[MH] Caribbean by Night

[adm]

Originally Posted by Icelander

..What is the preferred configuration for gold used as currency by survivalists and preppers?...

Basically 10 oz. 5 oz. and 1 oz. bars, although silver is more common. https://www.apmex.com/category/19000/gold-bars-rounds

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by adm

Basically 10 oz. 5 oz. and 1 oz. bars, although silver is more common. https://www.apmex.com/category/19000/gold-bars-rounds

One bill of paper currency in the US weighs approximately 1 gram.

The two most common bills in circulation are the $1 bill and the $100 bill, each about equally common. Then there are the $20 bills and the $5 bills, together about as many as either of the more common types. $50 bills and $10 bills are actually only slightly more common than $2 bills, with all three types together making up somewhat over 10% of the number of bills in circulation.

If you take a completely random selection of US paper bills in circulation and collect 1000 of them, for about 1 kg, they'll be worth around $35,000 to $40,000. This is, amusingly enough, almost the same as gold.

By contrast, 1 kg of silver is worth around $500. That's less than a kilo consisting exclusively of one dollar bills (in fact, it's more or less exactly half that value), which is obviously quite inconvenient and bulky for any kind of usable currency.

Silver might be used by doomsday preppers, but it's not really practical as untraceable currency or ready bribe fund for organized crime, as it's not valuable enough by weight to make even a suitcase of it worth very much. So little, in fact, that you'd have to carry the weight of a person in silver to be able to pay an experienced team of mercenary killers for murdering them. Or even buy the weapons they are going to use, for whatever they are doing.

[adm]

Silver is more common simply because it is cheaper, and easier to make typical small purchases, at ~$1300.00 an ounce gold is somewhat inconvenient. If you are buying cars or other big ticket items, you use gold.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by adm

Silver is more common simply because it is cheaper, and easier to make typical small purchases, at ~$1300.00 an ounce gold is somewhat inconvenient. If you are buying cars or other big ticket items, you use gold.

Yeah, my point was basically that anything relevant to PCs or their foes in an RPG campaign was probably 'big ticket', in that sense, in that it was gear or services that you would never pay for with a mix of one dollar bills and loose change, in the real world, and thus wouldn't use silver for either, as silver is less valuable by weight than one dollar bills.

Basically, it's silly to pay for guns in silver, because you don't go to a store and pay for something that costs a few hundred dollars using a stack of one dollar bills. Yes, both one dollar bills and loose change might be legal currency, but if you try paying for your full shopping cart of anything in loose change and one dollar bills, you'll be regarded as a crazy person, whether that's at Costco, Walmart, Target or an average hardware store, gun store or any other store than a 7-11 or the equivalent (where you're just buying something worth small bills and loose change, anyway).

The typical pistol is worth its weight in silver, give or take, and we generally don't expect currency to weigh as much as the stuff we buy with it.

[Icelander]

Ok, so when I left the last session, the PCs had used some incredibly unwise magic to tap the energy of magical artifacts they had (with literal hundreds of energy available) to engage in life-altering bad ideas.

Basically, they are going to visit the Dreamlands, as filtered through the mind of a cultist of the Lords of the Last Waste, who had her personality and 'soul' shatter when she accidentally opened a tear in reality centered inside her mind and was possessed by something truly terrible, ancient and cold.

From various clues gathered in play, the players suspect that they'll find some metaphysical correspondence with Lake Vostok at the Antarctic, but, of course, Dream-Quests being Dream-Quests, that might not occur until they've traveled through a number of strange realms and met all kinds of interesting people... or things.

They actually will be asleep or unconscious, under the influence of some awesomely powerful hallucinogenic tea, and not truly somewhere else, but as one player remarked, "if you die in Canada, you die in real life!" Die while on the Dream-Quest and your body will keep functioning and mundane medicine will not be able to find anything wrong, but there will sure as shinola be nobody home.

Now, I'm looking for suggestions on... well, anything.

What might they encounter on their journey?

Where should the GM go to find stats for such things?

What are interesting locations to feature?

And anything else.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Ok, so when I left the last session, the PCs had used some incredibly unwise magic to tap the energy of magical artifacts they had (with literal hundreds of energy available) to engage in life-altering bad ideas.

Basically, they are going to visit the Dreamlands, as filtered through the mind of a cultist of the Lords of the Last Waste, who had her personality and 'soul' shatter when she accidentally opened a tear in reality centered inside her mind and was possessed by something truly terrible, ancient and cold.

From various clues gathered in play, the players suspect that they'll find some metaphysical correspondence with Lake Vostok at the Antarctic, but, of course, Dream-Quests being Dream-Quests, that might not occur until they've traveled through a number of strange realms and met all kinds of interesting people... or things.

They actually will be asleep or unconscious, under the influence of some awesomely powerful hallucinogenic tea, and not truly somewhere else, but as one player remarked, "if you die in Canada, you die in real life!" Die while on the Dream-Quest and your body will keep functioning and mundane medicine will not be able to find anything wrong, but there will sure as shinola be nobody home.

Now, I'm looking for suggestions on... well, anything.

What might they encounter on their journey?

Where should the GM go to find stats for such things?

What are interesting locations to feature?

And anything else.

