Station House 4 VS The World is a Dungeons and Dragons campaign inspired by Murdoch Mysteries. It takes place on a private Discord server, and is a collaborative improvisational fanwork.
Station House 4 VS The World has one season currently, with a second in the works. The first season, "Bird's Eye View", follows 8 protagonists uncovering the mysteries of a villains' league known as The Birds, working alongside their allies to take down this opposition. The second season, "Race Against Time", will feature a new set of 8 hopping through time to bring back their time-lost friend and restore order.
Bird's Eye View features the following player characters:
- William Murdoch, a human paladin, played by Salem
- Julia Ogden, a half-elf monk/rogue, played by Ashby
- Llewelyn Watts, a tiefling wizard, played by Rusty
- Clarissa Watts, a tiefling wizard, played by Thea
- George Crabtree, a halfling bard, played by Gillian
- Henry Higgins, a gnome fighter, played by Percy
- Emily Grace, a human cleric, played by Bee
- Thomas Brackenreid, a half-orc barbarian, played by Lucky
Race Against Time features the following player characters:
- Ruby Ogden, a half-elf bard, played by Ashby
- Glenn Scott, a half-elf ranger, played by Oli
- Darcy Garland, a human paladin, played by Thea
- Terrence Meyers, a leonin rogue, played by Salem
- Louise Cherry, a tiefling fighter, played by Gillian
- Rebecca James, a human cleric, played by Chess
- John Brackenreid, a half-orc bard, played by Bee
Station House 4 VS The World contains the following:
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Season 1 - Bird's Eye View
- Adapted Out: Several events of Murdoch Mysteries are moved in the timeline, altered, or removed.
- Backstory of the Day: A frequent occurence...
- Detective Edwards frequently mentions his deceased wife to drive the Llewelyn & Co. sideplot forward. Most notable in session 9.
- Eddie's fears of fire, stemming from his family being burned alive (and his attempted suicide in the same vein). Most notable in session 2 when Eddie's lover, Ed, is presumed dead by fire.
- Book Ends:
- In session 9, Llewelyn's plot opens outside Station House 1, and it ends there too, although his companion Benjamin is significantly more frazzled and sickly when they wrap up.
- The series as a whole starts with Clarissa getting pancakes at Ed and Eddie's Trinket Tavern, and ends with Eddie narrating that exact event to his daughter.
- Clear Their Name:
- Ed Crawford about Eddie Cullen in session 2, after Eddie is falsely accused of robbery.
- Station House 4's initial reaction to Llewelyn's imprisonment in session 7.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: All of The Birds.
Gillies: Don't hurt David, please-
- Family of Choice: The Birds, especially Jess and Bobby.
- Flirting Under Fire: James Pendrick and Julia Ogden in sessions 10 and 11.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop:
- In session 7, Clarissa is good cop and Thomas is bad cop when questioning Benjamin.
- By session 10, however, one could argue they swap places.
- Hell-Bent for Leather:
- Kathleen Cooper has a rather... provocative wardrobe.
- In session 10, Julia borrows a leather bodysuit from Kathleen and realizes she's going to have to fight in it. Her boyfriend's response?
Pendrick: Careful not to rip that. (wink) - Heroic Fatigue:
- Eddie Cullen, after so many attempts to protect his community, finally considers giving up due to sheer stress (and due to realizing he may not be as good as he thought).
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: A running gag with Ed and Eddie.
- Their first ever interaction was sex in a church.
- They're caught feeling each other up on the job in session 1.
- They scramble to redress after having sex under the bar in session 6.
- Mercy Kill: Subverted when Ed begs to Julia and Emily be killed painlessly to prevent The Birds from getting them, only for the two to refuse (and for Ed's life to significantly improve afterwards).
- Never the Obvious Suspect:
- Jess Lacey killing Mary Kemp in session 1, when all signs pointed to Fiona Faust.
- Mr. Germaine knowing the victim in session 10 extremely well, leading Thomas to think it was him that kidnapped her, when The Birds killed her to feed Kathleen.
- Once Upon a Time: The campaign ends with Eddie Cullen recounting the first session as a bedtime story to his young daughter.
- Reference Overdosed: An absurd number of references, quotes, and homages have been implemented in this campaign.
- Scam Religion: Everything involving the pelican worship is a scam pulled by Sally Pendrick It turns out that the whole time, the "deity" they were worshipping was a vengeful Raymond Huckabee.
