Dethstrok9

1 hour ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Damn.. sorry!

Hey! It works now:)

56 minutes ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

No pressure!
But I thought that indeed, it might interest CoC players!

Oh Lloyd... Again I went to react to a post of yours, and again have been turned away! "Maximum reactions per day reached".

7 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

My apologies, really.

Oh, c'mon!  I was constructive straight out of the gate.  I was just building a gallows for crap manifestos like "Without a Higher Power there is no morality, only survival of the fittest" that someone thought he could drop uncontested.

!i!

 

I meant in that specific comment, you're comments generally are always constructive:) And I feel we are moving off topic...

Wow, I might actually obtain a copy...

7 minutes ago, TheEnclave said:

This whole post sounds like a lot of unnecessary hostility towards religion and faith and juvenile jabbing at other forum members.

I thought that at first to, but I don't think it was intended to be hostile. He went on to say constructive stuff afterward, and we were able to set aside our differences.

11 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

I'm far more intimidated by his cocaine-fueled brickwork.

Is this evident in all his work? I mean, I love Black Sabbath and Tool, but in general don't really love drug fueled art...

5 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

Lots of perfectly nice people do.  You know, when they're not constructing their own fictitious moralities.  Don't let it ruffle you.

I meant because I was thinking about reading his work, and I still will. I did not intend my comment to be a generalization, but rather to be specifically about Mr. King. 

Edit: There is also the point to be made that the keyphrase is "hates Christianity". That would be a generalization which I wouldn't want to put up with. You can hate individuals, but while I might dislike L. Ron Hubbard, I'm not going to then put a blanket ban on all who tell me they believe in Scientology. I certainly dislike some atheists I have known, but I don't hate atheism. There is a difference between discrimination, brainwashing, or unfounded hatred; and a dislike of specific people who you know to be against you or what you hold true. Then there is the truth of not judging even individuals because you don't know what their life is like or how they arrived at the conclusions they did. My personal philosophy on the matter would be to live and let live, and my comment was founded in frustration toward prejudice. Yet according to the other comments and King's own statements, he does not have a blind hatred of all Christians, which makes this all pretty much moot points. Just wanted to get it out:) 

5 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

Do you have an agenda in writing the story that contradicts its ostensible framework? (i.e., is it really Cosmic Horror if YHWH's waiting in the wings with a fire extinguisher?)

Haha, most people don't even know what that is:) But no, when I write I try not to have a political or religious agenda to get across, at least in most of my work.

5 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

Although a person of a particular faith might disagree, writing is an intellectual process that can be entirely hypothetical noodling, though focused through the lens of your personal perspective out of necessity.  Can one write about xenophobia and racism without being xenophobic or racist?  I dunno -- can a man write believable female dialogue?  The issue of writing about The Other is an age-old topic of debate in the circles of literary criticism.  It's certainly been tried, with outcomes of varying degrees of success.  Questions:

• Do your characters and events pass the sniff-test of realism for behavior and dialogue? 
• Can they and do they act in contrast to your personal values without necessary moral consequence?
• Do you have an agenda in writing the story that contradicts its ostensible framework? (i.e., is it really Cosmic Horror if YHWH's waiting in the wings with a fire extinguisher?)

And yes, quite sound guidelines, thank you! I may use it as a test of my own works to see if they stand.

21 minutes ago, Malc said:

Bizarrely, I think I’m gaming more as a result of Covid-19.

Yep, me too:)

You guys deserve many times more than your professed earnings.

No I was neither insane nor drunk... I mean, certainly hope I wasn't, I'm not old enough for mental illness.

8 minutes ago, Travern said:

The old adage "trust the tale, not the teller" applies here.

Quite cryptic my friend:) That applies to all Lovecraft's work actually, cause if one was to say that a person has to be an atheist to write lovecraftian that would mean one would also need a dose of xenophobia and racism... And as @Loïc states... we shall all write what we are inspired to write....

