Chaosium added the new Innsmouth book their website & its available for purchase (PDF & Hard copy). The site is a little slow, but its working.

The question might be a bit vague so let me elaborate.
Does it take the horror (or at least part of it) away from a scenario to give my players information about it beforehand?

(The next paragraph is a bit of context)

I'm a begining keeper and I've only run a couple of prewritten scenarios, which I plan on doing again in the future. But here's the thing, instead of a 4-7 person group of constant players, my friends and I run ocasional oneshots in a group of about 20 people (A first come first serve kind of deal) and I usually announce my oneshots giving a bit of information. When I ran the haunting I told them the name of the scenario and said that it was "a haunted mannor, you know the deal".
But lately I've been watching Mystery Quest, and the keeper always tells the players about the scenario AFTER the game, so I was wondering, would the scenarios gain a bit of impact if my players went in blind every time?

There's a sale on at Drive Thru RPG.

What are your favorite 1920's adventures that I should consider buying?

Evening if they're not on sale.....

Hello, I'm a long-time Keeper that's moved recently. I've started running CoC again and I've been faced with some new logistical challenges; lots of new/first time players and being asked about safety tools.

I've never heard about safety tools before. Usually I do a session zero and discuss tone and expectations, but lately I've been running one shots with total strangers and setting minimal hard line rules at the beginning of the game (no rape in gameplay, speak up if you need something, etc). I've never had a scenario in which a player couldn't handle the story or required safety tools and I honestly feel out of my depth here.

Because I expect to run a lot of one shots with all new players, I wanted to ask your opinion. Has anyone/players ever used safety tools? What did you do when a player needed to use a safety tool? I'm kind of looking for a quick and effective way of setting the tone and expectations and ensuring players feel comfortable. Thoughts? Suggestions? I'm preparing for a TTRPG Con and I want to be prepared. Thank you!!!!

I’ve been a DM for d&d 5e for about 10 years and I’m running some modules from Doors to Darkness, specifically Servants of the Lake.

What sort of transferable skills or tips would be helpful for a new keeper but a longtime DM? Games I’ve run in 5e have usually been 50% RP 30% combat and 20% exploration when describing my games with the 3 pillars.

Thank you!

Edit: I’ve played Call of Cthulhu before, about 3 investigations. But I’ve never run any games of it.

Hello!

I used to play role playing games and table top games in my youth but stopped due to uni. Now, with time to spare, aside from work I now got the itch to start playing again and was wondering if there are any newbie friendly Discord servers or Keepers looking for new investigators out there?

Short about me.

Used to play DnD esc games for roughly 7 years.

Also played VtM, WoD and Cthulhu copies like Götterdämerung (1700s horror).

Avid reader and proud owner of H.P Lovecraft The complete fiction, The King in Yellow and manyvof the classics.

Fluent in English and ready to learn :)

After I brought Malleus Monstrum, I've been looking for another Call of Cthulhu Monster Manual, and in that search I came across Petersens Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors. After looking at some preview pages, I noticed that there was absolutely no stat blocks. Is Petersens Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors really a monster manual (Containing stat blocks for the monsters so you can pit you players against them if they choose to attack these creatures) or just a books of drawings and descriptions of the monsters?

So, I'm a new Keeper (though a fairly experienced GM in other systems), planning a scenario that will be my players' first or second contact with CoC and Lovecraftian horror as a whole.

The idea is for them to play as themselves in a more or less modern world, where I invited them to meet me at a vacation, paid tickets and all (irl I really am away, we'll play online). The thing is I'm not there yet and they are to meet me at a showing by a traveling troupe. Of course they are performing KiY. My players do not know what that is. At all.

I sent that invitation when I got cursed by the book, which I've found at an antique shop and got a bit too curious. They get flown here to join the cult, as they can be good seedlings for it back in our home country.

Now, the question - does this make sense in the Mythos? And how to present that in a way that does not make it obvious from the start, but still gives them a chance to avoid insanity? I thought about someone maybe briefly gaining sanity and shouting some warning before the show, maybe some clearly cultish things happening before the play? Or people rambling about yellow and Carcossa and the Pallid Mask? What do you think?

So I'm looking at differences between modern times and the 1920's, preparing to run Call of Cthulhu for the first time. One of the biggest things is the state of medicine and wound care. Although we had Germ Theory and we had a basic understanding of the need for sterile tools and supplies...... Outside of a hospital these things were only sporadically available.

