Idle Musings and a Black City Update

Blah blah blah navel gazing and idle musing follows

Every once in a while, it's good to pop in and talk about how the Black City project is going.  It's still progressing.  I look back at last year, and there were a bunch of things that got in the way of project work - we adopted a child from Ethiopia, and severely underestimated the kind of changes a third kid has on your family.  Once you're outnumbered by the kids, you and the wife can't play man-to-man defense, you've got to switch to running zone defense.  It probably took until October for things to settle in, and for our other kids to get used to having a brother from Ethiopia.  There was much drama.

The other big change for me was work related, moving up, but also getting a crushing workload.  I think I've finally figured out the work-family-gaming balance, and I've been doing most of my writing at like 5-5:30am - waking up an hour or so before work to get in some early writing.  I can report good progress is being made on the Black City again.

I went ahead and created text files for each bit I'm putting into the city.  I don't know if it was a great idea or not; I write the text in a basic text file, figuring that it's best just to get the words on paper and worry about layout and formatting when it's time for layout and formatting.  Psychologically, I keep two folders, an in-progress folder and a done folder, so it feels good to finish pieces and move them into the done folder.  It gives me a rough table of contents, too (although I'll likely put all the background in an appendix, eventually).

Of the 120 little files, nearly 60 are done, but that doesn't count all the map work for the levels below 2 (which are just scrawlings in my brainstorming notebook).  We'll probably start some playtests with the local group after Tharizdun and/or Tsojcanth; I'll be working in some Cthulhu games here and there too.

I'm never sure what to put on the blog - once I made the decision this was something that could be worth publishing, I got a bit weird about putting rules and stats and keyed areas on the blog, but we'll see how I feel during playtesting.  I know there are some readers that liked the Black City posts, so I'll see what I can do to get more excerpts up and maybe update the project page (which is quite a bit out of date).

Here's that crazy file list:

