mvincent

100-Cthulhu Mythos is the indeed the only ceiling (therapy is normally +1d3 SAN per month, assuming good rolls)

"a good night's sleep in a safe place" allows you to recover from Temporary insanity, but it does not increase your Sanity score. Also "a place of safety in which they can rest and recover their wits" resets the 'day' (for purposes of losing 1/5th of your sanity in a day causing insanity rule), but again, no SAN increase. Aside from the Sanity bonuses for victories, increasing Sanity normally requires month(s) of therapy.

I have them roll, then I provide handouts (sometimes placed inside old books) It's not very RP heavy (well, reading authentic looking handouts is a bit like LARPing), but the wealth of reading material certainly tends to be engaging. PC's with a low Library Use skill often do something else, like hire an assistant (which I roleplay a bit) or investigate other leads while the Library users find the Library clues.

Most of my HotOE tips are available here. In regard to all of the investigation and fact finding: maybe spice it up with some action when possible. Example: the first scenario was more fun when I had the PC's rescue their burned friend from a flaming house (possibly fighting fire creatures), rather than hearing about it afterwards. (My input for handling all of the possible locations they could visit is already here.)

All of the above: 1) If they want to sight-see, I will use google maps (especially street view). Major European cities are often still similar to how they were in the 20's. Sometimes I will peruse these sites ahead of time so that I can describe the sights from memory. 2) If possible, I might try to move a scenario encounter to one of these spots. 3) If it's just a failed library use roll (and there is expected to be several days of library use), I will just hand-wave it.. and make it clear to the players that they are expected to have several days of down time, so they don't get anxious to get everything done on the first day. I don't like to waste play time on red-herrings though. As adults, my groups don't have a lot of extra free time. If nothing is going to happen, I try to make that clear so we can move on.

A similar topic was discussed here. It sounds like the PC has effectively become mentally disabled (or had a stroke). Theoretically, a stroke victim as an active PC could be option, but it'd be difficult to run and play. In the 1930's, I would likely handle this similarly to when a PC goes insane: put the PC in a sanitarium (or in the hands of care-giver) and allow the player to start a new PC.

I've use those before too (good bargain). Still, pennies are 3/4 inch (while 7/8 inch chips are closer to the standard 1 inch base size used with map grids). Also, there was the aesthetics and ease of use (i.e. a bag full of penny based plastic minis tended to become debased quickly).

Here is resource material for 1920's Shanghai (once intended for a 'Secrets of Shanghai' sourcebook that did not materialize)

Have you checked out Chaosium's Secrets of New York? It has most of what you are looking for (including details about the Sugar Cane speakeasy on p.45). The book indicates that the Hall of records is where you would find birth certificates, records and deeds.

Here's a thread on the subject. I'm partial to Heroclix (rebased onto these). Some examples of students include: Rick Jones Simmons Fitz Skye Pepper Potts Harvey Dent John Jameson Peace Brigade Thug Walter Kovaks Ben Reilly Jessica Jones Mary Watson Peter Parker For a lot of cheap, pre-painted 1920's figures: try O-scale figures (under 10 cents apiece on aliexpress.com or ebay) hot glued to bingo chip bases. They are the perfect size (I've measured them next to my other miniatures), and their "blank faces" are easily fixed by running a black dry-erase marker over their face, then wiping it off.

That sounds like an apt summation of CoC. Probably best to let players know ahead of time that "your character might get killed through no fault of your own".

Since the spells 7e did cover were mostly unchanged, that made converting MoN easier for me: I just used the old versions of spells for any that 7e didn't cover. Nicely done. As mentioned: MoN is ideal for Pulp Cthulhu (which it seems like you've done here).

A list has been started here. At Your Door especially contains several encounters with Shub. Also, the Beograd section of Horror on the Orient Express contains links to Shub.

From a related thread: The 7e rulebook says (in the 'Perception Rolls' section) that Spot Hidden: "can also be used for smell and taste."

The sample scenario "Amidst the Ancient Trees" (Keepers Handbook) contains several long distance uses of Spot Hidden. Example: on Day 2, Spot Hidden is used to catch the glint of light off a rifle scope on a ridge.

That's not indicated by the skill. One would still use this skill to Spot something at long distances. (similarly, 'Listen' could be used at short distances)

