d20 vs BRP (or the evolution of the d20 system)

Someone recently asked on FB why Call of Cthulhu (and Delta Green) which uses BRP was so un-intuitive, requiring low rolls for skill checks and combat. He thought that d20 was much more intuitive with adding your skill level and bonuses to your die roll to meet or beat a specific target number.

Actually, BRP was more consistent and intuitive than d20 for a very long time.

It's all a matter of history.

D&D (1974-1976)

Once, a long long time ago, there was a game called D&D (1974). Armor Classes (AC) went from 9 (no armor) to 2 (plate mail + shield). You had to roll high on a d20 to hit someone in better armor and there was a lookup chart based on your Hit Dice (level) to see if you could hit that armor class. A natural 1 was a miss and a natural 20 was an automatic hit. A 1 HD attacker needed to roll a 17 or better to hit AC 2. There was a lookup chart for saving throws based on level and class vs various dangers such as Poison, Dragon Breath, and Spells. It was a weird thing where you had to roll high to hit lower ACs. The whole system was built to be consistent where you had to roll high to succeed.

D&D (1974) - Attack and Save Matrix

Arduin Grimoire Trilogy (1977-1978)

In 1977, David Hargrave published The Arduin Grimoire, supplements to D&D. It had critical hit and fumble charts, new monsters, magic spells, and items. If you rolled a 1, you rolled % on the fumble table which ranged from a glancing blow to critically hitting yourself. If you rolled a 20, you rolled % on the critical hit chart which ranged from ruining an eye to decapitation.

Arduin Grimoire (1977) Critical Hit and Fumble Charts

AD&D (1977-1979)

AD&D came out in 1977-1979 after Arduin Grimore and added their idea of a critical hit (though in the text of DMG they poo-pooed the idea of critical hit location tables or double damage); if you rolled a 20, it was good for 6 consecutive armor classes, then you needed a 21, 22, etc. to hit higher armor classes. It also introduced the idea of THAC0 (To Hit Armor Class 0). Save throws still required rolling high to succeed. But a thief had skills where you had to roll your skill or below to succeed. So you had to look up your level and skill on a table to see what number you had to roll to succeed. Every time your character leveled up, you needed to update your skill %. AC 2 stayed the same (now requires a 18 to be hit by a 1st level attacker) and AC 10 was now "no armor."

AD&D (1979) DMG - Attack Matrix

AD&D (1977) Players Handbook - Thief Table

Call of Cthulhu (1981)

Chaosium (BRP, 1981), publisher of Call of Cthulhu, decided it was easier to just roll your skill or below. It was more intuitive. You roll low to succeed. No special tables were needed (except for the dreaded Resistance Table, a look up table for POW vs POW). BRP is a skill based system, not a level based system. If your skill was 40%, you just needed to roll 40% or less on your percentile dice. If you roll low enough (1/5 of your skill, 1/5 * 40% = roll 8% or less in this example) you do an impale and cause double damage. A natural 01% was a critical success. A natural 100% was a fumble. BRP was consistent overall. Roll low to succeed for combat, save throws, and skills.

D&D 3.0 (2000)

Then D&D evolved (D&D 3.0, 2000) and Armor Class became a number you just had to roll or beat to hit your opponent. Still, rolling high to succeed. And your bonuses were based on your level, so you don't need a special table anymore. The AC was now the number you had to roll (with bonuses) in order to hit. Critical Hits were added. If you rolled a natural 20, there's a chance of a critical hit if you roll again and score a hit, you do double damage (so much for poo-pooing critical hits). Saving Throws and Skill Checks switched to DC (difficulty class) where you had to roll the number or higher to succeed. So, now D&D was consistent for combat, save throws, and skill checks. Roll high to succeed.

D&D 5.0 (2014)

D&D 5.0 (2014), Critical hits were now just your natural 20 causing double damage. Also some skills (assassinate) cause critical hits and some magic weapons generate critical hits on lower numbers such as a natural 19 and 20. So, D&D went full circle back to a natural 20 being a critical hit.

Pop Quiz: When is AC 2 better than AC 10? When is AC 28 better than AC 10?
Answer: Depends on your version of D&D. 😊

The Yellow King RPG (YKRPG) - Review of GUMSHOE QuickShock

Slip case turns into GM screen. Actual product.

Inside of slipcase as GM screen. Paris book and Shock and Injury Cards. Actual products.

Slipcase on the right is not the actual product, but a mockup, real slipcase is a bit narrower and has no printing or embossing on the side.
This shows the 4 setting books in YKRPG.

GUMSHOE QuickShock

I play tested (as a Player) The Yellow King RPG (YKRPG) and enjoyed it, but I didn't really understand the streamlined aspects of GUMSHOE QuickShock until I ran it as a GM.

Instead of managing resources for Investigative Abilities, Players are just given 2 Pushes, floating points that can be used with any Investigative Ability. This got rid of a lot of unnecessary resource management that happens with GUMSHOE 1.0. So, instead of having various Investigative Ability points and having Players trying to decide if they want to spend any, that is all gone. They just have 2 floating points to spend. Much easier to keep track of and it ups the importance of the two points. I handed out physical tokens for the points which have to be turned in when spent.

In the game I ran, 3 Pushes were spent. One to make an exceptional sculpture of a tuberculosis patient, just because the PC had "some people I sculpt die suddenly" as That Deuced Peculiar Business. Another spent a Push on convincing a NPC to tell more about a Blackmail that was happening. Another spent a Push after the scenario to author (spoiler, hover over green fairy box to display):

The Phantom of the Opera.

The new single round Fight system also streamlined combat into one round and makes it more narrative. A great improvement to the old lackluster combat from Trail of Cthulhu. What is impressive is that Night's Black Agents added complexity to combat to spice it up, but YKRPG went in the opposite direction and simplified it even more. My mind is blown that you can do that and succeed.

In combat, Players first decide their desired outcome: kill, escape, other (subdue, take an item, etc.). Depending on their desired outcome, the difficulty level is adjusted. Non-lethal is easier than lethal outcomes. Then each PC spends Fighting points and add 1d6. If the total equals or beats the secret target number, it is a success and the margin of success is recorded. If the total is below the target number, it is a setback and the margin of success (failure) is adjusted. In the end, a negative margin of success means the PCs failed (and the GM narrates what happens); otherwise they succeed in their declared outcome. As each PC spends points, they must describe what action they're taking, their 1d6 + Fighting spend determines how successful they are. This is how the narrative part kicks in. After every PC describes their action and each action is either a success or setback, we get the final resolution.

In combat, any failure results in an Injury represented by an Injury card. A -1 margin of success results in a Minor Injury. A -2 (or worse) margin of success is a Major Injury. The Injury cards have flavor text, mechanical penalties, and rules on how to get rid of the card. This also adds a narrative twist to combat.

For other tests, there are either physical Injury cards or mental Shock cards.

In the game I ran, a NPC had a gun and was going to shoot at a PC. The goal: take the gun away. One PC wanted to restrain the NPC; one PC wanted to slap the NPC's gun hand away, so it can't aim at the other PC; the last PC wanted to wrestle the gun out of the NPC's hand. They all succeeded and dog piled the NPC and took the gun away. This turned out to be a lot more cinematic than "Ok, each of you roll combat skills; roll 1d6-2 for damage; he's still up; roll attacks again; he finally goes unconscious; you take his gun." And this new Fight system only took one round of dice rolling.

