The Black Drop Play Report Session #1
I'm in the process of running The Black Drop by Jason Morningstar. I thought it may be of interest to share some of the sessions. I'm playing with a regular Sunday group, we usually play Call of Cthulhu, but I've been GMing some gumshoe Trail of Cthulhu one-shots, in between campaigns.
A few notes, we are all very new to Gumshoe and Trail of Cthulhu, but we've all played and some of us have GM'd Call of Cthulhu, D&D5E, Traveller and Dungeon World. It's only the third time I've GM'd a game, since coming back to RPGs 5 years ago and I'll try and point out as many of my mistakes as we go along.
We use Roll20 for maps, dice, handouts, and discord for voice. I've created a few google sheets, docs, slides to help track things.
The sessions run from 20.00-22.00 UK weekly but are somewhat ad-hoc.
At the time of writing, 11th May 2020, we still have one more session to go, being an ex-geographer, I've loved this setting and the background research on the Kerguelen Islands has been a real joy!
Here we go....
1934, Cape Town, South Africa
Maurice Lavalle [Steve], Professor Irving Lederman [Andy], Lieutenant Carlise Bullard [J-P] and Doctor Jean Waechter [Ian] are aboard the MV Austral, sailing from Cape Town to the Kerguelen Islands, leading them is Marc-David Desmarais, who is responsible for the French evacuation of the only remaining settlers of Kerguelen, a number of families who have set-up and failed in an experimental sheep farming venture. Also on the journey are the De La Rue's, Edgar and Andree, French Geologists, looking to complete a decade long geological survey, before the island "shuts down".
Day 1, Indian Ocean
The six passengers, excluding Marc-David, gather in the Salon for an early breakfast and to get acquainted. Much is discussed of the charismatic De La Rue's Geological expedition, but a skeptical Lieutenant Bullard, feels that the expedition is woefully underprepared, in addition, the professor gains the attentions of Ms De La Rue, though there is a strange almost fanatical air as she talks of the Kerguelen Islands.
Maurice establishes himself as the go-between for Marc-David and the passengers, "anyzing you would liiiike?".
Mr Radalle the ship's master, is overheard by Prof Lederman, discussing the strange Germanic message on the shortwave radio, Lederman offers to interpret and heads to the bridge with Radalle.
The Professor spends some time on the signals and understands that a private fishing boat, the Tenerife, also on it's way to Kerguelen, is sending "farewell" messages home to Germany. There is also mention of Schwarzen Tropfen Gesellschaft - The Black Drop Society.
Mention of the Black Drop triggers a flashback for Lederman, he remembers time on secondment in Berlin, tracking down mentions of the Black Drop Society at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin he discovered at least 3 previous expeditions to the Kerguelen Islands in 1840 (a whaling vessel, called the Clementina), 1874 (set ashore at Betsy Cove) and 1903 (part of the Drygalski expedition). The society is purely German and the current president is a Walter Schneider.
Finally, the professor is given a coded message from the Tenerife that the Master hopes he can help break. He heads back down to the salon handing the code snippet to the Lieutenant and giving a brief but incomplete summary of his investigation. Maurice is quick to notice the coded message and asks to see it, using his cryptography skills he manages to identify it as a Funkschlüssel M military code machine traffic, very out of the ordinary for a small fishing boat, but he keeps this to himself.
Maurice makes his excuses and reports all of this to Marc-David, who asks him to keep a close eye on Lederman, whilst they ponder their next steps.
Day 2-3, Indian Ocean
The guests adjust to the roll of the boat, the silence and the repetitive long days in cramped quarters, mostly they keep to their rooms, but Prof Lederman and Maurice Lavalle are inseparable, wherever the Professor wanders, Maurice is not too far away, "I elp you? Yes?". The Professor is becoming more and more agitated at his inability to find some peace on the boat.
Day 4, Indian Ocean
Lederman relaxes in the Salon with Andree De La Rue, she surreptitiously mentions meeting him, down below, in the cargo hold, to discuss in more detail their "passions". The Doctor glances over at Maurice, who is also in close attendance within the Salon, grinning with polite but insouciant insolence.
That night, a more complicated and urgent game of cat and mouse between Lederman and Maurice ensues until they come to an impasse, bumping into each other in the cargo hold.
Maurice, smiling, waits until Lederman, frustrated and red-faced, stomps away from this encounter then Maurice goes to report his suspicions to Marc-David. Marc-David insists that Maurice investigate the hold, to discover why the Professor was down there at such an ungodly hour.
