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Gatsby and the Great Race scenario - Virtually?
Joe Kenobi replied to Joe Kenobi's topic in Call of Cthulhu
Thank you both! We're having a little more trouble drumming up interest than I'd hoped--at 8 interested players and 3 interested Keepers so far, and I'd really like to have 11-12 players and 4 Keepers. Fingers crossed we get there! Okay, so what I'm getting is I should make every effort to ensure no one has a view of Gatsby at Point Zero. If they follow him into the house, for instance, I should ensure Gatsby maneuvers away and they don't have a view of him at the time Point Zero strikes. -
Gatsby and the Great Race scenario - Virtually?
Joe Kenobi replied to Joe Kenobi's topic in Call of Cthulhu
Hi Cory, thanks for chiming in! I actually learned of the Gatsby & the Great Race scenario when your colleague Jen was on the Miskatonic University Podcast last year. Yes, I'd love whatever resources and insights you have to offer! We just kicked off the call for participants yesterday and I should know by the end of the week if we have enough interested parties to play (I want to make sure we can justify at least three "tables"), and to serve as Keepers for the scenario. Assuming it goes forward, it'll run either Fri 8/7 or Sat 8/8. Glad to hear Zoom has looked like a good option. And yes, assuming things go forward, I'll happily share any insights and lessons learned of my own! In addition to general insights toward running the scenario and advice for a virtual game of it, I have a number of specific questions and ideas that have come up as I've contemplated the scenario. Would love help with these from Cory, Paul, or anyone else who's participated before! ***SCENARIO SPOILERS TO FOLLOW*** 1) How important is the character portrait element to the scenario? Given the nature of Zoom, those are tough to bring in naturally. I'd like to encourage everyone to use their character name as their screen name, so they can "recognize" one another that way as they move between rooms--will that be enough, or will we be missing an important element of the fun? 2) Since I have to advertise this as one big game, my plan is to have each of the Keepers tell their tables that they're the early guests to the party who are staying overnight, but of course other guests, some traveling together, are en route and will arrive later--and imply other Keepers are running rooms traveling to the party, while they are the room that starts at the Gatsby estate. I don't know if that will work, but hopefully it creates some early misdirection to make up for their knowledge that others are also in the larger game. 3) I'm a little confused as to what happens if on the First Time run someone follows Gatsby to take his "phone call" and watches him pace in the hallway. If someone watches him when Point Zero occurs, then on successive loops, they'll jump to a point where they're watching an empty hallway, correct? (And so perhaps the point is that Keepers should ensure no investigators have him in sight when Point Zero does occur?) 4) I'm also a little confused by the Frozen Moment. Is the purpose simply to create a shared extra-dimensional space that discerning players can discover they all pass through, so they have a point where they can hand things off (physically, or record information to share)? There's not an original piece of the disc here, is there? 5) For Summoning in a virtual game, my suspicion is we're best off having the Keeper take down the summoners' questions, chat them to the Extradimensional Keeper, and have that EK ask the questions of the summoned in the extra dimension breakout room, type up the responses, and send them back to the summoners' Keeper for reading to the group. 6) I figure it probably makes the most sense to have a single Extradimensional Keeper, since there will be fewer physical logistics to manage, and have that EK maintain Video Off (i.e. a black screen) in the extra dimension, and only speak to players. Appreciate any answers or feedback anyone has on these points! -
Gatsby and the Great Race scenario - Virtually?
Joe Kenobi replied to Joe Kenobi's topic in Call of Cthulhu
That's great, Paul--thank you! I'll give them a listen. I'm more accustomed to Zoom and Google Hangouts than to Skype--will have to explore whether there's Skype functionality that made things go smoother, or if the same functionality is available in other programs. If anyone participated in this game, I'd love to hear any lessons learned or insights that came about while translating it to virtual. Maybe they'll be obvious from the recording, but I'm certainly up for reflections on the experience! -
I can attest to this. "A Family Way" in that collection involves Deep Ones. It's a great scenario, a bit more on the action-y side if that's to your liking. It could work well as either a way to introduce Deep Ones into a campaign or reintroduce them after time away from Deep One-focused scenarios.
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Does anyone have experience running the large group scenario Gatsby and the Great Race via video conference? For context, I have a friend who runs a mini-convention out of his home every August. It's four days and 30-40 people, with a mix of board games and roleplaying games. This year, the in-person option obviously won't work, so we're brainstorming things we can do online instead. But he always likes to have a few large-field games to serve as the marquee events on Friday and Saturday nights, and I thought of Gatsby. Normally the group skews a little more board gamers than RPGers, but the hope is more people will be willing to take the RPG plunge this year given they're easier to pull off remotely. Can anyone attest to having run Gatsby and the Great Race successfully online? What videoconferencing software did you use, and what tricks did you find most effective for keeping a level of immersion when you can't blindfold folks or do some of the other LARP aspects? Or are we better to skip it this year and instead try to run it in a future year when we're back to an in-person gathering? I appreciate any and all insights!
