Writing A Call of Cthulhu Scenario

So, this evening I find myself wading through a variety of notes and information to compose the next chapter in my groups Call of Cthulhu campaign. It occurs to me that Call of Cthulhu is an odd bird in regards to adventure writing.

For a lot of other games the adventures are a lot more strait forward. "Travel from Point A to Point B, Fight Monster at Point B, Bring Monster's Head to Point C, Return to Point A for after party". That's a rather simple way to look at it, but it does represent the structure of a lot of games like Dungeon and Dragons. Anything that's really driven by the action tends to be easier to write. I mean, Stats and scene desciptions are easy to generate when they don't offer any real plot impact.

Now, Call of Cthulhu is different in that it's more investigation driven rather than action driven. What does that mean? Well, more or less, every little NPCs and scrap of information to be found counts. Simply walking past an NPC or avoiding a location can drastically alter the information the players gather. In a game where good information is essential to survival, this can be disastrous.

Take for example our first casualty: George Franklin.

George had the unfortunate experience of being overtaken by a Shan, one of those terrible insect of Shaggai. For several years the Shan lay dormant in George's mind after it was subdued with shock therapy until an encounter with The Yellow Sign and the subsequent stress re-awakened the creature. This Shan took the form of an alternate personality, performing night time misdeeds and using George to secretly collect arcane information that would allow it to return to it's world. The clues to all this lay with George's ex-wife in Boston and her new husband, once George's friend and fellow investigator...

Except the party never went to Boston and never discovered the information that would have lead them to believe George had something boggling around his brain stem. Instead they took some initiative and skipped past that bit and went strait on to other George's bit plot. A failled amazing fist/punch rolls later and it looked like ol' George was about to kill the entire party in order to open a portal to the Shan home world! Luckily for the party, and unlucky for George, and swift kick to the ribs ended those plan as well and that character's life.

Since then I feel like my players have done a great job of really getting into the investigative part of the game. They've taken their time, followed all the leads, and it's led them to more decisive victories against the mythos. The plots aren't being laid out in front of them to go through the motions, but the more they play the clearer the threats of the mythos become. Dangerous indeed, but a lot of fun.

The next adventure takes place in New York City, where the investigators have followed their fellow Rex in the hoped of saving him from the ever tempting power of the Mythos. SO, on top of re-familiarizing myself with 1920's NYC, writing up histories, personalities, and stats for Rex's extended family, as well as deciding the general plot points this adventure will follow, I'll have to write up all the information that the players will be able to discover through research, investigation, and putting sole to pavement. Even if they choose to overlook or ignore it.

Another reason I love this game, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Miniatures and Call of Cthulhu

There's a lot of debate on wether miniature help or harm a Role Playing Game, particularly one like Call of Cthulhu. For the most part the game is simple. The system tends to blend into the background; often times a player might only have to roll dice a handful of times through a session. Some sessions don't have any dice rolling at all!

So, why do I find myself busting out the Battle-Mat and the paper chits whenever combat arises?

Well, there a few reasons. First and foremost, combat in Call of Cthulhu is deadly. VERY deadly. So deadly that I want to give my players a good sense of what is going on when they bullets start to fly. So, instead of simply describing a Deep One crouching in a dark corner of the room, I can give the players an idea of where they are and the layout of the room. No surprises means a "fair" fight.

To a lesser extent it gives players a sense of self in a fight. The power of a cool looking mini can spark the imagination. However, while I do enjoy painting miniatures for wargaming purposes, I don't find myself with a lot of time or money to buy and paint a slew of cultists and beasties for my weekly Call of Cthulhu game.

So, for my games I like to play things fast a loose, much like the BRP rules themselves. Instead of miniatures I use Fiery Dragon counters, specifically their "Eldritch and Occult Investigators" Counter Pack. It was published back in 2003, but it's still available from several gaming stores online. The counters look great and are the perfect size (1" squares) for the second part of the equation, which is the battle mat. The mat I use is a Chessex hexed battle mat I picked up very cheaply (accidental pilfered) several years ago at a local convention. The hexes allow for players to very simply count their movement; one hex, which we've decided is about a yard, for each point of MOV a person or beastie has.

While I've listed the pros that using minis in my campaign, there have been some cons. Foremost is the time it takes away from RPing. Often times I don't have maps pre-drawn, which takes some maneuvering between players to draw the situation. It also takes a few seconds to get everyones chits out and on the map, figure out where they are in the scene, etc. While this may only take a minuet or two, it could really kill a moment of surprise. When a group of NPCs draw guns and start firing it's shocking, but not so shocking when your Keeper then takes a minuet to draw the warehouse, bust out the Cultist counters, get everyones DEX rankings, and then continue the scene.

