The Keeper Companion is officially out today: https://www.chaosium.com/call-of-cthulhu-keeper-companion-pdf

It is kind of a playtest of a new edition, like 7.5e. Everything says "optional" but it's going across the whole game. Characters now roll 2d6+5 eight times and assign to attributes, occupation skills have a fixed starting percentage, Intimidate, Fast Talk and Charm now fall under Persuade and more skill changes. Art throughout the book is pulpy but great, new character sheets look the same but shit. Like some amateur modified the files. Playtesty. The Pulp sheets now have a shorter skill list.

I like what I see so far, but I only skimmed it. I would like proper character sheets again. The original 40th anniversary and Gaslight sheets were flawless (not the ones currently on the website).

This week, the Reanimators are joined by a consulting 'Doc' Tracey to each share 2 of our personal favorite Call of Cthulhu scenarios available through the Miskatonic Repository. That's 10 short scenario recommendations to consider just in time for Halloween one-shots! 🎃

We also give some comments on how easy/difficult we think each scenario may be for GMs to run.

Check the show note descriptions for specific titles and time-stamps to each scenario in case you'd like some of those cuts to remain unspoiled for you to play in later.

You can listen to the episode on your preferred podcasting platform: https://pnc.st/s/rpg-reanimators/947cc65a/choice-cuts-3-miskatonic-repository-special-with-matt-doc-tracey

I’m planning to run The Necropolis at some point - I read a few posts that said it’s fun to do this with miniatures to keep track of where everyone is in the tomb. Here’s my first painted miniature that I plan to use.

I’m drafting a scenario heavily based off of the found footage series Grave Encounters. Set in 2018, the players are crew members of a paranormal reality television series (a Netflix exclusive launched by the survivors of the prequel scenario Forget Me Not) they’re playing a psychic medium and his deceased brother, a ghost everyone can see but cameras don’t capture (my fun idea with this is that the cameraman always tells him to “get out of the shot” even though he isn’t there). So I’m thinking the abandoned, haunted psychiatric hospital is in the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona, where they get stuck in a back rooms-esque building they can’t escape.

The asylum used to specialize in lobotomies being run by myths-worshiping doctors, so there’s going to be equipment for that scattered throughout. There’s a room where a patient etched words into the wall, a bathroom where another patient is said to have killed herself and a series of tunnels (possibly connecting to Eihort’s labyrinths). There will be encounters with poltergeist-esque spirits, strange spiders they encounter (that get bigger the closer they get to the tunnels), possibly other people trapped here and the building itself which rearranges itself as they travel.

At the climax the players will escape the building, notice a strange mist now surrounding the complex, and make their way into their car, through the mist, and back to their hotel in Tucson. When they get on the elevator to their hotel floor the door opens and their back in the tunnels underneath the asylum.

I’m struggling with the conclusion itself, how should I end it? I was thinking of having the medium be forced to leave his brother’s spirit behind either for Eihort of the building itself, forcing them to kill each other and bring new victims to the building or have them find a spell or something to help them out either in the notes of the doctors or etched into the wall of the patient.

Any advice to turn this into a full length 1-shot? Right now it feels too all over the place to have a proper conclusion.

Hello

I've been a Keeper for my group of friends for about 3 years now. Recently I got a request from two of their girlfriends to run a scenario for them plus 1 other of their friends. One of my regulars will be joining them as well. Apart from my single regular player, they have no experience in roleplaying games.

I just ran the scenario Saturnine Chalice for my regular group and it became one of our favorite. I was thinking about running it for this group as well since it is fresh in my mind, but I started thinking if it was to heavy for new players. There are a handful of NPCs and a pretty complex story/investigation.

I did run most of the usual starter scenarios in my earlier stages as Keeper like Lightless Beacon and Necropolis. The lack of NPCs did help with focusing on the main story beats but would you consider this a factor for new players as well? A handful of NPCs does mean they have to talk more in character instead of mostly describing actions and I imagine that could be a hit or miss depending on the type of players. But in general, do you feel like you should spare new players the trouble of more NPCs and a complex story and go for one of the usual starters or just dive them right in?

Thanks in advance.

Which CoC modules and supplements do you think have the best art? Honestly, I feel like most official materials have somewhat generic art, with some notable exceptions. Other ttrpgs have some amazing art, particularly DCC and Shadowdark (imho). Cthulhu mythos is such fertile ground for amazing dark horror oriented art, but I feel like it doesn't make it into many of the materials. What are some stand outs?

I'm running session CoC TRPG - purgatory no yoru ( japan module). I designed the room and scenes for the session

Hello,

I am planing on dming a call of cthulhu one shot.

The charactersheet of the pre build character says: Damage: 3-1d4

Now I am confused.

Does it mean I do 3 damage minus the roll of 1d4? That doesn't make sense in my mind.

My other idea was that it means 1d4 for a success 2d4 for a hard success and then 3d4 for the extreme success.

Is that right or is it ment different?

