Advice for Horror on the Orient

[Jwfortune]

I am new to Call of Cthulhu RPG and have read through the Keepers rule book and am just now trying to read Book 2 of the Horror on the Orient express.  

I found the first sample mystery in the keepers guide to be well written and providing good explanation on how to run players through the scenario.  It explained how the events would play out and what consequences were for missed roles.  I was pretty happy with this.

This is not the case with the much applauded Horror on the Orient Express.  I am having trouble following the story when reading book 2, which is the first adventure book.  There is a lot of background description of how things were back in 1923 and how buildings looked, but I am having a really hard time figuring out how the campaign should go for the investigators.  The first speech and events kicking off the story is OK.  But once in Paris, it just seems to be boring visits to libraries where cryptic journal entries are discovered.  Not only this, but there is a huge optional scenario that takes place in 1893.

So far, I am dissapointed with my expensive purchase here.  Any advice on how I should wade through this cryptic adventure?  It seems I will have to read it a few times to get a feel for the timeline and then workout what happens if investigators don't make their roles.  If they don't find clues, it seems the story will just stall.

Thanks for any advice.

I

[mvincent]

20 hours ago, Jwfortune said:

once in Paris, it just seems to be boring visits to libraries where cryptic journal entries are discovered.  Not only this, but there is a huge optional scenario that takes place in 1893.

I skipped all the optional scenarios (and was happy with my decision).

Paris does indeed start slow. I thought my players would be bored (as they tend to prefer action) but they seemed to love the slow build up. I also thought they wouldn't like the 'rail-roading' in the adventure (which is pretty linear). But again: they liked it.

I did not have any trouble with the adventure stalling out due to missed rolls (maybe I was just lucky).

[Jwfortune]

Thanks for the reply.  It is good to hear the players stayed interested in Paris even with the cryptic messages they find.  Also nice to hear they were not put off by the rail road nature of it.  We are actually playing Jade Regent, a Pathfinder campaign which is rather railroad, and my group is OK with that.

I just found the adventure hard to read and to figure out what action was supposed to happen.  I am used to things being written a little different - I guess I am accustomed to Pathfinder.  

Did you create any outlines for the chapters to ensure you kept the encounters straight in your head?  I haven't had to do this with other material I have used for RPG, but this one seems a lot more confusing to me....Maybe I just need a couple more read throughs.

 

 

[rust]

Perhaps this can help somewhat, it is a collection of tips by someone who has played the adventure:

http://www.reeslay.co.uk/mike/rpg/coc/HOTOE/index.html

[Jwfortune]

21 minutes ago, rust said:

Perhaps this can help somewhat, it is a collection of tips by someone who has played the adventure:

http://www.reeslay.co.uk/mike/rpg/coc/HOTOE/index.html

Thanks for sharing this link, it has some helpful ideas.  I appreciate the authors candor on this site.

[mvincent]

3 hours ago, Jwfortune said:

I just found the adventure hard to read and to figure out what action was supposed to happen.  I am used to things being written a little different - I guess I am accustomed to Pathfinder.  

Did you create any outlines for the chapters to ensure you kept the encounters straight in your head?  

CoC adventures in general require more reading. I too was used to conveniently written D&D adventures. Still, HotOE was easier to run than the other campaigns (like MoN and especially BtMoM). Although HotOE is huge, I only needed to read one scenario ahead. The chapter outlines were especially useful to me.

Edited August 29, 2016 by mvincent

[Trifletraxor]

Thanks for the link! Just got a lot of props for Horror on the Orient Express from a Kickstarter, that page will come in handy when running it.

[Darius West]

 

On 30/08/2016 at 2:22 AM, mvincent said:

 I also thought they wouldn't like the 'rail-roading' in the adventure (which is pretty linear).

 

I also felt that I was being railroaded by the plot of Horror on the Orient Express.  I couldn't quite put my finger on why though...  

[Subversive]

I am a new gamemaster and after running The Haunting with two players, Amidst The Ancient Trees with three players, and Blackwater Creek with three-and-a-half players, I am now making final preparations for Horror On The Orient Express with four players (we are doing full character creation for this one and my players are more than half way through creating their first set--I'll have them create additional characters before they are needed as well).  What I have been doing to prepare for this campaign is, in addition to reading through the scenarios in advance, is (afterwards or during) listen to some others run though it.  They'll typically be some minor differences to be spotted and everyone handles the unique way in which players break scenarios differently.  Here's the one I will probably continue to follow along with when I get to Paris.

http://podbay.fm/show/420200438/e/1434382004

[Jwfortune]

6 hours ago, Subversive said:

I am a new gamemaster and after running The Haunting with two players, Amidst The Ancient Trees with three players, and Blackwater Creek with three-and-a-half players, I am now making final preparations for Horror On The Orient Express with four players (we are doing full character creation for this one and my players are more than half way through creating their first set--I'll have them create additional characters before they are needed as well).  What I have been doing to prepare for this campaign is, in addition to reading through the scenarios in advance, is (afterwards or during) listen to some others run though it.  They'll typically be some minor differences to be spotted and everyone handles the unique way in which players break scenarios differently.  Here's the one I will probably continue to follow along with when I get to Paris.

http://podbay.fm/show/420200438/e/1434382004

Thanks for sharing this Subversive.  I may try to listen to, but sometimes listening to RPGs is not very exciting.   Let us know if you get any good tips from this.