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Due to a conversation with Dr. Boggs' player, several ideas have occurred.

It started out as a joke about Dr. Boggs and Cybermancer being sort of like the Odd Couple.

Then we thought, why not add a haunted house?

A haunted mansion. So there will be room for a more than a few boarders.

Cybermancer will be purchasing the property soon. A short time afterwards Cyber will post an ad over at Lazlo and Boggsy will respond.

Anyone else interested in renting a room in a haunted mansion (location to be determined)?

There will be secrets and surprises. Some of which we don't want showing up here or at the Lazlo site. It'll be discussed via PM with either Boggsy or myself to interested parties.

It won't be an adventure onto itself. More like a series of mini-adventures combined with a flavorful backdrop for the players.

Some boarders may come and go. Even Boggs and Cyber are likely to use it as a place to rest between other activities.

I'll be working on floor plans and room descriptions over the next couple of weeks.

Interested applicants please post here.

you might want to consider the mansion from the back of BTS1. premade with plenty of weirdness..

Point of fact, Cyber started out as a six year old 'normal' person who was part of the Knight family, just recently moved into the Randolf family mansion. It was there that he met the energy creatures that would advance his understanding of mathematics to all new levels.

I beleive that the Randolf Family Mansion has already been mentioned by name within the Lazlo boards. So whatever weirdness takes place in our mansion, you won't see the name Randolf attached to it.

There might still be some parrallels, however.

John Doe wrote:This sounds like it might be fun. May I join in?

Certainly you can. Watch for Cybermancer advertising for roommates over at Lazlo. Might be next week before it happens. I want to work some stuff out first.

What are you looking for in this? Do you want to tell a story or do you want to solve mysteries as a player?

Hey Cyby. Is it possible I could have one of my side characters involved. This does sound like a blast. I've used the Randolph Mansion campaign and we loved it.

Holister wrote:Hey Cyby. Is it possible I could have one of my side characters involved. This does sound like a blast. I've used the Randolph Mansion campaign and we loved it.

I don't see why not. Which character did you have in mind and what were you looking for from the experience?

I have several that might be suited for this idea of yours. I am thinking either Rebecca (who I was going to use in that KC thread), Baron Samedi, or Faith Landry. As for I looking for. A good game experience. I like the spook house stuff, so I am to be a participant more than a story teller this time around because I have enough stories of my own planned with Holister & co.

If that is ok with you?

That's fine by me. The place is filling up a little quicker than I expected.

I'll have to do some planning.

"What does this button do?" *mansion disappears in a puff of smoke perhaps swallowed by a rip in the fabric of time and space*

Natasha!

You're not supposed to give away the climatic surprise ending!

John Doe wrote:

Cybermancer wrote:

John Doe wrote:This sounds like it might be fun. May I join in?

Certainly you can. Watch for Cybermancer advertising for roommates over at Lazlo. Might be next week before it happens. I want to work some stuff out first.

What are you looking for in this? Do you want to tell a story or do you want to solve mysteries as a player?

I believe that being new to the website I would like solve mysteries as a player seeing that investigative work is what the character does best. Maybe once I get a feel for things I will have the nerve to attempt a story. Does it matter that Bob doesn't have any combat skills or weapon proficiencies?

No, it doesn't matter. I'm not planning on combat type problems.

Nor am I planning on running as an adventure with a beginning, middle and an end. It's going to be an ongoing thing with ongoing weirdness. There will be mysteries to solve although I haven't worked them out yet.

Still, I'm picturing it as a home for the people who live there. Maybe something like Big Brother meets Ghost Hunters.

I've often thought of making Scotty's trailer haunted (or instead, his bunker).
I know the local library is haunted but nobody seems to notice.

Dibs on a corner thrid floor room with a canopy bed and private bath.

sasha wrote:I've often thought of making Scotty's trailer haunted (or instead, his bunker).
I know the local library is haunted but nobody seems to notice.

I've never thought about having a trailer be haunted.

Holister wrote:Dibs on a corner thrid floor room with a canopy bed and private bath.

Oddly enough, there is such a room. But the owner of the house has dibs on that one. Call it a perk of owning the house.

Just for the record, I'm calling dibs on the entire third floor.

That'll still leave two floors and a basement to play in. I have dug up some old floor plans I used as a characters house and I'm doing a new write up more suitable for a haunted house. I'll be doing a players guide to the mansion and a story tellers guide.

I'll probably post the players guide here in this thread. I haven't figured out how to make the maps public quite yet, but I will. First I'll have to make 'player' maps. Don't want to reveal all the mysteries when there seems to be an interest in solving them.



