Monday, March 5, 2018

A Call of Cthulhu Crossover character concept

Very recently an old friend (of more than twenty years) asked me for a character concept for a new Call of Cthulhu campaign.  I did my usual, job of presenting him with a concept that I thought was cool and fun, but that his group didn't want to allow for.

Now before we get into what I recommended, understand that I only play Call of Cthulhu in the months of October and November, and I usually act as the game master, storyteller, punisher of players.  I haven't run a game in the current edition yet either.  One last disclaimer, I've had players complain of nightmares from game sessions ... which should probably be taken as a compliment I suppose, but is a bit off-putting for most groups. You should also be aware that I am a big Dr. Who fan.  Given some of the bad guys the Doctor has faced in the past, facing mythos creatures seems very interesting thing.

Still here?  Groovy.  So the concept I presented to my friend was ...

Dr.  Jamal King (Phd. Bio-chemistry)
Age: 29
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male

Background:

Born in the United States, Dr. King completed his Phd in England in 2045.  He became a companion to the Doctor (female) and traversed time and space seeing a variety of wonders. Something of a history buff, his travels with the Doctor into the past were a genuine treat for Dr. King.  He did come into conflict with the Doctor over the subject of making changes to the time lines, and fled from the Doctor during a visit in 1920 to Lodi, California. The Doctor confronted Dr. King and after a great argument, she left the intractable time traveler behind.

Dr. King was aware of the racial inequality of the period but was, nonetheless, shocked by the rampant racism he encountered. Desperate to change the course of history, Dr. King advocates for renewable energy sources while working in a laboratory for DeWhitt Chemical Engineering.  He has been saving money for a trip to Austria where he intends to assassinate Adolf Hitler in a bid to stop the second world war from occurring. 

Dr. King misses a number of conveniences from the 21st century, but is willing to sacrifice the internet, Netflix, and computer assisted research if it means he can help brunt the damages of fascism and help avert the environmental destruction of the fossil fuel age.  He plans to popularize the electric automobile, and is working to develop an environmental movement. 

Introduction to the Mythos:

While working at DeWhitt, he was called upon to analyze a curious organic compound.  The substance has defied his best efforts, so he is working from a premise that it is formulated from transuranic elements.  He is working on development of a crude spectrograph to test that theory. 

The substance is spoor from an extraterrestrial being that exists in a state between three and four dimensions.  As such the spoor fluctuates and is defying quantification. Dr. King's analysis to date has yielded some curious results of interest to his supervisors at DeWhitt.  Dr. King's boss routinely claims his work as his own to enhance his own reputation.  Unknown to Dr. King, or anyone else at DeWhitt, Dr. King's boss is a mythos cultist determined to bring the age of the old ones to Earth.

_____________________________________

I thought it was an interesting idea that wouldn't need adaptation of the game mechanic.  Cthulhu mythology already includes instances of different types of time travel, and having an investigator from out of time who claims to be a time traveler (crazy right?) would be fun. 

Alas, my friend's game master didn't like the idea of crossing genres. 

I know this entry isn't much like my others, but I thought I would share a bit of my game life with you all.

Thanks for joining me on my blog as I explore writing, game design and self-publishing (and get some personal insights into my more mad moments). 

I hope you enjoy and find usefulness from this blog.  I hope to see you next time!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.