Monday, March 6, 2017

Sanity Point 30 The Stones Sing Us to the End Times

When I drove home, the sky was clear. Now, showered and with a cup of tea brewing, a sad gray finds its way through my window. Such are my emotions as I bring this blog to its close. When I started out, I was uncertain if I could pull it off. I feared my knowledge of the Mythos wasn’t strong enough to pump out 30 plot lines inspired by headlines. I’m jovial to discover it wasn’t difficult at all, and I’m so happy many people enjoyed the content of these writing exercises. I’m already going back over the plots and picking which ones I want to flesh out into full modules.
But before that, there’s one last sanity point left to lose. Then, my future will be determined by a roll on the madness table.
Not a fan of chip readers. Still waiting for retinal scans. WEGMANS TOOK MORE THAN A YEAR TO ROLL OUT CHIP CARD READERS. HERE'S WHY.  Political shots fired via billboards: "Thank You Chris Collins! — Your REAL constituents," says billboard that went up Monday in Hamburg.  Think summer with our rundown on Darien Lake concerts announced to date.

Local millionaire and Senator Wilbur Click avoids his constituents, who dislike his politics. He secretly is a member of a Cthulhu cult as has been working on hypnosis techniques through electronics. A company owned by him got the contract to install credit card chip readers at a popular chain of grocery stores so that when people use their credit card chip and stare at the screen for permission to remove the card, they’re victim to a series of rapid subliminal hypnotic messages, planting messages in their minds. The first message is to at all costs attend the Rolling Stones concert at the local outdoor amphitheater this summer. The Stones are also members of the Cthulhu cult. At the concert, the band uses their music to trigger the second part of the hypnosis: getting the crowd to chant in unison. The chant causes the stars to be rearranged and set the world right so Cthulhu can return.
The investigators are hired to look into a 65 year-old guitarist in a Rolling Stones cover band, who on stage flipped out and began chanting the ritual on stage as his band played. Apparently his regiment of drugs weakened the conditions for the hypnosis trigger to work.  It was by fate that an antiquarian familiar with a Cthulhu cult in New Orleans recognized the ramblings for what they were: a prayer to Cthulhu.

There you go, we have a world-ending story and a complete 30 Sanity-losing plot lines. Thank you for reading.
Garrett

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Sanity Point 29 Were Ever You Go

So close to the finish now. I feel pressure to go out strong. I’m hoping for world-shattering, globe-trotting plots… and I fear I’ll have a tale of a little girl ghost in an attic. Like rolling on random tales, the headlines will take me where the story needs to be.
Here’s a sad story: “Go To The Hospital Dude,” a friend texted Wardel "Meech" Davis shortly before Davis died in police custody. This is cryptic. Passengers catching buses, trains at Syracuse station offer lesson for Buffalo.  And a place for maniacs to breech the laws of science. UB's new medical school, 75 percent done, will house even more students and faculty.

A pack of werewolves pose as religious zealots at bus and train stations in Syracuse, NY. They give money to the passers-by that’s coated in werewolf saliva, that can soak through the skin into the blood, transforming someone into a werewolf through prolonged contact, like being stuffed in someone’s pocket for a couple hours, and the saliva seeps through the pocket lining and skin into the blood. Victims suffer a fever and restlessness during their bus and train ride. Upon arriving at their destination, they are full-blooded werewolves. Anderson Strong signed up for free dental treatments at the new UB medical school, not knowing the water used to rinse his mouth by dentist-in-training Elijah Eddie was tainted with werewolf saliva. Eddie had been transformed into a werewolf when getting on a bus in Syracuse to return to school. Upon arrival, he dreamt of wolves whispering to spread their numbers.
The rinse concentration was too strong for a man to handle, and Strong suffered breathing problems and heart palpitations while driving home from the university. He was pulled over for eratic driving. The officers found a dying half-transformed werewolf at the wheel of his car. The investigators are hired to solve the mystery surrounding Strong’s death.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Sanity Point 28 Opiate Loving Zombies and the Brains They're Addicted To

I have the pleasure of writing this an hour after getting cursed at by a bully of a customer at work and seeing how feeble it is to suggest not using certain language. The result of this verbal abuse was the shift supervisor asking the customer if everything was all right and assuring him we’ll try harder. And then the staff tried to joke the incident off. I know I handled it properly, but they have a problem with allowing bullies to treat the staff this way. I dedicate today’s headlines to that piece of shit and those people who allow such shit to flourish.

My twenty-something neighbor died of a heroin overdose. This was after she tried to kill her mother by beating her over the head repeatedly with a frying pan and letting her boyfriend take sole credit for the crime. Public health has long been her calling, but Erie County's opioid crisis is her biggest challenge yet.  The weather finally becomes winter: After warm and snowless February, Don Paul looks at forecasts for March. Speaking of spineless bullies, Trump administration reportedly considers drastic cuts in funding for Great Lakes restoration.

After federal cuts kill the Great Lakes restoration, lakeside businesses go belly up, making factories and warehouses a city haven for opiate users. The weather drops to sub-zero, those who don’t die from the opiates freeze to death. A scientist, Cecil Schiltgan, purchases the opium haven, ensuring the bodies inside aren’t found let alone removed. Cecil constructs a lab and uses various serums to try to reanimate the frozen corpses. The serum, combined with the opiates, create mindless violent monsters. The investigators become involved when the mother of a missing opiate addict contacts them, concerned about her daughter, Eugenie, who’s been missing since before the freeze. Will the mad scientist be caught? Will the investigators survive the subjects not yet destroyed by the doctor? What about Eugenie and the other monsters who escape, going on a tirade along the lake shore?

