New Coc GM seek a little help...

[Yig]

Hello all,

I will soon start a d20 CoC campaign. I'm thinking of doing something that is more like Delta Green (set in modern time) than the normal (1920-30) CoC.

I figured that it's easier to replace chracters that get insane/killed when everyone work from the same organisation. It also get a bit easier for me to create the adventures.

I should have about 6 players. We all been gaming together for years and our DM From Forever tm want to play something instead of being behind the screen for once. Gotta give the poor guy a break

What I would need help with is with how to create the right mood for this. Even if I want to do something with a lot of action in it, I don't want it to turn into a dungeon crawl with Things With Tantacles instead of orcs and gobos....

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated on how to start this mess

Important note: I don't consider myself a good GM. I tried it in the past and wasn't satisfied with the results. This campaign is a personnal test for me

Thanks for the help.
Y

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Are you willing to spend a little money?

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/nocd20.html

As for mood- you start off with as normal of scenarios as possible:

The PC's go camping.

Then you start to add weird things that get weirder as they come:

campers at a nearby campground are found dead- little details, but unnamed cop mentions nature did a lot of damage to the bodies in one night

fishing dies up in the area

pc's find a dead bear- being eaten by spiders from the inside

Give them a hint of what is causing it:

a recently built dam opened up some long sealed caverns, releasing a dangerous spider species

If necessary, then you may need to supply a way to defeat the threat.

As the pc's investigate and they begin to figure things out, you explode into horror-like scenario's:

Pc's cabin is overrun by an army of small poisonous spiders

Let the players run/fight their way to victory/defeat. Preferably the former options.

FD

 

[Olive]

have youa ctually seen the d20 version? i was thinking of buying it, but want to read some reviews first...

 

[Yig]

Thanks

Thanks Furn, that's a great idea. Sorry for the time it took me to reply

I will develop this idea and post again with something more concrete, if you don't mind giving me some pointers again.

Olive, I do own the d20 version. It's a very good book. Full color etc... A lot prettier than the French 4 ed book I have at home

Yig

 

[snak]

Couple of resources worth mentioning, you will need to do the conversions, but for a begining GM that may help familiarize you with rules and npc capability.

1. Nightmares of mine-by Kenneth Hite. A generic break down of horror elements. A quick reading 158 pages. Very useful for understanding the narrative mechanics and psychology behind 'horror.'

2. Unknown Armies 2nd ed by Greg Stolze and John Tynes. The GM section is one of the best in providing practical advice on running games.

3. Anything Delta Green- John Tynes and Scott Glancy- Deep, uber Machiavellian plot devices. Provides a good clearing house of material as well as why a group of various investigative types might get together.

4. Alternity Darkmatter setting and related modules. Can be picked up mostly cheap.

5. Fantasy Flight Games, Nocturnum setting. Several great adventures. As a campaign it skirts dangerously close to either railroading players to desired outcome or providing tenuous clues. You can by the old school versions relatively cheap. My main reservations are the D20 conversion has missed some stats and everybody uses 1911 colt .45 pistols.

Finally basic words of advise. Try to avoid speaking in game mechanic terms. "It looks like the beasty has only three hit points left." "You see the Shoggoth slorping up the hallway." Have your pcs met a Shoggoth before?"

Roll dice randomly so as to trip up meta gaming tendancies.

Leave some of the description to the imagination.

What the pcs smell, hear, and touch can be more disturbing than what they see.

I try to avoid value laden descriptors. "You see the most horrific mass of beastie." "You see a mound of compost. Several glistening tendrils begin snaking out of the pile towards you. You begin to hear a low growl and the scent of rotten eggs fill the air. What do you do?"

Prepare your scenario, but I guarantee the players will at some point take a course of action that throws you. When this happen this can either be frustrating or mega entertainment as you have to act/improvise on the fly. Pretend this is a rip tide. Go with the current a while until you get to a place where to can guide the players back to the plotline shore. By understanding the base motivations of your npcs and the general plot outline you can keep rolling with it.

I'm not an expert, but these are some of the books and ideas that have helped me.

Have fun.

 

[Yig]

Thanks for the tips snak.

Small update:

I gathered my friend last Sunday to generate their characters. I must say I'm quite pleased with what they came up with.

One of them decided to make a wealthy archaeologist. Another one his (the archa) bodyguard. Then you have the computer guy/techie. Last player took a long time to decide. She went over all the professions template, actually checked her dictionary and finally settled on a parapsychologist.

So out of the blue I got an archaeologist team on my hands. At least I got a good motive to send them to long forgotten ruins

Things are starting to look good. Should be able to start in maybe 2 weeks max.

Another small thing: does anyone know a website that sell guns ? There are only generic prices for the guns in the CoC book and I'd like some accurate prices.

Thanks.

 

[Zenon]

You might be able to get an idea of pricing here:

http://www.gunbroker.com

Or search a 400 gun database here (with pricing):

http://www.areguns.com

 

[Yig]

Thanks Zenon, this is waht i was looking for.

 

[ced1106]

An archaeologist team might very well be suited for the "Masks of Nyarlathotep" campaign. It's still in BRP CoC, but you should be able to convert the NPCs and critters to d20. MoN has MANY scenes, and may seem overwhelming, so just concentrate on one part at a time. Chaosium consistently puts out very good adventures, so also browse at your FLGS.

I also suggest starting with the 1920s, with no access to weaponry more powerful than a shotgun, and no spells. Modern technology gives PCs a feeling of security, making it more difficult to terrify them. Since you have an archaeology team, character death can be handled by obsessed university professors, bored socialites, and expendable graduate students.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^