Incorporating Local history into a game of CoC

[Prof. Dietrich Hes]

GS,
 thanks for the concern   ::   so far I am OK....  

Well the little excursion to town got rained out, so we are heading back for a long day tomorrow.  I did happen to drive up the one road to get an image of the walls that I had mentioned:



there are these foundation walls with cubbies all over the hill side.

Historical fact is that most of  these were the origianl foundations for some homes that were run down ages ago.  I'm not 100% certain what the cubbies were for though.  Perhaps either a wall shelf system, or perhaps a "hidden" area for keeping precious items.  I didnt get a shot of the few that have doors that lead into the hill, those are really cool looking, and I can only imagine what was behind them.

I have to admit that I was always jealous of our European frineds and the history that surrounds them on a daily basis, but having my own "little" story in some back-water burg right here is a nice feeling.

Oh, and Gunslinger, my schedule for tomorrow is the Prison, Asa Packers mansion, and the abandoned carriage house.  It will be in that order, so if you dont hear from me by tomorrow night call the Jim Thorpe police department as I have either gone insane   or God only knows   :

[Gunslinger]

Prof.,

I already have my bag packed and ready to go!  Being a police sergeant in St. Louis I already know they would never believe the story if we reported it.  This would call for an "off the books" investigative operation!   :wink:

=)

Pat

[Etranger]

... there are these foundation walls with cubbies all over the hill side.

Historical fact is that most of  these were the origianl foundations for some homes that were run down ages ago.  I'm not 100% certain what the cubbies were for though.  Perhaps either a wall shelf system, or perhaps a "hidden" area for keeping precious items.  I didnt get a shot of the few that have doors that lead into the hill, those are really cool looking, and I can only imagine what was behind them....

The 'cubbies' could be cool stores - not uncommon in cellars around here (where it's hot in summer) or as you suggest.

In reality the doors probably either lead into storage chambers or possibly entrances to small drift mines driven into the coal levels. I'm not familiar with the geology of the area but that wasn't uncommon in other coalfields.

However the chitterling sounds emanating from behind those portals don't sound like rats. And just why is there such a big lock on that particularly sturdy one.....?  

[Prof. Dietrich Hes]

gunslinger,
  thanks       its always good to have someone in law enforcement on your side

Etranger,
  I'm not sure what you mean by cool storage.  I'm thinking you might mean a "root cellar" for us here on this side of the pond.  I've never seen cubbies used for this purpose as "root cellars" are dug into the ground.  Also the arrangement of them is all over the place.  they are at different heights, from near the ceiling to the floor level.  I guess this is something I will have to check on.

I agree that the doors are probably for storage (perhaps the root cellars) or something similar.  I'll look into the "drift mines" though, as that is a new term by me.

[Gunslinger]

Prof.,

Is it possible these cubbies have venting above them?  Could they possibly be for candles or lanterns?

It is an odd design.  I am looking forward to an explanation, although I am leaning toward that is where the statue of Yog-Sothoth went in the home.   :wink:

Pat

[Prof. Dietrich Hes]

Pat,
  there is no venting in them.  its just an inset into the wall.  

on a side note, I jsut ordered a ton of hirst art blocks in the field stone style to make the walls and the ruined castle.  

I got word that I should have them early next week so then it is time to start building.  

While I do enjoy the investigation of the town, I do have to get "legs" under this project.  Or it will stall....

[Etranger]

Cool storage - simply somewhere to keep the milk, butter, meat etc in pre-refridgeration days so they wouldn't go off so quickly. They could be as simple as a recess in the wall. I don't know if the climate in your neck of the woods would need such a thing anyway. They wouldn't normally be at lots of different levels though. OTOH, I like the Yog-Soggoth recess!

Another term for drift mine is adit. Crossword addicts may be familiar with that word! It's a term for a horizontal (or thereabouts) tunnel leading into the coal seam rather than a vertical shaft.

Drift mines often require less in the way of engineering & can be quite small scale. Of course they are only useful when the coal etc is easily accessible in that way. Quite easy for a group of cultists to dig.....

