Cthulhu - Live Roleplaying!
For the past couple of years, both Tim and I, plus a few of our
friends have been playing the table top version of "Call of Cthulhu", which is based on the writings of the
author, H.P.Lovecraft.
It's great fun...basically a mystery which has to be solved, but with the added ingredients of various ghouls and demons inspired by
Lovecraft's books.
Recently however, we have begun to play the "Cthulhu Live" game.
It's like the "Murder Mystery" evenings which many people take part in, except (as in the table top game) it involves many different creatures and monsters !
Here we are (above) in costume, for our very first game and below, a few of the scenes from the game.
 
  
This game was set in Sir Henry Carstairs's (Peter) house.
His beloved wife had died a couple of years previously and he had a plan to raise her from the dead, using me as a sacrifice. He also planned to kill various guests to convert into
mindless zombies, so they could assist him in this deed.
The players task was to try to stop him.Top left, is Peter (Henry Carstairs) chloroforming me (Constance Paget) as part of his dastardly plan to bring his deceased
wife back to life! Top right, are the zombies (my son Craig and Andrew) attacking me, Tim, Ian and Ainsley on the stairs. Bottom left, are Craig, Andrew
and Colin attacking Tim. In the middle, is Peter going through his artifacts and bottom right are me, Gordon (who was the Gamemaster) and Ainsley.
You will be relieved (or maybe disappointed !) to know that at the end of this, our first Cthulhu Live game, most of the players survived to fight another day !
In April 2002, we had the second game. Tim was Gamesmaster for this one and we had more players too - see the pictures of all of us below !
 
The pictures below, are all scenes from various stages of the game.
 
 
This adventure was set in an inn and involved the innkeeper, Bert Watkins (Gordon) trying to raise a demon in a misguided attempt to
bring order to the world. As a sub-plot, Miss Lizbeth Fletcher (Jodie) was a serial killer who murdered Mrs Wake (Susan). The players had to try to stop Bert from completing the ceremony to raise
the fire-demon Cthugha, and also to apprehend Lizbeth. They managed to get Lizbeth, but failed to stop Bert.
He successfully raised Cthugha, who unfortunately then proceeded to kill everyone in a massive fireball !!
We all had a great evening and, as it was set in an inn,(actually our house!)
the booze was flowing too ! Here are some pictures taken after the game was finished.
  
 
At the top left, are Annie Cooper and Father Flanagan (Ainsley and Ian. At the top centre, is Mrs. Wake (Susan) and top right
are Dr Lucius Wake and Lucy Watkins(Andrew and Fiona) . Bottom left are the Watkins family - Lucy (Fiona), Bert (Gordon),
Polly (Joanne) and Winnie (me!). Bottom right is a picture of Lizbeth Fletcher (Jodie) and Polly again. Then below,
is a photo of all the players together.
From the left : Ian, Peter, Andrew, Susan, Fiona, Ainsley, me, Jodie, Joanne, Gordon and in front, Tim.
Cthulhu Live is a fantastic game ! The Gamesmaster writes the game and
also the character's backgrounds. When the players receive their character sheets (usually a couple of weeks before the game), they have to
learn to BE that person, because from the very moment you arrive at the venue, you have to be "in character" for the whole game !
I also really enjoyed making various props for the game, including a "Necronomicon" , or Book of the Dead. It's supposed to contain
incantations and diagrams, spells, texts, scripts and pictures of the myriad creatures of Cthulhu ! Anyone actually reading the book is instantly driven insane, because their minds cannot
handle what they see there !!
Here's a couple of pictures of my home-made "Necronomicon".
 
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It began life as a blank art book and I aged the pages, then wrote it all with brown ink and a dip pen. It took a few months to complete, but I think the effect is worth it !
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Gordon made props too, including the burnt corpse of Bert's brother Alfred, who had previously attempted to raise Cthugha,
but who also died in the process ! You can see poor Uncle Alfie at the very top of this page.
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Our third game took place about a month ago and it was VERY scary ! Gordon was Gamesmaster for this one, which took place in two different locations. It was set in the 1930's and was initially set on a cruise liner, The SS Bernice, sailing to America.
 
