[Conspiracy of Shadows] Pirates Fighting Lovecraftian Evil

[Paka]

A friend asked me what I would use to play a pirate game and while brainstorming different ideas the concept of using a pirate crew that has turned its back on society in order to fight a Lovecraftian conspiracy just lit my fire. So here we are.

I haven't read the book yet but will do so this week. I skipped to Chapter Six, page 101 and just started makin' up my own conspiracy. Here's what I came up with:

The core of the conspiracy is the Hungry Leviathan, Devourer of Atlantis. Beneath him are his spawn and two secret societies, one that has witness oddities on the seas and jealously guards mystical secrets and the other a group of nobles who wish to be spared when the world is once again flooded. Both of these groups are made up of cells in kingdoms and nations all over the old world and their conflicts have flared up in the island colonies of the New World.

Their ultimate goal is to flood the world, allowing the Leviathan to feed on the weak while the strong are kept alive in their Holy Arks.

Secret Society of the Holy Ark

Each one believes they are the sect that will truly be allowed to float above the Leviathan's feasting. They become members by being of noble birth and rising into the higher ranks of officer in a royal navy.

Brotherhood of the Flying Fish

The brotherhood claims its members from the rank and file sailors around the world. When a ship encounters one of the Leviathan's monstrous spawn or the body of one of the more humanoid breeds, most on the ship will keep mum. But one fool always has to stir up trouble and when they do, the brotherhood is there.

They offer membership and if they are willing to swear powerful oaths and pass several rough moral tests, they will be accepted to this bloodthirsty group.

The brotherhood has no idea of its ties to a beast of the deep that wishes to bring about the end of human existence. They only know that they are tied together by their experience with the mysteries of the seas and that their benefactors have ties to these mysteries. The head of each cell knows that their contact is in fact a sea monster that can walk like a human, a Deep Spawn.

The brotherhood and the royal society have in fact crossed swords but the Deep Spawn make sure the conflicts are never too destructive. The Deep Spawn administrate both groups and dole out artifacts from the fall of Atlantis, saved at the bottom of the sea or the Leviathan's bowels.

These items are mostly attuned to controling the weather, making storms, summoning sea monsters and such.

The players might know that there are sailors with tattoos of flying fish who often sleep in chapterhouses in most ports. And their stories should link them to naval officers who are rivals, having acted as amoral villains (but they won't know that they are doing so in an efforts to appease their undersea masters).

Questions:

What is in the island colonies of the pseudo-Carribean that the Leviathan gives a fuck about? Shouldn't he be hell-bent on getting folks to the poles to get those puppies a meltin'?

What do the resources of the islands mean to these people? What's there that is worth having?

I played in a wonderful 7th Sea game and listened to
my beloved GM talk about how he would do it
differently. So, I'm using Theah has my
pseudo-Europe. I don't plan on the game taking place
in Europe/Theah but that's okay, if it happens, it
happens.

Mike, you can ask Paula or Jeff but I'm a flexible GM
and will go with the flow.

I plan on the game taking place in the Islands, which
is what the folk call the Carribean in this world.
Colonies in the New World are just taking shape with
the colony of New Vendel just taking hold and
thriving, though you are far south of that.

I will make up a map of the Islands once we
get-a-gaming and I've had a chance to look up stuff.

The quasi-Europe out of 7th Sea that I'll use is
called Theah and it comes with a long meta-plot that I
am promptly throwing out of the window.

There is an Africa-analogue too but I'm stuck for a
name at the moment and a middle east that is called
the Crescent Empire.

I am not going to go out of my way to use any of the
7th Sea metaplot but if you happen to be familiar with
it and want to throw some into your character history,
that's fine. If you want to make up your own shit,
family names, a secret society, etc. GREAT!

The system that we are going to use is called
Conspiracy of Shadows and other than a very small part
of the book I have not read it in its entirety but I
think it will suite us fine from what I have read of
it.

Theah - (think Europe) magic, swashbuckling and such.
Alexander Dumas meets George R.R. Martin in a dark
alley and they fight, then get drunk and have a love
child. That child is Theah...

Eisen - (think Germany) ruled by various Dukes who are
just recovering from the Centuries War, putting their
nation back together.

Vendel League - (think Northern Europe) great traders
who have minted the Guilder as the coin that all of
Theah now measures its economies by and old Norse
magicks who want nothing to do with the mercantile
interests that have recently enveloped the country.

Avalon - (think Great Britain) faeries and an
Arthurian Queen, with faerie stones that will take one
to Faerie and a beloved Queen who has an open truce
with the Good Neighbors.

Vodacce - (think Italy) strega witches, city-states,
ancient artifacts from a fallen empire and family
feuds that erupt on the flash of a blade.

Castille - (think Portugal and Spain mushed together)
torn apart by war with Montaigne.

Montaigne - (think France) dashing musketeers and a
mysterious General leading the people to war.

