Call of Cthulhu: Edge of Darkness - RPG Review
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Review and Keeper tips for the classic Call of Cthulhu adventure, "Edge of Darkness." It's a perfect 1-session adventure for new players or characters.
This is a re-do of a previous review. But the audio was spectacularly awful and I decided to remake it.
You can purchase the adventure here: www.drivethrurp...
Keepers looking for the handouts that I used, can find them here: cthulhureborn....
My own fiction can be found here: amzn.to/2zLTxAb
Guest Starring Jack the NPC
One of the things that bugged me about EoD is the huge infodump in the first scene. They get almost all of the information they need to complete the adventure, and are told everything that's going on from the first NPC and his journal. The follow-up investigation doesn't really give the PCs any new information that will help them with the end encounter. For me, one of the joys of CoC is the adventurers get a hook into something worth investigating, but don't really know what's going on until they investigate different leads and start piecing it together.
--- MINOR SPOILER ALERT ---
To this end, I decided that Rupert was terrified that whoever killed Marion Allen would catch up to him, and find the box or worse, find their way to the house and cause trouble. Thus, he tore all of the references to the house and the box out of his journal, and put them into a safe deposit box in a bank in Arkham. In the hospital Rupert gives them a safe deposit key, but falls into a coma before he can give them any information. This leads to the PCs having to find which bank the key belongs to, and then bluff the bank manager or use forgery to match Rupert's signature (from his journal). The rest of the info is in the safe deposit box, but on the way out the PCs are followed by a couple of the bad guys who took out Marion, who knew about the box and have been waiting for someone to obtain it. This leads to lots of possibilities for chases or combat as they have to deal with this threat.
I dislike the same thing about the adventure and try to find myself a way around that huge info dump.
Your ideas are a good starting point for me - so thank you.
One bit of criticism though: Bad guys have been watching the bank for 40 years (!) waiting for someone to pick up the box?
That was my issue as well.
I decided that Merryweather only had a key with him to the hospital, and the only thing he manages to convey is that he has a safe in his house that will tell the Investigators what they want to know.
Now they need to persuade/fast talk/intimidate their way into the house.
They can try either the wife or the son.
My players went for the wife and managed to take advantage of her grief to get access to the house.
It's also a really easy adventure to set nearly anywhere in the world. I set it in South London (where I live) when I ran it and my players loved it.
Definitely. The location is super-easy to place anywhere the GM wants.
First Call of Cthulhu game I ever ran, kickstarted a worldwide Indiana Jones-like adventure filled with deep ones, shoggoths, and evil occult Nazis! There was also a time travel session that involved dinosaurs.
These sound like my kind of adventures. Our group is way more Indiana Jones/The Mummy than straight Lovecraft.
Check out Acthung! Cthulhu by Modiphius games - it is a dual system setting for CoC and Savage Worlds where the Nazi's are messing around with the mythos in order to try and harness its power, fun stuff!
"Shoggoths. I hate shoggoths" - Ohio Thomas
@@oz_jones Illinois Shoggoths..I hate Illinois Shoggoths!
Alabama Smith and the Rainstorm over Innsmouth.
May we always remember the sacrifice... *Rupert* and... *Robert Douglass* , made in order to be adventure hooks.
For those watching this that are not aware, this adventure *is now* available for 7th edition (with much added, including a map of the farm house) in the _Call of Cthulhu Starter Set_ (and check out Seth's great review for that while you're at it!).
Thanks for the review and helpful advice Seth. I look forward to running this as a first adventure with my group.
I notice some of Seth's advice now seems incorporated in the 7th edition version, such as the rolls made to maintain the chant. I don't own the older versions, so not sure if that was actually added. Coincidence?
The original made no mention of how to simulate the chant, and didn’t even provide handouts for it, at least in Sixth edition.
It basically just left it up to the keeper on how to do that. When I ran this I remember specifically describing the the creature and zombies not being able to get in (because the adventure specified that for both monster and zombie), and then looking at the bored looking players and going “what are you doing?” With them going “we’re changing, yeah.”
Chanting*
@@ferruccio999 I figure it's because it's so simple to get to the 7e stat and he's been playing so long now. I was amazed at how simple conversation was.
They threw a lot of good stuff into the Starter set. I think they watch Seth's channel.
I played the Starter Set version of this last Sunday in what turned into a monster seven hour session. Here's some nifty stuff that came up.
- The players DID go to the library for research, and DID insist on meeting Dr. Armitage in relation to ask permission to access De Vermiis Mysteriis. Since the timeline wasn't completely solid, I decided the adventure was taking place after the events of The Dunwich Horror and had Armitage react as such. He supplied the players with useful - though more allusory and suggestive rather than literal - information, given that what happened in Dunwich was likely traumatic and he didn't want to go into great detail. The module is ambivalent as to whether the PCs know much of anything about the powder of Ibn Ghazi at ALL, so I used Armitage as an opportunity to make its use a little clearer (though, again, he more suggests and alludes than just says it literally).