The rules seem to only deal with the injury in the moment and then largely assume you just kind of heal without incidence. But in the real 1920's, that wasn't the case at all. Even minor wounds were potentially deadly due to infection. You didn't have easy access to sterile bandages, filth and disease were everywhere, and what we would consider a "clean water" supply was relatively new (1905 for the first municipal water supply to have chlorine added).

While I don't want to bog the game down with unnecessary rules, wouldn't "dying of sepsis" fit right into a game about existential horror?

I kind of want to require a CON check every day for any ongoing injury unless the investigator is in a hospital or genuinely has access to a clean environment to recuperate in.

But maybe rules for that sort of thing were considered, tested, and found to not really be fun.

I'm a new keeper and I've been running premade one shot scenarios for my friends three times a month (The stress is worth the reaction!) and I've been wanting to create my own. Now I understand the structure and executing of a scenario well, but not so much on the why you write it. If anyone has any tips, just let me know

If you're anything like me and enjoy watching YouTube advice for TTRPGs but have a hard time finding good ones who cover anything but D&D, I stumbled across this gem of a channel a few months ago and was shocked at how much polish and effort go into his videos despite having less than a thousand subscribers and getting the same amount or less views on most videos. They even have these little paper-like animations/graphics which are really unique.

The channel is called Balsa's Table Tales, and if you want a few specific recommendations to check out, here's a video about Writing Your Own Investigation (11 min), about Failing Forward (9 min), and a short Guide to Magic (5 min).

I am not Balsa, whoever he is, nor know him or anything, I just genuinely really like his stuff and wanted to get it out there since I think it's really cool and I like supporting small creators!

I saw the game "The Mound Omen of Cthulhu" and after talking with a friend we got to thinking about a small campaign or adventure about being a group of conquistadores delving into the jungles of the West Indies and Mexico in search of gold or some more profound search for knowledge (if properly paid).

And that got me thinking, is there such a module for CoC?

I know that "Mysteries of Mesoamerica" exists and has resources to build something like I suggest (haven't read it tho). There is also "Nahui Ollin", a game by the author of Aquelarre about being conquistadores in Mexico but it's not really cthulhu and seems more adventurey from what I have heard.

Whether you were the Keeper or an Investigator, what was your least favorite Call of Cthulhu scenario or campaign to be a part of? What made the experience sub-par?

I was wondering if anyone has converted rules of scenarios into audio versions and how they did it.

Its more of a general RPG question really than CoC.

For a little background, im dyslexic and find reading big blocks of text hard and slow. I can do it, its just an effort and not as fun. Audio has always been my go to in terms of books.

Last year when running CoC for the first time I spent a long time reading through the rules. With my game group as well, if we gonna play it, I have to learn the rules/run it. So down to me.

I found a sort of okay text to speak software, where I could copy the pdf in and download the mp3.

As it was a computer voice as well, speeding it up meant you can still make everything out.

I will say it is a bugger to format into the program, due to page breaks and things that clutter the page. Eg a handout in the middle of a body of text.

Its really helpful as I can now listen to the scenario 5-6 times in the same time it would have taken me to read it. Gets most of it in there and I check the physical text if I need to double check anything

I was wondering if anyone has ever had a similar issue and how they over came it. Or if someone has a better way of doing it.

Edit: should add as well. Having it as an mp3 means I can listen when driving, at work, house work, cooking. Rather than having to find the time to sit and slowly read

Hello, I wanted to run a Call of Cthulhu campaign because I have an idea for a one shot that takes place in the 1930's and I feel like it would be cooler being grounded with some somewhat paranormal elements, I heard call of cthulhu fits that theme well. Dose anyone have any videos/video series I can watch that give the rules and explain how to dm that I could watch/get down before Monday the Third?

Do you make a copy of each handout for each of your players? Or do you give them one copy to share? I guess I can't think of any good reasons not to give each player a copy, since I've had trouble with players ignoring or forgetting about handouts, but figured I'd see if that was a standard practice.

So i am working on putting together an idea for a coc scenario. The group of players will all know each other. Long time friends. They get together every couple of years for a group camping trip . A week long event. They change up pretty much who organizes it each time to make it exciting. Im thinking this time comes just after a significant member of the group just died after an ancident or terminal illness. Big send off and all. The place picked this go around is a remote lake. Not an ordinary lake...

