Trail of Cthulhu: The Big Hoodoo
8 pm: Trail of Cthulhu: The Big Hoodoo
- Bill White: GM
- Me: Robert A. Heinlein
- John Stavropoulos: Anthony Boucher
- Annette Visconti: Virginia Heinlein
- Terry Romero: Phil K. Dick
The game opened on June 19, 1952. The PCs had gathered for the funeral of John W. Parsons, a rocket scientist who died in an explosion. I can't really do this one justice, because what made it work wasn't the delightfully pulpy plot so much as the lovingly detailed period and characters, including Leslyn, Heinlein's first wife; Forrest J. Ackerman; A. E. van Vogt; and D. Vance Wimpole, who is not to be mistaken for L. Ron Hubbard at all, nope, no siree.
I have since purchased this scenario. It's even more impressive than I had thought, and it's delightful to look up the various characters on wikipedia and see just how much of this was real.
The complicated web of relationships was taken straight from life. The connections with Aleister Crowley were real. The actual climactic ritual? Probably not. Philip K. Dick turning into a lizard at the end of our run? Well, while it didn't exactly surprise us, we don't think the real PKD did such a thing.
After the funeral, the PCs split up to investigate. After all, it seemed odd that someone who knew how dangerous explosives were should be killed by them.
Anthony Boucher went for a ride with Parson's widow in the desert. She taught him a ritual, and, using Parson's ashes, Boucher channeled his spirit.
Boucher, after channeling the spirit of Parsons and having sex with his widow: You were not cheating on him because I _was_ him -- and I want you to treat me as you would him. You are no longer a widow because I _am_ Jack.
Everyone met up at the house of Parson's ex-wife, where there was a ritual in progress, complete with robes. The Heinleins went directly there, with Dick and Boucher joining them later.
Philip K. Dick: Scary robes. What did I miss? (seeing Boucher is missing something) Hey -- where's your cross?
Anthony Boucher: I don't need it any more.
Virginia Heinlein: You need a robe?
Phil: No! No, that's bullshit!
At that point, the villain's goons kidnapped a little girl, despite resistance from the PCs, including Bob Heinlein grabbing a sword and fencing with it. Clearly, these thugs had studied D. Vance Wimpole's Psychohistory techniques! It was no coincidence that they were kidnapping Wimpole's own daughter, forcing her mother to come with them!
The PCs learned that Forrie Ackerman was complicit, and got what little he knew out of him at the Ackermansion, then locked him in the trunk of the car. (From what I know about the man, I doubt the actual Forrie Ackerman would have had any truck with wife abusing, child kidnapping criminals, but for the sake of a fictional adventure, I have no problem with this.)
The PCs next visited The Foundation, where Psychohistory was practiced, Scientology being something invented by Isaac Asimov for his future history stories.
Phil: We can't just walk _in_ there.
Bob: No, we'll ring the doorbell.
And indeed, Bob and Virginia successfully distracted people while Tony and Phil looked around stealthily. Bob had a friendly chat with Al, aka A. E. van Vogt, convincing him that he was all for the Foundation's work, and that he shared Al's concerns about Wimpole hurting the organization's good name.
Eventually, the trail lead to a solar observatory and Henniger Flats.
Bob (realizing his wife packed the flashlights): Thank you, Ginny!
The PCs found the rocket that Wimpole had stolen from Parson's garage (or warehouse -- I'm a bit vague on details), and Bob and Ginny started to work on making sure it wouldn't be able to do whatever it was that Wimpole wanted it to do for some weird Crowleyesque ritual involving the Moonchild and something called Azatao. Bob couldn't quite get the hang of rocket sabotage, but Ginny was on top of things. Unfortunately, the two were spotted and confronted by Wimpole.
Wimpole: What are you doing here?
Bob Heinlein: You got a rocket -- How could I resist?
Phil commandeered a jeep.
Phil: I'm going to drive it towards the rocket.
Bob: Phil, you idiot!
And the jeep hit the rocket.
Someone: Oh my God! So much for clean living.
Phil became The Great Beast, turning into a giant lizard. He ate Wimpole, and probably poor Forrie, who had never been let out of the trunk.
Boucher: I always knew you were going to grow up into something special.
Bob Heinlein woke up in the hospital, feeling surprisingly good, all things considered. His good cheer only grew as he found Virginia beside him. I'm not sure how much either remembered of the recent events.
Boucher changed his name to Jack Parsons and left for Mexico with Jack's widow. His player was disappointed that the PCs didn't have a chance to try to perform Wimpole's ritual themselves, but felt a lot better about that when the GM said that this is an option written into the scenario. As the player is a GM himself, he totally understood cutting things when one runs a scenario at a convention in a four hour slot.
