Call of Cthulhu: Rigid Air - RPG Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 เม.ย. 2020
- The strange death of an old friend sends the Player Characters on a mission against a creature of alien horror. Written by Marion Anderson and Phil Anderson, the scenario first appeared in 1992's Fearful Passages.
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Guest starring Jack the NPC.
Hey Seth, thanks for a terrific and very insightful review of something I co-wrote with Marion so many years ago! It was pretty fun to write as I recall; our primary constraint was the word count, which meant that some elements were perhaps more abbreviated than they could have been in a longer piece. It's a delight to know that these old adventures are still entertaining investigators in 2020... even if they have difficulty remembering their old friend Robert... uhhh... Douglas? ;-)
Hi Phil. I'm happy you enjoyed it. You two did a great job with the scenario. It has to be a cool feeling to see people still talking about after so many years.
Seth Thank you, Mr. Skorkowsky, for reviewing this scenario! I purchased the book at a garage sale some time last year, and my buddies and I have been playing CoC over Discord. Another solution for the stand out feature, that my campaign used, was tinted windows on the piloting area. It’s obvious that the bridge has different colored windows than the rest of the airship, and still on the Terra Nova The lenses on Chester’s goggles would be the same shade of Orange. I also had a journal in Chester’s home, that talked about how that chemical that made the tint, reveals the Dho-spawn and their eggs. (He claims it was sent with the goggles). If you ask the crew, they have the excuse that it helps them see in darkness. I also made the air bladders full of hydrogen, as that didn’t really get phased out until the 30s.This way the airship goes boom. That way, it became mostly a melee encounter, and put everyone on equal footing. Eventually, the Terra Nova blew up after one of our investigators set off the “North Carolina Special” (thermite charge on a 2 minute delay) and ran. A mostly metal airship, meant that the thermite got up to proper heat, and set off the bags. It was glorious to run, and thank you for the advice!
instablaster
@@SSkorkowsky Hey Seth and Phil/Marion great review and authors :)....
"Your friend/mentor/distant relative has died." The most terrifying words ever heard in all of role-playing.
And the most common opening words in CoC, lol.
More terrifying than, “remind me, just how much HP do you have?”
"However, instead of it being a horrible monster, the cultists instead ended up summoning an egg."
Cultists: *THE EGG! THE EGG! THE EGG!*
"I understood that reference."
Why do i see Jawas.....Oh, right...
An egg is basically a lootbox with a random monster, I can see why the cultists could be swayed to summon such a thing. Probably cheaper in candle and sacrifice department too.
@@FairyRat that is a great rouge-like mechanic/ rpg idea, Im-a have to yoink that!
SUKA!!!
Ah, yes, good old _*ROBETT DOUGLAS*_. Those were good times we had
@Mr.Mathas-- We did indeed have good times with._ROBETT DOUGLAS _.(raises glass of cheap burbon) To our good friend _ROBETT DOUGLAS _, wherever you may be!....
Jack's just lost so many good friends he has trouble keeping track.
Bobbie Dougie... good guy.
Not Bobbie "The Knuckles" Dougie, Hows he doin?
I whuld Like this comment but its at 69 sooooo yeah
If you want the players to remember Seattle, create a brief dialogue around it.
Npc: oh this letter is from Seattle. Have you folks ever been to Seattle?
(Wait for response)
I was inside Seattle once, great seafood and beautiful city, but boy did it rain. Seattle's got to be the rainiest city in America.
Then drop it. If the players are specifically asked if they've been to Seattle and then given some images to hang on to like rain and Seafood, after the city's been mentioned a couple times. I will guarantee you that they will remember it
Can we all just take some time to appreciate that Planes trains and automobiles photoshop for a moment?
Those aren't gasbags.
I must remember for any CoC character I make to include something in the background like "met and befriended TONS of people who might want to write him into their Will".
Not only for the plot hooks (and chance for some fat inheritances!), but if that character dies, my next character can show up asking "what happened to Tom? I know he didn't die in any parasailing malarkey!"
That's clever! You get an internet cookie
Don't forget to add that you come from an old and extremely numerous family, with distant relatives scattered all over the place.
