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Call of Cthulhu: The Secret of Castronegro - RPG Review
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- Опубликовано: 14 авг 2024
- A string of missing people and butchered cattle sends the Player Characters to the sleepy New Mexican town of Castronegro. Written by Sandy Petersen and Mark Pettigrew, the scenario first appeared in 1983's Cthulhu Companion.
Buy it on DriveThruRPG: www.drivethrur...
You can find my own novels and audiobooks here: amzn.to/39Ro697
My Patreon: / sskorkowsky
If you're asking yourself, "What the hell is that puppet you used for Puddock?" I got it here: amzn.to/38F85l5
Guest starring Jack the NPC.
![Chuckyy - Devil Hours [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/f3wZGj0VnZU/mqdefault.jpg)
two fun facts: first, Mark Pettigrew's original scenario WAS set in New England, in a town called Dark Haven or something. By 1983 I was sick of New England scenarios so took the time to massively re-edit it and set it in the Southwest. Sadly Mark did not like my rewrite. Sorry, Mark. I don't regret doing it though.
Second: Mark had an evil familiar monster that you had to get rid of. I turned it into Puddock (according to M. R. James, an old name for "toad"). I wanted to have a Brown Jenkin-y familiar which would actually be useful yet creepy, that players could reasonably want to keep around.
Whenever i watch a review of a Sandy Petersen scenario, the first thing i do i looking for you in the comments.
And since there isn't a flood of replies under this one, i'll use the opportunity to reply without being drowned out:
THANK YOU FOR CREATING ONE OF THE BEST TTRPG SYSTEM I HAVE EVER PLAYED!
I'd feel bad for the guy that got both Puddock from this scenario and Immortality from "Uncle Timothy's Will." Have no idea how brain removal would work on such a person if he got stuck in "Disassociation."
@@dubuyajay9964 Sounds like a loop hole/exploit to me!
Sandy: "sorry not sorry lol"
Good call on changing the settings. Sandy, it sounds like it was going to be just another shadow over inn's mouth scenario
Imagine waking up with the ring, and a voice in your head goes, "hey, wake up peanut head"
THE BONESAW RETURNS AND THIS TIME YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE NO SCABBARD TO SILENCE ME! NOW HAVE YOU HEARD THE STORY OF THAT FIRE GIANT IN THE LAVA?!
@@orderofdusk2382 magic gloves! Hurry!
Would explain the bonesaw bit
@@orderofdusk2382 *Tapes mouth.*
Burning down the house: "the signature move of CoC investigators." I laughed so hard my eyes teared.
So true. My Masks group did that all the way to Shanghai where their arsenist reputation caught up with them. Terrified his all wooden mansion would fall foul of the investigators, the big bad (not Nyarly) sent assassins. The players had bad rolls and bad tactics and got TPKd. 😬 One player rage quit. Best to curb the burners early on I find.
My current group does that
The sketchier parts of Florida are basically Lovecraftian in their own right.
This is true.
What the SAN loss when you encounter Florida Man?
As a Floridian, who's grandfather a was a professional live gator poacher for sideshows, I am reluctantly forced to agree with you.
The Everglades are prime territory for a CoC adventure.
Dr.Bright “I roll to try to intimidate the police with my cock!”
JACK's face in the Hospital...! PRICELESS!!
I really do love whenever Jack launches into one of his "hold on, X, we're coming to SAVE you!" moments.
This was the final adventure for my first CoC character. I was down to single digit sanity but 65% Mythos. But I had an insanity that prevented me from acknowledging magic so I lost no sanity from that. I was the PC captured by the cult and I failed my resistance to torture roll and I was spewing Mythos knowledge all over the cultist and scaring the Hell out of them that they had angered such a mighty practitioner.
That’s hilarious
"I'll get more into why I made him an NPC companion when we get further along into it..."
It's because a PC gets kidnapped isn't it?
Masterful puppet work. Henson would be proud, mightily confused, but proud.
Yeah I can hear a "Chamberlain thiinks Seth tries best yeeeees mmmmmm"
As you mention mythos-books and the diary (including subsequent sanity losses and spells you can learn etc) I want to share this:
I once made up small mock-books for my campaign. So about post-card sized and foldable. Just take your standard letter-paper fold it twice (as in you get 4 pages) cut it in half and stack a few (you want to have 8 to 16 pages in total).
