IPB

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

2 Pages V   1 2 >  
Reply to this topicStart new topic
> Devloping Cthuluesque plots in SR, Help me get this ball rolling...
MrSandman666
post Apr 23 2004, 09:22 AM
Post #1


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 392
Joined: 26-February 02
From: Hamburg, Germany
Member No.: 1,270



First of, a not to my Players:
Marquel, Crimson Dragon, Redfairy, Woodlife, haltet euch aus diesem Thread raus! Ihr verderbt euch nur den eigenen Spaß!

Ok, now that this is taken care off, here is my quest, spoilered so that my players don't have an excuse for reading it "by accident":
[ Spoiler ]
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
mfb
post Apr 23 2004, 09:32 AM
Post #2


Immortal Elf
**********

Group: Members
Posts: 11,410
Joined: 1-October 03
From: Pittsburgh
Member No.: 5,670



there are details in T:Wastelands, in the Antarctica section, that are reminiscent of At the Mountains of Madness.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
MrSandman666
post Apr 23 2004, 09:38 AM
Post #3


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 392
Joined: 26-February 02
From: Hamburg, Germany
Member No.: 1,270



Hm, yea I heard of that. However, since I'm pretty short on money and some of these books like T:W aren't easily available around here I would prefer something that doesn't require me to buy new books.
It doesn't even have to be "canon" Cthulhu, I just want to get that type of a campaign with that certain athmosphere and feeling. Of course, using direct Lovecraft references lends itself for this kind of venture but isn't mandatory.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
rlemansky
post Apr 23 2004, 11:17 AM
Post #4


Target
*

Group: Members
Posts: 94
Joined: 15-May 03
Member No.: 4,591



Greetings, or should I say:

'Ph'nglui mglw-nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah-nagl fhtagn.'

That phrases says it all. 'In his house at R'yeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.'

Acquire some of the books if you're able. Fred Pelton has a 'Guide to the Cthulhu Cult' which could prove helpful, as is Daniel harm's 'Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'. No disrespect to FASA or FanPro intended, but there are some excellent Chaosium 'Call of Cthulhu' books that are worth picking up, if you have the cash.

I'd say that you're on the right track with the onion-layer approach. Cthulhu could/should be the Big Bad at the bottom of the Pacific, a dual natured alien monstrosity, beaming insane telepathic dreams to his followers and enemies alike. Lots of races serve him, and the Cult of Cthulhu could use them as muscle or worship them. ANY encounter should touch on that key-phrase I mentioned at some point, or at least show an Elder Sign (a star with either a flame column of an eye at the center). It will help bind elements together, theme-atically.

Some adventure ideas:

A single Young of Shub-Niggurath terrorizes a park (or arboretum of an arcology) and the Team investigates. It was summoned by a Toxic Shaman-maybe a toxic dryad-you'd have to decide on a totem.

A team of scientists at a lone research outpost have had their heads pulled off, and any security sent in to investigate and recover the research data suffers the same fate. The bodies are covered with slime-poor souls managed to create a Shoggoth (use the Protean as a template and have fun-hope that it doesn't reproduce).

The Runners are called in to find the group that's been acquiring certain artifacts-the group is part of the Cult-OR, the group has been hired by a Corp run by the Cult, their ultimate purpose-to bring the Old Ones to Earth (Aztechnology/Horrors works well for this).

The X-files formula works-a Johnson hires them to investigate strange goings on-an oil rig offshore is plagued by 'accidents'. The Team heads out, finds some off beat clues and red herrings. Finally, after some plot twists and betrayals, a glimpse of the Real Monster is had-one of the managers or a disgruntled ex-employee is sabotaging the rig, but an enclave of Deep Ones are checking out what their human neighbors are doing).

I wouldn't have EVERY encounter be a Cthulhoid Monster, nor would I stage many pitched, toe to toe battles with them. If you DO like that sort of thing, ALien and Deep Rising are good movies to use as a basis. But, Dagon, if you can find the un-edited version-is pretty much spot-on HPL and a great inspiration.

Cthulhu Fhtagn! (Cthulhu Waits!)

R
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Snow_Fox
post Apr 23 2004, 12:54 PM
Post #5


Prime Runner
*******

Group: Members
Posts: 3,577
Joined: 26-February 02
From: Gwynedd Valley PA
Member No.: 1,221



A good public library should have Lovecraft in the fiction section.