Back down in the hold, Maurice breaks into a series of large and small crates identical in marking and design. He discovers an inordinate amount of dynamite and detonators. An animated Maurice rushes up to Marc-David, who calls on the military experience of Lieutenant Bullard. Bullard, having some geological experience, notes that this is not uncommon on such expeditions to use dynamite. A rattled Marc-David requests that Bullard should head below, inspect the cargo and lead an investigation. The massive amount of explosives surprises Bullard but on calling on the De La Rue's they assure him it is all perfectly natural, an unpleasant atmosphere is left as Bullard attempts to push Edgar to get him to accompany him on his expedition. "Non Monsieur, c'est impossible!"
Maurice scampers through the ship to keep Marc-David informed of developments, a guard is placed on the hold at all times, Lederman is not above suspicion but it seems on this occasion there is little to be done.
Dr. Waechter awakes at night in a cold sweat, nightmares have assaulted him since he joined this accursed expedition, but this one has his pulse racing; His beloved Maude running through a landscape of angular, black rock as night falls and the shadows lengthen. Without warning, the ground explodes around her, pillars of Basalt thrusting upwards, gaping holes appear, which she dodges around until the ground around her swells like a solid black wave and she disappears with a final, piercing scream.
Waechter gets up and splashes cold water on his face, he looks out through the porthole at the endless grey ocean, looking down at his doctor's bag, he sighs and reaches into it for something to stop the uncontrollable shaking of his hands.
Keeper Thoughts:
As first sessions go, I was quite pleased, we spent some time going over the basic rules of gumshoe and introducing the characters at the first breakfast on the ship. We used the De La Rue's as a pivot point for discussions and introductions, as things waned, Andy (Professor Lederman) was picked out to help translate the mysterious messages. There was a natural antagonism between Lederman and Maurice (Steve), as hinted at by the Pre-Gen back story of Maurice - Dr. Lederman reminds you of your wealthy patrons, and you hate him for it. Steve took to this role with gusto, sneering, and attempting to put Lederman in his place at every opportunity.
Whilst there were some amusing cat and mouse encounters between the above two, I tried my best to reign this in by involving Bullard (J-P) into the dynamite investigation and towards the end Dr Waechter (Ian) - when I had to select a player to encounter strange and terrifying dreams.
I had hoped the players would choose Marc-David, who's fairly pivotal as a character, being the organiser of the whole expedition and the expert in Astronomy, which runs as a series of clues/themes through the adventure, but by choosing Maurice, Marc-David is his boss, I had a great proxy.
Next Time: More high jinks n the ship and the keeper loses control...
A few notes, we are all very new to Gumshoe and Trail of Cthulhu, but we've all played and some of us have GM'd Call of Cthulhu, D&D5E, Traveller and Dungeon World. It's only the third time I've GM'd a game, since coming back to RPGs 5 years ago and I'll try and point out as many of my mistakes as we go along.
We use Roll20 for maps, dice, handouts, and discord for voice. I've created a few google sheets, docs, slides to help track things.
The sessions run from 20.00-22.00 UK weekly but are somewhat ad-hoc.
At the time of writing, 11th May 2020, we still have one more session to go, being an ex-geographer, I've loved this setting and the background research on the Kerguelen Islands has been a real joy!
From here on in, there will most definitely be spoilers.
1934, Cape Town, South Africa
Maurice Lavalle [Steve], Professor Irving Lederman [Andy], Lieutenant Carlise Bullard [J-P] and Doctor Jean Waechter [Ian] are aboard the MV Austral, sailing from Cape Town to the Kerguelen Islands, leading them is Marc-David Desmarais, who is responsible for the French evacuation of the only remaining settlers of Kerguelen, a number of families who have set-up and failed in an experimental sheep farming venture. Also on the journey are the De La Rue's, Edgar and Andree, French Geologists, looking to complete a decade long geological survey, before the island "shuts down".
 |
| Topgraphic Map of the Kerguelen Islands |
Day 1, Indian Ocean
The six passengers, excluding Marc-David, gather in the Salon for an early breakfast and to get acquainted. Much is discussed of the charismatic De La Rue's Geological expedition, but a skeptical Lieutenant Bullard, feels that the expedition is woefully underprepared, in addition, the professor gains the attentions of Ms De La Rue, though there is a strange almost fanatical air as she talks of the Kerguelen Islands.
Maurice establishes himself as the go-between for Marc-David and the passengers, "anyzing you would liiiike?".
Mr Radalle the ship's master, is overheard by Prof Lederman, discussing the strange Germanic message on the shortwave radio, Lederman offers to interpret and heads to the bridge with Radalle.
The Professor spends some time on the signals and understands that a private fishing boat, the Tenerife, also on it's way to Kerguelen, is sending "farewell" messages home to Germany. There is also mention of Schwarzen Tropfen Gesellschaft - The Black Drop Society.
