Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Call of Cthulhu => Topic started by: Prof. Dietrich Hes on July 28, 2006, 03:34:05 AM
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My home is located on the very top of Broad mountain in the Poconos in the US. Now for some "Jim Thorpe" is a small town named after a Native American olympian and known for it rich areas of recreation for hiking, rafting, etc.. Well, not to sound like a travel ad, I'll get to the point.
We can step back in time when the town was known as "Mauch Chunk", a dirty coal mining town set in the Lehigh Valley.
Many people know the story of the "Molly Maquires". In case you are not 100% familiar with it, follow this link: http://www.visitjimthorpe.com/new/history.htm#molly
also see the story of the "Hand Print", as that will be come key to this story line down the road.
While thinking about where to set my "game", I was looking at my address and it dawned on me, why not base the whole thing around the area I love.
Basic premise will be the Mollies are a Cthulhu front. Although forced to disband in 1877, they continued to operate in secret. They are partially funded by the Packer estate, and the current owners of Mine #9. Since they also operate the mine, they are digging deeper into the hills to find some old relics of the past.
This scenario gives me alot of terrain building ideas, and the perk is I can just drive off the mountain and into town to take lots of pictures. I can also go to the library and find all the maps and floor plans I need. There is also an occult shop in town and I might have to dig a bit deeper there and see what I can find.
on a side note: Asa Packer ran for president in 1868, so technically I guess you can say the push for "Cthulhu for President" started along time ago
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That is a wonderful idea!
I can't imagine a better way to base a game story line (or even a real story) than off a real place, with real people....It lends automatic credibility to it.
I'm a bit jealous...I'd love to play through the scenarios you're building.
This line worries me though....
"There is also an occult shop in town and I might have to dig a bit deeper there and see what I can find."
I do believe that is the basic premise in about half of Lovecrafts stories....the next thing you know you will be half deranged, speaking of ancient races and undead gibbering things..... :lol:
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Good story!
I'm looking forward to see some of your painted miners! :-)
Unfortunately any interesting things around here happened before the colonisation of America, far too long ago.
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Supervike,
do you come to any of the HMGS-East conventions? I might run something like this in the future there.
Good call on the Occult shop. :lol: Its called the "Emporium of Curious goods". Although it wasnt around during the time frame I am shooting for, it will be located in the town as a "home" base.
WFG,
Technically, everything I am doing happened before 1920, I'm just using a "past" history to make the scenario. It will be a new section of the mine that opens the mystery some 50 years after. I'm not sure where you live in Germany, but with the rich history of Europe, I am sure there are many better stories there. I am going to use the Foudnry miners, but if you know of anyothers please let me know.
Below is a picture of Jim Thorpe:
(http://www.visitjimthorpe.com/new/images/SUPERMAN.JPG)
Yup, thats it, Huge population of 4200 people :)
I'm working on a new map of the town to lay things out better, but the two buildings in the lower right hand are the Packer Mansions, the one with hte red roof is Asa's, and the other one is Harry's. The large church in the top row center is St. Marks. That should be a good place for interesting ideas. The other structure in the middle of the town with the bell tower is the police station and court house. The carbon county jail is located just off to the right of the picture.
I think the interesting part of this is the fact that the town is so small that you can actually walk the entire town (all 3 roads) in about a half hour. so even within the time frame of a tabletop game, the usual "ok, now you sut flew to Cairo" doesnt come into play. Players can actually investigate different areas at the same time. and since I have walked this town numerous time, I can almost tell you it takes 10 minutes to walk from the Occult shop to the Jail.
I did forget to mention that there is an old castle ruins in town........ This place is weird!!!! I'm just trying to figure out how to get the floor plans of the diffferent locations during hte 1920's. Some will be easy, but I am not sure how to ask the Sheriff for a floor plan of his building.
I also started my time line for the Asa Packer/Cultist tie in last night. There are some interesting things that completely follow history but can lead to an actual theory that Asa was involved with the Mollys. Granted it sounds a bit like a conspiracy theory, but it fits for my story.
So I was also thinking about which creatures to incorporate. Ghouls and Ghasts from the mine, a Dark Young near the old chapel ruins, and perhaps the deepest creature to be found can be a hunting horror from the mine as well.
Here is another line drawing of the town to show jsut how close everything is:
(http://www.jimthorpe.net/map/images/wallkingmap.gif)
I have a bad feeling this project is going to get out of hand!!!!! :D
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This is an awesome idea--and Jim Thorpe could be any of a dozen Alleghany towns in Maryland and West Virginia, too (I love the Appalachien Mountains and the towns up and down them.)