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Thanks, @Sheryl Nantus! I considered that, but in chatting with the player, it sounds like part of the reason he didn't take the Needle is he's curious what will happen to his investigator without the protection. So I think finding out he's one of the safe ones would feel like a letdown--Chekhov's Gun and all that. I appreciate the reminder, though, that there might be some advantages that manifest on the road to transformation, such as certain spells.
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For me, "when" is your favorite locale is more important than "where." I always, always play 1920s or close to it, or it doesn't really feel like Call of Cthulhu.
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I will keep you posted! For now, I'm running Dead Man Stomp next week and will hint at the character's continued physical changes while keeping the focus on the scenario itself. I'll let things simmer for a bit and then check in with the player when we tackle Flotsam & Jetsam Part 3 for his thoughts on how he might want things to play out. Thanks for all the advice!
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Thanks, Loic, appreciate the reply. Am I following that you never had the transformation take center stage, but instead made it a minor element in the unfolding drama, up until a point where the PC began actively working against the other PCs? I like that approach. I do wonder if with a Deep One transformation, I need a more dramatic flare at the end where the PC experiences the pull of the sea and is drawn to join his brethren.
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I wrapped up part two of Flotsam & Jetsam and my hybrid investigator chose to take his chances with his Innsmouth Taint and not take the needle from Billy Folde. Any thoughts or advice on how I should proceed? Given part three is set almost a year later, I'm planning to do a couple of interlude scenarios before jumping to that one. Next I'm going to run Dead Man Stomp (I know it has a Nyarlathotep connection; maybe I can find a way to give Billy Folde a cameo?), and then I'll likely run one more before Insanitarium. Any ideas on what to do with this investigator's looming transformation--how soon to play it up, how rapidly to have it transpire, etc.--so it doesn't feel like a dropped plot thread? I'm also okay with taking things totally off the rails and making a mini-scenario out of his transformation, but would rather integrate it into other adventures if I can. I appreciate anyone's feedback!
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My group always takes their time with things, and stayed true to form with this scenario. We also conducted all sessions via videoconference, so kept them a little shorter than we otherwise would have (2-2.5 hours at a time). In the first session, I had Elijah Cleaver contact the investigators on a Tuesday, with the will reading occurring the following Thursday at 1 p.m. (I know the obituary handout suggests the will reading would occur on a Friday at 4 p.m., but my worry was that this would create too much of an impetus for the investigators to race to the bank, which would likely close at 5 p.m. until the following Monday. I wanted to make sure they have time to interact with Billy Folde and the Nolanne family, search the house post-will reading if they chose, and conduct interviews per Elijah's request, so I made this timeline adjustment.) One of the investigators suggested heading to Innsmouth a day early to get the lay of the land. They first went to Emilie Nolanne's house and found it locked. They tried next door and I decided Wilma Martin lived there, but she was curt with them and the lead investigator failed a Credit Rating roll, and so they never picked up on her identity. (They recognized her the next day at the will reading, though.) After renting a room at the Gilman House Hotel, the party went to the bustling New Town Square. They struck out on a few Credit Rating rolls with locals browsing the stands, but had more luck with a food vendor and learned some of the basic information about Emilie and about the Order itself. (I decided Credit Rating rolls seemed more appropriate in Innsmouth than the usual social skill rolls.) The vendor also gave them directions to Edward Nolanne's law offices. When the party passed the abandoned Innsmouth Courier offices, they decided to split up. Two spoke with Edward, who was gracious but confused by their (fabricated) references to a distant relative in Boston, but he did disclose Emilie had a falling out with the family near the end, and so he didn't know details of her assault mentioned in the obituary. At the Courier offices, the investigators discovered an article from 1865 referencing a philanthropic donation of Emilie's, and another in 1893 referencing her naming as an Elder of the Esoteric Order of Dagon. Both articles included photographs, which were nearly identical despite each featuring the fashion of the time. Picking up where they left off, in the second session the group visited the Esoteric Order of Dagon's temple in town, but I posted a sentry out front, and they were turned away without pushing too hard. Two of them turned in for the night while