Goodman Games

Looking for some candid opinions on the Cage of Delirium.

We'll be hosting a Halloween gaming get-together, and I'm deciding what game I want to run.

I'm looking to run a game that has a Call of Cthulhu / Silent Hill type of vibe (only setting it to a fantasy/medieval theme). Cage of Delirium seems to fit the bill.

What are your experiences in running Cage of Delirium? Is it something that can be run in a single night?

First, the module is top notch! One of GG's best. This 100% fits the bill for what your looking for.

Second, it could be run in a single night depending on your players. I would say it has about eight to ten hours of play time.

Third, I just logged on to comment about how this very module would make a great Calll of Cthulhu Mod. Funny, that you had that very question about it... Cool huh?

Fourth, This module BEGS to be converted to D20 Call of Cthulhu! Only MINOR modifications are required to do so. Nurses, Alienists, and hospitals are more "modern day" horror fare anyway, and running it as a 1920's mod makes a lot of sense. A secluded hilltop in Lovecraft's haunted New England would rock.

Let me suggest that if you do this as a one shot, then you pre gen characters before hand. I suggest 6th level characters for D20 CoC. this may seem low, but remember, PCs in this era have access to guns!

You can create characters of any level online easily here:

http://www.pathguy.com/cthulhu.htm

Now, to really add some 1920's atmosphere go here:

http://www.silentladies.com/Ladies.html

You can use the pics here to create all kinds of characters both PC and NPC alike. You can give your players a folder with precreated backgrounds, and a picture. This will get them right into it and save you tons of "setup time".

If you have access to photoshop you can make standups on cardstock, and create details patient profile with PICTURES! Put them in a manilla folder and label them... what great props... maybe yellow and burn them slightly.

As far as the background goes you could keep everything virtually the same, but move the time table up so that the events only occured ten years ago.

How the PC's get involved:

Let me suggest this, One of the PCs is a learned and well respected Alienist (in the 20s, psycologist were called Alienists), with a troubled patient. He has used a variety of techniques, but now he is seeing things he can't explain. He suspects that perhaps a reversion therpy (the patients faces the the thing he/she fears directly. In this case it would mean revisting Haverthold) is the only treatment left open to him. Though extreme, perhaps this will cure what ales the Doctor and his patient.

One of the PCs is the patient. A former nurse or orderly from Haverthold who survived the catclysm. He/she has been commited to the doctor's care as he/she has "delusions' that those that died still cry out to him/her, expecially in dreams. Thus, this patient sleeps little, futher adding to the madness. A great role-playing opportunity for the player... make sure this character falls into capable hands.

The rest of the players are students at Miskotonic University who have been called on to help the doctor. One could be a sensitive psychic, another could be an occult specialist with knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos, and some spell casting ability... since your pregening characters you can make sure the spells will help in the module.

Except for the creature in the basement, this module is not combat heavy.

Atmosphere

In addition to the CD played on a decent sound system, let me also suggest:

Colored lights and candles. I can't stress this enough... lighting will add greatly. go to Wal Mart and pick up some blue, green and red lightbulbs and replace them in your lamps for the evening. Scented candles all around will add all kinds of atmosphere.

Masks. One of those "clear face" masks would be great. You could use the anytime you speak as one of the Ghosts in the asylum. Let me suggest you get one male, and one female. At halloween time I'm sure that you can find all kinds of scary masks to represent the characters... burned faces, skeletons, rotting flesh types.... CREEPY! These would be great to use during the "interludes!"

Dress in black and wear silver jewelry. go for a "Gothic" look, it is halloween afterall! A lot of GMs don't think of themselves as a prop, but they can be. Remember, your players are going to be looking at you for most of the evening, how you dress will affect their mood, and set the tone. It may sound silly, but I'm telling you IT WORKS!! As soon as you open the door and great your friends, they will realize that this is going to be "something special."

Lastly, the ol' flashlight under the chin works great too!

Let me know if this helps!

Dave

Other suggestions:

To further add to the horror, you may want to avoid any attacks or combat on the grounds and wait until the characters enter the asylum. Once inside, the doors and windows magically seal until the mystery of the asylum is solved. Alternatively, you could magically seal the iron gate, and have the vargoulies attack anyone who attempts to climb over!

As far as the patient, her memory of events should be limited, having suffured traumatic memory loss. However, you can use this to your advantage, by having the patient "remember" things whenever it seems the characters are stumped. Don't over use it though.

Finally, Here is a revised timeline to reflect the new setting:

1882: Dr Renald Stethenfield opens the doors to Haverthold Asylum for the Mentally Ill.

1883: Dr Stethenfield's Wife Marie becomes pregnant.

1884: Marie dies in childbirth, but twin boys Marc and Luc survive.

1890: Six year old Leena Dushea committed to the asylum.

1904: Renald begins "questionable" experiments on the minds of his patients in secret.

1906: Marc Stethenfield becomes an accomplished Alienist in his own right, practicing along with his father at the asylum.

1908: Marc becomes infatuated with Leena, and commits to her recovery.