- Since the module ISN'T all that into getting the characters to use the powder of Ibn Ghazi I made it a necessary part of the ritual, in that the pentagram in the middle of the floor needed to be drawn with it. During the ritual, when the creature would finally be sucked into the circle, the protecting pentagram of the powder would be sucked TO it, making it visible and helping open the gateway to banish it.
- We has a PC - a World War I vet turned truck driver upon return home from the war - who strongly disbelieved all the supernatural "mumbo-jumbo," which resulting in some really interesting roleplaying situations. Red Jake is a perfect example; whereas the other players were sympathetic toward the hobo, this PC thought it very likely that Jake had been the one to kill McPhirter, tried to tie him up, and, when he fled, took a potshot at him in an attempt to stop him. Later on when the situation's supernatural nature had become obvious even to the skeptic and the ritual was underway, Jake's zombie got a chance to get a sneak attack on this PC... "I remember you... you're the one who tried to kill me..."
- Bertrand Merriweather proved an interesting little tool. After the PCs have investigated the cabin for a bit I had him turn up all puffed up and pushy about not being informed of this bit of his father's estate by the PCs while in the hospital. While they're arguing the thumping in the attic gets more pronounced and, in his fury, Bertrand grabs a chair and looks in... you can guess how that went. When it was obvious from the end of the thumping up there that Bertrand - who'd been sucked up in the attic in a veritable fountain of his own blood - was dead, the Vet character got on the chair hoping to use a cane to shut the trapdoor... and the monster dropped Bertrand's corpse on him, causing a couple points of damage, a failed sanity check, and a few seconds of traumatic flashback.
- I had a character showing up later in the scenario due to their job schedule who has an FBI Agent character. The character's intended to be investigating possible cult crimes along the eastern seaboard, and actually has connections with Armitage, who sent the agent out there to check on the situation. Hearing the ruckus during Bertrand's messy death, the agent kicked in the door - gun drawn - yelled, "FBI," etc, and when faced with the messy corpse and the messed-up PCs, had to deal with suspicion over whether the OTHER PCs were cultists or not.
A great time was had by all.
This is great. Glad you all had fun with it.
The new Edge of Darkness scenario suggests it be played over 3 sessions, not a single session.
This was the first adventure I played in CoC this winter. Our GM actually lit the candles and the fireplace for us. He only made us read the chant once, but we got so excited that we actually did read it out in Latin for the whole ritual, making sure that someone always chants. When the lurker appered it looked like Professor, who initially "hired" us for the case, claiming that the ritual did take place, but smth went wrong and his soul got trapped in here. And he was thanking us for freeing him. We almost believed))
And just a week ago I GMed it for a few friends and our regular dnd DM, cause he sorta also wants to play sometimes)) The party decided to go to the house straight from the hospital with no preps at all. And I had tons of fun homebrewing random encounters and making them to roll for sanity again and again. More to this - two PCs didn't like each other and were constantly showing off to prove who's better, the players enjoyed roleplaying it a lot, but it also provoked even more risks and rolls. Since 2 out of 3 PCs were very religious and had tough times even believeing in monster, when it appeared I made it look like St. Mary, claiming that it was a test of faith, which they successfully made and can now stop chanting. One PC failed sanity check and almost stepped inside the pentagram.
I remember playing this adventure once. I honestly could’ve used the tips in this video at the time, since they would’ve taken a boring adventure where the monster couldn’t get at them and turned it into a fun and thrilling adventure where they desperately fought against a monster that was quickly getting at them.
I ran the new 7th ed version from the starter set with my normal D&D group. OMG they had so much fun. New to CoC, they missed some of the things that could have led to more adventures but they had an absolute blast. And everyone survived, though not everyone left with all the marbles.
The plot of the _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ episode S2E08 "The Dark Age" is quite similar to that of this scenario. In both cases, the linking character is even named "Rupert".
Ngl my favorite thing about these videos is plumbing them for adventure ideas. The ritual sounds like a blast to run if I can pull it off
Glad to see the proper NPC update. Well done, as always. You're improving in your skill with production and editing. Maybe for future updates, see if you can add even more to it, or revisit your previous fixes with some added ideas? Or in five years do this yet again and see how you've changed, because whoa your arms weren't even cybernetically augmented with laser-swords and holograms last time around.
So, this scenario included the first official death of my current campaign. I took a suggestion in the starter kit that The questgiver's son, Bertrand should try to steal what he sees as "his inheritance," so he's been making a proper mess, coming into town and trying to get the PCs thrown off "his" land (despite the will saying otherwise). They found a body and called the cops (Because every player has to learn the hard way), and he showed up while at the police station.