Ussura - (think mythic Russia) impenetrable forests
and great magics.

The Vaticine Church - (think quasi-Catholic) with a
Heirophant, Head Inquisitor and such.


At this point character concepts are more than
welcomed. We can brainstorm for a while. I'd like it
if you were all having some link to a vile conspiracy
among the royal navies of the world, particularly the
noble-born officers. The nature of this conspiracy
will be figured out and created by you during place.

Paula says she wants to play the First Mate, I'm
inclined to give Mike dibs on the Captain, since an
RPG about pirates was his idea in the first place.

I am inclined to think this will be a game that will
start as a one-shot and then, if it works, might grow
to be a once a month thing if its workin' for
everyone.

Thoughts?

This morning I got a bit psyched and headed down to the Map Room of the library where I work. Got me photocopies two maps of Terra Nova, the New World from the 17th Century. Should work just fine.

I've read the CoS rules and really like what I'm seeing. I'm running TRoS right now and the combat system feels quite a bit like TRoS lite. GREAT. Like The Shadows of Yesterday, the game has pieces of some of my favorite games, kickers, descriptors, TRoS combat maneuvers, SA-like passions.

I think I'll throw in Shadows of Yesterdays Bonus Dice in the hands of all of the players because I think that mechanic is neat as hell and would work nicely.

Next up, chargen, cell creation and such.

[urbwar]

Judd,

Sounds pretty neat! Looking forward to seeing more about this one

[Paka]

Judd,

Sounds pretty neat! Looking forward to seeing more about this one

Thanks, man.

It might be two weeks or so before we can meet and make characters. We'll see how it goes. After printing out those kick-ass maps, I'm pushing to get this game to the table...might even run it for two groups.

[urbwar]

Thanks, man.

It might be two weeks or so before we can meet and make characters. We'll see how it goes. After printing out those kick-ass maps, I'm pushing to get this game to the table...might even run it for two groups.


Yeah, I've wanted to run this game for awhile myself. Now that NerdNYC started the QGA (Queens Gaming Auxilliary), all the local gamers here are working on setting up one shots for us to play in. CoS is one of the many games on my list of games I want to run for the QGA now (and man, I do have at least 6 or more games I want to run, like CoS, Cat, Enemy Gods, Unbidden, Two Fisted Tales, and many more!)

[Matt-M-McElroy]

If I can get away from my booth/sales duties, I'll be running CoS at Concinnity (http://concinnity.magegaming.org/) and I might just steal an idea or two from this...

Nice work...

Regards,

Matt

[Paka]

Thanks. Please let me know how it goes.

[Denys]

Paka -- OMG!!!

Great stuff, man... consider it stolen!

- Ian

[Paka]

Paka -- OMG!!!

Great stuff, man... consider it stolen!

- Ian

Thanks.

I never thought I'd use Theah. I loved the 7th Sea game I was in, taking place entirely on Avalon and I dig these quasi-historical worlds ala Rokugan.

I'm hoping to use it as a kind of backdrop, a way for me to disregard history and just have some pirate fun. I'm hoping that the lion's share of the game takes place in the pseudo-Carribean that I'm thinking of naming the Horned Archipelago. Anyway, we'll see.

Anything you steal, please post how it works out for you.

Thanks again.

[Nahat Anoj]

Questions:

What is in the island colonies of the pseudo-Carribean that the Leviathan gives a fuck about? Shouldn't he be hell-bent on getting folks to the poles to get those puppies a meltin'?

What do the resources of the islands mean to these people? What's there that is worth having?
Are these questions PCs will ask during the game, or are you asking RPG.net for some ideas? Whatever the case, I'll be watching this thread with interest, as I want to do a Cthulu-esque pirate game some day.

Jon

[Paka]

Are these questions PCs will ask during the game, or are you asking RPG.net for some ideas? Whatever the case, I'll be watching this thread with interest, as I want to do a Cthulu-esque pirate game some day.

Jon

The questions were meant to be chewed over in the thread with suggestions being most welcomed. Thanks.

[Paka]

I started writing this 4 paragraph monstrousity to send to my players but cut it down to the following:

The Horned Archipelago is south of Nova Terra (this world's version of America). It is a chain of thousands of islands, many too small for any map or chart.

There are constant reversals of power between the nations that have fortresses and holdings on the islands. The tension between the slave populations and the free folk is tremendous and revolt is always on the wind.

The tribes indigenous to these islands has long since been wiped out by plague and musket.

Other bits of the Horned Archipelago: voodoo, volcanoes, forts, haunted plantations, a quickly growing but still opressed bi-racial population, cattle herds, a floating pirate free-city, unfinished cathedrals, vicious duels, resplendent soirees, carnivale.