For tougher creatures, a fight always takes a Toll. Some creatures automatically costs points in Athletics, Fighting, and/or Health (combination determined by Player). This mainly just wears down the PC and may result in an Injury if the PC can't pay the Toll.

In the new QuickShock system, the Injury and Shock cards describe the physical and mental health of the PC. When the PC receives their 3rd Injury or 3rd Shock card, the PC is either dead or insane (this is for Horror mode; in Occult Adventure mode, it's the 4th card instead of the 3rd that knocks you out).

Overall, I really like this new streamlined GUMSHOE QuickShock. It's more narrative and more cinematic. Gone are the dull multiple rounds of rolling a single d6 and wearing down an opponent.

QuickShock Injury and Shock Cards

I ordered the cards and they came in handy. Of note, the cards came in a weird unsorted order. The first thing that I did was to sort all the cards alphabetically. Having the cards is really useful for face-to-face games. If you're just running your game online, then the PDFs work great and you don't need to spend extra money for the cards.

PARIS - Character Generation

Character generation is quick and simple with the selection of an Investigator kit (Investigative Abilities where you can spend Pushes) and a General kit (General Abilities with points such as Athletics and Fighting). The 7 Investigative kits are based on area of study such as Sculptor, Painter, Poet. The 9 General kits are based on background or previous training such as Farm kid, Factory worker, Former med student, Former cadet.

Players then choose Drives and Relationships between PCs. That's to add flavor and to prevent PCs from turtling and avoiding investigations.

The best innovation is That Deuced Peculiar Business, a strange eerie event that has touched the PC. The Player picks or invents one for their PC. It became easy to weave this Peculiar Business into the start of a scenario. I took elements for each PC's Peculiar Business and inserted it into a poster for an upcoming event. That really kicked the PCs into gear.

PARIS - 1895 Setting

The Paris Exhibition (World's Fair) was in 1889 and the controversial Eiffel Tower was built for it. Famous authors, composers, scientists, and artists flocked to Paris. This was a golden age where you can run into Cezanne, Degas, Debussy, Gauguin, Proust, Renoir, Rodin, Mme Curie, Louis Pasteur at your local cafe, bookshop, theater, or bar. The book lists pages and pages of NPCs. Unfortunately there were no photographs or examples of their work in the book, so I went crazy Googling everything that was mentioned.

Maps of Paris:

Period Map of Paris 1889

Website of Old Maps of Paris, all time periods

Website of Old Maps (including Paris)

The setting is amazingly rich and I'm learning a lot about the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune.

YKRPG - Product Quality

The slipcase that turns into a GM screen is amaze-balls. It's held together with hidden magnets and works really well. It's a really beautiful product. See above pictures.

Due to having a new print house, there were issues in having the product delivered in time, but the wait was worth it. A minor issue was that the non-native English speaking printers had a typo on the spine of the Aftermath book ("Aftremath"). But I haven't spotted any typos in the Paris book.

I rushed getting my Shock and Injury cards from DriveThruRPG and that was a mistake. There were a few typos and errors found, but the PDFs have been corrected and if you order these cards now, they've been corrected. But be wary of secondary market cards (eBay) and make sure you're receiving the corrected ones. The incorrect cards can easily be spotted. The Shock cards have the word "Injury" on the detail side of the card instead of the word "Shock."

Conclusion

I really love this new iteration of GUMSHOE and the Paris setting is wonderful and perfect for The King in Yellow. Absinthe, Impressionistic Art, the Can-can, Moving pictures, Cafes, all make an interesting soup of science and art.

p.s. I haven't gotten to the other 3 books yet: The Wars, Aftermath, This is Normal Now.

p.s.s. I've finally gotten to the other 3 books. Review blog post is here. 

Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed - Insanity Q&A

There's been a surge of interest in Call of Cthulhu due to Critical Role's The Shadow of the Crystal Palace video. Over one million views of the game play.

Lately, there's been a surge of questions on how the Insanity mechanics works in CoC.

Here's a flowchart by Theodor Paues who posted it in the Call of Cthulhu Role-Playing Game & Players group on Facebook (click on chart to expand):

This basically distills several pages of rules onto one page.

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Q: Is it true during a Bout of Madness, the PC is immune to further SAN loss?

A: Yes, but if the PC snaps out of the Bout of Madness while still in the presence of a Mythos creature or other Insanity invoking sights, they are subject to SAN loss at that moment. See p.164 Keeper Rulebook, sidebar: "A Note about Delusions and Sanity Point Loss."

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Q: What about Underlying Insanity? How long does it last?

A: It lasts for 1d10 hours. If there is a single point loss during this time period, another Bout of Madness will occur. I wouldn't reroll for another random Bout of Madness, but accentuate what had happened before. See p.157-158 Keeper Rulebook, Insanity Phase 2: Underlying Insanity.

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Q: How long is 1d10 rounds for a Bout of Madness, if not in combat?

A: The GM should just gestimate the time. Play out the Bout of Madness and let the PC snap out of it at the appropriate dramatic moment. Assume a combat round is 2-5 seconds or so.

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Q: Should I roll a random Mania or Phobia or choose?

A: I like to roll on the chart for inspiration, but if the rolled entry doesn't make any thematic sense, then I'd just pick one that makes more sense. I have also asked the Player as to what type of Mania or Phobia they want. If appropriate, I use their suggestion or sometimes tweak it a little to make it more interesting.

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Q: What use is Psychoanalysis?

A: In the short term, enable an insane PC to temporarily ignore a phobia or mania. See p.162 Keeper Rulebook. Also help an insane PC see through a delusion. See p.163 Keeper Rulebook. For long term treatment of a PC that's Insane or suffering from a Mania or Phobia. See p.72 Keeper Rulebook. 

I also allow (house rule) Psychoanalysis to snap a PC out of a Bout of Madness early, if the psychoanalyst (or Alienist in 1920s speak) succeeds in the skill roll. This doesn't recover any SAN points, but it's basically shock therapy seen in movies where the patient is slapped or shaken and told to snap out of it. This is useful during combat when you discover that most of your fellow investigators are either cowering in a corner or frozen with fear and you desperately need help.

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Q: Is there a chart for Delusions?

A: No, just make something up that's thematic. Also keep in mind that you can use the Delusions to foreshadow an Insane Insight in the future. See p.169 Keeper Rulebook, "Insane Insight."

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Q: Can a PC be hardened to seeing horrible things?

A: Yes. See p.169 Keeper Rulebook, "Getting Used to the Awfulness." You max out on SAN loss, but that is on a creature by creature basis and over time, this hardening softens by 1 pt each development phase. In Pulp Cthulhu, one Pulp Talent is Hardened where you are immune to SAN loss for violence against humans.

So, who keeps track of this hardening? I make the Players keep track. If they don't I'll assume they've fully recovered from the awfulness and can be affected again. Generally, the PCs won't be exposed to the same Mythos creature between random scenarios unless it's a campaign. If it's a campaign, then at some point they'll become immune to seeing a reoccurring Mythos creature, probably by the end of the 1st or 2nd session.

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Q: Top of p.155 Keeper Rulebook: "When encountering one ghoul, the Sanity point loss is 0/1d6. It is the same when encountering multiple ghouls; the sanity effect is for the encounter rather than each ghoul."

How long does 'an encounter' last?

Let's say there are some catacombs the investigators are going through. At opening to the catacombs is a ghoul. Half way through there are 2 more ghouls. And at the exit there is a last ghoul.

One investigator can only lose a maximum of 6 points from the 'encounter' with the ghoul, but is the above 1 or 3 'encounters'?

