[CoC] Something's not right...

[squishycube]

Hello forumites.

I am currently writing a short Call of Cthulhu campaign that my group will hopefully at some point play. At this point in the creation process, I am thinking of suitable Weird things that can happen. These Weird things should not be blatantly wrong, or impossible, but rather seem quite ok on the surface, but on closer inspection something seems wrong, it just does not fit. The aim is to give the players a feeling of unease. As the story progresses, the Weird things should become weirder.

Why, you ask, are you posting here then? Well, I was hoping that you good people could help me think of such weird things. I'll give some details about the story.
It takes places in the 1970's in Manchester, England. The players are all police officers working on a special task force to catch a serial killer. The serial killer is a cultist, working under the instructions of a demon who wants to be summoned into the world. The murders form a ritual that will in the end enable the demon to step through a portal. As the ritual progresses, his demonic influence grows and more and weirder Weird things start to happen.

An example of a Weird thing I'm thinking of using is the case of the man who appears to have been sliced open, while fully conscious, without resisting his ordeal.

The story is obviously a horror game, and gruesome things are acceptable (maybe even encouraged).

If you have general ideas or advice for a horror game, please don't hesitate to post those too!

[Prodan]

One word: Tentacles!

[WarKitty]

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/130133-creepy.html have fun!

[Voshkod]

Animals acting strangely. Trees laden with starlings until the branches start to break. Cats walking in front of cars in large numbers. Dogs barking in unison.

Strange weather. Fortean events - frog falls, fish falls. Killing frost in August. A heavy fog that smells of lavender. Clouds look like faces racing across the sky.

Weird probability. Ten people from the same block win the national lottery the same day. A coin flipped one hundred times comes up tails, except for the last time, where it lands on its edge.

Strange people. Suicide rates jump, but only knife suicides. A one year old baby begins to speak fluent Finnish. A BBC announcer breaks down and starts reciting numbers in a monotone.

[Aroka]

Preparation is never as important as how you run your material. Atmosphere is created on the spot. Use tension rather than gore - it's a hundred times more effective. Remember to be sparing with action scenes, because they release the tension (or some of it, at least), and it has to be built up again.

Players' lack of information always works to your advantage; players are more afraid of that which they do not know. Don't do Lovecraft-style bizarre descriptions that, even if you don't need a dictionary for half the words, are too complex and elaborate to form a coherent picture from. Ideally, the PCs shouldn't know what they're up against for most of the investigation, and even when they identify it from some book, it should be maximally cryptic. A lot of the short entries for specific versions of Mythos tomes suggest alternative names for the creatures, by which the tomes should refer to them: that flapping, screeching thing isn't a byakhee, it's a flapping, screeching thing, and that tome you found calls it a Spirit of the Air.

Take only general, structural, thematic, and atmospheric cues from Lovecraft & co.; as a writer, he was a hack, but as a delirious visionary, he was sublime. Especially avoid his usual over-exposition on dark, terrible secrets (worst case by HPL is in The Shadow Over Innsmouth; worst case overall is by Derleth in the posthumous collab, The Lurker at the Threshold, where it goes on for entire pages and has zero relevance to the story). The best example of how to structure an investigation is definitely The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, which you should read anyway. It is just awesome. Weirdly enough, the first one-third fo The Lurker at the Threshold is awesome (it's apparently the bit HPL had done; Derleth finished the book).

Also, if you're going for a purist game (I'm afraid I am absolutely unable to stand non-purist games and loathe stuff like vampires and werewolves in my CoC), make sure you keep in mind that "demon" refers to some sort of trans-dimensional creature that probably has nothing like a human mind or human aims or desires. People who deal with them certainly will tend to call them demons, though. (I've always figured the Devil is really Nyarlathotep, and Jahveh is really a "face" of Yog-Sothoth. Hence the Key of Solomon...)

Likewise, keep in mind that weird things should have explanations. The game is about investigating and understanding what you're dealing with; even if the creatures and magics are impossibly alien, their effects are achieved by some mechanism that can be identified with enough information. (Of course, achieving an understanding of the workings of it isn't necessary, and in fact should usually be impossible.)

