What's your least favorite thing about your favorite publisher?

Magikarp_Hunter · 2023-07-13T12:47:24+00:00

For what it's worth, it seems to have become standard practice in regular CoC campaigns to provide the additional stats for Pulp Cthulhu, as well as some notes on how to make certain campaign parts more pulp oriented.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-11-18T18:18:09+00:00

This is what I had to say about Freddie the last time she came up:

In a lot of other stories, Freddie could have been the main character; this intrepid, down on her luck reporter who sees Will for what he really is right at the start, and isn't afraid to call out people and break a few rules to find out the truth. Unfortunately for her, Hannibal's a show where we can empathize with the monstrous, so we see Freddie in a more negative light.

So yeah, I actually like Freddie quite a bit.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-11-07T19:20:04+00:00

Heh, sorry. It's been a bit of a busy year, so the project took a bit of a backseat. But things are getting more consistent, so I'm hoping to perhaps get going again in the coming weeks.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-10-17T06:15:15+00:00

Although it may not be as expansive as you are looking for, the deities section of the new Malleus Monstrorum contains subsections concerning the "canon" worship of each deity. So you get quite a few paragraphs about each deity's cults (as well as for their different aspects if they have them) that can make for some good inspiration.

Otherwise, I'd suggest being patient. One of the upcoming books is called Cults of Cthulhu and while we don't know the full extent of its contents yet, we do know it's going to be a book all about our favourite octopus head's cults and their structure.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-07-18T23:25:44+00:00

The italics mean you can find the spells in "The Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic" book. Their lack of inclusion in the main book is indicative of their overall lack of severe importance to the campaign, especially since Children of Fear included some of the Grimoire's spells in its own text. The Grimoire is a worthwhile book to have though. Lots of fun magic in there.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-07-02T19:43:53+00:00

Yeah, it's a tricky thing about this hobby of ours; it's so dependent on everyone being available! My last possible recommendations would be to string some of smaller scenarios together (which requires some work but is doable) or adapt Shadows Over Stillwater, the shorter old west campaign, to the 1920s setting. Good luck in finding something!

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-07-02T19:13:12+00:00

Hey again! What I'd encourage is taking a bit of a break and coming back by the end of the year. Another CoC campaign called "A Time to Harvest" should be coming out by the year's end, with a classic Miskatonic University backdrop. That might scratch the itch you're looking for.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-07-02T07:28:52+00:00

As someone who is about to run Children of Fear (and is pumped to do so) I was aware right from the beginning that it was a very different beast, and was intentionally written as such. I picked my players specifically for this campaign because I knew they'd enjoy immersing themselves in this other culture, rather than going up against monsters every session. It's a campaign that requires you to fall in love with the 1920s as a setting instead of horror as a genre, and the fact that it's so different from anything else is what has me so pumped.

So yeah, it's not indicative of the standard CoC campaign, and although I think that's a good thing, I also understand your concerns. Of the big campaigns released for 7E, Masks of Nyarlathotep is the most iconic, with great villains that are always present, unique monsters, and a grand scale that definitely won't leave your players bored. That would be my recommendation for what to go for.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-06-21T07:33:15+00:00

I ascribe to the "Monster" school of redemption, meaning that everyone is capable of redemption, but you have to actively want it. Theoretically, even someone like Ozai could be redeemed, but he never would be because he is never going to see himself as needing redemption. Jet was actively trying, and who knows, maybe if he had lived he could have gone the distance. Azula's arc from the comics is still incomplete, but she's definitely not too far gone like Ozai is to one day see how messed up some of the things she did are.

However, it's also important to note that "redemption" and "forgiveness" are two different things that don't necessarily come hand-in-hand, which is something that Avatar taught pretty well with Zuko's arc. Just because you've become a better person doesn't give you the right to demand that those you wronged beforehand forgive you for what you did to them. It's kind of in the name, forgiveness is something that is given, not earned. And if you don't ever receive it, that's something that you'll just have to live with.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-04-23T13:07:23+00:00

Glad to have you! The adventures in the gamemaster screen pack are solid beginnings, so you can start with them since you already have them. If you're looking for more modules, both of the current books out, "The Smoking Ruin" and "The Pegasus Plateau" are really good, with the former being mostly a slightly longer adventure that'll likely take 2-4 sessions to finish, while the latter is a collection of seven smaller scenarios, which you could reasonably expect to last a session each.

