Obligatory first post. More to follow.

Hey there everyone!

Just thought I'd say Hi before we start posting all together.

Just finished an excellent Lovecraftian podcast (The Lovecraft Investigations), so if anyone has any recommendations for others I'd be happy to hear them :D

Hi!

Incidentally, one of us (me) is an American in Russia, one is a Canadian in the U.S., and the others are -- I have no idea!

I don't follow podcasts much, but I have watched Sandy Petersen's occasionally.

Well, the third is a Scot living in Scotland aha.



Huh, I may have to check that out, I've never actually heard an interview or anything with him.

Behold!

https://www.youtube.com/c/SandyofCthulhu

A Virginian living in Virginia rounds us out.

Whereabouts in Scotland, Lovat?

I am waiting on one final character (who is a forensic pathologist) and then I will start the briefing.

So we have a cop, a specialist in criminal insanity, an occultist TV host, and a forensic pathologist.

Note that Vinnie and Pascal have worked together before and know each other.

Hi, all. Basically done with the character details, just started later than others.

I'm American, now living in Georgia (US, not former USSR).

I look forward to trying to neither die nor go insane with all of you. :)

Feel free to post in the Briefing thread... you'll all be entering the room one by one. You don't need my go-ahead.

I'm from near Inverness in the Highlands, but I've lived in Edinburgh for about ten years now :D

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Edinburgh twice on business, and once for an anniversary. Can’t say I’ve met a street anywhere in the world as vertical as Cockburn St.

Inverness, alas, I only drove through on the way to Drumnadrochit on a tour.

The reason the briefing hasn't started yet is that I am waiting to see if another player shows up; if I don't hear from him today, I will remove him and we will go on.

I have given the missing character to another player, so once he shows up (hopefully soon), the doors will open and the briefing will begin.

In reply to Chris Yog-Dossoth (msg # 13):

I'm here - hi all.  Let me look at the character sheet, make up some stuff, and I'll join the briefing thread ASAP.

Great.

Note that Pascal and Vinnie know each other, having caught Lupus "The Wolf" together.

I'll give you a wee bit of time to interact with Pascal (during which I will finish work in real life!) and then the briefing will start finally.

I have opened a thread in which I will stick major NPCs as they are introduced for ease of reference. When you start getting clues, I will open a thread for that as well.

By the way, I would like to thank everyone on a personal level for playing. A close relative of mine died last week, and this is a great way to distract myself. So thanks.

Sorry for your loss. Happy to distract you.

Thanks.

I know this part of rolling for each NPC here is kind of tedious, but it needs to be done.

(in principle, I could roll for it myself)

In reply to Chris Yog-Dossoth (msg # 20):

Have you messed around with "secret to" at all? Seeing how you're handing out information, it's a really great feature. One game I GM'd a while ago I used it when I would describe scenes. I could feed different information to different people based on their observation, and they wouldn't know what others might have missed that they saw or what others saw and they didn't. There is a way to see that you're getting "secret to" information, but it's easy to avoid doing that.

I do that all the time, but I find that it's cumbersome when using paragraph-sized chunks of text such as are involved here.

In reply to Chris Yog-Dossoth (msg # 22):

Yes, definitely not what you want here. Really fun and useful in some cases, though.

OK, Edward's player hasn't logged in for a couple of days, so if he doesn't show up shortly I will just go on and fill him in later.

In reply to Chris Yog-Dossoth (msg # 24):

Sounds good.

Yup, sounds good.

After I get up in the morning, the actual briefing -- and so your investigation -- will start.

Mentioning ahead of time in case I forget.

I having foot surgery on Tuesday and may be off for a couple of days.  I'll try to check in, but no promises.  Depends on how 'up and around' I can be.

Also responding that today and tomorrow are full… will be back on Monday!

Good luck with the surgery.

Yikes. Good luck man!

Thanks for the well wishes.  It's just a 'tarsal tunnel release' - like carpal tunnel, but in the foot.  Should only be down for a couple of days, but I hope to still be able to check in before Thanksgiving (Thursday, for you non-US folk).

I guess we'll pick up once you get back.

I'm back.  Let's go!  ;-)

I just got a COVID shot, meaning that I feel like crap. So after a night's rest.

Hope you feel better soon. One day did it for me.

How we doing, boss?

Onward!

Yay! ... or, oh no, she's remained sane so long at this pace! ;)

We have had a dropout, so Edward vanishes. He has, in fact, never been.

