Kyrral

I like this a lot as well. Bravo sir. I'm playing a modern-times campaign right now, but may borrow your 50's Innsmouth ideas to springboard what a 2016 Innsmouth may be. If I do, I'll be sure to let you know!

Having not finished going through all of harvest yet, my concern was that there may be parts next to impossible without a bodycount, and I try not to saturate the investigative party with NPCs. The Edge of Darkness, for example, calls for at least four for a reasonable chance at completing the ritual, but it could fairly easily be altered to support less now that I'm thinking about it.

I have three players on-board. I have about 6 players in my "pool" of players, but only three that I think will take serious enough to commit to a campaign like this. I think ultimately I'm going to run with those three plus whoever can make it, then add and remove characters as needed. That way if nothing else, I have a strong core group. Thanks for the advice.

Fairly new to the Cult, and looking to ultimately run A Time to Harvest for my group within the next few weeks, but despite best efforts I cannot seem to find a recommended player count mentioned at all. I have at least three players that are onboard for an extensive campaign such as this, but worry I may need a fourth. 

How many players did you have? Do you feel it was too many or too little?

The Haunting was my first session I ran, but I spoiled a lot of it for myself by skipping a lot of the investigation to get a "first hand look" at the house before going to investigate further. I ultimately went to the basement and found Corbitt before doing half the researching, cutting the scenario short.

The Scenario I started off with (as a Keeper), I still consider to have been my best ran, and a perfect example of Call of Cthulhu should feel like.That scenario is The Edge of Darkness. I'm not sure  where all you can find it, but it's in the 6th edition rulebook for certain.  

Note: Obviously, some spoilers.

Like many, my group had played D&D before, but not CoC or anything similar. As such, I think The Edge of Darkness is a better introduction for this, since it's not as investigation heavy as say "The Haunting", although it is still necessary and your players try to do so.

In EoD, players have a clear connection to one another. Rupert Merriweather are all called to his deathbed. The characters don't have to be connected at all for this. Hell, they're jobs don't even matter, just having some link to Merriweather. which allows for a good opportunity to meet other investigators and people to share in the experience of the awfulness that is the Mythos. 

Players are immediately given a box with questionable contents perfect for investigation, but also clear instructions on where to go and what to do. These contents offer as perfect hooks for future scenarios, but don't have a whole lot of depth to deter the main course, the farmhouse, after having a short stop at Ross's corners.

Now, here's where the advantage of having a group used to D&D starts to thrive.  Unlike The Haunting, raiding the house like a group of merry adventurers is a bad idea. The hobo in the basement offers a token challenge, but should players attempt to kill him it will not only come back to bite them later, but also be a makes an example of morality. Really grind it into the player that they just killed another human. Should they rush to the attic, the death of at least one investigator, almost unquestionably. Foreshadow the consequence, and this offers immediate contrast to their realm of comfort. 

Players will have to work together to make the excorsism ritual work. There is also a good amount of SAN rolls and spooky stuff that happens which makes it easy to set the mood, and really strike fear into your players. The chance of at least one player having a bout of insanity is decent, another mechanic players should be familiar with. 

In conclusion/summary, it gives an easy reason for characters to come together, speaks a bit louder on action rather than investigation like most players will be used to, and encourages good habit building for future scenarios. It need not be long, and could be finished in under four hours fairly easily, and offers quite a few hooks to continue the campaign.

45 minutes ago, Mike M said:

In the Investigator Handbook is a whole chapter devoted to investigator organisations - a mechanism that specifically answers your question.

Ah. I only have the rulebook and keeper screen. It'll probably be a little bit before I can afford the Investigator's Handbook.

I don't know if there is any way to really do that within the rules specifically persay, but here's what I would suggest:

Given that a combat maneuver is used to disarm normally (using fighting(brawl) or fighting(sword) for example), consider using the firearms(rifle) or other applicable weapon in place of that. I would oppose that skill vs the targets STR(Grip), DEX(reaction speed to impact) or possible POW(willpower, or determination to keep hold) then go as the following.

Success: A simple disarm. No damage.
Hard Success: A disarm plus minor damage (1d3 at most)
Extreme Success: A disarm and malfunction of that weapon, if applicable, or maybe knocks it across the room, plus maybe normal damage?
Critical Success: The weapon is both disarmed and sundered (broken), and damage applys as normal.
Failure, Fumble, or Critical Failure: Something appropriate. Maybe instead of disarming them you drop your weapon, or on a critical failure accidentally hit an ally behind your target, or maybe a ricochet. Of course, weapon malfunctions or jams would work as normal. 

A penalty die or bonus die may apply depending on the calibur of gun being shot, size of the weapon being disarmed, whether or not the weapon is being wielded two-handedly or not, etc. As always, just try and keep it fair.
Typically, characteristic values are higher than Fighting or Firearm skills, so succeeding in the first place is likely difficult. A 45 Firearms(rifle) vs a 70STR isn't exactly easy. Giving the opposed player a choice of STR, DEX, or POW should ensure that the recipient holding the weapon should have the upperhand, which makes sense. 