Well, he stormed off, and it was getting late, so the group wanted to go to a hotel or something. Small town, so bed and breakfast. One of the players, the smartest player in the group, the one who knows better than to open the books or read the funny text, decided to hang out in his car outside the farmhouse to chase Bertrand off should he show up. Well, the Lurker found him, and I took him out of earshot and gave him a chance, but an impaling strike said NO.
I loved your channel! Would you like to review Lightless Beacon?
Running this scenario tomorrowas my first 2 investigator scenario! Excited!
You remember Keep on the Borderlands, from D and D?
That's what this is for CoC.
I finished the second part of this scenario last night. The first part went really smoothly and I had a great time and my players seemed to as well and we stopped right before the ritual. The second part, things went a little sideways. I was really a bit lost as to how long I was supposed to go on, how I was supposed to be doing turns when it wasn't an actual combat, but a ritual with a bunch of rather random things happening. The biggest part that really didn't help was I kept failing my sanity rolls so nobody was losing more than 1-3 sanity points at a time. It would have really helped had I ever actually played any Call of Cthulhu that experience would have been invaluable, but I have only ever played the Alone Against the Flames scenario. I should have ran the Paper Chase first too, but I just ran out of time before I had to start the Edge of Darkness. Regardless, there were some things I was rather at a loss about when it actually came go-time. Were my players actually supposed to actually keep chanting the Latin? I wasn't sure, but they said, "please don't make us do that." I would randomly drip acid on them and had random bad smells and house shaking, but wasn't sure how to keep it going and for how long in real time. If I could have had them lose 5 sanity points it would have really progressed the game with some madness, but nobody was going insane, it was super frustrating. I had a Zombie Mailman (as they had found the body of Maggie McPherter in the woods, reported it to the police who found Red Jake in the basement and pinned her murder on him so neither of them were there at the farmhouse to fight.) Anyway, Zombie Mailman, Zombie Bear, but everyone else was just hiding out in the house and I wasn't sure how to get them out so the monster threw a raccoon zombie which Nevada Jones shot and killed pretty much right away. Had trouble knowing how to fill the time and progress the story forward. I should have pushed more sanity rolls, but I did a bunch. Just wasn't coming together right for me. Really wish I had some experience playing myself, but we were all nubes. I need to listen to more actual plays to wrap my head around it but it didn't go well at all in my opinion. Going to play some Mork Borg for the next 2 or 3 sessions (and I'll be a player) and then I'll try running it again.
I'm not complaining that I've been blessed with heavy role playing players, but I ran this adventure for six straight hours and they are only now departing for Ross's Corners. "Few hours" is an average playtime, not guaranteed.
Been reading through the scenario from the starter set. I think it needs a lot of adjustments on its last act to make it work. There are some stuff that don't make much sense as it is, imo. SPOILERS: What bothers me the most is the Lurker behavior regarding the protective wards. It's confusing as it seems both free and prisoner of the farmhouse as it hunts but never attacked the villager unless the ending ritual fails ?! Then the protective layers become even more confusing with the pentagram. Still a great adventure to set featuring a creepy entity.
I'd love a video of all your NPC's. They're great :)
can't find first version
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It was since updated to 7e and appears in the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set
I was reading the module recently for a possible convention game, and I noticed that there was a part about the friend's son trying to kick out the PCs, as he thinks the cabin is rightfully his. What are your thought on this possible complication for the players?
I think it's a good wildcard to throw in. Maybe he shows up during the ceremony yelling and causing a stink. Maybe the monster attacks him outside and the PCs have to save him or watch in horror. Maybe he gets reanimated and attacks the party.
@@SSkorkowsky Maybe also have him cause his father's death just to get the inheritance, as a possible red herring if they try to connect his death to a cult or something, or a good way for the players to explain why he "disappeared" after the adventure. If I can work it in, I'll let you know how it turned out.
@@SSkorkowsky Here's how it went when I ran it, and it was pretty interesting. I basically ran him as kind of a jerk, describing him as giving the characters a dirty look when they entered, like he didn't want them there. Then, after the NPC died, he immediately demanded the PCs hand over the box of items since, as his father's heir, everything belonged to him now. Of course, the PCs said the box was given to them, and the guy's mother told him to knock it off, scolding him over his behavior. I was running Jack as an NPC for this, and had him comment that it was weird how the son was demanding that everything now belonged to him second after the guy died, and the will hasn't even been read yet, giving an excuse for Jack to leave as he was going to check on a hunch. Jack then returned some time later after the PCs looked through the box of items, saying he found out the guy had some gambling debt, giving a red herring to the plot.
