A game based on the world imagined by H. P. Lovecraft, born 125 years ago yesterday.
I was into other games and had a limited RPG budget, so I never got into it. But I like the subject matter then and now, so I checked it out out of academic interest.
You are an investigator. It's a simple mechanic, relying on the suspenseful story. But what stereotypically happens is, player character find an old book. The read the old book. A monster is summoned. Half the party is eaten and the other half go insane.
It's much more fun than that sounds but it's a good one-nighter game for experienced players with very little needed to be done to familiarize yourself with the mechanics.
There are generally 3 eras you can play in. 1890ish. 1920ish. And Modern Times.
In the game forums a lot of people don't like playing in the modern era because access to firearms is too easy. Or so they say.
Huh?
Silly.
Mail order a Tommy Gun or pick up a BAR at the hardware store in the 1920s. Try that now.
Not that is matters to a good referee. First, the monsters are mostly impervious to ANY firepower you could get your hands on. If you brought back a Marine Platoon from modern times to protect you from harm in the 1920s with a time machine... it isn't going to matter. Only their human cultist minions are generally susceptible. And it's not a combat game. So, who cares? One of the scary things about it is the very good chance your artillery is not going to help you. And that's the fun.
2 comments:
I dunno. One of my more successful CoC characters was a nearly illiterate WWI vet from Nebraska.
"I don't read that heathenish stuff."
When that ref's campaign wound down he still had a sanity of 90%. And you CAN kill a Shuggoth with a BAR Monitor.
You know what else is pretty readily available in the 1920s? Dynamite. Even a great many things resistant to gunfire may be susceptible to sufficient booms. You can also accidentally leave large quantities of it at the scene of an investigation, which is likely to cause any evidence that could lead to your winding up in a mental hospital or a prison vanishing in a puff of magic.
As a side note, pump shotguns are highly effective as well if you want a more mundane firearm to ward off things that go bump in the night.
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