the other two attempted to break into Emilie Nolanne's home. They both succeeded on Stealth rolls on their way there, and then one passed a Luck roll to find an unlocked window. They then investigated the full house and found most the things laid out in the scenario, including forcing the door of the locked bedroom and going through the personal affects found therein. The next morning, all four investigators arrived at the will reading and explored the library until Edward Nolanne found them and cordially invited them to the dining room. Two of the investigators (including the Nolanne descendant) struck up a conversation with Billy Folde, while the other two sat apart so as not to be perceived as one group. After the will reading, the Nolanne descendant investigator and one other followed Charlie Grace to the conservatory; another followed Billy Folde out into the garden, while the fourth remained in the room to watch the family interact. She picked up on Nolanne family member names and saw Wilma talk quietly to August, who then abruptly left. The two in the conservatory detected Edward listening at the door and shooed him away, and even though they noticed Billy in the garden, decided not to confront him. The descendant investigator took the news in stride and despite Mr. Grace's encouragement to leave town immediately, decided to get to the bottom of things. The two returned to the dining room where they were first intercepted by Wilma (who discovered she was the investigator's grandmother), then Edward, and finally Billy. The investigator let Billy call ahead to the bank and took Billy up on the offer of a ride, and had the other investigators follow in another car. He also handed the security deposit box key over to another investigator, but failed his Sleight of Hand roll and Billy saw the exchange. However, one investigator decided to hang back so as not to be associated with the group, and succeeded in a Sleight of Hand roll such that he filched the key from his fellow investigator (because he didn't trust Billy). This final investigator decided to make his way to the bank on foot, via the Elliot Street route. In our next session, the three investigators who rode with Billy ran into August, Chastity, and company. The investigators were able to kill Chastity, incapacitate the lackeys, and send August fleeing. They then discovered their missing safety deposit box key and deduced that their missing party member had it, so went to the hotel to see if they could find him. They encountered him there and after much back-and-forth and broken off conversations, determined Billy was the alchemist but also told Billy they were going to wait until the next day to enter the bank. He told them to be very careful and avoid the Nolannes, but left at their request. They then went directly to the bank, where two investigators went in while two stood watch. The two inside didn't open the clenched fist, so Billy appeared and prodded them to do so. They said they weren't interested in negotiating with him in a locked bank vault where he had suddenly appeared, and rang the bell--at which point I jumped to outside, where the three remaining Nolanne siblings arrived. When those standing watch attempted to engage them in conversation, Wilma broke off while the other two proceeded inside, then down to the vault. Wilma tried to stop the two investigators from entering, resulting in her casting a Shriveling spell on one that left him unconscious, while the other knifed her in the back, then killed her. In our final session, the two investigators in the bank vault refused to negotiate with the Nolanne brothers, ultimately trading gunshots until the two Nolannes ducked behind the wall. The investigators quickly negotiated with Billy Folde, who said he could help them all escape the vault if they returned his needle. They did so and he teleported the three of them to his car parked in the alley in back. They quickly rounded up their two fellow investigators and Billy drove them out of town, but not before one investigator decided he wanted to go back for his valuables (despite Billy's insistence that their hotel stay would be known to the Nolannes--I had made a big deal throughout about the Gilman House Hotel being the only place to stay in town). So while the other three escaped and Billy explained the possibilities for using the needle, one lone investigator went back for his stuff. He was able to trick two goons smashing his car into stepping away, but they saw him attempting to flee in it and shot after him, causing him to crash his car and then take enough damage to fall unconscious. He awoke in the caves at night and was able to make his way back into town, and then flee Innsmouth on foot. Meanwhile, the descendant investigator decided not to use the needle, but asked for Billy's card in case he changed his mind in the future. I had the card say, "Billy Folde - Freelance" with his number.
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I saw this one several weeks back and came away pleasantly surprised! Nicolas Cage is really in a support role in this one, with the family's kids taking center stage. Not a perfect film, but they did a great job of focusing on The Weird rather than giving it a monster-of-the-week vibe.
