Never try to scare a call of Cthulhu player. Those guys are insane.
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I called 2018 "The Year of Good News". Here is a list of the games I thought were interesting or worth talking about that year.
Artless in Alderaan
People were so worried about the boring gameplay of The Old Republic they overlooked just how boring and amateur the art is.
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
I'm not surprised a fighting game has an absurd story. I just can't figure out why they bothered with the story at all.
Wait. I thought Gimli was the last one into the dungeon?
Too true, too true.
If Cthulhu players are insane, how do you rate Cthulhu GMs? …and when you find the right word, don’t say it aloud – at least not three times!
Tsk, Gimli’s player is metagaming!
Last time I was in a traditional D&D setting one of the guys used to joke that he wanted to one day open a door to find it let directly into the gaping maw of a tarrasque… just so he could quietly close it again. (He wasn’t a Call of Cthulu player, hehe)
I think the GM just failed his SAN check…
That’s CoC for you, Killing 1d6 investigators per round.
*Sigh* Ok, then roll to SAVE vs fear…
Why didn’t you just have them roll some sort of moral check and have Gimli fail?
OK fear would have been better just like the Scalet knight suggested.
“You ladies can follow if you’ve got the stones.”
What’s he mean here? The stone of Orthanc? Why would they need that in the dungeon?
GEBIV: Wait. I thought Gimli was the last one into the dungeon?
He was. I’ve always wondered why. I can accept that Legolas, as an elf and quasi-angel, would not be afraid, and that Aragorn and the rest of the Dunedain are hard-boiled enough not to get scared, but I always wondered why Gimli was so frightened. You might think that as a member of one of the elder races he’d share a portion of the same fearlessness Legolas has.
That said, I love this version. Fhtagn!
“has the stones” is roughly the same as saying someone “has the guts” for something. Or, if you want to be crass, its a slightly more polite way of saying “if you’ve got the balls”.
LOL!! I like it when you depart from the script of the movies! Nice one :D
I should add:
I know nothing whatsoever about Call of Cthulhu. I’ve never played, never seen a rulebook, never read a story. Everything I know about the game is gleaned from the comments here. I get the idea that it involves people investigating cults, seeing horrors, and then either being killed or going insane.
So, if the text I wrote for Gimli doesn’t fit CoC for whatever reason, that’s why.
Yeah! Another Cthulhu reference!
Yeah, that’s pretty accurate. The description works, although as it is Lovecraftian it needs more tentacles. But a minor oversight when you’re dealing with the funny.
Or to be made of amorphous goop covered in hundreds of unblinking eyes.
In other words Guess who got killed by a shoggoth last week.
The Call of Cthulhu stuff is pretty much dead-on.
more often than seeing horrors, my characters tend to read them.
But that might be because I have a fondness for playing priests, and many of the ancient, unspeakable evils tend to be written in Latin.
FANTASTIC!!!!!! I loved it LOL!!!! and if you’ve got the stone’s, I took that to mean if you’ve got the ball’s!!! lol
awaiting more, eagerly.
Bex’s
xxxx
BTW I haven’t played in year’s and could love to get back into role playing, as in a board, a gruop of people and servrel pizza box’s, I dont have a games workshop anywhere near me thow sadly, any idear’s peep’s???
That’s unnervingly accurate for a guy who has never played CoC.
That being said, go play some. Find a good Keeper (GM), get into the right frame of mind, and don’t get too attached to your character.
If you can’t find a good Keeper, read the stories. The good thing about the stories is that they vary greatly in length; you can spend an afternoon or two at the Mountains of Madness, or flip through the Statement of Randolph Carter in ten minutes before you go to supposed sleep. Whether you have the weekend off or a lunch break to fill, there’s a story just long enough for it.
My recommendations for the new reader:
The aforementioned Statement of Randolph Carter
Pickman’s Model
The Dunwich Horror
The Shadow over Innsmouth
The Dreams in the Witch-House
The Call of Cthulhu
In that approximate order. The Dunwich Horror is a particular favorite of mine, being as close as you get to an archtypical mythos tale(although CoC and tSoI are both good examples). I’m sure every cthulian has his favorite.
Gimli goes last in the movie because he’s the comic relief; fearlessness of the elder races has got nothing on Hollywood formulas.
CoC is roleplaying a race to see if you can go nuts before you’re eaten. As previously mentioned, you’ve got it pretty much spot on, but needs more tentacles. (Not entirely sure why tentacles are terrifying; I _like_ calimari myself.)
Heh, great quote Shamus. I am currently in a CoC campaign and it’s a lil slow going at the moment. So far the scariest thing was seeing a group of Mi-Go during some sort of ritual. If you want a good feel for CoC, look for any H.P. Lovecraft books, since it’s his works that the game is based upon.
That, and it’s very difficult to make something seem scary if your characters all take it in stride. If it wasn’t for Gimli going chicken, would it have seemed any different than Moria, or Helm’s Deep?
intestinal fortitude equals guts. I never even heard the short one until I had heard the long version for years, because that’s what my dad always said.
What is this with tentacles? Many Lovecraft mythos stories don’t involve tentacles and the shadow over Innsmouth is one of the most obvious. And many other mythos authors weren’t partial to tentacles at all, such as Robert E. Howard and Frank belknap long.
All that said, another excellent comic.
Look guys, it’s the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft:
http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/
Enjoy!
Love it! I’m so glad I stumbled upon this site a while back. I love CoC and just because someone said Cthulhu, and just in case any of you CoC folks have missed it, I give you Calls for Cthulhu (I love this so much I can’t help but share. I suppose I could, but I’m not going to).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DsgZ4JXXB8
Yes, yes, an hundred times, yes!
-The Gneech, black goat of the woods with a thousand young
Love the Dwarf!!!
“Got the stones” indeed, seems very Dwarven.
I still can’t wait to see them face the Ghosties.
I love CoC as well, and I’ve run it and played it since the 80s.