Mention of the Black Drop triggers a flashback for Lederman, he remembers time on secondment in Berlin, tracking down mentions of the Black Drop Society at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin he discovered at least 3 previous expeditions to the Kerguelen Islands in 1840 (a whaling vessel, called the Clementina), 1874 (set ashore at Betsy Cove) and 1903 (part of the Drygalski expedition). The society is purely German and the current president is a Walter Schneider.
 |
| Berlin Public Library, 1930 |
Finally, the professor is given a coded message from the Tenerife that the Master hopes he can help break. He heads back down to the salon handing the code snippet to the Lieutenant and giving a brief but incomplete summary of his investigation. Maurice is quick to notice the coded message and asks to see it, using his cryptography skills he manages to identify it as a Funkschlüssel M military code machine traffic, very out of the ordinary for a small fishing boat, but he keeps this to himself.
Maurice makes his excuses and reports all of this to Marc-David, who asks him to keep a close eye on Lederman, whilst they ponder their next steps.
Day 2-3, Indian Ocean
The guests adjust to the roll of the boat, the silence and the repetitive long days in cramped quarters, mostly they keep to their rooms, but Prof Lederman and Maurice Lavalle are inseparable, wherever the Professor wanders, Maurice is not too far away, "I elp you? Yes?". The Professor is becoming more and more agitated at his inability to find some peace on the boat.
 |
| Professor Lederman |
 |
| Maurice Lavalle |
Day 4, Indian Ocean
Lederman relaxes in the Salon with Andree De La Rue, she surreptitiously mentions meeting him, down below, in the cargo hold, to discuss in more detail their "passions". The Doctor glances over at Maurice, who is also in close attendance within the Salon, grinning with polite but insouciant insolence.
That night, a more complicated and urgent game of cat and mouse between Lederman and Maurice ensues until they come to an impasse, bumping into each other in the cargo hold.
Maurice, smiling, waits until Lederman, frustrated and red-faced, stomps away from this encounter then Maurice goes to report his suspicions to Marc-David. Marc-David insists that Maurice investigate the hold, to discover why the Professor was down there at such an ungodly hour.
Back down in the hold, Maurice breaks into a series of large and small crates identical in marking and design. He discovers an inordinate amount of dynamite and detonators. An animated Maurice rushes up to Marc-David, who calls on the military experience of Lieutenant Bullard. Bullard, having some geological experience, notes that this is not uncommon on such expeditions to use dynamite. A rattled Marc-David requests that Bullard should head below, inspect the cargo and lead an investigation. The massive amount of explosives surprises Bullard but on calling on the De La Rue's they assure him it is all perfectly natural, an unpleasant atmosphere is left as Bullard attempts to push Edgar to get him to accompany him on his expedition. "Non Monsieur, c'est impossible!"
 |
| Lieutenant Bullard |
Maurice scampers through the ship to keep Marc-David informed of developments, a guard is placed on the hold at all times, Lederman is not above suspicion but it seems on this occasion there is little to be done.
Dr. Waechter awakes at night in a cold sweat, nightmares have assaulted him since he joined this accursed expedition, but this one has his pulse racing; His beloved Maude running through a landscape of angular, black rock as night falls and the shadows lengthen. Without warning, the ground explodes around her, pillars of Basalt thrusting upwards, gaping holes appear, which she dodges around until the ground around her swells like a solid black wave and she disappears with a final, piercing scream.
Waechter gets up and splashes cold water on his face, he looks out through the porthole at the endless grey ocean, looking down at his doctor's bag, he sighs and reaches into it for something to stop the uncontrollable shaking of his hands.
 |
| Dr. Waechter |
Keeper Thoughts:
As first sessions go, I was quite pleased, we spent some time going over the basic rules of gumshoe and introducing the characters at the first breakfast on the ship. We used the De La Rue's as a pivot point for discussions and introductions, as things waned, Andy (Professor Lederman) was picked out to help translate the mysterious messages. There was a natural antagonism between Lederman and Maurice (Steve), as hinted at by the Pre-Gen back story of Maurice - Dr. Lederman reminds you of your wealthy patrons, and you hate him for it. Steve took to this role with gusto, sneering, and attempting to put Lederman in his place at every opportunity.
Whilst there were some amusing cat and mouse encounters between the above two, I tried my best to reign this in by involving Bullard (J-P) into the dynamite investigation and towards the end Dr Waechter (Ian) - when I had to select a player to encounter strange and terrifying dreams.
I had hoped the players would choose Marc-David, who's fairly pivotal as a character, being the organiser of the whole expedition and the expert in Astronomy, which runs as a series of clues/themes through the adventure, but by choosing Maurice, Marc-David is his boss, I had a great proxy.
Next Time: More high jinks n the ship and the keeper loses control...
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