Darius West

The notion of witches are well incorporated into the fabric of Glorantha already.  Jakaleel is a witch because she dabbles in nasty magic that other people are afraid of, and the same notion goes for Cragspider the Firewitch.  Much like a sorcerer, a witch is a socially transgressive magic user, outside the normative social order and morality.  Witches and sorcerers don't derive their power from sources that their respective societies feel comfortable with or understand.  Typically "sorcerors" in anthropology are people who are born with powers and wind up using them badly i.e. super villains, as opposed to your more typical heroes.  You might think of them a bit like X men mutants perhaps?  Probably a poor analogy.

I would have said that your classic Mallia (note double L spelling) Shaman would be your more classic Gloranthan witch.  Also, the notion that the witches described in the article would be subject to a lot of bigotry anywhere but Malkioni lands seems a little unlikely.  Orlanthi are prejudiced against sorcery, but that is probably because of the Jrusteli and Vadeli, and while shamans are odd, they are sort of understood and accepted, mainly they would hate "witches" because they were feuding with their clan.  The Lunar Empire is inclusivist, and they currently dominate the Solar pantheon (who are great bigots, but sort of have to pull their heads in a bit within the Lunar Way.).  I imagine the Kralori would simply sigh at yet another load of peasant superstition, and merely exile them to the Kingdom of Ignorance if they became a nuisance. That basically leaves the Malkioni to be all "burn the heretic!".

ANIMAL FRIENDSHIP - Hsunchen.  HURL FIRE - Lots of places. Casting firearrow on a rock for example.   CURSE OF BRITTLE BONES - Mallia.  UNRAVELING - Form/Set "Stuff".  BEAST SHAPE - Hsunchen.

What is written here http://d-infinity.net/game-content/runequest-thursday-103-witchcraft seems like an odd hodge podge of shamanism and sorcery, all half understood, forming something like a pseudo-tradition.  The sort of thing that would happen when a natural shaman stumbled into a sorcerous realm and bound sorcerous spell spirits.  For that reason I like it.  It isn't overpowered, and being an individualistic tradition non-reliant on a broader cult is interesting.  It could be fun to develop a campaign around these ideas.  I would probably set it in 3rd Age Ralios.

So the question is this... what is the difference between Draconic illumination and Nysalori Illumination ?  Clearly the Dragonewts were present at the Broken Council and were cursed by Nysalor just like the trolls (though a true dragon rose and devoured the curse).  It is also true that Nysalor was birthed from a "cosmic egg" or "Omphalos" just like a dragon deity.  It is also pretty clear that in Kralorela, the two paths seem to merge apparently pretty seamlessly.  On the other hand, there can be no doubt that they are NOT the same.

Clearly Nysalor didn't teach his followers how to transform into wyrms (that was a second age fad) or sprout claws and scales, in fact he was probably more tentacle oriented because:

"It matters nothing that we fight here today on the side of order, and that Ralzakark and his hordes fight for chaos, for if we all willed it in reverse, so then we would fight in each others' place." - Krishna. Bhagavad Gita.

We can also see that in the destruction of the Red Moon by the True Dragons that this is a Draconic HeroQuest of transformation via a playing out of the Sacred Utuma Ritual.  Such a thing would not be necessary if the Red Goddess' illumination were perfect.

So should we see Nysalor as being essentially a false illumination?  Is that why Arkat, the shadow of Nysalor, came to pull down the Bright Empire.  Is that why Argrath, the shadow of Rufelza, comes to pull down the Moon?  It is quite possible to see in Arkat the perfect counter argument to Nysalor's philosophy and it's moral and cultural relativism.  So too one can see in Argrathsaga, that Argrath is the same philosophical counter argument to the Lunar way.

"Fight not against monsters lest ye become a monster, and know when you stare into the abyss that the abyss stares also into you."

- Eliot Ness. The Untouchables.

The path of the True Dragon is not to surrender to Orxili (chaos?) but to defeat, reform, educate, and reconcile Orxili back into the cosmic unity (I assume).  And yet Orxili never seems to be destroyed any more than the True Dragon is destroyed?  In fact, Crested Dragonewts are called Orxili.  Is the entire process some sort of elaborate draconic mating ritual conducted every 600 years to replenish the eggs?  There is no evidence to support it, but perhaps the ritual is not complete and the new eggs are going to be laid soon?

