Call of Cthulhu: Angel's Thirst - RPG Review
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- čas přidán 8. 10. 2022
- Set in 1920's Los Angeles, the Characters are hired to locate a missing cab driver, but cross a dangerous cult. This adventure appears in the Cults of Cthulhu book for 7th Edition. Here are my thoughts, suggestions, and criticisms.
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Guest starring Jack the NPC - Hry
Oh my god! Thank you so much for the review! I'm so glad you guys liked it!
Thank you for a fun adventure.
@@SSkorkowsky And also, GREAT VIDEO! My wife watched it with me and she's not a gamer!
@@chrislackey late to the game here. But I always love when creators show up in the comments. And also, this one seems rather good. Need to play it sometime!
@@Zappline Me too! That's why I try to support stuff like this. A comment helps a lot with visibility.
@@chrislackey this is very true!
Thanks for your work btw (even tho I haven't played it) I wrote a game system last year and funded it though Kickstarter, went alright. But I also know that creators usually don't get enough cred for their hard work 😊
Jack the NPC is such an awesome character. He just humanizes the setting, and adds his own quips to make things funnier.
"Wow, so happy to meet a fan! We'll be happy to do it for you." *aside* "She knows too much, get the shovels and the quicklime..."
"Angels Thirst"
Wait, no, that's how you get Nephelim.
"Maybe Diaz can get some of his cab driver friends to come out and help"
This is where you learn most cabbie's have an exceptionally high Mythos skill and have learned to look the other way when a Deep One or Ghoul hails them for a ride.
Or better yet: a group of Mythos Hunters work as a cab company for a front; hiding the dark and gritty work they do that keeps everyone a little safer!
Using this for character inspiration, thanks :)
A fare's a fare, but cash up front.
I can only imagine the PC being saved by a taxi company that moonlight as mythos investigators
Now I can't get Danny DeVito, Andy Kaufman and Christopher Lloyd out of my head! Like a Taxi version of the Ghostbusters.
Diaz is probably Tony Danza.
Travis Bickle was a Lovecraftian investigator and that brothel he shot up was run by a cult.
Now that would be a dark and gritty game!
"Accidentally" joining a Cthulhu cult is tight.
Super easy. Barley an inconvenience
That epilogue is priceless 😅
Poor Jack always finds himself knee deep and one eye short in some shenanigans lol
No time traveling comments
"So I didn't do the ritual, except I totally did. Wait, shit..."
"No, your honor, you see my client only joined the cult and did the ritual ironically"
@@NoFlu 😅
A new Seth video to make my day brighter with eldritch darkness!
...Wait, brighter with darkness... Cthulhu, does the non-euclidean math check on that?
omg, it took a lot longer to get from 97k to 100k, than 100k to 103k. Is that algorithm a DM?
Once you hit certain numbers, your growth generally increases more rapidly. Either because CZcams algo or because of more viewers, more recommendations, etc. Glad to see he's at 100k now though.
1st edition Wizard.
Love that Elsie was just allowed to leave after her mother got snuffed. This has to be the first time your players have let a Mythos cultist (and probable Deep One hybrid) go just because they shared the same taste in reading materials. Maybe they could form a book club? :)
Spot on.
A Cthulhu book club sounds like that episode of king of the hill where Peggy and dale made a book club/gun club
The Ghostbusters Stantz line about listening to smells was golden.
I’ve been using your videos as guides for the past 6 months and I’ve never found a better source of advice for gm’s than your channel
10:27 When you have your own base, it's nice to take these little side trips to make your home prettier...or more secure.
Yet another fantastic video. Full of tips and humour. The temple backgrounds for Jack's bits to camera are especially cool.
The Jack the Cultist outro is a real giggle.
I seriously wouldn't mind a whole video about that cult. Please do it!
Mentioning the movie 'Dagon' is worth an extra thumbs-up! 😎
Levi Diaz and the Hostage Victims sounds like a great band name. That, and Doug Mann sounds like the best discount super hero ever. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Trying to swim to the pool inside the temple reminds me of a very Cthulhu-esque D&D adventure I played in where our group were all able to breathe underwater and skipped a whole mini-dungeon by swimming up to the pool where the aboleth leading this cult was hanging out. Que my kuo-toa sorceress summoning a swarm of lobsters to help us fight it.
Jack joining a cult is by far the funniest thing I've heard today. Thanks for the laugh and an awesome review Seth :D
Always a pleasure to see your vids, Seth.
You just made my night, uploading this. I'm so excited.
