Call of Cthulhu: Egg Out of Time - RPG Review
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- Опубліковано 21 лис 2024
- A terrible discovery at a Mayan ruin sends the investigators on a race against time. Published in the collection A Time for Sacrifice, here are my tips and criticisms for this adventure.
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Guest Starring Jack the NPC
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#ttrpg #CallOfCthulhu
I must confess I'm both surprised and overjoyed at the number of people who caught my "spear and magic helmet" joke.
I like how the bullets in Jack the NPCs bandolier dwindled over the course of the review. Nice touch!
I like how none of the human characters view themselves as villains. The professor hatching the egg? Thinks he can prevent the horrors of WWII. The people trying to stop the hatching? Trying to prevent an evil horror from hatching. The people actually trying to hatch the egg and prevent its destruction? They want to drive foreigners out of their land and just live their lives. Other than maybe the player characters themselves, all these people seem to be operating with good intentions, or at least internally understandable intentions.
"Other than maybe the player characters themselves"
Sounds like every adventure ever.
It's rare that any person would think they are evil or a villain
@@keithparker1346 IMO there are a lot of psychopaths who absolutely know what they're doing wrong, and revel in it. Or at a minimum, lots of people know something is wrong but do it anyway in knowing pursuit of greed or hatred.
But the humans in this story aren't hurting people out of love of hurting or out of greed, per se. They all think they're doing the morally right thing for themselves and others.
The LORD will forgive them, for they did not knew what they were doing...
Nobody sees themselves as evil unless they're mentally ill
I love how throughout the video, Jack's bandoleer has fewer and fewer bullets. It's a great little detail!
This does sound like an adventure that would work well with Pulp Cthulhu.
When can we expect a review of the aliens rpg Colonial marines source book?
After hearing Jack's suggestion I'm suddenly thinking the game needs a new tagline.
Call of Cuthulu: "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." 😆
USHMAL is the pronunciation for UXMAL. I am also a lawyer who loves archeology, lived in Guatemala and speaks Spanish. Most importantly, love your chanel.
Wow, never thought I'd see Seth tell us 'not' to use a handout. 😆
"Hello internet."
And just like that, today is going to be a good day.
You referenced problems with getting gasoline and it reminded me of something. When I was a kid in the 1970s my grandparents still had a big gas tank in the garage. They didn't use it anymore but people used to keep fairly large amounts of gasoline at home. Maybe a more affluent person in the city has gas at their home due to the issues you mentioned in the video.
I imagine the dig sites might have large tanks. Of course the zealots or winds from the Flying Polyp might take them out further into the adventure. But they could be usable for the first 75% or so.
Then there's also the fact Model Ts could run on just about anything from kerosene to moonshine. Mileage probably sucks, but useful in a pinch.
@@SSkorkowsky So lots of partially filled gasoline tanks just waiting to explode.
I'd love to see Seth play Delta Green with the Glass Cannon guys.
Me too!
Any time more delta green is played makes me happy and makes the operation a little less majestic 12
I always feel horror works best set in the past . I'm genuinely surprised how well Cthulhu works in the Regency era say compared to the modern day. Less likely to have some techno babble Hail Mary stuff imo
@@keithparker1346 check out the “viral” campaign and delta green, Modern Cthulhu works just fine
Maybe I'm just slow, but it's only a week ago (rewatching a few reviews) that I realized
"Hold on [missing character]! We're coming to save you!"
Was a running gag.
Jack the NPC does say it a lot...
Crap. Not sure if I should watch now, or wait for all the episodes.
Ahh, who am I kidding. Watch now.
Wow, a CoC adventure that plays somewhere exotic I have actually been to😮
Ok, I need to play this as I'm an archaeologist that specializes in the lowland Maya!
If anyone else is as confused by the order sequence of the playthough as I was; Episode 2 is listed twice, once titled "A Time for Sacrifice" after "Egg Out of Time Ep.1", and then again as just Ep.2 between Ep.3 and Ep.4. So, no, you're not going temporarily insane.
That was my fault. I forgot the naming convention I was using, so I just guessed without checking. My bad.
The dwarf's voice in " Delicious in Dungeon" is exactly the same as Seth's mustached player persona.
