Good starting points for Cthulhu?
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Post Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 7:48 am 
 

On the first Goodman Games Cthulhu adventure, Death in Luxor, this is what I wrote over at Y-S.com back in Feb on this year.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

"It has really great cover art.

Inside it needs, quite a lot of work before being in any decent shape to run with players.

But the main thing is it doesn't feel remotely like Egypt. Even less does it feel like a small isolated Egyptian town in 1927. It feels more like prohibition Chicago. The players fly in and immediately start to encounter large groups of roaming armed mobile police. They race around the place talking to 'thugs', brawling in seedy bars and stealing cars (of which there are "any number" parked around).

It is a shame that so little was made of the actual location of Luxor. For example; just a few years earlier, Howard Carter steps into the lost tomb of Tutankhamun - literally just across the river from Luxor in the Valley of the Kings, or, a couple of miles North from Luxor is Karnak - one of the largest open air temple complexes in the world.

Both Chaosium and Pagan Pub understand that building period detail into their adventures adds verisimilitude which leads to more tense, dramatic and exciting nights of call of Cthulhu. Sadly, much of that is lacking here.

To be fair, at least one real location is used in the adventure - Medinet Habu (the funerary complex of Ramesses III and a key scene in the adventure). Unfortunately in the adventure this is marked as being right in the middle of the town. In real life it is outside Luxor, across the Nile on the West bank - a ferry ride and a hike away. (whoops!).

Overall Death in Luxor is light on tension and heavy on opportunities for combat. I have no gripe with throwing large groups of cultists, thugs and tentacled mythos creatures at the players - but it works best when balanced by a great plot that needs uncovering, and buckets of atmosphere...."

>>>>>>>>>>>

Which, reading again three months later does perhaps sound a bit harsh for their first attempt.  :oops:   So I am awaiting Goodman's second Cthulhu mod with an open mind. However Chaosium, Pagan Publishing, and other publishers have set a very high standard for Call of Cthulhu adventures (in fact there are even some excellent adventures available free for download), and all new publishers will be compared to that very high standard. Good luck to them!  :D


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Post Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 1:26 pm 
 

To be fair to the author of Death in Luxor and Goodman Games I read through the scenario with the assumption that they were going for a pulp approach. From the lurid cover to the emphasis of action over investigation.

I am also looking forward to see what they do with their second release before giving up on their products.


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Post Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 6:05 pm 
 

jasonw1239 wrote:I was at Stonehenge while on a bus tour back in 1985 but I certainly would like to go back to that area.
What I can remember was that the site is situated on a hilltop giving you quite a view of the surrounding area.
Scattered around in the distance you can see various burial mounds.


If you're interested, I'll see if I can find our pics from our UK trip?:  we spent several hours at Stonehenge, and I took oodles of pictures!


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Post Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 6:14 pm 
 

grodog wrote:
If you're interested, I'll see if I can find our pics from our UK trip?:  we spent several hours at Stonehenge, and I took oodles of pictures!


I'll be visiting Stonehenge with my wife in a couple of weeks. 8)


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Post Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 8:38 pm 
 

grodog wrote:
If you're interested, I'll see if I can find our pics from our UK trip?:  we spent several hours at Stonehenge, and I took oodles of pictures!


I also got a bunch of pics with my old trusty 35 mm SLR that I have dragged around the world on a few trips.
Purely mechanical device that you have to use a hand-held light meter for.

It's been to England, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and Brazil.  8)


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Post Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 12:22 am 
 

jasonw1239 wrote:
I also got a bunch of pics with my old trusty 35 mm SLR that I have dragged around the world on a few trips.
Purely mechanical device that you have to use a hand-held light meter for.

It's been to England, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and Brazil.  8)


You got me there:  Heather and I've been to Aruba, Italy (Rome, Venice, Florence, Sienna), the UK (pretty much just London, with a dash off to Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor Castle), and Cancun together, and I'd been to Santiago as well, but that's the extent of my international travel.  She's much more the globe trotting investigator than I am :D

I'd really like to visit Egypt some time before I'm ancient, but given the political climate, that's not on the list in the foreseeable future....


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Post Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 6:56 am 
 

grodog wrote:I'd really like to visit Egypt some time before I'm ancient, but given the political climate, that's not on the list in the foreseeable future....


My elderly aunt and uncle did a boat tour up the Nile about two years ago.
For safety concerns you might want to ask Blackmoor (Jeff).
I believe that his work has taken him to Egypt within the last two years or so.