The second time I used the son was when the PCs were in the farmhouse. The PCs had just found the trunk containing all of the items for the ritual, and one PC was acting very skeptical about the whole thing (which was how the player was playing their character the whole time, trying to dismiss the mythos as something that could be explained). I had one of the two NPCs mention that they heard something upstairs, and while the first PC did, the skeptical one didn't. But this PC wanted to go upstairs to prove it was just some animal of a vagrant of some kind (which they had just encounter the guy in the cellar, but he got away), despite the other PC and the NPCs saying it was a bad idea.
Just as the PC put the ladder up to the attic door, the son was banging on the front door, demanding the characters open up. It was at this point the PCs got the idea of having the son go up there and check for them. They opened the door, and the guy was super demanding that they needed to get the hell out as this was his place now, despite the face the character had the deed. The PCs said how they were looking the place over as the last request of their friend, and they may be interested in buying the place later, but the son wanted none of it. He wanted them out. But they then worked on asking him to check the attic, and after rolling a 3 on Fast Talk, they convinced him to go into the attic to check.
Needless to say, as soon as he opened the attic door, the son got sucked through the door by an unseen force, and his screams getting choked off. This caused the PCs to panic, and the skeptical PC was trying to come up with a reasonable explanation as to what happened. That's when the creature threw the body down, complete with the hole in the guy's chest where his heart was ripped out. After successful sanity checks, the skeptical PC was convinced that maybe there's something to this whole supernatural thing after all.
As the PCs came up with their plan of what to do, I had Jack drag the body out back to bury it, only to get frustrated by how much of a mess the barn was, and decided it would be easier to dump the body down the well. Of course that didn't stop the son from coming back as a zombie during the climax (where one of the PCs killed the zombie bear with a pen knife). I think if I run this again, and the son isn't killed off, I might be able to play off how he wanted the relic that the PCs had (as the PCs already suspected that was something he was after to pay off his debt when I ran this), and he was contacted by a cult who gave him a mythos poison to kill his dad. Would be a great hook I could use for a campaign.
Perhaps one could add a trio of mostly-useless NPCs to perform the ritual, so the players can focus on defense? My experience running tabletop rpgs is that whoever has to "give up freedom to do the plot thing" feels cheated out of a game session.
I’m preparing to run this scenario as we speak, my thought for a tweak would be having Meriweather or the PCs record the chant on a phonagraph, and so long as they stay in the circle, it still counts towards the ritual.
@@williamlydon2554 Oh man! Imagine a quest about an eldritch cave which casts magic because the wind moving through it makes just the right sound? I imagine you could have an entire cult dedicated to crafting whistling shrines that cast some kind of aura under certain weather conditions.
Perhaps it only effects one sex, female PCs are unaffected and your players wonder why only some of the party is making rolls...
This guy has the BEST thsirts
Noice one, may have to run this for my friends to get them into Call of Cthulhu :)
I just wanted to.
I'm sorry Seth but the sound is still not that good. For instance you blow out the mic in the very beginning.
Mics and I don't get along. But it's still much better than the old version.
I know that feeling, there are a few tricks you can do inter the editing -> ua-cam.com/video/-L0v3UDXzx0/v-deo.html maybe that helps.
Is there a link somewhere to the Geedunk handouts for players and are they superior to the ones that come included with the starter box set.
Adventure Module that has not been written by Sandy Petersen. No Sandy Petersen in the comments. Yeah, seems about right.
I ran Edge of Darkness for a group last night. It was my first time running Call of Cthulhu, and their first time playing it. It was a tremendous success, and I couldn’t/wouldn’t have done it without seeing your videos, Seth. So thank you.
Happy to be of help. Glad you enjoyed it.
Here’s what happened in our game, my group uncovered most of the research material found in Arkham. In addition to the sarcophagus, Merriweather also willed them his old motorcycle with sidecar. Which unbeknownst to the players had enraged Merriweathers son who tracked them down later in the story.
They arrived in Ross’s Corners and asked around there. Met Ma Peters, she revealed a woman went missing last night. They try to coax the sheriff in helping them but he was suspicious of their intentions. They went to talk to Maggie’s husband “JJ” and it was revealed the sheriff believes Maggie ran off with a farmhand. JJ however believes she’s out there and needs help. They meet the sheriff at the house to investigate Maggie’s disappearance and finds the supplies of Red Jake. The sheriff does not hear Red Jake in the basement and thus concludes these supplies were Maggie and the farmhands who left town last evening. He goes back to inform JJ and write his police report but warns the players that they cannot stay here overnight and recommends the local inn at Ross’s Corners.
