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How to Run: Call of Cthulhu[edit]
(Note: Originally written by somebody from 70.56.250.156 who didn't sign in, and posted to the Talk page for How to Run. Moved here and Wikified by Lord Knockwood the Mad 21:57, 15 November 2005 (PST))
Rule The First: Know Your Mythos
Call of cthulhu map.jpg Bonus FAQ: Where is the first aid kit towards the end of Call of Cthulhu? This little tip doesn't have anything to do with the Shambler battle above, but since it was one of the other most frustrating parts of playing Call of Cthulhu, it's worth throwing in the answer here, in as spoiler-free a fashion as possible. 23 floorplans and maps perfect for many game systems. Primarily made for 1920s Horror games such as Call of Cthulhu, for example. There are a set for adventures in Egypt and Luxor, containing tombs and expedition houses, as well as a workers' camp. Doors to Darkness is a Call of Cthulhu scenario book published by Chaosium. My part in the project is the drawing of maps for five scenarios. I've decided to try to do these in an 'old school' style that simulates hand drawn maps while keeping the precision of computer-drawn diagrams.
You don't have to have an exhaustive reading, but enough so that you know and understand the flavor of what's being simulated by the game.
Rule The Second: Know Your Ruleset and Keep It Transparent
Should go without saying, but can't. Know the rules well enough on the fly so they take as little time as possible away from the plot. If you lose inertia, you lose interest, especially when you switch from narration to combat and back.
Rule the Third: Atmosphere, Atmosphere, Atmosphere
You don't need candlelight or music cued up, but what you do need is a quiet place to play and to keep the mood you create. Think of yourself as not just a referee, but a storyteller. Be descriptive, but not overly so. The more you draw the players in, the more you'll get out of them.
Rule the Fourth: Danger Ready Characters...
It may be in keeping with Lovecraft's protangonists to have a character with the constitution of a fruitfly, and thinks firearms are silly, In the game however, you'll want characters who can actually do something in a crisis situation.
Rule the Fifth: know when to run.
CoC is more about outsmarting the antagonist rather than killing. Head-on conflict tends to produce dead characters and frustrated players. The GM should try to instill the idea that running away to fight another day is better than your friends filling a hole with your remains in the cemetary.
Rule the Sixth: Render Unto PCs Their Victories
Lovecraft believed in an uncaring universe in which we are to the Mythos as an ant is to us, but the players should feel they've accomplished something meaningful at the end of an adventure. The darkness has been thwarted for another day, and humanity is still in blissful ignorance of the cosmic terror just beyond their senses. (Lovecraft never had to maintain a gaming group, you do...and it will be harder if you tell the players that what they did doesn't matter 'cause the Great Old Ones are coming back anyway' as the GM. After all why do something if it's futile, right? The players will eventually find some other game where they think they can make a difference.) In at least one way, the characters are very heroic, no superpowers, extremely powerful adversaries, the characters surviving on their cunning and intelligence alone to save the day.
[Optional] Rule the Seventh: Maim, Fold, Spindle PCs...but don't kill them unless they don't leave you a choice by being stupid.
It's easy to kill characters in CoC. Real easy. But character death in story or game should be meaningful, climactic and earned. They are after all the main characters. An arguement for fudging the dice? Well, maybe. I don't think realism for the sake of realism really adds anything to the story, which after all is about having fun and entertaining people. Players get connected to characters and are understandably miffed when a random dice roll may doom hours of good RPGing. On the other hand, anyone who blindly charges in, expecting GM's immunity should have something suitably nasty happen to them, up to and including character death. Let the reasonable consequences of stupidity be their own reward, but have mercy on the unlucky...just don't let them know that. :) After all if you know your Lovecraft, you know the worse thing that can happen to you...is sometimes just staying alive...
[Optional] Rule the Eigth: Split Up The Party!
This is the corollary to the standard advice given to most CoC Player's: 'Don't Split Up The Party!' If you can create a situation that encourages the party to split into two or more sub-teams, it makes it that much easier for you to apply 'Rule the Seventh'. Because players will start to take the advice above to heart, a useful trick to keep this play alive is to arrange things so the players are faced with a damned if you do, damned if you don't choice: if they don't split up the party, they will be safer because they are sticking together but then some great calamity will befall friends, family or other innocents in the direction they didn't go; if they do split up the party, you get your opportunity to smack them around and chip away at their sanity a little but they stop (or at least delay) the various calamities that might otherwise occur.
[Optional] Rule the ninth: Sanity is expendable!
The most fun and atmosphere I ever had were in games where roleplaying some form of madness long enough and detrimental enough to your character would give you some sanity points back (those were more precious than ammo if you read one of the books that tells you how to stop bad things). This worked in dark humor as well as serious atmosphere games, and introducing it progressively one step at a time made it so much more addictive!
[Optional] Rule the tenth: Not all myths are true!
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After 10 games or so, let 'em go on a wild goose chase and see how much trouble they get themselves into until the police shows up. Or perhaps the escaped crazy people catchers if you've got a group of bookworms...
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