Miskatonic University Campus

Here's one that's come up before in one form or another. My group is getting around to starting CoC again, after a long hiatus. Some of the regular players know and enjoy the game, but one in particular has no experience with Lovecraft, the game or the BRP system in general (he has played RPGs for years, though). The other players in my group are experienced Investigators, having played The Haunting, a couple of the Escape from Innsmouth adventures, and Thoth's Dagger, as well as many of the other popular earlier adventures. I need an adventure which is suitable for a beginner that my veteran players haven't seen. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm trying to ramp up my group for the eventual release of Horror on the Orient Express, and I want to properly on-board my new player and familiarize him with the game so that we can dispense with that sort of thing when the time comes for big train ride!

I think any of the four scenarios in the back of 6E would work, especially EDGE OF DARKNESS.

Some others that have gone good or better and don't seem to matter too much on your COC experience (these are all at RPGNOW and mostly at Chaosium):

1. Dockside Dogs: RESERVOIR DOGS meets the weird part of the Mythos. Very player driven. Podcasted under Skype of Cthulhu as one shot and also on this site when I ran it.

2. GRACE UNDER PRESSURE: scientists in a lab under the Pacific Ocean encounter the Mythos and then some.

3. Madness at Miskatonic: miniseries in the 1920s in which you play students over several months, including a dig in Egypt.

4. The Ilsley Variant: obsession with Conan; podcast on this site; from The Dead Leaves monograph.

5. He Who Laughs Last: uses Cthulhu Dark but can be modified; a dear friend dies and the PCs investigate the matter in modern Los Angeles. This is more weird than horrific in my opinion which is what Dave S., its creator, was attempting.

6. Closed Casket from Sammon's SECRETS is a good starter: a dear friend dies but it's very different from #5 and shorter. This is podcasted on Skype of Cthulhu under their one shots.

I would steer clear of massive campaigns and the like until your noob has more experience.

I'm going to revisit the scenarios from 6E. I played Dockside Dogs at Gary Con this March and thought it was outstanding. It'd probably be a good fit for our group, too. Thanks for the insight. It's been so long since I've initiated a new player that I'd sort of lost track of what was out there!

For fresh squeezed newbs, I run a modern version of the classic Haunting.

I change a few things. First I make the location an abandoned mental hospital. Second I make the group either a bunch of teenage metal heads (1980's), goths (1990's) or ghost hunters. Thirdly I change the knife from a knife to an icepick that was used for hundreds of trans-orbital lobotomies.

The first time characters hear the crunch as the icepick sticks and then the wet meaty sound as the icepick twists can be quite intense. The lobotomized victims can then be used against the survivors.

This way you can run the Haunting a second time for folks who have done it and a first time for the newbs.

You're welcome, Todd. Let us know how it goes.

I love the scenarios from the Blood Brothers books. They model popular horror movie tropes so I think they're fun and easy for new players to get into.