"Every six hundred years you have come..." - Michel de Nostradame. The Quatrains.

Now throw into the mix the various forms of mysticism and renunciate paths in Glorantha, and even the Orange Schools of the Vadeli and we have some very blurred lines.  It seems that the Dragonewt path is one of mystical renunciation, and that is why they go backwards when they prematurely manifest their draconic powers.  This is why the path of Immanent Mastery is a heresy; if your aim is to become a true dragon illuminate, then Immanent Mastery is the exact and deliberate opposite of that.  Effectively the transformations are not building draconic power but dissipating it frivolously.

Is the renunciate path of the Invisible God the same path?  Is this what the monomyth is pointing towards?

White chocolate is neither white not chocolate.  Discuss.

So the question is this... what is the difference between Draconic illumination and Nysalori Illumination ?  Clearly the Dragonewts were present at the Broken Council and were cursed by Nysalor just like the trolls (though a true dragon rose and devoured the curse).  It is also true that Nysalor was birthed from a "cosmic egg" or "Omphalos" just like a dragon deity.  It is also pretty clear that in Kralorela, the two paths seem to merge apparently pretty seamlessly.  On the other hand, there can be no doubt that they are NOT the same.

Clearly Nysalor didn't teach his followers how to transform into wyrms (that was a second age fad) or sprout claws and scales, in fact he was probably more tentacle oriented because:

"It matters nothing that we fight here today on the side of order, and that Ralzakark and his hordes fight for chaos, for if we all willed it in reverse, so then we would fight in each others' place." - Krishna. Bhagavad Gita.

We can also see that in the destruction of the Red Moon by the True Dragons that this is a Draconic HeroQuest of transformation via a playing out of the Sacred Utuma Ritual.  Such a thing would not be necessary if the Red Goddess' illumination were perfect.

So should we see Nysalor as being essentially a false illumination?  Is that why Arkat, the shadow of Nysalor, came to pull down the Bright Empire.  Is that why Argrath, the shadow of Rufelza, comes to pull down the Moon?  It is quite possible to see in Arkat the perfect counter argument to Nysalor's philosophy and it's moral and cultural relativism.  So too one can see in Argrathsaga, that Argrath is the same philosophical counter argument to the Lunar way.

"Fight not against monsters lest ye become a monster, and know when you stare into the abyss that the abyss stares also into you."

- Eliot Ness. The Untouchables.

The path of the True Dragon is not to surrender to Orxili (chaos?) but to defeat, reform, educate, and reconcile Orxili back into the cosmic unity (I assume).  And yet Orxili never seems to be destroyed any more than the True Dragon is destroyed?  In fact, Crested Dragonewts are called Orxili.  Is the entire process some sort of elaborate draconic mating ritual conducted every 600 years to replenish the eggs?  There is no evidence to support it, but perhaps the ritual is not complete and the new eggs are going to be laid soon?

"Every six hundred years you have come..." - Michel de Nostradame. The Quatrains.

Now throw into the mix the various forms of mysticism and renunciate paths in Glorantha, and even the Orange Schools of the Vadeli and we have some very blurred lines.  It seems that the Dragonewt path is one of mystical renunciation, and that is why they go backwards when they prematurely manifest their draconic powers.  This is why the path of Immanent Mastery is a heresy; if your aim is to become a true dragon illuminate, then Immanent Mastery is the exact and deliberate opposite of that.  Effectively the transformations are not building draconic power but dissipating it frivolously.

Is the renunciate path of the Invisible God the same path?  Is this what the monomyth is pointing towards?

White chocolate is neither white not chocolate.  Discuss.

I take everyone's point about Sartar cavalry, it has been a long time since I found my copy.  The Sartar cavalry aren't nearly as good as I remember them.  My opinion is no doubt misinformed by the fact that I used them to break the back of the Lunars and harrowed Tarsh with them so often, back in the day. 

In the game King of Dragon Pass, you cannot have more weaponthanes than you have horses.  I think a horse represents the difference between the carls and the tribe's dedicated warriors, as much as proper armor and weapons.  Clearly being mounted is something the Sartarites understand and value, even if their hill fort culture can't produce cavalry of the quality of the Grazers or even the best of the Lunars.  I would expect that Sartarites on the Eastern border with Prax would be better riders than the western side of the kingdom, with the exception of those Bush Rangers (they seem to get in everywhere).

