WeAreAllUs: download 'The Lightless Beacon' for Call of Cthulhu, in remembrance of Greg Stafford

[MOB]

To mark the first anniversary of the passing of Chaosium founder Greg Stafford, we're encouraging Chaosium fans and gamers in general to play a tabletop game in his memory from October 10 to October 31.

Here's THE LIGHTLESS BEACON for Call of Cthulhu, one of the five free scenarios we're releasing in remembrance of Greg. It's a short standalone introductory scenario, by Leigh Carr with Lynne Hardy. It's designed for novice Keepers and players - though there's plenty here to enjoy for more experienced players and Keepers, too. It comes with four pre-generated investigators and should take around an hour to play. Advice is also given on adapting the game for 2–6 investigators, as well as how to expand the scenario for longer sessions.

Download The Lightless Beacon:

• The Lightless Beacon

 

[klecser]

My group will be playing this Halloween Night 2019. Rest in Peace, Greg.

[klecser]

Update: 

In prepping my game, I've found the text for Handout 2 to be very difficult to read due to the text size and font and my personal vision limitations. No offense intended to the artist/writers or Chaosium. In a game situation, there is always the chance that players get frustrated not being able to read text, especially tiny cursive text in a darkened room. I understand that there is some mystique to struggling to decipher clues, but sometimes it just leads to frustration. I typed out the text from zooming into the PDF to have handy as a backup if I see players getting frustrated. Transcript updated from feedback.

Here it is in case anyone else may find the typed text to be useful as a resource:

February 13^th, 1926

I found something on one of my walks. A coin! I kept walking and found another and another! I know it’s gold. Found some mechanical parts as well. Looks like it might be from a ship. Must have gone down recently, but I don’t recall hearing anything about no wreck of late. Unless it went down in last night’s storm when the light was out.

I better keep this quiet. Don’t want the other two here to get a slice of the action. I will keep this journal as a means of documenting my findings. This has to be worth a mint!

 

February 16^th, 1926

That coin catalogue I bought in Folly Point is useless. One thing I know is that the coins are old. Real old.

I’ve asked if I can stay on for as long as I can until I’m sure there’s nothing left here for me to line my pockets. And I have to find a good lead on these coins and go where the money takes me. Maybe I should write to some of my old “colleagues” to see if they can help. Should probably try some of those fancy antique stores in Rockport while I’m at it.

 

March 10^th, 1926

The coins are getting hard to find. The two new crew members aren’t helping matters. Makes it difficult to search without being noticed. Hope they don’t cause me any trouble. Even so, I’ve filled a small purse which I keep on me at all times.

 

April 3^rd, 1926

I’ve got a good lead now. I’ll be sending one more letter to Innsmouth then. I’m confident I can get off this stinking island for good.

 

April 11^th, 1926

Smith said he will leave the lighthouse tomorrow morning. He says he doesn’t care if it voids his contract – he’s had enough of this island and everything on it. Least that’s one less pair of eyes watching me. Still stuck with that sneak, Michael, though.

Smith says the radio busted again half way through talking to the bosses. Said he’d fix it before he leaves.

Counted my coins just to be sure he didn’t lift any off me in my sleep.

I’ve seen Michael peering out the window, spying my daily walks. I’ll have to be a bit more careful.

 

April 12^th, 1926

Smith left without a word. Me and Michael didn’t even see him go. Didn’t take his paintings with him, which is a bit odd. Lousy rat didn’t even repair the radio before he left. I’ll get to it later tonight.

Michael has gone to check something outside. Seems paranoid. Think there’s more than just tobacco in that pipe of his. At least I get more time to write. No word from

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by klecser

[Cloud64]

18 minutes ago, klecser said:

Update: 

In prepping my game, I've found the text for Handout 3 to be very difficult to read due to the text size and my personal vision limitations. No offense intended to the artist/writers or Chaosium. In a game situation, there is always the chance that players get frustrated not being able to read text, especially tiny cursive text in a darkened room. I understand that there is some mystique to struggling to decipher clues, but sometimes it just leads to frustration. I typed out the text from zooming into the PDF to have handy as a backup if I see players getting frustrated. The only word that I couldn't make out or figure out from context clues was in the April 12th entry after Lousy. It looks like an -at at the end but I can't make out the first letter. I'm tentatively at "cat," as in "he's such a cool cat" but it doesn't seem to fit. Suggestions are appreciated.

