Running CoCd20: "The End of Paradis" -- any tips?

[Jake]

Next Saturday I'll run "The End of Paradise", the first introductory adventure in the <I>CoC d20</I> rulebook. I haven't decided what genre it will be: Hometown Horrors, or Badges and Secrets. although I'm slightly in favor of the former.

I have 7 players, and I'll give them pre-made characters. Most of them are familiar with D20 -- in fact, some of them are better in the rules department than I am. The characters will probably be second level, and I'll make some changes to the antagonists to match that.

So I've got the music, including a messed up version of "O Fortuna" mixed by yours truly, I've read some reviews of "The Rules of the Game" to answer the inevitable questions about that movie -- I'm all set.

What am I overlooking? And could you give some ideas for extra encounters/red herrings in the case the characters move to fast?

Thanks in advance,

[Ceti]

My players quickly figured out, who the bad guy was, but weren't willing to touch him, though they did terrorize him a little. Then they sneaked into theatre for the show, and broke into the film booth.

Seven might be a little too much for this scenario (I ran it for two). I'm afraid that there's not that much to do.

[Mytholder]

I ran it as part of a Delta Green campaign. Play up the surrealism. My PCs broke in at night to search for clues, which let me turn the cinema into a bizarre, Hasturrific phantasmagoria.

Actually, if you've access to Delta Green, then you could possibly bring in either the Hastur Mythos or the Fate as red herrings/extra plot elements. My PCs were invited to the theatre by Stephen Alzis....

[Jake]

Originally posted by Ceti
My players quickly figured out, who the bad guy was, but weren't willing to touch him, though they did terrorize him a little. Then they sneaked into theatre for the show, and broke into the film booth.

Seven might be a little too much for this scenario (I ran it for two). I'm afraid that there's not that much to do.

Well, yeah, that's what I need the extra encounters for. Extra tangents... Fortunately, me and my players aren't experienced in 'investigator RPGs' at all, so I guess it'll take some time to adjust.

I don't have Delta Green, unfortunately. But I guess the night break-in is a cool idea -- just have to provide a reason for them to do it

Thanks guys!

[GB Steve]

I read the title "The End of Paradis" and thought that you'd set the game in Tanith Lee's Secret Books of Paradys. A kind of gothic, Cthulhu crossover to make WoDdites swoon.

Ho-hum.

[Rezolution]

I for one thought it was a CoCd20 game that took place at a Styx concert.

Insert jokes about SAN rolls here.

Timothy

[Allen]

I ran it at a con a few months back. The trick is to keep the players guessing at who is the villian. The players first thought it was the old man (Frank Long) at first and did everything to hunt him down. You should play Richard Jacobs as cool and sophisticated and generally concerend about the club. The hole in the ceiling really freaked the players out as well as the secret basement ( they wanted to stake out the basement.)
Plus Robert is a good foil. The players kept trying to find "Robert".

[Ceti]

Originally posted by Jake


Well, yeah, that's what I need the extra encounters for. Extra tangents... Fortunately, me and my players aren't experienced in 'investigator RPGs' at all, so I guess it'll take some time to adjust.

I don't have Delta Green, unfortunately. But I guess the night break-in is a cool idea -- just have to provide a reason for them to do it

Thanks guys!

Extra NPCs are always great for this. When running masks, my players went so away from the story line, following a NPC that had no bearing on the plot (another NPC's secretary said that her boss couldn't see them, because he was seeing that NPC). I had to improv for about an hour real-time. After running into a couple of dead-ends, they gave up, but still managed to plug him into one of their hypothesis about the plot.

Some suggestions:
- teenagers breaking in (another *boring* story - running Illuminati, I chased my players back and forth through a wheat field, because they were hiding from mysterious strangers, who turned out to be biology students looking for frogs),
- bumbling detective,
- third party willing to snatch the movie,
- rival movie owner.

[Jake]

Originally posted by GB Steve
I read the title "The End of Paradis" and thought that you'd set the game in Tanith Lee's Secret Books of Paradys. A kind of gothic, Cthulhu crossover to make WoDdites swoon.

Ho-hum.

Sorry about the typo. Fixed it.

EDIT: looks like I can't change the title on the main forum page. Too bad.

Ceti, Allen: I'll look into extra NPC's and ways to divert them. I also count on the players' ability to screw themselves, to trying to find too much in random events and following the red herrings until they themselves are red in the face.

I like the idea of a bumbling detective, although I think I'll let that part play by a PC Rival movie theater owner is also a good one.

Also, I'd like to make the lethality of the Cthulhu-verse clear to them. They're rather accustomed to being though heroes... being investigators should be a nice change. Although I'll have to force myself not to fudge the rolls -- I'm a bit of an 'easy' GM.

[Ceti]

Well, strange deaths are really cool in Cthulhu.

Again in Masks, one of my players got sucked into a painting that served as a gate to the past. My brother walked down these steps in a temple and never came back. He still bugs me about his PCs fate.

Maybe you can suck a player into the short movie in the hidden room?