rsanford

7 hours ago, EricW said:

Make them act out their madness - if one of them starts hallucinating or becomes paranoid after a mythos encounter, don't tell them "you're now afflicted with paranoia", describe the world as a paranoid would see it - "someone seems to be creeping up behind you, roll a spot hidden".

All their senses are twisted by their mental injury. Worse, they might start affecting other players with their paranoia, especially if you hint before the session that people who are exposed to Cthulhu mythos sometimes gain dark insights into the true nature of reality. Who knows what gruesome anti-social acts they might be tempted to perform, what division and distrust you can sow even between members of the party who normally cooperate - and what consequences the players will face, when the law finally catches up with their criminal reign of terror!

WOW!  These are golden!  I just copied your suggestions into my notes.  I had already planned to ask players to act out certain hallucinations and such but I love the concept of the Keeper (me) helping them roleplay paranoia. I would have never thought of that...

15 hours ago, geraldfrench said:

Also, if you play the game by the rules, the players will quickly feel that they are outmatched and outgunned, which they are... and that will do wonders for the mood. When they know that their characters could possibly and most likely not live through the adventure...

That's true and I think I need to play it up as much as possible.  In our Stormbringer games the players are usually outmatched but it is SO much more true in this game. Thanks!

Thanks Jakob! I would still like to scare the players though if possible. This will be their first encounter with CoC and I want to make it traumatizing err memorable. I figure if I am unsuccessful scaring the players my efforts will still support the atmosphere of the game (I hope). 

Hi all,

In recent weeks my group has expressed interest in trying a game of Call of Cthulhu despite the fact that none of us have played the game or even read the stories the game is based on.  While I have only skimmed the rules they seem very similar to Stormbringer / Magic World (which is what we play) making me unconcerned about the mechanical aspects of the game.

However what does concern me is how to run the game successfully as I have never ran a game focused on horror.  I have already learned a lot from this site but would like your opinion on a few things. Also just so you know we play our games online using Mumble. I will be running a modified version of The Haunting.

1.     How do I make the players (not the characters) nervous or scared? In the Stormbringer game we play, the players play heroes. That works against me here because the players tend to be fearless.  I had thought I would introduce supernatural elements at the beginning of the CoC game and then work up towards real threats to their character’s lives, but I’m not sure that will be enough. Any thoughts?

2.     How do I make research and investigation interesting? For best results The Haunting requires the characters to do extensive research and investigation prior to going into the house. How do I keep the player’s interest? How do I make investigation and research challenging and/or interesting? Does it make sense to use some type social conflict system to model the research such as that used by Revolution D100 and M-Space?

3.     What is your opinion of using the new Delta Green’s sanity rules as opposed to CoC’s sanity rules? Which would encourage more roleplaying? Which do you think would be more fun?

4.     With the understanding that my group will be using pre-generated characters (Don’t want them to invest time into custom characters in their first likely deadly game), how can I best encourage roleplaying?

Thoughts are appreciated!

Thanks!

PS – My group plays online using Mumble for audio an RPOL for dice rolling.  While this has always worked for us I am concerned that it will impact my ability to describe a stern and scary atmosphere. Also I will be using the 6^th edition CoC rules.

Very useful! Thank you!

It's located here -> https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/114627856101233542605

I am temporarily unemployed right now but I think that might be solved soon. Will pick up M-Space as soon as I can.

Congratulations Clarence! This is awesome!

I don't have Elric! but I do have Stormbringer 5.  From everything I have read the two are nearly identical with Elric being slightly better laid out and Stormbringer 5 having some minor tweaks. I think either one but not both is the right answer.

11 hours ago, TK_Nyarlathotep said:

Indeed! My advice to you would be simply this - know your players. What scares them? What doesn't? Is tension being built for them, or just annoyance? Read the room.

