[CoC] Survival Guide

[Dornath]

Well Playground...

Tonight is game night for my group, and after finishing the Shackled City campaign, we're looking for something a little lighter.

So... We've decided to play Cthulhu. :smallbiggrin:

Anyone have any survival tips? I've played a short game before, but this is looking to be a rather long haul...

[Grelna the Blue]

"Trust me, Sarah, I've played a lot of 'Scream of Kachooloo', and one thing I know is: burn the books!"
--Brian Montgomery VanHoose


Sound advice, friend...but you're still going to die, probably screaming.

[Lycan 01]

For the love of all that is holy, make somebody else read the books you find. If the Keeper says you find a book, don't read it yourself. At best, you'll lose sanity. At worst, a naked giant with no head and fang-filled mouths on its palms will appear to eat your face and use your body as its new host.


That last one is soooo fun if you're the Keeper. :smallamused:

[Elvenoutrider]

For added hilarity play an illiterate or blind character

[The Big Dice]

For the love of all that is holy, make somebody else read the books you find. If the Keeper says you find a book, don't read it yourself. At best, you'll lose sanity. At worst, a naked giant with no head and fang-filled mouths on its palms will appear to eat your face and use your body as its new host.
Why on earth are you playing CoC if you're not prepared to read the disty old book, spend the night in the haunted house or go down the dank, creepy stairs into the crypt? That's like playing D&D but not wanting to get into a fight.

The last time I tried running CoC, my players had the exact attitude presented here and the session lasted less than an hour. There was no point to it, as nobody was willing to do anything that the players perceived as risky or having the potential to cause SAN loss.

Which totally defeats the object of playing the game in the first place.

My advice, embrace everything. Read the books, try to use the spells you might find in them. Research the esoteric and weird stuff you come across.

And make a backup character, so you can have one in play and one at the asylum recovering.

[Grelna the Blue]

Why on earth are you playing CoC if you're not prepared to read the disty old book, spend the night in the haunted house or go down the dank, creepy stairs into the crypt? That's like playing D&D but not wanting to get into a fight.

The last time I tried running CoC, my players had the exact attitude presented here and the session lasted less than an hour. There was no point to it, as nobody was willing to do anything that the players perceived as risky or having the potential to cause SAN loss.

Which totally defeats the object of playing the game in the first place.

My advice, embrace everything. Read the books, try to use the spells you might find in them. Research the esoteric and weird stuff you come across.

And make a backup character, so you can have one in play and one at the asylum recovering.

Okay, seriously speaking, The Big Dice is right. Survival strategies in CoC are relatively useless from a "have fun in the game" point of view. Not to mention that they probably won't work anyway.

...but remember, you don't always have to be faster than the Deep One--sometimes you just have to be faster than your fellow investigators.

[MachineWraith]

Survival? In Call of Cthulhu?

That's not how Call of Cthulhu works. If you want to survive, you have to play a character who has no interest in the goings-on around him and doesn't participate in anything. No fun.

No, you should just try to die in a cool way :smallwink:

Edit: Swordsaged, and in better words too

[Jyokage]

From Past experience...

1) Set up a rotating schedule for "Who wants to open/read the new creepy book of power". It's great if only for the inevitable scenario...
PC 1: Well, we've got this new book of forbidden lore part 2, it's your turn to read it...I'm still regrowing my hair from the last one.
PC 2: AH! Really?! Isn't it PC3's turn?
PC 3: *Point and laugh.

2) Pray to whatever you deem holy that no one rolls homicidal Urge on the insanity table.

3) One thing that separates CC from DND is that the ENEMIES should be epic...pc's, not so much. If something seems reality breaking...it is, so run. Preferably in a car.

4)Regardless of the price listed for Hand Grenades, do not let your pc's buy a box of them. It tends to dominate most low level baddies.

My sergeant wants me to stop posting...but I'll have more later.

[hamishspence]

Whether or not the mechanics are ideal, I still like D20 Cthulhu's list of Cthulhu-flavoured works, going from pre-1st world war, to the 90s.

X-Files, and The Thing, immediately spring to mind.
It was a longer list than that, though.

[WalkingTarget]

Yeah, in my experience, CoC is best when the players buy into the "investigator" nature of their characters: everybody suffers from the Curious flaw (even though BRP doesn't give you bonus points for it or anything).

I've said it before and I'll say it again: combat is for when things go wrong. Proper planning is almost always preferable to a straight up fight. I don't know the details of your group's game background and play dynamics, but if they come in expecting, say, a D&D-style hack-n-slash game, they 1) probably won't last long and 2) won't get the full feel for the game.

