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Sunday, October 06, 2024
Morgan's Miskatonic Repository Con 2024 Excellent Adventures
Another free online convention. This one focused on Call of Cthulhu 7e scenarios in the Miskatonic Repository (3rd party written scenarios). Scenario authors (and others) can run scenarios from the Miskatonic Repository or play tests of scenarios.
This year, every GM I played with was the author of their scenario. Overall, a good convention. More good games than bad. And the quality of the good games more than compensated for the bad games.
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10/4/24 Fri 11am-3pm (4 hrs)
Bound by Blood (Playtest)
System: CoC
GM: Nellufy
3 Players: David J (Marisigan - Field Guide working for Dr Schneider), Denice K (Father Antanacio Jr), Morgan Hua (Dr Schneider - German Ethnologist)
Content Warnings: Cannibalism
Pregens are provided
This scenario takes place in 1911 Philippines. It has been under American Rule for 13 years.
Strange happenings have been taking place up north. A report came in the San Fernando Constabulary that a headless corpse has been found outside of Luka Village and accused is on the run.
The PCs were designed for the scenario and had fairly detailed backstories.
I enjoyed this scenario. It's great to play a game with only 3 Players. We get lots of screen time.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
We're dropped in media res into Luka Village in front of a body covered with a tarp. It's maggoty and headless. I soon discover that Father Antanacio and my PC, Dr Schneider, both have three parallel cut scars at our necks. The body also had a strong fish smell about it. Questioning NPCs brought up that the main suspect is a missing villager, an adopted outsider. That there were bandits that were kidnapping people and killing them. That there was a medicine woman that helped cleanse people.
We search the crime scene and discover footprints left by a man-sized creature with webbed feet. This lead to a ritual spot with a Cthulhu statue and the missing head with the top cut open and the brains having been minced and maybe eaten. Sun was setting, so we decided to visit the medicine woman who was nearby. Yes, we took the head with us. There's also a plague of frogs. PCs noticed they were being followed in the jungle.
The medicine woman told us that the bandits were actually kidnapping people and killing them to bury with a rich or powerful person, so they can serve them in the afterlife. That one tribal headman was dying and she was tending to him. Both Father Antanacio and Dr Schneider were marked (by the scars). The scars meant that they had already gone through a ritual and were possible inheritors of the headman. PCs get attacked by bowmen and they escape with the medicine woman. PCs get directions to the dying tribal headman.
PCs get tracked down by one of the bowmen who was shot in the head. Marisigan chopped one of its hands off. Dr Schneider was able to halt the bowman by bringing out the statuette. The bowman wanted it, but didn't want to damage it. Father Antanacio tried to destroy the statuette, but was only able to damage it and knock its head off (detachable, but it held some foul ritual substance inside). Marisigan cleaved the bowman's head in half. Dr Schneider decapitated the body, but it kept on thrashing about.
Heavy rains came down and PCs found a cave for shelter and it's a giant burial chamber. Carvings depict a ritual for transferring power between humans and frog people. Father Antanacio and Dr Schneider have flashes of memory where they ate from cups made of human heads. Dr Schneider finally translates the markings on the statuette (after 3 tries): In His House at R'lyeh Dead Kugilataaw waits dreaming, yet He shall rise and His kingdom shall cover the Earth. PCs go deeper and find the ritual spot. Father Antanacio defiled the blue waters of an underground lake with the defiled statuette, and a ginormous creature came out of the lake. Marisigan faced an army of undying, originally hanging on the ceiling like bats (or odd frogs), who were now mortal. Dr Schneider shot the tribal headman with a 01 crit, knocking him off the ceiling. The cave complex started to collapse.
On the way out, the tribal headman grabbed Dr Schneider's ankle, so Schneider shot him in the head, killing him, releasing a stream of ancestral spirits.
The PCs escape, but unknowingly, Father Antanacio gets infected and is the new tribal headman, spreading the religion of Dead Kugilataaw.
My only small quibble was that a few times, the PCs were forced to go into somewhere obviously dangerous because they failed POW tests. Visions and voices forced the PCs to go deeper into the caves which at that point was obviously the horrible ritual place of sacrifice. The hand of the GM showed a little too much here. There must be a more subtle way to do this that has more Player agency or some external pressure could be used instead.