1.1 introduction.txt
1.1.1 what is the black city.txt
1.1.2 rules and setting.txt
1.1.3 what is a sandbox.txt
1.1.4 tips for managing a sandbox.txt
1.2 overview of the campaign.txt
1.3 the northmen.txt
1.3.1 about the northmen.txt
1.3.1a ships.txt
1.3.1c culture notes.txt
1.3.2 northman names.txt
1.3.3 names of ships.txt
1.3.4 adventuring companies.txt
1.3.5 female names.txt
1.3.6 dwarves and elves.txt
1.3.7 human encounters.txt
1.4 races and classes.txt
1.4.2 sample ship.txt
1.4.2.1 generate your own.txt
2 welcome to trade town.txt
2.1 overview of trade town.txt
2.1a life in trade town.txt
2.2 law in trade town.txt
2.5 details of trade town.txt
3 the black city.txt
3.1 overview of the ruins.txt
3.1.2 history of the city.txt
3.1.3 grey technology and cultural artifacts.txt
3.1.4 watchers.txt
3.2 wandering monsters in the city.txt
3.3 hex contents in the city.txt
3.3.1 table of artifacts.txt
3.4 climbing in the ruins.txt
3.5 surface areas within the city.txt
3.5.1 area a the well of woe.txt
3.5.10 area j the blue obelisk.txt
3.5.11 area k the hippodrome.txt
3.5.12 area l the tower of pain.txt
3.5.13 area m the face in the ground.txt
3.5.14 area n the palladium.txt
3.5.15 area o institute of the arcane.txt
3.5.16 area p the main plaza.txt
3.5.17 area q the spire of thaumaturgy.txt
3.5.2 area b tower of astronomy.txt
3.5.3 area c sunken vaults.txt
3.5.4 area d the maze.txt
3.5.5 area e the misty hollow.txt
3.5.6 area f central command.txt
3.5.7 area g the great ramp.txt
3.5.8 area h the great glacier.txt
3.5.9 area i watcher plaza.txt
4 beneath the black city.txt
4.1 overview of the dungeons.txt
4.1.1 cross-section of the dungeons.txt
4.2 level 1 transit tunnels.txt
4.2.1 a well of woe.txt
4.2.2 b the loading docks.txt
4.2.3 c the healthy inner glow.txt
4.2.4 d electric company.txt
4.2.5 e the dragons den.txt
4.3 level 2 warrens of decay.txt
4.3.1 the eternal flame.txt
4.3.2 kingdom of the cave men.txt
4.3.3 the morlock caves.txt
4.3.4 chasm of the crawlies.txt
4.3.5 backstage apparatus.txt
4.4 level 3 the fabricators.txt
4.4.1 3a halls of praetoria.txt
4.4.2 3b the machine.txt
4.4.3 3c the android maker.txt
4.5 level 4 halls of machinery.txt
4.5.1 4a water world.txt
4.5.2 4b vapors of green death.txt
4.5.3 4c the dreaming prison.txt
4.6 level 5 lesser chambers of science.txt
4.6.1 5a hyperborean dream gods.txt
4.6.2 5b the bio builder.txt
4.6.3 5c alien autopsy chambers.txt
4.7 level 6 greater halls of science.txt
4.7.1 6a ghost in the box.txt
4.7.2 6b the negative zone.txt
4.7.3 6c mars attacks.txt
4.8 level 7 cloning chambers.txt
4.8.1 7a caverns of the enigma.txt
4.8.2 7b cold storage.txt
4.8.3 7c pools of malefic birth.txt
4.9 level 8 vaults of esoteric knowledge.txt
4.9.1 8a tablets of zeta prime.txt
4.9.2 8b chambers of the crystal skulls.txt
4.9.3 8c the hall of deeper slumber.txt
5 the thule archipelago.txt
5.1 overview of the islands.txt
5.2 weather  for the islands.txt
5.3 sea encounter tables.txt
5.4 thule island encounters.txt
6 appendixes.txt
6.1 black city bestiary.txt
6.1.1 bestiary list.txt
6.1.2 automatons and workers.txt
6.1.3 ape men of the black city.txt
6.1.4 berserkers and worm madness.txt
6.1.5 watchers.txt
6.1.6 the creators.txt
6.2 new magic.txt
6.2.1 new spells.txt
6.2.2 viral spells.txt
6.2.3 new magic items.txt
6.3 the ongoing campaign.txt
6.3.1 campaign events.txt
6.3.2 list of events.txt
6.3.3 Navigating to the City.txt
6.3a the viking calendar.txt
6.4 guide to the northlands.txt
6.4.1 20 campaign questions.txt
6.5 maps.txt
6.5.1 thule.txt
6.5.2 trade town.txt
6.5.3 black city.txt
6.5.3.a black city regional map.txt
6.5.4 northlands.txt
6.5.5 building geomorphs.txt
6.5.6 transit tunnel geomorphs.txt
6.6 a note on cosmology.txt
7 New class option - Skald.txt
z2.3 rumors in trade town.txt

Mystara in the Blog News

Here's a quick bit of Mystara-related news.  Bruce Heard started a blog recently.  Bruce was the product manager at TSR through the period of creation for the Gazetteers of the Known World, the Almanacs, Hollow World, Wrath of the Immortals - the heyday of Mystara.  One of the more interesting series at the time was The Voyage of the Princess Ark in Dragon magazine; each installment covered the voyage of an Alphatian sky ship to previously undiscovered areas of Mystara, and then included maps and game stats for using the areas to expand your campaign.

