Crash course in Call of Cthulhu?

[MonkeySage]

I want to learn how to run a game of this sort for halloween, but have no experience with the cosmic horror genre as yet, not beyond brief tidbits. Right now this seems like it could be fun, but i want to do it right.
I have the book on pdf, and i'm thinking of dumping this on my players as a surprise one shot(I'm assuming it wouldn't last longer than one session anyway).

So can anyone help me out with this?

In general, also, what would be a good starting point for a Lovecraft reading list?

[ShadowFireLance]

You are a Mortal, In a world of things that can quite literally shatter the entire world, just by being there, and things that are so powerful, they can create Dimensions.
You, are a normal person. Have fun.

[Rhynn]

In general, also, what would be a good starting point for a Lovecraft reading list?

You have to read The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. It provides the model for a Call of Cthulhu adventure/investigation: layered levels of secrets.

The other "must reads" in a rough order of importance/usefulness:

Dreams in the Witch House
The Dunwich Horror
The Call of Cthulhu
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
Pickman's Model
The Shadow Out of Time
At the Mountains of Madness
The Haunter of the Dark
The Rats in the Walls
The Whisperer in Darkness


Copyrights to the stories have expired by now, and they can be found online: for instance here (http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/index.html) or here (http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/l/lovecraft/hp/).

Running horror in general requires two things:
First, suspense/tension. You create this by limiting information, not showing the source of the horror directly, keeping the players guessing and nervous, and limiting "encounters." Any time the players/PCs can act directly against something, particularly the source of the horror, all the suspense/tension is released and has to be built up again; you need to do this occasionally, at least once per session (usually at the climax at the end).

Second, unfairness. The source of the horror has to be difficult to confront directly. Either it can get away easily, or it cannot be confronted or affected directly (it is invisible, immaterial, etc.), or it is too strong to be fought and defeated. These aspects can even be found in human opponents: maybe a cult is so all-pervasive it cannot be taken on directly, or so wide-spread it seems anyone can be a secret member, etc.

Lovecraftian horror specifically usually involves humans in the service of terrible powers, either cultists (see Dreams in the Witch House) or sorcerers (see The Case of Charles Dexter Ward). The terrible powers are dimly perceived or guessed at, but rarely confronted directly (with exceptions like The Dunwich Horror). Often, survival and clinging to their sanity is the most the protagonists can do when confronted with literally cosmic powers and horrors.

Research is important; by using the Mythos against itself, finding the correct spells and tools in forbidden tomes, risking their sanity, the protagonists can sometimes dismiss or unsummon or even slay the monsters from beyond the void. Usually, defeating the cultists bent on summoning or serving them is the most that can be done, and the danger only abates for a time.

You can also work in just about any theosophical ideas, from Atlantis and Mu to the Secret Masters, giving them a Mythos bent.

[Vamphyr]

I love CoC and would just like to point out one thing as far as players go.

If you're surprising your players (using pre-gen'd characters), be sure to have extra characters kicking around. It can be very easy to die in CoC and rolling up mid session slows everything down.

Be sure to let your players know that death is likely and that its okay. Some people, when not used to the system, will try and act like it's still d&d. When this happens it is very likely that they will be torn apart, physically or mentally, by an eldritch horror.

If you're worried about how to bring in these replacements, I like what the book suggest, each character keeps a log of what's happening and upon their death that log is sent to a close friend/family member who show up to continue the investigation.

Another thing the book suggests that I like: alien creatures have alien mind sets. If it looks like a TPK (too early in the story for it to be a cool ending) simply have the party wake up hours later, the monster vanished along with all of their left ring fingers. Or something similar.

[Rhynn]

Incidentally, Trail of Cthulhu is a far, far better game for the Mythos than Call of Cthulhu, in multiple ways - foremost it has better mechanics for investigation. (Call of Cthulhu has awful mechanics for investigation, boiling down to "one failed die roll will stall the entire game.")

[Zavoniki]

Incidentally, Trail of Cthulhu is a far, far better game for the Mythos than Call of Cthulhu, in multiple ways - foremost it has better mechanics for investigation. (Call of Cthulhu has awful mechanics for investigation, boiling down to "one failed die roll will stall the entire game.")

And Trail of Cthulhu has awful mechanics for anything not related to investigation. You don't get worse at shooting guns by shooting guns.

[Rhynn]

And Trail of Cthulhu has awful mechanics for anything not related to investigation. You don't get worse at shooting guns by shooting guns.

Can you explain what you're referring to? Maybe there's a rule I've missed, but I just can't see what you mean.