I just wish the insanity rules were not so much of, “You failed your SAN check, you therefore will spend the next 1d10 rounds trying to find a men’s room in order to shave all your body hair off. Meanwhile, the monsters are eating the rest of the party.”
Oddly, though, a CoC “Keeper” will often make sure that it’s the characters who go insane that actually survive.
I love CoC … in fact, it was the first setting I ever played in, followed by the origional Runequest
HP Lovecraft also rocks – Mythos for all!
Bwahaha! Loved it, especially the scary-voice storytelling that Gimli pulls out in the middle of the script. Awesome.
Ah, but what happened to the: “Rocks Fall. Everyone Dies.” In the last strip? Was the DM just kidding us? (It seems he was. I’m glad. We’re all glad. ;) ;D)
Scare a Call of Cthulhu player? Try scaring a Call of Cthulhu GM. Players experience that stuff, GMs have to read through all the material. o_o
“So, if the text I wrote for Gimli doesn't fit CoC for whatever reason, that's why.”
No, you pretty much nailed it.
‘Shamus Says:”has the stones” is roughly the same as saying …”if you've got the balls”.’
I’d like to submit the alternative “got the palantirs” . Round, fragile, valuable, and many an owner has been lead astray by them…
Gimli was the last to enter the Paths of the Dead in the books and the movie. This never surprised me becuase the aura of terror that lays over the area {books}. Elves do not fear the spirits of the dead {as Legolas says in the books}. Also consider that Aragorn does acquit himself well against the nazgul at Weathertop.
What a stupid post. I sound like a Tolkein geek. And has nothing to do with the comic, which rocks.
If I may elaborate, as an unashamed Tolkien geek, as post #33 says; Gimli was terrified. Tolkien underscores the terror evoked by the Paths of the Dead by having a DWARF greatly fear to go on even though he would normally be unafraid of going underground. Remember he supported Gandalf in the decision to go through Moria though Aragorn and the others were reluctant. This device by Tolkien also displays the great love the Rangers have for Aragorn, the nature of Legolas(and elves) and the relationship between Legolas and nature (he has authority over the horses). And Gimli’s character is elevated also, because he, in the end, chooses to continue.
Dev Null said: “Not entirely sure why tentacles are terrifying”.
Here’s why:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0020.html
*shudders*
9 Dev Null Says:
May 30th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Not entirely sure why tentacles are terrifying; I _like_ calimari myself.
Deep fried Cthulhu, now thats finger lickin good. Sticks to your ribs, you know, until it busts out of your chest cavity ala Aliens.
“Got the Palantirs”
LOL! Good one!
Scarlet Knight Says:
“”˜Shamus Says:”has the stones” is roughly the same as saying …”if you've got the balls”.'
I'd like to submit the alternative “got the palantirs” . Round, fragile, valuable, and many an owner has been lead astray by them…”
Dude, I thought I was gonna die reading that. That’s just funny that is.
I have some friends who play CoC and it always irritated me that they never really got into the Ravenloft setting … once I started reading some of the CoC related materials I found out why.
And as most everyone else has said, the stones comment was a riot. We’ve always called it “testicular fortitude” here ;)
A
@Bex
>BTW I haven't played in year's and could love to get back into role playing, as in a board, a gruop of people and servrel pizza box's, I dont have a games workshop anywhere near me thow sadly, any idear's peep's???
Dating yourself somewhat there chum… Games Workshop hasn’t sold RPG stuff in a LOOOOONG time. You need to find a hobby shop in your town and read/post a “Players Wanted” note on their bulletin board.
Good luck!
D.
Masterful work.
yeah, pretty accurate for a lovecraftian / CoC description, but I would also include some non-euclidean geometry.
As others have mentioned, Shamus, the CoC reference is pretty much dead on, I loved it ^_^
I’ve also been playing a lot of Arkham Horror lately which is no where near as hard core, but it is a great game based on the Cthulhu Mythos.
As far as Gimli going last, I always chalked it up to him hearing far more stories of the place and how horrifying it is because of how dwarves are generally underground a lot anyway. Like the difference between someone who has been brought up with the whole “don’t walk under ladders” thing being freaked out while someone who hasn’t just walks underneath them without worry.
Gary’s Friend Jim Says:
Oddly, though, a CoC “Keeper” will often make sure that it's the characters who go insane that actually survive.
Actually, this isn’t odd at all… Once an opponent sees his foe hopelessly wandering around doing things that have nothing to do with the combat at hand (at tentacle?), why kill him? Kill everyone else who’s still a threat! :)
Oh Lord, this is gonna be fun. Are you using the Extended Edition? ‘Cause there’s a shot in those of Gimli stepping on a skeleton, and I’m not sure if it’s in the normal ones…Is he going to be so Bold & Brave then?
I’m a CoC player (and GM) far more often than a D&D player; I prefer it because it is so deadly. If I manage to survive an adventure with sanity intact, I feel like it’s an accomplishment, rather than simply gaining the most XP or treasure out of the group. I like the cards to be stacked against me.
That said, there is a wider variety of CoC games than simply “Investigate cult. See monster. Go insane/die” (although that is a lot of them). There are some humorous modules out there, like Blood Brothers, which has the awesome cover of Cthulhu holding a chainsaw, Leatherface style.
And don’t get me started talking about Lovecraft movies…
I have to admit, I was expecting the DM to say “Someone hold me,” after Gimil was done with his description XD
Stones = Minerals, Nuts, Balls, Testes, Eggs, Testicular Fortitude, etc ad nauseum…
Being a CoC Keeper since the first release/first printing of the rpg, and reading the Lovecraft and his minions, er, fellow authors, and even having the first edition printing of AD&D Deities & DemiGods that included the Cthulhu Mythos, and, finally, as President of the Miskatonic University Tri-Omegas….. >pantWHaCK, THuD
Gentlemaniac said: “That being said, go play some. Find a good Keeper (GM), get into the right frame of mind, and don't get too attached to your character.”
Get into the right frame of mind? Egads man, do you really want thousands of us CoC fanatics (and only WE know what that word entrails … err, entails … bwwahhhhh, bwwwaaahhhhh, eep!) running around?
