Call of Cthulhu Thread -
==Do you guys actually want this regular? Edition==
>General Links
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/h9qjka0i4e75t/Call_Of_Cthulhu#oel9v4x2xn379
That's stuff for everything minus DG (Sorry!)
The starter for today is:
What is your favourite lovecraft story to use elements of in your games?
>>46019239
>favourite lovecraft story to use elements of
At the Mountains of Madness.
It's pretty late in his work and kind of spoilers some stuff. It takes a very informed perspective about the Mythos. How reliable this information is remains ambivalent, but it has been used as the foundation for much of the Mythos structure other authors have expanded on.
>Do you guys actually want this
Threads are much more productive if they pose a specific question relating to an actual game being played. All this /general/ hypothesizing is a hollow echo chamber. I don't mind it. But you better hope someone asks an interesting question soon.
>>46019592
That's fair. Problem is, I still want to make this more popular as a system to discuss, and I can't ask interesting questions all the time. I thought a general worked better.
Also, on the topic of stories to use, the classic Shadow over Innsmouth, especially when doing civil work in the commonwealth or such.
So I've been trying to figure out for a while how I could DM a Scooby Doo themed CoC game. Of course, the players would be the Gang, but I'm stuck on trying to write a story that would feel like Scooby but also be good Lovecraftian horror. I even have a goofy themed character sheet for each character (Scoob included). What do you guys think a good monster, setting, or scenario would be? And I don't just want to rip off Mystery Incorporated, because half of my players have seen it.
I have an idea, you tell me if it floats.
It's an introductory scenario for CoC. It sticks pretty much to the classic setup: 1920s intellectuals drawn into the paranormal and eventually the horrific. It will be on the pulpy side. And it should be replayable.
The idea is that it presents newbs with enough Mythos lore to teach them what to expect while also remaining ominous enough to provide a thrill even to veterans. To do this it presents choices and these lead to different paths, revealing different mysteries and creatures, and concluding in different showdowns. Everything will be very simple and modular.
The challenge is to finish the adventure. Obstacles are of course mystery, lapsing sanity, and sometimes combat - which will be very deadly. But it allows for modules that focus on specific themes, like trust, morality, bravery, or logic, giving keepers and players opportunity to discover different modes of play, different pacing, and rails of varying latitude.
In the end any PC that survives gets an epilogue like
>made into a Wendigo by Ithaqua
>lost forever in the Dreamlands
>taken over by a Yithian and projected into another body in the distant past, err future?
>disassembled and stored eternally by Mi-go in a brain jar
That way the keeper can give them a callback in other scenarios by having them show up as NPC, let the PCs find their remains as a clue, or present a text authored by them later.
Yes, it's CoC CYOA in a way. But it could be a better introduction than The Haunting.
>>46019931
You are not working on CoC. You are working on a lighthearted fun little homage that happens to cannibalize Lovecraft for flavor.
That's fine. But it's not CoC. Try Spirit of the Century.
>>46019931
I had any idea related to this where the gang would go to Necronomicon, GenCon or the HPL film fest. They would meet a lot of modern famous Lovecraft people and it would get pretty meta. Basically have guys like Sandy Petersen, Chris Lackey and Oscar Rios take the roll the Harlam Globetroter usually do in Scooby Doo.
Then the monster would show up and threaten to shut down the Con at which point they would have to figure out what was going on.
>>46019931
Do this instead.
>>46020272
The idea would be luring my friends into a false sense of security by presenting them with familiar faces in the form of cartoon characters. The game would go off the deep end as it progresses. It wouldn't be a dude in a suit, if you're concerned about that.
>>46020362
I am concerned about it all coming apart because the players expect something entirely different. I am concerned with horror serving as a hollow trope instead of a functional tension curve. I am concerned with confusion and frustration leading to a completely lost suspension of disbelief.
CoC is deadly. Solving problems by rolling initiative doesn't work. The game is managing resources in a long shot for the real revelation at the end. If your players don't know that then they're moving chess pieces with poker faces while you jump checkers across the board.
>>46020238
Yeah, that sounds quite good. Although I would leave the epilogues to something more mysterious, like fell into the sea on a harbour, or went hiking in the Vermont hills and was never seen again.
>>46020541
As long as it drives home the point that the PC is gone after the scenario. It's not a campaign. Move on to the next one.
>>46020526
I understand that. I trust my group to be able to discern when a game gets serious. The story wouldn't be too long, and the conclusion would designed in a way that doesn't leave any of the gang alive.