Give your cultist-murderer some magic. It doesn't need to be statted out or defined in game mechanics, just decide on some abilities he has. Maybe he can temporarily distort space by drawing the right symbols on a surface, and therefore walk through walls; that gets you a man dead in a room with all the entries locked from the inside, and strange symbols on both sides of one wall (which can be identified with access to some Mythos tomes).

[squishycube]

Thanks for the responses so far, they are very helpful.


... stuff ... Give your cultist-murderer some magic. ... stuff ...
I think I'd like very much to be in your horror games, because we seem to share the same vision on it. I even already thought of giving my cult leader a magic ability, I was thinking of making him harder to spot in the dark, a semi-invisibility of sorts.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Animals acting strangely. Trees laden with starlings until the branches start to break.
For some reason this strikes me as the creepiest of all. I love the imagery. I may actually use that in a story if you don't mind?

[Voshkod]

For some reason this strikes me as the creepiest of all. I love the imagery. I may actually use that in a story if you don't mind?

I wouldn't have put it here if I minded, but I won't swear it's original. I have a vague memory of finding it somewhere else.

This all makes me want to run a low-key CoC campaign, full of eerie weirdness until all hell breaks loose. God, but I do love the smell of Cthulhu in the morning.

[WarKitty]

Also, how well do you know your group? You can get a lot of mileage out of people's specific fears. Say, one of your group members really dislikes spiders...give him a spider "pet" that can't be killed and always follows him around, weaves webs around him at night, tries to ride on his shoulder, etc.

(shamelessly stolen from link i posted earlier)

[Aroka]

I think I'd like very much to be in your horror games, because we seem to share the same vision on it. I even already thought of giving my cult leader a magic ability, I was thinking of making him harder to spot in the dark, a semi-invisibility of sorts.

Semi-invisibility (or even semi-corporeality) is both in line with the whole concept of transdimensional magic and monsters (going at "angles" to space or time in order to pass through it unnaturally, etc.) and an excellent ability for a horror villain.

The concept of unfairness is pretty central to good horror scenarios; basically, if you can just walk up to the monster and smack it, there's much less horror and tension. But making a monster too physically dangerous for that makes it harder to use in most scenarios - for instance, there really aren't many ways to include Cthulhu in a CoC adventure. Cthulhu and other GoOs and OGs are less monsters and more environmental threats on the level of "a lake of magma" or "a bottomless pit" if present, and are best used as a vaguely looming threat.

Instead, what you'll mostly want to do is make the opponent harder to engage directly at all. Stealth and mobility are the two best ways.

Two of the most iconic modern horror creatures are the Xenomorphs of Alien and the Predators (even though all the Predator films are pretty much action). Both are very, very tough, so going up against them is dangerous - but they are still perfectly killable physically. Their greatest advantages are stealth and mobility; you won't know they're there until it's too late, and they can get away from you.

Indeed, it could be said that this sort of subtle unfairness is central to the concept of horror; vampires, witches, and werewolves were frightening because you couldn't tell them from normal people at a glance (and they could rip you to pieces or put nasty curses on you while eating stolen babies), ghosts are invinsible and intangible at will, and so on. Just being able to fight back counts for a lot psychologically, even if you can't win. Robbing your players of that agency - when done right - is a great way to scare them (and when you're running horror, you want your players scared, not just their characters).

Supernatural abilities like invisibility and walking through walls are a great way to give these advantages to villains or monsters in horror games. They're great because they're subtle: if a villain uses a jetpack or a faster car to get away, nobody's going to feel tense.

A serial killer who has the ability to disappear or as-good-as is a very scary prospect. If you use that ability, be sure to take full advantage once the PCs do figure it out - be sure to innocently mention shadows in the corners of rooms, unlit hallways, sections of the street where the lamps are dark, and so on. (Always tone it down for a while if the players' paranoia starts interfering with the atmosphere. There's a difference between "scared" and "relentlessly, methodically cautious".)

Another option, naturally, is face-changing. I think there's even a spell in the CoC book for this - you kill someone and take on their appearance. (If there's not, there should be.) This way, the killer can be anyone, any time. Victims would be found in private spaces with no signs of forced entry and few signs of struggle, misdirecting suspicion to those closest to the victims - one of whom may be found dead upon investigation...

[Caliphbubba]

creepy children always get me. playing in a mechanical, and utterly silent way.

subtle sensory clues...like things tasting off. or spoiling too soon.