I got my alter ego Al Shiney from a canned Chaosium C of C Now module/book in the mid 90’s. Big fat sweaty bald guy that was really a shoggoth in human form … describes gamers perfectly :-)
First time poster, I just found this site. Hilarious stuff.
haashaastaak Says:
May 30th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
What is this with tentacles? Many Lovecraft mythos stories don't involve tentacles and the shadow over Innsmouth is one of the most obvious.
True enough, but you do need to throw the words “antidiluvian” “non-euclidean” and “eldrich” in there somewhere somewhere. :)
CoC is an awesome game. One of the best campaigns I ever ran was Horror on the Orient Express. Phenomenal module. And you have a perfect excuse for “railroading” the characters (it taking place on a train and all) :)
Shamus: After playing D&D for some years, I finally played Call of Cthuhlu, and I found it to be a breath of fresh air.
The game is easy to learn – easy enough that it’s enough for the GM to have the rulebook and explain how to create a character and play the game. No complicated mechanics like in D&D. Everything is d% skill based. The campaigns are separated into short, almost independent chapters that can be played in an afternoon. And best of all, CoC eliminates the “arms race” mentality of D&D that causes players to focus on gathering wealth, magic items, XP, feats, and so on, freeing you up for actual role-playing. You can improve your skills and equipment after completing a chapter, but there aren’t any “character levels” in the D&D sense. And learning a spell is a dangerous thing indeed.
I love D&D, but after playing CoC I can see why it won awards for game design. Great fun for even a hard-core D&D player, especially when you have to role-play phobias and philias that you accumulate. Don’t be disappointed in a TPK; in a well-run game, it may actually be preferable to be killed before losing all sanity! -A
Addendum to my previous message (#50):
If you do play CoC, don’t bother with the d20 adaptation, which shifts the focus to combat, leveling, etc. Play the Chaosium version, which focuses on solving problems using the skills your character has, and role-playing. It’s the lack of d20 rules, in this case, that make the game fun; otherwise it may as well be D20 Modern. -A
Fully agree with above statement. The d20 system just didn’t work for CoC, it felt too… ‘normal’. Not the kind of word you should be associating with the elder gods.
There is no greater RPG setting than Cthulhu – Sure for the GM its about sending players insane at the drop of a hat, but for the players it should be a journey from normality (or whatever they consider normal) through the realms of the bizare, the unfathomable and into the down right terrifying. The coolest thing about Lovecraft’s world is that as you peel away reality the true horror of his vision is only there to be understood by the truely insane, Also Cat lovers.
Currently Running a 1920’s D20 Gangstergame, the coolest thing is the players dont yet KNOW its Cthulhu…. *Evil Grin*
I’ve found the same thing is true of most of the old games like Deadlands. Play the one that uses all die types (except d20), poker chips, and cards! Who needs that namby-pamby d20 crap anyways? D20 was one of the worst [venereal] diseases to be spread to old rpg games; it’s why L5R or CoC or any other old edition is just better.
I’ve heard the Blue Rose system highly recommended as a return to role-playing, though. I personally recommend Deliria, a modern-fairy tale system, which uses no dice at all.
I think the d20 system works quite well as a replacement system for some games. The the old Star Wars rules come to mind, I always thought those were a bit sketchy. However for CoC, the original Chaosium system is definitely the way to go. It a very elegant system that is perfectly matched with the tone of the game. And one of the beauties of it is that the Keeper is the only one who really needs a rulebook, and during actual game play, all you really need are the monster stats and the Resistance Table. Ya gotta love the elegance of a system where just about anything can be resolved using one table.
RKB said:
GEBIV: Wait. I thought Gimli was the last one into the dungeon?
He was. I've always wondered why. I can accept that Legolas, as an elf and quasi-angel, would not be afraid, and that Aragorn and the rest of the Dunedain are hard-boiled enough not to get scared, but I always wondered why Gimli was so frightened. You might think that as a member of one of the elder races he'd share a portion of the same fearlessness Legolas has.
That said, I love this version. Fhtagn!
********************************************************
Elves do not fear the ghosts of men or other creatures because of the fact that death is not a mystery to them. There is no sense of the unknown and unknowable for them. They are simply aware that to die is to be sent to Mandos halls from which they will not be able to leave. Mandos’ halls, however, are easily reachable by living people that know how to get to the west.
In Tolkien’s Earth, a lot of the fear of the undead comes from the fact that the men and dwarves know so very little of what happens after they die. Everything about that existence is totally alien to them.
Elves and Half-Elves that choose Immortality, are bound by Fate, and thus they have little fear of the uncertainty of the future. However, that also means that they cannot really escape it.
Humanity and Dwarves and Hobbits are NOT bound by Fate, which means that they usually remain in middle-earth only for a short while before moving on to places that not even the Valar know. This was intended as a gift, but Melkor corrupted the perception of it in the beginning so that the transition from life to death is filled with terror and dread.
It might even be somewhat worse for dwarves as they are not the products of Eru like Men and Elves, but rather a craft of Aule and though they were finally approved of by Eru, they don’t have quite the same stamp of authenticity behind them.
This is possibly why the minor rings did not work on them in the same way they worked on the Nine. Originally, the Nine and the Seven all belonged to the elves who made the Three. When Sauron crafted the One and placed it on the finger, all the wearers of the Rings were open to his power, however, since the Three were made WITHOUT his help and knowledge, they were not as vulnerable to the One. As such, the elves were able to take their rings off and not use them.
Sauron made war on the Elven smiths then, and obliterated that nation, taking the Nine and the Seven back for his own use while the elves managed to sneak the Three out to Elrond, Galadriel and the master of the Grey Havens. At this point, the Nine and the Seven were not regarded as seperate kinds, but then Sauron began using them as bribes to dwarves and men. The rings worked exactly as intended on the Men, but the dwarves proved resistant and only became greedier.
