Call of Cthulhu LARP

[Almagesto]

Hey, guys !

So, I'm about to start a Call of Cthulhu LARP and I have a lot of questions that I hope you can help me answer:


What should I do if the game comes to an unexpected stop?
I was thinking NERF guns, but do you think they'll be just a distraction?
Blood - Use it arbitrarily or should I ask players before?
Clothing - Not everyone seems to be willing to dress up in costumes; should I just set the whole thing in the 1990's?
Clues - How do I know if they're too hard? I've playtested them with my father (who is really cool, btw, and always helps me playtest this kind of things), but I don't know if they're easy enough for anyone "outside the designing team" to figure them out.
Time - Should I just tell them they have, say 6 hrs. and the game is over? Like, limiting them by saying "The bomb goes off at 20:00 hrs".


Anyway, thanks guys... I hope you can help me out. It's my first LARP, so I'm really excited to make the transition from tabletop to real life.

[Cogwheel]

I can't really help you, but I'm curious to see who you'll be casting as Cthulhu :smalltongue:

Best of luck, anyway.

[Almagesto]

:smallbiggrin: Well, the truth is that, even though the game is based on The Call of Cthulhu, it will actually revolve around conspiracy theories. Old nazis, I think... they never die.

[Cogwheel]

:smallbiggrin: Well, the truth is that, even though the game is based on The Call of Cthulhu, it will actually revolve around conspiracy theories. Old nazis, I think... they never die.

Oh? Conspiracies? So...

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab332/Crawlscreens/Avernum/Cthulhuex.png

Basically that, then.

[Driderman]

Hey, guys !

So, I'm about to start a Call of Cthulhu LARP and I have a lot of questions that I hope you can help me answer:


What should I do if the game comes to an unexpected stop?
I was thinking NERF guns, but do you think they'll be just a distraction?
Blood - Use it arbitrarily or should I ask players before?
Clothing - Not everyone seems to be willing to dress up in costumes; should I just set the whole thing in the 1990's?
Clues - How do I know if they're too hard? I've playtested them with my father (who is really cool, btw, and always helps me playtest this kind of things), but I don't know if they're easy enough for anyone "outside the designing team" to figure them out.
Time - Should I just tell them they have, say 6 hrs. and the game is over? Like, limiting them by saying "The bomb goes off at 20:00 hrs".


Anyway, thanks guys... I hope you can help me out. It's my first LARP, so I'm really excited to make the transition from tabletop to real life.


You should probably have several "kickstarts" prepared beforehand, for example events that you can activate if the game starts to slow down.
Is there a point to having NERF guns? CoC is usually mostly investigatory and very little pew-pew so unless your story specifically calls for weapon use, you might want to just skip it entirely. Also REMEMBER TO NOTIFY YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT if you're playing around in public with NERF guns, I've had a friend be maybe 10 seconds away from being gunned down by 2 policemen because they thought he was armed and dangerous.
You would think that people who sign up for a game known to involve insanity, grisly scenes of otherwordly carnage and cosmic horror could handle a bit of blood, yes? ;)
Well, if your story is about old, immortal nazis, your setting is already pretty contemporary. Personally, I can't be bothered with people who won't dress up for live-action RP. Pretty much ruins the experience for everyone.
There's not really any good way to test this other than gametesting and hoping for the best. Veteran CoC players should be pretty familiar with investigation, but you might want to run the whole thing by some friends who aren't going to participate, as clues that may seem obvious to you might be insidiously hard for your players.
Don't just spring the limit on your players, but make it a part of the investigation. When they come upon the information during investigation that there's a bomb and they only have 4 hours left before it goes off, fx, it'll hit home a lot harder than if you told them that the game was about a bomb and they have so many hours to find it.


Also, check out Delta Green, its modern-day Call Of Cthulhu with conspiracies and old nazis :D

[Almagesto]

Actually, I HAVE Delta Green, and my story relies heavily upon it. The thing about the costumes, though, was involving suits. You know, most of them will be either CIA, NSA, or FBI; so the suit was not optional - except for the undercover agents. We will be playing in my home, so the use of NERF is pretty much ok - but thanks for the tip (I would hate to lose a friend due to police stupidity). When it comes to gore - my dad (once again, the most lenient parent ever) said he could probably get me some "supplies" from a the local slaughterhouse. Do you think that's a little over the top?

