Tatters of the King
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Tatters of the King[1] is a Call of Cthulhu campaign written by Tim Wiseman and published by Chaosium and which our role-playing group played. Play commenced on May 8th 2006 and ran until October 2nd 2006.
Please note that this Wiki is an actual play record originally created for the players, and as such contains numerous campaign spoilers!
Contents |
Guest Book
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Setting
The game is initially set in London, 1928. It is the start of a bitterly cold winter, the worst in decades.
London is the capital of an empire covering a quarter of the globe and governing one quarter of the human race. The people busy themselves with concerns of politics and government, finance and production, work and recreation. How fragile things are. What ignorance there is.
There are those who engage in different pursuits - those who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying...
Cast of Characters
Tatters of the King is full of interesting and diverse characters, none more so than the Player Characters themselves!
Keeper of Arcane Lore
The Game Master is Mark Chiddicks
Player Characters
- Nathaniel Browne - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by Darryn Mercer.
- Andrew Saunders (Deceased) - British Museum curator and proud Scot, played by Julia Blackmore.
- Captain George Withers - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by Nicola Bishop.
- 'Umberto' (Deceased) - Mysterious former Vatican investigator. Played by Marcus Gustafsson.
- Doctor Frederick Bartlett (Deceased) - Eminent research psychologist, played by Marcus Gustafsson.
Notable Non-Player Characters
Prologue - Opening Night
- The Group - an amateur theatrical troupe:
- Michael Gillen - Retired publisher and amateur actor (Acquaintance of Doctor Frederick Bartlett and Estus's friend and companion).
- Hannah Keith - Amateur Actress (sister of Andrew Saunders)
- George Keith - Amateur Actor (husband of Hannah Keith)
- Walter Paige - Amateur Actor
- Jean Hewart - Amateur Actress
- Talbot Estus (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright
Chapter One - The Madman
- Dr. Charles Highsmith - Asylum Superintendent
- Alexander Roby - Incarcerated Madman
- Lucius Harriwell - Incarcerated Madman
- Price and Evans - Asylum Nurses
Chapter Two - A Walk in the Park
- Dr. Lionel Trollope (deceased) - Roby family physician
- Grahame Roby - Financier, Alexander Roby's brother
- Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor - of New Scotland Yard
- Delia Hartston - Alexander Roby's former fiancee, now Delia Morrison
- Peter Morrison (deceased) - Abusive husband of Delia
- Vincent Tuck - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby
- Michael Coombes (deceased?) - Sinister stalker, Bacon's ex-bodyguard
Chapter Three - Springer Mound & the Canal
- Harold Jennings (deceased) - Unfriendly Suffolk farmer
- Montague Edwards (deceased) - Alexander Roby's secret guardian
- Lawrence Bacon (deceased) - Antiquarian, occultist and sorcerer
Chapter Four - The Flight North
- Cec Watts (deceased) - Tabloid Journalist
- Henry Lister - Terrified cultist and necrophobe
- Aleister Crowley - Famed Occultist
Chapter Five - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa
- Quentin Spence - Poet and Failed Cultist
- Noss of Yhtill - Leather worker from an alien world
- Yolanda - Noblewoman from Cassilda's court
Chapter Six - Talk of Goatswood
- Wilfred Gresty (deceased) - Writer of letters and spy for the Goatswood cult
Chapter Seven - Nug's Farm
- Hillary Quarrie - Estranged wife of Malcolm and priestess of the Goat
- Atkinson (deceased) - Ailing leader of the Goatswood Shub-Niggurath cult
Chapter Eight - The Brothers of the Yellow Sign
- Paolo Tuminardo - Milanese Guide and young Fascist
- Giuseppe Colombo - Ancient, curmudgeonly Italian Brother of the Yellow Sign
- Thomas Villiers (deceased) - Insane artist and Brother of the Yellow Sign
Chapter Nine - The Viceroy of India
- Julian Knight - Minor diplomat and lounge lizard, en route to India
- The Reverend Ian Gore - Missionary, en route to India
- Mrs Henrietta Tullis - Matronly figure, en route to India
- Stephen Thomas - Quiet, bookish man, en route to India
- Miss Francesca Nicholson - Bright young thing, en route to India
- Miss Patricia Berry - Quiet, shy young lady, en route to India
Chapter Ten - A Thousand Miles
- Sivakumar Patel - Guide and translator from Bombay
- Jigme Rinzing - Nepalese merchant/guide
Chapter Eleven - To Drakmar
- Tsewan Pemba - Tibetan Guide
- Carlo Schippone (deceased) - Graduate student and Himalayan adventurer
Chapter Twelve - The Upper House
- Mayor Ricardo Delnegro (deceased) - Alpini officer and Himalayan adventurer
- Roberto Anzalone (deceased) - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign
- Malcolm Quarrie (deceased) - Elusive scientist and occultist
- The King in Yellow - Beautiful, yet terrible, alien god
Literary Works
Works of Fiction and Fact as found in on the journeys of our intrepid Investigators.
- Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger - a fantasy in two acts, script by Talbot Estus
- The King in Yellow - a collection of short stories by Robert W Chambers
- Le Roi en Jeune - a rare French play, playwright anonymous
- An Inhabitant of Carcosa and Haita the Shepherd - by Ambrose Bierce
- Der Wanderer durch den See - by Alexander Roby
- British Gods - Religion and Myth in the Western Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain - by Malcolm Quarrie
- The Turner Codex - A translation of Mesoamerican prayers and libations to Hastur - trans. M. Turner et al
- The Tatters of the King - A book of short stories by Nathaniel Browne
- The Revelations of Glaaki - The Goatswood cult's compilation of occult knowledge
Locations
Places of wonder and terror. Haunts of the Yellow King and other locales of interest.
- Map of England and Wales, 1928
- London, England - Map of London, 1926
- The Scala Theatre, Charlotte St, London
- St Agnes Asylum, Weobley, Herefordshire, England
- Clare Melford, Suffolk, England
- Loch Mullardoch, near Inverness, Scotland
- Carcosa, a dream city made flesh
- Goatswood, an area of the Severn Valley in Gloucestershire
- Nug's Farm, Hillary Quarrie's home, in the Goatswood region
- Milan, Lombardy, Italy
- The Viceroy of India - Modern P&O passenger liner, en route to India
- India, the gateway to Nepal
- Bombay, port of entry to India
- Nepal, mountain kingdom, closed to Westerners
- Mustang, a small kingdom in Northern Nepal
- Drakmar, in Mustang, the legendary site of the death of the ogress Balmo
- Leng, legendary icy plateau - not on this Earth
- The Upper House, labyrinthine alien structure, found in Leng
Sessions
The Monday Night Players' run through of Tatters of the King was completed over 16 fun and exiting gaming sessions. As each lasted anywhere between and hour and a half and three hours, the campaign took over 30 hours of game time to finish.
- Session 1 - Opening Night
- Session 1.5 - The Madman
- Session 2 - The Plot Thickens
- Session 3 - Alexander's Friends
- Session 4 - Teeth of Winter
- Session 5 - Four Go Mad in London
- Session 6 - Death by Night, Death by Day
- Session 7 - Missing Persons
- Session 8 - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa
- Session 9 - Aftermath - a Year in the Lives...
- Session 10 - Nug's Farm, or "Are You Local?"
- Session 11 - Il Fratelli di Signo Giallo
- Session 12 - The Viceroy of India, or "May I Have This Dance?"
- Session 13 - A Matter of Honour
- Session 14 - The Trail of the Pilgrims
- Session 15 - Drakmar and Beyond
- Session 16 - The King Steps Down
- Aftermath - Forever Wondering
Collected Audio Recordings
The audio for all of the sixteen sessions that were recorded are collected here.
- Session 1 - Opening Night - Total Size : 28 Meg (Note: This recording is quite quiet and has some quality issues.)
- Session 2 - The Plot Thickens - Total Size : 30 Meg (Note: This recording has some quality issues.)
- Session 3 - Alexander's Friends - Total Size : 32 Meg (Note: This recording has some quality issues.)
- Session 4 - Teeth of Winter - Total Size : 30 Meg (Note: recordings from now are much better quality, although this one has considerable edits as the group gets regularly sidetracked on various non-gaming subjects.)
- Session 5 - Four Go Mad in London - Total Size : 39 Meg
