I remember in d&d 3.5 swimming being near impossible for any class not STR based. So I would amend the saying to "... swim is a very very important skill"
Seth, don’t ever feel bad about self promotion. If nothing else, I’d rather hear ads for stuff you have a personal stake in rather than, say, Dollar Shave Club or Express VPN.
Take the Dollar Shave Club money too. Jack the NPC: "Wow! That Call of Cthulhu Adventure was a close shave....much like the close shave you get from the Dollar Shave Club!"
It's not by Seth, it's kind of long, and i can't personally vouch for the quality, but there is a playthrough on youtube: czcams.com/video/ZxMFMaJLDC4/video.html Also several others for "Alone Against the Flames" according to the search function.
You can buy an electronic version for your iPad. It’s superb. Four chapters all telling one long adventure-story. It captures the feel of the books brilliantly and the combat system is excellent; very tactical with a well structured learning curve. I think it is good value for money and worth checking out even if that is not your usual thing. Just search “Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf”.
There's an app called Cthulhu Chronicles (developed together with Chaosium) that lets you play some (9 in total) solo adventures on the phone. You can either purchase the adventures, which doesn't cost that much or you can get three tries per day, it's a nice way to pass buss and train travels... which I guess is sort of redundant right now (as you shouldn't be traveling anyway) though.
more companies/roleplaying games need to do these solo adventures cause not only are they great in isolation or like me when you have no friends :P but they are a great way to learn a new system or at least get the basics to a new system, but Seth keep these reviews coming, and if i could recommend a scenario for you i would recommend "Ancient Midget Nazi Shamans" from the Blood Brothers 1 book
You are awesome Seth. Your channel is one of the best on CZcams, I'm a huge fan. You obviously love tabletop role-playing as much as I do. I didn't know about your books, but now I have to check them out!
Dammit, Seth! You make this sound so good I really want it now! Curse you! Nice review as always. This really has me rethinking my anti-solitaire scenario views.
The other 3 Chaosium solo adventures are mediocre. But with the included calendar and location tables, Against The Dark is a unique solo adventure and great addition to CoC. I've used this solo adventure as a jumping-off point and backstory for my player group campaign too...
If you can find the complete versions of it, there's also Jurassic Park & The Lost World: Jurassic Park RPG books, the included adventures are all solo play ones, but there are rules for a more standard RPG version included in them. It's only a D6 based system, and rather rules light but it's a quite good game for anyone who has them. The adventures aren't that long, but each of the books have longer stories that string them together.
Okay, you got me. I will buy and download your audio books as well as the ebooks to read along. I have been a fan for over two years now and finally have some time with this global crisis to sit down churn through literature. I just hope I don't step on my glasses.
I have found the best (physical) option for solo adventures is to buy the PDF and then print them with a coil binding. Ultimately they tend to be sturdier than the bindings most professionally printed RPG books come with.
I don't play CoC, but I find even these review videos interesting. Your reviews of classic D&D modules inspired me to tie several together into a larger campaign for a student gaming group. Needing to flesh out eight villages, I also took Castronegro. Will look for your books next....
Thank you for giving us a short description of your books! I've been prioritizing other purchases, but the Valducan series sounds awesome, so I'll have to bump it up the list.
I've had this one for 35 years. It's a tough nut to crack. @9:25 Nora McShane was the name of the character in the 1985 version. Not sure why the name was changed to Lydia in the 2018 version. Nora sounds more 1930-ish to me.
I should probably head back and try this adventure again! I bounced off of it once, as I took a break and forgot my place, but, when i came back, I think I actually got one of the quickest possible "victories". SPOILER: . . . . . As Grunewald, I simply broke into the Cairo museum, stole the Karpathos Device, and dropped it into the Nile. Sure, I was eventually caught and arrested, and nobody would ever know what I did, but I still saved the world! Except, now I really wanna go back and see how crazy things get if I let them...
@@Tony-dh7mz This prediction aged poorly. But then, of course it would age poorly. There was never any reason to expect the outbreak to be over in April, other than an unfounded ass pull from a professional bullshitter. But there's no shame in being taken in by a professional bullshitter. Just remember that old saying: Fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again.
@@Dorian_sapiens There have been break throughs, That the mainstream media are suppressing and lying about, 1. its not as bad as the hype, (many nurses on social media have said its not what the public are being told, lying about the deaths via the virus (putting unrelated non virus deaths on the list of virus deaths to inflate the numbers) there are doctors, biologists and virologists talking about this virus, (try finding information that's not parroted by 99% of the media) 2. To quote, "HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents)..... - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2020
I recently started this adventure for the first time. I just got to Alexandria in the book. No deaths yet and I am having a blast. My binding broke on my copy too btw.
Seth, Thanks for the video. Yes, Isolation can be very hard so what about a video on doing one online RPG like Roll 20 Reviews? If you cannot get out .. got online.
They've only been around for over 35 years lol ... Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, MERP, Tunnels & Trolls, Traveller, and many other systems, all had solitaire adventures.
@@thelastmotel I only got into the gaming hobby about ten years back, never even thought of a solo adventure until a few years ago, much less a solitary adventure. I'll have to look into the solitary adventures for the other systems you mentioned (especially T&T). Thanks!
Against the Dark is the best solo adventure I've played in any system so far in 20 years! I've played D&D solo adventures (using disappearing ink) and the other 3 Chaosium CoC sole adventures and this is by far the best one. Epic suspenseful story with some great evil antagonists and lots of dice-rolling. Against the Tide comes in at a distant second for me.
I LOVE the production in yours videos. I think they are between being very practical and very entertaining. Oh... i'm running Call of Cthulhu one shots and transforming into a campaing following your tips and reviews. Again, thank you so much for your content.
