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A Tasteful Nude posted: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 would suggest Trail of Cthuhlu. Call is a great old game that has changed little over the years and so is something of relic, a loved relic, but one that is probably a little more complex than necessary. Trail is modern, avoids some of the pitfalls Call has that can easily trip up a newcomer to rpg's, and uses a system that wont take long to get a handle of. That and it is very well written.
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Aug 20, 2015 03:57
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It's totally feasible. Lovecraft RPGs are great! Running games for your friend to make them happy by making their character go crazy is also great! Here is the breakdown, as simple as I can make it: Call of Cthulhu is the original. It's pretty simple overall. It was first released back in the 80's and has been (mostly) re-released with minor improvements ever since. The kickstarter you refer to was for the 7th and most recent edition. It's behind schedule, but especially if you're just interested in running a game for some of your friends and not the finer points, you really don't need it. You can find rules for free here: 7th edition: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/128304/Call-of-Cthulhu-7th-Edition-QuickStart-Rules Older: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/101292/Call-of-Cthulhu-QuickStart-Rules Those are all you absolutely need to run a game - but the game assumes you have a pretty good understanding of how to set a mood and how to make sure that the story keeps moving even if people miss some rolls. Those are important elements and it's easy to lose track of them when running a game for the first time. The system itself is fast to explain. There is an online character creator called Byakkhe (http://www.jcfiala.net/content/byakhee-coc-character-generator) that you can use to either build characters or randomly generate them. Just roll under your score for a skill (1-100) to succeed at a task. That's the most basic level. (There are more complex rules, of course, but that's the foundation.) You can find the 6th Edition books at most game stores or online. The 7th edition doesn't have printed books yet. The books add lots of monsters, background stuff, weapons charts, and that sort of thing - but you don't actually need them if you are content to run The Haunting (included with the link above) or have your own idea for a story. I like Trail of Cthulhu a lot and it was written to address some of the problems with Call of Cthulhu that come up in play or for new players. The system is different and takes a little longer to explain. I'll be happy to explain it if you'd like, but it uses a combination of rolling a d6 and spending points from a pool to do actiony things. For clues, you always get the essential clues but can spend points to get more information or get a little bit more context with it. Example rules and adventures for Trail are available here: http://pelgranepress.com/index.php/free-downloads-and-resources-for-trail-of-cthulhu/ I am not familiar with tremulus. Like many Apocalypse World inspired systems, it seems quick to pick up and play but I don't know how well it would work to get the mood across. quote: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. Generally there's a base system book (Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, whatever) that has at least one adventure included. Then there are more books with more adventures or whole campaigns. A lot of the responsibility for the "story and solve the mystery" vs. "action hour vs. shoggoths" is on you as gamemaster and how you present things. This is one of the hardest things when first running this sort of game, but it gets easier with good adventures and with practice. Also, you can find a whole lot of example games at Role Playing Public Radio, a podcast that does a lot of actual play games using both Call and Trail of Cthulhu. The average game is about 3-6 hours, but there are also campaigns. http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/category/systems/call-of-cthulhu/ http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/category/systems/gumshoe/trail-of-cthulhu/ That's a lot of stuff, so let me know what bits didn't make sense and I'll try to answer your questions.
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Aug 20, 2015 04:01
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Sionak posted:I am not familiar with tremulus. Like many Apocalypse World inspired systems, it seems quick to pick up and play but I don't know how well it would work to get the mood across. So, Apocalypse World-derived games live and die on the strength of their moves (the actions you can take that are mechanically supported) and their playbooks (the character types). tremulus' moves are mostly just lifted straight from Apocalypse World and don't encourage Mythos-style play the way they should, and the playbooks are all muddled thematically and aren't the clear archetypes good playbooks should be. tremulus definitely has good ideas to steal for a better game, but it's not something a new player should buy unless they want a really bad introduction to Apocalypse World-style play.
