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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Obryn" data-source="post: 5212853" data-attributes="member: 11821">On the off-chance that any of my players read this, please don't!Anyway, I run a sporadic Call of Cthulhu d20 game in-between my 4e games, and I think I've finally found some inspiration for a new session.  I'm becoming bored with the game's status-quo, so I'm going to un-status the hell out of the quo.I've given a lot of thought to creating a feeling of hopeless dread in an RPG, and I've found that it's rather difficult.  It's easy to get to an "Oh, crap, how are we getting out of this?" moment, but much harder to get to the slow build and revelation that a situation that seemed in-hand or at least manageable is, in fact, utterly hopeless.  What's more, when it's possible, it's not always fun.  So, I would like your advice on whether or not you think this idea is workable from a DMing standpoint, and what you'd think as a player.The basic idea is that the PCs, through their organization and a series of dreams from their party's psychically sensitive character, get hints of a Deep One ritual to sink Chicago - the party's home base - into Lake Michigan.  They're familiar with the Deep Ones; the first adventure of this "series" had them as a major nemesis, but they've been in the background since then.  There will be a lot of investigation, some good shooty-bits, and quite possibly a few good senses of accomplishment as various cultists are rooted out and "foiled."  But over time, they'll get more and more hints that the ritual is, in fact, already complete - and that there's no way to reverse it.  They might be able to take out some of the ones responsible, but they've been too late since before they even started the investigation.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</blockquote>

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