Trail of Demonic Cthulhu: Base Demonic Template (edited)

So here's the rules of my new Trail of Cthulhu demons thus far.

Powers

Those fallen who are in possession of bodies will gain far fewer powers than the canonical World of Darkness versions.  Each fallen will gain a single power that has greater versatility, such as pyrokinesis, to encourage the players to think in terms of a defining power rather than a random assortment of magic. 

The Fallen will have an extra ability based on their full demonic form which holds true for all members of their House and two abilities that are unique to their particular purpose and sub-House.  Using their demonic form can draw the attention of local supernatural forces and can sometimes cause them more trouble than its worth.  It costs a point of Faith to use one's revelatory / apocalyptic form but it lasts until the Fallen wills it to end.  So long as they are wearing their apocalyptic form, they may suppress or re-establish their active abilities with a thought.  As an example, they may begin with wings, suppress them to move through a hallway, then unleash them again to fly over a gap.

They may use rituals, much as anyone else, but doing so typically causes their minds to brush the greater cosmos or even channel the power of Earthbound and Outer Gods, which is still stability shaking to them.  They may spend Faith instead of Stability on a 1 for 1 basis when using spells or rituals as part of the activation cost. 

Some things may become normalised to them with exposure and thus after each exposure the possible Stability cap will be reduced by 1 for each independent exposure.  This works twice as quickly for Deep Ones and Zombies which even humans can become inured to (not typical of the game but there are enough examples in the books of people being disturbed by the monsters but no longer falling into hysterics).

They still need to worry about losing sanity as they come to comprehend how the universe truly works - unravelling their human comprehension removes the bulwark of protection against the torments of the abyss, after all.

Base Abilities

When the Fallen die, they can potentially claim new Hosts.  The players have given me the power to simply provide them with a logical host after the first which I'll draw from the Masks of Nyarlathotep companion book or other NPC guides depending on the country they're in and the campaign they're playing.

Fallen heal faster than mortals.  Thus they heal 1 hit point per day without rest, 2 health points per restful day and 3 health points if given medical attention.  They can spend a point of faith to undo an injury (i.e. broken limb or lost finger) or regain health points on a three health points for one faith point basis.  Fallen also won't lose their last health point from bleeding out. 

 

The Fallen can also invoke each other using their celestial name which allows them to converse through whispers from across a field as though they were standing beside each other.  Once can detect this power's use through the Awareness skill.  Mortals can also invoke them with their celestial name but this is a one-way street.

It is a +3 stability cost to witness a demon's apocalyptic form and their reactions will be dependent on the Fallen's overall behaviour toward humanity.  A Fallen Angel who slaughters humanity with relish will provoke terror, while one who seeks to protect humans will typically leave them awestruck and astounded.  The cost will be reduced by one point for every encounter until the third encounter, whereupon the mortal will lose 1 point of sanity but no longer lose stability to gaze upon them as their mind has come to accept them.  After all, they are creatures that helped stabilise reality so they do not appear as "wrong" as most. 

Thralls only take a hit to their Stability the first time they see the Fallen.

Fallen angels may refresh their native faith pool (i.e. equal to their normal Faith rating) through the quiet worship provided by mortals but only if they have recently done something meaningful for that mortal (i.e. save their life, defend them in apocalyptic form, torture them).  This is called 'reaping faith' and it can be performed on a thrall if the situation is right.  Typically they may only do this once per case though exceptional circumstances may allow additional refreshes.
 

Additional Skills

Faith is a General Skill that is capped at 3 for starting characters.  Fallen may gain double their initial rating through pacts (i.e. temporarily increasing it to six) on a one Faith per pact basis.  There may be some occasions where a Fallen needs to roll their Faith rating as a contested pool though typically it is simply spent to perform an action.  Fallen recharge one Faith per day and must reap from mortals (see last paragraph in Base Abilities) or ravage their thralls to regain more (see Pacts below).

Awareness is a General Skill that is used as a sort of sixth sense for the supernatural that can sometimes glean further information, but is typically used as a divining rod for relics and current magical effects.

Eminence is an Investigative / Interpersonal Skill that is used as a sort of Credit Rating skill for the fallen.  There is also a downside in that other Fallen are more likely to remember their names and potentially even syllables of their True Name.

