Grimmshade

The highest is Cthulhu Mythos 4%, Sanity 95%. 

That's after the first two chapters of Masks of Nyarlathotep, and a couple of other published adventures I used as filler. The Sanity rewards for each adventure have outweighed the loss by a lot for some PC's. (Plus the ability to "self help" during downtime.)

I don't really want to punish players/PC's for having a high Sanity. Mythos skill limiting Sanity is the mechanic basically handling your observations (that Sanity and the Cthulhu Mythos don't play well together.) 

I've had the idea of adding some more Mythos tomes that need skimming, and possibly a spell or two that need casting. It wouldn't make much sense for them to put the person with low Sanity on the case, so if they begin having high Sanity PC's read tomes and cast spells, that's some automatic Sanity loss, and probably some Mythos skill gain. It may all balance out. 

I guess story -wise it does make sense that their confidence (and sanity) against the Mythos would be bolstered after having some success against them so far in the campaign. 

I've been playing Call of Cthulhu since 1st edition, but ion the last two campaigns I've come across a new "problem."

Some of the PC's (about half, so 2 or 3) gave gotten pretty lucky with Sanity rolls, and this the Sanity rewards at the end of adventures have taken their Sanity to max or near max levels. Now they never fail a Sanity check, and since must Sanity losses are 0/something or 1/something, they are never in much danger of any great sanity threat. 

At this point it feels like it will never change. I don't want to suddenly start forcing more or harder checks, because the other 2 PC's are the ones who will suffer the most for it. 

Any suggestions? We still have a lots of Masks of Nyarlathotep to get through. 

I only use the KO rule when PC's (or NPC's) attack from surprise. Otherwise it's normal combat rules. (I mostly play with the Pulp Cthulhu rules, but I use this system with either)

16 hours ago, EricW said:

Lovecraft's The Haunter of the Dark might be a good template

Humans discover a horrific artefact which summons a being who provides insane magical revelations in return for blood sacrifice. The old "church" congregation was arrested and shut down, but the creature (possibly a manifestation of Nyarlathotep) still manifests in the Church of Starry Wisdom, which nobody dares to enter. Once the monster makes contact with your mind you're doomed. 

If the church hadn't been forcefully shut down, the worshipers likely would have become coenobite like - totally twisted and revelling in their wicked inhuman knowledge, rapidly losing their connection to humanity. 

Hmmm.... Since we are playing Masks of Nyarlathotep I do like the idea of tossing in another Nyarlathotep connection and form!

2 hours ago, Keeper Bolog said:

 

With pre written scenarios this is definitely the case. 

I've always wanted to run a slow burn campaign with the PC's inheriting a house, finding tomes, reading times, and unlocking puzzles over the course of a year or so game time. Non believer would work great in that situation. 

I've had it with week in a few scenarios where the PC's find tomes and skim them as non believers, and then find the monster. 

3 hours ago, Keeper Bolog said:

Hi, it's your boy the new guy who asks stupid questions.

I would like some clarification from people that have played the game more than I do. In 7e CoC, probably exactly like older editions, the players can find Mythos Tomes, I have some questions about this:

1. Initial Reading of a Mythos Tomes grants the players knowledge of spells of course, this is clear, but does this reveal all the spells the book contains to the players or just what the Keeper deems necessary/wants to give them? Spells like Contact/Summon Azathoth could probably be an instant TPK/campaign ender if cast, so such spells would likely be eliminated in campaign play.
    
2. A Full Reading seems to only give 2 benefits: More Cthulhu Mythos points and using the Book as Reference Material for various Mythos topics. (On this note, how do you decide if a certain book contains certain mythos information the players wants to search for? Based on the title perhaps and summary?) Are there other benefits to a Full Reading I have missed? Not that these 2 benefits arent enough, I just want to know if I understood all of the mechanics.
    
3. All Mythos books have summaries, but they mostly seem to have information only an expert could know, like how many copies there are, what year it's from and so on. Do you guys basically just ad-lib the summary if the players manage to read the Tome on their own, omitting stuff like year of publishing and such unless they somehow find that bit out? Do you also add plot relevant stuff to Tomes they find to keep the game moving? For example in Masks of Nyarlathothep they can find a certain Mythos Tome (life as a god I think) that describes plot relevant stuff, but said relevant stuff isn't described in much detail in that "mythos tome summary" of said book so it just leaves the Keeper to add what they think is important.
    
4. Now the interesting bit, Becoming a Believer. I do not quite understand if a player can disbelieve only the things he read in the book or if he saw a Ghoul 10 sessions ago he now by default believes all Mythos Tomes he reads? Up until now I have played it as such: If my players saw a Mythos Monster they are automatically Believers whenever they read a Mythos Tome...but this seems to just eliminate this 'non believer mechanic' in the first sessions before ever finding such a book, so I think I am doing it wrong and players should choose if they believe or not on a book by book basis? What are your thoughts on this?