I made book-covers (just printing out some free book-cover stock photos from the internet) and glueing it all together. (A bit of cardboard for the cover gives it a nicer feeling.
It's not a book - but a booklet with some space to write in. Here you either can glue in printied out diary pages or put in spells etc.
The rules for the book are as such:
- You have to read it page by page. You can stop after any page, before flipping the next one.
- Atop each page any neccessary skill checks, sanity losses and other game mechanics are noted. If you flip a page you have to execute those game mechanics.
- After that you might reap the gains from that page, be it a spell, mythos-knowledge points or other information.
This makes reading mythos books more like a mini-game in itself, a investigator can 'play' on his or her own - even up to things like insanity, as other players just see the one player read the lines and throwing dice. But you don't need to tell what happens. So it's a bit of a surprise if the reader get's crazy without a warning :D
Ah, but Seth... has Jack ever been all alone... against the flames?
... I enjoyed that choose-your-own adventure scenario, honestly.
Planning on re-using the cult of Tulzscha later on, and honestly I need to re-read it as one of my players managed to survive it before their first investigation.
"I bet it's Chupacabras!" "Hold on, David! We're coming for You!" I love this. I watched this review like 4 times.
"... And the sketchier parts of Florida." Hang on, which parts of Florida AREN'T sketchy?
LoseTheBeat, It’s just EXTRA Sketchy!
Please don't tell me. I don't wanna make another POW check.
There are two parts of Florida... sketchy and missing. ;o)
Sketchy,sketchier and sketchiest!
Having watched burn notice, I can confirm, all of Florida is indeed sketchy.
Seth sir, you have made my day.
Now that I am home from work, time to shower, made some dinner, and enjoy a new COC video :D (on topic, since because of you, I am going to start my first ever COC campaign in 3 months :P )
Good luck with the campaign.
@@SSkorkowsky And yes, The Haunting is going to be the first adventure we do :P
Have fun! It's a great game!
@@erc1971erc1971 man that scenario was literally the VERY FIRST scenario ever devised for Call of Cthulhu, AND the first one ever played. Mea maxima culpa.
Just wanted to let you know I got your book Damoren on a whim and it was great. Thanks for your contribution to literature!
Jacks face when he see his new "buddy" always cracks me up!
I wouldn't listen to that thing Jack, Muppets are never trustworthy....
Like my grandfather always said, the only good muppet is a dead muppet.
Served on toast with a little jam.
@@NefariousKoel
Don’t listen Kermit, Don’t listen!
@@Tony-dh7mz I don't know, Kermit's a little sketchy sometimes. Been stringing the pig along for years but still hasn't put a ring on her, ah, hoof. Now Fozzie, OTOH, there's a Muppet you can trust.
@@richmcgee434
I was always partial to Beaker...
...what if Kermit was Jewish? That would explain a lot,
@@Tony-dh7mz Kermit publicly declared himself to be a follower of Amphibitarianism back in 2005. I also note that when questioned about political leanings, he's generally pro-wetlands conservation and similar green causes but almost invariably mentions that he opposes interspecies marriage between frogs and pigs. Bit specist, that.
Edit: Great review Seth, excellent suggestions for alterations otherwise. I always look forward to your posts sir, keep up the top quality work!
Just thinking out loud here, but rather than cut the cattle mutilations entirely, you could make it part of the local culture.
The locals know about "The ghost of (name here)" or simply "The Beast" and it's been around since any of them can remember. They leave an animal out every so often as an offering to appease the creature because if they hide the cattle away the creature will hunt humans instead (or so the story goes).
If you say that the fully mutated only need to eat once or twice a year and hibernate the rest of the time, unless their den is invaded, then if you have the drunk or someone else tells them that "The Feed is only a few days away" it becomes a viable piece of information they could theoretically use to track back to the mansion or something.
This is a really good idea. It helps turn what was formerly just a hanging thread meant to draw the PCs to the adventure into a viable element for progressing the story. If nothing else, you want a redundancy of clues that can guide players toward the meat of the adventure.