What would you recommend I do to keep this in the spirit of CoC?
>>46020807
Play it straight before you subvert it.
>>46021097
I was doing that before we stopped playing due to lack of free time. It was pretty pulpy but the horror was ramping up. I was about to start a scenario involving a stage play of Carcosa that would have different scripts for each PC. Some versions would be normal, but others would have one of the characters break down on stage and scream about horrors that the viewer can't see, or one where no one even appears onstage.
Eventually the play would start to cause the audience to begin killing each other in a mouth-frothing rage, which the players would have to either prevent or keep casualties low (if they don't get affected themselves).
>>46021406
That is certainly a valid way to have fun with CoC.
But have you considered tension at all? It's pretty tricky, but that's what CoC is all about for me.
>>46021539
There would be buildup to the play for a few in-game days. One of the actors would be a previously-established friend of one of the PCs. He would be able to let them behind the scenes to meet with the actors and staff, one of whom is a worshipper of Hastur. He was the one who had the play chosen and put on, so that the audience would sacrificed in Hastur's name. The players would stumble on a few hints of his association with Big H, but it wouldn't be clear who the cultist is. The suspense would come from the mystery behind this never-before-seen play, the bizarre costumes and script, and the whodunit behind it all. Especially after one or two of the low-end staff goes missing during production.
Obligatory
>>46020238
Stage 1
Collect documents or contacts. This is where players get to know each other's characters, have a little backstory, and inquire about lots of things that hint at more but are not in themselves evidence of the supernatural.
Decision time
The characters get a motivation to pick. This will have to be constructed and I'm not yet sure how. The point is they sit down with all the possibilities of adventure they have gathered and pick one. Ideally this is a pile of handouts.
>The book in the library that makes people feel weird when they read it and after
>The letter from a colleague on expedition who has found something strange and feels watched
>The Telegram from a friend who is in dire straights with strange locals in a remote town
>The request from a psychiatrist to investigate inexplicable dreams many of his patients report having
So the players can chose if they want to explore strange lands abroad, of discover the secret behind an innocuous village of simpletons.
Stage 2
This is where the real adventure starts, only the characters and their motivation are already established. The party has already done things together, even if that was formulaic. Now they have agreed on a handout to pursue and that takes them into a short mystery that will end them. The scenarios should have crucial choices built in. Like whether to cooperate with or antagonize NPCs while the latter is harder to roll. Or whether to be circumspect or direct in investigating. This should be ready to play for lazy keepers, not up to their individual ingenuity - that's extra.
It should really play out in a session. Better have three nights with different choices than one choice that drags on for three nights. And the players should get used to burning through characters in a session. The important thing is that they don't become disposable but rather variations on a theme, each interesting in their own way as long as you make them vivid.
>>46019239
The mediafire is missing the 1890s investigator companion, just letting you know
HBO'S TRUE DETECTIVE EDITIONSOME SPOILERS FOR THOSE, WHO DID NOT WATCH THE SERIES
YE HAVE BEEN WARNED
Shithole in Luisiana. Detectives investigate the ritualistic murder of former prostitute Dora Kelly Lange, found in a still smoking field of burned crops, with a symbol painted on her back and wearing a "crown" of deer antlers, blindfolded and posed as if praying to a large solitary tree. Numerous twig latticeworks, like Cajun bird traps, are found with her body in and around the field.
Their investigation brings up the case of Marie Fontenot, a little girl whose disappearance five years earlier was not investigated. Another report is brought up of a child who claimed to be chased through the woods by a "green-eared spaghetti monster.
Later they interview underage prostitute Beth, find Lange's diary and learn the location of the church, which was destroyed in a fire, and that Lange came under the influence of a man she called the "Yellow King" in a place called "Carcosa." While searching through the wreckage of the church, they find a nightmarish image of a woman with deer antlers painted on a wall.
>>46028623
Is True Detective horror stuff? I always thought it was generic cop show.
>>46029002
Second season is generic cop show. First one is more like X-Files, with some interesting things in the background (like Yellow King, Carcosa, rednecks, inbreds, drugs, murders and so on), but you will not find there any monsters, zombies, tentacles or shit. You should watch it tho.
>>46029080
I want more Cthulhu Mythos stuff in television, but i know that if that happens tumblr and other annoying people will get into it and ruin it.
