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So I'm going to be DM'ing the Haunting for the first time with some buddies. I have the CoC 6th Ed rulebook and the starter set, and I've created the handouts as fake newspapers/etc. and gone through the story a few times and rolled a few dice against myself. Here's my big question though: there 's a part where the investigators have four separate scraps of information to find from the library. Does each investigator get to roll once, or roll until they fail? or can they just keep rolling until they get all four? If that's the case then why bother with rolls at all? I've read the 7th Ed. starter rules and they seem interesting (the adventure being more well written helps) - is there anything I should consider using at all from it, or stick entirely to 6th ed since I bought the core rulebook already? Cheers!
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Jun 22, 2015 22:13
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Don't ever hold necessary information behind a roll. If they need it, give it to them. Maybe throw something extra if they succeed a spot hidden. But yeah, never ever hide plot advancement behind a roll.
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Jun 22, 2015 22:20
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EDIT: doublepost It isn't neccesary information, rather additional - but both 5th, 6th and 7th pretty much exactly say there are four bits of information requiring four library-use rolls in order. Mechanically, how should it work? I'm happy to simply use the time taken as a way to work out the time of day, and for their employer to lambast them - but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything key. Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Jun 22, 2015 |
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Jun 22, 2015 22:23
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You could just call for a library use check when a character is in the right room. Perhaps use a secondary skill if nobody's proficient in library use. If they don't get it, perhaps tear one of your handouts in half, giving them something for their effort.
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Jun 22, 2015 23:39
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The worst case scenario is "You didn't succeed at the the Library Use check, therefore I'm not giving you the clue needed to advance the story." The second-worst case scenario is "You need this clue to advance the story, therefore I'm going to sit there and make you roll Library Use rolls until you get 4 successes."
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Jun 23, 2015 08:33
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Greg Stolze (who's written for Delta Green) suggests that they always get some information. If they make the roll, they get the information with enough context to apply it and maybe survive the threat. If they miss the roll, they have just enough information to get themselves into more trouble. Generally players get a bit perplexed (hopefully in a good way) when they miss the roll and yet you still tell them this seemingly useful thing.. Alternatively, you can make failed rolls cause problems in other ways. They get the information, but a librarian is a distant relative of Corbitt or a cultist or the like and starts following them. Both of the things Yoshimo mentioned are to be avoided even if you don't go full Gumshoe (always get the clues if they look the right way). Sionak fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Jun 23, 2015 |
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Jun 23, 2015 13:49
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Gotcha, thank you for the information - it's alot more clear now. The Library Use skill roll suggests two rolls per day also, so that element can be the 'finite' limit for extra info. I have a question about Sanity - it seems that POWx5 is SAN, and SAN rarely changes. It then suggests maximum sanity is 99 minus cthulu mythos. It then just says 'current sanity is real important, etc.' - do the inevstigators start at 99 current sanity (max) or at a level equal with their SAN?
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Jun 23, 2015 15:04
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Southern Heel posted:Gotcha, thank you for the information - it's alot more clear now. The Library Use skill roll suggests two rolls per day also, so that element can be the 'finite' limit for extra info. edit - oops! Your SAN is your POW x5. (Or equal to your starting Luck, coincidentally!) This only affects your Starting Sanity, and the amount of Sanity that can be regained through psychotherapy. Your Starting Sanity, as above, is your SAN, which is... your POW x5. (There's no space to track this on your sheet - once you begin play and start gaining losing Sanity, what Sanity you started with is unimportant.) Your Current Sanity, which starts off at your Starting Sanity (surprise!), can rise and fall, and can even go over your SAN, but NOT over "99 minus your CM skill." The more you learn about the unnamed horrors, the less sane you can inherently be... Your SAN can change - if your POW changes. Which doesn't really happen that often, if indeed at all. Your Current Sanity - can definitely change. It will go up and down more often than a whore's drawers. edit 2 - Apologies if I have actually caused you to lose Sanity with my roundabout explanations... Yoshimo fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Jun 23, 2015 |
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Jun 23, 2015 15:46
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Understood: POWx5 = SAN = Starting Sanity. I have more bits for discussion but feel free to ignore: 'The Haunting' suggests that one of the diaries in Corbitt's house contains a few mythos points and the spell 'Summon/Bind Dimensional Shambler', and that Corbitt has this too - I take it this is more for flavor, rather than legitimately trying to work out the logistics in my first game? Any tips specifically for this adventure? I have lots of disjointed questions that I think may be cleared up after Saturday. Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Jun 23, 2015 |
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Jun 23, 2015 17:10
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I remember there was some kind of instant-kill trap on the second floor where the bed flies across the room and throws an investigator out a window. I toned that down when I ran it.
