mvincent

That's how I play it... though that's likely not the designers' intent. Other games give a penalty to ranged combat when an enemy is nearby, but I only use the "Firing into melee" Nope-card when someone asks for a point-blank bonus. I have effectively eliminated both modifiers in an effort to streamline the game. As a former police officer and soldier, I assure you that "realism" is better served through speedy combat than number crunching.

Thanks for the literary research! Anecdote: I once had the BBEG (a former PC that went insane) cast the reverse version of this spell in combat. The look of confusion, then horror on the players' face was priceless (since two of then had once been resurrected by that same character before he became an NPC).

That's absolutely what the designers intended, I'm merely using pedantry to get rid of a rule I don't like. I've drastically quickened combat by ignoring rule exceptions (point-blank, shooting into melee, not dodging firearms, etc.), but I occasionally get a player that actually reads the rules and now wants their bonus. (<sarcasm> because calculating 1/5th dex during combat totally increases my players' immersion</sarcasm>). It's weird: D&D actually gives you a penalty die for using a ranged weapon (including firearms) at close range.

p.113 says "A target may not fight back against or dodge a Firearm attack as they can a Fighting attack". However, the defender can Dive for Cover (p.113). Also, the rules (p.114) do say "One penalty die is applied when targeting a combatant involved in melee combat"... and you're arguable in melee when firing at point blank... I've used this to simplify the rules and just ignore the point-blank bonus die (i.e. if a player ever asks for a point-blank bonus die, I say 'yes, and you also have a penalty die for being in melee'). I also allow firearm dodging in my games for simplicity and cinematic reasons.

I've previously run an 80's campaign using "Cthulhu Now" (1987), "The Stars Are Right" (1992) and "At Your Door" (1990).

The Call of Cthulhu (CoC) core game rulebook, by Chaosium (I believe some copies say "Keeper Rulebook" below the "Call of Cthulhu" title, but curiously mine don't). In CoC 7e, the Ghost stats are on p.333, but I believe earlier CoC versions had ghost stats too.

The Basic Roleplaying book (p.114) contains rules for Psychic Combat. However, I like your ad-hoc rules (they feel more elegant). Also, the Ghost entry in Call of Cthulhu (p.333 in 7e) details this sort of combat under its special powers.

No need to wish: the late pledge button (in the upper-right of their Kickstarter) is just as good as pledging initially.

RAFM had a Kickstarter for that here. Peterson Games, Mansions of Madness and Death May Die have enormous selections. Reapers has produced many mythos figures during their Kickstarters. Wizkids also produce some prepainted mythos figures in their Pathfinder Battles line. Fantasy Flight Games used to produce prepainted ones, but they are out of production now.

Nice! I want my investigators to be too scared to go in... then a session or two later uncover a compelling reason to go in.

In this example you'd be better off printing out a real map of southern Vermont (if such a handout is desired). The map in the CoC book wouldn't seem very useful to players overall. Do you possibly have some more examples? When it comes to tactical maps, I generally give the players descriptive (or sketched) information until they explore the area enough that I can just show them the full map... or combat is triggered (in which case I likely have a battlemat ready).

This Kickstarter might give you ideas. A body-kun or action figure might be easy to modify. I wonder if anyone has used a mannequin for a full scale prop...

I'm certain that HPL's work had lots of plot holes (like giant mountain in the middle of the Antarctic, or lack of fossil records elsewhere), but an incredible old race being able to build extremely durable structures seemed reasonable to me. I was thinking extremely hard substances, like molecularly aligned nanostructures (kinda like graphene), but I like your ideas of even more exotic materials: like self-repairing or temporally stable.

Given how successful and beloved the recent MoN edition was, I'm not sure of your point. The price-tag was a bargain for some. The MoN HPLHS prop set costs more than the campaign, and it too was totally worth it. For contrast: I paid $500 for Platinum editions of each of my last two D&D campaigns (and twice that for additional props/miniatures), and I was happy with the result (though MoN was better). A well-made campaign can provide say, 200 hundred hours of enjoyment for 5 adults. Meanwhile, the hourly value of an adult's free time can be worth tens if not hundreds of $. If I can run a better campaign for 13¢ per person-hour, I'll take it.

The complicated 7e rules basically boil down to: -If you have skill 60%+: roll to hit twice (the second time with a penalty die). Each success = three bullets hitting -For skill 40% to 59%: roll to hit thrice (2nd roll w/penalty die, 3rd with two penalty dice). Each success = two hits -For skill below 40%: you probably shouldn't bother with auto-fire In practice though, PC's typically aren't very skilled in automatic weapons, and attacks with penalty dice are unlikely to hit, so I just have PC's: make one roll (but use 10 rounds) and treat a success as two hits

The broadcast of the play appears to be free. I believe $129 has always been Chaosium's price for this edition of MoN (which has sold very well).

BRP had skill training rules which averaged to about 1 point per month. Also, CoC's therapy rules average to about 1 point of SAN per month. So I just told my players that they could increase one thing (attribute, skill or sanity) by 5 points per the 1/2 year of down-time that we regularly had between scenarios. The players rarely chose to improve an attribute (since they weren't used as much as skills). I think even a Size attribute increase could be justified via role-play (i.e. gaining weight).