Against the Dark is a much much better solo adventure and epic story. Think of it as a junior Masks of Nyarlathotep. It also has a unique gameplay system where you periodically use location tables and a calendar for your lone investigator to follow (adds re-playability as well)...and even allows for an NPC sidekick at times! Lots of combat too (against cult assassins and some creepy supernatural spirits). Could be a great side-adventure that leads to a group campaign as well.
I just wanted to leave a message to commend Seth on his outstanding content, not just this video but all of them, particularly his insights and philosophies on roleplaying. You are engaging, insightful, and succinct. Amazing content dude. Thankyou.
Thanks man, nice idea for everyone who’s stuck at home at the moment! We’re isolating as my wife has got a temperature... it’s cheered me up to see this. Take care x
Hey Seth :) Have you tried out the Cthulhu Chronicles App? Was curious about your opinion. They took some great classic scenarios and transformed them into a solitary campaign. I liked how they managed to create an interlinked ongoing story from all thoses stand alone one shots- on the other side the watered down rules and the missing character progression were a let down.
Seth Skorkowsky, I've got a question for you: How do you role play a Predator in the way it give suspense to the players like in the movies Jaws or Cujo? Thanks
Not Seth, But watch the predator movies (or any source material) and pay attention to what you're immulating's actions and goals. If you're playing a predator, look at their culture. Only fight on their terms, use guerilla tactics and just like the movies, don't show the man in the rubber suit too early. Show small snippets of the aftermath of certain battles. Maybe a body without a head, or eyes as they need it for retinal scans. Maybe a body without thumbs as means to bypass fingerprint scanners. Above all else however, make sure your players have a fighting chance. Don't just dunk on em. Let your players get creative with how they fight the predator and don't be afraid to give them a victory if they come up with a solid full proof plan with some great rolls. Hope this helped!!!
I really can't add to these suggestions. Maybe check out my review on The Derelict where I use a predator monster and talk about building it up (as well as letting the PCs get creative in defeating it).
Build up of tension, it’s cat and mouse, getting closer...Getting Closer!.....GETTING CLOSER!!! Read the players reaction, don’t give them a break in play, imply threat with hints, clues, indirect action, a unknown lingering threat, (known is not as scary, if it’s a known quantity you can plan against it, If you don’t then you gonna need a bigger boat) Once you see the players hooked, slowly reel them in, slowly escalate, build on the tension, Only after the implied threat is at enough tension spring the monster at them, if you do it right should be lots of “Fu- sh!t!! Fu- sh!t! Fu- Sh!t” See: The Thing,
@@SSkorkowsky Thanks. I'm not really into horror and I am more of a worldbuilder than a GM. It is easy for me to come up with a human antagonist (got a huge bookcase to help me) but I have a hard time to wrap my head around the mindset of a predator who just want to play with its food... without making it too obvious to the players.
Thanks! Another good video, I've been binging your stuff lately and learning a lot. One thing you didn't address was the optimal level of familiarity with the game. Could a beginner handle this, or would you need to have extensive experience playing before trying to tackle it.
A newbie could do it. They'd still need to know the basics of the game, but it doesn't require any master-level or anything. Though a couple spots do call for some stuff from the Keeper's Guide, so they'll still need access to the corebook
@@SSkorkowsky Cool, thank you for the response. This definitely seems great for self-quarantine times. If I end up trying it out I'll do it through your link. 🙏
Nice, a solo game! Have you ever thought about playing any of your game systems solo using a GM Emulator? I've tried playing around with the Mythic system since I can never get a game together, and it turns out it's a lot of fun. You should try it out sometime and tell everyone what you think about it, you might get a kick out of it.
Here's something that a lot of people don't seem to be aware of. If you buy the Kindle version of some books, you will get an offer to add audible narration. Amazon doesn't make this all that clear but this is the full audio version of the book. It's always much cheaper than buying the audio book on it's own. If you get the Kindle version of Ashes of Onyx for $3.99, you can get the audio version for $7.49 as opposed to $21.41 which is what it normally costs. It was only $1.88 for Mountain of Daggers.
Against the Flames, Against the Tide and Against the Frost are other solo Call of Cthulhu scenarios. Against the Dark is by far the best one with loads of suspense and dice-rolling. Against the Tide comes in at a distant second for me.
So I went straight out and tried this adventure, Ernest Holt derailed the story by getting shot stealing and throwing the Karpathos Device into the nile after Louis Grunewald was killed at the Parthenon! 10/10
I really like the idea of something akin to a Choose Your Own Adventure book with RPG elements. I’ve been trying to get back into pen and paper RPGs, but even despite current events, it’s been hard for me to find people to play with. Do you know if there are any more game books like this?
Hundreds, for many systems. Fighting Fantasy (a series which started in 1982), the Blood Sword series (which even has options for miniature combat), the Lone Wolf books, D&D (the red box from BECMI included one, and they still make solitaire adventures right up to today for 5e), MERP, RuneQuest (Scorpion Hall is particularly good), Traveller, and many, many more.
You got me checking out CoC again after all these years! Particularly the solo adventures (what with being by myself and all)! I'm sorry I got here just a little too late, but, in case you were unaware, Alan Bahr did it again! The Kickstarter just ended successfully on Tiny C'thulhu! Made every one of the stretch goals. I'm wondering how hard it would be to convert current (or past) CoC adventures over. Given the shelf life of the standard investigator, Tiny D6 seems a perfect fit.
Was looking for a Jack picture as a little in-joke for myself for an NPC portrait, but can only find actual pictures of you. I gotta say, the outfit and voice go a long way cus holy moly you don't normally have a gumshoe vibe lol
Alone against the flame should be next or the alone against the frost, plus we need more jack, also thank you, I’ve been very interested in running coc or playing but my game store is closed till this thing passes which I hope to help him.