Thank you for the help <3

Hi there! I recently got my friends to agree to play COC for the first time and I decided to do the one shot scenario in the back of the keepers guide(7th edition if that matters). For background, we're a group of friends who get together once or twice a week to play dnd and I've been needing a bit more of a horror game rather than fantasy so I thought this was perfect, needless to say the mechanics were more than a bit overwhelming for us looking at it the first time, but characters are made and all that we're waiting for is an open slot for me to squeeze in the one shot. I have read through the book and scenario once, and I'm planning on re-reading it, but as a first time COC keeper and fairly new GM in general, what's your advice for this scenario or in general? Thank you so much in advance, I'm really excited about this!

So, I am currently working on my first COC one shot, and the idea is to establish a narrative of a werewolf in an area around the summer camp. The only problem is that I couldn’t find any that fit. May I have some suggestions?

Edit: Maybe I should add a little more context, but I’ve gotten some awesome suggestions. This more of me super excited about my premise. The basic storyline is based off of 80s-90s based horror movies, such as Friday the 13th and Fear Street: Part 2, in light of halloween. The PCs are hired as Camp Counselors, and with two weeks left until the summer season ends, they are tasked to ensure their cabins stay safe. However, a Lovecraftian-based predator stalks the camp, one that is easily mistaken for a werewolf.

So I'm planning to run my first one shot of CoC for my group which has played a large variety of TTRPGs but we have never tried CoC, and I was wondering if there is any tips anyone could give for writing the one shot

The premise for it is an amusement park that got shut down in the late 50s, where the owner made a deal with an eldritch being to keep the park running, and now lives in a delusion that the park is thriving while the park assimilates victims into itself at midnight

I'm mostly wondering if there's anything I should keep in mind while writing out my plans and story, and what a session would/should look like for CoC

Any help is appreciated!

I have been poking at the innsmouth book a little, just curious what some of the hidden gems that I may not have noticed yet you all have found. It looks great, but what have other keepers latched on to?

The part of Blood Red Fez set on board the train has a pretty strict schedule to keep track of. This isn't one of my strong suits, so there's a chance I'm missing something.

Here's my problem:

Baron Von Hoefler boards the train on the evening of the second day. He tries to put the fez on an investigator to experiment on them. The next night in Budapest, he sneaks off the train with the fez and the book.

But once the fez is on the investigator, it's stuck there until they die, right? It takes 24 hours to spawn a new fez, which Hoefler could do, though the timing is tight. I guess he could also kidnap the investigator if they are under his control, but that's not very fun for the unlucky player.

Has anyone played this out with both events happening? It seems like it could get out of hand really quickly, so I'm wondering what it looked like in your game, or if you have any general advice for managing the escalating events on the train.

Thanks.

Some cards that i made, phobias, weapons and manias. What do you think?

First off, with do you call a dm/GM for COC?

Keepers?

Anywho, DND DM since 2016 here. Never played anything else.

This Halloween I've decided to do a one shot for COC. None of my players played as well

I'm planning on running The haunting. Basic 1920s

Going to be playing virtually via discord and Foundry vvt.

So, what some stuff besides the basic rules I should know? My players don't want to use premade, so how long will character creation normally takes?

I recently got into ttrpg (d&d,coc,etc) and watches this randomly and i finds this fun to watch can anyone suggest me one shot/campaign to watch in youtube?

I have an ongoing campaign where the PCs are going to be chasing down a college theater company (they got away before they could capture them) that got a copy of the King of Yellow. They are headed to Canada (to flee incoming murder charges for their director) and join up with a travelling carnival.

I have a couple of ideas fitting with the King in Yellow for the PCs to use to find them, but I feel like its just a little anemic:

- a rash of artistic-types going mad after seeing the play at the circus sideshow

- strange murals that seem to cause people to teleport randomly if they walk through it (going through Carcosa)

- the circus has an oddly large following, and many members wear yellow

- the circus main event has become strangely dangerous for attendees (courtiers of the king injuring common people?)

But that's kind of all I got. I would love to hear any more ideas on spooky stuff that I could use as clues to help the PCs find out where they are going without telling them too obviously.

If it helps, the Troupe has the buy in from the owner of the circus (also a cultist of the King in Yellow) and their end goal is to get enough money to get to the Isle of Demons (Quirpon) in Newfoundland, and use a mystic cave to reach Antillia, and the Seven Cities of Gold in another dimension. they hope that they can use the knowledge in these cities to bring glory to the King.

All of this year's Miskatonic Repository Halloween bundles are already live, and on -60% sale!

These bundles are the best chance to get tons of new Repository releases at a lower price, and support and encourage all the authors who publish there. Please take a look at the bundles below!

Miskatonic Repository Halloween Collection, part 1 - 8 releases from various authors, one per author.

Miskatonic Repository Halloween Collection, part 2 - another 8 releases from various authors.

Miskatonic Repository Convention Bundle - 19 scenarios ran at this year’s Miskatonic Repository Convention.