A:  Depends on the situation. When they first encountered a ghoul for the very first time: OMG, it's something out of this world! (SAN check). When they see a group of 2: OMG, it's more common than you thought! (San check). 3rd ghoul at the end: Ok, another ghoul (no SAN check), unless they're running for their lives and this last ghoul can kill them. Oh, F*ck, a ghoul! (SAN check).

Part of it is the circumstances. For a first encounter, of course, you always have SAN check due to seeing something out of this world. If a next encounter reveals something they haven't seen before whether there's a gaggle of the creatures or whether they're eating human flesh, that would change the circumstances enough to force another SAN check.

It's also about pacing, at some point, making the die rolls will get tiresome and you can do a gut check as to whether the PCs have maxed out their 6 SAN loss already. It's ok to be a bit sloppy here, maybe one PC only lost 5 pts, but it's not worth sweating over that last point if it slows down the pacing of the game for the whole table. Each time you do a SAN check, it does kill the pacing of your game a little, unless it's a massive loss where you know someone will go insane.

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Q (GN): In Getting Used to the Awfulness, how do you do the die rolls? For instance, seeing a monster is 1/1d6 SAN loss. When you see it again, is it 1/1d5 SAN loss?

A: No, you continue to use 1/1d6 SAN loss, but if the loss happens to hit the max, reduce the amount lost. For instance, max loss is 6 in your example, so if a PC lost 4 pts, then when PC sees the same monster again, if you roll more than 2 pts, just lower the additional loss to 2 pts for a max total loss of 6 pts. Then any future sightings during the scenario will incur no SAN loss as you've gotten used to the awfulness.

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Q: Even though you're reading a Mythos Tome over long periods of time, weeks or months, does it still cause Insanity?

A: Yes. See p.174 Keeper Rulebook, breakout box example. That is part of the Mythos and game. Reading and understanding books written my mad monks will drive you insane when you finally understand that the mad ramblings are really telling you the actual truth about the world around you.

But remember to use p.159 Keeper Rulebook, Table VIII: Bouts of Madness - Summary instead.

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Q: When reading a Mythos Tome, which order do you apply Mythos gain and SAN loss?

A: The SAN loss and Mythos gain are applied simultaneously. For example, if the PC had a 68 SAN and Max SAN 70 before reading the book. Book has Mythos gain +5% and SAN Loss 2d6. Max SAN drops to 65 after the +5% Mythos gain.  Assume SAN Loss was 2 pts (lucky fellow), but 68 - 2 = 66 SAN, but that is higher than his new Max SAN, so the PC's SAN is lowered to 65 instead.

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Q: p.419 Keeper Rulebook on "Initial Reading," it says, "Roll for Sanity loss," does that mean the PC gets a SAN save to see if they lose any SAN when reading a Mythos Tome?

A: No. That is bad phrasing. The SAN loss for reading any Mythos Tome is automatic, there is no avoiding it. When it says roll for SAN loss, they mean roll the amount of SAN lost, not a SAN save. It should have stated, "Apply Sanity point loss" instead. See p.174 Keeper Rulebook, breakout box example.

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Q: Do you lose SAN for skimming and careful reading of a Mythos Tome?

A: Yes, you lose SAN every time you read a Mythos Tome, whether Initial or Full. You may also read a Mythos Tome multiple times. Each time you do a full reading, the reading time doubles. See p.419 Keeper Rulebook.

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Q: What does it mean when I see "San Loss: 1/1D8" or "1/1D8 Sanity points?"

A: San Loss: Success/Failure. The number to the left of the slash is the amount of SAN loss if the SAN Roll succeeds. The number to the right of the slash is the amount of SAN loss if the SAN Roll fails. See p.154 Keeper Rulebook, Sanity Points and SAN Rolls.

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Q: When do you get a Phobia or Mania? 

A: See p.157 Keeper Rulebook, Table VII, Bouts of Madness. 9: Phobia; 10 Mania. I only give a Phobia or Mania if a 9 or 10 is rolled on the Bouts of Madness. The Phobia / Mania will be based on the current scene. If Phobia, the PC will react in fear, Mania some sort of fascination. I leave it up to the Player to decide and act out in an appropriate manner. See p.159 Keeper Rulebook on Phobic and Manic Responses While Insane.

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Q: I'm getting Involuntary Action, Bouts of Madness, and Temporary Insanity mixed up. What's what?

A: If a PC loses 1+ SAN, they automatically have an Involuntary Action. See p.154 Keeper Rulebook, 2nd column: Jump in fright, Cry out in terror, Involuntary movement, Involuntary combat action, Freeze.

If they lose 20% SAN in one day (20% tally starts after a night of rest, e.g. 50 SAN in the morning, so 20% is 10 pts total), then they have Indefinite Insanity. They have an Involuntary Action, followed by a Bout of Madness, and then Underlying Insanity which lasts until the end of the scenario or campaign chapter (p.158 Keeper Rulebook, Insanity Phase 2: Underlying Insanity) or until they get treatment (p.164 Keeper Rulebook, Recovery from Indefinite Insanity).

If they lose 5+ SAN, roll their INT or lower, then they have Temporary Insanity. They have an Involuntary Action, a Bout of Madness, and Underlying Insanity which lasts 1d10 hours. During the 1d10 hours of Underlying Insanity, any loss of SAN would cause another Bout of Madness.

If the PC is with other investigators, the Bout of Madness lasts 1d10 rounds and Table VII: Bouts of Madness - Real Time is used. See p.157 Keeper Rulebook. Phobias and Manias are permanent. During a Bout of Madness, another PC may try to temporarily snap the affected PC out of it by using Psychoanalysis.

If the PC is alone, the Bout of Madness lasts 1d10 hours and Table VIII: Bouts of Madness - Summary is used. See p.159 Keeper Rulebook. I meld the Underlying Insanity with the Bout of Madness, so the combined duration is just 1d10 hours since there is not another PC to snap the PC out of the Bout of Madness.

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Q: How do you read / use roll20.net's SAN in the character sheet?

A: This is for the following version which I prefer (over the "CoC 7th Edition by Roll20"):

"Current SAN" and "Starting SAN for today" are editable. "Start SAN -20%" and "Max SAN" are auto calculated. Enter your current SAN in the "Current SAN" box, default is starting POW, update this as you lose SAN. At the start of a scenario enter your current SAN in the "Starting SAN for today" box. If your SAN drops to "Start SAN -20%" (or 64 in this example), you automatically experience Temp Insanity. "Max SAN" is 99 - Cthulhu Mythos.

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Q: As a GM, should I describe the horribleness and then ask for a SAN check or vice versa?

A: TL;DR: Describe first, then ask for the SAN check afterwards.

Here's my long answer in a separate blog post.

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Q (CB): Looking at examples (breakout boxes) in the Keeper Rulebook p.158, Harvey's Bout of Madness is Violence. Why does he on p.159 have paranoia? I'm confused.

A: Example on p.159 is an example of Insanity Phase 2: Underlying Insanity (p.158). The Player is just roleplaying the underlying insanity caused by the fear that there are hidden devices triggered by his Bout of Madness. This "paranoia" will last 1d10 hours.

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Q (GVS): I'm a new Keeper and so far I've been pretty unhappy with the way I run SAN. It looks like a fairly hard mechanic to use and make exciting.

It feels like you're playing D&D and your PC is loosing HP just going through doors because they're booby-trapped, without opportunity to fight back. Actually, it feels even like I'm mean to my player: "You get in the room, there's a butchered and stinky corpse there, I hate you, loose SAN, you should not have opened that door you dumb moron."

