(Adventure Seeds) The Untold Cases of Thomas Carnacki

[grinch]

This a bit of a bleed over from the M.R. James thread but I do think there’s enough material for Carnacki to sustain its own thread.

So what do we know of the famous Ghost-Finder in the Whoniverse? Well, we know in his youth he encountered and was possibly mentored by Madame Vastra and that sometime during his career he met the Second Doctor.

But what else did he possibly get up to?

Within the framework of a Who campaign, you could present this as UNIT or a investigatory group stumbling across the previously undiscovered cases of Thomas Carnacki.

As well as using the stories by William Hope Hodgson for inspiration, there are also some original tales penned by Ian Gordon on the HorrorBabble channel as well as an anthology of stories published by William Meikle. The latter of which does lean into more of the supernatural aspects.

Personally, I would also suggest that he was one of the first (or at least widely known) paranormal investigators. With his work either directly inspiring or being used by later investigators such as Jules de Grandin or Doctor Terrance Thirteen.

Here are a few titles that could make for good adventure seeds for an adventure featuring The Ghost-Finder:

* “Dancing Day”
* “They Always Come Back”
* “Voices from the Forge”
* “The Choir Invisible”

I’d also suggest repurposing a lot of literature from the period to fit Carnacki. Maybe in the aftermath of “The Turn of the Screw” he paid a visit to Bly?

[Catsmate]

Apr 6, 2023 11:04:23 GMT grinch said:

This a bit of a bleed over from the M.R. James thread but I do think there’s enough material for Carnacki to sustain its own thread.

So what do we know of the famous Ghost-Finder in the Whoniverse? Well, we know in his youth he encountered and was possibly mentored by Madame Vastra and that sometime during his career he met the Second Doctor.

But what else did he possibly get up to?

Within the framework of a Who campaign, you could present this as UNIT or a investigatory group stumbling across the previously undiscovered cases of Thomas Carnacki.

As well as using the stories by William Hope Hodgson for inspiration, there are also some original tales penned by Ian Gordon on the HorrorBabble channel as well as an anthology of stories published by William Meikle. The latter of which does lean into more of the supernatural aspects.

Personally, I would also suggest that he was one of the first (or at least widely known) paranormal investigators. With his work either directly inspiring or being used by later investigators such as Jules de Grandin or Doctor Terrance Thirteen.

Here are a few titles that could make for good adventure seeds for an adventure featuring The Ghost-Finder:

* “Dancing Day”
* “They Always Come Back”
* “Voices from the Forge”
* “The Choir Invisible”

I’d also suggest repurposing a lot of literature from the period to fit Carnacki. Maybe in the aftermath of “The Turn of the Screw” he paid a visit to Bly?

Damn, I'd forgotten to replay to grinch's excellent ideas earlier....

Wrt the 'EU' Carnacki stories the HorrorBabble ones are rather good (with a couple of annoying errors and quirks of dialogue). I don't believe I've read the stories by Meikle, though I did fail to finish a mediocre anthology of new Carnacki stories a few years ago, by various authors.
I'm in the process of acquiring Meikle's books; I know his work from his Lovecraft/Cthulhuesque writings.

Probably the best gaming resource on Carnacki is Marcus Rowland's excelent adaption for Forgotten Futures, which I mentioned in the James thread. An excellent place to start, crammed with period background and with a few useful scenarios that could be adapted.

Carnacki could be a period competitor, friend or antagonist, to the Paternoster Gang, possibly with Torchwood connections. In the standard PG setting (i.e. The Screaming Ceiling) he'd be rather young and inexperienced; by the period of his published adventures they may not be around to investigate weird cases.

• In fact he's perfectly placed to get involved in the events surrounding the development and testing of Barrlyght oscillator, an idea that's been on my to-do list for a while.
  

Now, and at the risk of derailing another of grinch's threads, we come to Jules de Grandin, a favourite of mine. He's pretty obscure today, though the amazingly prolific works of Seabury Quinn have been republished in paper and ebook formats. For those not familiar with the 'occult Poirot' I recommend a look; they're perfect for a Pulp era game or scenario.

The idea of UNIT or a similar agency stumbling over a collection of old Carnacki cases has a lot of potential, a campaign where they re-examine his work, checking if his solutions are still effective perhaps?

