ENnie Awards - The Beautiful Agony

Being nominated for an ENnie Award is a big deal for a little publisher.  For those not familiar with the process, publishers of roleplaying game, podcasts, websites and the like can submit their products from the previous year for consideration by a panel of elected judges.  The Judges then read each publication, and debate amongst themselves which 5 of these products are sufficiently awesome to be nominated for an award (and in which category).  For a really interesting insight into the process of being an ENnie Judge, you might like to read this account on the Iron Tavern.

Once the nominees are announced the public have 10 days to vote for their favourites, with the top two products in each category being awarded a prize at the ENnie Awards Ceremony held at Gen Con.

Both of these mechanisms  are a little controversial - the selection of nominees is obviously a subjective assessment, albeit moderated somewhat by a group of people.  The voting process meanwhile is often seen as a popularity contest, with the big publishers being able to mobilise overwhelming support.

Last year EPOCH products were nominated in 4 categories (Best Rules, Best Electronic Book, Best Free Product & Product of the Year) and these nominations were both very gratifying and proved a big boost to interest in the game.

This year I was extremely pleased that War Stories, a collection of 5 scenarios set during wartime (a 155 page book or PDF with an RRP of $7.99, currently half price)  was nominated in the category of Best Adventure.  I was particularly proud when I reviewed the other 4 nominated titles:

• Eternal Lies; an epic campaign for Trail of Cthulhu  (a 400-page hardback book or a 396-page PDF with an RRP of $49.95)
• The Sense of the Sleight-of-Hand Man, A Dreamlands Campaign for Call of Cthulhu (a 294-page book or PDF with an RRP of $49.99)
• Rise of the Drow, a mega-module for Pathfinder (a book of nearly 500 pages, with an RRP of $41.99 or $99 in print)
• Razor Coast - Heart of the Razor, a collection of four adventures for Pathfinder (a 160 page book currently available for $29.99)

Some serious competition to say the least! All of these look like great products (so much so that I already own the first two).  So how does War Stories stack up? 

• The first scenario in the book is FROM ABOVE AND BELOW, by Marcus Bone.  A thrilling plunge into the darkness and the horror that lurks beneath the trenches of the Western Front during the Great War.  I had a great time playtesting this scenario, and would love to try running it in the dark with each player wearing a head-lamp that is extinguished when their character is eliminated.
• Next up is THE COLDEST WINTER by Mike Sands which thrusts the characters into the hostile climate and freezing forest in a brutal struggle for survival during the Russian invasion of Finland.  When I ran this game it had the feel of a true Russian epic which spanned the entire war experience for the surviving characters, and culminated in a suitably bleak ending.
• Then it's HOME FRONT, Andrew Millar's homage to Dad's Army where the well-meaning Home Guard of the British village of Blakely are sent to secure the wreckage of a German bomber.  Although this scenario is truly creepy, I most remember the Inglorious Basterds style shootout, which was the epic climax to the tensions between the characters. 
• Next is my scenario MASS DESTRUCTION which blends modern catastrophe with ancient evil, and which I've recently ran at Kapcon to good effect.
• Finally, Liam Jones presents BEHIND THE MASK OF EVIL which draws on his own experiences of Peace operations in the Congo and adds a supernatural twist.  I loved playing this so much I used our playtests as an example of how to structure flashbacks.

So, although these scenarios were contributed by friends,  I think they've delivered an excellent package which will provide you with hours of quality gaming.  Can we win?  No. Like many small games EPOCH simply doesn't have a fan-base which can compete in a popular vote.  But I think it's clear that just being nominated is a victory in its own right.   

Voting for the 2014 ENnie Awards is open for the next 10 days, so no matter who you vote for, spend a few minutes to participate in the Beautiful Agony that is the ENnie Awards.

Structure Your Fun

Is it necessary for RPG scenarios and adventures to have a pre-established structure?  And more importantly, how does having a structure help a GM both read and run a game?,

 

Scenarios with a compartmentalised structure are - in my opinion - much easier to read, assess, compare and then run.  When looking for a scenario to run a short notice, my preference is to skim through the pages – looking for what seem like great scenes, then backtracking to check that the detail of how the scenes link seems to be coherent and workable for my players.  Then I skip to the end and check the finale, to see if it seems suitably memorable and pitched appropriately.  Passing those tests, I then read the scenario and make notes about how I’ll run it.  When the text runs together this assessment is much harder, and I need to make many more notes in order to run the game.

