Creeping Notes!

The adventure, “Creeping Madness!”, was designed to introduce a party of players to the nightmare landscape that is Shanghai. Having played through it, a group of Investigators should be fairly au fait with the city thereafter, along with its morally dubious lifestyle. The Gaslight Cthulhu setting offers much drama and has the beneficial side effect of being a little lighter-on with the damage; however, if a Keeper wants to update the scenario for a 1920s milieu, that is entirely do-able, but will require the following modifications:

*****

The first major change that must be effected in updating this scenario to the 1920s era is that the Black Fan Cult must be replaced by the Cult of the Bloated Woman. The earlier cult is exposed prior to the turn of the Twentieth Century and is expunged from Shanghai; the later incarnation of Nyarlathotep’s avatar establishes itself in the city once more, from about 1910 onwards. In all major essentials the two cults are identical, although there is a higher membership of Deep Ones and Deep One-human hybrids in the later iteration. Change the name of the “House of the Black Fan” to the “House of the Happy Courtesan”, or similar.

7 Deep One Worshippers

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	10,13,11,12,13,16,20	POW	6,14,10,8,9,13,11	Age	n/a
CON	6,17,14,7,11,16,15	DEX	16,15,15,14,12,10,8,	HP	13,16,18,12,15,14,13
SIZ	19,15,21,16,19,12,10	Move	8/10 Swimming	Magic Points	6,14,10,8,9,13,11
INT	13,13,9,16,11,11,16	EDU	n/a	SAN	0

Damage Bonus: +1d4

Weapon: Claw: 25% (1d4+1d4); Trident: 25% (1d6+1+1d4)

Armour: 1 point of skin and scales

Skills: Dodge 45%; Hide 35%; Jump 30%; Listen 40%; Sneak 35%; Spot Hidden 45%; Swim 95%; Throw 25%

Spells: Deep One #2 knows “Shrivelling”

SAN Loss: It costs 0/1d6 SAN to see a Deep One

7 Human-Deep One Hybrid Worshippers

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	11,10,8,7,11,14,12	POW	5,4,13,8,7,10,11	Age	n/a
CON	9,8,10,7,15,12,10	DEX	13,12,12,10,9,9,9	HP	11,11,10,8,13,11,11
SIZ	12,12,10,9,11,9,12	APP	4,4,5,3,3,3,6	Magic Points	6,14,10,8,9,13,11
INT	9,9,8,8,8,8,9	EDU	n/a	SAN	0

Damage Bonus: +/-0

Weapon: Sickle: 35% (1d4+3); Small Club: 25% (1d6); Fist/Punch: 20% (1d30

Armour: None

Skills: Dodge 45%; Fishing 65%; Listen 45%; Sneak 55%; Spot Hidden 45%; Swim 90%

Spells: None

SAN Loss: It costs 0/1d4 SAN to see a Human-Deep One Hybrid

*****

Despite being an excellent opportunity to break out your best Billy Connolly impersonation, Fergus MacLean needs to be removed from a 1920s scenario and replaced with his illegitimate, half-Chinese descendant, who has inherited the Stumbling Tiger Bar. Use the following stats:

Fergus “McChum” Chum

Fergus is taciturn and guarded: he trusts very few people and keeps himself to himself. He runs the Stumbling Tiger Bar in much the same vein as his father did before him – although the decor has changed, the place is still grubby in the extreme. The walls are hung with the ubiquitous Shanghai cigarette posters: greenish-coloured images of coquettish Shanghai film stars smiling demurely back at the viewer. There are spittoons strategically littered around the main bar but these appear in little danger of being accurately targeted. Time has brought some innovations – along with a proper address (10 Lantern Street) – including electric lighting; however, the fluoro tubes are so dusty, flyspecked and shrouded in cigarette smoke that the harsh white light barely penetrates the gloom.

Taciturn Barkeep

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	10	POW	15	Age	40
CON	11	DEX	16	HP	11
SIZ	10	APP	12	Magic Points	15
INT	13	EDU	04	SAN	35

Damage Bonus: None

Weapon: Fist/Punch: 70% (1d3); Head Butt: 55% (1d4); Fighting Knife: 50% (1d4+2); Kick: 45% (1d6); Martial Arts 35%; Shotgun 30% (4d6/2d6/1d6)

Armour: None

Skills: Accounting 25%; Bargain 65%; Credit Rating 20%; Cthulhu Mythos 5%; Drive Auto 15%; Dodge 65%; Fast Talk 75%; Law 20%; Listen 55%; Occult 15%; Persuade 35%; Psychology 55%; Chinese: Wu 98%, Mandarin 65%, Hui 32%; Speak English 25%; Speak Japanese 20%; Spot Hidden 35%; Swim 40%

Spells: None

SAN Loss: It costs no SAN to see Fergus Chum

The events in this tale necessarily pre-date the incidents occurring in the story “Shanghai”, from the “Masks of Nyarlathotep” campaign by Larry DiTillio and Lynn Willis; if the party survives to enjoy (endure!) that adventure, Fergus McChum might well be a satisfying reintegration for, or from, that story.