The GM did tell us that this was a longer scenario and she had condensed it into 4 hours, so there were a few odd coincidences where we randomly arrived at just the right spot. I attribute this to condensing the scenario. The start was a bit jarring. I would have liked to have travelled to Luka Village vs just starting there in media res.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
10/4/24 Fri 4-8pm (4 hrs)
The Wolf Trap
System: CoC
GM: Chris McCutcheon
6 Players: Robert F (Capt Carpenter), Benjamin S (Mrs Daria Walmsley - socialite), Moran T (Father Filbert Mason Esq), Walter M (Holly Hoyle - muscle), Kevin K (Dr Etsuko Hoshi - doctor), Morgan Hua (First Mate Enzo Pimintel)
Chesapeake Bay, 2 April 1896, The schooner 'Caroline' is southbound with passengers, mail & cargo, when a wicked gale kicks up. With the bay growing ever angrier the Captain steers towards Wolf Trap Light; a tiny, hazy & so very distant beacon of hope glinting dimly off their port bow. The desperate plan is to make for the lighthouse in the middle of the bay, hoping to lash to the stormproof structure & ride out nature's fury. Only ten minutes more & they'll be able to safely ride out the storm.
The issue is that I've played a number of games with the same premise. Another issue was this played out like a radio play, I basically listened as the GM told us a story. Not enough Player choices or Player agency. There were too many individual vignettes where PCs didn't interact with each other and the GM just round robined through the PCs. This happened multiple times.
GM did tell us that this scenario was squeezed into a 4 hour slot. Various things were removed (less exploring), and events condensed. So, maybe if this scenario had more space to breathe, it would have played out better.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
The game started off with various individual vignettes with PCs on the boat preparing for a storm. With 6 Players, you're basically listening. Then the Capt and I were given 3 possible choices as an approaching storm approaches and we're told which of the 3 choices were the best choice and if you've read the scenario description, well, you know what the choice is.
Deep Ones attack our ship during the eye of the storm and we wind up in a pitch battle which was sort of odd. Then after one round, the Deep Ones flee as the eye of the storm moves off and the storm returns.
Then as we get to the lighthouse, a giant wave hits the ship, PCs make saves. Then the mast breaks and the ship capsizes. The PCs all start to drown and then get rescued in individual vignettes.
This was Act 1 and it took 2 hours.
Act 2, the PCs wake up individually in the lighthouse and talk to the lighthouse keeper, then fall asleep again. After all the vignettes were done, all the PCs wake up and find the lighthouse dark and seemingly empty. As we go upstairs, two of us, Enzo and Daria, have a flashback that we're drowning. Upstairs we see 2 demons and Etsuko and Holly attack and kill one. I immediately thought we're probably seeing things and doing horrible things to normal people. The other demon says the Lord's prayer. Then we wake up in the same rooms we were in before.
Each time we wake up, the lighthouse rooms change, as we progress through time. We face exorcists and other people we're haunting. Eventually, we figure out how to release ourselves from the haunting; we had to destroy our treasured item in a ritual. Only one PC stayed, the Capt, to haunt the lighthouse forever.
GM did say a longer version of this scenario would have a longer fight with the Deep Ones and each time we had a time jump, the PCs can fully explore the lighthouse before the next jump. Our jumps were pretty tight often with very little exploration.
Storywise, this scenario is ok. Some things didn't make sense such as the Deep One attack. But if you want to be a ghost and want to solve a mystery and redeem yourself, I recommend Steven Drouin's Torn games instead.
4 Players: Bud B (Curt Kendrick - Ad Exec), Robert F (Ted Brantly - Contractor / Outdoorsman), Jo S (Donny Shows - Talent Agent), Morgan Hua (Larry Frippe - Insurance Salesman)
Summer 1972, Washington State. A group of old friends reunite for a weekend rafting trip in the Olympic National Forest. Their whitewater journey down the Lost River in the shadow of Mt. Mystery unearths terrible, subterranean secrets hidden within themselves and the primeval wilderness. Warning: body horror, child endangerment, PvP.
Each PC had a "Dark Secret" card which added a lot to the roleplaying. If the PC did a specific Act, they would get a Reward (3 possible awards, one use), so doing the Act 3 times gives you all 3 Rewards that you can use only once. The Rewards are pretty powerful rule breakers.
An incredible table of Players and great GM who wrote this scenario. My favorite game at this convention. Premium character interactions. Everyone was present in their character and I felt everyone was very real with their actions.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
This scenario is a reimagining of Deliverance. Insert hostile locals, cultists, mutant babies, ritual spaces, and whole lot of bad decisions.
PCs start in media res putting in our canoes. Then Ted and Donny get a flashback to us arriving at a rundown bar and general store. Ted and Donny go to the bar and meet the hostile locals. Donny picks up a banjo and cuts her fingers on its strings before moving on to the guitar and winds up playing dueling banjos with something in a baby carriage. The thing in the carriage was given the banjo. A bar fight breaks out and Ted gets hurt.
