Call of Cthulhu: Carnival of Madness - RPG Review
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- čas přidán 2. 07. 2024
- Taking a trip into Carnival of Madness, an elaborate Call of Cthulhu adventure set in 1970 in the vein of the old 'grindhouse' exploitation movies. Written by Alex Guillotte and Ian Christiansen, the scenario is a whopping 90 pages long, but playable in a single session.
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#ttrpg #callofcthulhu - Hry
We hope you all have as much fun listening to/playing this as we did!
I love it. I basically live vicariously through you guys playing since I don’t have a gaming group.
To contribute my own group's quotes from the end: "We open the doors and push the little girl out the back of the van." and "I run over the clown."
Given the least excuse, does anyone *not* run over a clown? If nothing else you know you're curious about whether they'll make a honking noise when squashed.
Those are good ones. :)
I genuinely think more CoC scenarios need to be set in 1970's America. You have everything that the 1920's and 1930's scenarios offer - soaring social tensions along ideological lines, distinct and classic fashion styles, new and untested technologies reshaping the world, a society-wide fixation on mysticism and a rise in cult activity, thousands of disaffected and psychologically scarred war veterans, international intrigue - while adding psychedelic drugs, badass mirror shades, some of the greatest music ever made and some of the most horrifying forms of interior decorating mankind has ever witnessed.
Seriously, whoever got the deep brown shag carpeting to become a nationwide trend must have been an agent of Hastur.
I'll see your deep brown shag carpeting and raise you faux wood panelled walls.
"You walk through the bead curtain into the room that is full of bean bag chairs, a hookah, and yellow shag carpeting. MAKE A SANITY CHECK!"
"What? Why? Is there something horrible in that room?"
"Yes, the carpet. The sanity check is you desperately trying to figure out how any sane person could ever think that looked good."
Man, it would have been awesome to have the Meddling Kids, riding in a van on their way to the Carnival, and suddenly the music they are listening to on the stereo/radio gets all static. Suddenly they hear that little girl's voice coming through the static, singing that creepy nursery rhyme.
That. Is. BRILLIANT!
"Ruh-roh!"
"Like, you said it, Scoob!"
@@Ropetupa "Jinkies!"
Holy shit - i will use this
Thanks for the inspiration
The little singing genuinely scared me I’d honestly rather take my chances with a zombie than head any closer to the source
"As we get closer to Halloween..."
While technically we are getting closer to Halloween, this causes me physical pain to hear someone say that in January.
Gotta get that costume prep done early, man! You think the competition isn't chalking out measurements and hitting up the thrift stores already!? I'm in a bidding war on ebay right now for a witch's nose from Hocus Pocus!
It is probably just that the video got delayed.
We are always either getting closer to Halloween or currently in Halloween.
I have already done a one shot with a mansion and 4 medling kids and their dog in the 1970s. Sounds like the same crew has a new mystery.
Were there Eldritch Treats involved?
@@GexMax there were snacks and the dog could be heard by the party but only insane outsiders heard him talk
I love the King and Yellow and actually used him as the endgame of my first CoC campaign. The villain sacrificed a theater full of people to summon the king. The PCs didn’t stop the ritual and the King was summoned. Surprisingly my players won. A big chandelier strapped with dynamite and an insane PC sent the King in Yellow back to Carcosa.
Oohh, very Phantom of the Opera!
Also a “chandelier strapped with dynamite” is the most Player Character thing I’ve ever heard of.
I run a CoC campaign set in 1969 and I was already thinking about picking up this adventure. My group just got hospitalized after rescuing a missing girl from Black Devil Mountain and I think a fun carnival visit is just what they'll need to unwind. Thanks Seth!
It's all fun and games! Until someone sprouts an extra eye.
Nice
Would be a shame if it was the same missing girl as at this carnival. That they turned her over to the people who are going to sacrifice her.
Those quotes at the end brought it all back. 😂😂😂😂
And I even remember who said most of them.
I'm kind of surprised there isn't a Meddling Kids list of modules where you basically play as Mystery Inc or whatever Hanna Barbara Detectives you enjoy.
There are multiple entire RPGs along those lines.
Are there other people who just sometimes put on videos of Seth as like comfort food?
It feels kinda cozy to listen to him.