The players soon find Red Jake who escapes and runs into the forest. They find the hidden chest in the basement. And learn about the ritual. That night they begin at midnight unsure of what to expect. The lurker reanimates the corpses of all the small animals who are in the attic. They begin to claw and rend through the attic floor and drop onto the players but since they pass the protective ward the creatures turn back into lifeless corpses and rain down from the ceiling. Some of these corpses mess up the pentagram and required one of them to spend some luck points. Meanwhile the cellar door bangs violently from below. One player opens the cellar door to only find an endless black void. Later they hear zombie Maggie’s pleas for help as she stumbles across the moonlit field. At first they think she actually needs help and yells for her to get into the house. Until she gets closer. One player noticed she was missing her heart and her body showed signs of decomposition. They slam the door before she can enter. A player chucks a hatchet in her direction and manages to clip one of her legs causing Maggie to fall face down during an all out sprint towards the back door. After awhile she is lifted up almost like a marionette and begins dancing and cackling before she launches herself at the house trying to remove the protective wards. The players decapitate her with some chains, with her head tumbling into the house where she starts goading the players. Another player kicks her head into the fireplace where Maggie’s decapitated face melts “Ark of the Covenant” style but the fire begins to smolder. They are forced to take down some of their barricade to stoke the fire.
Then everything turns still, even the banging of the cellar door. An automobile is heard in the distance and the players spot two headlights following the road to the old farmhouse. The sheriff and Merriweathers son arrive. The son is accusing the players of theft and squatting on his fathers land. He wants to press charges. The sheriff holds out his gun and demands the players leave the house. The investigators were unable to charm the sheriff who ultimately was killed by the lurker. Who turns both the son and the sheriff into reanimated corpses. The sheriff fires wildly into the cabin. First he rolled a 7 and the players failed their luck checks. So the first bullet ricocheted inside the house and broke their only oil lamp. One player frantically tried to put out the fire with a blanket but failed a push roll and now the entire front room of house is burning. The sheriff shoots another round into the house and rolled a 1. One player failed their dodge roll and got critically shot and now is unconscious and bleeding out. With only moments left of the ritual the last conscious player decides to finish the ritual while the zombies are breaking into the house, the wards are gone and the house is almost completely engulfed in flames. The lurker is seen being pulled into pentagram. The image of Marion Allen appears and pleads with the investigator to help him. In a shocking twist, the investigator reaches out as if to take Allens hand but instead whips out his .38 snub nose pistol and blasts Allen in the head, revealing the lurkers true identity. With flames all around him, and zombies breaking down the back door he finishes the ritual and banishes the nightmare. He succeeds pulling out his companion and pushes a first aid roll to successfully stabilize the unconscious player and in his madness somehow manages to make it back into town where at 2:30 am bangs on the physicians door and is able to get the other player medical attention. However the very same morning, the doctors house is surrounded by angry townsfolk who are demanding answers for their dead sheriff and the case of arson.
What a game... lol
Awesome session! 🖤
Creepy house in the woods? Eldritch horror? Dark rituals? Zombies?
... This sounds like Evil Dead. It's Evil Dead, isn't it? One of my players is going to end up insane with a chainsaw hand, aren't they...
Groovy
Jack the NPC was standing in front of the Evil Dead cabin in one scene.
The only issue I have with this classic: if the players are no strangers to Cthulhu and hung-ho lets go get the Edritch horrors, the begging scene is fine; if they're trying to play characters with no knowledge of the mythos, their old friend will just seem like a kook gone mad on his deathbed. I changed it a little - he's in a coma that the doctors can't explain so they hand over the box to the PCs, inside is the letter - I change that a bit so it alludes to something horrible rather than announcing that the untried wannabe investigators should go to the house and banish the demon he summoned. Also...if he's in a coma he can't answer questions the Keeper doesn't want to answer. :-)
You are 100% right. Good tips.
Love the DUNE inspired t shirt
Great review, as good as the original at least, of course, everything is better with Jack :)
I do agree that Chaosium should remake some old classics for 7th Edition and release a series of them, heck they could remake all the adventures in the old rule books and collect them.
My group played this scenario last fall, I made some changes to it, including a larger house, some neighbours for it and a little more spookiness and investigation. I was lucky, almost everything went smooth but it did take two 6 hour sesssions.
This is the scenario that got me into Call of Cthulhu! Some 24 years ago, I am at this friends house who was doing the whole roleplaying thing. I think I had played one D&D session at this point. I didn't even know that horror RPG's existed. So he is preping to run this for his group and he hands me the diary handout...I was hooked! I read the whole scenario there and then and then ordered my own CoC rulebook and keeper screen (5th edition if memory serves me right) and started playing with my own group. Edge of Darkness was the first session I ever run for any gaming system ever. My gaming group still to this day, reference that scenario as the best intro session ever!