Meanwhile, Curt and Larry get into trouble with their canoe. In their canoe is also Margo, Ted's niece. They lose a tent and one of their paddles while going down the rapids. When they pick up their lost gear, Curt and Larry see plastic dolls impaled on sticks on the shoreline. Flashback to the general store. Curt buys an old revolver and an ancient book. Larry, some jerky. Margo finds toys and dolls, all old and musty and cranks a jack-in-the-box which pops up with a paper mâché head that resembled their friend Perry who had vanished 10 years ago. Curt and Larry are creeped out and leave. The deformed, possibly tumor stricken shop owner gives the jack-in-the-box to Margo. On the drive out, out of sight of the store, Larry throws the toy out the car window into the brushes.
In the river, the PCs pass by a bridge that has been deliberately taken down. Tire tracks are present on either side of the bridge.
PCs camp for the night, across the river from an old logging camp. Ted explores and found two logging trucks parked there and decides to return to our camp. At night, Ted sees something. Hunts it down and only finds a pile of bones, inside is a baby skull with 3 eye sockets. Later that night, shadow creatures show up. The PCs fight them. Ted gets enveloped by one of the shadows and falls into a dark pit, but is able to grab its edge with his fingernails. Margo tries to dive in and save Ted, but Donny holds her back. Larry had crawled over Curt, away from one of the shadow things. Curt shoots one of the shadow things with his shotgun which misfires, but destroys it. Seeing his chance, Larry legs it to one of the canoes. Creature goes after Donny who dodges, so Margo leaps in to save Ted and knocks him into the pit. Curt reloads his damaged shotgun and tries to shoot the shadow that's after Donny, and it explodes. Everything fades to white.
The PCs wake up the morning, but not in their tents, but in the last place they were last night. Uninjured. PCs talk about the events. Larry gaslights them and tells them he slept very well and woke up this morning to start packing for the second day on the river.
More rapids, but hostile locals are bringing rifles and boats to come after the PCs. Locals shoot at the PCs and Margo gets hit. Ted shoots his bow and deflates one of the local's rafts. More rifle fire, PCs paddle away, and find the river blocked. The only way out is portage. Ducking from more rifle fire, the PCs take the portage trail that leads into a tunnel. Eventually, they reach a ritual chamber with multiple tunnel entrances. Ted, Curt, and Donny go crazy. Donny tries to brain Larry with a rock, Larry runs. Ted tries to stab a flaming icon of Perry who shows up, but is embraced by him instead. The locals show up. Curt is thanked for bringing Margo back to her family. Ted, Curt, and Donny are taken into the family.
Larry finds a still that uses the river water, grabs an armload of empty mason jars, and uses them as flotation devices and jumps into the underground river.
Larry's Act was that he'd get a Reward for every time he does anything to avoid harm, even if it meant risking his friends' lives. Curt if he found a specific book and protected it. Ted if he inflected terrible violence on anybody he thought deserved it. Donny if he spread peace, joy, or love which included song and music. These Dark Secrets really added to the game, it's like the Hidden Agendas from Alien RPG, except the Dark Secret has multiple rewards, so it gives a bennie for roleplaying consistently and creating friction in the fiction. I love this mechanism. Of course, the Dark Secrets are tailored for the scenario.
5 Players: J D (Merton Campbell - Doctor), Xiao W (Selene Laurent - Entertainer), Robert F (Ming Yuet - Gunslinger), Morgan Hua (Bill O'Reilly - Miner)
From ENNIE award winning Miskatonic Repository writer David Waldron. The Demon of the Deep Leads Amidst the lawlessness and turmoil of the Eureka Rebellion, a young First Nations woman of the Jardwadjali people searches desperately for her missing brother. As bushrangers stalk the innocent and rebels prepare for a bloody clash under the Southern Cross, something far more terrifying stirs in the depths below—an ancient creature with an insatiable hunger for human flesh.
Game is set in 1854 Ballarat, Australia. GM had deep knowledge about the peoples and places. Had lots of historical paintings and drawings, and real events melded into the scenario.
We had an ok table of Players and we made the mistake of skipping half of the investigation and jumped to the Big Bad at the end. We finished 2 hours early and wound up talking about the scenario and Australian history for 30 mins. So, the scenario wasn't as satisfying as it should have been.
Overall, I think if this was run over several sessions and with some work by the GM to massage the scenario a little, the game would be better. The historical content and setting makes getting this scenario well worthwhile.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
PCs are told to find John Lovette for 4£ (2£ provided by June, John's sister; a matching 2£ by her Italian friend who asked us to help). The Lovettes are Indigenous Australians, so it's hard for June to investigate by herself. John was working for a man named Jim Owens, a rough and dangerous man.