CoC 7e p.389 says: "Unconscious: A character who has received a major wound may fall unconscious if they fail to roll equal to or under CON. The duration of unconsciousness is at the Keeper’s discretion. A successful First Aid or Medicine skill roll may return a character to consciousness (see page 123)"

Here are my tips from various threads: Here are some pictures from some of my previous BtMoM campaigns Most of the paper props were found on-line (especially at Geedunk and Propnomicon) French/German versions of BtMoM expand on the adventure, but do not contain as many art improvements as the French versions of HotOE and MoN. However, the German version of BtMoM (Berge des Wahnsinns) had some good additions, including some more detailed portions of the Gabrielle). The HPLHS radio play is excellent and comes with some additional props I taped an enlarged picture of a model Liberty ship onto my GM screen during the initial chapters. The Liberty ship's exterior is very similar to the Gabrielle's, giving the players a better visual sense of the vessel. I found it especially useful during loading, searching and unloading phases, since I could affix (using painter's tape) details to each of the hold sections beforehand BtMoM seems to be all about NPC's rather than the PC's, but that can be fixed by turning those NPC's into PC's. Further details on some of the props: For airplanes I used a NewRay DC-3 (to represent DC-1's) for Starkweather-Moore and a Monogram Tri-Motor for Lexington For the Pemmican scene in Australia I used lego-clusters to represent cows that had to be disassembled and reassembled into precisely-sized, solid-color packages (then labelled as pemmican). In the final episode, I secretly replaced an unusual, small black rock they found with a ball of black, magnetic goo - which would slowly move and consume small bits of food (disguised rare-earth magnets) that were thrown into the jar with it. I obtained a core sample from ebay (one of the ideas I got from Propmonicon) but I didn't find many interactive uses for it during play (other than simply as a prop for the dig site) For miniatures with Antarctic clothing I mostly used Hoth-related Star Wars miniatures. Here's a thread about regular CoC miniatures though. Survival food: I picked up some sailor bread, Pemmican, and MRE's (and did not provide an alternative for dinner that evening). It made for a memorable experience. Tips: I found out afterwards that Winco's bulk food section contains Sailor Bread and MRE parts for cheap. Also, the Pemmican tasted a lot like summer-sausage, which could serve as a cheaper substitute. Since there were a *lot* (dozens) of expedition NPCs, I created a large bulletin board to organize them (this image would've save me *so* much effort) For my GM screen, I used the Sans Detour BtMoM Keeper screen. If anyone reading this is hoping to republish BtMoM (which I do hope occurs) here is a list of some challenges I encountered that might be useful to know when designing a new version: The book does not seem to be organized for ease of use by a Keeper, making it difficult to find what you need to run a scene, or what is germane. NPC's and their interactions with each other (rather than the PC's) seem to be the focus of the campaign. There are dozens of NPC's: almost all of which are available at almost all times, and each with detailed backstories and personalities. Complicated logistic Lengthy writing that does not advance scenes, nor can be read aloud. Little opposition other than nature (which might not be as exciting)

1. Pulp doesn't really fit the atmosphere, and isn't really needed. 2. BtMoM discussions that might help are available here and here. 3. I made it more of a fun party (with some challenges that allowed for skill checks) rather than a hazing. Players are always looking for skill check opportunities, as that is the only way to improve skills. Plus, they got cool certificates, and one of the players even got to dress up as Davy Jones (though: that caused an issue with a PC that had mythos PTSD from previous adventures).

My preference runs the opposite: I like learning about real events as the historical knowledge seems useful. CoC is one way for me to interact with history in an entertaining way, and aids my simulationist desire for verisimilitude. Conversely, I have less desire to gain more knowledge of fictional settings and events; my Arkham knowledge has been less fulfilling (and felt silly) compared to say, my Venice knowledge. Similarly, reading up on the '87 San Francisco quake felt far more compelling than reading up on a quake in a similar, but fictional city in "At Your Door".

My own 80's campaign (based on "At Your Door") was like our world, but darker. Example: the '87 San Francisco quake still occurs, but it's caused by mythos activity (and it feels even more dramatic to those caught in it). Other news items often have similar mythos causes (that regular people do not know about).

Exactly. When facing mythos monsters, I just want to avoid the hit (at full skill) rather than fight back at effectively half skill. This game is all about surviving rather than fighting back. Also, diving for cover is mainly just for firearms (which you can't fight back against anyway, so totally worth it).

COC 5e p.114 (covering firearms) says "One penalty die is applied when targeting a combatant involved in melee combat" To me, that also includes combatants in melee with the one firing the firearm. In my campaign, this rule has effectively removed the point-blank bonus die for handguns (which I never liked as it made guns too effective and ubiquitous). Anytime a new player asks for a point-blank bonus, I also remind them of the above rule (so eventually, they quit asking). Of course, hunting rifles don't get a point blank bonus, so the above rule results in an actual penalty die in the scenario mention in the initial post

I *wish* my players only used .45's (instead of Whippets, Thompsons and explosives). It's a game, so I expect them to optimize damage output.. and if an encounter can be solved with force, this just speeds it up. However, I typically: Have spell casting NPC's use the Flesh-ward spell Use monsters that can't be easily taken down with guns (or use more of the monsters) Get the PC's in legal trouble for murdering human cultists (since the cult probably has influence). Authorities might take the PC's guns away, watch them, imprison them, or help the cult hunt them down. As a simulationist GM, I let the players try to take realistic, responsible actions (which may include excellent efforts to stay alive, and minimizing their own horror). However, there are also very realistic social consequences to firing a gun... possibly resulting in isolation from normal society and prematurely ending an investigator's career (which can add to the horror). (doh: Mike ninja'd my same answers while I was writing)