At the Mountains of the Middle Kingdom: a Call of Cthulhu RPG Scenario Sketch

 “…and talked with undying leaders of the cult in the mountains of China…”

It occurred to me that this period and location might make an interesting sandbox for investigators. In retrospect, the Chinese Civil War is more complicated than one might suspect (no surprise), though I think the GM could almost make up anything they want to serve the story and likely have no player “Well, actually” them, OR be able to find some kind of supporting evidence via a web search. If it sounds fun, I say do it. Also, it gives you an excuse to relish archaic spellings like “Thibet” and “Peiping.”

Who: The factions:

• Cthulhu cultists (naturally)
• Nationalist / Republican Chinese
• Communist Chinese
• Imperial Japanese
• Soviets

What: Investigators are called to a mysterious monastery in the mountains of China. Perhaps an approaching army threatens a priceless collection of Buddhist scriptures? Or maybe what appears to be a humble Buddhist monastery on first glance is in reality a cover for the insidious cult of Cthulhu, pulling strings behind the scenes to make mankind “free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy.” Or perhaps there is a Great Old One sleeping underneath the (actually legit) monastery, and the monks need help to keep it sleeping. This also allows a possible connection to various Hollow Earth tropes.

When: Since the ‘deathless Chinamen’ are apparently immortal, an adventure with this setting could be staged at any time you desire; however, the ‘golden age’ of COC and the forces involved might fit best within 1926-1941. This covers the start of the Chinese Civil War to America’s entry into WWII, after which one presumes it would be more difficult (though not impossible) to casually insert a group of Westerners. Just before and even early in WWII, American servicemen were inserted into China on their own civilian passports, via commercial flights (Pan Am) from the East coast of the US, down to South America, across to West Africa, then to Egypt, then India, and finally through Burma into China (if I recall correctly).

Where: Rural China?

 

 

 

Tremors: Map of Perfection Found!

You remember the map Kevin Bacon rips off the wall of Chang’s store?

“This valley is just one long smorgasbord!”

I thought this might have been based on a real map, just retouched through some old-school cut & paste. It seems awfully busy to have been drawn from scratch for a couple shots less than a second long. I Google searched a couple of the unusual place names (Zumwalt Meadow) and managed to confirm that this is a real location. The location is the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park, in California.

But what was the exact version of the map used for Perfection Valley?

Tremors: Map of Perfection Valley, Nevada

Seen briefly inside Chang’s:

I think this is a retouched but real map of a national park. I’m pursuing a lead right now, an item is in the mail. I’ll let you know how it pans out.

Elysium: World Map ID’ed

This showed up in the auctions:

I’m guessing it was set dressing for the orphanage scenes.

Totally by accident today, I found it. It’s known as the Gomberg Map and it’s popular with NWO nuts. It was created by a private American citizen in 1942, and very little is known about it otherwise. It is very visually striking, and Gomberg had a penchant for lumping countries together and calling them the United States of This, and the Union of Those Republics. Apparently nothing on the map was altered, just cropped; because it still shows the “Union of Sovi–” et cetera. More information and large scans:

At Wikipedia.

At the Big Map Blog.