Next up, there are in fact a few Orlanthi tribal rider subcults of Orlanth, he is, after all, a mobility rune deity such as Finovan the Raider, Ulanin the Rider, and Beran the Rider, quite apart from Elmal.  Yes, it is likely that many Orlanthi weapon thanes are poor riders and so operate more like hobilars, riding to battle, then dismounting to fight.  On the other hand, many Sartarite ex-pats, outlaws and refugees served as mercenaries, and many of them would have been caravan guards and therefore would have been mounted.  I am not suggesting that they would be a majority of Sartarite forces, perish the thought, that would be silly, but there would be enough.  Now perhaps Mastakos is a god of Chariots, but he also likes riders, and there is an age of Hero Quests coming.

Now Argrath is quite a cosmopolitain ruler, being one of the few people who has traveled across Glorantha and hero quested pretty much everywhere he went. If anything Argrath represents something pretty terrifying, in that he is perhaps the first person who will reconcile the magic, tactics and philosophy of the EWF and the God Learners since Delecti. Is there any doubt that he saw the cataphract tactics of the West, the Praxian riders  the Lunars, and who knows what else?  Now Argrath is NOT a conservative, and he has a war to win.  Why would he rehash old tactics that are proven failures when he could hybridize a new and better answer?  And if not him then why not Kallyr?  To turn the Sartarite rebels into an effective force will mean an abandonment of prior military doctrines in favor of new tricks that the Lunars aren't ready for, even if those new tricks have their origins in old tricks.  Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the results to differ is a form of madness, so stop cuddling the lunes.

I also don't buy the idea that Sartar cavalry uses recycled Lunar equipment and methods.  Perhaps that is true in 1624, but why would it be the case even 5 years later after ongoing Sartarite military success and all that plunder?  It might be handy to be able to dress as Lunars to mount surprise attacks, but you would want to have a clearly identifiable look so you didn't get shot down by your own side. 

Page 157 of King of Sartar features mention of the "Temple of the Reaching Storm" built by Argrath to stem nomad invasions from the North and East into Saird (Pentans?  Hungry Plateau Sables?)  between the years of 1629 and 1635.  I remember reading this and cocking a skeptical eyebrow at this aberrant development, and then I had an idea which I think bears repeating.

What happens when you become apostate from the Seven Mothers or other Lunar cults?  Well, some might send spirits of reprisal, but lets face facts, that won't discipline an illuminate, and the Lunars are all about illuminates.  Instead what happens is that you remain tied to the Lunar cycle. 

But hang on now...

If you are tied to the Lunar cycle and you are within the Glow Line, you still get all the magical advantages of the Lunar Cycle at it's ongoing Full Moon peak of power.

Now consider, if you were at war with the Lunar Empire what an advantage that would be?  If you had ex-Lunar apostates as recruits who now worship Orlanth, who were effectively turning the power of the moon against itself.  You might even consider joining the Seven Mothers yourself, just to quit and be tied to the Lunar cycle so all your spells now have twice the juice and twice the freshness.

Say, that whole thing about the White Moon... you don't suppose that is what happens when the Orlanthi suck all the magic out of it?

Remember that Argrath is an ex-Wolf Pirate and therefore one of the most cosmopolitan people in Glorantha, and he has even been to Jrustela, the home of the God Learner philosophy and now a Vadeli/Mostali hangout.  This seems like a very small concession to God Learnerism when you think about it.  Thoughts?  Criticisms?

Personally I have always loved the RQ system, so much so that I used to award XP points in Ars Magica in specific skills that characters performed and succeeded at regularly and cut down the overall scenario XP reward points a bit.

Of course if you want players to be able to develop their character in BRP then offer them a 1d6 increase in 1 skill of their choice if they fail but survive a scenario, 1d8 if they manage to scrape a reasonable outcome, and 1d10 if they demonstrate brilliance.  This is on top of the skill checks they have received.

Personally I think a good Keeper or GM should gear scenarios somewhat towards giving characters situations that somewhat play to their strengths and encourage them to make plenty of ups in the areas they use most often.

If you want a bit of a laugh, imagine being a Real Estate Agent in Witch Haunted Arkham. 