Bill and Ming visited the grocery and found that Jim had bought supplies for a week and all the dynamite. Additional pressure yielded that he was headed into the Devil's Kitchen.
Selene and Merton went to the Charlie Napier Hotel to question Hattie, Jim's girlfriend. Hattie was a first tier entertainer of the brothel kind whom Jim lavished expensive gifts on. They learned that he was also interested in Hattie's ex-boyfriend, Rudolf, who had a mining claim in the Devil's Kitchen.
Visiting the assayer's office, yielded the location of Rudolf's mine. Also we learned about an injured Trooper who was sent out to investigate a question of claim jumping at Rudolf's mine. His partner never returned. Merton treated the Trooper and found out he was attacked by a large cat-like creature who's claws dripped venom. On the Sargent's desk is a report about an animal attack at Scarsdale. There's also local gossip about escaped animals from the circus.
PCs go to Scarsdale and learn about mutilated sheep and cattle. Sightings of it said it was brown, dark, had quills, large claws and dripped black ichor. We didn't believe that this was what the creature looked like, probably bad eye witness accounts. I asked if there was a reward for killing the creature, the reward was 50£.
PCs head to the Devil's Kitchen and run into an abandoned mining camp. I decided to call out and see if there were anybody alive. A response was heard near a pile of lumber and bushes. I called out again and heard two sounds, someone saying, "Run," and a growl from a very large predator.
PCs decided to stand and fight. The 50£ bounty was dear to us, we had really low credit ratings. From behind the lumber and bushes was a cave where the creature came bursting out. It was as described with quills and everything. Oops. We actually took the creature down (with lots of luck spends) with only Merton got hurt. Inside the cave was the dead body of the missing Trooper, Jim Owens and his men (dead), and John Lovette, still alive on a high ledge. We patched him up and returned him to his people.
We turned in the head of the creature to Scarsdale for the reward. The GM then narrated the ending as the creature would return the next night and individually hunt down the PCs.
At this point, we're only 2 hours into a 4 hour game.
What we missed out was going to the circus and finding out about Jim Owens robbing the circus and stealing an idol. In the abandoned mining camp were journals about using the idol to control the creature and banishing it. There were weapons and dynamite at the camp. We were supposed to get all this info before entering the cave and go through a cat-and-mouse chase, looking for the idol on Jim Owens' body, then holding off the creature, as someone read a ritual to banish it.
I had asked if this was the mining camp we were looking for and the GM said, "You don't know." The chances of running into it like this seemed low, so I assumed it was another camp attacked by the creature. So, we were looking for survivors and more clues. We did not know that the person telling us to run was John Lovette. We also didn't think going to the circus was important to our investigation. We had really no reason to go there. When Ming found the bodies in the cave, he failed his Spot Hidden, so missed the idol. He was the one who found John who was badly hurt, so we took him out of the cave, had the doctor treat him, and then decided to get him home ASAP, so we didn't have time to fully explore the cave or camp site. We grabbed John and proof that the trooper was dead (his badge) and left. We also had the creature's head in a barrel which we had to keep on hitting as it was regenerating; we needed proof that we defeated it. We were able to burn the rest of its body. I think the time pressure of the regenerating head and John's dire condition made us depart as soon as possible. My plan was to take the reward money and take over mining claim and come back later to sort everything out. But the game had already gone into epilogue mode and finished.
I think the GM should have been more flexible. I understand that if the creature was dead, exploring the cave was now a slam dunk and not the exciting fight in the tunnels. One option was that the GM should have had no one respond to my shout out. Then we would have explored the abandoned camp as he wanted us to and the game would have flowed the way he wanted it. But the GM said us disturbing it and especially near its lair let it manifest in the darkness and come out and attack us. So, it was a GM decision to trigger the end game. But even with us killing the creature, why not continue the game and have the creature hunt us the next night, then we'd have to band together and figure out what's going on. At that point, we might go to the circus and return to the mining camp to look for clues. We still had 2 hours of game time left.
4 Players: Anne K (Mukai Kotori - Office Worker - vocalist), Gwen H (Kano Hoshiko - Pianist), Denice K (Kawashima Ru - Doctor - harp), Morgan Hua (Nakaoka Shintarō - Guard - taiko)
Modern Day Japan, Tokyo Investigators attending the "Hills Music Festa," a music festival held in Roppongi, Tokyo, face off against a strange phenomenon swirling behind the event. Do Gods Dream of Digital Drugs focuses on music and AI, taking place in the modern metropolis of Tokyo.
Written by Byoushin, from the scenario collection 'Japonism 2024' Pregens provided, all experience levels welcome. Content Warning: Self-harm.