59 minutes ago, 10baseT said:

For DG, i'm going to give you several answers. The first is, I would get the original DG setting which was made to work with CoC rules. Even if you don't ever run DG, the content and source book is just so awesome. It stands as a piece of literature on its own and is just fun to read (Majestic 12, Project Covenant - the raid on Innsmouth, Nazi Karotechia, Saucerwatch, the Greys, Intergovernment Task Forces, Roswell, MK-Ultra like you see on 'Stranger Things',... i can go on and on). You can get it at DTRPG  http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/99212/Delta-Green . And if/when you do run DG, use the 7e rules or the new DG rules (both are d100)... i use both and very easy to go back and forth or pluck and use what suits you. (I reccomend all the original DG source books for everyone's CoC Library... you can't beat the price on DTRPG).

For the new DG, they just released the Agent's Handbook and quick start rules which is called Need to Know. It's on DTRPG as 'Pay What You Want' http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/175760/Delta-Green-Need-to-Know . I'd get it so you can check it out. But since you like the 7e rules (which i do as well), use the 7e rules... DG is the setting. (DG finished a very successful kickstarter and there are tons of bitchen stuff scheduled to come out)

Since you're playing in the Arkham/Boston area, your PCs can be part of a Boston PD special unit (or Boston FBI field office) that utilizes contractors like professors, animal control, etc, ie specialist that have certain skills. Actually, there may not be an FBI depending on the time setting you run. So maybe a group put together by Arkham that is funded by multiple departments to further research and discovery. Your PCs are part of this diverse group.

There's a short story you should read about NYPD's special unit that work in the subways, in the 1920s i think. They're secret, get paid more and you have to qualify, but anyway, it's because things have been seen and they are fighting the menace. I don't want to spoil it and i'll post the name when I find it.

 

Awesome! Thanks a ton again- I'll definitely be picking up the former of the two at least at some point (i'm a sucker for hard copies)

I'll definitely toy around with what exactly theyre all connected through. I want to work up a couple options and ask the group. I try not to just force background into player characters if I can avoid it (save for insanity, of course.)

Paying $129.99 in one shot is a bit too much for me, so I opted to get the Keeper Screen and 7e rulebook, and to get the Investigator's handbook later. Is it possible to order just the slipcase by itself?

9 hours ago, 10baseT said:

Have you tried Delta Green, either using 7e or the DG rules? They give an excellent reason why the PCs are together or affiliated. Or use something similar in your setting...maybe like in Ken Hite's book 'The Cthulhu Wars' they are part of Unit X/Unit 10 (which can be tied into DG as well). Or instead of being part of a government agency, they can be part of a society like in Pagan Publishing's Golden Dawn... all which give a reason why the PCs do what they do together and why/how new PCs can be introduced to an existing party.

Appreciate the input. 
What is the name of the DG Rulebook, or where can these rules be found? I've always had an interest in DG, and would love to have more information on them. 

I'm preferably trying to hold off using them for at least a few scenario's for two reasons:

1. We're all adjusting to the 7e rules still, so I don't want to do anything terribly crazy. 
2. I have bigger plans for Delta Green. In short, my players (not characters) are familar with DG because I used them a bit in the 1920s we played a while ago, so I wanted a highly organized group of cultists to act as a imitation Delta Green, until eventually the real Delta Green gets involved and that would be either the climax or the last bits of rising action in the story. 

I like the idea of them all working for a similar agency though. In our group we have a Scientist, a Animal Control guy, a Hacker/journalist (for lack of in depth explanation), and a Solider (who may be changing characters to a Journalist or something like that.). Typically we've stayed around the Arkham/Boston area, so linking them all to the Miskatonic University might be a good idea. 

54 minutes ago, mvincent said:

There's no reason that their PC's aren't friends, same as in real life.

But you are correct: they need a reason to continue investigations. A wealthy patron/organization is often necessary for a long campaign. Such a patron would likely be happy to hire ex-military

I kinda fu-barred that one. I asked all of the investigators in their first scenario (The Haunting) if any of them were acquainted prior, and basically all of them said they weren't. The second Scenario went better (Lost in a Book), as one character started to look into things and contacted the others, being the only ones with prior experience to mythos-like things (similar to what CommanderCrud suggested). 

I really appreciate all the feedback. It should help quite a bit.

I'm fairly new Keeper at Call of Cthulhu. I've ran maybe 5 scenarios (three on 6th ed, two on 7th ed.), but I've ran into a couple snags. We tried 1920s in the past (6e), but my players had some trouble getting into character for whatever reason, so we're giving the Modern setting a spin at least until they are comfortable with the new system (7e). For the most part it's going pretty well on a scenario-to-scenario basis, but the in-between is where I'm having trouble.

What would drive player characters to keep looking into stuff after say, the Haunting? The Haunting starts well in getting the investigators together, and has a few good hooks such as the Chapel of Contemplation or the Horoscope in Corbitt's resting place (which one of my players photographed before it crumbled to dust.), but after taking Corbitt down, what would keep the group together? Sure, the one player might start looking more into that horoscope, but how would I get the other players involved at that point?

I suppose one PC could just contact the others, being former partners, but how are player jobs explained at that point? One of my PCs was a soldier who was on leave, and after that scenario would assumedly be returning to service soon thereafter. How can you justify player characters investigating around without jeopardizing their characters jobs- especially if they have family (backstory) to support. After the setup the ball gets rolling well enough, but how can I get past that initial push?