The "medeling kids" angle would be perfect in combination with _Cthulhu, Where are You?_
"I spent all my luck to hit a little girl with brass knuckles."
... Yes, I have no doubt a player said this 🤣
Another hook you could add to get the kids involved is the two police character treat them like suspects for the missing girl because they’re young out of towners, so then the players have to prove their innocence by finding the girl hence why they’re engaged
The quotes are starting to be my favorite part. So outrageous out of context yet you could imagine ways they would naturally happen.
SPACE BEES!
As a musician, I really appreciate the tale that Jack the NPC spins for how a group of kids could get swept up into this thing. Just excellent. I may totally have to steal that. 😆
I think a slasher villain could be a good way to "naturally propel" a group of unfortunate teenagers through a story like this. A group of teens and some cops trapped in a supernaturally confined carnival madhouse? I kept waiting for you to bring up the adventure's wandering chainsaw clown.
And one of the premade teenagers should honestly just know French. It's what would happen in the movie. A kid picks up a journal, one of them happens to have paid attention in French class, they read it, lose some sanity, and learn about their impending doom. And I don't think that would take 20 minutes in the movie
This is too well done not to get! Lost Carcosa Ambrose Bierce, Robert Chambers, Seth Skorkowsky and now Alex Guillotte &
Ian Christiansen
Alex personally ran his Highway of Blood scenario for me at Gencon 2022. He and his partner make great content and are great storytellers. Definitely recommend picking up the rest of their works! Would love to see a review of their Grindhouse series as well.
Creepy rhymes will always get me right in the ❤️. Carnivals are also a special thing, with the potential of wonder and horror intrinsically bound together so tightly. It is a very intriguing story.
The entire time I was listening to this I was having flash backs to Ashes. Thanks for an awesome book Seth as well as another fun video 🤟😁
Ps: Out of context Jack is great 🤣
Ohhh this sounds like such a fun adventure, thank you so much for the review!
One idea I got while listening:
It might be fun to give the player characters rather bad french skills. Like "we had one year of french at school" kinda levels of french. Make the journals easily findable, but then they gain only sparse glimpses and partial insights into the contents when they read them. So now they gotta find someone they can trust, or bribe, or force, or trick to potentially read these pages for them and explain their content. Which would tie in very nicely in the wandering carnival guests from other times (gotta be a few french folks in there), or the fact that not all workers in the carnival are cultists.
"Especially as we start getting closer to Halloween!"
Checks calendar... ok, it is still January. Just making sure I didn't fall into a temporal rift, too.
Currently its 280 days away. And every day gets closer.
For a Call to Action, the lost little girl could be billed as an amazing singer in the carnival. I would make her a little older to match the age of the player characters though. Then, the player characters could be looking for her to see if she'll want to sing for their band tomorrow night as the lead singer for the band either got sick or had to move to another town. Although she's not in the brochure, so Keepers may not want to take the time to edit a new brochure.
A single 45h sessions... Daaaaaaaaaaaayum XD
Also, both the rhymes and the quote are amazing.
That childrens rhyme is just creepy AF... I was just about to run a ravenloft game with elements of Hastur/Kingenyellow sown in and it's just so perfect! Great video as always!
I want Jack the NPC to team up with Deathbringer in a sort of odd couple fight against evil.
Not even 30 seconds in and i'm already heading to drivethru.
Damn, you really hit me with that line about spending luck to punch a little girl's face with brass knuckles.
Now I know how she felt.
That was an amazing game! If I recall correctly, I was the first of our group to die. I foolishly tried to escape the carnival through the woods, and met my end with the wolves.
Correct! You were also the hitchhiker that gave me drugs.
@@BudsRPGreview , but dude... if you take both the blues and the reds you'll feel all purple inside. It's awesome, man!
@@JonHook as we all know, purple is the best feeling colour. You make a compelling argument.
This game got two of my players who were unsure about CoC into LOVING CoC. They still talk about this game months later (we played it on Halloween)
I was lucky enough to be a playtester on Carnival of Madness and thoroughly enjoyed it. However I played one of the Detective duo and so definitely imagine I had a very different experience from anyone going through it as a Meddling Kid, as fun as I think that hook is.
