Source
r/callofcthulhu•
TimeForWaffles

Intro Scenarios

Hi, I'm looking to start a new campaign for 6 (Yeah I know, big group!) And I'm having a little trouble settling upon a starting point.

I want to eventually lead into masks since no one has played it before but they all want to give it a go.

Right now I've got Amidst The Ancient Trees, Blackwater Creek and Idol of Thoth on the table, but I was thinking opinions from other keepers would be great!

Edit: I'm making this post because half of the group has gone through The Haunting and other classics (Edge of Darkness for example). Even if they don't know the names of the scenarios.

Posted Mar 27, 2019, 6:52 PM UTC · edited

311
seansand•

This is probably the most-asked question in this subreddit. The canonical answer is to start with either The Haunting from the Quick Start rules, or Edge of Darkness from the new starter set (or from the 5th or 6th edition rules). In my own group we did Edge of Darkness first (I think it's slightly better), then The Haunting, but either would be a fine option.

Anything from the new-ish Doors to Darkness supplement would probably be good as well.

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TimeForWafflesOP•

Problem is it's the same suggestions every time. I should've pointed it out and I'll edit the post because these players have played most of the common ones.

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stephenad314•

There's a scenario in the core book (The Scarlet Letters, I think the name is). I had a good time running that, and had a good balance of activities and different characters. I let the players start out not knowing each other and used it to give the characters excuses to meet and work together.

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TimeForWafflesOP•

Crimson Letters?

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stephenad314•

That's the one. Knew it was a shade of red.

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kwrona•

I think it was named that to be a reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne book - The Scarlet Letter. If my comment is obvious, I can only say that in my country it's not a well-known book.

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TimeForWafflesOP•

It would fit in nicely with the ones I have lined up to choose from. I do want to lead into Masks so I have to think about laying the hooks for that early too.

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stephenad314•

I had planned to lead in to Masks. Went awry, but you can have some hooks. Have some Bloody Tongue types be an interested party. I think I introduced Jackson Elias as a side character somewhere.

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hangfire6•

One in Darkness is very good, and under-recommended. It's got Mobsters, a MacGuffin and a Monster! Good for a party without Mythos knowledge, sets them up with a lot of cash to fund a campaign.

I left some keepers notes on this wiki: https://www.yog-sothoth.com/wiki/index.php/One_In_Darkness

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Enerod44•

So if I understand well, you ask for short scenarios for an already experienced group of players in order to introduce mask ?

In that case, you have MANY scenarios available ! My opinion on the first scenarios before MoN is to go smoothly and avoid big encounters with the mythos : you want to keep a tone where a sceptical character could more or less explain everything. So Blackwater Creek and Amidst the Ancient trees feels a bit too much. Moreover, the idol of Thot will make the player go to Egypt, which might spoil the pleasure of going there during MoN (or a good idea if you want them to retrieve old friends and enemies).

Elias wrote a book about witches cult... why not playing a scenario involving these (witches/cults/witch's cult), when Elias is writting the book ? You have Keepers of the Woods, even if it's for Toc, and also the scenario from the Arkham Gazette issue #3 where you investigate a lineage of witches, pretty low on mythos. Crimson letters from the rulebook seems to be a good choice also : it's not that mythos heavy, you can start to build many recurring npcs (I did not think about it but maybe some important npcs from MoN could be some of the suspect from Crimson Letters ?). A Innsmouth-related introduction could be fun also : you can do several scenarios around, involving Elias on these strange rites from the sea, without going to deep in Innsmouth (or maybe Elias only manages to see the tip while the investigators end up seeing the whole picture, without any real evidences). The supplement More Adventures in Arkham Country is also filled with low-mythos scenarios where Elias/other npcs could appear easily (check some reviews). Mansions of Madness comes also in mind.

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