[DannyK]

What if the islands form a rough circle around the dwelling of the Leviathan and form a mystical barrier to keep it from moving to the poles? You know, there's an ancient tiki on each island erected by wise old shamans, that sort of thing. If the cultists destroy enough of the tikis, Leviathan gets free.

Or, to kick things up a notch, the islands themselves function as mystical barriers. The cultists have to either destroy the islands entirely, or at least depopulate them, in order to free the beast.

Yes, it sounds sort of like Buffy in the Carribean, but that's a good thing.

[Paka]

What if the islands form a rough circle around the dwelling of the Leviathan and form a mystical barrier to keep it from moving to the poles? You know, there's an ancient tiki on each island erected by wise old shamans, that sort of thing. If the cultists destroy enough of the tikis, Leviathan gets free.


That's very cool. I may very well alter that just a bit but it absolutely completes a thought I was having.

I had this image of cyclopean monoliths rising out of the ocean, the size of a small island...I think your idea will finish that for me. Its fermenting in my skull even now.

And this is why I post shit.

Thanks.

[JohnBiles]

Well...

Assuming you're willing to add something like Lovecraft's Dreamlands to the setting, one could do this--

There are certain places where the wall between the waking and the sleeping is thinner, places where a cunning sailor may run between the two. Or where a hapless sailor may stumble between them. This is the Pentagram of the Ram, a region of ocean within the Horned Archipelago, formed by five islands.

Long ago, the Old Ones tamed this danger spot, erecting hidden control centers which enabled it to be opened and closed as they desired, letting them pass from waking to dream to waking again as they willed. Now these are malfunctioning, and the Door of Night flaps open and shut in the wind, so to speak.

But the Leviathan remembers. He remembers how they lowered the oceans of the world by severing him between the waking and the dreaming, halving his power and raising the lands. Only by seizing the controls can he open the way to unite himself, to become whole once more in the Door of Night, and thus gain the power he needs to flood the world once more.

Of course, the Old Ones were smart enough to erect defenses to keep things such as himself away. But the pathetic humans? They were like cattle to the Old Ones. You don't fear your cow will operate your computer...

So the cult are his pawns to reach out and seize the places he needs to lock the Door of Night Open, and let him go and reclaim his other half.

[Paka]

Thanks, John. I am a huge fan of the Dreamlands, so surreal.

They'd make a neat addition, especially if a players fashions a PC who seems bent toward that kind of direction.

I will keek this wonderful idea in my pocket and hope I get to use it later.

[Paka]

This is the only other game related e-mail I'm probably going to send to the players, unless someone begins asking a ton of questions. This is more of a logistics type mail, no in-game material to be had.

"Well, the way they pick the shows on TV is they make
one show, and that show's called a pilot. And they
show that one show to the people who pick the shows,
and on the strength of that one show, they decide if
they want to make more shows." - Jules, Pulp Fiction

I apologize of this barrage of pirate related e-mails
has been overwhelming. I realize that I have been
sending shit out at a frantic state. The idea just
caught my fancy is all.

Let's look at this game, when it happens as a pilot.
If we dig it and it works at the table, we'll renew
for an entire season.

I also looked back at some of the shit I sent them earlier and realized the spelling and grammar was atrocious. I'll give it a once over next time before hitting send. Embarassing.

I've got three or so character concepts e-mailed to me already and my girlfriend is tentatively thinking about joining the game, which would be nifty. We'll see. Should be fun. Hopefully, we'll be gathering the week after next in order to make characters and talk shop.

[Scorpio Rising]

Questions:

What is in the island colonies of the pseudo-Carribean that the Leviathan gives a fuck about? Shouldn't he be hell-bent on getting folks to the poles to get those puppies a meltin'?


Depends on what you want. Does Theah need to be a globe rather than a flat world? I know melting the icecaps has that whole Cthulhu / The Kraken Wakes thing going for it. But if you want to keep the action centred in the Horned Archipelago then why not deem that the "icecaps" (or their metaphorical equivalent) are right here?


Theah is full of silly stuff. One of the CCG metaplots involved the Seven Sacred Switches (or something like that). These pirates sailed around and threw them and then a lost island/Atlantis analogue rose from the depths. While I'm not advocating having a giant plug at the bottom of the ocean that Leviathan is trying to pull, there could easily be any alternate explanation for the seas, or ways for him to achieve it.
Here's a cool one: Imagine that the islands are all just the rim of a giant volcanic crater. That would make the archipelago lie in a loose circle, kinda like a pair of horns. If you don't flesh it out too much it'll be less obviously a circle. This has cool value when a clever player looks at the map and the penny drops and they start to panic. Perhaps Leviathan wants to un-plug the volcano, causing an immense torrent of ash and fire to be flung into the air. This will cause like an entire year of darkness (as actually happened with some major eruptions on earth) and perhaps it will heat the seas enough to cause hot currents to melt the icecaps and thereby raise the water level.
Don't forget the "Syrneth". Really in canonical 7th Sea this just means a lump category for all the pre-human races, which vary wildly. You already saw the insectile whatsernames (ye gods, I can barely remember -- wait, the Thalusai) in play, but there's also a draconic race in Eisen and a race of "spirit beings" in Russia and the Sidhe qualify too. Anyway, part of the schtick of Theah is that the ruins of precursor civilizations are everywhere and they're filled with wierd artefacts known only as Plot Devices. So perhaps the Horned Archipelago is where Atlantis went down (not the official analogue -- your version). Perhaps all of its technology is still down there and Leviathan (and his cults) either wants it or wants to ensure that "the goodies" don't get their hands on it. Could the objects he needs to end the ice be down there? Could the only dingus that could stop him be down there too? Could these objects in fact be one and the same...? Naaaah. Surely that would be too hokey....



