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<blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 3582469" data-attributes="member: 40177">I think you should also read Heroes of Horror, if you haven't already.&nbsp; It has a lot of advice for this sort of campaign.I ran a game that was sort of a mixture of 3.0 D&amp;D, d20 Call of Cthulu, and the X-Files.&nbsp; The PCs were all members of a church order that investigated paranormal events - even though church doctrine specifically stated that all &quot;aberrations&quot; were destroyed one hundred years earlier with the sacrifice of The Two (gods who took part in the war against the old ones).&nbsp; The game was similar to what you had, with a sense of pessimism that pervaded the whole setting - even their own churchly backers wanted to see them fail (they had to figiht against church &quot;spin doctors&quot;).&nbsp; Conspiracies were everywhere, and the game was quite paranoid in scope. Ultimately, though, the game eventually sizzled, for some of the same reasons that have been described here - namely, there was just too much of it.&nbsp; The group didn't get their happy endings, and problems just kept piling up until it was decided to play something a bit more cheerful... post-apocalyptic, actually.&nbsp; So, yeah, give 'em a clear victory once or twice.&nbsp; But even those encounters can be dark and whatnot, to fit the setting you're building up - Zombie fights, or haunted houses.&nbsp; Hell, you can even have people shepherding children - so long as the PCs rescue said children by the end, it's good.&nbsp; because if you throw things like goblins at the PCs (in what has otherwise been a horror game) you're just derailing your own campaign.&nbsp; I guess I'm just saying Keep the horror theme, but every now and then, drop the moral ambiguities and go for a &quot;we saved the world with no badsides&quot; ending. Also, I like how you're following the plot organically.&nbsp; It's always fun to do, and it's exactly what you should be doing in an RPG.&nbsp; I wish more GMs would do it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wik, post: 3582469, member: 40177"] I think you should also read [i]Heroes of Horror[/i], if you haven't already. It has a lot of advice for this sort of campaign. I ran a game that was sort of a mixture of 3.0 D&D, d20 Call of Cthulu, and the X-Files. The PCs were all members of a church order that investigated paranormal events - even though church doctrine specifically stated that all "aberrations" were destroyed one hundred years earlier with the sacrifice of The Two (gods who took part in the war against the old ones). The game was similar to what you had, with a sense of pessimism that pervaded the whole setting - even their own churchly backers wanted to see them fail (they had to figiht against church "spin doctors"). Conspiracies were everywhere, and the game was quite paranoid in scope. Ultimately, though, the game eventually sizzled, for some of the same reasons that have been described here - namely, there was just too much of it. The group didn't get their happy endings, and problems just kept piling up until it was decided to play something a bit more cheerful... post-apocalyptic, actually. So, yeah, give 'em a clear victory once or twice. But even those encounters can be dark and whatnot, to fit the setting you're building up - Zombie fights, or haunted houses. Hell, you can even have people shepherding children - so long as the PCs rescue said children by the end, it's good. because if you throw things like goblins at the PCs (in what has otherwise been a horror game) you're just derailing your own campaign. I guess I'm just saying Keep the horror theme, but every now and then, drop the moral ambiguities and go for a "we saved the world with no badsides" ending. Also, I like how you're following the plot organically. It's always fun to do, and it's exactly what you should be doing in an RPG. I wish more GMs would do it. [/QUOTE]

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