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Flotsam and Jetsam - Play experience
Joe Kenobi replied to Nyorlandhotep's topic in Cult of Chaos - forum now closed
I just wrapped up running The Star Brothers for a group of friends who are newer to Call of Cthulhu (they've played maybe a half-dozen scenarios). They tend to take things slow, and didn't disappoint here, spreading out the campaign over three sessions of 2-3 hours each. The first session, they tracked down Elsie and interviewed her, particularly focused on the strange lights in the sky over the marsh. They then canvassed the local hardware stores, fascinated by the gold coins. Their interviews suggested the same Men in Black who had accosted the Ipswich Inquirer had either traded for the coins or shaken down each shop owner and so there weren any left, but the group finally lucked out when they went to Burnham's Optical and Lens Grinding Service, where the Men in Black had not yet made an appearance, and were able to obtain a coin (I skipped Elsie having one). I also went the "ramping it up" route of the paranoid shopkeeper at Millard's Chemical Supply. One of the two investigators there (they'd split into two groups of two to canvas the stores) kept pushing on the paranoia til Millard drew the shotgun and ordered them to leave. That investigator decided to try to shoplift on his way out, but failed his Sleight of Hand roll and Millard fired on him. The police were called and took that investigator to the hospital; after some basic medical treatment, he managed to Stealth out of the hospital to rejoin the rest of the party. That night, the party all sat out to watch for strange lights over the marsh, and when they emerged, tried to hunt them down. I had them stumble across the bootleggers, who proved friendly if jumpy, and traded conversation about the missing Aaron Brock. In the second session, the group obtained Hannah Frye's name from Lawrence and Elizabeth Frye via the phonebook. Again splitting the party, one group stayed in town and had a run-in with the Men in Black, while the other two went out to canvas houses on the road to Innsmouth in search of Hannah Frye. While I introduced several of the "Out by the Salt Marshes" characters, the investigators moved on quickly from any door that Hannah Frye herself didn't answer, asking only if the owner knew her. When they finally did reach Hannah Frye, they interviewed her and things followed perfectly from what the module provided. After tea and an extended conversation, she invited the two back for dinner that evening. As the investigators left the property, one decided to search the backyard for signs of Otis or anything strange. The other went back to speak to Hannah again as a diversion, and I had Hannah reintroduce herself as if she had never met him before. This helped ramp up the eeriness around this already batty character. In the third session, the two PCs in town--who had interacted with the Men in Black--went to a bank and opened a safe deposit box. They didn't put anything in it, but made a show of it in hopes that the Men in Black trailing them would think they'd stored the special gold coins the MiB were after. They then met up with the two PCs who had met Hannah Frye, and all four went out to the Frye residence for dinner. After a series of awkward conversations with Hannah, she showed the PCs Otis's room, while one PC remained on the ground floor to search for anything strange. I let him discover a small pile of pale gold coins tucked underneath the mattress in a spare bedroom. Then Otis showed up to bid his mother good-bye. The PCs followed him out to his Trans-Neptunion Telephonic Communicator while he spilled his story, but to my surprise, they decided he must be a red herring since he clearly wasn't from Neptune. After Otis fired up the device--at about dusk--they started to turn back toward Hannah's residence, but on a whim decided to explore the dilapidated house. I kept them busy there for a little while, including catching a glint of something sparkling in the flooded basement, until I thought it was dark enough that I could justify the lights in the sky coalescing around the location. I also borrowed from Howard & Eunice Blake's story and had them see car headlights just a little ways off flashing in a strange pattern, then go dark. In the final confrontation, I pitted my four PCs against 3 MiBs and 4 Deep Ones, but that proved overwhelming. They went through a few rounds of combat, wherein one PC got clever and started tossing the gold coins he'd found in hopes of luring the Deep Ones to chase after them--I let it work on one. The PCs quickly pivoted to a focus on wounding and capturing one of the MiB for interrogation, and that focus ultimately allowed the Deep Ones to make off with Otis. -
question Call of Cthulhu LIVE: worth it?
Joe Kenobi replied to Dethstrok9's topic in Call of Cthulhu
Glad to hear you find it to be such a strong system--thanks for sharing this review! I've never done a LARP myself; the amount of necessary preparatory work (as you detail) is likely prohibitive for me. But I'll keep this one in the back of my mind in case a situation arises. If I may be so bold, I do have a couple of recommendations for you based on your review. You mention that you've taken a liking to rules light, story-based systems. Neither of these is as immersive as Cthulhu Live would be, but they're both quite atmospheric while checking your other boxes: 1) Lovecraftesque - It's GMless, diceless, and requires essentially zero preparation to play. 2) Dread - This one requires a GM, but it's diceless and instead makes use of a Jenga tower. You'd be surprised how effective that is in creating a horror atmosphere driven by, well, dread. Both of these games are only designed for one-shots, so my Call of Cthulhu group makes use of them to get a session in if I need a little longer to prep a scenario or multi-scenario arc for our regular game. Lovecraftesque works great because of how little prep it requires. Dread still needs some scenario prep, but one of my players usually steps up to GM. Especially if you're getting into something like Cthulhu Live that has so much session prep, these could be good ways to get your group together during the between-session downtime. -
question Call of Cthulhu LIVE: worth it?
