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The amount of spells and monsters the PCs can run into does beg for Pulp Cthulhu vs Purist.
Also, there are no PC maps. Most maps have spoilers and requires some editing if you're going to show them to the Players.
Introduction (took 1 session):
p.10 & 16, Gravestones should have the beehive with bees dancing around it carved on them. The gravestone handouts do not depict this at all.
p.12, Navigate rolls for getting lost in the marsh. I didn't bother, this doesn't matter to the story. I used the sea mist and made them wander around in it. But seeing the tree and having a bad flashback was good as that reinforced the nightmares are more than just nightmares.
p.15, Julian Baker tells the PCs everything and most of it is correct. There's no extensive leg work the PCs need to do, there's no guess work, all handed to them in a box with a bow on top. If you want to make the scenario run longer, you can give partial information instead. The curse seems a bit odd too. If you destroy the gravestones, do the dreams end? I decided it did. So, does anything come out of the crypt? I decided no, though the Players were a bit disappointed that there was nothing to fight. The PCs actually got a horse and chains and dragged the 4 offending gravestones out of the churchyard, smashed them with sledge hammers, and then rented a boat to drop the pieces in the English Channel. Maybe send a Mini-Xiclotlan when the gravestones are disturbed? Though when they were defaced 20 years ago, nothing happened.
p.16, The plaque in St. Mary's. The puzzle is too complicated and there's no way the Players will figure this out. They did it the hard way by surveying the graveyard for gravestones marked with beehives and comparing it with the parish records, thus finding the 4 gravestones that don't match any burials.
p.19, There were no SAN rewards listed for completing the Introduction, so I handed out 1d4 SAN for having the wedding.
Whitby Vampire (took 2 sessions):
p.23, Whitby Swing Bridge and 199 Steps.
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| Swing Bridge - open |
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| Swing Bridge - closed |
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| Swing Bridge - surface |
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| 199 Steps |
p.24, A Tour of Whitby. The descriptions aren't very clear and Googling images aren't very clear either. Luckily one of our Players had been there twice for a Goth Festival. The Spa Pavilion is at sea level and you take the treacherous Spa Ladder up to Whitby Abbey where the cemetery is. The Abbey (Catholic) was destroyed by King Henry VIII when he created the Church of England. At the top of the cliff face is a small operating church, St. Mary's. The multiple skill tests for this is pretty crazy and old style. Two of the PCs got extreme successes, so I dropped Frederick Davis into the sea instead. I think the purpose of this was to show that the Deep Ones weren't antagonistic. One PC who had opted to walk to the Abbey via a safer route (199 Steps, the Abbey Steps) spotted the wave that sent Frederick to shore safely. I also let him see an indistinct head bob in the water momentarily, maybe it was a seal or a Deep One.
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| The Spa Pavilion |
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| Spa Ladder |
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| Whitby Abbey |
p.25, The Procession. This is confusing. Why would the ghosts go around the gravestone where there is no coffin or body? And why would there be a freshly dug grave if there's no burial? If you read the scenario carefully, you'll find out that the body was lost at sea and the Deep Ones buried it, p.35, So, there's no body. Who are these ghosts? Why do they care? p.32 says the procession only happens for buried bodies of a poor man. So, is the body there or not? The procession scene is cool. Since there's an operating graveyard here, there must be a church. So, the PCs visited the church, St. Mary's, to ask questions of the local priest. To fix this, I'd have a body and changed the information on p.29 (Gabriel Ward's name with question marks
remove the question marks), p.33 (no body found change it to
body washed ashore), p.35 (Deep Ones buried him change it to
put him ashore, hoping someone would help revive him, but he died anyway).
p.26, The picture has a pool of blood around Elliot Elder's body. The Star Vampire should have sucked him dry. There should be no pool of blood.
p.28, Handwritten Sheet. It's just a list of cryptic sentences with the last item, The Baneful Dust, having explicit instructions. This should really be a handout and not have GM info embedded in this. I mis-read this and accidentally told the PCs it was loose leaf sheets with spells on it and the comments were written as notation on the side. Oops. In the big scheme of things, it probably doesn't matter.
