If you think NPCs talking to each other is annoying, I know a GM who’s players tricked a pirate crew into fighting each other... and he rolled every... single... attack... with himself.
I think hes far too much all over the place - kind of irritating presentation moving all over the place literally and this all looks like stuff you could use a few tables to generate. Nothing new here Im afraid so I bailed part of the way through
When the players call the police and if they don't say their names to the operator, have the operator say something like "We'll send officers to your location. Don't worry, [insert character's name], everything is going to be alright." And then hopefully the players are like "Wait, I didn't say my name!" and realize that some of the police is in on the scheme.
So I have let NPCs talk in the past. The trick I use is either have the NPCs wrapping up a conversation when the PCs arrive, or have the players involved in the conversation. Reinforcing or explaining points. Some examples. (PCs inter the room) NPC 1: Mr. Whitmore, I do not think you understand the risk this course intails. Oh (PC) you are here. Good I have a job for you. example 2 Inspector D'Grass, you don't understand. Tell him, tell him what you say (PC). Then PCs explain. NPCs ask questions. PCs answers. I don't do it often. That would be boring, but it can help. It is a tool in my tool box.
Great! Really enjoyed this video! There's an RPG called Space 1889 where the book advises you not to always tell players what they see, but play on their other senses (what they hear, smell, how the air "feels chilly but also leaves a metallic taste in the mouth" etc.) I find that not fully describing everything can often make the players draw their own conclusions as to what's going on - which not only is less work for the Keeper/GM/Referee, but is also what Lovecraft did in his stories - or to put it another way, he messed with the readers minds by letting their own imaginations run riot .....
I just used a heavily modified version of this to get to my cyberpunk group into the idea of horror rpgs. Here's hoping they'll let me run Call of Cthulhu.
About half-way through, when this whole thing starts to really come together, it's a little bit mind blowing, and it just keeps getting better from there.
55:00 I would disagree with Psychological horror not working, but this does explain a lot of Petersen's design ethos and why he's never tackled that. Body Horror and Psychological horror definitely can and do work in tabletop but players have to be paying attention.
The more I watch his videos, the more I like Sandy. I also like how he isn’t humble he just tells the facts. He’s like the Cthulhu Mythos wouldn’t be popular if it wasn’t t for me. And I’m like…… fair. 😅
Just a quick comment to say that everything about languages that he said was correct, except icelandic is category 3. It has tones link mandarin and is a much older languages whereas many modern languages have simplified over time. Also even the easy languages are definitely not easy, as it takes a long time to reach even basic proficiency. Still was really cool to see him mention that, and it was a great video. Will definitely use this for future CoC games
It's amazing how much random info is included in this speech like at 34:00 where he discusses "current berries". Interesting stuff. It's like how I learned of "Cheese Slippers" in Kansas City, MO or "Derby Pie" in Louisville, KY. Just random facts yet fascinating.
I had a vague for a horror idea that could be a musical set in the frozen north. This just gave me the ideas for the whole beginning middle & end thank u
That was great! I hope there will be more like this one! :) I would also love a video about „How to make an investigation scary!“ or something like that. ^^
hot springs need to be in a volcanic area, and the obvious choices for hot springs resorts are America/Canada, Japan, China & Iceland, America is too close to home and turns into a generic cabin fever story easily. Japan & China are too exotic and lean towards stereotypes. Iceland is distant enough to attract the PCs but isolated and reasonable for a cult to exist in the story.
First solid evidence could be the cult failing to get the player they have targeted in the middle of the night. Perhaps interrupted by random chance, waking the players, who spot the weirdness.
Or... A player has trouble sleeping and they hear muffled footsteps and a "shhh". If they get up the cultists clumsily hurry away and if they stay in bed they see the doorknob very slowly turning and the door opening.
Also, I find it somewhat tragic, in a way, that our society doesn't judge things like this higher. It's all focus group tested mass market targeted garbage that's so focused on pleasing everyone without excluding anyone that it becomes bland as a result. Sure, everyone loves sliced bread but everything doesn't have to be sliced bread. We need salami and spicy peppers. No, not everyone is going to love that spice but those who do are REALLY in to it. Some things ARE best made for a niche audience, sometimes it IS better to never fully explain a mystery or fully show a monster on screen with an in depth biography of where it came from, how it was created, what it's motivations are, etc, etc, etc. That twist after 48 minutes is BRILLIANT.