Great video, as always. Thank for your labor.
Cults of Cthulhu looks really interesting.
. Hey Seth, a long time fan here just wanted to write that I love your game reviews, they give so much to think about and your characters interpretation is just great. I'm truly learning a lot from your efforts! keep them up
Another great video Seth! Keep up the great work and thank you for making this video!
Yeay. New audio adventure, love listening to these adventures.
I wasn't as high on this adventure as you, probably because I live in LA and know that part of Venice quite well and... just didn't feel the best use was made of the setting. (Deep Ones in the Angeles National Forest just seemed "off" to me.) Still, I've only read it and not played it, so my opinion could well change. Regarding the maps, the US Geological Survey has put thousands of online for free download. The 1924 Venice 1:24000 topo map is available and would be a great substitute.
Ah THX thats a super suggestion "US Geological Survey" - "1924 Venice 1:24000 topo map"
Me, earlier tonight: “Hm, I know Seth Skorkowsky mentioned running Angel’s Thirst earlier this year. It would be cool if he dropped a review for it soon because I’m going to be running it as a New Year’s Special.”
Seth Skorkowsky:
I haven't played CoC in a while, but a Seth video is always a blessing on hard days, thanks a lot man
"Listen! You smell somethin?"
I love the Ghostbusters reference
Thanks for the upload. Means a lot, for real.
Need Seth to put a playlist out of these modules in the order his campaign has them run in, since he makes reference to so many of them being played through by his friends in a certain sequence, like this one clearly being run after Crimson Letters
"Listen! You guys smell something?" "Get her! That was your big plan? Get her?"
'And I'm Jack, the property mogul and Cthulhu cult member; and my life did not turn out as I planned!'
I love your stuff, Seth. I await each video and watch them all. I appreciate the quick style. This one, though? wow. Just too fast for me.
Very cool. I haven't delved into my Cults of Cthulhu book yet as I just can't find the time. This one sounds amazing though. I love the fact that Jack is inadvertantly a cultist of Cthulhu. Enjoyed this review very much. Thanks!
I really hope that there's a story path in which you use the Ball Bearing Distributor to have wacky "star spawn and deep ones struggle to stand up after the PCs dump tens of thousands of ball bearings on the floor."
I ran this for my group over the summer and it was a big hit. We had a great scene where the PCs volunteered to help at the soup kitchen and ended up getting in a bit too deep with the church. Really nice to see your perspective and hear how it went for your group!
This was an excellent review, thank you.
Great video and fun analysis!
Always excited for another Seth video, what an awesome birthday present!
Happy birthday.
@@SSkorkowsky Thank you very much! Please continue to be as awesome as you are and keep making cool shit. I'm loving Voyagers of the Jump and even though I don't know how it ends, I'm already hoping for a continuation or future season. As of time of writing this comment, we're sitting on a pretty severe Capodicasa Cliffy once y'all got back to THE Kate's Gambit. I'm so excited to see how it resolves.
Tonight will be the thrilling conclusion for the adventure. Hope you enjoy it.
Great video Seth. I just got my copy of Cults of Cthulhu. It's gorgeous and I can't wait to run my next Call of Cthulhu campaign.
Straight in from the gym at 3 AM and when Jack our NPC starts to tell his closing at 24:00 (using tie stamp so as not to spoil anything)...
Me:" And I thought I was awake BEFORE the end!" Seth, another rousing adventure; thank you!
Been watching for awhile don't comment often but having broken away from dnd I want to that you for introducing me to this game and helping me run it smoothly for the first time.😁👍
Happy to help.
Great timing. I’m about to run this adventure.
Great as always! 👍
Great review....And really nice t-shirt!!!
Hey Seth I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt that said, "Cthulhu for president! Why vote for the lesser evil?" LoL Perfect!
I’d rather vote for Cthulhu then Trump.
Great video which helps a lot as I am running this start of July on our Discord server so will watch it again and take notes. Love Jack and the epilogue was ace !!!
Dope, you are covering stuff from cults.
I thought about picking up this book so it’s good to hear there’s a good scenario inside.
Loved Chaosium’s liveplay of this one. The Australians rock. May run this one soon. Giving it a good think, thanks for the video!
Seth Skorokowsky. Great CZcamsr to binge watch on a long car ride.
I really hope you're not the one driving
I feel like their needs to be a netflix show like the twilight zone or quantum leap where it is all of the adventures of Jack the NPC.
A show yes, a netflix show no.