I've often said here on the blog that while it seemed TSR was focusing corporate oversight on AD&D 2E, the classic D&D line was given freedom to move in other directions, and that creativity can really be seen in these Gazetteers and products of late 80's / early 90's D&D.  You can get some background on the creation of the Glantri Gazetteer at Bruce's place:  Bruce Heard Q&A

If you're not sure what is the fuss about all of these Known World Gazetteers, a good place to start is over at the Age of Ravens blog; Lowell Francis has been putting up excellent reviews of the gazetteers in order:  Age of Ravens Gazetteer Reviews

I haven't done any Mystaran reviews per se, more like paeans and odes to Mystaran goodness.  You can see my own exaltation of Mystara's gonzo excellence in some of these posts:

• The Glantri Game
• Ode to Mystara

Norway has Trolls, So More Power Lines Are Needed

I recently had the chance to watch The Troll Hunter, a 2010 Norwegian movie that blends dark humor with a touch of horror.  It's available through Netflix streaming, so that gives me a lot of flexibility to catch a movie when the kids are asleep.  The movie is presented as "found footage", a mock documentary that details how a group of university students investigate ecological concerns around illegal bear hunting in the mountains.  When they start trailing one of the hunters at night, they learn he's actually hunting something much larger and more dangerous than bears.  Trolls are real, and they're migrating out of their ranges and munching tourists!

Over the course of the movie, the students enter the confidence of the troll hunter, a grizzled ex-soldier, and learn the secret history of the TSS, Norway's Troll Security Service.  They learn about troll baiting, troll ecology, and how the government keeps them secret and isolated.  The central mystery is about unraveling why various trolls have gone on a rampage.  The title of this post is a line delivered by the actual Prime Minister during a discussion on energy policy, which the film makers humorously worked into the context of the movie.

Gaming Inspiration
The Troll Hunter has a lot to offer as inspiration for both fantasy and horror games.  First there's the central character, the iconic monster hunter.  There's a literary and cinematic tradition of the hardened outsider that understands the nature of the foe, the necessary weapons and methods to hunt and destroy the beast.  I'm not giving it a lot of deep thought right now, but the first two that jump to mind include Van Helsing from Dracula, or Quint the shark hunter from Jaws, with his finger nails scratching the chalkboard - "Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down the pond chasin' bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow you whole."

The troll hunter roams the scenic Norwegian wilderness in a beat up truck and fifth wheel camper, loaded with ingredients to make troll musk, ultraviolet light weaponry in various configurations to blast trolls to stone, and a stereo system with external speakers to play the kind of music that drives trolls nuts, like You Have a Friend in Jesus.

The other angle I enjoyed in the movie was the scientific exploitation of myth and folklore.  The movie takes certain aspects of troll folklore, assumes it's true, and then goes on to explain the "Monstercology" behind the folklore.  And the troll hunter takes full advantage of the troll's vulnerabilities and weaknesses, such as having a pint of "a Christian man's blood" in a container to use as bait.  The trolls can tell the difference between how believers smell and the pagans, you see.

Highly recommended; it's a low-budget sleeper with a lot of charm, and be sure to see the Norwegian original before the inevitable American remake - apparently an American film company already has the rights.

Here's the full image from the poster, showing a "Jotnar", one of the ancients, much larger than the standard trolls:

Firearms for LOTFP

I was out checking out the recent LOTFP indie gogo and I saw something I missed last time - it's still the two modules that are being funded, but one of them also includes rules for firearms!

This is such a natural fit for that rules system.  The horror and weird fantasy tone of LOTFP works really well in a Renaissance or early modern game, so I'm glad to see firearms added to the mix.  Solomon Kane-style adventurers and musketeers need their muskets!  James Raggi was threatening to add firearms to LOTFP last year, and here we are.

The two modules are suitably interesting - The Monolith from Beyond Space and Time is explicitly Lovecraftian, so that puts it right in my sweet spot for adventures, and I'm intrigued that the forward is by Kenneth Hite (besides authoring Trail of Cthulhu, he has a storied career writing other Mythos adventures and essays).

I don’t know much about the second adventure, The God that Crawls, other than it involves a cult in a dungeon, and includes rules for firearms.  There's a picture of one of the monsters on the project site, and it looks a bit like Abhoth, or a shoggoth, or similar nasty thing from the Mythos.  Great stuff.  Just about every release from this publisher has been a home run, so I'm expecting similarly excellent adventures this time around.  You can check out the project page here:  The Monolith from Beyond Space and Time.  Make sure to click over to the gallery to see the shoggoth-like monster.

