Spaceships, Sixguns, and Cylcopean Horrors IRC game

[Kindling]

Can I call dibs on Ashley Crow?

[Steerpike]

Sure!  I think everyone should be able to get their first choices, looking over the lists of preferences so far.  We'll deal with any conflicts as they arise.

EDIT: Can anyone guess who her name is a reference to?

[Weave]

EDIT: Can anyone guess who her name is a reference to?

Shot in the dark, but Ashley Williams from Mass Effect 1?

[Steerpike]

Ha nope!  Though she does perhaps have a bit of that Ashley in her.

[Seraph]

EDIT: Can anyone guess who her name is a reference to?

Crow, Niska's right-hand man from Firefly Episode 2: The Train Job?

Or alternately, judging by the mention of one "Aleister Crucian" in her bio, perhaps it is a reference to Aleister Crowley?

[Steerpike]

Nice tries both... but no.  She's actually meant to be the distant descendant of Lovecraftian sleuth Titus Crow.  In Crow's adventures, humanity slowly fights back against the illimitable forces of chaos and cosmic malignancy instead of meekly curling up in a corner to quietly go mad.

[Steerpike]

[ooc]Credit to Xathan's Terra Macabre for several of the slang terms![/ooc][ic=Slang]Most people in the civilized universe know English and at least a healthy smattering of Rl'yehian.  The names of the Great Old Ones and the Elder Gods are often used as oaths in the same way that historically Christians swore by God or the Devil.

It is also very common for religious or superstitious individuals to gesticulate to draw the Elder Sign in the air to ward off evil or misfortune, much as a Catholic might make the sign of the cross.

bug: any insectoid or crustacean alien i.e. Mi-Go, Yakubians, etcetera

Cthulhu take the hindmost: devil take the hindmost

ebumna-n'ghft: hellhole, shithole, bad place, pit, dark place

fm'latggh-'bthnk: "starshit"; crap, stuff

ftaghu'ebumna: whore or loose women; with an additional 'a' (pluralization), refers to a brothel; literally, "skin pit."

ftaghu'fhalma: madame, procuress, brothel-keeper

hlirgh: heretic, blasphemer

hupadgh'Shub-Niggurath: spawn of the Black Goat in the Woods with a Thousand Young; a colloquialism for a low-born person, trash

G.O.O.: Great Old One

grah'n: worm; pejorative

iä!: similar to the Cantonese "aiya!" or the English "shucks" – showing disappointment, dismay, or mild annoyance

ilyaa'hrii - arrogant, proud, hubristic, cocky

lamprey: parasite, lazy individual, slippery or dishonest person

li'hee-syha'h-n'ghft: on pain of death and eternal damnation; "believe me when I say..."

li'hee-sll'ha-n'gha: a threat to kill someone

lw'nafh-shogg: hyperspatial turbulence; come to generally mean "chaos" or "disturbance"

mnahn'-gof'n: fool, idiot, naïve individual, ignorant person; literally, "worthless child"

mnahn'nw: derogatory word for simpleton i.e. the mentally handicapped

nafl-hupadgh : bastard, illegitimate, base-born

Nodens' beard!: oath; exclamation of surprise or amazement

n'gha h'geb: exclamation of anguish; "we're doomed"; literally "death is here"

Nyarlathotetp's own luck: the devil's own luck

nyth-shogg: ne'er-do-well, blackguard, servant of evil

or'luhnyth: liar

right-as-R'lyeh: right-as-rain

sll'ha-nglui: loose woman, trollop, slut

sgn'wahl: shack up, get friendly

subby: pejorative meaning subhuman, i.e. a Ghoul, Deep One, mutant, etcetera

throd: fuck; also throdding, throdded, etcetera

vulgtlagln-syha'h: pray to the gods; "we're in deep shit"

wagh'nyth: slave; servile person

ygotha'ai  n'gha gof'nn: emphatic curse, a great way to start a fight; literally "I wish the call of death for your children"

y'hah: amen; thank the gods; verily

ysll'ha ephai c'ai: I hope to speak to you again, a common goodbye; literally "I invite after this we speak"

ytharanak c'ai: the proper response to the above; literally "I promise we will speak"[/ic]

[Kindling]

Bad News: I'm working on Monday :(

Let me know how it goes though, it would have been very fun.

[Steerpike]

OK, will do.

In the event that there aren't enough people to run it in the morning, I'll pop in during the evening and see who's on.  Possibly we could run both sparkle's and mine on the same day or partially at the same time; we'll just play it by ear, and I think it'll work out.

[sparkletwist]

I like your new slang database... in theory.  :?:
But, the thing about slang is that it kind of rolls off the tongue. These, uh... don't.  :)

[Steerpike]

Yeah, they're essentially unpronounceable. That's the beauty of IRC - no one needs to pronounce them to use them.

The obvious reference, for those who've seen Firefly/Serenity (which I'm taking huge cues from), is to the Chinese profanities the otherwise English-speaking characters use.  They hardly rolled off the tongue either (as the outtakes show!) - and most viewers (including Chinese-speaking viewers, probably!) didn't even know what they were saying, but it worked beautifully.

[LD]

Their pronunciation, if they were attempting to pronounce Mandarin rather than Cantonese, was pretty poor, but the attempts were appreciated.

[Seraph]

Yeah, they're essentially unpronounceable. That's the beauty of IRC - no one needs to pronounce them to use them.

The obvious reference, for those who've seen Firefly/Serenity (which I'm taking huge cues from), is to the Chinese profanities the otherwise English-speaking characters use.  They hardly rolled off the tongue either (as the outtakes show!) - and most viewers (including Chinese-speaking viewers, probably!) didn't even know what they were saying, but it worked beautifully.

When I ran my Firefly one-shot, I did much the same thing, only I looked up and used curses and expressions that they actually used on the show.

[Steerpike]

So, we got about 75% through the scenario.  When would be a good time to finish it off?  I may beef up the latter portion so that the session is a bit longer.

Also, for the second group I was originally going to GM for yesterday afternoon, a) who would like to participate? and b) what times are you available?

The remaining characters are Ramsay Olmstead, Doc Tenebrous, Ashley Crow, and Father Blake.

[LD]

Sakhar's write-up is great and hilarious.
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If it's at a time I can make it, then I would be glad to play Father Blake. I can make it most days after 6:45 EST (except Wednesdays), though I get held late sometimes.