Call of Cthulhu - "The Sanatorium"

One of the first "Call of Cthulhu" scenarios I ran was "The Sanatorium"  from the compilation book "Mansions of Madness". In it's own way, it was the most important scenario I've run in terms of how it enhanced my GM style and built my confidence.

The scenario is about a private sanatorium on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts.The resident doctor is experimenting with hypnosis, still highly controversial in the 1920's setting.He invites a player character out so he can share his findings.Of course, it's not so straightforward.

One of the patients has been communicating with a creature from space while in deep hypnosis. The creature comes to the island and needs energy (in the form of human sacrifices) to free itself and return home. It can also possess the minds of humans. When the game starts, a male nurse has been possessed and has already started the sacrifices. The first victims are the hospital staff, and it's real fun when the players realize that the people welcoming them into the hospital are the patients!

One of the great things about this scenario is that all the characters encountered by the players at this point are patients, and hopelessly insane. The game becomes a challenge in that the players don't know who to trust, what information is real or imagined, all while being stalked by the crazed nurse. The real villain of the piece is so truly alien that they really won't figure it all out.

For me as a GM, this presented numerous challenges. The first was playing ten support characters.I had to keep track of them all and play them convincingly. All of the characters had important histories so it was a real test to make them come across as distinct people and interact with the players. The second challenge was the sheer size of the group...I had nine players! I'd never had a group that size before. The third challenge was the that group broke into three smaller parties, each exploring different parts of the ideal. So in all, a lot of moving parts where involved. That being said, the setting is a sandbox with borders....the players can't get off the island.

The important lesson that I learned was that I found it easier to run the game with multiple groups, timelines and threads. That was a surprise for me and it's certainly not the preference of every GM. I enjoyed that approach so much that I now encourage my Cthulhu groups to split up in most sessions, something that worked to great effect in the "Delta Green" game especially. It's a great scenario, especially if you enjoy confusing your players!

Delta Green Pt 1 - "Convergence"

Yesterday was the first session of "Delta Green" that I've ran.It's a "Call of Cthulhu" spin-off set in the 1990's and has the characters as agents in a pan-Government conspiracy. The game was created to tackle three common issues that players and GMs regularly run into when running "Cthulhu".

The first is having a reason for involving the characters in the scenario initially.The second is for having an reason for those same characters to continue investigating dangerous paranormal cases. The third is how to make it easy to introduce new player characters into an ongoing campaign given the high character turnover often associated with "Cthulhu" games.Making the players part of an organization gives answers to all three.

I chose one of the original published scenarios,"Convergence", as it gave a solid and potentially lethal taste of the new setting.It had an old Mythos baddie,Greys, Men In Black, alien viruses,UFOs,cattle mutilation and body alteration.The players in the group were all experienced in "CoC" and role-playing in general so I didn't see the need to ease them into things.

The player characters were a CIA Agent, FBI Agent, former FBI Psychologist,CDC Scientist,DEA Scientist and an Author specializing in the paranormal.Without going into plot details (I don't want to spoil it,being a published scenario), the group split up in their investigation,with most of the group heading to a small town in Tennessee to track the mystery behind a murder case. Two other characters went to a compound and did scientific research that would have huge impact on the outcome of the game.Again, without giving too much away,this resulted in helicopters being sent into the town overnight,to spray the town with several chemical agents to determine if a virus was present.

Of course, there were plenty of plot twists and the conspiratorial nature of "Delta Green" had characters sending mixed messages and sabotaging each other...paranoia levels were high. One character died at the hands of another, and some characters fled the country when they understood the extent of the threat they were dealing with.

All in all, it was a great session. It was a complex, dangerous scenario that flowed smoothly with great role-playing from the great.I wouldn't recommend this setting for GMs who don't have "Call of Cthulhu" experience, but it's a fantastic alternative setting to try...highly recommended!

Call of Cthulhu - "The Condemned"

This week I'm reminiscing about my favorite "Call of Cthulhu" scenario, "The Condemned". It's been published several times, I found it in the supplement "H.P. Lovecraft's Arkham".