Legacy is an Investigative skill where Fallen may spend points to remember situations and events from before their time in the Abyss.  Most Fallen would have at least one point in this skill.  Typically spends will lead to short flashbacks.

In order to better reflect these skills, I have used a 28 / 75 point system.  Yes, these are a lot of points but in a two-player game with additional skill requirements I don't see this as a major hindrance.

Weaknesses

One can use their True Name to bind them to perform a certain number of actions to fulfil the sorcerer's will.  Earthbound can bind them forever if their True Name is known or even consume their souls should their hosts be broken before one.  Fallen can be banished or abjured against through mortal ritual and certain ritualistically enhanced items affect them more keenly than any mortals. They cannot succumb to mundane disease nor do they age, but they do need to eat, sleep and breathe like any mortal.  Elder Signs are particularly effective repositories of human faith (i.e. psychic energy) as they are already powerful occult matrices.  They don't need to see the Elder Sign, or know it's there, to be affected by it.  On the other hand, they can easily approach should they come across a neglected Elder Sign displayed prominently.

Pacts

The Fallen can make a pact with a mortal in exchange for more Faith.  Each mortal in a pact provides an additional point of temporary Faith but the Fallen may only have as many pacts as their Faith rating.  The Fallen may ravage the mortal for more faith (rolling his own Faith rating to see how much is gained) but this costs the mortal +7 stability and permanently reduces both their current and maximum sanity by two.
 

A mortal (aka thrall) under the effects of a pact ceases to age or be affected by the rigors of age (including rigors currently experienced), and gain three points in an investigative skill and five points in a general skill (may not be Sanity or Stability).  This skill may be Awareness and, indeed, is typically the only way such individuals may obtain that skill.  The Fallen can roll their Faith to sense the mortal's location, no matter where they are.

There is also a once off benefit at the point when the pact is established where the Fallen may either refresh all of the mortal's hit points to full while curing them of a disease or injury, or provide them with apparent youth and beauty, or provide them with 3 sanity points (as they remind humanity of their value in the world) or grant them the use of an apocalyptic form trait known to the master which costs the thrall -2 stability to use.  
The Fallen may also possess the thrall at will should they ever be ejected from their host.  They can also open up their thrall to possession by another, but only if the thrall's current stability or sanity has been reduced to 0 or they are unconscious.

Trail of Cthulhu meets Demon: the Fallen (because I can!)

I've always loved Call of Cthulhu campaigns but I've always loved Demon: the Fallen characters.  Ancient spirits corrupted by millennia in the abyss, who nevertheless fell for love of Humanity, who are now in possession of a host that infiltrates their own previously maddened minds with real emotion and memories, causing them to become some sort of hybrid ensures some very complex characters.

Plus the Demon: the Fallen setting includes these same Fallen sometimes being drawn into reliquaries where they become Lovecraftian monstrosities glutted and warped by the twisted faith of their evil cults.  And while the form of horror would be different … there is something terrible about looking up at some monstrous being and seeing your horrifically warped kin.  Actually there is something quite Lovecraftian about that, especially as these characters could warp the same way eventually….

Naturally this requires a few setting changes to both.  Namely the God who made the angels didn't make the universe but this portion of the galaxy and it made it according to certain rules that would stabilise reality and prevent the rise of more horrific entities.  It never told the angels this, of course, never thinking they would disobey as it couldn't truly comprehend them either.  It had three life giving planets created to support intelligent species that could clamp down on reality and prevent the infiltration of other entities.

These included the Elder Things, Mi-Go and Humanity.  The angels were divided in focus across these three planets and instructed to love them as much as they loved God (love = devotion in their terms) but these creatures were left in a state of blissful ignorance (which fits in with the Lovecraftian Knowledge = Sanity Loss).  Eventually one small prophetic angel set to examine the possibilities of the future foresaw something horrific coming and so one third of the angels (led by Lucifer) went to bring sentience to the three races so that they could be better prepared.

Things went well for a time, but then the Great Entity saw what they had done and offered to un-make the accidentally rebellious angels (they thought the Great Entity would want that)as penance and to remove sentience from the three main races.  Few angels agreed with the suggestions though a third of humanity and Mi-Go agreed (the Elder Things just telepathically projected themselves into the future to avoid what was coming).

