Miskatonic University Campus

I've very curious to know which "twisty" scenario Chad was talking about. I really enjoy scenarios that are not what they seem, mostly because I think my players are so jaded about the typical CoC scenario ("oh yea, it's Mi-Go with lightning guns again") that I find the most effective ones are not what the players expect.

I couple of years ago I ran a scenario that has a pretty significant twist that my players really enjoyed; to the extent that several of them wanted to play it again, playing as NPCs for a couple of our friends who hadn't played it yet. The scenario:
The Burning Stars - by David Conyers. .

I don't have a spoiler tagger on my phone, but the scenario I was dancing around rhymes with Spockside Spogs. Lots of people have played it and there are tons of APs online. It's a brilliant mind bender, in my opinion.

Loved the episode. Twists have to be done carefully. I agree to the general item of if it is a major deal, leave the bread crumbs, but don't be too obvious with them. The best example I have for a major twist that went over really well, but completely shocked everyone was in a Malifaux RPG that I ran. It was all house rules and such, but based in the universe set up by the guys over at Wyrd-Miniatures. One player gave me full control of his backstory by giving himself Amnesia, he had set up what he remembered but that was about it.

He also made his character soulless. The setting in general is very dark steam punk/macabre victorian, gaslight games could draw some influences from the universe. So there were a lot of bread crumbs that I dropped with a few returning memories in the form of dream sequences, and strange statements with some of the NPCs and then there was a very long conversation with another soulless being that keeps returning from the dead. After that conversation the character was determined to find the truth.

With these memories and such, he had found his old home when he lived before, then he found his own buried body. He then found out that he was a nightmare. A formation of evil energy and was not what he thought he was at all. That big reveal was at the end of the short campaign and afterwards he gave me props for the story and was not expecting such a dark turn of events. It disturbed him a bit and actually had a few dreams associated with the game.

Knowing the players, getting in the minds of the players as well as the characters and just shaping the story slowly and carefully, you can do some amazing stuff with it.

One thing with the tomes I'd suggest is going with the more profitable donjon site mentioned previously on the MU podcast as it has a ton of tomes for someone to pick up & while they tend to be less lethal than the more famous mythos tomes, they'd be good to bulk up on your skills.

Also thanks to the audio plays on the site, especially the MAPs The Inheritor, that has some great moments in gaming from the screaming mad bomber now asking for cats & random things possibly blowing up & thanks to the end, a child asking for mommy will also be cemented in my mind thanks to this audio game.

edit-thanks for passing along Ghosts of Reignsborough Horror Actual Play, that was quite horror filled fun & with it being a super hero game, the story was done quite well to fit with that genre. Kinda fits with MUP44 but not going to say how, though the sandboxing is interesting but can skip to the episodes to be able to figure it out. For some reason though the 2nd part of the scenario isn't on the linked page but if you look at the ghosts tab on the right it should pull up all of them.

Glad you are enjoying The Inheritor. We had a lot of fun with that.

On the subject of South African Mythos adventures. The July 2012 issue of the Fortean Times (Issue 289) had an article on something called the Night Walker by a film maker called Richard Stanley. His 1992 film Dust Devil was based on Night Walker lore and looks like it has possibilities for adaption.

IMDB: Dust Devil

Big Picture Magazine: Dust Devil Review

I just listened to the the first sandboxing episode of Ghosts of Reignsborough, based on Dan's comments. While their particular approach is definitely more informed by the superhero genre, I think a similar exercise could be used quite profitably in Call of Cthulhu -- or any other RPG for that matter. It might very well streamline a lot of the inter-party disconnectedness that results from the players creating their characters in isolation from one another, and in the process create a lot more investigator backstory for the Keeper to work with. Of course you have to have a group that is willing to talk about character concepts for a couple of solid hours before actually getting to the adventure, but I imagine it would pay off in some pretty high quality role playing.

When I finally work up the courage to run an original scenario, I'm going to suggest a similar brainstorming session.

Yet another quality MUP episode -- keep 'em coming!

Scriven

Another great show lads.

The second scenario I ever played in quite a while back was one of my most memorable CoC sessions.It was raining and windy outside in real life and the Keeper asked for the window to be left open for atmosphere.
Our characters were trapped in a snowbound resort lodge,during the night werewolf's smashed through the windows in the rooms our Investigators were staying in as well as a lot of other creepy stuff besides.I was seriously shook up after that session.

By and far my most memorable moments have been my Skype sessions online with my mates from across the seas.......

Nvision wrote:

Dr. Gerard wrote:The extent of my celebration is usually to watch a handful of old Christmas specials like(...)Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas...

Whoa...there's a name I've not heard in a while! I remember we used to watch this in elementary school at our Christmas assembly, though I don't think I've seen it since. Time for some Google-Fu! I'd second the request for a Christmas-themed episode of the podcast.

Loved this show! If you find the original HBO version, let me know where. They released it on DVD a few years ago but a number of scenes were cut out.

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Great episode! I loved the discussion on twists. One thing I think you mentioned (but am not sure so I'll mention it) is that many twists you can only use once with a group. And you have to use them sparingly. Use them too often and your players will start looking for them and they become less memorable.

As for my most memorable CoC scenario...too many to choose from, but this comes to mind. One of the first games I ever played in we were stranded on a beach somewhere and had captured a "frog man" of some type (I think - its been a LONG time). My characters was a navy sailor and attempted to knock it out. Well, I rolled a little too well and ended up braining it. Oops.

trevlix wrote:If you find the original HBO version, let me know where. They released it on DVD a few years ago but a number of scenes were cut out.

I have a copy of the recent DVD release -- didn't realize it had been cut! Bastards! Any idea what was left out?