The Lost City of Zed!

[HellHound01]

So I've decided to take the leap and make my very own scenario for Call of Cthulhu, and leave the printed scenarios behind (for now).

After watching a documentary on Col. Percy Fawcett and his mysterious disappearance in 1925 which searching the amazon for an ancient city which he called Zed, I've decided that the players will be part of a follow up expedition in 1927 funded by the National Geographic Society, the Royal Geological Society, and Miskatonic University. The reason for the sudden decision to launch another expedition is the discovery of another letter sent by Fawcett after the one sent from Dead Horse Camp (which was thought to have been the last one). In it he details that he is close to the city, and has found several other sites which he thinks may have once been outpost. He also describes some curious bits of technology and strange pictographs.

Unknown to the joint US/UK expedition the Germans particularly the Thule Occult Society have a spy in the RGS and have begun to outfit there own expedition consisting of a mixture of Thule members and Nazi party members. They have provided some serious funding (the German expedition will be bringing lots of the newest scientific equipment, as well as plenty of dynamite, and a Colt-Browning M1919 Aircraft ,30-06 Machine Gun).

While in Boston for the final preparations for the expedition ( I plan on giving them a lump sum of like 5,000 dollars + there own money to spend on stuff), there is a bomb placed in one of there Hotel rooms, and as all of there rooms are located near each other this could lead to a large number of deaths. However I plan to make it pretty easy to discover the bomb, and disarm it with a demolitions roll. Then the three Gun men will wade in upon the failure of there bomb. One has a Remington Model 10A 12G Shotgun, the other 2 have Colt New Service (M1917) .45 Cal Revolvers. What I haven't decided on is if these men will have been hired by the Germans, or possibly are small time Gangsters who have been mind dominated by a Cult dedicated to keeping the City of Zed a secret.

After this the Players will probably want to leave as soon as possible, on the ship over I plan to have an attempted sabotage of the engines, once again I'm not sure if the Germans or the possible Cult should be responsible.

Upon arrival in Brazil's port city of Belem, the investigator's should meet the German expedition. The leader Harlan Jorg ( a high level Thule Occult Society member, and rising Nazi Party golden boy) will be very polite and have lots of sympathy at there recent troubles, however he will be evasive if questioned on the details of his expedition. The other members of the German expedition will be outright hostile, or cold.

Then its time to set off up river, they investigators will probably have to hire a barge or attempt to canoe up the Amazon. There will probably be an incident with a large Croc attack (thanks to the control animal spell known by the Kalapalos High Priest), and following that raids by hostile Indians (possibly Kalapalos warriors, or other Indians hired by the Kalapalos). Once they get far enough down river they disembark and are in for a month travel overland through the dense jungle.

At one point one of the players should be able to make a track or spot hidden roll that should alert them that they are being followed. If they hide in ambush they may be able to get the drop on the Germans, if they try much else they will end up in a firefight (possibly running firefight) with the Germans (who will probably outgun them). Following either there or the German's retreat they will eventually start to get close enough to the Kalapalos village to cause the High Priest to use the "Bait Human" spell to lure investigator's off by themselves to independently ambush them. Should the players press on they will eventually arrive at the village. Fawcetts letter makes it clear that the Kalapalos know the location of the city.

So as Keeper I've decided that both the High Priest and the Chief know where it is. The Chief is always surrounded by 2d8 warriors when in the village, and 4d8 when outside of it, however he is by far the easier of the the 2 to capture.

The High Priest has 26 points of Flesh Ward, a summon/bind Star Vampire (called the Silent Hunter in there language), Voorish Sign, Enchant Item (for his enchanted knife), Bait Human, Command Animal, and Arcane Blast (does 1d12+4 lighting damage) and have 1d8 warriors inside the village, and 2d8 outside of it.

Following the capture of one or the other, they must then flee the village with a huge mob of pissed off warriors after them (who have spears, bows (with poison), knifes, and slings). After a successful escape they can then interrogate there prisoner.

On the march to the city, they have to deal with the occasional Indian raid (made with random encounter rolls, and not the Kalapalos).

Of course the German's are still in play, as is the Cult should I include them. Which means there is the possibility for a 3 way running gun battle as the different groups all try and reach the city first.

Finally there is the city itself, and here is my major problem.

I don't want it to be a Human city, so currently I'm trying to decided between Serpent Man, Yithen, or if a Human city one that the ancient inhabitants of where powerful sorcerers.

Once at the city, they will have to try and collect artifacts, take photos, survive the Shoggoth in the ancient High Temple (the cities architecture should be a mix of Greek and Aztec), and deal with the surviving remnants of the Germans, and the Cult.

From there it will probably be easier for them to head for Bolivia then back track.

So can anyone help me?

[beelzebob]

Personally I would go for Yithian. In my current 30s campaign one of the players is Fawcett, who has returned some years after his disappearance with no memory of what happened, but who has very strange dreams. He will over time meet people who claim to have had memorable encounters with him in various places around the world. He has of course been inhabited by a Yithian conxciousness who has been trying to experience as much as possible of human life. Amusing and dangerous misunderstandings will doubtless result, depending on how evil I am feeling at the time.

