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Post by Stu Venable on Jun 3, 2012 14:25:14 GMT -8
Did the playtest for my CoC game for Gateway 2012 last night.
First time I've ever run CoC. It was a blast.
Players were Bill, Elspeth, Kimi and Stork. Great group. Great fun.
I friggin loved running a serious, tense game. And for the most part I succeeded.
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Post by mook on Jun 3, 2012 20:11:00 GMT -8
Sounds yummy! Something to look forward to.
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jimto
Supporter
Posts: 246
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Post by jimto on Jun 6, 2012 8:12:01 GMT -8
Awesome!
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joegun
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 249
Preferred Game Systems: Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: Just GM'ing right now.
Currently Running: Rippers Resurrected, and Savage RIFTS!
Favorite Species of Monkey: Baboon
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Post by joegun on Jun 6, 2012 8:30:19 GMT -8
Sweet! I've never played CoC. Although I've been running a Spooky (it's for kids so it can't be too scary) game using Savage Worlds with the Horror Companion. And it just makes me want to play in a CoC game bad! I totally understand the appeal of the Mystery/Horror game now!
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Post by Stu Venable on Jun 6, 2012 8:41:35 GMT -8
Being a very old game system, it holds up a lot better than I thought it would. There are some idiosyncrasies (which I detailed in a doucheydm article), but for the most part, it's still a very serviceable system.
I didn't like the sanity system, however.
I've been reading up on Trail of Cthulhu (which uses Robin D. Law's GUMSHOE system) and the sanity system there seems better to me.
There are two tiers to the sanity system -- one is your short-term resistance to seeing weird and disturbing shit and the other is your long-term sanity.
I'm going to give it a more thorough reading, but I may adopt that system when I run the game at the con.
Though it does seem more applicable to long-term campaigns.
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jimto
Supporter
Posts: 246
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Post by jimto on Jun 7, 2012 20:01:19 GMT -8
Pillars of Sanity in ToC is a marked improvement.
That said, everyone involved with CoC 7.0 who have spoken about it is saying Chaoisum is NOT doing one of their new Cthulhu core books with a few minor improvements again, I.E Versions 1-6. They are going to be playing it at Gen Con this year, hopefully the Sanity system is one of the things that gets reworked.
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jimto
Supporter
Posts: 246
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Post by jimto on Jun 7, 2012 20:04:46 GMT -8
BTW, if you want a rules light game that can be played for serious horror or comedy horror, check out Inspectres like Muntjack mentioned in his last email. The book is only 80 pages. It's made to be easy and quick. Prep is minimal.I'm 50-ish pages in, seems really neat so far. $20 or the printed book, or $10 for the PDF. rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/17891/InSpectres?manufacturers_id=548&it=1
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Post by henryhankovitch on Jun 9, 2012 12:55:45 GMT -8
From the DoucheyDM article:
I think one of the most important parts of putting together a CoC scenario is constructing it such that the characters either cannot leave, or are heavy disinclined to flee the situation entirely. "There's a creepy haunted house, would you like to explore it" fails to work as soon as a character says, "fuck this, I'm getting out of here." So, ways to keep your CoC characters from leaving town:
1) Lock them in with the monsters. Put them in a situation where they literally cannot leave the horror without likely death. An infested spaceship, a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, an Antarctic research station, a mountain resort that's snowed in for the winter. The old "your car breaks down in creepytown" is the cliche way to do it. The players HAVE to deal with the horror if the only alternative is to jump overboard to certain death.
2) It's their duty. Make the PCs soldiers, policemen, intelligence agents, or some other group who have no choice but to go take care of a situation. This one isn't ironclad--they still may want to go AWOL when things get bad--but the desire to avoid punishment or disgrace should be enough to get the characters in over their heads. Delta Green cells investigating the supernatural, FBI on an X-Files case, KGB agents going after enemies of the state, etc.
3) Escape is the whole point. When the horror goes down, they're in the middle of it, and getting out of town is not only an option, but probably the best option. You could combine this with "you have to go in and get something/someone before you can escape." This is your typical zombie scenario.
4) If they ignore it, it will get them anyway. This means you give the players some sort of information up-front that implies they cannot actually flee the horror. If they leave the cultists alone, they'll raise Cthulhu and destroy the world; if they skip town after watching the evil VHS tape, then Demon Girl will just come crawling out of the nearest TV after you; or the government will keep hunting them down until the PCs get rid of whatever is haunting them.
