MU Podcast 071 -- The Worm Has Turned

[Keeper Dan]

If they're the comet-burrowing sort, maybe their whole life cycle takes place only during the time it takes to slingshot around the sun, and then they go dormant out in the cold blackness of space?

Or until a YT-1300 stops for repairs inside its gullet.

[EddyPo]

Great episode guys! The concept of a post-apocalyptic, giant worm-tunnled hellscape gives me nightmares. Time to turn that into a campaign.

[Dr. Gerard]

If they're the comet-burrowing sort, maybe their whole life cycle takes place only during the time it takes to slingshot around the sun, and then they go dormant out in the cold blackness of space?

Or until a YT-1300 stops for repairs inside its gullet.

Hah! Right on.

[Dr. Gerard]

Great episode guys! The concept of a post-apocalyptic, giant worm-tunnled hellscape gives me nightmares. Time to turn that into a campaign.

Lots of good material from borehole myths and facts in our world now, like supposed recordings of the sounds of tormented souls in hell from the Superdeep borehole in Russia, and the mud volcano in Java that started when a gas company drilled into the earth without a condom.

[trevlix]

Awesome episode!

One other podcast that features the "...little beastie..." from Mongolia is the Skeptoid podcast, I'm actually surprised that Roy Chapman-Andrews has not featured in a CoC adventure.

I wrote one where the PCs embark on one of his Mongolian adventures with him and get into loads of fun. Hmmm..maybe its time to run it again. If you've never read it, I highly recommend this biography on Andrews.

One question on the Cthonians. I just read Lumley's The Burrowers Beneath, and from the story I got the impression that "Cthonian" was just a term he used for a class of powerful beings (but not as powerful as, say, Cthulhu). While some of them are worm-shaped, not all are. I'm specifically thinking of the scene on the oil rig, where I thought he mentions a giant hand appearing. Am I mis-remembering it?

[fox01313]

Great episode, was wondering if this one was going to be coming out as the usual format or continuing on with the 7th ed. rules. Agreed that if you use some of the stuff here, maybe shrinking it down would be good though if you want to make something really big, try the setting book by Ken Hite, Day after Ragnarok. The Viking serpent comes up in WWII and flattens most of some countries when it dies, then the game setting gets going after that.

Trail took me a while to figure out but once you see how the pool/spend mechanic is there to build tension of having an automatic success with some skill or waiting on the luck of the roll plus how the core clues are there once you get to the right locations, it means you can be a bit more tactical on what you are doing without hitting the dice until plot comes out. There is a good variety of Trail scenarios out there to try out & there are some of the pulp scenarios that are quite fun. Also right now off Ken & Robin Talk About Stuff, you can get the Ghoul piece that Ken writes about for Pelgrane of discussing & revamping the monster for FREE.

One other good site on tabletop audio I found is Tabletop audio for good background ambiance for all kinds of things.
http://tabletopaudio.com/

[Dr. Gerard]

Great episode, was wondering if this one was going to be coming out as the usual format or continuing on with the 7th ed. rules. Agreed that if you use some of the stuff here, maybe shrinking it down would be good though if you want to make something really big, try the setting book by Ken Hite, Day after Ragnarok. The Viking serpent comes up in WWII and flattens most of some countries when it dies, then the game setting gets going after that.

Trail took me a while to figure out but once you see how the pool/spend mechanic is there to build tension of having an automatic success with some skill or waiting on the luck of the roll plus how the core clues are there once you get to the right locations, it means you can be a bit more tactical on what you are doing without hitting the dice until plot comes out. There is a good variety of Trail scenarios out there to try out & there are some of the pulp scenarios that are quite fun. Also right now off Ken & Robin Talk About Stuff, you can get the Ghoul piece that Ken writes about for Pelgrane of discussing & revamping the monster for FREE.

One other good site on tabletop audio I found is Tabletop audio for good background ambiance for all kinds of things.
http://tabletopaudio.com/

For one thing, please don't worry that E71 represents any kind of format change in the show. We were completely winging it because there was a last minute schedule change and we had no backup plan. We are looking forward to getting back to the 7th Edition discussions.

Thanks for the tips on Hite's ghoul PDF and the ambient music resource!

[Nvision]

For those who are looking, Netflix Canada has The Burrowers available for streaming, so if you've got access to a VPN you can change your region and stream it.

I'm disappointed that there was no mention of the Exogorth from Empire Strikes Back... Dholes in Spaaaaaace!

[fox01313]

Another good source for Gumshoe that I found recently myself, The Esoterrorists 2nd ed. It's a little different than Trail as there's no sanity mechanic but it's set up more modern day (think almost Dellta Green lite with outer dark monsters without the mythos). In this 2nd edition book there is an campaign framework similar to a hellmouth in a small town (built by the gm & players) with some of the players as agents & others as locals that get recruited. If going this route in Gumshoe over Night's Black Agents or Trail, get The Book of Unremitting Horror as it's quite good for a monster book that the GM can weave a story around.

Esoterrorist link for details or downloads
http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=12752

[trevlix]

Since we're mentioning Gumshoe, I'll also throw in Fear Itself. Modern day horror that is really good. Basically (IMO) Trail without the mythos stuff, although I have not done a comparision between the two yet to see how much is really different.