Everything I know about scaring CoC players in less than a paragraph. What more could you ask for

Not sure I know the players well enough to scare them.  So far we have played D&D games where they kill everything and take their stuff and BRP games were the players are involved with nation politics (investigation, mystery, problem solving, etc...). Using the notes from this thread and its sister on rpg.net I am going to try to scare them.  What I would really like to do is to mantain their fright like tk_nyarlathotep does but I have might doubts I can pull it off on the first try. Wish me luck.

I have yet to run my first CoC game but reading everyone's post here is intimidating... Sounds like you have to do a lot of things right if you want to maintain the scare factor.

Both good books and I payed a good deal more for them! Not sure why the Mongoose Elric never become better known...

Rod,

Are you serious about doing a Classic Fantasy Unearthed Companion cause that would be cool!

1 hour ago, el_octogono said:

The session leader suggests a course of action, based on previous game information or whatever the player, or all of them, come up with. Every PC finds motives to join the leader in his quest, to acquire something useful for their own Destinies or just to give company. You can download the current version of the game, completely playable, including sailing and mass combats, but it is available only in spanish, at the moment. From here: Lobo Blanco

 

I assume a sandbox approach although, as I mentioned before, PCs actions generate repercussions that the GM elaborates both narratively and mechanically. So, after some sessions, PCs may have to confront the consequences of their previous actions, in fact, confronting these repercussions let the characters grow. This way, players feel a very dynamic and alive setting that reacts to them, which I think is pretty close to the experiences of the characters in MM's novels.

If you want more info on Lobo Blanco I suggest creating a sub-thread in "other games". I'll be glad to talk about it.

 

Thanks El_Octogona! I had no idea there was a Spanish version of Stormbringer. If you ever translate it to English I will buy for sure!

On August 23, 2016 at 8:37 PM, el_octogono said:

I had a year long campaign of playtest. Destinies worked pretty well. They are deep desires or goals that drive the characters to act. Basically you ask the player what would his character do to get closer to his destiny. For example, one player had the Destiny "Become the most famous thief in the world", so whenever he led the session he tried to find valuable or important things to steal, or investigate for maps or related information. He also had in mind a final act which was stealing the Ruby Throne of Melniboné. At first, the notion of a session leader was cautiously received, but after the first session, almost everyone was eager to lead. It is worth noting that the other players may suggest or find reasons related to their own Destinies to accompany the leader, much like Elric joining Sharilla in her quest for the Dead God's Book, or Avan Astran in his travel to R'lin K'ren A'a.

Sorry one more question. If the session leader follows his destiny do you find the players continue with the plot clues laid out for them or do you assume a sandbox where there is no specific plot...

On August 23, 2016 at 8:37 PM, el_octogono said:

I had a year long campaign of playtest. Destinies worked pretty well. They are deep desires or goals that drive the characters to act. Basically you ask the player what would his character do to get closer to his destiny. For example, one player had the Destiny "Become the most famous thief in the world", so whenever he led the session he tried to find valuable or important things to steal, or investigate for maps or related information. He also had in mind a final act which was stealing the Ruby Throne of Melniboné. At first, the notion of a session leader was cautiously received, but after the first session, almost everyone was eager to lead. It is worth noting that the other players may suggest or find reasons related to their own Destinies to accompany the leader, much like Elric joining Sharilla in her quest for the Dead God's Book, or Avan Astran in his travel to R'lin K'ren A'a.

So what does a session leader do? Is that just means he leads the grip that session? From your description I suspect he does more than that... Do you have these rules written down anywhere? Can you share :-)

52 minutes ago, Nick J. said:

Being most familiar with Magic World, it kind of reminds me of "deep magic" from Advanced Sorcery. Although I must plead ignorance on how sorcery was handled in RQ2 and other editions so I can't compare it to that.

 

That's what it reminds me of too with the addition of ways to extend range, duration, etc... Very interesting.

