How I Start 'Call of Cthulhu' - part 1, History and Background
I'm running Call of Cthulhu again
This is a brief look at how I plan to begin a short series of Call of Cthulhu investigations. I'm trying to be a lot more organised in how I go about things, so this is helping me get my thoughts together for the game.
My History with Call of Cthulhu
I read H.P. Lovecraft long before there was ever a game based on his works. In fact, I was introduced to them by a fellow D&D player when I was in sixth form. Not surprisingly, elements of the Mythos crept into (infected?) our games back then, but I don't think any of us thought of running games set around Lovecraft's time or in his world.
A few years later I was at uni, and one of my home gaming group began entertaining me with letters about his CoC games. (Dave, we miss you). It sounded great fun, especially as he presented a lot of them as letters from his character, I don't believe he made it off R'lyeh. I bought the second edition about an hour after my final exam, and was hooked.
I played in and ran several games, though only twice managed what might be a campaign. The friend who introduced me to the Mythos ran a modern day series of games set in the UK, and these remain the most entertaining and baffling CoC games I've ever been part of. Later I ran a series of linked games set around Newcastle in what was then the present day. These started well, but fizzled out as players moved away.
With the end of my long running 4E D&D campaign we are now ready for something else. I have suggested running a short series of games set in Arkham in the 1920s. All the players are CoC veterans, though not all of them have played seventh edition. How am I planning to approach this?
Setting out my goals and targets
Firstly, I want a short series of investigations, not the beginning of a global campaign.
I want the bulk of the action to happen in one area that the investigators get to know and build links with.
I am happy to use published scenarios; I can easily update them to 7E and alter things to better fit my vision.
The emphasis, at least to begin with, will be on investigation rather than confrontation. That's not to say there won't be a climactic meeting (or two) with something nasty.
I still have a copy of Arkham Unveiled which gives me the classic Lovecraftian small town. There are also four rather good scenarios in it, some or all of which I can adapt. So that gives me a lot to work with.
Lets look in more detail at what I need to do.
Published scenarios
I've always liked 'The Condemned', it has, to my mind, a great Lovecraftian feel, and would make a suitable climax to the series. The nature of the menace gives me the possibility of some interesting foreshadowing in earlier investigations, but I will need to address a gap in the evidence chain early on in the investigation, and I feel the ending is a little cheesy.
'Dead of Night' is another nice investigation, with a much lower Mythos threat level. It will make a good starting investigation, provided that I can find a way to believably introduce the mystery.
I might insert 'The Hills Rise Wild' between the two depending on how we are doing for time.
Unfortunately I have already run 'A Little Knowledge' for two of the players. It's a good scenario though, especially for new investigators, and I would otherwise have used it to start the series.
Starting out
I want something to begin the series that brings the investigators together and gives them a reason to work with each other. I'd also like them to be relative strangers to Arkham. Some prior knowledge of the town is fine, but if they are long term residents there can be quite an information dump required to get the players up to speed with the town. I might just hand wave this though, "of course you know how to get to..." Lots of use of the Know roll here I think.
I'm also toying with the idea of some form of (semi) official recognition. Perhaps an important or influential person in Arkham knows who they are and roughly what they can do; this gives a lead in to some of the investigations? I've always struggled with the concept of investigators banding together to fight the Mythos at the start of an adventure or campaign. I'd like them to have a Mythos encounter and realise that something nasty is going on; fighting it is pretty much forced on them. Once an initial menace has been defeated, why do they stick together? Who organises them? This requires a little more work for believability in an ongoing series.
A rough framework
So I have the bones of a short ongoing series of Call of Cthulhu investigations, all using Arkham as a base. The investigators might not know each other, they may be from out of town, but something will draw them together and force them to work against a Mythos threat. They may well be observed in this by someone who later pulls strings and brings other mysteries to their attention. They will then play through Dead of Night, possibly The Hills Rise Wild and finish with The Condemned. I might add an extra short investigation or two in between the published ones if time and pacing allow.
The AU scenarios are already written, they just need a bit of edition updating and possibly tweaking. Its nice to be able to reuse NPCs and locations as this helps reinforce a sense of place. I might write some extra scenes or even more investigations, but I need to get the introductory scenario done. I've sketched out what I want it to do; I think there's something special about the first game in a Call of Cthulhu series.
