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I ran "Test Subjects" Scenario (with adaptions) - Spoilers!


greger

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As a follow-up for my novice investigators (an inventor, a missionary, a museum curator and an archeologist), whom all survived "Edge of Darkness", I decided to do the newly released scenario "Test Subjects" by Michael Fryda.

For preparations I had do to some modifications to also move this whole thing to be fit in Norway.

(Spoilers after this line)

The scenario spans quite a bit of distance, about 2000 kilometers, by my measuring. And while Norway isn't a big country, it is long.
So, starting off in Oslo, my investigators, while sitting at a cafe, discussing what to call their investigator organisation they are starting up, with money inherited from the equivalent of Rupert Merriweather for this purpose, spots the ad in the paper, wanting to hire competent people to investigate some tunnels under a house.

They were immediatly intrigued, sent of a telegram, spent more time discussing a name (spoiler: they haven't decided yet), and already started stocking up on equipment they thought the might need. While waiting for a yes/no to get the job, they did nothing related to the scenario. No investigation into the person they communicated with, or the property which they had an adress to. I would have thought they would, but, oh well.

At the house for an introductory talk with the groundskeeper, they asked to see the entrance to the cave, which they got to, and set off to get equipment for the next day.

One of the things they got, which I would never had thought of myself was... a canary in a cage. They all failed their initial climb roll, but they all passed the dex check, so no damage done.

When they got to the first portal, they right away noticed something was up, because they were quite actively using their lights to check out the cave walls, and noticed something was not right. I had previously done a thing where, when magic points are spent, the characters get a somewhat feeling of accomplishment, which of course happened when the first person went through the portal. She thought that was so strange, that she was ready to call it quits for the day. Went back through again, and started getting headaches. A second person also did the same, and they were ready to go home. Luckily, the last two investigators were not having it, so they marched on.

They got out of the caves in "the other house" in Oslo, were quite confused by that, as they had travelled 5 km very quickly. And decided that it needed further investigation. They figured out that there were two more portals from that place, naming it "the hub". Taking one of the tunnels and crossing the portal, the canary had had it, and decided to die during the crossing (RIP Tim).

They came into a small hole in the ground, as a dug out little cellar, and found a box there with some seal pelts, and a polar bear pelt. Before they stuck theirs head above the ground, they had guessed that they had ended up on Svalbard. That's when the cogs started running in their heads, about how they could exploit these portals to transport supplies and stuff for people who wanted to be at Svalbard to do research or hunting or whatever. They had no idea exactly where they were, so they took pictures, nothing time and shadows and all that, so that they could figure out the location of the hut, later.

Going back down the hole, a few of them were starting to think that it might be best to go back home, and rest for the night. But one of the guys decided to march on to the next portal, ending up somewhere in Finnmark, while the rest waited. He explored that location for a bit, then went back down, talking to the others through the portal. He told them that he had seen their own traces throught the other portal in that location, so they all decided on taking the shorest routes possible back to the  hub.

That is when one of them found the glass disc, and they all decided to get the hell out of tunnels (for now). I decided to let Lo’thysss thank them over the PA, then blow up the portals down below (thought the investigators only heard noise, and don't know exaclty what happened.)

Now, that is about where we ended last night, I was trying to hint that there wasn't much more to this scenario, but they are not having it, and are now set on starting their investigations into this more. They will try to head back into the tunnels, and are dead set on finding out more.

So, I now have till next Tuesday to come up with a continuation on this scenario-turning campaign. From what I have read, I am thinking that maybe an adaption of "Darkness Beneath The Hill" might work. Or just come up with something by myself altogether.

Also thinking that maybe this could in some way be tied together with the sarcophagous from Edge of Darkness.

But I am also now certain I need to make it a bit more dangerous for them, cause again, they all managed to stay quite sane. I am also quite new at being a keeper, so I sometimes forget stuff I can do, and I guess that also lightens it for them. But, we are having fun, so, that's good.

Oh, btw, for the handout of the glass disc, I decided to make a 3d model in Blender, and then share that with them through a webviewer for 3d objects.

 

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1 hour ago, greger said:

As a follow-up for my novice investigators (an inventor, a missionary, a museum curator and an archeologist), whom all survived "Edge of Darkness", I decided to do the newly released scenario "Test Subjects" by Michael Fryda.

For preparations I had do to some modifications to also move this whole thing to be fit in Norway.