If I had a nickel every time an Evil Egg appeared in Seth's videos, I'd have two nickels, which isn't much but it's strange it happened twice!
Also, Jack at 17:20 is hilarious! The movements of his arm, opening the helmet, while he talks. His segments are always the cherry on top, and this one is an instant favourite!
Held off on watching this till after you finished the adventure. Because I had a feeling the doctor caused the egg to crack and Mayans were trying to stop it. I was sad it wasn't revealed in the adventure, but feel vindicated I was right!!!
With Jack's final thoughts
Sounds like a great premise for the thousand year old vampire RPG
Dynamite @ Chichen Itza? It's on soluble bedrock, there's aquifers/ rivers running underneath. That road to Chichen Itza from Merida would've been real tough back in the 20s. Sounds like a fun adventure, kudos.
Makes for quick and easy tree/stump removal
I liked the 2001 A Space Odyssey corridor. "I'm sorry, Seth. I'm afraid I can't do that."
I much admire the cleverness of the premise in this scenario. And MIBs from the Great Race of Yith....yes, you MUST do this.
Dawn ends very quickly in the tropic and even more so in the forest. As the sun goes down it gets very dark and harder to drive on rough roads through the tropical rain forest. This is all without concidering what mythos creatures dwell in the forest. That could be a fun aspect with all the driving
Interesting review.
A well-timed reveal that the villain was actually trying to to something good can be very effective so long as the "good" actually comes across as legit.
As soon as you said spear and magic helmet, my brain immediately went to "What's Opera Doc?"
Thunder, wightning, stwike da wabbit!
Poor wittle bunny! Poor wittle wabbit!
What are you referring to? Because all I could think of were custodies from 40k
@@RomanvonUngernSternbergnrmfvus "What's Opera, Doc?" is a Bugs Bunny cartoon in which (if memory serves) Bugs and Elmer Fudd act and sing as characters in an opera. Elmer wears a horned helmet and wields a spear.
@@Dorian_sapiens ohhhh, I remember that one! I always figured that the opera in question was based off that opera that’s references Siegfried and is really important to the German identity.
The lengthy journal? This is something I would probably remake. I can see why your keeper would leave it out. That would just grind to the halt.
I would make this clue my own way, with some reverse discovery in bits. We learn he was trying to hatch it. Then we learn that he wanted to control it to defeat the evil and corruption in power.
Then learn it was a vision of future. So one clue natives. One clue journal, then last clue learning similar to how professor learned later on for the wanting to because WW2. A sketchbook perhaps.
Lengthy journal entry handouts are an excellent opportunity for the Keeper to hit the restroom & make another drink.
🎵 you’re out of egg, I’m out of time 🎵
Great review. I just bought the scenario. I'm gonna play it as part of a Call campaign set in the 1990. I like that you showed part of the maps and your own thoughts on how to run it. I gonna use some of your ideas and combine them with my own. i love that you don't review anything without having played it first. Keep up the good work and i also read your first novel. good book
Great vid. The major problem is... I want to put my players through this now! They are halfway through Masks and I won't be able to run this any time soon. I will have to come back to this vid in a year to get hyped again. Thanks Seth!
“Spear and Magic Helmet! Magic Helmet? Magic Helmet! “ What’s opera Doc - looney toons
man that adventure sounds hella fun. it's always a good day when there's a skorkowsky upload.
Love everything you do, really hope you haven't given up on the KULT tutorials. Its become my main game and your videos on the mechanics are so helpful.
Now I have Elmer Fudd singing "Spear and magic helmet!" in my head again.
Your pronunciation of "Chichen Itza" is exactly how I've heard it via docs & archaeologists, at least here in the States.
Always appreciate your CoC reviews. Thank Seth
Another great review. I could see this adventure as possibly a side adventure for the Two Headed Serpent campaign.
I love the “ Mr/Mrs X we are coming to save you!”
I played this last year at my local game store, it was my 3rd ever game with this system and also my 2nd investigator death.
I LOVE this system and would love to play more
An egg out of time, an egg at a time~
I haven't any RPG'S in a very long time, my go to's being AD&D and Traveller, but still love this channel. Thanks Seth. 😊
I'm still listening to you guys playing it on the podcast!! Lemme go finish it and I'll be right back!