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Jun 23, 2015 17:47
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Didn't occur to me to spoiler my previous, will go back and do so. As for above, there is a note for that, that the dead player should be replaced with Mr. Knotts the landlord, but I could just bypass that and lower the damage roll. Currently listening to : http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/2011/04/systems/call-of-cthulhu/call-of-cthulhu-the-haunting/ for ideas.
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Jun 23, 2015 18:01
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Southern Heel posted:Understood: POWx5 = SAN = Starting Sanity. I have more bits for discussion but feel free to ignore: It's there if you want to use the adventure as a starting point for a campaign.
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Jun 23, 2015 18:07
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Did I imagine seeing something in another thread about a new version of Delta Green coming out? Google doesn't seem to say anything on the subject...
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Jun 25, 2015 21:34
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It's being made and has gone through a beta-testing phase. I believe the last word was that the Delta Green Partership would launch a Kickstarter to fun the printing/art/whatever as soon as they've finished everything related to their previous kickstarter. It's getting a stand-alone system that looks a lot like a mix of Call of Cthulhu and the combat system from Unknown Armies, and the setting will be updated for the new tens. A lot of the stuff from 1997 about how US federal agencies operate has been out-of-date since 2001 (i.e. over 75% of the game's life) and the envisioned mode of play is basically impossible in the modern US. Since Delta Green is supposed to be a vehicle for modern-day CoC games, all that's getting an update, which is explained "in-universe" through metaplot. (The metaplot parts have been vaguely referred to; Delta Green agents infiltrated and took over Majestic 12. At the same time, the US government made Majestic 12 resurrect the "official" Delta Green program to fight occult terrorism. The new default mode of play is a member of the official Delta Green arm of Majestic 12, where characters will put their sanity on the line to balance US national interest against the needs of fighting the occult. The unofficial Delta Green still exists though, for those who want to play the clandestine, illegal cell-network of paranoid agents. Or so I've pieced together from a bunch of stuff on the Delta Green website.)
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Jun 25, 2015 21:53
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If you want the more up to date stuff, you can check through ArcDream: http://arcdream.com/home/category/delta-green/ You can find the open beta rules there. One of the authors, Dennis Detwiller, has a Patreon where he's been releasing some content: https://www.patreon.com/posts/1766542 The most information is actually available through recorded GenCon panels at Unspeakable! http://theunspeakableoath.com/home/category/unspeakable/ But astute investigators will notice that they have Delta Green panels from back to ... GenCon 2011, I think? They're aiming to launch the kickstarter late summer but it's not a project that moves super fast. There have also been fiction collections more recently than the original run of RPG books if you are interested in the backstory side of things.
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Jun 26, 2015 01:00
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So I ran the haunting, and it went pretty well apart from the climax. Rolling powers before combat started, and then using corbitt's decreasing MP for the dagger attacks while stuff was still in 'story mode', until finally instagib via using the dagger on him after finally grabbing it - three hours of RP ended up with 'so I roll opposed and hit him' and then 'oh ok so now he dies'.
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Jul 19, 2015 16:46
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My run of the Haunting a few years back ended in a total player kill that I should have seen coming a mile away. One of the players had decided he wanted to be a gangster, and he was the only one with any real combat ability, this coupled with his very poor sanity score left him very susceptible to powers the Villain possesed. He liked to knife fight, and though another player had a shotgun, aim was poor and everyone died horribly. Aside from that though, everyone actually had a pretty good time, and my brother has wanted to play this again ever since. When I get to run this again, my first adventure is going to be a follow up detailing an investigation of what happened to the first team.
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Jul 19, 2015 21:30
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It's sort of odd to me, having run the Haunting once (and that being sort of the extent of my CoC GMing experience) that the archetypal first scenario for CoC ends in a boss fight that, by the adventure (at least in the copy of the book I have) suggests the players should just straight up battle the villain.
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Jul 20, 2015 00:16
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I'm thinking of getting a Lovecraftian RPG, but I can't decide between CoC 6th, 7th, and Trail of Cthulhu. What is better for beginner groups? Is 7th even playable? Is 6th better because of its lower price? And is Trail as good/ as some say? Because I like listening to RPPR play it.
