Dial GM For Murder

Spoilers ahead!*This article contains spoilers for **Dial GM For Murder**. Be warned!*

## Dial GM For Murder

### Cast

Adam, Dom, Holly, Laurie, Sully, Tilly, Tom

### Characters

Buck McFadden, Carlton Dreevus Nallsin, Harry Peeps, Ivy Cordova, Nathaniel Fairmont, River Proletariat

### Series

NRB Plays Call of Cthulhu

**Dial GM For Murder**, also known as **NRB Plays Call Of Cthulhu (Ep 1 of 3)**, is the first episode of the NRB Plays Call of Cthulhu series.

**Since these episodes have an overarching narrative structure, the episode guides contain major and minor spoilers.**

"*Of course, of all of us to go mad, it’s going to be you. There’s a fragility about you...*"
―Adam
## Scenario

It is Halloween Night, 1927. Our players have been invited to the old Tudor manor of Sir George Reek, on the West Sussex/Hampshire border. Sir George Reek has something grand to announce to the gathered guests.

## Characters

Dom is the Games Master.

* Nathaniel Fairmont (Adam) - he's a priest, not a conman. He's mechanically incredibly handsome but small - a 'sexy cube in a priest's outfit'. He wears a flowing cassock.
* River Proletariat (Sullivan) is an artist from Orléans. He lives in London as the French did not think he was good at painting.
* Harry Peeps (Tilly) is a writer who is very well respected amongst his friends (he thinks), but not yet critically acclaimed.
* Ivy Cordova (Holly) is a musician based in London. She has callouses on her fingers and an easy relaxed nature. She is always smiling, but always watching.
* Carlton Dreevus Nallsin (Laurie) is the curator of the Nallsin museum. He is tall but stooped and walks with a walking stick. He's frail and balding, with round glasses.
* Buck McFadden (Tom) is 6 ft tall, lean and well-muscled, with short black hair, well trimmed stubble and a weather-beaten face.

### NPC

* A butler, yet unnamed.
* Theresa/Teri, the maid.
* Juliet Reek (née Plum), the widow of Sir George's late son Henry Reek, who died in a boating accident last year.
* The Colonel, a military man with a handlebar mustache.
* Scarlett Lindsey, Sir George’s red-headed mistress.
* Sir George Reek, who is older and more ill than when the PCs last saw him.
* A police constable, yet unnamed.
* Detective Monteur, dressed in a fedora hat and a long raincoat. He has piercing blue eyes.

## Notable Moments

* Our hellos are thematic: Awful Adam, Terrible Tilly, Horrible Holly, Spooky Sullivan, Lycanthrope Laurie and Turgid Tom.
* Harry Peeps immediately tries to flirt with a woman who reveals herself to be Juliet Reek, a new widow. Just his luck.
* Fairmont goes off to the bathroom. We start strong with a discussion of how Adam could improve his pissing. Perhaps he could hold his penis this time? He opts for completely removing his cassock. So... this is a role playing game, but it's still a No Rolls Barred role-playing game, is what we're saying.
* On his way back down the stairs, Fairmont overhears a disturbing radio message about a killer who recently escaped from prison. And the weather.
* Butler: "It's pea soup, sir." Fairmont: "Were you listening?"
* As our host, Sir George Reek, explains that that he has found a remarkable old secret, the lightening crashes, the thunder claps and the lights go out. Big bang, big dead.
* Sanity's a big challenge for our players - although some of them surprisingly succeed again and again. And some of them fail rather quickly.
* Carlton is rather undisturbed by his old friend dead before him. "Terrible business."
* Harry is panicking against the wall, but so is Juliet. Tom: "You're in there, mate."
* Ivy examines our body to "make sure he's dead", despite having no medical or first aid skill. She puts her hand in the wound. And then her arm.
* Teri spot! Hi Teri! Teri's ever so pleased to be an NPC.
* Nathaniel steals stuff - a carving knife, a wallet, some jewellery. Ivy sees but chooses not to say anything.
* Adam's insisting on spending his luck - it's going to make it difficult for the group later. He's going to be an albatross. Tom: "I would hang you round my neck." Kink of the Day.
* Harry tries to run for it, quickly pursued by Buck. He crashes into a lovely old woman with a gammon, sending Harry, woman and gammon flying to the floor. Classic Harry.
* Tilly to Tom: "God, this is so masculine!"
* Nathaniel: "Someone give me a hand." River: "I will help! I'm very weak."
* Carlton and Juliet decide to go and visit Sir George's collection. Buck tags along, suspiciously keen.
* Tilly: "So all I had to do is be an old guy?" Dom: "Well, he seduced me!"
* Harry goes drinking with the Colonel. He gets absolutely drunk under the table and Harry collapses. Colonel: "Need to sit down, eh?" Harry: "Oh, I thought I was sitting down... a tremendous idea."
* Dom has papers full of secrets! Adam: "'Mr. Dominic Blampied' written over and over again." Dom: "Oh, it's Adam Allen and you know it is."
* River spots a painting in the lounge and they decide to examine it, given that Sullivan put 75 points into Painting, a skill sure to aid them in a murder mystery. He is the most at painting.
* Adam spends one more luck to get an extreme success. It mechanically grants nothing, but he notices it extremely well.
* Ivy's luck runs out again - she puts her whole hand through the painting. There is now a pattern of Ivy sticking her hand through things just to find out if it bleeds.
* Carlton and Buck make it to the collection, where Buck is very interested in an item in one of the cabinets, covered by a black cloth.
* Carlton and Buck share a never-ending handshake, ignoring the screams of Juliet.
* Harry's grip on his sanity is ever more tenuous. He's got a spider, possibly an octopus, on his face.
* The police are finally here - high possibility that it's the Art Police, here to arrest Ivy for murdering a painting.
* Everyone gathers in the hall, but not before Fairmont finds a very convenient hiding place for his ill-gotten gains and... *other things.*
* Cluedo references are off the charts - the Colonel speaks of a mustard gas attack, Juliet's maiden name is Plum, Scarlett Lindsey was George's red-headed mistress. Even the map of the manor is the shape of the Cluedo house!

## Trivia

* This is among the few NRB productions to carry full end credits.
* This is the first TTRPG that No Rolls Barred has done.
* We end with a teaser for the next episode.
* Dom, the Games Master, is also part of Apocalypse Players, an actual-play podcast using the Call of Cthulhu system.
* The title is a reference to the classic Grace Kelly movie, Dial M for Murder. The "GM" stands for "game master."
* Cluedo references:
	+ The Colonel here speaks of a mustard gas attack he faced during the war, in reference to Colonel Mustard, a player character in Cluedo.
	+ Juliet Reek's maiden name, Plum, is in reference to Professor Plum, a player character in Cluedo.
	+ The old woman who Harry crashes into is a chef - perhaps in reference to Chef White, an original player character before she was renamed Mrs White, then replaced by Dr Orchid.
	+ Scarlett Lindsey's name is in reference to Miss Scarlett, a player character in Cluedo.
	+ The map of Reek Manor uses the same spacing and layout as the Cluedo board.
	+ There are many references to the weapons used in the Cluedo game - Sir George Reek is killed with a pistol and Nathaniel Fairmont finds a clue when he pulls on a candlestick.