What do the resources of the islands mean to these people? What's there that is worth having?

Apart from the above "secret" stuff, traditional colonies were sources of tea, coffee, spices, gold, jewels, tin and other ores, slaves, cotton, exotica of various kinds and so on and so forth. I'd choose a couple: One the natives don't really care about and at least one thing they value greatly that is being outright stolen from them.

Man. I am v. envious of this game. Who's playing in it again?

Plus, I'd be interested in your opinions on the C of S rules once you've fully digested them.

- Scorpio muy curious.

[Scorpio Rising]

Bad pirate joke:

Q : What does a pirate religious fanatic want?

A : Why, to bring about Arrrrrrrrrrrr! mageddon of course.


- Scorpio should probably be punished for that.

[Paka]

Who's playing in it again?

Plus, I'd be interested in your opinions on the C of S rules once you've fully digested them.

- Scorpio muy curious.

I've got Robert, Lord of Doors in da hizz-ouse, Paula and her new boyfriend, Mike, an old buddy of mine, Jeff and possibly Janaki if I can convince her.

I've digested the CoS rules and I dig 'em...from the shared narrative of Destiny Points to the crunchy TRoS-inspired combat but less rough, less of a brutal learning curve. Its solid shit, man. I'd say go for it. I think Keith is putting together a revision for Gen Con but I'd say fuckit and grab the current one. Its solid.

[Paka]

Oh, and great suggestions all around, Scorpio Helpful.

[Keith Senkowski]

I think Keith is putting together a revision for Gen Con but I'd say fuckit and grab the current one. Its solid.

Nien Herr Paka. Ich... aw fuck it, my German is terrible. I'm putting together a Game Guide for GenCon (new book). Right now I am just doing some text edits and a new cover for the second printing. A revision would be a few years down the pipe. I got at least one artifact style game (meaning the book and its packaging itself is a part of the game) to do before that.

Keith

[Paka]

WOOPS. Sorry man. My bad. Shit.

Yeah, Scorpio Curious...buy the damned book. Its at IPR.

[Jim Hague]

Nien Herr Paka. Ich... aw fuck it, my German is terrible. I'm putting together a Game Guide for GenCon (new book). Right now I am just doing some text edits and a new cover for the second printing. A revision would be a few years down the pipe. I got at least one artifact style game (meaning the book and its packaging itself is a part of the game) to do before that.

Keith

I've read the first draft of the GG - pure friggin' gold. But I'm biased right now, since I think CoS is better than sliced bread and all for reasons that must remain secret...for now.

[Paka]

Keith posted the game's tag line in another thread at the Forge and it made me think about the game a bit and think about where character creation needs to go, prompting the following e-mail to my players:


In Conspiracy of Shadows you are people bound by the
knowledge of a hidden evil and driven by a desire to
thwart it.

This is the game's tag line.

I think we have all begun to think of character
concepts now it might be time to start marinating our
brains towards ways to unite different kinds of
concepts together into a crew that fits into the above
description.

Feel no pressure to bring us all together in one
genius e-mail. We'll work on this when we gather to
make characters and our crew. In many ways the
character creation is quite traditional but there is
an element of group creation of the cell, or in our
case, the crew that is important.

Thoughts?

[Old Scratch]

Nothing substantial to add here other than a suggestion. I've finally got around to reading China Mieville's "The Scar" (which I haven't finished) but it seems to have Lovecraftian monstrosities and pirates galore. Its a bit more "wierd fiction" than the setting you seem to be using (in fact, it seems to be along the same vein as your own Mars/Marr'd stuff), but I think you might find it inspiring. Just thought I'd mention - note though, that I haven't finished reading it so I can't attest to its overall quality.

[Paka]

Old Scratch,

Nice to have ya on the thread.

I loved Perdido Street Station and if The Scar is Lovecraftian pirating, it will move up on my reading list by leaps and bounds.

Thanks.

[Paka]

I've gotten a few character concepts, all of them rather rough.

Paula - wants to play Monk, the First Mate with a parrot and a deep and closeted gay love for the captain.

