Bad grades at Miskatonic U

Aug 14, 2015 5:41 pm
CTHULHU MADNESSES

"Bad grades at Miskatonic University"

Professor Armitage is holding a colloquium on occult artifacts. A new shipment of dig finds has arrived from Egypt. Something bad is going to happen...

Problem: What terrible thing comes from the artifacts? How will the heroes stop it?

Characters: Professor Armitage, Mary the good Christian girl, Lulu the party girl, Biff the football player, Barney the lab assistant, Karl the janitor, and Professor Brewster the rival.

Locations: The events of the game start in Professor Armitage's archeology lab on the Miskatonic University campus in Arkham MA. Action can go anywhere else the players like but Armitage's home and the Soda Fountain/Pharmacy are two other important locations.

Setting: The game is set on a US college campus in 1928.

Opening scene: Professor Armitage and the kids are working in his lab late Friday night. They are inventorying the new artifacts. Biff holds up a sparkling scarab. It gives him a woosie feeling. "Hey Professor, what is this?"

Now as game host I put it to you, "What happens next?"
Aug 14, 2015 5:58 pm
Professor Armitage looks up and is horrified to see Biff holding up tha scarab with his bare hands! "PUT THAT DOWN!" He roars at Biff, but it is too late. Biff loses consciousness and falls to the floor with a thud and a clatter of pottery relics. The girls shriek and both the Professor and Barney, the lab assistant, leap to Biff's side. To their horror and repulsion they find that the scarab has latched its mandibles onto Biff's forearm. The unholy artifact is pulsating like some sort of chitinous blue tumor and Biff is pale as death. Gingerly, they check to see if the boy is alive and to their relief, find that he still draws shallow, ragged breaths. Just then Karl, the janitor, arrives, summoned by the girls' screams.
Last edited August 14, 2015 5:59 pm
Aug 14, 2015 6:21 pm
A good place to start is introductions. Keeping in mind that this is a public forum, let us know who you are.

I'll start.

I'm Chris Engle. I'm in my 50's, live in Southern Indiana with my wife and practice social work at a university counseling center. I've been gaming since the mid 70's. Started off playing DnD, Avalon Hill board games and soon after that miniatures. Been making games since the late 80's. Matrix games are my biggest claim to fame. Worked for years to spread the word and get them out to stores. Now I'm out of the game business and plan on running at conventions, doing PBEMs, and having fun. Hopefully other people will start running MGs but that really isn't my department. Anyone is free to use my rules.

I love wit and humor and biting sarcasm. Please forgive my dry cynicism, inevitably my leftie world view will bleed into what I write. I love off topic comments if they're fun. I hope everyone just stays fun.

Time to play!
Aug 14, 2015 6:36 pm
Just a suggestion: you might want to create an Introduce Yourself thread separate from the story thread do we don't break 5he narrative flow :-) I believe the system then allows you as GM to move your intro post (amd this one) to that new thread :-)

By way of introduction, my name is Jabes and I'm from Manila, Philippines (GMT+8) so I'm going to be the one with the weirdly-timed posts hehe! Besides the time zone difference I also keep odd work hours as I am a chef running my own cake business. We like making geeky cakes. Here's one :-)

I was introduced to D&D almost 30 years ago (AD&D back then) and to this day I still play with the same group of guys, my best friends. We played 3.5E when that came out and spent 10 years on a campaign, skipped 4E, and recently started a 5E campaign. I'm fairly new to PbP, having only discovered GP earlier this year. It's been fun trying out new game systems and character concepts I would never have gotten off the ground in my face-to-face games.

Looking forward to this adventure with you guys!
Last edited August 14, 2015 6:38 pm
Aug 16, 2015 9:17 pm
I am Dylan Alliata. I've played Matrix games for a long time and always enjoyed it. Been away for a few years. I've lay tested games for the original SPI back in the 70s. Worked with Chris on a few games and I have a few play testing credits with Victory Point Games, Levee. I am in my 50s played DnD when it came in a box back in college and basically I am game nut.
Aug 17, 2015 1:39 pm
Great! We are all here and the game can get going in earnest.

