19th Level

I'll be making a small adjustment for this actual play. I'll be focusing less on what happened during play - though I will cover that - and more discussing the makeup of the adventure. I think that is probably more of interest to my readers. One of my players commented how she didn't recall any adventures actually involving Cthulhu. With our previous adventure featuring some Thralls of Cthulhu that seemed a great opportunity to make use of the worldwide Cthulhu Cult. Adventure Notes I started with the ending - I had a vision of cultists trying to rise R'lyeh in Boston Harbor. Yes, it's supposed to be in the Pacific Ocean but I decided to adjust that and say R'lyeh is an extradimensional place. It is perhaps easiest to rise from the Pacific, but if the stars are right, it can be risen out of any water. I knew they'd need a tome so I broke the adventure into two parts - the first concerning them acquiring the tome they needed and the second them maki...

Though based in Boston, the investigators do make occasional forays. When an opportunity to acquire a forbidden tome in Biloxi, Mississippi arises, the Watch and Ward Society sends one of their agents and her allies. Professor Victor Davies was willing to donate the Vishakhapatnam Fragment to Harvard University in return for access to some of Harvard's restricted texts. Not a perfect deal, but the chance to take the Fragment out of circulation could not be ignored. Based on the adventure "Still Waters" by L.N. Isynwill and Doug Lyons from Chaosium's The   Great Old Ones book. Setting: Boston. Tuesday, October 13 - Wednesday, October 14, 1914, Davies Landing, Mississippi. Cast of Characters: Investigators: Colin O'Connor: Civil engineer from Dunmore, Ireland. Employed as a civil engineer by the city of Boston. Lola Diaz Azar: Archaeologist hailing from Puerto Rico, born of a Puerto Rican mother and Middle Eastern father. Agent of the New Englan...

Not all tales of the Mythos involve a world-shattering threat. Some are mysteries as to why people become someone they weren't previously. Sometimes this answer is more than the questioner can handle. Inspired by the adventure capsule "People Change" from Chaosium's Escape from Innsmouth  adventure. Setting: Boston. Friday, August 14, 1914. A drizzly cool day. Cast of Characters: Investigators: Colin O'Connor: Civil engineer from Dunmore, Ireland. Employed as a civil engineer by the city of Boston. Lola Diaz Azar: Archaeologist hailing from Puerto Rico, born of a Puerto Rican mother and Middle Eastern father. Agent of the New England Watch and Ward Society, specializing in occult tomes. Nathaniel Quincy, MD, Captain, US Army (Ret.) Former army doctor, served in Nicaragua and the Philippines. Now working as a medical examiner for Essex County. NPCs: Jonathan Longstreet: Civil engineer. Widower. Working on building the Dorchester Subway. About...

The world doesn't know it yet, but the shots which will trigger the Great War have just been fired. In Boston, the Hub of the Universe, massive construction projects are underway, building the infrastructure which will serve the city for the rest of this century and beyond. However, that construction has unearthed a hidden evil... Setting: Boston. Monday, June 29, 1914 Cast of Characters: Colin O'Connor: Civil engineer from Dunmore, Ireland. Working on the Dorchester Tunnel. Lola Diaz Azar: Archaeologist hailing from Puerto Rico, born of a Puerto Rican mother and Middle Eastern father. Nathaniel Quincy, MD, Captain, US Army (Ret.) Former army doctor, served in Nicaragua and the Philippines. The three investigators had assembled at a home in South Boston on Summer Street. With the Dorchester tunnel extension to the Cambridge Subway being built a number of homes were being moved. Under one of them the house movers had found a hidden chamber of horrors. The thr...

