Harbingers Campaign Sessions # 1-5 Commentary [Cthulhu]

Running a Call of Cthulhu campaign was, for me, a decision made out of a desire to direct a game that was 180-degree turn from the recently completed three-year long Star Wars Saga Edition game I'd directed. There's a lot I love about the Star Wars setting: familiar NPCs, the potential for exciting and cinematic action scenes, a plethora of archetypes suitable for PCs, a wide array of settings, etc. The problem I found as the campaign neared its end and the PCs had reached anywhere from Level 15 to Level 18 was coming up with suitable challenges for them. Not only were they the toughest S.O.B.s in the universe, but the mechanical complexity of combat meant I had to spend a *lot* of prep time getting ready for each session. I didn't feel that the players had a lot of genuine fear of dying during combat, and, as the characters established themselves and their personalities and motivations over time, certain types of stories become difficult or impossible to tell. So when that campaign reached it's well-planned and exciting climax, I was glad to have discovered something completely different to direct as a sort of "palate cleanser" in Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu game. It had elements that I knew would challenge my skills as a director: how to create an interesting story and keep the game moving without a lot of combat; how to tell those stories knowing that PCs are fragile and may be replaced often; and how to create a real sense of mood and atmosphere. I'm still dubious I've succeeded on a lot of these points, but the only way I'm going to get better is by practice. The game also introduces some new challenges to my player's skills as role-players: a focus on long-term character development; a chance to role-play human emotions that "action heroes" rarely experience, such as fear, grief, and insanity; and the very different decision-making that occurs when everyone knows that combat is genuinely deadly. I think the transition from Star Wars has been harder for some than others, and I've definitely noticed more absenteeism and less enthusiasm. Still, the lesson I learned from that long Star Wars campaign, where I had periods of as many as five PCs and periods (fortunately brief) of as few as two PCs is just to soldier on until, sooner or later, the right mix is in the group and things begin to gel.

We've now finished the first story arc in the Harbingers campaign, which has centered in and near the town of Aylesbury, Massachusetts. I *think* the PCs are going to be leaving Aylesbury in the next session, but they haven't left yet and who knows what will actually happen (at one time I was convinced they were planning on going to New Orleans; then I was convinced they were planning on going to Dunwich; now there are rumblings they might just stick around in Aylesbury; why doesn't anyone ever want to visit Omaha, Nebraska?) Still, it seemed like a good opportunity to give some brief commentary on the previous sessions. Each session has been recapped under the conceit of minutes of a literary appreciation society talking about a recently unearthed manuscript, and you'll see links to those recaps below.

Session # 1

This first session was billed as a one-shot, but I knew that if I made it work, I'd have a good chance of the players voting for CoC as our next campaign, so I laid a lot of seeds that could only be realized later. I really went all out in the atmosphere department: candles, spooky music, some ghastly artwork, mini-flashlights, custom "Investigator's Notepads", props for the clues, and a seating arrangement that was very different than that used during Star Wars. I think the atmosphere worked really well, especially because we played it on a Friday night; I haven't been able to create quite the same atmosphere since our regular campaign sessions are on Saturday afternoons, and even when the blinds are drawn it's still obviously light outside.

Overall I was quite happy how it turned out--I think some of the moments on the train were genuinely creepy, Jacob Blackstone's character really brought the role-playing when it came to grief over the accidental shooting of the bystander, and the gradually increasing intensity of the rats in the second half of the session brought the session to a dramatic ending. Here's some more specific things:

* The very first scene was supposed to be far more exciting (and potentially grisly), as the bankrupt stock broker was going to throw himself on the tracks as the train approached. Would any of the PCs try to save him? Would they make it in time? The guy role-playing the priest is just so good as being reasonable and persuasive (and made some good rolls to back it up) that we never got a chance to find out.

* The (now dead) Harleigh Matheson PC certainly made things interesting--spending large amounts of cash during the Depression, carrying a rifle with fixed bayonet in his luggage, trying to quietly break the lock to the basement at the Gilmore House (failing miserably), and attacking the rat queen with a ferocious vigor. These are the sorts of crazy things that can make fellow players be like what are you doing? but can also make games far more memorable than they would otherwise be; his insanely sucking on the teat of the giant rat comes instantly to mind as an example.

* I had specifically concocted the whole "Aylesbury Days" festival as an in-game reason why the local inns were booked and the PCs would have to travel to the Gilmore Farm that night (extra spooky!). However, once again, Father Murphy was just so persuasive and rolled so well on his Credit Rating skill that I couldn't imagine any reasonable innkeeper turning down his pleas to squeeze them in somewhere.

* I had the one and only example so far of time-period panic--one of the PCs asked whether there were phone booths in 1931 and I had no idea.