Mike - has two concepts, one a silver-tongued charismatic rogue and the other a merchant of some kind. We'll see how it goes.

Julie - mailed me that she doesn't want to play a woman because she finds a woman's role in this period to be limited. *shrug* She's considering an escaped slave who believes that the only free society to be found in the world can be found on a pirate ship.

Rob - As always, Rob sent me an involved history, this one about a naval officer who was caught smuggling and was being sent to a prison plantation when the ship got caught in a storm and he got away on an escape boat.

Janaki - We're batting around character concpets but all we've got now is her PC's pet monkey and perhaps a bi-racial voudonista of some kind. We'll see.

Jeff - He's still percolating.

This group won't meet to make up the cell/crew until the week after next at the earliest.

[Paka]

Julie's comment about gender issues in the game prompted the following e-mail, the subject of which should probably be a thread all its own:

If you want to play a character who is a woman pirate,
let me know how much of the late 17th, early 18th
century gender issues you want to confront. I am
going to insert some patriarchal hoo-haw into the game
but not to the point where playing a female character
is all about, "Look at me, I'm a woman and I'm not
married!"

We can tailor this shit to its audience and to the
player. I want to confront the issues about the
character that you want to see brought to the table.
I'm here to help us all tell a good yarn.

That said, I don't want to paint this sail and sabers
quasi-colonial Carribian setting as a P.C. homogenized
place, inhabited by neo-hippie pro-choice pagans.

I want that middle ground where we all feel the wind
in our sails but dont' feel constrained by history,
just inspired by it.

Does this make sense?

[rbingham2000]

Definitely cool -- especially when you note that the party that took on Great Cthulhu himself in the original Lovecraft story had to fight a band of pirate cultists who took to the high seas in order to awaken him before even reaching R'lyeh.

[Paka]

Definitely cool -- especially when you note that the party that took on Great Cthulhu himself in the original Lovecraft story had to fight a band of pirate cultists who took to the high seas in order to awaken him before even reaching R'lyeh.

Nice, I had not remembered that.

I am reading The Scar by China Mieville and the parallels between that book and my conspiracy are startling, indeed.

Next up on the inspirational reading que, On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. Working in a library ROCKS.

[Keith Senkowski]

Judd,

Three pirate books I enjoyed:

Captain Blood, by Rafael Sabatini: It is the best swashbuckling pirate adventure ever written. More fun cannot be found...

The Pirate Hunter, by Richard Zacks: It is the non-fiction true story of Captain Kidd, but it is a fun read and feels more like a novel. I really dug Zack's style of writing...

The History of Pirates, by Angus Konstam: More non-fiction, but you mentioned a female pirate, and you will find the precedence for them here. Anne Bonny and Mary Reade were two tough bitches. It also covers the history of sailing while talking about piracy, famous pirates, the lore and reasons for pirates (unemployment was a major factor during the golden age of piracy believe it or not).

Keith

[Paka]

>Vodacce<
(quasi-Italy)

Influence in Nova Terra: While some of the Doges have a certain amount of influence in the colonies there are no Vodace colonies they can call their own. Vodacce pirates and colonists are not uncommon throughout the islands.

>Avalon<
(quasi-U.K.)

Influence in Nova Terra: Avalon has one of the finest navies in the world and they hold several key port cities and forts in the Horned Archipelago. Their ships make frequent trips back to Avalon, loaded to the gunnel with gold, tobacco, spice and rum.

>Montaigne<
(quasi-France)

Influence in Nova Terra: Montainge, while at war with Castille and Ussura in Olde Theah, still maintains colonies in the Horned Archipelago and depends on Nova Terran gold to fund its costly war effort. Their orders distributed to their governors in the colonies, often given from desperate courtiers in L’Empereur’s court are known for being shocking and often brutal.





>Castille<
(quasi-Spain/Portugal)

Influence in Nova Terra: Castille has a magnificent navy, though much of it is being taken into the war effort in Olde Theah. Castillean privateers with letters of marquee from King Sandovar or even the High Inquisitor often take Montaigne ships or even seek out an entire port.

>Eisen<
(quasi-Germany)

Influence in Nova Terra: Eisen holds on ports in Nova Terra directly. However, several plantations and ports are policed and held by Eisen mercenaries. The mercenary captains have in the past gained more power than its Olde Theah-appointed governor who, on maps, rule the city.

>Vendel<
(quasi-Dutch/Nordic)

Influence in Nova Terra: Vendel Trading Company founded and holds New Vendermark, one of the most successful cities in all of the colonies. Very few trades go from olde world to new without a Vendel Guilder invested in the expedition.

[Paka]

CoS is an interesting system. It has a wiff of TRoS SA's in its Passion and Drive (which I think should be re-named) and is obviously inspired by TRoS combat. It has some Sorcerer bits, most noticeably cover, descriptors and the fine group kicker.

