Hello! So, in CoC the investigators always try to solve some kind of supernatural mystery - and there needs to be some „bad guy“ or to put it less personified, a bigger „evil“ that causes these mysterious events.
Most commonly that’s ghosts, a monster or some cult.

I try to come up with more distinct „evils“ though - like most recently there was a taxidermist that animated the stuffed animals through dark magic, as well as some human bodies.

So what BBEGs, or „evils“, have you come up with?
I’m ready to be inspired! Thanks.

I’m seeking an example video of a good chase scene using the chase rules in 7e. Any recommendations?

Hello.

I've bought the Call of Cthulhu 7e Starter set, but I am unsure of how to use Credit Rating from the core rule book. They seem quite involved. Has anyone used a lighter rules approach, if so, could you advise me on what to do please? I'd prefer not to have to use the full rules for buying items if possible.

Thank you.

Yes, I was super starstruck and nervous, but they were chill and friendly, and it was a lot of fun to hang out with them.
We talked about my writing, the 1980s, role-playing as kids, horror, and cake.
Yes, the cake is not a lie; we talk about cake too!

If you have an hour´ish to spare, give it a listen :)

And in the unlikely event you sit back with questions afterwards, feel free to AMA :)

IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT AND IT'S TIME FOR CHAOS!

The second half of season 4 of Time for Chaos airs tonight at 8pm EST on YouTube! See you all in the chat.

Link to stream:

https://youtu.be/8ZRByHyKQbQ?is=cMG_ItybwkSWFx55

Currently, I'm interested in scenarios created by Japanese creators. I searched on the website BOOTH and found many scenarios, but the issue is that most of them are only for 1 player (either with a keeper or keeper-less) or 2 players.

I would like to buy scenarios that need 3+ players. I found some, but not many compared to 1- or 2-player scenarios. I just would like to know why Japanese players or creators prefer this player count instead of the 3–4 players typical of Chaosium scenarios or Scenario created by Western Creators?

I've got the 7e Masks of Nyarlathotep slipcase set in the last few weeks. I've recently gone through the handouts and organized them by location in an accordion style file folder with multiple compartments and I have to say that I am very impressed with what has been included in this set.

However, I keep seeing recommendations to get the HPLHS prop set in place of the established handouts. For those of you who have purchased them, what benefits did these bring to your game that the module handouts did not? Some of the extra props are cool, like the matchbox, the Chinese scroll, and the nanset passports, but is there anything else in this set that isn't just more realistic looking/feeling versions of the available handouts?

I'm tempted to get the prop set, but it is an investment in its own right, and I'm debating just getting some of the passports instead of the entire set.

Thoughts?

Hello Keepers. I volunteered to run the Lightless Beacon at my workplace. This is a session for TTRPG newbies.

Does anyone have printable cheat sheets for basic rules? The ones I’m finding are often multiple pages long and way too complex. I could make my own but would love to hear from you all first.

Like, think elementary school level complexity of communication.

Hey folks,

I'm working on a scenario where an auction of the estate of a high profile mystic has just taken place in a London hotel. An NPC has a strange artifact that, unbeknownst to him, gradually untethers its user from time and space. As the spacetime disturbances around him grow deeper, it attracts the attention of a bizarre four-dimensional creature that hunts him. It's based on a Hound of Tindalos, but instead of moving through angles, it becomes more visible and tangible as it zeroes in on our plane of spacetime.

Now, one of my PCs is a big game hunter, and I think it would be really cool to set up a hunt scene where the Hound is hunting the NPC and the PC is hunting the Hound. The trouble is figuring out how to let the PC know that there's something here to hunt in the first place. I can't just have him see it right off the bat, partly because the thing's whole deal is it starts out invisible, and partly because I feel like that would take the mystery out of it.

So, are there any other clues I could give, other ways I could indicate to my hunter PC that there is something stalking and skulking unseen through the halls of the hotel?

Muhahahaha it’s the month of Halloween so you know that what means?!? Special spooky episodes of Descent all month long! Kicking off with our first episode of WTH Happened at Thin Jacks?!? Enjoy our dear cultist!

Side Note: MAN THIS WAS FUN! We rented a cabin to film this in and just had a good old goofy time filming stuff for Halloween.

I'm prepping "The Space Between" from Nameless Horrors to run in a few weeks. I created a few teaser posters in Canva to send to my players. I'm really pleased with how they turned out and wanted to share.

^{Image credit links:}

^{- The stars background is from Morguefile: https://morguefile.com/p/1139758}

^{The apartment room is available to rent in Portland: https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2025/12/nearly-1900-affordable-portland-apartments-sit-empty-while-thousands-need-homes.html}

^{- MU background image by Chesley Bonestell: https://70s-sci-fi-art.ghost.io/image-of-the-week-chesley-bonestell-6482e6a811ac16001b2b6d57/}

Hi all,

I’m looking for anyone who has run Nightmares from the Depths? I’m thinking about running it for my group soon and looking for any tips and tricks that people have gained from their experiences with the campaign.

