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Old 01-22-2010, 12:07 PM   #1
Icelander
 
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Default Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

During a conversation over beers, the subject somehow wandered to gaming. I expressed a hitherto secret yearning to play in a modern action campaign where everything was like our world on the surface, but a lot of myths turned out to be secretly true and had to be shot in the face with shiny modern guns loaded with incendiary rounds that had been engraved with Nordic runes and blessed by a Catholic priest. A world where the PCs were men of iron will, secret knowledge and acrobatic high jumps made while cutting down vampires on both sides with streams of inhumanly precise bullets from their hieroglyph-covered Glock 18Cs. A world in which the physical laws were those of our world and a highly trained special operator might be in mortal danger from a single teen from a bad neighbourhood out to prove something, but in which learning the right mental pathways to use could allow a select few to transcend such humble limitations.

In short, a world of Delta Green without the cosmic, a world of Anita Blake without substituting sex for plot, a world of Black Ops without the Company and a world which bore uncomfortable similarities to such atrocities of cinema as Blade, Van Helsing and so on.

My players countered with their desire for a more low key approach to urban horror. A mystery investigated using conventional means by mundane characters in which the central theme is the slowly dawning realisation that something is wrong. A campaign where less was definitely more and a single unexplained phenomenon might unsettle a mind for decades.

I informed them that we did this, about eight years ago. It was great, but we had already done it. They countered that eight years ago, one of them hadn't even started gaming with us. And that it was time to do it again.

An uneasy compromise was reached. A prequel adventure in a mundane world, with characters mundane in the way that Hollywood presents mundane people (very capable, actually). They would stumble upon a mystery, investigate and hopefully, kick whatever caused it in its supernatural nadgers with pluck and aplomp. And after the horrifc Thing, the Other, was encountered and defeated, we would leave the door open for sequels with far higher budgets for special effects.

The players described their characters in real world terms, leaving it to me to interpret them in game mechanical terms. This is a new innovation, but one I think will yield positive results.

As a result of the first session of this game being set for 'whenever our lazy GM finishes his prep work (preferably within an hour or two)', I have a few questions:

1) If one studied in either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv and one is an expert on the influences of Zoroastrian mysticism on Judaic, Islamic and Christian mysticism; has written monograms on kabbalah rituals; knows Avestan, Biblical Hebrew, Mishnaic Hebrew, Aramaic, Koine Greek and Classical Arabic; and one is a tenured professor at Harvard; what is one a professor of?

Ancient Middle Eastern Languages? Religious Studies? Something more specific?

And a subquestion, 1a), what precisely should a Hyperspecialisation Perk that has something to do with Zoroastrian influences on Major Monotheistic Religions encompass and be called? How narrow does it need to be?

2) For the above character, what other ancient languages would it be plausible that he would have learned as part of his scholarship? Would it be unreasonably broad to include lore or knowledge of ancient Mesopotamean cultures?

3) A character from Israel needs what Cultural Familitarity? Western? Western doesn't seem to cover Orthodox Jews, at least, whereas someone from Israel who is raised in an Orthodox household would know all forms of shibboleths.

4) Finally, does anyone have any suggestions for a mystery set in Massachusetts in 2010? A monster that would be cool? A conspiracy that might extend there?

This is in New England and a certain writer did write horrific things that happened there just over a century ago, but does much of that even work in the ultra-modern age of cell phones and reliable transportation?
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Old 01-22-2010, 12:29 PM   #2
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Default Re: Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

First, let me say that this campaign sounds great.
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1)
Ancient Middle Eastern Languages? Religious Studies? Something more specific?
Many options here: Linguistics, Religious Studies, Theology, History, Anthropology, Middle-Eastern Studies, even Archaeology. Skill wise, the character would have to have Theology, History, and Linguistics at the least.
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And a subquestion, 1a), what precisely should a Hyperspecialisation Perk that has something to do with Zoroastrian influences on Major Monotheistic Religions encompass and be called? How narrow does it need to be?
"Zoroastrian influences on Major Monotheistic Religions" sounds like a perfect Hyperspecialisation perk to me, no changes necessary.
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Old 01-22-2010, 12:37 PM   #3
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Default Re: Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

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4) Finally, does anyone have any suggestions for a mystery set in Massachusetts in 2010? A monster that would be cool? A conspiracy that might extend there?
Strange Boston might be a good resource.

Just looking at it, Lizzie Borden did in her parents there, so maybe there's something similar that's making people murder their families every x years, and they need to stop it before it strikes again, or something.
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Old 01-22-2010, 12:49 PM   #4
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Default Re: Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

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4) Finally, does anyone have any suggestions for a mystery set in Massachusetts in 2010? A monster that would be cool? A conspiracy that might extend there?
You select your locations well! THere has been much unusual just this year in Massachusetts!

Just spit balling off the top of my head.....

A team of MIT researchers unknowingly release <Bad> by <Science!>.

The people of Massachusettes hav begun behaving strangely.

In the past year they have de-criminalized small amounts of marijuana while banning greyhound racing (why one sin and not the other?).

Elected a Republican senator for the first time in 40 years and there are already whisperings of a Presidential Run. (no doubt the focus of this malignant force as it attempts to conquer the hearts and minds of the greater US).

From there you can Tie in Bernanke and Kofi Anon :)

As to what fills in for <Bad> and <Science!> what you use is dependent on what you think your players will suspend their disbelief for.

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Old 01-22-2010, 01:41 PM   #5
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Default Re: Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

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Strange Boston might be a good resource.

Just looking at it, Lizzie Borden did in her parents there, so maybe there's something similar that's making people murder their families every x years, and they need to stop it before it strikes again, or something.
You are a God among Jarheads.

