This thread, complete with a title designed to increase readership , is spun off from here.

So what I've got so far in setting terms:
- The time window is 1845 to 1875.
- 2 players. One is thinking of a PC that is an academic, perhaps a Cambridge Phd of some sort. The other is a retired copper, perhaps an Inspector (one of the original 20?)
- Pretty sure they'll be based out of London, at least nominally. I like this because in reality it opens up the entire world. London/England was the center of the world. The British Empire was at a zenith, well into the 150 years on which the sun never set on it. So the adventure can be set and move pretty much anywhere on any continent.
- Historically close. Obviously some fictional characters will pop up and there will be a bit of deviaton. But the tech, economics, politics, and such are going to remain in the range of close to dead-on whereever feasible. I won't be aiming it as a history lesson though nor will it be a Meet The Important Historical Figure World Tour....unless one of the players happens to seek them out I guess.
- NFE (no fucking elves). I'm sticking to my guns on this one, not that I expect any bucking from the players. This is human centric. No wildly wierd 'alternative world'. There won't be any elves prancing on the banks of the river Thames, dwarves running the steam engines from Swindon to Reading, nor [insert fantasy creature here] taking tea with The Queen. There'll be precious few, if any paranormal creatures encountered. Although hints of their existance might drop and effects will occur that the existance of paranormal being/creatures could explain.  I also am not ruling out opponent humans that have somehow become altered supernaturally (vampires, werewolves, etc.), but they'll be totally hiden within the figurative, if not literal, dark shadows at the fringes society.
- Inspite of the fairly high vermistitude I suspect the tone is going to be PCs slightly larger than life. Just from my personal knowledge of the players. I also do not plan to dwell on/hammer on the limitations of the time outside of somewhat on what the edge of scientific knowledge is (see below).
- The little bits of magic there are are around the edges of the known. Truely occult. Mechanically the only magic is likely to be this stuff as discussed in this thread. So fairly subtle magic. I am open to using Faith as sort of a 'good' magic but neither of the PCs right now are geared towards so I'm expecting either player to push for it.
- Electricity was still, although it's spectacular effects known, borderline occult. We might tie the edge of science to the magic which is what Lovecraft did but this is a different time so a different edge.
- Drugs. Haven't figured out anything mechanical for these yet. They obviously were fairly common in opulent circles but I don't know if the players want to play these up or just use them as sort of colour. I have this little germ of an idea to tie them back into the occult somehow though not yet sure how.
- We are using Burning Wheel for the system (probably obvious from the links about magic above). The Lifepaths are all wrong but the rest should be fine. It is a general use system so I don't think knowledge of it is really much of a requirement for throwing in comments on this thread.
- Medical: BW healing of injuries is still largely valid for the setting. Once again the LPs just aren't there but the skills/obstacles are good enough. Surgery/bonesawing was still a real crapshoot till the last 1/4 of the century when they figured out that disenfection was an Important Thing. I don't think I need to drop the Obstacles, I can handle it with a little more generousity in Skill Points in the appropriate Lifepaths (better established education institutions). Apothecary is already a BW skill but here I've given some needed though to the specific Obstacles for different kinds of medicine for this setting. Herbalism, which was extremely common, is already covered by BW.


Ok, adventure ideas so far.
- Right now it looks like it is going to be an investigative type game of some sort (coming from the PCs being a professor + retired police). But how much I'm not sure.
- The professor PC is likely going to be a direct dabbler in the occult. If not as the game opens up, down the road shortly. He might even be in a little deeper than that. To the point of being able to Curse? *shrug*
- The BE has pushed to the edge of human knowledge and their contact with and effective invasion of human societies around the world has brought them up against the "mysterious occult" and knowledge long lost to "civilization".
- David R's post in the initial thread got me thinking about British East Indian Company and I'm really liking this idea. Perhaps these two have been hired on as private inspectors to uncover some mystery? Maybe in India itself?
- Jack The Ripper. Sure he hit the front pages a decade and a half after my time window. But what if that was just when he went public? Or how about another predating killer? Jack The Ripper was partially a product of his environment. Large number of people concentrated in squalor with nighttime city activity to cloak his actions and relative anonymity you gain living in a city. The ingredients are all there in the time window.
- Intrigue in the courts of Europe. Most of europe was still largely a monarchy driven government, unlike England where The Parliament had gained most of the real power due to the events of the prior two centuries. I know the one player would be up for a largely social campaign. Not sure about the other.