Friday, March 3, 2017

Sanity Point 27 Finding Yourself at the Falls

How many headlines can I get from one headline? THE 10: ART OF BEER, OLCOTT POLAR BEAR SWIM, SHAMROCK RUN. Here’s something for the pet lovers: "I thought I was going to die:" Man recounts plunge into Niagara River to save dog.  I had a choice between this headline and a child rapist being sentenced. Since this is a blog for people to be inspired by people to use at their own tables, I’d imagine most Keepers’ groups would have an issue with such a plot element. There are lines for everyone, even in a horror game like Call of Cthulhu. Know where those lines are when you prepare for your tables. For my weekly gaming group, I can imagine 3 players who would not have issue treading these waters. Another one, a proud new uncle, would feel uncomfortable. Another is a Catholic father of three and would certainly not want to be involved in such a storytelling endeavor. That’s fine. This is a game of horror, but it’s still a game which we play to have fun. If your group can handle the child rapist plot, should you be inspired by me and build your plots from the headlines, go ahead and feel free to use that headline. By all means. But as a sign of acknowledgment that this is way more than most groups could handle in their gaming, I’ll give it a pass and instead use: SolarCity, gearing up to open factory here, cut 3,000 jobs in 2016.

Rupert Franklin loved the water. He was a fisherman by trade and took his young family up and down the Niagara River on his boat every chance he got. Even the coldness of the Niagara River never bothered Rupert, who was vice president of the Buffalo Polar Bear Club. Rupert’s wife, Letitia, worried about physical changes her husband was undergoing: bulging head, watery blue eyes and a flat nose. Rupert claimed this happened to all men in his lineage and was nothing to get doctors involved with. One day, Rupert saw a dog fall into the Niagara River. Rupert dove in and rescued him, nearly being swept over the Falls in the process, He attributed his survival to his strong swimming skills, A local colony of Deep One hybrids recognized from pictures in the newspaper what Rupert was. They approached Rupert, who began spending considerable time with the hybrids, making his wife concerned. Then, Rupert disappeared. Letitia hired the investigators, who tracked him down to the Solar City factory being built on Lake Erie. After a final confrontation, the almost completely transformed Rupert asked the investigators to tell his wife goodbye, and the hybrids sailed for the sea. Will the investigators follow? Will they understand what they’ve witnessed?

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Sanity Point 26 Food Courts of Death

Just saw a headline about a Senator sending cease and desist letters to constituents who disagree with his political stance. I have it on good authority, Cthulhu will never send such a letter… and may even pay you a visit.
Similar to what I was just talking about: COLUMN: CHRIS COLLINS STEERS CLEAR OF HIS CONSTITUENTS. Former Presidents and vehicles of war: Bill Clinton is expected to attend the commissioning of new Navy ship in Buffalo in September. I never ate there, but I’ve been suspicious about it. Boulevard Mall owner wins $1.2 million judgment against Original Honey's restaurant.

After winning litigation against a chain restaurant at his mall, landowner Sebastian Dorman becomes inflicted with a disease that warps his flesh and produces pus-filled pustules on his body. Dorman’s convinced he’s been poisoned by the owners of Original Honey. He finds his considerable influence washed up as his appearance frightens politicians and socialites. Dorman hires the investigators to look into Original Honey.
It turns out Original Honey is owned by a cult that worships Shub-Niggurath. Sure enough, the cult directed their god to consume Dorman. But death isn’t what Shub-Niggurath has planned directly for Dorman. The disease works on his mind, so that Dorman becomes a thoughtless slave of the god. He’s tasked with obtaining barrels of special seeds cultivated by the cult and placing them in the powder kegs on board the SS Adamski for its ceremonial commissioning. The seeds, combined with gunpowder, fired from the ship over Lake Erie, will fertilize the lake, altering its bottom to become a kingdom in Shub-Niggurath’s image, giving birth to creatures that worship the god… and eventually take over Buffalo with their natural biological weapons.
Will the investigators stop the cannons from firing and bringing about the end of the Nickel City?

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Sanity Point 25 Death By Taco

The sun is shining for once. Perhaps March will have relief from the horrors I’ve experienced in February. But again, the winds keep howling, and the neighbors’ animals keep screeching at all hours. Assuming all is well might be a delirious wish.
Free tacos! Lloyd, Uber join forces to give Buffalo free tacos.  Weather for horror: A high wind warning with gusts of 60 mph or more has been issued for most of Western New York.  And of course some murder: DA gets OK to appeal reversal of Matthew Kuzdzal's murder conviction.

All Uber cars are hacked by an unknown source, demanding all cars rendezvous on the ramp leading to the Peace Bridge for a free taco party. High winds whip through the area as the taco party gets under way, whisking the cars into the Niagara River. One of the Uber cars whisked to its destructions held the DA in charge of Addison Warner’s murder appeal. The next day, there’s another Uber demand that all cars meet at Niagara Falls for free tacos. Another strong wind whisks another DA in the Warner case to his death. All Uber drivers who resist going to the party are shaken about by their cars until beaten unconscious. The cars drive themselves. At this point, the DA’s office hires the investigators to look into these Uber killings. Turns out Warner’s wife is favored by Nyarlathotep, who’s causing chaos while helping Warner’s wife.
The investigators, at some point, fight creations of Nyarlathotep that take the form of walking tacos, which squirt flesh-melting hot sauce.