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Aug 20, 2015 04:30
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So how weird is it that my personal favorite rendition of the Mythos outside of the stuff Lovecraft himself wrote, is CthulhuTech's version, cause while I'm fully aware of it having a terrible broken system and having a lot of problematic aspects in the setting especially outside of the Core book and Vade Mecum, it also just feels like the version of the Mythos most suitable for an actual RPG since in theory it gives a lot more player agency than the standard versions of the Mythos do(CthulhuTech kinda fails at this in reality cause it's adventures are terribly written railroads though) since you can actually fight back to a reasonable degree(I'll admit the nihilistic Cosmic Horror aspects of the Mythos have always fallen rather flat to me, much prefer the Personal Horror stuff like in Rats In The Walls or The Picture In The House for example) Basically I want to take a lot of the basic stuff about CthulhuTech's setting and modify it into a better form(throw out most of the weird sex stuff, make things a little less hopeless, and not get rid of the Dreamlands for no good reason to give some examples), and then maybe run it with a better system Yes I'm aware that this probably makes me out as a full-on heretic to most people in this thread, but I felt the need to share my thoughts
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Aug 20, 2015 13:08
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A Tasteful Nude posted: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. Horror and people who don't take things very seriously because they are drunk is not a good mix.
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Aug 20, 2015 13:19
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I'd probably just go with Cthulhu Dark in your situation. Or even Munchkin Cthulhu?
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Aug 20, 2015 13:49
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drrockso20 posted:So how weird is it that my personal favorite rendition of the Mythos outside of the stuff Lovecraft himself wrote, is CthulhuTech's version, cause while I'm fully aware of it having a terrible broken system and having a lot of problematic aspects in the setting especially outside of the Core book and Vade Mecum, it also just feels like the version of the Mythos most suitable for an actual RPG since in theory it gives a lot more player agency than the standard versions of the Mythos do(CthulhuTech kinda fails at this in reality cause it's adventures are terribly written railroads though) since you can actually fight back to a reasonable degree(I'll admit the nihilistic Cosmic Horror aspects of the Mythos have always fallen rather flat to me, much prefer the Personal Horror stuff like in Rats In The Walls or The Picture In The House for example) I mean, if that's how you want to play, that's great. It's not very cosmic at all and it sounds quite a bit more pulpy. But lots of people run and enjoy very pulpy games. It wouldn't appeal to me a whole lot, because I think it's throwing out the strongest flavor, but there's also a range of possibilities. Delta Green, for instance, lets characters fight back using modern weapons (and in the upcoming version, possibly government support) but then underscores the horror by making that not matter in the long run. LatwPIAT posted:Horror and people who don't take things very seriously because they are drunk is not a good mix. This is a thing that can happen regardless with the first horror game you run. My first CoC game was basically straight up Army of Darkness style stuff - it was in high school, but still not especially horrifying. Everyone had fun though. People have to buy into horror a little bit for it to really work. If they're in a really jokey, there-to-drink mood at the start it's going to be an uphill battle. moths posted:I'd probably just go with Cthulhu Dark in your situation. Or even Munchkin Cthulhu? Cthulhu Dark is pretty neat but I wouldn't recommend Cthulhu Munchkin to anyone, let alone someone who wants to actually tell a story.
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Aug 20, 2015 13:57
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It felt weird recommending it, but as a lite Cthulhu-flavored party game it could be the best bet. (Especially if they're cat-wrangling drunks. Explaining an RPG to sober first-time players is a pain, I can't imagine alcohol making that go easier.)
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Aug 20, 2015 14:04
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If you know french, get the french edition of call of cthulhu. Here'S what the upcoming 7th edition looks like:
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Aug 20, 2015 16:55
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Does anyone have any suggestions for a nice short module I can learn and run in a day or so? My group of five meets on Thursdays and we haven't played anything but board games in a while, so I'd like to surprise them and jump back in. Something in the traditional CoC ruleset (1920's), with a little combat, on RPG now would be best I think. WaywardWoodwose fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Aug 26, 2015 |
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Aug 26, 2015 01:59
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WaywardWoodwose posted:Does anyone have any suggestions for a nice short module I can learn and run in a day or so? I think running ye olde Walter Corbitt fun time land would be best. It's the one I've started with for my players and I've done so a couple of times (albeit changed) since. I am of course talking about The Haunting (http://www.yog-sothoth.com/wiki/index.php/The_Haunting_(aka_The_Haunted_House)_(Scenario)). It's short and fun, and I've even ran it in Trail of Cthulhu. For added fun times make sure to use some of the props you can find in the Yog Sothoth file repository.
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Aug 26, 2015 07:18
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I started with that one, then did the one from Mansions of Madness, "Mr. Corbitt".
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Aug 26, 2015 13:19
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WaywardWoodwose posted:I started with that one, then did the one from Mansions of Madness, "Mr. Corbitt". That's a good one - the Mansions of Madness book has a few good scenarios. - Was it a relative in your game?