It says its a fantasy game about dark conspiracy but...think about, what fnatasy RPG have you played that WASN'T about the group getting involved in the rooting out of a conspiracy of some kind. Hm.

I love the conspiracy creation questions and my own effort can be found over on Bob Goat's forum under the title Conspiracy of the Deeps. (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=14429)

The group is an interesting mix.

Jeff and Julie are a married couple who met at a LARP. Julie has played in several games I've run including a short Sorcerer run and a BW one-shot.

Jeff has played in many games I've run.

The second couple is Paula and Mike.

Paula played in a long-running Sorcerer game I ran using Dictionary of Mu. It was Paula approaching me and asking me what system I would use to run a pirate RPG that got this whole shindig started.

Mike, her boyfriend, was the one whose idea it was originally to run a pirate RPG, one night when another game got cancelled over at Paula's place. He's an actor at a local college and the only person I haven't gamed with and the youngest in the group.

Janaki's my girlfriend. She has played in several games I've run and the brainstorming for her character can be found in the Actual Play forum here (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=14601)

Robert is the only person in the group who isn't linked to a couple. However, he played with Paula in the Sorcerer campaign I ran. He's a fun gamer and has played in many Sorcerer games I've run. If I could have chosen a captain from the player pool, I would have chosen Robert and was rather thrilled when the group talked it over and he came out of the discussion, rather surprised, as captain.

Both Robert and Paula have a habit of over-writing their character histories. Once I had to ask Robert to save a great idea that came out of such an e-mail for table play and it ended up really MAKING that Sorcerer session.


Captain Marco de Abolfi (played by Rob)

Passion:

Life's satisfaction comes through making the elite fall for their corruptions...just like us small people do.

(He was caught smuggling goods while an officer in the royal navy and was sentenced to lifetime indentured servitute on a penal plantation in the colonies.)

Drive:

I went to bust a buddy out of a prison plantation and witnessed his sacriface to Dark Powers.
Ethnicity:

Cover:

Lieutenant in Castillian Navy

Attributes:

2 Fortitude - Won't lie down and say die

4 Reflex - Rigging Monkey

2 Knowledge - Can you hear that in a bar? -

3 Temperament - Gruff deck officer -

Skills:

4 Archery - Gunnery chief

3 Athletics - Champion swimmer

3 Brawling - Glass jaw -

2 Larceny - Smuggler

2 Melee - Dirty Fighting






First Mate Brian Abernathy (played by Jeff)

Passion:

His ego demands that people know how great he is.

Drive:

They took and corrupted his father's holdings, leaving his inheretence gone.

Ethnicity:

Vendel

Cover:

First Born "Golden Child"

Attributes:

2 Fortitutde - tough in the spotlight

3 Reflex - Panache

2 Knowledge - uninterested if it does not concern him -

4 Temperment - over-confident

Skills:

2 Archery - trick shooter

3 Athletics - graceful

3 Brawling - fast hands

3 Ettiquette - charming

2 Horsemanship - Riding well bred horses

4 Melee - good at humiliating moves





Abasi (played by Julie)
Passion:

He has an extreme devotion to freedom and fair play and democracy. Being a pirate seemed like the only way to have those things.

(Escaped slave who seeks freedom.)

Drive:

The conspiracy feeds off of slaves and his sister is missing in the same region at the same time. That is to say, if there is even the slightest possibility that one has to do with the other, he's there.

Ethnicity:

Nyambe (Europe became Theah, so I just changed Africa to Nyambe)

Cover:

slave, field worker

Attributes:

4 Fortitude - strong from field work and then sailing

2 Reflect - Big, strong but not quick

1 Knowledge - ignorant ex-slave

4 Temperment - Bull-headed, everything is either RIGHT or WRONG with no in-between

Skills:

3 Athletics - you outrun the search dogs and see how athletic you are

3 Brawling - If he seems something wrong, he'll stand up for the weaker party, even if that means getting his butt kicked

2 Craft - wittles wooden animals, has some carpentry skills

2 Folklore - Knows Nyamben folk tales from grandmother

3 Horsemanship - worked with animals all his life

4 Survival - outrunning and hiding, he lived in the wild many times





Gerrard Desrochet (played by Mike)

Passion:

Adrenaline addicted. Gerrard is moved by adventure towards exilleration.

Drive:

Conspiracy = Adventure

Ethnicity:

Montaigne

Cover:

Thief/Con-man

Attributes:

2 Fortitude - Rum-wasted

2 Reflect - Sleight of Hand

2 Knowledge - under-handedly knowledgeable

5 Temperment - silver-tongued

Skills:

3 Craft - skin/bone

4 Larceny - the con

3 Melee - the kerambit

5 Performance - lying

1 Survival - Streetwise

(Mike also communicated an aspect of this character that was interested in collecting bits of oddities and occult creatures and making items out of them.)