The world was scoured by the Great Entity in its attempt to re-set the clock, protecting only the earlier obedient angels and those mortals who had chosen ignorance, but the fallen hid with their chosen people, divided up into five factions, and went to war.  A number of creatures were made during this war, such as the Deep Ones (products of the Palace of Sighs) and the Shoggoths (created by Elder Things empowered by Rabisu during the more enlightened eras).  Eventually they were rounded up and cast into the blackest pit, a place called the Abyss, in the lightness centre between solar systems.

Of the three races, Humanity was always the weakest, and yet in its weakness came a certain quiet fortitude in terms of holding the sanity-shredded otherworldly reality at bay.  While the Mi-Go quickly fell to the assault of otherworldly beings connecting to their minds, and the Elder Things fell to hubris, Humanity kept quietly churning along in a way that kept this solar system in particular from falling to the reality bending horrors that were right outside our door.

Eventually some of the fallen angels were summoned from the pit and found no sign of the other angels nor the Great Entity.  They were typically some of the more powerful spirits, since their names were more widely known in whispered dreams, and they could not possess humanity due to their great spiritual weight.  Instead they were cast into grave idols.  These fallen angels slowly devolved due to their own madness from the abyss and the fell prayers made to them and are now hideous versions of what they once were.

Many of these Earthbound Fallen are the fell entities of Call of Cthulhu and many of the splinter masks of Nyarlathotep are actually separate entities thought to be one.  The Arch Dukes are Cthulhu / Belial, Mask of the Bloody Tongue / Abaddon, Black Pharoah / Asmodeus, Daoloth / Dagon and Hastur / Azrael.  Only Dagon's original name has been changed to XXX to avoid confusion with a certain large Deep One.

Shub-Niggurath, Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth all remain as they are in the Lovecraftian universe as terrible things from beyond the stars, or causal principles given life.  Y'Golonac and the like are typically lesser Earthbound.  Of course if the players start to assume that all entities they glimpse belong to their own species they're going to get a very rude surprise.

Masks of Nyarlathotep Murder Mystery Event

One of the many great things about Masks of Nyarlathotep is how it has so much fan-generated content, possibly more than any other roleplaying campaign ever made.  There's an entire Companion, plenty of prop downloads, and oodles of advice but how to expand on it or just plain old make it better.  So I wondered if I could use the New York chapter as the foundation for a Murder Mystery Event / Conspiracy LARP. 

Basically Erica Carlyle pulls together interested buyers in her brother's books *and* those involved or surrounding the mystery of Elias Jackson's death to a single great soiree to see the lunar eclipse and finally get to the bottom of Elias Jackson's claims.  Naturally there's a number of investigators, cultists, witnesses, conspiracy theorists, and hardened killers to sweeten the pot.

I've managed to grab a venue that has four main rooms and a foyer - one of which stands well as a library - and there are plenty of props and handouts to bring to hand, including Cryptocurium's excellent Bloody Tongue Avatar statuette that can be brought into game.  The rules will be very simple to keep it fun for all and the focus on the characters rather than the traits.

The main mystery I'm figuring out now is how to include all the various props without over complicating it and making it impossible to solve.  I'm figuring that I'll have the props around, as props, but ensure that you can solve it based on what people know (through their character kits) than the handouts they bring to game or which are already there.

You can read more about the advertising spiel of it over here and view the actual Eventbrite booking page over here.

Musing on Masks: Episode 19

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, has been hired to investigate Sydney Silvers who went missing only a night or two ago but whose home was found ransacked by the receptionist. He's escaped Mogens home after discovering that the man had been doing some sort of chemical experiments on his enemies and is planning to attack his scarcely defended laboratory available to deal with at the same time.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Laboratory): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, must infiltrate the research facility and rescue Jack Vander Klei so that he can finally get some answers.

CONSIDERATIONS: This was a bit of a tricky one as I hadn't reviewed my rules system prior to running it for quite some time so I was a little all over the place with those rules.  The combat did bring up some very important issues such as the importance of cover and concealment, adequate ammunition and superior numbers.  Lacking superior numbers, a good amount of ammunition is necessary.