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Jul 29, 2015 00:27
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Hiro Protagonist posted:I'm thinking of getting a Lovecraftian RPG, but I can't decide between CoC 6th, 7th, and Trail of Cthulhu. What is better for beginner groups? Is 7th even playable? Is 6th better because of its lower price? And is Trail as good/ as some say? Because I like listening to RPPR play it. I went down to Fedex and printed out a bound copy of the 7th ed quickstart and we've played using pretty much just that for a good long while. I still have my copy of 6th nearby to double check a few things, but seventh just seems to run so much smoother.
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Jul 29, 2015 00:36
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The 7th edition quickstart is free off of the website, and having read it it seems simple and well made. Run "The Haunting" with that, see if you guys like it, and then buy the full version of either 6th or 7th edition. There are a number of differences between the two, but they're close enough that I think you could adapt. 6th edition is much easier to find and is (maybe?) cheaper - to be honest, I don't know if 7th ed is even available yet.
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Jul 29, 2015 00:40
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Hiro Protagonist posted:I'm thinking of getting a Lovecraftian RPG, but I can't decide between CoC 6th, 7th, and Trail of Cthulhu. What is better for beginner groups? Is 7th even playable? Is 6th better because of its lower price? And is Trail as good/ as some say? Because I like listening to RPPR play it. Trail is pretty fun, but the rulebook is a bit oddly organized in places. I am a big fan of incorporating some of the Trail/Gumshoe principles into most investigative games. 6th ed is out, there's a ton of stuff, I'm sure you could get used stuff for cheap. 7th ed is available in pdf (I think)? but not yet in print due to Chaosium's financial woes. Hopefully it's coming, but no one really knows when. That said, it has some pretty neat design choices like pushing luck and you can get the Quick Start for free - and there's youtube videos walking you through the basic mechanics. Trail doesn't have the elegance of the 1-100 roll-under skill system, which makes the learning curve a little steeper. It's still pretty easy overall, though. Some players don't really like the resource management aspect, but it's a pretty slick game overall. (I also like the RPPR games with it a lot. I think the "always get the clue" mechanic goes very well with the inevitable nature of a Lovecraftian universe.) I guess I can't better narrow it down for you without knowing what else you're looking for from the game.
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Jul 29, 2015 01:05
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I guess my temptation with Trail was mainly that I felt, perhaps unjustifiablely , that, while it could only do precise investigation scenarios, it could do more "pulpy" fun, allowing groups to ease into the horror or use the rules for a more light hearted game. Also, I heard that the trail core does a good job of shaking up the Mythos deities, so even experienced players may be confused and won't instantly know it's Hastur.
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Jul 29, 2015 01:12
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Two questions: Is Mansions of Madness better than Arkham Horror? I have the later, and many of my friends just aren't into it, however we all seemed to enjoy "Betrayal at House on the Hill" which seems to be what Mansions of Madness is like based on the description. Also, is there a consensus on here which Cthulhu pencil and paper RPG is the best? I've had success with Dark Heresy with my friends, but have considered writing up a Cthulhu story.
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Jul 29, 2015 01:13
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Uroboros posted:Also, is there a consensus on here which Cthulhu pencil and paper RPG is the best? I've had success with Dark Heresy with my friends, but have considered writing up a Cthulhu story. If your friends like Dark Heresy but you want a Cthulhu twist, you should really check out Delta Green. A new edition is being Kickstarted soon, and the beta looked interesting. Think of it as X-Files + Dark Heresy + Cthulhu.
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Jul 29, 2015 01:49
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Uroboros posted:Two questions: My impression of Mansions of Madness was that the investigators were almost always screwed because of how few actions they get every turn, especially when you have 3 or more players. The more players you have, the more resources the keeper/forces of evil player has to throw against you. Arkham Horror is entirely co-op, not competitive, and even if you don't win, everyone usually gets to do a lot and have fun. Arkham is more complex, especially if you add in a bunch of expansion sets.