Thanks for the review and gameplay tips Seth! I played this and thought it was fantastic. Especially compared to the other very mediocre solo CoC adventures which are like lame Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. I like to think of Against The Dark as a solo junior Masks of Nyarlathotep. The story and antagonists add lots of suspense with some deadly encounters. Chaosium deserves credit for the unique calendar and location tables that adds lots of flavor to the gameplay. They even have a NPC companion in parts of the story. I wish there were more solo adventures like this as it looks like we will be going into more lockdowns & quarantines in November 2021. 😥
@@craftsmenMC If you all wish to play online - both Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds are very easy to get into. I can't speak for Fantasy Grounds because I have not tried it, but have heard good things. Roll20 literally runs in your browser without the need to download anything, and even the free level offers tons of things so there is no financial commitment. All anyone needs is a headset and about a half hour to go through the tutorial and you are set to go.
@@craftsmenMC You can play for premium things...but if you don't pay you can still use 98% of what the interface offers (basically you can't use dynamic lighting). We are not paying for any of the books as we already have them - not buying the books in game does nothing to prevent you from playing.
Hi there. Recently been watching a good amount of the Call of Cthulhu reviews, one of the games I myself have always been interested in running a game of but never finding anyone interested. Regardless I enjoy learning about them... One of the things I noticed that had me wondering was that there are a few of these reviews that talked about putting a curse or such onto a player which when taken into full consideration, would shut down that player's character to near uselessness. So I wondered, would the idea of addding a NPC who exists within the PC's unit but is mainly a background member who would take on these effects from time to time. Like a Driver who waited at the Car or such. Someone who wouldn't be involved in the main story but would take on the side roles when unneeded. Now not saying that this NPC would be the sole recipient of these curses and such, to avoid the gimick of "Oh no, not again." but would be there as a backup scapegoat from time to time to allow players to continue playing their character while having an important member of their group be at risk.
Interesting that you said this. Against the Dark has a NPC companion that you may (or may not find) and takes a lot of combat damage and acts as a kind of shield if you choose to do so.
Bought Dämonen, and Kudos! Its really great fun and a wonderful read! Will pick the rest of your books up as well. And NEVER feel bad about self promotion. Without that I would never knew about these great adventures and characters. And btw. thanks as well for your videos, watching all of them!
Hey Seth your vids got me to try CoC so thanks, got to run edge of darkness, I loved it but still don't feel comfortable with the rules, even after reading the keeper book. I haven't been able to run another game because of lockdown. Is this a good module to play alone if I'm not used to the rules yet, do you think this will help me learn them?
Absolutely! There are brief instructions in the introduction and in some of the passages. I think its a great solo adventure with an epic (and very creepy storyline). You can also re-play it with your own player-characters.
"You can play with yourself, get it?" wink-wink, nudge-nudge. Stay classy Jack the NPC! Great video Seth! I ain't no physciscisk, but I knows what matters, climbing is a very important skill to have.
thank you mr. skorkowski...good idea under present circumstances and maybe i will use this to play call of cthulhu for the first time...i have the books but have not tried playing yet, just to steal ideas (i am an hp lovecraft fan so i am scared to try playing)...in the meantime, i might get out my old 1980s d&d choose your own adventure books and get lost in a page turning loop until i find my way out of it. :D
Try Against The Flame first as a solo intro to Call of Cthulhu RPGs. Then do Against the Dark (which if you're a Lovecraft fan has a distant but interesting connection to The Mountains of Madness)! 😉
I bought my copy in July '22 direct from Chaosium and just played it for the first time over the holiday. I had the binding problem too. So nothing has improved as far as I can tell. I'd probably reach out to Chaosium and see if they will provide a replacement.
Do people who have played this think it would be a good intro for someone who hasn’t played the system before, or does it rely on a level of presumed system mastery to execute the solo play gimmick?
I'd hold off this one as the initial, but there is also Alone Against the Flames, which is meant to be introductory and only needs the Quickstart rules to play. Both it and the quickstart are free in PDF. www.drivethrurpg.com/product/230023/Alone-Against-the-Flames?affiliate_id=1017650
I had a credit I had to use for Audible before canceling, so I decided to get one of Seth's books: Damoren... Wasn't sure what to expect, but holy cow, he made me re-sub just to get the next book (and the next one). I'm really enjoying this series, and actually made me take a new look at 5E's Hexblade. Really good books.
Hey, thank you for doing this video. If you enjoy this comment please give it a thumbs up. If you want for me to keep seeing your guides, war stories, and videos in general, just keep them coming. Till next time Mr. Skorkowsky you have a great day. You know, I know you said creating a TTRPG is a lot of work, wich I agree, but I bet with your creativity and knoweldge on the subject you could definitely make one, maybe a tiny one like a pocket TTRPG.
Hey Seth. Great to see another video up. I was wondering if you have any advice for taking theses solo modules and adapting them for a group? I tried Alone against the Flames with a single player and me running it and that didn’t go to bad. Just a lot of flipping which I don’t think can be avoided. I have a group of three that are all interested in this module though and was hoping you may have some advice that may make it easier for me. Thanx for keeping us entertained 👍😁
I ran this with some friends by post and video chat using the video chat to tell the players what was going on and to run combat and using post for the players to communicate with eachother it was allot of work but worth it
Hey Seth, do you have any insight on ways for noobs to play RPGs remotely? Now that we can’t actually get together in person, my friends _finally_ are thinking “hey, why don’t we try D&D?” 🤦♀️ I know my buddy found Roll20 and was thinking about buying that version of Lost Mine of Phandelver…
Our group is using roll20 for the first time due to social distancing. We found it great. The cost of free is nice. The tutorial takes 30-45 minutes and will teach you just about everything you need to in order to use it. All you need is a headset and you are good to go.