(Spoilers after this line)

The scenario spans quite a bit of distance, about 2000 kilometers, by my measuring. And while Norway isn't a big country, it is long.
So, starting off in Oslo, my investigators, while sitting at a cafe, discussing what to call their investigator organisation they are starting up, with money inherited from the equivalent of Rupert Merriweather for this purpose, spots the ad in the paper, wanting to hire competent people to investigate some tunnels under a house.

They were immediatly intrigued, sent of a telegram, spent more time discussing a name (spoiler: they haven't decided yet), and already started stocking up on equipment they thought the might need. While waiting for a yes/no to get the job, they did nothing related to the scenario. No investigation into the person they communicated with, or the property which they had an adress to. I would have thought they would, but, oh well.

This is an interesting aspect of scenario design. I decided to include this section because many Call of Cthulhu players "expect" to do some pre-research in a scenario. But the information isn't "required" to progress the story here. The advantage of doing the pre-research would simply be to get some early clues into "what is strange here," and it is always fun to see how players interpret vague info.

When I play-tested...my group knows me. And they did the pre-research and concluded: "It's gotta be frickin' Serpent People." Actual quote. LOL To be fair, that is a huge focus of our campaign. I'm not sure that the scenario itself immediately suggests that. My intent was to be "annoyingly vague" in the text. ;) 

Quote

One of the things they got, which I would never had thought of myself was... a canary in a cage. They all failed their initial climb roll, but they all passed the dex check, so no damage done.

When they got to the first portal, they right away noticed something was up, because they were quite actively using their lights to check out the cave walls, and noticed something was not right. I had previously done a thing where, when magic points are spent, the characters get a somewhat feeling of accomplishment, which of course happened when the first person went through the portal. She thought that was so strange, that she was ready to call it quits for the day. Went back through again, and started getting headaches. A second person also did the same, and they were ready to go home. Luckily, the last two investigators were not having it, so they marched on.

The object is to induce paranoia, of course. I'm glad that came through. I love the "canary in a cage" idea. That happens to fit seamlessly into the consequences of the Gate travel. Too bad Tim had to pay the price!

Quote

They got out of the caves in "the other house" in Oslo, were quite confused by that, as they had travelled 5 km very quickly. And decided that it needed further investigation. They figured out that there were two more portals from that place, naming it "the hub". Taking one of the tunnels and crossing the portal, the canary had had it, and decided to die during the crossing (RIP Tim).

They came into a small hole in the ground, as a dug out little cellar, and found a box there with some seal pelts, and a polar bear pelt. Before they stuck theirs head above the ground, they had guessed that they had ended up on Svalbard. That's when the cogs started running in their heads, about how they could exploit these portals to transport supplies and stuff for people who wanted to be at Svalbard to do research or hunting or whatever. They had no idea exactly where they were, so they took pictures, nothing time and shadows and all that, so that they could figure out the location of the hut, later.

Please correct me if I'm wrong...Svalbard Seed Vault didn't become a thing until much later, correct? But there has been scientific research conducted there for a long time? It's great that you made the scenario your own for your play group.

Quote

Going back down the hole, a few of them were starting to think that it might be best to go back home, and rest for the night. But one of the guys decided to march on to the next portal, ending up somewhere in Finnmark, while the rest waited. He explored that location for a bit, then went back down, talking to the others through the portal. He told them that he had seen their own traces throught the other portal in that location, so they all decided on taking the shorest routes possible back to the  hub.

This happened in the play test as well. But the consequences were pretty dire for doing this as that character had a low POW score and got to the point where they had to take physical damage to get back to Boston.

Quote

That is when one of them found the glass disc, and they all decided to get the hell out of tunnels (for now). I decided to let Lo’thysss thank them over the PA, then blow up the portals down below (thought the investigators only heard noise, and don't know exaclty what happened.)

Now, that is about where we ended last night, I was trying to hint that there wasn't much more to this scenario, but they are not having it, and are now set on starting their investigations into this more. They will try to head back into the tunnels, and are dead set on finding out more.

So, I now have till next Tuesday to come up with a continuation on this scenario-turning campaign. From what I have read, I am thinking that maybe an adaption of "Darkness Beneath The Hill" might work. Or just come up with something by myself altogether.

Also thinking that maybe this could in some way be tied together with the sarcophagous from Edge of Darkness.