It was pay day, so that's a good time to set aside some extra cash to a kickstarter or similar crowd-sourced project.  Lulu also had a big sale, so I picked up a book that's been on my wish list, Play Unsafe, a piece on improv and gaming, by Graham Walmsley.  Graham's done a bunch of Trail of Cthulhu scenarios, and I really enjoyed Stealing Cthulhu, a guide on adapting Lovecraft stories to gaming.  That one's somewhere in my backlog of reviews to write.  Actually, isn't Dungeon Master appreciation day coming up in a few days?  RPGnow usually puts on a sale at that time, and there's a few RPGnow titles on the wish list, too.

I can't believe it's already March.  This year is already flying by at breakneck speed.

The Battle of Tharizdun

I'm doing something a little different this week.  First off, I'm posting a game report mid-week; I usually put them up Friday or Saturday, right before the next game.  But this one is loaded with pictures, as I want to give the players time to study the final disposition of the battle before Saturday so they formulate strategy.  They're in a tight spot.

Here's the situation.  Last game session, the party scouted a location they were calling the Black Temple.  It's actually the site of WG4 THE FORGOTTEN TEMPLE OF THARIZDUN.  Tharizdun is another storied Gygaxian location in Greyhawk, and the designer notes indicate it was used in Gary's campaign as an adjunct to S4 THE LOST CAVERNS OF TSOJCANTH.  Gygax's creations are known for intense tactical combat, and Tharizdun has the potential for a fierce pitched battle right near the entrance.

The Black Temple exterior is a step pyramid up on a mountain top, with a large ramp leading into the side of the top tier.  A yawning passage leads into the side of the pyaramid.

The group sent an invisible thief up ahead to scout, who came back with a fairly detailed description of the interior, and the disposition of the various monster guards.  When he returned, they set about to battle planning.  This took a lot of time, but it was one of those situations where the planning was the important part of the game.

Initial monster set up after scouting

The party used a combination of invisibility effects and silence 15' spells to get their elf fighter magic user surreptitiously into the entranceway to open hostilities, while the rest of the group hung back to wait for his signal.  He tossed away the rock carrying the Silence spell, and opened hostilities with a Sleep spell.  That picture above is how things looked right before the elf threw the first Sleep spell. Groups of norkers and gnoll archers milled about on guard duty.

Cast of characters

You can see in this one, the group has thrown some sleep spells and moved in to engage.  The pennies indicate sleeping monsters.  I've mentioned that the movement rates in AD&D are really high compared to classic D&D, three times as fast, so characters can move super far.  One player described it like being able teleport around the map.  For example, a fighter in classic D&D can move 4 squares on a 5' grid each round; in AD&D the same fighter can move 12 squares.  Unarmored guys move 24!  That's like walking in from the next town over.  So they were able to send the fighters to the flanks and the thieves straight ahead to start knifing sleeping monsters.

Unfortunately, things were about to take an ugly turn for the players.

The battle changes as the net falls

When the players first sent the thief up to search the entry way, two things went wrong:  the thief missed a find traps roll, and when he described his search procedure, he completely omitted looking up or checking the ceiling; he missed seeing the large weighted net clinging up there, 30' up in the shadows.  There were also some monsters hiding behind the entrance wall, controlling the net, that they missed on that first scouting trip.

The norkers hiding behind the entrance walls dropped the net, catching the clerics and magic users underneath a tarry mess, with weights and hooks.  Because the characters all ended up near the edges, they had the chance to crawl their way out, but it would still take a few rounds, and they were getting pummeled by monsters with clubs in the meantime.