In reply to Chris Yog-Dossoth (msg # 40):

John Dies at the End reference!

Afraid not! I started that movie a couple of times, but never watched it all the way through.

I'm waiting on something from Pascal, and then we'll continue.

I stuck the autopsy summary in Documents and Clues, as I will do with all such things.

In reply to Chris Yog-Dossoth (msg # 44):

Cool. Thanks.

Whenever you're finished here, let me know and we'll go on.

It's currently about 9:30 pm in game.

Are you ready to end the briefing?

I am, yeah.

I’d meant for the addresses to guide a walk tonight, and not just wait for the morning.

If Vinnie's gonna walk around Hobs Court tonight, I'll volunteer to accompany - if not, I'm good for 8am.

Ah, you can get the addresses easily. An interview will have to be set up for tomorrow.

It is 9:30 pm, though, so any businesses are probably closed.

Is everybody cool with moving on?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:35, Fri 03 Dec 2021.

I’m good with moving on.

Everybody want to take a stroll with me? Grab a slice?

Ready when you are.

Dr. Perez?

I'm good with moving on, too. Amara would grab a slice. I think Pascal already has an invitation.

I need to know if Pascal accepts and goes off with Magnus, and if so what the rest of you plan on doing. Go for a slice where? Hob's Court?

NOTE: I am assuming that the police radios are OFF while you are in the restaurants. If you want to turn them on, tell me.

Guys, I have been toying with the idea of starting a Runequest game. Yes, THAT Runequest, in its newest Roleplaying in Glorantha incarnation. I am a little leery of this because the world is soooooo detailed and vast; however, the Six Seasons in Sartar pre-campaign that is out there, and looks very good, introduces the characters (and the GM) gradually into world by making the protagonists 15 or 16 years old in a small mountain clan, who wouldn't know much.

Plus, the last time I played Runequest, Echo and the Bunnymen had a big hit.

I'm just seeing if anybody here would be interested. It's roughly the same rules set as CoC, since it was CoC's progenitor, as you may know.

Never played it, don't know much about it. Happy to dive into a setting you run, GM.

You can get the basic book on drivethrurpg for $27.

You'll recognize the game system, because Chaosium recycled it for CoC.

I fixed the disadvantage roll. Is there a way to do that automatically on RPoL? I don't think so.

I know very little about Runequest. I'll take a look.

There is a drop lowest/drop highest function in the dice roller. And I modified my response o you in the thread.

It's an intimidatingly detailed universe, but as I said the precampaign starts the characters out as teenagers, avoiding much of that.

The QuickStart rules are free.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:03, Thu 09 Dec 2021.

Yes, I could roll 2d10 and drop the highest, followed by another 1d10 to construct it. I'm not sure that's any easier than rolling 1d100 and rolling a 1d10 to possibly alter the 10s place.

I started glancing at the quickstart rules. Is it in the prior system (CoC 6) rather than what we're using (CoC 7), or am I looking at an old one?

For the record:

Victim 1 was found in Hobs Court.

Victim 2 was found two blocks north.

This victim is 2 blocks south.

My the way -- I forgot to ask for a 0/1 SAN roll for Pascal for seeing the body. (Amara and Vinnie both have background packages that protect from that.)

Basically (if she agrees) Amara will conduct the autopsy. The rest of you can either join her, or follow up whatever leads you wish (and you have a lot of them).

Weekends are a little harder for me to stay caught up.  Don't let my slowness bog the game down.  I'll catch up!  ;-)

I figure we all have our better and worse times. Overall I'd say all four of us have been pretty quick.

If you don't have any suggestions/questions/whatever here, Amara can do the autopsy and the rest of you can either watch or follow your own leads. Ideas?
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:28, Sun 12 Dec 2021.

I gave my one big one, though apparently she was misheard, as she never suggested a Catholic vampire, having said vampire don't exist a moment earlier.

Simon didn't mishear you. He said it wasn't someone inspired by Catholicism, but Orthodoxy. Then he went into his vrykolakas thing when asked about it.

"No. Very astute of you, but... I buried myself in my library last night, and this is not a Catholic vampire -- I mean, some killer inspired by Catholic folklore."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:28, Sun 12 Dec 2021.

In reply to Chris Yog-Dossoth (msg # 70):

Not that, this:

Well, Vinnie didn't get any sleep, by his own admission! :)

True. :)

I need some kind of declaration of action, peeps.