When I created EPOCH I set a set structure for scenarios - this was a layout that I felt had a dual purpose, both to provide a coherent story, while providing a clear vision for how the game would unfold, and to be usable when facilitating the game - allowing GMs to access information with ease.  This structure was based entirely on my own preferences, although I assumed the utility would be apparent to all.

 

I was wrong.  When I worked with other authors, I found that few of them submitted scenarios in any form that resembled the structure I had established for EPOCH scenarios.  Indeed most were in sharp contrast the rigorous divisions I had established.  

 

But what about other games?  Here are some examples from scenario collections, selected at random from my bookshelf.

 

Example 1: Call of Cthulhu (Terrors From Beyond)

In the past I have found scenarios for Call of Cthulhu to be a leading benchmark of quality in scenario structure.  They (almost uniformly) follow a similar structure, setting out a Keeper Background (which usually serves as a background and synopsis) followed by a section on 'Involving the Investigators' or 'Investigator background' which establishes the role of the characters in the scenario. Statistics for NPCs and monsters are usually found in the back (although sometimes on the body of the text as well).  This is pretty good, but the coherence and layout of the main body of each scenario can vary greatly.

 

Example 2: Trail of Cthulhu (Out of Space)

Expands a little on the traditional CoC format by including sections titled  'Hook' (how the characters are involved) 'The Awful/Horrible Truth' basically the same as a Keeper background section, then 'The Spine' (a paragraph by paragraph summary of the scenario scenes) then some variance between scenarios but generally a section titled 'Scenes' which contains the bulk of the scenario.  I think the addition of 'The Spine' is a significant improvement on the CoC formula.

 

Example 3: The Laundry (Black Bag Jobs)

No real coherent uniformity beyond a 'Mission overview' section which is usually a page or two into the scenario text, following a discussion of background elements.  Player handouts are at the end of each scenario. Thankfully most of the paragraphs are small and easy to digest.

 

Example 4: Rogue Trader (Edge of the Abyss)

No coherent uniformity beyond an appendix containing adversary statistics at the end of the book.  Ironically scenario two in the collection systematically establishes the setting, objectives and rewards for a series of encounters the characters can have providing a small oasis of order (and I found this was one of the easiest sections to facilitate when I actually ran this game). 

 

Example 5: Paranoia XP (Crash Priority)

No coherent uniformity although most scenarios have a 'Mission overview' section somewhere close to the beginning. 

 

My conclusion: few RPGs I examined imposed a systematic and consistent structure on scenarios written for their games.  I think this makes it more difficult for GMs to rapidly assess information and use it in gameplay, and increases the variance of the experience for players.  The ability of the GM to remember, prepare or bookmark key sections becomes much more significant and it is more likely that key details of the scenario are omitted, or changed on the fly by the GM.

New and Noteworthy Horror

Over on NZRaG Luke has begun his annual ranking of the top games & products of 2013.  When I looked at my own top picks, all of them were horror.  I found that little surprising - I don't exclusively read horror games, and I feel that several other products I've purchased have been of high particularly quality (e.g. Doctor Source Books for the Doctor Who Adventure in Time and Space RPG, The Laundry and Mutants & Masterminds products).

So, what (other than EPOCH) made the top of my list?

1. Eternal Lies.  The true test of a campaign like this is actually running it, but the sheer quality, size and attention to detail evident in this product are amazing.  Then, to top it off, Pelgrane offer additional support, including a soundtrack, map, comprehensive conversion notes for Call of Cthulhu, plus NPC portraits.  Truly a masterful product.

2. World War Cthulhu: Darkest Hour.  So far I only have this in PDF, so can't comment on the quality of the physical book but this seems like an interesting take on Delta Green style gaming in WWII, and the first in a series of Cthulhu war books. I'm not sure how easily this setup would mesh with the history of WWII - history buffs often have high levels of expectation about integrating games like this into the context of such a well-known conflict, and may therefore have trouble suspending disbelief - for example if the characters fail to prevent the horror from manifesting, how does this not have a visible impact on the war?  Interestingly with the parallel release of Achutung! Cthulhu you can choose whether you prefer a pulp or purist take on Cthulhu in WWII.