I managed to bumble my way through as Grunewald by being cautious and lucky. I skipped the entire pyramid because I never found anything that required me to go there... I feel that a lot of locations you can get "stuck" narratively, such as "why would I go to New York?" when you know you have a friend in Athens. In Cairo I completely missed most things so just went "uhm okay I guess I go off to Bremen?" for no reason. I rolled a lot of lucky rolls, and managed to defeat the Mythos in the end, albeit at the cost of a stint in a sanatorium. I dunno, I didn't really feel this worked as well as it could, although it is also a really old scenario. Some of the writing is a little bit flat or tonally inconsistent (your boss' tone whiplashing from angry to suddenly supportive) or plain weird ("You receive tender loving care" for the hospital, really?), and there's a more than a few copy mistakes that should have been picked up by a competent proofreader. This seems to be a bit of a problem Chaosium has with each product - some other examples, one single scenario title at the top of the pages for the two _different_ scenarios in the Keeper Screen pack, "Genius Lioci" at the top of the pages in Doors to Darkness' scenario _in print,_ some clearly incorrect typos that a spellcheck would find... come on Chaosium. They need to do better in this area, I feel.
I dunno. I give Chaosium lots of credit for making the "rat's nest" of this huge solo adventure work. I had a great time playing this one and the location tables and calendar add lots to the gameplay. I also played the solo Against The Tide...which is simpler, has only one location (Town of Esbury) and much better descriptive narration...but isn't nearly as fun or suspenseful. I guess if Chaosium just added more details to Against the Dark and it was 6-8 pages longer it would be damn well perfect.
Going through Reign of Terror and it’s damn amazing. I’m going through it as a stand-alone (I’m brand new and am intimidated by giant campaigns still), but it actually ties in with Horror on the Orient Express. There are some live plays you can listen to while reading along and it helps a lot for me (again, brand new lol).
Did you also find the broken part? You can go to Bremen from Cairo without having the information about Bremen. I got to the end without having the knowledge about why I would go there.
This sounds really fun. I have been watching your other CoC videos, and have been wondering, how doable would it be to solo RPG a CoC adventure? Obviously, ai am going to get spoiled a little since I will be both GM and player, but can it be done well, maybe solo running Pulp Cthulhu with four players? Or would a different system need to be folded-in? Mythic? Or something else? Thanks!
Ah yes, that age old saying, "You can lead a horse to water and climbing is a very important skill to have!" Timeless.
In the world of Cthulu, a horse frantically climbing a tree to get away from the monsters is probably one of the lesser strange sights out there.
@@handlebarfox2366
"Something very wrong with that horse".
a saying told to every child again and again.
I remember in d&d 3.5 swimming being near impossible for any class not STR based. So I would amend the saying to "... swim is a very very important skill"
I love how Seth looks away from the camera when talking to Jack the NPC.
Confirmed: Seth is a Save Scummer.
Like the rest of us.....
**from the distance one could hear "ONE OF US" being chanted**
@@AS-rl5vr one of us = Doomcock dvd
Except lovers of roguelikes, like me ;) But yes, I savescum when I can.
It's a legitimate tactic!
There is simply no other way to play. It's the law.
Seth, don’t ever feel bad about self promotion. If nothing else, I’d rather hear ads for stuff you have a personal stake in rather than, say, Dollar Shave Club or Express VPN.
Ditto.
But I LOVE hearing about that epic modern console graphic AAA mobile game with a massive story, Laid Ratow Shegends.
Take the Dollar Shave Club money too. Jack the NPC: "Wow! That Call of Cthulhu Adventure was a close shave....much like the close shave you get from the Dollar Shave Club!"
or raid
hell i wanna hear Jack the NPC or his 3 buddies he plays as
the running joke of “hold on _____, we’re coming to save you!” is definitely my favorite
It could've been really awesome if you played it on the channel. I would watch it for sure!
Me too ! Love to see it !
Oh yeah this would be awesome.
It's not by Seth, it's kind of long, and i can't personally vouch for the quality, but there is a playthrough on youtube: czcams.com/video/ZxMFMaJLDC4/video.html Also several others for "Alone Against the Flames" according to the search function.
I always enjoy the dramatic flair with which Jack accepts the slightly improved scenario hooks, never fails to make me smile
Thanks for this Seth. You're a really wholesome guy. Thank you for your awesome books. I look forward to diving into Ashes of Onyx this week :D
Thank you. Hope you enjoy the book.
Anyone else remember the old Lone Wolf series? This is in that fine tradition.
Lone Wolf and Fighting Fantasy.
I love those books! I have most of the first 20
You can buy an electronic version for your iPad. It’s superb. Four chapters all telling one long adventure-story. It captures the feel of the books brilliantly and the combat system is excellent; very tactical with a well structured learning curve. I think it is good value for money and worth checking out even if that is not your usual thing. Just search “Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf”.
Sorcery and its digital versions are also excellent with a very imaginative magic system and even time travel later on.
@@FairyRat | 80 Days, by the same folks as Sorcery's digital adaptations, is also pretty good.
Thanks Seth, a light in the darkness
Greetings from México. Thank you so much.
Card stock? Sorry man...all we got is toilet paper. Gonna be an interesting print job
Hopefully it doesn't come out looking like crap...
Look at you braggin about toilet paper, lar de daar,
What about Bounty?
There's an app called Cthulhu Chronicles (developed together with Chaosium) that lets you play some (9 in total) solo adventures on the phone. You can either purchase the adventures, which doesn't cost that much or you can get three tries per day, it's a nice way to pass buss and train travels... which I guess is sort of redundant right now (as you shouldn't be traveling anyway) though.
