Magnus RPG

I posted here a while ago about a fantastic present my boyfriend gave me, which included a treasure hunt and a copy of the players' guide for the Magnus Archives Role-Playing Game. I was able to get a group gathered, thanks to this sub, and we are about to do our 4th session. I created a homebrew world based on some fun facts that I stumbled across about Olympia Fields, Illinois. While everything in our campaign is fictional, I drew inspiration from the way the town looks, some landmarks, and the local governance system, and, of course, from the Magnus archives and Magnus Protocol podcasts.

The campaign centers on the Jonah Magnus Library, a central pillar of the community. This building comprises a central tower (3 floors open to the public) and two wings (2 floors each); the bottom floor of each wing is a covered patio.
it was built in the 1940's and has burned down twice but somehow always manages to "spring back up" its open from 9 am- 8 pm M-F and Saturday 9:30 am-2 pm, and houses approximately 20 staff, run by a very bright and bubbly librarian by the name of Rosalie Crane. The security team is comprised of 4 members, as for some reason, due to its historic location, it is often the target of B&E's, fires, and vandalism.

This is the most extensive public library in the southern half of the state and has a cafe, two covered outdoor patios, one specifically for children, a public container garden, and another reserved for quiet. The library also houses a state of the art computer lab/lounge complete with a VR set up, as well as huge literary collection complete with approximately 45,000 different volumes (fiction-all types- philosophy, religion, social science, language, history, science- including a specific section for manuscripts and thesis- technical books, young adult novels- including those that might be needed for school curricula- classical literature, financial, arts, references, computer science, cook books/ cuisine and a HUGE kids section) in several languages including braille, about 50 years worth of magazines and periodicals, and thousands of movies, books on tape and music collections including records, cassettes, and CDs- there is a sound room on the third floor, for people to listen, people can also rent equipment (record, cassette & CD players, VCR and CD players. and laptops). Community members often visit at least once a week, grab a coffee/tea/snack at the cafe, socialize, or pick up a book and sit either on the patio or inside. There are often TONS of children (toddler-teens) reading/playing/socializing. Many community members often tend to and teach about the container garden. Local artists can set up in the Wing One Patio area on Saturdays to display/sell their artwork.

We have a lovely cast of player characters:

Mara Vexly- A pretentious Occultist who solves mysteries.

Eva Moon- A smart Occultist who fights dirty.

Jack Flemming- a ruthless Protector who leads.

Vivian Park- A likeable elocutionist who works back alleys.

Jason Walts- a quick investigator who explores dark places.

In session 1: Vivian started a new job at the library. She was introduced to Eva (owner of the Moons, Myths, and Magic occult shop) and her employee, Mara, who were visiting the library to retrieve a special-order book. Jason, who was lurking upstairs, was distraught when Rosalie borrowed his court docket (this is still a running joke). And Jack, head of security, was hurriedly running about the place completing tasks and "keeping an eye" on a set of triplets who gave him "weird vibes" (another running joke- Jack doesn't believe in triplets)

Session 2: Eva and Mara were offered a sale of an odd collection of old medical tools from a repeat customer (Macy). They found her too suspicious and refused the sale. After a veiled threat and loose threads of information, the pair decided to break into the library later that evening. Viv, in her primary role of 'computer room supervisor,' stumbled across a startling collection of internet searches, including "how to quit a job," "can you feel when someone's looking at you," "don't look away, she hates that," among others. Jason, continuing his investigation into a car crash, attempts to interrogate Viv about her involvement. Jack, on the lookout for "suspicious people," helped a lost child, an elderly man with the slow elevator, and handled a suspicious bag. He then stumbled across some static-filled video footage of the triplets from the day before. Chasing them back into the elevator they introduced themselves as the Mortlock triplets and begged Jack not to tell Rosalie about the, "'comin up too early." after a 4 hour seemingly endless elevator ride, Jack, now overwhelmed with claustrophobia pried himself out of the elevator, stumbling into Jason and Viv, and the sneaky pair from Moons, Myths and Magics (who had just ran inside after a suspicious voicemail-with no prior call- from Jack) Rosalie met the group and her "associate," Cassity, and an outburst of questions prompted a meeting the next morning.

Session 3: The group started on the library porch, Jason hastily questioning Viv. Eva guided the group back to her shop to continue talking a little more civilized. Tea was made, a mothman statue was provided for comfort, and hypotheses about their current situation began to fly. The group rested, and the next morning, met with a very dismissive Rosalie bright and early. Most got frustrated and stormed off. Mara had a more-than-heart-to-heart with Rosalie. Eva and Viv stumbled across Cassity "the associate," who promised that all their questions would be answered if they went to the address provided on a ratty, curled business card and ran her a little errand. Jack and Jason went to the security room to review more footage from the night before, and were later joined by a shaken Mara. The group planned to meet after Jack and Vivian's shift. The session ended with Jack deciding to ditch work and go on this side quest with Eva and Mara before their evening meeting.

Session 4: Started with a party split- Eva, Mara, and Jack(who skipped his shift at the library) found their way over to the address on the business card, a nice little apartment belonging to Macy. Soon, it became a combat zone as Eva attempted to steal the roll of tools quickly. Macy had become almost unrecognizable, bearing three faces and six arms, gently playing her pipe of scrimshawed bone, fought, and was severely injured by the trio. Eventually, getting them to listen to her, they made the sale of tools and took them back to the library. Viv and Jason had a regular enough morning, Jason added a new case to his docket, and Viv reminded the kids not to get anything sticky on the computers. Their afternoon, however, was much weirder. Viv was again confronted with a creepy message on the computer screen, and both were led to an old case involving the disappearances of several people in the area about 30 years earlier. The papers and facts seemed fairly misleading, and some were contradictory. They were "helped" along by a gentleman by the name of Caleb Mercer, who led them to a misfiled statement belonging to Rosalie Crane, the librarian, who had described when and why she had become so very fearful of holes. A very late-night confrontation at the library ended with Jack being suspended without pay for 3 weeks, and the whole group being very hurriedly asked to leave the premises. The night ended with the group returning to the Magic shop, curling up with blankets and pillows in the staff lounge, drinking their tea (and whiskey), and trying to sort out the day's events. They were woken by Cassity, who had a small job for Viv, telling her that it would earn her a full day off, with pay, all she had to do was drop off some gloves at Rosalie's office. The session ended with Eva, Mara, and Viv returning to the shop and finding an Ace of Swords tarot card that had been placed in their door. At the same time, Jason and Jack argued about nothing in particular.

Here's to many more sessions! I'd love to hear from any other DMs who are running this tabletop and how you are weaving your stories.