Monk a.k.a. Henry James Montgomery (played by Paula)

Passion:

Undermine the Powers that Be

(really short version: Skipped out on a life with the clergy to sail the seven seas.)

Drive:

Uncovered that the mercantile companies, royalty and church knew about sacrifices made at sea to horrid creatures in order to keep the shipping lanes open.

Ethnicity:

Avalonian

Cover:

Pilot

Attributes:

2 Fortitude - skinny

3 Reflect - Acrobatic

4 Knowledge - Nautical Geography

2 Temperment - Easily disgusted

Skills:

5 Academics - Science

3 Athletics - Nimble

2 Brawling - slipping away

1 Ettiquette - Nobility

2 Melee - rapier

4 Medicine - triage



Janaki didn't get her sheet done but we'll work on it this weekend. She was a little dizzied by the way the others at the table, all veteran gamers, were coming up with descriptors on the spot and spending their points. Rather than ask her to make decisions that would be meaningless to her, I thought we would get the cell creation done, kicker solid and we could take her character, complete with passion and drive and fill in the other blanks at home.

I like the way descriptors work at the table while making the characters up. They really help flesh the numbers out, make them mean something. It is interesting to me how different people used them in different ways on their sheet. Some used them for background and others used them more for specialization. Interesting.

The group went a few points over on cell creation and I let it ride, really liking what they came up with.

Allies:

Brian Abernathy's port-wife/girlfriend

Artifacts:

Figurehead of ship, a heretical saint who is now a santaria figure

Contacts:

Captain Ernesto Savigne - Castillian Navy, old chum of Cap' Marco

Manpower:
15 crewmen

Ship:

two-masted sloop, the Screaming Saint

[Paka]

Today, at long last, we cast off, head to sea and game.

Fantastic.

More to be posted soon.

[Paka]

We played today from around 1 p.m to a little before 8 and perhaps I've been running Dogs in the Vineyard too often lately because I wanted to give them the whole dirty situation right off. I very nearly did.

Here are some bullet-point highlights:

* The group kicker worked great and we made up a second one together after the first game, deciding together that the first kicker was well played out.

* Jeff's PC shooting his brother in the head after taking his ship that was escorting a boatload of slaves to be dropped into the maw of the Leviathan. "Go on, brother, shoot me, isn't that what your sort -BANG-"

Me: You shoot him?

Jeff: I do, in the face. Should I roll.

Me: No...no, don't bother. But make a Taint roll, kinslayer! (he made the roll)

* PC's arguing about whether the earth was round or flat.

* Mike's breaking in to a known noble conspirator and getting caught, stabbed upon his hasty exit, having to slit a guard's throat in order to get away.

* Robert spending Destiny Points for someone else's scene, taking it a turn for the cool.

Destiny Points rocked. I am a big fan. I think we all are.

* The combats we did were fast and brutal, no extended swashbuckling this time around. We'll see for next time.

* One of the players, Paula, seemed a little edgy, especially when her PC wasn't in the spotlight. Her character is the first I have seen in a long time who isn't very combat effective and I think it might be bugging her. I e-mailed her to ask what the deal was.

She kept playing up her PC's grumpiness and I wondered if it wasn't her being grumpy through him. We'll see. Pending on how the initial e-mail goes I'll ask her to turn the grumpiness down from an 11 down to a nice gruff 8.

* The players captured a bunch of NPC's who are deeply enmeshed in the conspiracy and found out what they're up to and how the Brotherhood of the Fish fit into the puzzle. Now its just a matter of what they are willing to do about it. Again, I didn't leave much mystery for too long, taking a very Dogs in the Vineyard approach to the whole gig.

I might've really blown the whole dark fantasy X-Files vibe. Ah well.

* Next game's kicker will be the PC's springing a member of the Brotherhood of the Flying Fish out from a hanging. Nice. I will set the game up so that we play through some pre-hanging judicial combats so everyone can take an NPC and play through some tricksy combat without risk to their characters. Should be fun.

[Keith Senkowski]

Very cool boss. I must ask though, anything not work? Find anything problematic?

Keith

[Paka]

Very cool boss. I must ask though, anything not work? Find anything problematic?

Keith

One thing about combat. There are the combat maneuvers listed on the character sheet but these don't include just basic the Offensive Hit manuever...right?

It might be less confusing if the basic melee and ranged attacks were listed along with the fancy shit.

[hive_mind]

Thanks a lot guys.

1. I'd been meaning to get CoS.

2. My game budget was shot for the month.

3. You start this cool thread.

4. I see a PDF is available.

5. I buy it and start devouring the goodness...er evil..within.

6. My wife gets ticked that I spent more money on games.

7. She leaves me, and takes herself and the kids home to Mom.

8. Without her income I have no money to pay the Mortgage , electricity, water, etc.

9..I'm forced to live on the streets, eating bugs and garbage...with only my copy of CoS to keep me warm

Well, 1-5 were true anyway. :)

The reasonable price kept the rest from happening. I must say this really is a great product. I've just finished my 1st read-through, and I have lots of ideas buzzing about my brain. We're going to have fun next weekend...hehe.