Those of y'all wondering about the Dho-Spawn's origins: it is loosely drawn from the "Dho Formula" from Dunwich Horror, which is tied to Yog Sothoth. Nice touch, if you ask me
I might be remembering this incorrectly but doesn't Wilbur Whatley's journal discuss him saying the Dho formula and it allowing him to see things, rather like the googles too.
I believe so. Which actually makes this even more clever
There are a lot of variations on the Dho (or Dho Hna) Formula online when you go googling. I like this one: www.chaosmatrix.org/library/books/necro_proj/n_dhohna.html Of course, now I can see...things. Terrible, wonderful things.
In the Cthulhu RPG, it seems like your friends are always getting you in trouble.
Mostly if they die, seems like you should care and lookout for your friends like a mother hen.
Mostly if they die, seems like you should care and lookout for your friends like a mother hen.
If you get a letter from a dead friend in Call of Cthulhu. RUN.
Life imitates art. I'm pretty sure I've played at least one scenario where you had to help a buddy dispose of a body as a plot hook.
In the world of Call of Cthulhu one is much better off being a hermit.
Alternate Scenario hook: you could also have one of your players be walking around whatever city they live in, and they spot a man standing on top of a building looking dazed and dead-eyed. Then as the Terra Nova flies overhead they see the mans head get ripped off as the airship passes over (you could obscure the airship as it passes over with fog or clouds).
Wow. The thumbnail popped up with the time covering up part of the “R”. It looked like it said “Rigid AF”
I was wondering what you were reviewing for me Seth. Lol 😂
I'm saving that particular video title for my "After Hours" playlist.
Oh my god
The part with the goggles, kind of reminds me of the movie They Live! I hope your players gave the I have come here to kick ass, and chew bubble gum...line.
Or at least fight in an alleyway for 5 minutes and 20 seconds
Man, I want Jack to read my name with the same deep affection he has for .... .. "Robert Douglas"
LOL!!!! "my old friend ....(looks at paper) Robert Douglas!"
"Robert. Douglas." Hahahahaha!
Seth I’ve been absorbing your books!!! I’ve been watching you videos for a few months. Found out you wrote books. Got them on audible and let me say. They are soooo well written. As I read damoren I can often see little glimpses of other movies or books. But man the way you tie everything together in the end in a very unique way was just soooo gratifying. I immediately downloaded hounacier. Keep up the amazing work. On TH-cam and in print!!!
Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I just ran this session today with a group and I wanted to pop by and say thank you for your video - it was a massive help for running this scenario and essential viewing for a new keeper like me. This was well worth running just for the one-liner from a player "Oh the huge manatee" as the airship went up in flames!
Robert Douglas: "aww Jack I always knew we were besties forever!"
Jack sure has a lot of old college buddies who tend to die under mysterious circumstances. Can't blame him for forgetting about....uh, Robert Douglas.
Just a heads up, Seth - Nelson's airport opened up in the 40s, so while I'm not sure if they offered flights to/from the States then, if your investigators find themselves around, say, Portland, Oregon or some similarly close US city, you could have them fly in to Nelson from there rather than having them fly from Vancouver.
I don't know what practical purpose this would have on a game, I just wanted to suggest that in case you were looking for options for this scenario.
That is the beauty of airships. They don't need a dedicated airfield. They can just drift in on a whim, tether to a spike in any old field, and blow away again when they are done.
I can't believe you didn't work a "No ticket" reference into this video.
What a wast...(*_^)
I watched this with auto-generated subtitles on and... "full potty wipe"
I'm late to the party again...but this sounds AMAZING. I gotta find a copy of this adventure and run it as a Pulp Cthulhu adventure if possible. I just bought myself a copy of the 7th ed. core rulebook to go with the Pulp Cthulhu expansion that a buddy gave me for Christmas and this just sounds like an amazing way to introduce my players to the game. Thank you Seth!
"Fearfull passages" was outstandingly uneven. It used to be one of really few CoC sourcebooks I had in the day, so I still remember some sections in verbatim. My highlight was the "automobile" scenario, which has no mythos and no supernatural at all - one of too few Chaosium publications to do so - whilst having a basis for a solid noir story (with a gothic twist).