If a human were to find one of the remaining of the Seven Dwarven Rings (the majority seem to have been destroyed) then they would act on them most likely in the same way they acted on the Nazghul…in essence creating a tenth full Nazghul (rather than a mere minor wraith such as Frodo would have become from the stab)
That is an instance where the differences of dwarven nature is a benefit.
However, because they cannot be even as sure as humans are about their place in the afterlife (and humans, not being bound by Fate, know very little of their possible reward or torment) they are more shaken than other races by ghosts and places haunted.
Aragorn, the Grey Company and the Sons of Elrond, all being Dunedains and Half-Elves that chose mortality, would have been shaken, but had also had many years to prepare for this point, knowing, after all, that Aragorn was likely going to have to walk this road at some point.
“Elves do not fear the ghosts of men or other creatures because of the fact that death is not a mystery to them. There is no sense of the unknown and unknowable for them.”
True.
“They are simply aware that to die is to be sent to Mandos halls from which they will not be able to leave.”
Not exactly. Most elves eventually leave Mandos’ halls and become re-embodied. Some of the few exceptions include Feanor’s mother, who refused to leave the halls of Mandos; and Feanor himself, who is not allowed to leave until the end of the world. The Sons of Feanor likewise cannot leave the halls of Mandos until the end of the world because of their oath and the evil deeds they committed as a result of their oath.
Other elves, such as Glorfindel of the Fountain (of Gondolin), the Balrog-slayer, wind up becoming re-embodied and are even found on Middle-earth in time to encounter hobbits and become part of their story.
“Aragorn, the Grey Company and the Sons of Elrond, all being Dunedains and Half-Elves that chose mortality, would have been shaken, but had also had many years to prepare for this point, knowing, after all, that Aragorn was likely going to have to walk this road at some point.”
Point A. The Sons of Elrond did NOT choose mortality. They chose to be Elves and go to the West with their father Elrond and rejoin their mother, who had already gone to Valinor. The only one of Elrond and Celebrian’s children who did not choose Elfdom and immortality was Arwen, who chose to stay on Middle-earth, marry Aragon, and be mortal (the Choice of Luthien).
Point B. Dunedain is already a plural, meaning “Men of the West, Numenorean.” The singular is Dunadan, “Man of the West,” or “Numenorean,” as is explained in “Fellowship of the Ring” by Bilbo to Frodo when he asks why Bilbo refers to Aragorn as “The Dunadan.”
Yes, I MAY be a pedant. I’m also rereading Lord of the Rings for about the 50th time…
This comic seriously irks me. We have plenty of proof that this GM is bad, but when he tried to take control of gimli that way, I felt disdain for him. Kinda silly, since he’s a fictional character, but I still felt it nonetheless. You just don’t ever take control of your PC’s like that. You can make a fear check or whatever, but blatantly suddenly putting it “Your character, and no one else, is afraid now” is just completely unacceptable to me. If he had been my GM, I’d either have stabbed him with a pencil or walked away.
Since this has turned into a CoC / Lovecraft thread, I must contribute.
If you can have Call of Cthulhu 1890’s…
…and Call of Cthulhu 1920’s…
…and Call of Cthulhu 1990’s…
…then why can’t you play Call of Cthulhu 2020’s?
This is my excuse for mixing up Cyberpunk with CoC.
“Sanity” equals “Humanity” after all.
And the best part is………………..
…you don’t even have to tell your Cyberpunk players that the game has gone Lovecraft on them. Let them figure it out on their own. Makes a nice touch on the Sanity–I mean, Humanity check rolls.
Cenobyte: “why can't you play Call of Cthulhu 2020's?”
Who says you can’t? http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/cthulhupunk/
Sadly out of print now, but still available on many game store shelves as I recall.
Cenobite: Your method works well enough for a couple modules to have been published in the 1990s. On top of that there’s always “GURPS: Cthulhupunk”
Love this comic.
Don’t have much to post about, but i will beat the following drums:
Railroading = bad.(try to do it in more subtle ways, would you? or have the GM start actually playing well. It’s overemphasized, and is getting annoying for me as a reader.)
Tolkien = awesome. (I understood every discussion so far, and would comment more, but I don’t like over-long posts)
Complained about really setting the mood effectively. (if your -players- aren’t scared, don’t expect your -characters- to act that way)
Now then, I want to suggest a more suitable last line.
“Until then, I’m going in. You ladies can follow when you develop the testicular fortitude.”
hehehe….Once one of my church leaders something similar said that…in game.
Fhtagn!
Phew, good to see a new comic up. Just for a second I thought the last one might have been it and I would have to discover new ways to procrastinate.
I started with Runequest and a little COC (can’t beat old squid face). Always preferred the % die over d20 (ah, the fun of critical hits and fumble tables…)
I love the purple prose. With all honesty I can say it almost – not quite, but almost – achieved the same level as the Song of the Sorcerelator…
Rued it hard!
:D
I think some of the other posters might be missing the point of this comic entire (besides the high entertainment value).
The entire thing is showing extreme examples of generally bad play by everyone invovled in the game, GM and players. This is what makes the “campaign” humorous. I feel some amount of pity for those of you getting annoyed by the character interaction, but I humbly direct you to the fact that this entire strip is a highly exaggerated satire about gaming in general.
That being said: if you have nothing nice to say about the hard work Shamus puts forth on a weekly basis, go somewhere else and bitch.
Keep up the stellar work Shamus!
I have to throw my hat in on:
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
as being my favorite HPL story.
Simply because he hits the protagonist with one event atop another, each slightly more horrifying than the last. And it takes place in my family’s home state. :D
I liked it so much I made a painting (a few years ago) of an early scene from the story: http://www.h3adlin3.com/acrylic_temple.html
I also recommend the movie Dagon, based off of the story, It gets kinda hokey at the end but otherwise a solid effort from the same folks who gave us Re-animator.
Pretty sure Gimli encountered a Cthulhuian minion right around someone spoke “friend” to enter…
One of the easiest forms of player-manipulation there is. ;-)
If you want them to go somewhere, talk up how dangerous it is and how afraid of it they are.