@@Bluecho4 I'm glad you approve. :)
Last time I was this early, Jackson Elias was still alive
Last time I was this early, Epstein hadn't not committed suicide yet.
Last time I was this early, my friend Ben was outside flying kites
Last time I was this early Hillary Cilnton still thought she could win the election!!1!
BAL worshipers, what ya gonna do, I’m I right?
Man. Killing Elias was one of my finest moments as a keeper
They said he would come. They said, one day a man would rise up and provide viewers with game ideas and adventure reviews that would put all others to shame. Now we know they spoke true. Look ye no further, for this is the time and this is the place. Behold the master of RPGs and be not afraid.
I'm a true Call of Cthulu DM. I got the books and can't find any players!
Now that's some true Lovecraftian Horror
I feel your pain.
Hold me....
@@theknightofbadassness301 *hugs and pats head* This too will pass ... when we are all dead. :)
@@AxiomofDiscord that's about a cheery as it can get I suppose.
"...and some of the sketchier parts of Florida." :D
I've lived in those parts. Don't forget about the face eating zombies.
So Florida
Everytime I watch one of your COC reviews, always find myself enjoying every moment of it. Inspires me to run COC. About to start running the two headed serpent and your videos have really helped me prep myself for such an amazing adventure. Thank you for all the wonderful videos and wish me luck!
Good luck with the campaign. Hope you and your players have a blast with it.
@@SSkorkowsky My game sadly fell apart due to scheduling conflicts, but they were having fun up until they almost blew up the town in Oklahoma. I've basically switched to running one-shots for a revolving door of players, which everyone does seem to enjoy though.
Alamogordo was founded by Oliver Lee, a gangster who murdered the founders of Alamogordo for their water rights.
What you're describing is plain old Alamogordo.
19:15 Thank you For this bit Seth, I never thought I would laugh so hard at a response towards an Eldrich critter before :) I needed that.
I nearly died when I saw Jack's expression!! Initially I thought it was goofy but Seth nailed the creepy overly friendly voice! Glad I wasn't the only one in stitches!! :-D
Just came back from a camping trip and got my hands on an electronic for the first time in a few days. This is such a treat, even if it’s #2 behind a fresh shower.
Google search “Biolite”
I wuld love if the muppet was a permanent addition to Jack :D, since it semes to imly he has the ring now and is immortal :D
This seems like a very interesting module, but I wish there were more focus on Silver City. It's an actual town in New Mexico, and I grew up there. It does seem like the perfect place to have a Call of Cthulhu adventure. Even in modern times it's a small, sleepy town of about 10,000 people. It's small enough you'll see a lot of the same people around town all the time, with just enough points of interest to be the perfect size for an RPG.
Coffee, a Seth CoC review, a sunny spring morning, seems like a pretty good way to start my day off.
I'd give the newspaper with cow mutilations to the investigators after they return, especially if they burned the house down without looking in the under-lab.
Commodore Stargazer
Ohhhh that makes sense. The mutants did it.
@@smilemore7431 yes after they escaped from the Laboratory. The Doctor was feeding them, but after his death... Then how long till cows will no longer be sufficient...and then man will be on the menu.
If I run this, I would place the adventure in Roswell NM.
I hope Paduck (spelling?) the ring familiar becomes a recurring character on the show. He and Jack seem like they'll make a great team. At least until Paduck convinces Jack to embrace the majesty of the Great Ones.
EDIT: As for in-game, I think a way Paduck can be made to slowly corrupt the characters is by "helping" them, but in an eldritch way. He might suggest solutions to problems - solutions that are totally viable - but which edge the character closer to madness or evil. Like suggesting the PC perform a certain ritual to solve a problem - which would cause Sanity loss even when successful. Or if an NPC is possessed by a mythos being, that the Investigators just kill them. Or Paduck might teach the PC a ritual for warding an area against monsters, but have it do so by consecrating the area to one or more Great Old Ones, increasing that being's hold over the world.
Basically, if there are multiple viable ways to solve a problem, Paduck will advocate for the one that is the most ruthless or eldritch. Not through forceful means or goading, but by framing the decisions like a series of reasonable compromises or dabbling in occult activity, that slowly escalates.
Love the ghost puppy by the window near Jack...
Time stamp?
