So, Yog-Sothoth, winners of a silver ennie for podcasting this year, tape a bunch of their sessions of call of cthulhu and put them online.

They have done all of The Masks of Nyarlathotep and are now doing Horror on the orient express.

This is the latest:-

http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/horror-orient-express-11-milan.mp3

The gang are travelling to Milan after an adventure where they recovered a scroll containing detail of the maguffin they are doing a collect the pieces of plot quest for.

And nothing happens. Nothing happens because all the characters are fucking useless. None of them has any motivation or skills to undertake the quest.

The only one capable of even considering offensive action is the complete munchkin (the professor, who speaks all the languages of the places the train goes to and lots of research skill).

The bad guy turns up and threatens them. But because they are fucking useless they can't do anything except rely on GM bending of credibility to not kill them. And when the professor looks like he might get upset and do something proactive, the rest of the characters just tell him he hasn't got a hope so they might as well just go on with the plot.

Hell! One of the caracters spends the entire session drugged in to unconciousness! Because she tried to do something interesting last episode but was so inept the subplot just died out!

Its this kind of shit, which I know only to well, which means I insist on playing Special People with kewl powerz.  

You need something to bargain with. Or else all you can do is sit there and do nothing.

Well, they sound like they're having fun. I agree with you; I'd prefer a little more action, but maybe they just like the socializing.

Quote from: laffingboyI agree with you; I'd prefer a little more action

Yeah - but you don't get the action because the characters are so ill suited to the adventure.

I reckon they either need to accept playing The Mummy and play characters who can wisecrack while cutting zombies in half, or else get to doing something like Jeeves and Wooster comedy where the plot revolves around getting out of marrying an overbearing/unbearable woman and ensuring aunt Delia doesn't find out here prise begonias died whie you were supposed to be watering them. Or possibly a nice cosy murder mystery.

(As an aside, there was one almost scary bit in their run of Masks of Nyarlathotep (when they were trapped underground and things started to move) and the girls instantly shut it down - they radiated 'we don't like this - we are going back to the surface and we are not going anywhere dangerous again'.)

Fascinating tool for analysis recordings.

Quote from: Erik BoielleI reckon they either need to accept playing The Mummy and play characters who can wisecrack while cutting zombies in half, or else get to doing something like Jeeves and Wooster comedy where the plot revolves around getting out of marrying an overbearing/unbearable woman and ensuring aunt Delia doesn't find out here prise begonias died whie you were supposed to be watering them. Or possibly a nice cosy murder mystery.

No. There´s another way.
Grow up. Face the danger. Use modern society to fight the horrors from the beyonde! Sacrifice yourself for the children, all the while lying to them. See your aging mind and body detoriate, but continue fighting.

That´s the strong emotional tie CoC makes possible.

BTW, statistically a double barelled shotgun should dispatch Creature the fastest. Use that knowledge to gain spells, burn your sanity for mankind to stop the monsters. See above.

I'm not going to listen to that podcast in order to prove to you that the elephant gun (2d6+6, IIRC) saw abundant use in our campaigns.

For an even more proactive approach to dealing with cultists & minions, google the legendary rpg.net actual play reports by American Badass.

I'd tell you about my 2-year CoC campaign with excellent players and a satisfying ending, but I suppose I'd just be a statistical anomaly.  Because obviously - all CoC games are exactly like this podcast.

-O

Quote from: SettembriniNo. There´s another way.
Grow up. Face the danger. Use modern society to fight the horrors from the beyonde! Sacrifice yourself for the children, all the while lying to them. See your aging mind and body detoriate, but continue fighting.

Well no, because every time they try something like that they either get killed or its patently transparent that the GM is only avoiding killing them because that would spoil the fun.

They could switch out the adventures so instead of nameless cults with hundreds of followers and vast, formless beasts there is one serial killer on a island, but in order to realistically have a chance of fighting these plots they would have to be Van Helsing.

He could be a dour Van Helsing with lots of angst, but he would still need powerful kung fu.

They are out of their depth. It's like Fred Blogs from Milton-Ernest fighting Hitler circa 1941 - he could help, by joining up and carrying heavy objects, but he couldn't parachute in to the Eagles Nest, take out a division of SS and then beat up CyberHitler single handed.

Being out of your depth is part of what CoC about. The game requires more subtlety than your typical fantasy jaunt-- firepower and bravado are as much hindrances as assets in an average game.

If I wanted to play an empowered monster hunter punching elder gods in the face then I suggest you look to another game. There are plenty out there.

Quote from: DrewBeing out of your depth is part of what CoC about.

And being out of your depth is what leads to passive, reactive players who don't do anything except be led around by the nose. Because they have no alternative.

Exhibit A: The podcasts of Yog Sothoth.

Exhibit B is altogether to much of my gaming before realising that playing characters who are playas results in far more satisfying play.

QuoteIf I wanted to play an empowered monster hunter punching elder gods in the face then I suggest you look to another game. There are plenty out there.

I have. Enjoy being a sheep with no initiative.

Quote from: Erik BoielleAnd being out of your depth is what leads to passive, reactive players who don't do anything except be led around by the nose. Because they have no alternative.

Heh. And you say I have no initiative?