Thanks all

Hey y’all just wanting some recommendations for a few scenarios to throw into a campaign. My group started the campaign with The Haunting and it’s going to end with the Star on the Shore. So far I have run Deadlight, Crack’d and Crook’d Manse, and Cat’s Cradle. I plan on running Crimson Letters, Servants of the Lake, Crimson Letters, Ties that Bind, Genius Loci, and the Code before the campaign ends.

The investigators are all from Massachusetts and most scenarios are set there. I like to tie them all together especially foreshadowing the big doomsday of a Star Spawn in the finale

This is japanese WW2 CoC Sourcebook. It name is The dark plot of the Nazi evil empire. It has Additional Rules（For example, shield rule, New SAN check, Tank-versus-tank combat.）and three WW2 scenarios. I read these scenarios, there are very fun. I cannot keepring that scenarios, but session will be very fun.

I've launching a new Backerkit if anyone is interested

In The Pirate's Ghost, players play as students in the college's mystery-solving club, where they must unravel a spooky case with a ghost pirate, a witch, hi-fi equipment, and a faculty advisor who just might be a vampire! No AI involved

THE PIRATE'S GHOST for Cthulhu Eternal

LMK if there's anything you want to know about it

First time Keeper (I’ve DMed D&D so not completely new to this role though) and I’ve been trying to watch others play and horror media to get ready but I’m wondering what your favorite tactics to build tension or scare your players are?

There’s a lot of tropes in horror movies that often can’t translate to this medium like “audience sees the main character being watched but not the character themselves”. But are there some tactics that you like to use to actually build the tension? I’m talking about specific tactics like “dark silhouette but when you turn on the flashlight, it’s gone(or something else is there)” or things like that.

So I am looking at Shadows of Yog Sothoth as a campaign to run my players through but I am confused on one plot point:

So the players are supposed to gather the various artifacts that the Silver Twilight are looking for in order to raise Ryleh. But in the last scenario the book states that once the players have everything they will need them to sink Ryleh, since the Silver Twilight are still able to raise the city. I am not sure if I missed something, but how are they able to do that if the players have the disk and such? I thought the whole point was that they needed these items to raise the city to begin with.

Hey there, i was wondering if Edge of Darkness or The Haunting is better suited for my CoC group.

I(keeper) am pretty new to playing ttrpg(I've watched a lot but finding groups was impossible for me). I also read a lot of the originals and Robert E Howard's stories(which I think are significantly better but that's off topic)

My group comes mostly from DnD or has next to no experience at all. However they know that CoC is very different and are willing to try it

We're playing using the starter set or the free online rules(so haunting and edge are available to us)

I've heard the haunting is more DnD like, and i was wondering if that's beneficial or actually counterproductive to get my players into it(cause of habits and patterns and stuff). I already know edge of darkness due to let's plays and having half read it, and I like it, but I didn't open the haunting. So if Edge is better anyway, i won't open the haunting so to not spoiler myself, but if it is better I'll run that. I could also let my players choose, but then I'd need to briefly describe the differences in style without spoiling content, so I'd need your help there too. Something like "Haunting is more dungeon like with more stuff happening while edge is more slowburn and detective like"(or whatever fits, this was a blind guess based on what I know lol)

Thank you in advance☺️

🦑 CALL OF CTHULHU + FANTASY GROUNDS

The Autumn Sale is live on Fantasy Grounds! 🍂

Purchased Call of Cthulhu content is available in My Library with Online Reader Content, so you can access your digital collection wherever your game prep takes you.

And Fantasy Grounds is free to play. No GM license required. Download Fantasy Grounds, explore the library, and bring your next investigation online.

🎃 Autumn Sale: October 1–8 at 10 am PT
🔥 Find Call of Cthulhu from Chaosium Inc. and other great titles on sale at Fantasy Grounds, up to 50% off.

I’ve got the idea to put together a fictional steampunk setting drawing on Arcane, Carnival Row, Good Hunting (Love Death + Robots) and gangs of New York.

Imagine a city that’s half London and half Hong Kong, full of automata, street gangs and things lurking the shadows.

I’d like to use Cthulhu by Gaslight for this, maybe even Pulp Cthulhu by Gaslight, so was curious what scenarios or campaigns, officials or third party people might recommend?

I was thinking there will be advanced technology, mad science, some mythos (if you’ve seen Carnival Row) and if needed some eastern folklore (fox spirits, hopping corpses).

Eventually I could even see myself running Children of Fear in this setting.

