After 9 hours and 3 rousing games of Arkham Horror, I've got a severe itch to scratch.
I'm a Lovecraftian fanatic(a cultist, if you will) and I was thinking of running Call of Cthulhu a bit for my group of regulars.
I think I wanna start with a module or published campaign of some kind since I only have a few games worth of GMing under my belt, and I was wondering if any of you more experienced Call of Cthulhu veterans could recommend any good 'adventures.'
I already own "Shadows of Yog-Sothoth" and have run my few games out of that book, so if you can recommend any other material, I'm all ears.
Anything from one session adventures to full-length campaigns are on the table at this point in time.
Thanks in advance!
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The best campaign ever for Call of Cthulhu is the Masks of Nyarlathotep. You've got literally material for years of gaming in that book.
It's a great campaign that spans the entire globe, with Investigators going to New York, London, Nairobi, Cairo, Shangai and more. It wouldn't be too hard to use one of the chapters/locations on its own, if you're not into mega-campaigns. The Australia chapter, for instance, was originally published apart of the campaign, but now (for 5th edition and more), the Complete Masks of the Nyarlathotep sourcebook includes it as well.
Any Cthulhu fan who doesn't know this campaign really, really should give it a try. This is a MYTHIC campaign, all role-playing games considered (and I'm a veteran of dozens of game systems, been a role-player for more than 20 years, to give you some background as to the weight of the statement).
I'm seriously considering running it again with Trail of Cthulhu, the GUMSHOE adaptation of CoC.
A quickie list form a CoC ref of about 25-30 years experience...
Masks of Nyarlathotep + Beyond the mountains of madness are the best. In fact possibly the best campaigns for any system in the world.
Tatters of the king come next in list of good stuff for CoC.
Day of the Beast and Spawn of Azerthoth are about middling
Shadows isnt one of the better ones imo.
Avoid Utatti Assafet.
For a book of one offs, Mansions of Madness is a pretty good one if you like "Classic era".
I highly recommend www.yog-sothoth.com, a most excellent (ennie winning) site - lots of threads on this subject as well as lots of advice, and handouts and many of the scenarios creators and...wooo,lots of things. And about 700+ posts there from yours truly :-)
Chaosium has Masks as a pdf download from their website now. Mountains of Madness is hard to get a hold of. I'd like to get my hands on a copy though if anyone knows of anywhere to get one.
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Masks of Nylarthotep for the big campaign. I'm not sure where you can find them now but there used to be (still is?) a CoC mag put out by Pagan Publishing called The Unspeakable Oath which had monthly adventures. Some of the best gaming experiences I had were as a result of their crazy and down right wrong adventures.
Memorable one-shots were In Media Res (pcs are escaped amnesiac mental patients) and Cold War (pcs are rival cultists in Toronto). The Unspeakable Oath was a first rate source for Cthulhu games. I can't recommend it enough.
Pagan Publishing also put out some campaign books Walker In The Wastes was quite good but I never had a chance to run it.
Also Dead Man's Stomp which was published in the 5th edition core book(not sure about later editions) is a great starting adventure.
Masks is, hands down, one of my favorite long adventure campaigns ever produced in any system. I use it as an example of excellent design. If the PCs get off track in one area, there are usually clues to get them back on track somewhere else. Lots of interlocking clues, in fact.
The segment in Australia is the one that appeared in another publication (Terror Austrailis") and is pretty dispensable from the core of the adventure. We played it, with 7 reasonably experienced players and an experienced Keeper in 14 weeks, 3-4 hour sessions each week. It was during the spring term, in an instructional room in the basement of our dorm, so we were pretty much able to (and had to) concentrate to get things done. And done we got them. Most of us went through 2 PCs, particularly after the incident in the bent pyramid which I shall not go into here. Let me just say that gunplay was involved.
I really like the Delta Green materials.
Haven't played Masks of Nyarlathotep myself, but sounds like I need to check it out.
Orient Express (but with a lot "homework")
Masks of Ny
Mountains of MAdness
Goatswood
Arkham unveiled and the rest of the Arkham County Stuff.
... and I love the 1890 stuff :)
Insane lurker in the game since the 80s
Considering that Masks of Nyarlathotep got numerous mentions I went ahead and ordered it. It must be damn rare or something, though. I couldn't find it cheap at all. Had to pay $75 from Amazon.com to get it. :/
I hope it's worth it. It sounds like it is.
You won't find it cheap because the darn thing is HUGE!!!! Unless you pick up a used and beaten copy off e-Bay, don't expect a bargin with Masks. However, as lots of folk have already said, you'll have a campaign that will last for years in real time.