@@firvantavan2793 one of the oddities of Paper Chase was that I felt it was really tame. Mechanically it had all the window dressing of a CoC scenario but it was almost comical in the setup with no real horror. Someone is stealing books? The stakes are low and barely personal. The threat isn't really there and even the most deadly outcome seems forced upon the players without any real menace. It just happens.
I would say having a malign monster is an easy route but not the only one - there are dangerous ones which have no real bad intentions like King Kong, Frankensteins monster...plus isnt the concept of Cthulhu mythos is that the "monsters" have NO feelings toward humanity
Not true! Been a fan of H.P. since 1977... Everyone I know that is serious about the craft of Horror should no my good friend Hastu- errr Nixon [whew close one] 😇
@3:15 Sandy would be fired from Current Year WoTC for asserting the Great Race of Yith can't be good. And anyone suggesting a shoggoth can't be kind and loving must be cancelled.
Fantastic.
no u
Never thought I'd see you here... Ah, who am I kidding? Of course you'd be here.
If you think NPCs talking to each other is annoying, I know a GM who’s players tricked a pirate crew into fighting each other... and he rolled every... single... attack... with himself.
Doom infighting but with pirates
That’s hilarious!
Unless they're named NPCs with plot importance, why not just roll them at once for the faceless mooks then kill once for every sucess?
Sometimes you got to learn it the hard way haha
I love how he goes off-topic so easily and comes back to the main subject with his mind working even faster.
He sure is doing great, considering how much he has his nose in the necronomican! Lol.
I think hes far too much all over the place - kind of irritating presentation moving all over the place literally and this all looks like stuff you could use a few tables to generate. Nothing new here Im afraid so I bailed part of the way through
When the players call the police and if they don't say their names to the operator, have the operator say something like "We'll send officers to your location. Don't worry, [insert character's name], everything is going to be alright." And then hopefully the players are like "Wait, I didn't say my name!" and realize that some of the police is in on the scheme.
So I have let NPCs talk in the past. The trick I use is either have the NPCs wrapping up a conversation when the PCs arrive, or have the players involved in the conversation. Reinforcing or explaining points.
Some examples.
(PCs inter the room) NPC 1: Mr. Whitmore, I do not think you understand the risk this course intails. Oh (PC) you are here. Good I have a job for you.
example 2
Inspector D'Grass, you don't understand. Tell him, tell him what you say (PC). Then PCs explain. NPCs ask questions. PCs answers.
I don't do it often. That would be boring, but it can help. It is a tool in my tool box.
"Which, by the way, an Italian movie does kill a whole busload of orphans. It's pretty fabulous."
Instead of Chekhov's Gun, horror stories have Petersen's Lava Pit.
Great! Really enjoyed this video! There's an RPG called Space 1889 where the book advises you not to always tell players what they see, but play on their other senses (what they hear, smell, how the air "feels chilly but also leaves a metallic taste in the mouth" etc.) I find that not fully describing everything can often make the players draw their own conclusions as to what's going on - which not only is less work for the Keeper/GM/Referee, but is also what Lovecraft did in his stories - or to put it another way, he messed with the readers minds by letting their own imaginations run riot .....
I just used a heavily modified version of this to get to my cyberpunk group into the idea of horror rpgs. Here's hoping they'll let me run Call of Cthulhu.
Cyberpunk is so right for cosmic horror.
About half-way through, when this whole thing starts to really come together, it's a little bit mind blowing, and it just keeps getting better from there.
55:00 I would disagree with Psychological horror not working, but this does explain a lot of Petersen's design ethos and why he's never tackled that. Body Horror and Psychological horror definitely can and do work in tabletop but players have to be paying attention.
Play w/ a real hammer and whip.
Are there good psychological horror "how to" or talks you know of to recommend?
In the UK Christmas ghost stories goes back to "A Christmas Carol". Christmas Eve there is usually a ghost story on television now.
The more I watch his videos, the more I like Sandy.
I also like how he isn’t humble he just tells the facts.
He’s like the Cthulhu Mythos wouldn’t be popular if it wasn’t t for me. And I’m like…… fair. 😅
Holy crap that's a whole story set up in under an hour!! Genius!
I love how a hint , and evidence= three warnings.
Just a quick comment to say that everything about languages that he said was correct, except icelandic is category 3. It has tones link mandarin and is a much older languages whereas many modern languages have simplified over time. Also even the easy languages are definitely not easy, as it takes a long time to reach even basic proficiency. Still was really cool to see him mention that, and it was a great video. Will definitely use this for future CoC games
Tremendous! A free master class!
You're the grandfather all of us never knew we had
Thank you for everything and God bless
I now have no doubt that Sandy Petersen has ADHD.