Hrm. I'm not sure about this idea, but I'll throw it out there. How well it works depends on how closely you're sticking to Mythos "canon" for your campaign. They encounter Ithaqua, the Wendigo, because Dreamlands + cold horror. However, it's not the actual Ithaqua, if that thing exists, but a spirit of some sort impersonating it. Is this spirit connected to the Lords of the Last Waste? Does it oppose them? Is it taking on this persona because the PCs have read Lovecraft and are subconsciously influencing it? And, of course, is it going to aid or harm them?

I think you have to throw in a cat. From Ulthar.

If you haven't read it, Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October has a bit set in the Dreamlands. Might be helpful if it's easy for you to get hold of, but it's not super relevant I think.

You've read A Colder War, right?

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Basically, they are going to visit the Dreamlands,


Now, I'm looking for suggestions on... well, anything.

What might they encounter on their journey?

Where should the GM go to find stats for such things?

What are interesting locations to feature?

And anything else.

Encounter :
Cats ! In the Mythos, they can travel to/from the dreamlands.

Stats : Chaosium have CoC books for the Dreamlands.
I only have the 3 French ones, but I believe the current English one
is close to the French second one, which is mostly a translation of one of English one.
In my opinion, it is not so good (the bestiary is especially ridiculous) but better than nothing.
The new French one is much better, but an equivalent doesn't exist in English.

There is an Antartic CoC campaign, but not in the Dreamlands : Beyond The Mountains Of Madness

Inspiration
Lovecraft : many books, I woulds go for "Cats from Ulthar", "Celephais", and definitively "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" (less polished, but longer)

Lord Dunsanny was a strong inspiration to Lovecraft.

You could also mine Jordan "Wheel of Time" Tel'aran'rhiod for some concepts.
http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Tel%27aran%27rhiod

And perhaps White Wolf Changelin books, There were a couple extension on their version of the dreamland. It is old school White Wolf rpg, but it can be mined for idea nonetheless ! Hard to find however.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

Hrm. I'm not sure about this idea, but I'll throw it out there. How well it works depends on how closely you're sticking to Mythos "canon" for your campaign. They encounter Ithaqua, the Wendigo, because Dreamlands + cold horror. However, it's not the actual Ithaqua, if that thing exists, but a spirit of some sort impersonating it. Is this spirit connected to the Lords of the Last Waste? Does it oppose them? Is it taking on this persona because the PCs have read Lovecraft and are subconsciously influencing it? And, of course, is it going to aid or harm them?

Ok, even in canonical Lovecraft, everyone sees the Dreamlands differently. In my game, the PCs are technically not entering another dimension as much as they are entering the dreams, memories and mental fragments of the mind of the girl who calls herself Gwen Delvano.

What they'll see will be determined to some extent by Ms. Delvano's personality and preoccupations. As far as the PCs can determine, she is a crazy cultist, probably devoted to the Lords of the Last Waste, whatever the hell they are. Oh, and she was possessed by one of them. Who still extends some power into this world, like hungry tendrils reaching from her mind.

How they'll experience this, however, will be filtered through Ms. Talbot's casting of a ritual theorized by Dr. Lapointe, as well as 'Nonc' Morel's mind-expanding ritual. Oh, and just the regular effects of the psychadelic mushrooms in the tea he made them. Also, their own expectations and imaginations.

However, the fact that 'Gwen Delvano' is a major science-fiction and fantasy fan, specifically of G.R.R. Martin (Google her cover ID), but also had a period in her life when she exhaustively read and re-read the works of every author who'd written about Antarctica, well, that's going to have an impact.

When you add that Dr. Lapointe is PhD level geeky, his official job title is 'librarian' and that he has been running roleplaying games for several decades, you start to see a pattern. Add the fact that Alice Talbot (huge geek in her own right) and Lucien Lacoste (pretends to be a cool jock, but named his pet raven after the French translator of Poe's poem) are two of his regular gaming group and well...

Let's say that I'm not confined to cribbing from the official Lovecraft Mythos only. Wherever the PCs are going, it's a place that copyright lawyers would hate.

Originally Posted by Apollonian

I think you have to throw in a cat. From Ulthar.

It's a good thought and I'll see what I can do.

One PC already has a Pet. He's a raven, an incorporeal spirit raven, actually, by the name of Mallormé.

Originally Posted by Apollonian

If you haven't read it, Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October has a bit set in the Dreamlands. Might be helpful if it's easy for you to get hold of, but it's not super relevant I think.

You've read A Colder War, right?

I've read A Colder War, yes.

Zelazny's book has been recommended to me before. If I could obtain an electronic copy, I'd get it right now, but they don't seem to offer that. I could pay some ridiculous sum for a used physical copy, which strikes me as akin to tracking down yellowing parchment bound in human skin, and then having to deal with Customs, so I've been reluctant.

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Zelazny's book has been recommended to me before. If I could obtain an electronic copy, I'd get it right now, but they don't seem to offer that. I could pay some ridiculous sum for a used physical copy, which strikes me as akin to tracking down yellowing parchment bound in human skin, and then having to deal with Customs, so I've been reluctant.

For your information, it is on amazon kindle, on both US and FR store at least. Less than 5$.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

For your information, it is on amazon kindle, on both US and FR store at least. Less than 5$.

What?!

I checked and it was available on amazon.co.uk, but they wouldn't sell me stuff, because, I think, my Kindle was bought from amazon.com.

Couldn't find it on .com except in physical form.

Off to check again.