Musing on Masks: Episode 18

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, has been hired to investigate Sydney Silvers who went missing only a night or two ago but whose home was found ransacked by the receptionist. He's escaped Mogens home after discovering that the man had been doing some sort of chemical experiments on his enemies and that there would be both a ritual and a scarcely defended laboratory available to deal with at the same time.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Dilemmas): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, must decide whether to assault Mogens head on or infiltrate his research facility instead.

CONSIDERATIONS: It always comes back to dynamite.  It was interesting watching this situation develop because the Half Moon Cult adventure really doesn't consider the possibility that players might choose to attack Mogens during (or before) the ritual rather than assaulting the laboratory.  It took a bit of gentle convincing to direct him toward the laboratory since a frontal assault on a ritual tends to be distinctly suicidal.

My player's mind, regrettably, isn't as geared toward Cthulhu genre conventions, however, and so he desperately sought out a way to be in two places at once.  I managed to push him in the right direction but I do believe that we would have had a Half Party Kill if this weren't a solo campaign as half the group would doubtless have tried their hand at the ritual.  Which wouldn't be so bad if there were some support for that in the adventure, which unfortunately there is not.

I still like the Half Moon Cult as an adventure but it does need to be thought through before being used.

Final Tweet for Masks of Nyarlathotep New York Chapter

Well, I've done it.  I have put up 31 tweets on handy web-sites, prop links and other miscellaneous web sites that'll help you run the Masks of Nyarlathotep New York chapter.  You can find the fruits of my labour over here.  I'm going to give myself a bit of a break for awhile and then in late April I'll start putting up some good links to travel sites, ship plans, and other such items to help folks in the bits in between chapters.

Musing on Masks: Episode 17

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, has been hired to investigate Sydney Silvers who went missing only a night or two ago but whose home was found ransacked by the receptionist. He has just rammed a car through the front gates of Mogens' mansion and has broken his way in through a window into the dining room while Charlie cowers in the car outside.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Ram Raid): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, must quickly explore Mogens' estate with goons on his tail.

CONSIDERATIONS: This is one of those times when a player goes haring off after the bad guys without much concern or self-restraint.  In this case it's because, all things considered, this really was the best way to try to take out Ambrose Mogens.  Luckily for James, the goons were hired to capture intruders rather than kill them and, ironically enough, Charlies' presence may have just saved his life as he's more prone to rash decision making when someone isn't pointing a gun at his kid's head.

Still it all worked out quite well in a pulpy kind of way and, I must say, props to the player for allowing his character to be captured in the end.  It's always hard, as a player, to know when to hold them and when to fold them, largely because most bad guys don't generally take hostages.

Personally, I find it a lot of fun....

What are your principles?

Probably a good idea to read (this link removed due to containing a Malware warning) for a really good and in-depth look at the subject in Dungeon World, but in brief, Dungeon World encourages GMs to run by certain game principles to get things moving in a way that fits the game style.  By making these rules explicit, it helps GMs figure out if they're helping or harming the style of the game with any particular decision they make.

Every game setting has their own principles, though naturally GMs tend to tweak them, and I think it's a great idea to make such things explicit.  Call of Cthulhu has something similar (at least in 6th ed.) which involves a sort of "What to Expect" section which is directed at players, yet still useful to Keepers.

While each game has its own principles, I thought I'd pop in a few that should be present in my Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign (which is one of the few that I'm running at present, breaks are delicious).

 

The Place Should Feel Real.

What's the point in going to exotic locales if it's just another Generic City?  I do my research, figure out transportation between key locations, and do my best to make each place feel and sound genuine.  I even occasionally make a meal that was common in that era / location, which thus far, includes types of sandwiches I read about in New York menus.

The Characters Should Feel Real

While not every character needs to be wacky or eccentric, they each should have a very real sense of being wholly and completely themselves in a way that draws attention to their traits.  This ranges from Elias Jackson's coolly manipulative journalism where he quietly and gently makes offers you can't refuse; to the youthful companion Charlie Adams' cheerful eagerness; to Jean Robbins (from the Half-Moon Cult adventure) being rational and reasonable in how she deals with the PC's blackmail attempts.  Each character is given as much depth as I can muster.