"The Condemned" was the fourth published scenario that I chose to run.The first three were "Edge Of Darkness","The Crack'd and Crook'd Manse" and "The Sanatorium".It was the most complex in terms of plot and also the first that ran across two sessions.

What makes the story special is the villain,"Sermon Bishop". Bishop is a wizard from 17th Century New England, a truly foul character who makes a deal with "The Treader of Dust".The deal grants him immortality in exchange for his soul and the cost of a deformed neck.Bishop is captured and imprisoned by seven locals who entombed him in the support structure of a stone bridge.Fast forward two hundred years and a lightning strike to the bridge releases him.He stumbles upon two college students camping by the river and uses magic to perform a body swap with one of them.He kills the other student and buries him with his own seventy year old body,which is now "home" to the mind of the other student.

The players enter the story having been asked to track down the missing student as his colleague, now possessed by Bishop, has wandered into town claiming amnesia.The players interview the student and notice he has an odd accent (it's Bishops).There is another thread to the story of course.Now that Bishop is free,he scours the local libraries to trace the descendants of those who had imprisoned him centuries earlier.Once his list of the seven is compiled,he goes on a rampage killing each in different ways.

I finished the first session by hitting the players from three angles.First,they find the body of the student and also Bishops body.Interviewing "Bishop", they figure out the body swap.Second, the possessed student breaks out of hospital and starts the revenge killings.Third,they put the pieces together and get hold of his hitlist of victims.To add a bit of urgency, I handed over the list which I'd altered from the one in the published scenario...I replaced two of the victims names with two of the player characters! A great way to wrap up a session with the players knowing that the villain is coming after them.

The second session was much more aggressively played with the players decided to take the fight to Bishop. This resulted in an underground showdown in which "The Treader of Dust" himself is summoned.One of the players took the chance to do a deal himself with the Treader,thus cancelling Bishops deal! Bishop was swiftly dealt with,and we had the unusual situation going forward of a character being immortal.There is much more to the game that I've skimmed,but it's a special scenario that has all the elements you'd hope to see in a "Cthulhu" game...a deadly villain,complex mystery and a lethal old book.I highly recommend it.

Dungeon World - Playing The First Session

Yesterday I played in the initial session of a "Dungeon World" campaign run by Michael Bay. It takes the concepts and settings of D&D and applies the "Apocalypse World" rules engine to them. This game had a big turnout of eight players.

The first hour or so was spent choosing our characters.I'd given some thought to this prior to play and had planned to play a "Warlock", essentially a Faustian character who has sold their soul in exchange for eternal youth, immunity to disease and aging etc. They also have a summoned assistant, a supernatural creature that does their work for them.I saw immense potential in this as the "Apocalypse World" engine shines when players manipulate each other.I had a very clear idea of how I'd play with or against the other players,but struggled with how I'd play the actual adventures.

I settled on a more direct concept, a Cleric of Hades.He's a very lawful character with strict boundaries and views the world as a simple split between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead.Hades' domain is the dead, and my mans job is to make sure the undead and other beings don't cross the line into the domain of the living.The catch is that he must make a daily offering to Hades!

The group now consisted of my Cleric,a Templar,a Wizard (+Tony Reyes),a Shaman,a Druid,a Bard,a Ranger and an Artificer.We then went round the table several times and established "bonds"..something you don't see in D&D.This is an opportunity to make a connection with another character and helps you gain experience.For example,I chose the Wizard as the character who I'm seeking to convert to the path of Hades,the Shaman was someone I vowed to protect, the Bard was someone I trusted whereas the Druid was someone I mistrusted, being a person who valued life over death.This simple mechanic adds a whole new dimension to the role-playing dynamic within the group.

Onto the game itself...the classic dungeon crawl in which we were heavily outnumbered on a quest to find magical treasure.This game is lethal,with my Cleric and the Templar both facing an early death.When characters die an event called "last dying breath" takes place.Dice are rolled and it's possible for the characters to escape final death with a price..which we both did.We were both more cautious after that.