Thanks for covering something from A Time for Sacrifice, Seth - a couple of New Comet Games' books had appeared on retail sites recently, and I was curious about what they were about (product listings aren't always helpful!)
Great job pronouncing Chichen Itza. Cool place, too. Visit is recommended.
18:48 "Spear and magic helmet"--I see what you did there.
Great review! This sounds like a complex and nuanced adventure with lots of potential.
Love these stories in more wild locations.
Any chance you are making a review for the new Arkham book?
One day. Eventually. Maybe.
The twist sounds interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing the downloadable notes for this one.
I've never been much a fan of New Comet Games' Call of Cthulhu scenarios. They just didn't do much for me. I might need to take a second look.
Great review as usual. Thanks for sharing.
This one gives me wonderful ideas for my own campaign. Thanks Seth 😁
Holy hell I might just get that book just for the easy translator! I love mesoamerican languages.
Check out _A Forest of Kings,_ by Linda Schele & David Freidel. It gives both the hieroglyphs, and the history-- _and_ you won't have to write game modules to pay off your student loans! 😄
I always get happy when Seth uploads. I too wish to escape East Texas one day.
So this goes with a sci-fi, time traveling route huh? How cool would it be to run a little adventure of Traveller that ended with the Captain player ending up in the stasis pod? Seems like it would be fun for a one-shot!
Have you ever played the mansion of madness board game?
Great video as always! Been missing that CoC content!
I hate having to click off of Seth's videos, but it's better than knowing what comes next I suppose.
If you think how times have changed- RPGs I feel are still a special interest as a hobby, but there's now already 400 clicks for a video that was uploaded 15 minutes ago. What evil force is this? Ah, it's life in times of the Internet
Me: I think I'll wear my Miskatonic University shirt today.
UA-cam: Seth S has uploaded a Call of Cthulhu video.
Stilgar: Lisan al-Gaib!
to be fair,
Paul: *farts*
Stilgar: Lisan al-Gaib!
Can you review the adventure iron ghost, in the collection fearful passages; you reviewed other adventures from fearful passages, and I like iron ghost?
Love you videos
I really like the whole, future man, in the fantasy.
That's cool to me.
Just finish all of your CoC reviews, and what do you think... New video! Thanks, Seth, you a great creator and great Keeper. Found you when decided to run High and Dry for Traveller, and watch you since)
Sadly, can't able to read your books (due to global situation, I'm from Russia), but when it's all will be over, definitely will check them out.
I sincerely hope if you continue to run adventures from A time for Sacrifice, we can get an update on Coke Bottle Ricky, or maybe he becomes a player character for the next series of podcasts. Or what was he up to during Egg out of time? An adventure of his own?
I love the relish with which Seth says, "Suck out peoples' brains".
we love all of your videos seth has out!!!
Really enjoying your videos. I'd love it if you reviewed the Alien adventure Destroyer of Worlds. I am currently running it with my group. Give my regards to Jack. ;)
Reminded me of Bugs Bunny’s “Spear and Magic Helmet” when he dresses as a Valkyrie
You need Elma Fudd to sort out the Spear and Magic Helmet to slay the Wabbit.
Death to long monologues. Up with interactive conversations!
Just love watching your Views Count climb!!!!
I love all Seth Skorkowsky videos !
Highlight of the week
If you're worried about mispronouncing Chichen Itza, then you can always take the Dresden Files fandom approach and rename it "Chicken Pizza".
In something of a reversal of your example... I can never remember physicist Michio Kaku's name, and always end up calling him Machu Picchu!
He pronounced it the way my archaeology Prof did, so I think it’s good.
Question: How many times did the group sing 🎵 Spear and Magic Helmet 🎵 From Looney Tunes?
I always enjoy these reviews. I've never run this one myself though I'm certainly going to look into it. From the sounds of it it sounds like a good initial Adventure. At the moment I'm trying to develop a campaign with far flung Adventures with different archeology sites a bit like Indiana Jones. I need an adventure for every continent and I think I crossed off South America now. Thank you!
I bought Pulp Cthulhu for my campaign based on your fanfare. Thank you, as it contains some great information. @Seth Skorkowsky
Hope you enjoy it as much as we have.
