Eternal Lies

EddyPo · Post by **EddyPo** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 3:50 pm

Gladius wrote:Shannon and Eddy, how many investigators are in each of your groups for it? How often do you play, and for how long? How close to being "done" are you?

We have three players in our group. We play every other week for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours each session. It takes us 2 or 3 sessions to get through a chapter. We've been playing since summer. It's hard for me to tell how close we are to the end. I think we are about done with all the "obvious" locations to investigate. We know there will be some more locations to go to, but we need to go over our clues some more to figure that out. My guess is we're 3/4 of the way through. I'd have to ask our keeper to say for sure. Hope that helps.

Shannon Mac · Post by **Shannon Mac** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:19 am

We started with 3 players and then upgraded to 5 as one old player returned and we took on a person totally new to RPGs.

Our sessions are face to face and go for 2.5 to 3.5 hours leaning more towards the latter time frame. I think it takes 3-5 sessions to finish each chapter though keep in mind that we returned to one place a second time. I believe we are starting our fourth location. I say that b/c I missed the last 3 sessions during the Holidays and b/c I got outvoted on makeup dates so I mostly missed Mexico City (that probably isn't a spoiler so I'll keep it in this post).

I believe everyone who has been attending full time has had their stability drop to zero at this point which leads to bad things. We had one player die in the SoCal "finale" and another go mad shortly thereafter (though the latter choice was a narrative decision of the player who was going on break and wanted a new character).

EL seems to be kinder in combat b/c it's ToC. Additionally, the thinking and riddles are stronger than MoN. I feel MoN is suited for people who wish to follow the usual solutions in the gamer's world though for noobs it's a mind bender enough. EL seems to be thought out better for different types of approaches to clues and such with more "What if" situations (according to our Keeper). It has a very similar theme to MoN with globe trotting galore. If someone used CoC rules I suspect it would be a notch or two in TPK to MoN . . . whew . . . it's hard for me to believe I survived with my original character in MoN as each chapter could easily be a TPK with a reckless group but I had major luck on my side, great caution, other players willing to take the risks and the Keeper was kind at times. Well, by CoC standards, that is.

I haven't played or read HoOE. A gamer friend pledged for the full KS and wants me to run it as he likes my Keeper style but it's a ton of reading so I'm not sure. I am toying with the idea of running MoN in 2016 (most likely online) but some of my regular CoC online players have completed MoN yet none of them have much experienced HoOE. Ideally, I could do both but that's probably too ambitious. Another campaign option is The Legacy of Arrius Lurco (LoAL) which is Cthulhu Invictus starting in the ancient city of Rome and leading to a similar thematic style and globe trotting experience to MoN. Ancient Rome was and still is one of my historical loves so it's a contender.

The big factor I like about MoN and LoAL is that I have played in both either full time or part time. As a result the prep time will be less for me whereas HoOE is a beast of a read. My friend showed me a huge box 8 inches deep and that doesn't include the side literature and stories if you really wish to dig into it.

Yet another good campaign is Tatters Of The King (TotK) which focuses upon Hastur and is another globe trotting campaign dealing with reality issues on a magnificent level. The only problem for me is that I recently covered this theme in a 2+ CoC campaign that I ran mostly of my own making and which was set in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1925 (as most of us play online but are scattered in that area or nearby). One of my favorite removal of PCs was simply when two people were caught by corrupt cops, almost got out of it but went to jail long enough that they were removed from the campaign.

:judge:

They're all good but in the end it comes down to what you feel a pull towards as a Keeper. I don't really have to think about this until the beginning of 2016 at the earliest so we'll see what happens. Another wild card is that for 2015 I'm giving my CoC group and introduction to King Arthur Pendragon through the first period of the Great Pendragon Campaign (Uther's reign and demise). I don't expect to continue after that period but if they really love the cliffhanger, well, we may keep running in that direction.

