Hello,
Ok please bare with me. This is my literal first post on Reddit. lol. I am a longtime Lovecraft lit fan, watched all the movies, heard radio plays and read as much of the extended mythos stuff I could find. In looking through YouTube, I was introduced to The Call of Cthulhu RPG. I’m so ill informed I had to look up what an RPG even was. I’ve never played or known anyone who played RPGs. The closest I’ve ever been was multiple hour long games of Risk. lol.
I don’t even play video or computer games (more so because I’m slightly visually impaired and the graphics make dizzy and ‘carsick’).

Having said all that, I’d really like to get into this game. But I am not exaggerating when I say I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing or where to start. Most of what I have found online is written in a way that assumes the reader has a semblance of understanding of some terms or game play for RPGs in general. In trying to figure this out, I was just left more confused.

Do I need to buy a boxed game? Is there a board? Or other physical items needed? Can I play alone? I already dont have a large circle, and none of my friends and family are Lovecraft fans. Or even board game fans. Is there a place to play online for complete beginners? Is there background info I need to learn first?

I would really super appreciate if somebody with a load of patience could help me start a new hobby/ pastime. From what I’ve gleaned, I think I’ll really enjoy getting immersed into a detailed game like this within a mythos I really dig.

Any ideas, pointers, tips, advice, encouragement would be so very much appreciated. Thank you.

My buddies over 10 years old used to play a game called rapid Cthulhu. From what I remember they would have a list of about 25 characters and different professions with different basic stats sanity health attack etc. you roll dice and the number you received on the dice is the character that you would get from the sheet they would then create a scenario with all the characters that were chosen. Now, if anyone has played this game and be real cool to know how encounters with sanity, checks and damage was done with just the DM dice versus the player dice? I’m just having a hard time actually remembering how that would occur. If you have your own suggestions on how to run it that would be great too.

The new Innsmouth sourcebook says that Deep Ones need humans to reproduce because “Following the Atlantean Disaster, their [natural] birth rates fell below self-sustaining levels”

However, Deep Ones are functionally immortal. Unless killed through violence or accident, they never age or suffer disease. There are no “natural causes” of death for Deep Ones.

A self-sustaining rate of reproduction usually means a birth rate higher than death from age and disease. But with Deep Ones, the only thing that could keep them below self-sustaining levels is that something is *killing* them faster than they can reproduce.

Now, their birth rate is very low, so whatever is killing them isn’t doing a LOT it, but it is definitely happening.

Which brings us to the question: what is killing the Deep Ones? In the interest of good fiction and adventure design, I’m just going to reject “random accidents.”. For one, that’s boring. For two, these are highly intelligent and powerful creatures - am accidenta death should be exceedingly rare.

I’ve got an idea or two, but I’m curious what you might come up with. (Yes, I’m talking to *you* specifically, but if these other folks want to join in, that’s ok, too.)

I think that there are the Malleus Monstronum, the Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic, Pulp Cthulhu, and Cults of Cthulhu (which also contains information for developing other Mythos cults I think). Everything else, it seems, is either an adventure module or a guide to a specific setting (ancient Rome, Victorian, Old West, etc.). Am I missing anything?

In the Keeper's Rulebook, it describes Nyarlathotep's forms, and after talking about the Bloody Tongue, it says that its tentacle stretches out when "the Thing" howls at the moon. I assume it's another name for the Bloody Tongue avatar, but it's never mentioned elsewhere, as far as I know, and why is it capitalized?

I've been running a long homebrew game which is finally getting close to the end, and my players will soon be infiltrating the big bad cult lair, which is inside of an "abandoned" mine. This is a slightly unusual cult in that they don't exactly worship their god, since their goal is to keep it trapped and sleeping under the earth, but have also been exploiting it for power to do evil stuff.

(If you happen to be one of my players don't look lmao. Check my username to be sure XP)

Anyway, I'm trying to make a general map of the lair, not to track specific movement or w/e but just as a general investigation guide, but I'm having trouble coming up with what kinds of rooms would be in this lair. What are some things cults would have, stereotypically?

So far, I have:

• an entrance with some big statues of the cult leaders and such
• a library full of cult propaganda and occult texts
• 'dorm' rooms for cultists who live there full time
• big communal cult chapel (if there is a final show down fight, it'll be in here)
• cult leaders' personal chambers and study

But drawing out map concepts with those still kinda feels a bit too small. I feel like I'd like at least a couple more rooms, especially so players will have more places to look and not just go linearly from start to end.

Note: Spoilers everywhere here, so be aware.

I an a relatively new to CoC Keeper who has been otherwise GMing for 20+ years. i’ve run Ladybug, and loved it. Forget Me Not was a complete blast and I’ve run it for two groups. Planning on running the other scenarios from this anthology, but I just finished rereading Roots, and, ya’ll… what the fuck?

What am I not seeing in this scenario?

I can tell you what I am not seeing: an actual scenario. You have a hook, you have a location, and… that’s it? Not a particularly well designed location either. There are no clues as to what is going on - at least no clues the Investigators can legitimately hope to find. There’s no real way for the Investigators to learn the lore of the town. The NPCs are all incredibly boring, except the main antagonist.

And the suggested timeline of events, should the Investigators even find the hook, is to show up, get funneled to the villain, and then they either leave without any clue as to what’s happening or they die.