We've done runs like this. The trick with Cthulhu is the element of the unknown. Once you see the baddie/creature it loses it's fearfull element and just start blazing away. To be a real Cthulhu type run your players should realize they are taking on some sort of occult adventure, maybe hired for a run against a petro hougun, but it should be the sort of thing that they don't know what's going on. Is this gutter punk well protected? Maybe connected to a high level corper? Why are Cross sec troops here? Is the corp trying to exploit the hougun or is the corp exec a secret follower using corp resources for his own use. etc

There are elements of horror to maintain, but keep the players off balance-a person completely changes personality from one encounter ot the next or is too fearful to talk to someone
"But we talked about this yesterday"
"No we didn't! OK I never talked to you about it. So ka?"
"What's wrong?"
"NOTHING NOW GET OUTTA HERE!"
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
MrSandman666
post Apr 23 2004, 03:02 PM
Post #6


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 392
Joined: 26-February 02
From: Hamburg, Germany
Member No.: 1,270



Cool, thanks for the suggestions so far!

I do have the Chaosium's Keepers Handbook (and Cthulhu 1000 A.D., but I don't think that'll help me with this, being set in the middle-ages and all...). It gives some great insight into the myth, the cults and the different races. It also gives a lot of great advice on how to lead a horror campaign, how to create the right atmosphere, etc.
All I need is ideas on how to structure the campaign. All I have right now are these vague ideas that I have outlined in my initial post.
rlemansky gave some good ideas, however what I'm lacking is the skeleton of the campaign, the overarching motives of the NPCs, the contingencies and such.

Why was that Young of Shub-Nigurrath in the park? Monsters like that never act in the public without a specific goal.
What is causing mayhem on the oil rig and why? What could possible distractions from the "real" truth be? Who has planted those clues and why or do they just happen to be convenient answers?
How does the cult intend to bring the Great Old Ones to the earth?

I'm having lot's of vague ideas but no idea how to fill them with concrete details. I know the types of runs I want to pull and vaguely how I want to reveal the myth but I have no clue as to how to actually do it.

I know this is asking a lot but could you help me develop an actual campaign with actors and plot and stuff? At least until I get the hang of it and can go on on my own. I would really appreciate it.

Here's a possible start I've come up with:
Some old suit hires the runners to find his daughter who has not returned from a party two days ago. He doesn't want to contact the Star because he believes they would take too long and wouldn't be willing to use certain "amoral" means to get his daughter back but he wants her back alive ASAP by any means necessary! The players conduct their research and start digging around in her private life. They find out that she's been hanging around with a guy who's supposedly the member of a cult that worships some obscure god or Great Old One (not sure which one yet) and they need a human sacrifice to perform a certain ritual. The players need to rescue her before she is sacrificed. Since the ritual has to take place during a certain timeframe they still have a few days left to conduct research and develop a plan.
Problems with this: What do they want to achieve with this ritual and why? Will the players even bother to find out the background of the cult or the ritual (doesn't really matter. they will remember later). How do I go on from there?
I could be a little evil and let the ritual succeed so that they have to deal with a botched run and the consequences of the ritual (whatever that may be).
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
tjn
post Apr 23 2004, 05:42 PM
Post #7


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 476
Joined: 30-December 03
From: Fresno, CFS: taking out one durned furriner at a time.
Member No.: 5,940



If it's a new set of PC's I wouldn't set 'em up on a botched run to start with. The players have to do a lot of figuring out who they're playing as well as how the group dynamics shake out without adding the extra stressors of a botched run (but if they prove inept enough to qualify for the CLUE files, let the chips fall where they may).

Also, I've always liked starting off slow, especially about these sorts of things. Don't hit them with the supernatural until they're sure something's up. Longer they think it's a normal SR, the better. Build on the sense of the unknown.

I think it would be better for the inital run... instead of her being a sacrifice, just let her join "some cult"

As it wouldn't technically be legal to remove her without her consent, and the media exposure of this cults "practices" would be a detriment, it'd be logical the Johnson would go to the Shadows for this.