*****

Martin’s motivations need to be addressed in shifting this scenario to the 1920s. By this time, there was less of a feeling that Shanghai was a place where young chaps could easily make a lot of money; it had become a place where jaded palates could be refreshed and appetites for danger - honed by the Great War - could be slaked. Martin may have convinced his Aunt that he wanted to become a Journalist, or that he thought a trip to the ‘wilds’ of China might help him settle down upon his return. Many young men were filled with a sense of needing to turn their hands to something after returning from the War, and China was a place where things were definitely happening!

*****

Some locales are quite different between the two time periods: the Municipal Council offices are an imposing edifice in the ‘20s, not a sprawling compound; the IMCS has also updated to a more modern building with an iconic clock tower.

In 1843, the British Imperial Maritime Customs Service (IMCS) established themselves in a scattered compound of warehouses and temporary office buildings. In 1851, this arrangement was destroyed in fighting with Small Swords rebels during their occupation of the city. After this invasion was overthrown, the International community successfully argued that the Customs and Excise business would be more efficiently run by foreign nationals, thereby eliminating losses due to ‘squeeze’ (that is, corrupt payments) and began consolidating in earnest. In 1857, a new building was completed, in the Chinese style with turned up eaves and tiled roofs. This was later replaced in 1893 with a Tudor construction, composed of two bold wings and a clock tower 34 metres (110 feet) high.

Established in 1854, the Municipal Offices occupied the entire block bounded by Honan, Kiangsi, Foochow and Hankow Roads. In the next century, this parcel of land was turned over to extensive re-building during the many land-grab booms that took place in the Settlement, but at this stage it stood as a cluster of mixed buildings. The offices included the Town Hall, Police Force Headquarters, the Shanghai Volunteer Corps Headquarters, the Public Works and Education Department, the Public Library, Headquarters for the Orchestra and Band, and a Centre for Chinese Studies. Although a single edifice by 1925, troops still marched around the area and the morning corpse-clearing was still taking place.

*****

There is rather more vehicular traffic in the 1920s: make sure to play up instances of cars, buses and tramcars in street descriptions. Also, remember to emphasise the abundance of neon lighting, billboard advertising and jazz music throughout the city.

Speaking of roads, Yangjing Creek became completely covered over early in the Twentieth Century, becoming a sewer-line above which ran the new Avenue Edouard VII, named in honour of England’s recently deceased monarch. Despite the absence of a bridge in the 1920s, the street was still a line of demarcation between jurisdictions: the scene that takes place here in the adventure can be run as written, with only the elimination of a waterway.

Additionally, the troops pursuing the criminal in that scene are using Enfield Rifles (2d6+4), not Martini Henrys.

*****

Standish’s comprador needs to be replaced by a (male) receptionist in a dapper suit. At the Keeper’s discretion, he can be either Western or Oriental, but he remains just as supercilious. The ‘comprador model’ of business was well past its use-by date in the 1920s: Chinese businessmen saw themselves as being on a par with their Western competitors and were usually masters of their own enterprises, rather than the dogsbodies of others

*****

With only a slight change of wardrobe, the various academics and the Jesuit priest remain pretty much the same in terms of their motivations and knowledge. Pelletier can still remain in the dark about the actuality of the Tale of Priest Kwan, as the police reports about the previous cult dwelt at no length about its holy texts and other religious impedimenta. Father Hugolin, on the other hand, is better informed and can be very effective in the House of the Happy Courtesan due to his knowledge of the superstitions surrounding the Cultist’s sickles. If numbers threaten to overcome the party, he knows that a sickle placed leaning against a closed door will prevent the superstitious fanatics from entering...

*****

A change of wardrobe is also essential for the dissolute Ernest Vaughn-Sadlier. In this era he would be more at home in a cream, seer-sucker suit and boater, rather than a heavy Victorian waistcoat and jacket. Pepper his conversation with shocking allusions to the rising groundswell of Communist Party support in the city, to which he will appear to give credence. In fact, he spouts Communist propaganda simply to affect an edginess to which he would never personally aspire.