@@dubuyajay9964 08:51
Hey Seth! Thanks for the video! Could you do a video on how you would have Puddock corrupt the investigator? Or a more generic version of how you would have villainous characters corrupt a player character?
Great video as always. And...does Jack have pocket flask with Cthulhu on it now? Extra marks for effort on details! :D
EDIT: To learn a language in order to be able to read a book of occult secrets that will drive the reader insane? True dedication. Also nerds (with maybe a bit of a weird set of priorities). This ring also gave me some real Von Carstein vibes (not counting the familiar part), curious which of those is actually older.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised how many COC scenarios take place in my home state of New Mexico. There’s a lot in First Nation’s mythology that rally lend themselves well to Cosmic Horror.
Thanks Seth I was having a really shitty day but your reviews always make me feel better and it’s a nice treat for how this day was going
This is actually great, this will make a great midpoint investigation for my "Calzone Saga", a campaign I made out of differant investigations starting with missing dues and ending with a section from Two Headed Serpent. Gives an excellent way for one of the investigators to be the "last survivor from the future".
From memory this was the most adult-orientated scenario I encountered as a young player - the sexual torture devices and references to De Sade in particular.
Hey Seth, running my session 0 for CoC this Saturday and your videos have helped me alot. Instead of using the npc you suggested in your haunting video, I'm going to be using Jack, but called Nicolas Percible Casanova (or NPC for short lol) great stuff man, don't quit making these videos.
Hope you all have fun with it.
Tasty cult rolls, my favorite!
Great video, as usual. It's a little disappointing that whenever you go to investigate cattle deaths in New Mexico, it never actually turns out to be chupacabra. Also, what the heck is that puppet? He's damn creepy!
Or a UFO.
This sounds like it would be little easier on a Pulp Cthulhu party.
The sketches parts of Florida are the fun parts. We are also home to the biggest sea cult in the US; looking at you Clearwater...
I really want to turn the familiar into a talking cat that looks eldritch and talks to the ring-wearing investigator, but to everyone else it's a regular cat.
Scroll up. Puddock apparently means toad or frog though.
>the puppet
Lol, man Seth, that killed me. Just Jack staring at it for a good 10 seconds as he tries to comprehend what he's seeing
Nice ester egg, " Greedy-Gut " was the name of one of the dwarf twin familiars in the movie Goolies.
And if I remember correctly one of the familiars (in the form of flies) of a witch burned by Matthew Hopkins...
Excellent video Seth, loved ❤ it.
My players killed Greedyguts, Bernardo Diaz’s familiar. However Bernardo has Enthralled spelled all 4 PC’s. The scenario clearly states that the investigators will be kept as prisoners for a few days, then they will be sacrificed.
1 player has her husband back in Boston, the other 3 have no really bonds/ties or relationships, so I’m thinking & would make my campaign interesting, Rescue at Castronegro.
The part with the puppet cracked me the hell up
In the 80's I've run this scenario 3 times and got 3 TPK despite my changes, that were almost all that you suggest. 2 TPK in the barn, and one in a gunfight with the sheriff and a posse of citizens after they tortured and kill the local priest (my players thinks deservedly he was a cultist concealing informations). You give me the urge to run it again.
I can understand the posse TPK (people with guns are dangerous) but twice in the barn? Isn't that just a lone Servitor in the cavern below with zero reason to actually fight it face to face? The one time I ran this the party sent one stealthy high-SAN PC to scout what was making the music, decided they were pretty sure what it was she'd seen, then backed off and dynamited the cave themselves. Only damage they took were a few scratches when the barn collapsed from the shock wave and some of them were standing a little too close. Admittedly, that could lead to a "fight the posse" situation too, but that group was smart enough not to linger around the area and they never quite got caught for what they did.
Dude. Bro. This video came at the perfect time. I just ran over to DriveThru RPG and bought the pdf version. I run a long-arc CoC homebrew on Saturdays, and the Investigators are heading over to a place to investigate why a bunch of children have gone missing. It's gonna be this (with the kids missing instead of Joaquin, Godfrey, and Lane). I totally dig your CoC stuff, keep it up!
I keep telling myself that Seth and Jack are the same person, but my brain refuses to accept or retain that information.
Jack's face at the end, waking up, makes the whole video.
