Making DG even Vaguely Scary

[Cannibal Monkey]

I've had this problem for ages (I may even have already posted here). Nothing is worrying, it all just seems like one big farce.

I have a new game now, an MI6 character looking for threats to the UK. I have the plan of including either Karotechia or Shan, and I want to introduce them gradually - e.g. with the Karotechia he should just think he's up against a few Nazis to start with, then slowly uncover the terrible truth. And with the shans I want him to feel like anyone could be an enemy.

Problem is, I have no idea how to do this. If I just have peoples heads exploding and big flies buzzing around whle he takes potshots, it all becomes crap.

Bah.

Any suggestions?

[sTango]

Maybe have a helper NPC who is exposed as an infested person, but before that make the assistance provided by them invaluable to the player.

Another idea is to bring this stuff into the everyday life of the character. By that I mean, maybe a co-worker or boss or lover is infested or currupted, but the player only gradualy discovers this.

This will make the player feel uncomfortable with whatever is going on.

You could take it a step further and actually conspire with another player to be infested. I have done this with great effect, especially because the player in question was already pretty eccentric, and so the quirkiness evident by shan-infested was somewhat masked by the players normal behavior.

Just some thoughts. As a player, I was always aware of the complete ineffectiveness of my characters actions as they related to the Mythos itself, but tried not to let that taint my decisions as a player.

Hope any of this helps or at least makes sense.

[Cannibal Monkey]

The thing is, suddenly telling a player that his daughter is acting unusually will probably mean he shoots her on sight.

And to have a helper NPC prove invaluable, he first has to be with the PC in a dangerous situation.

Which leads to another point - what do you think is the best time in a campaign to introduce the Mythos?

I can't comment on it from a player's POV - I have never played CoC (well, once. But the Gm was, to put it bluntly, about as good as a small inert mouse). Apparently it's really good - at least, its my playrs fave system. Thats probably why Im trying to put a new angle on it.

[sTango]

>>And to have a helper NPC prove invaluable, he first has to be with the PC in a dangerous situation.

Easy enough. You can have the NPC help the players get rid of some threat to the Shan that they can portray as evil. So that the Shan are using DG for their own ends. Then, only after the mission is completed let the players find out about what they really did, and let that sink in.

>>Which leads to another point - what do you think is the best time in a campaign to introduce the Mythos?

It depends what you mean by 'introduce'. The first CoC game I played in, my character was just a normal guy. When the other characters started talking about all of this Mythos stuff, I played a disbelieving guy. I was saying what do you mean I shouldn't say "Cthulhu", and what the hell is "Ia shub niggurath" anyway.

Then when something did happen and my character bugged out, it was scarier and made more 'realistic' sense to me.

As a GM, I always introduced the Mythos elements in tiny doses. Never more than a couple of deep ones or a shan at a time. They never saw anything bigger and it worked out fine.

One of the best CoC scenarios, for me to GM, to this day was Dead on Arrival from Blood Brothers, and that was nothnig more than a zombie flick on paper, but a hoot to play and chock full of semi-mythos stuff.

[Cannibal Monkey]

I'm not talking about scaring characters, that goes without saying.

I mean scaring players. There's a section on it in the main rulebook, so it must be possible . Of course, you may have been talking about that anyway, but it just doesnt seem that scary to have your character go "ooh, a monster..."

I have managed to frighten my player once, but that was in a fantasy setting, and he wasn't expecting anything like it at all. In CoC its enough of a battle to explain just WHY it makes no sense to put all your HOBBY points into Dodge, even if it will make him live longer, let alone make him unprepared for the supernatural.

I did find that mood lighting helps (i.e. I turned the light off and put a small lamp on ), but props stink of LARP, and therefore great foolishness. And music.... well, I may try the Alien Resurrection soundtrack...

[sTango]

Oh, I never tried to do that. As a player I was scared that my character was gonna die, but that's about it. If they wanna be scared, put away the game and watch Dagon ;-)

As for all the mood lighting and the music, I am too much of a cut-up for that to have been effective, but alot of gamers do use them, so it might work for you.

[Cannibal Monkey]

Pffff, not good

I dont want to watch a film and laugh at the inadequacies of characters. I want to kill players with a vengeance, or at least make them have bad dreams.

I could invite Ouchy the clown to a 'session' to really put the fear of God into my players.... and me....

[sTango]

Are you serious?

Barbara, played by Raquel Merono was seriously hot.

That is adequate enough character development for me.

[sTango]

speaking of scary stuff, I ordered Zombies! the board game, and it should be in today or tomorrow.

check it out: twilightcreationsinc.safeshopper.com/3/cat3.htm?51

[Cannibal Monkey]

I havent seen Dagon, I was referring to the general foolishness of generic horror film characters.

And Zombies looks like a scarier version of Monopoly to me

[sTango]

Well you are correct in general about horror movies, and even more so about Lovecraftian works, but Dagon was one of the best. And if I can ever get my copy of The Shunned House shipped from deepestblack.com, maybe there will be two added to my list of fav's.

But Dagon was worth it, by far.

[Agent Bull]

My most efficient terrorizing of players was using the hastur mythos, from the DG:Countdown, where I ran the night floors scenario. Thing is, most CoC players will expect horrible critters, but when you start going surreal on them, they get the shakes. My soundtrack for that session was "City of lost children" by badalamento, which really freaked everybody out.

For a british campaign, you could check out the 1600s "king of shreds and patches" scenario in Strange Aeons (but of course running it more subtly, with the pagan approach to hastur). This could be a neat prologue for a modern day scenario, where once again hastur threatens britain.
Sorry... realize this has nothing to do with karotechia or shans, but it's my pennies worth...

[Cannibal Monkey]

Yeah, I always found Hastur freaky too. That picture with the child with the glowing face just worries me. As does the mental image of clockwork children delivering notes.

One good scenario for scaring players that I found is the one in Goatswood that involves children. I wont say more, in case youve never read it, but it is incredibly freaky.

*shudders*

[Agent Bull]

How is the goatswood book? I saw it got some pretty crappy reviews. I think chaosium seldom delivers the goods these days, sadly reissuing yesterdays campaigns... An exception was Unseen masters, but I don't think that lived up to its expectations either, although salvable.

[Cannibal Monkey]

I like it, but then again I liked "At Your Door" (I think thats what its called :S)

It seemed very odd going out and buying a sourcebook for a place I live 30 mins drive from, that's for sure. And it is extremely detailed - it allows you to say to your players "So, what do you want to do?" and build something from the things they find.

The scenarios are all great, too. One of them would fit perfectly into a Hastur campaign (if you don't mind GMing such things as child abuse and rape - that seems impossible to GM properly to me). Although it does seem that the authors desperately tried to get something new into each - we have 1 scenario based around homosexual vampire lovers, one about child abuse, one about children killing people, one about a nuclear plant with mythos activity...

Overall, I'd say it's as worth it as any other rpg supplement. There's enough in there, and most of it vcan be chopped out and put to other settings easily - none of it really relies on it being set in Britain.