How will I accomplish this? I'll tell you next time.
This is a brief look at how I plan to begin a short series of Call of Cthulhu investigations. I'm trying to be a lot more organised in how I go about things, so this is helping me get my thoughts together for the game.
My History with Call of Cthulhu
I read H.P. Lovecraft long before there was ever a game based on his works. In fact, I was introduced to them by a fellow D&D player when I was in sixth form. Not surprisingly, elements of the Mythos crept into (infected?) our games back then, but I don't think any of us thought of running games set around Lovecraft's time or in his world.
A few years later I was at uni, and one of my home gaming group began entertaining me with letters about his CoC games. (Dave, we miss you). It sounded great fun, especially as he presented a lot of them as letters from his character, I don't believe he made it off R'lyeh. I bought the second edition about an hour after my final exam, and was hooked.
I played in and ran several games, though only twice managed what might be a campaign. The friend who introduced me to the Mythos ran a modern day series of games set in the UK, and these remain the most entertaining and baffling CoC games I've ever been part of. Later I ran a series of linked games set around Newcastle in what was then the present day. These started well, but fizzled out as players moved away.
With the end of my long running 4E D&D campaign we are now ready for something else. I have suggested running a short series of games set in Arkham in the 1920s. All the players are CoC veterans, though not all of them have played seventh edition. How am I planning to approach this?
Setting out my goals and targets
Firstly, I want a short series of investigations, not the beginning of a global campaign.
I want the bulk of the action to happen in one area that the investigators get to know and build links with.
I am happy to use published scenarios; I can easily update them to 7E and alter things to better fit my vision.
The emphasis, at least to begin with, will be on investigation rather than confrontation. That's not to say there won't be a climactic meeting (or two) with something nasty.
I still have a copy of Arkham Unveiled which gives me the classic Lovecraftian small town. There are also four rather good scenarios in it, some or all of which I can adapt. So that gives me a lot to work with.
Lets look in more detail at what I need to do.
Published scenarios
I've always liked 'The Condemned', it has, to my mind, a great Lovecraftian feel, and would make a suitable climax to the series. The nature of the menace gives me the possibility of some interesting foreshadowing in earlier investigations, but I will need to address a gap in the evidence chain early on in the investigation, and I feel the ending is a little cheesy.
'Dead of Night' is another nice investigation, with a much lower Mythos threat level. It will make a good starting investigation, provided that I can find a way to believably introduce the mystery.
I might insert 'The Hills Rise Wild' between the two depending on how we are doing for time.
Unfortunately I have already run 'A Little Knowledge' for two of the players. It's a good scenario though, especially for new investigators, and I would otherwise have used it to start the series.
Starting out
I want something to begin the series that brings the investigators together and gives them a reason to work with each other. I'd also like them to be relative strangers to Arkham. Some prior knowledge of the town is fine, but if they are long term residents there can be quite an information dump required to get the players up to speed with the town. I might just hand wave this though, "of course you know how to get to..." Lots of use of the Know roll here I think.
I'm also toying with the idea of some form of (semi) official recognition. Perhaps an important or influential person in Arkham knows who they are and roughly what they can do; this gives a lead in to some of the investigations? I've always struggled with the concept of investigators banding together to fight the Mythos at the start of an adventure or campaign. I'd like them to have a Mythos encounter and realise that something nasty is going on; fighting it is pretty much forced on them. Once an initial menace has been defeated, why do they stick together? Who organises them? This requires a little more work for believability in an ongoing series.
A rough framework
So I have the bones of a short ongoing series of Call of Cthulhu investigations, all using Arkham as a base. The investigators might not know each other, they may be from out of town, but something will draw them together and force them to work against a Mythos threat. They may well be observed in this by someone who later pulls strings and brings other mysteries to their attention. They will then play through Dead of Night, possibly The Hills Rise Wild and finish with The Condemned. I might add an extra short investigation or two in between the published ones if time and pacing allow.
The AU scenarios are already written, they just need a bit of edition updating and possibly tweaking. Its nice to be able to reuse NPCs and locations as this helps reinforce a sense of place. I might write some extra scenes or even more investigations, but I need to get the introductory scenario done. I've sketched out what I want it to do; I think there's something special about the first game in a Call of Cthulhu series.
How will I accomplish this? I'll tell you next time.
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