I already wrote one (Awesome, they loved it) a CoC campaign that takes place in medieval England as a cooperative murder mystery. It's all formatted for the Keeper and can be replayed as a new campaign the Keeper creates. I have it in module and novel form.
Call of Cthulhu adventures have a problem: Players are guessing what might happen next. For example, if they find an old book, they definitely don't open it because they know they might go mad. Or they are sure that they will encounter a creature that will drive them mad or die at the end of the story. This is a very difficult situation for adventure writers. It is very difficult to come up with original, exciting ideas.
I run campaigns... I can't help myself. I'm just not that into one shots. I love researching history, and my players seem to enjoy reading it. Part of the way my mysteries have evolved, having a pretty damned smart group of players over the years... has involved misdirection, smoke and mirrors, and red herrings, and rather than "Here's a list of individual clues, link them together to form a shape..." I present "Here are several shapes of lots of potential clues, sift through them to see what makes most sense when strung together with the things you've encountered so far..." It's kind of cheating on my part, because they seem to enjoy spending time sitting down and just talking...(often what should be a two session investigation will take them four or five... just because they like sitting down and talking) trying to figure stuff out, and they do come up with some great ideas. There have been occasions where a campaign has turned direction and I've binned several months of prep because the ideas the players had for what was REALLY happening was so much better and actually made much more sense,than what I'd written. It's also a sneaky way to trip them up. When they have done three or four investigations and been right on the nose every time...they get cocky and over confident... and that's never a safe position in Call of Cthulhu.
How do you get people to play that really know nothing about Lovecraft? That's always been my biggest problem with this is my friends just never cared about the lore or the stories
Not knowing about it can actually be plus, cuz they can literally get surprised by anything you throw at them. At that point it’s a matter of making it interesting for them by setting a good mood for the session and making them feel exaclty like Lovecraft’s protagonist who get to uncover evil and mysterious shit.
@@ducciomori46 Second this, I think it's actually better if the players know less or even nothing about Lovecraft. It's Horror of the Unknown - if you describe a star-shaped, half-plant half animal being with 5 tentacles on both ends of it's treelike body, it will kill the mood if a player knows "Oh, that's an Elder Thing, we might be able to reason with it" instead of screaming "OH GOD IT'S A FUCKING ALIEN"
I've been bringing CoC to roleplayer gatherings for more than a decade now and introduced it to many greenhorns. Save the lore for later, use things regarded as one-shot monsters like Dimensional Shamblers, Star Vampires, Sand Dwellers, Xo Tl'mi-go, etc. They'll bite.
That's the best way to play! If they want to play, the less they know the more they have the opportunity to learn. Players whose characters are investigating evidence that they, the PLAYERS, know is Ghouls or Mi-Go, or a Cult of Nyarlathottep... are not going to experience the potential fear and excitement the first time they uncover that stuff.
Great tips from the master himself! Thanks, Sandy - from another Petersen.
Thanks for the video! I'm far away from writing my own campaign or scenarios, but learning more about how to string them together is very helpful!
Happy New Year Sandy! Merry Christmas also, even though its a little late.
Orthodox christmas hasn't happened yet, you're safe.
Christmas lasts until Epiphany, you’re fine!
I already wrote one (Awesome, they loved it) a CoC campaign that takes place in medieval England as a cooperative murder mystery. It's all formatted for the Keeper and can be replayed as a new campaign the Keeper creates. I have it in module and novel form.
Great tips, Sandy! :D
Happy new year .
I forgot to bring a notepad to write notes down.
Call of Cthulhu adventures have a problem: Players are guessing what might happen next. For example, if they find an old book, they definitely don't open it because they know they might go mad. Or they are sure that they will encounter a creature that will drive them mad or die at the end of the story. This is a very difficult situation for adventure writers. It is very difficult to come up with original, exciting ideas.
Very cool. But when is 'Cthulhu Mythos for 5e Fantasy' actually going to be in stock again? Like for gods' sake how is the PDF out of stock?
It may be a legal issue. Perhaps they can't sell it anymore.
I run campaigns... I can't help myself. I'm just not that into one shots.
I love researching history, and my players seem to enjoy reading it. Part of the way my mysteries have evolved, having a pretty damned smart group of players over the years... has involved misdirection, smoke and mirrors, and red herrings, and rather than "Here's a list of individual clues, link them together to form a shape..." I present "Here are several shapes of lots of potential clues, sift through them to see what makes most sense when strung together with the things you've encountered so far..."
It's kind of cheating on my part, because they seem to enjoy spending time sitting down and just talking...(often what should be a two session investigation will take them four or five... just because they like sitting down and talking) trying to figure stuff out, and they do come up with some great ideas.
There have been occasions where a campaign has turned direction and I've binned several months of prep because the ideas the players had for what was REALLY happening was so much better and actually made much more sense,than what I'd written.
It's also a sneaky way to trip them up. When they have done three or four investigations and been right on the nose every time...they get cocky and over confident... and that's never a safe position in Call of Cthulhu.
Some people at Disney being in a cult?
Yeah...just imagine.
🐙
How do you get people to play that really know nothing about Lovecraft? That's always been my biggest problem with this is my friends just never cared about the lore or the stories
Not knowing about it can actually be plus, cuz they can literally get surprised by anything you throw at them. At that point it’s a matter of making it interesting for them by setting a good mood for the session and making them feel exaclty like Lovecraft’s protagonist who get to uncover evil and mysterious shit.
@ducciomori46 that is very fair, its back to the drawing board for better descriptions
@@ducciomori46 Second this, I think it's actually better if the players know less or even nothing about Lovecraft. It's Horror of the Unknown - if you describe a star-shaped, half-plant half animal being with 5 tentacles on both ends of it's treelike body, it will kill the mood if a player knows "Oh, that's an Elder Thing, we might be able to reason with it" instead of screaming "OH GOD IT'S A FUCKING ALIEN"
I've been bringing CoC to roleplayer gatherings for more than a decade now and introduced it to many greenhorns. Save the lore for later, use things regarded as one-shot monsters like Dimensional Shamblers, Star Vampires, Sand Dwellers, Xo Tl'mi-go, etc. They'll bite.
That's the best way to play! If they want to play, the less they know the more they have the opportunity to learn. Players whose characters are investigating evidence that they, the PLAYERS, know is Ghouls or Mi-Go, or a Cult of Nyarlathottep... are not going to experience the potential fear and excitement the first time they uncover that stuff.