Mister Moore was right in the middle of the net, but his brownie familar, Packer, used Dimension Door to get him to the other side of the hall.  Once he was recovered from the jaunt, he lined up a wicked lightining bolt (pictured) and this helped quite a bit.  He would later snap off a fireball close by, as monsters swarmed him from the other side of the hall.

Unfortunately, the fighters were penned in by combatants, and they kept missing attack rolls.  The druid and his bear companion had stayed back, avoiding the net, and giving the druid a chance to use Speak with Animals to get the bear ready for some fighting.  Here's how things looked after the bear mauled its way through some norkers and moving closer to the front:

Druid to the rescue

The fighters are still pinned and surrounded.  The two thieves, Grumble the Halfling and Digit the Elf Thief (the miniature with a sack over his shoulder) have been taking a beating since they were acting like front line fighters.  Both of them now have hit points down to the teens.  The clerics and magic users just escaped the netting and haven't had a chance to start engaging.

Board layout after Round 5

We use a battlemat about half the time, depending on how complicated is the situation.  Since this one started with 40-50 monsters and characters, the miniatures and little wooden blocks really help keep it straight.  I snapped the pictures to document the battle for the guys that missed, and also so we can set the board again next weekend.  We game in an upstairs study that's not usually ransacked by the kiddos, but you can't be too sure with a 5 year old on the loose.

I'm curious to hear if other folks have played THE FORGOTTEN TEMPLE OF THARIZDUN, but try to stay away from too many spoilers in the comments, since my players will read the game report to study the tactical situation for next week's game.  They've got two injured thieves holding down the front line, their 7th level magic user is all alone at the front of the hall, their clerics took a beating getting out of the net, and their three tough fighters are engaged on the flanks - they've got plenty to think about.  And is that the sound of reinforcements coming up the stairs?

Next week should be interesting.  Let me know if the picture-by-picture display is worth it, maybe we'll do it again next week to finish off this battle.

Questions, Questions, Questions

The theme of the weekend gaming blogosphere was QUESTIONS.  Brendan posted a survey on DMing rules styles, and then I was tagged by the Evil DM.

RULES
This is a classic case of "do as I say, not as I do..."  We're currently playing AD&D, and trying to play as by-the-book as possible, and that means stepping outside my comfort zone and seeing things from a different perspective.  I'll answer these questions assuming I didn't currently have a social experiment in 1979-style AD&D running in my regular game slot.

Ability scores generation method?
3d6 in order

How are death and dying handled?
Zero hit points, d-e-a-d

What about raising the dead?
Definitely, at the local church.  For money. Unless I'm going for a gritty, horror-themed D&D game, my default approach supports Raise Dead.

How are replacement PCs handled?
A level below the lowest character in the group.

Initiative: individual, group, or something else?
I prefer Individual initiative, but Group initiative works best for large groups and kids (which usually describes my groups).

Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?
I prefer Crits as max damage, not double damage.  (But players sure love that double damage).

Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?
It's an assumed part of the armor class.  If a player ditches their helmet, their head is AC 9.

Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?
Definitely.

Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?
Be prepared to run.

Level-draining monsters: yes or no?
Definitely.

Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?
Yes, that comes with the territory.

How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?
Too strictly for the player's taste.  Systems like LOTFP or ACKS that simplify encumbrance calculation really help split the difference.

What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?
Return to town or any civilized spot for rest and recovery to gain levels.  Low level magic users need to be near their teacher, but by mid-levels they get their own spells through research and scrolls.

What do I get experience for?
Treasure and monsters.  I tend to give small, occasional ad hoc awards to the kids gaming with us when they exercise ingenuity and good problem solving skills.

How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?
Proper description will allow anyone to find traps, but dice rolling can also work if the thief searches the right area.

Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?
Retainers are necessary for survival, and morale is checked as required.

How do I identify magic items?
Experimentation and use

Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?
It's not common, but definitely possible at the right market

Can I create magic items? When and how?
Both my preferred clone rules (LOTFP and ACKS) have excellent magic item creation rules

What about splitting the party?
Not recommended, but allowed

How is alignment used?*
Alignment reflects cosmic allegiance, and is not a straitjacket on behavior.

