Looking for help with multiple things for a potential RP

[Space Dingo]

#1 I'm looking to make a survivor/horror RP drawing elements from H.P. Lovecraft, the novel The Ritual by Adam Nevill, the movies YellowBrickRoad and The Shrine as well as a mod from the Call of Cthulhu tabletop game. I'm not sure if this should go under Modern/Realistic since it does take place in the real world during the time period of 1920's-2010's as I have not yet decided when yet. Or Fantasy since there are some fictional locations involved, not to mention it will involve some supernatural elements.


#2 I'm also looking for help with expanding the idea of this RP and would like some opinions and suggestions. Right now it's really in it's early stages:


Basically the general idea is that a well known Archaeology professor at Miskatonic University or perhaps some sort of Ivy League inspired school has gone missing on a trip in Europe, leaving nothing but a note of discovering a potential artifact. After months of no contact from this professor, a couple of his colleagues and possibly a mentee or two go to Europe (I'm thinking maybe somewhere in Scandinavia or Romania) and look for the missing professor's trail. The RP will probably start in a small and secluded village that leads them to a forest based on Hoia Baciu and basically its all stereotypical camping journey goes wrong. RP will center around them being lost in the thick of the forest, finding ancient civilizations that appears to be untouched by the outside world. Finding that this ancient civilization when they existed worshiped an old god/insert Cthulhu Mythos here (I'm usually partial to Hastur). Eventually finding out they are being stalked by some being/creature and crazed cultists. Finding out that it's practically impossible to leave the forest alive.


I... thought I had more questions, but they pretty much escaped me at this moment, but I would love to have help with the first two things for now.

 

[Catatronic]

Hi radiochai!


#1: I think you are pretty safe with either of the categories settings wise, I'd make it more dependend on what your main focus is - on a sidenote: where I live, Lovecraft is usually found in the scifi section of the bookstores. If you want your RP to be driven by the gritty world and hardships the characters have to face, with the otherwordly horrors being more of an element, you'll probably find yourself more at home in Realistic.


If the contact with the unnatural and strange powers is the main focus, Fantasy or Scifi is more the genre for you.


#2: Alright, so first things first: I love the setting, it allows the characters to drive some of the elements and develop within it (from what I gathered from your description that is what you want, right?), but you should be able to keep people on the plot easily enough. Since Hoia Baciu (which I hadn't heard of before, but turned out to be extremely interesting, so thank you for mentioning it) is a great real life location - why not use it? I personally find horror to become more effective the more it's rooted within reality, it makes it more tangible. Same goes for the university the missing professor stems from. Although Miskatonic works perfectly fine as well, it's familiar to fans and being an iconic name might attract people to join. The great thing about choosing Hastur is that you'll have a lot of liberties concerning what the cult and consequences entail, and an abundance of awesome names to refer to or hint at. Also I strongly recommed the phrase 'impossible geometry' should appear at some point


I hope this answers your questions, if there is any way I can help, I'll be around

 

[Space Dingo]

Thank you so much for your response! I greatly appreciate it! That was definitely what I was thinking about the plot and such. I was thinking about setting it in Hoia Baciu, but I don't think the actual forest is as big as what I plan the forest to be in the rp. Though maybe I could make the Supernatural element of forest be that they are constantly circling around and reappearing in the same places so it appears to be a lot bigger than they thought? And yeah Hoia Baciu was a really interesting find! I found out about it through a thread on reddit about scariest places on Earth. There is even an episode of Destination Truth about Hoia Baciu.


But yeah! I will definitely keep all of that in mind. Thank you so very much!


Another question I thought of just now. How do GMS usually run the rp? As a character along with everyone while driving the story along? Or just telling the story whIle the players interact and throw npcs at them every now and then?

 

[Catatronic]

No problem!


Three square kilometers really isn't all that much, but that's the great thing about the supernatural, just adapt to make it work - so yes, the looping through the forest/infinity trap should work really well, especially the dread when the characters finally figure it out. I mean if they know the area isn't that big they might even be lulled into feeling safe until they realize they are trapped in there.


That's really cool, I need to check that episode out.


There really isn't a usual method, it's basically what you feel is comfortable for you. I can recommend placing at least one character into the group, it helps you set them on the right path without forcing them to - it's also a lot more enjoyable. You'll also need to be prepared to write descriptions of places, npcs or enemies if asked or necessary for the plot and generally be sure to keep them within the story you want to tell, but not be too strikt about it. Sidetracked characters can lead to some amazing things, however if you notice people are just going haywire or writing filler parts (noone needs to read fourty paragraphs about a shiny stone someone found), it might be time to move things along

 

[Space Dingo]

Yeah I think it's episode one of season two? Not entirely sure. But that is a great idea about being looped around the forest indefinitely and then they realize it. Also since I plan to have hidden ancient civilization remains in the forest. Like normally there is no sign of seeing them, even from looking above the forest, but perhaps the forest is covered in several vortex that the players step in and find.


Also I'm glad that GMs can create characters and play unlike it would be if the rp was a tabletop game. But I like the idea of those characters being the one to subtly bring in the characters into the plot (also with the help of npcs)

 

[Catatronic]

That should work well. Maybe they try some more supernatural means to get out of the forest at some point but instead stumble upon the ancient ruins, that would be ironic.


And yeah, that's one of the reasons why I prefer writing over tabletop games - I just never found a way to smoothly incorperate roleplaying with GMing in my tabletop rounds. But as soon as it's taken to writing, it just becomes more necessary to play in order to naturally guide people along. It's a lot of fun, I hope you'll find it as enjoyable as I have. Also the sanity slip aspects of lovecraftian horror can be a blast.