Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasions

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Keeper Dan
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Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasions

Post by Keeper Dan » Sun Aug 19, 2012 11:01 pm

Episode 13 gives us a new Lecture, a visit to the aquarium section of the Bestiary, and a discussion of the gadgets and plugins from the Keeper's Toolkit section of the Call of Cthulhu rulebook.

Our feedback for this episode is all from the forums. There are some great conversations going on in there.
Mentioned are the Skype of Cthulhu podcast, and the local gamer's group Dan found is called M.A.G.E.
Here is the Skype of Cthulhu forum section.
The IRC channel Murph set up can be found here. Look for #MiskatonicU

We have another installment of the Miskatonic University History Department's Lecture Series, brought to you by MU professor Dr. Charles Gerard. This lecture covers the topic of The Angel of Hadley.
There is a page set up with details of the Lecture Series, in the History Department section under Gaming.

Our Bestiary visit covers Deep Ones. These highly versatile beings can be used in so many ways, and there are just as many ways to interpret them.

The thread Jon mentioned on the Yog-Sothoth forums is here. Many of the images are gone from the thread, but they can be found on the blog of the artist, Paul Carrick. His art has been in several Call of Cthulhu books.
The images Murph found are in this thread.
The Yog-Blogsoth renditions of Deep Ones and Dagon
There are an amazing number of images available online for Deep Ones and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
And here are some pics of Abe Sapien, from Hellboy.
Where the Deep Ones Are.
The CthulhuTech RPG

Inspirations from the real creatures found in the deeps: Here, Here, Here, Here, and Here.

The film The Last Lovecraft can be found here. The trailer with the line we mention is here, and you can buy it on Amazon here. (affiliate link)
The the trailer for Dagon is here on YouTube, and the movie is available here on Amazon. (affiliate link)
Jon mentioned some water creatures from Dresden Files that had cool tech, but I had no luck in finding reference to them online. If you know what book it is, or any other details, let us know via e-mail, voice mail or the Campus forums.
Chaosium published two supplements for Innsmouth: Before the Fall, and Escape from Innsmouth.
They are both out of print, but can be found on the secondary market.
Amazon link for Before the Fall (affiliate link)
Amazon link for Escape from Innsmouth (affiliate link)

It's Beginning to look a lot like fish men- by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society Buy it!

And the show ends off with a discussion of the optional rules contained in the Keeper's Toolkit section in the Call of Cthulhu rulebook.

Here is the discussion thread for this podcast posted on the Yog-Sothoth forums.
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Re: Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasio

Post by DoctorBob » Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:00 pm

A few comments on Episode 13. A cracking good job as usual.

One. "Escape from Innsmouth" is as good a sourcebook for Innsmouth as you're going to find. It has a fine map of the town, details of neighborhoods, and loads of town residents. Highly recommended for anybody who wants to know more about this city.

Two. I've been wondering about the "torpedoing" off Innsmouth. I'm no expert, but aren't torpedoes used against ships? They're sub-surface weapons, not undersea equivalents of air to air missiles. Besides, I don't think period submarines were set up to see underwater targets. My guess is that if the 1920s era US Navy wanted to "bomb" undersea targets, they'd drop depth charges. Besides maybe just being wrong about this (me or HPL), a possible source of confusion might be a different use of the word "torpedo," which during the USA Civil War, referred to mines rather than self-propelled explosives.

Thoughts?

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Re: Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasio

Post by Keeper Jon » Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:34 pm

DoctorBob wrote:A few comments on Episode 13. A cracking good job as usual.

One. "Escape from Innsmouth" is as good a sourcebook for Innsmouth as you're going to find. It has a fine map of the town, details of neighborhoods, and loads of town residents. Highly recommended for anybody who wants to know more about this city.

Two. I've been wondering about the "torpedoing" off Innsmouth. I'm no expert, but aren't torpedoes used against ships? They're sub-surface weapons, not undersea equivalents of air to air missiles. Besides, I don't think period submarines were set up to see underwater targets. My guess is that if the 1920s era US Navy wanted to "bomb" undersea targets, they'd drop depth charges. Besides maybe just being wrong about this (me or HPL), a possible source of confusion might be a different use of the word "torpedo," which during the USA Civil War, referred to mines rather than self-propelled explosives.