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Post Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 8:37 am 
 

grodog wrote:
You got me there:  Heather and I've been to Aruba, Italy (Rome, Venice, Florence, Sienna), the UK (pretty much just London, with a dash off to Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor Castle), and Cancun together, and I'd been to Santiago as well, but that's the extent of my international travel.  She's much more the globe trotting investigator than I am :D

I'd really like to visit Egypt some time before I'm ancient, but given the political climate, that's not on the list in the foreseeable future....


Jeez, you both got me beat.  Mexico.  That's it.  And Hawaii doesnt exactly count as "international".  I told my wife that I really want to take a European vacation sometime in the next few years.  U.K., Germany, Switzerland, and possibly Italy.  Maybe France and Belgium.  So much to see and not enough time for all of it.  :(

As for Egypt, one of my good friends went several years ago.  He went on one of those Nile river tours.  He said that it was hotter than hell and smelled even worse.  He also mentioned something about camels being "horses of Satan" or something like that.  I guess he didnt have a very good time.  :wink:   But I think you will be okay as long as you dont befriend any strange monkeys or eat any dates.


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Post Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 1:15 pm 
 

grodog wrote:
I'd really like to visit Egypt some time before I'm ancient, ....


Then you should go.  :)  In my experience, you almost always regret the things you don't do more than the things you do.  As to risk, well, there is always some risk from travelling - but then there is risk staying at home too.  And Egypt is well worth the visit - a fantastic experience. Although if you are going there from the US, I would recommend taking in a bit of North Africa and Southern Europe too - to make it worth your while  :D


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Post Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:59 am 
 

A review of my monograph Undying Leaders was posted on the Chaosium web site.

http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_rev ... ews_id=246

:D


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Post Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:00 pm 
 

Yet more new Cthulhu material  :D  :D  :D  :D

http://www.yog-sothoth.com/modules.php? ... =0&thold=0


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Post Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:29 pm 
 

That does look very interesting! Hopefully Chaosium will carry it in their online store soon.
Fat Dragon Games also released a Call of Cthulhu specific item called Shrine of Cthulhu.
http://www.fatdragongames.com/fdg0062.html


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Post Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:43 pm 
 

Regarding Stonehenge, well worth a visit. Here's a picture I took last year.

Image



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Post Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:32 pm 
 

Nice picture Paul!
I was there about 25 years ago just a few years after they roped off the stones so that you could only view them from a distance.
They were smaller than I expected them to be.
Did you visit any of the other ruins on the Salisbury Plain?
I did not have the opportunity since I was on a bus tour.  :(
Maybe I'll get a chance to go back someday.


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Post Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:10 pm 
 

jasonw1239 wrote:Nice picture Paul!
I was there about 25 years ago just a few years after they roped off the stones so that you could only view them from a distance.
They were smaller than I expected them to be.
Did you visit any of the other ruins on the Salisbury Plain?
I did not have the opportunity since I was on a bus tour.  :(
Maybe I'll get a chance to go back someday.


I went there when I was 16, right before they roped them off.  Going up to touch them and walk among them really adds to the experience.  However, it also contributed to the grass being trampled and killed.  Roping them off was the right thing to do.

I was there about a month ago and they were still amazing, especially when you realize they were ruins when the Romans first visited the British Isles over 2000 years ago! 8O


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Post Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:08 pm 
 

jasonw1239 wrote:Did you visit any of the other ruins on the Salisbury Plain.


A few in the local area, Silbury Hill, West Kennet & Avebury.

Image

Image

Image

But enough of my holiday pics! :)

Feels like a while since  there's been any new limited edition/collectible Cthulhu items (save for the Trail of Cthulhu leather edition and our own DVD).

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Post Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:30 pm 
 

benjoshua wrote:
when the Romans first visited the British Isles over 2000 years ago! 8O


Stonehenge has artifacts dated back to around 2600BC. It's thought it could be older (maybe even 10000BC) but there isn't anything to really support that.  (I studied Archaeology Alevel at college)

Avebury/Silbury/West Kennet are also fascinating places. I don't mean this to sound out of hand, but I'm guessing its all the more mind-blowing when looking at the 'history' of the USA. Europe does have a hell of a lot of history (good & bad) throughout its countries that are well worth a trip.

But having visited Chichen Itza in Mexico, that was just awesome!  :D

As discussed in another thread recently, to use actual pictures of sites, castles and such like can truly add atmosphere to any game being played..  8)


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Post Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:10 am 
 

Silbury Hill is the model for an adventure I am running in my campaign right now.


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