- Solar and Lunar: Rosewood and John, with Rosewood literally having powers associated with the moon, and John being symbolically sun-like.
- To Be Lawful or Good:
- Detective Benjamin Edwards faces this dilemma upon finding out Llewelyn is bisexual. Does he arrest him, as his superiors instruct him to do, or does he put his friendship first? In the end, it's not quite up to him, as a group of constables, instructed by Eva Pearce, arrest Llewelyn when Benjamin isn't looking.
- To a lesser degree, Thomas and William.
Season 2 - Race Against Time
- Artifact Title: The series' name, Station House 4 VS The World, doesn't work so well when only one of the player characters works for Station House 4.
- Babies Ever After: Eddie, Ed, and Fiona after Season 1.
- Historical Domain Character:
- Sci-Fi author, H.G. Wells
- Canadian Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier
- Steampunk: The clockwork aesthetic and the science fiction elements, in combination with industrialization, make this season a perfect place to see the steampunk aesthetic.
- New Season, New Name: From Bird’s Eye View to Race Against Time.
- Your Tradition Is Not Mine: Ed Crawford to their family, particularly in regards to Beatrice Crawford's criminal tendencies.
References, Quotes, and Homages
- The campaign is based on Murdoch Mysteries, and thus features a number of direct quotes and homages to the original source material:
- The Butcher Shop features a direct quote from Murdoch's "Philately Fatality"...
Llewelyn: Can I call you Jack?- The Case Of The Missing Teapot features a quote from “The Prince and the Rebel”, when Eddie and William see each other for the first time.
Eddie: How would you know? You’re a copper, not a mind reader.- Another homage to “The Prince and the Rebel” comes in the form of character Maggie Gilpatrick. In the original source material, her father says he believes she was swapped out with a changeling as a child. In D&D, she is a changeling, adopted into a hobgoblin family and disguised as such to fit in in her community.
- You Made Me Brave is named after a direct quote from that session, a line taken from Impulse (2018).
- Empty Chairs, Full Tables features Ed saying "He had one person left who still believed in him" (about their husband Eddie). This line is inspired by Kate and Chess in We Are the Tigers.
- Julia's leather bodysuit in Empty Chairs, Full Tables and The Final Stand is an homage to Black Widow.
- When players can't show up to sessions, there is a Running Gag that their characters are at Peli-con, a pelican themed convention run by Hank Green.
- The Birds are originally introduced as a group of 7, a reference to The Adventure Zone's "I saw seven birds..." monologue. More Birds are introduced later, throwing off the number.
- Jess Lacey scratches "He's coming" and "He will set us free..." into her prison cell walls. The latter is taken directly from Bendy and the Ink Machine.
- The session Everywhere I Go is named after the Hollywood Undead song that went viral on Tiktok in a trend involving imagining how characters would act at a party. This happens to be the party session.
Characters and Recap
Season 1 Player Characters
William Murdoch
- By-the-Book Cop: William follows the rules down to the letter.
Julia Ogden
- The Coroner: Fairly Self-explanatory.
Llewelyn Watts
- Master of One Magic: Necromancy, and more specifically, summoning and seeing the ghosts of his loved ones (unbeknownst to most other characters).
Clarissa Watts
George Crabtree
Henry Higgins
Emily Grace
- The Beard: Her and Rosewood pretend to have crushes on each other to hide their separate relationships.
- The Coroner: In addition to helping Julia in the morgue, Emily is a cleric of the Death domain.
Thomas Brackenreid
- Hot-Blooded: It comes with being a barbarian.
- Old-Fashioned Copper: Fairly self-explanatory.
- Papa Wolf: To John, primarily, but he's fiercely protective to his party as well.
Season 1 Allies
Edward Cullen
- Heroic B So D: Eddie in sessions 8-10. After being tortured and left alone, he’s not sure how to handle himself and his trauma, and enters this state.
- I'm Going to Hell for This:
- Eddie is extremely religious, and makes the occasional comment about his behaviour going against the law or the church.
- Additionally, Eddie during his first interaction with Ed.
- Team Dad: Mostly to the Watts siblings, Eddie is a stern protector with experience in parenting. He also has a biological child by the end of season 1.