1910: Leena is "cured" but stays on, falling in love with Marc.

1913: Renald Stethenfield dies, Marc become head of the asylum.

1914: Luc Stethenfield committed to the asylum by his brother. Marc and Leena marry.

1916: Luc manages to secretly take Marc's place, reversing roles. Only Leena realizes this, and this sends her back into a catatonic state. "Marc" has her recommitted.

1917: leena gives birth to Baby A. Her deepest horror is that she does not know whether the baby is Marc or Luc's, which sends her over thedge, into complete insanity.

1919: Completely broken, Leena manages to briefly escape the clutches of Luc, fleeing to the bell tower. Cornered and no where to go, she leaps, committing suicide rather than face the horrors of recommittment. The death of the beloved Leena spawns a riot that ends with the asylum in flames. Many perish violently in the flames, including the twin brothers.

1929: Ten years after the cataclysm, one of the survivors returns to the ruined asylum. Haunted by the horrors of that day, the patient returns hoping to quash the inner demons forever. Assisted by her long term Doctor, and a few curious students from Miskatonic University, they reenter Haverhold, unaware that not all ghosts and demons are imagined!

Professor Winslow Smythe

Professor Smythe is a tenured professor, having been on staff at Miskatonic University for almost twenty years. His primary field of study is psychology, and he is an accomplished alienist. He also has quite the reputation as an aficionado on matters of the occult. Only Doctor Henry Armitage could be said to be more versed on the subject, and Smythe’s knowledge has been useful on several occasions in dealing the some peculiar incidents and murders in Arkham over the years.
In general, Professor Smythe’s workload at the university is light, as his work at the Arkham Asylum for the mentally ill takes up most of his time. His assistants do most of the teaching. Smythe is usually present for lectures about twice a week, and becomes more active as mid terms and finals approach.




Fazeem Al-ahmed:
Fazeem’s grandfather was an Indian Mystic of significant power. Much of what Fazeem knows, he learned from ancient scrolls his grandfather gave him before he past. Fazeem believes that he is very close to achieving Matte, and has come to Arkham to study the famous ancient texts that reside there (most notably the infamous Necronomicon). Fazeem also believes that mental illness may sometimes be the result of supernatural forces, and therefore has some knowledge in the field of psychology.

How Fazeem Got Involved
-He contacted Professor Winslow in regards to his occult knowledge and to gain access to his vast library, accidently encountered "Patient X" and witnessed a peculiar manifestation.



Patient X



Feline DeWinter

Feline is one of Professor Smythe's top students, and real go getter. While not a psychology major, her insights are most astute. She loves Arkham Mass, and Miskotonic university for its allure and mystery. When not in class she can usually be found investigating some local mystery or exploring an old historical landmark.

Of course, this has lead to trouble on more than one occasion, but Miss DeWinter has managed to come out unscaythed so far. Smythe suspects that there is more to this young lady than meets the eye as many of her observations border on astonding in their accuracy.

DM Dave, your post was just...awesome.

I have the regular CoC game mechanics, as well as the D20 (although I'm ashamed to admit I haven't even cracked open the D20 Cthulhu yet).

I do own photoshop (I do web development), so making table cards and folders for everyone will be easy.

I may need to stray away from the flash lights and masks though...they'd be far more likely to elicit giggles from the women in the group, rather than terror.

What about the music cd? How is it? I've always strayed away from music in a gaming setting (probably because I had a DM when I was in high school that would inflict Yngwie Malmsteen on us while we were gaming....PAINFUL).

Being a fan of the Silent Hill games though...those soundtracks can be creepy.

The music is great! I can't recommend Midnight Syndicate high enough... great stuff. I've used music in my games for years, and here's nothing better to set the mood. play "Anvil of Crom" (From "Conan the Barbarian") to get the blood pumping during combat, or some scary music really gets players into the scene.

The trick is learning to coordinate the music with your descriptive text. Learn how the repeat button works so the right music continues during the entire scene. Don't play the music too loud... keep it low so everybody can speak in a normal tone. I use portable, amplified speaker right on the table, and an MP3 player behing the screen so I can easily change tracks, volume while I'm speaking and so forth.

Another trick is to gradually raise the volume as the players get close to danger (or percieved danger)... this will increase the tension.

I once had 11th level D&D players refuse to go into a room because the description of the room and the background music creeped them out so much. It was a room with pulsating flesh covered walls, floor and ceiling. Hundreds of singing mouths of all shapes and sizes covered the flesh... some with fangs, and razor sharp teeth. The music I played was "Requiem For Soprano, Mezzo Soprano" from "2001 A space odessy." If you remember the music from the opening scene with the monolith then you know what I'm talking about. (the music is a bunch of soprano singers warming up, but they are all singing different notes creating a discordant overature... its quite unsettling in the right context )


As they approached the room the music played low... the door pulsated. When they started trying to open the door, I gently increased the volume until they bashed the door in. Then I blasted the music and read the description... they promtly turned around and walked (very quickly) away. In reality, the room was an illusion, and presented no real danger.

