Cthulhu .... any advice on how to run it?

[Klaus]

The single, most-likely-to-become-an-adventure is The Lurking Fear. You could easily turn it into a D&D or Ravenloft adventure, let alone a CoC one. It's got a great monster-hunting premise, but done with all the usual Lovecraft style. for D&D-zation, just add gibberlings led by a gibbering mouther (arguably THE most Lovecraftian of all DnD monsters, right up there with a Colossal half-fiend mind flayer*)




* C'mon, tell me you never thought about this one! A scaly, winged, octopus-headed creep!

 

[mmadsen]

The single, most-likely-to-become-an-adventure is The Lurking Fear.

Available on-line:
http://www.gizmology.net/lovecraft/works/lurking.htm

There was thunder in the air on the night I went to the deserted mansion atop Tempest Mountain to find the lurking fear. I was not alone, for foolhardiness was not then mixed with that love of the grotesque and the terrible which has made my career a series of quests for strange horrors in literature and in life. With me were two faithful and muscular men for whom I had sent when the time came; men long associated with me in my ghastly explorations because of their peculiar fitness.
...

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

I guess I'll give my $.02 on this. I haven't run CoC d20 yet, nor even looked at the book in any detail, but I did used to run many a game of Chaosium's original system.

I can't help but think that overall, CoC works best as a hybrid of Lovecraft and Derleth. HPL's style was always "you'll never win, and if you get close you'll either go mad or kill yourself", while Derleth's, I think, trivialized the whole Mythos by suggesting that Nodens and the "good guys" have your back against Cthulhu and the "bad guys", so it's almost guaranteed you'll win. I don't think an RPG holding absolutely true to HPL's vision would hold up as the players would quickly get bored, and one following Derleth's ideas would end up as more a heroic, DnD-like campaign (not that that's bad! after all, where am I?). I think the optimum mood to set is one where you *might* triumph, but it'll be against tremendous odds should you do so - and therefore truly heroic.

Honestly, when it comes to running a good CoC adventure, I'd recommend picking up the Chaosium rulebook. Even if you don't use their system, it has some helpful hints on the mood. Also check out some of the pre-packaged adventure books Chaosium put out - one of the loose campaigns, like Shadows of Yog-Sothoth or The Great Old Ones, would be best. While once again, you might choose not to use that particular adventure, it'll give you more of an idea of what sort of pacing, etc. to use in a CoC adventure.

Good luck! Try not to miss too many Sanity rolls!

 

[The Allamistako]

I suggest you look for some "Cthulhu-music". You know, stuff that captures the feeling of Lovecraft's work. As example, try to find something ba a german goth-rock group called "The House of Usher" (Yes, they got inspiration from Poe as well) One of my fave songs of theirs is called "Stars fall down (when Gods awake)".

Oh, and btw, my fave HPL stories are "The color from space" and "Whisperer in darkness". At least, i hope those are the original titels - i only have my german copies with me at the moment...

-Alla

 

[Angelsboi]

Anyone have resources on the 1920s? And how should i run a PBP game?

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Anyone have resources on the 1920s? And how should i run a PBP game?

I think Sean K. Reynolds has some stuff on running a PBEm game on his website, which, although not quite what you're looking for, could be helpful.

Check it out here .

Best,
tKL

 

[Angelsboi]

Kinda helpful but not what i was looking for. I mean how do i capture the horror aspect in a play by post game?

Can i?

 

[Hurtoc]

CoC play by post

I am running a PBP COC game right now myself, though it just began Monday. It takes place in 1930.

My goal for making things creepy is to first establishing a sort of "realism" because most of my players and myself are used to high-fantasy D&D. I created pregenerated characters for the PCs and wrote a brief bio for each which reflect "regular Joes" and their motivation is real too: money or curiosity/knowledge.

CoC Characters are also much more fragile than D&D characters, so maybe give the PCs a little taste of danger; I am having some thugs threaten the PCs early in the adventure. It is a non-supernatural threat but may do well to exemplify the fragility of the PCs; well then again maybe they can bluff their way out.

When something unusual comes into play, I think to mimic movies might be good. Consider some movies hint at horror without showing it, other show a great amount of detail instead. I want to use both. Put characters in situations that erupt in creapiness but aren't necessarily encouters with zombies. Maybe they are taking a shower at an old chateau when blood comes shooting out of the showerhead! Or instead, black sooty water covers them, the shower head brakes off and dirt covers their eyes while at the same moment hands grab at them! Maybe it's a ghost, maybe it's someone trying to help.

Then, when supernatural creatures are encountered, you can give subtle clues before they are "onscreen." Shambling sounds, lumbering footfalls, rattling chains. Finally, when depicting something gruesome or bizarre, use colorful language or detail.

I think one thing you want to convery in CoC that Lovecraft and the other writers convey is a sense of the overwhelming; the PCs may be able to combat or slow unknowable Gods for a time, but really they are powerless against their awesome aspects. When a Great Old One or Outer God is influencing things, think BIG for their impact, like in the film 2001 when you see all these scientists looking at the monolith on the moon. What does it mean? What is it??? It is scary and exciting at the same time; well knowledge of a Cthulhu god is for a moment mind-opening and forever mind-shattering.

Here is a link to my game's website:
http://www.geocities.com/mortalcoil2000/coc_main.html

BTW this is my 2nd CoC game ever and my first for Play by Post, so keep that in mind; I am representing my approach to things in this post.

 

[mmadsen]

Kinda helpful but not what i was looking for. I mean how do i capture the horror aspect in a play by post game? Can i?

You're asking if you can capture Lovecraftian horror in the written word? What medium would be better?

Only in a written game could you say:

In a small motor-car you cover the miles of primeval forest and hill until the wooded ascent checks your progress. The country bears an aspect more than usually sinister as you view it by night and without the accustomed crowds of investigators, so that you are often tempted to use the acetylene headlight despite the attention it might attract.

It is not a wholesome landscape after dark, and you would have noticed its morbidity even had you been ignorant of the terror that stalks there. Of wild creatures there are none -- they are wise when death leers close. The ancient lightning-scarred trees seem unnaturally large and twisted, and the other vegetation unnaturally thick and feverish, while curious mounds and hummocks in the weedy, fulgurite-pitted earth remind you of snakes and dead men's skulls swelled to gigantic proportions.

Just rip whole passages out of Lovecraft's works, put them in second person, present tense, and away you go...into the cyclopean enclaves of a long-dead race of leviathans.

 

[Neowolf]

When my parents take off in May for two weeks, I'm planning on having a week long LAN party with a bunch of my friends.

Can anyone suggest a good modern day module?

There's one in the actual COC book that looks really good called The End of Paradise. You might want to check that out.