In 1893 an Eastern European nobleman traveled from his ancestral home in the Carpathian Mountains determined to make a better life for himself in London, capital city of the British Empire. An immortal undead vampire, Count Dracula hoped to find an unlimited supply of life's blood in the great city that he could live on forever in a realm so large and so busy that no one would notice his nightly deprivations. Had he stuck to his original plan and remained hidden he would certainly have succeeded. Unfortunately he encountered a woman who seemed to him to be the very reincarnation of his his lost love. In attempting to bind her to his himself he aroused the suspicions of the occultist, Professor Van Helsing.

Wise to the tactics and supernatural abilities of the vampire, Van Helsing and others in Mina Harker's circle managed to repulse Dracula's attacks and drive him out of London. Before he fled, however, Count Dracula drank three times of Mina Harker's blood and forced her to drink his own blood in return. She is bound to him and will in time become a vampire herself unless her companions can catch and destroy Dracula.

Van Helsing believes there are certain objects and rituals tied to Dracula's homeland than can be used to unmake him as a vampire and thereby free Mina Harker from her fate. Even now, Van Helsing proposes that he and her friends travel swiftly in pursuit of the vampire and track him down in his ancestral lands, a tiny kingdom called Barovia, high in the Carpathian Mountains.

Count Dracula is too powerful to attack directly, even if his location were known precisely, which it is not. But Van Helsing believes that certain items exist in Barovia that can reveal a way to overcome the vampire's strength and eventually to completely neutralize his powers.

His first goal is to find the Codex of Apollonius -- an ancient hand written manuscript of the Greek Bible in which Van Helsing believes the history of the Dracula line is recorded.

This game re-casts Van Helsing's swift pursuit of Dracula to his home castle as a more meandering quest across the shadowy land of Barovia, as detailed so colorfully in the D&D campaign, The Curse of Strahd. The Players will take on the roles of Mina Harker and her companions, including the sage, Professor Van Helsing. These are human characters with skills and resources and even some small magics and inhuman abilities.

I will be using the Call of Cthulhu by Gaslight rule system. I expect the first part of play to be a detailed discussion of each character to determine skills and level along with magical abilities and resources. The Character list is restricted to these roles:

• Professor Abraham Van Helsing -- sage and occultist
• Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker (nee Murray) -- proto-vampire and investigative journalist
• Jonathon Harker -- lawyer, husband to Mina
• Dr. John Seward -- physician and alienist
• Arthur Holmwood, Lord Godalming -- wealthy aristocrat
• Quincey Morris -- American adventurer

Technically Renfield is already dead at this point in the original narrative, but I will entertain an application to take on this very complex character if you wish to submit a write up that would justify the others taking the risk of bringing him along. This is a high barrier.

I am not looking for a character sheet at this point. Use the Request to Join link to tell me which character you want to play and at least a couple of paragraphs about how you would play that character. This is not a first come, first served call for players. I'm hoping to find a team that likes to write and wants to tell a story while exploring the dark lands at the edge of the mists.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:05, Thu 21 Jan 2021.

Here's a simplified D20 character sheet we can use to track what your characters can and can't do. You can assign stats from one of these options, or roll your own (4d6 drop lowest dice) -- if you start to roll you are stuck with them.

Array Options

A: 16, 14, 14, 13, 12, 11
B: 18, 13, 13, 12, 11, 10
C: 15, 15, 13, 13, 12, 11

All characters start at 3rd level except Van Helsing who starts at 5th level (he's much older). Some of you also have additional abilities I have discussed with you in private.

We can talk about attack bonuses, save rolls etc. when you start to flesh out your characters.

You get your level plus your INT bonus times 12 to assign among the skills available.

Knowledge skills include:

• History
• Law
• Science (Chemistry & Physics)
• Geography
• Occult Studies
• Religion
• Medicine

If you can think of another, let me know what you want.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name:               Profession:
Height:             Weight:        Hair:       Voice:
Eye Color:          Skin:          Age:        Level:

Abilities               Modifier        AC = ??      HP = ?? (1d6/level + CON)
Strength     (STR) = ??  +/-?
Constitution (CON) = ??  +/-?           Current Sanity = ??  (WIS x 5)
Wisdom       (WIS) = ??  +/-?               20% Sanity = ??
Dexterity    (DEX) = ??  +/-?           Maximum Sanity = 99
Intelligence (INT) = ??  +/-?
Charisma     (CHA) = ??  +/-?

Mod = Base Abil Magc Misc| Saves
 ?  =   0   +?   +0   +0 | Fortitude (CON)
 ?  =   0   +?   +0   +0 | Reflex (DEX)
 ?  =   0   +?   +0   +0 | Will (WIS)

Mod = Base Abil Temp Misc| Combat
 ?  =   0   +?   +0   +0 | Initiative (DEX)
 ?  =   0   +?   +0   +0 | Melee Attack Bonus (STR)
 ?  =   0   +?   +0   +0 | Ranged Attack Bonus (DEX)
 ?  =   0   +?   +0   +0  +10 | Armor Class (DEX) | Armor Check Penalty = 0

Skills: Assign (Level + Int Bonus) * 12 Ranks

Mod = Rnk Abl Msc | Skills:                 Ablty  Untrained?
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Animal Empathy          (CHA)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Appraise                (INT)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0! | Balance                 (DEX)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Bluff                   (CHA)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0! | Climb                   (STR)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Concentration           (CON)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Demolitions             (INT)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Diplomacy               (CHA)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Disable Device          {INT)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Disguise                (CHA)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Drive Coach/carriage    (DEX)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0! | Escape Artist           (DEX)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Forgery                 (INT)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Gather Information      (CHA)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Handle Animal           (CHA)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Heal                    (WIS)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0! | Hide                    (DEX)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Innuendo                (WIS)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Intimidate              (CHA)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0! | Jump                    (STR)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | * Knowledge             (INT)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Listen                  (WIS)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0! | Move Silently           (DEX)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Open Lock               (DEX)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Operate Heavy Machinery (DEX)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Psychic Focus           (WIS)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Psychoanalysis          (WIS)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Read Lips               (INT)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Repair                  (INT)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Research                (INT)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Ride                    (DEX)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Search                  (INT)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Sense Motive            (WIS)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Slight of Hand          (DEX)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | * Speak Other Language  (INT)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Spot                    (WIS)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0! | Swim                    (STR)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0! | Tumble                  (DEX)      No
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Use Rope                (DEX)      Yes
 +? =  0  +?  +0  | Wilderness Lore         (WIS)      Yes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Okay, I stopped D&D before the wizard's of the coast took over and have only done champions, freeform, Ironclad, and a little of the original Vampire the masquerade in the last 20 years and only free form in the last 10.  I've Got the stats in place (I think). Where do I go from here?
This message was last edited by the player at 08:49, Wed 03 Feb 2021.