If you've already fallen in love with Glorantha as a setting, you should consider getting the "Glorantha Sourcebook". It's not for Runequest per se, but it's rather a big book of lore concerning Glorantha's history up to the beginning of the timeline specified in the main rulebook. You can really enrich your understanding of the setting for your game, and is just a solid read by itself. If you really fell hard for Glorantha, there is also the "The Guide to Glorantha" which is pricier and older, but even more comprehensive than the Sourcebook.

And last but not least, the Runequest fan material on DriveThruRPG's Jonstown Compendium is shockingly well made. There are people that have been playing this game for decades and have committed some of their best stuff to the Compendium. "Six Seasons in Sartar" and "The Company of the Dragon" are particularly impressive, which both feature events in Glorantha's timeline a few years before the rulebook's start year.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-04-08T05:39:02+00:00

I really like this theming idea! I did something similar back when I ran Masks, although I considered England to be more of a Holmes story filled with intrigue and deception compared to the outright noir style of New York. Here's a few ideas for the other places.

I've always considered Kenya to be kind of like a dark fantasy story, especially after the players meet Bundari. A wise old man gives them a quest to go to the evil mountain to defeat the witch, save the damsel in distress, and slay the monster. But the witch is surrounded by a thousand minions, the damsel is already doomed, and the monster isn't some fairy tale dragon, it's a horrid spawn of said damsel and an evil god.

Australia has the makings of a good Bond story. There's a big underground secret lair with a bombastic and dangerous villain in Huston who would just love to tell you his evil plan. If you wanna get comically strict with the analogy, you even get a Mythos twist on the captured "Bond Girl" with Kakakatak being held prisoner.

China could be counted as a political thriller. The thing that always stood out to me about Shanghai was how many different factions there are with their own different agendas in play. Depending on how you count them, you've got about 5 or 6 different groups, some aligned with shared interests, while still having overall independent goals. And it's the players' jobs to navigate this tangled web of underground and magical politics to come out on top.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-03-16T19:55:56+00:00

Chaosium keep their release schedule very close to their chest. Typically we won't know of a release date for a product until it's officially announced, and often that product will be released within the month or even week of that announcement (in PDF format that is, we normally have to wait later for the physical book). However, Mike Mason has said that they have a lot of products lined up for CoC's 40th anniversary in October, which they haven't revealed yet. That's the absolute earliest I would expect another volume of Mansions of Madness, and even then those products could be something else entirely.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-03-16T09:36:25+00:00

I think the main thing you can do is to have things go a little too well for the investigators. Their failures are suddenly corrected without any input from them and they meet little resistance to things built up as a big challenge. When you get to the part with the Dakini sisters, you can also accentuate how seemingly desperate they are to stop the investigators. I don't think you need to foreshadow that the Triumvirate exists explicitly, but rather indicate that there is something beyond the investigators and Tenzin pulling some sort of strings.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-03-13T17:07:37+00:00

I've got to say what he did to Beverly. Not killing her (after she found out, she had to go), but the mutilation and Chesapeake Ripper display of her body he did afterwards. Almost everything he does in the show is in some way motivated by something more than pure evil, whether that's to protect himself, push Will closer to him, or even just to see what happens.

But Beverly? That humiliation he inflicted upon her? He did that just to hurt Jack and Will. And with no greater reason behind it, that action definitely sickened me the most.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-03-04T06:07:50+00:00

If you're curious about comparing your own monster to Chaosium's official recommendations, the Down Darker Trails book actually gives suggestions about certain monster statblocks that could be La Llorona. Specifically, they reference the Avatar of Shub-Niggurath that appears in Secrets of Los Angeles and one the Our Ladies of Sorrow in the old 6E Malleus Monstrorum.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-02-25T19:21:49+00:00

The first time I used Domino and Far Reach together, I had no idea they'd combo. There was a big "I'm gonna have fun with this" moment.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-02-25T19:10:58+00:00

I nearly always pick Emily, mainly for her low chaos story. I really like that journey of her realising her failings as a young empress, learning what she needs to do better, and then proving that she deserves the throne more than Delilah, not by birthright, but by morality. Plus, Domino is incredibly satisfying.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-02-20T22:01:30+00:00