Property for Sale.  3 Story Gothic Revival.  6 Bedrooms, Electricity, Gas and Water.  3 previous owners (all missing presumed dead).  Any reasonable offer.

Shamans in RQ have historically been a bit like playing a Netrunner in Cyberpunk, i.e. they are generally stuck playing a mini-game outside the main action.  I actually quite liked the RQ3 variant of Shamans, as with the power of a spirit cult behind them, plus a fetch, and a coterie of other spirits the shaman brought a lot to the table.  It was notable that a Shaman in the right spirit cult could have an allied spirit AND a fetch.  I had fun GMing a trickster shaman whose fetch and allied spirit didn't get along and used to prank him for taking sides, as well as the rest of the party if they got involved.  Having a Shaman in the party can be a lot of work for the GM, as every new spirit in the mix is another personality to keep track of.  It is potentially rewarding however.  I used to simulate the spirits by passing notes from the spirits that a shaman needs to respond to with their voice.  These odd outbursts can be quite interesting.

I totally agree with davecake that anything that can be used to make spirit travel more interesting (and more structured) would be good.  I tried to do this by suggesting that certain spirits were more common in some areas than others.  In retrospect it did become a bit like playing a lethal game of (dare I say it) pokemon go.

One thing that annoyed me however was the somewhat arbitrary Dex limits on skills.  Yeah, I know it existed to stop powerful magical characters also becoming combat wombats, but it is hard enough for characters to get decent skills regardless.  If you think about it, that arbitrary Dex rule should apply to many more characters than just Shamans and Priests, for example, all knowledge deity initiates, healers, alchemists, slaves, bureaucrats, etc.

I found RQ3 style shamans to be really quite powerful, often being more versatile and dangerous than even sorcerers.  IMO shamans either die stupidly or wind up as tin pot demigods. As Runeblogger says, much depends on your POW up, but if you have an allied spirit AND a fetch, that is 3 bites of that cherry.  Shamans generally wound up trading spell spirits to people and getting pretty rich to boot, even after looking after their tribe and cult.

The chupacabra is just the interbreeding of a Cat and a Bat because they have the same number of chromosomes.  It was an early genetic black project in Puerto Rico due to less stringent laws in the protectorate.

The Owlman is actually also the Mothman, and is a time displacing ghost.

The Sasquatch are Hyperborean voormis.

The Men in Black are either the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign fresh outa Kn'yan or Opus Dei feeling threatened by flying saucers.

The Loveland frog is a Deep One.

As a side note, not specifically on the issue of Glorantha, but pertinent to this double raising of merkins, people don't seem to be aware of quite how unsavoury merkins actually were.  People hear "pubic wig" and giggle, but in fact merkins were pretty evil things.  You see they were used to hide the visible signs of syphilis so that the merkin wearer could get service in brothels and therefore infect the prostitutes, and of course then the prostitutes would infect the rest of the clients who would probably go on to infect their spouses. My understanding is that merkins were pioneered by the Hungarian nobility under another name, but I don't know what it is because I am not fluent in Hungarian.

I remember reading somewhere that the Blind King's Palace in the Big Rubble was so-named because the king who ruled there had owned Tada's Wig, which was essentially a huge toupee that rendered the wearer very powerful with lost fertility magic from the Green Age but basically unable to see out from under it.  Is anyone able to shed more light on this weird rumour?

Bison:  Flower Bison Clan (from Cults of Prax...Birurian Varosh, narl flowers, Aldryami etc.), Upriver Clan (Orlanthi ties), Dark Rock Clan (Zorak Zoran ties)

Sables:  Twin Star Clan (Early Lunar Converts with Hungry Plateau links), White Bull (From Prince of Startar, anti-Lunar Stormbull Sables from the Wastes), Grass High Clan (Own a piece of Tada's loincloth),

Impala:  Spring High Clan (Jump and dodge), Arrow Fury Clan (Storm Bulls with Arrow Trance rather than Berserk), Flashflank Clan (High speed and dodge/manoeuver), Dawn Riser Clan (Wastelanders with water secrets)

Bolo Lizard: Three Stones Clan, Wyrm Talker Clan (Dragonewt Friends), Five Brides Clan (Eiritha Secrets), Clam Hunter Clan (Sea Ties),  Knee Striker Clan (Wastelanders)

Ostrich:  Yellow Clan (Sun Ties),  Ripclaw Clan (Close Quarters),  Dazzle Clan (Use sun magic and shimmer to aid their dodge).