3. Esoterrorists 2nd Edition a refresh of the Gumshoe system in this clever and compelling contemporary horror setting.  I love the idea of the Esoterrorists setting, albeit not wildly dissimilar to Delta Green or The Laundry.  However, some of the scenarios have been very well executed, and this is a game I'd like to run more of.  I find the basic Gumshoe combat system a little clunky, so i'd be interested to see how this edition improves on that.

Favourite Monsters of the Cthulhu Mythos

As October rolls around my thoughts turn to Halloween.  This time last year, I was publishing EPOCH, my game of survival horror, and I’ll be posting here shortly about my thoughts on being a micro-publisher and publishing games one year on.  For now, to get warmed up for Halloween, let’s look at my favourite monsters of the Cthulhu Mythos.

There are many monsters of the Cthulhu Mythos – some derived directly from the work of Lovecraft, and others drawn from other sources. Indeed the venerable Ken Hite tells us there are 38 monsters listed in the Call of Cthulhu core rulebook, and a further 98 listed in the Malleus Monstrorum.

I’ve used many of these monsters when running games, and more besides, as many Call of Cthulhu scenarios like to introduce unique monsters of their own.  However, over the years I’ve come to be fond of some, more than others.

In my view a truly great Cthulhu Mythos monster has the ability to be terrifying, (not just in terms of mechanical San loss for the investigators, but also in the way in which it is encountered) and balances this either with either a mortality that puts it on a par with an armed human, or, it can be outrun if the investigators take to their heels.  Here are my top 5 creatures of the Cthulhu Mythos:

1. Bhyakee: A great stalwart of the game, the insectoid, winged Bhyakee can be used to stalk its prey (for example see ‘A Happy Family’ in Adventures in Arkham Country),  and can be a fearsome opponent for lightly armed investigators.  Even better, Bhyakee can be summoned and bound by investigators willing to plunge into the fearful tomes of the Mythos, serving as a potential assassin, or even a means of transport.

2. Ghouls: Ghouls are great.  They lurk beneath cities and towns, and sometimes even infiltrate society.  They are not necessarily deadly, but when encountered en-masse, or in their natural environment, they can be terrifying.  In addition they have a link to the underworld of the Dreamlands, livening any expedition into a ghoul warrens.  Then, of course, there’s that potential for human fascination and even devolution (see: Pickman’s Model).

3. Insects from Shaggi: A monster which hides inside people is a terrific idea.  There are several mythos monsters that do this, but these are my favourites.  Forcing their victims to perform terrible acts, any monster which promotes trepanation must be pretty terrible.  Several scenarios have made great use of these monsters, but my favourite remains Hobo Quest by Joseph Donaghue, which features in the Cthulhu Masters 05 monograph.

4. Dimensional Shambler:  A monster which can appear anywhere, and which drags its victims into another dimension?  Fantastic!  The shambler is great for stalking investigators and is a versatile foe, which emphasises the supernatural nature of the Mythos threat.


5. Shoggoth, what’s not to like about a bubbling, acidic creature that rolls like a monstrous freight train?  Okay, they're hunting cry is a little fruity, and because of their lethality the Shoggoth is often featured at the conclusion of scenarios, and can seem overpowering to players.  However, if you can manage some foreshadowing, and construct an environment which promotes investigator options, encounters need not be fatal. Surviving an encounter with a Shoggoth is a true badge of honour for any investigator.

 

Return to the Cold

There hasn’t been a great deal of activity here in recent weeks.  Mostly this is because I’m in the middle of trying to revise EPOCH, my horror roleplaying game, and add some adventures.  Posted below is a teaser extract of the blurb and cover:

"EPOCH is the game of character-driven horror.  At its heart is the goal of delivering a genuinely scary experience in a single game session.  EPOCH delivers this by identifying, and cutting through, conventional barriers to achieving strong player engagement, placing the focus squarely on character and supporting this with a simple, yet evocative, system.

 

There will be blood…  EPOCH is a game of survival horror, and much like the movies, not all of the characters can expect to survive until the final scene.  Unlike many other games, EPOCH players have complete control over the fate of their characters.  They may know the rules of the horror genre, but who becomes a victim, and how, is different every time.

There will be drama…  EPOCH rewards interesting character play with increased chances of character survival.  Players are not just the protagonists, but also act as the audience who hold the fate of all the characters in their hands.  Using a simple, flexible, character creation method, complications and flashbacks, players shape their back story to reveal interesting new facts and surprising twists.