I'm ready for moving on to the autopsy unless someone has an idea to add.

If we don't hear from My Cousin Vinnie, I'll go see John Hughes by myself.  I'm glad to wait - I'm glad to move on.  Whatever you want to do, GM.

Waiting on an inquiry re: conversation with husband.

I'm going to give a list of leads off the top of my head. There are probably more that I am forgetting or have not thought og.

Whatever the autopsy finds.
The locations of the bodies (as Amara suggested).
The crime scenes themselves.
The two witnesses (one homeless, one in mental institution).
Vic 1's place of work and Vic 2's return from the YMCA.
Whatever Vic 3 was doing coming home late alone.
The Goths (which Matheson thinks is a lead, though he hasn't given much of a reason)
The peculiarities of the murders (like the smell)
Stuff that Magnus has said (assuming he isn't a lunatic)
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:38, Tue 14 Dec 2021.

Note: Amara is immune to SAN losses from the autopsy, but none of the rest of you would be.

My background doesn't cover this kind of SAN loss?

No; check the description.

You've seen people killed, not seen them methodically sliced apart and disembowled.

GM: would you rather I/we put our rolls in the thread where the action is happening or in PMs to you for each roll?

It doesn't matter to me.

Just so you are aware, this series of scenarios (which actually won an academic prize!) was designed by the writer, who is I believe a psychiatrist, to mess with his players' heads. SO don't be surprised if it's not very linear.

Also, bonus points if you can spot any of the puns and pop culture/historical references seeded throughout!

("Simon Magnus" already caught!)
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:29, Fri 17 Dec 2021.

Hey all - I have family coming in tomorrow and they'll be staying through the weekend.  I'll try to post when I can, but no promises.  Should return to normal business hours by Tuesday.

Wherever you are and whatever you celebrate, have a wonderful holiday.  Unless you don't celebrate anything - then just have a series of wonderful regular days.  ;-)

Happy Holidays to you too!

You are in a relatively leisurely scene, so there is no rush there.

Yes, happy holidays, everyone!

I’ll be offline sometime tomorrow until Sunday, so if I don’t see you before then:

Many happy returns!

So people know, Vinnie's player is dealing with important real life issues and will be absent until Monday.

I had a long day beating the crap out of snow and am exhausted, so will respond tomorrow. Mea culpa!

The power is back on, and I'm back to reading... Happy New Year folks!

Happy New Year - and welcome back.  Hope everything is ok.

A broken hip, an ambulance ride for son #3, and everybody gets COVID for Christmas. After all that, everyone is well, safe, loved, warm, and the power is back on. All in all, I prefer boring.

But hey, Bama is playing Georgia in the Natty, so at least '21 gave us a good sendoff.

Everybody is healthy now, which is the important thing.

Buried today - should be able to post tomorrow.

In reply to Detective Vinnie DiCicco (msg # 93):

Wow, that's a rough holiday. Glad to hear all are well now.

Bueller? Bueller?

Present.

Weekends are just rough.  Back at it now.

I just posted to the other thread after you told me. So we should be in more communication now.

Sounds good: do the interview and we'll all meet up.

I'm still here -- give me a few hours after I post this and I will respond!

Are we still here?

Still here.  If I don't post later today, I'll post in the morning for sure.  Family day, etc.

No worries.

Soon a monster might eat you, though.

Still here. Should be able to respond tonight.

Aye, as well. Tonight a post.

Still here - was waiting for a narratively appropriate time to post, as others have been sort of mid-thought.  If I don't see a hole by Monday, I'll inject myself. ;-)

Please give it an injection. :)

Because I don't want you sitting in the pizzeria forever.

Vinnie was also planning to go to the spa. Sorry if I was unclear.

So Magnus and I will hit the church.

Two 13-hour work days back-to-back. Wow, that was a lot...

Yes, I thought Vinnie was going to the spa with Amara.

OK.

I had a really, really hard day today, in fact a last few days, so I'll advance this in the morning. Then will get back onto a brisker pace.

Actually, I had to get ready for my trip (I am flying to the U.S.). Since I have to spend the night in the Paris airport, I'll be posting then.

We all have rough days here and there. Life first, especially family and health.

Have a good trip to the US. We're not so bad on this side of the Atlantic. ;)

Anybody home?

Waiting on DM, is all.

Hope you’re ok, DM.

We dead?

We're on 2+ weeks without a heartbeat. Yeah. Reckon so.

GG, folks.