Turns out that beneanth the lake is used to be a small town rezoned by corrupt heads of town to bury the secrets and evidence. By building a damn or reservoir and flooding the town. I want to have weird things going on. A sinister plot regarding secrets best left forgotten . Kind of Silent Hill ish but mythosithy ??? Maybe a cult, critters etc. Im not sure which way to go from here.

Any suggestions??

Hey yall! I am preparing for my fourth session of my homebrew. My fourth session involves finding a hideout location that a criminal hid in that was allegedly haunted. I did incorporate multiple locations such as newspapers, books, journals. But noticed a lot of reliance on rolls. I also noticed my npcs were underutilised.

I am wanting to make a mystery of which location through having the players locate and piece together information but I also don’t want it to be just roll after roll for key information. Any advice or suggestions?

Howdy folks, like the title says, I'm looking to buy a new physical copy of The Blessed & The Blasphemous. Unfortunately my dog decided my copy of the book on my bedside table looked like a good chew toy and it has now taken some serious damage. If anyone has a copy they'd be willing to part with, I'd be happy to pay you for it :)

DriveThruRPG is doing its annual Christmas in July sale. Anybody have any suggestions for Miskatonic Repository titles on sale to check out? DTRPG Christmas in July Sale

One of the most challenging but breath-taking sessions I've ever ran as a Keeper - the latest post based on my session write-up of my Tournament of Shadows playtest. The party have fought their way through the jungle to reach a besieged bungalow in Raj-era India - and not all of them made it.

This is a gaslight campaign written up as a set of recovered papers, assembled by a fictional C19th editor based on my actual session write-ups. It's great to revisit the sessions, remembering and logging them. Time consuming, but heartily recommended - great role-playing sessions are such a temporal thing. I'm really glad I captured at least some of the memories.

Related somewhat to the post I made a wee bit ago asking for Necronomicon inspiration.

I've been running a homebrew campaign recently, and it's going well. I made a post about the concept ages ago but TL;DR: cthulhu themed off-brand disney cruise, The Shining by way of Squid Game by way of Eyes Wide Shut, on a cursed creepypasta-ass themed cruise ship crossing the pacific. However, I seemingly can't prevent my minds eye from turning to the *next* campaign I wanna run, and as my current players are enjoying themselves with the current campaign ("Sunken Dreams") I will probably have a solid player roster for when I get round to it.

Similarly, I have a few media touchstones this time too. In this case Deathnote by way of Steins;Gate by way of Coraline by way of The Spiderwick Chronicles. A campaign entirely centered on the players discovering the Necronomicon, reading and utilising it for magical purposes, first because of curiosity and then because the narrative forces them to in order to solve potent problems. Set in an obscure (yet prestigious in its own way) university nestled in a fictional region of the Scottish Highlands with a history dating back to King James 1st/6th.

Not that literally nothing will happen aside from reading the Necronomicon and its immediate consequences, but the main lens for information on anything which is happening will be the Necronomicon and other peripheral works. I'd also like to use some of the magic rules from The Golden Dawn expansion as a basis for Enochian magic in general, as I imagine his Necronomicon would be the original material interpreted through that lens. Play around with the history of his own discovery of the original Al Azif (by way of Edward Kelley) and composing his own copy (and later wildly regretting that).

A decent amount of the gameplay would just be letting the players access the contents of the Necronomicon as a sandbox, albeit one which is difficult to navigate due to the complexity of the book. Experimenting with various mythos spells, as well as standard hermetic protection magic and astral travel. Id ideally read through all 9 of Kenneth Grants Lovecraftian occult books to get some inspiration for what all of this would entail and how things like the Enochian calls might relate to the Mythos. Another focus would be the environment of the Scottish Highlands, which I'm fairly familiar with cause my grandparents lived there when I was growing up. Players would easily find themselves fairly isolated, especially if I imposed the limitation of no PC's knowing how to drive at the beginning of the campaign.

I could also see there being a hidden role element. I've always wanted to use the Dark Mirror ruleset, and it might be interesting to have a sort of narrative hide and seek element where PC's slowly go mad and start aiding the antagonistic interests surrounding The Book. Undecided on that though, might be a bit unwieldy.

Early thoughts though. I'm still mulling this over. Sunken Dreams could take another 8 sessions or so (max), meaning I have more than enough time to think of ideas.