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Aug 26, 2015 14:42
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It fit well enough, my group is a loose knit group of paranormal investigators, usually taking cases as they are introduced to them. The creepy neighbor was a pretty good hook. Our game takes place in late 20's north Louisiana, and features a dilettante, an aging catholic priest, a German college professor, and my favorite, a female former member of a proto prohibition vice sqad. So far I've run them through The Haunting, Mr. Corbitt, and one I forget, something about a star vampire confined to an old country cottage?
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Aug 26, 2015 15:43
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WaywardWoodwose posted:It fit well enough, my group is a loose knit group of paranormal investigators, usually taking cases as they are introduced to them. The creepy neighbor was a pretty good hook. The Lurker in the Attic?
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Aug 26, 2015 19:24
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Yoshimo posted:The Lurker in the Attic? It was "The Edge of Darkness".
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Aug 26, 2015 19:46
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WaywardWoodwose posted:It was "The Edge of Darkness". Ah yes, my bad. I had put the name of the monster itself.
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Aug 27, 2015 11:12
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Thanks for the advice, everyone. After reading all of this and listening to a bunch of "actual play" podcasts, I think I'm gonna go with Call of Cthulhu - Trail had my attention at first, but I think the point-spending aspect would stress people out just as they're getting a feel for it. Like when you horde special items in video games, but then BAM you saved all of Skyrim and realize you have 4000 awesome scrolls you were too nervous to "waste." I like that CoC, on the player's end, will mostly be "hey roll less than this number - oh look you did it!" Also I can borrow someone's copy of the 7th edition PDFs, all nice and kinkos bound, which is nice. I also thought about Cthulu Dark, but I worry that it's almost TOO simple. I feel like a bit of complexity will set the right tone, and ultimately get this particular group into it. Plus, the mechanic where you can oppose other player's rolls because you feel like it, while hilarious, might get adversarial fast. I'm thinking about this new Bryson Springs dust bowl scenario, which is cool and pretty drat scary, or maybe that classic "The Haunting," with a few extra plot points written in to make it less linear, or something. I need to confirm the players and get a feel for what they want. Basically... I'm going to try to set a serious tone with, like, music and handouts and stuff - but I might plan some "alternate routes" in case everyone gets real drunk, rolls a hardboiled detective and starts taking things in a shooty direction. Also - I can speak enough French to, like, order lunch... but while that French set is really cool looking, I don't think it's a safe investment unless I, like, move to Paris for a year first. Which probably isn't gonna happen. A Tasteful Nude fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Aug 31, 2015 |
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Aug 31, 2015 03:44
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Definitely be ready to improvise. "Call"is a fine game, and the best part of "Trail" is that it ensure players get the clues they need, something Call doesn't ensure, so just give the players the clues. If they fail to find them one way, contrive of another way to get them, just make sure they get them eventually. You do that and you will be fine.
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Aug 31, 2015 06:04
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Don't be afraid to call for Idea rolls if your players get stuck in Call, or even blatantly seed clues in your narration. "Cultist #2 fires off another burst from his tommygun, I bet these guys are regulars down at Old Deek's ammo shop." "You idly wonder where all these guys got matching robes. There's only one seamstress in town, and she was one of the first missing people."
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Aug 31, 2015 16:42
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Yeah, every CoC character has three metagame give-me-a-hint scores (Idea, Know, Luck), usually above 50%. Make liberal use of them to keep a scenario moving along.
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Aug 31, 2015 18:43
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I'd add that players and Keepers *can* have the tendency to try to get all the clues before advancing. That won't usually be necessary - don't let clue collecting get in the way of moving the story forward if the players have enough clues to solve the mystery.
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Aug 31, 2015 18:49
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It's also important to have a contingency plan for what happens when your players don't solve the mystery. I usually track approximate time with a D12 and D6, and have preset events that'll happen unless they're interrupted. If they can't prevent the disaster in time, now it becomes an adventure about surviving it. Still fun!