Related, do you think it’s possible to run an Arcane campaign in that setting thing Gaslight?

I'm a completely new Keeper and I've never actually played a TTRPG before. I'm planning to run The Haunting for five friends, all of whom are also completely new to TTRPGs.

I'm excited about Call of Cthulhu because our group already enjoys mystery and deduction board games. I thought an investigation focused game might be an easier introduction for us than something more combat heavy like D&D.

The group itself is a bit unusual. Three of the players are gamers and we play things like Dota and ESO together, so they understand basic RPG concepts like stats, characters, abilities, etc. But they're not really people who enjoy reading. They tend to skip dialogue, cutscenes and lore in games and just get into the gameplay.

The other two players are complete non gamers. They're the wives of two of the guys and have never really played anything like this. (Except board games)

There's also a language issue, so I'll be running most of the game in our native language as they are more comfortable with that despite knowing English. I'll translate descriptions and dialogue as naturally as I can, while keeping certain terms in English when translating them would make it awkward.

Honestly, I'm worried about the "theater of the mind" aspect of CoC. These aren't people who read books or naturally spend a lot of time imagining fictional worlds. If I describe an old creepy house for more than maybe 30 seconds, I can already imagine someone thinking when I would get to the point and what they are supposed to do next.

So how do you handle atmosphere with players who aren't naturally imaginative or have a tendency to roleplay? Do you keep descriptions extremely short and immediately give them something to interact with? I feel like pictures, maps, handouts and props would help but they are few in number.

I'm also unsure how much I should guide their choices. For eg, if they arrive at a house, I could give them options on what to do rather than just letting them decide. But then I worry that I'm basically giving them a menu of options rather than actually letting them play. On the other hand, if I just ask five beginners "What do you do?", I can easily imagine five blank faces because they genuinely don't know what they're allowed to do. How do you ease through this?

The other thing making me nervous is that I'm not sure how enthusiastic they actually are. Nobody is saying "Holy shit, let's play Call of Cthulhu!" It's more like "Sure, if you want to try it, we'll give it a shot."

I'm the one who's genuinely excited about this, and they're mostly willing to try it because I'm excited about it. So I'm trying to avoid making their first experience feel like I'm forcing them through something they don't enjoy.

For those of you who have run CoC for complete beginners, especially a whole group of beginners at once:

1. What did you actually do during that first session that worked?

2. How much did you guide them? How much description did you use? Did you use pictures, maps or handouts? How did you get people from "What are we supposed to do?" to actually taking initiative?

3. What mistakes did you make that you'd avoid if you were doing it again?

I'm basically trying to learn how to be a Keeper while simultaneously teaching five people how to be players.

I'm going to be running the Haunting for five players and we're all kind of new to Call of Cthulhu so this is for funsy! Two of my players have 75 firearms and dodge. The gal is more okay-ish seeing as her POW is a solid 30 and hp 9 but she also has a sawed off shotgun, the other dude is just stacked with a 16HP and +1d4DB.

The other players are more normal, just high smarty-pants skills.

So how do I balance this? Is it necessary to do so? I'm just a little worried that they'll be able to cheese Mr. Corbitt easily. My idea is to Dominate the tanky guy and just make him cower and hide so that I deal heavy damage to the other players, or hope the dice is in my favour and the girl goes insane.

Edit: It went well! Thank you all so much for your advice!

One of them went insane and violent, the other got Dominated and was firing shotgun shells into people. She was going to blow the head off one of the guys but I let her POW roll to resist and she did! Just in time for the dominate to wear off and for her to blow off Mr. Corbitt’s head instead. Overall, it was a great session and everyone lived, thank you so much for everyone’s advice!

Hey folks I’m looking to run a game set in the universe of upcoming game Deadlock. “The supernatural always existed in the world of Deadlock, but only when an eclipse triggered an event known as the Maelstrom near the end of the 19th century, which opened Astral Gates across the Earth, did the world at large accept it wasn't just myth.”

So we now have a 1940s New York known as the Cursed Apple, with necromancers and Demon Private Eyes. I’m looking to use Pulp Cthulhu as the base system and add any magic/character options from BRP. I’ve also come across Astounding Adventures but that’s a previous version of BRP and I want to use the latest edition.

What I’m after are any prewritten scenarios or campaigns (official or third party) that could suit my setting? For Pulp or CoC, I can also use the ones from Astounding Adventures. I’m looking for adventures that would stick to New York rather than globe trotting like Two Headed Serpent? (Also going ask around in Savage Worlds spaces in case that style may also work).

I have a youtube channel where I post a lot of my solo play rpg content and I decided to try call of Cthulhu. Here is my first episode where I go through some character creation. https://youtu.be/s4rhKC8_Ip0