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Jul 29, 2015 02:15
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Uroboros posted:Two questions: Mansions is pretty different from either Arkham or Betrayal. Betrayal is more lightweight and faster. Mansions is sort of... 1/3 Betrayal, 1/3 Arkham Horror, and 1/3 something else. Asking nerds for a consensus on anything is unlikely. But both of the main Cthulhu games (Trail of Cthulhu and Call of Cthulhu) offer quickstarts so you can try the rules for free. I understand that Dark Heresy uses a 1-100, roll under skill system - which is similar to Call of Cthulhu - so that would probably be easy to teach to DH veterans. clockworkjoe posted:My impression of Mansions of Madness was that the investigators were almost always screwed because of how few actions they get every turn, especially when you have 3 or more players. The more players you have, the more resources the keeper/forces of evil player has to throw against you. Arkham Horror is entirely co-op, not competitive, and even if you don't win, everyone usually gets to do a lot and have fun. Arkham is more complex, especially if you add in a bunch of expansion sets. Mansions of Madness is great if you like really high production values. The minis are neat (though unpainted, out of the box) and the tiles are very pretty. But you will often be doomed pretty early on, especially if the person playing the keeper is playing ruthlessly. The clues range from "opaque" to "go to this location to find the next clue." Arkham is pretty hard to learn the first time. It plays significantly faster if one or two people know how it works, but that first time is always slow. Certain old ones like Tsaggothua make the game more of a slog as well. Both are Fantasy Flight games, meaning that you will sometimes miss incredibly important rules text until it's too late. In Mansions of Madness, we did not know in a zombie-based scenario that you could burn corpses to keep them from getting up and menacing you until the last couple turns of the game. Oops. We don't play Mansions as often as Arkham Horror, because most of our group knows Arkham well, and because Mansions is rarely shorter, as mentioned. But we play Betrayal more often than either because it's easier to teach to new people, so your experience will vary. Hiro Protagonist posted:I guess my temptation with Trail was mainly that I felt, perhaps unjustifiablely , that, while it could only do precise investigation scenarios, it could do more "pulpy" fun, allowing groups to ease into the horror or use the rules for a more light hearted game. Also, I heard that the trail core does a good job of shaking up the Mythos deities, so even experienced players may be confused and won't instantly know it's Hastur. To be honest, you can control the Pulp/Purist levels pretty easily. The book offers suggestions with regards to skills and professions that fit either tone. It's also in how freely you give out refreshes. Lots of refreshers (and giving back points for crazy stunts or moments) will make it more pulpy, while rare refreshes will make for a more survival horror experience. Sionak fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Jul 29, 2015 |
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Jul 29, 2015 02:49
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Sionak posted:To be honest, you can control the Pulp/Purist levels pretty easily. The book offers suggestions with regards to skills and professions that fit either tone. It's also in how freely you give out refreshes. Lots of refreshers (and giving back points for crazy stunts or moments) will make it more pulpy, while rare refreshes will make for a more survival horror experience.
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Jul 29, 2015 03:17
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I was talking about Trail. Call of Cthulhu doesn't have refreshes because you don't have point pools - you just want to roll under your skill. It's more random overall. In Trail, you have basically a pool/budget of skills that you can add to rolls to pass them. (in addition to the Investigative skills, where you always get the clue but can spend points to get something more useful or immediately relevant.) As an example: An investigator named Randolf Cartier has awakened a ghoul in a cemetary. He's trying to get away from the ghoul by climbing up a wrought iron fence, before the ghoul grabs him. In Call of Cthulhu, he would check his Climb skill. Supposing it's 50, the player rolls two d10s to get a result of 45. That's under his skill so Randolf scrambles up the fence. In Trail of Cthulhu, he has an Athletics pool with a rating of 8 and he hasn't spent any points, so he has 8 points available. Randolf's player really doesn't want to get caught by the ghoul, so he spends four points. He rolls a 1 on a d6. The die roll of 1 + 4 points = 5, enough to beat the threshold of 4 and climb up the cemetery fence. ToC always uses a d6 and the thresholds (or DCs if you're coming from a D&D background) range from 2 (easy) to very difficult (8). Often the player won't know the exact threshold number before rolling, which brings in the strategic element of when to spend points and when to save them. Refreshes refer to getting those points back, by doing in-genre things, resting, or solving a mystery. Trail sounds way more complicated but is pretty easy once you have the hang of it. Does that make sense now?
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Jul 29, 2015 04:33
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The point spend system of Gumshoe turns some players off because they get anxiety over when they should spend points on their rolls. This anxiety is entirely by design and part of the game. Nevertheless, if your players are the kind of guys who hoard every limited use item (potions, scrolls, etc) in D&D and video game RPGs, gumshoe is probably not for them.
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Jul 29, 2015 04:49
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Sionak posted:Does that make sense now?