p.30, The dates are swapped for Steven Mason and Gabriel Ward. Steven should be 16th and Gabriel the 18th.
p.32, Detailed info about the
Anchor in right column. This is not marked very well. I read this, then during play, I couldn't find it.
p.33, Gabriel's boat, the
Merman, is still here. So obviously it didn't sink while he was fishing. If the boat's here why would they think he drowned? So, the body must have washed ashore (with help from the Deep Ones, hoping someone would help him, maybe?) I'd also say the boat was found adrift (or found washed ashore) and it had obviously capsized because everything was soaked in sea water. Making people think maybe Gabriel fell overboard. This seems more reasonable. Or leave the boat tied up and say he drowned near his house. But then his body was drained of blood and full of puncture marks. So why say he drowned? There's just too many issues here.
p.33, A Sea Trip. I had 6 Deep Ones bookend the PCs on the street as they looked for lodging at night. The Deep Ones strongly requested that the PCs come with them to see someone. The PCs agreed and I gave them piggy back rides to Staithes. During their talk with the Deep One elders, the Deep Ones decided the PCs were also looking for Gabriel's murderer and would let the PCs go. The Deep Ones gave the PCs a stone with a sigil on it, to be tossed into the sea, if they found out who was responsible for Gabriel's death; it would call the Deep One tribe.
p.34, Staithes is north of Whitby. This is where the Deep Ones moved to.
p.36, Tom Jenkins. One of the PCs went Temporarily Insane, so he got locked up in the Whitby jail. Tom Jenkins showed up to write up a story about what happened. I had him follow the PCs as they drove to Ughorpe and sent a Star Vampire to attack the PCs. The driver failed his drive roll and the Star Vampire succeeded, so it was able to force the car off the road and into a tree. After a tense fight, where they shot at it, threw motor oil on the creature to make it visible, and set it on fire, the PCs killed the Star Vampire. The PCs needed more motor oil for their car, so they walked back towards Whitby toward the nearest service station. On the way back, they noticed a car that started up and U-turned quickly away from them (PCs made their Spot Hidden, NPC failed his Sneak).
p.37, There are no SAN rewards for this chapter. I would handout some if they dealt with the Deep Ones non-violently, realizing they're not a threat. I'd handed out 1d10 SAN for killing the Star Vampire, for knowing it's killable and how to kill it.
North York Moors (took 2 sessions)
p.45, Ashton Brown stands out like a sore thumb at the Flask Inn. He needs a cover story for why he's at
Lilla Howe. I said he was visiting/doing research on Lilla Cross.
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| Lilla Cross |
p.47, Bloody Beck ritual and dancers. Everything is ok until you wonder where the dancers came from. I assume they're not local as that would be a big tip off when a majority of Lilla Howe's population disappears or drops dead. So, if they're students recruited from Durham Cathedral, wouldn't the locals, especially at the Flask Inn, notice a bus full of students getting off at the bus stop and heading to Bloody Beck? A good cover would be a student field trip.
p.51, Ashton Brown. He's human, but he can wield a Nerve Whip. p.63, Alelia Carter has one too. So, from this I concluded that the PCs can wield them also. The issue is that the Nerve Whip is way too powerful. You may want to either only allow Shan and Shan possessed NPCs the ability to activate it, set a number of uses before a recharge is required, or make it a Fighting Specialization Nerve Whip (20%), the same as a sword (a Nerve Whip seems to act like a Light Saber, except it causes nerve pain).
p.52, Voorish Sign. In The Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic, the Voorish Sign enhances spell casting and temporarily wards off Mythos creatures. Nothing is said about making the invisible visible. This either could be a mistake by Elliot Elder or as a GM, you can make the Voorish Sign make the invisible visible. I preferred to stick with cannon and decided Elliot Elder was mistaken, but the Voorish Sign would fend off a Mythos creature for a round or two, as the creature decides whether the practitioner was a powerful spellcaster or not.