[grinch]

Apr 12, 2023 20:10:08 GMT Catsmate said:

Apr 6, 2023 11:04:23 GMT grinch said:

This a bit of a bleed over from the M.R. James thread but I do think there’s enough material for Carnacki to sustain its own thread.

So what do we know of the famous Ghost-Finder in the Whoniverse? Well, we know in his youth he encountered and was possibly mentored by Madame Vastra and that sometime during his career he met the Second Doctor.

But what else did he possibly get up to?

Within the framework of a Who campaign, you could present this as UNIT or a investigatory group stumbling across the previously undiscovered cases of Thomas Carnacki.

As well as using the stories by William Hope Hodgson for inspiration, there are also some original tales penned by Ian Gordon on the HorrorBabble channel as well as an anthology of stories published by William Meikle. The latter of which does lean into more of the supernatural aspects.

Personally, I would also suggest that he was one of the first (or at least widely known) paranormal investigators. With his work either directly inspiring or being used by later investigators such as Jules de Grandin or Doctor Terrance Thirteen.

Here are a few titles that could make for good adventure seeds for an adventure featuring The Ghost-Finder:

* “Dancing Day”
* “They Always Come Back”
* “Voices from the Forge”
* “The Choir Invisible”

I’d also suggest repurposing a lot of literature from the period to fit Carnacki. Maybe in the aftermath of “The Turn of the Screw” he paid a visit to Bly?

Damn, I'd forgotten to replay to grinch 's excellent ideas earlier....

Wrt the 'EU' Carnacki stories the HorrorBabble ones are rather good (with a couple of annoying errors and quirks of dialogue). I don't believe I've read the stories by Meikle, though I did fail to finish a mediocre anthology of new Carnacki stories a few years ago, by various authors.
I'm in the process of acquiring Meikle's books; I know his work from his Lovecraft/Cthulhuesque writings.

Probably the best gaming resource on Carnacki is Marcus Rowland's excelent adaption for Forgotten Futures, which I mentioned in the James thread. An excellent place to start, crammed with period background and with a few useful scenarios that could be adapted.

Carnacki could be a period competitor, friend or antagonist, to the Paternoster Gang, possibly with Torchwood connections. In the standard PG setting (i.e. The Screaming Ceiling) he'd be rather young and inexperienced; by the period of his published adventures they may not be around to investigate weird cases.

• In fact he's perfectly placed to get involved in the events surrounding the development and testing of Barrlyght oscillator, an idea that's been on my to-do list for a while.
  

Now, and at the risk of derailing another of grinch 's threads, we come to Jules de Grandin, a favourite of mine. He's pretty obscure today, though the amazingly prolific works of Seabury Quinn have been republished in paper and ebook formats. For those not familiar with the 'occult Poirot' I recommend a look; they're perfect for a Pulp era game or scenario.

The idea of UNIT or a similar agency stumbling over a collection of old Carnacki cases has a lot of potential, a campaign where they re-examine his work, checking if his solutions are still effective perhaps?

He’s one of those characters who I feel has a lot of potential but otherwise never seemed to have reached the starry heights of some of his more well known contemporaries. Perhaps it’s because his writer didn’t own many Carnacki stories before meeting his tragic end in the Great War? 

I liked the one collection of Meikle Carnacki stories I’ve read. Although he does lean heavily into the supernatural aspects of the original stories.

I definitely think you could have Carnacki appear during a Victorian era Paternoster Gang campaign although naturally he’d be better suited for an adventure set during the Edwardian period. Maybe later on when he was more established, Carnacki became briefly involved with the famous Ghost Club of London. But is a member in name only. He either doesn’t have time to get involved in the organisation’s industries or considers them a bunch of time wasters.

In fact, there’s an adventure in the idea that maybe some investigatory group or even UNIT themselves (partaking in a bit of urban exploration) end up stumbling and disrupting an old ritual set up by Carnacki to contain something even he couldn’t dispel. 

With Carnacki now long dead and with modern technology unable to fend off this Entity, UNIT or the group are forced to use Carnacki’s notes or even his methods to combat this horror they’ve unleashed.