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Aug 31, 2015 19:20
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Yeah, with respect to clue-obtaining rolls, I'm thinking: bad rolls on clue-searches will reveal, say one of three aspects of HOW to preform the necessary end-game ritual, good rolls will reveal how to preform it and maybe survive (i.e. the basement is warded, stuff will try to lure you out, just keep going no matter what.) The game's also going to begin with the cautionary instruction: "hey, this is a investigation, mystery solving game - you're free to rush into the endgame, but you'll die and miss cool things I wrote for you. Gather lots of clues first." If they get progressively off track, and enough time passes, AND they won't accept my gentile hints: whatever horror they're going after will fully manifest, start murdering townsfolk, maybe attracting some cultists, and I'll end things on an "escape from crazy town" note. They'll all, at best, return home horrified at their failure, losing a chunk of sanity, but aware of the larger, lovecraftian world in case everyone feels like making this game a regular thing. If you know the major plot points of The Edge of Darkness, and want to read about my plan to make it a bit more detailed: I think I'm going to use The Edge of Darkness as a framework, but sprinkle information about the ritual around the farming community, which is going to be a slightly larger hamlet with the end-game farmhouse on the outskirts (and basically just move clues to where ever the players end up, if they're not progressing.) I don't really like how the original scenario has literally every detail needed to survive on the mantle of the farmhouse. I might be taking on too much, but I also want to work in some mid-point confrontation. I'm thinking that the creature isn't being unleashed by the collegiate occultists' respective deaths, but because one of them (who lost it when his son died horribly in The Great War) broke whatever seals they originally used. The quest-giver's initial dying speech will be more along the lines of "find out why my old friend hasn't talked to me since the war, why people are disappearing in the farmhouse town, and make sure The Bad poo poo I did as a kid isn't back.) The players will eventually need to go to the surviving occultist's country estate, where he'll have just mutilated himself to the point of near-death while mumbling about his "becoming" and the war "eating his boy, as his master now eats the world." Maybe he got some mythos power and mind controls a player into trying to kill another via horrible delusion of childhood trauma, or raises his dead butler as a weak-ish zombie thing (throat-slit butler in the door-ajar entry room of the home), or something. Dealing with this guy by surviving him will provide the final piece of the ritual, via his diary: a bit of his blood, or his left hand maybe, needs to go into the fire in the farmhouse basement. I might also add The Haunting's Chapel of Contemplation into the farming community town, to suggest that this surviving occultist has been up here messing with bad things for awhile (there's like a ten-ish year post WWI window), possibly with town official's knowledge - within the chapel, another piece of the ritual, and a "hey cultists working with this guy largely got away" hook for future games, if this one goes as intended. I also captured some audio from the film adaption of Whisperer In Darkness, where the intrepid professor listens to a phonograph reel of cult-chanting in the woods ("THE BLACK GOAT OF THE WOODS, WITH A THOUSAND YOUNG"), and might have police hand it to players (playing the clip over my speakers) if they ask why the chapel was raided so violently, and then kept largely secret. Sort of like: yeah, kids were disappearing, and then deputy beagle recorded THIS poo poo under their window sill one night - NOPE.
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Sep 4, 2015 04:29
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So CthulhuTech 2nd edition is in open beta! And it seems surprisingly not terrible! Like the mechanics still don't seem very good, but it looks like they realize first edition was hell of creepy in the wrong way. I haven't had time to do more then skim it but it no longer seems like a game I would run away from if someone wanted to play.
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Sep 17, 2015 01:56
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Hey guys, my friends have finished the first two scenarios in the main rulebook, and will be doing the second two over the next couple of weeks. I've also got the Complete Masks of Nyarlahotep on standby, but I was looking to ease them into a few more "episodic" or one/two-session scenarios first before hitting them with the Big Daddy. Any recommendations on the various anthologies of scenarios, or any other decent pre-printed shorter campaigns worth checking out? We're playing 6th Edition.
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Sep 27, 2015 22:46
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Kickstarter for the new edition of Delta Green just went up today. I love modern Lovecraftian horror, but they already made their initial goal in just a couple of hours, so I might wait until the book is out. On their website they have an open call for standalone scenario pitches. Paying up to a grand. Deadline is October 8th. Wise Learned Man fucked around with this message at 07:11 on Sep 30, 2015 |
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Sep 30, 2015 05:50
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Wise Learned Man posted:Kickstarter for the new edition of Delta Green just went up today. I love modern Lovecraftian horror, but they already made their initial goal in just a couple of hours, so I might wait until the book is out. This kind of seems like one of those Kickstarters where you should wait about 25 days before pledging, since some of the stretch goal options seem like they'd be much, much better than the basic pledges.
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Sep 30, 2015 08:30
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Yeah, it's a little weird. There's a $100 pledge for all of the new books in PDF, but if I'm reading the fine print correctly, the only eligible items announced so far total just $30 if you get them a la carte. I guess that tier will be a good value eventually if they hit a ton of stretch goals, but it doesn't seem all that well thought out.
