A tiny advert buried on the back page of the the April 22, 1879 edition of Lloyd’s Illustrated London News reads as follows:
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EXPEDITIONISTS WANTED: to plumb the very depths of Earth in bold pursuit of scientific discovery. Join us and follow in the trailblazing footsteps of Sir Oliver Hakewill-Bax, KCVO, founding member of the storied Mapmarker’s Union of Islington. Travel arrangements will be provided for, compensation is negotiable but not guaranteed. Serious inquiries only! Scientific backgrounds desirable but not a requirement. Safety not guaranteed. An agent of the Hakewill estate will receive applicants in the Union drawing room, weekdays from 9 to 3.
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The Expeditionists is designed to be a daring adventure story in the tradition of Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The story will borrow heavily from the tropes and archetypes of steampunk, Edwardian/Victorian detective fiction and gothic horror - with elements of pulp adventure fictions like “Doc Savage” and “The Shadow” thrown in for good measure. This particular story is modeled after the “Lost World” fiction of Burroughs and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Supernatural characters in the vein of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Henry Jekyll or Beatrice, the tormented young woman of Nathanial Hawthorne’s “Rapaccini’s Daughter” are also welcome. Monsters too, but I would prefer to limit the number of robots, vampires and werewolves - I don’t particularly want this to become “League of Extraordinary X-Men” or anything like that - unless that is what the players really want - I’m flexible.
Players are more than welcome to disregard the character archetypes I have provided and go their own way. I only ask that the characters be appropriate to the time, place and spirit of the narrative. Also, if you choose to be a villain - which is wonderful by the way - you may eventually be asked to give up your character and take up someone new - fair warning.
I have left the game casual, but ideally it would move at a little closer to the “slow” pace. I want this to be fun, collaborative and exciting. The only rule that is important to me - communicate with your fellow players. It is great to be able to interact, but don’t work against their purposes. If you want to have a conversation then have one, talk, write down responses, work together and this will be amazing and so much fun.
Hosted and narrated by:
Rob Meisner (Finn79)
Started 01/11/15.
Scenes played: 0
License: Community License