If you want them to fight X person/monster, tell them he/she/it scares them.
Instead of having to sit around for two hours while they plan out what they’re going to do, they’ll just jump in with both feet. Saves lots of time. :-)
you know you are dealing with a CoC player when any of the fallowing happens
He grabs all of the magic books, bt refuses to open, look at, or contomplate what the leather is made from without his doctor present
he fails all perseption checks on perpouse
ask “Is this where the Dybuki eats me” every time the party opens a door.
runs from most encounters, but not before shooting one of the other party members in the leg “I just need ot run faster then YOU”
Cenobite….my players once asked why we never played cuthulu in the modern day (I allways ran it in the 1920’s). well I finaly releanted…They where like kids in a candy store loading up on Uzi’s and what not…..the look on their faces when they relised that the cultists had more men, money, and access to guns was just priceless :)
Really? Transitioning from 1920s to 1990s and all they could think of was Uzis? Uzis being, I hasten to add, largely less effective than a 1921 Thompson and much harder to get ahold of since 1986? There were astounding advances in most areas of human enterprise between 1920 and 1990, but SMGs were not one of them.
One time had a party, instead of travelling deeper into the forest to track the raiding gnolls to their home base, a keep where a haunt had been suppressed and then reawakened, walk back to town to sell stuff and fashion magic items. Only one player, the half-orc monk, traveled all the way to the keep to see why the gnolls were concerned with what was going on.
He got to the castle and discovered that he was being followed by the party’s excuse for a cleric (a young, naive accident prone Eilistrae drow cleric that one of the other PCs was always trying to bed…eventually succeeded).
Anyway, they hung around the keep for a little bit until the ear-piercing scream tore through the scene and the lowbie cleric NPC froze up. Half-orc monk grabbed her and ran, catching a glimpse of a huge dog running from out of the walls behind him.
Later (about one, maybe two days), said monk returned with the rest of the party and the entire keep was surrounded in a mesh of dead vines. The player turned a wide-eyed look to the other players and said, very softly:
“That wasn’t there before.”
Luke (Thrythlind) Said:
“Humanity and Dwarves and Hobbits are NOT bound by Fate, which means that they usually remain in middle-earth only for a short while before moving on to places that not even the Valar know. This was intended as a gift, but Melkor corrupted the perception of it in the beginning so that the transition from life to death is filled with terror and dread.
It might even be somewhat worse for dwarves as they are not the products of Eru like Men and Elves, but rather a craft of Aule and though they were finally approved of by Eru, they don't have quite the same stamp of authenticity behind them.”
You were good as gold up until the speculation about Dwarves and their fear of death. Dwarves are firm believers in re-incarnation in Tolkien’s world. It is referenced in one of the Appendices IIRC. It’s also the reason why, if you look at the Dwarven family tree’s Tolkien provides there are umpteen “Durins”. It’s also why the original is sometimes referred to as “Durin the Deathless”. Of course, the fact that this appelation is applied to Durin may be an indication that Dwarves only believe in reincarnation for the original Seven Fathers of the Dwarves. Personally though, I think it make s more sense to assume that reincarnation is a general belief among the Dwarves. If you think about it, it kind of makes sense. In Tolkien’s world only Eru can provide a true animating spirit. It makes sense that he may have only provided a limited number of such spirits for his “adopted children”, Aule’s Dwarves.
moonglum Said:
“Cenobite….my players once asked why we never played cuthulu in the modern day (I allways ran it in the 1920's). well I finaly releanted…They where like kids in a candy store loading up on Uzi's and what not…..the look on their faces when they relised that the cultists had more men, money, and access to guns was just priceless :)”
What’s even better is when they realize that in most cases, bullets are almost completely useless against most Mythos creatures. *wicked GM laugh* :)
oldschoolGM, hmm, yeah, I thought about mentioning the dwarven reincarnation thing, but it only came up a few times. In all honesty, my dwarven history is weak when it comes to Tolkien.
However, that may even be more reason to fear the undead. If there are limited numbers of dwarf spirits, then what happens when their spirit runs afoul of an undead critter. You’re not just killing yourself off, but all the rest of your lives as well.
Hmmm… good point!
omg button next is gone. WTB! :)
Hmmm last time I played CoC our group was in Egypt having a running gun battle with a legion of Ghouls, they drove us into a tomb and we figured ourselves safe(albiet trapped for the moment) when it became obvious the tomb was already occupied, we turn around and find oursleves face to face with one of the lesser eldar gods, a few rolls latter and everyone had passed their SAN checks.
Face to face with horror itself and armed with shotguns…
I used to run a modern CoC campaign myself and based on my experiences, I would heartily recommend that players stick to the usual 1920’s setting instead.
Why? Players in modern CoC campaign know what they have access to, and they will come up with all sorts of wackjob ideas that the rules simply cannot cover. For example, one player was a complete gun nut and was forever trying to introduce new weapons which were LOADS better than the ones detailed in the source material. His argument always was, “But they exist in real life! Why can’t I buy one in the game? This game’s meant to be based on our time period, right?” This extended to all manner of new explosives and detonation techniques as well. One party member even went so far as to buy a pickup truck and load it to the gills with as much ammunition, det-cord, and even about 20 or so anti-personnel mines (purchased on the black market with help from the ‘Criminal’ party member) as he could.
Because the party was affiliated with a secret sub-section of the US military charged with investigating supernatural activity, they pretty much had immunity to annoying things like nosy cops and concerned citizens. (Looking back on it, that was probably my fault for setting them up like that, but I have a player group who LOVES combat and I figured such a setup would be the best way to get them into the campaign).
Anyway, the group kept resorting to its weaponry and various other high-tech gadgets to solve problems. Try as I might, it’s hard to make characters really FEAR for their characters when they’re packing enough lead and C4 to take down Fort Knox. Even Mythos monsters (with the exception of the Great Old Ones) will die if a character with 10 explosive belts strapped to his body hurls himself at the monster and detonates himself.