Really great to see this review, hope this means we might get the Highway of Blood review in the not too distant future? Pretty please? :p
5:00 Interesting that they used a 1-800 number for the reward poster. They were still pretty new back in 1970, having only been introduced three years before. You actually needed two separate numbers at that point - one for in-state and one for out-of-state calls - and the majority of early 1-800 accounts were used by hotels and car rental businesses. Wasn't until 1981 that the phone system was upgraded so you only needed a single universal number, which is when you started seeing loads of businesses opting for toll-free lines.
The weird stuff you learn over the years...
Also, I can't stop thinking how much "Alice" looks like Penny from Land of the Lost. Adventure needs some sleestaks showing up as time-lost phantasms.
Sleestaks...thanks for the walk down memory lane. Might also explain my fascination with "reptile people" bad guys.
I did research that when we wrote it, and it made sense that the Massachusetts State Police could have an 800 tip line set up. At least they did in Lovecraft's alternate universe. 😉
@@CommadoreGothnogDragonheart Possible, but in our world they likely have done two numbers, one for in-state calls (possibly with a regular area code) and one for out of state - unless they were very confident the kid hadn't gotten far. I remember toll calls being teh norm for even fairly short distances back then - like less than fifty miles, in some cases. Really nickel and dimed you to death that way.
Perhaps access to all that mi-go technology has bumped Ma Bell's tech ahead by a decade or so in-universe. Hmmm. I wonder if you could rig a brain in a cylinder to run a switchboard? :)
There should be more scenarios featuring The King in Yellow.
I know it's not a scenario, but check out Tatters of the King. It can be broken down into smaller parts. Also the 1st adventure in cults of cthulhu could easily be converted into a yellow king scenario.
Ripples from Carcosa has 3 scenarios. Able to be run as one big story or seperate from each other.
I'm too much of an old time comics history fan to ever take the King in Yellow seriously. I can't help imagining it as "The Kid In Yellow" instead and it takes all the dignity out of him as a villain you can only see him as a barefoot, shaven-head kid with lousy teeth wearing an oversized nightshirt.
He’s in too many as it is
@@richmcgee434 Ha ha, well, as a Robert Chambers fan, I certainly don't have that problem.
One way to get additional info to the players and help steer them on the right track might be if Madame Fortunae or Alice's good side are somehow able to influence the hallucinations the carnival is causing. Maybe in the hall of mirror their own reflection gives them some tips. Maybe the missing child poster starts talking to them and Alice's picture begs for their help. Maybe they get enough random info that when they pointed towards the journal, it all comes together, makes the difficulty check easier or take less time, etc.
Maybe Madame Fortunae also slips something into each of the players pockets to help blunt the sanity cost. Or you could have her as a red herring where she steals something personal from each member, makes voodoo dolls of the players and places the dolls in a ritual circle. The dolls are protected which spreads that protection to the players somewhat, and when they confront her she has a chance to share some of the backstory and help direct them.
I think I found a way around the whole specialized skill needed but none of the pre-gens have it issue.
If your table is using pre-gens offer a number of skills to be set to 40% that none of the pre-gens have. Offer the same number of skills as you have players. Have each player pick one skill and add this to the pre-gen. Include the skills that are needed in the module as well as any skills you think may cause some creative solutions.
I bought all the grindhouse one-shots available on Drive-thru RPG. They're all so good!
Having quotes helps you remember the weird and funny bits from games.
Such as "FINE! A WET WILLY IS A MELEE ATTACK, SURE."
or " *gasp* WE CAN SELL HIM A PIMP CANE!"
I mean, it's obviously not a ranged attack now, is it?
Before we begin I just wanna say I grew up in the carnival business and will be judging this module solely on its fidelity to carnie cultural norms (jk, but I was raised by carnies)
My first thought upon seeing the title: "Maybe the killer clown and corny dog diarrhoea are gonna be in this one?"
Thank you for another great video! It made me happy once I saw that you uploaded and watched it straight away. Loved how surreal everything is getting as the madness waxes, especially the ghosts of the past materialising. Jack's end quotes made me chuckle, it's awesome when you include these random bits. They really add a special touch!
Question for you as a writer who's gathering ideas for his future project. It's not the first time I have an idea which I came up on my own, only to encounter a story with one or two identical plot points, here it being a character having a child with the sole purpose to sacrifice her.