There is no order of play in this game. Jump in with an addition as you like, just let someone else add something in before you add again.

Anyone may roll for a previous action to rule it in or out. 7+ on 2d6 and it happens (and can not be changed), 6- and it does not happen AND CANNOT HAPPEN. Show your roll in a posting and make it clear whether it happens or not.

If you don't like something - DON'T ROLL for it - just make a posting that changes it. The latest entry overwrites the last entry. Mind you, this might trigger a roll but don't think you have to do it.

I recommend checking in on the game several times a day - just to enjoy the story - this should move us on at a good pace. We may have other players lurk. They are welcomed to join the game at any time. Just jump in with an addition. YOU DON'T NEED PERMISSION. Just let us know who you are.

Jabes has already got us started so I'm going to add to his story.
Aug 17, 2015 1:47 pm
Professor Armitage tells Karl to go and call an ambulance which the dutiful janitor does.

Meanwhile the girls and Barney try to make Biff comfortable while Armitage frets.

In the distance they hear the ambulance siren but before it arrives the scarab falls off Biff's arm and his breathing steadies. Within a few minutes he is sitting up awake, claiming that nothing is wrong.

"No matter my boy" says the Professor "Go to the hospital and get checked out anyway. You might have a concussion from the fall."

Biff complies, grudgingly. When Armitage looks back the scarab is gone...
Aug 19, 2015 1:53 am
Mary the good Christian girl that she is has one vice that she prays daily that God will forgive her for the 8th Thou shalt not steal. She would have these impulses when walking though a store that would come on her. Satan would talk to her and tell her to go ahead and take it, no one would see it. She hated herself for it but she just couldn't stop it, a pleasure reaching from her toes to deep within her womn would seize her. Heck, even the beautiful ring she was wearing that night was borrowed Arkham's Jewelry. When she saw the Scarab she couldn't take her eyes off of it. She secretly pocketed it and the minute it was in her possession the feelings she had nearly made her gasp. She feared that the others in the room would notice, but they were focused on Bif, then a feeling of calm swept over her, a bliss she did not think was possible. She patted her purse and thought, yes we will be together for a long time.
Aug 19, 2015 12:01 pm
After everyone has left Professor Armitage sits alone in his laboratory lost in deep thought.

Where could it have gone? Did it crawl away? Could it even now be seeking out other people to attack?

"Biff, Biff, you fool." He says aloud. "Why did you pick it up? Why did I let you?"

He buries his face in his hands with a feeling of shame and guilt.

***

Dylan I really like your addition. Especially the description of how she feels inside. That is just how obsession looks and feels!
Aug 21, 2015 4:16 am
Professor Armitage mopes alone in the darkened laboratory surrounded by the stares of forgotten gods, sneering idols and fetishes, the sarcophagi of ruined priest-kings. Suddenly his skin crawls and he feels unseen eyes on him. He starts, but there is nothing there. He rubs his temples. He has been at this too long to be getting the willies.

Biff sits in the back of the jostling ambulance, joking with the paramedics. Back at the University, Mary and Lulu are in the ladies' room. Suddenly, simultaneously, Biff and Mary stiffen and their eyes roll back in their skulls. Their lips curl back, and they are grinding their teeth. They intone in voices hollow as tombs: "Nglw'nafh hrii, hlirgh nog n'ghft n'gha Nyarlathotep throd, s'uhn throd nnnch' hai shaggog y'hah."
Aug 21, 2015 2:39 pm
Hey! We got a new player! Please introduce yourself. You can jump in with additions to the story when you like.

Mechanically the game is running smoothly. This is a first time for this version of the Matrix game to be run on line. Works much better than the older game.
Aug 24, 2015 4:59 pm
One thing I did at Gen Con that really worked was to have a limited number of "shadows" (unknown things) at the start of the game and that once these were defined, move the game to a conclusion. We are still very early in the game but i think a number of shadows have been defined. These items ARE important in the story.

The scarab takes control of people who touch it.
Those controlled chant to Nyarlathotep.
Mary is a cleptomaniac.
Aug 24, 2015 5:02 pm
"Stop it Mary!" says Lulu. "You're freaking me out."

