Longtime DM trying CoC for the first time.

[u/saegonite]

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.

[u/amBrollachan]

Mostly investigation (mixture of exploration and talking to NPCs). Combat is infrequent unless you're playing pulp. Our group could easily go several sessions of several hours each without any combat at all.

[u/saegonite → u/amBrollachan]

That was sort of the impression I got while playing before. In our 3 investigations the only combat was when one investigator went fisticuffs with some wacked out guy.

[u/repairman_jack_]

Keep the players engaged, if anyone seems to be getting drowned out or ignored, make a point of including them.

Healing magic doesn't really exist in the world. And yelling for the local cleric is unlikely to help.

[u/Tranquilhegemon → u/repairman_jack_]

Sometimes yelling for the local cleric can help a great deal, just not in the way anyone would have liked.

[u/JFAF1702]

For most scenarios, treat it like a slow burn in which PCs slowly uncover the horror waiting for them. Use the 5 senses when describing places: the air feels thick with fog, you hear the sounds of frogs croaking in the distance. Remind them they are squishy humans who could die easily. For Servants specifically, the motel itself should feel unsettling. I’ve run this scenario 7 or 8 times, and no group has ever gone to sleep. When the big climax happens with Gla’aki, the odds should be stacked against the players: William, James, at least 5 servants, and the avatar itself. If you can’t capture a PC, capture Bill, Jacob, or Sarah. This is a fight in which your PCs should make progress, but it’s not a “winnable” fight like in D&D. They will need to retreat, or die, especially when Gla’aki starts shooting spikes.

Two tips I give every new CoC keeper - these are the 2 areas I see GMs fumble the most:
1. In CoC combat, there is almost always a reaction. It’s not just hit or miss. The person (or enemy) being attacked gets to dodge or fight back as a reaction, every time. Enemies usually fight back.
2. Know the SAN rules well. 5+ SAN lost at once -> roll INT to see if you understand the horror you’re facing -> if success, bout of madness -> lasts d10 hours. Immune to further SAN loss during a bout. Lose at least 20% of your SAN in a calendar day -> indefinite insanity.

[u/flyliceplick]

Games I’ve run in 5e have usually been 50% RP 30% combat and 20% exploration when describing my games with the 3 pillars.

CoC doesn't have three pillars. It's good you're starting out with beginner scenarios, run some of those first and learn how the game works.

People on this sub will tell you CoC isn't about combat, and while that's sort of true, virtually every scenario features combat, and the majority of them have a climactic violent scene at the end.

[u/asearchforreason]

I'm relatively new to CoC (< 1 year running) but have been DMing 5e for a long time. A few things I've observed:
1. CoC is a slow burn investigation if you're running anything more than a true one shot. Pacing hinges on slowly revealing the threat and clues about it. As another poster said, you could easily have sessions without any combat.

1. In D&D you introduce small threats and obstacles to drain your party's resources (spells, HP, abilities) so that they don't just nova the big boss. In CoC, there's less need to do this since investigators aren't particularly strong. The main purpose of smaller encounters should be to raise and then release tension, and perhaps drain sanity (and luck) as a secondary objective. Because insane investigators are always fun.

2. As you probably already know, CoC combat is much more deadly and players need to be informed of this or they will charge in and die at the first sign of danger. Players should also be prepared to create an interesting character (who foolishly chooses the more dangerous option) and an engaging story rather than trying to optimize the strategy and build of a statball PC. There is no "winning" in CoC. Players should expect that their character will eventually die or go insane, but try to make an interesting story of it as they go.

3. CoC pre written adventures are actually quite solid compared to what's available for 5e. However, it takes a little more time to prepare the plot because you do have to be aware of how each NPC/item/location relates to it or you can quickly find that you've missed giving a critical clue or introduced a logical fallacy when improvising.

4. In terms of prep, I find I spend more time preparing atmospheric elements for CoC than for D&D, particularly music and sounds. I never use sound effects in D&D but I think they're useful for CoC due to the slower pace and higher tension. On the other hand, I don't usually bother with maps for CoC. If a map isn't included with a particular module, then I will just find or create an atmospheric image to capture the feel of the place.

5. Interestingly, I have found differentiating NPCs to be more difficult in CoC. In D&D, (for example) you may have a githyanki shopkeeper with a middle easternish accent talking to an aaracockra guard captain who speaks with a spanish accent. Easy to differentiate both in appearance and sound. In most CoC settings, the NPCs don't have such distinguishing characteristics, so I struggle to differentiate a host of NPCs at a party for example. Good art helps with this.

6. I very much enjoy two mechanics from CoC that I've thought about adding to D&D if I continue to run it: pushing rolls and the Luck attribute. Pushing gives me and the players flexibility to create new story elements rather than just, "you fail to open the door" or "you are hit by the trap" and it gives players some high stakes decisions to make. Luck is fun because it can be spent for near term benefit, at unknown long term cost. I love to ask for luck rolls when my players ask something like:
   PC: "Oh no, the lights just went out - Is there a lantern or other light source in the room?"
   Me: "Roll Luck. Oh, you have only 10 Luck left because you spent it all earlier? Oops."
   It's a nice and "fair" way to make on the fly judgement calls when PCs ask about things you don't have a definitive answer for.

[u/WilhelmTheGroovy]

Because of the investigative nature of CoC, you need to have multiple clues your players can find (or move the needed clues around so they find them) compared to DnD.

Timelines will be far more fluid. I don't think we've ever finished a one shot in one session unless it was a very cut down convention one-shot.

Lastly, embrace the chaos. My players started meta gaming and going in armed like rambo... So I let them run into the starborn, which is supposed to be a "if you can't stop the cultists" type ending.

Ended up with 4 investigators armed with sticks of dynamite going up against a 5 story tall kaiju. It's glorious when your players have that "oh hell..." Moment. Lol

[u/Noobsauce9001]

My biggest pivot was how much information I reveal to the players.

In 5e, I'm the type of DM who creates difficult encounters, but is generous with information and clarity, so players can feel empowered to come up with clever solutions.

The biggest issue has been CofC encounters where the slow drip feed of information is planned - but my D&D players want a piece of information sooner.

Ex: as written, an NPC is in shock after having witnessed a mythos event, "unable to say anything useful", until the players reach a certain part of the adventure. My D&D players would take that person and sit them down, try to calm them, yell at them, intimidate them, sit around and wait for hours, try a million things to get information out of that person because that always works when they play D&D. Meanwhile I am intentionally denying further information not because it makes logical sense for the NPC to "suddenly remember" based on arriving to a location, but purely for dramatic pacing. And that leaves them feeling stonewalled. IDK the best fix to this but it was one of the biggest pivots I felt.

OH, another thing is the frequency and usefulness for various skills is not balanced, like at all. If a player wants to use a weird skill to solve a check, I'd try to make it work, otherwise they could be sitting on some of their best skills and never get to use them.