It sure would be a shame if someone/thing were to throw a dead raccoon through a window while the PCs are in the middle of a ritual... ;)
An undead raccoon...
Do you have a how-to for playing Call of Cthulhu? I'm interested in playing but would rather have a quick-start guide.
I'm planning on making a 7e Call of Cthulhu series about the rules. In the meantime, you can find the Quickguide here (free PDF). It also includes "The Hunting" scenario.
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/128304/Call-of-Cthulhu-7th-Edition-QuickStart-Rules?affiliate_id=1017650
thanks for the super quick update!
Would love that, since I am looking to start somewhere around the Holidays.
I need your Dune/Coffee shirt where'd you get it?
Hello Seth! Great review of the adventure of course as usual. I want to add a little thing about it.: another way of creating problems and great roleplay opportunities for the players even before the ceremony is to bring the heir of Merriweather into play, with a lawyer or two and making him a big pain in the ass always on the back of the players. It can be great to make him die in the hand of the monster (and let the player rejoice about the fall of this dickhead+ one more zombi for them to fight), or let the player try to save him (their choice) when he realise that the monster is for real. Even if they decide to save him, he can unintentionally induce more problems into the exorcism ceremony. Only a suggestion, but it really add something to the module I think :)
Thank you for your great channel and awesome reviews
they suggest that Merriweather Jr can turn up at the house with a lawyer to cause issues in the 7e version
Interesting, Delta Green's starter scenario "Last Things Last" has a similar storyline. Maybe this classic scenario served as the inspiration?
Came back to watch this after release of Starter Set! ;)
Seth, I find your COC reviews really helpful. I am experienced keeper and I often find as you do that scenarios need tweaking or can be wholly wrong for my tastes. I am planning my next longing running campaign. Using Shadows of Yogg Sothoth/ Pax Cthuliana mash up with a play through thread of suitable one offs. Your reviews have helped me identify more material. Highly useful as COC has such an array of good past scenarios, almost overwhelming.
Glad you're enjoying them.
The current addition of this scenario has a hobo being in the house, I think it would be fun if you slowly introduce the PCs , maybe have someone play as the hobo; if I go with this, I’m going to have them only have the requirement of being a hobo. They don’t necessarily have to be that particular hobo. It’s mentioned that if a PC dies, the emergency backup PC could be a police officer who is called by the rest of the investigators.
No map? No problem, just use the map for the evil dead house. It fits this adventure perfectly.
Hey seth, just wanted to throw some praise your way man you earned it. You do a great job describing the story and giving tips ...never played or...was a keeper. I do find the mythos very enjoyable though, i also grew to love your pc character. I listen to you while i clean or drive so i forget its you 😌. Over all great job.
I started this for a campaign I ran in High Point, North Carolina, and it does really work well to introduce a group to Call of Cthulhu and get that diverse group of investigators together so well. I wish there were more scenarios with such a hook.
Did you remove your old review of Edge of Darkness?
The hook is perfect.
I dropped a link to the old version in the very bottom of the new video description.
Are you going to review the GURPS Cthulhupunk book?
Never read it.
Nice adventure Seth, im going to try this one tomorrow :B it will be my first run with CoC and im really excited xD. Im going to make some changes on the outcome of the ritual.. the result will not banish the creature but renew the seal with the players as the new "brotherhood".. the players think it will banish the creature.. and will find out only if they contact Armitage piece of clue - translated manuscrit. It will be interesting their reaction to be "bound to the monster seal". Maybe i can use the monster as a recuring threat or a lesson that their lives will not be the same anymore and need to stick together trying to find out how to really send the criature to his nightmarish home.
Ooohh. I like that idea. It pushes them into an Investigator Organization and you can have lots of adventures spoke off of it. Have fun with the session.
Excellent video!
I just read over the adventure last night after watching this video. **Scenario Spoilers ahead*** While the adventure is very atmospheric and could be very fun to run, my concern is too much information is given to the PC's up front. When their old friend dies, they are given everything right away: what happened and the location of the cottage. No investigation is needed, the PC's could literally just go to the cottage, find the ritual on the shelf above the fireplace, and then just do the ritual; thus making for a very quick game.
Hey seth! Why this instead of The Haunting? I'm introducing CoC to new players (I'm also a green player/keeper myself), and I wouldn't mind directing the players to visit the library first and what not, suggesting what I think should be taken into consideration when playing such type of games. Given the "dungeon crawler" nature of the Haunting, I can imagine a lot of potential for something interesting to happen, while providing a way for DnD type of players to get used to the game.
Just personal taste, really. I'm a big fan of them both and don't think you could really go wrong with either (or Dead Light, which is also a personal fav).