On a related note, characters can survive much more easily in a modern era where they have access to hospitals, advanced modern surgery, and state-of-the-art drugs. The game is MUCH more creepy when the only known ‘treatment’ for psychosis is radical lobotomic surgery, instead of just popping a few pills. ;)
So, my advice to other CoC GMs. Keep ’em poor, keep ’em ill-equipped. And bring on the SAN checks! :P
Yup, another sign that your narrative and other DMing skills are slipping — the anecdotes come out from other campaigns when you’re trying to establish mood.
http://dreamlandtoyworks.com/my_little_cthulhu.html
76 Zaxares Says:
May 31st, 2007 at 5:09 am
“I used to run a modern CoC campaign myself and based on my experiences”
I wonder if he made his own SAN check?
I like this Gimli SO MUCH MORE than movie Gimli.
“Currently Running a 1920's D20 Gangstergame, the coolest thing is the players dont yet KNOW its Cthulhu…. *Evil Grin*”
Oh man that is nasty, but possibly very cool – the only worry would be that the players would get shitty at you when you do the dramatic reveal.
>>So, if the text I wrote for Gimli doesn't fit CoC for whatever reason, that's why.
WTF?!?!? Where’s the rest of my post!!
*sigh*
Anyway, I said great job as usual and that as a player who cut my gaming teeth on CoC, I think you did a fine job.
Stupid computers…
If as a D&D GM you want some inspiration outside the normal vein, try Lovecrafts Dreamworld stories (The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath and … one more whose name eludes me at the moment). The Dreamworld is somewhat fantasy-like, and there are a number of things on both its design and the way it’s described that is very usable in fantasy.
I love balls!
[Zaxares] Yep, you fell for one of the standard, cross-the-RPG-board gotchas there. Any time you remove a “govenor” rule or suggestion (avoiding combat is mearly a suggestion in Call of Cthulhu) from a game the wheels come off. RPG’s, because of their nature, tend to go pear-shaped much more quickly than other types of game. In D&D there are a number of annoying “limitation” rules that are typically removed by DMs. You’ll hear them complaining of the game being “broken” all the time, but the fact is they removed the lug nuts themselves and didn’t put anything back in their place.
I had the same problem with a realworld gun nut as you did. I tried my standard approach of “okay, which of the template weapons in the rules fits your weapon choice?” but he wanted all sorts of mods. Which I let him have, eventually. He still wasn’t happy, of course.
He got even more unhappy when tgheir first monster turned out to be incorporeal and he couldn’t shoot it.
Was this monster in the rulebook? Sorta. The thing that many of the newer Call of Cthulhu players forget is that there is no requirement that any one monster ever be met again. They certainly weren’t in the stories. If I need something like a shoggoth (big gun without modding it) that is immune to massed bazooka fire, I mod the thing to minimise the chances of it dying by that mode of attack.
That’s not to say I believe that combat/demolitions should be ineffective, but my campaigns try and emphasise the rewards of coming up with the most elegant and least fallout-intense solution. I let my last game’s team blow away a bunch of nasties, but they also set a forest fire as a result and burned out two communities. What a shame they left all sorts of evidence around too. Had they not, they would have lived to game another day. As it was, many of them died as a result of the penal system.
Inelegant, d’y’ see? The results were inevitable given the execution.
Also, when players get too well kitted out with modern explosives, it’s time to re-read the insanity rules and re-examine your own stance on “getting used to the awfulness”. A couple of madders in posession of that massive arsenal should give everyone in the party pause for thought.
But I agree with you that the Modern epoch is the least attractive from a GM point of view. I like the 1920s because it allows the disconnect from the real world that is vital for getting the players in character.
Steve.
[Shamus] For one of the best visualisations of a Cthulhoid manifestation, see the end scenes in “Hellboy”.
Then add in everyone going the teensiest bit mad upon seeing it, reduce the effectiveness of the grenade belts a tad, throw in a bunch of murderous cultist worshippers and Shub Niggurath’s yer uncle.
I thought you did very well for a Call of Cthulhu neophyte.
8E
Steve.
Hey! Not every Cthulhu character goes mad or dies. I’ve got a character who’s very much alive.
(The fact that he has screaming fits in the presence of paintings and has extensive tattoos that stop his skin from turning inside out every three days, is beside the point!)
I’m confused.. nobody said, “First”.. how am I to know who was first? Damn.
MORE
Na they wont get angry… although they are gettig annoyed by the sanity rules I’m “testing” lol the whole game is coming off with a kinda sin city feel at the moment
And d20 works… why? cause the players know the rules, I know the rules, so in the end we can all just forget the rules, move on and have a brillient game without looking up th rule book every 20 mins with cthulhu that could really hurt the atmosphere and awesomeness.
“Currently Running a 1920's D20 Gangstergame, the coolest thing is the players dont yet KNOW its Cthulhu…. *Evil Grin*”
Hmm, reminds me of when I was in college and a DM was running a Recon game(authentic, ultra-deadly Vietnam RPG). Somehow, down the line, the game got mixed up with elements of supernatural horror, and the VC weren’t the only things to be afraid of in the jungle.
I’m just proud of myself for inserting a C of C reference into a Lebanese political conspiracy thread. Comparing the effects on SAN of trying to figure out Lebanon and investigating Cthulhu cultists.
*I thought Gimli was the last one into the dungeon?*
That was the movie, this comic is messing with the movie shots. Yes, in the story, Gimli was the last person to enter, and yes he was freaking frightened. I’ve just finished watching “Return of the King” on DVD and I know that’s what happened.
However, all bets are off in a webcomic. Remember, this comic has Gimli portrayed by a veteran role-player.
And one more thing, if my DM started saying “Okay, you’re so scared you **** your pants”, I’ll get up and storm out of that house and never speak to that guy again. I’m with Gimli’s player – you can go ahead and drag us all over Mordor or whatever, but the instant you start dictating how their characters act, you’re only going to lose your group.