*EDIT*

UPDATE

Been talking with Boggsy and looking up some stuff. It looks like we're going to place the Mansion in the Churchhill area of Richmond Virginia. Lots of potential ghost stories can be produced in such a place. A history of the mansion will follow later.

Some general physical characteristics of the house:

The third floor is Cybermancers personal suite. It's his home and off limits to people unless invited up.

The second floor is the 'residential' floor. There are two large bedroom suites, one goes to Dr. Boggs. I'm thinking that I would like to offer it to John Doe/Hi Im Bob as he's the new guy and we want him to feel special. There are 14 other bedrooms on that floor, four are taken up by servants (a maid, a cook, a butler and a chauffer). The remaining ten are up for grabs on a first come, first serve basis.

The first floor is the 'common' area. There will be lots of rooms available for use by all residents. Please be courteous of one another. And remember that the furnishings were provided by the owner of the house. The only off limits areas are Cyber's closet and study. Parties in the ballroom should be approved through the house's owner first but should be okay.

The basement is also a common area for use by all residents. The exception will be the vault that Cyber will be maintaining down there.

Note that 'off limits' is IC off limits. If you wish to violate those areas and have the means to do so, you may so long as it's played out. There may be surprises you didn't plan for...

The property will be fairly large with a swimming pool, tennis courts, heli-pad, haunted brewery and a twelve car garage.

Naturally the mansion will rest on or near some sort of magical epicenter, be it nexus point, ley line or transistional place of power.

As a tool for roleplay and story telling, I envision two ways to use the mansion once it's up and running. You may tell a story, either solo or with others about a weird haunting. Or you can follow clues dropped Boggsy and myself both here and over at LS.org. No one will be compelled to pursue any clue or strange occurance. Not by us nor by other residents. Everything will be by voluntary participation. It is both a setting and a vehicle for adventure.

Naturally, we'll keep all the OOC stuff here.

*Edit* Adding a cemetary to the grounds. Just because.

*uses the third floor loo after napping in the third floor master bedroom and eating cookies leaving crumbs everywhere and strolls downstairs* "Nice place. Where's the kitchen?" *looks for more crumbly food to take upstairs*

Natasha wrote:*uses the third floor loo after napping in the third floor master bedroom and eating cookies leaving crumbs everywhere and strolls downstairs* "Nice place. Where's the kitchen?" *looks for more crumbly food to take upstairs*

And this is why the third floor will be kept locked.

P.S. There's a kitchen on the third floor as well as the first.

Cybermancer wrote:

Natasha wrote:*uses the third floor loo after napping in the third floor master bedroom and eating cookies leaving crumbs everywhere and strolls downstairs* "Nice place. Where's the kitchen?" *looks for more crumbly food to take upstairs*

And this is why the third floor will be kept locked.

P.S. There's a kitchen on the third floor as well as the first.

There's a dead rat in the fridge though.

Where else is Cyber supposed to keep his specimans and experiments?

I didn't notice those when I put the dead rat in there

Now see what you've done? How is Cyber supposed to tell which rat was his and which was yours? Do you know how hard it is to find orphans that have been transmuted into rats? Now he's going to have to find a whole new batch. The progress of weird science may have just been pushed back... minutes if not hours!

's how I roll, yo. *shrugs helplessly*

Yes, I've gotten used to you being a brat.

Back on track for a moment here, I've been devising some spook profiles for the house. Most of them (and by that I mean all of them) are ripped off from real ghost stories from the Virginia area.

If you're planning on using the mansion as a story-telling vehicle, feel free to view the profiles and claim one for use. If you're approaching this as a player then I advise you don't read these profiles. You'll only ruin it for yourself. If you're just browsing and interested in contributing, then feel free to offer suggestions or comments.

Please use the spoiler tag when referring to anything already existing in a spoiler tag or when discussing something that maybe players might not want to see.









More to follow as I research and think about this.

GamerZombie wrote:Well I need to ask permission from the house owners for something. Slayer does have a full time butler with him. Gerald is sort of like his Alfred. Slayer depends on him alot since the focus of his live since the age of 8 have been training to combat the supernatural. Hence he has little knowladge and no talent in most mundane things, like cooking , doing his own laundry and things of a domestic nature. Gerald is not an all more of a support NPC that will have very little interaction with people other than the fact that he is there. The request is that Slayer be allowed to get a room for Gerald as well within the house, as he requires the assistance and Gerald has been with him his entire life.

Cybermancer wrote: There are 14 other bedrooms on that floor, four are taken up by servants (a maid, a cook, a butler and a chauffer). The remaining ten are up for grabs on a first come, first serve basis.