[Paka]

I've got the revised and its pretty. The format is tight and I'm excited to read how the rules have changed. All communications from Keith seem to indicate that it'll be a vast improvement that will still allow me to use the P.C.'s from my old edition campaign.

Rock on.

And the campaign will begin again this September, I hope. It is a monthly game but this summer was so hectic that we didn't get to game at all.

The party was going to head back to the Olde World to pick up on P.C.'s family, as his father was splitting from the Conspiracy of the Deeps. Then they would all rendez-vous in New Vendelmark, a merchant's city on the east coast of Nuova Terra, in order to meet with many powerful families who have become dissatisfied with the Conspiracy of late.

I think they are about to witness some evil shit:

How new conspiracies are born of the old.

How these unsatisfied folks are only unsatisfied because their money has been fucked with; it ain't out of any good in their heart.

The Conspiracy of the Deeps is not the only conspiracy in the world.

[JonMonster]

An idea for a one-off adventure that may or may not directly influence the main plot would be to investigate how Voodoo interacts with the Mythos angle. You're running around the Caribbean so you've got to include some of that. I would think that the Boccor would be dark spirits who are opposed to the Leviathan's plan so Houngans would be willing to help the PCs. But only at a great price - whatever short term victory they score against Leviathan leads to a long term gain for the Boccor.

"Well, great. We stopped Leviathan from blowing up Mount Creepy and destroying the world on Wednesday. Now we have to figure out how to prevent the Boccor from opening the Portal of insidious Doom next Friday."

[Paka]

An idea for a one-off adventure that may or may not directly influence the main plot would be to investigate how Voodoo interacts with the Mythos angle.

I'd try to run Voodoo as a community religion without any real evil connotations. And It hink if you have to choose between Lovecraftian Evil and something that is alien and creeps you out a bit, there's no question.

I'd love for the P.C.'s to go to a Vodoun for answers to some of their questions.

That'd rock.

And yeah, I agree, there'd be a steep price.

[Keith Senkowski]

If you happen to have it lying around, the old Ravenloft MMII had this really cool Vodun in it named Chicken Bone. I've used him maybe ten times whenever I want to introduce creepy voodoo into a game.

Keith

[Paka]

I'll see if that book is on my FLGS's used games shelf and if not, it should be easily trackable at G.C.

I should be going over everyone's character sheet in the next month and just taking stock of what they told me during character creation.

[Paka]

My group is gathering in New Vendelmark, a kind of New Amsterdam analogue in my Pirates Fight Lovecraftian Evil. They have called a gathering of everyone unhappy with the people they have been fighting, the Conspiracy of the Deeps. I want them to get a feeling of greater conspiracies at work, of a world with a secret history of conspiracies at its core, driving it closer and closer to cataclysm and damnation.


They gathered together, men of business and means in a new world, far from where their ancestors had set down roots. It was an unforgiving wilderness, being tamed by greed and blood but there were fortunes to be made here. They could see past the savages and the death to the bottom line and the bottom line was a profit.

They brought with them a spell to summon a vicious demon lord. In the old world it would have put hell onto their enemies, blood onto their knives and sin into their hearts. They called a council, put the scroll on the table.

But the summoning did not pass council. The scroll, it was said, needed revising.

They did not summon the demon lord of blood and brimstone. Instead they changed the wording, altered the spell and summoned a bureaucrat, an accountant, a creator of rows and columns. They summoned the Devil's Own Book-keeper.

And now the bottom line has never been spelled out in more clear terms. They go into a winter knowing full well how many will have to die of starvation in order for the many to survive. They invest in a venture knowing full well the sins of all involved with coin or deed.

The summoning had proven profitable.

But then the book-keeper looked up for his columns and rows, shut his book, hung his spectacle upon a horned wing and made a request.

They began keeping track of cults, of conspiracies, of other men and women who had made their fortunes on a deal with a beast from beyond. Sometimes they took a piece of what said cults wanted, just to make a profit, sometimes they played one against another. Sometimes they aided a heroic fool who fought against a demon-lord and sometimes they made sure said hero was killed and put in an untamed river in the new world.

They decimated a colony and wrote Croatan, causing a rift between a colonial cult and the savages. They assassinated popes, as the church was just another cult to them, god just another demon in need of blood. They stole a chalice that filled with angel's blood on every hunter's moon in order to stop a cult from gaining too much power in the olde world. And they took notice of a band of pirates in the Archipelago who had been disrupting the trade the Conspiracy of the Deeps was holding with the Leviathan, easing the trades routes between new world and olde.