I have a paper copy of a DUNGEON Magazine adventure called “Horror’s Harvest”, which is a Ravenloft adventure where the PCs enter a town which is housing a doppleganger plant, which possesses the villagers and slowly devours their bodies from within, while making them act natural. Now, there’s a chance someone’s character in the gaming group will get possessed by this creature. The adventure text gives ideas on how to throw suspicion away from the fact that the person is possessed.
However, nowhere in this adventure does the text tell the DM to go and take control of the player’s character as an NPC unless the player refuses to work with you. If I were a crass DM who spent his time controlling the PCs’ actions, I deserve to lose my gaming group for good. That’s rude DM behavior and true DMs would see it as a breach of your players’ respect. I’d never do that if I DM’d a group.
Sorry for the rant, guys. I got carried away.
However, all bets are off in a webcomic.
Indeedy. Anyone who thinks otherwise should remember what happened to Gollum.
Natural 20! Woot!
I just wanted to give a shout out to oldschoolGM and Thrythlind. We might not know one another, but it’s nice to see other Tolkien historians willing to share their lore in a non-confrontational tone. Thanks for sharing Your insights and thanks also to Shamus for providing a site to serve as the hall of the tale-fire around which we might gather.
Nai hiruvalye Valimar…
“Shandrunn Says: Look guys, it's the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft.”
O_O + :O
I’ll second what Laithoron said: The internet is a wasteland of uninformed people calling each other idiots, and it really makes me smile to see knowledgeable people trading ideas without trading barbs.
“The internet is a wasteland of uninformed people calling each other idiots, and it really makes me smile to see knowledgeable people trading ideas without trading barbs.”
Hear, hear! The comics here are excellent, but what makes this site really nice is the discussions that evolve around them.
Anyway, this was another a great installment of the comic. Using that shot to represent Gimli going in first = genius.
“Hmm, reminds me of when I was in college and a DM was running a Recon game(authentic, ultra-deadly Vietnam RPG). Somehow, down the line, the game got mixed up with elements of supernatural horror, and the VC weren't the only things to be afraid of in the jungle.”
Didn’t they make a film of that?
Gotta love Predator.
Gimli looks bored when saying about the freaky monster.
I’m pretty sure that the Elves in Tolkien’s books return from the Halls of Mandos to the realm of the living, it just only occurs when ‘the stars are right’ (when they’re fated to).
Bad GM for not asking for a save roll! And Cthulhu players represent, yo!
My general gming method is to make stats for the characters the players are likely to encounter, detail places, motivations, personalities, strategic tendencies, tactical tendencies and the like.
I don’t actually create a timeline save for things that AREN’T under player control with a few exceptions.
One such example was my A-Kon Mutants and Masterminds game: Heritage. In the first adventure the characters were GOING to get dumped into the abandoned levels of the compound, it didn’t matter which way they went, because wherever they went, the bad guys would be pursuing them, and bringing the grenades, which are what cause the floor to give out and dumping the party down into fire-ant swarm infested realms.
For the remaining two game sessions of that convention (when I ran the mid-game and the high-game in the same universe) I heard the following:
“Are there any ants?”
[RoxySteve from #86] Yep. Consider my lesson learned. :S However, as I said, my party LOVES combat and whenever they encounter an adversary their first line of action is to try to blow it away. And when they can’t, they complain that I sent them an impossible monster. :P
I’m trying to wean them off that attitude and get the point across that CoC is not about the commonly-held belief that “big explosions solve everything”. I think I’m making some progress, mostly because the last adventure involved them trekking to an ancient Mayan temple which held one of the brothers of Chaugnar Fhaugn. As I expected, when the party encountered the beast, their first course of action was to flee, then rig the exterior of the temple with probably a megaton of high explosives and bring the whole thing crashing down upon the creature.
Upon which I then revealed that the ‘ally’ of the party, a local pastor, had duped them into blowing up the temple, because doing so also destroyed the ancient runes that kept the Great Old One bound there. *evil cackle* (Said Great Old One seemed little the worse for wear despite having several thousand tons of rock dumped on his head) With his god free, the cultist and the freed brother then attacked the party, forcing them to flee the region with the most unseemly haste.
SAN checks are indeed the best way to keep gun-crazy players in check, but again, I refer to my original post where I point out the other problem about playing in modern campaigns; access to modern medical technology and breakthroughs. Although each of my players has at least two minor insanities, they can keep the insanities in check with various drugs. I could, of course, arrange for the players to lose their medications, but that would just seem contrived.
I’m sorry about criticising my fellow boarders, but lots of people seem really quick to do the “if my DM does this, I’ll stand up, walk away and never talk to them again”… surely it’s a bit excessive? In the very comic, for much as they usually do the absolutely wrong thing most of the time, Gimli’s player actually presented his grievance to the DM well enough that it should be enough for him to learn his lesson. It probably won’t, just because Shamus isn’t done milking this particular foible for all the laughs he can, but ordinarily…
In other words, if you think your DM has done something absolutely stupid, come clean with them. Maybe, just maybe, they will concede the point and then everyone will just be better off for it… right?
rkb wrote:
He was. I've always wondered why. I can accept that Legolas, as an elf and quasi-angel, would not be afraid, and that Aragorn and the rest of the Dunedain are hard-boiled enough not to get scared, but I always wondered why Gimli was so frightened. You might think that as a member of one of the elder races he'd share a portion of the same fearlessness Legolas has.
That said, I love this version. Fhtagn!
Aragorn was the first because he is the only one with sword vs undead (you would do the same, not going in before the only one who can damage them!), and Gimli let Legolas first because Legolas is such a woman, and Gimli was trying to be gentleman, ladies first, and stuff. hehe
Aww, man! I stop checking for a couple of days to play Guild Wars and a Call of Cthulhu reference slips past! Now any SAN references I might make are stale! Sweet Baby Cthulhu is going to eat my soul!
This post is going to show my age :))
58 Cenobite Says:
May 30th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Since this has turned into a CoC / Lovecraft thread, I must contribute.
If you can have Call of Cthulhu 1890's…
…and Call of Cthulhu 1920's…
…and Call of Cthulhu 1990's…
…then why can't you play Call of Cthulhu 2020's?
