Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Dr. Gerard · Post by **Dr. Gerard** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 10:45 pm

Hello Pods!

I’d like to run a play-by-post game using the Cthulhu Dark rules. Ideally, I’d need four players who would be able to respond to posts every few days. No problem at all if you’ve never played or used CD before. Hopefully, this game could serve as a kind of tutorial for players and Keepers who are new to the system. I’m no expert myself, but we’ll muddle through together.

The scenario I have in mind is rooted in the strange and fascinating history of Britain’s expeditions to conquer Mount Everest in the early-mid 1920s.

Anyone interested?

Scriven · Post by **Scriven** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:52 am

I'd like to give it a go, if you'll have me. I'm not at all familiar with CD other than the fact that it is a rules light system focusing on narrative over game mechanics. If you want to see an example of my writing style for PBP games, I post under the name Scriven at the PBP House website.

trevlix · Post by **trevlix** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 11:46 am

I'm in! I've been wanting to try CD for a while...seems like a good chance.

Keeper Jon · Post by **Keeper Jon** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 1:13 pm

I'll play! What about dice rolling? Is it the honor system?

Scriven · Post by **Scriven** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:33 pm

I just grabbed and skimmed a copy of the Cthulhu Dark rules. Looks ideally suited for PBP. I'm not sure how I feel about the "you automatically perish if you struggle against any creature" rule. I can understand the foolishness of getting into fisticuffs with a Deep One, but does that rule apply to conflicts with other human beings as well? Admittedly, the point of the game is not combat, but . . .

Keeper Jon · Post by **Keeper Jon** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:50 pm

The great thing about these rules is their flexibility; the Keeper can decide how lethal combat is depending upon the situation.

Dr. Gerard · Post by **Dr. Gerard** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:24 pm

Great!

So far it's: mjmedwick, trevlix and Keeper Jon.

One more would be perfect. Any takers?

I'll leave it open for another day or so before we really jump in.

In the meantime, you might want to take a look at the two-page rules (here's a direct link to the PDF). I'll be posting some clarifications and additional rules in a bit.

Keeper Jon wrote:I'll play! What about dice rolling? Is it the honor system?

Yeah, we'll just use the honor system. There are some shared dice rollers out there for Play-by-Post, but let's just focus on telling a good story.

mjmedwick wrote:I'm not sure how I feel about the "you automatically perish if you struggle against any creature" rule. I can understand the foolishness of getting into fisticuffs with a Deep One, but does that rule apply to conflicts with other human beings as well? Admittedly, the point of the game is not combat, but . . .

I totally understand your misgivings, and I was just writing up some clarifications for a later post....

If you fight any Mythos creatures directly, you will die. To clarify, if you try to fight anything empowered by the Mythos or supernatural forces, you will also die. You may try to thwart, stall, or harm such beings through indirect means – we’ll handle the dangers or efficacy of those attempts as they arise. There will be grey areas. Human cultists, mildly tainted hybrids, spellcasting -- we'll also handle those situations when they come up.

I'm also adding an "Exhaustion Die" to this game -- will post details later -- and that will help us deal with incremental harm to characters when we deal with those grey areas.

I originally ran this scenario for Call of Cthulhu with pre-generated characters that were real historical figures connected to the Everest expeditions. I'll post the names and descriptions of those people after the scenario introduction for you to choose from, but you'll have the option to invent a character if you prefer. Everyone must be an experienced alpine climber in excellent physical shape, but will also have an expedition-related specialty like Physician, Naturalist, Geologist, Pilot, Bottled Oxygen Technician, Sherpa, etc.

Tariq · Post by **Tariq** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:26 pm

Hi, if I'm not too late - please count me in!

Dr. Gerard · Post by **Dr. Gerard** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 5:08 pm

Tariq wrote:Hi, if I'm not too late - please count me in!

Excellent, Tariq!

That's four, so we're ready to go. Welcome, everybody!

Keeper Jon · Post by **Keeper Jon** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 5:16 pm

Please meet: Ansfrid Kolstad, Norwegian Meteorologist and experienced climber of the Swiss Alps. He is also a competitive skier.