Thank you very much for reading and your answers!

I've been playing since 1st edition, so I'll give this a go! (Doesn't mean I'm 100% correct!)

Skimming always gives all available spells in my games. I run more pulp style games generally, but most of the big spells area going to be pretty hard for a PC to just instantly pull off anyway, and most PC's shouldn't want to summon Azathoth. 

A full reading can give other benefits is your decide it does. Recommended benefits include relevant skill improvement checks, etc.  The old 5e Keeper's Compendium has some excellent examples of this. 

In 7e, it doesn't really matter what is contained in a tome. If the player makes the roll, they get the info from the book. It's basically the same explanation as Cthulhu Mythos in general. A PC goes insane from some a Deep One. They gain 5% Cthulhu Mythos from the experience. They see tracks from a Ghoul and make the 5% Mythos roll and know some info about ghouls, with the explanation being that once your mind is open to the Mythos your have access to forgotten/ forbidden knowledge.

If a tome was known for sure to have the info the investigator was looking for, I'd probably just let them have the info after the study. 

As for tomes in general, I give as much little details as possible, as it all adds to the Lovecraft-iness of the experience.

Once an Investigator sees a Mythos monster and loses sanity from it, they can't really be a non-believer any more. Non-believer is basically a person who reads Mythos books and thinks they are all interesting fantasy, until they see a Dark Young in the forest and all their past reading comes crashing down on them. 

Hope all that helps!

8 hours ago, EricW said:

I think horribly murdering someone without desperate provocation is a pretty insane act. I think I remember reading somewhere to say sacrifice someone for a grisly magic ritual you have to *fail* a SAN check to proceed - so murdering people in gross ways gets easier as you lose sanity. Should probably lose sanity as well just for committing such an act, a save means you convinced yourself your action was justified. 

That's what surprised me the most; it doesn't look like the PC lost any sanity for outright murder. 

I don't think I'd force insanity/delusions on the PC at this point, but next time they are insane I'd definitely create some delusions about that murder. Have the PC see the man in public, maybe receive a phone call from him, or see his face in a fire, etc. 

7 hours ago, Mike M said:

Chases - what would make them easier for players and Keepers? A simple flow diagram, condense/concise process "how to" guide? 

A flow chart diagram would be a good start. 

For bigger changes, a simpler set up, and maybe less possible spaces on the chase track. Maybe even everyone basically encountering the same obstacles at the same time, with a number for distance between the pursuer and pursued. This way the line with dots on it would be less important. 

Options for common actions of both parties would make it easier for situations like Keeper Bolog mentions, where players don't know what to do. 

The core is great, it just needs to be streamlined to make it easy to get into, and easier to know what you're options are and how to play them.

6 hours ago, EldorfDragonsbane said:

Got to thinking some more on this. What about a creature from the Dreamlands, such as a couple Lords of Luz or even a single Zoog?

Dreamlands is definitely what I'm going with. (Unfortunately, it will mostly be out of canon Dreamlands, as I find Lovecraft's dream stories not very compelling, and thus I know almost nothing about them.)

The puzzle "box" is a key to a dream land that was found / formed by some fringe scientists, who now worship some Mythos entity there. The scientists are now the cenobite-like beings. (Again, I'm unfamiliar with which Mythos entities exist or hold sway in the Dreamlands.)

2 hours ago, Sam E. said:

Me again.  Did some Googling and found this thread:

https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/cthulhu-vs-hellraiser.192237/

The Mi-Go suggestion isn't bad.

I just used Mi-Go in a side adventure, but I like some of the other suggestions in that thread as well as your idea that they may be very warped and misguided cultists. 

I might go with a corner of the dreamlands thing, with the puzzle being the key. The cenobites are other searchers who have solved the puzzle and been "enlightened."

I find the set up a bit too gamey / difficult. I think the system itself is mostly sound and fun. We had a real good experience with it in Two Headed Serpent, but I find myself dreading it a bit in Masks. 

The last one I ran ended up basically just being a combat, because all the players characters just ended up moving a little and shooting. 

It also kind of sucks that whichever pursuers don't roll good enough at the beginning are basically instantly left behind. 

Again, I mostly like them, and I feel they can be fun and exciting, but they can also get a little time consuming and rough if you're not perfectly clear on the rules. I wish they ran a little more like chases in the Blade Runner RPG, which are basically the same but smoother and faster, if a bit more interpretive. 

EDIT: to answer one of the questions asked, I do show the chase tracker to the players, and we place miniatures on it to help visualize and track it. 

In my campaign, I've had one PC acquire an item similar to the puzzle box in the Hellraiser films. I'm looking for suggestions for the Lovecraftian equivalent or replacement for the cenobites. I was originally thinking the Elder Things, but they don't quite fit what I'm looking for. 