*****

Luscombe is also in need of a costume update. The YMCA (Young Man’s Christian Association) was begun in America in 1851; after being introduced into China in 1885, the Shanghai branch was established in 1900. Unlike most other missionary societies, the YMCA’s focus was more upon education and physical fitness than conversion and was held in higher regard by the laity as a result. Membership of the ‘Y’ gave one the possibility of accommodation, food and companionship across the planet and members of military, Christian and other organizations were encouraged to join. At this time in Shanghai, the ‘Y’ is a compound of rather cluttered but well-tended buildings; it was not until after 1933 and seven years of building, that an imposing multi-storey presence took over on this spot, ensuring room for all comers. After the Communist takeover and except for the duration of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the YWCA – entering on the Shanghai scene in 1908 - was the only foreign agency allowed to operate within China.

In the Gaslight Era, Luscombe would only ever approach the party fully-dressed – in a tennis suit, or lawn suit for example. In the swinging ‘20s, he would as likely appear in something less formal, such as shorts and a basketball singlet. If nothing else, this will serve to make him seem even creepier...

*****

The Door of Hope episode can remain as it is; in fact it’s actually less anachronistic in this time period than in the Gaslight Era. The Door was established in 1900, and moving it to 1890 involved a bit of artistic license, but it seemed worth it. The incident has been lifted entirely from the following eyewitness account:

“I can still see a little crowd of furiously hurrying people that broke across my path one evening. In front of them was the flying figure of a girl, her little silken coat torn and hanging from one shoulder. She was ten paces ahead of her pursuers as she passed me, her little face drawn and blanched with terror and exhaustion. Fortunately, her pursuers were not agile. A stout madam hobbled along on little feet; two burly men in blue peasant clothes lumbered along beside her, apparently the major-domos of her establishment. And all too apparently, the scudding miss ahead was a very recent inmate of that establishment, launched on a gallant and desperate break for freedom.

The crowd parted like sheep. A few heads turned around out of curiosity, but none out of sympathy. The pursuers swept by. Suddenly the girl turned under a bright street light and began to pound with both fists against a kind of matchboard doorway. A tall Sikh policeman started across the street from his traffic post on the opposite corner. Then the crowd closed in and it was all a blur.

When I got to the fragile doorway under the light the girl was gone and the Sikh policeman was dispersing the crowd. They scattered quickly, all but the stout woman and her two strong men. The woman scolded vehemently and viciously shook her fist at the sign above the doorway through which the victim had escaped. Then the policeman moved her on in true Occidental fashion and the incident seemed to be closed.”

-Gardner Harding, 1916

The Door of Hope is a strange instance of the kind of help that the Foreign Legations felt that they were honour-bound to offer the Chinese, as well as being a clear case where something actually beneficial to the Celestials in Shanghai was ultimately ruined by overly-zealous Missionary involvement.

Miss Cornelia Bonnel, a missionary and English teacher based in Shanghai from 1900, witnessed a bond servant being mistreated by her mistress in the street; dismayed that none of the other Chinese present offered assistance she determined to convert the house in which she was living at the time into a refuge for such maltreated women. Her home in Seward Road was converted to this purpose and soon other foreign missionary women and wives of the foreign legatees offered their help. Eventually, a ‘receiving house’ was established in the heart of the red-light district (or ‘world of flowers’ as the Chinese referred to it) on Foochow Road. This office was given special legal status by the Municipal Council, conferring immunity to any person who fled there, seeking escape from harsh (usually sexual) slavery. Once ‘received’, the claimant was removed to the house on Seward Road and re-educated with skills that would garner them employment elsewhere.

In 1908, the operation moved from Seward Road to leased premises on Chekiang Road which were larger and more useful. After an initial year with the organisation, the girls were sent to outlying businesses established by the Door of Hope, where they were set to work making clothing, embroidered handkerchiefs, socks, fan boxes, custom bridal trousseaux and wooden dolls. Attempts were also made to place the girls in positions at hospitals or as clerks where they could establish a career on their own merits.

Missionary societies and churches eagerly began to collect funds for the Door of Hope and the organisation received between 50% and 65% of its funding from this source. Along with these monies came injunctions from the missions that prayers and bible instruction would form a daily part of the women’s routines, something that was not always joyously received by the inmates.

