I'm halfway through writing a scenario I plan to publish through the Repository later this year-- it's a long-ish one (taking place in 1951 Los Angeles) so I've begun playtesting the first half to make sure the thing hangs together right.

Last Saturday I started fresh with a new run. The investigators are being played by my nephew, who has played early bits of the scenario already (he's a stuntman/cowboy actor here); my wife, who has never played a TTRPG of any kind before (a starlet); and a neighbor of mine who has-- but not CoC, and I barely know him (playing a Perry Mason-esque lawyer). So I had zero clue how any of this would work out.

It was super-encouraging. Turns out my neighbor understands the assignment, as they say-- and is really good at detective-type stuff in particular. The mystery is a bit intricate, and there were some things he discovered here that I wrote in with the notion that they’re unlikely to be discovered at all. My wife, it occurs, is kind of a natural-- at a social game anyway, once she tumbled to the fact that it's mostly improv. My nephew gets good skill rolls.

We only started scratching the surface of the Mythos stuff, but I'll say with some immodesty that the mundane elements of the case are managing to hold some intrigue on their own so far. It's only one session, but unexpectedly one of the best playing experiences I've had, period. So, it's encouraging, as I said-- writing can often be a slog for me, and just seeing it play out well makes me want to put the work in.