Gothic Horror Crossover gaming

[Smokeyrone]

I read an old game report of a GM who threw a SATF colonial game.  When the british were crossing a river, looking out for Zulus, they were literally suprised when the Deep Ones surfaced and THAT was what they would be fighting.  Sounds like great fun
 

Anyone do SATF with monsters?  Or Chaos in Cairo meets     the Mahdist Wars, etc?  (or  the obvious, FFL, SFL or British force caught by the mummy, anubis army, cultists, etc.

Just interested in hearing your scenarios, what rules, etc.


Oh yeah, the "lost patrol" staple I think would work.  British unit(s)searches for lost company, find it in old ruins, a hidden desert village, (oasis or swamp yes, saw two movies that involved Nazi zombies in siad)  caves, whatever, and the lost unit has been zombified.  Troops have to figure out how to combat the new threat, as well as sinister characters, Mahdists, and lots of other zombies from years of lost poatrols (maybe a neat, old expedition team, arab caravan, roman army, napoleonic army, etc.,  now zombies who have waited centuries for   prey.)


Just a thought.  I have all those Blue Moon, RAFM and Brigade monster/Cthulhu/Chaos sets, all painted up, that shouLD DO NICELY, AS well as lots of Old West zombies for my old "Gutshot" with "Scary Monsters" game.




I like the idea of not telling them about any horror aspect and letting them think it's Mahdists or traditional foes to expect. 

[Viper]

Reminds me of the idea I had a while back to take the theme of the spirits/posessed from Ghosts of Mars and installing them into other settings be it sci fi, victorian sci fi on mars or earth, alternate history or even historical like you're suggesting.

It does sound like a great thing to do aslong as you have an open minded group, I'm sure die hard historical purists might take exception but that's their loss.
 

[Gluteus Maximus]

In a similar vein, a while ago we had a multiplayer game at our club. It was supposed to be a straightforward Western style game, with opposing bands of explorers in the Central American jungle. All went as expected until they mysteriously started dying gruesome deaths without any apparent cause.

It soon became clear there were some Arnie-style Predators in there (the clear resin INAP figures).

That certainly changed the gameplay and caused varying amounts of annoyance and hilarity

[Skrapwelder]

I'm taking a bit of a Lovecraftian crossover path with some VSF games set on Venus I'm working on.

[ZenWired]

Yeah, I ran a game like that. Almost exactly like that! Where'd you read the battle report? That sounds like a game I ran for my friends almost 10 years ago - after discovering the joy and wonder that is the Major General's Web site. Except it wasn't TSATF; I used modified Tripods & Hussars rules, IIRC.

The players took the roles of an archeological expedition, a steamer crew, and one each of a pair of British rifle units. I ran the "Enemy." The Brits docked the steamer (carrying the riflemen) and sent one unit of rifles to the other side of the table to retrieve the archeological team and their booty. The other unit stayed on the dock to guard the boat. The British were expecting trouble from the desert side of the table, as they'd been told that the locals were very upset that the expedition had been digging around some sacred ruins.

Everybody freaked when the deep ones crawled out of the river and started attacking the steamer's crew (behind the rifles, who were deployed and facing the other way). A couple of turns later, one of the deep ones (who had been lurking off to the side - players were wondering what he was up to) finally stopped making the distasteful noises he'd been making since their appearance - and a shoggoth emerged from the river and attacked the riflemen on the dock.

The game ended when the shoggoth disappeared into a stand of dense brush with the artifact that the expedition was trying to move back to the steamer - and none of the players could summon the will to pursue it.

Yes, it definitely was a blast. One of the few games, in fact, that I recall very clearly even years later.

[Smokeyrone]

LOL!    You posted about the game on TMP years ago.  I remembered the gist pretty well, eh?   Shows what a great concept you had!

I remember thinking back then "so a use for my deep one that is squatting, reading an old book.

In the building tutorial I am working on, one of the structures is/will be a versatile "Innsmouth"/Old West/rural/ dockside style wooden plank house. 

Too bad I have moved to 15mm for Sudan/colonial  gaming.  (I can and will still do CinC, Cthulhu and zombie in 28.    )Maybe i can find monsters and such in 15?  (I am just now absorbing the various standard colonial ranges.  Haven't even looked for horror in 15.  Pulkp, that will be a genre that should have some useful figures as well.

Those Brigade human form deep ones are so nice!  A shame that no 15mm equivelent exists.  Those guys are great for lots of genres (like the old "Famites" from Rail Wars)

[Gluteus Maximus]

Yeah, I ran a game like that. Almost exactly like that! Where'd you read the battle report? That sounds like a game I ran for my friends almost 10 years ago - after discovering the joy and wonder that is the Major General's Web site. Except it wasn't TSATF; I used modified Tripods & Hussars rules, IIRC.

The players took the roles of an archeological expedition, a steamer crew, and one each of a pair of British rifle units. I ran the "Enemy." The Brits docked the steamer (carrying the riflemen) and sent one unit of rifles to the other side of the table to retrieve the archeological team and their booty. The other unit stayed on the dock to guard the boat. The British were expecting trouble from the desert side of the table, as they'd been told that the locals were very upset that the expedition had been digging around some sacred ruins.

Everybody freaked when the deep ones crawled out of the river and started attacking the steamer's crew (behind the rifles, who were deployed and facing the other way). A couple of turns later, one of the deep ones (who had been lurking off to the side - players were wondering what he was up to) finally stopped making the distasteful noises he'd been making since their appearance - and a shoggoth emerged from the river and attacked the riflemen on the dock.

The game ended when the shoggoth disappeared into a stand of dense brush with the artifact that the expedition was trying to move back to the steamer - and none of the players could summon the will to pursue it.

Yes, it definitely was a blast. One of the few games, in fact, that I recall very clearly even years later.

That sounds well worth recreating. Easy to substitute other monsters for a bit of variation too 

[Smokeyrone]

That sounds well worth recreating. Easy to substitute other monsters for a bit of variation too 

Yep.     and don't forget adding non monster horror elements.  I have a unit of Confederate ACW troops for modern zombie gaming.  ACW re-enactors that took to believing their "leader" was General Lee, and the unit goes around fighting "Yankees" ie "zombies" to restore the Confedrecy!  (the player of that unit has much fun doing bad General Eric Cartman Lee voice during his turns)

That brings up the "Kurtz" concept.  Anywhere you are gaming historical genres, you can always have a hidden tribe of locals that follows some crazed/evil/eccentric "white poet warlord".     Some General casing Panch Villa in mexico, high   on the mescal ,decides to restore the Aztec Empire (or some would be relief worker in haiti decides that he is the reincarnated Dessolines,  whatever.


That would be a good way to add some variety.