Since your town is in a valley, maybe the hills on either side of the town have ancient megaliths, stones raised during the days of the Indians. Sometimes a strange stone covered with painted hieroglyphs will be found near them, and Professor Farnsworth has a theory that once every seventeen years, the megaliths point to where the sun will set on the Winter Solstice.
But why would someone go through the trouble of marking this time? And why this year is the valley beset with a strange fog which cannot be pierced by the noon sun?
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Pete,
thanks. this story is basically writing itself right now.
The MCCIT (Mauch Chunk Cthulhu Investigation Team) jsut got back from a quick run down the mountain to get some pictures. The team consisted of Myself, and my two kids (aged 2.5 and 6). I know its a odd name but my daughter likes it, so I'm keeping it.
this is what the ruins look like:
(http://heritage-studios.com/cthulhu/castlewalls.JPG)
Strange part is, while having pizza in town for our post-investigation wrap-up, A woman approached me and asked where I was from. She was very curious at the manner in which I was speaking with my daughter about the ruins. We spoke briefly about our little excursion and she said she would be right back. She returned a short while later with a slip of paper in her hands with a name and phone number scrawled on it. It is the contact information for a local historian who has all the documentation for the castle before it fell into ruins. No real story yet, but I will be contacting him tomorrow to see what else I can find. I guess it was odd getting a "player handout" while in real life, but it definatly has me intriqued.
Quick roll on my sanity check.... Damn, down 3 points :(
It was weird getting the paper from her, as there seems to be a real story behind the place. Tomorrow I'm heading back to the occult shop without hte kids to see what I can find.
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The local antiquarian is taking an interest? You know what that is going to lead to. :o
Why did the Indians avoid the valley so much? And what of their tales of human sacrifice? Just what was it that desired blood so much?
Those hills must be riddled with caves & old mining tunnels. A church up against the hillside like that must surely have secret passages leading away from the crypt....
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Etranger,
my story jsut got a whole lot weirder yesterday.
I had some of my notes and such printed out and was looking at a few things, and wihle stacking some papers, I made a bizare discovery.
If you draw a line from the jail to the train station, and then connect lines from St. Marks church, Asa Packers mansion, The Opera house, and the catle ruins, it makes the elder sign :?: the only part missing is a line that cuts through a road that leads into the mountain in a location I have never been to yet! The road name is "High ROad" and it cuits deep into the hill but is a residential area so I never really went up that far, but NOW ia have a reason!
Below is the Elder sign overlaid on the town:
(http://heritage-studios.com/cthulhu/Elderoverlay2.GIF)
I didnt get a chance to ask at the occult shop yesterday, as they were very busy as there were alot fo tourists in town, so I got my usual supplies and got out of there. I dont like town when there are that many outsiders.
There is also alot of Native American hsitory in the valley. I know this one family that lives by me that is very active in the Indian community here. They we me one as I helped the youngest boy "coyote" when he was lost by the park. So atleast I have some point of origin for research in this area.
I almost wish I was making some of this up, as this little "game" design session is getting a touch weird, but it is fascinating.
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That sounds gripping, Steve, keep up the reporting! Would like to hear about the investigation of the "Unknown Location" :-)
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Well, I drove through high road today, jsut for a quick look. And wouldnt you know that I did find something. Roughly positioned at the proper mark, is a ohhh get ready for it......
An Abandoned house!
Its the only one in town. I didnt get a good look as I was running late, but hte construction seems to date it to atleasst the 20's. It did catch me off guard as I was driving through the road, I was rounding hte bend and I was thinking that I was in the right area, but all there are were houses, till I came across this one. So, barring any futher investigations, I have found my "unknown location". Now I need to stop into town and find out what the building is, and why it is abandonded. I will head back tomorrow with hte team and get some photos. I will also see if there are any neighbors around that can tell me anything about it, in particular any "ghost" stories.
I also went to do a quick run through of the Mauch chunk cememtery, but there was a service and I didnt want to intrude. It is right up the hill form the Asa Packer mansion, roughly posiitoned inbetween there and the ruined castle.
I'm going to have to do a new map soon to show all locatios, with a bit more detail. I wish I could get google earth to work on this computer, as that would be quite interesting. I also want to use some of my old civil engineering tricks to get a good survey of the land as well.
I think at this point I have enough notes for a short story, or if I pushed it a lower level novel. I guess the best part is that I have not even begun to fabricate anything. Everything is jsut falling into place on its own.
