The Weeping Child (A Nasuverse-Themed CoC Campaign)

[Skull]

(Pre-Game Information Post)

Welcome to my little game where I try to run a Nasuverse-themed CoC campaign in order to see how easy it really is to play the game via correspondence rather than being huddled around a table in person, using the works of Type Moon as bait to lure people into playing with me (joke).

The Keeper: Skull
The Players: Pinetree, Dreamerless, Ismail2002, Mormarth, Deathhappens.

For both spectators who wish to watch, as well as any Players who are unsure of how to play a CoC campaign, I have compiled some quick cliff notes to give you a quick rundown on the mechanics of the game.

Too Simple and Very Unfunny Guidelines

>Who is Cthulhu anyways and why does he keep calling me?
“Call of Cthulhu” or CoC as it is colloquially known, is a Tabletop Role Playing Game, this means that like its more popular cousin D&D, players roleplay as their characters in a scenario created by the Game Master (GM) who themselves acts as both Narrator and controller of the NPCs. Unlike D&D, the only “Class” the players can use in a traditional game is Humans and as a result combat is best avoided as it tends to be pretty lethal. Instead the primary “Phase” (for lack of a better term) would be Investigation as the Players attempt to uncover the mystery they are involved in (the other two being Combat and Chase sequences). Although most commonly set in “Lovecraft Country” which is New England, America in the 1920’s, there are in fact official CoC Scenarios set in various countries and time periods, and that doesn’t even scratch the surface when it comes to homebrewed scenarios that GMs make for their own circles.

>I’ve got Dice that jingle jangle jingle!
The gameplay aspect comes in via the characters (both Player and NPC) and monsters having their own Stats, both for physical parameters (e.g Strength, Dexterity, HP) and for Skills (Persuade, Sneak, Electronics etc). When a Player wishes to do an action that has consequences, the GM will ask for a Dice Roll whereby the Player then rolls a Percentile Die (D100) in order to try and get a score under the corresponding Stat/Skill in order to succeed at what they were trying to do. Introduced in later editions of CoC is the concept of a “Pushed Roll”, which is where a Player can basically “Double or Nothing” retry on a roll they just failed - but will have dire consequences for failing a second time. Whilst it’s cool to have your own dice set that you physically roll, you can simply google “dice generator” and type in the required number of sides (D6, D20, D100) to have an online tool do it for you.

>Sanity? *Shakes Head* I don’t know her...
The most infamous aspect to CoC would be the Sanity mechanic as it’s not just your HP that you have to worry about, but also taking mental damage. Each Player character is assigned a Sanity score and it shall be worn down gradually over the course of the campaign as the Players encounter more and more horrifying monstrosities. Sometimes if it's just “minor” stuff like stumbling across a corpse then you can avoid any damage if you roll well, but some things are just too traumatizing and you will take some damage, just a question of how much. If a Player takes too much Sanity loss in one go then they suffer a Bout of Madness that acts kinda like Confusion in Pokémon and the GM decides how it hinders the Player’s actions. Naturally if your Sanity hits zero then you go straight to the loony bin and don’t collect $200.

Because I wanted to keep things as simple as possible, I have simply modded a pre-existing CoC Scenario (“Nakuko - The Weeping Child”) and set it in the Nasuverse and we shall be using the pre-generated characters with slight alterations to convert it into a TM work. Therefore despite the occasional differences, this campaign will still spoil you on the rough outline of the original work and so obviously [SPOILER WARNING] for anyone who has future plans to play it.

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Thus without further ado, once I’ve heard back from everyone that they’ve received their Character Sheets, I shall begin with the Narration to kick us off...

[Skull]

- Chapter 1 -
The Gathering of Spooks

199X
January, Friday 13th
Panya Café, Kobe City, Japan

Not far from the grounds of Kobe University is "Panya", an unassuming little café frequented by students and often used as a meeting place. The café usually sells pastries, cakes, sandwiches and specialty coffees etc. The bell hung over the front door rang as two adults walked in and the waitress glided over to greet them. The waitress recognized the female of the pair as the investigative reporter Christina Minami who had periodically been on TV, going over strange crimes. Christina smiled at the waitress and motioned her assistant Arai who was lurking behind her to handle their orders as she strode towards the centre of the room. Only one patron had bothered to turn around at the sound of the bell, a young student girl and as the pair's eyes met, Christina understood that this must be Mizue Ariyoshi who had reached out to her in the wake of the mysterious death of Eiko Tanaka. Walking over to her table, Christina noticed that Mizue wasn't alone and that she was joined by two men in their twenties - a scowling man was sat next to her and attempting to lecture her about something, meanwhile across the table was a serene man who paid no attention to either of his companions and seemed to in his own world. As she reached the table, Christina gave a little cough and all three stopped what they were doing to look up at her...