Hello Seth, I have been enjoying watching your Call of Cuthulu YT Series. As an expert Keeper which edition of the game is your favorite?
All this because the yiths didn't think there might be an egg!
Those unknowable species of the future aren't very smart, are they?
Sounds pretty fun anyway!
Love the villain idea
I love me some Skorkowsky CoC videos!
@SSkorkowsky do you plan on releasing your old skits from the videos you've hidden or deleted from your channel?
Well, you know what they say; if time gives you an egg, make an omelette.
I credit you for my growing interest in CoC!
Oooh. Podcast! This is gonna be such good entertainment while I do art-stuff =)
How have I completely missed the fact that there was such a thing?
Hey Seth, great review as always. Though I have one question and please forgive my ignorance but what is “pulp” in the context of these adventures and games, my google skills aren’t helping me much.
Pulp is the action/adventure genre of that time. Things like jumping out of the way of ancient traps or sci-fi mixed in were pulp tropes. Characters were a bit larger then life and might solve the problem with a fist or gun. Indiana Jones is a big example, as the the 99 The Mummy.
To add to Seth's answer--it's called pulp because in the first half of the 20th century or so, there were a large number of "pulp magazines" (or just "pulps") known for publishing lurid, exciting stories filled with action, mystery, sex appeal, and so on. Those magazines, in turn, were known as that because they were printed on very low-quality paper wood pulp paper (as opposed to the glossy or slick paper used for higher-end magazines).
The king is back
Personally, I think the best option with the journal would be to give the last page out, then let the players have the other pages if they ask for them.
📝 The ford model T has between 13 to 21 miles per gallon.
Ford famously inflated their numbers for the Model T's fuel efficiency. Then add muddy jungle roads, which are less fuel efficient than paved ones. I mean, you think I could casually throw out the size of their under-the-seat gas tanks without having looked all that up?
@SSkorkowsky
I agree that Ford & many auto manufacturers do tend to over estimate MPG of their vehicles.
Relax. Ive been over there. You couldnt drive a Ford T in those roads even today. 😂
Nice I own this book!
Can I offer you an egg in this trying time?
Your spear and magic helmet? ♪
My spear and magic Helmet! ♫
Magic Helmet? ♪
Magic Helmet! ♫
Kill the polyp! Kill the polyp!
Sorry, it's all just kinda Wagnerian, Doc.
Based on your video I bought the pdf and am about to run this scenario for my (pulped out) players starting next week. I'm really enjoying the way the puzzles are designed, although the numerical ones seem to forget that Mayans used a 20 base system despite the translation tables knowing this, which makes spelling out the approximate value of Pi (3-1-4) very different to (3-2-17). I wonder if I should just ignore this, because it makes the puzzle significantly harder.
Still I hope one of my players realizes this just too late as they start pressing the keystones... kind of like Indy's father going "but in the Latin alphabet "Jehovah" begins with an I..."
Really cool sci-fi twist, but my biggest issue is how characters in the 1920s are expected to understand stuff like space/time travel and DNA-coded weapons. I mean I guess the concepts were there-Wells’ The Time Machine and War of the Worlds, the 1869 discovery of DNA, etc.-but how common were those ideas in the jazz age, even among learned archeologists?
I guess you allow some sort of poetic licence for the stuff that's unlikely to be mainstream
Now I wish I can make a bet with Jack. I will listen to all the adventure and if Seth survived, he has to send me five bucks.
I'm glad he enjoyed the scenario. However, the book itself was so rife with spelling and grammar mistakes that it was practically unusable for my group. I couldn't even read through the follow-on scenarios, gave up and just resold the book. I don't understand why you would go through the time and effort to get your work published and not ensure it's comprehensible and isn't filled with easily corrected mistakes. The premise of the scenarios definitely seemed interesting, too. The editors should be ashamed of themselves.
Rpg books are not art or even literature...just consider them recipe books. They should however be well laid out and comprehensible
Jack is by far the best part of your videos Seth
I think we all understand the Lovecraftian horror of an old egg
i have like several book for CoC, i think this is the first time you reviewed one after i bought it. Next up Regency cthulu please haha
great review
I'm sorry about your love life.
Jack, like his lovelife, is fictional