EP1: Dream Gate

[trevlix]

From previous posts, Jeffrey has no part in the later episodes. Does the dream gate? Or is it just a subplot in ep 1?

[Mike M]

That's correct. It's a subplot.

[Agrivar]

If the Dream Gate it is subplot exclusive to the Episode 1, I will try to run the adventure one time as it is written, and a second time changing the Dream Gate subplot to something which can use mechanically-wise almost the same stats for the monsters given, but it is more related to the main plot of the campaign (i.e. changing the Men of Leng by a splinter cult of Shub-Niggurath worshipers, and the Moon Beast for some mutated/possesed animal that they use as totem, or something along that lines).

[Fallingtower]

I am not liking the Dreamlands aspect of the scenario.

If this is to be an intro type campaign for newbies, I think inserting the Dreamlands into this might muddle the more sci-fi/horror elements of the MiGo and their threat and end up being confusing (especially since the Dreamlands will not be part of the campaign after the first episode). I prefer to keep my Dreamland's adventures separate.

Not totally done reading the first Episode...once I'm done, will see if there's a way to surgically remove John Jeffrey, the Moonbeast and the Men From Leng.

MiGo should be plenty enough to keep folks occupied.

Anyone here have any tips on excising the Dreamlands from the story? (Read your spin on it Agrivar)

Edited April 15, 2016 by Fallingtower

[Fallingtower]

Ok,,,finished reading the first Episode.

For my purposes, I am removing the whole Dreamland angle.

For sanity bending, confusing and trippy other worldliness and to drive the plot the same basic way, I'm going to do a couple of things.

• The MiGo's very presence, their alien nature alone will cause the investigators trouble. The vibrations emitted from their alien material creates a constant very low, unidentifiable, often headache inducing hum, very cicada-like in nature (might actually have cicada whirring on an audio loop...then a sudden total silence...when it's scary time). There is also a weird tension in the air, energy draining humidity and imagined movement in the investigator's peripheral vision. I will use all these tricks and effects for my means to cause confusion, panic, insecurity, tension, visions, hunches, and make getting lost very easy (track/navigate rolls more difficult) etc.
• John Jeffrey escaped post-op (was being experimented on), was hunted down and had his body blasted with various Migo weapons....though his body died, his Migo altered, and sanity shattered brain lives on and is influencing the investigation team via a weak form of telepathy (via dreams and visions). His bloated corpse can be found in pretty much the same spot as in the scenario as written.
• To replace the zoogs sneaking around, I will create what I call MiGo Snitches (or Prawn)...small little, mindless, mini versions of the Fungi, who do nothing but mindlessly scout and spy (send basic information to telepathically linked Migo handler). When the little critters die, they dissolve almost instantly. They are greasy fast, small (8cm/3inches), hard to see (blurry...it will hurt your eyes if you were able to stare at one long enough) and nearly impossible to catch...they can also fly.

I'm sure I will think of more stuff.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Cthanx....

Edited April 15, 2016 by Fallingtower

[Baniak]

I read the whole thing, and I rather won't allow to cross the gate - Im not that experienced CoC MG (dont know much about DLands) and so are my players. They're gonna see the gate, stare at it, lose some Insanity Points and then go to the forest house.
And I also think that it's unnecessary (the whole DL plot), mi-go are perfectly enough.

[ShoggothPete]

I'm always going to have my players go and save the girl. On day 4 I plan to have Jeffery actually call to their minds, this should ensure at least a few investigators are not captured by Mi-Go. I've run a number of dreamlands stories, I may let me characters cross the gate (give players freedom of choice), however, on the other side they may find themselves threatened by a looming monstrosity (either run back through the portal, or suffer a round or two of damage and then run back through the portal).

@Fallingtower I'd recommend you re-create the 'save the girl' scene in your alternative. When you look at the player rewards (p57) you see that characters are getting sanity back for this. The sanity rewards will be important for characters trying to survive the whole campaign.

 

[Fallingtower]

2 hours ago, ShoggothPete said:

 

@Fallingtower I'd recommend you re-create the 'save the girl' scene in your alternative. When you look at the player rewards (p57) you see that characters are getting sanity back for this. The sanity rewards will be important for characters trying to survive the whole campaign.

 

Fer sure...that was my plan.

Rather than have the girl being tormented by Men from Leng, I will have her trapped by the Fungi or perhaps snatched up by the Shub Kid Cult. 

Will go over the scenario again and figure out the best fit.

[trevlix]

I did not throw this at my players, but I'm curious if other keepers had their PCs fight the moon beast? My PCs never had any weapons, other than an improvised shovel. If I had thrown them up against the moon beast, I suspect it would have been a slaughter as its unlikely they'll have any real weapons to defend themselves. Curious what other keepers have done.

[Agrivar]

18 hours ago, trevlix said:

I did not throw this at my players, but I'm curious if other keepers had their PCs fight the moon beast? My PCs never had any weapons, other than an improvised shovel. If I had thrown them up against the moon beast, I suspect it would have been a slaughter as its unlikely they'll have any real weapons to defend themselves. Curious what other keepers have done.

I don't consider the Moon-beast an insurmountable foe even for normal people armed with improvised weapons.