It was also the book to contain absolute travesty of diving suit scenario, which you reviewed previously. Really weird book.
I like the Robert Douglas bit at the start. Really does hammer home the unfortunate situation. "So, uh, heard someone I knew died." "Which one?" "Uh...Robert Doglas." "Jack, how many friends do you have?!" "Hey, when you've known this beat as long as I have, you get to know everybody." "What, are ya Legrasse now?" "Though I was more Randolph Carter myself."
I'm resigned to the fact that Seth just does these videos as a justification for his crippling dress up addiction.
He really embraces wearing dresses. I agree he is addicted to dress up. Good for him, he makes great videos and I'm happy for him.
WARNING: CONTENTS MAY REQUIRE 1D10 SAN CHECK,
Side Effects may include: SleeplessnightsParanoiaHysteriaPosttraumaticStressDisorderandDiarrhea
This adventure sounds like a lot of fun, but I gotta say fighting a Canadian Moose Monster sounds like it woulda been cool too.
If I recall correctly from "Day of the Beast" (an adventure featuring the infamous Edward Chandler recently dramatized by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society) the spectacles work both ways: they let you see the otherworldly but also let the otherworldly see you. There can be consequences to that, if a Keeper is feeling nasty.
Hey seth! Always good to get a new video, especially at a time like this. :D
I just ran this scenario with my group. using your suggestions, we had a blast. Per your suggestion, I created a Capt Moore journal to tie everything together. They found it in the ad-libbed airship hanger office at the Seattle main base. Before they rushed out to attack the airship. Otherwise, it would have been onboard the airship in the pilot control room (or Capt Moore's room).
God I love all your CoC videos.
Thank you, Seth! I don’t play CoC (I’m actually making the jump from D&D 3.5 to 5e this week), but your insights into fun/useful tweaks in any of your RPG review videos inspires me to make cool, great, and useful plot changes in own my campaigns! Thanks so much for putting more reviews out. They each help make better games for my players!!😎
Cool review! I love your descriptions - vivid, atmospheric, haunting.
Poor Jack. So many of his friends are lost like... (checks paper) Robert Douglas. On the bright side, we get to see him milking the scene when a friend like... (checks paper) Robert Douglas dies like that.
Another cool t-shirt! Thanks for the content, always look forward to that ping.
Nice. Love your work, Seth!
Love your reviews. Thanks a lot for all the hard work you do! =)
Cool scenario! I like stories where the Evil Thing is bound to a place or object. Classic horror trope but kind of underused in RPGs, where the Evil Thing is usually roaming around doing Evil Stuff.
Great Vid! Awesome Nostalgia trip for me, read this scenario years ago! Gotta run it now!
Woah! I've been following you for about 10 months and you inspired me to shift from playing D&D to Keeping CoC. I finally tracked this collection down! Just read this last night and wondered what you might think about this one!
This has been the spookiest adventure reviewed by you. Looking forward to seeing your next one.
I think Jack is still wearing that cursed ring.
Well, he is wearing a ring....
Well done, as always. I've yet to run this one but love the idea of an airship adventure.
One thing I like from your videos is the obvious enjoyment you had with the stories/games/sessions. It permeate to us making them (the videos) much more enjoyables themselves.
PS: what you think about using "Tales from the Cryptkeeper" episodes as inspiration for CoC one shots?
Man, every skit in this episode made me giggle! Great job!
Another awsome review! Thank you!
Thanks for these Seth I love your stuff you help me as a role player and DM
Now we're talking! Nothing quite says 1920's and 30's adventure like Dirigibles and Zeppelins!
@Just Jeff oh, the humanity!
These reviews are an addiction. And what a glorious poetic death for that PC, leaping into open air's embrace from atop the descending fireball of the Terra Nova as soaring music plays beneath the tapestry of the night sky... it puts me in mind of Adagio For Strings from the Homeworld soundtrack - th-cam.com/video/XyyL_TICbrU/w-d-xo.html
Step 1. Pre-like video.
Step 2. Light 2 inch doobie.
Step 3. Hit play.
Nice video.
These Call of Cthulhu reviews are a great help for me as I'm always looking for ideas I can mess around with when I need a filler story for a comedy horror game I run.