Music is a powerful tool. My players still talk about that encounter to this day... fondly...and that was ten years ago!

Trust me on the masks.

If you've got the music playing, the candles lit, and you don't reveal it until your ready (don't over use is the key) you will not elicit any giggles aimed at you. You don't actually have to put it on, just manually hold it over your face at the right moment. Dip down behind the GM screen, have the music playing, (maybe gently raise the volume as you slowly raise your head) and begin speaking in a creepy voice as you rise (your voice will have a muffled "Darth Vader" sound to it as you speak from behind the mask)... trust me, there will be no laughs... if everything goes right you should get an "Oh s@#t!" moment... possibly followed by some uncomforatble laughter. Kind of like when the cat jumps from the side of the screen during a horror movie and everybody jumps in their seats... that kind of giggles is good... it means you got em!

Practice the effect, in front of a mirror and you'll see what I'm talking about. I "rehearse" quite a bit so I have my character voices and technique down before the game session.

Lastly, IMHO opinion (no flaming from the Chasiom purist please ), D20 Cthulhu is far superior to the original rules. They are cleaner, more consistant, and allow for easy scaling and intigration of creatures and rules from other sources.

If your players know how to play D&D, then they already know how to play D20 Cthulhu. Using D20 Cthulhu will save you TONS of "conversion" work as well, that way you can devote your time to the important matters of running the session.

Thanks for all of the advice and info DM Dave! I love the description of the memorable encounter your group had. Good stuff.

I'll definitely pick up Cage of Delirium. My local comic shop has it in stock (which is what prompted this thread in the first place).

I'll give the music a shot. I also have some "horror" sound files on my home PC...some of them are truly hair-raising.

As for the masks...I'll try it...but you don't know my wife...she'll almost certainly laugh (accompanied with an eye roll).

DM_Dave wrote: Lastly, IMHO opinion (no flaming from the Chasiom purist please ), D20 Cthulhu is far superior to the original rules. They are cleaner, more consistant, and allow for easy scaling and intigration of creatures and rules from other sources.

If your players know how to play D&D, then they already know how to play D20 Cthulhu. Using D20 Cthulhu will save you TONS of "conversion" work as well, that way you can devote your time to the important matters of running the session.

Funny that you should mention that. My group doesn't have any experience with Cthulhu (which was why I wanted a D&D or D20 game instead). Learning the game mechanics to a new system wasn't conducive to a one-shot adventure.

I'm not a Chaosism purist, so I have no problem with (finally) cracking open the D20 CoC.

fathead wrote:
As for the masks...I'll try it...but you don't know my wife...she'll almost certainly laugh (accompanied with an eye roll).

Lol...true, but I do know mine, and I understand!

We almost finished Cage of Delirium. Playing it until 7am. Yeah, it was that good. We still have a little bit left to go (such as entering the secret laboratory). Can't wait!

This is one of the BEST DCCs out there. And I have played quite a few.

Now we are well and done playing Cage of Delirium. I have definitely got to get a sheet of those "PC Death" stickers for my DM Screen. Yup, another one bites the dust in the final encounter. Even still my brother accuses me of being a 'soft DM' when it comes to gaming.

In Room 23 there is a monster encounter if the PCs do X. Now, when I was reading the module before play I figured this encounter was bound to be skipped over. I mean, who in their right mind would do X? Nonetheless along comes my team. Not only do they do X but one strapped themselves into the device before X was even attempted.
Buzz: "I'm strapping myself into the device."
Charlie: "How? Are you leaving one arm dangling or something?"
Ace: "I'll help him strap in."
Buzz: "Thanks, now do X"
Charlie: "How many times are you doing X" (looking up notes on the room)
Buzz: "About a dozen or so."
Charlie: "Whooo ... " (monster encounter ensues with comedic results including someone casting darkness to enshroud the entire room.)

hint: X is my way of referring to the trigger act without overly revealing it.

CharlieRock wrote:In Room 23 there is a monster encounter if the PCs do X. Now, when I was reading the module before play I figured this encounter was bound to be skipped over. I mean, who in their right mind would do X? Nonetheless along comes my team. Not only do they do X but one strapped themselves into the device before X was even attempted.
Buzz: "I'm strapping myself into the device."
Charlie: "How? Are you leaving one arm dangling or something?"
Ace: "I'll help him strap in."
Buzz: "Thanks, now do X"
Charlie: "How many times are you doing X" (looking up notes on the room)
Buzz: "About a dozen or so."
Charlie: "Whooo ... " (monster encounter ensues with comedic results including someone casting darkness to enshroud the entire room.)

hint: X is my way of referring to the trigger act without overly revealing it.

Ugh. My tummy hurts from laughing so hard.

//H

fathead wrote:Funny that you should mention that. My group doesn't have any experience with Cthulhu (which was why I wanted a D&D or D20 game instead). Learning the game mechanics to a new system wasn't conducive to a one-shot adventure.

Normally I would agree but if there is a simple system more conducive to a one-shot with pre-gens than BRP Cthulhu I've yet to meet it and I've been gaming almost 30 years