Male Shanghainese residents soon cottoned on to the idea that there was a body of women rescued from the streets who were available for marriage. As these men were, as often as not, kidnap victims themselves with little prospects of obtaining a wife, they approached the Door of Hope with legitimate and hopeful offers of marriage. Initially, the organisation was happy to see their recruits returned to society in these promising circumstances; however, several missionary societies objected, insisting that the rehabilitated women must only marry Christian applicants. By insisting upon this rider, the charity lost a significant part of its funding from the Chinese Council for the Municipality of Greater Shanghai which felt that the limitation was needless and unhelpful.

With this means of moving back into society effectively stopped, the inmates of the Door of Hope became jaded and disillusioned. Many of them simply escaped and returned to life as prostitutes; others became trouble-makers within the institution and there are records of fights, stealing and even attempts to escape by means of digging tunnels. After the Revolution with the establishment of the Chinese Anti-Kidnapping Society, the charity gained a stronger footing and a greater degree of social respectability. Regardless of the niceties of social feeling, the charity was still around up until the Japanese Occupation in 1937 and the dolls that the women made in that time are today regarded as highly collectable commodities.

*****

The suburb of Hongkew became a hive of construction during the 20s. Many embassies – including the Japanese one and the new American one – re-located here, as engineering expertise had overcome the problems associated with the boggy terrain. The Jewish refugees from Russia established a significant enclave here also, and contributed much towards the gentrification of the region.

With this in mind, such locations as the The House of the Happy Courtesan and the Stumbling Tiger Bar should be relocated closer to the water and the warehouses clustered there: after all, waterfront districts, no matter the period, are always bad places to be after dark!

An alternative would be to relocate both scenes to Blood Alley (aka. “Bloody Alley”). Today, no-one knows exactly where this laneway used to be. It wasn’t officially named “Blood Alley” but once the name was coined, it stuck. Under Communist rule, deliberate attempts were made to obliterate all record of the place and the Rue Chu Pao San (its real name) disappeared completely. It was a filthy, bar-lined street, with upstairs brothels, opium dens and gambling establishments: knifings, brawls and shootings were common to the point where gunfire meant only a minor interruption to one’s conversation. Sailors of all denominations made a beeline to this area once their boats docked, and were fleeced wholesale of their wages.

Best guesses and research place the ‘Alley in the French Concession, close to the Bund, below the line of the Avenue Edouard VII, running north-south: this meant that there was a virtually unending stream of traffic across the two jurisdictions of the international enclaves. Keepers will need to get their parties here somehow in order to run through the Gaslight Hongkew material for their players, but ingenuity will no doubt see them through.

*****

The Astor House Hotel was quite a tired establishment by the 1920s, despite having provided accommodation for no less than two US presidents. When describing the decor, emphasise the run-down feel of the place. Once the party has had its wander through Hongkew, have one of the NPCs suggest perhaps that they re-locate to somewhere more upmarket, like the Hotel Metropole, or the Cathay, closer to the Bund. It would be not unreasonable for Madeleine Archer to be unaware of the current state of the Hotel; her information would likely be fairly out of date.

*****

Speaking of Madeleine, she should be depicted as less infirm in this later time period: in the 1890s women were expected to play on their weaknesses and they used them to get their own way; in the 1920s, older women prided themselves in their ability to dash about well into their seventies and eighties. Ditch the wheelchair in this updated story.

*****

An interesting after-effect of their loss in the Great War was the fact that the Germans in Shanghai lost their extraterritorial status (China was one of the allies fighting against Germany in that war). In effect, they became ‘stateless’ persons in China, along with White Russians and refugee Russian Jews. German citizens in Shanghai before 1949 were all governed by Chinese law, not the elitist jurisdictions of the International Settlement and the French Concession. Along with this, Germans in the city were subject to instances of abuse and racial discrimination which not only bewildered them but forced them to close ranks: many chose to re-locate to the province of Shantung, where many German businesses were based, even though the province and those businesses were now owned by the Chinese. It is well to be aware of this if your party contains German characters: they will be regarded as second-class citizens.

*****

During the assault on the House of the Black Fan, when entering the Long Corridor, the barred window at the turning is a useful point for cultists from which to shoot at the party members. In the Gaslight era, the Chinese rarely used firearms; in the ‘20s, things were very different.

*****

I have published part of this scenario in an earlier post so the endgame might be a little familiar to regular readers. Hopefully though, seeing the House of the Black Fan in context will encourage Keepers to treat their players to an exciting holiday in China!