6 minutes ago, Travern said:

Cosmic horror, which HPL is the most recognized example of, is fundamentally atheistic (and anti-anthropocentric).  Stephen King, by his own admission, is a (deistic) believer and humanist.  He's a first-rate horror writer, but he moved past HPL's influence very early in his career. 

That makes sense. I'm simply saying that I am a believer in God, but I have written cosmic horror short stories, does that mean that my tales (which feature true and mad science, no mention of god, and atheistic themes) is not cosmic horror on account of my personal beliefs?

8 minutes ago, Travern said:

Yes, and because of all that, he doesn't truly count as a Lovecraftian author (only a Lovecraft-influenced one).

So you're saying an author can only be "lovecraftian" if they denounce god? What's the difference between "lovecraftian" and "Lovecraft inspired"? That's what Lovecratian means...

Also did Stephen King ever claim he aspired to be a Lovecraftian author? I never attributed that to him, he's just a master of horror in general.

58 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Sure, two podcasts of wonder for the price of one.

Woohoo!

Would that be free then?

3 hours ago, Soutti said:

Thank you, everyone for answering my questions. It was tremendously helpful. It was nice to be able to talk to people who have played in this world before. Most of the people I have talked to who are local say, "CoC, Yeah, heard of it. Sounds interesting." and that is as far as it goes.

Oh yeah, I had to bring all my D&D friends into the fold:) It's great that people like you can join the group, every new person is a new cultist...

(Paid for by the Esoteric Order of Dagon)

3 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

On a Brisbane D&D Facebook group!

(There is no Facebook group about other RPG ) 

Call of Cthulhu has a FB group! (if that's what you mean)

9 minutes ago, seneschal said:

I was impressed with the opening chapters of Firestarter, not so much with The Stand.  Skimmed Cycle of the Werewolf and enjoyed the movie version Silver Bullet.  I'm not a gore hound and was also put off by King's overt hatred of Christianity.  I mean, Lovecraft was an atheist but he didn't feel the need to shove it up the reader's nose.  Subtlety is not King's strong spot, either in his writing style or his opinions.  😉

So he hates Christianity? That sucks...

Where did you find this? Or did you make it?

17 hours ago, Soutti said:

Thank you both for your responses. I might have to read them several times to get into my head that it's a different style of play. As it is,  that is exactly why I wanted decided to become a Keeper. The system looked incredibly interesting, but I had no Keepers to game with. 

Does lead me to another question..."Stopping the horror" So if I can't kill it, then what are some ways to stop it? closing portals, dispelling magic...Do the players need to know a lot of magic for that, or are other elements such as kicking the sand ring apart or learning that the ritual bowl must be broken sufficient? 

I'm not wanting magic to be easy. Doesn't seem like it is supposed to be.

Also, as a side rant, they shouldn't make The Haunting end in combat. If that is the most ran module, and a starter module...shouldn't start where they don't want you to go. </endrant>

Okay, so again I will stress that the rules are suggestions and Role-Play is the main idea of the game. I have run modules before, but if there was anything I thought wouldn't work for the scenario I cut it or let different story hooks and plots grow organically out of the player' decisions. 

As for stopping the horror, that can be accomplished however works for you:) All methods you just listed could work, and it's up to you how to reward your player's creative thinking. It also is possible to kill the enemy sometimes, as stated by @TheEnclave, you just have to be smart about it.

And no, in my games magic is always very rare and difficult to use. It should not be easy to use, unless there is some kind of backlash. It's actually great when players think they've found a way to beat the system with a spell, then realize said spell is slowly corrupting them or killing them.

7 hours ago, Soutti said:

DethStrok9, I stumbled across your insanity video. Very well done!!! It was super helpful. The one session I ran someone went temporarily insane when they saw blood oozing from the wall. So I had them run away in panic, down the stairs, and into the opposing wall...briefly knocking them out, but no damage. Now, as they go deeper insane, it's going to be rooted somehow in that first incident.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, my entire channel is dedicated to Call of Cthulhu and many of my videos are similar to that one, with practical advice for Keepers of Arcane Lore. Please consider subscribing:) And yes, that sounds perfect for keeping the horror building, sanity and psychological horror is one of the highlights of this amazing game! By linking everything together, you can create tension as they try to figure everything out and dig deeper into the unfolding plot-line, sinking into despair as they finally understand the truth, but that truth is their very end. One of my favorite examples of this is the SAW franchise;) The first Matrix is also a good example

