Call of Cthulhu: Tips and Techniques?
- Thread starter Old Fezziwig
- Start date
P
PaulofCthulhu
Guest
Turanil said:Maybe we could make a poll to determine if paul really has the best enworld name?
LOL! Thanks Piratecat, Turanil. Well, here's some history on it:
How PaulofCthulhu got that way
Actually that could be a fun poll, just to see what's popular and what other people suggest!
Paul
Last edited:
Old Fezziwig
this is a low-flying panic attack
Krieg said:The only reason I pointed that out is as a reminder to know your players. Use their prejudices & knoweledge against them. Don't play into their expecations.
Except the second time the players see the cat it is sniffing the blood trail...and the third it's lapping it up. Of course the cat isn't the "real" threat, but it will certainly creep the players out.
That's a great point about their prejudices and expectations. And the cat bit is just plain creepy. Although this does bring up a question I had: how much is too much when it comes to gore? I'm not really looking to run a splatterfest, but the CoC d20 book suggests that ratcheting up its level a few times. How do you draw the line between disturbing and disgusting in a Call of Cthulhu game? My impulse is to say "less is more," but I'm open to comments/anecdotes.
PaulofCthulhu said:
I do now.
Took a look at it earlier and it looks like it'll be wicked helpful. I'm downloading it so I can print it out later now. And I agree with the others, you have a sweet handle there. (As a side note, I've been poking around Yog-Sothoth.com a bit, and it looks like a fantastic site. Very cool.)thanks,
Nick
Hmmm...King Phillips War? I'd say some setting uniqueness could add to the tension. Some ideas;
1) Puritan witchhunting party showing up at the village. Some may be hidden cultists? And some hard-core fanatics...
2) Native American (Indian tribe) raiders. Maybe a little combat (ambush) on the party enroute to the village, or maybe the party finds some victems of an indian raid (butchered colonists - good for a few sanity points for the horror). Indian may be fighting the cultists, although with "blood magic" and brutal and indescriminent means (not unlike the witch-hunters).
3) A witch coven, not related to the horror or cultists. Possible as a red herring and needing protection against witch hunters or indias.
4) Perhaps not all of cultists know about the horror and only a few know a little - it is up to the players to piece together what has happened. Have at least one or two cultists know what is happening, with a goal of the players (whether they know it or not) to find and corner one. Maybe one is repentant and shattered and willing to talk, another might be a total lunny, cult leader, big bad type.
5) I agree with an earlier poster - you need to have pre-prepared hand-outs for a good CoC game. Leave the players to put it together and be preparred to go in bizzare directions (I have learned that it is near impossible to guess which way the players will go in a CoC game). be prepared to go with the flow, if the goal is to have a showdown, throw a few NPC's to the maul of the beast to get the players refocused.
Sounds like fun...
1) Puritan witchhunting party showing up at the village. Some may be hidden cultists? And some hard-core fanatics...
2) Native American (Indian tribe) raiders. Maybe a little combat (ambush) on the party enroute to the village, or maybe the party finds some victems of an indian raid (butchered colonists - good for a few sanity points for the horror). Indian may be fighting the cultists, although with "blood magic" and brutal and indescriminent means (not unlike the witch-hunters).
3) A witch coven, not related to the horror or cultists. Possible as a red herring and needing protection against witch hunters or indias.
4) Perhaps not all of cultists know about the horror and only a few know a little - it is up to the players to piece together what has happened. Have at least one or two cultists know what is happening, with a goal of the players (whether they know it or not) to find and corner one. Maybe one is repentant and shattered and willing to talk, another might be a total lunny, cult leader, big bad type.
5) I agree with an earlier poster - you need to have pre-prepared hand-outs for a good CoC game. Leave the players to put it together and be preparred to go in bizzare directions (I have learned that it is near impossible to guess which way the players will go in a CoC game). be prepared to go with the flow, if the goal is to have a showdown, throw a few NPC's to the maul of the beast to get the players refocused.
Sounds like fun...
Krieg
First Post
Kajamba Lion said:
Again it really depends upon your players. Having body parts & blood splattered everywhere will quickly desenitize them to the gore, but having them stumble across a cleaned & dressed human torso sitting next to a meat grinder in the back room of the local vegan healthfood store will certainly twist their sanity a bit.
"Less is more" is certainly a good mantra which I agree wholeheartedly with...I just make sure I that "less" comes as an overpowering hammer blow to the senses.
For me the key to running a successful CoC campaign is to take the player's assumptions, twist them 90-180 degrees & then shove it back down their throats. Always keep them guessing & even if they DO figure it out, don't let them figure out that they've figured it out (if you know what I mean).