I know I need to paint some things up for this but I almost find this little investigation a little too interesting.
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An Abandoned house!
No! Unbelievable :) Try to come in and look for the signs, Steve!
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There will be a story attached to that house....
Maybe some of the old mine tunnels also follow those lines? It could be a clue as to where the artefacts are located underground? Perhaps it points towards them if only someone can "read" the sign?
At this rate there won't be much fiction needed to write this tale.
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Etranger,
I agree there has to be a story if it is the only abandoned house in town. There is ALWAYS a story with places like that.
The actual "switch back" rail road was on the other side of the valley, leading to another mine, so its on the same side as the castle and mansion jsut further up the mountain. I havent even got into any of hte hsitory of that portion yet!
However, there are many strange walls with doors and such leading into the moutnain side. I will get lots of pictures as they will better explain instead of jsut explaining them. those are all over the same side as the Church and the abandoned house. Although I know what some of them were used for, and that some were old foundations of houses, it wil lstill be interesting to do some "adjusting" of the story and find some good turn in the story there.
Witchheiner,
I almost wish I was making this up, too many of the pieces are falling together WAY too easily. Once I investigate further into the house I am sure something will come about. I do want to triangulate the position to make sure it is where I need it to be, but then again, further investigation might lead to something else :)
I still ahevnt mentioned the old run down carriage house by HArry packers mansion. I think the last time I was there someone had spraypainted all sorts of occult things around it. that will make some interesting pictures.
Well, I am off to jot down some more things in my journal.
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Below is the Elder sign overlaid on the town:
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An Abandoned house!
AAAAAAAH!!!
AAAAAAH!!!
AAAAAAAAH!!!!
:o :o :o
Move right now.
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I think we should make Prof. Hes call in every hour on the hour or at least post every hour so we know his whereabouts and have all his notes. This way, WHEN he disappears mysteriously, we can all descend on the town and conduct a mass search.
If we have all the info up front, along with his schedule, we can pick up where he left off without going by his house to get his notes, where the cultists are sure to be waiting in ambush.
=)
Pat
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GS,
thanks for the concern :lol: 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:
(http://heritage-studios.com/cthulhu/wall2.jpg)
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 :D or God only knows :?:
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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
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... 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.....? :o
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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.
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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
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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....
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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.....
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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.
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God only knows what some peoples basements look like.
That is likely to prove an interesting part of your story. :)
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Did the professor post today? Do we have to send someone up to the mountains to retrieve him?
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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:
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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?
:?:
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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.
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...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
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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.
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It's enjoyable to read along with too. There's enough interesting factual information there to conjure up all sorts of weird & wonderful conspiracies, & thats before you add any eldritch touches to the story.
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Prof.,
You have got me thinking now. In St. Louis we have the Lemp Mansion and Brewery. It is pretty famous. As a matter of fact, were it not for prohibition, most of America would be drinking Lemp beer instead of Budweiser. (Prohibition bankrupted Lemp.)
In any event, about 5 members of the family killed themselves in the Lemp Mansion and it is now suppossedly haunted. They have turned it into a Bed & Breakfast and a restaurant, but people always have "occurrences" there. I haven't of course.
The brewery is mostly warehouse space now, but they do have a haunted house at Halloween.
Maybe, distraught with bankruptcy the Lemp's turned to the ruinous powers to save their empire, but the price was too great...
:twisted:
In any event I am looking forward to your project and am only happy to be supportive. Keep up the good work. Maybe you can work up some scenarios for .45 Adventure?
Pat
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I hope it wasn't pronounced 'limp', or there might have been some image problems! :)
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No it is pronounced [lehmp].
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Etranger,
thanks, I will continue to wkr on this and post with my findings.
Gunslinger,
That does sound like it has some interesting potential in there. Did they kill themselves at the same time, or over a period of time? Not heard too many storues of family mass suicides.
my concept right now is to focus using CoC, from Chaosium, as a primary, but hte scenarios will be written with other sets in mind as well. I'm working on a conversion chart to make CoC stats into 45A, or AT2, or CiC, etc... so they will be pretty universal, mainly usable with 45A as that is the set I am most familiar with.
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No it was over time that they killed themselves and it was four members of the family, not five as I previously stated.
If anyone is interested:
http://www.prairieghosts.com/lemp.html
Pat
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Pat,
the "Lemp" story does sound like a good one. It would make a good backdrop to a murder/Ghost mystery type game.