Leave the cult's practices mundane, and legal, but fairly out of the ordinary- for now. Just make sure to make the mooks no real threat to the PCs. We're talking wageslaves who need an excuse out of their crummy lives, not even the level of gangers.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Nikoli
post Apr 23 2004, 05:51 PM
Post #8


Chicago Survivor
*********

Group: Dumpshocked
Posts: 5,079
Joined: 28-January 04
From: Canton, GA
Member No.: 6,033



Also, a old Sr novelist wrote a great Chthuleesque story in a couple of books: Prince among Men, Knight among Knaves.
Sadly both are currently out of print, but should be available at a good public library or through various online bookstores though you'll pay through the nose for them.
Covered Mountains of Madness nicely

PS: Could always work the Horrors Metaplot into this as the Chtulu stuff. Shedim, etc, all work nicely as well.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Erebus
post Apr 23 2004, 05:55 PM
Post #9


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 214
Joined: 7-January 03
From: Wilton NH
Member No.: 3,872



There was a book put out for Cyberpunk 2020 that had Lovecraftian Crossovers in it. It wasn't published by R.T, but it has some nice plotlines and freaky cyberware... Cyber-Tentecles, and what not... I'll try to dig it up tonight when I get home. I seem to remember the plotline revolving around a company that basically flat-lined people then brought them back, in the same sort of way that health conscious people would go get enimas...
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
kevyn668
post Apr 23 2004, 06:09 PM
Post #10


Runner
******

Group: Members
Posts: 2,751
Joined: 8-August 03
From: Neighbor of the Beast
Member No.: 5,375



So, can someone give me a little more detail about The Call of Cthulhu? I get the general idea (Old Ones, Big Bad, Wold in ruin, bla, bla, bla). It sounds like the move "The Gate" and "Cast A Deadly Spell"

Someone hook a fellow DSer up?
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Erebus
post Apr 23 2004, 06:13 PM
Post #11


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 214
Joined: 7-January 03
From: Wilton NH
Member No.: 3,872



Without going into specifics... and to over simplify things abit. Lovecraft is all about "Cosmic Horror." Through strange and bizarre things, man/men (your PCs) come to realize that not only are we not in control of our reality, but we are completely insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and that all that we know hangs upon the knife's edge of utter oblivion and destruction... and the truth of reality is far far more alien than anyone can truly comprehend.. (thus the sanity issues)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
LaughingTiger
post Apr 23 2004, 08:04 PM
Post #12


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 153
Joined: 1-April 04
Member No.: 6,211



Buy this book

And this one

I know you said you may not have the ability to buy books, but if you want to add Cthulu to SR, you NEED them. These two books taken together present about 600 pages of info that bring the Cthulu mythos up into the year 2000. They're well-written and immensly enjoyable. If you're serious, they're the resources you need.

Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Glyph
post Apr 24 2004, 01:59 AM
Post #13


Great Dragon
*********

Group: Members
Posts: 7,116
Joined: 26-February 02
Member No.: 1,449



Here's a plot idea that you can use once a major antagonist has been established. They stumble, seemingly almost by accident, upon the time and location of a major ritual that is to take place. They show up, loaded for bear, and don't have too difficult of a time slaughtering the numerous but lightly-armed cultists. Unfortunately, this was the major antagonist's plan all along. The cultists are meant to be sacrificed. By killing all of these people, the PCs help to power a major blood magic ritual, letting the bad guy unleash something really nasty.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Dax
post Apr 24 2004, 02:32 AM
Post #14


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 194
Joined: 24-January 04
Member No.: 6,013



Cuthulu: *to the runner team* Sell your soul for a cookie?
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*
post Apr 24 2004, 03:30 AM
Post #15





Guests






QUOTE (Dax)
Cuthulu: *to the runner team* Sell your soul for a cookie?

That better be one damn good cookie.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
rlemansky
post Apr 24 2004, 12:41 PM
Post #16


Target
*

Group: Members
Posts: 94
Joined: 15-May 03
Member No.: 4,591



If you're seeing Cthulhu, up close and personal, you pretty much do what he says. He can take what he wants, so the cookie's a bonus-be grateful.

Seriously, though...

The Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath in the arcology park/arboretum would be an agent of a toxic dryad-an avenger, to use the old term. She's outraged at the abuse of the natural state, yadda, yadda-her 'tree' may be in the park, cut off from the rest of nature-whatever. Of course, the poor dear has been corrupted by the Elder Gods, and the Earth Mother she used to be a Shaman for has Twisted into Shub-Niggurath, the Mythos's fertility force. You could play up the horror angle, or the tragedy angle-or combine for real fun.

