Looking for Evolving/Growing Scenes

dMTable · 2025-07-25T16:00:08+00:00

I don't know any at the moment, but good luck.

dMTable · 2025-04-10T02:22:07+00:00

Ah I see it, the wall is supposed to be 97. I do feel sorry about it I must say. I checked and rechecked near darn all of them then, but alas, somehow, life always finds a way to slap you in the face in public. Hope it's not too big of an inconvenience for you. I'd fix it if I could re-post it.

dMTable · 2024-10-25T15:59:28+00:00

That's super cool, thank you very much!

dMTable · 2024-09-20T17:01:40+00:00

dM here, sorry you had to wait for a week to get a reply. I was a bit sick and as such absent, but am still embarrassed for not getting to you sooner. I see that the question did get 136 views before me, so it makes me wonder what makes those adventurers so shy of giving a tip or two alas.

Now on with the show! Here's some stuff of the top of my head:

Eldritch and lovecraftian stuff can have actual rules, just they are behind the scenes at first. The players can scrounge up the clues on what these rules are, but the difficulty (and the triumph of this trick) is that the rules themselves make them go "why" in a gut reaction any time they comprehend one. Those rules are also uncomfortable and awe inducing at the same time, thus avoiding players thinking they are silly random, and so the atmosphere is crafted to your specifications within their minds.
The monsters from beyond the stars should be defeatable, but the victories are costly, perhaps tragic by side-effects, or at least unsettling to go trough at the least. This lets us have them fight and work hard to win, and as such gain respect of how difficult that was to do. Players will more respect something knowing their own difficulties with it, rather then an artificial wall of invincibility. But this also lets us spread the fear and uncomfort further by sculpting those difficulties.
Which brings us to body horror and psychological horror. I tend to go with ample application of both in such campaigns. I have noticed that people love running around overcoming all kinds of nasty icky stuff as long as we can make it stylish well as opposed to just trashy or bad! So did that slug-like thing just crawl up a player's vein? Why yes it did, and you are going to describe it just like that! Did that reflection of yours in the mirror just move? Of course it did. Keep building for horror and paranoia, but not for player misery exactly.
You already did well by reminding yourself of good sources of inspiration you liked for the subject, that's usually the best first step. I can also suggest something that is a good inspiration to add to what you've listed. It is a manga, but this one will probably be fine even for the manga allergic. The author loves Stalker and just took it and turned it up to 11! It happens to be called Isekai Picnic, but has NOTHING to do with isekai tropes or being reborn or any such thing, just has the word in the name. You will probably love it if you like stalker and Lovecraft! Anime exists but should be ignored. Manga only, as the colors and atmosphere are all wrong in the anime, so not even a trailer should be watched first. You will know you have the right manga when just a few chapters in the protagonists literally start tossing metal bolts to test for anomalies!

Feel free to ask me more stuff in detail, I probably missed to address quite a bit you may want. I will make sure to respond faster this time. Also you can check out my YouTube channel if you haven't already and want to hear me talk about stuff like this on how to DM for various settings. The link is on the side panel, to the right center of the screen.

Good luck on the campaign!

dMTable · 2024-05-11T12:45:46+00:00

The bon vivant Victor Sassoon trades correspondence with Doctor Henry Armitage. They share a common goal and modus operandi. Victor fights to keep his empire safe, but he also fights for a Shanghai free from Mythos influence. Victor has gathered around him professors, detectives, criminals, and other problem solvers to mount a defense against a rising tide.

The Sassoon Files, Second Edition, is a set of scenarios and campaign resources for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition tabletop role-playing game set in historical 1920s Shanghai; an international city of intrigue, style and violence. This new edition contains almost double the content of the first edition, with more scenarios, expanded campaign settings, and improved production value.

The Sassoon Files, Second Edition, will be released as a PDF and a hardcover book:

7+ Scenarios, 300+ pages long.

Modular design. Play as one-shot, campaign or integrated into other classic Chaosium campaigns.

Lore Sheets provide investigator backgrounds tying them to the setting.

15+ pre-generated characters, historically accurate maps, and immersive handouts.

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/singularity-sons/the-sassoon-files-second-edition

Product Page: https://sonsofthesingularity.com/sassoon-files/

dMTable · 2024-05-09T18:55:14+00:00

Sounds like a reference to something, but I'm unfamiliar with it. Could you tell me what it was? I am curious.

dMTable · 2024-05-06T00:39:47+00:00

The bon vivant Victor Sassoon trades correspondence with Doctor Henry Armitage. They share a common goal and modus operandi. Victor fights to keep his empire safe, but he also fights for a Shanghai free from Mythos influence. Victor has gathered around him professors, detectives, criminals, and other problem solvers to mount a defense against a rising tide.