Yeah, it's a nice App.
more companies/roleplaying games need to do these solo adventures cause not only are they great in isolation or like me when you have no friends :P but they are a great way to learn a new system or at least get the basics to a new system, but Seth keep these reviews coming, and if i could recommend a scenario for you i would recommend "Ancient Midget Nazi Shamans" from the Blood Brothers 1 book
You are awesome Seth. Your channel is one of the best on CZcams, I'm a huge fan. You obviously love tabletop role-playing as much as I do. I didn't know about your books, but now I have to check them out!
Dammit, Seth! You make this sound so good I really want it now! Curse you! Nice review as always. This really has me rethinking my anti-solitaire scenario views.
Thanks, man. Solitaires can never compete with a real game, but they can be a fun time-killer.
The other 3 Chaosium solo adventures are mediocre. But with the included calendar and location tables, Against The Dark is a unique solo adventure and great addition to CoC. I've used this solo adventure as a jumping-off point and backstory for my player group campaign too...
Fantastic backgrounds for Jack. Great review. Thanks.
Such a fun intro to CoC! Now I'm a new Keeper for a small group.
If you can find the complete versions of it, there's also Jurassic Park & The Lost World: Jurassic Park RPG books, the included adventures are all solo play ones, but there are rules for a more standard RPG version included in them. It's only a D6 based system, and rather rules light but it's a quite good game for anyone who has them. The adventures aren't that long, but each of the books have longer stories that string them together.
I played this soon after it originally came out in the 80’s ! Great fun !
Polish version that was released back in December 2018 (iirc) was hardcover and the binding was perfect. No problems with pages flying around :)
Who the hell gave this two thumbs down😠 I love these videos. Seth I expect a video every day now that your stuck at home!!!!!!!!! No excuses 😊😊😊
Well, as he is an author, he works from home already. So this quarantine is business as usual for him...except for game days.
Okay, you got me. I will buy and download your audio books as well as the ebooks to read along. I have been a fan for over two years now and finally have some time with this global crisis to sit down churn through literature.
I just hope I don't step on my glasses.
Really enjoyed this solo adventures, Alone against the flames was...well...a blast!
I have found the best (physical) option for solo adventures is to buy the PDF and then print them with a coil binding. Ultimately they tend to be sturdier than the bindings most professionally printed RPG books come with.
I don't play CoC, but I find even these review videos interesting. Your reviews of classic D&D modules inspired me to tie several together into a larger campaign for a student gaming group. Needing to flesh out eight villages, I also took Castronegro. Will look for your books next....
Thank you for giving us a short description of your books! I've been prioritizing other purchases, but the Valducan series sounds awesome, so I'll have to bump it up the list.
Time to start actually playing CoC i guess. Thanks for the video again Seth!
I've had this one for 35 years. It's a tough nut to crack. @9:25 Nora McShane was the name of the character in the 1985 version. Not sure why the name was changed to Lydia in the 2018 version. Nora sounds more 1930-ish to me.
Also, you can download some of the handouts: The characters, the location chart, and the puzzle, from the Chaosium link you gave above.
I should probably head back and try this adventure again! I bounced off of it once, as I took a break and forgot my place, but, when i came back, I think I actually got one of the quickest possible "victories". SPOILER:
.
.
.
.
.
As Grunewald, I simply broke into the Cairo museum, stole the Karpathos Device, and dropped it into the Nile. Sure, I was eventually caught and arrested, and nobody would ever know what I did, but I still saved the world! Except, now I really wanna go back and see how crazy things get if I let them...
This looks very fun, a decent thing to play if my group can’t meet on a webcam session during this crisis.
Listening to this as I putter around taking care of my clients as a home health aide. Thank you, Seth! Everyone stay safe!
It will be over in April
Great Tsathoggua, I hope.
@@Military-gradenutella3068
No worries
@@Tony-dh7mz This prediction aged poorly.
But then, of course it would age poorly. There was never any reason to expect the outbreak to be over in April, other than an unfounded ass pull from a professional bullshitter.
But there's no shame in being taken in by a professional bullshitter. Just remember that old saying: Fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again.
@@Dorian_sapiens
There have been break throughs,
That the mainstream media are suppressing and lying about,
1. its not as bad as the hype, (many nurses on social media have said its not what the public are being told, lying about the deaths via the virus (putting unrelated non virus deaths on the list of virus deaths to inflate the numbers) there are doctors, biologists and virologists talking about this virus, (try finding information that's not parroted by 99% of the media)
2. To quote,
"HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents).....
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2020
Greetings from Israel. I am in quarantine. Your videos are always joy for me. Thank you.
I recently started this adventure for the first time. I just got to Alexandria in the book. No deaths yet and I am having a blast. My binding broke on my copy too btw.
I recommend all of Seth Skorkowsky's books!
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks, guys!
Seth, Thanks for the video. Yes, Isolation can be very hard so what about a video on doing one online RPG like Roll 20 Reviews? If you cannot get out .. got online.
Hey Seth, if you get a chance then you may find “Whispers in the Dark” might be a good game. Thanks for turning me on to COC!
Really a wild idea, a GM-less solo CoC RPG. I think I'll pick this up when I can. Thanks for the review!
They've only been around for over 35 years lol ... Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, MERP, Tunnels & Trolls, Traveller, and many other systems, all had solitaire adventures.
@@thelastmotel I only got into the gaming hobby about ten years back, never even thought of a solo adventure until a few years ago, much less a solitary adventure. I'll have to look into the solitary adventures for the other systems you mentioned (especially T&T). Thanks!
Against the Dark is the best solo adventure I've played in any system so far in 20 years! I've played D&D solo adventures (using disappearing ink) and the other 3 Chaosium CoC sole adventures and this is by far the best one. Epic suspenseful story with some great evil antagonists and lots of dice-rolling. Against the Tide comes in at a distant second for me.
