Posts tagged Pelgrane Press

7 of My Most Successful Campaigns (part two)

RPG Campaigns RPG Life
7 of My Most Successful Campaigns

And here’s the rest of the list of the seven most successful campaigns I have run…you can find part one here.

The Final Revelation (Trail of Cthulhu) – 2020

  • The pitch: In 1930s London, a group of strangers are drawn together by shared, ominous experiences. They form a group to try to understand a pattern that soon reveals itself to by a threat to the nature of humanity. This frame leads to a series of interlinked scenarios. Spoilers: the world ends when the story does.
  • Context: Another pandemic favorite. The otherworldly cosmic horror made for a fine, distanced counterpoint to the realities of 2020—probably drawn from equal parts escapism and catharsis.
  • The verdict: As investigative games go, Trail of Cthulhu is hard to beat, and the vision of both Graham Walmsley and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan gave me a really compelling and disturbing game world to share with my players. Given the horror anthology setup, each player juggled 5 total PCs! What a weird, awesome experience.

Masks – 2022-2024

  • The pitch: PCs are teenaged heroes in historically super-powered Halcyon City. They struggle against evil, their own emotions, and the expectations of an older generation of super-heroes. Meanwhile, their various foes plot and scheme for world domination. Will they be able to rise above it all and save the world?
  • Context: I ran this game longer than any other. (Maybe longer than games in the past as well—it’s hard to remember.) Admittedly, there were two lengthy breaks, but all 5 players stayed in the game until the very end.
  • The verdict: This game was really one for the ages. It was mostly improvised, and as the story spun out, we wound up with a very large cast, and an epically drawn world. We wielded comic book tropes left and right—sometimes in a satirical way, but more often in a straightforwardly earnest way. It was a very emotional game with epic battles, as well as intense teenaged angst and romance.
Campaigns

CyBorg – 2023-2024

  • The pitch: Cy is a nightmarish corporate hellscape, whose citizens are all jacked in and constantly bombarded by advertisements and/or propaganda. The PCs travel into realities both virtual and concrete, taking on jobs for however many creds are offered. Everyone has debts to pay and bullets to spare as their desperation drives them ever deeper into danger and dystopian conspiracies.
  • Context: Potato Falls for the post-pandemic era—another very successful pickup game for our public group. As you might expect, it was a little grittier, but, as before, the game brought in new players and gave existing players something to look forward to.
  • The Verdict: This game was enormously fun. The many battles were explosively comedic. The weird locales and set pieces stood out against a sea of neon sludge. The pathologies of the various PCs were as difficult to fathom as they are to forget. And once again, the world ended when the story did. (Or did it? End simulation.)

The Detroit Campaign (Kult) – 2025

  • The pitch: In Detroit, in 1977, 5 strangers are drawn together by a shared nightmare. Gradually they discover a dark secret: that the American automobile industry was actually a decades long ritual that has allowed Hell to manifest in southeastern Michigan.
  • Context: I am from Flint, Michigan, and this was sort of a perverse tribute to my childhood home. It was also a chance to try a Powered by the Apocalypse horror game in a non-Cthulhu setting.
  • The verdict: We went really deep with this one, embracing the occult, transgressive sexuality at the heart of Kult. We also made room for Detroit style rock n’ roll, cameo appearances by the evil Henry Ford, and one of the most memorable PCs I’ve encountered—a Flint, Michigan empty-nester housewife, who sort of grew her own sub-mythos.

The Port of the West Wind (Hearts of Wulin) – 2025

  • The pitch: In a fantastic version of ancient China, the Port of the West Wind is a small and prosperous city, surrounded by magic and spirits. When a strange curse spreads across the land, the dead rise as puppets for demonic forces. The PCs are formidable warriors who go in search of the cause of these dark events.
  • Context: I ran this game in tandem with Kult, and, despite the demons, and the groundings of both rulesets in Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics, the moods involved were very different. It was very fun shifting my perspective as I moved back and forth between these games.
  • The verdict: Hearts of Wulin is just an amazing game. There are other systems if you want to bring wuxia storytelling to your table, but this one really sings, especially if you want to know about the inner lives of the characters. The group of players was awesome and really good about absorbing the somewhat eccentric—but effective—rules for combat, and each one of them brought a strong character to the table, all ready to undergo physical and emotional strife.

