The Horror at McCarthy Station (Cthulhu Horror/Thriller)

[DM Barnum]

The Horror at McCarthy Station

Quick Summary: The McCarthy Arctic Research Station, an international, multi-discipline, permanent research outpost, located on the ice about halfway between Greenland and the North Pole, has gone silent. All radio and satellite communications are down. At the same time, brutal storms with high winds have formed over the Queen Elizabeth Islands, making airplane travel from civilization to McCarthy currently impossible. Since there are only a few days left until the Arctic Circle begins its long winter's night, a team of international researchers (the players) who are returning from a lengthy scientific expedition based out of Nord, Greenland, have been rerouted to investigate and deliver whatever aid they can. The Russian icebreaker St. Alexander will carry them up the ice flow to an old Soviet research station, Novaya Zemlya. From there they make the final, dangerous trek over the ice to McCarthy. Perhaps it is only a damaged satellite uplink at McCarthy . . . or perhaps something more sinister waits for them on the darkness.

Game Description:
-This will be a short horror/thriller/Cthulhu campaign.
-Characters will take on the roles of international researchers/expeditioners.
-The game system is classic Call of Cthulhu (v.5.6).
-The game should be easily played in 5 scenes (6-8 months of regular posting):

Scene 1: Introduction
Scene 2: Novaya Zemlya
Scene 3: Silent McCarthy
Scene 4: Trouble on the Ice
Scene 5: The White Death

-We will be able to add new players (if needed) at Chapter 2, the end of chapter 3, and (possibly) chapter 4.
-I will update three times a week (probably Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). Players who don't post will get skipped. Players who are repeatedly skipped will have anvils dropped on their characters' heads . . . a big icy anvils.

Stat Determination:
-Roll 3d6 six times and distribute as you like among STR, CON, POW, DEX, APP, and EDU (add 3 to the result you assign to EDU).
-Roll 2d6+6 twice and distribute as you like among SIZ and INT.
-Roll 1d10 to determine income. This is a formality (though it may have some impact on concept and RP) as wealth won't play much of a role in this game.
All other Characteristics are determined normally.

Occupations:
Not all of the occupations in Classic Cthulhu match up well with the modern era and/or the kinds of occupations that might show up on an expedition such as this. For your character, start with one of the "Sample Occupations" listed in Call of Cthulhu, but feel free to swap out up to three of the listed skills for another, more appropriate (but similar) skill.

Skills:
-A complete list of skills available for this game can be found on the "Present" era character sheet.
-Occupation skills are EDU x 20, Personal Interest kills are INT x 10.
-No character may begin with a skill above 80%.
-No character may begin with more than 50% in Occult.
-Every character must have at least some "points" in Speak English, though English does not have to be his or her native language.
-Credit Rating, in this game, will largely be a measure of "professional reputation and charisma."
-If there is a skill that you wish your character to have that you believe is missing from the standard list of investigator skills, post here and we'll discuss it.

Sample Concepts:
-Scientists: Climatologists, Anthropologist (studying Inuit tribes), Archeologist (studying human migration across the arctic), Astronomer/Physicist (studying the Northern Lights or similar), Naturalists (zoologists, photographers for Natural Geographic, botanists, etc.)
-Explorers: Naval/Ice Flow Specialists, Climbers (specializing in glaciers), Arctic Pilots
-Support Personnel: Doctors, Nurses, Psychologists (specializing in the effects of isolation and light deprivation), Engineers (of all kinds), Sailors, Expert Laborers (of all kinds)

Equipment:
-You can begin with whatever equipment you think is appropriate for your occupation and concept. Be aware, however, that most people on these scientific expeditions would be unarmed, though firearms will be available at various points. I reserve the right to veto any equipment, but I probably won't. This scenario won't rise or fall on having/not having any one piece of equipment.

Post here if you are interested in playing. Forum request is up. As soon as we have a forum, I'll create a character creation thread and things can begin properly.

[DM Guy]

Interested, but I just signed up for Buddha's Sci-Fi Space campaign. Got a old Russian Scientist in d20 Modern.

[Nitro411]

I'd be down for this. Just let me know when you pick a system so I can check to see if I have the books.

[DM Reaper]

Tentatively interested, depending on the system.

[DM Man In Black]

Sounds entertaining. I'd prefer classic CoC and would even be open to WoD. Every day it seems I find more reasons to dislike any of the modern d20 incarnations.

[ZM Neylana]

Interested and with MiB on this one. Classic Call of Cthulhu is definitely my first choice, followed (distantly) by WoD.

[DM Forgotten T.S.]

I am indeed interested still.

Classic is my preferred method, following by Cthulhu d20.

[DM Barnum]

Originally Posted by DM Man In Black

Sounds entertaining. I'd prefer classic CoC and would even be open to WoD. Every day it seems I find more reasons to dislike any of the modern d20 incarnations.

I'm surprised there is so much interest for classic Cthulhu!! It isn't a very well thought-out system, but it does have that "old dusty nostalgia feel" to it. And it will work just fine for this game.

I tend to agree with you guys about D20, though Cthulhu D20 does a fair job of stripping away much of the D20 Modern silliness, and it has a sanity mechanic (which was almost completely stolen from classic Cthulhu). I usually prefer Cthulhu D20 for games like this since it doesn't require anyone to have any particular books on hand. All you need is the SRD and a little guidance for character creation. But it looks like that's not a problem here . . . which is good news! Classic Cthulhu it is!

I've got Call of Cthulhu 5.6 (revised) which is the version we will be using, though if you have any version above 3, they are practically identical except for little tweaks in the character creation rules (which I will post once the game forum is created). Since this is a modern game, we will have to be a little loose with professions and add a few skills (like computers and such), but that shouldn't be hard.

I'll try to get character creation information up today while the kids are napping so you guys can start working on characters while we wait for our forum to be created. If everyone who has posted here actually follows through and wants to play . . . that's too many people for me (I'm lame, I know), so we may have to narrow it down eventually.

Look for more here soon!

[ZM Neylana]

You discovered one of the hidden cults of Cthulhu purists.

Be afraid.