With my degree pursuit entering the home stretch, posting has been pretty anemic. But I wanted to give a very brief write-up of our first adventure playing with DCC Lankhmar. This is our playing of The Madhouse Meet  from the 2016 Free RPG Day book from Goodman Games.  Cast of Characters: الموت (Almawt) - Daughter of Lankhmarts who settled in the Eastern Lands. Abandoned her designated role as a squire to study magic under Sheelba of the Eyeless Face.  Ганзориг (Ganzorig) - Unlucky and dim-witted Mingol warrior, deadly with his battle axe. Challenge to speak with given his lack of speaking the common Low Lankhmarese.  Phlegm - Lankhmar-native. Smuggler, independent thief who has reached an accommodation with the Thieves' Guild of Lankhmar. Summary:  The trio did not meet in a tavern. They were however all captured from the same tavern, the Heavy Lion, in the slums near the Marsh Gate of the Temple Quarter. The wizard Tulmakiz had been e...

Based on the adventure of the same name by Harry Cleaver, contained in the Chaosium anthology The Great Old Ones . Setting: Boston, Mass. to Coppertown, New Mexico. June 20 - June 26, 1921 Characters: Jordaine Furst - Strasbourg-born Great War spy for France Liam Maguire - Former Boston police officer turned private investigator after the 1919 strike Dora Martin - Journalist determined to understand the truth At Fredrick Tardiff's art studio in Boston some new investigators had gathered. Dora Martin had reported on the Crimson Gang and had determined there was more to it than the official story So had former police officer Liam Maguire. Dora had received a letter from a former colleague of hers, a labor organizer and general rabble rouser, José Green. Prior to leaving they did some research on the mines: The Beasley Mining Co. Offices: 28 Main Street, Coppertown, New Mexico. Officers: President William Beasley, V.P. Edward Beasley. Incorpora...

Based on the adventure of the same name by Doug Lyons with L. N. Isynwill, contained in the Chaosium anthology  The Great Old Ones. Part 1 [Note this writeup is a bit brief given the adventure was played several months ago.] Setting: Boston; Wednesday, April 20 - Thursday, April 21, 1921 Characters: Earl Crowley - Antiquarian settled in Arkham Jordaine Furst - Strasbourg-born Great War spy for France Fredrick Tardiff - Great War veteran, Kingsport artist Late in the night of the 20th, Crowley received the call that Eddie Clark had been spotted and rejoined his companions in apprehending him. After some severe questioning, they searched his flat and discovered it had records of a delivery to an abandoned brewery - perhaps where the Crimson Gang was hiding. They made their plans to go to the hideout - with the knowledge that the Black Demon was searching for Malone as his ultimate target, they planned on using the tablets to bring the demon there - and th...

The Dragons were a new crew in Duskvol. A city of near perpetual night, much like the rest of the world, with a pitiful dawn and dusk every day. Yet life went on. Unless you hired the Dragons to end someone. That was what they did. They endeavored to keep it as quiet as possible. Two of the small crew were on the job this night - David "Dirk" Burke and Tocker "Ogre" Helker. Ogre, unsurprisingly, was the muscle, whereas Dirk was the more subtle type of fellow. They'd been hired by an agent by the name of "Rufus", representing some undisclosed parties on the city council. The captain of the Leviathan Hunter Billy Budd , one Tyree, was to be terminated. Ideally the ship as well should be scuttled or destroyed. They got aboard ok - the Billy Budd was in harbor readying for a long trip and they acquired forged papers from a contact of Ogre's so they could pose as medical inspectors to do a final check of the crew's health before departure....

Do you think I care if there was just beer in that keg? I know what's in it. I know what you've been doing all this time, how you got those clothes and those new cars. You've been telling Ma that you've gone into politics, that you're on the city payroll. Pat Burke told me everything. You murderers! There's not only beer in that jug. There's beer and blood - blood of men!   - Mike Powers, The Public Enemy Based on the adventure of the same name by Doug Lyons with L. N. Isynwill, contained in the Chaosium anthology The Great Old Ones. Setting: Boston; Wednesday, April 20, 1921 Characters: Earl Crowley - Antiquarian settled in Arkham Jordaine Furst - Strasbourg-born Great War spy for France Fredrick Tardiff - Great War veteran, Kingsport artist Summary: After some unpleasant bouts with madness in New Orleans, Crowley and Tardiff had spent the previous two months undergoing psychiatric care. In the interim, the chaos of the early days o...