The unlikely pair of investigators are still unraveling a rapidly deepening mystery, but how far does it go? Between murders, lost masterpieces of art, and deformed killers, there seems to be no end. Even if the two find answers, who will believe them and more importantly what can they do about it? The solution may be worse than the problem. Find out what happens in the finale of this scenario!
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This was a most excellent game, Caleb you do a really good traumatised lady impersonation. >_> I felt feelings, sad ones AND creeped out ones.
I’m glad I got to hear this in full before I run it tonight. Also, Caleb, what other reaction would you have expected me to respond with? XD
Oooh baby, I am *so* looking forward to this!
Wowowowowow, I think this overtook Bryson Springs as my favourite No Security scenario. Intensely terrifying and amazingly effective horror that’s easy to relate to and play out (holy fuck these people are broken, etc). The wait was well worth it.
ROSS PAYTON. you shot the exposition! I merely enjoyed this scenario until the end, mostly ’cause the family didn’t really seem all that bad, but maaan, that endgame infodump. such a fantastic nightmarish mythology. love it. love it. and I loved Aaron’s character’s epilogue, too. ugh so good
Man, Caleb, this was just, really good. And of course Ross and Aaron both did a good job of getting into character and playing it straight and all that too, so props to them! Now, I’m afraid I’m not eloquent enough to really express how much I liked this, sooooo, I’m just gonna go with this and hope it does a decent job of communicating how much I ended up enjoying this scenario:
I listened to the majority of this without working on something else in the background. I would tip my hat, were I not currently bareheaded, and also made of text.
Thanks guys! We really appreciate the kind words.
According to Ean, I should be able to post the PDF of the scenario this Saturday. I’ll put a link here when it’s up on DTRPG and Hebanon Games.
Thanks again for listening. These comments consistently make my day.
God damn man, great scenario.
I definitely hesitated to listen to part 2 because I knew it would be the last half and I wanted to savor it.
Can’t wait for more.
Amazing work, the depth to the mythos and wonderful craftsmanship of the setting, it kept me enthralled. The grim dark was wonderful as well, the slow build up and reveal of frightening information… ever reveal pulled the veil back a little more. Very robust scenario, and I loved that sort of “GM dice fudge” if you will built in to the scenario where sometimes they’ll just taunt the players, because even if they lose, they’re still alive. Great way to not completely destroy a party without it breaking the 4th wall.
Masterful work from Caleb.
Great acting and investigating from Ross and Aaron.
I disagree with the suggestion to make the Companions more monstrous. Even making His blood harm Her would lessen the mindblasting revelation that the Companions ARE humans or at the very least WERE once (proto) humans.
First off this is another top notch scenario Caleb. Few people, hell few writers, can come up with such high concept ideas that truly terrify.
Mulling over the climax, I think an even worse revelation for the investigators is that the Companions are actually their dark mirror.
Think about it. How often do investigators find themselves going against societal norms often with extreme violence to prevent themselves or the rest of humanity from being dammed? Killing a little girl. Shoving a shotgun at a woman who walks into a room and blasting her away before she can finish a sentence. Contemplating, even for a second that smothering a murderous thing in the body of a two month old would make them better off and their future more secure.
Stalking the darkened streets of Europe with the holy mission to protect humanity regardless if mistakes are made.
After all, the alternative is worse and urgency is necessary…right?
The real maddening revelation is that the Companions were never really forced to do anything by the Eldritch Horrors.
They are (or were) just people responding in increasing desperate and radical fashion to the realization they went too far and are now damned.
At the end of the day when a house of horrors is a smoldering foundation, alibis are composed and recited, and blood circles the drain while innocents lie beneath a hasty gash in the earth; can the investigators truly point the finger at the Companions and proclaim ‘Monster! You went too far!’
Or do they seem themselves in the mirror, one perhaps distorted by immortality?
The more like us the Companions seem the more terrifying they become.
Humanity is the best hallmark of this Monster.
Having said that, I really enjoy what you all produce at RPPR!
Aaron’s Southern accent was great.
THAT WAS AMAZING! Seriously, I was listening to this at night…and it genuinely scared the hell out of me. Absolutely loved the description of the monster.
Also, Caleb, I tried to get to the Hebanon Games website…but it takes me to some strange page in Arabic. It looks like it was hacked. Really hope you can fix it. Good luck!
I’m never dealing with WordPress again. Hebanon Games has moved to
http://hebanon.blogspot.com/
I’m abandoning the old site entirely. It’s not worth the fight. I’ve lost another day of writing to this crap and need to cut my losses.