Just got home post getting stood up after some people requested I run Call of Cthulhu this evening, and was dreaming up a CoC adventure of my own. Good to see another adventure breakdown to nick ideas from.
From watching your videos I don’t think Dungeon Crawl Classics is really your thing but I’d still like to hear your review of the game. It’s interesting to see how your viewpoints sometimes come from a very different angle to other channels.
I'm actually planning in running my first game soon so it's cool to see this.
My son has that exact dragon puppet.
You might want to double-check it just to be sure he isn't playing with some eldritch abomination.
Please consider reviewing the Pagan Publishing scenario "The Whitewood Horror" from "Coming Full Circle" As mentioned, it's based on the film The City of the Dead. The overall campaign is of interest as well, I think.
lol I just started watching Dagon when this video popped up..... its the old ones sending me a sign.
Loved that movie despite the lower budget. An enjoyable Lovecraft film where most of them miss by a mile.
First video I watched of yours a year ago and have been a fan since.
It always makes my day when I see a new Seth Video in my feed.
You know Seth is Texan just by Jack's trigger discipline in the thumbnail
I would realy like "the creature" to be Jacks companion forever!
I ran this in October culminating in Halloween.
Yep, you are havin a bad day, but Jack the NPC is there to cheer you up. What a great guy. Thanks Jack!
Nicely done, as always. Love the puppet. For some reason it made me think of the evil Ash puppet from Ash vs. Evil Dead. Question: Do you do these games as one-shots or do you players run consistent characters?
Usually we run consistent characters. This one we did as a 1-shot.
@@SSkorkowsky Was wondering about that when you described this as an uncommonly deadly adventure, which it very much is not compared to some of the other ones you've reviewed. Big diff between the usual group of veterans with established gear and spells and skills and a one-shot with some new blood in the mix, yeah?
14:00 "Tcho Tcho's Guide To Serving Man" plz. :P XD
Thank you Seth for yet another insightful video. Have a nice day!
The last thing I expected was Kyubei popping up at the end. 💀
Good review and good suggestions, even if you did miss what's found in the pantry. It's a good early (D & D influenced scenario.) and the last time I'd read through it I'd missed the note about how the books in the library are likely to be in languages the PCs are unlikely to read, it shows someone back then was thinking. The strange thing is that there is a tenuous link between this scenario and another New Mexico set scenario, 'The Spawn' in The Great Old Ones. But if a Keeper is going to go that route, best to run 'The Spawn' before 'The Secret of Castonegro'.
I caught the beef tongues in the pantry. But it still never answers why the sudden rise in cattle killings, how Diaz did it, or why only the tongues. It's just a slapped-on reference to one of the original hooks pretending to be an explanation. That might work for a J.J, Abrams movie, but not for me.
@@SSkorkowsky JJ 🤬 only out done by Rian F-king Johnson
@@SSkorkowsky You could always add additional newspaper stories implying the rises in cattle killings are periodic events with the last one being say 60 years previously...
I do dig the idea of the 60-year killings.
Hi,
It's always nice to have other people's feelings and advices when you're preparing a scenario.
It is an old scenario, some things are a bit awkward but as a player, there is a really stressful ambiance when you're in the town.
However with today modern technologies, it is rather easy to compile a lot of information for the players.
I have been playing this scenario for several weeks (as the GM).
I located Castronegro, north of Silver City, on the road to the Gila Cliff dwellings national monument.
So the "bad guys" could be ancient native tribe members rather than the Spanish families.
Thanks!
*** Spoilers ***
Our next session should be the last one.
The players are gathered in the Herrera Hotel. The barn they visited during the afternoon, just exploded during the night.
I will let them time to act early on the morning before the Sheriff Garcia come to arrest them.
We'll see!
Just finished this. Low point, the fact the party refused point blank to engage with any of the townsfolk because they were certain they were all in the cult. High point, the party's spirit medium, already crippled by beartrap and a mutant claw, shoving her hand through the hole in Diaz' head after he took 24 damage in an attempt to stop it healing.
