MUP Live Play- MAPS – The Inheritor

Discussion about podcast episodes
Keeper Dan
Daemon Sultan
Daemon Sultan
Posts:708
Joined:Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:46 pm
MUP Live Play- MAPS – The Inheritor

Post by Keeper Dan » Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:12 am

Image
The Miskatonic Area Paranormal Society are contacted by Mr. Simon Ulrich, on behalf of his friend, Peter Crosswell. Mr. Crosswell has been having strange occurrences in his family home since moving back in after a decade away. Is it just the imaginings of a tired man reclaiming his place in society, the sounds of an old house in desperate need of renovations, or something else?
Find out in this case file of MAPS.

The players are:
Hugh as: Fenton Beanland III - Dilettante
Murph as: Samuel Collum - Anarchist
Chad as: Dr. Reginald Barnaby- Theater Arts Professor
Toni as: Harvey Gabriel- Private Eye
And Dan, as the Keeper of Arcane Lore.

The Thing at the Threshold is written by Paul McConnell, and Neal Sutton. Published by Chaosium, Inc.
The book is available from DriveThru RPG.

Live Play episodes are not edited for content. Adult discretion is advised.
Keeper Dan of the Miskatonic University Podcast

Nvision
Masters Degree
Masters Degree
Posts:250
Joined:Sat Nov 10, 2012 1:44 am
Location:Lindsay, Ontario
Contact:
Re: MUP Live Play- MAPS – The Inheritor

Post by Nvision » Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:26 pm

I've seen some cockamamie plans in my day, but never something even approaching the likes of what it took to get those medical records. :lol:


3rik
Freshman
Freshman
Posts:13
Joined:Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:21 pm
Location:Ye Nether Lands
Contact:
Re: MUP Live Play- MAPS – The Inheritor

Post by 3rik » Sat Jun 08, 2013 11:29 am

Didn't you guys do a show about disruptive players...? Had I been the Keeper on this one, security would have blown Samuel full of lead before he could even consider moving towards the nurse. :lol:

Also Dan, if you're interested in this paranormal investigation stuff, you might like to check out a game called The Unexplained from Carnivore Games, a neat modern day real-life paranormal investigation game using Fudge.

The Unexplained | Facebook

From this link you can download a demo, sheets and a couple of sneak peaks:
http://www.paranormal-foundation.com/downloads.html
RPGbericht(Dutch)

Dr. Gerard
Professor
Professor
Posts:1353
Joined:Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:00 pm
Re: MUP Live Play- MAPS – The Inheritor

Post by Dr. Gerard » Sat Jun 08, 2013 5:03 pm

3rik wrote:Didn't you guys do a show about disruptive players...?
Yeah, and we actually addressed this moment directly during the show you're referencing (convenient hyperlink here). This AP was recorded a few weeks before Episode 25.

More than one of us was trying to steal the spotlight during that session. I have to admit that my choice to play a theater professor who thinks he's a psychologist was...also a bit obnoxious. I was experimenting with ways to role play social skills like Psychology and Fast Talk, and Murph was experimenting with a character who uses violence to solve problems. I think Dan handled it well. Both of us dialed our drama back a bit for the conclusion, and the story survived. Hugh, of course, was his regular perfect self :roll: .

If nothing else, I hope this and other off-the-wall moments in live plays can be instructive for Keepers and spark more discussion. We're not claiming to be more or less than normal players and Keepers. We might talk a lot about our idea of "best practices" in the show, but we know that everything changes when you're running and playing in real games. And it's possible that some of us ham it up because we know we're being recorded. Maybe that's not the best practice.
Keeper of the Cthulhu Dark "Secret Everest Expedition" PbP scenario
Rip Wheeler in the Call of Cthulhu "No Man's Land" scenario
Plays for Keepers

3rik
Freshman
Freshman
Posts:13
Joined:Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:21 pm
Location:Ye Nether Lands
Contact:
Re: MUP Live Play- MAPS – The Inheritor

Post by 3rik » Sun Jun 09, 2013 3:46 pm

I think the slightly pulpy premise of Dan's M.A.P.S. organization does allow for somewhat more extravagant characters so a man-of-many-faces using acting and social skills and a more violence-oriented character are actually appropriate. But having such characters doesn't mean they suddenly have to act all silly and Dan should still have made any of their actions have consequences that are viable within the setting, IMHO.
RPGbericht(Dutch)