* As the recap implies, the second half of this was inspired by the first (and still one of my very favorite) Lovecraft stories I ever read, The Rats in the Walls.

* The thing with the Orobourus Purgotae spell (which is of course very fake Latin) is that it really only had a decent chance of succeeding if several characters worked together to cast it--this was a detail Father Murphy overlooked and the mistake almost killed him.

* There are a lot of plot-specific reasons for the idea of the Mark of the Harbingers, most of which are still unrevealed to the PCs. One of the more mundane reasons, however, is that I wanted to develop an answer to a question that had been bugging me: if these PCs aren't "professional investigators", why wouldn't they just run away and go home as soon as creepy things started happening to them? The Mark served to tie the PCs together (almost literally) in resolving a mystery that was very personal to them. To decide who would be branded with the Mark on the train, I had everyone roll percentile dice and compare it to their POW; if they failed, they were Marked. I expected maybe one PC would succeed, and was surprised when two of the five succeeded. The fact that one of the affected PCs has subsequently died has made the impact of the Mark less important (at least for now). One of the downsides of the whole concept, I would learn later, is that if one of the Marked PCs is absent from a session, the other Marked PCs have much less freedom of movement.

Session # 2

* I had a tough time figuring out whether to start the campaign proper in Aylesbury or Dunwich. I eventually chose Aylesbury because I thought it would be easier on both myself and the players to grow into their characters, as Dunwich has an almost overwhelming number of NPCs. This session begins the "Diggin' Up the World" published scenario, though I changed a lot of the details and the origin of the sporocysts. I've always found it hard to predict how long scenarios will take to accomplish; I was worried the PCs might not even take the whole session to complete it, and it turned out to provide enough plot for the next few sessions.

* As the recap implies, I was all over the map with Wanjiku's accent--there are a few accents I can do consistently, and his was *not* one of them.

* I really grew to like Sheriff Glanby over this and the next couple of sessions; the idea of a local boy making it to Harvard and then dropping out to return home and serve as Sheriff made him an interesting figure to me. I was kinda sad to see him get killed in a later session.

* The little scene near the end when Kurt Caughey throws himself against the bars and dislocates his shoulder reaching for the proffered shovel was effective; I could see the shocked looks on my players' faces.

Session # 3

* I originally created the gravedigger, Roddy McCallister, as a PC for a game a while back that only lasted a single session. He was so much fun to role-play that I brought him back here; think of an even creepier Peter Lorre and you'll be on the right track for his speech and mannerisms.

* The death of PC Harleigh Matheson was sudden and shocking, though it certainly did fit into the horror genre. Still, it was something of a pity because I had some good long-range storytelling plans for the character.

* Since I was directing a macabre game, I was eagerly hoping the PCs would decide to dig up Knight's body just for the gruesome exploding-grubs effect.

Session # 4

* The introduction of the Klan and the mobsters was done to add a little more personal danger and install some period flavor.

* I was impressed with the creative and unforeseen solution the PCs hit upon to remove the sporocysts from the infected Jacob Blackstone. When PCs come up with crazy schemes, here's my thought process: (1) does the attempt seems remotely feasible? (2) does it allows for an exciting or dramatic scene with an element of risk? (3) if yes to both questions, let them roll the dice and see what happens.

* Barnabus Gallowsong was knocked down to 1 hp by that gunshot; just a touch more, and we'd have had another dead PC on our hands. Whenever possible, I roll the dice on the table in front of everyone so there's no suspicion I'm fudging results one way or the other.

Session # 5

* When writing his character background, the player running Hoyt Symmes included mention of two mysterious books obtained years ago that Hoyt had never been able to read because they were shut with sturdy locked clasps and Hoyt didn't have the key. Little things like that are *great* for directors, because they spark the imagination and give me the chance to introduce story elements at my own pace that are still specifically tied to that PC.

* One of the issues I haven't figured out an overall approach to yet is combat, and you might get the sense of that in this session. Combat is exciting, and I know the players miss the fun and sense of accomplishment that comes from it. On the other hand, combat is so deadly in CoC that I'm loathe to have it take place unless it's initiated directly by the PCs or is the only reasonable reaction by NPCs. The problem is not just that an accumulation of dead PCs can stop a story in its tracks, but that, since healing is so slow in CoC, badly hurt characters can be more or less useless when the time comes that combat is necessary or inevitable.

* I have to admit, the puzzle box was something I thought would be investigated occasionally by the PCs over the course of many sessions when things seemed slow; I've had to scramble some since they've been quite keen on solving it so quickly. I actually got the idea for it from one of the item cards in the Arkham Horror board game.