Every game needs a place to ask questions and vent.

Welcome, Professor! :D

Thank you, my dear. I look forward to playing with you.

The love of my life may be joining us playing Jonathan Harker. :)

And Indeed he has my Mina.  I trust you are feeling well this morning my love?

In reply to Jonathan Harker (msg # 5):

Good morning, Beloved. Another fun day at work. :D

In reply to Mina Harker (msg # 6):

Alas, your Vlad goes under the surname of Covid

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.

I haven’t played CoC in strange, endless aeons but I’m fine with either.

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?

He was a solicitor and some manner of gentry. He was familiar with the use of firearms.

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.

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 fiancée 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!

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.

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.

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.

Uh, are we on?  Is game on?  I'm unclear.

And are we sticking to the epistolary/journal format of the novel or normal third-person-present-tense RP style?

We are indeed getting started. My hope is to get things going according to the book, and then start doing our own thing once the hunters realize that Dracula has slipped through their fingers. They have a few days in Varna to prepare to face Dracula -- they imagine trapped on a boat, but nevertheless formidable if it gets dark before they can kill him.

Once they realize he has gone past them into Romania they will be on the hunt. Then you will have to decide your own tactics. You will be able to travel by train to Bucharest but beyond that, your options will be limited to road travel (horse or carriage) or river boats. In the book, the hunters used both means.

Harker has local knowledge and a rough map of Borovia sketched out (see Maps section)

Van Helsing can hypnotize Mina to gain insight into Dracula's movements, but it is a double-edged sword. He becomes aware of her and her circumstances.

If you just chase Dracula to his castle as they did in the book, you will lose. Van Helsing believes there is an ancient bible that gives not only the heritage of Dracula but also clues into how to overcome him. Your first task will be to find this bible somewhere in Barovia.

Van Helsing, Harker, Seward, and Mina are all skilled researchers. Godlaming has plenty of money and Quincy is muscle (right now -- he's an NPC).

Feel free to post as if writing a journal but we will also have scenes of interpersonal communications and other adventures.

Are there players for Van Helsing and Godalming?

I am running Van Helsing as an NPC right now to manage the knowledge he has. Godalming is wide open.

Hello all.  I will be portraying Antanasia Vulpe in this fantasia on the Dracula legend -- a daughter of Romanian gentry, she has her own reasons to desire the Count's downfall.  While I believe the two storylines will begin separately, hopefully we will be able to cross paths fairly soon.  Looking forward to writing with all of you!

Howdy, partners. Name's Quincy. Best let me do that there dirty work I see you fixing to start up, roughing up those folk what may be uncharitably reticent, lest y'all get any stains on yer fine clothes there. Nor upon yer souls, by gawd.

Are we making our own characters, or will they be supplied to us? I know the GM has kitbashed a few different rulesets together....

Welcome Quincy and Antanasia!

There is a cut down D20 character sheet in the Game Setting and Potential Characters thread -- you're welcome to use it. Or not. If not we'll use some very simple dice rolling when the time comes to determine successes. If you'd rather submit a character sheet from d100 Call of Cthulhu (any edition) that's fine. But I would mostly like to get your idea of what your character looks like -- just send along a link to a picture and I'll get them up.

Feel free to post in character in the main thread of your story and let me know what weapons and special gear you have with you.

In reply to haruspex (msg # 25):

I'm only seeing this thread and somebody's journal.

The journal is also the IC thread now, I think?

Van Helsing scours the local book shops for maps of the region, the more detailed the better. He also obtains a railway timetable. While he is buying maps, he asks about old legends, especially if they are recorded in any books. Whatever he finds, along with a good sized bible, he stores for travel in a sturdy trunk.

He visits a local church and takes mass there, afterwards making a sizeable donation to the poor box and obtaining in return a flask of holy water and six wooden crosses, each about one foot high, that have been blessed by the priest.

He buys a powerful crossbow and pays to have the bolts (12) tipped with silver. He has a pistol already -- a C96 "Broomstick" Mauser. He carries a pocket knife with which he trims his cigars and a box of matches to light them. A leather case contains 5 cigars. He has a magnifying glass and a telescope. An oilskin Sou'wester raincoat and hat can be worn over his Burberry jacket in wet weather and he has a pair of Wellington boots in addition to the stout walking shoes he normally wears.

And finally he has a stout cane with an iron ferrule and a heavy handle.

Quincy has a thick leather duster, well aged but kept in meticulous condition, a 10-gallon hat, a pair of knee-high leather boots suitable for riding, a pair of six-shooters and a knife which he says was blessed by one of the First People, apparently some kind of American savage custom which he takes great pride in. Beyond that he wears several religious icons around his neck which sometimes chime against each other (the collection could almost be a roadmap of his travels).

Among his things, carried only when fixin' for trouble, is a shotgun for which he has acquired several different kinds of buckshot (included silver loaded, blessed, iron soaked in wolfsbane, and other unusual loads). These are carried in a bandolier pouch* alongside his holstered guns.

He joins Van Helsing at the church, hoping to acquire a similar flask of holy water, and to have a locally produced cross blessed by the priest as well. While Val Helsing bartered, Quincy prayed for guidance and forgiveness.

If such things are available in this era, he'd have silver bullets for his pistols, but wouldn't usually keep them loaded.


* turns out the Browne belt hadn't been invented yet.

I think I'mma bow out of this one.  Y'all have fun.  :-)

Noooo! Stay, creepy doctor!!

Agreed, doc needs to stay.  As far as gear goes, can we role play learning what gear we might need?

Say, Haruspex, are you doin okay my friend?

I apologize for the horrible translation. But working from my phone it is difficult to get anything better.

First timer I ever used Google translate. Pretty cool. This what I got:

Mina:
I'm his Princess! You are all fools, peasants and food for the creatures of the night. We will be together once again, as we were in front of the Turks, and their dirty lies separated us!

Jonathan:
Am I talking to Dracula or my boyfriend? I do not know. I don't know what lies the Turks told you. I don't know what lies Satan told him. Dracula's three brides had anger, lust. I was bitten by slaves. Reflecting the lies he tells their soul to themselves and to himself

The gender stuff is always tricky in foreign languages but in general a very coherent exchange in Romanian. Kudos to both of you.

In reply to haruspex (msg # 35):

Not quite on the money but close enough.  Gender is a different beast in Latin, old Roman, the root of Romanian.  I originally wrote my beloved.

See Van Helsing's character description to see a quick list of gear

While I encourage the presence of other players I role played with the expectation of Dr Seward not being in the room as directed by Van Helsing

My bad. Fixed the post. Just trying to emphasize the creepy aspect of the character.

   I’m afraid my Jonathan is a little more proactive than I perceive the one in the movie would be.  If he caught another man leering at his wife while she was under the influence of demonic lust, he would physically remove said persons from the room.

Looks like this game never caught fire. It's been a month or more since any posts, and I apologize for not offering a more engaging entertainment.

It's sad to see it in my list, so I will be deleting the game in a few days. Please consider this the required warning.