Mike M

Pulp Cthulhu, when it appears, might be a good choice for the A!C books.

Okay - Pulp Cthulhu is focused on playing Call of Cthulhu in a pulp style - i.e. it's a supplement to the core rulebook and not standalone.

It features creating tougher characters (called heroes rather than investigators), with a tweaked generation system. A range of supplementary rules for pulp style play, giving both players and NPCs more "tricks" to call upon (usually at a cost - it's Call of Cthulhu after all). Tweaked Sanity and magic rules, inc. insane augmented skills. Optional psychic powers, and also Weird Science. Some new organisations for heroes to belong to, or to fight against. A range of pulp villains and monsters. Four scenarios, each with a slightly different flavor of pulp, and a chapter on designing pulp stories and plots, and running pulp style games. Remember, it's still Call of Cthulhu at heart, so while characters can take a few more knocks they can still die and are very likely to go insane; although, a couple of deep ones isn't likely to make them sweat - but they can confidently go toe-to-toe with a hunting horror or larger monster.

It's down to the Keeper to introduce the world to the players. The world is 1930s America. There are no limiting factors or quirks - it uses the Call of Cthulhu rules.

While the campaign can be run using just the Quick-Start Rules, it is written for use with the full Call of Cthulhu rules.

The Student occupation - occupation skills are: Credit Rating, Library Use, Listen and 5 skills of the player's choice (areas of study).

PC death - a non-important NPC is fine.

40% chance just means the NPC or monster has a 40% chance of knowing a spell or two, i.e. roll 40%, if you roll equal to under then they have a spell - you pick the spell. Or, even simpler, you just decide whether the NPC or Monster has a spell - its your call.

Very nice!

10 hours ago, dadcubed said:

Hi Mike. That sounds ace. I have looked on the Chaosium website and can't see anywhere to throw my money. I watched the video of the box set. It looks awesome! Is there a pre-order? If so could you link it? Thanks

Pre-order is not up yet - soon will be.

4 minutes ago, dlw32 said:

I'm not clear on the timing for ep one. On page 34, under Field research it says that this is the "final term" of 1929-1930... so spring 1930. And the field trip is "planned for the
summer months".

But on page 35, under Start: The Trip to Cobb's Corners, "The investigators leave Miskatonic University on August 15th"

I'm clearly missing something... I would guess the trip would start in June...

The field trip happens towards the end of the summer break (just before classes start up for the fall term). The earlier reference pertains to if the Keeper wishes to run some establishing scenes at the end of the year before summer break - i.e. getting the PCs signed up for the field trip.

3 hours ago, JFO said:

Hey, all.  Just finished reading Episode One all the way through, and it's absolutely smashing.  Can't wait to give it a shot.  I have a few questions:

1) On page 43, the yet-uninitiated Deputy Cutter offers the investigators a nip of whisky as long as they don't tell the Sheriff.  On page 56, Cutter (having established contact with the Mi-Go) pulls his gun on the investigators and arrests them for inebriation.  That's a big change for a relatively minor character.  Should the investigators already be able to tell that he's a baddie by the end of Episode One?

2) The names Harold Higgins and Professor Harrold are pretty similar.  With so many characters in play, I'm afraid my group's gonna confuse the two.  Is that intentional, or can I change Harold's first name to something else?  Connor, Jack, Mickey?  

3) Do all of the NPC students have to be swept up by the Mi-Go? If the players make a concerted effort to save one, can we leave a straggler with the group?

Thanks so much for this opportunity and an amazingly dark scenario - really does look like great fun 

1. Small town law enforcement - things aren't always what they seem. An initial 'friendly' approach to gain trust, then later a harder edge (especially if the Sherif is around). Cutter is meant to appear as a minor character but, like real people, also appear more complex as time goes on (with his role increasing to major NPC).

2. If you think you're players will be confused, change the name.

3. Ideally yes. The PCs won't know the NPCs have been taken by the mi-go (as they are sent back to University/are in jail, etc). These NPCs return in Episode 2 - when they return to the university (after the PCs, who will have been sent on ahead by the Professor).

3 hours ago, morganhua said:

I noticed that the CoC 7th Quick-Start pdf doesn't have the Student Occupation.  In order to generate PCs, I'll need to give them the Student template from the Investigator's Handbook in order to create PCs.  Best if this template was included in the A Time to Harvest pdf.

The student occupation is very simple - skills: Credit Rating, Library Use, Listen, 5 skills of player's choice for their areas of study.