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Jul 29, 2015 05:13
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Call of Cthulhu is somewhat pulpy from the start but has less guidance on how to explicitly tune the tone to where you want it. But you can absolutely run a pulpy game in CoC. There's been a few supplements and articles on how to make investigators a little tougher and a bit more heroic, but I don't know them off the top of my head. I think that's part of the idea of the "pushing luck" mechanic from 7th edition as well. If you prefer podcasts, RPPR did an episode breaking down CoC after running many, many games with it: http://slangdesign.com/rppr/2012/01/podcast-episode/rppr-episode-69-critique-of-cthulhu/ There are also multiple CoC focused podcasts (Miskatonic University, Good Friends of Jackson Elias, Yog-Sothoth) but they tend to focus on very specific aspects of the system/lore rather than an overview or introduction. Sionak fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Jul 29, 2015 |
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Jul 29, 2015 15:50
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Thanks, I'd heard of Miskatonic University but not the others. Last question, I promise. Is 7th edition Call of Cthulhu playable with only the Keeper's book?
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Jul 29, 2015 20:22
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Thanks, I'd heard of Miskatonic University but not the others. Last question, I promise. Is 7th edition Call of Cthulhu playable with only the Keeper's book? From what I can gather, the Keeper's book is the ruleset in its entirety and contains everything you need to play. The Investigator's Handbook contains more options for character creation and hints/tips/guidance. 
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Jul 30, 2015 18:46
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The french edition of Call of Cthulhu is superior to the english one in every way, which is super weird because that's rarely, if ever, the case with translated RPGs. I remember the old WoD books having horrendous translations, with Disciplines changing names betwen books and msitakes everywhere, as well as falling apart after a year or two.
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Jul 30, 2015 20:02
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I just bought Elder Sign: Omens and it's making me cry tears of manly rage with how difficult it is. Can someone clue (heh) me in on how not to suck please?
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Jul 30, 2015 20:24
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Thanks, I'd heard of Miskatonic University but not the others. Last question, I promise. Is 7th edition Call of Cthulhu playable with only the Keeper's book? Don't feel bad about having lots of questions! This thread is pretty slow otherwise and while CoC (and its descendants) are great games, they don't always communicate everything that a Keeper needs to know clearly. I am not super familiar with 7th edition, but I also know that people have run past editions of CoC with just the basic QuickStart info. If you don't mind fudging exactly how a machine gun is different from a pistol, mechanically, or feel comfortable with the overall structure of a mystery game, then I think the Keeper's book plus the free quickstart are probably sufficient.
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Aug 3, 2015 17:09
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clockworkjoe posted:Look at the licensed books. Tales of the Crescent City looks pretty neat. I'm a big fan of all of Golden Goblin Press and all if their projects. I think they're all pretty solid hell I backed their latest book of Invictis scenarios and I don't even have the Invictis books
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Aug 4, 2015 03:39
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So is anybody else going to NecronomiCon in Providence in a couple of weeks?
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Aug 10, 2015 01:10
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Maybe you guys can help me out. An old friend of mine who's getting married soon has always wanted to try out a Traditional RPG game, and also happens to like Lovecraft's stories. I've read most of his stuff over the years (even the real bad ones), because the whole unknowable, unassailable horror thing is cool and good. I kinda want to dungeon master some kind of lovecraftian horror RPG for this guy, and a few others. I understand the super basic principles of these kind of games, but I've never played any, or done anything like this before. I'm willing to do work and reading to set things up, but there's too many systems/acronyms/shop-talk-posts around here for me to really make sense of things. Can anyone recommend a system for me, as if I was a dumb baby? Like - do you buy the system and a separate book that outlines the story, or is it all-in-one? What do I even need to play spooky lovecraft pretend with lots of beer and dice? If possible, I'd prefer something that's story and "solve the horrible mystery" driven to something that's about rolling dice to shoot mega guns at tentacle monsters, or whatever - I'm pretty good at impromptu storytelling and saying words good, and that aspect of this kind of game sounds more fun to me than trying to outroll strength stats or whatever. Based on reading like half this thread, I'm thinking Call of Cthulhu (I guess someone kickstarted a revival or something? Plus the "you'll probably die" and constant roll for sanity thing that you have to then role-play sounds cool and fun) or maybe this tremulus thing.... If this idea is totally unfeasible, let me know A Tasteful Nude fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Aug 20, 2015 |
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Aug 20, 2015 03:31
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