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Sep 30, 2015 12:22
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I'm kicking in for the Delta Green Agent's Book in hardback just to try to get closer to 120k. Once that happens, I'll probably kick in more for the bigger rulebook. I played with some of the new rules at GenCon this year, and I have to say that I really like them. It's BRP, but is definitely trying to go for more of the GUMSHOE angle with some of the skills and I really like how bonds work. Bonds are definitely a cool mechanic for regaining sanity and RPing your character outside of his Delta Green job. Now that I think about it, I just had a lot of good first impressions of the system. So I'm more than happy to shuffle $50 their way to get it made today, even if the reward tiers get better.
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Oct 1, 2015 16:18
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Nude Bog Lurker posted:This kind of seems like one of those Kickstarters where you should wait about 25 days before pledging, since some of the stretch goal options seem like they'd be much, much better than the basic pledges. If you back at the $80 Rising Threats tier, you can help create more books and get all of them in PDF. We could in theory do another KS in a year or two for new books, but we'd be starting from scratch with making contributors' schedules and interests line up. The only way to guarantee we see stretch goals like the Carcosa book, Impossible Landscapes, is to bring in enough backers to make it happen.
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Oct 1, 2015 22:08
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I just picked up Elder Sign (I'm late to the party, I know) and am completely addicted. I know there's a lot of dice luck in it but I don't even care, the theme and quick setup/play sells it.
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Oct 2, 2015 05:04
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Wise Learned Man posted:Kickstarter for the new edition of Delta Green just went up today. I love modern Lovecraftian horror, but they already made their initial goal in just a couple of hours, so I might wait until the book is out. I have zero experience with scenario pitches or submitting anything to the game industry, but I've got a good one shot adventure that I used in high school that can definitely work here.
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Oct 2, 2015 08:23
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clockworkjoe posted:If you back at the $80 Rising Threats tier, you can help create more books and get all of them in PDF. We could in theory do another KS in a year or two for new books, but we'd be starting from scratch with making contributors' schedules and interests line up. The only way to guarantee we see stretch goals like the Carcosa book, Impossible Landscapes, is to bring in enough backers to make it happen. I should say that I did this, am very happy with it, and am kicking myself for not snaking in for Fall at $100 when I had the chance.
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Oct 2, 2015 08:27
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NutritiousSnack posted:I have zero experience with scenario pitches or submitting anything to the game industry, but I've got a good one shot adventure that I used in high school that can definitely work here. They're VERY open to working with new writers, so definitely give it a shot. Quick tips on pitching: 1. Distill your idea down to a 1-paragraph blurb. This is you describing your idea to someone in an "elevator ride" - about 30 seconds of talking. 2. Don't end with "WILL THE AGENTS SURVIVE OR SOLVE THE MYSTERY?" or something like that. Just conclude it. 3. Go in with confidence. Your idea rules, sell it! Go get 'em. 
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Oct 2, 2015 16:06
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Peas and Rice posted:They're VERY open to working with new writers, so definitely give it a shot. Cool, thanks for the advice. Maybe I'll get some beginner's luck or something. That and they overlook me using openoffice instead of word.
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Oct 2, 2015 19:40
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NutritiousSnack posted:Cool, thanks for the advice. Protip: RTF files work for every word processing doc on the planet. 
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Oct 2, 2015 21:47
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Want to know more about the Delta Green Operational History book? I interviewed the writer on Unspeakable! today http://theunspeakableoath.com/home/2015/10/unspeakable-episode-23-gil-trevizo-and-delta-green-operational-history/
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Oct 3, 2015 00:58
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So I backed the Delta Green Kickstarter but anyone else feel like it's kind of nickel and diming you, like hell I'm already 100 bucks over my pledge level just from the add-ons. I'd be angry, but they all sound really awesome. I hope they'll hit 140k just for Iconoclasts. In other Call of Cthulhu Kickstarter news a book of 1920s scenarios set in the Caribbean called, well Tales of the Caribbean https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/golden-goblin-press/tales-of-the-caribbean
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Oct 5, 2015 04:45
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KomradeX posted:So I backed the Delta Green Kickstarter but anyone else feel like it's kind of nickel and diming you, like hell I'm already 100 bucks over my pledge level just from the add-ons. I'd be angry, but they all sound really awesome. I hope they'll hit 140k just for Iconoclasts. Yea I'm really not happy with the constant 'new book added give us fifty dollars for it'.
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Oct 5, 2015 04:56
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