I'm a fan of lucid group dreams for building the forboding as well.

[Coplantor]

Do dream stuff, have them play their dreams without them knowing they are dreaming.

[Satyr]

My first step would be to establish a normal everyday atmosphere before starting with the horror part; that way you have a normal background as a contrast to the horrific elements.

Therefore, for the first session or so, concentrate on the 1970s Britishness of the setting; use according props, music, and so on to create a certain atmosphere at first. You can probalby use newspapers or events of the same time to create a certain meta-plot independent from the player's investigations.
Especially for investigative games, props are great. It's one thing to describe for example, a newspaper article, it's a complete different (and better) thing to hand it to your players.

Do not start with the supernatural parts before you have the feeling that the players have accepted the setting and feel at home there. Then undermine their feeling of everyday life. It's more effective that way.

I am also not sure how murder cases of this margin are treated; perhaps it works better if the characters are "usual" cops and also have to deal with nosy, arrogant Scotland Yard inspectors who try to reduce their role in the investigations to coffee bringers with badges - and perhaps these agents are suspicious themselves (why does the Inspector from London has these strange pendants?)

For the purpose of horror games, suspense is good, gore doesn't work in a non-visual medium (if you get some photos or so of a murder scene however, feel free to add them) and it is very unlikely that any of your descriptions is nearly as horrific as the pictures in your player's heads when they listen to you.

For the case itself, remember that you want your investigators to find clues and hints, so don't make the gathering of information too dependent on skill checks, just give them the puzzle pieces and let them combine. Also let the players puzzle and use skill checks only in a case of emergency if the players seem to be oblivious to the obvious. The more they can find out themselves, the more rewarding this type of game becomes.

Remember that you need clues and hints for the players to follow on; include a few red herrings or so, but make sure that it is possible (but not to easy) to follow the killer's trail and identify him with the information the players can collect. Only if it becomes apparent that the players have come to a standstill, include some Deus Ex Machina information dropping (better: let the killer act again and offer new information).

As a final note, for a purely investigative game, Trail of Cthulhu is way better than Call.

[Aroka]

Do dream stuff, have them play their dreams without them knowing they are dreaming.

I've wanted to take this to the max for a long time: a campaign, maybe revolving around Kingsport, that focuses on dreams and things affecting dreams. It could work with zero Mythos connection too, though.

The PCs deal with something stressful and difficult and possibly supernatural, and every so often it turns out that a scene was a dream. As this goes on, the PCs and players both become confused as to what has really happened and what hasn't; as the supernatural (maybe?) intrudes on reality, they become less able to distinguish what is a dream. How do they react to this reduced grasp on reality? Do they start making mistakes because they think they're in a dream?

It would probably work best as a Silent Hill -style investigation of the PCs' personalities and pasts, with dreams and supernatural reality (or maybe it's just disturbed reality) reflecting the characters' psyches, while the entire game explores the very nature of dream and reality...


Edit: Also, Satyr is spot on. Establishing mundane "baseline" reality is important, because horror is all about breaking that baseline. Good horror writers can do it by mirroring it with how things are crumbling, but that's not really doable in a tabletop environment. Investigations should be prefaced and interspersed with regular life.

Edit again: He is also spot on about Trail of Cthulhu. It's the exact same game thematically, with better mechanics, and the book is full of good ideas for how to run the game and makes you think about the themes and how you approach horror and the Mythos.

[Satyr]

The PCs deal with something stressful and difficult and possibly supernatural, and every so often it turns out that a scene was a dream. As this goes on, the PCs and players both become confused as to what has really happened and what hasn't; as the supernatural (maybe?) intrudes on reality, they become less able to distinguish what is a dream. How do they react to this reduced grasp on reality? Do they start making mistakes because they think they're in a dream?

That's a great concept to begin with. You could use this as a slow slip into madness as the characters seem to lose their grasp on reality -and if it is used as a city-wide phenomenon, it could also happen to other people and they can witness it, which then again reintroduces the question of the reality of the things they have seen...

[Savannah]

Do you have access to Heroes of Horror? It's a D&D 3.5 supplement, but one of the things I like about it is that it has long lists of creepy occurrences. You could probably steal most of them outright, and refluff the rest to fit your world.