Sometimes ideas hits you at the middle of study, and you have to write them down to exorcise them. I find The Junkyard pretty useful for this purpose, as it helps me not to get involved in every single deviation of my own mind. By the way, I've just had this idea for a Call of Cthulhu campaign, set in the 40's and heavily inspired by Indiana Jones movies (thus, the title.)
Suitable Characters: Players should be careful to create characters that meet at least one of these requirements in order to get involved in the campaign:
- Native German speaker;
- Can read Latin, Arabic, Aramaic and/or Hebraic;
- Is Soldier or Officer;
- Is or have been an Archeologist, Antiquarian, Ancient History or Religion Scholar or Professor, Occultist, or Parapsychologist.
Introduction: It's the darkest hour of the WWII. Nazis have conquered half a Europe, and none knows if England will manage to avoid invasion. United States are about to declare war to Germany, although still haven't done anything. Churchill have been informed by his spies that Heinrich Himmler has just created a new, super-secret section of the SS, engaged in finding a mythological weapon of mass destruction. The characters are recruited to find out about what Himmler is exactly looking for, and steal it before the Nazis make some use of it, whatever it is.
The Ark of Covenant: The Nazis are looking for the Ark of Covenant, which they have discovered have some mysterious secret powers and so are willing to use it as a weapon and win the war. It has been described as a golden box with two angels on its top, containing the original Decalogue; the angels are actually representations of the Outer Gods, and it contains an Atlantean ritual to summon and bind Azathoth. The Nazis know it's something different from what is told, but have no idea of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Yellow Brotherhood: So, Nazis on one side, Allies on the other, the party in the middle, and a war all around. Is that enough? Of course not! What is a Call of Cthulhu campaign without cultists, anyway? The Yellow Brotherhood is cult of worshippers of Azathoth, committed to find the Ark, perform the ritual and let the Daemon Sultan to rule upon the world of men. They are organized, well equipped, all mad, unscrupulous and ready for anything.
The Plot: The party is sent to Germany, where they find out about the Ark. They discover that the Nazis have their base in an ancient castle, and move there to discover where exactly the Ark is. Finding out the location is the Temple of King Solomon, they move to Egypt for further researches (they should get in touch with the Yellow Brotherhood here.) Then, they lead to the Temple and try to steal the Ark. Wether they succeed or not (provided they're still alive), they come back to Europe and try to (regain, in case, and) bring the Ark to England. The Nazis should be out of the game at this point, but the Yellow Brotherhood may not (unless the party managed to kill their leader.) The tablets can't just be destroyed, so the characters have basically two possibilities: hide them, or bring them back to Celaeno. At this point, the Allies may become enemies too, since someone may think that they should use the ritual to immediately end the war. Of course, such action will results in total doom.
Tone, Style, House Rules: The tone and style should definitely be Jonesy. Thus, early 90's Hollywood Nazis (see The Last Crusade), lots of action, and handsome characters. On the House Ruling side this may result in bonus Skill Points in character creation, and the possibility of combining Skills for more cinematographic effects.