Excellent choice for the times we live in right now, indeed. Thanks. :)
Switching hotels in Cairo because I was feeling paranoid didn't work out well.
I LOVE the production in yours videos.
I think they are between being very practical and very entertaining.
Oh... i'm running Call of Cthulhu one shots and transforming into a campaing following your tips and reviews.
Again, thank you so much for your content.
You're making me want to replay Alone Against the Flames.
Against the Dark is a much much better solo adventure and epic story. Think of it as a junior Masks of Nyarlathotep. It also has a unique gameplay system where you periodically use location tables and a calendar for your lone investigator to follow (adds re-playability as well)...and even allows for an NPC sidekick at times! Lots of combat too (against cult assassins and some creepy supernatural spirits). Could be a great side-adventure that leads to a group campaign as well.
I just wanted to leave a message to commend Seth on his outstanding content, not just this video but all of them, particularly his insights and philosophies on roleplaying. You are engaging, insightful, and succinct. Amazing content dude. Thankyou.
Thanks.
Every time Seth says his last name at the start of a video, it sounds like he is reading it for the first time.
Thanks man, nice idea for everyone who’s stuck at home at the moment! We’re isolating as my wife has got a temperature... it’s cheered me up to see this. Take care x
Hey Seth :) Have you tried out the Cthulhu Chronicles App? Was curious about your opinion. They took some great classic scenarios and transformed them into a solitary campaign. I liked how they managed to create an interlinked ongoing story from all thoses stand alone one shots- on the other side the watered down rules and the missing character progression were a let down.
I remember doing this one a long time ago - it was a lot of fun, and quite atmospheric. The story covers a lot of ground
Love your channel. Keep up the good work, Sir!
Seth Skorkowsky, I've got a question for you: How do you role play a Predator in the way it give suspense to the players like in the movies Jaws or Cujo? Thanks
Not Seth,
But watch the predator movies (or any source material) and pay attention to what you're immulating's actions and goals.
If you're playing a predator, look at their culture. Only fight on their terms, use guerilla tactics and just like the movies, don't show the man in the rubber suit too early. Show small snippets of the aftermath of certain battles. Maybe a body without a head, or eyes as they need it for retinal scans. Maybe a body without thumbs as means to bypass fingerprint scanners.
Above all else however, make sure your players have a fighting chance. Don't just dunk on em. Let your players get creative with how they fight the predator and don't be afraid to give them a victory if they come up with a solid full proof plan with some great rolls.
Hope this helped!!!
I really can't add to these suggestions. Maybe check out my review on The Derelict where I use a predator monster and talk about building it up (as well as letting the PCs get creative in defeating it).
Build up of tension, it’s cat and mouse, getting closer...Getting Closer!.....GETTING CLOSER!!!
Read the players reaction, don’t give them a break in play, imply threat with hints, clues, indirect action, a unknown lingering threat, (known is not as scary, if it’s a known quantity you can plan against it, If you don’t then you gonna need a bigger boat)
Once you see the players hooked, slowly reel them in, slowly escalate, build on the tension,
Only after the implied threat is at enough tension spring the monster at them, if you do it right should be lots of “Fu- sh!t!! Fu- sh!t! Fu- Sh!t”
See: The Thing,
@@SSkorkowsky Thanks. I'm not really into horror and I am more of a worldbuilder than a GM. It is easy for me to come up with a human antagonist (got a huge bookcase to help me) but I have a hard time to wrap my head around the mindset of a predator who just want to play with its food... without making it too obvious to the players.
Thanks to everyone for your inputs
Downloaded it, played it, loved it!
Definitely checking thatone out ;) Thanks Seth!
Thanks! Another good video, I've been binging your stuff lately and learning a lot. One thing you didn't address was the optimal level of familiarity with the game. Could a beginner handle this, or would you need to have extensive experience playing before trying to tackle it.
A newbie could do it. They'd still need to know the basics of the game, but it doesn't require any master-level or anything. Though a couple spots do call for some stuff from the Keeper's Guide, so they'll still need access to the corebook
@@SSkorkowsky Cool, thank you for the response. This definitely seems great for self-quarantine times. If I end up trying it out I'll do it through your link. 🙏
No school and a Seth vid, perfect morning
Nice, a solo game! Have you ever thought about playing any of your game systems solo using a GM Emulator? I've tried playing around with the Mythic system since I can never get a game together, and it turns out it's a lot of fun. You should try it out sometime and tell everyone what you think about it, you might get a kick out of it.
Here's something that a lot of people don't seem to be aware of. If you buy the Kindle version of some books, you will get an offer to add audible narration. Amazon doesn't make this all that clear but this is the full audio version of the book. It's always much cheaper than buying the audio book on it's own. If you get the Kindle version of Ashes of Onyx for $3.99, you can get the audio version for $7.49 as opposed to $21.41 which is what it normally costs. It was only $1.88 for Mountain of Daggers.
Hey dude love your vídeos I am binge watching them thanks to corona
@Joe Blow
My, my, my, aye-aye, whoa!
Great shirt! I love that museum. It is one of the best museums I have ever been in.
God bless you man! Could you review more single player Call Of Cthulhu campaigns in the future?
This and Grimrock are the only solitaire campaigns. The rest are solitaire scenarios.
Against the Flames, Against the Tide and Against the Frost are other solo Call of Cthulhu scenarios. Against the Dark is by far the best one with loads of suspense and dice-rolling. Against the Tide comes in at a distant second for me.
@@lionelhutz3142 thanks for the list man! I'll check em out
So I went straight out and tried this adventure, Ernest Holt derailed the story by getting shot stealing and throwing the Karpathos Device into the nile after Louis Grunewald was killed at the Parthenon! 10/10
Great epic solo adventure! Try replaying it with your own player characters (friends or associates of Grunewald & Holt). CoC goodness! 👍🏼
I really like the idea of something akin to a Choose Your Own Adventure book with RPG elements. I’ve been trying to get back into pen and paper RPGs, but even despite current events, it’s been hard for me to find people to play with.