I love your work its your reviews that makes me want to play COC and Travller
This sounds fantastic!
Unfortunately, you may remember me commenting about how my first session went. The stay at home orders came out the next time I was supposed to wrap up the corbit house. Im definitely going to run this as my follow up session!
A fine review. Those are some great suggestions and makes me want to run this.
I think I'll use a double zeppelin and have the creature fused to the top of the connecting spars. So it will be visible from outside of the balloons as well. Will also make it very easy to tell it is the same airship.
I would add the fact that they would have parachutes or trying to pilot the thing and through some robes as they really had.
Fuck yeah, new video! Just then i was missing you a little bit too much Seth.
If anyone is interested, I've put together a slideshow onto a pdf that has vivid, full-colour images that I made using AI.
It includes images for both "Rigid Air" as well as "Fear of Flying", I've made some slight changes for my campaign but I'm pretty proud of it. I'll sent it to anyone who wants it.
This one sounds awesome! :D
Thanks for the review and tips!
Not even my first watching of this video and it still has me laughing you are the man thanks for all the great content
Seth, we ran this in a hut in germany this weekend and it was awesome. The zeppelin started to spin due to the helium bags being stabbed from above at a wierd angle. Crewmembers flying off. Was great fun, thanks for the inspiration.
You and Jack are the best!
Nelson's a great place. I love finding CoC scenarios set in Canada. Thanks Seth!
Nelson, B.C.!!! That's my hometown. I never thought I would see my little mountain town showcased in an rpg.
Mysterious goggles that let yoy see the truth? This sounds like a job for Rowdy Roddy Piper!
This sounds like an absolutely awesome adventure to play!
That death at the end man, that got me.
Man, this sounds like a great adventure. Really wish my group was into the investigative horror scene.
Love the way this adventure progresses, excellent review, any chance of a link to your write up of the captains journal entry? That'd be pretty neat to read for the fictional entertainment, and a handy handout in its own right.
Hey I'm Canadian. It's kind of cool to see cities/town I've been to. I bought about quarter pound of weed at like 17 for 250CAD. Dad Went to trade school in Nelson. Sister went to a DOA concert there. My great uncle lived in Vancouver. Went to China town, and some hispanic dude offered to sell my 14 or 15 year old sister in front of my parents.
Edit- Also I'm a gun enthusiast in Canada. So I know the laws. "Hunting firearms, and assault weapons" are subjective terms. The way licensing works in Canada is there are 2 licenses issued to people for the basic PAL it's a 1 day course if the class isn't large. Though then there is your R/PAL. The R/PAL category requires a second 1 day course. The Restricted firearms are registered, Non Restricted are not. Each obviously require a clean criminal record.
To buy the AR-15 or Handguns you need to have the R/PAL. They then may only be shot at ranges in your province without permission to take it there for competition or training outside your province. While Non Restricted guns which may be bought and shot anywhere it legal to shoot a gun,
Restricted is basically AR-15s and hands or some short barrel NR guns. Non Restricted guns include the AR-18, ACR, XCR, SKS, Tavor, Type 97, M14, Mini 14, Mini 30, 10/22, ect ect. Many semi autos and the virtually and manual action firearm that isn't a short barrel gun
So the subjective part comes in that the bolt actions are no less weapons of war than AR-15 or AKs. Neither of those saw two world wars. They are also very effective for hunting. Like there is no reason an AK or AR-15 can't be used for hunting most animals if not all. Only guns that would possibly be more versatile for hunting is shotguns.
Things might have been different in the 1930s, but grain of salt.
The minute you name dropped "Edward Chandler" I was going "OMG OMG OMG OMG!" because my party had just recently finished our first campaign together wich happened to be 'The Day of the Beast' wich is the Fungi from yuggoth campaign you were talking about.
I haven't read them since elementary/middle school, but the way the Dho spawn is keeping the heads and animating the crew really reminded me of a creature in the Ellimist Chronicles book of the Anomorphs series that had a bunch of dead crash victims it had kept the bodies/memories of... It found the to-be Ellimist particularly fascinating because he was the only living creature it had found iirc. It was a fascinating and horrifying concept at that age lol, I'm super stoked to see something similar again
A week to get to Nelson by road even in the 20's even with the Ferry at Nelson and Castlegar seems long. Its an 8 hour drive now. At the time certainly there were two river crossings by ferry which would gum things up but the trail there was an important link across southern BC in the late 1800's early 1900's and was being made car friendly in between the world wars.