You've got a pretty good Cthulhu campaign basis if you follow the meta-plot in regards to Aztechnology and the horrors-the horrors are the Elder Gods, trying to come through to our world. Mr. Darke and Roxborough (How HPL can you get? Amorphous guy in a tube-gotta love it) would make excellent nemeses for the runners.

Depending on how long a campaign you'd want to run, you COULD even have the runner working for Aztechnology the first few times out-taking care of the Dark Young may clear up a minor inconvenience and prove the runners' mettle. I LOVE the idea that slaughtering the cultists could be the whole point (kudos, you devil you). Eventually, the players could uncover the truth-from a target or prior victim of their well intended misdeeds. I'd play the Johnson straight for a good while-let the runners THINK that they're doing 'good deeds'™, then lay into them-I proposed a similar idea on a X-Men based SR thread a while back (classic SR-the Johnson ALWAYS screws you). THEN, it would be a matter of trying to undo the events that their actions have caused to come to pass-opening a gate for an Elder Thing.

Other plot ideas:

Investigate then eliminate teams/corps trying to stop the arrival of the Old Ones (love fighting the good guys, especially when you don't know that you're on the wrong team-amazing how quickly rebel can become freedom fighter, eh?).

Investigating then destroying/capturing minor Cthulhu Mythos entities for enslavement or ritual use (You want us to capture that thing ALIVE?).

Acquiring weird old tomes-Cultes De Ghules, Liber Ibon, Inaussplichible Culten, and of course, the Necronomicon-or artifacts. Great infiltration and extraction opportunities, and owners, cultists, and horrors can make life difficult for the runners.

There IS a Cthulhu Collectible Card Game called 'Mythos'. The Adventure cards outline HPL storylines and plots, so it'd be rather easy to slot in runners and develop a story using those, if you can find them. There may even be an online card viewer somewhere...

As someone mentioned before, maintaining the right air can be difficult-once the monster's revealed, then it's merely a target with stats. Setting things up so that the players don't know who they can trust or when they can trust them will definately add to the experience.

Hope that helps.

R
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
rlemansky
post Apr 24 2004, 12:54 PM
Post #17


Target
*

Group: Members
Posts: 94
Joined: 15-May 03
Member No.: 4,591



Thry this link:

http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/%7Ed2agby/TEXT...T/long_type.txt

The Adventure cards (the first part of the list) will give you lots of plot ideas. The All-caps parts indicate different types of cards, but generally, you can just put in the Runners instead of Investigators and use NPCs to round out the cast. The Locations can be any you choose-whatever city you play in, or you could eventually have the Runners globe-hopping (or even hitting Outer Realms).

It's a LONG list, but if you pick and chose, you can lay out a whole camapign rather easily.

R
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
MrSandman666
post Apr 24 2004, 01:13 PM
Post #18


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 392
Joined: 26-February 02
From: Hamburg, Germany
Member No.: 1,270



Thanks for the good suggestions so far. I feel there's something forming somewhere deep in the back of my head! ;)

Could someone please outline that whole Aztec/Mr.Darke metaplot for me? I somehow missed that in the books and a quick search here on the boards didn't reveal anything too enlightening.

I think I got the general idea of how to structure a single run pretty much down. The Cthulhu Keepers Handbook gives some great advice on that. Most of the fear comes what you don't see or don't know.
My problems aren't the single runs but more the overarching campaign plot. What I'd idealy aiming to have (through your help) is a short rundown in a form like this:

CODE

Background:
Cult XYZ follows this agenda and Person ABC is doing this or that for reason DEF.

Run 1:
- objective: Cult abducts a little girl for reason X, runners are hired to get her back
- background: bla, bla...
- Actors and their agendas: The cultists, the girl, the father, someone in the background pulling the strings...

Downtime 1:
The Cult plots a revenge, girl goes to psychiatric ward because of the traume she got from the ritual. The Great Deceiver is still plotting in the background and his plans are devolping like this...

Run 2:
- objective: Some objective
- background: more bla, bla...
- Actors and their agendas: [...]

Downtime 2:
bla...


Well, you get the idea...