I recommended skipping the optional scenarios initially (the campaign is long, and you want to be able to finish). You can always play them later if you have time (since most are in different eras and use different PC's) The Express Diaries has some great handout images. I recommend downloading it to your PC and retrieving the images (can be done by changing the .epub extension to .zip and then opening it to retrieve the files) If you purchased the electronic version of HotOE, you can also use this trick to quickly retrieve NPC pictures and such from the .epub file Buy a Glass Syringe and a small bottle as props for the Lausanne Chapter. Fill the bottle with an interesting liquid (like bacon flavored Vodka or Viniq) and require players to drink it. Pick up a Cthulhu coin (here or here) as a medallion prop for the Trieste chapter Buy a skull this Halloween season at the dollar store for a prop in the Zagreb chapter Buy a primitive whistle (ceramic or wood) as a prop for the Belgrade chapter (having a player blow this as loudly as possible was kinda fun) Conduct plenty of interactions with waiters. Keep a white or blue hand towel nearby and wear it over your arm when speaking as a waiter Buy a navy blue conductor hat (maybe add some bling) and wear it when speaking as a police officer, conductor, valet, etc. Maybe even purchase a fez for special encounters. The information on the HotOE GM screen isn't particularly useful (and had spacing issues), but I purchased it anyway because the front side looked pretty, and I was happy with it for that purpose. Serve beverages at special sessions (champagne, wine, absinthe, etc.) Maybe learn some common French and Italian phrases for the appropriate chapters, or even view short You tube tutorials to practice the accents: French: parlez-vous français? bonjour, au revoir, oui, non, pardon, s'il vous plaît, merci Italian: parli italiano? Ciao (buongiorno, buonasera), Arrivederci, sì, no, scusi, Per favore, grazie Serbo-Croatian (for Belgrade, but Russian will do): govorite ruski? Dobrodosli ('Welcome' in Serbo-Croatian), Dosvidaniya, Da, ne

Here is one for episode 1. The PC's do not need to pursue the mystery In episode 1 - they will be involved regardless. After episode 1 they should likely have a stake in the mystery.

Here is some of my feedback for Episode 1: NPC Pictures: it would be nice to have a page of small thumbnail pictures for all of the NPC’s (preferable B&W public domain ones from the 20’s), with their name and occupation/role printed below. Boxed text: It is hard to discern what can be read to players, and often referees have to mentally convert the text on the fly. Having concise “read aloud” text (preferable with a box around it) could help referees immeasurably. Farmhouse ending: making the opposition details (i.e. number of Mi-go and what they are armed with) more distinct/visible could help referees. Dig site ending: This is too abrupt and not detailed. .Also, the opposition details (i.e. number of Mi-go and what they are armed with) is not present at all. Agnes’ statement: this is inconsistent with the statements about Bugs and bird carcasses elsewhere in the adventure Folklore handouts: the folklore section has some excellent, useful text, but it could be useful to instead format it to be used as handouts (giving the referee an option to save his voice and game time) Stats where needed: having stats for NPC’s and opposition where they are encountered would save time flipping to the appendix (which is cumbersome, delaying the game precisely during the action scenes). These could even be abbreviated stats (i.e. just the parts that might be needed), saving the full details in the appendix. NPC physical descriptions: the physical descriptions for the student NPC’s are very long and detailed (which can add in-game clutter and delays). A single, pithy line could suffice. Sheriff’s speech: although I loved reading the speech, it was very long. A shorter speech would maintain player attention, which would ultimately enhance the impact. More speeches: I would like read-aloud dialog provided for other NPC’s too. They don’t have to be in hand-out format. Boxed (or even italicized) text is fine. Newspaper clippings: we definitely need one dealing with the previous expedition. My players hounded me for this - luckily there were some fan made ones offered in forum. Also, some pre-made clippings concerning the PC’s (likely) antics in town would also be nice. Prequel: the suggestion for Keepers to roleplay prior to the expedition can cause some problems. The players are almost certainly going to (extensively) research the previous expedition, which will remove some of the surprises and cause the Keeper to improvise extensively. Starting in medias res can save a lot of headaches. Mi-go equipment illustrations: a lot of Mi-go equipment is detailed, but some illustrations of some of them would be especially helpful.

Balance is not a big consideration in CoC, so group dynamics and play-time is more of a factor. I do not recommend going above 5 players in CoC (including Harvest), even for experienced GM's. For newer GM's I recommend starting with 3 players and working up to 4 (which is often where each player will get the most enjoyment).

Train. I strongly preferred it, and it's currently a more 'finished' product. Harvest felt like it had 'early draft' issues that I hope will be fixed in the final version.

I'm a simulationist-style GM, so I try to handle it realistically. Obtaining knowledge in this area can be hard (luckily, I'm a former police officer), but asking your players what they think is realistic should suffice. Response times would probably be lengthy, and the police would probably be cautious... which means moving slow, but responding in overwhelming force. Investigations would similarly be slow, but tight-lipped. PC's should sweat (as the the police won't let on what they know during questioning), but the scenario will likely be over by the time the police are ready to indict.

Ditto. They should get their reward (effective immortality via brain removal) at the end of chapter 2, turning the PC into an NPC.

Since casting spells don't involve Sanity rolls, they don't cause Temporary Insanity (CoC7e p.155: "Temporary Insanity - If an investigator loses 5 or more Sanity points as the result of one Sanity roll..."). They can cause Indefinite or Permanent Insanity though.

I did this as well, and it definitely helped.