Hudson & Brand: Heart of Darkness (Cthulhu by Gaslight)
Hudson and Brand, Inquiry Agents of the Obscure, have disappeared and you are the new owners of the Agency. What dark mysteries have you inherited?
$22.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Wednesday - 7:00 PM UTC
Dec 17 / Session 1
Session Duration / 4 hours
2 / 5 Seats Filled
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Schedule
Meet your party members
2/5
About the adventure
London 1890. Queen Victoria has been on the throne for more than 50 years, ruling over an ever growing empire on which the sun has not set in two centuries. London is the heart of that empire, the largest city the world had ever seen with over six million inhabitants, and the greatest concentration of military, economic and technological power to date. It is also a place of unspeakable misery, poverty and human squalor. What monsters stalk the fog-shrouded streets of Whitechapel, or lurk behind the pristine limestone facades of Whitehall? What horrors hide in the sewers beneath the City, arrive every day at the Themse docks from all across the Empire or lie sleeping under the green, rolling hills of the home counties? Who is the Lantern Society that meets at night in a 17th century pub near Cripplegate? What secrets can be found behind the red curtains of the decadent Cinnabar Theatre in Soho? What about the Leopard Men of Canning Town, or the enigmatic John Three Eight? Ten years ago, Army Captain Albert Hudson (ret.) and Journalist Ulysses Brand founded an Inquiry Agency into the Obscure to investigate and fight the evils, foreign and domestic, that the stout officers of Scotland Yard were not able to protect against - strange cults and sorceries imported from the colonies, scientific experiments into things man was not meant to know, terrors from beyond the stars or the walls of sleep and human perception. For almost a decade they fought the good fight in the shadows and the fog of London - and then they went missing. One year after their disappearance, new owners move into the offices of Hudson and Brand - you, the players. Perhaps you inherited the place, perhaps you bought it at auction. You hire new help and get to work. You find many of the files your predecessors left behind, but you also discover that with their mission you have inherited many of their enemies. Can you succeed where Hudson and Brand failed? This is a wholly original campaign for Call of Cthulhu by Gaslight (7th Ed.), based on the premise of "Hudson & Brand: Inquiry Agents of the Obscure" by Stygian Fox Publishing, but with all new cases, factions and NPCs, never before played and written extra for you. (Story hooks in character backstories are welcome and will be worked into the campaign!) I have taken inspiration - aside from the works of Lovecraft, Arthur Machen, William Hope Hodgson, Ramsey Campbell, Robert W. Chambers and the other usual suspects - also from H.G. Well, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Emily Brontë, Bram Stoker and Conan Doyle, as well as films like "Young Sherlock Holmes" (1985), "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992), "From Hell" (2001), and the Guy Ritchie "Sherlock Holmes" films (2009/11), TV series such as "The X-Files", "Fringe", "Penny Dreadful", podcasts like "The Magnus Archives" or "Archive 81", video games like the "Amnesia" series or Remedy games like "Control", and internet horror like the SCP Foundation.
