Shadows over Shanghai

ChalkLine's Pulp Call of Cthulhu campaign set in Shanghai, 1937.

Recruitment

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First In Character Thread

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Player Characters

Hauptmann Ulbrecht von Bernhard, played by Asen_G.

François du Gard, played by Baron Greystone.

Maw Jia-seng, played by Caudex.

Poruchik Nikolai Piotor Sergeyevich Malakov, played by MonsterMash.

Edna (Edie) O’Malley, played by Deamon.

Komvzvoda Vladislav Simonov, played by Mikko Kauppinen.

Yip Fan, played by NexusI

Madame Wu, a Shanghai antiquarian, played by Desert Fox

Inactive Player Characters

Sam Barrows, played by ncc2010.

'Calico' Jack Dubois, played by Kid Entropy.

Ash Wutherstrum, played by John Samuel.

Dorje Yongten Rinpoche, played by Nick the Lemming.

Sam(uel) Norris, played by bandos.

SQNLDR Algie Carmichael ex WW1 Australian Flying Corp, DFC, played by Iskallor.

Eight Peng

• http://i1026.photobucket.com/albums/y322/iskallor/shanghaiFreight-1.jpg
• http://i1026.photobucket.com/albums/y322/iskallor/8peng-1.jpg
• http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/aerom.htm

'Eight Peng' (lucky 8, Peng= a magical fish that turns into a bird)

• General characteristics

*Crew: 2 *Capacity: 12-14 passengers/2000kg? *Length: 49 ft 4 in (15.04 m) *Wingspan: 103 ft (31.62 m) *Height: 18 ft 9 in (5.72 m) *Wing area: 1,397 sq. ft (129.8 m²) *Empty weight: 8,720 lb (3,955 kg) *Loaded weight: 14,334 lb (6508 kg) *Powerplant: 2× Liberty 12A, 400 hp (kW) each

• Performance

Range: 830 mi (1335 km)

• Armament forward cockpit

- Lewis MG(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p31mw0WPGrk&feature=fvsr) - Few wooden baseball bats and 2 rifles.

Non Player Characters

Levi. Owner of the Vienna Club, and Edie's and Maw's boss. A nice man from Vienna who migrated to Shanghai during the Nazi persecution of the Austrian Jews. Levi has no passport.

Mr Ji. A rather odd elderly fortune teller who lives in the docks area north of The Bund. Mr Ji may be more than he seems.

It appears nobody knows a Chen Lee, but a quick look informs you that he has a telephone and his listed address is a pricey location on The Bund, not the usual place you'd find a Chinese name unless it's a well connected family.

Mister Feng, he is a nothing, fortunately. Not with the Greens or the Reds so there is no one to be angered. Nonetheless he is not without his own and he fights hard and dirty." stealer of our shipment of guns...

Campaign Setup

Important Reference Sites:

The Bund

Streets of Shanghai

Tales of Old Shanghai

Map of Shanghai

The campaign is set in early March, 1937, just five months before the eruption of the brutal Second Sino-Japanese War.

This war was in fact an ongoing encroachment that had started long before March '37, and Japan had overrun all of Manchuria and many other Chinese areas. In this time the tension is slowly building towards breaking point, especially in Shanghai where the first horrific major battle will be fought.

The writing is on the wall for those willing to see, and all of Shanghai is tense and there's an extra edge to the deals and the brawls in the back streets, there's an extra edge to the dealing between the various nationalities, groups and cliques, and there's an extra desperation to the all night partying on the Bund. The hammer is about to fall, and everyone knows it will fall. But no one knows quite just when.

The average temperatures are 13ºc during the day, dropping to 4ºc at night; comfortable weather for jackets and coats but a bit chilly for shirtsleeves. The humidity is average for this weather, and there's only half as much rainfall as will the case in just two months time. So, in summary, cool and dry with occasional showers and the odd rainstorm (there are an average of 9 wet days in March).

