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Luna_Mayflower
2014-01-19, 11:26 AM
So, a few more questions regarding my 5-PC cthulhu campaign. Any help would be hugely appreciated.

1. In the next adventure, one of PCs have had their son kidnapped by Cultists. He knows this, and the city in which there is cult activity, but nothing more. I'd like to make this one filled with clues that make a trail to his son, but I'm awful with coming up with lots of clues, especially those that don't just give it away. Any ideas on clues and trails of events? Maybe from previous adventures you know of or have GM'd?

2. So more than one of the investigators are doing everything in their power to amass dark knowledge and rights. Now, I'm happy for them to start doing this, but I also am quite aware that following such paths in Cthulhu leads to nasty punishment down the line. Any ideas on how I can do this? Killing them seems just too bland, and Sanity loss doesn't seem like a big enough punishment for going down the cultist road. I could have some kind of possession from dark spirits? Or degeneration of other stats like CON and APP as they become corrupt? Any ideas?

3. So, the first spell was cast last session, a Contact spell, to get hold of some Byakhee for aid. However, the players found their way around the problem, but now still have three or four angry Byakhee on the way. I'd like to make this an example of 'be careful what you wish for' and perhaps have the Byakhee attack the players. However, maybe something more subtle or more significant is required. Any ideas are very welcome.

4. Also, at the start of next session, the group are about to face off against the head cultist in a certain sect. Now, it's unlikely they'll return the book they stole, since they've been hired to collect it. So, it's likely a fight will break out. However, just being human, I'm worried the lead cultist will just be shot once and die. How can I make an interesting fight without the cultist being so powerful he'll slaughter the party?


Any help would be great, thanks.

Rhynn
2014-01-19, 11:42 AM
1. Not even close to enough information. What period, what region, etc. etc.?

2. SAN loss is plenty. The dangers of spellcasting are twofold: first, Cthulhu Mythos lowers your maximum SANity and spellcasting costs temporary SANity, leading to frequent episodes of temporary insanity and making permanent insanity much more likely (as per the rules); second, if you try to use summoning spells to make eldritch horrors do your bidding

Don't "punish" PCs or players. That doesn't make any sense. Just use the rules; THEY are what is meant to happen. (You are going to get a pretty warped picture about how CoC runs from stupid memes on the Internet, so ignore those, too.) For reference, several "key" Lovecraft stories (the ones most closely resembling CoC adventures, mainly The Dunwich Horror and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward) feature protagonists who use spells to defeat the enemy, and many (especially The Dunwich Horror) feature protagonists with prodigious lore of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Besides, magic is absolutely necessary for PCs. It's the only way to fight most types of Mythos creature (although the individually most common ones are best fought with physical weapons), and the only reliable way to deal with really powerful Mythos creatures (including Gods and Great Old Ones). PCs are supposed to learn magic. You have absolute control, as Keeper, over how much magic they have a chance to learn - be careful what books you admit into the campaign.

3. This is a pretty clear-cut case: the byakhee are going to show up and will need to be controlled with magic. If the PCs aren't present where the byakhee show up (presumably where they were summoned), they could go rampaging in the countryside, creating odd incidents.

Otherwise, if you really want to mess with someone, a byakhee can fly through space at what amount to translight speeds, and can safely carry a passenger (or unwilling victim).

4. CoC isn't D&D. Fights aren't supposed to be "interesting" - they're supposed to be nasty, brutal, and short, and inspire fear in the players (if only by making them realize how the PCs are just as fragile). "Bang, you're dead" is pretty much perfect. Avoiding direct combat can be very interesting, though. Also, there's plenty of magic available for sorcerers to make themselves hard to kill.


Edit:

Oh, also, the most important part of running Call of Cthulhu is reading the source material (Lovecraft's writings are out of copyright and mostly available free online, if you don't feel like paying to own the stories of the grandfather of modern horror). Not all of it is directly applicable, and Lovecraft's writing varies widely in quality, but the best and most applicable are:

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (must read!)
The Dunwich Horror (must read!)
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Out of Time
Pickman's Model
The Call of Cthulhu
Dreams in the Witch House
The Whisperer in Darkness
The Thing on the Doorstep
The Haunter of the Dark
At the Mountains of Madness
The Lurking Fear

The first two listed are absolutely essential, because they are essentially Call of Cthulhu adventures.