Do you know if there are any more game books like this?
Hundreds, for many systems. Fighting Fantasy (a series which started in 1982), the Blood Sword series (which even has options for miniature combat), the Lone Wolf books, D&D (the red box from BECMI included one, and they still make solitaire adventures right up to today for 5e), MERP, RuneQuest (Scorpion Hall is particularly good), Traveller, and many, many more.
Against The Tide is a decent solo CoC adventure. The others are pretty lame IMO. Get them now before we go into lockdowns again in November 2021.😥
You got me checking out CoC again after all these years! Particularly the solo adventures (what with being by myself and all)!
I'm sorry I got here just a little too late, but, in case you were unaware, Alan Bahr did it again! The Kickstarter just ended successfully on Tiny C'thulhu! Made every one of the stretch goals. I'm wondering how hard it would be to convert current (or past) CoC adventures over.
Given the shelf life of the standard investigator, Tiny D6 seems a perfect fit.
You stay safe out there too, man. And thanks for the videos and reviews.
Was looking for a Jack picture as a little in-joke for myself for an NPC portrait, but can only find actual pictures of you. I gotta say, the outfit and voice go a long way cus holy moly you don't normally have a gumshoe vibe lol
Good review
If I had the binding break I would contact the company about it.
Stay safe
Hey Seth, nice video, like allways. Do you ever played with the arkam horror card game?
I didn't know you about your novels. Happy to support your work! Starting with Damoren. :D
Hope you enjoy it.
Would love to see you write your own published adventures for these games.
Alone against the flame should be next or the alone against the frost, plus we need more jack, also thank you, I’ve been very interested in running coc or playing but my game store is closed till this thing passes which I hope to help him.
Thanks for the review and gameplay tips Seth! I played this and thought it was fantastic. Especially compared to the other very mediocre solo CoC adventures which are like lame Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. I like to think of Against The Dark as a solo junior Masks of Nyarlathotep. The story and antagonists add lots of suspense with some deadly encounters. Chaosium deserves credit for the unique calendar and location tables that adds lots of flavor to the gameplay. They even have a NPC companion in parts of the story. I wish there were more solo adventures like this as it looks like we will be going into more lockdowns & quarantines in November 2021. 😥
i have a neat idea for some videos with all this self isolation, ways of playing tabletop rpgs online or reviews of other solitary rpgs
I got stuck in several loops during this adventure. I was able to work around it, but it was still a bit annoying.
Me and my friends started using Discord to play Call Of Cthulhu. We had a lotta fun.
We are moving to Roll20 until the COVID thing is finished.
erc1971erc1971 wish we could do the same, but not all of us have it atm because we always did it in person
@@craftsmenMC If you all wish to play online - both Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds are very easy to get into.
I can't speak for Fantasy Grounds because I have not tried it, but have heard good things. Roll20 literally runs in your browser without the need to download anything, and even the free level offers tons of things so there is no financial commitment. All anyone needs is a headset and about a half hour to go through the tutorial and you are set to go.
erc1971erc1971 I heard roll20 needs for us to pay for call of Cthulhu stuff, which we play.
@@craftsmenMC You can play for premium things...but if you don't pay you can still use 98% of what the interface offers (basically you can't use dynamic lighting). We are not paying for any of the books as we already have them - not buying the books in game does nothing to prevent you from playing.
Hi there. Recently been watching a good amount of the Call of Cthulhu reviews, one of the games I myself have always been interested in running a game of but never finding anyone interested. Regardless I enjoy learning about them...
One of the things I noticed that had me wondering was that there are a few of these reviews that talked about putting a curse or such onto a player which when taken into full consideration, would shut down that player's character to near uselessness. So I wondered, would the idea of addding a NPC who exists within the PC's unit but is mainly a background member who would take on these effects from time to time. Like a Driver who waited at the Car or such. Someone who wouldn't be involved in the main story but would take on the side roles when unneeded.
Now not saying that this NPC would be the sole recipient of these curses and such, to avoid the gimick of "Oh no, not again." but would be there as a backup scapegoat from time to time to allow players to continue playing their character while having an important member of their group be at risk.
Interesting that you said this. Against the Dark has a NPC companion that you may (or may not find) and takes a lot of combat damage and acts as a kind of shield if you choose to do so.
Bought Dämonen, and Kudos! Its really great fun and a wonderful read! Will pick the rest of your books up as well. And NEVER feel bad about self promotion. Without that I would never knew about these great adventures and characters.
And btw. thanks as well for your videos, watching all of them!
Hey Seth your vids got me to try CoC so thanks, got to run edge of darkness, I loved it but still don't feel comfortable with the rules, even after reading the keeper book. I haven't been able to run another game because of lockdown. Is this a good module to play alone if I'm not used to the rules yet, do you think this will help me learn them?
Absolutely! There are brief instructions in the introduction and in some of the passages. I think its a great solo adventure with an epic (and very creepy storyline). You can also re-play it with your own player-characters.
Really liked Ashes of Onyx. On the second book of the Valdikan series. Good job on those too.