I just feel terrible that "behind this door is a trap SAN roll, and my players can't possibly know about it, and even if they could know, there's nothing they could do about it. They must open the door to move forward, and that'll screw them".

A (MH): CoC is a horror game. There is the tension between: "I don't want to, but I have to." I don't want to see or find out, but I have to, to solve the mystery, to save my friends, my family, the world (sometimes). The price is SAN loss. You have to push up this tension between the two in the game. In your example, yeah, there's some horribly butchered corpse that's dripping blood. Now ask the Players to roll Spot Hidden. OMG, now some of the PCs see a clue, a bloody slip of paper poking between the teeth of one of the corpses. You have to now climb over a pile of bodies and pry it out of the mouth. Oh, NO, no, no, nooooo. I don't want to, but someone has to!

Comment (TS): You have to pay to play.

(MH): The cost of investigating is SAN and / or HP loss. As you investigate more and get deeper into the mystery, it should cost more and more. What's the breaking point between "I don't want to, but I have to?" When does the PC decide "I don't want to?" As a GM, you have to read the table. At some point, a few PCs would "turtle" and stay behind. Others will enter alone. You want to be on the balance point of the razor's edge. If they all "turtle" then you're too heavy on the "I don't want to," then you'll need to either let them gather their courage, set a ticking clock, or chase them out of their hiding place. Subtly or forcefully push them to "I have to."

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Q (GVS): It's really the moment I ask for a SAN roll that feels arbitrary to me. I'm kinda okay with the Bout of Madness reactions and how to make them interesting, but the "behind the door was something horrible, bad luck to you, roll SAN." I feel like the player should be able to do something in between the scare and the SAN roll, either to mitigate the damage, avoid the roll, or prepare to the loss. Giving more agency to the player with regards to when a SAN roll should happen and / or what they do.

A (MH): I always give hints such as a bad smell or fluids leaking under the door (if it's obvious, otherwise, it's a Spot Hidden). Then it's up to the individual PC as to whether they enter the room or open the door. Others may decide to just hang back and not look.

When I play and encounter a dead body (and take some SAN loss), I generally throw a sheet or something over the dead body to mitigate SAN loss for the other PCs.

Most SAN loss has a 0/1d4 SAN loss for non-supernatural horror, so if they make their SAN check, they lose nothing. So, when they take 0 SAN loss, they were able to steel themselves, and avoid taking any SAN loss.

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Q (EW): I have players that "game" the system -- for example -- not looking at horrors, not reading mythos tomes, plugging their ears, etc. in efforts to preserve their Sanity.

It becomes comical and totally ruins the horror mood!

What are some good Keeper tips to circumvent this?

A (MH): Not looking doesn't work unless it's just a normal blood splattered crime scene. By not looking, you can't get the clues. If it's a creature, then there are other senses (sounds, odors, noise, dripping mucus) that come into play and also an otherness that grips their mind, so not looking will still incur a SAN loss, but now the creature can just come up to them and have a free attack that can't miss.

Not reading mythos tomes is fine. But sometimes a solution to killing the creature or the creature's nature is explained in the mythos tome. Or there's a spell in the tome that affects the creature. Good luck with that.

It won't become comical, it'll become a horrible TPK.

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Q (RH): When measuring 1/5th for sanity loss, do you round up or down? For example: How much sanity can someone with 47 SAN lose before indefinite insanity?

A (MH): I round up to 10 SAN loss. The pathological case of 4 SAN would be 1 if you round up, 0 if you round down. Also this is in the favor of the PC. I give more breaks to the PC, so when things go bad, I can say I gave them all the breaks.

If you calculate it precisely, then 20% of 47 is 9.4. You can only lose SAN in whole numbers, so the answer would be 10 SAN loss. 9 loss won't hit the threshold. 10 crosses it.

Some people say use the Quick Reference Chart for Half and Fifth Values on p. 420 Keeper Rulebook. You will see that the 1/5 value for 4 SAN or less is 0. This is the pathological case I mentioned above.

Some people say CoC always rounds down, so the answer is 9 SAN loss. But if you revise the question to: At what current SAN do you get an Indefinite Insanity? Then rounding down means 37 SAN for that day's Indefinite Insanity. 10 SAN loss.

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Q (AE): To overcome an Indefinite Insanity you need psychiatric help. But if an investigator is going to tell a doctor about mythos encounters they will be told it was all in their imagination. So to get cured they are going to need to believe it never happened. So what happens when they gave their next mythos encounter? This mechanic doesn’t seem sensible to me. What do others think, how have you handled Indefinite Insanity treatments in your games?

A (JS): Therapists won't tell them it's all in their imagination, they will just give them tools to deal with the trauma they experienced making them stronger out the other side of treatment which plays into the getting used to the horror mechanic.

A (MH): Indefinite Insanity takes months of care before they're cured (see p.164 Keeper Rulebook, Recovery from Indefinite Insanity). And they must be in a safe place, so that PC is definitely out of commission. Either that PC should continue investigating while Indefinitely Insane or the Player should use a backup / replacement character. In my games, the Players have just continued investigating while insane. Only in a long campaign has a Player decided to put a PC in the hospital (and this was from a physical injury) and used a replacement character.

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Q (TS): Does casting a spell that has a sanity cost of 1D6 cause temporary insanity on a roll of 5+? Also, does losing enough sanity through spell casting cause indefinite insanity?

A (MH): Yes and Yes. Mythos spells require understanding of Cthulhu Mythos Magic, so casting those spells pushes you to complete understanding. Some spells do not have a SAN cost. Some are considered Folk Magic, See p.13 the Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic.

A (ENR): That's the cost of magic... and also why most villainous cultists are insane (0 Sanity).

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Q (SF): What happens if you lose both 5 SAN and 20% of the day's starting SAN at the same time?

A (MH): Just apply the Indefinite Insanity from the 20% SAN loss. Indefinite Insanity is automatic whereas the Temporary Insanity requires a test. Just hand out the harsher automatic effect.

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Q (GB): Keeper Rulebook p.154. Failing a SAN roll always causes an Investigator to lose self-control and the Keeper should choose an involuntary action for the investigator.

Every time a PC loses 1 SAN, how do you stop this from becoming a farce? Especially if every time the game comes to any kind of climax and most of the group ends up screaming and running away, dropping their weapon, or freezing. How do you stop this from killing the momentum and not turning this into comedy horror?

A (MH):  Those involuntary actions only last for a short moment. And mechanically there's generally no effect. It's more for flavor. Most of those actions do NOT take up the PC's full action. They can still act normally. I generally use those sparingly or not at all. Most PCs would just freeze, whimper, exhale, or drop something. But they would still get their full action.

When looking at a grisly crime scene or odd event, I would use the involuntary action as an ice breaker. Where a PC would suddenly gasp or drop something, making a loud noise and making everyone jump a bit. This matches a lot of horror movies where there's a jump scare.

But in a major encounter, such as in the final big boss monster, I would dispense with the involuntary action. I would only look for the 5 SAN loss and 20% SAN loss effects.

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Q (WS): A character just experienced a huge sanity loss (53 out of 57). I'm looking for consequences ideas, what might happen to him, without skipping too much in-game time. Any ideas?

A (MH): Sounds like he saw a Mythos deity. Time to start worshiping what he saw. He’s 4 pts short of being a cultist. 😊

WS: He opened the wrong door and said hi to Azathoth.

