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View Full Version : Is my campaign broken? (CoC)



Deathtouched
2010-06-17, 12:10 PM
Hi. I'm currently the DM for a Call of Cthulhu game with three characters (used to be four) running around in it. To give an idea of how I work, I normally take pieces of scenarios from the internet (and sometimes stuff from books and movies) and mix it with my own ideas to get something that works. Here is my problem: (Sorry, just realized how long this is... almost a total recap, you may want to skip to the last few paragraphs if you don't want all this other stuff.... if I do decide to keep going, I'll have to put this in a campaign journal someday)

The original scenario for the investigators was The Haunting, which I thought would be a good introduction to CoC since this was everyone's first time. Not so much. I managed to screw up the investigation (in my opinion) by not letting the investigators find enough clues. Or rather, I gave them too many Idea rolls rather than thinking for themselves and actually looking, though there was a good bit of searching too. Still, not enough, because they reached the final part in two days (in game), which was way too soon in my opinion (Lovecraft's investigators could spend weeks on an investigation). In the end there was too little investigation and too much fighting.

I definitely didn't do a very good job at the horror either. I was a bit nervous and unprepared, so my descriptions weren't top notch. What's more important is that the final battle with the "vampire" came too quickly and I screwed it up. It was nearly a TPK until I realized that the mind-controlled investigator (skipping stuff here obviously) was out of bullets and couldn't finish off his two friends. One investigator led the monster out of the basement while the mind-controlled one and other still conscious investigator fought. Here's where I -really- screwed up.

The other investigator led the monster OUTSIDE, which was obviously a good escape plan since it was unable to control her. But I forgot for a second that the monster was harmed by sunlight, so I said that it was night outside, which was really bad since it couldn't have even been late afternoon by then. I shook that off, but then I had the monster CONTINUE following the investigator (why?) all the way to a police station (no one else was outside? it's freaking BOSTON!) where it drove several police members insane by its appearance. Then the remaining few (a couple died) killed it while the investigator hid. I had the monster dissolve into dust right after to avoid the police getting a better look and being able to say "OMG a zombie." Very un-cthulhu-y ending...

The best part of the fight was actually the other investigators fighting each other, which ended up being pretty cool when the unarmed female librarian manged to overcome the armed Scotsman attacking her. The other woman came back after the monster died and the two of them got the unconscious men out (nobody died). Another little problem was that I didn't have the Dimensional Shambler spell written down so the book the found in the house wasn't much use, though I gave them a different minor spell that is still unused (thinking of saying it was a fake and letting it go...). They also got a magic dagger.

The investigators spent a few days in the hospital then checked out early because of the recent news about murdered policemen and a ransacked house was getting them weird looks from the staff. The guy who hired them to check the house basically dropped out of the story at this point because I decided he skipped town to avoid being linked to the investigators and the murders.

Because of some clues I left lying around, (ie. Spot Hidden+ Idea Roll = oh look, obvious clue) the investigators went to the remains of the cult church next. I screwed up again when they found a hidden library (not the same as the scenario, I did this one) and decided to take the ALL books including some information about where all the cult member supposedly lived. (you find a bunch of old books with strange titles... okay, we'll take them all!). So then they're bringing books back and forth from Boston to Cambridge (where the librarian works) and I decide to have some cultists who were watching the church attack them.

Again, I use too much fighting, too little investigation. The investigators won and one grabbed a female cultists and drove her to the hospital (the other two cultists were dead). His tires got shot out and men from another car (more cultists) grabbed her back and drove off. I decided she would become a recurring villain at this point.

The investigators, one now badly wounded, looted the dead cultists' guns and ammo and went back to Cambridge to the library, taking a few books with them. They searched for cultists but I decided that the info was out of date (the church burned down a while ago) so it was all false leads (whew), except for a few clues pointing to once prominent citizens in Massachusetts (hint for later) Then they decided to stay at the apartment of one of the group in Somerville (note: two are good friends, two are cousins, and two are dating, so they're fairly close).

During the night the cultists burned the library down (only idea I had to stop the investigators from having a huge amount of occult knowledge). Which also meant the librarian's out of a job. Then they get a note with the cult symbol warning them and promising to see them again, so they buy supplies and a new car to get out of town.

I almost screwed up here by letting them leave, but then reversed it next session so they were stopped just as they were planning the trip. By the next plot point. An older woman hired them to investigate her husband's death, which is one of several recent murders (serial killer). She gives them some files she "borrowed" from the police and promises them cash. Now they enter a warped version of a scenario I found on the web.

(skip skip skip) Long story short, the investigators end up looking for information about an ancient aztec cult at the (imaginary) Harvard-Radcliffe Institute (which I created when I realized they were talking to a FEMALE researcher at Harvard, which didn't allow ladies in 1920... oops) because they think an aztec knife was used to commit the murders. They also have some aztec writing and a weird statue from the old woman, whose husband was an archaeologist at the Institute.They suspect the obvious suspect (another researcher) for the murders (and are right) because I suck at clues. So they split into two pairs, one to research and one to investigate the guy (good plan actually).

The two investigators take up residence in the house of the suspect's neighbor (who I was considering to be the REAL murderer as a twist, but changed my mind when I thought of everything else I've screwed up). The next night they see someone leave his house so they follow him, and accidentally bump into him while trying to circle around. They fight and one gets away wounded while the other lies bleeding to death, the man escapes. The police show up (note: I have a problem with police, I keep bringing loads of them in every time the smallest thing happens) and question the investigator who happens to be the same woman who escaped last time.