Dr. Gerard
Professor
Professor
Posts:1353
Joined:Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:00 pm
Re: MUP Live Play- MAPS – The Inheritor

Post by Dr. Gerard » Sun Jun 09, 2013 5:27 pm

3rik wrote:I think the slightly pulpy premise of Dan's M.A.P.S. organization does allow for somewhat more extravagant characters so a man-of-many-faces using acting and social skills and a more violence-oriented character are actually appropriate. But having such characters doesn't mean they suddenly have to act all silly and Dan should still have made any of their actions have consequences that are viable within the setting, IMHO.
Indeed, all good points. I certainly chose to go bigger-than-life with my character concept in part because I wanted to rise to Dan's flavor of play. But as players we should also rein in actions that threaten to break key story components like party cohesion and the investigation trail.

I'm not so sure Dan should have done anything terribly different. In my case, my theater professor happened to strike a nerve in our main investigation contact. Using Freudian psychobabble, he happened to crash into the sensitive subject of his parents' deaths within the first couple of questions. If I remember correctly, I got a critical success on my psychology roll. But instead of giving me some kind of bonus for the critical die roll, Dan chose to honor the coincidence and reacted in character with role play. At the same time, he signaled to me that I wasn't going to be able to get away with behaving like a big clod and just depend on good die rolls. I respect that choice.

In the case of Murph's terrorist move at the hospital, I really don't know what I would have done as a Keeper. It's such a huge, plot-changing action, you're sort of caught on one hand between a severe game-ending reaction (like gunning the character down in the streets), and on the other hand letting it ride as though nothing happened, and violating the game world's sense of reality. In effect, Murph's move was like saying "this story is no longer about a haunted house. It's about a fugitive terrorist amok in a small town." This was about narrative control -- sandbox vs. railroad, or player-driven vs. Keeper-driven storytelling. To be fair, I doubt that Murph would have batted an eye if Dan had put the town in a lockdown that ended in a deadly shootout. It was a bold experiment, and I think he was ready to explore the consequences.

From my point of view, it was tough to maintain party cohesion after that. Dr. Theater Prof would not likely associate for long with such rabble rousers, and would have raised a fuss with the MAPS organization. My instinct would have been to turn him into the authorities, not to head back to Arkham with him in tow.

Instead, we all did our best to keep things on track. A brief escape scene, some internal argument, and a reset back at the mansion. Given that he was caught flat-footed, I think Dan did what he could without ending the game outright.
Keeper of the Cthulhu Dark "Secret Everest Expedition" PbP scenario
Rip Wheeler in the Call of Cthulhu "No Man's Land" scenario
Plays for Keepers

Keeper Dan
Daemon Sultan
Daemon Sultan
Posts:708
Joined:Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:46 pm
Re: MUP Live Play- MAPS – The Inheritor

Post by Keeper Dan » Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:14 pm

I was about 2 rounds away from having cops from the other end of the hospital show up and probably gun him down. Raginald saved his proverbial bacon right there.
Keeper Dan of the Miskatonic University Podcast

3rik
Freshman
Freshman
Posts:13
Joined:Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:21 pm
Location:Ye Nether Lands
Contact:
Re: MUP Live Play- MAPS – The Inheritor

Post by 3rik » Sun Jun 09, 2013 10:57 pm

Well, it was a fun listen, but suspension of disbelief was a bit tough this time because of Dan's mild Keepering. :lol: I often feel like I'm way too mild a Keeper myself, but under such circumstances I think I would have broken that habbit. ;)
RPGbericht(Dutch)

User avatar
KeeperMurph
Daemon Sultan
Daemon Sultan
Posts:311
Joined:Thu Jul 26, 2012 2:14 am
Contact:
Re: MUP Live Play- MAPS – The Inheritor

Post by KeeperMurph » Tue Jun 11, 2013 9:14 pm

I definitely went a little awry with that. You have to realize that this was the first game after our long and drawn out 7e playtest and I was itching to wreak havoc.

I also realized that I didn't particularly like my character and decided such a stupid move might also get me removed piecemeal allowing me to make a more traditional pc.

Dan handled it just fine by me, however, as most of the fault with that lay squarely at my feet.
Image

Post Reply