[druid91]

Actually, I HAVE Delta Green, and my story relies heavily upon it. The thing about the costumes, though, was involving suits. You know, most of them will be either CIA, NSA, or FBI; so the suit was not optional - except for the undercover agents. We will be playing in my home, so the use of NERF is pretty much ok - but thanks for the tip (I would hate to lose a friend due to police stupidity). When it comes to gore - my dad (once again, the most lenient parent ever) said he could probably get me some "supplies" from a the local slaughterhouse. Do you think that's a little over the top?

Actual meat and such? Yes.

[Almagesto]

Actual meat and such? Yes.

Thanks, druid91 :smallsmile:

The thing is... I would've loved to seen their faces when they arrived at my table and see all that. Anyway, I'm switching that for fake blood and some nasty-looking "balloons" (the ones that help you not get pregnant) filled up with different colors to simulate organs.

[Driderman]

Thanks, druid91 :smallsmile:

The thing is... I would've loved to seen their faces when they arrived at my table and see all that. Anyway, I'm switching that for fake blood and some nasty-looking "balloons" (the ones that help you not get pregnant) filled up with different colors to simulate organs.

Personally, I would have gone with the real meat. Then again, we Europeans are apparently very edgy and experimental when it comes to rpgs.

[Thrawn4]

Personally, I would have gone with the real meat. Then again, we Europeans are apparently very edgy and experimental when it comes to rpgs.

Seconded.


Oh, and you should establish at least two different ways to solve the case. It will ruin the evening if your players are stuck because they can't solve your riddle.

How many players will participate?

I would love to hear your results, as I was wondering how a Cthulhu Larp might turn out.

[Almagesto]

Seconded.

Personally, I would have gone with the real meat. Then again, we Europeans are apparently very edgy and experimental when it comes to rpgs.

Oh, and you should establish at least two different ways to solve the case. It will ruin the evening if your players are stuck because they can't solve your riddle.

How many players will participate?

I would love to hear your results, as I was wondering how a Cthulhu Larp might turn out.

Thanks, guys. Well, it's originally done for 4 to 6 characters. Would you like to review the plot?

[druid91]

Personally, I would have gone with the real meat. Then again, we Europeans are apparently very edgy and experimental when it comes to rpgs.

Maybe it's just me, but the meat would squick me the heck out.

As well as being hard to clean up. It might make a greater shock value, but in the end do you want to be picking pig intestines out of your back yard? That and it's going to stink if you leave it too long.

[Driderman]

Maybe it's just me, but the meat would squick me the heck out.

As well as being hard to clean up. It might make a greater shock value, but in the end do you want to be picking pig intestines out of your back yard? That and it's going to stink if you leave it too long.

I do believe the point IS to squick people the heck out. This is CoC after all, its horror. You have some fair points about the clean-up duty, but I'd say the trade-off is worth it.

[druid91]

I do believe the point IS to squick people the heck out. This is CoC after all, its horror. You have some fair points about the clean-up duty, but I'd say the trade-off is worth it.

Yeah but Lovecraftian horror always seemed less about body parts and gore, and more about being in over your head, people vanishing, horrific monsters you can never really catch sight of before they are gone again, and your own inevitable ignorance of the beyond.

In fact I can never actually remember a body parts and gore episode in anything I've read so far. Well except wilbert wattaly.

Anyhow, if I understand correctly the general idea is Hellboy in the chthulhu mythos? And by that I mean Nazi's messing about with the supernatural only with shoggoths and such instead of Hellboy.

[Thrawn4]

Thanks, guys. Well, it's originally done for 4 to 6 characters. Would you like to review the plot?

I'd love to.

[Almagesto]

Guys, don't worry; I've decided NOT to use the real stuff. You're right - is messy to clean and it would provide quite a shock, but the shock should come from the feeling of overwhelming the situation (i.e. fighting the unnatural) provokes. The gore will still be there, however, in the form of fake blood and coupled up with some simulated cannibalism. Yeah, I'm doing some dishes that simulate body parts - sausage fingers and ketchup, etc.

The sense of horror will come from the following premise: my four friends - two guys and two girls - will be agents from different agencies trying to solve a murder. One of them, however, hides a terrible secret: he unknowingly is a nazi Manchurian candidate. The whole thing is going to be set in the 60's, so suits still apply and the only real change is in the women's hairstyles.