5 Things Dungeon Masters can learn from Call of Cthulhu
Have you ever heard of Call of Cthulhu? Maybe you’re just getting into tabletop Rpgs, or maybe you’re the forever DM of your group, but if you haven’t heard of it you’re definitely missing out. Call of Cthulhu is a co-op Rpg based on the works of HP Lovecraft, the father of cosmic horror. Unlike other games like D&D, Cthulhu is all about suspense and horror. You take your table of players and turn them into Investigators researching weird and horrid mysteries. Think Scooby-Doo with higher stakes.
Instead of fighting their way through dungeons, your investigators have to piece together puzzles, and look for clues to solve mysteries. The best part? Your players are just normal people going up against alien abominations, cults, gangsters, you name it. So without a barbarian to rage through the monsters for you, much of the game comes down to actually avoiding combat and running when possible.
So what's so cool about Cthulhu?
Glad you asked pal, There’s tons to like about the game, some based on personal opinion, others based on good mechanics. Take avoiding combat for example. With monsters so strong and scary that they could kill you with a sneer, the players feel real agency and fear when the monster eventually finds them. There’s also quite a bit more time for roleplay and puzzle solving, which can really get your players thinking. Of course if you’re somebody who doesn’t care much for roleplay and would rather Min/Max your way through a dungeon, then this isn’t much of a pro. So let’s look at some of the mechanics you can bring to your next D&D game.
The Nitty Gritty
Handouts, Handouts, Handouts.
My absolute favorite thing CoC has taught me is that giving your players physical handouts can really add a lot to immersion. Let’s say you have a courier give your player a letter, rather than just reading what it says, hand your player a physical piece of paper, and leave it to them from there. This does require a little planning ahead, but when you give a player a handout it makes them feel more immersed, then if it’s important they can hold onto it and recall it more easily later.
Handouts are especially useful for puzzles. Have a riddle the players need to solve? Write it down on a slightly burnt piece of paper, they can pass it around and this keeps them invested. Your players just broke into the mayor's house? What’s stopping them from finding an incriminating document on his desk? You can use handouts to generate intrigue with your players, giving them breadcrumbs to a greater mystery.
2. Give them a good Chase.
In Cthulhu since most things are stronger than you there’s a whole mechanic on how to handle chase scenes. If you were just a normal person and you walked into a room with a Wendigo, best believe you’d run for your life too. But this can also be reversed. Your party could be chasing after a thief who stole an important item. Chases can add a bit of chaotic flair to your session and give your players agency to act quickly.
COC has very in depth rules on how to handle chase scenes, but for D&D we can simplify them a bit. Take into account the move speeds of your players and your Npcs, and make them succeed in various checks and saving throws to see if they can catch the culprit. What kind of checks? Depends on the situation and how you wanna play it! Say the thief kicks over a barrel as she’s running, make your players do an acrobatics check to jump over it. If they succeed several times, then it’s safe to say that the thief will be regretting a few things.
3. Scare your players from time to time.
It’s well known that people like to be scared from time to time. Just look at haunted houses! Being scared can be fun in a controlled environment. So be sure to try spooking the party from time to time. Describe the atmosphere of foreboding places to give your players a sense of unease, make a formidable creature stalk them in the dead of night. Using fear sparingly will make it all the more powerful, and exciting for your players.
Let’s say the party is investigating a crypt where people have heard strange noises. Play up the ambiance, describe how they feel a crippling sense of bloodlust in the air as they approach the entrance. Then after navigating the twists and turns of the dungeon, and solving a few puzzles, don't just put a lich in a room. Instead have the lich slowly rise out from a fountain of blood, while describing the terrifying aura he possesses.
4. Use mystery to keep players engaged.
I alluded to this earlier in the handouts section. Creating a mystery to be solved is a fantastic way to get your players hooked. “Why did this happen? Who did it? What's going to happen next!?” People are curious creatures, and when you wrap the party in a meaningful mystery they’re going to do everything in their power to solve it.
That being said, the mystery has to engage the players correctly. Searching for a stolen sword won’t intrigue your players as much as solving the murder of a beloved Npc. Be sure to make mysteries that have importance to your players! If they’re a bunch of murder hobos, then they probably won't be interested in finding a lost child, but hunting down a powerful cursed artifact? That might just catch their eyes. Use mysteries when you can, they’re lots of fun.
5. Don’t describe the unfathomable.
In cosmic horror the author tends not to outright describe every detail of the monstrosities. This is because they’re puny human brains can’t comprehend what they’re looking at. This can be useful in D&D to play up fear and leave it up to the imagination. If it's so horrid it can hardly be described, you might think twice about picking a fight with it.
This technique can be a double edged sword however, if you simply say it’s indescribable, then that feels lazy and boring. If you use descriptive words to help build a sense of true horror, then it feels scary and exciting. Let’s say it's not a lich at the end of our crypt from before, it’s an eldritch abomination instead. Don’t fully describe what's rising out of our blood fountain. Instead let’s describe how terrifying it is.
“The chamber is large, with walls covered with unintelligible runes and carvings, there is a large fountain spewing hot red liquid in the center of the room. As you enter, the liquid of the fountain begins to boil, hot steam is obstructing your view, but you see a haunting shape emerging from the fountain before you, its many limbs sprawling out as it reaches in your direction. Roll for initiative.”
Finally
With these tips in mind you can incorporate some of Call of Cthulhu’s horror mechanics into your own game. This is a fun way to spice up the D&D experience for your players. Remember though not every encounter has to be scary, and not every mystery has to be life or death. Using these in moderation will add to greater effect.
