124 replies to this topic

[yronimoswhateley]

The easy answer is definitely "We go out, and write our own scenarios, and show 'em how it's done!" 

 

I'm not sure anything I could produce will do anything but hurt the cause, but I'm willing to give it a couple tries some time. 

 

Writing scenarios for general public use is definitely an art with a different skill-set than running a home-brew adventure for a known audience, though, so I think it's fair to admit that the "easy answer" isn't as simple as it sounds at first.

 

If it weren't for the fact that the future of the Chaosium Monographs seems to be in question right now, I would have suggested adventure contests similar to the ones used to populate the Halloween Monographs:  in each of the Halloween Monographs I've seen so far, there have been two or maybe even three scenarios with some refreshingly unusual settings, so I know there are writers out there who are interested in thinking outside the 1920s Lovecraft Country and Delta-Green Modern boxes, and that the monograph contests offered them the opportunities to do so.

 

I think the Wiki offers some opportunities:  as I've been filling out entries in the Wiki, whenever I notice a scenario that lends itself well to being relocated to an offbeat setting, I leave a note (one or two sentences) about the opportunity in the "keeper's notes" area.  Keepers aren't necessarily going to see or use those notes, but if it helps just one person to see the possibilities....

 

I think the forums offer a LOT of potential:  if I were to ask for help with something specific, I'm pretty sure that in no time there'd be replies from people loaded with the unique experience, advice, talent and creativity of the forum members here.  If you were to produce the skeleton of an adventure and ask in the forums where and when to set it, you'd almost certainly have a half-dozen suggestions you never thought of within 24 hours.  If you have an unusual setting and a general plot, and ask in the forums what to use for a villain, monster, deity, tome, or artifact that would fit the plot and setting, you're bound to get plenty of weird and creative suggestions, as well as some more traditional suggestions adjusted in creative ways to the weird context of a unique setting.  Perhaps the folks in the forums would be interested in some monthly threads containing a set of prompts of this sort which would, effectively, result in some unique scenarios produced as a collaboration from the YSDC community... just add an editor to put the whole thing together afterwards (the really tricky part!)....

[wharfedalehome]

If we're getting inventive, there is possibly some mileage to be got from:

 

Twilight:2000 - Bangkok

 

OK, Twilight:200 is a fair way from CoC but some of the background and maps could be useful.The setting is really Thailand (ie: Siam) rather than Bangkok and could be transferred to Indo-China or possibly Burma with some work. Up country, who knows how far the Siamese, French or British writ really goes? All the high tec stuff and some of the detail can be ignored, but I think it might be useful if used carefully - especially in the absence of real and substantial period background.

[jlynn]

Thanks for the tip!  Your post caused me to re-read this whole thread again, and there are a couple of things I'll throw out there for general consideration:

 

First, I'll again mention (I've recently mentioned it on the MoN Companion thread) a product I just ran across on DriveThruRPG:  Old Shanghai.  It's more tuned to pulpiness than it is to horror (but now that we have Pulp Chtulhu, that's easier to deal with), but it is a FANTASTIC resource on Shanghai from 1919 to roughly 1937.  While that's outside the "official" scope of SE Asia, it would make a great entry port into the region and work as a "home base" for exploring all kinds of areas in Asia in general.  There are also a number of "supplements" in the form of characters, artifacts and even an adventure or two to help you get into the spirit of the thing, and the whole thing is written as "system neutral" so you don't waste a lot of time and space on game specific data.  Well worth a look, IMHO, and goes well beyond what Chaosium or even Sixtystone could include in MoN or the Companion.

 

Second, I can't imagine where my brains went a couple of years ago, but there is a relatively complete Order of Battle for French Indochina on the Niehorster OB pages; though the existing data is specifically for 8 December 1941.  Still, the overall organization of the French in Indochina wouldn't have changed much between, say, 1920 and 1941, though the equipment in use would have (especially aircraft), as well as some of the smaller level units (probably mostly metropolitan French battalions that might have been swapped out -- but the Legion units wouldn't have changed).  More likely, however, would be that the individual personnel would change, and not the unit designations, given the general paucity of French resources for making major Order of Battle changes in distant colonies in the wake of the Great War -- they lacked the money, the manpower, and the resources to do wholesale changes to units assigned, especially in what would have been considered somewhat of a backwater (compared to the Levant, and North Africa), while they were dealing with rebuilding damaged France, the Great Depression, building the Maginot Line and taking firm control of the Levant and reasserting control lost during the war due to lack of colonial personnel throughout their African possessions.  Anyway, the link might prove useful.

 

(Edited to add:  There's also an OB for Thailand on there -- though again it revolves around Pearl Harbor day, and doesn't address the earlier OB -- and, in the wake of the Thai-Vichy war of 1940, the Thai navy suffered some damage, so you'd need to take a look at that little conflict and adjust accordingly for earlier eras.)

Edited by jlynn, 22 September 2017 - 08:38 PM.

[wharfedalehome]

I just came across this today - The Thousand Headed Man: http://www.drivethru...usandHeaded-Man

 

It sounds more or less ideal because:

• It's set in Indo-China.
• It's a pulp adventure - based upon a Doc Savage story, so similar to HPLs more lurid offerings.
• It's a mystery players have to solve.
• It involves something that really terrifies the locals.
• It's a very modestly priced download (from DriveThruRPG).

OK, there are a couple of minor issues:

1. It's written for OneDicePulp - but I'm sure most Keepers will have no problem adding CoC stats as needed.
2. The plot is set in 1934 and involves an aeroplane. Now the strange thing is, they would have been quite rare even in 1934 in this region (Pretty much flying boats only I'd reckon and few of those to be honest). But there haven't been many (any?) changes in Indo-China in the intervening 4 or 5 years that separates 1934 it from the 1920s. So I don't think that an aeroplane would be any more anachronistic in, say, 1924 Saigon than 1934 Saigon. I don't want to turn this thread into a discussion on aerial exploration or development of air routes - it's just something to consider as part of the development if you have a go at this.

Anyway, there it is - The Thousand Headed Man.

 

Have fun!

[Lammomedes]

I just came across this today - The Thousand Headed Man: http://www.drivethru...usandHeaded-Man

 

Anyway, there it is - The Thousand Headed Man.

 

Have fun!

 

Thanks for the link!