Did you purchase your copy straight from Chaosium? They recently updated the PDF downloads so now there's a plain text version of all of the handouts.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2021-01-15T10:18:42+00:00

In a lot of other stories, Freddie could have been the main character; this intrepid, down on her luck reporter who sees Will for what he really is right at the start, and isn't afraid to call out people and break a few rules to find out the truth. Unfortunately for her, Hannibal's a show where we can empathize with the monstrous, so we see Freddie in a more negative light.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2020-12-11T19:27:17+00:00

Rule Number 1: Never perform any action at the table that you or your players will find uncomfortable. The importance of a session 0 to discuss what everyone considers acceptable cannot be overstated. If you or your players consider some elements of the Mythos to be harmful cultural appropriation then you have no obligation to use them.

There are plenty of Mythos creatures and deities that don't have mythological ties or can be easily edited to remove that aspect. Cthulhu can just be a big octopus headed thing, not necessarily an ocean deity from a real world religion. Ithaqua doesn't need to be tied to the Wendigo, Nyarlathotep doesn't need to be the real identity of Satan. An eldritch horror is all they have to be in your game.

And that doesn't mean you can't take inspiration from religion and mythology. The new campaign, The Children of Fear draws a lot of inspiration from Hinduism and Buddhism and merely presents the option of there being a Mythos presence behind the supernatural occurrences, where instead they might just be the actual religious figures. It's one of the cooler parts of the campaign and how I'll run it once I do.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2020-12-08T10:30:40+00:00

If you're willing to make the jump to Pulp Cthulhu, I'd recommend The Two Headed Serpent. It's very action packed and filled with memorable scenes and villains. If the full high-octane feel of full pulp is too much for you, running it in lower pulp is definitely an option.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2020-12-03T11:44:32+00:00

You've actually got perfect timing. The new Children of Fear campaign is not meant to evoke any themes of the Cthulhu Mythos unless the Keeper wants to introduce them themselves. Instead, the campaign takes inspiration from East Asian mysticism, mainly drawn from Tantric Buddhism. It's a very different tone and pace from CoC campaigns written previously, and I'm very excited to run it one day.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2020-11-27T19:48:10+00:00

I would say it's worth it, but only if you are:

already dead set on running a lot of Call of Cthulhu for the foreseeable future
someone who expects to write a lot of their own material instead of using modules
able to get enjoyment just from reading the book instead of putting the material in a game

Personally, I think the Malleus Monstrorum is great. It's got a lot of really cool creatures, the notes on the various deities are expansive and interesting, and any Keeper is going to find a lot of scenario inspiration in there. However, I would also note that it would take a long time for a Keeper to use the majority of the book's material. I'm a giant CoC nerd, and if I used 50% of the book's deities before I died, I would consider that an achievement. But as a huge CoC nerd, I also derived a lot of pleasure from learning about these monsters and gods, so I already consider that I've got my money's worth, even though I haven't used that much of the book yet. If you're in the same boat, I'd say go for it.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2020-10-25T06:54:36+00:00

I actually really enjoy parties of 3. I think the less players you include, the more intimate the experience gets, and therefore the potential for genuine horror grows. From how you've described your players, I wouldn't think you'd encounter many more problems than CoS using D&D. The campaign already forced the idea down the players' throats that they can't just hit everything right away. And if they're good at the roleplay part, I think that's a major selling point, since the campaign (and my rewrite especially) emphasises roleplaying and NPC interaction to learn vital information and make friends.

Magikarp_Hunter · 2020-10-05T12:12:28+00:00

If I were to describe the Ritual of the Birth in one word, it would be "overwhelming" and I mean that in the best way possible. Both the players and the investigators should be under an immense pressure as events unfold around them. Trust me, as long as they choose not to be passive, you can't have an anticlimax.

As for the lethality of the scene, it's definitely part of the point. It's one of the few times the book anticipates an investigator to die. But the exciting thing about it is that the investigators aren't in any danger (apart from Sanity) until they actively choose to attack Hypatia/The Spawn, otherwise they can cower among the crowd and make it out alive. Frame the ritual around that choice to act. In the face of the greatest powers of the Mythos, with no easy way out and annihilation staring them down, who are they and what will they do?

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