Overall, it went really well and we had a lot of fun. I transferred the scenario to modern day Boston and borrowed the Spektral Krew concept from Viral, creating a 3-person youtube Ghost Hunting team.

For the story I expanded the role of the Chapel of Contemplation and added some conspiracy theories shared in forums regarding the raid. I also changed the timeline so that the house was auctioned off by the city after the raid and that there had been issues with tenants ever since, making it the “haunted house” of the neighborhood. We used a dedicated in-game whatsapp group to share handouts and some of the NPC communication to make it feel real.

The players pretty much followed all the right steps in the investigation and when they finally went to the house they went straight for the basement, not being distracted by any noises and bangs coming from the room on the second floor. After the first attack by the knife they were initially hesitant to touch it but when their shots did no damage to Corbitt they figured out the solution and got rid of him in the end.

Players are hooked on CoC now (it was the first time playing CoC for two of the three) and it seems that the Spektral Krew will return.

I started painting some cultists today when my kitchen faucet started leaking. After replacing the faucet, which took WAY longer than it should have (I am not handy), I returned to my barely started minis and thought “what can I repurpose fore these”. Which got me thinking, what are other people, that want to use minis, are using Or repurposing?

these can be anything you already have at home or you think would be a good crossover.

I‘ll start:

For the classic setting 1920-40s:

Cthulhu Death May Die: the full game carries over (because it’s Cthulhu).

Fortune and Glory: great investigator figures (Indiana Jones themed) with Nazis, Mobsters, and cultists depending on the expansion.

Western setting:

Shadows of Brimstone: monsters, player characters, and board all can carry over. (Shown in first image)

Modern Era:

The Others: 7 Sins: (Second image example) Player characters, monsters, and board can be used (pulp Cthulhu rules, I think). Also, having the investigators be a biker gang can be fun.

Zombicide: player character minis can be fun investigators and the board can be used.

NOTE: Last image is just my unfinished cultists :(

Hello,

A few months back I posted Fantasy World Generator here. Over the last updates, every tool/generator in the app that has a genre choice now writes 1920s horror alongside fantasy and sci-fi.

A FEW EXAMPLES:

Mystery Generator: a crime set inside a building, drawn floor by floor. The 1920s have twelve buildings of their own, including the house on the hill, the sleeper train, the sanatorium, the museum after hours, the university library, the lighthouse and the seance parlour. Each case comes with a case file on every suspect and the night's events, hour by hour. There’s also a GM switch that shows who did it and what each clue proves. Set the tone to strange and it lets in something nobody can explain, and only the Keeper sees what it really was.

Taverns & Hubs Generator: speakeasies, jazz clubs, hotel bars, gentlemen’s clubs, waterfront dives, all-night diners and roadhouses. Each one has a floor plan, a basement and information about everyone inside. Example: One roll’s GM-only secret was a cellar extension that had broken into an old colonial burying ground, with the owner quietly selling off the grave goods.

NPC Generator: period names, a background in place of a race, and roles, quirks, wants and secrets of the era.

Other notable generators/tools: Quest Hooks, Rumours, Encounters, the Bestiary, Found Notes, Omens, Random Places, the Dice Oracle(for solo play), Magic Items, Dungeon Rooms, Five Room Dungeon, Adventures and Factions all write the 1920s too.

It’s still free, works offline, with no ads and no account. No AI was invovled, every generation is an output of pre-written tables with procedural generation rules.

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.avaton.fantasynamegenerator

Well it's that time of year again it's spooky season and I plan on running the dare and am looking for tips and tricks I also heard that the maps are not the best does anyone have any better maps they can provide for the scenario if not I'll just re arrange some of the rooms myself cthulhu willing ofc lol. Bit I am currently watch Seth skorkowskys video on the scenario and am excited to run this scenario. Any tips and tricks are welcome thank you in advance

I’ve been using published modules for CoC 7e (not pulp) and adding my own twist to them for a while, I’ve recently started writing my own stuff entirely rather than basing it on an existing module, I’m wondering if it’s allowed to ask for writing advice here?

The main story concepts I’m currently working on are a parallel world where they failed to stop a Mythos apocalypse is trying to break into our world to flee the apocalypse, I figure a sort of steampunkish universe where mythos stuff became more well known, people tried to use it for their own advantage (such as turning a profit) and ended up dooming the world so now they’re trying to use a machine to break open the walls between worlds and enter ours.

The other is a Christian Priest gets exposed to Mythos stuff, maybe finds a Mythos tome or something and rather than going straight out worshipping a Mythos Deity, he absorbs it into a Christian setting. He gets more and more radical in his sermons, declaring the second coming is near. That Jesus gave of his body and blood so we might be redeemed, so to aid him in his second coming we too must offer of our blood and bodies to him. Culminates in a massive sacrificial ritual where a monster is created from the bodies of a mixture of victims and cultists who sacrificed themselves. He and his following by this point have gone full murder cult and extol that this thing is Jesus reborn to bring judgement upon the earth. Could set it in a small town where it mostly went unnoticed at first. Not sure how to turn it into a full investigation yet