For 2015 I'm running 2 slow miniseries (slow as in one 4.5 hrs session every 6-10 weeks) which will take up half of the year or more: Cthulhu Dark Ages (mostly home brewed by me; 8th run) and 1920s CoC for mostly new players to CoC (a very modified take on Edge of Darkness and set in the SF Bay Area b/c I've got a ton of online props and pics from that 2+ year campaign . . . 6th run).

I still plan to do a few one shots here and there, including a Delta Green shotgun scenario and the like (I did my 11th run of Dockside Dogs in mid January 2015 for a mostly European group that set it up in October 2014).

Gladius · Post by **Gladius** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 4:12 am

Thanks both for your feedback. Seems like the choice may come down to the players in my group.

I ran Arrius Lurco (see my sig for link to the Live Play recordings) and it's a great campaign, although I took it a bit off the rails as written. One point is that combat in Invictus feels vastly different to me (at least against human opponents) because of two factors: Armor and the ability to Parry melee attacks. At least that's what my group found. I threw some tough stuff at them and they continually managed to survive it because of these two items.

I've recently been running my own Invictus scenario (which I wrote for GGP's last kickstarter, unfortunately the stretch goal was not achieved) for my local group. It's probably 2-3 sessions and we typically play about 3-4 hours.

I'm also running an introductory 5e D&D game for a few friends who wanted to try it out. Not sure I will continue that long-term though.

So in the long term I love to run campaigns, but I need to find some new players to liven up my group!

fallingtower · Post by **fallingtower** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 11:30 pm

I've been running it in a slightly modified version.

What I've changed.
-The orgies before the mouths, the drugged out participant's bodies flow and meld together becoming one, covered in the slime/nectar and the tongue stirs and probes the writhing mass. After a few days the participants exhausted are pooped out, dragged out of the room and cleaned up. To them it was all an amazing surreal sex/drug trip. It is entirely possible that they never realize that they were fed off and enjoyed by a god. Nobody gets into the room without being under the influence of the nectar.

-I really want to curtail the use of guns and dynamite as the only way to defeat the supernatural horrors of the Many Mouth'd One. Instead of using dynamite to just blow up the mouths (which is the only option the book seems to give), I have come up with a supernatural way. A ritual, kind of an Elder Sign, but drawn cast and drawn upon the body of one of the tainted. I've always been of the opinion that you can't defeat the supernatural with mundane methods. There is a price....
The more I've been running it, the more I am changing.

Shannon Mac · Post by **Shannon Mac** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 6:53 am

The new edition of Cthulhu Dark Ages had a way to solve that. First off it uses 7E for opposed dodges and attacks so no more going back and forth for a few minutes between pros.

Instead of getting the full armor absorption you roll a die and that determines how much armor you get per blow. It's a good model to cut back on making armor too powerful b/c it is against measly opponents though arguably some game designers intended it that way. You can use a two handed weapon and dish out a lot of damage if you desire in CDA. I think a Great Axe is 2d6 before strength bonuses.

I'd love to play with your group sometime. It's all about time and coordinating schedules. Pop me an email/PM if something opens up (at best I would be a cameo to part time) and let us know which camp wins.

Gladius · Post by **Gladius** » Tue Feb 03, 2015 1:40 am

Indeed. I'd love to inject new blood into my group, they have played together so long they tend to drift into their natural roles too easily sometimes. Will let you know next time I set something up with enough advanced notice.

With that said, I have EL sitting next to me and a few spare hours this evening to start reading...

Gladius · Post by **Gladius** » Tue Feb 03, 2015 1:42 am

fallingtower wrote:
The more I've been running it, the more I am changing.

When I first read this, I had an entirely different image in mind than what you clearly intended. I hope the appearance of new mouths on your body wasn't too painful

(as an aside - since it appears that we have several players in this thread, you may want to go back and put spoiler tags around your comments about specifics!)

fallingtower · Post by **fallingtower** » Thu Feb 05, 2015 9:16 am

Shannon Mac wrote:The new edition of Cthulhu Dark Ages had a way to solve that. First off it uses 7E for opposed dodges and attacks so no more going back and forth for a few minutes between pros.