Unicorn:  Hidden Oasis Clan (Special Eiritha gift of an oasis no other tribe can detect in the Paps), Never Drew Clan (Unicorns born sentient)

Rhino:  Avalanche Clan (they frequent the Valley of Avalanches),

Agimori:  Spear and a Half Clan (Use sarissas), Long March Clan (High stamina), Sacred Ash Clan (Strong Ancestor Cult), Finds the Mark Clan (Thrown Rock Specialists), Great Mask Clan (Own a sacred Genert Cult mask, gifted to Pamalt)

High Llama:  Face Spitter Clan  (Guess), Giant Kick Clan (Close Quarters clan), Too Fast Clan (super fast, terrifying charge), High Glider Clan (fast riders and great jumpers), Stoops Low Clan ( Extra size beasts)

Pol Joni:  Derik's Clan (The Founder's Clan), Wolf Hunter Clan (Telmori Haters), Dark Wind Clan (Troll Friend Stormbull/Zorak Zorani), Jaldonfriend Clan (They made peace with Jaldon Toothmaker and raid into Dragon Pass with him, despite being "horse bastards"), Serpent Clan (Waha Enemies, use serpent river magic)

Zebra:  Mule Clan (Strong Issaries Clan, trade into Sartar, Heortland, even across the Wastes rarely), Wall Rider Clan (Pavis Clan), River Stripe Clan (Trade along the Zola Fel).

Morokanth:  Flat Tooth Clan (Breed More Herd Men), Hooknet Clan (Capture specialists, slavers), Thumb Clan (More Morokanth Thumbs), Maneater Clan (Eat humans as readily as Herd men).

Regarding the "Saw Tooth" formation, you are right about it not increasing the frontage, but I have read in a number of places that introducing a wave in his line is what gave Hannibal his edge at Cannae and broke the Romans.  I could see how such a tactic might be adapted to phalanxes, but I don't know how well it would work.  

By Roman tactics, I assume you are referring to the way the Romans defeated the phalanxes at Cynoscephalae ?  By using pilae with their flexible soft iron upper shafts to pierce the shields and render them unbalanced, followed by pelting with the heavy fighting spears, while the vanguard slipped under the sarissas with gladii?

I am interested to hear what you consider Argarath/Kallyr's innovations to have been?  Obviously the Sartarite Magical Unions, which no doubt incorporated different cults and styles of magic into advantageous "buffing" positions.  From memory the Sartarite cavalry is quite good.  This has always seemed odd to me, given that there is no specific Rider god of particular note in the Orlanth pantheon.  I thought that perhaps this was achieved by combining Praxian tactics with those of the Western knights of the Heortlands?

Cults of Terror notwithstanding, I have generally seen Illumination as an ascetic tradition which is immanent not transcendent.  Obviously it once had a divine component, but that is gone now since Nysalor's death.  In essence, the whole thing is an exercise in chaotic moral relativism, and a trap you don't want to fall into unless you like having sex with ogres and broos.  What would Conan do?  Fail at even getting 1% when Thulsa Doom has to explain the riddle of steel to him.

This is great stuff.  I could also see a lot of merit in an Earth Rune formation that protected archers within, and a Sea Rune formation that increases frontage by forming a zig-zag.  The main weakness of a phalanx being its flanks, a square formation somewhat solves the problem.

The concept of frontage is all-important to making a phalanx work.  Depending on the length of the pikes/sarissas/spears, a single infantryman facing a file of phalangites might face as many as 5 spears attacking him.  In RQ terms this is not fun, and even Rune Lords have a hard time dealing with that much punishment.  ]

This is merely added in case someone didn't already know.  I think I can safely assume M Heldson is an expert and pretty much everyone replying to the thread is an expert.

You probably want different tables for different terrain settings.  Such as Urban, Small City, Town, Rural, Forest, Desert/Prairie, Mountain, etc.  Possibly also Air travel hazards and sea/lake/river hazards for water travel.  In the 1920s horseshoe nails would be a big puncture hazard on most roads, as was mud.  Covered freeways were far from widespread.

On 30/08/2016 at 2:22 AM, mvincent said:

 I also thought they wouldn't like the 'rail-roading' in the adventure (which is pretty linear).

