The Call of Cthulhu

We are kicking off a new campaign this coming weekend with a session 0 character building session for Call of Cthulhu. For the past many weeks, I have been prepping a Pulp Cthulhu campaign, and I am eager to get started. This will be the first opportunity for all the players to come together with concepts and fully develop their respective hero.

The story is following the Two-Headed Serpent campaign, published in 2017 by Chaosium Inc, and written by Paul Fricker, Scott Dorward, and Matthew Sanderson. The story tells the tale of a group of adventurers, recruited by a benevolent medical aid society called Caduceus, and dispatched to Bolivia in 1933. Their mission is charitable – assist the local relief camps, during the ongoing Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay.

Of course, such mundane tasks will soon go off the rails, in a lengthy and detailed storyline, promising plenty of globe-trotting adventure and mayhem from the group.

For this campaign, we are trying a few new things. First is our schedule – the players are all very busy, and I have several other active games, so I am not setting a specific schedule. Instead, we will tackle each chapter of the story as a one-shot or short adventure, typically 1, 2 or 3 sessions. Then between each adventure, real-life can disrupt the schedule. This should make it easier for all of life’s complications, while continuing the primary story.

The other big change is related to software tools – we will not be using Foundry or other VTT tools and laptops. This is partially because they don’t fit the theme, but also because of the amount of work necessary and the minimal benefits. Instead, we are reverting old school physical dice (been missing those) and miniatures. For the board, to avoid a complex battle-map and time-consuming drawings, we will be experimenting with ultimate dungeon terrain, a circular board with a partially abstract method of tracking locations. I have prepared a large turntable and circular board, laser etched some acrylic and have plenty of space for the group to understand the situation. Now I just need some miniatures and terrain. The second is easy, the first is particularly challenging – the number of 1930’s style heroes and Cthulhu creatures is surprisingly small in options.

The change is that I am intending to live-stream each of the games. Of course, we will still publish our recorded adventures, but the live stream is fairly easy to handle and really builds a bit more engagement and suspense. This will give whoever is watching the opportunity to engage, perhaps point out errors, offer suggestions, or just help toss out ideas if I get stumped.

Our first session is scheduled for this Sunday, with a session 0 Character Generation period. I will record, but likely not bother streaming it, since it is pre-work rather than actual storyline. But it will be a good chance to meet the characters and find out which are your favorites.