John might be of little use in a fight or survival situation, unless someone knows something I don’t about the man.  Did he ever do anything like hunting?  Can he request tutelage from other players?
Mina Harker
player, 5 posts
Thu 28 Jan 2021
at 02:03
  • msg #11

Game mechanics

He was a solicitor and some manner of gentry. He was familiar with the use of firearms.
Jonathan Harker
player, 4 posts
Thu 28 Jan 2021
at 02:50
  • msg #12

Game mechanics

Interesting, was the familiarity a matter of sport or did he gain it out of a need to protect himself?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:57, Thu 28 Jan 2021.
haruspex
GM, 6 posts
Keeper of Arcane Lore
Thu 28 Jan 2021
at 16:35
  • msg #13

Jonathan Harker Character

Here's what the Spark's Notes site says about Jonathan:

At the start of the novel, Jonathan Harker is a conscientious and hard-working young lawyer; he feels very proud knowing that his employer describes him as “full of energy and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition.” Along with his keen sense of professional responsibility, Harker is devoted to his fiancĂ©e Mina, and hopeful about the happy life they will lead together. Harker is a keen observer who is interested in noting all kinds of details about life in Transylvania, and he tries to be rational and objective as he journeys to conclude a real estate transaction with Count Dracula. As he witnesses bizarre and disturbing occurrences in Dracula’s Castle, Harker’s reliance on facts and reason becomes a weakness as he takes too long to realize he is in a dangerous situation. Despite his deep integrity, Harker still experiences the temptations of seduction. When faced with the three female vampires, Harker admits that he “felt in [his] heart a wicked, burning desire.” Harker functions in the novel as a representation of a modern, intelligent man who always tries to do the right thing, but who finds himself confronting lust and evil nonetheless.

In the book Jonathan is one of the two assailants who actually kills Dracula -- he cuts his throat just as he is starting to rise using a kukri knife while Quincy Morros stabs him through the heart with a bowie knife. This tells me that Jonathan had certainly become something more than a timid solicitor. I would suggest that he be armed with the big knife and also a pistol (Webley Mark 1) when just walking around. I would suspect that the group will also want to obtain repeating rifles and shotguns. But we can do that in character.

Jonathan is also the only member of the party who has been to Barovia before. He will have a rough map from his previous visit and + 3 ranks in Knowledge Local (this does not count against the pool of skill points he has to apply)

Also love to have you pick out an actor to visualize your idea of Harker -- does not have to be from a Dracula movie -- though our Mina is sold on Winnona Ryder as her incarnation. Sumptuous!
Dr. John Seward
player, 1 post
Thu 28 Jan 2021
at 17:44
  • msg #14

Jonathan Harker Character

A timid solicitor who is having a bit of a day, maybe.  But yeah, he'd at least know how to use a small caliber rifle from hunting, most likely.  He'd have been aspirational upper-middle-class; he's making proposals to women with dowries and who spend their days doing trips and social stuff.  Mina is interested in working with Jonathan as an exciting adventure and as empowerment, not because she'll need to work to help them survive financially.  It's not unreasonable to expect that Jonathan would have been taken on a hunting trip or two by his boss or boss's friends.

Also sup.  I'm a creepy doctor.
Jonathan Harker
player, 5 posts
Sun 31 Jan 2021
at 08:48
  • msg #15

Jonathan Harker Character

In reply to Dr. John Seward (msg # 14):

Well met Dr.  Seward, I will be happy to have a doctor with us through this madness, creepy or otherwise.  More so as I doubt a regular doctor would be able to rationalize the horrors I saw in the Count’s place of abode.
Dr. John Seward
player, 2 posts
The secrets of the mind
unlocked at last.
Sun 31 Jan 2021
at 09:41
  • msg #16

Jonathan Harker Character

I'm most of the way through a reread, just because it'd been over a decade since I'd actually sat down and read "Dracula."

Not gonna lie, he's probably gonna come out a lot more flavored like Barbara Hambly's vampire series, but frankly those books are way more entertaining.
Sign In