MH: He may also get a mania for Astronomy. (I actually know which scenario that is. The doorway opens up to outer space and you see Azathoth and his court in all its glory.)

Other people suggested that the PC just curl up into a ball and take a long time out or a long visit to the asylum for treatment. The problem with that is the PC does skip a lot of in-game time. When this happens, the Player should continue with an alternate PC. (In this scenario, they're pretty much near the end, so pulling in an alternate PC at this point isn't that organic and is odd story-wise.)

By pushing the PC more towards being a cultist, the PC can still act and it'll give the PC motivation to continue investigating with a desire to get to 0 SAN. Lots of cool role playing and story for the game. And you might get to see the full story arc for this PC without a long, time gap. (Hey, only 4 more pts of SAN loss. 😊)

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Q (SR): Maximum sanity for anyone is 99 yet most characters will start with less than this. Does this mean a character starts investigator life with less than max sanity?

Also the investigator can receive psychotherapy and improve their score to the maximum with enough time and money (as long as they don’t have Mythos knowledge).

Is it simply a mechanic assumption that most people naturally operate on a lesser percentage of sanity unless they regularly receive treatment?

A (TA): I personally read it is as mental health and not perfect or not. Some people have stronger mental health, others not as much.

A (MH): Starting SAN = POW = your PC's will power. e.g. 60. Which will be less than your starting Max SAN. e.g. 99. Someone with 99 SAN doesn't panic even when faced with a man with a gun and a dumpster on fire that drops from the sky, they will calmly figure out what to do.

With mental training such as Psychotherapy (and SAN rewards for completing scenarios), you can improve your SAN score above your current SAN up to your current Max SAN which is based on how much Cthulhu Mythos skill you have (99 - Cthulhu Mythos).

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Q (CC): What do people do when characters reach their insanity thresholds during player “rewards” if they do badly?  Do you ignore it as it’s “between” sessions? Start with a bout of madness next time? or do an insanity summary?

A (MH): I'd have them roll on Bouts of Madness - Summary (p.159 Keeper Rulebook). Have them roll on the table and you can run the affected PCs separately between sessions or do a quick bit of roleplay at the beginning of the next session.

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Q: p.155 Keeper Rulebook, Temporary Insanity says only for the result of a Sanity Roll.

Reading tomes and casting spells don't require a Sanity Roll, the SAN loss is automatic. So does this mean you don't need to make a temporary insanity check for reading tomes and casting spells?

A: No. This was corrected in later printings and is part of the errata. Any SAN loss of 5+ from a single source of Sanity loss can cause Temporary Insanity.  This includes reading tomes and casting spells.

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Q: I have a PC who has a low starting SAN and I want a long character story arc in the campaign I'm playing in. How do I keep him from bottoming out and becoming an NPC too soon?

A: See p.167 Keeper Rulebook. Psychotherapy and Self-help. The PC's backstory entries can be used for Self-help by spending time with significant people, locations, or items. Doing this will add even more story driven elements to the character. Even visits to the Alienist (psychiatrist) can become interesting scenes between chapters in the campaign.

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Q (p): Two questions:

1. Why would someone join a cult?

2. In some adventures, cultists have 0 SAN, but seem be fully functional members of society. How do you interpret this madness?

A (MH):

1. NPCs generally don't know they've joined a cult until it's too late. It's generally some sort of club, organization, etc. It promises money, power, solving your problems, etc. It might look like the Masons, Moose Lodge, Rotary Club, Key Swapping-Orgy Sex Club, Religious Meetup, Tent Revival, Occult Book Club, etc.. Once the "club" proves they can deliver on their promises, you're in the cult.

The other trope are large families or a town that come from a long line of cultists, the Whateley family or the town of Innsmouth for instance.

2. 0 SAN means that they believe the cult teachings are true. That you can summon gods, ask for favors, cast spells, sacrifice human lives to gain favor, walk through dimensions, etc.. To normal people, you're crazy. Who would believe stuff like that?

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Q (GG): Does killing creatures allows one to regain Sanity?

A (MH): TL;DR: No unless you are playing Pulp Cthulhu.

Pre-7e, most scenarios indicated that you would regain SAN if you killed a creature you lost SAN to, showing that you could defeat the unknown, that it's knowable and can be defeated. But looking at 7e rules, p.167 Keeper Rulebook, Increasing Current Sanity Points, it's not part of the rules.

In Pulp Cthulhu p.98 Rewards, it's recommended during the Hero Development Phase at a minimum to reward SAN equal to the toughest creature the PCs defeated. For example if the toughest creature causes 1/1d10 SAN Loss, reward each PC with 1d10 SAN, rolled individually.

So, it looks like this has been removed from CoC 7e and moved into Pulp Cthulhu.

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Q (S): What would cause a SAN Loss of 0/1?

A (MH): From p.155 Keeper Rulebook, Examples of Sanity Point Costs:

0/1D2 Surprised to find mangled animal carcass.

0/1D3 Surprised to find a corpse or body part.

0/1D4 See a stream flow with blood.

So, 0/1 should be something less, but disturbing. Such as seeing something momentarily wrong in a mirror or reflection that's not there when you do a double-take. Or a bunch of dead insects in an unexpected place. Or a supernatural feeling of dread for no reason.

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Q (TT): There was consistently one point where immersion was broken and that was when someone went into a Bout of Madness in real time. It didn't feel right to take away control from the player, especially because I was struggling at the time to explain why the investigator suddenly acts insane (I mean, it makes sense and all when an author does this for their protagonists - they knows them best after all, but the person who knows the character in a TTRPG best should be the player, right?).

A (MH): I do use the random table for the Bout of Madness, but I don't take over the PC and let the Player play out the madness, it's a lot more fun for the Player that way. The only time I might take the PC over is if they fall into a rage and I tell the Player, you see you're surrounded by enemies, roll an attack against whoever is closest to the PC. In theater of the mind, where we may not know who's closest, the PC with the lowest Luck gets attacked.

Q (TT): Yeah, that makes sense. In that case, how do you convey to your player that the character experiences a bout of madness in story terms (I mean of course you could say "you go insane and experience a bout of madness", but it seems antithetical to the system, where players should describe what they are doing in game and not the mechanics)? Are there some phrases that work well or something, like "experiencing this horrific scene you feel something break deep in your soul"?

A (MH): They're already rolling dice, so it's never 100% immersion.

Table talk would be:

"You see a bunch of human figures gathered around a body. They're in a feeding frenzy, tearing off pieces, you hear the pop of an arm as it comes out of its socket. One of the figures is bent over, gnawing on the face, tearing pieces out. Everyone roll SAN."

"I failed."

"If you succeed lose 0, if you failed lose 1d6 SAN." I have my Players roll their own losses as it it speeds things up vs me having to roll for each PC. I also wait for everyone to roll their SAN checks before telling them the 0/1d6.

"I lost 5 SAN."

"Roll INT. " (Temp Insanity check.)

"I succeeded."

"Bad news, you totally understand what's going on. There are things underground, a society of them that eat the dead. Things buried do not rest in peace. Roll 1d10." (for random Bouts of Madness).

"I got a 5." (Significant Person.)

"Roll another 1d10." (for duration.)

"I got a 4." (4 rounds.)

"Who's your Significant Person?"

"Uncle Bob."

"You gasp (involuntary action). You see Uncle Bob (Bout of Madness), at first you didn't recognize him, but now, it's clear, his face was hidden under the dirt and dried blood, he's chowing down on a human arm. What do you do?"

Then I let the Player play out whatever he wants to do with Uncle Bob for 4 rounds.