Combat starts lethal and remains so even after a long campaign. Characters start with ~12 HP on average and improving that number is difficult. The good news is that the same generally applies to the human agents of the Mythos (and the less exotic non-human ones). If it bleeds, you can kill it (although you might have some explaining to do with the authorities).

On the other hand, if you want your character to start play as a world-renowned expert in his/her field, that's possible - just plunk ~90% into your skills of choice and you're there. There's not much "character advancement" in terms of numbers, at least not like many other RP systems. Advancement comes in terms of the knowledge and experiences of the investigators.

[SurlySeraph]

Workable survival strategies revolve around Dodge, Explosives, Throwing, and plentiful willingness to run away. But, as mentioned above, playing it safe really isn't the point.

[FearlessGnome]

1: Do not trust NPCs.
2: Do not trust PCs.
3: If an NPC stands out in any way, whether they seem unusually strong or intelligent, or even if it's just that they are more helpful than most, they are a cultist.
4: If a powerful entity offers to make you a deal, it is lying. It will eat your soul.
5: Do not read ancient texts aloud.
6: For the love of God, do not read ancient texts out loud.
7: If the party is running from a single monster, the only way the slowest PC is going to survive is by shooting somebody in the leg.
8: The slowest player knows this.
9: The slowest player has a gun.
10: If any one starts to twitch, gurgle, have an epileptic seizure or speak with a voice that doesn't belong to a human, shoot them. Shoot them now.
11: You didn't shoot them fast enough. Oh God, something is happening to their body!

But have fun. Be exceedingly paranoid and prepare for everything (You need more explosives), but do go down into the basement where the noise came from. Just make sure you have a secondary character who can take over when your first one dies.

[Darrin]

The best advice I've ever been given for Call of Cthulhu: The Cthulhu Encounter Problem Solver (http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5210/5243259440_cf297e0ac6_b.jpg).

Other than that... if you decide engaging in combat is the best way to deal with the unspeakable mind-shattering tentacle-spawned horrors of the Elder Gods, then you're doing it *WRONG*.

[thubby]

the 3 survival options: dont look and/or burn everything, lose their luster quickly.
just try and make sure to spread the potential damage as thin as possible.

[TKB]

Step one: Find a friend

Step two: Send your friend to investigate the noise/light/movement/whatever

Step three: Find another friend

But seriously, I would suggest bringing a flashlight, a spare flashlight, a lighter, a knife (a good bowie or the like if you can), a hand gun, and a willingness and good ability to run the hell away when things get hairy. Paranoia and ingenuity will get you through a lot, but remember, the dice favor the bold so a healthy dose of curiosity is good too.

[Psyx]

Best way to survive is to call the GM half an hour before the game with a fake family emergency.

Anything else is only a short-term strategy.

[Yora]

Trying to survive in CoC?

You're doing it wrong! :smallbiggrin:

[some guy]

The Death Rate in CoC is sometimes overrated. I've run sessions with no one dying (mainly because of a mixture of luck and carefulnes) and I've run the same sessions with almost everyone dying. Sometimes luck is a big factor. But if you play careful (careful, but not paranoid), you have a greater chance of surviving.
I think back-up plans are a great thing to make in CoC. You will need them.

[Dornath]

Status update:

We haven't died yet!

Only one sanity check too....

I like the idea of reading the Ancient Tomes of Unspeakable Horrors and You Vol. 1. in shifts...

Might have to adopt that.:smallbiggrin:

[Keinnicht]

I've never played CoC, but it pretty much sounds like the Tomb of Horrors.

If you don't want to go insane and die, don't play.

[WalkingTarget]

I've never played CoC, but it pretty much sounds like the Tomb of Horrors.

If you don't want to go insane and die, don't play.

It's more like: If you aren't ok with the possibility that your character will go insane and die, don't play.

Unless you're in a one-shot game at a convention or something, then all bets are off. :smallbiggrin:

I ran my college gaming group through Masks of Nyarlathotep and only had one character lost due to insanity (although, the linguist who read every book they found and had a Cthulhu Mythos score in the upper 70's by the end came close several times - and I'd planned with the player that if his character went insane she'd just have "seen the light" and would be playing for the other team in secret, I'm almost disappointed we didn't get to play that out). It's possible to play a long campaign without massive death and madness if the PCs are careful and think things through.