Notes

Ammunition

At some point players will probably wish to shoot someone, this being a common player past-time.

It should be noted that at this time China is awash with a myriad of weaponry, and nearly all of them do not use each other's ammunition. China in 1937 was a vast country with a small industrial output, something foreign countries had a vested interest in maintaining. This meant that China, wishing to be self reliant, needed to buy weapons overseas. This would usually result in a medium consignment of modern weaponry arriving before foreign pressure - alarmed by Chinese armament - would put a stop to it. The ephemeral nature of the quartermasters (and their organisations) would cause the next order to be a different style of weapon which was to be 'the new standard'. Of course, this never happened.

In the Shanghai area the vast array of nationalities have all brought their own weapons, and their own ammunition, with them. The Chinese generally use German weapons and ammunition, which must make some sort of distorted sense because Germany was otherwise the only nation not strongly represented in the concessions!

A good rule of thumb is the ammunition of a certain weapon will only fit in the other weapons of its nationality; thus German rifles will all chamber German bullets. Light and medium machine guns usually use rifle bullets.

Pistols, however, are a real problem.

The most common Chinese pistol is the 'Broomhandle' Mauser C96, which fires a small bullet with a big cartridge; the German 7.62mm Mauser. This is considered a '9mm/.38' for damage and firing characteristics as it is essentially a 'hot load'. Other German pistols probably fire the 9mm that everyone else uses for their 9mm - apart from the Italians. And the Japanese. Confused yet?

It's best to not assume your weapon will chamber another weapon's ammunition, and ask the GM first.

Common Weapons in the Shanghai Area

fortunes

• Dorje Mr Ji happily calculates. He has many tables, charts and a funky little wooden thing that looks like a cross between an abacus and a colour wheel. After ten minutes he says "Ahh. Qi Men Dun Jia is always good, I remember when I was young I had to leave out bits like 'your son will be a great flyer' because aeroplanes had not been invented! Ha ha! Now is time for your fortune!"

"You will not always be a monk."

"You have travelled only a fraction of the distance you must go."

"You must show the people that they are following the wrong path."

"Only you can tell which tree holds the fruit."

"You will very soon be seriously hurt."

He looks up at Dorje with smiling eyes and says "This last I will help you with! We must protect the Celestial Stem, and move it through the doorway." He looks among his materials and takes out a pen and an ink stone. He gets a small piece of rice paper and quickly draws a complex and beautiful Chinese character with bold, decisive strokes. It is unfamiliar to everyone there.

"Put this inside your robe and carry it, you will know when you no longer need it as it will tell you. I do this because my great aunt was helped by your people long ago. Long ago."

He smiles and hands Dorje the paper.

"Next please."

• Edie

Mr Ji looks at Edie's hand and takes the money, it disappears into his sash without him taking his eyes from her palm. "You too skinny girly, you never have babies if you don't eat more. Let me see. You travel lot, look at your thumb!" He points to her thumb, assuming Edie will somehow know what he's talking about. "Love line is crossed all over place. You are not married for a while yet, sorry! Mr Ji say that he . . ."

He looks at Edie's hand and then looks up at her eyes, he has an incredibly penetrating stare and he's holding her hand in a vice grip. "Show me other hand."

He looks at her hands and then calls down the narrows stairs. "Sister-in-law! Come here, Mr Ji want you!" He turns back to Edie, not letting go of her hands, and puts on the fakest smile you've ever seen. "Just one minute."

A tiny woman slowly mounts the stairs. She'd go a bit faster if she wasn't carrying a toddler and appeared to be fairly blind. She comes into the room at a snail's pace and bows. To Mr Ji she barks in rapid fire Wu a question that is totally lost on anyone not speaking the language at birth, and is answered in a torrent of equally incomprehensible Wu by Mr Ji. She shifts the toddler to her hip and casually looks at Edie's hands, still held by Mr Ji's bird claw-like hands and swears.

