A Moon, A Tycoon, A Balloon, Colón - An Adventure in Horror!
Pulp Cthulhu | Campaign
About the adventure
This is a stand-alone, short-term campaign, intended to run 6-10 sessions. It is also able to serve as the intro to a full-length campaign, so the option is available to continue beyond that point, for any players who choose to. Set in Panama, in March 1895, the attempted construction of the Panama Canal by a French company is not going well. The players will have to investigate some of the bizarre mishaps that are delaying the project, and in the process gradually uncover the sinister secrets of the jungle in the style of adventure-horror classics like The Mummy. "Signing up for this job was a mistake, you know. The last time they tried, it took them four years to figure out they were digging the canal the wrong way, and two more years to get De Lesseps to listen. You can still see where they just abandoned the machinery. Try not to look too close. You can still see the blood from some of the accidents. We tried getting them out to use them ourselves, but the mudslides had buried them nearly as good as they buried workers. I don't like to talk about it, but they didn't even bother digging graves for most of the carribean workers. Just let the mud take the bodies by the thousands. If the mud and the machinery doesn't get you though, the disease will. The hospitals are always full here. So why did you join up, eh? Patriotic? Desperate? Needed somewhere that nobody would know who you are? Whichever one it is, your secret's safe with me. Safer than any of us are at least. As if the rest of it wasn't bad enough, we're having the worst luck lately. The water barrels sprang a leak a week back, we had to wait for new ones. The track for the carts somehow got buried under half a foot of mud while on solid rock. And I could have sworn I put on a fresh chain to the log rack just the other day and it's already snapped. Some men say this whole idea is cursed. They say they're seeing fairies in the jungle at night. I reckon it's just regular stupidity. But they're going to ask someone to look into it regardless. Hope it's not you, for your sake." (Image attribution: Freepik)
Game style
Rule of Cool (RoC)
“Rule of Cool” emphasizes creative story beats over sticking to a system’s rules as written. Players have the ability to push the limits of the rules or even break core rule mechanics at times if the Game Master thinks it is interesting, fun, or cool enough.
Theater of the Mind
“Theater of the Mind” uses little to no visuals for scene settings and combat. Instead, the narrative imagery comes from the Game Master’s descriptions and character action and movement comes from Players’ descriptions.
Roleplay Heavy
“Roleplay Heavy” games place the focus on the story, the characters, and the world they live within, and tend to lean hard into the various roleplaying elements of the game. These games will frequently find the party talking with NPCs, exploring the personal elements of their backstories, or even having emotional moments around the camp fire.
5.0
(5)
Less than a year on StartPlaying
7 games hosted
Highly rated for: Storytelling, Creativity, Inclusive
Average response time: 1 hour
Response rate: 100%
Additional details
How to prepare
Players will need a microphone of some kind to talk through voice chat on a Discord server I'll provide, and while I heavily prefer players have a webcam and have it turned on, that won't be strictly necessary. Once you have access to the discord server, you can also get more access to the setting-specific documents I've prepared. I will be having discussions with any prospective players before accepting them into the game, so please be prepared to just briefly chat about what kind of game you want to play and questions are very welcomed so that we can all arrive at Session 0 prepared and without any illusions. I'll be giving everyone their consent checklist as part of that discussion, so that it can form the basis of our safety discussion in Session 0 as well, and so that anyone that struggles with the open discussion is still going to have their issues addressed. I can provide you with PDF copies of the rulebooks to look through, but you wouldn't need to read through any of it in advance, I am fine with teaching as we go.
What I provide
My main focus as a GM is story and roleplay and I only write my own campaigns. I run an inclusive table, and actively encourage diverse player groups to bring different perspectives to the table. I use the rules as my base point, and will typically stick to them as written, or as homeruled in advance, but I am flexible enough to amend them when the rules prove to be at odds with everyone's enjoyment or with the kind of story being told. I tend to start hands-off, and allow my players as much freedom as possible to approach things as they wish, then make the scene responsive to your choices, focus most on what matters to you, and tailor each game, scene by scene to the party and the players. I love to do character work with my players if you struggle with fleshing out your character or need to know more about the scenario. I do character voices whenever possible and I encourage but don't require players to do the same. My challenges tend to be more based on social, political, or even philosophical difficulty, making difficult decisions and piecing together information. In general I do not kill player characters, but have more specific rules regarding that, see my profile for more information. I can provide access to PDF copies of the rulebooks for every game I run. I use Kenku FM to stream music through discord and always make a playlist, and I have a subscription to the Obsidian Portal campaign management tool, so my players can use it for free. Please see my profile for more details on all the above points!
Gameplay details
I use Red/Yellow/Green card in place of X/N/O's, and they can be messaged to me privately or said verbally. Session 0 will include creating characters together so we can discuss if anything we create crosses lines for others. I will be sending everyone a consent checklist prior to session 0 as part of first discussions with any potential players. A lot of the campaign is still to be determined, so while other triggers may be introduced, I can use our discussions to avoid anything relevant to those at the table. The listed content warnings are just the things that are unavoidable with the premise and setting given. My Open Door policy is a general one, not just for safety measures, but for anything players would like to discuss. It's something I urge players to use if they have any safety concerns though, and I will never be upset if you come to me with a problem. I will be happy for the opportunity to help.
Content warnings
• Alcohol Use
• Blood
• Death
• Deep or Large Bodies of Water
• Drowning
• Drugs (addiction, use, withdrawal)
• Fire
• Guns
• Illness
• Insects
• Language/Cursing
• Mass Death
• Medical Issues
• Microaggressions
• Murder
• Prejudice
• Racial Profiling
• Racism
• Real World Religion
• Scars
• Sexism
• Snakes
• Suffocation
• Talk of Superior Race
• Violence
Safety tools used
• Aftercare
• Lines and Veils
• Luxton Technique
• Luxton Technique Discussion
• Monte Cook RPG Consent Checklist
• Open Door
• Session 0
• Stars and Wishes
• X, N, and O Cards
How will character creation work
Character creation will be done as a group as part of session 0. I encourage people to have a character concept ready, and would also recommend having more than one just in case, but the actual mechanics of character building will be gone through together over discord. This is so that players unfamiliar with the system get to take part in the process and learn as they go without feeling singled out, and so that everyone's characters complement each other. Otherwise, character creation will be done as per the rules in the Pulp Cthullhu rulebook, re-rolling 1s when generating characteristics.
Players can expect
Combat / Tactics
Medium
Roleplay
High
Puzzles
Low
Experience level
Open to all
Platforms used
• Discord
• Roll20
$25.00
/ Session
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Details
Weekly / Sunday - 1:00 PM UTC
3-3.5 Hour Duration
0 / 5 Seats Filled
Requirements
Experience required: Open to all
Age: All Ages