Are demi-human level limits enforced?*
Definitely

*Those last two questions I added, but they seem to be common fault lines in OSR games.

TAGGED!
What made you decide to write a blog?
I became a regular reader of some blogs and decided it looked like tons of fun.  Huge Ruined Pile was one my favorites back then, until it went MIA.  Once I actually became a blogger, I discovered there are a ton of great blogs out there.

What would you say has been the highlight of your blogging career to date?
Most of the folks who read my blog are fellow gamers, and enjoy either D&D or Call of Cthulhu, so I tend to think we have a ton in common.  Far and away the best thing about blogging is seeing ideas bounce around amongst the blogs, and picking up new ones from the rest of the gaming community.

Name your favourite animal.
My dog.  She licks the side of my face sometimes and is always happy to see me.

What has been the best thing to ever happen to you?
My dad brought home a copy of the 1981 Moldvay boxed set for basic Dungeons & Dragons on the way home from work because he thought I'd like it.  How awesome is that?  He's a great guy; one time he got me tickets for Die Walküre for Lincoln Center because I love opera, even though it bored him to tears and he dozed through the last act.  I've been able to see Siegfried at the Met as well, but I haven't seen live performances of Das Rheingold or Götterdämmerung yet.

These days, my wife and family are the bringers of great joy.  But I would't be the same person without developing that deep love for fantasy, games, and literature, back in 1981.

You are in a lift with a Nun, a middle-aged business man, a Karl Marx look-alike, a twenty-something female charity worker and Stephen Hawking. The lift shudders to a stop, the lights go out. There is a high-pitched scream followed by a thud. The lights come on and the Nun is lying dead on the floor with a knife in her chest. Who did it and why?

I saw that exact movie.  Stephen Hawking did it, because he's secretly the devil, and when the lights go out again, someone else is going to be killed.  All the people on the elevator have dark, hidden crimes, and their souls are being collected to pay for their awfulness.  For instance, the female charity worker once cheated on a test.  Stephen Hawking has no mercy for cheaters, especially when its a math or science test.

Name your favourite colour.
Orange.  It's the color of Broncos jerseys and pumpkins.  I have a ton of orange shirts.

What has been the scariest thing to ever happen to you?

I had eye cancer and needed to have a major operation.  I still have the eye, but the vision in that one eye isn't great.  All hope of me playing professional baseball was gone (not that I had any to start).  The cancer was totally gone, but that was pretty scary stuff.  Luckily it was a long time ago!

You are about to break the world record for the tallest house of cards in front of a crowded room of onlookers and world press. All of a sudden, some idiot parent allows their errant child to charge over, knocking into your table, sending your world record beating attempt crashing around you. What do you do next?

I wake up in a cold sweat, and tell my wife we should never have kids.  Then she tells me, it's too late, we have three of them.  I can't stop screaming after that.

If you had to spend a month on a tropical island, what four luxury items do you take with you?

Notebooks, graph paper, and and a package of mechanical pencils.  I'd finally get the Black City done.  For the last item, I was considering some weights to stay in shape, but maybe that's not such a problem on a tropical island.  Instead, I'm now thinking the last thing would be a book -either The Worm Ouroboros or The Chronicles of Amber.  Both are hefty reads that are on my list to read again.

Once on your tropical island you are allowed to have one person of your choice to stay with you. Now this can be anyone famous, living or dead, fictional and from any period of time/history - loved ones are not allowed - who do you choose and why?

Dejah Thoris.  Because she's a famous pulp fantasy adventurer and would help with campaign inspiration.  She'd be along for her mind, you perverts.

What has been the worst impulse purchase of a totally useless item (one you convinced yourself into believing you needed, but didn't)? What was it, and do you still have it?