Well some pages are saved on web archive: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://hebanongames.com
Great scenario. Really great scenario. But there are a couple of things I don’t think I quite understand about the nature of the Companions (massive spoilers, readers):
1. So what memories exactly does each copy of each Companion have? Just the copies in their direct lineage, or all the memories of every other copy? Is it only the dead copies, or does that include the other curently-living copies (and thus give them a de facto psychic link)?
2. The two Companions don’t share each other’s memories, right? Except of course for the fact that they have a lot of the same experiences in common.
3. How did the Companions figure out that they could give birth to copies of the other one? I guess by trial and error in the prehistoric generations?
4. How do the Companions change their ethnic appearance, again? I feel like I missed that part.
5. I’m a little confused as to what the “shoggoth” monster actually does. Does it just kill humans randomly, or does it go after the Companions specifically?
6. If the “shoggoth” gives birth to the companions, could there be a theoretical “win condition” where you could kill off all the existing shoggoths, and kill off all of the existing companions at the same time, and then they couldn’t come back? Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a faction among the Companion clones that worked this out and tried to make it happen? 🙂
6. As I understand it, there’s basically two forms of “colony”: A)Single breeding Male Companion+multiple offspring Female Companions, and B)Single breeding Female Companion+multiple offspring Male Companions. It seems to me that it would be interesting if each type of “colony” had contrasting survival strategies . Say, “patriarch” colonies are more isolated and suspicious, while “matriarch” colonies try to blend in and co-opt larger communities, or vice-versa.
Anyway, amazing scenario.
*Slow clap*
This made me uncomfortable enough to turn of the podcast and but it away a few times over the course of the play. Great work Caleb. You really captured the horror of humans turned into an insect colony.
The players did great to. Following clues to horrible places against their better judgement. Extra kudos to Aaron for the accent.
Caleb. What did your significant other think when he/she read this?
Sara often gives me weird looks and slowly backs away when I pitch things to her. I’ve learned to interpret it as a good sign.
Hah, I can envision that moment well.
“Just for reference, Caleb, I love you dearly, but I am never joining you in some ritual to live in unholy matrimony forever.”
This was a great, and chilling, scenario. I look forward to the day when I can attempt to run some poor sods through it myself.
I’m glad you got a new website up! If you’re looking for an easier way to construct a site, you might want to try squarespace. I made this: http://transmissiondrama.com/ for my podcast in a couple of hours, and it was actually super easy. You’ve got to pay a fee…but it’s free hosting and 24/7 help. There’s also wix…but they’re kind of awful if you don’t know coding.
(btw, I’m not a buzzmarketer for squarespace. I’m sure they have much better uses for their money than paying people to comment on tabletop rpg blogs.)
This scenario is available for download!
http://tinyurl.com/mm568yo
It’s Pay What You Want, so please consider leaving something in the hat if you can spare it. I hope everyone enjoys playing through it with their own groups!
I think I do want to pay something for that scenario after hearing the actual play.
I was sceptical at first after reading the draft and having listened to wages of sin. I was happy enough with the basic idea as a noir mystery. (Since I play A Dirty World too, if I get the chance.)
But this showed the horror potential beautifully!
Very chilling & fun episode of this Trail of Cthulhu game, I do agree with the post game comments on how extra sinister it would be for anyone with history or art skills to see them perfectly crafting things from older civilizations. Also just recently got into Trail of Cthulhu (though familiar with Call of Cthulhu) so this was quite helpful in getting a handle on some of the game mechanics. After hearing this pair of episodes again, I definitely want to find a nearby/Skype Trail of Cthulhu game as well as putting in a request for future RPPR games diving into either Trail or Call of Cthulhu games as the people involved made it quite entertaining/chilling to listen to & recommend to others.
Like this game? Get a copy here:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/120072/The-Wives-of-March
Or buy my book and get a print copy:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/122756/No-Security-Horror-Scenarios-in-the-Great-Depression
I finally(due to my Love/Hate relationship with GUMSHOE) got around to listening to Pt. 1 & 2 after reading through the scenario in No Security… in which, after reading, I was literally mildly fucking “unsettled”.
I finished Pt. 2 just a little while ago and didn’t immediately launch into another podcast episode because I felt like I had to “decompress”.
Thanks alot, Caleb! This has to be one of the few times I was *fucking horrified* after listening to or reading the scenario. Nice work! 🙂