[HellHound01]

Personally I would go for Yithian. In my current 30s campaign one of the players is Fawcett, who has returned some years after his disappearance with no memory of what happened, but who has very strange dreams. He will over time meet people who claim to have had memorable encounters with him in various places around the world. He has of course been inhabited by a Yithian conxciousness who has been trying to experience as much as possible of human life. Amusing and dangerous misunderstandings will doubtless result, depending on how evil I am feeling at the time.

Hmmm what would the ruins of a Yithian city look like, and what kind of nasty things would they leave laying around?

[beelzebob]

Somewhere in the dim, dusty piles of my book collection I have a copy of Terror Australis, which I seem to recall has the Yithian city from The Shadow Out if Time in it.

[Emrys]

I'm just wondering why members of National Geographic Society, the Royal Geological Society, or Miskatonic University would have put any points into the Demolitions skill. If players think the same way this scenario may not get any further than the hotel and any musings on what may or may not be found in a Yithian city might prove to be a moot point.

You also say "At one point one of the players should be able to make a track or spot hidden roll that should alert them that they are being followed". If there's only one point at which these rolls can be made it's inevitable that all the players will fail - this has happened to me where most of the players had the relevant skill at well over 50%.

In the same way that it's said that no military plan survives contact with the enemy, no scenario with choke points survives contact with investigators.

[Blackmyron]

Somewhere in the dim, dusty piles of my book collection I have a copy of Terror Australis, which I seem to recall has the Yithian city from The Shadow Out if Time in it.

You recall correctly - it has a wonderfully detailed Yithian ruin.

[HellHound01]

I'm just wondering why members of National Geographic Society, the Royal Geological Society, or Miskatonic University would have put any points into the Demolitions skill. If players think the same way this scenario may not get any further than the hotel and any musings on what may or may not be found in a Yithian city might prove to be a moot point.

You also say "At one point one of the players should be able to make a track or spot hidden roll that should alert them that they are being followed". If there's only one point at which these rolls can be made it's inevitable that all the players will fail - this has happened to me where most of the players had the relevant skill at well over 50%.

In the same way that it's said that no military plan survives contact with the enemy, no scenario with choke points survives contact with investigators.

They would have a demolitions skill (under craft), because some of the expedition is bound to be ex-military, and frankly experience with explosives is a useful skill to have. While I can see your concern that I might be detracting from the mystery of the game I should clarify that I like to run slightly pulpy games. Gun battles are fun, but obviously they draw the presence of law enforcement.

I also see your point about my problem with the choke point in the Jungle with the German Expedition. Perhaps I should change it so the German's are laying in ambush and they all have to pass a Hide check?

[HellHound01]

You recall correctly - it has a wonderfully detailed Yithian ruin.

How much would it cost me?

[Justin F]

Dennis Detwiller described a Yithian or Yithian-influenced city in the Congo in some detail in his enjoyable Delta Green novel Denied to the Enemy.

[Pookie]

They would have a demolitions skill (under craft), because some of the expedition is bound to be ex-military, and frankly experience with explosives is a useful skill to have.

I would point out that not every branch of the military trains its men in the laying and setting off of explosives. Plus, the Demolitions skill is described in a couple of supplements, most recently in Investigator Weapons, Vol. I.

[Taavi]

There has already been more than one Cthulhu scenario with serpent men cities in the Amazon - the Cthulhu d20 GM's screen came with one IIRC and one of

Spoiler:

Age of Cthulhu V

's modules has them as well. So on those grounds alone I wouldn't go with Serpent Men. I'd go with Yithians out of those 3, but why stop there, why not Mi-Go (Shadows of Yog-sothoth), Elder Things (why should they stay in Antarctica?) or Byakhee?

I think that an academic expedition is more likely to try to deduce the location of the city directly from geography, following Fawcett's tracks, looking for outlying ruins, or try to negotiate passage using Anthropology and Bargain to offer shiny things, rather than mount a military-style expedition to seize the chief of a hostile native tribe. That sounds like an elaborate form of suicide to me.

Similarly I can't see a good reason for the germans or cultists to chuck bombs in Boston, where it would draw far too much attention. If they wanted something lethal, go for poison, gas (mad gasser of Mantoon?) or Dimensional Shamblers.

Graeme Walmsley's Stealing Cthulhu has a lot of awesome advice about plot and pacing of classic lovecraftian quests for alien/buried cities.

[tanstaafl]

Why not Amazonian Deep Ones? No reason they should be limited to the oceans only; the Amazon is plenty big.

[trevlix]

In a matter of coincidence, I am writing a more pulp-y scenario very close to this one for Hollow Earth Expedition. May I suggest also reading The Lost City of Z by David Grann, which is essentially a biography on Fawcett and his explorations. When it came down to it, the guy was an ass to be with in the Amazon.

What is the name of the documentary you saw? I'd like to see if I can find it.

[Cthimothy]

What is the name of the documentary you saw? I'd like to see if I can find it.

This one perhaps? http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/feat...s-episode/808/ From what I've read it closely follows Grann's book. I haven't watched it yet, but I thought I might tonight. I don't know anything about the 'Secrets of the Dead'; are they any good?

Edit: left out the URL.

[HellHound01]

I would point out that not every branch of the military trains its men in the laying and setting off of explosives. Plus, the Demolitions skill is described in a couple of supplements, most recently in Investigator Weapons, Vol. I.

I know I bought it yesterday for just this scenario (because I wanted a more detailed list of weapons), and it is excellent.

If nothing else I'll provided an ex-sapper NPC.