It's amazing how much random info is included in this speech like at 34:00 where he discusses "current berries". Interesting stuff. It's like how I learned of "Cheese Slippers" in Kansas City, MO or "Derby Pie" in Louisville, KY.
Just random facts yet fascinating.
I just bought Call of Cthuhlu for 5e Kickstarter! It is a blessing this Gygax of Cosmic horror TTRPG, sharing his wisdom.
I want to believe that the most horrific place in existence is Sandy Peterson's Bedroom.
You do your kink, I'll do mine.
Cemetery Man / Dellamore Dellamorte is such a great movie!!
I had a vague for a horror idea that could be a musical set in the frozen north. This just gave me the ideas for the whole beginning middle & end thank u
That was great! I hope there will be more like this one! :)
I would also love a video about „How to make an investigation scary!“ or something like that. ^^
Mr Petersen seemed desperate to set his story in Scotland. I’m in the highlands of Scotland. It certainly makes for a creepy environment!
hot springs need to be in a volcanic area, and the obvious choices for hot springs resorts are America/Canada, Japan, China & Iceland, America is too close to home and turns into a generic cabin fever story easily. Japan & China are too exotic and lean towards stereotypes. Iceland is distant enough to attract the PCs but isolated and reasonable for a cult to exist in the story.
So many great insights here
The guys is a legend¡
(has anyone use this scenario?)
I am planning on turning it into a short story and/or published scenario. It is great!
The genius at work! What a treat!
I suspect that England associates Christmas with ghost stories because of A Christmas Carol
I love to watch the creative process in flow
I'd invoke the Japanese hot spring baboon spirit.
Give up the...pistol! Great mechanic in Halo.
Make the player fail. That's good.
...how to kill Decino?
Ghost AR game 🤔 take and share pictures.
..."I got slimed Ray."
First solid evidence could be the cult failing to get the player they have targeted in the middle of the night. Perhaps interrupted by random chance, waking the players, who spot the weirdness.
Or... A player has trouble sleeping and they hear muffled footsteps and a "shhh". If they get up the cultists clumsily hurry away and if they stay in bed they see the doorknob very slowly turning and the door opening.
Pure Gold!
Oh wow. Now I wonder if there were clues to the scenarios in Runequest too, which just went over my munchkin head.
Yis.
Also, I find it somewhat tragic, in a way, that our society doesn't judge things like this higher. It's all focus group tested mass market targeted garbage that's so focused on pleasing everyone without excluding anyone that it becomes bland as a result.
Sure, everyone loves sliced bread but everything doesn't have to be sliced bread. We need salami and spicy peppers. No, not everyone is going to love that spice but those who do are REALLY in to it.
Some things ARE best made for a niche audience, sometimes it IS better to never fully explain a mystery or fully show a monster on screen with an in depth biography of where it came from, how it was created, what it's motivations are, etc, etc, etc.
That twist after 48 minutes is BRILLIANT.
Incredibly inspiring😃👍🏻
-*Masterclass Series
Italian Horror FTW
AWESOME!
Hereditary...the kid thing...
Cha'alt!
How does the "it is malign" reconcile with Paper Chase?
It doesn't, really. Paper chase is quite tame, tho. Unless the keeper boosts it up. I know lots of folks loved it, but I wasn't a fan.
@@firvantavan2793 one of the oddities of Paper Chase was that I felt it was really tame. Mechanically it had all the window dressing of a CoC scenario but it was almost comical in the setup with no real horror. Someone is stealing books? The stakes are low and barely personal. The threat isn't really there and even the most deadly outcome seems forced upon the players without any real menace. It just happens.
@@JasonKingMonkey Agreed
Sandy had nothing to do with "Paper Chase." That's why...
I would say having a malign monster is an easy route but not the only one - there are dangerous ones which have no real bad intentions like King Kong, Frankensteins monster...plus isnt the concept of Cthulhu mythos is that the "monsters" have NO feelings toward humanity
Not true! Been a fan of H.P. since 1977...
Everyone I know that is serious about the craft of Horror should no my good friend Hastu- errr Nixon [whew close one]
😇
People carry cellphones in 2020. Pagers are from the 80s and 90s.
@3:15 Sandy would be fired from Current Year WoTC for asserting the Great Race of Yith can't be good. And anyone suggesting a shoggoth can't be kind and loving must be cancelled.
Yeah, the people who see Orc’s as a allegory for people of colour either are fascist themselves or have really racist DM
Arrgh! Even my fantasy games are going PC. So tired of this "Wonder Bread World"!