u/fireinthedust

I’m interested in getting handouts figured out for a scenario, including blank forms for things like records, newspapers, and hospital/asylum records. I’m also interested in making props, clues, and objects.

I’m hoping to start a discussion with all the fine people in this community, on how to plan good handouts, clues, and other things to give players during the research and investigation phases of a scenario.

I liked running The Haunting, and other scenarios just don’t seem to prioritize the handouts and articles aspect of the game. Much as I like the idea of scenarios like the necropolis and the lightless beacon, maybe the nerd in me wants to have fun with research and clues.

Also puzzles, codes, putting together torn letters and photos, etc.

I like action but a good mystery forming in the imagination of my players is something they can enjoy in Cthulhu rather than d&d.

So what are the secrets to writing a scenario with lots of handouts, clues, props, etc?

Novella spoilers for the end of Hellbound Heart!!!

I just finished the novella in a single sitting. Excellent read, and I will be collecting more Clive Barker books.

Kirsty gets the puzzle box from the Engineer, ponders what to do now, then the story ends.

HOWEVER: do we ever learn anything about Kirsty in the next books? Does she get mentioned or make appearances, or is the story considered complete and in a sense she’s left alone? Like how Lovecraft’s characters don’t typically show up in his other stories.

I know there’s lots of non-Clive Barker content, including apparently some comics where they have her as a coenobite, maybe as an alternate universe story, but for this question I’m only considering as canon the books by Clive Barker… and maybe the upcoming video game which looks excellent enough to be considered canon-worthy, tbh.

I know there’s a supernatural detective who was played by Scott Bakula, and I saw he’s in a new book where he meets Pinhead/the hell priest. Looking forward to reading these stories.

Just a thought experiment, but I’m thinking about how to make a pulp Cthulhu game set in Gotham. 1shot adventures did add options for something like this in some of their scenarios, but not yet a full scenario where this was the focus, so far as I’m aware.

Batman the animated series and the new Batman Caped Crusader series have a vibe where the characters are mortal heroes at about the same level as the characters in Pulp Cthulhu. Batman takes on mobsters and is often portrayed as being in danger when fighting a bruiser henchman who hits him with a chair or something and knocks him off a balcony.

I’m wondering if pulp Cthulhu can make characters like this work, and what other characters could join them in the party, without going too far into “rubber muscles”. I would avoid attempting iron man using weird science, for example, because it would change the vibe from the 20s and 30s too much.

Batman and Robin would be relatively easy, with some allowed gadgets like smoke bombs for their belts. Mystics are likewise possible using the Mythos magic options.

Is there a reasonable way of creating rules for more out there characters, like a deep one hybrid Aquaman, or monstrous forms for someone like a werewolf, or aliens, or Etrigan? The rocketeer would be weird science. Superman seems too far, unfortunately.

I ran my first game of Call of Cthulhu today, The Haunting from the QuickStart PDF. I’ve run other games for years, but The Haunting has been on my bucket list of RPG experiences.

I had one player who ran two characters, the professor and the private investigator. Lots of research first, and rolled well so lots of information. Found the cultists and the book.

At the house the dice turned against them, and I was so excited when they went upstairs and I got to use the Bed Attack after hearing about it for years. The professor went out the window but survived without serious injuries.
I treated the rats as being all over the house, and I made blood dripping from the ceiling, replaced the wine in the kitchen with blood so the character who drank it was drinking blooooood. It was great.

The party got to the basement and discovered the dagger, which rolled well enough to kill the professor while the detective escaped, having lost serious sanity points.

I had fun.

I’m going to run a SWN game at a store on Sunday, and I’m trying to figure out what to run.

I want to run it in my “off brand Star Wars” setting. It’s got a bad guys empire and some good guys standing up to them, etc. I was thinking about reworking an old d6 Star Wars adventure, but maybe I’m overthinking it?

It’s just a one shot game with some very new players, so I don’t have time for anything complicated in terms of what we’re going to be able to accomplish.

What works best for a SWN one shot?

For the setting: yes, I have a solution for lightsabers: I Homebrew’d a Jedi partial class a while back, and I was told by people here how to make it not broken, essentially, thanks for that. It’s inspired by the space monks with laser swords by Kevin, but different.

I just completed my first play through with the Professor on the first try!