The Characters Should Feel Integrated

Part of the benefit of doing what will at least be a three-part prologue (London Awakening, Half-Moon Cult, The Midas Cult) is that I have plenty of opportunities to introduce characters that will become very important later on.  James has already met a pathologist, a journalist and a dodgy newspaperman who will all come up later on.  He will also end up revisiting a British Psychiatric Institution again as well.

Sanity Is Always In Question

By introducing a character from another genre / setting (Vampire: the Requiem), I have immediately given myself a platform to consider the intersection of the occult and sanity.  In a world where there is definitely both magic and other realms, is it insane to think you were a vampire in another version of Earth?  Yet in a world where magic shatters sanity there is a very good chance that if you've been dealing with it for awhile, you are insane.  Other characters, including potential companions, will also help him confront that possibility.

Death Ends Attachment

As a solo game, I can't really kill off the main lead without stalling the campaign and having to start over, so I have set up a situation where he doesn't die for good.  He has to go through a hellish dreamscape before pulling himself together again.  On the same note, I know my player isn't a massive horror fan (and abhors tragedy), so by making the side characters feel real I have to take some responsibility for his emotions when dealing with them.  If I randomly slay these characters, he will feel cheated.  Thus much of the horror will involve visceral threat, characters-in-jeopardy and psychological hazards, rather than a high risk of wanton death (at least for the major attachments).

Fear and Feeling Are The Goals

Since the aim of the game is to induce emotion in the player, including and especially fear, I don't really mind reducing the lethality of the game to engender that.  While it may seem counter-intuitive, the fact is that some players can open themselves up to the reality of the world better when they're not trying to keep their psychological distance from everything within the game.  Therefore I will aim to keep the tension at certain points (though not constantly), and whatever gets me to those points without over-stepping them is just fine.  If that means slaying an NPC, then fine.  If that means keeping them alive, then fine as well.

So yes, these are my principles for my Masks campaign as a GM.  What are yours?

Musings on Masks: Episode 16

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, has been hired to investigate Sydney Silvers who went missing only a night or two ago but whose home was found ransacked by the receptionist. He is hot on the trail of Sydney Silvers who investigated the eugenicists who may be responsible for the death of James' beloved back in London.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Carjacking): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, seeks out Sydney Silvers at the Hammel Hotel with Charlie and Martha Collins.

Musings on Masks: Episode 15

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, has been hired to investigate Sydney Silvers who went missing only a night or two ago but whose home was found ransacked by the receptionist. He needs to find Sydney Silvers because she had been investigating the eugenicists who may be responsible for the death of James' beloved back in London.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Tavern Trip): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, visits the Fraunces Tavern to try to find Sydney Silvers by retracing her steps and following the research leads listed on her note.

Musings on Masks: Episode 14

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, has been hired to investigate Sydney Silvers who went missing only a night or two ago but whose home was found ransacked by the receptionist. He needs to find Sydney Silvers because she had been investigating the eugenicists who may be responsible for the death of James' beloved back in London.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Conjure Man): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, spends this shorter than usual episode visiting the Conjure Man to try to find out more information on what to do and where to go.

Musings on Masks: Episode 13

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, has been hired to investigate Sydney Silvers who went missing only a night or two ago but whose home was found ransacked by the receptionist.  He needs to find Sydney Silvers because she had been investigating the eugenicists who may be responsible for the death of James' beloved back in London.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Unwary): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, reluctantly teams up with Martha Collins who lives with Sydney Silvers to investigate her disappearance.

EASTER EGGS: There's a few subtle prods here to point him in the right direction as the poor player is doing this on his own. While this does help reduce the amount of tangents and confusion around, it also means the campaign relies on one man's insights and ability to remember all of the facts.  Hence why I try to guide him to the right insights and conclusions when such things matter for the successful resolution of the plots.  I could leave him to it, but he'd probably just get frustrated.  On the other hand, it's a delicate balance because I don't want to make it too easy.

How do you think I've done?

Also, I meant to do some jive speak with the man at the Cotton Club but after taking a look at the truly atrocious Cotton Club menu I couldn't bring myself to do so.  It felt better to make him a bit taciturn and cautious.

