Looking for Campaign Inspiration (Call of Cthulhu)

[Gregor]

As a general aid, see if you can pick up a copy of CoC D20 if you haven't already. Its not the best incarnation of the game, but it will save you time for statting certain things out.

Another handy D20 resource for you would be anything related to the Far Realms in D&D.

And, while not actually related to the Mythos, certain elements of the Hellblazer films are similar, and Clive Barker's book, Imagica, could also help you out.

As for thematic elements for a good CoC game:

1) People doing things they think they can control and/or don't realize are evil. Dabblers and non-believers can cause even more trouble than knowledgeable arcanists...because the brakes an experienced Warlock would use would simply be absent.

2) Eroding barriers or prisons. Many Mythos beings got sealed away or sent home...but both time and the occasional rubbing against the fabric of our reality means they can occasionally get free to roam the world again. Or perhaps the modern world accidentally breaks open the seals that hold them at bay. All it takes is an accidental bombing or a little urban renewal.

3) I'd suggest the use of the hoary old Character Tree from DarkSun so you can take the kid gloves off. Its somewhat liberating to know that if you kill off a PC, your Player can be back in the game in just a few minutes. In addition, that resultant level of lethality will reinforce the dark, uncaring nature of the campaign world.

4) Van Leyden's suggestion about the Occult Nazis is gold. Having just lost the war, the remaining occultists would be in desperation mode, and may be more reckless than usual. In addition, they probably have fewer of their (presumably) more experienced magicians around, most of whom would have been captured or killed at war's end. Of course, that isn't to say that some very talented Nazi warlocks aren't still around...

Thanks, these are useful tips.

I have a quick question though, and forgive my inexperience with Dark Sun, but what is this Character Tree you refer to? It sounds interesting, but I am completely unaware as to what it is.

EDIT - Also, are the BRP rules worth digging through for additional flavour or context? Is there anything in the BRP rules you would transfer over into the d20 system?

 

[Gregor]

If your using 1949, you might consider the Delta Green setting. It's like Xfiles meets Call of Cthulhu.

Bad thing is, I think it's out of print again. But I love the setting and its gotten great reviews.

Amazon.com: Delta Green (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying, Modern) (9781887797085): Blair Reynolds: Books

Mike

I have an old copy of Delta Green and to be honest, it didn't really rub me the right way. However, its been a while since I read it, so maybe I'll flip through again.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have a quick question though, and forgive my inexperience with Dark Sun, but what is this Character Tree you refer to? It sounds interesting, but I am completely unaware as to what it is.

A Character Tree is when you have a primary character- the PC you have in active play- and other "related" PCs that are not. As the active PC advances in levels, you do likewise with the inactive ones. If the active PC dies, the player activates one of the other PCs from the Tree.

Because this new PC is related to the original PC, he already has some knowledge of campaign events and key personnel. More importantly, he's ready to go at the drop of a hat.

The amount of relation is up to the player, but PCs on the Tree must be within an alignment shift or 2 of the original active PC. He may be that PC's twin brother or he may just be another adventurer the party knows...and not very well at that.

EDIT - Also, are the BRP rules worth digging through for additional flavour or context? Is there anything in the BRP rules you would transfer over into the d20 system?

BRP? I don't know that abbreviation.

 

[maddman75]

BRP is Basic Role Playing. Its a simple percentile system that the non-d20 Call of Cthulhu uses. I've never used the d20 version, so its hard for me to say.

If you're talking about books I highly recommend the Malleus Monstrorum, a book fully of Mythos creatures and gods. Rather than illustrations, they use pictures from art, old pottery, weird fossils, turn of the century sideshow ads, and other things to represent what someone might see one of them as. Its my favorite monster type book for any game ever.

I've heard it argued that d20 is more defaulted to modern games and BRP is more for 20s/30s games. I personally think the supposed advantage of already knowing d20 is vastly overrated. BRP is so simple you can understand it in just a few minutes, and make characters no time flat.

 

[Aramax]

I would stick to the BRP and skip the D20 version.It just never gave me the feel that original CoC gives a player.If you want to stick to the source material CoC will give you helpless pcs that you NEED.If the pcs have any power at all you are diverting directly from the source you are trying to emulate.All fights in CoC should end baddly for the players ,so they should avoid it like Dick Chaney at Obama's birthday.

You are free to do it anyway you like,but if you really want a Lovecraftian feel-keep the pcs down and helpless-anything else is NOT HPL inspired.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

No argument that, out of the box, the original version of CoC is the better game in which to run Mythos campaigns.

However, you as a DM are better off running a game in which you have experience and confidence. Nothing ruins a campaign faster than a DM who can't handle his end of the deal.

 

[ssampier]

Delta Green is a pretty good choice for a 1949 game, I think. Depending on your interest and desire you could get your PCs involved in the leadup to the Korean war. Potential spies from USSR are always fun, too.

I own Lovecraft d20 and I have played BRP. Both are different games, I think, and neither quite capture Lovecraft. Or they both do, since the stories have different feel.

 

[Tewligan]

BRP is so simple you can understand it in just a few minutes, and make characters no time flat.

This is extremely true. Tonight I ran my first CoC game ever, for four players who had also never played it. It ran smoothly, and we had a blast. Hell, it ran more smoothly than the D&D game I've been running for the past year and a half!

 

[PaulofCthulhu]

There's a few resources over at Yog-Sothoth that may be of interest.

- Yog-Sothoth for Lovecraft & Cthulhu -

 

[MutieMoe]

I would propably tinker around with consept that there was operation similar to Operation Paperclip but with nazi occultists and fringe sciense types instead scientists.

Operation Paperclip - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Colder War is always a good read:
A Colder War - a novelette by Charles Stross