[FelixG]

if you find the necronookiecon just walk away...

...we are talking about Munchkins CoC right? :smallbiggrin:

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

- Always have a backup plan.
- Don't be afraid to sacrifice your friends for your survival.
- Don't shoot at undead things (It does virtually no damage to them). Kill them with and axe instead.
- Bring extra ammo.
- Kill cultists, but run away from monsters.
- Never let your guard down, any NPC could be a cultist or disguised monster.
- Maximize your size and constitution traits, every hit point counts.
- If you're not sure if it's dead, it's not dead.
- Don't open (and definitely don't read) ominous tomes.
- Never make deals with cosmic entities. You will die in some horrible way if you do.
- Don't trust bald people.
- Shotguns pack great punch, bring one.
- Always have a spare light source, a rope, and a knife.
- Don't eat anything that glows.
- If you are forced into a fight with mythos monsters, use group tactics and take on one at a time.

[Killer Angel]

The only way to survive in CoC, is to be the Keeper.
If you aren't... try to die in a funny and memorable way. :smallwink:

[FelixG]

- Always have a backup plan.
- Don't be afraid to sacrifice your friends for your survival.
- Don't shoot at undead things (It does virtually no damage to them). Kill them with and axe instead.
- Bring extra ammo.
- Kill cultists, but run away from monsters.
- Never let your guard down, any NPC could be a cultist or disguised monster.
- Maximize your size and constitution traits, every hit point counts.
- If you're not sure if it's dead, it's not dead.
- Don't open (and definitely don't read) ominous tomes.
- Never make deals with cosmic entities. You will die in some horrible way if you do.
- Don't trust bald people.
- Shotguns pack great punch, bring one.
- Always have a spare light source, a rope, and a knife.
- Don't eat anything that glows.
- If you are forced into a fight with mythos monsters, use group tactics and take on one at a time.

The bolded one is good for any RPG!

[Jan Mattys]

The bolded one is good for any RPG!

Practical advice regarding the bolded one:
- Never ever let your gun run out of bullets. The last bullet is reserved for the investigator who happens to run next to you when you finally (and inevitably) flee. If you shoot him in the leg, there's a high chance that he will be eaten instead of you, buying you invaluable seconds to escape :smallbiggrin:

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

Haha. CoC... good times. recently, we played a CoC game, erm... Nocturnum? great campaign for d20 Cthulhu. We actually made it quite far, being cautious and all of that. of course, everyone in the party died at one point.. except for one player. Later, we were TPK because of that. BBEG remembers psychic scent of the one guy. played by the campaign, we all died. there is no surviving Call of Cthulhu. theres is only delaying the inevitable.

Some things though: guns. Explosives. buy more than you think you'll need. You will need them. and a melee weapon. never forget that. there are two kinds of tanks in CoC: HP tanks and Sanity tanks. will saves are the most important. Otherwise, you will put on that ancient helmet, you will try to call down a Great Old One avatar, you will summon 10D10 vipers, and you will lose a massive chunk of sanity. If you are absurdly lucky, you may survive.

[Dornath]

We discovered the wonders of an Oil furnace. And how combustible alcohol is. Also, never to cast the magic spell yourselves...

[AyeGill]

Rules of thumb for survival in CoC

Make sure you have enough explosives
if in doubt, you do not have enough explosives
if not in doubt, you still do not have enough explosives
If anything is out of the ordinary, blow it up
If you find yourself imagining ambient sounds and music in your head, GET OUT!
Always have a car within one round's worth of running
Always have the car's engine running
Always have as much fuel as you have explosives
Always have one bullet left
If it's a book, letter, or other object with text on it, blow it up.
Play an illiterate character. Blind ones risk running into walls, losing precious seconds
Always have one other investigator with you. If you're forced to run from something, shoot him in the legs.
If anybody on the team survives a near-death experience, reads a book of any kind, or goes strangely missing at any time, keep an eye on them. They are probably mind controlled, or insane.
Any NPC that initiates seemingly plot-related conversation with you is either a cultist, or otherwise linked to the doom ritual. blow them up.
If you have a strange dream, blow up the bed, and get out of the house, preferably skipping town, and ideally getting out of the country.

[The Big Dice]

Rules of thumb for survival in CoC
[snip/]
All that is why the last time I tried running CoC, it lasted less than one session.

I say, embrace it. The characters in Mythos fiction do, you should act like they would. And remember, you don't need to run faster than the Shoggoth. Just be able to run faster than someone else in the party.