 

I also felt that I was being railroaded by the plot of Horror on the Orient Express.  I couldn't quite put my finger on why though...  

I thought the creature was a bit like a gug.  But just around the head, 

One thing I like about 7th Ed a LOT is the chapter on chases.  If there is one game which needs good chase rules it's this one.  How do you handle a bear?  Pick up a couple of branches and flap them wildly and make the loudest most absurd noise you can.  The bear will probably fail its SAN check and flee.  Failing that, discharging a gun is normally enough to scare a bear away.  Bears aren't stupid.  Humans are better distance runners and more manoeuvrable between trees, plus bears are on a calorie budget that doesn't allow for long chases.  If food is close and available, they will attack.  If dinner outdistances them, they will look for an easier meal.  Food too is a good distraction.

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/scarebears.htm

True dat.  High production values for 7th Ed noted.

I am normally a handouts and imagination Keeper, but one time I ran a grid map game adapted from Space Hulk where the players were hunting ghouls under Hangman's Hill in Arkham.  With added rules to accommodate tunnel squeezes, climbs, crawling through fetid goo that got turned up like other counters, and spot hidden rolls in the dark totally dependent on light sources it became really tense.  Add to that a chess clock and a 7 minute ceiling before the ghouls move again, and it was wonderfully tense and the players loved it though they were all but pissing themselves with terror and adrenaline.  Will you goop up your gun barrel?  Can you re-light the improvised flamer in time?  Did that thing at the end of the passage move or is that my imagination?  Will Genivieve move her fat behind in time to allow me to get a clear line of sight.  Oh no!  You're too close, don't fire that thing or we'll all be deaf... BANG ! Mawp... mawp... 

In my game one of the characters started as a jazz musician raised in a New Orleans brothel.  Since moving to Arkham he has become a pimp, a bootlegger, and ultimately used his mythos encounters to provide himself with a commercial edge over his rivals.  As his little criminal empire has grown I have found ample opportunities to have him trip over Arkham's nasty little secrets.

if you are looking for mythos hooks, try these...

1) Unsavoury hideouts.  Gangsters are often looking for abandoned properties to set up in.  Whether it is as a drop point for booze, or a hidden fuel stop for a run from Canada, a spot for a new speak, or a run-down coastal mansion for rum running, there is always the opportunity for something slithery.  Don't overdo it or it will become too predictable.

2) Cherchez la femme.  A bad woman can be the ruination of a fella I tell ya, but the suckers keep lining up for the same old honey pot.  You never know what sort of trouble a dame's gonna land you in brother.  The real trouble always comes in the best packages and it always comes with a classy name, because you wouldn't go to all that trouble for buck-toothed Daisy Mae in her hillbilly frump sack dress now would you? 

3) Money is useful, so why wouldn't a cult get in on the action?  They probably don;t advertise, but when you get right down to it, isn't the Mafia a secret society?  So what if they weren't the only one involved?

4) You can't fight City Hall.  A deeper conspiracy.  Someone actually knows what is going on, and the whole damn institution is rotten to the core I tell ya.  Ask them journalists, they'll tell ya if they ain't been snuffed yet.  Maybe the mayor's behind it all, maybe he ain't, but I guarantee that bastard's getting kickback payola from all sides.

5) Mythos vs Mythos.  Just because you worship some disgusting horror from another dimension doesn't mean that we worship the same horror, or that we're gonna get along.  It could be that a minor player or a small league outfit can use their smarts to leverage their position and set the bigger players against each other, then step in and clean up the whole pot when they're weakened.  The thing about cultists, they're crazy, too busy raving about the stars in the sky to see what is going on under their noses.

6) Sewers.  Remember how we rubbed out Jimmy that little rat and dumped him in the sewer?  Well his body ain't there no more, and that has the boss to thinking that maybe he weren't rubbed out and we got ourselves a traitor who let Jimmy walk.  Now if you get my meaning, that is your problem, capiche?

7)  There are lots of ways to make a buck.  There are lots of rackets, protection, illegal gambling, unlicensed fights, loan sharking, numbers games, narcotics, prostitution, infiltrating labour organisations, corrupt construction contracts, fencing stolen goods, you name it, go read a law book.  Suppose your loan shark lends money to the wrong guy, or one of your drug addicts is seeking out something called "The Fix What Don't Exist" ?  Or you lean on the wrong fella?  Anything can happen.