OK, now if I understand Dr. Rotwang's Adventure Funnel™ this is the point where we expand on the items in the last list and toss more stuff and ideas in and spin ideas out to their own.  Which is where you come in!

I'm glad your posting this stuff.  I'd comment more, but I'm slacking from writing a paper at the moment.  

I'm swiping your post as the beginning of a new Theme Document for my upcoming Mortal Coil game.

Thanks!

Quote from: joewolzI'm swiping your post as the beginning of a new Theme Document for my upcoming Mortal Coil game.

Thanks!

No problem. Balbinus asked about the system so I included it. But I don't think it has that much to do what I'm asking for here so I didn't really play it up. I can totally see Mortal Coil fitting with what I outlined.

Have you considered the Thuggee?
=

OK, so we have an academic and a retired policeman, fairly senior.

Here's my idea for an initial adventure, no supernatural elements as if you are playing them light they have more impact if not brought in immediately.

An old friend of the academic, an Oxford bookseller specialising in rare and antique works, has been murdered.  His shop was ransacked, books clearly searched through, but the cash on the premises was easy to find and would have been found quickly by the thieves (the money was taken), there's no clear explanation for why they would also have searched through the books, including the book storage area in the cellar.

The murder was fairly brutal, head stoved in by a blunt object.

The police investigation initially took the matter very seriously, with a fairly detailed investigation commencing, but then suddenly ceased when the word came down from on high that it was plainly a burglary that got out of hand and that no further resources should be wasted upon it, this despite several oddities to the case.

The academic is not satisfied with this, so he approaches an old acquaitance of his, a retired inspector.  He wants to privately investigate the matter, find out why his friend died and what the thieves were really looking for.  He also wants to know why the investigation was stopped so abruptly.

So, crime, murder, mysterious books and a conspiracy.  I actually have an explanation in mind, which involves no supernatural elements, no world spanning conspiracy (it's really just a handful of people with resources appropriate to their stations) but which does involve political extremism and a willingness to kill.  That said, I'm now somewhat tempted to use this and some of my players post here so I may keep that for PMs or whatever.

The trick is to avoid the obvious, with an academic and a former policeman investigating a murder seems like a good first adventure, but the object killed for should be something that could really have existed, supernatural macguffins are cliched.  The conspiracy should be simply a criminal conspiracy, not a globe spanning secret masters thing as again that is cliched.  But a conspiracy of a small number of men willing to kill for a particular end and having the resources to move with a degree of confidence, that is both credible and surprisingly underutilised.

How's that?

For oddness to investigate you have Spring-heeled Jack in England, and airships in America. Some of the earliest encounters by whites with the sasquatch go back to 1841. Meanwhile, you've got the Great Game in Afghanistan. Don't forget the writings of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Penny dreadful, the first tabloids, all can be sources of adventure material. Then there's the political and diplomatic maneuvering of the time. Might the two prevent war between Prussia and France in 1870, and how might that alter the course of history?

Don't forget the feel. There's a good reason why it was known as the Age of Steam.

Quote from: GreentongueHave you considered the Thuggee?
=

I was thinking that was a bit before the time window. But maybe if they were, instead of being completely destroyed, they simply scattered to the wind and went to ground elsewhere. Hrmmmm.

I hear what you're saying Balbinus. Not sure. I'll have to see just how deep into the occult the player wants his academic PC to start out. Hrmm. Come to think of it that might not be a barrier at all to that sort of line. So he's burning up his soul chasing a mundane case of greed? That's pretty tragic irony. Yeah, that puts an interesting twist on things.

@mythusmage

Hrmm, perhaps. Sort of a  parcoure forerunner. Or an early adaptor of wire-work trickery.

I'm looking through some of my notes for a one shot - Shiva's Slumber -I ran last year. Although I was using CoC, there was no magic or monsters in the adventure. Low key maddness, as one of my players described it. I could give you a rough outline, if you're up for it ?

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David RI'm looking through some of my notes for a one shot - Shiva's Slumber -I ran last year. Although I was using CoC, there was no magic or monsters in the adventure. Low key maddness, as one of my players described it. I could give you a rough outline, if you're up for it ?