Here are some of the passengers on board at the beginning of the voyage. Above left are Yvonne (Joanne), Rachel (Jodie) and Constance (me - playing the same character as in the first game, but now a lot older!). Above right are Bannister (Andrew), Brother Blasko (Peter) and Jeffrey the Purser (Tim).
Below, you can see the Ship's Steward (Ian) on the left and Brother Blasko again on the right.
 
Unfortunately, during our voyage, the Steward was found murdered and the ship's engines mysteriously failed. We were ferried by lifeboat to the island (poor Jeffrey drowned when he fell overboard), where we found George Hartley, the lighthouse keeper's cottage. We found him dead outside soon afterwards and during our search of his house, we found his journal telling of many strange things which had occured since he'd discovered a "treasure" on the shore after a particularly bad storm. He wrote that he had hidden the "treasure" somewhere safe. Here's poor old George (Tim in another role!) below before he came to a sticky end !
And here are Yvonne, Rachel, Brother Blasko and Bannister finding the journal in George's bedroom.
When we searched George's pockets, we found half of a map of the island and eventually, Rachel found the other half and it indicated where this "treasure" could be found.
We began hearing strange noises outside and suddenly, some grotesque creatures forced their way into the kitchen. They looked like some kind of sea animal and they were armed with tridents. Bannister ran away and hid in a wardrobe (below left) and Verity (Ainsley - below right - also reprising her role from the first game) disappeared after talking to Brother Blasko.
 
The women decided to go outside to search for the "treasure" but while we were searching, we were chased by more of the creatures (see below). Julieanne (Fiona) was never seen again, but Yvonne, Rachel and Constance made it back to the safety of the cottage.
Eventually, Bill (Ian) - a fellow passenger who happened to be a big game hunter - disappeared, as did Bannister. Brother Blasko went out to have a look for the treasure while Yvonne, Rachel and Constance hid in the cottage (below right), protected only by a trap given to them by Bill.
As we cowered in a corner, we could hear the creatures scratching at the window and one of them actually came into the room we were hiding in (it was really dark) and it never spotted us. Next, Blasko appeared at the window holding some kind of idol in triumph. But he didn't look like Blasko anymore - he had the face of a serpent! Suddenly, he was set upon by the creatures, just as two more of them appeared in the room behind the three women. As we watched, Blasko was killed and the creatures took the idol. At the same time, the other two in the cottage, began to back away and leave.
It turned out that Brother Blasko was a member of a race of serpent people who knew the value of the lost idol. It was he who murdered the steward and scuppered the ship in order to get to the island. The idol actually belonged to the sea creatures (Deep Ones), who lost it during the storm and simply wanted it back. Poor George had found and hidden it, thus unwittingly bringing on the attacks from the Deep Ones.
Only Yvonne, Rachel and Constance survived unscathed, although Verity was eventually found, hanging by her fingertips from a cliff. She had run off in terror after talking to Blasko and accidentally seeing his true face !
This was a truly terrifying adventure. Even though we knew it was all a game, we get SO caught up in the story, that it seems real.
A BIG "THANK YOU" TO GORDON FOR WRITING SUCH A FANTASTIC GAME!
Here are some more photos, taken after the game was over. The Deep Ones with Blasko,are on the left and Julieanne with Bannister, are on the right. Below them is Contance, then Gordon with Blasko; Blasko looking creepy and finally, at the bottom, are Yvonne and Rachel - happy to have survived to fight another day !
 
  
Hopefully, we'll have more adventures soon, so check back again....and if
you are interested in finding out more about Cthulhu, there are a couple of useful links to click on, on my main page.
Could I please ask you to take a couple of minutes to sign my guestbook (it's below the list of links) to let me know who's been visiting ? It's simpicity itself to do and doesn't take long. I really like to hear what you have to say.
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