Boggsy wrote:2. One alt per player in residence - multiple alts can rent rooms but only one in residence at a time to streamline story telling.

In case it wasn't clear (because apparently it wasn't), services will be provided by servants that will already be in residence. Additional NPC type characters take up rooms that other players could be using so the answer is no.

Also, this raises an IC question for you, GamerZombie. Why is someone who can afford a butler, and could pay for a second room for that butler, renting a 15ftX15ft room in the first place? Why not rent an apartment or buy a house? Just curious, I'm not going to stop you from moving in but the question is sure to come up in play.

Are pets allowed? I ask this because the character I am thinking of using Baron Samedi (not his real name just his handle) is an arcanist who has a small black rabbit named Mr Vittles that is his familiar.

If pets are not allowed I will use the Rebecca character.

As long as the rabbit isn't taking up a second room, I don't see an issue with it.

The maid will even clean up after it and/or feed it depending on how much maid service you want (the rent price includes having the maid doing your laundry, making your bed and tidying your room but you can choose to forgo any of those services for privacy reasons-no refunds).

Now is a good time to discuss the servants, I suppose.

The maid, cook and butler are part of the package. The chauffer is Cyber's driver though if asked nicely, he will 'loan' his driver out for short periods.

The servants work Monday to Saturday with Sunday off. From 21hrs to 0500hrs they are in their rooms and unavialable to assist the residents in any way. They are very sound sleepers and won't wake up for anything between knocking on their doors to bombs going off. They don't discuss what they do on their days off. It's in their contract that they don't have to discuss their 'down time'.

All are cheerful and helpful during their working hours. They will assist any resident with a problem that falls into their area of responsibility. If the problem falls into another servants expertise, the resident will be directed to that servant. If asked about services that don't fall into any of their specialties, the resident will be told that their rental contract does not cover that.

When weird things happen, the servants add to the weirdness by being unfazed by the situation-unless it effects their workload. For example, the maid might complain about having to clean up a mess caused by an ectoplasmic entity. "Do you know how hard it is to get these stains out of the carpet?" She may even go so far as berate the perpetrator of the mess, regardless of supernatural origins.

The Cook is french and his name is Michelle.

The Maid is french and her name is Belle.

The Butler is english and his name is Jeeves.

The chauver is english and his name is James.

They will call the residents by whatever name is indicated on the Rental Agreement (there is a portion that asks the applicant to indicate what they want to be referred to by the servants).

Cybermancer wrote:

sasha wrote:I've often thought of making Scotty's trailer haunted (or instead, his bunker).
I know the local library is haunted but nobody seems to notice.

I've never thought about having a trailer be haunted.

Yea, that's Scotty for you. But it could just be all in his mind. The steady diet of BBQ human down on the sandbar could not have been good for him.

Although it's starting to look like there might be something else going on, let's hope that the investigators live to tell the tale.

Can someone please throw us a link? This game sounds like hella-fun. I don't have a character that is appropriate for this game right now, but I would to lurk. (Out of game lurking, not in game loitering and peeping)

We're still in the planning stages at this point. Appropriate links will be posted once things take off.

Cybermancer wrote:We're still in the planning stages at this point. Appropriate links will be posted once things take off.

Got any inappropriate links?

Due to much more pressing real life concerns, I will be delaying and further work on this for at least a week.

Due to RL matters I think that I'll be withdrawing from this idea afterall. I just don't have the time.

Alright. I've been doing some work on this today and should have something to post here tomorrow regarding the house, the grounds and it's background/history.

Sometime in the coming week, Cyber will be posting his ad.

The grounds:

The 50 acre grounds are surrounded by a 20ft high stone wall with video surveillance covering the entire area. The only opening in the stone wall is the main gate with electronically controlled gates. The grounds are wooded with a few foot paths winding their way through. Only the area surrounding the driveway and house is a manicured lawn.

The driveway goes in about 100ft before becoming a loop that goes around a beautiful water fountain. The top of the loop ends at the front door of the house while the west end of the loop is in front of the garage. There is new pavement on the east side of the loop to allow for two dozen new parking spots.

The garage is a twelve car garage complete with a fully stocked mechanics shop and two hoists. Two of the spots are reserved for Cybermancer. The remainder are first come, first serve. The hoists are not to be used for parking. Over the garage is a complete apartment suite where James lives. The garage is his responsibility. Use of the maintenance area comes free but having James conduct repairs costs $70 an hour plus parts. And of course, he can only work when he's not performing tasks for Cybermancer.