Regards,
David R

I sure am, if you'd please.

Okay there are two threads running through this adventure.

The first - The introduction of a new type of drug into civil society imported from India.

And the second, the misinterpretation of certain beliefs of the Hindu pantheon esp with regards to Shiva.

The common element of both these threads was the student of one of the pcs in my one shot - a kind of Harry Lime (The Third Man) character who ostensibily was a drug runner bringing in narcotics from India but whose real motive was to draw the pcs into conflict with a sinister cult of expatriates based in India who amongst other goals were trying enslave the family of a former member who was a prominent member of society in madness - through the use of hallucinogenic drugs.

The adventure begins with a meeting between the former student and his proffessor (one of the pcs). The change in the student since he left Uni from a snivelling, needy wreck to  confident, wry "man of the World" should be played up. This is just the beginning. The student on purpose leaves an item in the professor's house. When the PC goes to return the item to the student who said he was staying with his family while in the country, the pc discovers that not only is the former student not living there, but he is presumed dead, having been involved in an accident while in India.

The adventure begins.

These are a few of the personalities/locations from my campaign.

1. A corrupt group of clergymen who are also drug dealers

2. A gossip columnist linked with the family in peril.

3. A returning agent from the East India company who is investigating the cult in India.

4. A "drug" parlour where young members of civil society engage in behaviour most improper. They act out scenes from the Mahabratta (sp)

5. An actress who was the lover of the drug running student.

6. A master assasin of mixed parentage (also of low caste) who shadows the pcs.

7. A visiting Indian scholar addicted to the drugs in question.

Sorry but this is all I've mangaed to decipher from my notes I tried forming a coherent narrative, but it's such a mess. Hope this helps.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David RSorry but this is all I've mangaed to decipher from my notes I tried forming a coherent narrative, but it's such a mess. Hope this helps.

No, what you provided is great. Besides I don't want no filthy swine narrative soiling my game!

Thanks.

Quote from: blakkieI hear what you're saying Balbinus. Not sure. I'll have to see just how deep into the occult the player wants his academic PC to start out. Hrmm. Come to think of it that might not be a barrier at all to that sort of line. So he's burning up his soul chasing a mundane case of greed? That's pretty tragic irony. Yeah, that puts an interesting twist on things.

I think that would be even more ironic, besides which, if he uses magic to fight the bad guys he's now let them know magic exists.  If the campaign continues and any of them get away, they now really want to know how he does what he does.

That then spins off all kinds of potential plots.

Quote from: BalbinusI think that would be even more ironic, besides which, if he uses magic to fight the bad guys he's now let them know magic exists.  If the campaign continues and any of them get away, they now really want to know how he does what he does.

That then spins off all kinds of potential plots.

Bingo, we have a winner! That's a great thought!

Ok, I'll give you a run down of how things shook out. We started late because the one guy's sword class ran really late and I had a fixed end time to go to my SR game, so we didn't actually play much.

We went with the bookstore murder. All the players know is that it was a brutal murder with some rumaging about including the cellar. They know nothing of the true motives at this point.

Both PCs are born to upperclass. The one a "young" archaeologist professor with a bit of field experience and having been schooled at the Cambridge (IIRC) College of Antiquities. So he's got a lot knowledge of ancient history and languages and generally some good schooling. It was his friend/associate that owned the bookstore.

The other PC went through officer training at a military academy (I mean to research some names this moring) as a family obligation. Then had a career at The Yard, Serjeant promoted to Inspector. He then retired to start is own business, tenatively called PC_Name's Investigations of Curios and Anagoges. Unexpectedly he is the one that's got the mojo! He went all out and purchased the 6 point Trait of being able to Curse, divine, etc.  He got tied into the story by having his trade card (business card) found in the dead man's vest pocket.

These are 6 LP characters, so reasonably powerful. Think roughly level 6-7 D&D although obviously not matching up to any D&D class. They are also relatively old, both in their mid-30's.

Great stuff, I'll PM you with what my underlying conspiracy was, which may help spark ideas for yours.

Quote from: BalbinusGreat stuff, I'll PM you with what my underlying conspiracy was, which may help spark ideas for yours.

Hey PM me too. I'm always on the look out for good ideas

Regards,
David R