Coming in late, but the discussion on the cults at the start has me thinking: Why aren't more Cthulhu adventure games, stories, etc. taking place in the late 60's and early 70's? That time was rife with esoteric mysticism and cult activity, and the psychedelia of the time period would lend itself well to some great plot lines.
And you could blast Sabbath while blasting some mondo drag cultists.
Good video. Love your stuff Seth.
Also, I just finished Hounacier and I thought it was Fangoddamntastic. Can’t wait to start Ibenus.
Oh! A campaign diary following his players' antics!
My favourite thing to do at the end of my CoC Scenarios, If Seth made a review, is "reward" my players to see the review.
Seth saying "Successfully ran this adventure" is the biggest flex in the table top RPG community.
Thanks for the English subtitles, it makes the video easier to watch by translating it into Spanish. (Google Translate)
I love your videos Seth! You’ve stated in the past that one of your strengths as a GM is your ability to design dungeons, I would love to see a video on tips and tricks to design one some day.
I've started outlining a video on the topic. Because it was something I'd just learned to do over a lot of time, I'd never organized my approach or philosophy to dungeon and trap design in words. So I went and checked out some blogs and videos about it, started learning some of the common vernacular people use for stuff, and seeing how their approach compares to mine. There were a lot of cool ideas that I agreed with 90%. 10% I found unhelpful for people, or simply a poor approach. So I've got my approach mostly mapped out and I'll also be phrasing some stuff in a way to disprove some of the worse advice I've seen.
But, since I have no idea when I'll tackle the video itself (or it it'll need to b split into 2 videos), here's the super-short highlights:
Design it in a way that makes sense. Why is it here? Does it have a history? The history of the place should be evident. A mine that became a dwarven town, that is now the lair of goblins should have evidence or relics of every phase of the dungeon's history. That makes it feel real.
If there's things living in it, give it an ecology. What do these things eat? Where do they get water? Where do they poop? If they use fire, where does the smoke go? If its populated deep down, how does air get down there?
Think 3-dimentionally when designing. What's above and below a level might have an effect.
Consider Features, such as waist-deep water or unsafe walls that might collapse if area-of-effect spells go off. Adding a feature can dramatically change a dungeon.
Traps should make sense. Traps and Obstacles are different things entirely. A Trap that is identified, but not disarmed, can become an Obstacle. Tricks (an all-but-forgotten D&D term) are Obstacles or Features that are magical (like a magical fountain that heals 1d8 damage on the first sip, but causes 1d8 damage on the second). They should make sense, but also feel different than a normal Trap (like a swinging blade) or an Obstacle (like an open chasm they need to cross). There's also Threats (which might have been sprung by a Trap). Threats are Obstacles on a timer, such as a closing wall or a locked room filling with water. Puzzles are a kind of Obstacle and might include Traps or Threats. Puzzles are best if all the pieces to solve it are given, but figuring out how to do it is up to the players. Riddles are terrible Puzzles. GMs should mix and vary their Features, Obstacles, Traps, Puzzles, & Threats.
Rip off every movie and TV show ever made for cool ideas.
@@SSkorkowsky thank you so much for this reply. I can’t wait to incorporate all of this
Awesome video thanks
A reference to the best line in Ghostbusters and another great video :D
Thanks Seth, It was nice as allways 👍.
Good stuff!
A Seth upload on my birthday the best gift I've gotten!
Happy Birthday 🎂 🎉
Happy birthday!
@@SSkorkowsky thank you seth and you to @Wraithing.
"Listen, you guys smell something?" Is my new favorite Jack line.
Yay new seth video! Glad I could get to this one in a timely manner haha
I always wondered if Jack's flask actually contain alcohol. I mean, I can see Seth giving himself some extra bonus after finishing another video :D
Hey Seth! Was curious how you felt on using 1975's The Day of the Locust as a bit of an inspiration on this one. The ending riot with it's crazy visuals alone really are very unsettling and though they don't mention Aimee McPherson by name there is a very prominent scene featuring a stand in for her. The movie is such an interesting and horrific take on the time period. Might give some folks an interesting set of ideas.
Mmm... Inconceivable! Seth didn't mention the two very conveniently and well placed WC's in the Temple!?! Then again one mention of water closets per episode is probably enough when he pointed out the private bathroom that connects to missing (loc 4) Lambardo's office... 😄
Really enjoying this adventure, I'm currently running it as a Solo CoC - Pulp adventure (My first Pulp CoC Keeper Dive)
The Cults of Cthulhu book for 7th Edition is really very good... THX Seth super review really helped me get to grips with the adventure and give me confidence to invest and make the dive into 7th Edition CoC Pulp
wishing you all the best
Uh oh... Jack's in trouble. Or is he?