A possibility is:

"Do I still see the the others eating the body?"

"Up to you." Sounds like Player is needing some guidance, So I say, "You can hallucinate that it's Thanksgiving dinner and Uncle Bob is offering you a drumstick or you see everything as it is and Uncle Bob is eating a dead body, up to you to decide what you see."

"I think I'll sit down next to Uncle Bob and ask him to pass me the cranberry sauce."

---

Other Q&A:

CoC 7th Combat Q&A

CoC 7th Magic Q&A

CoC 7th Skill Checks Q&A

Morgan's AetherCon VIII (2019) Adventures

This year, I noticed that most non-D&D games were under-attended. Luckily the two games I signed up for actually happened.

The one thing that I did notice about AetherCon is that more often than not, games are sometimes run by the game author themselves.

I hide spoiler sections with JavaScript. If you have JavaScript turned off, you can skip the spoiler sections I have marked.

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11/15/2019 - Friday 11am-3pm
Title: Darkness
System: Star Trek Adventures
GM: Sam Webb
# Players: 4 of 6 (5th player was a no show)

Play an adventure from the upcoming supplement “Strange New Worlds” with the writer! Respond to a Vulcan Expeditionary Group distress call on a planet transformed into a black void in the sky absorbing all by 0.04% of light. Locate the Vulcans, and discover what was behind the transformation of the planet.

The GM was the author of the scenario.

I felt we spent a lot of time rolling dice which killed the pacing a little, but I really enjoyed the scenario and highly recommend it.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

We're sent to rescue a team of Vulcans on a scientific outpost. Once we arrive, we beat a couple of technical problems and land on the planet with a shuttle. Scanners returned no life signs. Not only that a black dust reduced visibility to almost zero. Through technobabble, we were able to increase our visibility range by pushing the particles back with our environmental suit's protective field.

The GM's virtual table top map was completely dark and we had to move around in almost complete darkness, except for the small bubble of light our suits provided. That was cool.

We found the outpost breached and a dead Vulcan. Exploring the control and command center recovered records of hundreds of asteroids crashing into the planet and soon after, the black particles covered the planet.

Examining the bodies we found and the core reactor, something or things drained all the power out of the EVA suits and core reactor. The EVA suits were breached or the helmets were cracked, killing the Vulcans almost instantly.

PCs went to the asteroid crash site near the outpost via shuttle and got attacked by Vulcan zombies wearing damaged suits.

In the middle of combat, my character got swarmed by both zombies and I contacted our ship in orbit and got myself and the two zombies teleported back onto our ship. The zombies removed my helmet, but I was able to breathe, and they Vulcan mind-meld with me and I had first contact with a new silicon life form that had colonized the planet, but I was too late in stopping security from disintegrating the two Vulcan zombies.

The away team then returned to the ship.

We then changed our deflection dish to communicate with the planet and we convinced them of our intelligence and started relations with them. We also recovered the rest of the dead Vulcans.

The best bits for me was:
1. Realizing Vulcans have a standard optimal outpost floor plan and was able to get the floor plans of a standard Vulcan outpost.
2. Teleporting the two zombies back with me as they were beating down on me mercilessly, and in effect saving the rest of the party who was ineffective against them.
3. Realizing when the zombies contacted me that they had actually touched my head just like a Vulcan would have with a Vulcan mind-meld. GM only described it as tearing off my helmet and digging their fingers into my face. I later asked our Vulcan crew member if the bruises on my face matched the same hand positions as a Vulcan mind-meld. And it was. Very cool.

Cool thing in the game: Space Zombies!

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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11/15/2019 - Friday 5:30-8pm
Title: Midsummer Road
System: Ryuutama
GM: Matt Sanchez
# Players: 2 of 5 (game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but it got moved at the last minute, luckily the other player was available too.)

A honobono trip through the woods.

The GM was one of the translators of the Japanese game.

An interesting game. The fun part was making up the world and the next town we were going to. The world building had about six separate questions for the world and town that had to be answered by the players.

The travel portion was interesting in its own way. Weather changed every day (and possibly terrain) and we had to roll for the physical condition we were in when we woke up, hunting for herbs, traveling, and making camp each day.  Each action also had a chance of getting us injured or sick. There was a lot of dice rolling for just traveling day to day. Thank goodness for the automatic die roller on roll20.net, the different combination of die rolls for each check was a bit too much for a novice player.

All the die rolls added up to small daily dramas, but for me, I prefer a game which reserved die rolls for high drama and wow moments.

We did see a couple of interesting things along the way.

Overall, I did enjoy the game for what it was.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

We created characters, then the world, then the next town we were headed to. Then we had to buy some equipment from various entertaining store keepers, then we traveled. During our travels we ran into rain, a twisted ankle, a cold, some dragon tracks filled in as puddles, and finally our destination.

At the start we ran into a strange fellow offering us some gold to sign a contract where our travel story would be magically written into a book and then once our travel was complete, would be read out loud to night dragons which ate our story (and the words would vanish from the book).

Later, we ran into deep puddles in a rhythmic pattern which wound up being footprints of a large rain dragon. We had followed the footprints and spotted the dragon.

At one point, a PC caught a cold, got better; then my character caught the same cold the next day and recovered a day after. Pretty funny and modeled real life.

Below is the world and town we imagined:

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

Morgan's BigBadCon 2019 Excellent Adventures

BigBadCon (BBC) is the best Indie RPG convention in the Bay Area and probably anywhere. Each year, Sean Nittner makes it better and better.

This year, there was the first PoC Meet & Greet. But the big small thing was a stack of sponsored PC Name Tents in every game room. GMs generally bring 3x5 cards for Players to write their PC names on them and use them as Name Tents, so other Players know how to address them at the table. Well, this year, every room had a stack of cards that you can write your names on and fold. Once folded, the names are written on both sides, so Players on both sides of the table can read them. The underside of the Name Tents are logos of sponsors who paid for the Name Tents. Amazingly simple and a great new thing for BBC.

Overall, lots of great games.

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Fri Oct 11, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

1001 Nights
System: 1001 Nights
Length: 4 hrs
GM: John Kim
Characters: Created at Table
4 Players: Jenny W, Walter G, Tom I, Morgan Hua

Mysterious strangers. Beautiful women. Enchanted swords. Talking camels. You play members of the Sultan’s Court, whiling away the sultry nights by telling pointed stories to advance your own ambitions. Navigate the social maze and you could win your heart’s desire; offend the wrong person and you suffer the Sultan’s wrath.

We could play with a predesigned set of characters, or create a situation from whole cloth.

Tags: Fantasy, GM-less, Improv.

I never heard of this game, so I looked it up and found that you were supposed to cast the other PCs as characters in your tale being told. You can do this by alluding to their traits, manners, or background. I was at first worried that it would be a narrative PvP game and wondered how that would work without it becoming a nasty hot mess. Well, the game actually played very well and I enjoyed it.

The GM brought two play sets and we actually mixed and matched the PCs from the two play sets.

We picked the setting where the current Sultana (widow of the Sultan) rules and belongs to the Mamluk military caste where as the dead Sultan was an Arabian.

The PCs picked were: Spoiled Bloodthirsty Prince (my PC, son of the Sultan, but of a different wife than the current Sultana), Dirty Grandma (grandmother to the dead Sultan), Witchy Aunt (sister of the dead Sultan), Wednesday Girl (half-breed cousin of the Spoiled Prince), Stern Governess (caretaker of the Prince and Wednesday). Once our Courtier is picked, we write down the PC's Senses: Hearing, Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch, Clothing. The Senses could be from either an internal view point or external or abstract. e.g. Smell for my PC was everything smells rotten, but I smell rotten too. We also write down Envies in our relationship to the other PCs. e.g. I envied my Aunt's horrible visions of doom. All these aspects are shared with the other players.