Michael Reid isn't the original writer, but he did the official translation from the original Japanese. GM created pregens for us because the published scenario did not provide any.
I played in Unseasonable Blooming and Minuet last year, so I was really looking forward to playing in this. I was not disappointed.
We had a great table of players and the GM delivered again. This came in as a close second to being my favorite game at the convention. It's all the character interactions and a good mystery that made this a great game.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
PCs used to be in the same college band, but most of us have moved on to other careers after graduation. We had to come up with what instruments we played. Only Kano didn't have a choice as she became a professional Pianist. Then we had to come up with our band's name: Breath of the Mountain.
PCs meet their old friend Hamada at a bar and he hands them free tickets to the Hills Music Festa in two days. He's the producer and tells us there's a big deal and we should not miss the big reveal at 1pm. Fliers for the event is all over Tokyo. On the way out, he gets a phone call, hangs up, puts on his ear buds, says, "It's beautiful," pulls out a pen and starts stabbing himself in the face with it. We stop him, but it's too late. Kawashima stepped on something squishy on the way to administer First Aid. She succeeded, but he died anyway. Hamada had gouged out an eye and tore open an artery. Nakaoka calls emergency and quietly takes Hamada's blood soaked phone and bags it. "Some rice might dry it out."
PCs get questioned by the police and are asked about 4 other similar deaths. PCs realize the 4 dead are involved in the music industry and event planning. Police heavily suggest that the PCs are better equipped to navigate the backdoors of the industry as the police had already investigated and found it was a dead end. Blood work on Hamada showed only slight traces of alcohol in his blood and no drugs. Nakaoka cleans the phone in the police bathroom and with the group takes it to a phone repair kiosk. "Sorry, won't be fixed until the next day 1pm." "I'll pay for quicker service." "We will try. We'll call you when it's fixed."
PCs then go to Hamada's residence. They hack into his computer and find an email from one of the other victims, a professor at Yugoshi University. It talks about a passcode for a USB stick. PCs find it. Play it without sound and watch the wave forms. It looks like music, not spoken words. Decide to transcribe it into musical notation instead of listening to it. Oops, that didn't work as we expected. If we understood the music, we still had to make POW checks. Nakaoka gets entranced by the most beautiful music. Kano and Mukai pull out pens from their purses and start stabbing themselves in their own face. Kawashima tries to stop them, but fails. Nakaoka snaps out of it and is able to restrain one. The other falls unconscious. Both have lost an eye. Nakaoka calls emergency. Before the police and ambulance arrive he pulls the USB stick out of the computer and pockets it. Kano and Mukai are taken to the hospital. PCs are questioned by the police again. We tell them it's the music, but the police have their hands full with the music festival protesters and they have no pull on the big music festival, but they will try to do something about it. The protesters say the festival's music is against their god's will.
The next day, Nakaoka and Mukai visit the university and find the professor's lab. The associate professor, Jun Eai, has taken over the AI music lab. He tells the PCs that they've spent years developing the complex music that's going to be revealed at the Hills Music Festa, and that no one at the lab has listened to it. PCs explain what happens with the music and have one-eyed Mukai as proof (and the other deaths). PCs hand over the USB stick and password. Professor promises to try to analyze it and find some way of neutralizing it or changing it, so we could replace the music at the Hills Music Festa. They don't know how long it'll take, but they'll work on it around the clock.
Kawashima visits the company in charge of the event and makes a connection with the new person in charge, Kenji Charashima. The previous person had died. Also found out there were protesters against the event.
Kano visits the company that provides the sound equipment to the event.
PCs learn the police have raided and arrested all of the protesters. PCs visit the Church of Serialism and find it empty of people, but find sheet music. Kawashima wanted to burn the pages. Kano found a plan by the protesters to infiltrate the festival and sing their music. Nakaoka started playing it. It's music that can neutralize the AI music (Insane Insight). After a whole series of misadventures, all the PCs wind up listening to the music and understand its power.
The PCs get Kenji to listen to the music and he gives the PCs performance passes to the festival and puts them on the official schedule.
The PCs set up their instruments, wait until the AI music starts to play, and play the other music. The band is back together again!
A rift opens, Tru’nembra is summoned, the glass tower next to the venue shakes and the glass shatters, sending large panes of glass down, the ground splits open, and the other song is eliminated. We brought down the house!
The PCs are arrested. Nakaoka's excuse, "Why am I under arrest, that was an earthquake." Other PCs made their own excuses. Eventually, all the PCs are released. Nakaoka goes and joins the Church of Serialism and hopes to move up its ranks.
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