Thanks for a brilliant one shot / side story idea. If my players ignore the leads of the main storyline, they might have a horse cart crash and weird suicides coming their way. That's what I struggle with: having back-up plans for when PCs go in totally different directions than I thought they would.
Hi man! Just run a one shot adventure 6th edition based on your original concept. It was great :D and 3:30h to run in total with two players. Changed couple of things to suit a 1929 London set up. It got creepy when they got into the closed theatre. On the stage 2 puppets hanging (managers who suicide), and another two puppets, one with a smashed head (private eye shooting himself) and the other quite broken (run over puppetmaster assistant). I quite like giving my players a lot of freedom. So they encountered the puppetmaster and confronted him but as he had been jobless for a while and almost starved to death he was shit in combat so the guys didn´t kill him (coz.. well, is a crime), instead they captured him and call the police. The puppeteer ended up in a mental institution. I kinda wanted to bring on the monster thing but it felt like a real success for the guys as they solved it in a very realistic way so the game focused on investigation. Kept the horror going by dropping creepy clues (just googled vintage puppeteer, creepy) and specially when they got into the theatre :) Anyway! Thank you so much for posting this man. Very appreciated. Ah! Also told my players where I got the story from to give you credit :) Greetings from Cardiff, UK
I’m using a fair amount of this for a Halloween one shot with my friends. I’d normally feel bad about not writing my own scenario but it was super short notice and this is quite frankly an excellent template. It’s all of their first time playing an rpg so I’m super hyped for it to go well.
Gareth Graham Oh my gosh man. It was incredible. Of the three hours we played, we spent over an hour creating characters, and they eventually just all decided to play variants of our one friend who couldn’t be there. I decided to throw caution to the wind and use my notes very minimally and it was great. It wasn’t a particularly serious game but I could tell that they had a lot of fun. When the PC’s showed up at the Jim’s office, they got attacked by a single puppet, but only those who failed a sanity check. Two failed, and one got insta-killed, the other was saved. How it worked was that those who passed the sanity check saw nothing, and had to use the string they found at the start to restrain the puppet, even though they didn’t know what was happening to those who failed. It took a bit of nudging but they were really impressed when it happened. I had to rush the final battle since it was getting late but everybody was telling how much fun they had, and my best friend said he wants me to help him write a campaign for him and his girlfriend and some other friends. Sorry for the super long response but I’m super stoked at how much fun we had. I used some props too like Jim’s note book and wallet, the string, an old book that Damien was reading from. It was amazing. Thanks for posting this video, it really helped me.
rather than just any old string perhaps the string itself could be made from something creepy or cluey- perhaps human hair or thin strip of skin. Also if the puppetmaster is alerted have one of the players attack the others. the puppet player will have reduced attack however because it is a puppet.. perhaps a pow vs pow roll to snap out of it- every other round. You can give a bonus if they take damage.
I am totally stoked that I came across this video. I’m getting ready to run my first ever session of call of Cthulhu for my group who has never played it either. I’m totally excited about it! This video gave me a lot of good tips on how to set up a good investigation and mystery. Thanks!
Pretty sure I'm going to use a modified version of this scenario. If you're interested in what I'm planing, I'm happy to share but I don't want to fill your page up if you're not interested.
Great video. An idea on how they know to use/destroy the doll of the Puppetmaster...how about the doll being found in the middle of magic circle/pentagram of some sort...drawn in blood with other personal effects of his. This could be his insurance policy in case he is ever killed...he had sold his soul for immortality in the form of a puppet, one of his most beloved things.