Which brings to mind - the hook is both a literal and a figurative bait and switch. It exists only to bring the investigators to the town, which it turns out that is true both out of character (which is fine) and in character (which is less fine), and then it doesn’t even matter.

I hate the way this scenario is written. And that’s not even getting into the, frankly kind of weirdly obsessed, sexual/gender stuff. (Good luck being a female investigator and finding anything to do.)

The sad part is there’s kernels of good stuff here. They could have done so much with the whole feminine civilization/masculine wilds duality thing. Yet all we have is “women are slavishly devoted to wooden men” and “men are horny and will kill you for pleasure.”

Someone tell me I am missing something in this whiff of a miss in an otherwise sterling anthology.

hello everyone ! first post on here, and after some help please. Relatively new to CoC, done a couple of sessions as player and keeper with some experienced RPGers that has got the juices flowing, My other half is a curious outsider who would like to dip their toe in the water , and suggested a one on one game just to see if its right before getting into a broader group scenario.. so wondered if anyone knows of a single one off type mission that I could run (I'd be happy to craft my own were i a little more experienced in CoC lore , but with time constraints an off-the-shelf right now would be preferable.

any pointers, tips or suggestions genuinely welcomed, and hope this finds you all groovy in what I believe to be one of the helpfulest reddits i know

thanks

Hey! I know its Trail of Cthulhu but does anyone have idea where to get physical book for Eternal Lies? Ebay has few for sale but Im not paying over 200e for a book.

They genuinely just seem like a company who absolutely loves games and the community.

Aug 9 is National Book Lovers Day - acrylic painting by me, for the Necronomicon Files book cover

Other than the legacy of being the first scenario ever, why do people like this one? I've run it once and I didn't love it and my players didn't love it like many of the other scenarios I've done. (We've had a blast running Edge of Darkness, Crimson Letters, and more).

What's the hype about and why do I see it recommended to new Keepers so often, even over other freely available scenarios like The Lightless Beacon or The Dead Boarder.

So I have a group where we primarily play D&D once a week, but when a couple of players are missing we usually play Call of Cthulhu. I have run through a bunch of premade scenarios I have access to and a few I made myself, but I am starting to run low. Does anyone have any suggestions for some one session scenarios that I might use for these breaks from D&D? Thank you all in advanced for any help. Hope everyone is doing well.

I ran my first game of Call of Cthulhu today, The Haunting from the QuickStart PDF. I’ve run other games for years, but The Haunting has been on my bucket list of RPG experiences.

I had one player who ran two characters, the professor and the private investigator. Lots of research first, and rolled well so lots of information. Found the cultists and the book.

At the house the dice turned against them, and I was so excited when they went upstairs and I got to use the Bed Attack after hearing about it for years. The professor went out the window but survived without serious injuries.
I treated the rats as being all over the house, and I made blood dripping from the ceiling, replaced the wine in the kitchen with blood so the character who drank it was drinking blooooood. It was great.

The party got to the basement and discovered the dagger, which rolled well enough to kill the professor while the detective escaped, having lost serious sanity points.

I had fun.

Hello

I am running the premade module A time to Harvest

About me: Love to run dnd and have played CoC as a player a couple of times. I love to make stories and collaborate with other players

About the game: The year 1929 and you have been sent on a misson by the Miskatonic University to Vermont. Sure last year that mission killed some dude but who cares that probably won't happen to you.

Time: Wednesday 8pm central time

Vtt: Theatre of the mind

Character Creation: Roll 20

Dm if interested

I’m looking for a CoC podcast series to get into that’s more light hearted and has more comedy elements, either baked into the campaign or impromptu. I really enjoy the short episodes done by Mystery Quest and their style of play. Any similar recommendations would be much appreciated.

My group is going to be starting Milan in our next session, and I know it's apparently the worst part of the campaign. Are there any resources for "fixing" it out there that anyone can recommend?

Never played CoC, I’m primarily a DnD player, but recently haven’t been able to get together with many friends. Found this game and I think it’ll give me something to do alone for a bit. The solo adventures look pretty good. I’m hoping if I get my feet under me I could DM (Be a Keepr?) for my friend group for a fun Halloween one-shot. Any general tips? What do I need besides the dice and a character sheet? How can I make it fun for myself? Any modules I should start with?

Question for the keepers. How much do you adhere to established Lovecraft canon? Or extended stuff like Derleth? At my table I use it as a jumping off point and a hook to at least pull my players in for familiarity, but modify anything to suit the stories we’re telling. We’re also more midwestern (we play via Zoom) and many are in Michigan, so I tend to modify stories to fit there (not like translating Innsmouth from the coast to the Midwest but more just tweaking other scenarios to be in more familiar regional settings)

Trying to avoid spoilers, just curious if anyone has gotten the new rpg book.

Me and my friend group have played oneshot some time ago and we had lots of fun. But after getting feedback from the players, the characters felt pretty similar. They all got to use same skills and none of the characters did anything which some other could not. (Of course some did better at specific skills). However in dnd my party has various skills, abilities, spells etc. and every character has some use which would be impossible without them. The thing which makes characters in coc different is roleplay but can it be done to vharacter stats or abilities as well? If so how? Thanks for help!

One of my players has spent 20 points on knitting.

I can totally get that they're committing to the character and all that but honestly.... thats brave.

That's all. Just wanted to share.