There will be a reckoning… EPOCH assumes a high level of character competence, streamlining skills and abilities, and placing the focus back on the characters’ story and the personal impact of the horror.  But victory is never assured, evil may prevail, and the true cost of the horror is never fully revealed until the final credits roll."

Thanks to Doug for an amazing job with the cover art.

In other game news, I finished running Lure of the Expanse with a suitably epic ending.  As with the rest of Lure, the ending has grand ambition and scope, but is not backed up with a lot of detail.  I think the campaign could easily have been 2-3 times longer and really done a great job of each of the really ambitious and fascinating elements. As it is, it feels like the outline of a truly great campaign, but ultimately fails to deliver on its promise..

This week I hope to run a one-off game of Flying Coffins for my Cthulhu group this week - I've long throught WWI aviators would make a great cthulhu adventure, and even wrote a plot outline of an adventure myself, but have yet to write it up:

Next, in time for the return of winter, it’s a journey Beyond the Mountains of Madness.  I’m using a toned down version of my pulp house rules, which allow the players a finite number of skill re-rolls.  I’ve also drawn on the Pillars of Sanity concept from Trail of Cthulhu to have the players crate several anchors for each character – unfulfilled ambitions or links to the world, which can restore a limited amount of sanity during the campaign with appropriate play.

Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu is one of my favourite RPG’s of all time. For me it hits the right balance between horror and suspense, between character focus and realism, system simplicity and enough crunch to be satisfying. But even I have to admit –the grim reputation of the game aside – the anatomy of a standard Call of Cthulhu adventure leaves much to be desired.

The adventure normally starts with a hook, often these are derivative or poorly thought out. There is an underlying assumption that the PC’s will choose to investigate a mystery despite their better judgement. Modern scenarios make better use of in media res to lever the action, but the difficulty remains - if you let players generate their own characters, how do you involve them without either railroading, or shattering player reality? Why do these characters continue to work together? There is a fine balance between the collective suspension of disbelief, and getting a viable group of characters to work together.

Next, the investigation phase. Old-School investigation games are like contrived intelligence tests. The players must ‘investigate’ following clues to get closer to the source of the mystery. If they don’t think of something, then they may miss out on a vital clue, and thus either get stalled, or be unprepared for the final scene. Often scenarios incorporate author assumptions that are flat-out unrealistic or unlikely, making further work for the GM. Options do exist in the game for the GM to prompt action, but these may well spoil the GM’s sense of reality. In addition, the ultimate result of such investigation hinges on some kind of successful skill test – a mechanical and luck driven intervention – in order to secure the information.

Obviously it’s in the GM’s interests for the PC’s to obtain the clues they need, but if such clues are made readily available, you once again risk the shared collective suspension of disbelief. Games like Trail of Cthulhu have highlighted this problem and made strong inroads on this aspect of the game, but the fact remains that making the investigation phase both challenging and rewarding without being boring or contrived requires considerable experience and skill and a high degree of flexibility on the part of the GM.

Finally, the conclusion – usually a confrontation with some action and probably some kind of strange monster. Again, the plausible ‘excuses’ the characters might have for venturing into the basement/secret chamber/old warehouse, and risking life and limb are probably thin at best. Considering the brutal nature of combat, and the imperviousness of many Mythos beasts, and the potential for losing a character to sudden temporary insanity - it’s likely to be a sticky end for some or all of the characters. If run straight, such a conclusion might be disheartening, un-empowering and feel like the work leading up to the climax was a waste of time. An experienced GM can work to make such a conclusion exciting, dangerous and meaningful, but I’ve come to realise that you’ve really got to have experienced Call of Cthulhu as a player first, in order to understand this fine balance.

And then, inevitably, the debrief – what was really going on? Why was it occurring and what could the investigators have done about it? Often frustrating, and an aspect of the game that really reinforces the old-school values of Cthulhu – the players encountered the plot, like some kind of giant, fast moving river, and were rapidly swept to the end, without really understanding what was happening or why. Sometimes these revelations are illuminating, but I always feel that they’d be so much better if they could be drawn out during the game, rather than afterwards.

I don’t want you to think I’m picking on Call of Cthulhu – many other games suffer from these kinds of issues, but what I conclude from this analysis is that most Call of Cthulhu games, if run as written, leave a lot to be desired, and have the potential to actually spoil the enjoyment of the players. To shape the adventure into the flexible and adaptive form it needs to be in order to negate such issues, requires a considerable degree of experience and skill. I guess, for my money, the problem is that this kind of consideration and discussion is not something that forms a core part of the game, and is certainly not an aspect of most published adventures.