7 hours ago, Soutti said:

TheEnclave, thanks. I definitely don't want to kill my characters outright or make them go insane, but I have told them that it is a real possibility in this game. They will all be rolling up backup characters just in case something happens. They can't just do anything and expect me to magically fix it. But I also don't like impossible situations. Feelings of helplessness is fine, actual helplessness is not. I do like the thought of some monsters being nigh invulnerable. But as you said, I need to always provide a way to deal with it.

DethStrok9, I stumbled across your insanity video. Very well done!!! It was super helpful. The one session I ran someone went temporarily insane when they saw blood oozing from the wall. So I had them run away in panic, down the stairs, and into the opposing wall...briefly knocking them out, but no damage. Now, as they go deeper insane, it's going to be rooted somehow in that first incident.

Also, one final question, when converting people from being Adventurers (like D&D style RPGs) to Investigators, how do you convince them that in a monster reveal, fleeing is a better option than combat? 

They are creating normal characters. Let them know that their characters, even ones like a Police Officer, is just as scared as they are in real life. Tell them to think about what they would actually do in the situation. If they tell you they actually would attack the 50 ft. tall tree creature with thousands of eyes and flowers spewing black sludge which they witnessed absorb and liquefy multiple passerby, well... I guess they are going to be in for a surprise. Don't railroad them if they insist on getting killed, but I would try to make only one or two die the first time, just so they really understand the consequences of battle against the horrors of the Mythos.

Also, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I made a ton of mistakes the first time I ran, and continue to make mistakes as I keep running. That doesn't keep the players from having a blast though:) 

1 minute ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Ooops.. was in a meeting (i.e. bad reading skills), just realised you said the same thing! ^_

Great save though! "Well, I was in an important meeting soooo....":)

4 minutes ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Or in other game mechanic goes, levelling is an illusion for players, everybody else get better as the player does...

Very true, always found that humorous. It means next to nothing, because they aren't really getting more powerful. The main thing they get is new types of power or new ways to use power, which is likely where the novelty comes from.

If you are looking for a way to judge a monster's power level, take a look at how much damage it can deal in a turn and how much health it has.

58 minutes ago, Soutti said:

I have a question about levelling monsters. If your campaign has been running for awhile, and your PCs have increased their skills a bit, how do you create monsters that are appropriate for the group? Coming from a level system, it was easy. But a skills based system is not as intuitive for me. 

Hey welcome Soutti!

So here's the major difference between Call of Cthulhu and most other systems. It is not balanced in the normal way, and Investigators are actually discouraged from battling enemies too much. A cultist or ghoul is about the best any PC could hope to slay the conventional way. The idea is to have the players figure out what's going on, then you can add a weakness the "monster" has for the players to discover (you only need to do this if the monster is supposed to be defeated, many scenarios revolve around other ides such as escape, NPC protection, or stopping the horror as opposed to killing it). 

Call of Cthulhu's mythos monsters are mostly overpowered to insane levels, and Investigators don't level up in the usual sense of the word. While players can increase some skills, the majority of the game is spent role-playing a horror themed game. True to its nature, horror is supposed to be disturbing or at least have a sense of helplessness. In fact, the enemies don't really get more powerful (unless you want them to, all the rules are really suggestions and Keepers should do whatever works for their game), the players get progressively weaker as their sanity is drained away.

I hope that helps answer your question, but this game is pretty different from say D&D, so if you have any further questions please reach out:)

1 hour ago, g33k said:

Not my own 1st priority, but good to know.

For other fans' reference -- are you open to folks reaching out to you to collaborate on this project?

I was going to try to make a game using the OGL, but I've been researching it all over the place and have decided it would be easier and more benificial to simply create my wn system for it. That being said, I would be happy to help out on this noble project to salvage the BRP OGL:) (so to answer your question, yes)