What do I do with all this? (Ryan Dancey: D20 Call of Cthulhu)

[Aaron L]

Delta Green is a great excuse for "why would my character do this?" It even talks about that as one of the inspirations for DG in the main sourcebook, a reason why a group of people would go out investigating these things time after time, risking their lives.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Dangit.

Arron beat me to the Delta Green post.

 

[Wicht]

d20 CofC had an excellent GameMastering chapter, but the sample adventures weren't so hot. The first one in the movie theatre was awful and silly. The sleep disorder clinic one was decent but ultimately forgettable (the FROM BEYOND movie was much better). There were no haunted houses, inbred mutant families with dark secrets, or any appearance (not even a cameo or dream sequence) from any of the more familiar deities or creatures of the Mythos.

You don't want to introduce first level CoC characters to many of the bigger mythos characters at the outset. And the adventures in the d20 CoC book are very similar in nature and power (scope) as the introductary adventures in the Chaosium book. That said, personally I kinda liked the theatre one (which features an Avatar of Yoggie - a familiar diety). And the sleep clinic adventure features Terrors from Beyond. I am not sure why you think they do not feature familiar creatures or dieties of the mythos. The Chaosium adventures in my book feature 1) a new minor monster from outside, 2) An undead sorceror and 3) zombies. They have even less mythos creatures therefore than the d20 adventures.

Oh and I couldn't stand the From Beyond movie - so taste obviously vary.

Originally posted by Kaptain_Kantrip
Also, it sucked that they left out stats for Y'Golonac and Star Spawn of Cthulhu, yet they make sure and include the ridiculous gnoph'keh.

I gotta agree leaving out the star spawn is a major oversight (or something) and they have a brief mention of Y'Golonac and even his picture so its curious they left out the stats. Basically Y'Golonac shows up first (I think) in a story called Cold Print. Basically whenever anyone (evil) reads anypart of the Revelations of Glaaki, Y'Golonac manifests and offers them a choice. They can serve him or be destroyed. His servants he possesses and can transform any of them into his image, a headless monster with mouthed hands. He is most interested in sexual perversions and other gluttunous addictions.

 

[Walter_J]

Powers and Powers is the best example I can think of, although I'm sure there are several others in the attic. P&P had great character generation, awesome combat and magic--it all seemed SO cool, but beyond playing through a few sample fights, no one in my group could think of what to do with it and we tried on and off for years.

 

[mmadsen]

Delta Green is a great excuse for "why would my character do this?" It even talks about that as one of the inspirations for DG in the main sourcebook, a reason why a group of people would go out investigating these things time after time, risking their lives.

Absolutely, a Delta Green campaign setting explains why a party of adventurers might voluntarily confront unholy terrors. What a game like CoC needs is either an excuse for proactive characters (Delta Green) or a good explanation of how and why the unholy terrors are coming to our heroes.

That second option can be difficult to pull off without the beloved cliche, "You're on a camping trip in the woods when..."

 

[mmadsen]

What a game like CoC needs is either an excuse for proactive characters (Delta Green) or a good explanation of how and why the unholy terrors are coming to our heroes. That second option can be difficult to pull off without the beloved cliche, "You're on a camping trip in the woods when..."

Does anyone have any advice on running horror adventures? How do you get the heroes to volunteer for near-certain death?

 

[Wicht]

Does anyone have any advice on running horror adventures? How do you get the heroes to volunteer for near-certain death?

1. Curiosity (it kills more than cats you know)

2. A false sense of ability (make them believe they can make a difference)

 

[mmadsen]

1. Curiosity (it kills more than cats you know)

Right, but meta-gaming players who know they're in a horror game (and still fear character death) don't want to go in the haunted house, and true roleplayers honestly playing as themselves (or other normal people) will say, "I don't want to go in there; it's creepy!"

2. A false sense of ability (make them believe they can make a difference)

This I like.

Another complication: why don't they call in the police? It's odd enough when four adventurers crawl into the Goblin King's realm without getting men-at-arms to bolster their strength. It really strains credibility in a modern setting to not dial "911".

 

[hellbender]

Another complication: why don't they call in the police? It's odd enough when four adventurers crawl into the Goblin King's realm without getting men-at-arms to bolster their strength. It really strains credibility in a modern setting to not dial "911".

There are a few reasons for the police not being involved:

1) They think the PC's are looney.
2) They have no resources to help out in busy precincts.
3) They are involved. (this lends itself to running from more than just the monsters)


hellbender

 

[333 Dave]

You don't want to call the police when you know the chief is a member of the cult your trying to stop.