The session took several unusual turns,ending with some exploration of portals and other dimensions.Of course,the party had split up at this point..I have no idea how it'll play out next month.It's a great game and a fun spin on the oldest RPG concept of them all.Looking forward to next month at Gigabites.

Roll Call - Characters I Have Played

This week I want to take the time to do something I've never done before.A retrospective of the characters I have been as a player, a "roll call".Maybe some themes will emerge.I apologize now for the lack of character names,as I honestly don't remember them all! Expect a similar future post about my favorite NPCs as a GM.

First up,and we'll disregard the ranger I played as a child,was a straightforward,no-nonsense "Fighter" in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. He had exceptional strength and absolutely no brains.The weapon of choice was a ranseur, a pole-arm weapon, and I had spectacularly good luck with my rolls, consistently killing everything in one move.

Next,after a long absence from gaming,was a werewolf in "Werewolf:The Apocalypse".He was of the Fianna tribe,the Irish wolves.I really struggled with the animal side and aggression in playing a werebeast.To offset this I made the character more of a rogue.Still,I felt I was playing to the human side of the character and trying to play around his wolf side.

Sticking with World of Darkness games, my third character was in "Mage:The Ascension". In this game you choose one of nine traditions, which are really schools of magic. I went with the "Verbena",which is a representation of Wicca and Druidry.I loved the game and the character was extremely easy to play, probably in part because of my familiarity with occultism outside of gameplay.It was a tough call choosing though,I was very tempted by "Cult of Ecstasy", the hedonistic tradition that plays with time.

The next character was in "Cyberpunk 2020".This time I went with a "Fixer", essentially a rogue who had cybernetic implants in his vocal chords.That gave the ability to perfectly mimic any other voice. It was a real buzz to play someone who was very much in the frontline of our missions, who was relying on wits and charm in a very dangerous world. Great roleplaying experience can be had with those kinds of characters and I think it's often neglected in favor of combat roles.

Crossing the Atlantic, my first character was an "Alchemist" in "Pathfinder". I thought through a really good story along Jekyll & Hyde lines, only to find that in actual gameplay my only function was to throw chemical grenades at monsters. Majorly disappointing and this is when I stepped away from being a player for a while, focusing instead on running games.

Not to be deterred for long, I joined a campaign in "Warhammer:Fantasy Roleplaying". My character was "Witch Hunter" by the name of Edwin Luther. I loved that character and played him as ruthless,violent zealot. It's such an easy concept but takes discipline to play, along with a willingness to stick to a path that can be detrimental to the party as whole.I ended the campaign early with my scorched Earth approach, but it was true to the character.

Last and by no means least was my character in "Apocalypse World".I was the "Hardholder", the guy who runs the town in which the group plays.I picked a name, Barnum, and thinking of the circus master I decided that the town would be a circus.Barnum was a thug with a hopeless vision of running his family circus in a world falling apart.Apocalypse World is not easy to play and the Hardholder is tough in particular as you have to make big decisions. Barnum gradually lost his town, his mind and finally his life through the decisions he made.He's easily the best character I've played.

"My Life With Master" - Review of gameplay

Yesterday I ran a one-shot of the role-playing game "My Life With Master", a game of villainy, self-loathing and unrequited love. I ran it in a five hour session with three players at Gigabites Cafe, Marietta GA...my regular RPG haunt.

The game is heavy on collaboration and narrative, so the first part of the session is spent creating "Master". There are a few concepts given, all based in gothic horror. There are "breeders", such as Victor Frankenstein, "Feeders" like Count Dracula, "Collectors" like PT Barnum, and "Teachers" like the Marquis De Sade. This was a really fun exercise, lots of ideas thrown back and forth, and we settled on a "feeder" master. In this case, he was an aristocrat who had contracted a disfiguring disease in the village brothel. He needs to consume the flesh of prostitutes in the hopes of curing the disease, so he will be welcomed back into the aristocracy that has shunned him.