Any ideas?

Oh man, I'll be buying that!

I agree that the summoner should also take Sanity loss for seeing the creature summoned.

I love looking at illustrations of the mythos creatures, and using them in game. I bought Peterson's Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors, but I really don't like most of the illustrations. They didn't even try to get most of them story accurate. I really like the illustrations in The Anatomical Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors, but it's not in print anymore. 

Are there any other books (besides the RPG books) that have good Mythos illustrations?

In my opinion, the table is wrong. Cthulhu Invictus agrees with the example (and the text about a "draw") in saying that a shield user fighting back that fails to achieve at least an equal success does not gain protection.

Will there be a Gaslight Keeper's Screen? I'm addicted to GM screens. 

6 hours ago, Mike M said:

Hi, we are currently working on the new edition of Cthulhu by Gaslight - there will be a Player book (setting, rules) and a Keeper book (scenarios, seeds, deep setting). Text wise, more or less done. We are beginning art and maps and stuff over the next month, and once done it'll head into the layout schedule. 

Awesome! Will you be including most of the old Gaslight equipment guide? (I was about to purchase it when the price shot up.)

12 hours ago, Aerinyes said:

Agreed. I was an investigator in Shadows of You-Sothoth sometime in the mid-80s, and it was a blast. There were long stretches of time when I didn't play at all, until 7th edition came out, and Chaosium has done an excellent job of fine tuning. The rules are both fairly simple to use, and still contain enough complexity to fit a wide variety of play styles. Even better, the sheer number of published scenarios and campaigns is mind-boggling, and the quality is superb.

There are also quite a few resources for CoC game props available for the industrious keeper. I've been making physical props as well as buying some, and it really adds to the atmosphere. I think you'll have a blast with the current state of the game!

Agree about the adventures. I've rarely used published adventures in games in my 40+ years of RPGs, but I've used loads of the great adventures out there for 7e. 

I use the system for non-Mythos roleplaying too.

And yeah, there are some fantastic prop sets! (As well as sound sets). 

18 minutes ago, Joe Kenobi said:

Awesome--thanks for taking the plunge!

That's right, a number of them do last longer than a rulebook bout of madness. We concluded a handful of the less debilitating ones manifest better and are more fun to roleplay over a longer period of time. I'm happy to share:

• Almost half of the cards are either 1d10 or 2d10 rounds
• 12 of them add a permanent effect -- the bulk of these are phobia- or mania-related. This also includes the Hidden Genius card, which is the only positive effect in the deck (we liked the idea of one "joker")
• The remainder are either 1d10 hours or 1d10 days -- I just counted and it's 4 of them have the multi-day effect

Definitely our intent is to provide enough variety that Keepers feel comfortable picking and choosing to some extent, and pulling out cards they don't think will work well with their table or scenario.

I love that you're thinking of adding some of your own custom bouts, as well!

Looking forward to getting them! I think they will add a great option to our Masks campaign. This is the kind of product I love to own; there's something about cards and other fiddly bits.

Welcome back!

I've been playing Call of Cthulhu since the 1st edition, and I think you'll be real happy with 7e. It's the best edition yet imo, and my favorite rpg overall.

2 hours ago, Aerinyes said:

I believe the digital props are going to be very dependent on your players and how they approach the game. Some people will find that using a phone or computer while trying to keep the mindset of the 1920s would break the mood, others will really enjoy the visuals. I found the digital props to be beautifully rendered, easy to use, and I'm still ambivalent as to whether I will use them in game.

I think there were a couple intro freebies, but could be mistaken (or it could have been time-limited). I would suggest picking up one of them and seeing for yourself, then think about your players.

I have downloaded the free set of props. I'll use them for the first adventure and see if the players enjoy them. Thanks!

2 hours ago, Aerinyes said:

Keeper Bolog,

I can't answer that particular question right now as I am away from my materials, and I'm a year or so away from running Masks anyway. What I can suggest is that you go straight to the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society website and buy every one of the props that they have. All of them. Don't ponder whether you will actually use them, or if they are good enough, or any of those normally well-considered questions before making a purchase. Just open your wallet with glee.

If you don't have unlimited amounts of money, you can probably restrain yourself to the prop collections designed specifically for Masks of Nyarlathotep for now, but I assure you that once you have even one of their props in your hands, you will want them all. Every single one.

This is 100% truth. I will be starting Masks in 3 months, and I know it will be the best campaign ever because I have an entire box of movie quality props for it. If they made a second box of even more Masks props, I would buy it immediately. I'll also be buying the digital props pack soon.

These look great! I'll probably order them for my Masks campaign. The only thing I'm noticing is that several seem to last much longer than a bout of madness normally would. 

Edit: Went ahead and ordered the deck. I figure I can always remove the ones I don't want in there. I can also sleeve them and add some custom bouts on paper (behind the card back).