I ended up saving the world in Egypt, which I considered being too early so I kept going and did the pyramid, and I succeeded; and then I wasn’t sure what to do so I assumed he’d go to the Antarctic next, so I went to Bremen and for reasons I don’t understand got in a bar fight and stole a briefcase for some reason from people who I’m assuming are the Nazis (brown shirts); and then ran to the ship, and saved the world again by chucking the thing overboard; then kept going again and took plane C, and then chased the guy to the place, picked the correct way to go, and used the amulet to summon byakees so I could run away.

In terms of what I would say is my actual legitimate play through I only counted the first win, although it wasn’t satisfying ending it with the museum; but I let myself go back and try the other ways to see how I would do, and had fun. The pyramid was the highlight.

I still don’t know if the message in the pyramid was enough to know to keep going. I chucked my dynamite and left and then figured I was supposed to keep going because it didn’t say it was the end.

The combats are where I had close calls, and the pyramid jumps and climbing.

I spent as much time in libraries as I could to get information and make good choices. Spot hidden and firearms are solid skill choices, and persuade & stealth. Climb and jump of course.

No option for a proper 10ft pole in a choose your own adventure book!!!

I can see how having a party of investigators is important, given how characters have different strengths and weaknesses.

I’m trying to figure out how to justify buying the Innsmouth book, when I already want the Arkham book as the main base for the group’s investigations, and I figured why not use the opportunity to brainstorm uses for Innsmouth as a location.

My experience is the story (Shadow over Innsmouth), the Call of Cthulhu video game from years ago; the more recent Call of Cthulhu game on Xbox (which is on an island but is still very Innsmouth themed); and the movie Dagon, (which was good, then one scene which was gruesome but dragged on uncomfortably long, then the movie got good again and had a solid ending).

The point is: Innsmouth is horrible! The fish people are numerous, slime is on everything, and there’s a terrible fish smell!!!

Why would anyone stay longer than they needed?

Namely: Is Innsmouth a good choice for a sandbox game, the way Arkham is? Does it have whatever resources needed for a longer campaign, like studying tomes, recovering sanity, healing injuries, doing research, etc?

Or is going there basically triggering an adventure scenario?

Is the Esoteric Order of Dagon not overwhelming yet at the time of the 7e Innsmouth book? Are there other factions in the region, slowing down the EOD enough so the players can use all the contents of the book before whatever cult scheme comes out?

OR is the book useful as a secondary location where the players from Arkham can go on short trips, like for a final confrontation or following the cult back to their base?

And also: is the book Cults of Cthulhu going to overlap with the content in the Innsmouth book?

I’m looking forward to getting the new Arkham book, but I noticed the focus in the promotional material seems to be on the town of Arkham rather than Miskatonic university itself.

What are some good resources for a game where there’s a university, or other places where there’s lots of academic and also occult activity?

I saw the older edition Miskatonic book but it looked like it was from the modern (or at least the 80s-90s version of modern) day rather than the classic or gaslight eras which I would probably be using.

I have lots of questions for my SWN game for my kids, which I have asked for help in the past.

1. what is the expected damage dice for blasters and for lightsabers? Most SWN weapons do 1dx damage but they aren’t energy weapons. Star Wars d20 and SWSE use 2dx damage. SWN doesn’t have lightsabers, but I want to know what the general ballpark is for a lightsaber for when I homebrew it.

2. are there books with alien species foci? I have wwn, I’m just curious about what options are out there. We have a space Ewok (not a Jawa, and takes offence at being called one bc), so I’m thinking size small for one thing.

I’m going to run Star Wars for my kids this weekend, using SWN instead of the WEG d6 game we used previously. My kids have experienced OSE, so this will be closer to what they already know.

I have the Space Monks with Laser Swords for Jedi, but my kids apparently don’t want to be Jedi, they want to play Mandalorians with Beskar.

What are some Star Wars in SWN tips in general, and how to run Beskar in particular?

EDIT: to be clear, my kids are relatively young. 9 and 11, and an 8yo cousin. Simple options would be a big help.

I’m thinking just giving her something like plate armour, and adding gear, or maybe raising her AC with every piece of beskar added?

I have wanted to play a mage in a group of other supernatural characters for a long time, but the experienced players have said crossover games are a mess for various reasons.

Assuming the group has players who are interested in helping their storytellers not burn out, would it be better to simply the setting of a crossover game, or even simply what rules options exist at all?

Are there elements of the original and the chronicles settings that are a better fit for a crossover, rather than keeping the setting to one or another?