Wow, I don't think I'm used to RPG adventures taking place in places local to me.
After saying all that and ending with a "Beautifully Creepy". I LMAO...
I read on an announcement by Chaosium the you will taking part in a Runequest live play! Along with Pookie no less, I thank Orlanth for your courage to step out into Glorantha on 2nd May
One of my favorite parts of the week.
The "Call of Cthulhu: Rigid Air - RPG" review or, as I like to refer to it, the "How Many Times Can I Say the Word 'Gasbag' Unironically" review.
A Nightmare in Ostrheinsburg, my all-time favorite COC module.
Nelson's a cool town. The Kootenay region in general is pretty awesome. New Denver is a tiny paradise.
A Rigid Airship in a Call of Cthulhu scenario? Makes me think of that episode of Archer. Now I want a friend to run Call of Cthulhu or Pulp Cthulhu so I can RP an Archer-like character lol
DANGER ZONE!!!
@@vincentseeger9367 that'd be great and hopefully inspire som great RPGing from the rest of the party on reaction to his antics. Was thinking his stats would have to be great across the board especially Str and Con even Int as he's quite intelligent in his own strange autistic way lol
@@vincentseeger9367 Ha ha! That'd be great, actually, now I think about it, he'd have to have a very high level of luck lol
LOL! The idea that Vancouver is the fastest way to Nelson from the EAST COAST is hilarious. Nelson is actually super close to the border and it would be much faster to drive 5-6 hours north from Montana or Washington
I actually did a similar thing with the Lurker in Edge of Darkness that the Dho Spawn does.
A character fumbled a dodge roll against it, and fumbled a luck roll, and the Lurker hit a critical success, leading to it pulling a Sub Zero and tearing out the character's skull and spinal column from their body, and they were alive long enough to realize it was now using them as a flail to strike a police officer with.
Awesome death story from Jack there (extremely well done with storytelling as well as music).
Anyone else wondering why the ship with the Dho-Spawn in it (on that one artwork) is labeled "GUSTAF"?
I know I say this a lot. But your collection of geeky shirts always impresses.
Fred Herzog took some classic photos of daily life in Vancouver. Though a few decades later than the scenario takes place, I bet they would set the mood
I added a parasite aircraft. That made it visually distinct and gave them a possible escape route if it took off with some PCs on board.
Dang that's a cool t-shirt. Tried to purchase it, but not available in the UK :( Loving the Cthulhu reviews
07:32 Creepy Gargoyle Bas Reliefs? XD
18:32 Diver's Suit?
21:46 Can you do some crazy Weird West/Pulp Shenanigans and lasso the airship to a car or truck? And have this wacky tug of war between the two? Might need several cars to pull this off due to the need for horsepower and the overall strength or the ropes and/or chains used.
Wow, a story set in Nelson, that's not too far away from my hometown
I wonder what happens if I put on my goggles and HOLLY CRAP! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!!!!! Best line on this channel
another sweet shirt.... the review was good too ;)
Is there a channel that does these kinds of videos but for DnD adventures? My group (unfortunately) only wants to play DnD but I love these review type videos for getting ideas on what to run without buying things beforehand.
Finally!
Why do you always want the players to UNDERSTAND the adventure?! Sometimes I think you might be one of those insane cultists...
"An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded." NEVER try to know. :D
My friend.....Robert Douglas.... :p
any plans about reviewing Masks of Narlyathotep ? Cant wait to see how Jack will handdle this :)
No plans of running Masks any time soon.
Ok, i'll wait, there's no rush :)
Oh, yeah! That sounds like it was amazingly good fun.
I remember looking through this adventure, my players might have liked it if for no other reason than to up the wreckage count that they'd wracked up.
After 27 minutes... my players were on the airship... one of them noticed the dodgy aspects.. rigged up an IED (bits from each characters luggage) and 11 hours after we reached our destination this went off.. yet another TMK (total mythos kill)...