Its physical attributes are high, but still inside the human range (STR 80, CON 65, DEX 50...), it is not specially fast (Move :7), it has only one attack per round, at a mediocre skill (45%) and low dodge (25%), and if you prevent from using a spear, it has low chances of insta-killing a human (it's fighting damage is 1d3+1d4 - at average, it will do 4-5 damage per attack, and its average hit rate will be one [dodgeable] hit every two rounds). It has no armor, and his special resistance to firearms and missile attacks doesn't affects improvised melee weapons. It can be ambushed, it can be tricked into a trap, and it can be overwhelmed by superior numbers. So I don't find it more dangerous than a specially nasty rabid dog. If the PCs are in the "right mood" and try to avoid a direct confrontation, it can be a memorable foe which will frighten and "make sweat" the players, but it is a "final boss" fairly manageable by clever players.

Of course, a Keeper can "go for the throat" and achieve a Total Party Kill loading the Moon-beast with specially nasty spells and playing it as preternaturally aware of the PC's tactics, but I think that such Keeper will have to search replacement players for Episode 2 of the campaign.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Agrivar

[SteveMND]

My only concern with the Dreamgate 'subplot' is that, while it exists for the Keeper who knows how it fits in to the larger story, there is -- as best I could tell -- no real reason to think the players could ever make any sort of connection here, and that was always something I disliked about similar scenarios elements in earlier OP campaigns -- without any means for the players to link everything back to a complete whole, these sorts of things can often appear just as a "we need X number of combats/encounters per Z pages of text, so we'll throw this one in to fill up some space."

Does the DreamGate, etc., have any significant impact on the overall metaplot later on?  Because if not (and it's more of a 'flavor' kind of thing for the Keeper to know), I think I'd like to also revamp it somewhat to be a little less out from left field, as it were.  Maybe something with some local animals harrying her, after maybe she was lured out there by some of the local Kids.

[Mike M]

The Dreamgate is a subplot - it does not have a significant role in later events. 

[morganhua]

My group didn't solve the subplot, but since John Jeffery and the Dreamgate is still out there, I may continue to haunt their dreams when they return to Cobb's Corners in later episodes.  I may also populate Cobb's Corners with more Dreamland creatures as they invade Cobb's Corners.

[Fallingtower]

8 hours ago, SteveMND said:

My only concern with the Dreamgate 'subplot' is that, while it exists for the Keeper who knows how it fits in to the larger story, there is -- as best I could tell -- no real reason to think the players could ever make any sort of connection here, and that was always something I disliked about similar scenarios elements in earlier OP campaigns -- without any means for the players to link everything back to a complete whole, these sorts of things can often appear just as a "we need X number of combats/encounters per Z pages of text, so we'll throw this one in to fill up some space."

Does the DreamGate, etc., have any significant impact on the overall metaplot later on?  Because if not (and it's more of a 'flavor' kind of thing for the Keeper to know), I think I'd like to also revamp it somewhat to be a little less out from left field, as it were.  Maybe something with some local animals harrying her, after maybe she was lured out there by some of the local Kids.

For me having the Mi-Go mixed with Moonbeasts and Leng Men is like having Freddy Krueger show up in an Alien sequel.
Just doesn't seem right.

[sverbridge]

I figured the only real reason as to why Jeffery could contact a player through dreams was because of this gate, knowing the PC just makes it a little easier for the contact.  I figure if my players follow down this subplot, that it could be an interesting intro that there is something else out there, the Dreamlands.  It could be something interesting for the players to look into after this campaign is completed if my players wish to continue playing these characters.  But I can definitely see why people might not want to get into all of that.

[Mike M]

The subplot is there to provide a sidetrack - to keep the investigators from getting too close to Blaine and his schemes too early. It is also there to provide additional material for groups wishing to play 'longer'.

The mi-go are experimenters and have a want to study things - accessing other realms through Gate tech is a valid area of interest to them. The mi-go have no involvement with the Dreamlands critters - the zoogs etc. just managed to slip through the Gate to complicate matters. 

[Bran]

On 4/19/2016 at 0:39 PM, Mike M said:

The subplot is there to provide a sidetrack - to keep the investigators from getting too close to Blaine and his schemes too early. It is also there to provide additional material for groups wishing to play 'longer'.

Mike, I believe it'd be beneficial to have an alternative (in a side box) on various ways to make the Dreamland elements into something else, perhaps more horror based.

• One idea I had, which connects into another Cthulhu product, is to have the Nameless Mists (from Cthulhu Dark Ages), which spreads throughout the woods and is crawling with monsters. Whatever reason the Mi-Go have for conducting experiments with the Nameless Mists are their own. Its a great alternative to those that don't want Dreamlands in their Cthulhu... It also adds atmosphere, with thick fog rolling through the dark forests, and silhouettes of Men of Leng and other creatures being just out of full view.
• I like the idea above about the Mi-Go's droning effect... Falling Tower, make sure you send that in as an idea.
• For myself, I think I will suggest ideas to make the Dreamlands (or Nameless Mists) creatures more alien and "not of this dimension" by describing their movements as if the investigators were watching a movie where the camera operator was over-cranking one moment, then under-cranking the next. As if there were missing frames in the footage. The Men from Leng, the Zoogs, and the Moon-Beast all behave in a jerky, twitchy manner, as if they are in our dimension , then slip away for a split second, then reemerge.  
• Also, you can never go wrong by showcasing the Mi-Go with glowing heads. A lot can be done with having that illumination glowing under doors, in the distance between trees (like will-o-wisps), beneath the floorboards of the farmhouse, etc. 

These are just some of the ideas I have to spook the players.

Brandon Salisbury