Game style
Puzzle / Mystery Focused
Roleplay Heavy
Sandbox / Open World
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(11)
2 years on StartPlaying
305 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, World Builder, Storytelling
About me
When I was 11 years old, I discovered a red box in my local bookstore with what I thought at the time was the coolest image I had ever seen - a Conan-like muscle-bound, sword-wielding hero facing down a huge red-scaled dragon defending a vast treasure of gold. The mysterious words on that box read "Dungeons & Dragons - Basic Rules Set". I knew that there was something magical about that box the moment I laid eyes on it, but I did not know how much it would change my life. That was in the spring of 1984. In 1989 I also discovered Call of Cthulhu, in 1991 - after I had just read William Gibson's "Neuromancer" - Shadowrun. Soon Cyberpunk 2020 followed, then Paranoia, Vampire - The Masquerade, Werewolf - The Apocalypse, GURPS, Conspiracy X, In Nomine and, well... there has never been a time in my life since I took home that original red box and showed it to my best friend that I haven't played some form of roleplaying game. I also went to college, moved to Berlin, got married, wrote screenplays for German TV, worked as a translator for novels and film, wrote novels myself, had children who themselves grew up to become gamers, and through all of this the simple act of sitting down around a table with people and together *living* a story - often epic stories, sometimes silly stories, scary stories, even personal stories - never lost its original magic. And now the magic of the internet allows us to do this together, no matter where we are in the world. Maybe you have heard of D'n'D but have never played and don't know anyone to play with but want to give it a try. Maybe you moved or your old group broke up because you all left college. Maybe you just want to try a new game with an experienced game master. Whatever your reason, let me take you on a journey into that magic.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
If you are new to Call of Cthulhu, don't worry, I will walk you through character creation and explain the rules to you. If you are a CoC veteran or even the survivor of epic campaigns like The Masks of Nyarlathotep, Horror on the Orient Express, Beyond the Mountains of Madness, or any of the others, welcome just as much, and I hope I can show you new horrors and new delights. Character creation will happen in the (free) session zero. We will be using the rules from the Cthulhu by Gaslight Investigator's Guide and Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition. Select elements of the Pulp Cthulhu rules (specifically the Pulp Cthulhu: Gaslight Talents) can be used in character creation provided there is a suitable backstory, but overall the standard rules apply. To allow for investigations across all levels of Victorian Society, each player will have two characters - one of an upper or upper middle class, and one of a lower middle class or working class background. That way, Hudson & Brand has agents to sent into any situation and investigate any aspect of London by Gaslight.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
We will be using Roll20 for character sheets, dice rolls, maps, handouts, etc., and Discord for the voice chat. You will need a (free) account on Roll20, and a (free) account on Discord. I will send you the necessary invites to the game and the server when you join the campaign.
What Martin brings to the table
While i will use tactical combat on battle maps where it will serve a scenario, much of the game with be played as Theatre of the Mind, with city maps, NPC portraits, location sketches, handouts, etc. to create the right image and mood. If all players enjoy it, I will be using ambient music, though I have found that some players prefer to play without as it can make online communication harder. We will play that one by ear. For the most part we will be sticking to the official rules, though on occasion narrative needs may override the hard "rules as written" (Nyarlathotep cannot be contained by the dice!). Expect a mostly gritty realistic game, with just enough seasoning of pulp and steampunk to keep it fun and interesting. (Think Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes", Coppola's "Dracula" or "Penny Dreadful".)
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Martin creates a safe table
I do not use a Lines and Veils document or a formal X Card, however I do take player safety seriously. I find most formal safety tools can be as restrictive as they are helpful and for each player who feels empowered by one tool there is one who feels constrained and muted by the same. Instead I go over general safety behaviour in Session Zero and encourage players to signal any discomfort with me, the game or other players anytime either openly in the chat, in private messages to me during the session, or anytime between sessions, however suits them best, and I will do my best to create a safe and welcoming atmosphere for everyone. This is a Victorian & Lovecraftian, Gothic & Cosmic horror game, so you should expect the appropriate level of death and madness, incl. gore, helplessness, cruelty also towards the innocent, etc. but I will do my best to strike the right balance between evoking the darkness while never wallowing in it. But I know from experience that people react differently to different things and cannot always know what might trigger an unexpectedly strong response. So I encourage players to let me know immediately if some element strikes a nerve and I will change it or fade out of the scene. This is also a horror game for a mature audience set in Victorian times, during industrialisation and imperialism. We will not ignore the wildly sexist, racist, homophobic and classist bigotry of the day, but it should go without saying that that does not give anyone - player or keeper! - the right to act disrespectful or cruel to other participants in the game. This game is welcoming to all genders, BIPOC players, and members of the LGBTQ community, and we will determine together how player characters (not players!) might experience prejudice due to their gender or backstory within the era and society of the game world to ensure that we have a rich and interesting but fun and safe game! In the end, this is a game and there for all of us to have a fun time together.
Content warnings
Safety tools used