I think you're referring to spends in tests. Your skill with, say, Firearms is only used in combat by spending. That's how non-investigative skills work. You're not getting worse, it's just that during a session of play, you only have so many points to add to Firearms test results to get successes. Ergo, the higher your Firearms, the more you'll hit thing you're shooting at during a session. At no point do you get worse at shooting. If you want to explain the mechanics "realistically" (I'm not sure why you would, especially when it's not a simulationist game), having a smaller spend pool as the session ges on is a matter of exhaustion, losing concentration under prolonged stress, or just running out of luck.

And, really, combat rules are the last thing a Mythos game needs, anyway. Cthulhu Dark is excellent and more than sufficient for Mythos play, and the combat rules are "If you fight any creature you meet, you will die." (That's a direct word-for-word quote.)

In short, Trail of Cthulhu is easily superior to Call of Cthulhu for their shared purposes.

[Hiro Protagonest]

You are a Mortal, In a world of things that can quite literally shatter the entire world, just by being there, and things that are so powerful, they can create Dimensions.
You, are a normal person. Have fun.

What? I always thought you played the double-barreled shotgun.

Seriously, the most powerful character in CoC is an illiterate woodsman with an itchy trigger finger and a tendency to burn things.

Even if the characters aren't that extreme, if the players have any brains at all, prepare for an action game.

[Dazhbug]

I know it's somewhat off the thread of the main topic, but has anyone here had experience with the Laundry Files game system? Having read through it, it definitely reminds me of CoC, and it has the same sort of Lovecraftian horror vibe to it that you could certainly play up if you wanted to.

[BWR]

I picked up the book but haven't run a game; so many games, so little time.
I bought it for two reasons: Stross is a great author and the Laundry stories are excellent, and Stross invented githyanki, githzerai, death knights and slaadi.

[houlio]

Incidentally, Trail of Cthulhu is a far, far better game for the Mythos than Call of Cthulhu, in multiple ways - foremost it has better mechanics for investigation. (Call of Cthulhu has awful mechanics for investigation, boiling down to "one failed die roll will stall the entire game.")

Not necessarily, solid adventure design on the ref's part will do more than enough to overcome Call of Cthulhu's apparent shortcoming here. Letting one botched roll stop a game isn't the system's flaw, it's the ref's flaw (even if many published adventures seem to be written that way).

That said, I found the Call of Cthulhu character generating rules to easily make wildly different characters in terms of power levels (fabulously wealthy and intelligent lawyers to disabled hobos), so I'd either try to watch out for that happening or warn your players in advance.

[MonkeySage]

Since this is a one shot, I was looking through scenarios that might fit the group I'm working with. I went ahead and started rolling their characters myself, based on a few hints at what kind of character they'd be interested in playing. So far i'm working with a criminal(solitary burglar) and a detective(I know, very original, lol). I might possibly also have a doctor of some sort... I also have two other potential players, but don't know what kind of character they want to play. Any suggestions for short and sweet scenarios for both a first time keeper/player and beginner players?

[Hiro Protagonest]

That said, I found the Call of Cthulhu character generating rules to easily make wildly different characters in terms of power levels (fabulously wealthy and intelligent lawyers to disabled hobos), so I'd either try to watch out for that happening or warn your players in advance.

Damn hobos and their martial arts skills...

[Zavoniki]

Can you explain what you're referring to? Maybe there's a rule I've missed, but I just can't see what you mean.

I think you're referring to spends in tests. Your skill with, say, Firearms is only used in combat by spending. That's how non-investigative skills work. You're not getting worse, it's just that during a session of play, you only have so many points to add to Firearms test results to get successes. Ergo, the higher your Firearms, the more you'll hit thing you're shooting at during a session. At no point do you get worse at shooting. If you want to explain the mechanics "realistically" (I'm not sure why you would, especially when it's not a simulationist game), having a smaller spend pool as the session ges on is a matter of exhaustion, losing concentration under prolonged stress, or just running out of luck.

And, really, combat rules are the last thing a Mythos game needs, anyway. Cthulhu Dark is excellent and more than sufficient for Mythos play, and the combat rules are "If you fight any creature you meet, you will die." (That's a direct word-for-word quote.)

In short, Trail of Cthulhu is easily superior to Call of Cthulhu for their shared purposes.

I guess my issue is that getting better at something doesn't get you universally better at it. You have to pick and choose when your better and that rubs me wrong. In GUMSHOE systems a person who has never picked up a gun before fire's at the same skill level of a trained soldier some non-zero percentage of the time which breaks my suspension of disbelief.

That being said, and coming back on topic, I will agree that for a Mythos game Trail is better than Call. Investigative abilities is one of the cooler mechanics I've ever seen and fits perfectly into a Mythos game(probably because if I remember correctly the mechanic was designed for Call of Cthulu).

If you want a good discussion/explanation/critique of Call of Cthulu I would suggest the RPPR Podcast episode on it: http://slangdesign.com/rppr/2012/01/podcast-episode/rppr-episode-69-critique-of-cthulhu/