The players are Masters "minions"...the monsters who provide his needs. We had Franz, the killer who kidnaps and dispatches the prostitutes. Otto, the scientist and cook, who desperately tries to find a cure for Master. Finally there was Lurch, a giant who plays music to accompany Masters dining.

In actual gameplay, I put the heat on the players by making them take more risks and get more bodies. The villagers were consequently more alert. Also, a crucial part of the game is for the minions to make loving connections with the villagers...this is the only hope they have of building up enough self-esteem to resist Master. What worked really well with this group was that they targeted the same people for their affections, so rivalries emerged.

After a several rounds of gameplay, Master sent them on a mission to kidnap a virgin. The target was a barmaid, the object of Franz and Otto's love. They manage to kidnap her but are pursued by the village mob. This set up the end game scenario, in which Franz stood up to Master. They fight each other, with Master beating Franz to a pulp....only to be interrupted by the angry mob, who slay Master with their pitchforks. This game system has built in "conditions" for what happens to the players at the end of the game, based on the scores they have. In this case, they all escaped the blame and became part of the townsfolk.

We loved this game. It was very easy to run and they really took to the concept. A healthy dose of dark humor is absolutely required for this one though...we had that to spare! I would run it again but perhaps over three sessions. I can see how you could easily spend an entire session just creating Master and the minions. Very different and highly recommended, even as a one-shot.

Games Planned For 2013

This week I want to give you an idea of what's lined up for 2013. I'll be running and playing ongoing games same as the last few years, and will also look to throw in some one-shots and demos of other games.With the blog being updated on sundays, a change you'll see starting next week is that I'll be posting about the game I'd played or ran the previous day. On non-gaming weeks the posts will be like those I've already done.

2013 will see my regular monthly "Call of Cthulhu" games continue, but with a major change. The setting this year won't be the classic 1920's era, instead I'm using the "Delta Green" campaign setting. "Delta Green" is set in the 1990's against a backdrop of government conspiracies (think of "The X-Files"). Player characters work for government agencies such as the FBI and CDC, but are secretly battling against the Cthulhu Mythos. It's a very popular setting and was primarily created to give players an ongoing reason to be in multiple investigations. I'm hoping that it will also suit my monthly meetup format,so if I have newcomers,one-timers and the occasional "no-show", the structure will make sense of it.The first session is next month and I have a large group signed up already.

The other ongoing game is "Dungeon World". Michael Bay is running the game, I'll be playing either a Warlock, Bard or Shaman. It uses the "Apocalypse World" engine but adapts it to a typical "Dungeons & Dragons" setting,so I'm very excited to see how this plays out.

Beyond that..the one-shots! First up is a game I'm running this coming saturday. It's called "My Life With Master" and is an extremely dark game. The style is very cinematic, like the 1930's Universal horror movies, the backdrop is an unnamed east European village in the early 1800's. I take on the role of "Master", a pure villain from gothic horror traditions. The players play the minions (think Igor or the brides of Dracula) who do Master's dirty work. All of the characters, including "Master", will be created together as a group on the day, and then we play the game as a series of scenes. The goal,ultimately, is for one of the minions to rise up against the tyranny and overcome "Master". To do this,the characters must build loving connections with the townsfolk....the same townsfolk that Master has them terrorizing! One thing that's distinctly different about this game is that it has inbuilt endgame conditions, depending on the statistics each player has at the end.

I also plan to revisit my favorite game, "Unknown Armies". I love the system and will do two one-shots...another run of "Jailbreak" and a different scenario. If I generate enough interest in this then an ongoing campaign is a strong possibility. I'd love to do it and I'm sure there is a fanbase out there for it.

Other one-shots will probably come in the form of "Changeling: The Lost", "Promethean: The Created", "Geist: The Sin-Eaters", "Mummy: The Cursed" and "Vampire: The Masquerade". These are all very good games and I don't see anyone else offering them. I also toyed with the idea of doing "Nephilim", as I do like the game and have a strong handle on the system. I have a feeling that "Mummy: The Cursed" will be very similar however, and more playable. If you're in the area and are interested in any of these, let me know!

Next weeks post will be a review of the "My Life With Master" gaming session.