I'm not necesarily planning to run the campaign straight through. I'll most likely through in quite a few unconnected runs in between so they don't get the hint right away. And the first few runs (maybe three) will be totally standard Shadowrun. They won't know when the campaign starts.
Also, the first few runs of the metaplot shouldn't seem to be connected at first. No recurring characters or cults or items. Only later should they be able to notice the connections between all the runs and events, maybe three runs into the campaign.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
dead_as_elvis
post Apr 24 2004, 02:53 PM
Post #19


Target
*

Group: Members
Posts: 10
Joined: 27-March 04
From: Illinois
Member No.: 6,200



That sounds like a good way to do it. In my opinion, the most important aspect of a Lovecraftian story (or shadowrun) is the atmosphere. Like some one said, its about the fear of the unknown. In his stories, the characters see a lot of seemingly unrelated events, then one thing will happen to link them all together, revealing a horrible plot or conspiracy. In some stories, the protagonists didn't really even see the monster, only heard it or read about sightings of it. The most important part though, again in my opinion, is the inscutable goals of the things in his stories. In most cases, it is obvious that there is some motivation, but it is never fully revealed. That leaves it up to the reader (or PC) to try to imagine what terrible things the unknown thing had in mind. Basicly, I think the key would be to really control what the PC's know. Give them enough to know that they are messing with That Which Man Was Not Meant To Know, and let them try to fill in the rest.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Firewall
post Apr 24 2004, 03:39 PM
Post #20


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 313
Joined: 5-March 04
From: UK
Member No.: 6,125



Start describing their nightmares. Make sure about 90% are just their imagination but keep a theme to keep them off-guard. Better yet is to have a rival 'old one' influence one person's dreams. The rest are just having nightmares because of what they have seen, this one is having nightmares about what is still to come.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Snow_Fox
post Apr 25 2004, 02:24 PM
Post #21


Prime Runner
*******

Group: Members
Posts: 3,577
Joined: 26-February 02
From: Gwynedd Valley PA
Member No.: 1,221



QUOTE (MrSandman666)
Cool, thanks for the suggestions so far!
....All I need is ideas on how to structure the campaign. All I have right now are these vague ideas that I have outlined in my initial post.
rlemansky gave some good ideas, however what I'm lacking is the skeleton of the campaign, the overarching motives of the NPCs, the contingencies and such....

Why was that Young of Shub-Nigurrath in the park? Monsters like that never act in the public without a specific goal.
What is causing mayhem on the oil rig and why? What could possible distractions from the "real" truth be? Who has planted those clues and why or do they just happen to be convenient answers?
How does the cult intend to bring the Great Old Ones to the earth?

important note, don't tell the group what was in the park or they'll be all over this. It's some horrible awakened...thing, kill it, but let them wonder what the lfock it was, maybe a LS contect lets them know there's been other stuff but we've been told to stay away, so they're woprried it's another UB group that infiltrated them. If you want, I'll make spacific suggests to you. PM or e-mail me.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
SCLariat
post Apr 26 2004, 01:24 AM
Post #22


Target
*

Group: Members
Posts: 42
Joined: 12-August 03
From: Columbia, SC, USA
Member No.: 5,411



There are lot of fan sites dedicated to CoC on the net. Most of the older modules (which are excellen BTW) are also available from places like ebay and stiggybaby.com. You could also run it like an SR version of Hellboy, too.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
blakkie
post Apr 26 2004, 02:08 AM
Post #23


Dragon
********

Group: Members
Posts: 4,718
Joined: 14-September 02
Member No.: 3,263



Pretty much all of H. P. Lovecraft's work is in the public domain. Although there are two, count them two different claims of ownership to his works they are as yet unproven.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Senchae
post Apr 26 2004, 07:32 PM
Post #24


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 114
Joined: 24-November 02
Member No.: 3,638



Also, if you're a Roger Zelazny fan, you could adapt bits of A Night In the Lonesome October. That could be rather entertaining. Jack as your Johnson, hiring you to recover one of the Wands, or something along those lines.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
moosegod
post Apr 26 2004, 08:52 PM
Post #25


Running Target
***

Group: Members
Posts: 1,047
Joined: 12-November 03
From: Perilously close to the Sioux Nation.
Member No.: 5,818



Blakkie, if you were a woman, I would kiss you.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

2 Pages V   1 2 >
Reply to this topicStart new topic

 



RSS Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 09:01 AM

Topps, Inc has sole ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the game Shadowrun. Topps, Inc has granted permission to the Dumpshock Forums to use such names, logos, artwork, marks and/or any proprietary materials for promotional and informational purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not affiliated with the Dumpshock Forums in any official capacity whatsoever.