Out Of The Box

And now for a few more words on ‘con scenarios. It used to be that it was very difficult to find the kind of published scenario that I would run at a roleplaying convention. Principally this was because of my requirements:

• The scenario must be wholly based in the ‘real’ world or play on tropes and settings that are so clearly established in film or fiction that my audience will have NO issues adjusting regardless of their prior knowledge.
• The scenario must feature pre-generated characters with enough ‘issues’ and interpersonal relationships that they can adequately fill down-time and lulls between actions. Issues must be sufficiently dramatic that characters can demonstrate their ‘roleplaying abilities’ getting to grips with them.
• The scenario must contain a mix of build-up scenes and action scenes of sufficient intensity and length that they fit within a 3 hour time constraint, regardless of player actions.
• The scenario must contain the prospect for success and failure, clearly established, in a way that can be examined and analysed by players in the wrap-up.
• The scenario must use a system which can be learnt by ANYONE in less than 5 minutes, or be able to be abridged to this level.

Nowadays I’d probably expect more from a scenario, but for the last decade or so, I struggled to find published scenarios that fit this description without significant editing. So, mostly I invented my own and borrowed elements from here and there. Sometimes I’d use a scene from a good adventure, othertimes most of the adventure, but I’d have to make the pre-generated characters, which was a whole lot of work in itself.

I generally steered way from investigation based scenarios, as these could easily lead to players not finding the clue in the available time, taking up a false lead, or ultimately, to me having to fudge providing the clues.

However, I’ve noticed in recent years that there are not just a few, but many, published scenarios, which would now meet my old criteria. Notably “My Little Sister Wants You To Suffer” from Cthulhu Britannica, which I’ve now run 7 times, and which is IMHO probably one of the best ‘con scenarios out there. There are others, like Terrors From Beyond, or the Curse of the Yellow Sign series by John Wick. In addition the Gumshoe system has now put investigation scenarios back on the table for me in this format. And there are many more…

I’m not saying that everyone should run a published scenario at a 'con; just that I’m very glad that the market now seems to be delivering works which are better suited to the sorts of ‘con games that I, for one, like to run and play in.

Mrs Peabody Investigates

Some games I have recently played -

A Restoration of Evil: A two part game that featured the aforementioned Mrs Peabody, masterfully played by Brady. Mrs Peabody is a nearly unstoppable force of nature, an elderly dilettante with a small dog, and a penchant for using her many contacts in New York society, and scolding anyone who tried to obstruct her investigations. The adventure began when my character (a third rate stage magician known as The Great Andini) and my roommate (a prohibition era bartender) decided to establish the New York Skeptics Society and placed an ad in the Times, only to find Mrs Peabody on our doorstep. Before we knew what had happened we were being whisked around New York in the back of Mrs Peabody’s large chauffer driven car (the dog rides in front), investigating a series of bizarre murders around the decaying Red Hook. Ultimately, we were surprised that the New York Skeptics Society survived (although is now considerably less skeptical) despite the loss of nearly a dozen of New York’s finest in a raid on the horror we uncovered. A grand time.

Bad Moon Rising: A two part adventure, featuring the previously described frustrating investigation phase, concluding with a climax that was equal parts epic and bizarre and surreal. My private investigator survived in body only, alas, his intellect remains trapped in the far future. The sheer degree of narrative strangeness puts this squarely amongst the most challenging Cthulhu scenario’s to GM.

Not So Quiet: A great little one-off Trail of Cthulhu playtest, run by Andrew, set in the Great War. The pre-generated characters were great, although keeping them involved in the investigation was unnecessarily hard work for the GM. My suspicions about the wickedness proved to be wrong, the real menace was far more nuanced and wrenching than anticipated. I had fun and gave as much feedback as I could.

D&D 4e: The weekly game in the ruined magical city continues with our characters having nearly reached 7th level. I have been keeping things interesting between epic fights by inappropriate use of a philter of love and trying to convey how an emotionally crippled character deals with the effects. One of the characters has been turned to stone, and we’ve had several ‘trial’ spots filled by new players. Good fun.