Basically, each PC tells a story and during the story, the other PCs can interject and ask yes-no questions and grabs a die from a bowl of dice (bowl of gems). If the storyteller answers Yes or No, then the questioner gets to roll the die and on evens, keeps the gem; on odds, hands the gem to the storyteller. Once the storyteller gets 8 gems, no more questions can be asked and the storyteller can finish the tale. If the storyteller doesn't answer the question, the gem is held in a holding pattern until the question is answered. If at the end of the story and the question is never answered (or when the questioner forgets the question), the gem is returned to the bowl. So, we quickly learned to ask questions that would get answered right away.

Once all PCs have told a story, the round ends, and the gems are allocated into 3 pools. Safety, Ambition, and Freedom. After the dice are allocated, you may take any of your gems to thwart another PC's Ambition on a 1-for-2 basis. e.g. take gems from any of your pools, but each gem will negate 2 gems from the other PC's Ambition pool. Roll your dice. Any even die rolls are successes and returned to the bowl. Odd die rolls are retained for the next end of round. Any successes in Safety prevents your PC from being harmed (for the story you told somehow making it's way back to the Sultan), 5 successes are needed to get your Ambition, 7 successes are needed to get your Freedom.

We played 2 rounds (normally 3).

Where the fun is, is where we bring in the other PCs, in veiled manners (or not so veiled) and then we'd manipulate the storyteller with hot buttons. Wednesday wanted a pet tiger. So, at one point, the Aunt asked, "Is there a magical tiger?" Of course, Wednesday would immediately say, "Yes." Or the Aunt hated the Governess, so she would ask, "Did the Governess (in the story), die a spinster?" or "Was that Governess ugly?" My Prince was obsessed with poison and would always ask, "Was it poisoned?" It got tiresome (in character, but it was funny) and later the storytellers would just ignore my question. 😊

I told a story about a magnificent hen house where the rooster was killed and a little male chick (me) was surrounded by hens (the other PCs). Each hen had aspects which identified them as a specific PC. When the rooster (Sultan) was killed, there was no rooster to wake up the sun and the land was in darkness. The farmer takes a hen and kills one each day. In the end, my chick, anointed by the dead rooster's blood, grew up to be the new rooster and made the sun rise again before all the hens were killed.

My second story was about Pirates and all the other PCs were members of the crew. They attacked a ship and took a genie bottle from the other ship. The genie (me) gave each PC a wish. The PCs then gave the bottle to the Sultan (who was evil, determined by a yes-no question) who then promptly wished everyone was dead (my PC had this as one of his tag lines - you want everyone dead) - THE END.

We had stories about poisoned orchards (that's where the poison started), Hansel and Gretel (Prince and Wednesday, The Evil Witch was the Governess), a jungle with animals (and yes, a magical tiger with a thorn in his paw; and the Governess got eaten), and other tales.

In the end, the Prince and Aunt got their Freedom, Grandma and Wednesday got their Ambition (Grandma got handsome oiled well-muscled guards, Wednesday got a pet tiger), and the Governess got nothing (she wanted free reign to punish the children, so the children and Aunt thwarted her Ambition).

I enjoyed this game and would run definitely run this with my regular gaming group.

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Fri Oct 11, 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM

A Place for Wellness

System: Cthulhu Dark

Length: 4 hrs

GM: Morgan Hua

Characters: Provided

5 Players: Matt S, Jason M, John A, Honda, Gil T

You will play various movie characters: Sarah Conner (Terminator 2), Laurie Strode (Halloween), Kirsty Cotton (Hellraiser I & II), Norman Bates (Psycho), RP McMurphy (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Richie Tozier (IT). All are new patients in an insane asylum. When not playing a patient, you will play as hospital staff in charge of evaluating patients, recommending therapies, and administering outdated therapies to the patients.

The asylum is modern and similar in tone to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

This is a PvP game where the Patients are pitted against the Doctors and the system. This is a game about perceptions, observation, deception, and human cruelty.

This game uses the very simple Cthulhu Dark system where a single d6 models your sanity. This game in no way represents real psychological problems nor effective treatments. This is a horror game.

Remember: The Institute for Wellness is here for your safety and well-being. Patience is a virtue and a patient is only released when they’re ready to face the world.

Tags: Dark, Drama, Emotional, Gore, Graphic Violence, Horror, Improv, Modern, Noir, Play to find out, Player antagonism, Potentially triggering*, Provocative, Serious PvP, heavy roleplaying at table - almost LARP.

I had an amazing table of players and the game's pace went at a gallop and I had loads of fun.

I watched Gil turn into Ben Hascome (IT) during the game (oops, I guess I changed PCs after submitting the game description).

This game was amaze-balls for me because when I designed it, I had various hopes of how it would turn out and the Players really shined in embracing their roles, and I felt the game's tone and pace ran close to how I envisioned it.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

No one picked Norman Bates.

The doctor's tried aversion therapy on McMurphy (lots of bats in his room) and Cotton (lots of Rubik's cubes). Hydrotherapy on Hascome. Thermotherapy on McMurphy.

Laurie Strode was released as cured.

In the end, Cotton's puzzle box activated and Pinhead came out and there was much killing.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Fri Oct 11, 8:00 PM - 12:00 AM

The Park at Dark
System: Trail of Cthulhu
Length: 4 hrs
GM: Steven Drouin
Characters: Provided
4 Players: Christine H, Daniel B, Shannon P, Morgan Hua

You are cordially invited to attend “The Park at Dark”, a once in a lifetime event at Walt’s magical kingdom in sunny Southern California. The event brings together a few of the worlds most aspiring minds in a collaborative competition of mystery, cunning, and wit, with a life changing surprise at the end! If you are able to attend, [this Trail of Cthulhu mystery/horror RPG] please RSVP at your earliest convenience.

I do not run pulp-y Cthulhu games. You are sacks of hair, meat, and bone, thrust into an increasingly incomprehensible situations, with relatively little hope of surviving whole. As such, emphasis is placed on uncovering the mystery at hand and interacting with your fellow investigators.

Tags: Dark, Horror, Mystery, Strong storyline.

My favorite game of the Convention. Steven brought an amazing amount of Disney lore to this game. For me, the perfect games are investigative and immersed in history or lore where I learn something new and true.

Steven delivered this in spades.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

The game was basically a treasure hunt in Disneyland at night. It's only open for us (who have a 1/2 hour head start) and other teams. We're given various clues based on esoteric Disney lore that takes us through hidden and special places in Disneyland. I knew some Disney lore, but some of the other Players were crazy Disney fans. We weren't allowed to use our smart phones, so some Players brought their Disney-gasms to the table, we rarely had to use our Disney lore points.

We're offered eternal life or fabulous wealth if we "win." In the last 2 years, no one has won.

We go through various rides and explore the grounds on a tight time table (in real-time, we must finish before our game ends at midnight). Steven had maps of Disneyland (some altered), various boxes of hidden treasure containing items and clues, pictures of real Disney trivia, objects, and locations which tie into our quest.

Of course, this is Cthulhu Dark, so something supernatural is also happening and we saw one of the creepiest Donald Ducks ever.