Having some form of relationship with either Blaine or Devine would be fine - I would try to ensure the relationship has become strained in the last year or so - so that the PCs are not completely up to speed with these NPCs. I.e. they are not currently best friends/romantically involved, but may have been so in the past. Thus, there is motivation to find out what happened out there in Vermont.

Pulp Cthulhu  - has been written and is currently being relaid out. Due for release later this year.

Astounding Adventures was written for BRP and is completely separate book to Pulp Cthulhu, which is specifically for Call of Cthulhu.

@dadcubed - the Screen Pack is printed and being shipped along with the books currently.

UK distribution into game stores is usually handled by Esdevium Games. Of course, those based in UK and Europe can also buy direct from Chaosium as we now have a European fulfilment house.

Hi,

This private forum is for Cult of Chaos Keepers who are running A Time For Harvest - the Organised Play campaign.

Here's where you can share ideas, ponder questions, and generally support one another in realising the campaign on the tabletop (or computer screen).

Share best practice, cool things that happened in your game, and so on.

With this being a private area, you can divulge campaign secrets without any players sneaking a peak.

Welcome!

On 21 March 2016 at 0:36 PM, Baniak said:

Hello everybody, this is my first post to this forum, so be gentle with me
As I read "ATtoH" will be set in Arkham in 1930. Is it possible to switch to another city (like Boston) and time (e.g. 1920s)? Or is it necessary to run the campaign in that specific place and time?

Cheers

The campaign takes place over a small number of locales - Miskatonic University in Arkahm is one, but there are others of equal importance. The plot of one scenario centers specifically on the university (rather than Arkham) and so you could change this to another university elsewhere but I think you'll loose some of the key features and I'm not sure what you will gain. As I said, the campaign moves to different locales in each of the episodes.

I can tell you that a free online PC generator for Call of Cthulhu 7e is in development and looking very good. A fan is developing it and once its ready, we'll let everyone know.

Hi - the campaign will be sent out in PDF format. I've asked that the handouts and maps also be supplied in a separate PDF pack for ease of use.

On 24 February 2016 at 10:00 PM, oberonkestral said:

Thanks Mike, that's what I thought. I have read the 7th Ed PDF's pretty throughly and am comfortable with either edition, but figured we'd want to use the OP as a means of promoting 7th edition in all it's coolness.

--michael

 

Yes absolutely, the OP campaign is specifically intended to promote 7e.

Conversion between editions is easy and can be done on the fly.

The new Rulebook has an appendix on things you need to be aware for converting 6e scenarios and PCs to 7e and so on.

On 19 February 2016 at 9:27 PM, K Peterson said:

So, what is Cthulhu Icarus and what is it based on? Did it originate in some 6e product that CTTA converted to 7e, or was it created whole-cloth for CTTA?

I've found very little details on it, and have no desire to purchase CTTA. A Review of CTTA that I found references Worlds of Cthulhu, apparently incorrectly.

Cthulhu Icarus in Cthulhu Through The Ages is an original piece written specifically for that book. It includes details for creating investigators for the setting, information on the setting and a range of scenario ideas for the crew of the Icarus. 

Hi

I believe the "Cthulhu Icarus" referred to by cjbowser is the one in Chaosium's Cthulhu Through The Ages. The scenario in Worlds of Cthulhu has a similar name "The Icarus Project" but is not the same material.

Beasts is good - well, some stories are better than others - but still worth checking out the DVD of the series (each episode is a different story). 

Anything by Nigel Kneal is worth reading or watching. The last Quatermass series on TV - just called "Quatermass" on UK independent TV was in the 1970s and took place in a society on the brink of anarchy, with space hippies gathering at ancient stone henges. Once the reveal is given, it's possibly the most Lovecraftian - as in utter cosmic horror - of all TV I have ever seen. Talk about humankind being insignificant!

Dead Light is good for a one shot introduction, although it does not come with pre-gen PCs (you could use the ones provided in the Investigator Handbook though). 

Mr. Corbitt from Mansions of Madness (again you'll need to create PCs or use ready made ones)

Using the quick roll-up method for PC generation (in both the 7e Rulebook and Investigator Handbook) with the PDF Investigator Sheet (free download from chaosium.com) means you can have a bunch of PCs ready in next to no time.

Cthulhu in space... all I can say is "watch the skies" as something is being fashioned to help plumb the dark frontier of space.