But... D&D players might find The Haunting a but more familiar because exploring abandoned buildings is what they're used to. Edge of Darkness feels different, mostly because of the ceremony. It serves as breaking them from their comfort zone of what they're used to and gives them something a little less familiar but no less exciting. When introducing players to a new game, I like to open with something different than they are used to, as a way of breaking old habits. A D&D player in The Haunting might fall into old D&D habits and try to solve it the way you would in D&D, which might not go well for them. So I want to break them of familiar habits before brining them into familiar situations. So if they start with Edge of Darkness and go "Oh, this is different than I'm used to." and then you throw them in The Haunting, they're more likely to approach it this new way that they just learned, rather than charging in head-first like a D&D party would.
@@SSkorkowsky Thank you a lot. Really appreciated your answer. Keep up the great work!
No sweat. Hope you and your players have fun, whichever adventure you run them through.
Amazing shirt.
Edge of Darkness does have a 7th edition printing! It's in the Starter Set, which I just picked up last week. (March 2019) It comes with a bunch of nice handouts in a separate, thin booklet (makes it easy to scan and print out).
Thanks for this review! I look forward to running the scenario in the coming weeks as a brand new, wet-behind-the-ears Keeper!
It made me very happy when I learned it was back in print, and also with some definite improvements. Good luck with the first game and have fun with it.
Evil Dead in Call of Cthulhu... this needed to happen sooner!
spiderboy43 sooner than 30 years ago?
Edge of Darkness is great for teaching people that have played D&D but not CoC that they are completely different animals.
@Fred Freddy How did you like it?
@Fred Freddy That's great! Sometimes hopelessness as a theme gets tiring so I can understand your feelings there.
While I love your RPG reviews, I think the next redux should be your The Haunting review. I really enjoy it but the audio is a bit rough.
Oh yeah, that's definitely on the list of videos to be remake.
*Please do a dedicated video on how to convert older editions of call of Cthulhu adventures to newer editions .*
There is a free conversion guide from Chaosium that is available at www.drivethrurpg.com/product/229162/Call-of-Cthulhu-7th-Edition-Conversion-Guidelines. The easy part is multiplying attributes x5 to get their 7e equivalent. I get annoyed over having to convert skills/points from pre-7e to 7e if they no longer exist in 7e. Combat skills are different now but also other skills like Sneak or Hide. I don't have the material in front of me at the moment but when you get the free pdf you will see what I mean.
I was a playtester and backed the KS for 7e and while it has some nice stuff in it like Luck rolls or Pushing Rolls, I still prefer the older editions. There is a happy medium with using some of the optional rules in 7e in earlier editions.
Everything... is better with zombies!
Love your reviews! Keep up the good work!
Luckily it's back in the new 7th Ed.
I know I know this might be a dumb question but I would like to know where to find the books that you speak about or a core rule book system for the addition you are speaking about?
The adventure appeared in the 6th edition Call of Cthulhu Keeper Guide. It's been out of print for a while, so you'll have to hunt the used market for it. However, since this video was published, Chaosium has re-released it for 7th edition Call of Cthulhu in their Starter Set, which you can find on their website, DriveThruRPG, Amazon, or your friendly local game shop.
I need to find this scenario >.
Awesome review! I'll be sure to check it out!
😊
"... chase lounge..." :D
That was a bad one huh!
For those interested, Chaise Longue is French meaning 'long chair' & is pronounced (most easily) as: Shez Long
Hey Seth! Thanks so much for this video, between you and the adjustments that they made for the 7E (such as having the fleshed out map and they actually include a trunk in the basement!) I feel much better about running this as my first module. Before I was pretty nervous because Cthulhu is such a well known idea that there's a lot to live up to. Your ideas about rolls for the chanting and how to handle the Lurker's raised are fantastic. Thank you again!
what i want to know is do any Call of Cthulhu adventures/campaigns involve Cthulhu himself?
I can't think of any off the top of my head that the big guy actually appears. His cultist show up, as do Star Spawn of Cthulhu, but I don't think I've seen one with Cthulhu personally in it. There probably are a few (or at least one), but not that I know.
alright, thanks for answering my question.
also, you have no idea how happy i am you responded to my comment :D
'Nameless city, nameless terrors' from, the house of R'lyeh comes to mind, the investigators have the possibility of stepping through a portal and entering R'lyeh itself where Cthulhu is, in my game one got eaten by a star spawn, but theoretically they could have encountered Cthulhu itself
I would have to say running this game is probably my fondest rpg memory. It was my first CoC adventure I ran. ThIs was quite a change of pace for my group (we had been playing Rifts and some d and d for several years prior, this was the mid-late 90s). The rules were easy and the players quite enjoyed the pregens and really got into the investigation/role play part. The handouts were great additions. Plus a few of us had been winter camping in a remote cabin literally the weekend before so simply used that same setting for the description. One investigator was killed by an axe wielding zombie and another nearly brought down too. I’m still in touch with a few of the players after all these years and though we played a lot of different campaigns this is usually the adventure that gets brought up in reminiscing.
