Scenario content

[Stormkhan Cogg of Pavis]

When it comes to episodic or short Call of Cthulhu adventures, what is your preference for content? What ticks the boxes for you as a player or Keeper when a session ends?

1. A real action adventure! Mainly combat, plenty of chases, some investigation, little research or digging. "Hey - we may've died but look how many cultists we took out!"
2. The Mystery. Mainly investigation, plenty of research, some combat, a chase or two. "We uncovered that plot and put a spanner in the works for them! Oh, and Fred died but hey ho."
3. Uncovering doom. Some research, investigation into that research, the chase, deadly combat. "Once we entered that temple, we'd sealed our fate! The Earth is in trouble now!"
4. Digging deep. A lot of research (and background)  with handouts galore, investigation with conclusions, a chase and survivable combat. "We discovered the ancient city and it's peoples fate. They tried to stop us taking away that knowledge but we've made it back!"

My own preference, as investigator and Keeper is the mystery. It makes for an entertaining session or three, leaves players with a sense of achievement and involves most elements of the game. With campaigns it is possible to have a mix of all; with type 3. usually the concluding 'episode'. The reason why the Action Adventure doesn't 'do it' for me is that I came from AD&D to RQ2, enjoying the deeper skill use of characters. I love CoC because combat is short and relatively realistic (within the bounds of a game) and so it encourages thought and planning among players.

What does anyone else think? What ... style of adventure d'you like?

[soltakss]

Wow, 100% for an action Adventure, that is really surprising.

Perhaps not that surprising after 1 vote, though. I expect that proportion to go down by a lot.

[Stormkhan Cogg of Pavis]

3 minutes ago, soltakss said:

Wow, 100% for an action Adventure, that is really surprising.

Perhaps not that surprising after 1 vote, though. I expect that proportion to go down by a lot.

That's statistics for you. 😉

[jps]

I'm not original, I voted for mystery ^^

[Dethstrok9]

On 3/30/2020 at 7:23 PM, jps said:

I'm not original, I voted for mystery ^^

So did I, although I will run any of these. Often the best games evolve from one of the players being a hidden antagonist:)

[Stormkhan Cogg of Pavis]

When it comes to mystery scenarios, I think the best is when one NPC is murdered but not connected to the Mythos theme:

"Yeah, so I poisoned the mad old man. But look at what's going to be summoned - I think there's bigger issues at stake rather than my motives!"

[Loïc]

I voted The Mystery, but like others I think, I manage a melting of 2, 3 and 4, especially when I'm running a campaign (and then, even a few 1). When I'm running one-shots, it depends on my desire at that very moment, and my players' state of mind. I regularly consult them so I can offer the best enjoyment as possible.

...and from time to time, I cheat them by running a non Mythos scenario: they're looking for the Mythos, and discover the horror can be just human... Excellent, at least in my experience, both for atmosphere and for maintaining paranoia!