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New keeper - Dealing with unexpected player actions


Nessus

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I just ran my first one-shot scenario - Genius Loci from Doors to Darkness. My player's first instincts were not to research the asylum or go to try and see Larry but to infiltrate the asylum as patients and staff. This threw me for a loop I don't mind telling you. I'm interested to know how other keepers would have handled it? Luckily ( for me ) the player trying to get in as a patient halfway through meeting Dr. Berger realized that he had given his character's real name and that both of the letters from Larry had been addressed to him so he just came out and accused Berger before I had to go off-book and have the players committed.

I know that this should be no sweat for an experienced GM and I might just have to take my knocks until I get to that point but does anyone have tips for brain lock when your players do something totally out of left field? I really don't want to be a GM that railroads my players but I came very close to it ( to the point where they asked me if there were secret tunnels or storm drains in the maps of the asylum later and I absent mindedly just said no instead of working with it )

I'm also having some difficulty with expectations of what players can do in classic cthulhu. I'm happy to pulp it up if that's how the party tends to go but in my mind having infiltrating the asylum as your very first reaction to the letter seemed unrealistic, especially without at least casing the place for a week or two first or checking if they were hiring staff, admission policies etc. At the same time I want to own this as a gm, not blame players. Any idea is a good idea if it's fun for the whole table.

Edited by Nessus
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Ha. I haven't tried Genius Loci, but my thought - make it scary.

Maybe the players are assuming they will all get in, that they will be able to operate as a team once they are inside. What if only some of them get in? Say if one of the players is all alone in a scary place, and the others have been firmly rejected, either as patients or staff? 

Who knows what they will get up to? Will one of them try again, maybe do something really stupid and possibly illegal to convince authorities they are insane? What if they just get locked up in the local jail? What will they try next? Will they try to break in to help their fellow PC? What if the players on the outside receive a worrying message from their friend on the inside? Maybe the message is a forgery?

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On 8/12/2018 at 8:12 PM, Nessus said:

I know that this should be no sweat for an experienced GM and I might just have to take my knocks until I get to that point but does anyone have tips for brain lock when your players do something totally out of left field? I really don't want to be a GM that railroads my players but I came very close to it ( to the point where they asked me if there were secret tunnels or storm drains in the maps of the asylum later and I absent mindedly just said no instead of working with it )

 

What I do when players do something unusual is either:

  • Say "Okaaay, Right .....", pause then work out quickly what is going to happen next
  • Let them do what they want to do and then decide what should/could happen at every stage
  • Wing it and see what happens

So, if they try to inflitrate an asylum, I'd get them to roleplay getting past security, getting to the reception desk, getting the PC admitted and so on. Each stage gives me the chance to think about things while I roleplay that particular encounter. Hopefully, after a few of the encounters, I'll have an idea of what to do.

If all fails, I give the players a chouce and wait for 10 minutes while they work out what they want to do, thus giving me some breathing space.

 

I'm also having some difficulty with expectations of what players can do in classic cthulhu. I'm happy to pulp it up if that's how the party tends to go but in my mind having infiltrating the asylum as your very first reaction to the letter seemed unrealistic, especially without at least casing the place for a week or two first or checking if they were hiring staff, admission policies etc. At the same time I want to own this as a gm, not blame players. Any idea is a good idea if it's fun for the whole table.

Classic Cthulhu has its own way of doing things:

  • Rich old uncle dies and leaves you something in the attic
  • You read a book and feel a bit funny
  • You see things around you that you hadn't notice before
  • You go mad and are carted away to an asylum

OK, maybe not. Perhaps:

  • You have a mystery to solve
  • You use your investigative/journalistic/detective skills to work out what is happening
  • You confront those up to no good
  • You see things that nobody should
  • You go mad and are carted away to an asylum

Really, there is no one way to run or play Call of Cthulhu. I have played in the Rich Uncle manner many times, as investigators doing an grown up Scooby Doo, as Pulp heroes swinging their fists and using tommy guns to shoot up cultists and they all work reasonably well.

If the players decide to do something unusual then let them. You can warn them that walking into a mansion, where people have gathered wearing long black cloaks and are chanting, perhaps isn't the best idea, but if they want to do it then fine. 

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Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

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