A Time to Harvest - Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Corsario

Welcome to the game!

Dotting! Like I said, I am brand new to the CoC game, so I will need some handholding I'm afraid. Busy day, so I'll get a proper gameplay post up this evening.

Don't worry, we will help you. Right now what we need is for you to choose which of the other student investigators Hank knows, what is his reaction and relation with them, and to describe him for the others.
Use Abigail's post for guidance.

Hank you're not alone. I am completely new to CoC. I've not done much PbP either though.
So my apologies if i do something wrong or not enough.

Never a best time to learn that right now.

Hank and Deanndra: CoC is pretty easy, since its based on an alternate earth you already know most of the stuff. What you don't know (Cthulhu Mythos stuff) your character doesn't know either. We are all coming into this as un-enlightened starting characters. So, go with the simple RP for now, and think like its the 1930's. WW1 is over, the Great Depression is going on, Hitler won't come into power for another couple of years. Gandhi is leading non-violent protests over in India. If you are a farming student you might be talking about the crop issues in the Midwest (the dust bowl will start this summer (1930)). Women got the right to vote 10 years ago, and we are making strides in womens education (though (IMO) still as a means to find a better class of husband more than to actually find a career).

Its not until things get weird that you need to worry about this being a CoC game... and for your character it is super weird, since they don't know they're playing :)

The part I'm still trying to figure out is Skill Checks, Sanity Checks, and advancement... I think I have it down, but still reading the manuals... hate reading game books for the first time as PDF's. But I'll be sure to pick them up at GenCon this year, if my FLGS doesn't get them in before that.

Hopefully I'll get my books sometime in the next month or so. The Kickstarter updates sound like the books will be shipping soon.

Sorry for the delay, I will post the start tomorrow.

Damn I am delaying... working on the post

No worries.

Sorry for the delay. Some fires to put out.

Break out the hose

Sorry for the delay. I expect to get things on track tonight.

That will take some getting used to, the lower skill being good.
As for connection, I'm not sure.

Lower skill is not good. Having a Credit rating of 20% is worst than having it at 50%.

What you need to remember is that you need to roll UNDER your value.

By the way: Write down in your aliases when you succeed in a check. That means you will have the chance to improve it, when you "level".

No. Sorry. That wasn't what I meant. I was meaning the skill roll. How that should be lower than your rating.

Sorry for me absence, wrapping up a major project at work, should be better-er now.

No problem, I am swamped with work too.

And last night pretty much wrapped up my project. Two new SANs installed, zero downtime due to the migration, WOOT!

Nicely done
I should post the information over the weekend, and next week should have a normal work load

For those not on the Chaosium newsletter...

I'm hoping to run a marathon of this entire game once all 6 instances are out...

Some Q&A with Mike Mason about
A Time to Harvest

A Time to Harvest is Chaosium's new organized play campaign, unfolding over six months. It's offered free to all members of The Cult of Chaos, Chaosium's Game Master and Organized Play Program.

Written by established Call of Cthulhu authors Brian Sammons, Charles P Zaglanis, Glynn Owen Barrass and Mike Mason, A Time to Harvest is an an ideal campaign for novice Keepers and players alike, with plenty of advice throughout, but veteran players will also find it engaging and fun too.

Installment One was released several weeks ago, so we thought we'd catch up with one of the co-authors - Mike Mason, who also happens to be Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu line editor...

Q: What has the reception to A Time to Harvest been?

Mike: There’s been a tremendous response, with almost 1000 Keepers around the world downloading the first chapter to play in local games stores, conventions, online, as well as with home-based groups. The Chaosium G+ community is abuzz with reports of games and notices for players.

Q: How are different groups running the first installment?

Mike: While some hardcore groups have run the episode in an eight hour block (!) others are taking a more sedate approach, playing weekly or fortnightly in three to hour hour sessions. The campaign is quite flexible, allowing each group to decide on their preferred format and session length.

Q: Where can Keepers get tips, advice or resources for the campaign?

Mike: We’ve set up a private forum at BRP Central for Cult of Chaos Keepers running the campaign. Already there’s plenty of threads popping up discussing the campaign, offering advice, and sharing ideas. One thread in particular has become a repository of play aids collected by various Keepers, with NPC portraits, location images, and other period photographs available to use in your games. I’d like to thank Morgan Hua for kicking this thread off and supplying a stunning range of play aids.

Q: If someone wanted to start now, can they?