I was working some time ago on a story for Mage: The Ascension. Almost same beginning, but there were few minor details. PCs are in the car as they are part of the traffic. One of the cars smash into other, then some other car flies in the air like being hit by a big truck. A quick investigation shows that there was no other car. The one that got smashed "stopped" on a plain air. The truth behind is that it was a side effect of earlier Marauder's spell casting. A quit explanations goes like this: "Marauders are insane mages whose Avatars have been warped by their mental instability, and who exist in a state of permanent Quiet. While any mage who favours Dynamism may experience a form of madness in their Quiet, Marauders embody Dynamism; the real world is translated into their fractured version by a constant, subconscious use of vulgar magic." Placing PCs in a car in that opening scene gives it a bigger impact and at the same time GM can show his narrative skills. As for Puppetmaster and knots I came up with other approach. Cthulhu Mythos are well known for usage of powders. In this case one can be added to a drink - maybe one of the PCs will drink a glass of wine from tainted bottle. Or powder was used on other types of food, like cake for example. The idea behind it is quite simple. Puppetmaster is not so insane. He is just a keeper and executioner of secret lodge. The puppeteering is just a first part in a bigger story. It can play out rather normal, without supernatural events, yet leaving party with questions about origin of the substance. Police wasn't able to identify it. Or a friend chemist is lacking any options to describe how it can be made. Session ends with not enough clues for PCs to solve deeper parts of main story. Also lodge is now interested in their activities. The more the party will try to connect the clues the worst in the end it will get. Some of people they will talk to will be cultists, now fully aware who PCs are and to some degree what is the party's goal. The rest is inyour hands. Private eye was hired by a mother of a young boy who was a witness of lodge's doings. Head of the theatre was pupeteered to a suiceide as he had some morla issues with lodge and wanted to quit. A woman who worked there was also driven with usage of a powder to a suicide, as she was theatre owner lover, more or less aware of his connections to a lodge. The only thing she knew was that they are doing some bad business and messing with them can end pretty bad. That was enough for them to kill her, as she was posing a threat to the lodge.
Awesome story idea. I will use it!! Another way to kill the "puppet" of Damien would be to maybe cut the ropes that wrapped around him. 'Sever the tie' in a way. But awesome stuff, and I will insert this somewhere into my Cthulhu-Goo game! Thank you!!!
this is still one of the only genuinely helpful videos on adventure crafting i have seen on youtube
Thank you so much!
Thanks for a brilliant one shot / side story idea. If my players ignore the leads of the main storyline, they might have a horse cart crash and weird suicides coming their way. That's what I struggle with: having back-up plans for when PCs go in totally different directions than I thought they would.
Hi man! Just run a one shot adventure 6th edition based on your original concept. It was great :D and 3:30h to run in total with two players. Changed couple of things to suit a 1929 London set up. It got creepy when they got into the closed theatre. On the stage 2 puppets hanging (managers who suicide), and another two puppets, one with a smashed head (private eye shooting himself) and the other quite broken (run over puppetmaster assistant). I quite like giving my players a lot of freedom. So they encountered the puppetmaster and confronted him but as he had been jobless for a while and almost starved to death he was shit in combat so the guys didn´t kill him (coz.. well, is a crime), instead they captured him and call the police. The puppeteer ended up in a mental institution. I kinda wanted to bring on the monster thing but it felt like a real success for the guys as they solved it in a very realistic way so the game focused on investigation. Kept the horror going by dropping creepy clues (just googled vintage puppeteer, creepy) and specially when they got into the theatre :)
Anyway! Thank you so much for posting this man. Very appreciated. Ah! Also told my players where I got the story from to give you credit :)
Greetings from Cardiff, UK
+José Miguel Ruiz This is the best thing ever!
I’m using a fair amount of this for a Halloween one shot with my friends. I’d normally feel bad about not writing my own scenario but it was super short notice and this is quite frankly an excellent template. It’s all of their first time playing an rpg so I’m super hyped for it to go well.
Wonderful! Please let me know how it goes!!!
Gareth Graham Absolutely, I’m stoked to dm CoC for the first time, and the atmosphere this story has is so creepy.
Gareth Graham Oh my gosh man. It was incredible. Of the three hours we played, we spent over an hour creating characters, and they eventually just all decided to play variants of our one friend who couldn’t be there. I decided to throw caution to the wind and use my notes very minimally and it was great. It wasn’t a particularly serious game but I could tell that they had a lot of fun. When the PC’s showed up at the Jim’s office, they got attacked by a single puppet, but only those who failed a sanity check. Two failed, and one got insta-killed, the other was saved. How it worked was that those who passed the sanity check saw nothing, and had to use the string they found at the start to restrain the puppet, even though they didn’t know what was happening to those who failed. It took a bit of nudging but they were really impressed when it happened. I had to rush the final battle since it was getting late but everybody was telling how much fun they had, and my best friend said he wants me to help him write a campaign for him and his girlfriend and some other friends. Sorry for the super long response but I’m super stoked at how much fun we had. I used some props too like Jim’s note book and wallet, the string, an old book that Damien was reading from. It was amazing. Thanks for posting this video, it really helped me.