Joe Kenobi replied to Dethstrok9's topic in Call of Cthulhu
If you do, please post a link once it’s up! Curious to learn more about it. -
I haven't read The Shunned House, but I'm pretty high on The Lurking Fear myself. I think it probably suffers in votes like this, though, because it falls much closer to traditional/Gothic horror than the cosmic/Mythos horror Lovecraft is uniquely associated with.
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On dead and insane characters
Joe Kenobi replied to debg's topic in Cult of Chaos - forum now closed
I played in a regular campaign for a few years and have now been a regular Keeper for a little over a year. In my games, I would say characters meet their demise via death vs. insanity by about a 3:1 or maybe even 4:1 ratio. But I'm sure it has a lot to do with general Keeper choices as well as how risk-seeking vs. risk-averse your players are, and what types of risks they take. -
That surprises me, too. Among the major canon, The Shadow Out of Time is among my least favorites. It's easy for the reader to get ahead of the narrator in terms of knowing what it's going on, and I find the themes it covers better handled in At the Mountains of Madness or in The Whisperer in Darkness. (Incidentally, those two are my two favorites.) I'm also a bit surprised The Colour Out of Space isn't doing better. I think of that one as widely highly regarded, though perhaps it's simply not many people's overall favorite.
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Yup, that's Spark of Life, linked above.
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Is Occult even worth bothering with? Suggestions on how to fix.
Joe Kenobi replied to EvilDMMk3's topic in Call of Cthulhu
I'm totally with @lordabdul--I use Occult as the sanitized version of Cthulhu Mythos. What has made its way into folktales and more "mainstream" cults? What might someone who dabbles in those circles or that research, without ever confronting the Mythos in a way that tells them it's real, know or have heard of these things? It's true that this isn't the rulebook definition, but it's a way to give the skill some utility. -
I'll caveat by saying I haven't yet run any of these for a solo investigator myself, but here are a few ideas: 1) Paper Chase -- As klecser mentioned, this one's in the Starter Set and explicitly designed for 1 keeper + 1 investigator. 2) Spark of Life -- Published in the Miskatonic Repository as an "isolated investigator adventure," meaning 1 keeper + 1 investigator. (Here's hoping that term catches on to make these scenarios easier to locate!) 3) Monophobia -- You'll have to adapt it from 6th edition, but it's free to download and contains three solo investigator scenarios (Vengeance from Beyond, Of Grave Concern, and Robinson Gruesome) 4) Mr. Corbitt -- Published in Mansions of Madness (and so you'll need to update to 7th edition), this one is written for "one or more investigators" and I've heard runs well with just one. 5) Macabre Tales scenarios -- Macabre Tales is a Lovecraftian RPG designed for one-on-one roleplaying. You could look at adapting its scenarios to Call of Cthulhu.
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Coming in Q1 2020: Gateways to Terror for Call of Cthulhu
Joe Kenobi replied to MOB's topic in Call of Cthulhu
I take the flame curling over sideways not as evidence of a strong wind, but as an indication of motion on the part of the adventurer. (Similar to when you move quickly while holding a sparkler.) Hang on. So if I buy Saturnine Chalice, you'll throw in a copy of Dead Light, revised and with new art? -
@Kijli, Chris Spivey is interviewed on the latest episode of the Miskatonic University podcast, and discusses his superhero game for around three minutes. That discussion is at about the 0:24:30 mark.
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Call of Cthulhu Cult of Chaos Scenario List
Joe Kenobi replied to ColoradoCthulhu's topic in Cult of Chaos - forum now closed
@g33k, your three-step process perfectly outlines what I'd envisioned. I don't see much for unintended consequences--but I agree, give others a chance to weigh in on whether there's something we're missing. (I'm quite new to the Cult of Chaos myself.) As long as the master list post remains editable to its author (or to other mods? Is that an ability moderators have?), it should be a comparable amount of work to maintain as pinning a new scenario thread when it goes up. Worst-case scenario, if for some reason the original post can't be edited, a new mod could copy the full post and paste it into a new pinned thread, then delete the old pinned thread. (I just tested, and links seem to copy/paste fine from a forum post to a new entry box.) Since we're envisioning a thread locked for comments, nothing would be lost if it came to that. -
Call of Cthulhu Cult of Chaos Scenario List
Joe Kenobi replied to ColoradoCthulhu's topic in Cult of Chaos - forum now closed
@g33k, it's a good point. Ideally, the master list would link to the scenario threads rather than straight to the scenarios. My understanding is each scenario thread links to the scenario itself in the opening post, so the master list would be equally useful for locating the scenario threads and for locating the scenarios.