I'll probably have a very jive talking black person using the slang in the Secrets of New York book (even though it'll doubtless be anachronistic, being as this is set in the late thirties rather than the early twenties) at some later point when the person is trying to specifically annoy him.  Perhaps when he pokes around the Ju-Ju House?

Musings on Masks: Episode 12

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: James Paterson is seeking out the eugenicists who had slain his buddy whose New York branch was supposedly being investigated by Sydney Silvers.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Camraderie): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, has been hired to investigate Sydney Silvers who went missing only a night or two ago but whose home was found ransacked by the receptionist.

EASTER EGGS: I feel like my acting skills were a little rough in this one up until about the midway point.  Did it seem like that to you?  Like Martha Collins seemed a little forced?  I like it towards the end.  And yes, I know, we linger quite awhile on the conversation but I am floating the possibility of her being one of his companions in Masks of Nyarlathotep so I need him to get to know her.

Musings on Masks: Episode 11

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: James Paterson has left a message with the New York Weekly Messenger that Sydney Silvers should get in contact with him. He then went back to Manhattan and spent the rest of the day - despite the hurricane which brushed Manhattan - researching Eugene Vander Klei in the Hall of Records where he located that his son, Jack Vander Klei, got a very high score and won the Better Babies Competition.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Missing): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, gets annoyed at the days which have passed since leaving a message with the New York Weekly Messenger and decides that Sydney Silvers must be dodging his calls. It turns out to be a wee bit more complicated than that...

EASTER EGGS: Poverty, booze and frustration with potential allies ... all the hallmarks of a private investigation case.

I'd thought I'd edited the lunar map to work buuuut no such luck. The dates were still wrong.

At the very end you will hear the cameo of our flatmate coming home from work.

Musings on Masks: Episode 10

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: Thus far James Paterson woke up from a week long coma after being thrown through a window by an alleged gas main explosion.  He tracked down one of the other two survivors (the non-janitor one), hoping to find his beloved private investigator partner alive but instead found a lad he remembered being a True Fae from his history as a Society Vampire. 

Now James is perfectly human, the alleged True Fae (Jack Frost) is a 14-year-old lad with schizophrenia stuck in Colney Hatch Mental Institution.  A conversation with him goes nowhere with vague promises of further information if he gets Jack Frost out of the place (an aim which requires an investigation into an abusive attendant).  Naturally before that happens ... Jack Frost gets spirited out of the country by his alleged father's lawyer.

Jackson Elias, keen to get the eugenicist story (from a prequel adventure), meets up with James at a wake, and sets up a meeting with a British Intelligence Agent who encourages James to follow Jack Frost across the ocean to America in order to track down links between these secretive eugenic cults. 

In exchange for an exclusive with Prospero Press, Jackson then helps James and his teen sidekick, Charlie Adams, to get to New York and even gives him a contact with someone investigating it from the other side - someone called Sydney Silvers.

James reaches New York but finds himself flat broke.  He has to scurry to gather some money, get into some shady eviction business and then go looking for Sydney Silvers in hopes of a paid case in helping her.  Unfortunately a storm is brewing and Sydney Silvers isn't available and that's where we are right now.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Hall of Records): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, tries to track down information on Eugene Vander Klei on his own and starts to question whether his initial assumptions about Jack Frost is correct.

THOUGHTS: I think I need to vary my tone a bit more. Some of these sections seem to drone on a bit, even the weather effects.  On the other hand, I also certainly feel like I've established the basic mundane atmosphere and locations quite well.  Here's hoping I managed to capture the rising tension in the next few sessions.

Which is the good / bad thing about Actual Plays.  Going over them again enables me to see the good and bad in my craft.

Masks *IS* Cursed

Not the tree branch that hit me....

What is with this campaign?  So many delayed posts because of various other issues.  There was a windstorm in Adelaide on Sunday night stretching down to Monday morning that knocked a variety of tree branches down, killed electricity (in some places for 24 hours) and brought in a refreshingly cool change for about half a day.  Naturally this happened in time for me to prepare the sound file for uploading (which I normally prepare Monday night and upload Tuesday morning).