7 of My Most Successful Campaigns (part one)

RPG Campaigns RPG Life 1 Comment
7 of My Most Successful Campaigns

Potato Falls (2019)
Hypertellurians (2020)
The Final Revelation (2020)
Masks (2022-2024)
CyBorg (2023-2024)
Kult (2025)
Hearts of Wulin (2025)

I don’t know if it’s old age or the state of the world, but, lately, I’ve been reflecting on various parts of my life in a deliberate way. Predictably and appropriately, a large part of this consideration has revolved around tabletop roleplaying games. I’ve been game-mastering since I was around 12, I think, though there was a lengthy break, from maybe 1995 to 2017, due to various trivial “real life” things, like work and health.

Before that hiatus, every game that I ran or played in was a campaign. Neither I nor the people I played with ever considered playing otherwise. That mindset seems really strange to me now (not in the least because so many of the old campaigns were discontinued after only a session or two). These days, I run a lot of one-shots and enjoy doing so. At the same time, like many other gamers, I have a certain passion or compulsive sentimentality—I’m really not sure which it is—for the idea of a campaign. I love the epic meta-plots, the sweeping character arcs, and the familiarity and camaraderie that go with a long form TTRPG—not to mention the slow builds, the setups and punchlines, the will-they-or-won’t-they moments of suspense. 

With that last point, I’m not (just) referring to romance. I’m pointing toward those remarkable moments wherein you find yourself wondering: will the GM go that low? will the player go that high and/or silly? and what unexpected developments will come out of someone/everyone going off the rails, the script, the planet, or the plane of existence? There are the big fights, the noble or ignoble deaths, and the times when a beloved character is lost to madness.

Currently, I find myself running three campaigns—all in different systems and settings: Vaesen, Trail of Cthulhu, and Brindlewood Bay. We are at least a couple of months into all 3 games, and they all seem to be going well. (Vaesen has been running since July.) I know that things can and will change before we hit the finish line with any of these games. (With Brindlewood, I suspect we’ll be done by mid-March.) I’m running hardly any one-shots, though I don’t expect that situation will outlast this winter. I love campaigns, but I do miss the huge range of experiences that a one-shot setup offers. Still, while in my campaign mindset, I wanted to say a few words about some of my most successful campaigns to date.

Potato Falls (Dark Places & Demogorgons) – 2019

  • The pitch: It is 1984. PCs are adolescents and teens growing up in the town of Potato Falls, OH. Peculiar things keep happening, from attacks by ghosts and monsters to disturbances in the space-time continuum. Somehow, none of the adults ever seem to pick up on how weird everything is.
  • Context: Potato Falls was a pickup game that we set up for our public RPG group. In the space of a year, I’m not sure how many people showed up, just out of the blue—definitely more than 20. Everyone rolled a character in 5 or 10 minutes, and was cast into hijinks right then and there. Many of them went on to join other games with me, public or private.
  • The verdict: I can’t begin to tell you how fun this game was. It was also really chaotic, and I responded to all the energy at the table with bigger ideas and crazier concepts for how we played. Almost everything worked, because the vibe was so positive and welcoming. I really miss the game and might be running it still, if it weren’t for COVID.

Hypertellurians – 2020

  • The pitch: You are part of a group of passengers and crew aboard the Ultracosmic pleasure-ship, The Aetheric Lordling. You visit strange places, always seeking after new adventures and experiences. This game is really about wonder and exploration, viewed through a 1970s lasers and sandals haze.
  • Context: A campaign that I threw together for 4 players in March of 2020. It was a bonding experience for all of us, I think, and led to some really memorable, psychedelic moments.
  • The verdict: Despite the game’s innate silliness, we loved its Wonder mechanic, and we all became really committed to the various PCs and NPCs, and at times, the whole thing had the capacity to be somehow moving. Go figure.

