Terror on the Thames

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    Abstract

    A historic problem for the tabletop roleplaying game (TRPG) is how a Gamemaster can justify the association of a group of player-characters from diverse backgrounds. This is less significant in fantasy TRPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, but for historically-set games like Call of Cthulhu, assembling a diverse group of PCs, often from different professions, social classes and backgrounds represents difficulties in verisimilitude and authenticity. ‘Terror on the Thames’ was conceived to explore how narrative strategies might used to achieve the kind of diversity found among player-character groups whilst avoiding the absurdity of such diverse groups operating as a collective. It achieves this avoidance by providing credible justification for each of the player character professions I designed for the Cthulhu Britannica: London Investigator’s Guide, to be present on the Louisiana Lady, a Mississippi riverboat re-floated on the Thames in the early 1920s.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationCthulhu Britannica - London Boxed Set
    Subtitle of host publicationAdventures in Mythos
    EditorsAndrew Kenrick
    Place of PublicationOxford
    PublisherCubicle 7
    Pages5-44
    VolumeBook 3
    ISBN (Print)9780857442437
    Publication statusPublished - 19 Aug 2015

    Keywords

    • Tabletop Roleplaying GameLiterary AdaptationInteractive NarrativeCall of CthulhuCthulhu Britannica

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