Indiana Jones + lovecraftian mythos, yay or nay?
>>46026350
not my mediafire i'm afraid, just the most complete one i could find.
>>46030057
nay
>>46029002
It is not horror.
It is a character study of two cops who investigate a ritual murder over years. It is almost more concerned with their personal trauma than their case. Themes of Chambers' are used to flavor the murder, but it is not a horror genre show. Everything is quite mundane and supernatural themes are not even implied.
It's wonderful though. The entire narrative is framed in the epilogue. The cast is superb and filmed with a deliberate pace conveying impact. When the editing picks up it turns into gritty professionalism. Very smooth!
S2 is shit.
>>46028623
No thanks youd have to be a neanderthal to enjoy modern tv especially cop show #372814820077456124568
I cancelled my cable around the time walking dead episode 3 aired and haven't regretted it in the slightest
>>46030904
>When the editing picks up it turns into gritty professionalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_HuFuKiq8U
>>46030904
>Everything is quite mundane and supernatural themes are not even implied
what
>>46034045
It looks like someone who believes crazy shot is killing people, not like crazy shit is really true. Even the cgi in the last episode is long before explained by the character.
It's not impossible to read something supernatural into the story. But it is neither rewarding, nor something the creators took into account. Any horror elements are mere flavoring
>>46030057
Not indi specifically but a pulpy stand in would be pretty normal.
Ok I dont want to download all of this so which edition is best/has the most content?
keeping in mind that my taste is pretty Grognard/OSR
>>46034847
6th edition.
I have this for some reason
>>46035007
I have this
>>46034847
6th. I've said this before but 7th edition is a little dodgy with some of the rules, not to mention 6e being used as the standard for non CoC games.
>>46030057
Indy's themes are great for CoC, but the genre isn't. Where Indy is heroic, even anti-heroic, protected by more plot armor than a WW1 tank can break down, and thoroughly unconcerned with san loss unless played for comic relief, CoC characters are caught up in the story, entirely doomed, and more concerned with integrating dissonant reality than with anything else.
If you approach CoC by naively making an Indiana Jones character then you die at your first little stunt. Well you might live, but you certainly break more bones than can heal before the story moves on. If you don't then your keeper is doing it wrong by doling out plot armor no PC is supposed to have. And that breaks CoC by removing any gamble. With plot armor it's just telling spooky stories. And then why use mechanics at all?
There are great mechanics for playing Indy. But CoC just isn't it. You'll find a lot of fluff though.
>>46034847
>keeping in mind that my taste is pretty Grognard/OSR
Either edition is equally bad for you, they don't differ much. But if you approach an investigation with the need to conform to your DnD mindset then nothing's going to work.
If you fight all the time you die all the time. You can't level up. BRP doesn't balance your encounters. There's no bonus to have anywhere. Because that's not what it's about. Maybe Runequest or Torchbearer can help you.
Fishermen along the Massachusetts coast complain about freak black algae blooms destroying and contaminating their catch. A young research biologist from Miskatonic University in Arkham is dispatched to investigate. He sets up a small lab in an Innsmouth barn while going out on boats with the fishermen to gather samples. After a few weeks his reports start becoming erratic and disturbed. At the same time fishermen start to vanish and whole boats are lost or found adrift and empty.
The PC are gathered by their old professor/friend who is the head of biology at Miskatonic. They are asked to meet the researcher at Innsmouth, assess his mental state and his work, and report back within the day by telegram. The police has begun an investigation into the researcher's doings after local opinion has turned against him. The press has gotten interested and if there is a story out there that the university was somehow involved in deaths it could devastate the funding for essential research.
That was before the Coast Guard got involved.
The PCs are all attending a gala party at some high class estate/mansion. The host is premiering a new artistic movie that is set to be released to theaters at the end of the month. When the movie starts, the players are dragged into a trance like state, and a violent riot/orgy breaks out. The awake to find themselves at their respective homes, with no knowledge of what the movie was about or how they got home after the party. They then find that the party was over a week ago, several other people from the gala are missing. As they try to piece together information about what happened they slowly discover they were caught up in a horrifying ritual, unwillingly taking the part of cultists and preforming depraved acts to satisfy the whims of some terrible ancient force. The movie hits national release in one week.