8) Law enforcement.  Even when they're on the take they are a problem.  Do some research on what the local police can bring to bear on a problem.  Also look into outfits who will be anti-bootlegger like the Women's Temperance Movement and the KKK.  Private Detectives like the Pinkertons and investigative journalists can also be a knotty problem.

There is a rich source of material on Prohibition era crime.  Whether it is contemporary movies, or more modern offerings.  I totally recommend Ken Burns' Prohibition and Jazz docos.  I also recommend Boardwalk Empire, Miller's Crossing, and Lawless.

I have been running a very alternative version of CoC for 3 years now, based in Arkham with Miskatonic students and starting in 1920.  We are now just getting to 1922.  I am currently running 3 teams of players, Team Goo, Team Dim Sim, and Team Jackass and have 15 players who regularly criss-cross each other's paths. 

1) One of the main ways I have kept the game running is by including non-mythos related stories to punctuate the pace.  The 1920s provides a rich setting in which characters can get involved in all sorts of shenanigans.  The obvious one is bootlegging to earn some extra money, but there are also plenty of back story opportunities to be built on.  As I had my game set around Miskatonic University this provided ample opportunity for introducing NPCs.  I find building a rich background of persistent and recurring npcs who have ongoing plots and story lines is great.  For example I had A list and B list and C list mythos celebs.  A listers were characters from Lovecraft such as Randolph Carter, B listers are characters from works by the likes of Derleth and Smith, and C listers are characters from games like Arkham Horror.  One C lister was Ruby Standish, who is a perennial bad girl economics student and queen of the Bohemian set, who uses her stealth to keep her friends out of trouble and is clued in about the mythos to some degree.  The game started with her casing the Fraternal Order of the Silver Twilight (which I places on the outskirts of French Hill) because there was a valuable book there she had a buyer for.  I also had her written up as the daughter of a well-to-do NY doctor, and very materialistic.  Imagine my surprise when a newly minted character Norman Blitherington Smythe is a young great war veteran of the ambulance service with wealth and an aristocratic title in Devon, who is attending Miskatonic on a rowing scholarship, and who went and got a job as a waiter at the Silver Twilight (who were impressed by his value as a potential recruit).  Well, Ruby decided that he was going to be her new boyfriend, and that opened the party to her contacts in the Bohemian set quite serendipitously.

2) Developing the setting means allowing the characters to develop their relationships with NPCs.  Some NPCs are broadly capable and can even be an asset when confronting the mythos.  Others have useful skills or might allow characters to, say, rent their grocery truck for example, if they think the characters are trustworthy.  One of the best loved NPCs was a big slobbery St Bernard dog called Lumens that Team Jackass bought.  Now Lumens was very big and strong, and true of heart, but not overly bright, and when he died it was a bit of a party tragedy and cost them each 1d3 SAN because they had all become attached to that stupid dog.  If that is true of a dog, how much truer for the loss of an npc girlfriend, family member etc ?  Developed NPCs are key for a long term game.  For the most part I make ordinary people pretty good-hearted; after all, humanity should be worth the effort to save.

3) Jobs.  Some characters were independently wealthy, but some are poor but on campus due to scholarships and needed part time work.  As Arkham is a creepy place, some jobs were on the level, while others were dubious.  I had fun with one job, that involved the character being given a key to a post office box.  They would find a letter in it addressed to them and inside that they would find instructions to follow.  If they did as the letter told them they would receive their pay, if not, they wouldn't.  In fact they were doing a cult's dirty work and it eventually dawned on them.  I had handouts prepared with essentially lists of scenario ideas.  Some jobs were pretty crappy, and the high paying ones all came with a nasty catch.

4) House Hunting.  Say your characters don't want to live on campus in the dorms anymore, partially because they are scared of who-knows-what and partially because they need privacy to delve into who-knows-what.  Can you imagine a worse job than being a Real Estate Agent in Arkham ? Well, needless to say, I had a pre-prepared handout with more enticing properties that were actually scenarios waiting to happen.  Now if characters play their cards right, the mythos may never find out where they live and follow them home "The Grudge" style.  Suffice to say that Team Jackass developed a great problem maintaining their tenancy anywhere for long, and the other parties used to lay bets on how long they would last in their "new place", much to their chagrined amusement.