Part 2 coming soon…

Eternal Lies – Session 24

RPG Life

DECEMBER 31, 1934, MONDAY: The Investigators returned to Brichester University to meet PROFESSOR ORWELL SANGSTER of the Classical Languages Department. As an expert in the ancient Roman presence in the area, Sangster is also an authority concerning local folklore. He described the Severn Valley as a nexus of sorts for bizarre pagan beliefs and noted.

Sangster also confirmed that archaeologist HUSAIN SOLIMAN had questioned him concerning several locally mythologized landmarks, among them remote, wooded Deepfall Lake. The Investigators believe this is the lake which appeared in the dream of Chantelle Perreault and in warnings they received at Mercy Hill Institution for the Mentally Disturbed. A 18th century cult believed it to be a site of significance to the entity known as GLA’AKI. It is a godlike being that may be related to the 1924 ritual that took the life of VINCE STACK and possibly the mind or soul of WALTER WINSTON. Sangster agreed to travel with the Investigators to Deepfall Lake on New Years Day.

The Investigators returned to Mercy Hill in hopes of speaking with ABAI, their guide from Axum. He had been traveling with Hussain Soliman, and they were hoping to question him about the recent activities of the Emporium of Bangkok Antiquities, the mysterious organization they crossed paths with in Axum. The Investigators suspect these activities are linked to whatever has caused Abai to be institutionalized and has led to the transformation of Soliman into the strange mossy figure they have seen following them in both their dreams and waking lives.

On arrival, the Investigators found Mercy Hill in a state of chaos. Terrified staff members told them that a madman was running loose with a knife. Several corpses lay in the halls of the asylum. They had been stabbed repeatedly. The Investigators eventually found Abai and convinced him to hand over his knife. Before he gave it up, he cut the corners of his mouth open with its tip.

Eternal Lies – The Alexandrian Remix

https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/eternal-lies/

Eternal Lies – Session 23

RPG Life

DECEMBER 30, 1934, SUNDAY: While visiting the small English city of Brichester, the Investigators received a letter from a woman they’d never met named TRICIA PIPER. In it, she claimed to have psychically glimpsed them. She referred to dangers around them and asked them to come visit her so that she might speak more clearly to them. The Investigators went to find Tricia at her address—a room at the Mercy Hill Mental Institution. The desk staff were not surprised by the Investigators’ arrival. Tricia had said they would be arrive that day.

Ward Attendant TOBY WEAVER escorted the Investigators through the pale green linoleum halls of Mercy Hill’s “new building.” Tricia was waiting for them inter private room. She was a young, pretty woman, serious and preoccupied. She spoke of an intelligence that was using her to communicate with the world. She said it had led her to write down a part of its living testament, but she said that another powerful intelligence was attempting to mislead her. She spoke of how its feral hunger had obscured the hard, clear voice she had heard perviously. She warned the Investigators about the dangers of “the lake.” The Investigators believed that she was most likely referring to Deepfall Lake—a local landmark known to be of interest to the archaeologist HUSAIN SOLIMAN and the EMPORIUM OF BANGKOK ANTIQUITIES, the shadowy institution for which he works. The lake is also rumored to be home to the mythic, inhuman entity known as GLA’AKI. (Presumably related to The Prisoner of Gla’aki—a mysterious force the Investigators have tracked since their stay in Los Angeles.)

The conversation with Tricia was cut short when the injury on James “Tick Tock” Cohan’s finger opened up, revealing a small mouth. The mouth shouted threats and obscenities at Tricia. James and Chantelle Perreault left the room, so Dorothy Howard and Luke Davis could continue the interview, but not much more information was forthcoming. In the hall, James was not himself. His finger was now silent, and to Chantelle, he appeared badly shaken, but otherwise stable. Inwardly, the stress of the last month, combined with the intimate, inexplicable horror he had just experienced, and he seemed, briefly, to lose himself.

Toby Weaver took the Investigators to meet a couple of inmates in the old building as well—one American and one Abyssinian. Both had been committed under strange circumstances. The American was an older, Black woman from Louisiana. Half her hand had been raggedly torn off, and she claimed to be writing a volume under the direction of Gla’aki as well. She expressed contempt for Tricia Piper and warned the Investigators of the dangers seen to be found at the lake. The Abyssinian turned out to be ABAI, the guide the Investigators had hired to take them to Axum. He appealed to James to save him from dark forces, which he said had attacked himself and his employers, members of The Emporium of Bangkok Antiquities.