Instead of getting the full armor absorption you roll a die and that determines how much armor you get per blow. It's a good model to cut back on making armor too powerful b/c it is against measly opponents though arguably some game designers intended it that way. You can use a two handed weapon and dish out a lot of damage if you desire in CDA. I think a Great Axe is 2d6 before strength bonuses.

I'd love to play with your group sometime. It's all about time and coordinating schedules. Pop me an email/PM if something opens up (at best I would be a cameo to part time) and let us know which camp wins.

I ran a play test group for Dark Ages, yeah it was my first taste of the new 7e freshness. It does take some getting used to, the opposed combat.

Currently I can only game every other week, but one of these years I would like to get into another Dark Age or Invictus game. I ran a solo Dark Age and a solo Invictus game in the past for a buddy, both were very cool. But life got busy and they faded away.

I've read through most of Arrius Lurco and I had some issues with it....
Too me, It read very much like a Dungeons and Dragons adventure in togas. And I didn't get enough of an Ancient Roman vibe atmospherically.

I actually have a few ideas of my own....the characters serve or are friends of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem and have been ordered to get to the crux of the matter concerning this trouble-making deathcult lead by a fanatic who allegedly wields supernatural powers. There is alleged flesh eating and blood drinking and human sacrifice.

Shannon Mac · Post by **Shannon Mac** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 12:50 am

I wonder if CDA was an attempt by Chaosium to bring the D&D players into the CoC world. It wouldn't surprise me and it's not a bad marketing move.

As a result this might be why CDA defaults to blood and thunder. That said there are several published scenarios (free and not free) that focus much more on the sleuthing side of things. Oscar Rios' CDA games tend to have a lot of combat with echoes of old D&D which he misses, I suspect.

Arrius Lurco has a big fight scene at the end but that follows the themes of many MoN chapters so I still feel it's like a CI adjusted MoN in style. Certain "elements" added to the scenario help the mortals survive. That said there are many opportunities to be clever and avoid combat and that is partly true of the finale as well.

I disagree it is DnD in togas as combat alone does not solve all the player obstacles. And how many CoC games end in combat even when the group had other options? I found there to be several historical references, actually. That said, the writer has mentioned online that keepers who desire more flavor can utilize a number of podcasts.

RIPPLES FROM CARCOSA has recently been updated to 7E and the CDA isn't heavily focused on combat though the CI one in there is. There is also a SciFi one from the End Times setting.

Stephane Gesbert's webpage has lots of CDA scenarios for free (start with "The Fall of Guthlac Abbey" which is at least eleven hours). Those are heavily clue trailed inclined. He was the original writer for CDA. Ironically, some of the things they didn't have room for are now being added to the new edition (this is all rumors, btw).

(Tower): that sounds like a good scenario for atheists heh.

Dr. Gerard · Post by **Dr. Gerard** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 12:32 pm

I think it's possible that CDA was considered to be a gateway drug for D&D players - this isn't the first time I have heard the notion. But I'm not so sure it functions very we'll as one. Most fantasy role play is so far from the trappings of historical Dark Ages aside from technology level and costuming. And the ethos of it much more closely resembles the genre of the American Western and lawless frontier life than anything related to feudal Europe.

Call of Cthulhu is not exactly meant to be a history simulation, but it is rooted in the genres of historical fiction and secret history.

To my mind, using it as a gateway from D&D to Cthulhu is fraught with pitfalls. There is an uncanny valley problem, where a medieval setting looks a lot like D&D on the surface, but the goals of the game and the outcome of the mechanics are so entirely different. I think I would want to try running an investigative style of game using D&D rules instead, or run a full fantasy game in BRP to teach the percentile and skill based parts of the mechanics.

But that's all just theory, because I haven't tried to use CDA as a transition setting. Has anyone had any luck running CDA with D&D players?

Shannon, I have always felt Pendragon is a more historical alternative for feudal European role play, and draws on the Arthurian adventure genre that was also very popular in America before contemporary fantasy became so popular. Have you ever encountered an uncanny valley problem with players transitioning from D&D?