[Prof. Dietrich Hes]

Etranger,
  ok,cool storage.  I will have to look it up.  since most of the foundatiuon are into hte hill it would make sense, atleast for some of them.  It still doesnt explain the reasoning behind the different levels.  I will dig a bit deeper and see what I come up with on the factual side and then readjust for story line.  Typically, that is what root cellars are for around here, but perhaps if the property wasnt big enough to have the root cellar than perhaps the coll storage would work. If all else fails, then that is where the Yog soggoth statues will go  

Drfit mining, I do understand that now.  That isnt very typical around here, as they had to go down a shaft and then go horizontal.  there are some small drift mines around, but not many as it didnt hit the veins very well.  

Also, the mines are all on the other side of the valley, so there were no mining on that portion of the hill.  Cultists would explain it though, or atleast in my book! Part of hte problem with checking htem out is alot of them are on private property or have been incorporated into another houses foudnation.  God only knows what some peoples basements look like.

[Etranger]

God only knows what some peoples basements look like.

That is likely to prove an interesting part of your story.  

[PeteMurray]

Did the professor post today? Do we have to send someone up to the mountains to retrieve him?

[Prof. Dietrich Hes]

Etranger,
  It would make a good story as why some of the foundations have been reused by "certain" people, and why other foundations were abandoned and then stripped down for material to build in other places.  Perhaps their searching for something in the hills for the past few generations, and it is more discrete to do it in your basement versus in the open   :

Pete,
  Still alive and kicking.  Weather has been brutal the past few days, it is either raining, or very hot and humid.  the "team" doesnt work well in those condiitons.  

We will be heading down to town, so I will get some more info.  I want to get some shots of the abandoned carriage house to use as a template for a model I want to build.  

Have no fear, the Prof. is here    :mrgreen:

[Gunslinger]

It has now been over 4 days since the Prof. updated us.  Could the person posting in the other threads under his screenname be a cultist impostor trying to throw us off the track?

 :

[Prof. Dietrich Hes]

Actually, I am in the middle of compiling some of my new notes.  I've actually started to write a short story based on this as I feel it helps keep me on track.  

Perhaps if I type it up I will post it here.  It isnt good, but it will help give you the perspective of where I am heading with it.

In yet another odd twist to the story, I did find out a few things:

The building of St. Marks church was funded by the wife of Asa Packer after his death, perhaps as a jump point to end the "mysterious" things going on in town
SO it was it the fact that Asa was a religious man trying to stop the onslaught of the cults, or did he Use Saint Mark as a device to lure certain  people into the fold.

The Asa Packer mansion was abandoned for over 40 years after Asa's death.  He had given it to the town, but the town wasnt sure what to do with it.  They did turn it into a museum, but while it sat dormant, without any security, NOTHING was touched, moved, there were no break-ins. it was left completely alone with ALL the material inside, and some was worth a considerable amount!  That either says something about hte man Packer was, or for the fact that something was keeping watch over the area and keeping his possesions safe.  I will definatly incorporate that into the story as the timeline puts it at a time where the house would have stood dormant.

[Gunslinger]

...merely a cover for something far more sinister occuring in the crypt below?

This seems to be fleshing out nicely, pardon the pun.  I am looking forward to reading the story you come up with.

Keep up the great work and I hope you come up with some scenarios for a mini campaign based on it.

Pat

[Prof. Dietrich Hes]

Pat,
  I think yo uwill be very happy with where this is heading.  Its been alot of work, but also alot of fun. It is amazing reading more and more about the town I love and finding out these weird little stories.  

The story is just to keep me in line with what I have to do.  It also helps me creat the campaign that I am writting for this.

I am almost tempted to write one of those "if you pass this skill, then go to page 4, if you fail go to page 7" type of story lines.  that might be hard as I have never written anything along thsoe lines, but I will try it out.  The problem I am going to run into is whether or not I can have items in there to the degree I want to use them.

But I have been fooling around with hte Vassal engine program and I can make that do some good things for online games.  so worse case is you can play it online, or if I ever get it to a certain point, you can play it at an HMGS-East show.

Again, thanks for the interest, it makes me feel good that someone else shares my enthusiasm for this type of project.