On Tuesday morning, bright and early, I set out for work and enjoy the driving wind as it brushes my face ... only to have a tree branch come down on me.  You see, gum trees lose their branches almost like a dandelion loses its fluff.  Since I was walking down a tree-lined street with reasonably short branches, the branch didn't fall very far, and since I was walking toward the middle of the narrow street, it mostly hit me with its twigs.

All I have to show for it is a long scratch on my neck, beneath the hairline, and a few scabs on my hands.  Still, worth it for the chance to tell my boss that I was an hour late in for work because a branch fell down and hit me.

Why an hour late? 

Well, I scurried home after pausing at a few crossroads and pondering my chances at a) getting home safely versus b) getting to the bus stop safely.  The former seemed likelier than the latter.  The wind died down after an hour.

My workplace is on the other side of town and therefore didn't get hit as hard by wind as we did.

Oh, a tree branch also fell into our backyard (see above) though it didn't destroy anything important.  It has taken a fair while to even begin sawing through, hence my slowness in getting my next Masks post up.  Ah well, soon it'll be uploaded.

Musings on Masks: Episode 9

EPISODE SUMMARY (Nesting): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, finds a cheap apartment in Hell's Kitchen with an ... interesting price. Afterwards he goes on the hunt to find Sydney Silvers at the New York Weekly Messenger while chasing up a hot tip on the London eugenicists given to him by Elias Jackson.

EASTER EGGS: We were pretty jokey this session but I think it worked well as a bit of a tension breaker following the funeral and graveside visits.

You might notice how my constant demands for him to mark down how much money he's spending actually builds some tension for the player.  This wouldn't normally be the case but playing an immigrant private investigator with only a few bucks to his name not only is thematically appropriate but actually motivates him to get involved in some shady business.

Those who know much about September of 1938 in New York might have an inkling about what the wind and rain suggests.... Then again, those who have read my earlier articles about this particular campaign might well know as well.

Musings on Masks: Episode 08

EPISODE SUMMARY (New York): Wherein James Paterson needs to cope with his early days dealing with poverty in New York. Realising he hasn't enough money to buy himself a gun, he figures out a place to gamble and then spends a fair chunk of this hour trying to earn enough money to survive.

EASTER EGGS: I decided to reinforce how broke his character was by printing out some menus, learning some item prices, and keeping him busy for a few days until the hurricane happens (as he arrived early) by making him locate new sources of money and a place to stay.

I have to admit I got a sort of sick satisfaction from demanding various chunks of money from my player and having him slowly reduce his dwindling funds.

I think it also added a layer of grimy desperation.  He needs cash.  Therefore he needs cases.  It also encourages him to steal.  When he gets more cash I'll be less prone to spell out each expenditure but since his character is prone to randomly spend money I might make him roll 1d10s to determine how many dollars he wastes in a week above average living expenses.

I considered making his gambling experience a bit more lively, especially as it turns out to be illegal in New York, but decided against it.  I wanted to make this time work out ... so that next time becomes all the more climactic when gangsters chase him down.  Besides which, he'd had a bad run of it and I didn't want to break him too soon.

Oh, and as you'll doubtless figure out by listening to this, I know nothing of gambling, legal or otherwise.  I know very little about poker as well.

ALAS the fault for my Audacity problems seems to rest with Firefox.  I used Internet Explorer and it updated.  The situation should now proceed with better regularity.

Musings on Masks: ERROR

Archive.org is uploading the music files just fine but it won't add it to my item - or anywhere at all.  It just keeps saying that I have made no changes to the files.  So ... yeah, sorry about that.  I'm not sure what to do because I haven't changed my technique for making uploads.  I think I'll probably just need to find another audio hosting site that doesn't randomly ignore my uploads.  Oh well....

Musings on Masks: Episode 07

EPISODE SUMMARY (Graveside): Wherein James Paterson desperately digs up his beloved Walsh's grave in the dearly held hope that it isn't her body or that she has somehow crawled out of her own grave.

EASTER EGGS: James recalls a situation where Walsh was buried beneath a burnt down mansion in a previous adventure where he dislocated his own brain from his skull, reforged it into an insectile creature, and crawled out of the coffin only to go on a pigeon killing spree in order to bulk up and recreate a humanoid form.

The fact that there's no evidence of this happening this time makes him start to fear that he may actually be insane and that his best friend and confidante could actually be dead.