Sandbox Miskatonic University (Advice and Suggestions)

flashbackjuice · Post by **flashbackjuice** » Fri May 09, 2014 7:05 am

Hey UndeadDomain!

Based on what you have said, I think you definitely "get" CoC, and you sound like a great keeper. Unfortunately your players just weren't ready for the horrors of Cthulhu, and I'm sorry that they reacted the way they did.

If you're looking for players, it might be an idea to pull in other friends who like horror movies, novels, and games besides RPG players and convert them! The BRP system is easy to understand, and I think the horror-lovers will appreciate your ideas and games more than your Pathfinder friends.

Good luck, and hope to hear more of your keeper exploits in the future!

Dr. Gerard · Post by **Dr. Gerard** » Fri May 09, 2014 4:32 pm

If I may buttinski here, it does sound like you gave it your best shot and some players will just not be convinced.

As flashback juice said, sometimes you just have to focus on stocking the pond with the right fish. It's hard to imagine how you could have been any clearer about expectations.

As far as easing new players into the right mood, I've had some luck with a couple of tricks. A big objection I have heard from heroic-mode players is that they don't want to just feel like victims who can't make any meaning ful choices. I think that's kind of fair. Its pretty tough when they only see combat as a meaningful choice, however.

One way to draw out more interesting choices is to find out what the PCs want, and what cost they're willing to pay for it. This foreshadows sacrifices that are meaningful, and helps deflect a feeling of simply being a victim that bad stuff happens to. I have found that asking questions about that sort of thing helps players imagine the interior life of their character, and gives you some strings to pull on if needed. Trail of Cthulhu has a mechanic called Drives that helps push players into thinking about their motivations, and sets up why they would be willing to keep risking certain doom.

Another related thing is to get the players to contribute to the horror in some way. I ask them to help describe what happens when they lose sanity -- treating it like a prize, a moment in the role playing spotlight. If they lose control via temporary insanity, try partially describing what happens in general terms, and asking questions to pull more details out of them. "He's frozen to the ground and repeating one phrase over and over. What is he saying?" That's a creative and fun choice, even though the mechanic has stripped them of other choices in the scene. Even when they make their San check, I like to ask a player to describe what lie they are telling themselves to hold it together.

Likewise, treat death scenes like a moment to shine. Describing last words, last actions or the final grizzly slow-motion shot of their character's death in their personal biopic -- those moments can help players understand the fun of horror gaming and telling tragic stories.

Also, for players who are new to non-heroic play, it helps to take a moment to honor the loss of those characters. Even veteran Cthulhu players get attached to good chatacters. Talk about what their death will mean in the game world, who will be crushed and who will secretly be glad. Hoist a beer in their honor later. At their best, horror games turn death into a key part of the fun.

Davemagus · Post by **Davemagus** » Sat May 10, 2014 11:05 pm

Some folks just don't want to explore paradigms other than "murder hobos breaking and entering, stealing stuff, and being feted by the populace" that are such hallmarks of other RPGs. And that's OK. Anyone willing to introduce new approaches and ideas to the group should be commended (as you should be) for bravery and trying to help expand others' horizons. Good on you!

The anger the players expressed is likely a result of the discomfort they felt by being stretched. At least you now have a better idea of what their boundaries and expectations are and, when you feel like an all-out "power over" game, you'll know the perfect group.

Dave

UndeadDomain · Post by **UndeadDomain** » Mon May 12, 2014 8:19 pm

Thanks flashbackjuice and davemagus, I definitely learned a lot from this. I was hoping they would play and want to explore more of what's out there from d20. Not that there is something wrong with d20, there is just so much out there in our hobby that can be overlooked, ya know.

Dr Gerard, thanks for the ideas, the death scene thing is definitely something I never considered, even in my WoD days. I can see how that would deepen the experience and make feel more significant. Drives sounds interesting, I got to look that up because lack of drive is something that was missing from a couple of characters.

I really do dislike that mentality of combat being the only meaningful choice. Everything you do has consequences, good or bad.

I decided to jump back to the community of WoD and going to run some one shots for Call of Cthulhu (though the group is WoD based, they promote other systems for experimentations.). I'll run these to pick the few that attach well to the play style and then invite them to try out the Miskatonic Campaign. The first one shot Ill do is the Edge of Darkness campaign in the core book. I read thru it and it seems to be my style for a taste of CoC. Ill do The Haunting too but I like Edge better.

Thanks again for the advice.

(btw I will definitely change the grade system to the one Jon mentioned. The one is the Miskatonic book is too "crunchy")

UndeadDomain · Post by **UndeadDomain** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 5:02 am

I am happy to report that I ran my one shot successfully. I even got two new players of Call Of Cthulhu and now they're hooked. I ran the game on Friday June 13th and used the scenario"The Haunting". It was a blast. They kept getting brutalized leaving to go to the hospital just to come back and get chased out again. Used all the tricks, bed out window, rat swarm in basement and flying dagger. When they finally fought Corbitt they were determined. Two when temporarily nuts and the final guy lit him on fire but they won out. I felt so much better after that game. Like a second wind. So I'll keeping running one shots to weed out my favorite players and then I'll start up the Miskatonic Campaign. Thanks again for the past advice. Just thought you should all have a update.

Shannon Mac · Post by **Shannon Mac** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 10:04 am

Glad to hear it.

Keeper Jon · Post by **Keeper Jon** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 2:47 am

That's awesome. Well done, sir.

KeeperMurph · Post by **KeeperMurph** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 3:14 am

Good job man!

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Dr. Gerard · Post by **Dr. Gerard** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:54 am

Yes, great to hear a success story! And happy the "death spotlight" worked for you. Keep us posted on the campaign.

fox01313 · Post by **fox01313** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:13 am

As others have put it, always good to hear of a fun run through CoC, would recommend too if you want to do some traveling, the Secrets of San Fransisco is a decent book with some good ideas in it that might be good for your NE setting on some scenarios, they seem easy to relocate. Good luck on the next installment.