R'lyeh

Bioshock arrived yesterday and I spent most of last night playing it. I'm enjoying the game but at times I feel that the game might be improved if it leaned more towards generating a creepy atmosphere (which is done very well at the very beginning of the game) rather than challenging the player with powerful enemies (battling Bouncers is pretty exhilarating). Then again I've only just made it out of Neptune's Bounty (the second area in the game I think, but the areas are pretty large and warrant much exploration), so I'll reserve further judgement until I've gotten at least a bit further.

In other news Dungeons and Dragons is this Sunday, as usual, but I've still not got much material prepared. I know where the players are going, who they are meeting/fighting and what will happen, I'm just lacking all my stat-blocked NPCs, monsters, traps, treasure hoards, and environmental challenges. Sure I know the challenge rating of the orc warchief they are trying to defeat, but things will go a whole lot smoother if I have encounter levels and commonly-encountered statistics noted down in an easy-to-read format. As it is, once the PCs reach the tribe shaman I'll be shuffling through piles of notes, stalling for time until I find the reference to the spell he is casting at them.

I suppose I have no one to blame but myself. It's Friday already (that crept up on me quite quickly) and what with Ayleid statue quests and exploring the damp halls of Rapture I haven't really set aside much time to get my head down and write up my Dungeon Master's notes. Sure I could hack and flail away at my keyboard this evening after work but I should have done more earlier in the week (then I could take advantage of my office's laserjet rather than having to rely on the low-quality inkjet at home).

In related news I've been re-reading the Call of Cthulhu rulebook; the more I read it the more I'd like to give the game a go. Of course the best experience would stem from being an Investigator under the guidance of a veteran Keeper (Investigators are the players, Keepers are the game masters) but I don't know anyone who has ever played CoC. In fact I'm not sure if I know anyone else who has the rulebook. So my thoughts turn to running a game as a Keeper. Of course I'm still DMing my Dungeons and Dragons campaign so there would be twice the amount of work involved and I would also have to find time to host the game. I'm not sure how a typical CoC "adventure" is run other than 1) introduce investigators to mystery, 2) investigators research into cause of mystery, 3) investigators experience encounters with increasingly disturbing themes, 4) investigators get the shit scared out of them, 5) investigators save the day; delaying the inevitable, that or they die horribly/go irrevocably mad.

Running a dungeons and dragons adventure or campaign is easy enough because it can be themed around pretty much anything that seems heroic or exciting. Whether it is tried-and-tested or cliché (slay the dragon, rescue the princess from the ogre king, steal the treasure from the sorcerer's crypt); or slightly more original and exotic (break free from your servitude under the Silver Torque and assassinate your previous masters, journey into the Frozen Forest and stop the high druid before she freezes the world, find and destroy the Crown of Gulkarra to foil the ancient prophecy), you can pretty much make a D&D adventure out of it with NPC interaction, role playing, puzzle-solving, and combat.

Call of Cthulhu is a very light-combat/heavy-horror game. Because much of H. P. Lovecraft's work is about events over time or the research someone has done on a specific subject, I'm finding it hard to translate those ideas into tabletop-game terms. The story "Call of Cthulhu", for example, is about several different people and their experiences with strange, occult things that happen to be tied to the Great Old One known as Cthulhu. The stories are brought together by someone on the outside who is afforded a step back to look at all the events from one perspective. This makes for an interesting book but I doubt I could give my Investigators a diary, the name of an NPC to talk to, and hand their characters return tickets to Norway and expect them to come back next week for more. As I say I'd like to see a game of 'Cthulhu run by an experienced Keeper before I consider running my own.