Mike: Sure! All they need to do is join the Cult of Chaos and they'll be able to download the first part and get going. Thanks to Ben Wilson we also have a set of pre-generated student investigators that could help them or any busy Keeper get started quickly - check them out here.

Q: When does episode two come out, and what's in store for the players?

Mike: Episode Two will be out on 15th May and brings the investigators back to picturesque Miskatonic University in Arkham, where they start the academic year and return to their studies. Unfortunately, shadows are falling upon the university and it isn't long before the dire consequences of Episode One catch up with the investigators. The scene is set for dark deeds, paranoia, and danger in the learned halls of MU!

I wouldn't mind running all of them.

It'll be another 5 months before they are all released, but I'd be down for a by-weekly game over skype or one of the other conference games.

if you're starting one up, I'd be interested

Sorry for the multiple delays. Will post tomorrow.

DM, are we doing this or not?

We are doing it. Sorry for the delay.
Damn, they have the second module out... I need to hurry up!

Howard: Yeah, I'm going with the Family Friend/Uncle on Mothers side (however the DM wishes to spin it).

Someone call 911. I can't find a pulse!

They didn't answer

I know, I know. I haven't forget!

If anyone is doing Gen Con this year, care to do a meetup? I'll be there Saturday and Sunday, arriving after work on Friday. Grab a beer, play a board game/card game/rpg whatever.

I would, Abigail, but i don't live close enough to go. Have fun :-)

How many players do we have left? If we have at least 4 players I will step down and run GM functions until Corsario can take over. I'll just have Abigail flake out and decide she doesn't want to deal with this field trip.

I'm still around.

I'm still here. Mighty nice of you Abigail

I'm still interested in learning the game, so I'd be willing to give it a go.

I would very much like to go forward with this.

Sounds like a plan then. I'll start reading the campaign. Parts 2 and 3 are now out, so If you guys enjoy this, we can transition right into those parts.

Give me a little time to read the notes, and go back over the quick start manual (although, from what I've seen CoC is very rules light, its all about the story, and playing with the five sided squares).

Just one thing. Sorry. If I am unable to get this started this weekend, you have my blessing.

Just give me 2 days to see if I can finally get this off the ground.

No worries, I know how crap goes sir. New projects start up and you get locked down. I'm between projects right now, so I'm free until my boss knows I'm between projects. I think my next 4 months should be fairly light, no more globe trotting, just sitting at my desk doing software reviews and PoCs.

If you think you can't pick it up, can you raise me to a co-dm or something and I'll know to start running.

@Corsario

That sounds fair to me

Well, I took my time, but we can take this trip on the road!

Enjoy...

... while you can!

Insert macabre laugh here.

Yeaah!

So, question... Based on rolls, and talking among ourselves, do we all know about Blaine and the girl that came up dead/missing in the last group? I'm going to guess that Deanndra and I talked about it during the drive, so maybe I know the history and the guys in the group do not? If so, how far back was the last group? 3 months, 6 months, a year ago?

Followup to that, does Clarissa look like Daphne, is it a case of 'I miss my blonde girlfriend and this girls a pretty blonde too?'

My guess, he's playing the 'Fawn Leibowitz' gambit... And if any of you don't get that reference shame on you! :)

The first field trip was made on the summer of 1929 (26th of June to be precise). The trip finished uneventfully. But Daphne's group (the only one assigned to Cobb's corner in that occasion) came back to Cobb's corner on August 13th, and that is when disaster strike. Thomas Blaine didn't go to that trip because he broke his arm just before departure.
Now it is August 15th, 1930.
Let's say you have time to share all you know between yourselves.
About the similarities between Clarissa and Daphne... you could say they are the same "type", physically speaking, but not really "twins" or anything like that. But yes: 'I miss my blonde girlfriend and this girls a pretty blonde too' is a possibility.

Ok, so its been about a year... so its not like he raced out and started going all doe eyed on a new girl after a month or two. Just curious if he's a crazy stalker type.

Well, he had a complex year. He lost the semester, had a drinking problem develop (which seems to be gone now) and changed his university mayor on the intervening time.

So...based on that roll...whats up with you guys suggesting anything is wrong with Mr. Blaine and Clarissa? I don't see any issues there, nothing at all!

Sorry for my tardiness all, we are short handed at work with the Vacation season upon us, I'll try to get online more, but please, do not let me hold up the storyline.