The PCs are all aboard some transcontinental train, a four or five day journey, and happen to be sharing a car/sleeping compartment. Give them some strange encounters or see some odd things happening, or strange people. One night, they are rudely awoken when the train grinds to a shuddering halt. They are stopped halfway into a mountain tunnel. The conductor gets off the train to walk the length and check for problems, and is dragged away screaming into the woods by strange figures. Something has stopped the train and is set on taking everyone on board for some nefarious purpose. Some of them might already be on the train disguised as passengers.
>>46036629
What's your favorite one shot senario and why?
For me it's Crimson Letters from the new 7th Ed rulebook. I can run it a dozen times and never have the same scenario. The ability to change who the villain is, is a great feature. Plus you can switch the monster and book out of anything you want to mix things up.
>>46036843
Cute.
>>46036883
A Cold War (TUO #11)
Can only be played once.
>>46037085
God this is huge.
I don't know how i'll use it but i'm sure I will thanks a bunch.
>>46037241
I tried few times to upload that shit, always got some stupid error that file is too big. I'm glad it finally over.
Cephalophobia.
Courtesy of the Miskatonic University Podcast.
>>46019239
The rats in the walls.
That is great inspiration whenever I can get people into a big, abandoned house.
Then you use music from different games or media that derived inspiration from the book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t65Mcl7mT6g
Then boom, you got a group listening to your every word, anxious to what shit you're going to pull next. It's the best.
badonkadonk
>>46038532
I fear if I try to describe one of those idols to my players (a furry) they will just drag the mood down with their magical realm
>>46039244
>>46034162
>nor something the creators took into account
I doubt the creators would have included specific mentions of Carcosa and the King in Yellow if they didn't intend for there to be some debate over whether or not something supernatural was happening. I know the vision at the end can be attributed to Rust's history of drug use but as a CoC fan I want to believe that S1 was one big Not-Delta Green story.
>>46036883
On paper Night Floors for DG is one of the best scenarios I've ever read but I know that if I were to run it for my group they would be completely lost from the get go.
>>46039549
>I want to believe
And that's your prerogative. But the show will not deliver if you watch it with that expectation.
>>46039782
I think there was enough ambiguity to support both a mundane and supernatural explanation. If I was expecting to see a full blown unnatural manifestation I'd agree that I'd have been disappointed but as it stands there was enough Mythos flavor to make even the possibility of its legitimacy fulfilling.
>>46036022
No shittt anon, Ive played the damn game several times before. Just never owned it.
Running Tatters of the King.
It's good.
That is all.
What are some fun challenges or realizations that you have come up with?
>A house is laid out in a winding, near maze-like pattern
>Obvious spooky shit is going on, but nothing major yet.
>A couple of left turns are made.
>Have players make a knowledge mathematics or geography or just plain old perception*5 or whatever.
>If they suceed, they come to realize that they should have looped back on themselves.
>If they use some other form of specialized equipment, they will find they have descended despite a complete lack of incline.
>>46044478
There's a scenario called 'Westchester House' in the Call of Cthulhu scenario book, "The Asylum and Other Tales." It's based on the real life Winchester Mystery House, which would make a good launch point for what you're suggesting (although IIRC the scenario as written has a mundane plotline, so you'd have to alter it).
![latest[1].gif](https://i.imgur.com/2Zr5DOq.gif "latest[1].gif")
>>46044478
I like this idea. Could be done just randomly in a house filled with magic having people show up in odd places and really make a place seem odd.
>Characters see something weird.
>Something weird leaves.
>Characters open their eyes as if waking up.
>Character have no recollection of falling asleep or losing memory.
>Have all the tell tell signs they were just asleep.
>>46045496
Does anyone now where to get a GOOD copy of TAaOT?
The only ones I can find are missing pages and have some in the wrong order.
>>46019239
>What is your favourite lovecraft story to use elements of in your games?
Dunwich horror easily, it is also my favorite Lovecraft story by far. There are no "massive monuments" or "exotic locations" or "evil villagers", rather it is situated at the countryside. Which is perfect isn't it? Everyone gets that.
Up up up.
>>46036883
I really like Convergence from the Delta Green Core book. Great introduction to DG and feels like an X-File episode.
Am I the only one who thinks The Haunting is pretty good but not great ? I think Edge of Darkness is a far better starter scenario
A question to experienced keepers.
So you have a campaign background in mind and want to go in long term. How do you go about creating the actual meat (adventures) for each session? Do you basically just write a bunch of scenarios like you normally would for oneshot adventures but with tie-ins to the campaign? I understand that the players will be influencing the creation of much of the content but I feel I need to have a pretty detailed scenario worked out atleast for the first few sessions. I'm sure after a few sessions with stuff having happened the course will be clearer.