Mary goes on chanting.

"STOP IT!" Lulu says as she slaps her friend.

Mary falls to the ground, unconscious.

As Mary falls, Biff also falls down unconscious. The Medics go to work reviving him. When they give him a whiff of smelling salts he comes awake.

Mary comes to as well. Holding her jaw in her hand she glares at Lulu. "You hit me!"
Aug 29, 2015 7:16 am
The janitor's foot steps echo oddly down the university hallway as Karl heads back to the lab. The distant shouts from the ladies' room barely mask the sound of his hard soles on the school's linoleum floor. Every couple of steps are accompanied by the whisk of his push broom. A hazel eye squints as he scans the dark shadows of the hall while Karl slowly plods up toward the shouting women. He's been cleaning these halls for decades...

Has it been decades? he wonders distractedly.

It took a strong sense of duty to remain here as long as he has. Duty. Stoicism. Weird tales happen here. Head down, keep working. Karl stops at the door of the ladies' room and clears his throat.

Lulu, eyes wide with concern and mixed with no small amount of fear, retorts, "What did you expect me to do? Have you gibber li-..."

"Ladies," Karl's gravelly voice calls, not quite wanting to intrude on the altercation but, as duty required... "It's best we get the two of you back to Professor Armitage."

A hand reaches up and scratches at the scar that mars the right side of his neck, stopping just shy of his throat. Weird tales indeed...
Sep 3, 2015 10:38 am
"Professor? I found these young ladies fighting in the hall. Thought I should get them back to you..."

The scene flashes back twenty years. A much younger Armitage looks up.

"Thank you Karl. You are a life saver. Hand me that box."

Karl reaches for the box but fumbles and the box breaks open. Something scrambles out and runs up Karl's arm. He screams and grabs his neck.

Armitage is on him in a second. He grabs a golden ceremonial dagger and stabs the janitor in the neck!

Flash forward to the present.

"Thank you Karl. You're a life saver,"
Sep 3, 2015 11:09 pm
This game is going slower than I thought but it working just like it would. I'm fine with the speed. Been busy at work so the slow speed is good.
Sep 21, 2015 7:56 am
"Pedal to the metal, son! He's seizing!" Screams the paramedic.

But he's distracted by something. A shiny black car with explosive decorations has been following them for a while now, and has pulled up close.

The neurotic ambulance driver's hands shake on the wheel.

"Hang on folks. We're taking a d-d-detour!"

(By way of introduction - my name's Dom, guitar tech (just electronics), mid-20s, from south UK. I picked up D&D 5e last December which was my first experience with tRPGs. I probably share your leftie humour Chris!)
Last edited September 21, 2015 8:03 am
Sep 23, 2015 7:14 pm
The ambulance swerves off into a corn field. Stalks of corn go flying! The car chasing them tries to follow but ends up stuck in a ditch. As the ambulance gets back on the road, the driver sees strange robed men get out of the car and shake their fists at him.

The cultists wear fezes and speak in a strange foreign language. Must be Egyptian! (Or Arabic, or Persian, or Turkish or some other outlandish speech). By the time they get the car back on the road, the ambulance is long gone so they turn around and head back to the university - to Armitages' office.
Sep 25, 2015 5:38 pm
Karl scratches under his red eyes. "Not at all." He fumbles at something in his pocket to check it's there. Probably just a key.

Armitage's face lights up with rage to reprimand his unruly students, but pauses at the sound of screeching tyres not a mile away.
Sep 27, 2015 1:02 pm
Okay, I'm going to alter the last entry because you just can't hear tyre a screeching a mile off.

Professor Armitage severely chastises the girls for fighting. He may be taking a little too much pleasure in this. He is unaware of a car coming ever closer. The mustachioed fez wearing cultist coming for him.

Since I changed your story, you might not like my addition. If you like you can roll for it. The roll will either confirm my change or rule it out and mandate that it absolutely cannot happen. Roll 2d6. A roll of 7 or better confirms it happens. A roll of 6 or less rules my addition out.

Or you can accept it and make your next action.
load next

You do not have permission to post in this thread.