The house is a three story mansion with stone walls to make it appear like a castle. There are even four towers with castellated turrets. The house is divided into east and west wings. Behind the house there is an enclosed area within a ten foot high stone wall. Within that area is a pool, pool shed and two tennis courts.

East of the house is a newly added helicopter pad.

In the north east corner of the property is the old brewery, currently abandoned and in disrepair. It will require a lot of work to be operational again.

Near the brewery are some stables that are currently in disrepair.

In the north west corner of the property is a cave entrance. A tunnel in the cave leads to the catacombs beneath the house.

Due north of the house in the back of the property is an old cemetary. Mostly slaves are buried here along with a number of unmarked graves from both the Revolutionary and Civil wars.

Between the house and the cemetary is an overgrown gazebo. Don't worry, it's tame.

Ground Floor:

Players may (and are encouraged to) read the spoiler tabs in this section. The tabs are used to reduce space used in the post.

Part One:

1. The Front Lobby:



2. Matt's Closet:



3. Small Closet:



4. Large Closets:



5. Parlour:



6. Kitchen:



7. Formal Dining Room:



8. Ladies Bathroom:



9. Gentlemans Bathroom:



10. Drawing Room:



11. Picture Gallery:



12. Gentleman's Bathroom:



13. Ballroom:



14. Ladies Bathroom:



15. Bars:



16. Stage:



17. Reading Room:



Part Two of the first floor to follow.

Ground Floor

Part Two

18. Matt's Office:



19. Solarium:



20. Auditorium:



21. Stage:



22. Back Stage:



23. Sepulcher:



24. Study:



25. - 30. Library Rooms:

Second Floor:

Part One:

This is where the residents are going to live, for the most part. There are also a number of public rooms available here.

While access to the third floor is not blocked, it is off limits to everyone except Matt as it makes up his private suite. The lease agreement includes a clause for immediate eviction (criminal tresspassing) for anyone found intruding in off limits areas without permission.

1. Stairwell:



2. Linen Closet:



3. Bedrooms:



4. Dr. Boggs' Suite:



5. Dr. Boggs' Walk In Closet:



6. Dr. Boggs' Private Bathroom:



7. Studio:



8. Mausoleum:



9. Ballroom Balcony:



10. Open Area:



11. Outside Balconies:



12. Sanctuary:



Part Two to follow.

Second Floor:

Part Two:

13. Common Room:



14. Private closet for suite 15.

15. Suite 15:



16. Private bathroom for Suite 15.

17. Sculpture Garden:



18. Public Bathroom:



19. Private bathroom for suite 20.

20. Suite 20:



21. Private closet for suite 20.

Basement:

1. Laundry Room: Includes 3 washing machines and three driers. Also has a large, double basin sink. There are two ironing boards present. Belle is responsible for this area and does everyone’s laundry unless they wish otherwise.

2. Wine Cellar: Nearly 300 bottles of fine wine from around the world and from different time periods is stored here. There are also half a dozen large wood kegs of beer. The cook is responsible for this area and strongly discourages trespassing. I’m looking at you, Dr. Boggs. That having been said, residents may store their alcohol here.

3. Crypt: The house has its own crypt where various family members, servants and even some slaves have been buried over the centuries. The entrance to the catacombs is found here.

4. Catacombs: These rooms and passageways are actually a sub level beneath the basement. They take up as much area as the ground floor of the mansion above. There are tunnels here that lead to the cave on this property, the old brewery and to the storm drains of the city (through a locked, iron grate).

5. The Vault: OFF LIMITS! (Considering the wealth of art publicly displayed elsewhere in the mansion, one must wonder what is valuable enough to be locked away…)

Things to Know:

Security: A very modern security system has been installed in the mansion. What's more, there is video surveillance for every room except bedrooms, closets and the bathrooms. There is no expectation of privacy in any of the public areas of the mansion. Tenents are made fully aware of this and must sign off on waivers regarding it to be admitted. Where these security feeds are controlled from is not disclosed.

If it's not described above, it's not someplace tenets are allowed to go. Intruding into other areas of the mansion is considered criminal tresspassing and can result in the immediate eviction of the tenet. This is described in the lease agreement.

The house has been completely renovated in the last few months. The wiring is new and there are some state of the art features included. Blinds can be opened or closed by voice command. Lights can be turned on, off or dimmed by voice command. Residents can be located and their position reported if they are in a public area of the mansion (a soft female voice answers these questions). Likewise, most appliances and electronics in the house are voice controlled. Things like kettles can be set to start at a pre-designated time and so forth.