Thoughts?
I need to re-read Shadow Over Innsmouth, cause I can't remember what HPL described as the method of destruction by the government. Even if HPL did say torpedo, it could be used in the same kind of context as saying "I'll have a Coke," but you actually mean any soda drink. But sometimes you don't know, a person could actually mean a Coca-Cola. Hard to say.

Also, welcome to the MUP forum, Doctor Bob! :mrgreen:

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Re: Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasio

Post by Dr. Gerard » Fri Aug 24, 2012 1:35 am

Keeper Jon wrote:Even if HPL did say torpedo, it could be used in the same kind of context as saying "I'll have a Coke," but you actually mean any soda drink. But sometimes you don't know, a person could actually mean a Coca-Cola. Hard to say.
I've heard that in the Midwest, people call torpedoes "pop."
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Re: Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasio

Post by OrdoMonstrum » Thu Sep 19, 2013 10:17 pm

I know I'm VERY late on this, (I just found and have been trying to catch up on your awesome podcast) but HOW could you guys bag so harshly on "the Last Lovecraft"? Its a great film venturing into the Mythos (albeit a froglike tongue in cheek).
Sure it was lowbudget, but I'll take that over some of the "BIG STUDIO" outings.
I loved your talk on Deep Ones and the splinter "cuzzins" idea. "Marshy Ones" :) My thought on Deep Ones is that the "TRUE" Deep Ones are exactly what you said, ABE SAPIEN with rows of Needlesharp teeth!
Thank you guys for the great podcast and keep up the great work!
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Re: Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasio

Post by KeeperMurph » Thu Sep 19, 2013 10:21 pm

Thanks OrdoMonstrum!
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Re: Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasio

Post by Dr. Gerard » Tue Sep 24, 2013 10:08 am

KeeperMurph wrote:Thanks OrdoMonstrum!
How awesome is it that old episodes are still getting comments?

Most awesome.
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Re: Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasio

Post by fox01313 » Wed Oct 30, 2013 12:23 pm

Really never thought of the Deep Ones like this where it's going off using a variety of fishy influence beyond what H.P.L. put to paper (as his ideas were hideous enough).

One thing that popped in my mind, which may or may not be in some scenario or sourcebook already, is a fun idea for a spell for the Deep Ones which is quite simple where I got the idea after seeing the aquatic sea lamprey on a nightmarish episode of River Monsters (couldn't find the whole episode (season 5, episode 35 "Vampires of the Deep") just footage of the host either doing scientific crazy stuff like putting a lamprey on his neck briefly to further understand them or interviews about it). Attached another show on the creature below to show it off.

So taking the idea of Dracula turning into a horde of rats (clip below) & a simple transition of making it an aquatic animal. The spell would just change the shape of the Deep One or whomever is crazy to try it, into a few dozens-hundreds of sea lampreys with a few gallons of water (making it easy for them to get away faster) to either escape or get through some smaller entrance for a brief amount of time. Not sure if the sanity loss would be higher for seeing someone use the spell or having your mind split among a swarm of lampreys for a brief time. Enjoy.

scene from Bram Stoker's Dracula (turning into rats)


silent invader episode on sea lamprey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqskoRWMXbA
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Re: Miskatonic University Podcast 13- A tool for all occasio

Post by fox01313 » Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:05 am

Went back to listen again to some of the older episodes & thought of this for the crucial clue skill roll, that didn't come to mind earlier, is that in addition to some of the stuff talked about here on the episode something else to try for this messy roll that can derail a game. For the critical skill rolls looking for some clue, one thing I'm going to try on the next game I run (okay first game to run) is for the critical-move-the-damn-plot-along clues, for these I'll not only figure out a small list of similar skills to find the clues if any overlap but also to judge the pass-fail on the skill roll in a state of time. So if they fail it might take 2-3 times as long to find it so they think they find something similar with the right trail but the needed books are hiding where an impale on the roll might be that a clerk shows up with the book as they start to look & maybe even offer to help make the job more interesting (which may or may not be a good thing for the clerk's well being or sanity should they choose to add them to the information chain).

edit- as there's been some recent inquiry on the deep one locations & other things in CoC scenarios, thought I'd share here the recent finds of two similar things where I think that either the Deep Ones can be fit in or use these beasties as some influence on doing different things with Deep Ones, covering the beastie & scenario with spoiler code to at least not ruin things completely if going with the stock scenario.

What I will say is that both are in Blood Brothers I: Honeymoon in Hell (gator people) & Spawn of the Deep (classic Universal Gill Man)
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