Most effective horror uses some combination of these. In It, the kids have to face Pennywise because they're effectively trapped in town--they're all under 13 and have no means to leave if they wanted to. And as adults, they're duty-bound to come back to town and finish the job because they know that Pennywise will keep coming back and killing future generations of kids. And it isn't just about preventing the game from ending prematurely; it's there to keep the suspense level high. In Alien, the crewmen are not only dealing with a murderous monster, but they're dealing with a creature that they can't just stab/club/blow up without potentially crippling their ship and killing themselves. It makes their situation that much more dire.
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jimto
Supporter
Posts: 246
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Post by jimto on Jun 12, 2012 5:42:31 GMT -8
From the DoucheyDM article: 1) Lock them in with the monsters. Put them in a situation where they literally cannot leave the horror without likely death. An infested spaceship, a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, an Antarctic research station, a mountain resort that's snowed in for the winter. The old "your car breaks down in creepytown" is the cliche way to do it. The players HAVE to deal with the horror if the only alternative is to jump overboard to certain death. I would use this very, very sparingly, unless they were stupid enough to skip all the investigation and head right for the monster. In a horror game, especially Cthulhu, running away should always be a viable option, but it should have some pretty severe consequences. By running away, the evil is now free to do whatever it wants unchecked and those cowardly assholes probably just doomed the planet. They should never get off scott-free for tucking tail and running.
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Post by mook on Jun 12, 2012 9:42:55 GMT -8
Just as a counter-experience -- two of the most fun CoC con games I played in back in the '90s were 1) The party stuck as patients in an insane asylum (cultists on the staff using us as sacrifices), and 2) The party as Navymen aboard a nuclear submarine being taken over by zombies.
CoC and Cons are like peanut butter and chocolate.
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Post by henryhankovitch on Jun 13, 2012 16:52:43 GMT -8
In a horror game, especially Cthulhu, running away should always be a viable option, but it should have some pretty severe consequences. By running away, the evil is now free to do whatever it wants unchecked and those cowardly assholes probably just doomed the planet. They should never get off scott-free for tucking tail and running. Well yes, that's why it's option number four on the list. The point isn't actually "keep your players from running away because it ruins the game." It's that one of the fundamental elements of a horror scenario--whether in a game or a novel/movie/whatever--is the plot element that keeps the characters from just Getting The Fuck Out. Those that don't usually end up feeling ridiculous, like slasher movies where the kids are clearly too stupid to leave the haunted drive-in.
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Post by ayslyn on Jun 13, 2012 17:23:05 GMT -8
In a horror game, especially Cthulhu, running away should always be a viable option, but it should have some pretty severe consequences. By running away, the evil is now free to do whatever it wants unchecked and those cowardly assholes probably just doomed the planet. They should never get off scott-free for tucking tail and running. Well yes, that's why it's option number four on the list. The point isn't actually "keep your players from running away because it ruins the game." It's that one of the fundamental elements of a horror scenario--whether in a game or a novel/movie/whatever--is the plot element that keeps the characters from just Getting The Fuck Out. Those that don't usually end up feeling ridiculous, like slasher movies where the kids are clearly too stupid to leave the haunted drive-in. To me, Mouth of Madness is one of the best examples of why the characters shouldn't be bolting for the hills. CoC characters are investigators. Curiosity should be one of their driving forces.
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Jojo the monkey
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 71
Preferred Game Systems: 2FT, BoL, BRP/OpenQuest/Renaissance, d00Lite, Fudge, GDi, Streamline, Ubiquity, Unisystem, V6 Engine, Vortex
Currently Playing: various (D&D 5E, Savage Worlds Achtung! Cthulhu, All Flesh Must Be Eaten)
Currently Running: Call of Cthulhu, preparing: Gunslingers & Gamblers Streamline Edition
Favorite Species of Monkey: Ateles geoffroyi, Alouatta pigra, Alouatta palliata
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Post by Jojo the monkey on Sept 21, 2013 17:24:04 GMT -8
Sweet! I've never played CoC. Although I've been running a Spooky (it's for kids so it can't be too scary) game using Savage Worlds with the Horror Companion. And it just makes me want to play in a CoC game bad! I totally understand the appeal of the Mystery/Horror game now! If you prefer Savage Worlds check out Realms of Cthulhu from Reality Blurs.
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