@@thegreatskinkpriest8104 You have made my day!!
rather than just any old string perhaps the string itself could be made from something creepy or cluey- perhaps human hair or thin strip of skin. Also if the puppetmaster is alerted have one of the players attack the others. the puppet player will have reduced attack however because it is a puppet.. perhaps a pow vs pow roll to snap out of it- every other round. You can give a bonus if they take damage.
I am totally stoked that I came across this video. I’m getting ready to run my first ever session of call of Cthulhu for my group who has never played it either. I’m totally excited about it! This video gave me a lot of good tips on how to set up a good investigation and mystery. Thanks!
Wizard Dragon I'm so glad. Have fun and let me know how it goes
Pretty sure I'm going to use a modified version of this scenario. If you're interested in what I'm planing, I'm happy to share but I don't want to fill your page up if you're not interested.
Wizard Dragon tell me
Great video. An idea on how they know to use/destroy the doll of the Puppetmaster...how about the doll being found in the middle of magic circle/pentagram of some sort...drawn in blood with other personal effects of his. This could be his insurance policy in case he is ever killed...he had sold his soul for immortality in the form of a puppet, one of his most beloved things.
This was interesting, Gareth! I hope you do video of the actual RPG when you do it.
Stasia Doster Wow! Thanks Stasia! :)
Very insightful video, thanks! Its so funny to hear someone with such a jovial voice talking about SPOOKY stuff haha its really great
"If they say nope" - Ask why they showed up for a game night.
I was working some time ago on a story for Mage: The Ascension. Almost same beginning, but there were few minor details. PCs are in the car as they are part of the traffic. One of the cars smash into other, then some other car flies in the air like being hit by a big truck. A quick investigation shows that there was no other car. The one that got smashed "stopped" on a plain air. The truth behind is that it was a side effect of earlier Marauder's spell casting. A quit explanations goes like this:
"Marauders are insane mages whose Avatars have been warped by their mental instability, and who exist in a state of permanent Quiet. While any mage who favours Dynamism may experience a form of madness in their Quiet, Marauders embody Dynamism; the real world is translated into their fractured version by a constant, subconscious use of vulgar magic."
Placing PCs in a car in that opening scene gives it a bigger impact and at the same time GM can show his narrative skills.
As for Puppetmaster and knots I came up with other approach. Cthulhu Mythos are well known for usage of powders. In this case one can be added to a drink - maybe one of the PCs will drink a glass of wine from tainted bottle. Or powder was used on other types of food, like cake for example.
The idea behind it is quite simple. Puppetmaster is not so insane. He is just a keeper and executioner of secret lodge. The puppeteering is just a first part in a bigger story. It can play out rather normal, without supernatural events, yet leaving party with questions about origin of the substance. Police wasn't able to identify it. Or a friend chemist is lacking any options to describe how it can be made. Session ends with not enough clues for PCs to solve deeper parts of main story. Also lodge is now interested in their activities. The more the party will try to connect the clues the worst in the end it will get. Some of people they will talk to will be cultists, now fully aware who PCs are and to some degree what is the party's goal. The rest is inyour hands. Private eye was hired by a mother of a young boy who was a witness of lodge's doings. Head of the theatre was pupeteered to a suiceide as he had some morla issues with lodge and wanted to quit. A woman who worked there was also driven with usage of a powder to a suicide, as she was theatre owner lover, more or less aware of his connections to a lodge. The only thing she knew was that they are doing some bad business and messing with them can end pretty bad. That was enough for them to kill her, as she was posing a threat to the lodge.
Awesome story idea. I will use it!! Another way to kill the "puppet" of Damien would be to maybe cut the ropes that wrapped around him. 'Sever the tie' in a way. But awesome stuff, and I will insert this somewhere into my Cthulhu-Goo game! Thank you!!!
Lucas G Variety thanks Lucas!
very useful!
"If that still doesn't work, just throw dice in their face." :)
Or, like in Gamers 2, throw a fireball at the farmer. >:)
+vmi02raven Brutal!