"You can play with yourself, get it?" wink-wink, nudge-nudge. Stay classy Jack the NPC! Great video Seth! I ain't no physciscisk, but I knows what matters, climbing is a very important skill to have.
thank you mr. skorkowski...good idea under present circumstances and maybe i will use this to play call of cthulhu for the first time...i have the books but have not tried playing yet, just to steal ideas (i am an hp lovecraft fan so i am scared to try playing)...in the meantime, i might get out my old 1980s d&d choose your own adventure books and get lost in a page turning loop until i find my way out of it. :D
Try Against The Flame first as a solo intro to Call of Cthulhu RPGs. Then do Against the Dark (which if you're a Lovecraft fan has a distant but interesting connection to The Mountains of Madness)! 😉
Didn't have card stock so I just glued the printed paper to a cereal box to strengthen it before cutting it up
I bought my copy in July '22 direct from Chaosium and just played it for the first time over the holiday. I had the binding problem too. So nothing has improved as far as I can tell. I'd probably reach out to Chaosium and see if they will provide a replacement.
playing the old T&T and solos taught me to always record paragraph numbers many seemed to be written to make failure the only option.
Do people who have played this think it would be a good intro for someone who hasn’t played the system before, or does it rely on a level of presumed system mastery to execute the solo play gimmick?
I'd hold off this one as the initial, but there is also Alone Against the Flames, which is meant to be introductory and only needs the Quickstart rules to play. Both it and the quickstart are free in PDF.
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/230023/Alone-Against-the-Flames?affiliate_id=1017650
Seth Skorkowsky sick-thanks!
I had a credit I had to use for Audible before canceling, so I decided to get one of Seth's books: Damoren... Wasn't sure what to expect, but holy cow, he made me re-sub just to get the next book (and the next one). I'm really enjoying this series, and actually made me take a new look at 5E's Hexblade. Really good books.
Humble Bundle has a Cthulhu bundle that includes this right now
I didn't know I could play this game solo! Guess I need to add it to my list.
Hey, thank you for doing this video. If you enjoy this comment please give it a thumbs up. If you want for me to keep seeing your guides, war stories, and videos in general, just keep them coming. Till next time Mr. Skorkowsky you have a great day.
You know, I know you said creating a TTRPG is a lot of work, wich I agree, but I bet with your creativity and knoweldge on the subject you could definitely make one, maybe a tiny one like a pocket TTRPG.
Hey Seth. Great to see another video up. I was wondering if you have any advice for taking theses solo modules and adapting them for a group? I tried Alone against the Flames with a single player and me running it and that didn’t go to bad. Just a lot of flipping which I don’t think can be avoided. I have a group of three that are all interested in this module though and was hoping you may have some advice that may make it easier for me.
Thanx for keeping us entertained 👍😁
I ran this with some friends by post and video chat
using the video chat to tell the players what was going on and to run combat and using post for the players to communicate with eachother it was allot of work but worth it
youre the best seth!
Solo adventure....heard it was GM v GM...will review it after I have played it, Seth. Good man!
Hey Seth, do you have any insight on ways for noobs to play RPGs remotely? Now that we can’t actually get together in person, my friends _finally_ are thinking “hey, why don’t we try D&D?” 🤦♀️ I know my buddy found Roll20 and was thinking about buying that version of Lost Mine of Phandelver…
Our group is using roll20 for the first time due to social distancing. We found it great. The cost of free is nice. The tutorial takes 30-45 minutes and will teach you just about everything you need to in order to use it. All you need is a headset and you are good to go.
I've been playing Ironsworn the last couple of weeks, absolutely amazing soloplay. Free at Drivethrurpg as well.
Jack needs a hug! (virtual though -- social distancing!)
Seth could probably get away with hugging him...
I managed to bumble my way through as Grunewald by being cautious and lucky. I skipped the entire pyramid because I never found anything that required me to go there... I feel that a lot of locations you can get "stuck" narratively, such as "why would I go to New York?" when you know you have a friend in Athens. In Cairo I completely missed most things so just went "uhm okay I guess I go off to Bremen?" for no reason. I rolled a lot of lucky rolls, and managed to defeat the Mythos in the end, albeit at the cost of a stint in a sanatorium. I dunno, I didn't really feel this worked as well as it could, although it is also a really old scenario.
Some of the writing is a little bit flat or tonally inconsistent (your boss' tone whiplashing from angry to suddenly supportive) or plain weird ("You receive tender loving care" for the hospital, really?), and there's a more than a few copy mistakes that should have been picked up by a competent proofreader. This seems to be a bit of a problem Chaosium has with each product - some other examples, one single scenario title at the top of the pages for the two _different_ scenarios in the Keeper Screen pack, "Genius Lioci" at the top of the pages in Doors to Darkness' scenario _in print,_ some clearly incorrect typos that a spellcheck would find... come on Chaosium. They need to do better in this area, I feel.
I dunno. I give Chaosium lots of credit for making the "rat's nest" of this huge solo adventure work. I had a great time playing this one and the location tables and calendar add lots to the gameplay. I also played the solo Against The Tide...which is simpler, has only one location (Town of Esbury) and much better descriptive narration...but isn't nearly as fun or suspenseful. I guess if Chaosium just added more details to Against the Dark and it was 6-8 pages longer it would be damn well perfect.
Hey Seth, do you have a top 5 modules of CoC? I'm thinking of playing a campaign for my players, and could use a couple of suggestions.
Going through Reign of Terror and it’s damn amazing. I’m going through it as a stand-alone (I’m brand new and am intimidated by giant campaigns still), but it actually ties in with Horror on the Orient Express. There are some live plays you can listen to while reading along and it helps a lot for me (again, brand new lol).
Nice shirt, Seth. Good museum.
Did you also find the broken part? You can go to Bremen from Cairo without having the information about Bremen. I got to the end without having the knowledge about why I would go there.
This sounds really fun. I have been watching your other CoC videos, and have been wondering, how doable would it be to solo RPG a CoC adventure? Obviously, ai am going to get spoiled a little since I will be both GM and player, but can it be done well, maybe solo running Pulp Cthulhu with four players? Or would a different system need to be folded-in? Mythic? Or something else? Thanks!