Eternal Lies – The Alexandrian Remix

https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/eternal-lies/

Eternal Lies – Session 21-22

RPG Life

This one covers 2 sessions…investigating is slow work and I’m trying to catch up!

EARLY DECEMBER, 1934: The Investigators decided to leave New York and travel to an area in England called the Severn Valley. They were following leads drawn from their experiences in Ethiopia, including references to an obscure occult text called Revelations of Gla’aki. Spanish archaeologist BARTOLO ACUÑA had said that he’d learned where to dig in Ethiopia by poring over the Revelations. The Investigators were also aware that Oxford educated archaeologist HUSSAIN SOLIMAN was rumored to be traveling to the Severn Valley with the mysterious Emporium of Bangkok Antiquities.

Before they departed, they tended to some other affairs. Chantelle Perreault met with her mother DELPHINE, who’d (perversely?) chosen the Christmas holidays as a time to visit New York. Concerned with the effects that the Nectar trade was having on Murder, Incorporated, James “Tick Tock” Cohan introduced some of his friends to the ascetic meditation techniques he learned from MUHOHO while in Ethiopia.

In hopes of resolving their recent argument, Luke Davis went to meet with his mentor RICHARD NEWMANN at the professor’s Miskatonic University office. Newmann was behaving strangely, and seemed especially agitated by Luke’s associations with Soliman, Acuña, and missing archaeologist GEORGE AYERS. (The latter being a cultist who evaded the 1924 Los Angeles massacre by luck.) Newmann attacked Luke, who escaped unharmed and headed back to New York.

Luke and Dorothy Howard consulted the strange and obscene waterlogged tome that had been given to them at the airport. Once again, their immersion into the outré led Luke and Dorothy to have sex. While Luke felt his knowledge of obscure matters deepen, Dorothy found herself feeling empty and alienated after the sex.

The group departed aboard the Silver Sable for London and then made preparations to travel to the Severn Valley, known to be an area haunted by legends, folktales, and strange occurrences—not to mention an 18th century cult, which worshipped the pagan god Gla’a’ki. When consulting maps of the area, Dorothy noticed that, based on established physical scale and distances, the constituent areas of the Severn Valley could not possibly fit within its geographic confines. She was unable to completely fathom what this might mean, outside of a possible distortion of space and/ or time. None of her companions seemed to understand what was troubling her. To them, there appeared to be no discrepancy.

The Investigators drove through increasingly sullen countryside to the city of Brichester, which lies at the epicenter of the myths and tales that concern the Severn Valley. Also, the university library there is known to be improbably well-stocked with strange texts. It was rumored to hold the original handwritten text of the Revelations of Gla’aki.

No Christmas tree lighting ceremony for our investigators this year

DECEMBER 29, 1934: The Investigators checked into Hotel Victoria, located in Victoria’s sprawl, the red bricked center of the city. They noticed a strange man watching them in the streets, but he disappeared with seemingly unnatural speed. Overnight, Dorothy tried to fathom her strange intuitions about the area by making some sketches. She fell into a trance state, during which she involuntarily scrawled an ominous “message,” apparently channeled by another consciousness.

DECEMBER 30, 1934: The group made its way to nearby Brichester University, easily discerned by its dirty white stone buildings. While Chantelle, Dorothy, and Luke visited the University library, James stopped at the chapel. Despite the fact that it was Sunday, he found an old, cramped space, with only a few parishioners and an apathetic priest. James noticed a dirty hymnal in the back of one of the pews. It appeared to have been amended by hand and was stained with a translucent resin. The pages cut his already mangled finger and ultimately led the opening on it to open, as a mouth might. It seemed to whisper. James took the hymnal with him and fled.

At the library, Luke, Dorothy, and Chantelle delved deeper into the lore of the Severn Valley. They also investigated the whereabouts of the original texts of the Revelations of Gla’aki, which they discovered, were stolen in 1930—possibly by a former faculty member named Arnold Hird. The Investigators also learned that the local shop Yellowtree Books is known to have sold printed editions of the book.

