Adventures where you've already lost

[Obryn]

Oh, and also... I can't remember what time period you're running your game, but if it's anytime after the 70s, you have a government-run laboratory not far outside the city that makes antimatter with particles accelerators and collides it at high energies in order to emulate the conditions of the Big Bang.

For decades, conspiracy theorists have been worried that we'll create a miniature black hole.

Oh, good call! One of my friends from High School worked there for a bit, I believe. I'll scrape his brain a little bit. It's 2009 in the game, so no worries there.

My main concern would be making sure there is some kind of success the PCs can pull out from this.

Of course. I am not going to pull a "rocks fall, everyone dies" here. How the PCs find success - if they choose to at all - will be up to them.

-O

 

[Pbartender]

If you don't give them some kind of success to cling to, my concern would be a level of hopelessness so intense, they just give up. Basically, I would want the PCs to realize that while perhaps they cannot always save the world, they can make a difference in it.

There's another way to do this... Run the adventure as a sort of 3 Act adventure.

In Act I, you set the stage... A small island (find one just off the coast somewhere, with a quaint little village on it) completely vanishes off the face of the earth -- disappeared without a trace. That's the trial run for the Deep Ones. Investigation into the disappearance of the island will reveal clues that point toward the ritual, and toward Chicago as the next target.

In Act II, things look bleak... Despite the new trail, it's already too late to save Chicago. At best, a warning might get the city evacuated in time, but who's going to believe such a story? If the characters act fast, though, they may be able to find additional clues the suggest that Chicago isn't the only target.

Now, in Act III, while they couldn't stop the destruction of Chicago... Perhaps they can stop the destruction of other cities. How many more cities will vanish, before the players can put an end to the madness?

In the end, the PCs will have success of a sort, but it's a costly, world-changing success that leaves millions dead and at least one major city completely destroyed.



Something else to think about... A major city simply ceases to be. What are the various governments of the world likely to think about that? Perhaps the resulting international political situation may overshadow what happened to Chicago?

 

[Pbartender]

Oh, good call! One of my friends from High School worked there for a bit, I believe. I'll scrape his brain a little bit. It's 2009 in the game, so no worries there.

Psst!

I work there now... Let me know if you want tips.

 

[Obryn]

Psst!

I work there now... Let me know if you want tips.

Hah! I might! I am still trying to decide if this will mesh with the concept or not. When I'm prepping a Call of Cthulhu adventure, I usually try to keep it down to 3-4 ingredients and riff off the connections there....

And I was confused - he worked at Argonne, not Fermilab.

-O

 

[Reyemile]

Also, this flips the whole "Investigators stop a cult from completing an evil ritual" boilerplate CoC adventure on its head. That kinda appeals to me, too.

I have some pretty good experience with running Call of Cthulhu - I've run it on and off for years - and this fits right in with what I'd expect out of a good adventure hook. However, I've never run an adventure where the ending is basically pre-ordained.

As a GM, do you think this is workable without it feeling like a huge railroad? It's quite literally already over before the adventure starts - but within the context, the players will still have a ton of freedom and choice. And they'll have a lot of decisions to make once the big reveal is settled.

As a player - keeping in mind that this is Call of Cthulhu - how would you react to a revelation like this?

-O

Why are you RUNNING the scenario?

If you want to creep out your players and force them outside their comfort zone, and you don't want them to be able to do anything, don't waste their time on a railroad to nowhere. You're the GM. Sink Chicago. Use whatever creepy flavor text in a cut-scene, then ask the heroes 'what do you do next?'

Players generally need to feel like their actions make a difference; if they didn't want that, they'd be reading books or watching movies. So if you really want the players to play through a hopeless scenario, you have to give them something to work on. Just because the PC can't save Chicago doesn't mean they can't be useful. What CAN they save? Can they stop the destruction from reaching the suburbs? Can the evacuate the city center? Can they disrupt the second half of the ritual so the dead souls of the Chicagoans aren't consumed by an Elder God for an eternity of torment?

In short, even in games like Call of Cthulhu, a scenario designed solely to beat up the PCs is better off in a novel than in an RPG. But a mission where the players are scrabbling for a scrap of hope in the face of Doomsday is the thing the heroes are made of.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My thoughts on this:

1. The sinking should occur slowly enough for the PCs to rescue certain people- possibly even evacuate the city.
2. During this time, they find out that this was a warm-up to a greater ritual: the sinking of a much larger area (an island nation?); triggering a super volcano- something truly apocalyptic
3. Said second ritual is a sacrifice in order to shatter the barriers between this realm and the prisons of the Elder Gods, etc....worldwide.