5) Mythos Adversaries.  My game has always been an open ended sandbox.  I played with multiple classic mythos outfits operating simultaneously, knowing the objectives of each, and the assets they could bring to bear on a problem.  If left to their own devices the baddies would succeed in their mission and start their next phase.  This was all run to a timeline in a campaign diary. It wasn't like Skyrim where you could leave a story line mid-way and do something else without appalling consequences.  If you poke the bear it will keep coming after you.  Team Jackass at one stage had bought up Crowninshield Manor and had grandiose plans for it, but had left plenty of mythos enemies still operating, such that the manor was raided by 4 different groups in 3 days in May 1921.  Suffice to say it was fascinating to watch how that all played out, and, largely because they ran like whipped dogs, the characters survived.  I also made a point of developing the mythos outfits into something more original and threatening... for example the Mi-go are a lot more like Carpenter's "The Thing", while the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign had advanced technology that makes them terrifying when combined with their magic.  

6) Non Mythos Adversaries.  Whether it is the plans that the members of the Miskatonic Club have for redeveloping the characters' neighbourhood, or the local chapter of the KKK harassing their hobo buddies, or the Glee Club feuding with them over use of the stage, there were ample opportunities for getting on people's bad sides.  Sometimes it was possible for compromise, sometimes not.  Once players got some spells, it was surprising to see how prepared they were to use them on people who annoyed them surreptitiously.  This leads on to point 7.

7) Players are their own worst enemies.    Give them some rope and they will hang themselves.  They would periodically be rewarded with mythos tomes and learn the spells.  One time a team managed to obtain a Hyperborean flying ship.  Another team had a shoggoth they could control like the Elder Things did.  Given a little bit of power, it was surprising how ready the players were to use that power in unscrupulous ways, and how often they screwed themselves up inadvertently by doing so.  One thing I did to help this process along was a very useful little house rule... if you learn a spell, you don't know what it actually does until you cast it.  The books might provide some information, but can you really trust them?  They are, after all, mainly written by crazy cultist types.  Also, magical items need to be tested, unless you have some other means of analysing their properties.  That once ended up with a character hypnotised by a piglet in a bathtub before another player whalloped it with a fire axe.  It's funny how things play out sometimes...

8) Dreamlands.  While access to the Dreamlands is restricted to those who figure out how to gain entry, once in, it is a great place to set adventures that allow players to have big mythos adventures without leaving Arkham, or interrupting their routine lives.  

9) Deities.  I have been sparing with these.  I had great fun playing an interaction with Nyarlathotep's Black Man incarnation at one stage.  It involved dog headed zombies (human bodies) smoking and playing cards in the parlour while Nyarlathotep basically body swapped from one character to another, while the misplaced person was put into the body of a zombie.  Very SAN ouch.  I played Nyarlathotep in a spaced out deadpan, directing my gaze deliberately right through the players with a thousand yard stare that was fixed on the starry space beyond their reckoning, while he recounted elements of what they had done to thwart him, and how if they joined him all would be forgiven.  He even cracked jokes, but when delivered in an unfocused deadpan, the effect was apparently utterly chilling.  Finally he left them some brandy snaps in the letterbox just to mess with their heads... and it worked...  The mere mention of brandy snaps drove the players, let alone the characters, into conniptions after that episode, I think they actually lost some SAN for real over the brandy snaps.  The players said it literally made their skin crawl it was that scary.  Score 1 for my acting ability I reckon, "oh what an artiste is lost in me that I tread not the hallowed boards tra-la!" etc.

I don't think anything I have said contradicts any other posts here.  Yeah, that ought to do it for now. Hope this was helpful.

Wow.  Graham Walmsley's "Stealing C'thulhu" looks like the bomb!  Gotta get me a copy!

As for "The Crack'd and Crook'd Manse" I know it very well indeed.  It was the first CoC scenario I ever played back in the 80s in a tournament, and I happened to win it.  As a result I have a certain fondness for the scenario and have keepered/kept/GMed it a few times over the years for friends.  It is also really well written, and yes, the need to flee is palpable, I agree.

I can't say I am familiar with "A Time to Harvest" sadly.  I will seek it out on your suggestion.