My Players decided to enter the pyramid at the Bloody Beck after interrupting the ritual. Even though they hadn't gone to the Durham Cathedral location to register their biosignatures, I thought why not? They were hot to trot and when's the last time a group of investigators volunteered to enter a dangerous enclosed space without prompting? Also denying them entry, then forcing them to Durham before letting them into the pyramid at Limehouse seemed unnecessary and railroady.
Durham Cathedral (took 1/2 session)
PCs came here to see Professor Graham after finding his name in Elliot Elder's journals. Totally ignored all the Student Societies because they had no reason to look at them and then went to Lilla Howe.
Cardington (took 1 session)
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| Cardington Airship Sheds with Airships |
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| Cardington Airship Sheds |
I decided there were no fences, but there were nightwatchmen patrolling the grounds and interior. PCs tried to drive stealthily close to the Airship Sheds, but failed. A nightwatchman asked what they were doing there, and told them to leave. PCs left and came back from a different direction.
The two stealthiest PCs snuck into the Airship Shed and offices. I simplified this, basically every failed Stealth roll or obvious noise, I had them make a Luck roll. Any Luck roll failure meant the nightwatchman had found them. After they took care of the nightwatchman, if there was additional noise, I sent cultists with Nerve Whips. Upon exit, I had a Shantak launch towards the fleeing PCs from the Airship Shed.
PCs got into a car and tried to flee. Their luxury car had a 6 Build. Every 10 pts damage by the Shantak destroys 1 Build. They finally defeated the Shantak by tossing a handful of Baneful Dust at it. The Shantak had done 4 pts of Build damage to the car before it decided to fly away.
Newcastle (took 1 session)
p.73 Reference to Handout
Paper in the Safe #1 is incorrect, it is on p.74, NOT on p.71.
PCs sort of got stuck because they got into the wall safe, but didn't de-Shan Roland Timon. Without de-Shaning him, it's impossible to figure out who J.C. (initials on a handout) is. So, either expand the initials to the full name or add extra correspondence that tells the PCs that J.C. is John Carrigan. PCs broke into the house again after failing to abduct Roland Timon, so I added some more correspondence that explained who JC is.
Carrigan's House. Safe in the Study. That safe is annoying obnoxious. The "no save" shock is really odd. After one PC got shocked into unconsciousness, another PC tried a non-conductive object. Yeah, I shocked him too because it didn't make sense that anyone with a rubber glove could just take all the objects out of the safe. But since the house is empty and there's no neighbors, eventually, the PCs would regain consciousness. So, what's the point of the shock trap? It's just an old style D&D trap. I'd just get rid of it, seal up the safe, and keep the hypnotizing trap on the door. The hypnotizing trap only lasts a few rounds because the PC is allowed to save each round. So, there's a disconnect between the duration of the shock trap (hours) and the hypnotizing trap (rounds).
The List (took 1.5 sessions)
The location of the Graf Zeppelin tickets:
Amanda Freeman-Danby carries hers and Eric Todd's in her purse during the day and under her pillow at night. p.81
Edward Driscoll's is in the lining of his hat. p.84
Sebastian Wright's is in a locker at the Shambles Club, but the locker key is attached to his watch fob in his trouser pocket. p.87
John Carrigan's is in his clear safe at his house in Whitley Bay. p.75.
Roland Timon's is in his wall safe in his office. p.72.
The Carrier is carrying his.
There's a question as to which cultists are Shanned. If Shan can telepathically contact each other, why do they need to telephone each other about the Investigators? p.7
Being Shanned, states that
some Shan are connected, not all. Considering that there seem to be a lot of Shan and they regularly take over people who are in the way such as Seth Gray or even the numerous human sacrifices at the Bloody Beck. p.88
Penalties indicates that all of the cultists on the List have been Shanned. So, all of the cultists have been Shanned.
When I ran this, I made a mistake and thought that Sebastian wasn't Shanned as I couldn't find it in the text and he didn't carry a Nerve Whip. You may want to mix this up a little and just have some dedicated / deluded cultists. It was amusing that when they tried
Cast out Shan on Sebastian, nothing happened. Also when they killed Eric Todd, I had the Shan leave Eric's head, and they had to deal with newly freed Shan. Amanda may also be free of Shan.