Hmm I suddenly thought of a game set in Sealab 2020 and they discover a mysterious non-Euclidian ruin on the ocean floor >:)
“scldragonfish Says:I love balls!”
*Sigh* Where were you when I was single…
Wtrmute: “I'm sorry about criticising my fellow boarders, but lots of people seem really quick to do the “if my DM does this, I'll stand up, walk away and never talk to them again”… surely it's a bit excessive?”
No, but “if my DM does this, I’ll drive a truck full of C4 into him” might be excessive…
I have had one or two DMs do that, but under the circumstances I don’t blame them. It’s not reasonable in the general case, but there are cases when the player is calmly reasoning out a tactical reaction to a revelation of mind-shattering horror and it’s a quick shorthand way to let the player know that he’s, shall we say, insufficiently immersed.
Okay, so it’s several months after the comic was posted… and I’m wondering if anyone still reads these… but I figured I’d throw my two cents in anyway.
My Call of Cthulhu GM used to refer to the game as ‘the Quest for Middle Management’. The characters, assuming they lived long enough, and managed to keep the ebb of sanity to a slow, downward spiral, would eventually find that they’d gained enough notoriety and proficiency in otherworldly matters that one or more otherworldly entities would go recruiting… usually with an offer they couldn’t refuse.
And that’s when we knew that we’d won the game.
Go go Cthulhu players!
Three options with Heroic Cthulhu:
LISTEN:
MP3's of tabletop roleplaying (Heroic Cthulhu)
You can either get individual game MP3’s here:
http://heroiccthulhu.mypodcast.com/index.html
or subscribe to the podcast here:
http://heroiccthulhu.mypodcast.com/rss.xml
Yes, it is free.
JOIN:
If you are able to attend a tabletop gaming session (RPG) in Hoffman Estates, IL, e-mail me at logan9a[AT]yahoo.com
DISCUSS:
The Heroic Cthulhu boards can be found at: http://heroiccthulhu.proboards105.com/index.cgi
Enjoy!
Logan
wow. gimli is crazeeeeeee
You rock SHAMAN
what the heck is wrong with gimli? I mean, the description is scary but…I dunno.
Cthulus rule!
For those of you looking for a local gaming group, check out NearbyGamers.
Off topic but you may like it…
We were at a party with my teenage son. The dinner consisted of several casseroles, etc, including 2 curries.. one labelled ‘Balls’, the other ‘No Balls’.
After a while, son says: ‘Gee this curry is really hot but I can’t find the meat balls.’ !!!!
“Hastur-Blaster rules R’lyeh.”
I don’t know exactly why, but the last box in this strip actually made me laugh so my eyes watered.
I have to say, it’s not just Call of Cthulhu that gets you jaded. Play enough Rifts or read enough Sandman or Spawn and pretty soon “That thing has a mask made of a skull” is a trite cliche. Mixing that up can be hard:
1) Gross-out. “A mask made of multiple shrunken skulls. One seems to be winking at you.”
2) Psychological horror. “As you walk towards the mirror and touch it, it becomes cold to the touch. Your image in the mirror smiles back and lunges at you.” Or, much better, “The TV randomly turns on. The channel slides up and down, but the screen stays the same. It seems to be a sitcom. The cheerleader comes home to find her family murdered. She laughs and says, ‘Oh, Cthulhu!’ Tentacles explode from the screen.”
3) Visceral cruelty and brutality. My favorite, and this one really worked, was to have a player after getting his ass kicked be thrown into a mass grave. They figure out that it’s bodies only after being dug up.
Wow first comment and that description by Gimli was awesome to read.
I’m a keeper of Call of Cthulhu myself, I usualy make “one shot” games during night with around 12 players and no rules, I just make them roll a d 100 to give an aproximation on their success at doing things and I take in consideration their employement…
When I did my first game some of my players were so scared they wouldn’t go outside alone during night for a full week irl… During the game some of them refused to do some actions like going back to the car even in group or to even think of going through a dark trap in the roof. In this whole game they saw only shadows and 4 cultists. That’s the power of description :p and a good embiance… We got some great rp scenes and theatrical moments with a light closing right at the crucial moment of a sinister description.
My other games were not as great but enough to make one of my players going hysterical for real… and other to make nightmares for some time.
My last experiment was to make a campain with a single player and having all my other players being “gms” secretly in league with me. We railroaded him secretly to be stuck in a time loop. The guy is now paranoà¯d for real… Not bad in a sence since he was so guilible.
My personal oppinion of Call of Cthulhu: Greatest game ever. Yay for applied psycology!
(sorry for all my mistakes in english it’s not my main language)
Lazy enough not to read EVERY comments here,TSR publish a CoC/d20 rule,witch I cruely aplied to my D&D campain;the Sanity check(% roll on a wis score X5)kept my players on their toes(particularly after an immaterial/invisible creature attack after the gnome spoted it with detect invisibility). I mean,some creatures are so horrible that even PC’s should be afraid of them,and not just charge headlong into them hoping for XP’s.CoC/d20 had a list of every monster in the MM and their horror factor,so PC’s can fear a Mindflayer but not an Orc…
Trail of Cthulhu is really awesome. It’s pro.
Angels and demons alike weep to hear its name read aloud and the very heavens and earth sunder at the invocation of such potent distillation of raw RPGing.
You forgot all the tentacles…
That is not dead which can eternal lie …
… kinda like this campaign.
:)
Wow, before this there were 128 comments, and it said:
27 comments. Sweet.
That’s (in case this doesn’t work) 2, then super-script 7.
Does it do this for all the powers of 2?
BOO-YAA!!! Never mess with a CoC-er!!! >:D ;)
that scared me a little bit.
so he’s saying that Gimli’s player failed a sanity check in cuthulu..;-)
I was expecting the punchline to be that Gimli just scared the GM. “I want my mum!”
DM: Make a Will saving throw.
Gimli: *rolls* 15.
DM: There. You’re Shaken. You now have -2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.
Gimli: I hate this campaign.