The Investigators found references to several other locations—a partial list of which includes Deepfall Lake, which lies in a wooded area nearby, and was the possible location of the 18th century cult’s activities; the Church in High Street in nearby Temphill, where it’s said a rogue group of Knights Templar settled, and possibly formed a cult, after the Crusades; and the Isle Beyond Severnford, a small scrap of land, nearby, in the Severn River, where it is said that the Knights and/or druidic cults worshipped. The head librarian suggested that they consult with University professor ORWELL SANGSTER, an expert in local myth and history.

Dorothy flirted with a librarian, who invited her to have sex. They went to the librarian’s house. The sex once again left Dorothy feeling empty. The librarian seemed to regard the encounter as utilitarian and suggested that Dorothy leave as soon as possible.

Luke and Chantelle left the library and encountered the same figure they’d noticed watching them before. They gave chase, with Luke falling behind. Chantelle managed to stop the figure for a moment and found that he was a strangely transformed Hussain Soliman. He was coated with a phosphorescent moss-like substance, and his cheeks were horribly sunken. Again, he proved extremely agile, managing to slip away into the alleys of Brichester.

The Investigators reunited at the hotel. Dorothy slept with the strange map she’d found some time ago, hoping for some insight. James and Luke both meditated. The Investigators received a letter from someone named TRICIA PIPER that referred to them all by name. She claimed to have foreseen their coming and to be concerned for them, as they were in danger. It requested theater presence at the nearby Mercy Hill Sanitarium.

Eternal Lies – The Alexandrian Remix

https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/eternal-lies/

Eternal Lies – Session 20

RPG Life

I’m behind on my updates! Expect a bunch of new posts over the course of this week…

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1934: Overnight, in the settlement of Dallol, Ethiopia, Luke Davis finished his initiation as a ritual magician. A strange rat-like FAMILIAR appeared, grinning, inside Dorothy Howard’s hair, as she lay injured on the floor. The creature approached Luke and suckled blood from his finger tip.

With the help of Chantelle Perreault, Luke began the ritual to open a Hyperspace Gate, a portal that can open on any point in space-time that the caster has seen in the past. The Investigators killed OGHAI, their guide, in the process, but were able to escape to Massaua, Eritrea. By a stroke of good fortune, they soon connected with CARLO SALVATORE, the Italian military officer they’d met shortly after arriving in Eritrea. He was able to have Luke’s and Dorothy’s injuries tended, and to set her up in a clinic to receive ongoing medical care.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 25: The Investigators recuperated in Eritrea for about a week. In that time, Dorothy was visited by JEROME, the Afar dock- worker the group met shortly after arriving in Massaua. He seemed genuinely concerned about Dorothy, but also more serious than he had before. He revealed that he was in the same “army” with LAZARE, who had died in Dallol—and to whom Dorothy had formed a personal attachment. He also knew Dorothy’s real name. He seemed to know that Lazare was dead, but asked Dorothy to give him details. Dorothy passed along her address in New York. Jerome thanked her and wished her well.

EARLY DECEMBER: Back in New York, the Investigators took some time to personally recover from the shocks that experienced in Abyssinia. James “Tick Tock” Cohan found that the Nectar trade seemed to have spread in New York—or at least in the circles in which he moves. Chantelle was invited to Christmas dinner at Dorothy’s family home. She also received word that her mother was making a surprise stop in America and was hoping to connect with her.

Luke spoke by phone with his mentor, RICHARD NEWMANN. Newmann seemed angry with Luke for delving into the research of BARTOLO ACUÑA. They agreed to meet and speak in Arkham, Massachusetts. Dorothy received word that her father, THOMAS HOWRD, had been behaving in an erratic manner. He had approached her mother’s family, while apparently inebriated, and had requested money to supplement his current allowance. Dorothy went to visit Thomas and found him disheveled and confused. His apartment was dirty and untidy. She picked up after him a bit and warned him not to anger her grandfather, REGINALD SPENCER. Her father hugged her, atypically, and they said goodbye.