1 hour ago, el_octogono said:

Well, after years of slightly different Elric games I grew tired and decided to create my own Moorcock themed rpg. It is fan made (of course) and it is called Lobo Blanco (White Wolf in spanish). It is not BRP because I wanted to create a game that tries to recreate the feeling of the Elric, and other Eternal Champion novels. The game can be broadly described as "narrative sandbox". Player Characters have a Destiny, both motivation and ultimate goal, that drives their actions. Each session a PC or the GM is designated leader of the adventure and elaborates some quest using his Destiny as motive. Important or key player actions create repercussions that puts the world in motion. The PCs grow by following their Destinies and creating repercussions, creating a more and more turbulent world. PCs have sworn enemies and allies that can help. Chaos and Law try to tempt the PCs but with risky consecuences... that can be avoided by betraying allies... The campaign ends with PCs retiring, achieving their destinies (very rare), dying or playing till the end of the world.

Sounds very interesting. I particularly like how you encompass player destinies! Have you playtested it yet? If so how did the notion of having a session leader work out?

On 8/16/2016 at 5:08 AM, smiorgan said:

A new edition of Stormbringer (yes, I much prefer this title to Elric! or Elric of Melniboné) as a compact BRP game keeping the simplicity of Elric! and the flavor of older editions.

 

 

I completely agree.  I didn't find out about Stormbringer / Elric of Melnibone until after Chaosium / Mongoose discontinued them but since then I have picked up every supplement except The Octagon of Chaos and Demon Magic. I would be happy to do it all again if Chaosium can pull this off.

More Dark Streats please!

Happy Birthday Loz!

On July 18, 2016 at 10:15 PM, madprofessor said:

Man, I just stumbled across this treasure trove of awesomeness.  Thanks for sharing.  I'll make good use of it.

Chris doesn't do anything half way. Instead he goes all out and his projects are universally excellent (especially his monster manuals). It was his and Ben Monroe's enthusiasm that sold me on Magic World in the first place and I will be forever grateful!

5 hours ago, g33k said:

To me, "cyberpunk" = cyber + punk

cyber -- the (esteric/specialized) computer-oriented / networked / InfoSec realm of conflict -- whether e-"combat" or e-"scouting" or e-"problem-solving" or e-(any other "conflict" that (in a RPG) might require a roll-for-success) ...  Most-often, "cyberpunk" includes some sort of man/machine interface... cyberlimbs, MarvelWolverine-style claws, etc; and/or direct neural feed for direct experience of Cyberspace / Matrix / etc.  But IMHO the direct physical/neural components aren't actually fundamental requirements of the genre:  so long as a substantive amount of the conflict includes "cyber-conflict" done largely by esoteric expertise -- it is... well, cyber.

punk -- the disaffected / has-been / marginalized / criminalized / etc, in a world of normal / good-citizen / mainstream culture.  If the focus ain't on the "punk" (whether steampunk, cyberpunk, magi-punk, or whatever) then its not "punk".  So (for example) in a steam-powered Victoriana / Zeppelins & parasols-and-swordcanes game, I'd go with "steamtech" not "steampunk" since there ain't much "punk" going on ...

But that's MY working definition of cyberpunk...

I'd go back to the players who are asking for a cyberpunk game -- what is it THEY want?  What makes it "Cyberpunk" to them?  Which elements are must-have, want-to-have, acceptable, prefer-not-but-willing, and must-not-have elements?  Is there a specific book or movie they find inspiring?  If so, I'd use that media as your primary reference, rather than any gaming resource!

 

Thanks G33k!

Actually I did that but got differing answers. They all agree there should be no magic or elves, but two want cybernetics like cyberpunk 2020 while the others are thinking something more akin to Bladerunner with bio-enhancements. I am not sure there is a setting out there that does both... As a matter of fact I can't think of a Bladerunner type game at all.

There's a thread on RPG.NET where they are discussing Magic World. It can be found here https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?787461-A-thread-for-Chaosium-s-Magic-World

You guys might want to drop in and share your thoughts!

Best,

Ronnie

9 hours ago, Mankcam said:

Trade you for Brisbane AU; it can't be worse for rpg exposure...

I might make that trade... RPG exposure in Dallas is great but Australia rocks!