Everything else is gravy, but varies enormously in quality. Reading other Mythos authors is a great idea, too, although their styles vary hugely.

Luna_Mayflower
2014-01-19, 11:57 AM
1. It's set in the remains of Alexandria in Louisiana after a global pandemic.

2. I really don't fell it will be enough for them to just make them drop Sanity. These guys and girls are mostly new to CoC and are more power gamey than anything else. If I just send their character insane without anything else, it's dull for them and me.

3. I know what Byakhee and do and such, but the idea of a rampage is interesting.

4. There's nothing interesting about the cult leader just getting shot once and 'the end'. I know it's not all about fighting, but the fights that do come up need to be interesting, at least a little.


P.S. I own almost everything Lovecraft has written, I'm a huge fan. While I haven't had the time to read it all yet, it's definitely high on my to do list.

Rhynn
2014-01-19, 01:29 PM
4. There's nothing interesting about the cult leader just getting shot once and 'the end'. I know it's not all about fighting, but the fights that do come up need to be interesting, at least a little.

No, honestly, that's counterproductive to a horror game, if anything. It puts the focus on the wrong things (such as, well, combat).

The best CoC combat I've run went like this:

PC sees dark shape watching him while walking through a park, players get nervous and edgy, PC approaches warily... [this part was quite drawn out]
Me: "The shape leaps at you, snarling! Roll defense!"
Player: "AAAH! I parry!"
Me: "A fanged mouth gnashes an inch from your face! WHAT DO YOU DO!?"
Player: "AAAAAA I STAB IT!" *rolls 01*
Me: "You drive your knife through its jaw and into its brain! It goes limp and collapses on you."

Fight over. Everyone was shaking because of the set-up and the relentless urgency of the (extremely short) action sequence; it wouldn't have worked if they hadn't been primed to be on the edges of their seats, and it wouldn't have worked if the scene had taken longer. (I got lucky the player critted, sort of.)

The other time I got close to the above experience, a PC was exploring an empty house all alone, the player was primed with essentially red herrings (a lot of details about noises in the house, a door left ajar, etc.), and was already in his car when a ghoul showed up. The PC ran over the ghoul with his car, end of fight.

Physical confrontations or action sequences (this includes escapes; the escape from Innsmouth in The Shadow Over Innsmouth is great, and the version of the same in the computer game Dark Corners of the Earth was nerve-wracking and amazing) are mostly pressure release after suspense-building, and are necessary, but shouldn't be the focus of a horror game.

Disclaimer: Just my opinion, blah blah, different tacks, what do I know, blah blah, still think I'm right.

Scow2
2014-01-19, 01:59 PM
1. It's set in the remains of Alexandria in Louisiana after a global pandemic.

2. I really don't fell it will be enough for them to just make them drop Sanity. These guys and girls are mostly new to CoC and are more power gamey than anything else. If I just send their character insane without anything else, it's dull for them and me.

3. I know what Byakhee and do and such, but the idea of a rampage is interesting.

4. There's nothing interesting about the cult leader just getting shot once and 'the end'. I know it's not all about fighting, but the fights that do come up need to be interesting, at least a little.


P.S. I own almost everything Lovecraft has written, I'm a huge fan. While I haven't had the time to read it all yet, it's definitely high on my to do list.
2. Describe things differently to low-SAN characters. I don't think the game encourages this, but it makes more sense that having player characters remain in control, but absolutely insane (Through unreliable descriptions of what makes sense and what's going on) might do the trick to keep things interesting. Are you blowing up the headquarters of an evil cult? Or are they just girl scouts you're deluded into thinking are malevolent monsters?

4. So make the build-up to the shot that ends it all interesting.

Rhynn
2014-01-19, 02:37 PM
2. Describe things differently to low-SAN characters. I don't think the game encourages this, but it makes more sense that having player characters remain in control, but absolutely insane (Through unreliable descriptions of what makes sense and what's going on) might do the trick to keep things interesting. Are you blowing up the headquarters of an evil cult? Or are they just girl scouts you're deluded into thinking are malevolent monsters?

One of my players never figured out his character had gone temporarily insane. :smallamused: He thought all those things were really happening... the key was that no one else was around for the events (but ALL the PCs frequently experienced strange things while alone). He even convinced other PCs to go along with his warped perceptions at times.