I know it's impossible to come up with 100% original content, but instead to realise our works contain original combinations, however I still end up feeling somewhat dejected, and feel a sort of urge to change my original ideas, or that now my own ideas are unusable. Would love to hear your thoughts on this phenomenon, if you also experience it and how you deal with it!
RPG adventures are generally based on tropes, especially Call of Cthulhu. This is a feature, not a bug - the familiarity of the tropes makes the players feel at home and makes roleplay easier. Solutions to mysteries are especially prone to this because there are only so many possible answers to anything without going to Agatha Christie levels of trickery. A mystery answer being the same as something else is fine as long as you have dressed up the surroundings appropriately with enough clues and uncertainty that it's not immediately obvious to the player that that's the solution.
@@michaelramon2411 Thank you! I think I should've stated that my project is going to be either a novel or manga, and not an rpg. Though this is definitely interesting, I didn't think there was not only a large amount of overlap in mysteries, but a very realistic reason behind why it is this way. As Seth said in a previous video, mysteries that Agatha Christie wrote, or Sherlock Holmes solved are not meant for the gaming table. Thanks for the insight! Personally I don't play ttrpgs, but I love to watch these videos to get inspired by for my own works.
@@BobbyBlackhearts666 Well, if it's a normal narrative, then you've got even more flexibility because you can use characters and tone to differentiate your story from others with a similar plot or concepts. For a TV example, you could put the exact same plot in an episode of CSI, Sherlock, Monk and Psych, and they'd all play out very differently. Execution really is more important than originality, especially in genre fiction.
Whats better than waking up to an "I love you text"? A Seth Skorkowsky Video notification! LETS GOOOOO
You mean to tell me that Madame Fortuna stole our instruments to get us to come to this dang carnival!?
Great vid! I love the out of context lines at the end as well! I want to run this for my group now! I am absolutely going to use the little girl audio clips. Thanks so much for those ZeroDead Podcast!
Not having Jack the Disco Dancer NPC is real missed opportunity given the time periodo of this advdnture. Besides that, thanks for the amazing review as always!
Disco Jack
There are so many people worried about how they will find an audience for TTRPG content if there isn’t OneGame to rule them all. Have you met Seth? Now you get to cross your arms and scowl while saying “I exclusively covered other(tm) games before that was cool” just like everyone does when their favorite band hits it big.😂
You demonstrate that it doesn’t take anything more than thoughtfulness…and maybe a willingness to do a bit of cosplay…to build a loyal following of subscribers. As always, awesome video.❤
Oh my goodness!
I just bought this from drivethrurpg last month!
"The journal in a language no one can read" thing seems to be a reoccurring problem. Any thoughts on just having them be of an undetermined language and with luck rolls having it match with a language one of the Investigators have? Especially when it's a major part/clue to the story
That is a good solution, imo. Have it be the whatever language the adventure says it is if they fail.
Great review, Seth, and great suggestions on the tweaks--especially the ones regarding Madame Fortunae. I ran this for a group a few months ago and I addressed the motivations of the meddling kids (who are a not so subtle homage to the Scooby Doo gang) by pressing the "Shaggy" character into working as an informant by one of the cops who had previously busted Shaggy for selling weed. This added a great tension-filled alliance to the group dynamic.
Excellent use of the implication of Shaggy being a stoner my dude
Idea on how I would deal with the language issues and pregen. Madness boons since scenario drives sanity hard. Whispers and insights from sister as players go insane. So at some point, a random player finds themselves just knowing french if have journal and met the seer. Could put in a few narrative assist clues like that perhaps? Almost like a sort of possession?
I need to get this to run for my group. Thank you for the recommendation and review Seth. 😊
I bought this a couple months ago because... 70s! Haven't run it yet, but now I really want to!
Man, I would so love to read a novel touching on aspects of Carcosa right now. If only I could find one...
A regular, normal , everyday Carnival can be scary enough ....
You just keep getting better and better.
Brilliant suggestions and a concise & very thorough review!
I love these stories, cause they never grow old, still as good as I remember a year ago
This looks like great fun! I presume that only a small percentage of the carnival will be encountered, but the writer covered any and all eventualities, and thus the 76 pages in 4 hours.