Confusion 8

So this Saturday past I attended Confusion 8 a relaxed one day roleplaying ‘con. For various reasons I had offered to run 2 games, which I initially had cause to regret. First, I somehow managed to get sick on Friday night; I had a fever and only managed a handful of sleep hours. Also, the weather on Saturday morning was not exactly hospitable. Just to top things off I was having a lot of trouble getting my head around Castle Bravo, and felt woefully unprepared for it.

However, I had pledged to run games and take Fright Night registrations, and was still capable of functioning, albeit with diminished capacity, so I braved the rain and headed to the ‘con for the first round where I was to run Mutants and Masterminds.

Round One – Running the Proteus Plot
This is a fairly straightforward published scenario with a neat twist. To keep things interesting I had made some additions to put a lot of focus on the characters, which are created using templates and some randomly assigned elements, then fleshed out a little using some light collaborative method. It’s a bit challenging because I really ask each player to work with me and flesh out some initial scenes, requiring some up-front engagement and creativity - A big ask first thing in the morning.

As it happened, I had the maximum load of 6 players sign up for the game, which wasn’t ideal for this style of game and in light of my diminished capacity. On the plus side they were all talented and experienced players with love for the genre. On the downside, the collaborative hero creation process was a little rocky for some, but I did find that we got a cast of really great characters who really added more interest and depth to a simple plot. The Supers created included:
- The Spirit of Justice, a billionaire body-builder with a troubled marriage
- The Crown Prince, an elderly dad with a utility belt of 1980's gadgets
- Rain, a wealthy party girl turned dark avenger with a predilection for gun violence
- Crisis, a time travelling bad-ass loner with electricity powers and a stray cat
- Edge, a psychic investigator with a crummy day job and a rocket powered skateboard
- Beast/Simon, a man and monster fused together with a helping of anger issues

It was, for me, the fun romp that I had envisaged and I think every player got some decent spotlight time, and had a measure of fun. I don’t know if it hit everyone’s buttons, as there wasn’t a huge amount of investigation, combat, relationships or grand ideas, which I know some people really dig. I was fading a little toward the end, so was not really able to push for an epic cinematic ending of the type I think supers ‘con outings deserve, but all things considered, it was a fun game for me.

Round Two – Playing Apocalypse World
I missed out on the signup having chatted to people, then trying to take more notes for Castle Bravo while I ate lunch, so I arrived in Apocalypse World by default. On the plus side Mike (the GM) was really enthusiastic about the game and setting, and there a number experienced veteran players at the table who I enjoy gaming with.

I was nominated to be the Hard Holder, which was the gang leader in a Mad Max (2) style world. Accordingly I modeled my character, Calibre, after Lord Humungus, and took a fairly brutal approach to gang management theory. Unfortunately the dice betrayed me at several crucial moments, my captive escaped, some of my bodyguards tried to kill me, my ruse to uncover traitors failed and during an epic battle my gang turned on me and handed me over to the enemy gang and I was seriously injured (okay I can actually only blame one of those on the dice).

Thus, Calibre spent the later stages of the game confined to a hospital bed, being tended and often sedated by our ‘Angel’ or medic when she disagreed with my ideas. In all fairness, the real roleplaying hammer fell on Mash’s character Spice, who was the hottest guy in our gang, and also the unlikely vehicle of our salvation from a more monstrous foe.

It was a really fun game, despite my characters incapacitation, and I must give kudos to Mike for a great setup and execution while also allowing us an effective ‘sandbox’ approach to the game. The only real downside was that one of our number played a character that was really very creepy, even by Mad Max standards and was effectively ostracized by our characters, effectively cutting him out of the main action. I felt even worse when my character executed his character at the end for a perceived assassination attempt.

Also, my Calibre voice, really tore up my throat in a way that left me concerned about whether I’d be able to last out Castle Bravo.

Round Three – Running Castle Bravo
As I have alluded to, I was concerned about making sure I understood this scenario adequately. It is written as a series of increasingly bizarre events leading to an epic crisis point. This is set against nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll during the 1950’s. It was also my first experience at running Trail of Cthulhu (although I had previously run other GUMSHOE games). I had a full house again (6 players) which again, was not really ideal for the mood and pacing of the scenario – but them’s the breaks in the big show.

It was also the last slot of the ‘con, and a late one at that. We kicked off close to 6pm and I could see many of the players were wilting fast.

Overall, it went surprisingly well from my perspective (perhaps because I had so much anxiety about the detail). I think I managed to convey the creepy and bizarre against a backdrop of ever more dire circumstances. Most of my efforts were centered around the major NPC, which worked out fairly well. Despite their tiredness the players all engaged with the elements well, and worked with me to really push things along - particular kudos to Henry one of the few unfamiliar faces at the table who engaged really well with the plot and his PC.