Then I try to distract everything by having a copy cat killer (already mentioned in game) get caught and blamed for everything, since he admits. The police leave, and the investigator realizes the unconscious one (her cousin) is gone

She calls the other two and they come to help her investigate the suspects house. They get him to invite them in as a distraction, while she sneak in (another cool plan in my opinion, more power to the players). The two find clues that the guy hasn't been eating (normal food at least, I'm getting better at clues :D), and once again the subject of his wife who is "away" comes up in conversation. Meanwhile the other one finds a trail leading to the basement... skip skip skip. They all leave.

Then later they sneak back in and find the guy in the basement cutting up and eating their friend the missing investigator. More fighting, lots of pain, and one investigator knocks himself unconscious (plot point). But the beat the guy and the librarian takes his knife. Best part for me, she collapses from the hidden magic inside.

Police come back (called by the neighbor/investigators' host) and bring the wounded three to a hospital and the body to the morgue (the serial killer lives, more plot). Now is where it gets confusing...

The head physician who takes charge of the three investigators is actually a servant of the Mi-go, missing his brain (jar in the basement). He takes this chance to put an alien device in the unconscious investigator's head, since they have to fix his concussion anyway. The librarian is sick with a fever so everyone goes to bed. She is actually possesed by the spirit inhabiting the knife, which gives her nightmares for the next week. At the same time, the other investigator is hearing weird static and voices, and sometimes wakes up outside his room (device controls him but is malfunctioning). The other investigator who is less hurt continues the investigation with their main contact at the Institute, and finds out that the knife supposedly posses people.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the head of the Institute is actually a member of the cult from before and is trying to frame the investigators for murder because of the books they took. (also, the cult is led by another undead sorcerer who wants revenge because the investigators killed his buddy, sorta). The police have made the connection between the investigators and the murders in Boston and think they may have been working with the serial killer. The wounded cultist woman from before (I named her Angeline :D) is happy that the investigator who captured her died, but still wants revenge.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! The librarian, being possessed and tormented by nightmares, goes to the Institute, steals the knife, kills two researchers and eats their hearts. Then goes back to bed and represses the whole thing, except for a few flashes she remembers as dreams in the morning. The trick is that her room has no window and the nurses now watch the door, so she is actually crawling through the ceiling to another room with a window to escape (there is a loose ceiling tile in both rooms, but the investigators haven't made the connection yet). She also gets strapped down (by her own request), but that won't help either since the spirit can make her strong enough to break free (she's pretty tough already).

So now Dr. Mi-Go (not his name) brings in a psychologist friend from the prominent asylum (which is real) to examine the three investigators. One is secretly a half-crazy cannibal/murderer, one is hearing voices, and the other one is pretty stable but has lost her cousin (the other investigator). The psychologist returns every day to talk with them, and Dr. Mi-Go checks them too obviously (he's their doctor). He brings in a new plot about a boy who recently died at the asylum and was found to have something very interesting inside his head. Psych says it was a hoax, but seems unsure.

The investigators convince the police they are innocent (partially phony story about Boston murders), Institute turns on police and says they have been bribed, told hearsay, tricked, etc. The psych can't get serial killer 1 to confess (catatonic now, his soul is gone), while serial killer 2 (copycat) admits to everything because he wants to be famous for it (really crazy, but I'm thinking of linking him to the knife in some way too).

A week passes in this way, and now we get to the final session... MiGoInHeadGuy (MGG) stops hearing voices (device stops malfunctioning...maybe). PossessedGirl (PG) doesn't dream about murder (made her SAN roll this time). Dr. Mi-Go is happy about all this, but PG notices a scar that he has. Dr. Mi-Go tells her he was in a car accident that gave him amnesia and had to have an operation, but that before that he was interested in the occult (Mi-go took him down because he knew too much, but now he's their slave) PG asks him to look at their notes about the recent occult stuff, thinks someone took him out (but doesn't suspect who). NormalGirl (NG) gets ready to leave and finds out that their female researcher friend got fired (secretly for helping them, but the official story is about an incident from her past which was overlooked previously).

And that night, PG gets totally possessed again and murders (and feeds on) the female researcher because she knew about knife like the other researchers (other investigators are next). She represses it again, but this time there will be a lot of clues (broken strap, loose ceiling tile, similar tile in empty room across from hers, open window there too, raining outside and she wakes up wet with "sweat", and her back injury (from the haunted house fight) hurts because the knife is now stored in her mattress).

If she figures it out... she'll either go indefinitely insane from the knowledge and get possessed, or she'll have to cover it up and figure out a way to destroy the knife (indirectly, because it won't let her harm it herself). I have the Dimensional Shambler spell now, and she still has the book, so I'm considering that if she reads it again she might be able to use the spell to have a shambler take the knife to another plane of existence. (which would sever the connection, maybe?) Also, if she gets caught like the last guy, the knife will abandon her in favor of a new host (might be saved that way).

Dr. Mi-Go is trying to convince MGG to have another surgery (to get the device out). He has Mi-go allies nearby and knows a bit of magic, so it may turn ugly if MGG says no.

Angeline is coming too (already planned this out). She is disguised and plans to question NG about the knife and book, then either knock her out or poison her (haven't decided). The Institute knows investigators have knife because PG only actually killed one researcher the first night, the other one escaped and was questioned about what happened by the cult and killed because he overheard their plans. They also want a book, written in Latin, that the investigators have been trying to get translated (there is a Latin class advertised in the newspaper already, so they plan to go there next).

And finally my question...
I have a lot of other plots set up (including one where the cult goes after the old lady because of the artifacts she has), but I think that in trying to make up for my earlier mistakes I've made this impossibly complicated. Do you think this campaign is still playable, or should I just give up? What would you do?