In the end I think I've reached a good balance in my campaign. The miniatures have certainly helped more than they've hindered, and the players have never spend more than a few minuets each session focused on the table when they should be focused on the Role Playing.

A New Horror

Well, it's finally happened. After two years of bowing and scraping, I've finally gotten together a group to play through a Call of Cthulhu campaign!

Of course, some Mi-Go brain surgeons stepped in and lent me a hand "correcting" some of the more resistant players, but we do what we must...

So what does this mean for the poor, neglected BLOG? Well, for starters, I'll have something to BLOG about. Starting this weekend, and with random updates along the way, I'll be bringing you updates on the campaign, character profiles, pictures of the group in play, reviews on source books and gaming material, plus anything else that deems itself Lovecraftian enough to catch my attention.

New Character: Terrance "Terry" Davidson

Name: Terrance "Terry" Davidson
Occupation: Police Detective
Sex: Male
Age: 34

Characteristics:
STR 13 DEX 12 INT 15 IDEA 75%
CON 13 APP 9 POW 14 LUCK 70%
SIZ 13 SAN 70 EDU 17 Know 85
99-Cthulhu Mythos: 99
Damage Bonus: +1D4

Magic Points: 14
Hit Points: 13

Skills:
Bargain: 30%
Credit Rating: 45%
Dodge: 24%
Drive Auto: 30%
Fast Talk: 60%
Handgun: 60%
Hide: 30%
Law: 45%
Listen: 60%
Other Language: Spanish: 41%
Own Language: English: 85%
Persuade: 35%
Psychology: 45%
Shotgun: 50%
Sneak: 30%
Spot Hidden: 80%
Track: 20%

Weapons: Handgun, Shotgun

Call of Cthulhu
13 Questions.
1. What is the character’s name?
Terrence "Terry" Davidson.

2. Describe your characters physical traits, race, and typical dress.
Terrence is an African American man with rough facial features. He’s six feet tall and in excellent physical condition. He dresses in a plain grey suit while on the job. He isn’t very fashion conscious, but keeps himself neat and clean shaven at all times.

3. What is your character’s occupation?
Homicide Detective with the NYPD

4. Describe the character’s educational background / career successes and failures to date.
Terrence was educated in the NYC public school system in Brooklyn, NY. Following in his father’s footsteps he enrolled in the academy out of high school and began working his way through the ranks.
Early in his career in homicide he worked on a case involving a rash or serial murders targeting members of New York’s academic circle. Nearly a dozen Professors, Doctors, and Scietists where discovered dead with the same signature stab wounds and mutilated eyes. However, the murders stopped before any real leads where established and remains a cold case to this day.

5. Describe your characters childhood. (What state, country, etc.)
Terrence was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. His father, Michael Davidson, raised Terry as a single father after Terry’s mother Grace died of cancer when he was only five. Times where tough when Terry was younger; his father trying to move up in the force and Terry dealing with the local gangs at school.
A run in with the law landed a young Terry in jail, until his father bailed him out. That night changed his life. Michael brought Terry to the one place he thought would help his young son, his late wife’s grave. He laid it all on the line, talked about everything. His life, his work, and their relationship. When they left that night Terry had a new respect for his father and a new outlook on life.

6. Describe characters family and loved ones.
Terrence is a married man with a young daughter. His wife, Chauna, teaches High School English. Chauna and Terry met on the 5 train about ten years ago; Chauna calls it their line. His daughter, Amanda / "Mandy", is a very healthy and happy nine year old girl currently obsessed with Hanna Montana and the Jonas Brothers.
Terrence’s father, Michael, moved out of the city and upstate when he retired and Terry moved out. He currently spends his time golfing and meeting up with the local "older men’s club".

7. What is your character’s faith / life philosophy. Does he believe in god?
While raised Catholic Terrence has never been a faithful man. When asked if he believes in God or Jesus his response is "Never met the guy, but he sounds like a nice fellow." When he was younger he looked into other religions, including Islam and African Tribalism, but nothing really clicked.

8. Describe your characters’s current living conditions.
Terry and Chauna maintain a small two bedroom in Park Slope. The rent is a little high but it offers a lot of opportunity for their daughter.