Now, that story arc isn't necessarily directly sequential. You can cram all kinds of adventures into the interstices. Perhaps the reason Chicago was sunk was to give cultists of a more aquatic background access to artifacts stored in various secure locations in Chicago's museums, banks and private residences...the artifacts required to achieve their REAL goals.

Besides, just because the ritual is complete does not mean that a subsequent ritual cannot reverse the effects of the preceding one. Perhaps the party can raise Chicago- not pristinely, of course- and get the keys to the city.

After they mop up stranded cultists, of course.

 

[Obryn]

Why are you RUNNING the scenario?

If you want to creep out your players and force them outside their comfort zone, and you don't want them to be able to do anything, don't waste their time on a railroad to nowhere. You're the GM. Sink Chicago. Use whatever creepy flavor text in a cut-scene, then ask the heroes 'what do you do next?'

Players generally need to feel like their actions make a difference; if they didn't want that, they'd be reading books or watching movies. So if you really want the players to play through a hopeless scenario, you have to give them something to work on. Just because the PC can't save Chicago doesn't mean they can't be useful. What CAN they save? Can they stop the destruction from reaching the suburbs? Can the evacuate the city center? Can they disrupt the second half of the ritual so the dead souls of the Chicagoans aren't consumed by an Elder God for an eternity of torment?

In short, even in games like Call of Cthulhu, a scenario designed solely to beat up the PCs is better off in a novel than in an RPG. But a mission where the players are scrabbling for a scrap of hope in the face of Doomsday is the thing the heroes are made of.

I take it you haven't read the thread.

There are quite a few ways in which the PCs can be pivotal. And just because something is happening in the world that they can't stop - because it's in the past - doesn't mean they lack all control. I'm not telling them what their characters are doing; I'm laying out a scenario in which at least part of the end result is basically set in stone.

What I'm picturing is this - a first part, full of investigation and intrigue, which is exactly like a boilerplate CoC adventure. Then, everything starts to go to hell and the world gets turned upside-down. Followed by, "What do you do now?"

IMO and IME part of the whole fun of Call of Cthulhu is a creeping feeling of hopelessness and futility. But, even within that mindset, there's a chance to do something useful now.

-O

 

[Nagol]

I think you're looking at this wrong.

The ending is pre-ordained because the ending isn't the sinking of Chicago. The sinking of Chicago is simply the pivotal event of the adventure. Such pivotal events usually take place at the beginning of the adventure and we see the heroes react.

The adventure really boils down to a catastrophe movie. 'X' is about to happen and the PCs are among the first to discover it and are trying to save as much as possible in the face of a disbelieving population and forces arrayed to protect the status quo. The earlier part of the adventure is to determine how quickly the heroes realise the event is going to occur and detemines how much time they have to work with.

The PCs don't lose once Chicago sinks -- they could well be lauded as heroes for their efforts at saving others and spreading the warning since they really have no chance to prevent the event.

 

[Obryn]

I think you're looking at this wrong.

The ending is pre-ordained because the ending isn't the sinking of Chicago. The sinking of Chicago is simply the pivotal event of the adventure. Such pivotal events usually take place at the beginning of the adventure and we see the heroes react.

The adventure really boils down to a catastrophe movie. 'X' is about to happen and the PCs are among the first to discover it and are trying to save as much as possible in the face of a disbelieving population and forces arrayed to protect the status quo. The earlier part of the adventure is to determine how quickly the heroes realise the event is going to occur and detemines how much time they have to work with.

The PCs don't lose once Chicago sinks -- they could well be lauded as heroes for their efforts at saving others and spreading the warning since they really have no chance to prevent the event.

Interesting!

That's a really good way to think about it. I'll keep this in mind.

-O

 

[Pbartender]

I think you're looking at this wrong.

The ending is pre-ordained because the ending isn't the sinking of Chicago. The sinking of Chicago is simply the pivotal event of the adventure. Such pivotal events usually take place at the beginning of the adventure and we see the heroes react.

The adventure really boils down to a catastrophe movie. 'X' is about to happen and the PCs are among the first to discover it and are trying to save as much as possible in the face of a disbelieving population and forces arrayed to protect the status quo. The earlier part of the adventure is to determine how quickly the heroes realise the event is going to occur and detemines how much time they have to work with.

The PCs don't lose once Chicago sinks -- they could well be lauded as heroes for their efforts at saving others and spreading the warning since they really have no chance to prevent the event.

Exactly... This is more or less what I was trying to get at with the "3 Act" suggestion.

Make the inevitable sinking of Chicago the climax in Act II, whereas the real meat of the adventure happens in Act I's introduction, and Act III's denouement. Think of the sinking of Chicago as the Empire Strikes Back of this adventure.