Eternal Lies – The Alexandrian Remix

https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/eternal-lies/

Eternal Lies – Session 12

RPG Life

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 15, 1934: The Investigators decided to travel to the Ethiopia to investigate some of the leads they’d turned up while in Los Angeles. In particular, they wanted to investigate the activities of two archaeologists: GEORGE AYERS and BARTOLO ACUÑA.

It appears that Ayers was a member of RAMON ECHAVARRIA’S cult. In fact he was part of the cult’s inner circle and was close enough to Echavarria to detect the fact that the cult leader seemed to be lying about the entity that the group was worshipping. Echavarria had pointed to GOL- GOROTH, an alien deity drawn to human depravity, but in truth there was another figure that Echavarria sought to contact. Echavarria referred to it as THE LIAR FROM BEYOND.

Whatever occurred between him and Ayers, Echavarria still approved of his associate enough to fund an archaeological dig at his recommendation. In 1924, Ayers joined Acuña on a trip to Dallol, in Abyssinia, to excavate some ancient ruins. As he was out of the country, he evaded the events that led to the death of Echavarria, along with many of his followers, as well as most of WALTER WINSTON’S group of cult-busters.

Nevertheless, while in Ethiopia, Ayers disappeared. Bartolo Acuña is still active and has re-entered Ethiopia recently at the behest of the Italian cultural ministry. He is there to retrieve an ancient stone obelisk from the ancient town of Aksum.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1934: FRANK KEARNS piloted the investigators to Massaua, known to be the most active Eritrean transportation hub. Acuña is said to be in the area, possibly in transit to Aksum, while Dallol lies deep in the Abyssinian desert. Traveling may be somewhat complicated, due to recent.

After their brush with annihilation, the Investigators are now armed with heavy firearms and have procured some explosives. Just in case. They got three rooms in the whitewashed, futurist Hotel Internazionale, an establishment that caters to Europeans and wealthy Ethiopians. Dorothy bought a lemon while they walked along the Massaua docks. A man who was unloading crates from a boat smiled to the Investigators, and they approached him. His name was JEROME. He seemed to extremely curious about the Investigators, but generally benevolent.

The Investigators visited the Gotti saloon, which was crowded with more Europeans and well to do locals. They eventually hired a guide, who claims to know the countryside, as well as the English, Arabic, and Italian languages. His name is ABAI. Luke ordered espresso, and his companions followed suit.

Eternal Lies – The Alexandrian Remix
https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/eternal-lies/

Eternal Lies – Session 10

RPG Life

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1934: The Investigators decided to visit the mansion of deceased philanthropist/cult leader RAMON ECHAVARRIA once more. They found what might have been strange patterns in the plaster of the walls—similar to the mouth-like manifestations they’d seen at Joy Grove Sanitarium back in Savannah. But these marks were old and might just have been water damage. Wandering the grounds, Dorothy found a garden area that was featured in the pornographic photographs the Investigators had discovered previously.

Recognizing that most of the evidence they’d collected was pointing toward SAMSON TRAMMEL, the Investigators decided to investigate his mansion. Luke and Tick Tock made their way to Pasadena to surveil Trammel’s home by night. They found that the layout corresponded to the blue prints Chantelle had turned up earlier. Posing as stranded motorists, they positioned themselves on the edge of Trammel’s grounds. Tick Tock approached and noticed that a party was going on inside the mansion. The people who were arriving and leaving were a curious mix of the rich and beautiful and the destitute and disposable. Tick Tock also noticed more thugs in zoot suits guarding the place. He found one entrance that was out of sight. It led to a conservatory. The door was locked, and Tick Tock decided to leave it undisturbed for the time being.

Luke and Tick Tock had seen dead bodies being carried out of the mansion. They decided to follow a car that was carrying a body away. It led them on a long drive into the desert. They evaded detection and were able to see two men burying a body, upright, in the rocky sand. They stayed out of sight till the men left. They dug down to the shoulders of the body and examined its head and neck for signs of mouths. They didn’t find any, but noted that the corpse’s face was covered in a dried, translucent paste. They reburied the body and headed back to the Hotel Roosevelt.