In the end, we found cryogenic Disney and various other contestants that have "won." Three PCs volunteered to be frozen (two were needed, but one PC jumped the gun, so two more froze themselves). I was the last PC standing at the end, chanting the needed ritual phrases, but we saved the world from the evil flat-lander demon from an invading 2D hellverse.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Sat Oct 12, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

The Last Boat

System: Ten Candles

Length: 4 hrs

GM: Scott Henderson

Characters: Created at Table

6 Players: Sean P, Finn E, Julie D, Philip R, Alex L, Morgan Hua

The island resort has turned into a nightmare. The beach sand has turned so thick with blood that not even the tide can wash it away. There aren’t many folks left… not since They came. Just the group of you, and from the crackled interference on the radio, it sounds like one other group holed up on the far end of the island at another resort. Maybe some locals further in-land too, who knows? You’ve sent out call after call for rescue, but only recently did you finally hear a reply. It was all crackle and static, but you were able to make out something about the Coast Guard, and the Northern Island. The reef ’s too taxing on boats here so you’ll have to make your way there. Of course that means finding a boat or swimming a quarter mile of ocean water. Not to mention navigating to the northern tip of the island and hoping the folks holed up there haven’t already taken the last boat across. The lights are flickering low. It’s time to move.

Tags: Apocalyptic, Collaborative, Dark, Drama, Horror, Mystery Tragic, Horror, RPG, Mystery, Collaborative.

This is a storytelling game where each Player takes turn telling the story.

The tone of this game was great. We had a good table of Players too. I decided my character was a fat lazy guy named The Dude who doesn't do much of anything but drink.

In the end, we all died. (Not a spoiler as that's supposed to happen in every game.)

I enjoyed the game, but felt there wasn't enough interaction between Players during the storytelling.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

We basically retrieve as much useful stuff from our resort and try to get to the northern part of the island. We run into cultists which chase us. We die.

I enjoyed the game, but I felt there wasn't enough interaction between Players. When one Player is narrating, there's not much interaction. At some critical point, dice are rolled and either the current storyteller ends the story with a success or the GM ends the story with a failure and a blown out candle.

When you're down to the last candle, we all narrate our deaths. Then the last candle is blown out.

I learned that you should just burn through your cards as soon as possible because the more interesting cards are at the end. Some Players were still on their 2nd card at the end.

In the end, The Dude walked down a line of cultists towards a blinding white doorway. He took a Ray Ban off one of the cultists which had hid burned out eye sockets, and put the sunglasses on. Everything dark turned light and vice-versa. The dark cavern turned bright showing every detail, except the glowing doorway which was now a dark hungry pulsating maul. The Dude entered the doorway, fade to nothingness.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Sat Oct 12, 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM

A Place for Wellness

System: Cthulhu Dark

Length: 4 hrs

GM: Morgan Hua

Characters: Provided

5 Players: William L, Sal, Robin B, Christine H, Joseph F

This game in contrast to the first run the day before, was a slow burn, but the Player choices really surprised me and actually got to one of the more interesting endings.

William did an amazing job as Norman Bates.

This whole game is about Player choices and they were very interesting this time.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

No one picked Laurie Strode.

This time, most of the Players picked to play their PCs very low key, so the game felt very slow to me. Sal showed up 1 hr late, but was a very good role-player and shook things up when he played Cotton.

Dr Furter prescribed LSD drug therapy to many patients. Though his first recommended therapy was always Lobotomy. 😊

LSD and Electroshock therapy seemed to work for Bates because the physicians released him as cured.
Sarah Conner got released as cured as long as she kept taking her medication (which she always palmed).

McMurphy and Cotton escaped into the 2nd basement of the hospital.

Physicians prescribed escalating aversion therapy (3 Stooges, Cirque du Soleil, then McDonald ads and old Clown documentaries) for Hascome. He was almost declared cured when he turned into IT.

IT decided to kill McMurphy as there can only be one Clown, but instead got McMurphy to agree to kill Cotton. During the McMurphy / Cotton fight, McMurphy turned into The Joker and stopped fighting Cotton and decided to face IT.

There was a IT / The Joker fight (Clown vs Clown fight) and The Joker killed IT.

Then The Joker wiped out most of the hospital.

In the end, The Joker and Cotton escaped. Bates and Conner were released as cured. IT was dead. This was a very, very interesting ending.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Sat Oct 12, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

PoC Meet & Greet

Hosts: Ajit George, Victoria Caña, and Whitney “Strix” Beltrán

Length: 2 hrs

100 Attendees

This was the first PoC Meet and Greet. Attendees pre-registered and our interests got matched up with various opportunities. At the door, we signed in and got handed a booklet for who we should meet.

There was free food (several appetizers), no drinks. The room was nice except 100 people made the noise level mostly unbearable. Lip readers have an advantage.

I was looking for some creative work in the RPG industry. Lo and behold, in my booklet, Cat Tobin of Pelgrane Press was looking for people. I had said hello to Cat Tobin at GenCon last year, since I have been play testing for them, but I didn't know they were looking for writers and Cat didn't know I was interested in other stuff, so 10 minutes into the Meet and Greet, I spoke to Cat and she told me about a project she thought I would be perfect for.

I did stick around and spoke to several other people. But, Yay!

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Sun Oct 13, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

A Volume of Secret Faces

System: Delta Green

Length: 6 hrs

GM: Trung Bui

Characters: Provided

6 Players: Bob B, Sarah H, John A, Jonathan K, Shannon M, Morgan Hua

Fall of 2015. Boston, Massachusetts. Delta Green dispatches agents to investigate and locate patients who have mysteriously gone missing from a DG-friendly psychiatric facility overnight.

Players involved in the “Night Floors” scenario may experience a slightly different experience than fresh. (This does not exclude new players from enjoying this scenario.)

Tags: Dark, Espionage, Horror, Intrigue, Investigation, Mystery, Potentially triggering*, Provocative, Serious, Strong storyline, Suspenseful Delta Green, The King in Yellow, mystery, investigation

The game description was a bit cryptic about "Night Floors," so I thought if you played Night Floors, this would have spoilers. Which would have been true, but in a good sense. This was actually a sequel to Night Floors and was intended as part of a series. I was not familiar with Night Floors.

This was a good game with a good table. "No plan survives first contact with the enemy." OMG, we totally went to places in the wrong order in this game.

Kudos to the GM for twisting things around so we got to experience most of the scenario. Otherwise, I think we would have been done in 2 hours with the PCs lost forever.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

We're given a mission to find 3 missing ex-DG operatives who vanished from an Asylum. Our handler was a bit hinky, but I wasn't sure if that was just the standard PTSD hinkiness.

So, we went to the Asylum and got trapped in a delusional institutional overlay. This was great and I enjoyed this bit a lot. Then we tried to look for clues and ways to escape, but it became clear there was no way out until we followed another inmate into Carcosa. There we watched a play and drank a red potion and returned to Boston.

Shaken and stirred, we investigated the handler and found some major demon activity and started to put parts of the puzzle together.

In the end, we ran out of time, so we got into a really crazy hostage / car crash / rescue scene where two PCs t-boned an Uber ride into a Black SUV (holding a 2nd DG team who kidnapped 3 PCs and were going to shoot us and bury us). We got rescued and the NPC DG team got mostly killed (2 dead, 1 captured).

Then a demon robot showed up and handed us a slip of paper, inviting us back into Carcosa and to rescue Abigail. And thus our quest was extended.

Apparently we weren't supposed to enter the hospital so early on, we were supposed to investigate the handler instead and Carcosa was the big reveal.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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