Looks like ‘Lousy rat’ to me. 

I agree that handout is not the easiest read, though as handwriting fonts go it works well. Thanks for the transcript. I usually rewrite such things and print them out on suitable note paper, so that’ll save me some typing. 

Edited October 13, 2019 by Cloud64

[klecser]

59 minutes ago, Cloud64 said:

Looks like ‘Lousy rat’ to me. 

LOL, in hindsight that makes total sense. Thanks. Happy to help. Yeah, it is less the font and more the size on the actual page that I struggle with. Visually-impaired unite!

Edited October 13, 2019 by klecser

[Brother_Andy]

On 10/14/2019 at 2:00 AM, klecser said:

LOL, in hindsight that makes total sense. Thanks. Happy to help. Yeah, it is less the font and more the size on the actual page that I struggle with. Visually-impaired unite!

I'm prepping my first run and came to this thread exactly with a kindly request to help me transcript Cassidy's diary, since I need to adapt text to non-English speakers.

Looks like you can read minds. Great job outer!

As for the adventure itself, I must admit how perfect it matches with ongoing Organized play campaign as early introduction of Deep Ones or intermediate short-adventure..

[Mike M]

This is a useful thread - when I started at Chaosium I made a conscious effort to ensure handouts were readable (some older books had some quite hard to read handouts). Sometimes, like in this case, we don't get it quite right - but thank you klecser for posting a plain text version here to help everyone out.

It's always a knife-edge  - trying to deliver an authentic realistic handout (usually a handwritten letter/journal) versus readability. We'll endeavor to keep this in mind as we go forward.

Thanks again for everyone's comments.

[Lordabdul]

19 hours ago, Mike M said:

trying to deliver an authentic realistic handout (usually a handwritten letter/journal) versus readability.

Yeah I know that in the past couple decades I've played CoC, I've definitely ping-ponged between "What is this handout? A simple cursive font? How lazy of Chaosium! It doesn't look authentic at all!" and "Man this handout looks awesome but I can barely read it!". It's... difficult

[klecser]

On 10/19/2019 at 3:29 AM, Mike M said:

It's always a knife-edge  - trying to deliver an authentic realistic handout (usually a handwritten letter/journal) versus readability. We'll endeavor to keep this in mind as we go forward.

@Mike M, I do VERY MUCH appreciate efforts made to make handouts look authentic. Please don't stop doing that! That has been one of the best visual design decisions of 7th, in my opinion. But, I know that page count is a factor as well, and splitting this one across two pages may have lead to confusion.

Thanks for releasing this free scenario into the wild! Definitely not complaining. This release is a great way to honor Greg.

[dwillems]

I think it's just at a low resolution.  I don't know if the original digital file is floating around anywhere, but perhaps it could be uploaded at a higher resolution?

[chiisu81]

I think it's mostly having both on the same page. Perhaps if just 1 entry/image per page, in landscape orientation, it'd be easier to read.

I whipped up something in LibreOffice, just using a bitmap background and choosing a free/open handwriting font. That font def. has to balance between readability and looks, so feel free to change it in the ODT if you prefer.

LightlessBeaconHandout2.odt LightlessBeaconHandout2.pdf

[B3L7]

Just ran this for my group this past weekend and we had a blast! Wrote up a quick recap here: Lightless Beacon Recap (Spoilers)

[rsanford]

On 10/19/2019 at 11:09 PM, lordabdul said:

Yeah I know that in the past couple decades I've played CoC, I've definitely ping-ponged between "What is this handout? A simple cursive font? How lazy of Chaosium! It doesn't look authentic at all!" and "Man this handout looks awesome but I can barely read it!". It's... difficult

I suspect part of Chaosium's challenge is that a lot of its core market is getting older. Speaking for myself I use to see like a hawk but for the last two years have struggled to read unless the room is bright and the font is large. Younger customers probably don't experience this.

[klecser]

Much fun was had tonight in honor of Greg Stafford. We greatly enjoyed The Lightless Beacon!

[Mike M]

On 10/25/2019 at 7:22 PM, rsanford said:

I suspect part of Chaosium's challenge is that a lot of its core market is getting older. Speaking for myself I use to see like a hawk but for the last two years have struggled to read unless the room is bright and the font is large. Younger customers probably don't experience this.

Indeed - the dividing line between readable and authentic is sharp! And it isn't necessarily an age thing.

