Trail Of Cthulhu - Preparing a New Campaign

This weekend will be the beginning of a new campaign that I've written, using the "Trail of Cthulhu" system. I'm excited about this as it's the first time I'll have run "Trail" with my usual group, I have some new faces at the table, and the setting is also new.

This campaign will be in the "Bookhounds of London" setting, in the 1930's. I'm using what has now become my standard approach for campaigns. I run six sessions, once a month. The first is all about character creation and setting things up. The following five sessions are actual investigations, presented as standalone stories that have an overall story arc. This keeps the game open and accessible for people who join later on, or for players who miss a game here and there. Sometimes I get the first story going in session one, depending on how long character creation takes. I think the eagerness to play can mean rushing through this process,and it's something I want to change this time. I will also encourage the group to create a few extra characters which I'll have as NPCs, available to become player characters for newcomers or replacements to existing characters.

The stories I've prepared are loose threads. I have things like twists and the big reveal already in place, but the rest of the structure is very open so the players can take the story where they want it to go. I will also be trying a gimmick of allowing the players to choose which threads to follow, in such a way that they will be deciding the order in which the stories are played. I'm looking forward to seeing how this unfolds and how the story order will impact on the flow of the campaign.

Another aspect that's new this time is that I have certain situations or setpieces that I want to put in to really make each story a different experience, rather than just a "monster of the week" approach. I've done this a little with "Delta Green" and it's very rewarding to see the players really think through a situation with unique challenges.

Each story will feature a book. It may be a Mythos tome, or something less sinister. The goal in one story might be the aquisition of the book, in another it could be to sell one. It could even be a case of keeping a book out of the hands of a rival. Again,these are all angles I'm looking to explore.

I'll be posted summaries of the sessions in the coming months. I hope they play out well and they give you some ideas to throw into your own campaign, if you enjoy the same psychological horror that I do!