All good ideas. Perhaps the explosives in one location weren't quite set properly, resulting in either only a partially blocked tunnel, or opening up a new pathway that opens up Darkness Beneath the Hill! And S'syaa H'Riss becomes Lo'thysss, or you add the Serpent Sorcerer to the mix! And maybe Serpent Science comes up against Serpent Sorcery??? The Investigators ally with one against the other, or both Serpents are already in league with each other?!? Tons of possibilities. And that's the idea here. I want Keepers to be able to do whatever their group would enjoy, springing off from a weird underdark experience.

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But I am also now certain I need to make it a bit more dangerous for them, cause again, they all managed to stay quite sane. I am also quite new at being a keeper, so I sometimes forget stuff I can do, and I guess that also lightens it for them. But, we are having fun, so, that's good.

Exactly. Even though you are new, you clearly have an open mind and know that fun comes first. I'm glad it worked out!

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Oh, btw, for the handout of the glass disc, I decided to make a 3d model in Blender, and then share that with them through a webviewer for 3d objects.

 

NICE! That's a great idea.

Thanks for posting a detailed report! And remember Keepers, you can get Test Subjects for the low, low price of 3 USD here: ;) 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/333222/Test-Subjects?term=test+subjects

 

Edited by klecser
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3 hours ago, klecser said:

I decided to include this section because many Call of Cthulhu players "expect" to do some pre-research in a scenario. But the information isn't "required" to progress the story here. The advantage of doing the pre-research would simply be to get some early clues into "what is strange here," and it is always fun to see how players interpret vague info.

Yeah, I was actually expecting my players to do research, but I guess they are just too new still. But the other times we have played, they have searched a lot for info before going into things. I even tried to hint this time, but I am guessing they were just so excited about a dungeon crawl. Since we are all DnD-players as well.

3 hours ago, klecser said:

Please correct me if I'm wrong...Svalbard Seed Vault didn't become a thing until much later, correct? But there has been scientific research conducted there for a long time?

That is right, I believe that wasn't started untill 2005 or something. But there has been done research up there for a long time. So it is an interesting location for future adventures.  Might even be up there the serpent people retreat to after this. Even though it is cold. I am sure they have tech to keep warm.

I must admit I hardly know anything about the serpent people and tribes and all that from before, didn't even know there were multiple divisions, so I have some research to do. But I am sure I'll manage to come up with ... something.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

So, after a couple of delays, I finally got to wrap up this scenario last night.

I had planned to just make a short thing by having my investigators crawl back down into the tunnles, find that the portals were gone, and they got deeper down into the underground. Get scared by a bunch of serpent-people, and then just, be blocked out of the tunnels for good.

What happened was that half the session was spent on a discussion among the players, on what should go in the report, and how they could procure the propert above one of the portals, and maybe use the portals to make money off of transport of goods over a large distance.

They also finally did some digging into the owner of the houses, and when they found out that the same person that gave them the mission also owned more than one of them, they got a little suspicious.

Then they spent a ton of time trying to figure out the glass disc, which I had sadly made some mistakes on, but they had fun trying to figure it out anyway. And with some hints, they enjoyed it.

They then ventured down into the caves. As they got down there, deeper down, they came into a room, where a bunch of serpent people were carrying parts of the disassembled portals through a different portal.  To move it out of the area.

One of the investigators decided, still, they were all undetected, and they all passed the sanity roll, that he would take a photograph of what they saw. A camera has never clicked so loud.

The startled serpent-people hissed at the intruders, a few more got back in through the portal. The photographer decided to run, while two others decided to lift their shotguns. Then, two more serpent-people phased in, one of the investigators failed the sanity roll, dropped his shotgun, lost 6 points, then succeded on intelligence, went temporarily insane, gaining a phobia of snakes, and started running.

The other gunman squeezed off two shots, missed, then turned to run, while signalling his brother, who was about to pick up the dropped gun, to also run.

When the last investigator, having picked up the gun, was facing the serpents, one of them spray Domination serum in his face, commanding him do get away from them, so he also ran.

And while they all were running back out of the caves, they were exploded behind them.

They later found a book in the library called "The betrayal of the serpent people", written by a man called David Isaksen, some 110 years prior. Describing encounters and living amongs serpent-people untill they got rid of him. The publisher noted that this was all probably just some story to scare people.

Anyway, I could have made it a lot more dangerous, but I wanted to have them all come out alive, as I want most of them to be part of a longer campaign.

But again, we had fun.
 

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Love it. My hope was that this little "playground" was deceptively simple. There are so many possibilities here and you adapted to their decisions wonderfully. I'm going to share your report with my group because they will get a real kick out of hearing how another group ran it!

Edited by klecser
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