In our books we strive to achieve both, but it is always hard to get it right - if I have to err on one side, I always try to go with readable. In some cases, we may make the player version handout as large as possible, so cursive script is easier to read, or if the handout is meant to be almost unreadable, then I'll try and include a plain text version for the Keeper, who needs to know what's been written.

 

[klecser]

I'm 42 and I've had this level of vision since I was 8. And my story is really common. This isn't just an "older person" issue. Many of us are visually impaired. We often find it difficult for people with good vision to understand that this affects people of all ages. So, @Mike M, know that it affects your whole marketing demographic.

Incidentally, I handed my 20- and 30-somethings the handout and they squinted. And then, a few seconds later I handed them the typed text and a sense of relief spread over the room. Not complaining. Just saying that my Keeper gut instinct was correct.

Edited November 5, 2019 by klecser

[Brother_Andy]

@klecser

Could you please fix your post with transcript? I've found lost phrase. April 3^rd, 1926 record should be like so:

 

Quote

 

I’ve got a good lead now. I’ll be sending one more letter to Innsmouth then. I’m confident I can get off this stinking island for good.

I think Michael is watching me. I've bought a gun just in case.

 

 

[seneschal]

Now, if the Beacon was Mavis, eVerything would be neatly typed in a reasonably sized font and we could read it easily:

[coolAlias]

I'm about to run some people through this adventure tomorrow - first time for all of us! 😄

I took the liberty of flipping the island around so the main access is from the landward side, which also conveniently puts the PCs in a more interesting position when they first arrive (in my opinion). I also made a version with the seaward dock removed so it's more of a rocky beach/cliff, which is the version I'm planning to use.

Looking forward to our first foray into Call of Cthulhu!

[Vellcrow]

This is a great scenario!

When my group played, we also used the map pack from Lovemaps:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/368132/Cthulhu-maps--scenario-map-pack--The-Lightless-Beacon

[coolAlias]

Wow... that was an epic adventure. Ran it as a one-shot cinematic horror and it was absolutely perfect, clocking in at exactly 4 hours.

GM impression:

Spoiler

Players were doing great, only one was dying-but-stable, and then the second wave came leading to an exciting chase with one extreme PC kill and one PC watery demise, with one insane PC left behind barricaded at the top until overwhelmed. One Mr. Chad Chaddington, marine biologist, survived, determined to return someday to prove his account of a new species.

One of my players took extensive session notes:

Spoiler

Call of Cthulhu - The Lightless Beacon

2022-10-23
==========

Antoine DeVoe - Artist
Chad Chaddington - Marine Biologist
Lawrence Mason - Antique Dealer
Remington Steele - Bureau Agent

SS Bounty steam ship, not much room, very cramped, on the way to Rockport.
Miles Abard on the ship talks about how the light went out in the lighthouse about a month ago. Remington offends him and Miles no longer wants to talk with him.

Prohibition is in effect. A nice fireman (coal feeder for the ship) in the bar offers Antoine a sip from his flask after he sees Antoine's morose look at his mocktail, and Antoine accepts.

An alarm sounds, a storm has come in, and all lights seem to have gone out, can't even see the lighthouse light on the island nearby. Antoine was unable to get his drink, it was interrupted just as it reached his lips. Chad stays on deck, but we seem to have breached the hull against something.

The crew remain behind to try and save the ship, but all passengers are hearded onto life boats and directed towards a small island nearby where the lighthouse is. Chad Chaddington tries to take charge and pilot our boat, but knocks both oars out of the boat into the water. Remington sees that we've run into what remains of a ship that is sunken, but looks pristine. We get capsized next to the boat.

In a brief spot of lightning, Remington is sure he sees the visage of some kind of shark with huge teeth in the water...but it was probably just a large wave.

We all make it to the island, though Antoine and Lawrence were smashed onto the rocks on the way and took some injuries. There's a recently filled oil lantern hanging on a pole at the shore. Lawrence says he knows the guy who works at the lighthouse, named George.

We head up the trail to the lighthouse. In a smaller shed on the side of the road, adjacent to the lighthouse, there's the sound of a motor running. There are other, larger sheds around as well. Sounds like a generator. The generator output looks good. The sheds are a tool shop, outhouse, and shower.