If you ever get a chance, check out House on the Rock in Wisconsin…weird stuff

Meanwhile Chantelle and Dorothy tracked down Samson Trammel at the Cocoanut Grove Ballroom. He seemed to recognize them at this point. They played to his lascivious appetites and were granted an invitation to his mansion. The group met and made preparations to confront Trammel. Having a sense that they were entering a dangerous situation, many of the Investigators sent word of their plans back to their associates. Dresses and firearms were pulled together, and the group set out for Trammel’s mansion.

Back in Pasadena, the Investigators again found a party in full swing. Guards offered to park their cars in the carriage house next to the mansion, but Chantelle declined, saying the group could do so themselves. At this point, the Investigators caught a glimpse of CAPTAIN WALKER, leaving the upper floor of the carriage house. They could see what appeared to be a small personal residence set up inside. Walker made conversation with the guards and nodded at the Investigators, but did not speak to them.

Inside, the Investigators found a strange mixture of guests. Some seemed to be from other countries, while many were American. Some appeared to be quite rich, while others were very poor. Many of the guests were openly having sexual relations of various kinds. Samson Trammel greeted the group and offered them drinks. While everyone accepted what they were give, no one drank right away.

Luke and Dorothy snuck off while Chantelle and Tick Tock remained with Trammel. They pretended to be in search of a private area to have sex, while they made their way into the kitchen. Following a path they’d noted on Chantelle’s blue prints, they made their way to the basement, where they found another pocket of orgiastic activity. They crept through a wine cellar to a hidden area indicated on the blue prints. Inside, they found a broader, more disturbing orgy in progress.

To the strains of a peculiar ballad, groups of people engaged in depraved acts around a gargantuan, twisted mouth. It was about the size of a car, and from it, extended tongues and other body parts. It seemed to be participating sexually, while exuding a thick organic secretion. This substance was being harvested by blank faced men who were not participating in the orgy. Dorothy and Luke were both deeply shocked by this sight to a degree where they inhibitions crumbled—along with any sense of rationality. Luke went down on Dorothy, who eventually reciprocated with a hand job, as the chaos continued around them. (SAN losses of 19 and 12, respectively.)

Upstairs, Chantelle continued her banter with Samson Trammel, while Tick Tock took a drink. Tick Tock was again seized by the disturbing pleasure of Nectar. Unable to control himself, he again turned to self-gratification. Trammel was amused and attempted to guide Chantelle into his office and

study. There she caught a glimpse of several old books and a strange painting of an alien landscape. Trammel’s conversation become more pointed and menacing, as he pressed Chantelle for information as to why she had come to Los Angeles. He made it clear that he knew the Investigators had come through Savannah from New York. Chantelle pulled her gun on Trammel, who laughed and indicated that other men had guns trained on her as well.

Chantelle gave up her weapon. From the stairs, Captain Walker threw gave her a glance. Trammel had her and the still transfixed Tick Tock escorted to the basement. The party was reunited, sort of, in front of the mouth. Chantelle and Tick Tock were disturbed by what they saw, but remained calm. (SAN losses of 3 and 1.) Trammel asked Chantelle what they should do next.

Eternal Lies – The Alexandrian Remix
https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/eternal-lies/

Eternal Lies – Session 9

RPG Life

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1934: Having questioned attorney ABRAHAM BUCHWALD about his connections to deceased cult leader RAMON ECHAVARRIA, the Investigators made their way back to the Hotel Cecil. Watches were set, and Tick Tock went to visit the bar and to dose himself with Nectar. He experienced a supernatural degree of sexual arousal. He relieved himself in the men’s room, while being watched, part of the time by another man. On his way back to his hotel room, he stopped at the car for further autoerotic experiences.

From the UCLA lot of books Dorothy and Luke have pieced together parts of two rituals—one involving the moon and another that theoretically allows for passage into the demimonde. When Tick Tock returned to their room, Luke noted his strange demeanor, but was unable to determine the cause for it.

Some new games I’m excited to run soon

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1934: In the morning, Tick Tock escaped to the car rental agency. He managed to exchange the sedan he’d visited the night before for a nearly identical car. [GM Note: he rolled a critical success.] Nevertheless, his companions were suspicious of his behavior. They visited the hotel bar and questioned the bartender. She told them that he had exposed himself to another man and soiled a bar stool in urine. She suggested that they check out of the hotel before the management went to the authorities.