9. Describe the character’s diseases, scars, or "issues". (Drug habits, cancer, etc.)
Terrence has various scars on his body from fights and accidents in his youth and career. Of notability is a scar on his lower right scar; the remnant of a appendicitis operation.

10. What does you character find unsettling, frightening, etc.
Terry is a very protective person, so his family coming to harm frightens him the most. He also feels uncomfortable when a situation is taken out of his hands.

11. Any close friends, notable contacts, or enemies?
Terry works with a partner, Eliza Montoya, She’s a bit more emotional in her work that Terry in and has a lot to prove. However, they’ve been working together for three years now and Terry trusts her with his life.

12. What is your characters morality?
Terrence is an optimist believes in the innate goodness of humanity, regardless of the horrible things he’s seen. At the same time, he believes the law to be the ultimate expression of the people’s will to maintain the strength of society. In that regard he also believes most criminals are misguided or, at worst, sick.

13. In short, describe your character’s personality. Any nervous ticks, flaws, strengths that seem noteworthy. (Ex. Jim can’t use public restrooms because he thinks they are filthy, other than that he is a confident guy and very outspoken, never afraid to talk up the Yankees...even in a Boston pub during baseball season.)
Terry is a man driven to protect and provide. He’s warm hearted but can be stern and single minded as well. He’s willing to put himself on the line for other people, and some times this has caused him more grief that happiness. He seems tireless at times, but that’s because he hides the weight of his responsibilities well.

End of an Investigator.

Last week was the last session of the excellent Delta Green campaign run we've been playing in. Along the way we faced terrible creatures from across time and space, tangled with men of power trying to force their will upon mankind, and ultimatly confronted a villian three campaigns in the making.

Along the way I had the pleasure of playing two characters.

The first was Agent Jonah.

He died.

Thats about all I can say about him; I didn't get to know him very well.

The second was Agent Jones. Now, here was a character I'll remember. Agent Jones worked for the F.B.I. as a special agent in Las Vegas and dealt with all sorts of weirdness and rough invidiuals before he joined up with Delta Green. It all made him a little rough around the edges, a quality that I got a chance to play to the hilt. Over the course of the campaign Jones lost over five times his total hit points (13) in damage. When it was all said and done he had been shot, beaten, thrown out a window, fell through a hole in space/time, and wandered the street of Boston beaten and bruised before finally being hit by a motercycle.

Still, through all of this, he saw it through. After the last adventure he took the opportunity to get out of Delta Green and the F.B.I.. Moving to Los Angeles he started work as a private eye, still keen to the mythos corruption slinking around him. He's certainly still playable with a Sanity score on the plus side of fifty percent and a few exceptionally high skills gained during the run of the campain. Perhaps he can be used as a DG friendly one day in a future game.

Here's hoping.

Our Second Character

Name: Alfred "Al" Stevenson
Occupation: Journalist
College, Degrees: NYU, BA in Journalism
Birthplace: Hoboken, NJ
Mental Disorders: None...yet. (Aggressive Disbeliever)
Sex: Male
Age: 32

STR: 12 DEX: 10 INT: 14 IDEA: 70%
CON: 12 APP: 10 POW: 13 LUCK: 65%
SIZ: 13 SAN: 65 EDU: 17 KNOW: 85%
99-Cthulhu Mythos: 99
Damage Bonus: +1D4

Magic Points: 13
Hit Points: 13

Skills:
Dodge: 20%
Drive Auto: 50%
Fast Talk: 85%
Handgun: 40%
Hide: 40%
Library Use: 70%
Listen: 45%
Occult: 35%
Own Language: English: 85%
Persuade: 50%
Photography: 80%
Psychology: 50%
Sneak: 50%
Spot Hidden: 70%

Weapons:
.32 auto

Our First Character - Lily Calloway

Investigator Name: Lily Calloway
Occupation: Business Owner (Antique Dealer)
Birthplace: Los Angeles
Sex: Female
Age: 28

Characteristics
STR: 10 Dex: 12 INT: 14 IDEA: 70%
CON: 10 APP: 14 POW: 15 LUCK: 75%
SIZ: 10 SAN: 15 EDU: 16 KNOW: 80%

MP: 15
HP: 10

Skills
Accounting: 40%
Antiques: 75%
Archaeology: 20%
Bargain: 65%
Credit Rating: 25%
Dodge: 24%
Drive Auto: 50%
Fast Talk: 65%
Handgun: 40%
History: 70%
Library Use: 50%
Listen: 45%
Navigate: 25%
Occult: 46%
Own Language: English: 80%
Spot Hidden: 55%