I just ran this a few days ago for my players. Thanks to some of the comments here, I had the journal in a lockbox at the bank and the players had to fast talk their way into collecting it. Since our game is set in the 90s, I had a reel to reel tape recorder in the farmhouse that played the last fateful moments of the original ceremony that took place in the early 50s. That added an extra sanity check for hearing someone get torn in half by the lurker. I even made a short 30 second audio drama type recording of it. Super fun to crunch celery into the microphone to simulate a neck snapping. The mood lighting was such a good idea, everyone loved it and we all walked away feeling great, despite (or because of) 3 pc's going insane and another 2 suffering mortal wounds.
*spoiler* I need help, first time DMing and or first time playing CoC. My PCs are going so far of the reservation and are pretty much going full Oceans on the restricted book section, to the point where I am impressed and if their rolls are good I want to allow it, but I don’t know what would be a good idea to give them. I originally thought of giving them info on “zombies” but I thought that might spoil the end a bit. Any thoughts.
This is truly my favorite scenario to run with friends and anyone that’s new to Cthulhu. It’s a perfect scenario that can be extended to 2 sessions or 1, and it has a better startup and reason for the players to help.
I’ll always recommend it!
Just finished this module and we had a library heist, and it ended with the PCs fleeing for their lives and a PC sacrificing himself so the others can survive. I do feel sorry for the residents at Ross's corner it didn't end well for them.
i've never ran this scenario before if i introduced new players to call of cthulhu i ran the haunting one and then do a couple older ones from the older editions or another source book that was a 1 or 2 session to play and run.
I like your shirt.
'A chaise louge in the corner." Best suggestion
Edge of darkness is in the starter set. I already ran Paper Chase and now I plan on Edge of Darkness.
Hey Seth??? Uh....is that box on your desk sealed with a scented wax???? Perhaps holding THE DEAD LIGHT!!!????
Awe C'mon!!! WHAT'S IN THE BOX???!!!!
It's my dice box
@@SSkorkowsky Cool!!! Would make a great prop for the Dead Light scenario though.
They put it in the starter set and I think I seen a thank you to you Seth in there as well.
Thanks :D I'm keeping this tomorrow and I needed
some hand outs
Redoing old material with busted audio is pretty nice. Are you going to do videos on other game systems like Shadowrun or some of the Warhammer stuff? You primarily do Call of Cthulhu reviews and seems like it's your go-to system. I remember an odd D&D and Cyberpunk one in there too and those were also very welcome.
I have some more old D&D stuff I'll be doing as well as a couple other systems I want to test run. Our primary/monthly campaign is CoC, so the majority of the material will be that until we eventually decide to change to a new primary system.
I absolutely love Jack the NPC. Smores in the fireplace while a ceremony is going on? Sounds like something I want to implement in my next CoC game. Thanks so much for your reviews and guides, they've been extremely helpful in putting together my first group and game!
I love the idea of having my players read the chant, however the handout is in latin has to be read backwards and is in kinda hard to decipher handwriting, did your player characters have any issues with the chant in your game?
Not really. They didn't have to pronounce the words backwards, just the order. (pronouncing the words would be too damned hard for them). They practiced it before the ceremony, and as long as they pronounced it consistently I wasn't going to bust them for any proper mispronunciations. Everyone wrote it out in the reverse order and that was that.
Awesome, lastly what was your reasoning for including a throw roll at the very end? Throwing chemicals into the flame doesn't seem incredibly difficult, just curios why you made this a challenge?
@@SSkorkowsky How do you emulate "1 hour" in CoC ? There is no way players I know will just chant and fight for 2+ hours of ritual.
@@BleepingRelics Like he stated in the video, have them make a CON roll every x minutes, depending on the group of chanters.
This actually was made for 7th edition and is in the starter set you can buy
Just getting ready to run the ritual tomorrow! The investigators have basically acted like the three stooges thus far and bungled everything. They knocked Bertrand out cold in the hospital (which isn't that bad but got the cops after them), crashed their car, lost the sarcophagus, got annihilated by red jake for a total of 8 lost HP as he fled, murdered red jake, destroyed the wards on 2 windows without realizing the significance of doing so, have no idea which powder is which, and left off hiding as a police officer pulled up to the house who will undoubtedly find red jakes body which they put in the barn next to a concealed bear trap to try to capture whatever is hiding in the house. I fear for their safety as the ritual approaches.
I love your videos. And thanks for wishing me a great day. I say that to people all the time but I don't feel like people say it to me very often...