Anybody ever run Horror on the Orient Express? I heard it's extremely, for lack of a better word, on rails most of the time. But is it ENJOYABLE. For $120 on Chaosium it kinda makes me a bit nervous. Right now I'm just going to start off my investigators with Shadows of Yog-Sothoth until I really get a good idea. Also call of cthulhu thread I suppose? I don't know if you guys general CoC or not.
For a moment, I thought they made a game of this old horror movie I saw a long time ago. But the name of that movie was apparently just "Horror Express".
>>46851753
It is flawed but a classic. It is long and pretty deadly, although less so than Masks. There is certainly a challenge in adapting it, and there is secondary literature to help you on the way. Horror was written at a time when there were no big narrative games, and so it relies heavily on players minmaxing their way through skill challenges and combat.
It is definitely NOT a module you can read as you go. It is vital to understand it all, be prepared for twists and turns, and to give it your own shading.
>>46852044
Yeah I could see me using that after I finish maybe masks or shadows. Definitely would give me the time to save up cash for the boxed bundle. I probably was hoping to save up for some candles, maybe some aesthetics to get a nice mood going. I'm big on theatrics of play.
>>46852149
Get some nice steam train sound off YT. Prepare different crowd atmos for all the different stops, languages sound different even when incomprehensible.
Have a returning prop like a diner car table lamp or a special ash tray that you can put on the game table whenever the party is on the train.
There's tons of props like passports, tickets, telegrams, etc. as well as specific handouts that go way beyond the old Chaosium rags.
>>46851753
I actually liked the whole part in Italy a lot, complete with the romance melodrama that actually has nothing to do with the main plot. The only problem is that this really needed a fight in the clock tower. (Not that the statues aren't hilariously dangerous enough.)
I don't think it's possible to survive the whole thing. It's not as deadly as Masks, but you can still fuck up a lot.
>>46851753
>>46851934
A big draw of the Call of Cthulu campaigns is how fleshed-out they are. I think Beyond the Mountains of Madness is especially great, because - For the first half - absolutely no supernatural weirdness happens. Just preparing for a voyage and an expedition is already damn tough.
>>46852149
I'd place Masks behind Horrors on the freely sliding scale of required player competency. Play it after. And don't play two major CoC scenarios back to back.
Also you seem to imply character survival. This can happen, but it's not a good base for an ongoing campaign. Hell, in Masks every player needs to have relatives or other partly initiated NPCs ready because PCs will definitely perish and they will need a sensible replacement.
Bump on the bump express!
I vaguely recall some CoC scenario that involved infants being hung on a tree - it was advetised in Dragon magazine in the 90s as shattering or some such. Any ideas of the title?
>>46858049
Nope. But this might help
http://yog-sothoth.com/wiki/index.php/DAGON_%28Magazine%29
>>46858256
Thanks, but I meant DRagon, the D&D mag, not Dagon.
Any good guides or annotated versions?