She dumps the baby unceremoniously in Ash's lap and holds Edie's hands in her own. Mr Ji says another torrent with which she appears to be answering (they also appear to talk over the top of each other a lot). They both look up at Edie and put on a smile.

"You live long life and be happy, marry a good man," she says in a mangled English. "But you do as we say, because you not be too happy otherwise. You not go out alone for five day. You not eat anything you not see cooked. You not drink anything that is left unseen. You keep these men with you for five day. You stay away from numbers six and nine. If you see a man with dragon tattoo you run like hell."

Mr Ji adds, as if nothing is wrong, "next please!

• Sam

Mr Ji, seemingly no longer interested in Edie, claps his hands with delight as the two men almost run into each other. "So much enthusiasm for Mr Ji's fortunes! Ah, we have the name and time?! This is good." As he talks, his sister in law, having reclaimed the toddler, makes her slow way down the stairs talking loudly to the women below.

Mr Ji rearranges his astrological equipment and goes to work, mumbling and muttering as he calculates the time. He has a rather battered US Rand McNalley atlas which he consults to find out exactly where Britain is and adjusts his calculations. He turns the wheel a few times, each time muttering. He finally comes up with a solution he likes and claps his hands.

"Ah hah! Mr Ji have fortune for you! You say to him earlier that a man look for you, but is two men. They are here, in this column, and they cross your column here! See that? That is 'conflict'. No big surprise for you! But the opposite column say 'allies' or 'league', so two men have ally in Shanghai! Now Mr Ji tells fortune for two men, and he tell you they meet 'betrayal'. Now, if Mr Ji young and stupid like most fortune teller, he think they be betrayed, but Mr Ji tell fortune for very long time. This mean 'betrayer', probably official because 'crown' is higher in column. Other wise future not very clear for Sam McCabe; there is much happening in this room. You are all involved here in each other's fortunes, and Mr Ji can see that this woman in this column here is missy over there and her 'danger' that involves you is same danger sister in law mention for her. Very crowded, very confusing. Worth more than one pound!"

He rattles the abacus part of the wheel and adds "next five day involve trip. You will win a great treasure and give it away. You have to overcome 'betrayer' or very bad fortune for you."

Mr Ji rubs his eyes wearily and looks over at Algie. "Mr Ji do your fortune now, you no have to wait! Very good! Only one pound!"

• Algie

Mr Ji motions to Dorje and says "way up in the mountains past his people, but you no go there. No one go up there. This stuff is dangerous, it damages you just by having it. You should take this to the monks and have them destroy it."

He settles himself down a bit, shaking his head and muttering. "Now, let Mr Ji see. That's right, you want your 'thing' back. You don't know what your 'thing' is though, so you think it is something unimportant that you lost. Wrong! Mr Ji see something very important, and everyone appears in his fortune! Chinese know time like you lǎowài don't. Mr Ji look forward to your fortune, but when you get there you look back to Mr Ji. I see your history that is not yet, so it is made by looking." Mr Ji leans back and adopts a scholarly attitude, shaking his stylus in emphasis as he speaks. "Little things are not in your fortune, because they small and easily changed. This thing you lose, that not important! This," he points to the wheel "is important"

"You lǎowài and you," he points to Maw, "and you," he points to Dorje, all have this in your fortune! The Dragon Skin Man, The Black Tree, The Blue Demon. All in your fortunes! Some times they just looking, sometimes they doing things. All doing the same thing; looking for The Red Key. This is what you look for, and you saw it last night."

"Ahh, Mr Ji tell fortune, not give history lesson. Go see head monk about The Red Key and The Twenty-Eight Sided Box."

"Next please!"

• Ulbrecht

Mr Ji says nothing until Ulbrecht produces the required money, and then starts in on his calculations. He's obviously quite tired, at his advanced age he must tire very easily, and he squints as he looks at the charts and paraphernalia.

"Hmm, Mr Ji has good fortune for you! You are going to die tomorrow." __________________