QuoteExibit A: The podcasts of Yog Sothoth.

Yep. One example of play defines a 25-year-old game and the millions of hours of enjoyment derived from it. :rolleyes:

QuoteExibit B is altogether to much of my gaming before realising that playing characters who are playas results in far more satisfying play.

Don't blame CoC for your lack of imagination. If you can't have a satisfying experience without being an empowered monster-slapper then I'd say the problem is you rather than the system.

QuoteI have. Enjoy being a sheep with no initiative.

Priceless. You utterly fail to grasp what the game sets forth to do. I shouldn't be surprised though, you were the bloke who claimed that no-one had even heard of Lovecraft before the rpg.

Poor show, Erik. Thoroughly predictable though.

There seems to be a false dicotomy under construction in this thread; I think that there is a midpoint with CoC. looking at Lovecraft's fiction you can actually see it, too. In the story Call of Cthulu, inspector LeGrasse tracks down some cultists and kicks some ass. Sure the sailor guys all go nuts/die later on when they see R'leyh but- they manage to ram Cthulu with a boat. That's gotta count for something. and in the Dunwich Horror, the good guys actually win. The narrator in the Horror Over Innsmouth becomes a fishguy, but he investigates the town first, and IIRC (it's been a while) the feds come in and blow the shit out of everything later on. Feds might not be the typical viewpoint characters in HPL, but they exist in his universe. Hell even the guys in At the Mountains  of Madness have a kickass adventure in the Antartic before they go crazy...
I think it's best to start with managable, smaller scale threats, and work up to the unmanagable if that's how you get you're groove on- but in no way should anyone feel that action or even victory and hope are completely antithical to the setting.

I accept podcasts of good sessions as a counter argument.

Quote from: AosThere seems to be a false dicotomy under construction in this thread; I think that there is a midpoint with CoC. looking at Lovecraft's fiction you can actually see it, too. In the story Call of Cthulu, inspector LeGrasse tracks down some cultists and kicks some ass. sure the sailor guys all go nuts/die later on when they see R'leyh but- they manage to ram Cthulu with a boat. that's gotta count for something. and in the Dunwich Horror, the good guys actually win. The narrator in the horror over innsmouth becomes a fishguy, but he investigates the town first, and IIRC (it's been a while) the feds come in and blow the shit out of everything later on. TFeds might not be the typical viewpoint characters in HPL, but they exist in his universe. Hell even the guys in At the Mountains  of Madness have a kickass adventure in the antartic before they go crazy...
I think it's best to start with managable, smaller scale threats, and work up to the unmanagable if that's how you get you're groove on- but in no way should anyone feel that action or even victory and hope are completly antithical to the setting.

There's definitely scope for action adventure in CoC, and the story examples you cite are all applicable examples of such. Saying that isn't so (as Erik is) is just another limited view of what the game can be about.

However, the system and setting are primarily geared toward investigative horror stories where the protagonists are in constant danger of being overwhelmed. Much like early-career WFRP, in that respect.

Quote from: AosThere seems to be a false dicotomy under construction in this thread; I think that there is a midpoint with CoC. looking at Lovecraft's fiction you can actually see it, too. In the story Call of Cthulu, inspector LeGrasse tracks down some cultists and kicks some ass. sure the sailor guys all go nuts/die later on when they see R'leyh but- they manage to ram Cthulu with a boat. that's gotta count for something. and in the Dunwich Horror, the good guys actually win. The narrator in the horror over innsmouth becomes a fishguy, but he investigates the town first, and IIRC (it's been a while) the feds come in and blow the shit out of everything later on. TFeds might not be the typical viewpoint characters in HPL, but they exist in his universe. Hell even the guys in At the Mountains  of Madness have a kickass adventure in the antartic before they go crazy...
I think it's best to start with managable, smaller scale threats, and work up to the unmanagable if that's how you get you're groove on- but in no way should anyone feel that action or even victory and hope are completly antithical to the setting.

Some blame I think attaches to adventure design. Good rules of thumb are:-

1: No hordes of cultists

Stealth adventures are notoriously difficult to do - one blown stealth role and its a TPK. They only work in computer games because you can either reload or the AI goons reset to not looking for you after an unrealistic ammount of time. And they are blind. And deaf. And telegraph their moves.

The same goes for lots of aliens. Alien had one alien - characters not badass - Aliens had many aliens - characters badass.

2: No evil sorcerors.

If a worldy sorceror decides to fry you, and you arn't fafhrd or the grey mouser, you are fucked.

I think a lot of blame attaches to the Dark Lord mythos - Everyone knows the plucky rebels beat the evil dark lord and his stormtroopers.

But if you stat up the plucky farmboy (75pts - skills in farming) and the Stormtroopers in GURPS (150 pts - skills in firearms, athletics and small unit tactics - travel in platoons of 40, equiped with armour, communications and artillery and air support) its not gonna work.

Quote from: Erik BoielleI accept podcasts of good sessions as a counter argument.

I'm not trawling the net listening to podcasts for you Erik, especially when all you need do is sit down and play the game for an hour to find out how wrong you are.

Can you do that? Have you even read the game? Or is this another one of your spurious opinions based on limited exposure and prejudice?