Great review and suggestions! I particularly like the idea of the medium manipulating things so the characters are brought together. And with a group, especially pre-generated to facilitate an adventure or just pad out an investigator or few to accomplish the scenario, I am drawn to the old Gangbusters style where you had playable Cops, Reporters, Gangsters, Detectives, etc., not always on the same side normally but working here towards the end in a mashup of diverse backgrounds/stories/motivations. That might bring all the skills needed and allow players to opt into whatever character they enjoy but still make sense why they are allies.
Seth! Great video and review - thank you.
Side note: Your dice from Q Workshop arrived yesterday. These are amazing, great job in their design and coloring. Even the box packaging was wonderful. So happy I picked them up, they're gorgeous!
Great video as always, Seth! I bought this scenario when Alex put it on sale last October and was also struck by how dense this scenario was for just a one-session game. I may try running it for Halloween this year with more time to prep & will definitely make note of your meddling kids recommendations since this offers a unique chance for Scooby-Doo shenanigans.
“. . . they’re doin’ this to save rock and roll!” 🎉
Months ago, I bought every Grindhouse one-shot for CoC on drive-thru RPG. I have run most of them and my group has had a blast everytime.
Jack giving out of context game quotes is why I keep coming back here 🤣
I gotta give it a shot- got a group of players who are eager for another crack at making it through a module, especially after their unfortunate dynamite incident...
It seems to be a recurring theme in these Call of Cthulhu modules you review that if pertinent backstory information even can be found, it's in a language the pregenerated characters can't read. It's like the author put in the journal or other source as a token "it's there" but in such a way that it seems clear the intent was to never actually be found or read, which rather defeats the point of it being there in the first place.
Oh wow, thanks for the recommendation and tips. We actually have a spot to fill on February 18... Seems like a great opportunity to run this scenario.
Clown's It had to be Clown's that try to bring back The King, now you could run this through multiple eras with different PC's from each era kinda like that Carnival from "Something Wicked This Way Comes" remember what the dude said in it the Carnival had been around in one form or the other for many years, then when you get to the part where the ghost's start to show up you could have some of there old characters show up. Then towards the end you could have the good sister tell the characters that she's been bringing the PC's here to try and stop her sister (she could even tell them that there the reincarnated version's of her friend's from the very first time they did it) it would make this game an awesome one.
Awesome review!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand sold. Just bought the adventure based on this video!
Great video as always!
The out of context lines were my favorites! 😂
It's rare to see a CoC scenario focused on the Yellow King (Ripples from Carcosa comes to mind, but not many others). I'll definitely check it out!
On a side note: do you have any opinions on the Yellow King rpg?
Anyway, great work! Love your reviews!
Thanks for the review. It gives me an idea for a pretty fun convention run through. Two distinct groups, who run through this investigation sepperately. As the years wane by the survivors of those two investigation learn that the carnival is still opperating. They join forces for a final confrontation with Lady Sari.
I did it! I ran two sets of investigators through this scenario at a convention. One set in 1952, another set in 1962, with the third session in 1972. I had to go back and have a host of different NPCS for the different times, most of which was not explored. The last session was an absolute blood bath. Good Times.
Seth, fantastic choice!
I'm gonna wait until tonight and share this one with my buds.
PS We share 90% same taste in horror movies, man. Lol.
Peace.
I realize this is an older video, but the long backstory can often be figured out via optional library checks, just go on about old news paper clippings, or folk lore, etc.
"Do you breath name of your savior, in your hour of need?
And taste the blame..." no wait, it is carnival of MADNESS. Nevermind me then.
Those sideburns are insanely amazing.
Yeay. More stories of the void between worlds.
A band of musicians solving a mystery of a spooky circus to make money to replace their stolen instruments? Seems like this will be the darkest episode of "Josie & The Pussycats" ever.
Love hearing your views as always, Seth. To me, my players would definitely be trying to understand everything and the "Meddling Kids" absolutely seem to have a hook...but then I get massive Scooby-Doo vibes. (Especially if they have a van).
One possibility for another location in the past is Aylesbury with the carnival taking place inside Aylesbury Ring for the required standing stones. Given that the authors have chosen to create an Aylesbury Mass for the location.