Edmund Crawford
- Hot for Preacher: Ed first meets Eddie while Eddie is a pastor, and the two quickly develop a sexual relationship (which turns romantic with time).
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Ed is a changeling, and frequently changes their appearance. This especially comes in handy when they [[spoiler:go undercover as James Gillies.
James Pendrick
Marcus Rosewood
- The Beard: Him and Emily pretend to have crushes on each other to hide their separate relationships.
Augustus Jackson
- Friendly Ghost: Llewelyn's phantom friend, Augustus, is a perfect example of this trope.
Jack Walker
- Bury Your Gays: Jack's death in session 6.
- Friendly Ghost: Jack during the later half of season 1, and most of season 2.
- Team Chef: Jack's D&D class is simply "cook" during the sessions where he's not a Seer or deceased.
Season 1 Antagonists
Sally Pendrick
James Gillies
- Blood Magic: James Gillies is a sorcerer who uses hemomancy frequently.
Eva Pearce
- Convenient Replacement Character: Eva first appears in-campaign not long after Celia dies, bringing another antagonist in to replace the missing one.
- Manipulative Bastard: Mostly towards Benjamin, though she can be found using her charms on James Pendrick in session 8 and Detective Watts in session 9.
- Pragmatic Pansexuality: Although she identifies as pansexual, she really only sleeps with people when she needs something from them.
- It is implied she slept with James Pendrick for this very reason.
- The Vamp: She uses her beauty and charisma to manipulate Inspector Mitchell.
Kathleen Cooper
- Hemo Erotic: Heavily implied to be the case with her boyfriend David.
Inspector Mitchell
- Dirty Cop: Self-explanatory, working alongside Eva Pearce.
Jess Lacey
- I Did What I Had to Do: Jess' excuse for killing people is that she had to do it for her family
- Purple Is Powerful: Jess Lacey's powers usually manifest as purple glowing light.
- Straight Edge Evil: Despite being a villain, Jess has a strict moral code, including no drinking or drug use.
Celia White
David Martin
- Voluntary Vampire Victim: David towards Kathleen.
Robert Brackenreid
- Hot-Blooded: It comes with being a barbarian.
Season 2 Player Characters
Ruby Ogden
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Lampshaded when Ed directly calls her this, in response to finding out she's Julia's sister.
Glenn Scott
Darcy Garland
Terrence Meyers
Louise Cherry
Rebecca James
John Brackenreid
- Father, I Don't Want to Fight: Carried over from Murdoch Mysteries; John is a pacifist who only fights to prove something to his father.
Season 2 Antagonists
Agent Baker
- Time Police: Agent Baker is an antagonistic example of this.
We Hardly Knew Ye
Mary Kemp
- Asshole Victim: Unclear whether she actually fits the trope, since everyone who shares stories of her has reason to be biased against her.
Elizabeth Edwards
Miscellaneous
Fiona Faust
Owen Paxton
Benjamin Edwards
- Backstory of the Day: The followup to the apparition scene in session 9. Here, we learn that his deceased wife could "see things", much like Llewelyn and the various Seers in season 1.
- Transparent Closet: Everyone suspects Benjamin is bisexual, except Ben himself.
The following page contains spoilers for Station House 4 VS The World...
Season 1 Session 1 - "Macabre Mermaids"
In the pilot session of season 1, we lay down the groundwork for the season as a whole. We are shown around town, including descriptions of important locations (Ed and Eddie's Trinket Tavern and Station House 4).
- Everyone Meets Everyone: Self-Explanatory.
- Victim of the Week: Mary Kemp.
- Welcome Episode: Clarissa Watts meets the rest of the player characters.
Season 1 Session 2 - "The Case of the Missing Teapot"
Season 1 Session 3 - "The Butcher Shop"
Season 1 Session 4 - "Everywhere I Go"
Season 1 Session 5 - "Cop-Napping"
Season 1 Session 6 - "You Made Me Brave"
Season 1 Session 7 - "Staying The Night"
Season 1 Session 8 - "Plans Set In Motion"
Season 1 Session 9 - "Apparitions"
Season 1 Session 10 - "Empty Chairs, Full Tables"
Season 1 Session 11 - "The Final Stand"
Season 1 Session 12 - "Once Upon A Time"
The epilogue
- Once Upon a Time: This session is named for this trope, and it comes in the form of Eddie recounting his adventures throughout the campaign to his young daughter, Rosie May.