Antoine notices weird footprints, like claws on top of boot prints, on the path up to the lighthouse. Lawrence sees similar prints by the lighthouse door. When Lawrence knocks on the lighthouse door, it opens as it was unlocked and unlatched and leads into a kitchen. He calls out for George, but hears no response. The bushes behind Lawrence start shaking and he hustles back to the group.

Chad says the claw prints are unlike anything he's ever seen before, webbed and somewhat duck-like. Chad and Remington go looking for more tracks in the shrubbery, but find a body, grotesquely mangled and seems to have dragged itself here. Firearm holster is empty. It's Michael Turner n(a.k.a. Warren Thomas), my friend! Remgington goes a bit crazy, can't find his revolver, flings his lantern into the darkness and flees.

Antoine and Lawrence go into the kitchen, which has its light on, and see a pool of blood and an overturned chair. They hear the front door to the lighthouse banging in the wind.

Lawrence explores further and finds a study, but sees a painting of a creature with bulging eyes.

Chad finds the lantern Remington threw and continues investigating the body.

Remington finds himself at the shore and hears a twig snap behind him. He heads back towards the light. The twig snapping is getting closer, he grabs a large stack, hides behind a tree, and...scene change.

Antoine notices the lighthouse in front of the lighthouse front door has been shattered. He catches up with Lawrence in the study and sees the crazy painting as well. He looks through the letters on the desk and finds a letter from the Newburyport Society to Mr. Cassidy about a coin he found that seems to come from Innsmouth, where people seem to go crazy.

Chad finds a gun inside the body of Michael and glimpses something darting through the woods while he looks for Remington. He heads back to the lighthouse.

Remington sees a bug-eyed monster, kind of like what he saw in the water when swimming. A flash of lightning shows it's grotesque form as it begins sniffing and getting closer to Remington. The visage triggers Remington into another craze and he flees again. He makes it to the lighthouse and doesn't see anything behind him. Was it real?

Lawrence cuts his finger on his knife while trying to open the desk, but finds another letter about finding a coin.

We all make it back to the lighthouse and into the study. Chad hands Remington the guts-covered gun, same as his old one. Remington cleans it off.

Lawrence says that there were three here: George Cassidy, Michael Turner, and a Smith; Smith left mysteriously.

Chad finds shiny coins admidst blood smears on the ground on his way to check the light at the top.

Remington finds the blood in the kitchen is only about an hour old. Looks like the chair may have been used as a weapon. Remington goes to check on the light as well.

Chad gets to the service room that has a light on still, when he opens the door he hears a scream and then a gunshot. The bullet misses, some clicks are heard, and then the gun itself comes flying through the door. The person says, "You won't take me alive you son o' bitches!" as Chad tries to talk them down. It doesn't work and he closes the trapdoor. "Thank the gods! Are you human!" It's George! He can't move and asks where Turner is. Chad says Lawrence is here and he gets excited. Lots of bodies up here of really weird creatures, many grotesque.

Remington picks up the Colt gun that comes tumbling down the stairs. Remington goes through the logs to try and find a pattern to lighthouse going out or the sunken ship.

Something is banging on the front door, a flash of lightning, the wind picks up, and the lights go out. Cassidy flips out and says, "They're coming! They're coming again!" and clambers back to the top.

Chad and Remington head downstairs to the others. Antoine heads up. Lawrence heads to the kitchen. The door is broken down and we hear squelching noises.

We fight! Remington sees a creature coming up the stairs...wait no, it's Antoine holding a torch. Lawrence catches up to us. We head up the stairs as more creatures come. Remington goes crazy again and flees and now has a phobia of fish (ichthyophobia), he manages to fire one shot at the fish-creature as he flees and hits it hard. Another door crashes open and we hear more creatures coming in.

Lawrence is unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. Antoine kills one of the creatures! We win! Remington carries the unconscious Lawrence up to the top. George says there's a boat at the pier we can use. We catch glimpses of things moving in the trees out the windows. They start coming inside the lighthouse.

Remington flees upstairs while everyone else follows George outside towards the pier. Lawrence is torn apart by one creature from behind. Antoine is dragged into the water by the pier and drowns. Chad and George make it off the island. Remington gets the radio fixed, but the creatures sneak up the outside of the lighthouse and kill him.

Newspapers were quick to take up the story in the aftermath of the event:

Spoiler

10/10 would run again.

Edited October 23, 2022 by coolAlias
Added newspaper article detailing the aftermath.