The four towers have winding stairs that go all the way to the roof. The turreted tops are considered public areas. The doors from these stairs to the third floor are locked. The stairs go all the way to the basement.

While the ballroom is considered a public area, any use of it for a party or other function must be first cleared with Matt/Cybermancer. He has already reserved it for Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years, Halloween and every Friday the 13th. Everything else is likely to be left wide open. First come, first serve basis.

There are 12 spots in the garage. Matt has two of them. The remaining ten will go, one each to the first ten tenets. So Dr. Boggs has one reserved for him. Overflow parking is on the opposite side of the driveway in open air parking. The limo is usually parked outside unless undergoing maintenance.

Tenets are permitted guests so long as they obey the rules. For short stays, guests may be accomodated in any rooms that are not taken. Players who do not wish to live in the mansion but wish to visit for short durations will also be accomodated in any spare rooms available.

While Matt's office is described, the doors are locked when he's not there and entrance is thus not permitted during those times.

Intruding into another tenets room without permission is considered criminal tresspassing and may subject the offender to immediate eviction.

The Cemetary is resting on a ley line nexus point. One of the ley lines runs through the old Brewery. Another runs through the cave. The third bisects the gazebo and the house.

Maps should follow in a couple of days.

A brief house history.

All of this information is available from anyone who does even a little research into the place.

The house was built in 1745 by a British Officer named John Clark. He was known to rent out spare rooms to junior British officers.

When the American Revolutionary war was declared, the Clark family still occupied the house. They were loyal to the British Crown and wound up being run out of town. In their absence, the house was turned into a whore house for servicing officers in the American army.

The house was burned by British forces led by Benedict Arnold in 1780 but only after it was discovered that some of the ladies present were actively passing information along to American forces. Despite heavy internal damage, the house refused to fall, in part due to the stone construction. One of the houses 'ladies' died in the fire.

In 1782, the house was rebuilt by the youngest son of the Clark family who had abandoned his family and joined the revolution.

The Clark family offered the use of their home as an emergency hospital during the yellow fever outbreak of 1855.

Shortly afterwards, a brewery was built and run using slave labor on the grounds.

During the American Civil war, a cannon ball smashed through the baywindow in east wing before exploding and killing nearly the entire Clark family. It was a botched shot from a confederate cannon. When Captain Clark, a loyal confederate soldier heard about this, he committed suicide.

After the civil war, the house was rebuilt by Rosa, a liberated slave who had served the Clark family all her life. It was stated in the Clarkwill that she could live in the house until the day she died. As therewere no surviving Clarks to inherit the property, a lawyer successfully argued that the property and estate therefore belonged to Rosa. She lived there, tending the rose garden until the day she died. Rosa's surviving family sold the house and moved north in 1885.

The house was bought and sold many times after this although it rarely remained in anyone's possession for more than a year. For the last 15 years, it has been vacant until purchased and rennovated by Matthew Knight (Cybermancer). He also had it completely furnished. There were no reports of strangeness during the renovations.

And the advertisement has been posted.

Okay, so far only Dr. Boggs and Slayer have responded ICly to the ad. So I'm going to go ahead and assume they've moved in if that's cool with everyone.

So far, nothing unusual has happened but I will be posting the first scenerio tomorrow.

At breakfast this morning, Matt will mention, "Keep a look out for a little white rabbit. One of my lab animals got out of it's cage during the night. It answers to the name Cosmo."

That is all.

For now.

One of the liquer cabinets look as thought it has been recently nawed upon by a small mammal.

Also, rabbit tracks can be seen in the grounds immediately adjacent to the house.

Fortunately, the liquer supply seems to be secure, the little bunny having apparently given up after just a few nibbles.

There are no further indications that it has remained in the house.

In other news, there have been some problems with the voice activated lighting system. The lights have been going out without any orders to do so and have occasionally had to be told twice to come on. GamerZombie, the problem seems to be especially bad in your suite.

GamerZombie wrote:Great, Iwill go and ask Cyber about it, since Slayer is no eledctrician.

After looking into it, Cyber assures you that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the system. He recommends either removing the carpet for hardwood floors or stop wearing wool socks. Could be static electricity. Otherwise, maybe you should use your outside voice when addressing the computer.

This morning at breakfast, the cook was complaining that something was eating the vegetables in the garden he maintains behind the house. He's asked permission to transplant the remaining vegetables to the Solarium and it has been granted.

Dr. Boggs, there was a persistant scratching at one of your windows last night that always disappeared when you went to investigate. This morning, there was a carrot stub and some bits of lettuce leaves outside the window. Remember, this is a second story window.