Maybe Cthulhu has good insurance plans?
From the title I was expecting mythos-flavored vampires.
Chaosium has uploaded a playthrough of it, recently:
czcams.com/video/n2HJ8ORK7RU/video.html
"she knows too much, we might need to take her out" - we interrupt CoC for Delta Green.
Jack the NPC should totally have a Tiktok or Instagram with no character breaking if he doesn't already.
That end! Poor mr NPC... :D
Something tells me Jack the NPC failed his listening roll lol. "Listen! Do you guys smell something?..." lol. He messed up his roll so badly he could smell what was going on instead of hearing it lol
Or rolled 01 😂
Even normal people look like hybrids - half deep ones in this module
I always enjoy the epilogues, but that was one of the best. :)
The ‘tunnel access to the temple’ thing reminded me of Chinatown-so if I get around to running this, I might have the tunnel exposed or easier to access during low tide.
Something about L.A. and tides just feels properly noir.
This is so awesome! I love your view on this adventure. I have an unrelated question, have you run or played Berlin: The Wicked City?
Haven't played it.
Hi Seth, I just finished Mountain of Daggers and oh my god!! It’s so good and interesting, I had some doubts at the beginning but now it is one of my favorite books, I’m buying the second tomorrow =)
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you.
Love the Venice Canals ca. 15:30.
Will you be doing a review of The Cabinet of Curiosities versions of Pickman's Model and Dreams in the Witch house?
An evil cult leader has 3 children, one being a perfectly innocent young human woman while the other 2 are deep one hybrids...this sounds similar to Shadow Over Innsmouth's Captain Marsh
Props for the Dagon film reference. Seriously underrated bad-good mythos film in the Empire Pictures style.
Oops Jack accidentally released Great Old Cthulhu....well, we've all been there. Right guys ......what?
Regarding maps - you could always cover the warehouse floorplan with a 'roof' and remove that bit of paper at the right time. :)
Always enjoy your videos Seth! Any chance of seeing more Cyberpunk content?
Eventually. Our Cyberpunk Red game has been stalled due to life and scheduling conflicts.
How do you keep track of time in a scenario? I have trouble trying to find a way to easily keep time in a game. Please help?
Would be fun for future outros if Jack started getting mythos powers for being a cultist, unwilling as he may be, as a reward for fighting opposing cults during the course of his adventures. Would drive the "oopsie"-nail ever deeper.
Hi Seth! Do you have plans to review (or even better, a serie of videos like you did for the 2 headed serpent) the Masks of Nyarlathotep? That and the Orient Express are classics of CoC and I would love to hear your take about it.
Dunno. Probably not. Monster campaigns like that are very hit or miss with me. Committing to a single-story campaign for 9-10 months is very different than the 24-30 months people regularly spend on those.
@@SSkorkowsky ok, thanks for reply! I really enjoyed the long, episodic reviews that you made. Looking forward for your videos :D
At 20:00 Jack is showing good trigger discipline.
Hallo Seth. Your reviews of tge adventures make writing them sound much more fun than playing. (From my point of view) are there writing workshops for rpg adventures? Is this something that you have done? Is there a guide for this sort of project? Hallo Jack, what is your favourite part of being an npc?
This is one of my favorite Call of Cthulhu sourcebooks, and the scenarios in it are just awesome. Looking for a way at the moment to integrate this in my regular campaign, but as usual every time I try my players throw everything off the rails.
This adventure sounds pretty cool. I can imagine reframing it as a sci fi adventure with an added interesting moral question of colonists vs. Natives.
10:16 Think I'd want to fill in what the other local buildings are on the key as well. The players won't see it, but if you have to hesitate to make something up when asked about the mystery buildings it's going to point an arrow - and maybe in the wrong direction, even. You don't want the PCs obsessing on exploring every single building.
Man just the two names of the main antagonist's Willma & Carl Man....I just have to ask incase the Gang didn't are you shure that there daughters name/nickname isn't "Pebbles"?
Now here's a way to link the three a little bit better you could have Willma's grandmother be in the first one then Willma in this and her Daughter (all grown up)in the last one it's just an idea....
BTW Seth where'd you get the cool shirt from?
Thanks
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
@@SSkorkowsky De nada Seth, least i can do to show my appreciation! Keep up the good work! BTW you're slaying it on glass cannon
Sounds great! Do you have an affiliate link for Amazon UK?