May your eternal firewatch be right next to waters hwere sacred nymphs frolic and may the Heavenly Commandant 'Chesty' Puller overlook your minor indiscretions.
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Old 01-22-2010, 02:00 PM   #6
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Default Re: Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

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You are a God among Jarheads.

May your eternal firewatch be right next to waters hwere sacred nymphs frolic and may the Heavenly Commandant 'Chesty' Puller overlook your minor indiscretions.
I'm just a guy with a google button. But I'll take the nymphs, and a bit of slack from Chesty.

I was thinking about this some more, and Borden always maintained her innocence, right? So maybe she actually didn't kill them. The truth is, something is attracted to unhappy young girls, and every once in a while slips through to our world to remove the sources of their unhappiness, be that family, coworkers, lovers who spurned them, etc. So it's always a horrible murder that the young girl would have reason to commit. This adds the possibility of a nice twist, where the PCs think the potential victims are safe due to them sitting on the unhappy girl, and something still kills them.

Plus it gives them something scary to shoot. Just a thought.
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Old 01-22-2010, 02:07 PM   #7
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Default Re: Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

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1) If one studied in either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv and one is an expert on the influences of Zoroastrian mysticism on Judaic, Islamic and Christian mysticism; has written monograms on kabbalah rituals; knows Avestan, Biblical Hebrew, Mishnaic Hebrew, Aramaic, Koine Greek and Classical Arabic; and one is a tenured professor at Harvard; what is one a professor of?

Ancient Middle Eastern Languages? Religious Studies? Something more specific?

And a subquestion, 1a), what precisely should a Hyperspecialisation Perk that has something to do with Zoroastrian influences on Major Monotheistic Religions encompass and be called? How narrow does it need to be?
I'd say some form of Anthropology, with focus on Mesopotamian / Middle Eastern religions and languages. Fictional scholars are often quite broad in their expertise, and even real-world scholars tend to be pan-disciplinary (or else painfully myopic) these days, so I'd say you could get away with him being widely versed in various ancient histories and religions ... his specialty would require a very broad basis to make the comparisons between various schools of mysticism, and would have probably brought him into contact with a large body of more recently syncretized occult lore (a-la Theosophy and Golden Dawn Hermeticism).


Quote:
2) For the above character, what other ancient languages would it be plausible that he would have learned as part of his scholarship? Would it be unreasonably broad to include lore or knowledge of ancient Mesopotamean cultures?
Nope, again, I think even realistically he would have been exposed to a lot of that ... mysticism is one of those things that's nigh impossible to understand without a broader understanding of the society, culture, and religion in which it occurs, and if he's a professor who specializes in that, he's read A LOT of books that address all of those things as one (often reductionist) phenomenon.


Quote:
3) A character from Israel needs what Cultural Familitarity? Western? Western doesn't seem to cover Orthodox Jews, at least, whereas someone from Israel who is raised in an Orthodox household would know all forms of shibboleths.
Never having been there, but knowing people who lived there, Israel seems to me like a pretty unique culture, having its own familiarity. Or maybe multiple familiarities, to represent their unique place in geography and geopolitics -- Middle Eastern + Western + Orthodox Jewish?

Quote:
4) Finally, does anyone have any suggestions for a mystery set in Massachusetts in 2010? A monster that would be cool? A conspiracy that might extend there?

This is in New England and a certain writer did write horrific things that happened there just over a century ago, but does much of that even work in the ultra-modern age of cell phones and reliable transportation?
Yeah, between HPL's work and that Strange Boston site, I think you've got a veritable plethora of appealing options.
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Old 01-22-2010, 02:43 PM   #8
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Default Re: Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

There is a book in the Boston Athenaeum IIRC, bound in the skin of its author (he was hanged for his activities as a highwayman). It's just his memoirs, but in any campaign like this, it should be more... perhaps possessing it enables the summoning of his ghost. Perhaps his shade can be the guide to the darker side of Boston?

http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/191
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Old 01-22-2010, 02:47 PM   #9
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Default Re: Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

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Plus it gives them something scary to shoot. Just a thought.
For which thought, may you also have an understanding Gunny in Heaven and may none of your mail be Dear Johns.
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Old 01-22-2010, 03:18 PM   #10
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Default Re: Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

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For which thought, may you also have an understanding Gunny in Heaven and may none of your mail be Dear Johns.
More development: The "whatever" enters the world through an antique mirror. That's what triggers it, when an unhappy girl (just girls, or anyone young and discontented? or just discontented?) thinks nasty thoughts in front of the mirror, there's a chance it gets the "whatever's" murderous attention. Maybe when it's in our world, it takes the form of a doppleganger of whoever's wish fulfillment it's executing.

This way, they don't start off with the lizzie borden link. Maybe there's some sort of omens that presage this thing's attack. They research some stuff and only once they discover that it's the doppelganger instead of the person do they check the mirror's history and discover it was owned by Borden. And maybe the creature can only be temporarily dispersed so long as the mirror is intact.

EDIT: Extra more thoughts: Also, the mirror has some symbols on it that are ancient. It's actually polished bronze, maybe. And the povenance is highly suspect. This lets you lead down the road to an awareness of the wider (stranger) world, after the conclusion of the adventure.

It was given to the current owner by an enemy of the person that ends up getting targeted? It wasn't a random tragedy, it was an assassination attempt. And the PCs are now square in the middle of having ****** off whoever arranged the attempt if they prevent the assassination, or being suspected accomplices by the allies of the newly deceased if they fail to prevent the assassination.
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