Pondering BYMOM

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

I've started reading Beyond the Mountains of Madness, a massive CoC scenario. I'd been considering running it for mnemex and ebartley as part of a time travel Cthulhupunk arc I'm planning. I'd already figured out how to adapt about 5 1890s adventures for them.

But, BYMOM is different. I think now I'd rather run it as straight CoC, with PCs who don't have any knowledge of the mythos. I'm not sure ebartley would enjoy that, but, as she's pointed out, she doesn't have to be in every game mnemex and I are in. jlighton is interested, as is at least one other person, though scheduling would be interesting. Ideally, I'd like to run every other week, on a weekend day. Of course, I'll need to finish reading the book, read the associated fiction, reread everything, and make notes.

One criticism of BYMOM that I've heard is that it railroads, a lot. There is at least some truth to this, but I'm not sure it's a big problem.

I've been thinking about this, and about the fact that a lot of played CoC sessions have PCs who start off knowing zilch about the mythos, while the players know quite a lot. There's a number of indie folks -- not sure how many, and don't really care -- who are very down on CoC, for reasons that are simultaneously valid and missing the point. I'm wondering if some of my knee-jerk reactions to a couple of the indie games are similar.

Take The Mountain Witch. I do want to try it, though at first glance, it seems limiting. It's only one story, however many times you play it, and there's a fair bit that seems predestined, or railroaded.

In fact, this sounds a lot like a number of CoC games that I've enjoyed. Same basic story -- PCs are likely to die, go insane, or somehow muddle through without ever knowing quite what's going on. Some scenarios are railroady. Just like The Mountain Witch, or like Shab al-Hiri Roach, which I played and enjoyed quite a bit at Origins. And railroady? Well, there was that delightful run of octaNe at Origins, and one of Unknown Armies, both run by the extremely capable Todd Furler, and both having definite No Matter What bits. And, that's okay. I had a blast playing both.

Comments

[brianrogers.livejournal.com]

Not often enough to commit to anything. I doubt mom would agree to my brining DD into the city once a month for a dose of creeping doom. More seriously, now that I have my Cornell certification I doubt I'll be back in NYC for a while - unless my new boss starts pushing me towards an advanced program. That wouldn't be until 07 regardless.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Ah well. Am reaching the climax of the adventure in my reading. The substance is awesome, but some of the railroady bits need very careful handling. There's a difference between "The PCs should not discover this actually amazingly difficult thing to discover" and "The PCs should not be allowed to act with basic intelligence".

Now, BYMOM is better in this respect than Pagan Publishing's The Walker in the Wastes, which, iirc, has far too many case of "Don't let the PCs do/learn/find X". That's different than, "Okay, this is looking dangerous enough that the players would turn back, but the PCs should be bold explorers who have no reason to think that careful planning won't be enough."

Mm, now that is another factor -- BYMOM does require a certain amount of anal PC / player planning. Not gun battles and strategies for same, but "Okay, you have 2 planes ready to head onto the ice. Here's the equipment list for each. You have nothing not on this list, unless you decide to change it now, and if you add anything, you have to remove something." How relevant is player planning here? Impossible to say until it hits play.