This will be the first CoC campaign I run and I'm determined to create all the content myself. Pre-written stuff feels so restrictive. Help and tips appreciated.
>>46044478
You could do a supernatural take on the serial killer HH Holmes.
>>46049822
>How do you go about creating the actual meat (adventures) for each session?
I create something like sandbox - see, my last CoC campaign was set in small town about dozen miles from Innsmouth, so I put my players in some kind of motel/pub, where players can talk about everything with everyone or read newspapers or go shopping or whatever, i.e. they read or hear about weird things in 'old town', some kid missing here, suicide there, robbing goes wrong, old creepy fuck who eat only fish and so on, and so on.I'm sorry if it sounds like gibberish, but english is not my native language, pls no bully.
I'm gonna bump this thread. Just because.
Has anyone taken scenarios from CoC and adapted them to a DG campaign? I realize they're the same system, but a lot of these scenarios are obviously geared more toward the classic Lovecraftian/pulp heroes and I was wondering if they could still work in an "operators operating" style setting like DG.
>>46052011
Bumpin this question, I'm curious. Picture... somewhat... related, I guess.
>>46052039
>2 minute bump
>ToC art
>can I play 20s horror scenarios in modern secret agent game
Nope, no, and unlikely.
>>46052117
>rekt
Nice thread, by the way. Here, have some pdf.
>>46052011
In CoC you discover a problem. Which then ends you.
In DG you solve problems. Whatever the cost.
>>46052351
True, but it shouldn't be difficult to have some overlap. Maybe if the group is primarily friendlies rather than agents, or the agency initially sends them to investigate something spooky without knowing what it is. I suppose I should be asking if it is difficult to update scenarios from their 1920s setting to something more contemporary. Obviously there would be some sort of tonal shift if the players are agents, but I don't know if that would have to come into play until there's a confrontation with the unknowable evil of the scenario.
>>46052794
Why though?
>>46052889
In case I was running a DG campaign and wanted the occasional throwback to a traditional Lovecraft story within the campaign.
Haven't played CoC, so I don't know if or why the two couldn't play well together. I had assumed that there shouldn't be much of an issue, what with them more or less running on the same system, but I wanted to know what others thought.
>>46053048
DG was developed to fix some issues of CoC campaign mode. It provides plot devices that preempt many of the crucial points in a CoC scenario. Mainly replacing lost PCs and explaining away how the Mythos is unknown in a society where it pops up every other week. The characters are built entirely differently. And this will bite you if you try to bend one to the other.
Better take the themes of a CoC scenario and let them inspire a DG mission.
>>46053158
Thank you. I hadn't known about such issues. I suppose using them as inspiration makes more sense than trying to force a square peg into a round hole.
Spoken by a Canadian madman.
"Don't you love American industry? Look at these beasts they've made! Screaming, fire-breathing, steel-clad DEMONS! I have to say when you exploded me into the sky before, you INSPIRED me. We're going to re-create that first little detonation in Alaska when that blow-torch reaches that tank of my own 'special blend'. The only difference will be that this time there's an apartment building full of people next-door. Don't worry though, their deaths won't be in vain. I've set up a magnificent magical circle around the block, and every soul will be delivered directly into Lord Ithaqua's waiting claws!"
>>46053158
>Mainly replacing lost PCs and explaining away how the Mythos is unknown in a society where it pops up every other week
Exactly how does DG handle those?
>>46053887
There is a secret organization called DG that sends replacements, keeps everything secret, and fends off what incursions they can find. It's all in the structure. The law enforcement, the cells, the secret agency so secret not even the government knows (now they do again), the independent operation of cells, the lack of support, the green box plot dispensers, the cruel and absolute rules of the organization, the inevitably suffering private life, the definition of the line between insanity and unauthorized disclosure, ...
DG is what happens when a bunch of veterans play CoC for a long time and refuse to play something else, to let it get silly, or to redefine the essence of the antagonism.
>>46054096
>a bunch of veterans play CoC for a long time and refuse to play something else
That's these folks btw
>>46035364
>>46049561
That seems to be a common opinion.
I agree Heart is far better but it's not as straightforward as Haunting which makes it good for new players and keepers. IMHO
>>46034162
"him who eats time... him robes is a wind of invisible voices"
yeah, totally not supernatural