Also the Dunwich name is taken from a medieval port on the east coast of England that was lost to the sea. The last ruins fell into the sea in the 70’s I think.
I absolutely love your reviews!!! Thank you for being even handed. I wish more people were like you. Have you ever heard of SLA Industries? There are two versions. I only ask because I’m curious if you would prefer the more “mechanic” heavy version of 1st Edition or the more narrative version of 2nd Edition. In abstract way I guess I could ask what draws you to an rpg the most (crunchy mechanics or narrative flow)?
It would be great if SLA Industries was covered.
Coincidentally, I just finished reading Ashes of Onyx two days ago. It was a great read! Definitely worth the price.
This sounds fantastic. I just might use some of these ideas in a V5 game I'm running.
Looks like a great if unwieldy adventure. BTW I read Onyx and thought is was super-fun, I really like the way it escalates the setting and the stakes.
Thank you! This looks great. I think maybe one of the kids could have taken French in high school and the journal would be a bit easier to find…
It only requires a 30+ in French, so saying there were some school classes or family and adding that to any of the PCs would be pretty easy.
@@SSkorkowsky She would have gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids!
I came across a TTRPG that was more fun than I expected and I think would be hilarious for Seth to try with his group… although I’ll understand if he doesn’t think the group will go for it.
Magical Kittens Save the Day
Yes it is a real game.
Everyone is big mad about the ttrpg drama. Meanwhile, I'm twirling my mustache. It's time to drop all the COC!
Got this one on PDF last summer, haven’t ran it yet. But I’ve been thinking, if a Keeper is willing, there are a few carnival/circus themed scenarios both for COC and other game systems, a Keeper could turn this into a mini campaign. The investigators are attending a carnival themed Burning Man event.
Say the dark ritual to summon Hastur takes 5 days to complete. investigators come across dark and foreboding things like psycho killer clowns and tragic “accidents” that happened in the carnival’s past. All the while, Alice’s astral form giving them tasks/clues to help rescue/aid in the ritual’s completion. Giving the investigators morsels of exposition to what is going on.
Well, I'm a bit late to the upload so the next part of the Incomplete Constellation story is gonna be even later, I'm too busy to ramble at the moment. I'll drop it Whenever I can, it'll probably be a reply to this comment, or it'll be on the next video.
For now, you have a great day.
Thanks Seth-something else wicked this way comes is an attractive prospect.
Cthulhu, you incorrigible rascal!
"Ashes of Onyx" was fantastic, my favorite Skorkowsky novel.
Wow seth!! That was creepy. 2/3 through your review i was marveling with appriciation, thinking; I love and have to tell Seth how artful he is at finding these plot holes and dead motive spots and filling them in with his own creativity....I'm going to buy ONYX.... Then your finale'. I'm in. Gunna buy Onyx.
I bought this a while ago! I have to admit I haven’t run it yet, as I’m still a little intimidated (also I’m not as good at such sandbox-y scenarios), but it looks so good I really want to sometime. Awesome to hear a review!
Also can we listen/watch your play through anywhere? 🥺
Nope. Outside of the out-of-context quotes, there's no recording of our game.
The long back stories aren't really for the benefit of the players. The back stories are there to provide justification for the antogonist's motives. It helps with Keeper suspension of disbelief. God knows, I struggle to run villains whose motives are that they are evil.
I think the meddling kids are intended to "loose" more for players who want to just witness the madness like in a horror movie sort of way than anything
That one sure got me hooked.
This looked fun, the King in Yellow play works so well as a Lovecraftian event.
This looks absolutely delightful! Ive been prepping a longer form game in CoC that revolves around the cult boom in the 1970s so this would honestly be a perfect side adventure for my players! For anyone who has played this scenario do you think its translatable to Pulp Cthulu or no? I would ideally like to run the game pulp style just so I can lower the potential death rate a little and do a little more combat but no biggie if its not.
16:50
Thanks, i never wanted to sleep again!
Yes. “Closer to Halloween” starts January 2nd. The Wife and I approve wholeheartedly 🤘🎃
Considering running this with Madame Fortunae trapped within the carnival, having experienced millenia and been driven mad but occasionally becoming lucid.
Of course she's also stuck inside an automated fortune teller's booth.