Last edited:
Andrew D. Gable
First Post
Angcuru said:I'd have a freind outside of the gaming group be sitting in another room watching TV or something for a while, and then have him just jump in with a foghorn or something during a really scary moment.
If you do this, though, best make sure no players have heart conditions.
That would sure startle the bejeezus out of me...
As for the calamari thing, well, all I gotta say is 'gag'.
Last edited:
gregweller
First Post
If you can find a movie called 'Eyes of Fire', check it out. It's one of the few horror movies I can remember set in colonial times, and it might give you some atmospherics, if nothing else. I can't remember many details, but I just remember that it was an excellent film.
Gothmog
First Post
I've found for horror games to be effective, you need to do a couple things:
1) Give detailed descriptions, but don't always rely on what the player's see, but rather what they also hear, smell, taste, and feel. For example, the players find the body of a man who has been torn in half, and his legs are missing. You might say "You open the door into a dark room that has a sickly sweet smell, and you can hear a faint buzzing noise. As you move cautiously in, probing with your flashlights, your foot slips on something, and you catch yourself by bracing your hand on the nearby sofa. Pulling your hand away, you feel something sticky on your hand, and see a trail of blood from the sofa to the corner, where the corpse of a man lies in a heap, his legs missing. You feel a cold chill creep down your spine, and fight back the urge to vomit, tasting bile in your mouth. A noxious cloud of flies hovers about the body, and the pests scatter as your light strikes them and you move closer." Do this enough, and give all the senses, and you'll be amazed at what happens. Just don't overdescribe gore, but hint at it.
2) Build tension, then release it, only to build it up to a greater height again, then release it. This does wonders for creeping out people. Have something creepy happen, then break the tension by having something funny happen. For example, in the example I gave above, maybe have one of the invesitgators slip in a pool of the blood, and land on his butt in it wearing his nice beige trousers. As he gets up, show the psychologist in the group a prop that looks like a rather ridiculous/dirty Rorschach ink blot and tell him that is the pattern he sees on his buddy's pants. Let the other members of the group see the blot, make some funny statements about it, and help clean their buddy off. Then when they move back to the corpse and start to examine it, have the corpse start to twitch violently. Build tension slowly, but let them release the tension occasionally with something humorous- it makes the scary parts that much scarier.
3) Take everyday events and places, and modify them slightly, making them feel alien, out of place, and threatening. A graveyard or victorian era house are expected to be a little unnerving, and players will be on their guard. However, a weird shadow in the corner grocery store while the investigator is buying food, or strange rattling and bumping noises coming from the invesitgator's car trunk while he is driving are guaranteed to set nerves on edge.
1) Give detailed descriptions, but don't always rely on what the player's see, but rather what they also hear, smell, taste, and feel. For example, the players find the body of a man who has been torn in half, and his legs are missing. You might say "You open the door into a dark room that has a sickly sweet smell, and you can hear a faint buzzing noise. As you move cautiously in, probing with your flashlights, your foot slips on something, and you catch yourself by bracing your hand on the nearby sofa. Pulling your hand away, you feel something sticky on your hand, and see a trail of blood from the sofa to the corner, where the corpse of a man lies in a heap, his legs missing. You feel a cold chill creep down your spine, and fight back the urge to vomit, tasting bile in your mouth. A noxious cloud of flies hovers about the body, and the pests scatter as your light strikes them and you move closer." Do this enough, and give all the senses, and you'll be amazed at what happens. Just don't overdescribe gore, but hint at it.
2) Build tension, then release it, only to build it up to a greater height again, then release it. This does wonders for creeping out people. Have something creepy happen, then break the tension by having something funny happen. For example, in the example I gave above, maybe have one of the invesitgators slip in a pool of the blood, and land on his butt in it wearing his nice beige trousers. As he gets up, show the psychologist in the group a prop that looks like a rather ridiculous/dirty Rorschach ink blot and tell him that is the pattern he sees on his buddy's pants. Let the other members of the group see the blot, make some funny statements about it, and help clean their buddy off. Then when they move back to the corpse and start to examine it, have the corpse start to twitch violently. Build tension slowly, but let them release the tension occasionally with something humorous- it makes the scary parts that much scarier.
3) Take everyday events and places, and modify them slightly, making them feel alien, out of place, and threatening. A graveyard or victorian era house are expected to be a little unnerving, and players will be on their guard. However, a weird shadow in the corner grocery store while the investigator is buying food, or strange rattling and bumping noises coming from the invesitgator's car trunk while he is driving are guaranteed to set nerves on edge.
Similar Threads