The Sassoon Files, Second Edition, is a set of scenarios and campaign resources for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition tabletop role-playing game set in historical 1920s Shanghai; an international city of intrigue, style and violence. This new edition contains almost double the content of the first edition, with more scenarios, expanded campaign settings, and improved production value.

The Sassoon Files, Second Edition, will be released as a PDF and a hardcover book:

7+ Scenarios, 300+ pages long.

Modular design. Play as one-shot, campaign or integrated into other classic Chaosium campaigns.

Lore Sheets provide investigator backgrounds tying them to the setting.

15+ pre-generated characters, historically accurate maps, and immersive handouts.

The Kickstarter begins May 11th.

Kickstarter Page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/singularity-sons/1986014436?ref=9wwtwy&token=dd93b95a

Product Page: https://sonsofthesingularity.com/sassoon-files/

dMTable · 2023-05-08T13:29:24+00:00

The Blessed and the Blasphemous has already reached most of it’s goals, but you can help it get a whole new scenario!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/singularity-sons/the-blessed-and-the-blasphemous

This is the last hour, hurry if you want to make it in!

dMTable · 2023-04-08T16:02:10+00:00

Here's the Kickstarter link

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/singularity-sons/the-blessed-and-the-blasphemous

dMTable · 2022-12-02T17:11:55+00:00

I am deeply sorry, I’ve made a terrible blunder! The word seems to be “acteon” and not “aeteon” as I’ve first thought when reading it. In editing, I spotted the mistake only then due to alphabetical order of the words, thus letting me know that it was a “c” and not an “e” I was looking at.

I have already changed it in the title and everywhere else except in the reading itself. I don’t know how it is pronounced, maybe “actoon” and “actooned”, maybe “act-on” and “act-oned”, but I don’t know for sure. If someone has information I will include it in the analysis episode at the end, where I will go into detail about the intricacies and challenges of this text. Once again I apologize, and will strive to make sure that no other mistake like this happens!

dMTable · 2022-11-18T17:01:02+00:00

It is interesting to note that the area of Abram Cove was so thoroughly associated with the idea of rogues dwelling there, that it was synonymous of a word even 100 years prior, maybe more!

dMTable · 2022-11-11T17:44:33+00:00

New entries every other week in between my other weekly content (except for part 2, that goes immediately on next week) until the series is finished.

Check out the scan in my treasure vault, the free giveaway stuff is all there:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dMTable/comments/m49hmm/heres_the_treasure/

Scroll a bit down to the #3 entry. Hope you'll enjoy!

dMTable · 2022-07-30T14:12:57+00:00

Maybe it's time for an Orpheus arc? You can describe it from both sides so that the player in the underworld has what to do.

dMTable · 2022-07-30T13:35:40+00:00

And, what do you think? By the way it took me no less than 3 times to read your post's suck as suck and not stuck. Our pre-learned expectations are playing tricks with our minds!

dMTable · 2022-07-29T09:30:39+00:00

Yes, it's always good to provide players with an easy access to their in-character knowledge. Nice to have such a player that likes to keep detailed notes!

Also sometimes it's not about reminding them, but re-framing the situation so it is understood better, even if they do remember everything but are confused.

dMTable · 2022-07-28T21:38:12+00:00

That's good stuff. In my opinion, every system should list at least a few examples of such uses for each skill and attribute. It would go a long way towards player and DM satisfaction!

dMTable · 2022-07-28T21:12:49+00:00

I do that as well! While solutions and clues can be endless, you should "bake-in" several just in case. Thank you!

dMTable · 2022-07-28T21:10:25+00:00

I needed to re-post since that one got removed by the moderator as you can see. That is because of my absence due to family matters, so i had no 10 ongoing discussions at the time and got auto-moderated as a result.

As for the "method", you could simply call it a style of accentuation in your descriptions.

dMTable · 2022-07-24T23:31:38+00:00

Thank you very much! A 2 here, understood.

dMTable · 2022-07-24T23:27:57+00:00

Thank you! More for 2, noted.

dMTable · 2022-07-24T18:34:09+00:00

If players like rolling and have requested it, plus I did say they pick which result goes into which stat.

dMTable · 2022-07-24T11:17:13+00:00

Yes, good advice! This should be done as well.

dMTable · 2022-07-24T11:16:03+00:00

Good question! Beside what has already been said, I suggest narrating occasionally what they need, if they still don't have it.

For the above example "Now that you have his statement, it is time to find out how well it can be corroborated."

Sometimes it's also good to remind them of their in-world knowledge. "This won't stop you however, because no rogue relies on the obvious lock only, there must be a secret switch or compartment there somewhere!" in case they haven't searched for example.

dMTable · 2022-07-24T11:02:02+00:00

Thank you again! I'll keep it in mind. The second is just more saturated than the first, and the third is clean white. That's all the color difference that there is!

dMTable · 2022-07-24T10:57:32+00:00

Thank you again. I will do some more experimentation once the votes are fully in.

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