(And...Action!)

[Deathhappens]

[As Christina moves off, Arai steps out from her shadow to speak to the waitress. He is a tall man, shaved bald, dressed in old jeans, a worn leather aviator jacket, and a pair of battered trainers. He could almost have passed as handsome if he didn't somehow radiate 'shabby' out of every pore. Despite that, when speaking to the waitress his tone is measured and his pronounciation clear, as one might expect from a journalist('s assistant)].

"I would like one large coffee, please. Black, no sugar. And a medium latte, sweet".

[Astute watchers might notice that he didn't need to confer with his colleague about what they wanted to drink. Even more astute watchers might notice that, perhaps incongruously, the latte was intended for himself].

(OOC: Sorry for inventing your character's coffee preference on the spot, Pinetree!)

[Ismail2002]

[Mizue, just stumble across her words so she opens' up her phone to the notes amp, her hands are a bit fidgety she fainted her anxiety with a smile as she slowly type out here concerns]

"Thank you for, meeting me here. I know this is a bit sudden but I need your help one with something"

[As she trying to type out the situation with her phone, her hands is still shaking as she knock off her coffee cup towards the man her right, her friend's older brother Koji Tanaka]

"Oh, Sumimasen Tana Ni-chan, let me get a towel."

[Mizue's cheeks grows beat red as hastily scrub the coffee stains on Koji's pants]

[pinetree]

Christina was hoping for an easy time talking with the girl today, but the dynamic there made it obvious at a glance that it wouldn't be so simple. Seems like a classic girl wants help understanding what happened, and the boy — brother or friend or boyfriend — thinks "they should just stay out of it!"
Hoping she was wrong or that at least the second boy didn't make himself into as much of an issue, she quietly hoped Arai was ordering the large size and coughed to make herself noticed. As soon as they looked up to her, she took a seat on the opposite side of the table and greeted the girl.

"You're Ariyoshi-san... I presume? Nice to meet you."

- - - Updated - - -

As the girl made a mess of herself almost before she finished her greeting, Christina held back the urge to smile and signaled for the waitress to help.

[Mormarth]

Ariyoshi Ken

What a shit couple of days.

Hihi onii-chan, I saw some nasty shit, and you were the last person to know, apparently!

Just going to prance through life, don't need to let Legal Guardian Big Brother know anything!

Also I'm going to sneak out and talk to not the cops, which would make sense, or even a PI or something, which, while stupid, would at least make sense...

No, you talk to a vulture from the media.

Honestly, she wouldn't survive a day.

"Oi, listen. Listen to me," Ken hissed in his baby sister's ear, "If this kind of shit goes down you talk to me about it before anything else, okay? Don't be skirting around talking to some tabloids about what you saw, okay? You get a freakin' lawyer and you don't say shit, okay? Honestly, it's like you don't know anything, sneaking around behind my back like this, you're going to get in trouble."

For all that Ariyoshi Ken was a curt, unpleasant man in both appearance and words-

He did care about his sister, and the hurt and anger at this betrayal of trust was both genuine and doing absolutely nothing for his already anemic people skills.

Pale fingers pinched at a sallow-skinned nose, a long, unhappy sound emerging from the throat.

"And quit flailing all over Tanaka-san, he's a grown man and can take care of himself, right?"

Ken's expression indicated what he thought said grown man should do and take care of his own damned pants and not have his airhead sister pawing at him.

Irritated eyes flicked to the approaching journalist, probably some scam artist ambulance chaser judging from what he could find on her in a rush to get over here.

"I'm Ariyoshi, and the feeling's not mutual."

Curt, blunt words.

[Deathhappens]

Coffee in hand, Arai makes his way to the table. Placing each cup in front of their owner, he takes his own seat next to Christine and quietly surveys the situation- nervousness, hostility, indifference. All attitudes he and his partner were accustomed to facing- an occupational hazard for journos, particularly given the "unusual" material Christine usually pursued in her investigations. At least nobody's waving any talismans around this time, he muses.