What's after Children of Fear?

[Ferretz]

I'm currently prepping to run the excellent Children of Fear by Lynne Hardy. I've read through most of it, and I'm planning to use minimum Mythos. I love the story, even though some of the scenes and encounters are suprisingly disturbing. I hope to run it unmodified and as written, but I might tone some stuff a bit down.  

But I'm really curious about what the next big Call of Cthulhu release will be. I couldn't find any specific title. Has there been any news so far?   

[TwiceBorn]

Nothing official that I've heard.

There have been hints of projects that are being worked on, like the Cults of Cthulhu, Dreamlands 7e, and a source book about Arkham and environs... but I don't think any one of those are intended to be a big adventure, and no release schedule for upcoming products has been made public. 

[glassneedles]

My money would be on A Time to Harvest which was used as part of the Cult of Chaos program a few years ago and there have been postings it is being worked on recently (I can't recall exactly where, probably in one of the Chaosium interview series on the Chaoisum website blog or somewhere on this site). I'm just hoping to see Dreamlands and Gaslight by the end of 2022.

[TwiceBorn]

Seems that @glassneedles is right. A Time to Harvest is next in the production queue (I watched the interview when it was first released, but forgot that point). Mike also mentions other products that are in the queue:

 

[Ferretz]

Oh, this sounds very interesting. I started playing CoC in the 7th edition, so I haven't really explored New England too much so far. A campaign set in Lovecraft's New England, with Arkham, Innsmouth, Kingsport and Dunwich sounds great. 🙂

[Ejlertson]

Teenagers of Anxiety 

[Ferretz]

29 minutes ago, Tranquillitas Ordinis said:

Could you please elaborate on these comments? I am considering buying the campaign, but I have so much material to play through, that I am not sure if I really need it. Why do you think the story is good? Is it logical, well-motivated, etc.? Are the choices of players relevant? What are its strongest and weakest points? Also, you mentioned disturbing encounters, what are they?

Well, I'm not sure how to describe it without going into spoilers, and there might be players hoping to play in the campaign on this forum. But it is a great campaign, with a great story. I especially like that it can be run with a very low level of Mythos threats, and that this is up to each Keeper. The main threat can be full on Mythos, or not connected to Lovecraft's pantheon of nasties at all. So it makes for a great change of pace for groups who have battled the Mythos for years (like mine). 

The story is about a trek through China, Central Asia, India and Tibet to find pieces for a ritual. It is very well researched, with a huge amount of information about various cultures, traditions, religions etc. I don't think I've ever seen a rpg book with so many unfamiliar words. Luckily, there is a handy glossary. 

Also, if the campaign is to be run as intended, there is an important NPC that will join the player characters on this journey. Some groups won't neccesarily like this, and there are options of having him meet up with the group later. 

That said, there are elements to this story that can be disturbing to some players, but there are warnings and guidelines for the Keeper where these scenes and encounters appear. Cannibalism, ritualistic sex and human sacrifice happen in this campaign, also in ways you might not expect. I've spent some time talking to my players about this in preparing for the campaign. 

If I were to pick a strong point for the campaign, it would be that the setting itself feels like the main character. You easily get the impression of the vastness of the landscape, with almost isolated cultures and traditions you might come across. As for a weak point, I'm not sure. I'm often asking myself questions like "how am I supposed to run this scene for my group??" when reading it. 

Also, it can be run using Pulp Cthulhu, but I would go for classic Call of Cthulhu. My impression is that it is that it is quite light on combat, and I think Pulp would lessen some of the emotional impact in certain parts of the campaign.  

 

[SunlessNick]

I agree with what @Ferretz said about the setting seeming like a character.  Regarding disturning content, a lot of th story revolves around tantric practices, some of which are pretty antinomian.  This can be toned up or down, but some encounters are very visceral.

The middle stages can feel like the Investigators are sidekicks of the NPC Ferretz mentioned.  That feeling is deceptive, but may persist for some time before the players realise that, so it remains a weakness.  The NPC in question believes the Investigators have been prophecied to help him, and has some pretty compelling evidence of it.

One thing that I was to be a huge weak point as I was reading it turned out not to be, although to reveal what would be an enormous spoiler.  Seriously do not read the spoiler text if you intend to play:

Spoiler

The first two thirds of the campaign involve a "mentor NPC" working with the Investigators to collect the procedures and instruments for a symbolic ritual sacrifice (of him by them).  However he has been tricked, and what he thinks is, and will sell to the Investigators as, a vision is actually them killing him for real, and causing the world-ending horror that he was hoping to prevent.  The last third is the Investigators fixing it.

The reason why I say this not a weak point after all is that Lynne Hardy has written in the possibility for the Investigators to see through the ruse and not complete the ritual.  This can be followed by the bad guys getting some other stooges, so the Investigators still have to fix that group's mistake - or they might just win the game two thirds of the way through.

The campaign is mostly drawn from the folklore of Western China, Central Asia, Northern India, and Tibet, and seems (to me) to be very grounded and well researched in those contexts.  Ancient history plays a big part in the atmosphere.  There's little Mythos content - some suggestions are made on how to tie the central aspects of the story to Mythos forces, but I think it would be easier to strip the remaining Mythos elements out and run it as a fully folkloric campaign.  (My preference tends to be that the Cthulhu Mythos should be the only mythos in a setting, rather than bolted onto something else, so at some point I would like to try both options).

The focus on geography is intense.  There's enough setting material to run other games set in the same places.

Also, it's not just white people tramping around Asia.  The pregen Investigators include three white (one British, one American, and one Russian) and three Asian (two Chinese and one Indian, Kashmiri IIRC), and most opportunities for replacements will come from the peoples of India.

I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Edited July 18, 2021 by SunlessNick