MUP Live Play- The Ilsley Variant

Post by **Keeper Dan** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 7:43 pm

This will be a single thread for all of the Ilsley Variant game.

The ILSLEY VARIANT, from the Dead Leaves Fall monograph published by Chaosium. Print Version PDF Version

You can find our character sheets here: Wally and Richard
Wally's character sheet is courtesy of Dean on his website Cthulhu Reborn.

This is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.

TAK · Post by **TAK** » Sat Sep 08, 2012 3:19 pm

I am in part 3 of this right now, slowly making my way to the end.
Just wanted to say, drunk Richard is a hoot n a half

Post by **Keeper Dan** » Sat Sep 08, 2012 3:53 pm

No more booze for that man!

WiseWolf · Post by **WiseWolf** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:11 pm

What? Nooo...give the man more booze!!!! This was hilarious...I am starting #4.

Dr. Gerard · Post by **Dr. Gerard** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:47 pm

Just finished the last installment, crew -- great job! Really fun AP to listen to.

A couple of kudos notes on the ending: Jon, I really dig the SAN rule you used with Wally to determine whether he could dispose of the body of his kinfolk. I hadn't heard Adam S.G. mention that before, but I'm immediately adopting the rule for my CoC games. The idea, for those who haven't listened yet, is that you require a SAN roll for players who want their characters to do something particularly horrific. The character only gets to do what they intended if they fail the SAN roll. I love this rule because it reminds players of the horror of the moment, and it's a creative way to use the sanity mechanic without requiring point losses. Just brilliant!

Also, I absolutely love the homunculus monster. Would love to see stats on it, if you're willing to share. Most of all, I love the idea of animating "pickled punks." Totally creepy. By the way, there's a great episode of "Monster Talk" that talks about the history of the mythical homonculus, in case anyone wants more background. On a related note, there's an Indonesian monster called a Toyul, which is basically a demon baby familiar with sharp teeth, sometimes made from a burned baby corpse or aborted fetus. They're used as servants for black-magic sorcerers who want to cause mild mischief, so they get blamed for small things going missing or doors slamming or other poltergeist-like moves.

Anyway, I'd like to see a whole scenario build around your version, Jon!

Dr. Gerard · Post by **Dr. Gerard** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:56 pm

Oh, another thing about a Toyul:

"According to Javanese myth, tuyul can be kept for financial gain, but in exchange a female member of the family must allow it to breastfeed from her, sucking blood instead of milk."

Keeper Jon · Post by **Keeper Jon** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 3:44 am

Dr. Gerard wrote:Just finished the last installment, crew -- great job! Really fun AP to listen to.

A couple of kudos notes on the ending: Jon, I really dig the SAN rule you used with Wally to determine whether he could dispose of the body of his kinfolk. I hadn't heard Adam S.G. mention that before, but I'm immediately adopting the rule for my CoC games. The idea, for those who haven't listened yet, is that you require a SAN roll for players who want their characters to do something particularly horrific. The character only gets to do what they intended if they fail the SAN roll. I love this rule because it reminds players of the horror of the moment, and it's a creative way to use the sanity mechanic without requiring point losses. Just brilliant!

Also, I absolutely love the homunculus monster. Would love to see stats on it, if you're willing to share. Most of all, I love the idea of animating "pickled punks." Totally creepy. By the way, there's a great episode of "Monster Talk" that talks about the history of the mythical homonculus, in case anyone wants more background. On a related note, there's an Indonesian monster called a Toyul, which is basically a demon baby familiar with sharp teeth, sometimes made from a burned baby corpse or aborted fetus. They're used as servants for black-magic sorcerers who want to cause mild mischief, so they get blamed for small things going missing or doors slamming or other poltergeist-like moves.

Anyway, I'd like to see a whole scenario build around your version, Jon!

LOL! Well, thanks man. Role Play Public Radio published an actual play from Gen Con that Adam was the Keeper for. It was the game set in WWI aboard a German U-boat, called U-boat Heraus. In that adventure, one player wanted to bum-rush into a situation and kill himself with an explosive in order to take out a bunch of the enemy. It was in that situation that Adam explained the "Fail a SAN roll to do something so totally crazy, or so totally outside of a person's perspective of normal" rule. Like you, I instantly loved it, and hooked into it. And my invocation of that rule in this recorded game was my first time to finally use it. So that was cool.

As for the little man... check your email.

vladsee · Post by **vladsee** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 2:10 am

Thanks for doing the actual play podcast! Listening to you guys gives me ideas on how to better run my games. I really like the reverse SAN check you used on Wally too!

Post by **Keeper Dan** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:24 am

I don't do well playing by myself. I'm more of a supporting type of player, so when I'm solo, I get really unsure what to do.
I felt like a total boob.

Dr. Gerard · Post by **Dr. Gerard** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:37 am

Keeper Dan wrote:I don't do well playing by myself. I'm more of a supporting type of player, so when I'm solo, I get really unsure what to do.
I felt like a total boob.

Hah, it didn't come across that way, from my point of view.

Session spoilers below:
Disposing of the body in the fire wasn't a bad idea, it just seemed like a very dark reflex. If I'm not mistaken, Jon called for you to make a SAN roll there because it was a psychological stretch, not because it somehow violated the game world. I also thought your idea to leapfrog with the two cars to get the rental back was kind of bizarre, but not in any way bad playing. It reminded me of real-life stories of things people do when they're in shock. They kill their husband, and then they bake a cake before calling police. Behavior under stress is just wild.