Chantelle called JANET WINSTON-ROGERS and asked her to get access to the movie star OLIVIA CLARENDON, whom the Investigators have linked to Echavarria’s social circle in the 1920s. When Tick Tock returned, the group made its way to MGM Studios. Due to the influence of Janet Winston-Rogers’, Clarendon had agreed to be interviewed by them at her trailer.

Elegant and beautiful, she agreed to sign autographs for a star struck Dorothy and her friends. She told them of her past associations to Echavarria and to movie star RICHARD SPEND, both of who died in the 1924 massacre. She described Echavarria’s group as a mixture of a sex cult and high society party circle. As an up and coming starlet, she visited the parties a few times, without participating sexually, but quickly extricated herself from the scene. She claimed to see the manifestation of a large, inhuman mouth at Echavarria’s mansion. It was taking part in an orgy.

Clarendon also mentioned having contact with missing UCLA professor GEORGE AYERS, who also attended these parties and appeared to be a personal friend of Echavarria. Ayers gave her advice about ancient religions in connection with a part she was playing in a film.

The Investigators picked up stakes and moved to the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood. They discussed Nectar and had more of the drug delivered, after Tick Tock made some calls.

Eternal Lies – The Alexandrian Remix
https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/eternal-lies/

Eternal Lies – Session 8

RPG Life

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1934: Having taken some time to recuperate and study, the Investigators decided to return to UCLA. Having delivered, a very large donation to UCLA, they borrowed its copy of Unaussprechlichen Kulten. (It is ordinarily kept under lock and key.) They also questioned HAMISH MACDUNN, head of the UCLA History Department, about PROFESSOR GEORGE AYERS. They confirmed that Ayers departed for the area of Dallol in Abyssinia in 1924. While abroad, he contacted MacDunn and convinced him to buy up a lot of books, belonging to the recently deceased RAMON ECHAVARRIA. That lot of books, includes the volumes studied by Luke and Dorothy, as well as Unaussprechlichen Kulten.

MacDunn said that Ayers disappeared while in Abyssinia, some time in 1925. He gave the Investigators a box of Ayers’ effects, including Ayers’ research notes, a travel itinerary for his trip to Abyssinia, and a signed photograph from movie star OLIVIA CLARENDON. Previously, the Investigators had linked the actress to Echavarria and deceased movie star RICHARD SPEND. Clarendon’s signature did not match that of a woman the Investigators met at the Joy Grove Asylum in Savannah, who claimed to be Olivia Clarendon.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1934: Despite a dramatic wardrobe failure, Tick Tock arranged the purchase of 3 doses of Nectar from a Hollywood dealer. He decided to hang onto them and possibly use them later that night.

The Investigators made their way to the Los Angeles office of ABRAHAM BUCHWALD, Echavarria’s former attorney and collaborator in the Nectar trade. Dorothy and Luke engaged in a classic Good Cop/Bad Cop questioning of Buchwald, who revealed that he was an adjunct member of Echavarria’s “druidic” cult. He was ignorant of the details of that cult’s practices, but he attended sex parties, at which he encountered Olivia Clarendon and Richard Spend.

Buchwald admitted he had coordinated the Nectar trade, along with other business for Echavarria. He mentioned that Echavarria had told him to avoid the cult’s final gathering on the fateful night when Echavarria perished, along with many of WALTER WINSTON’S 1924 group of occult investigators. He told Buchwald to prepare himself for “the end.” Buchwald said that, at the time, Echavarria also told him he was deceiving those in his cult—that his “work went deeper than Gol-Goroth.”

Buchwald also acknowledged that he’d done some bookwork for sSAMSON TRAMMEL, who he believes has spearheaded the expansion of the Nectar trade. Trammel offered him a bribe to handle the transfer of Echavarria’s property, but Buchwald declined. The person offering the bribe, on Trammel’s behalf, was a CAPTAIN HECTOR WALKER—perhaps the same man Tick Tock played cards with on his first night in L.A.

Eternal Lies – The Alexandrian Remix

https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/eternal-lies/