No one gonna mention the awesome puppeteering I now believe you brought it out when describing the scene for your players
As a Texan i'm sure you're familiar with some king of the hill.. so do you ever feel that Puppet Envy for Jack? Hehe all love dude, you're my favorite entertainer on youtube by far, you and Jack equally ;)
That was a nice review. Thank you. Love the Cthulhu videos
Seth I want to thank you for introducing me to COC or more accurately Pulp Cthulhu, it fits my style better than any other rpg I know of. Previously if I wanted to run a early 1900s adventure I had to use HEAVILY modified Pathfinder, so thank you good sir.
Happy to be of help. Pulp Cthulhu is a fantastic system. Have fun with it.
Great video, Seth. Started my first campaign this year and your reviews have really helped with prep. Keep up the great work!
When you brought up the cow mutilations at the beginning of the scenario, and then mention the bad news Servitor of the Outer Gods, that's where my mind put the connection. Like, the Castronegro people were mutilating neighboring area cows in order to feed the Servitor. Just my thoughts. 🤷🏻♀️
Totally shoulda asked Sunny Jim to cameo as Paddock. Bet he'd have done it.
Yet another amazing video. Keep up the good work!
Great video as always Seth! I think I might run this for my players sometime soon.
Also, unrelated but anytime I watch one of your videos both my cats show up out of nowhere to watch. I guess they like your voice haha!
Please review the Call of Cthulhu Scenario "The Whitewood Horror" in the supplement "Coming Full Circle." It's based on the 1960 Horror Film, "The City of The Dead"/"Horror Hotel." Oh, and "Blood Brothers" which is also based on old horror films for Call of Cthulhu.
I am usually not into fantasy role-playing games that are like Call of Cthulu but it does make me want to play it at least once. I even have an idea now for a warlock of Hastur.
I'd played in a variation of the scenario a few months back, a lot of the issues we had were from the DM, probably, not really thinking it through for the specifics of that party of investigators.
Being, essentially, what amounts to a cross between marshals and a version of the X-Files mixed with a few players who want to go full X-Com gave a lot of other issues there.
Bernardo did end up surviving it...though, he's probably regretting his immortality at the moment considering some of the people we'd recruited. Subject 57 will, hopefully...eventually, get used to his cell and the various experiments that will aid in "dealing" with future immortals.
Unfortunately, the party being feds was kind of my fault...or at least the keepers permission to have my player be a marshal when I got involved in the group, and things getting very interesting...
As someone who hasn’t read the scenario my immediate thought for the Sheriff is to give him a connection to one of the missing people, like they were cousins or close friends. He couldn’t find them when investigating the disappearance himself and has given up hope so have these investigators turn up out of nowhere turning everything upside down hurts him on a personal level since it’s a constant gnawing reminder of his lost friend. Add to that that being tied to a missing person will likely make him a suspect and you’ve got a perfect recipe for a rocky relationship that can potentially be mended once the missing people are found and the Sheriff either finds closure knowing his friend is dead or is stirred to action looking to avenge them.
Again, I haven’t read the scenario so that could mess with something else but it seems like an interesting idea to me.
New Mexico? Nah I'm good. Once you go in, you can't get out.
11:10. "The Cooks of Cthulhu."
Thank you! I found my temple of inspirations!
23:23 Of course the little monster likes it. He's an evil Hellspawn from a realm that defies all known laws of science. LOL. XD
YES! New Call of Cthulhu review!
Now it looks like the Seth Universities has their own baby Groot now... Poduc
You are now immortal Peanut Head!
Call of Cthulhu, the only game where the town drunk is the most important source of information for investigators and university professors!
Have to disagree. I've played enough PI/detective RPGs to know the drunks are often excellent sources of info, and lushes make more reliable stoolies than hopheads do. University professors probably don't find them as generally useful, but I do recall a one-shot (maybe for a homebrew system, it was three decades ago) where the PCs were all academics looking to gain tenure by any means. Said means included pumping the denizens of several bars for info that would lead to blackmail material on their superiors. So - not quite the only game with the "consulting drunk" quirk. :)
Florida millionaire = Ricky from the Trailer Park Boys. Except Ricky has better weed... Lol
Yes! More Call of Cthulhu content!
I had a player who couldn't show up next session, so I kidnapped his pc on that.
Another great review, Seth!
Spoilers:
So is there any way for a player character to deal with Puddock?
Love the shirt Seth!