On the downside, because this is a ‘purist’ scenario the players are left without the real opportunity for ‘victory’ and really have to settle for a much less decisive outcome. Also some of the more important information that is imparted to the players at the beginning didn’t really come out until the end, which meant I had to push things along in a more direct way than I’d prefer. Whether or not it’s reasonable to expect the PC’s to dump this info in a single scene, as envisaged by the scenario, is perhaps more of a question. Also providing some real detail and ambiance to the setting of the aircraft carrier was something I don’t think I really executed well.

In either event we made it without anyone falling asleep, or me losing my voice entirely, so I’ll call it a win.

Be Prepared

Last night I ran the first part of the Raid on Innsmouth. It’s a scenario for which I have some fondness, having run it several times more than a decade ago, but as I geared up to run it again, I wondered just how much attention I had paid to the scenario the first time around.

It’s a neat outing. There are six objectives, each a unique scenario with a series of ‘supporting characters’ and for each objective there are three parts. You switch frequently between each objective, as the actions of the raiders in other parts may change the circumstances of current objectives.

I like the idea, and the ability for one set of characters to take actions that impact on other sets of characters. But it’s pretty hard work. To compound the problem each of the 6 objectives has 6 pre-generated characters which can be used by the players. Again it’s a nice idea in concept; a player should be able to play several different marines, a sailor, a submariner and a treasury agent, in addition to their own character who is acting as a civilian advisor. Unfortunately the book does not make this simple, by printing the character sheets and info in a way that could just be copied and distributed. Instead they put the character information into the text, omitting base skills and often lapping over pages, making any quick attempt to copy and distribute characters impossible. So, it took me many hours to prepare the 36 pre-generated characters. This necessarily ate into the time I would normally spend preparing the actual scenario.

Then the actual game itself was pretty challenging. Run as written it’s fairly mechanical for a Cthulhu scenario with a lot more gunplay than an ordinary outing, which necessarily bogs things down a bit. On top of that there are a range of special weapons and equipment, and several NPC’s I need to keep animated, while also running the combat. I also found suddenly switching to a new group of characters to be a difficult process, and not especially smooth.

Thus far we have only managed to play 1 part of 3 objectives in about 3 hours, but I am reasonably sure that things will speed up as we go on. I guess I’d conclude by saying that the Raid on Innsmouth is an unrepentantly old-school Cthulhu outing, which really puts a Keeper through the wringer if run as written.

While I’m on game-prep, I really need to spend some more time making sure I’m ready for The Proteus Plot and Castle Bravo which I’d like to run at Confusion tomorrow, assuming I can actually find enough players.

These are the Games of Our Lives - Part Two

Playing: Cthulhu

In addition to the ongoing D&D saga, I’ve been playing a little Cthulhu as well. I playtested Liam’s Cthulhu Invictus scenario “Chaos in Rome” which I understand he entered in a recent Chaosium competition. It was not what I was expecting, and despite my initial reservations about Cthulhu Invictus, it was good fun.

Regrettably for Liam, we played on the setup (an upper class Roman family at each other’s throats after the mysterious death of the patriarch) and this culminated in my spoilt momma’s boy character conspiring to poison his brother (played by Mark as a particularly nasty piece of work), then after that failed, hiring some footpads to ambush him. Both attempts were ably thwarted by Igor’s centurion. The problem was that after all that excitement, and by the time we found the lurking menace, the resulting action was necessarily truncated by time pressure, leaving several character’s suddenly dead.

I’m also playing in Liam’s run of “Bad Moon Rising” a classic Cthulhu adventure from ‘The Great Old One’s’. After a full session of abortive investigation, we have arrived at the heart of the scenario, albeit in a way which makes me question if all our attempts at investigation were really needed (and find that I agree with the GUMSHOE manifesto more and more). To Liam’s credit a lot of the older Cthulhu scenarios require considerable shoe-horning to run as intended.

Finally, I’m looking forward to playing in Andrew M’s playtest of a forthcoming Trail of Cthulhu scenario. I’ve been wanting to run Trail for ages, but find that there is more than enough regular Cthulhu I also want to run, without having to learn, and teach, a new system. Hopefully Andrew can do the heavy lifting on that account for me…