Heliowall (took 1 session)
It's hard to find in the text where the pyramids are located, so here's the list:
1. The Forest - The Pennines in central England.
2. The Sacred Lake - Loch Carron in the Scottish Highlands.
3. The Trenches - Military training ground in Salisbury plain.
4. The Final Pyramid - Southampton.
For the Shan, remember its build is -2, so any firearms attacks against it is with a penalty die. The one Shan inside the first pyramid was no challenge as they have only 1 HP.
Yet again, lots of unnecessary extended tests and cascading tests at various locations (make this save throw, if fail, roll this, if fail, roll this). I simplified most of the tests.
Graf Zeppelin (took 2 sessions)
The Graf Zeppelin schedule should be readily available as the airship trip should have publicity and anybody inquiring about buying tickets should be presented with that info.
The Graf Zeppelin schedule (pieced together from the text):
August 1, departs Zeppelin Airship Works, Friedrichshafen, Germany for New Jersey, USA (across Atlantic Ocean).
August 5, arrives Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey.
August 7, departs Lakehurst for Friedrichshafen (across Atlantic Ocean).
August 10, arrives Friedrichshafen.
August 15, departs Friedrichshafen for Japan (across Europe and Asia).
August 19, arrives Kasumigaura naval airship base, Japan.
August 23, departs Japan for Los Angeles, USA (across Pacific Ocean).
August 25, arrives Mines Field, Los Angeles, California.
August 29, departs Los Angeles for Lakehurst (across USA).
August 31, arrives Lakehurst, New Jersey.
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| Graf Zeppelin |
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| Graf Zeppelin Superstructure |
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| Graf Zeppelin Gondola - floor plan |
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Workers repairing the Graf Zeppelin on the outside
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| View of engines |
There are no descriptions of the NPC passengers. Also if you follow the schedule of p.104
First Day, events happen to NPCs (Tim Owen & Landon Hughes) who have been replaced by PCs or Cultists. If Landon Hughes is replaced by a PC, use Robert Hall for the stock-purchase order.
It is also not clear who is sharing a room. I've put Lady Grace Drummond-Hay by herself. Weigand & Wilkins together. Harman & Rosendahl. Hirsch & Maruyama. Wood & Hail. Lee & Jackson. Mason & Baker. Philips & Gray. Hughes & Thompson. Owen & Webb.
My Players grabbed the wrong guy looking for the Carrier, Robert Hall, then decided they had to do more desperate measures and decided to sabotage the two right engines at night, by exiting a service hatch, tying on a safety line, and shooting at the engine. I had the PC make Climb rolls, failure means they fall, but are caught by the line. Each round they're out in the cold thin air, I caused 1d3 damage. Once they make a successful Climb roll, they can shoot at the engine, requiring a Hard success to disable it. Then they had to readjust their safety line to shoot at the second engine. The PC crit fumbled and the line snapped. Oops. Luckily the PC still had 30+ Luck and Avoided Certain Death.
PCs decided to disable the airship vs trying to figure out who the Carrier was. Once they started damaging the ship engines, the Carrier had to act and stop the sabotage. The PCs even convinced the captain to stop the engines, so the Carrier had to take over the controls and restart the engines.
The Carrier's HP is 21. Can auto-repair damage for 1d6 HP per round, total lifetime repair of 6 pts. This is sort of cool,
Terminator-like. But again too rules heavy and unless the GM describes the repair, it effectively just gives the Carrier 6 more HP. I would actually change this to Rises Again: Once it reaches 0 HP, it falls dead, give it 6 HP as it auto-repairs damage the next round, and then it springs back to life to attack once again.
Last Leg (took 1/2 session).
Basically epilogues for the PCs and tying up loose ends.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
non-profit organization. As they run various missions around the world for the organization, they begin to realize that their organization is more than it purports to be.
I really enjoyed this campaign and highly recommend it. I would go with Medium or High Pulp with this campaign. I allowed Gadgets/Weird Science and Psychic powers.