4th Edition.  Luckily, I ebayed all the 4E stuff well before the WOTC announcements.  Honorable mentions still in my gaming closet include a huge box full of these little plastic Pirates of the Spanish Main plastic cards/models, or maybe the Heroclix Watchmen collector set, which we've never actually used in a Heroclix game.  Total impulse buy.  But most of the time I ruthlessly divest gaming stuff that I no longer intend to use.

Cthulhu Campaign Elements

So far in the Lovecraftian sandbox, I've focused on the kind of campaign structure and investigations that support player choice and agency; I'm ready to wrap the series up next week with a sample campaign.  This week we'll look at a bunch of elements that frequently show up in Cthulhu games.  I'm putting this list together to make sure I "check off the right boxes" as I compile notes for the setting.

Antagonists
This one is pretty obvious, most investigations involve a (human) villain or cult, and usually some kind of Cthulhoid horror.  If you're starting your scenario design with the awful truth and working backwards, you've had to figure this out already.  I find some of the most interesting villains are those that end up using Mythos magic as a means and not an end, and don't consider themselves insane worshippers of an outer god.  It always goes horribly wrong for them, like the guy that built Jurassic Park.   Munch munch.

Organizations
I don't recall too many recurring organizations in Lovecraft's actual stories, but they're excellent devices in a campaign.  An individual antagonist can be removed, but the organization endures and continues to plot against the player characters (or the world).  Well-known examples in some of the published campaigns include The Masters of the Silver Twilight, or the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh.  I really like some of the organizations in the Delta Green book, like the Karotechia (undead nazi sorcerors) or The Fate (mythos wizards running an organized crime network).  One of the closest examples in Lovecraft's work would be the Cthulhu Cult, as we catch glimpses of a world-spanning conspiracy in the eponymous story.

Eldritch Places and Ominous Locales
Investigations will already feature interesting and ominous locations; when I think of this as a campaign element, it means putting in a recurring location that will have an impact beyond a single investigation.  It could be a mundane location with occult overtones like The Fate's Club Apocalypse, or something completely beyond the mortal realm, like The Great Library of Celaneo (an alien library orbiting a distant star, only reachable via magic).  Resources and sources of knowledge are ideal for this role.

Bystanders
My view of the Lovecraft campaign structure involves the players belonging to an organization that allows the campaign to survive frequent character death; the first set of NPCs will be other folks in the organization, peers and patrons.  In the Armitage campaign idea, this would mean students and other professors.  Recurring (mundane) locations should have NPCs associated with them, and as we learn more about the player characters, some personal attachments can be added, too.

I tend to be on the fence about how much time to require players to put into background notes up front; ideas like pillars of sanity and sources of stability from Trail provide some convenient mechanics for at least jotting down quick notes without too much depth, so that's probably the approach I'd use for campaign play.

It might seem obvious, but one of the best uses for bystanders is vicarious horror.  Inflicting horrible things on bystanders foreshadows what might happen to the player characters, and builds tension before the player characters become directly exposed to the awful truth.

Tomes and Artifacts
A number of Lovecraft stories directly involve eldritch tomes or artifacts, so this is another element that will probably end up in some investigations already.  Two quick examples the reader will recall would be the Necronomicon itself, and the Shining Trapezohedron from Haunter in the Dark.  I like eldritch tomes in the campaign, because they present real dilemmas for players to decide how much to read them because of the associated sanity loss.  The other suggestion here is to consider multipart artifacts, so that the artifact's significance extends longer into the campaign.  One that jumps to mind are the many pieces of the R'lyeh Disc, which show up in Shadows of Yog Sothoth as a scavenger hunt theme.

That's it for this week; I'll pull it all together next week and put up a sample Lovecraft sandbox.  Well, I'm calling it a "sample", but it could easily be the one I use this spring when we start some episodic Cthulhu games.


--On the image above: Anyone remember Chaosium's old Mythos TCG card game from the 90's?  I must have a thousand of those in a card box in the attic - I might have to bust them out sometime for a retrospective.