Short Dreamlands campaign advice needed.

[littleo]

Greetings. About to start a Skype campaign for a few friends. I am thinking I'll do something I've not tried before- run a Dreamlands influenced campaign with real world scenarios mixed in to keep the pcs on their guard. I usually run a very pulp styled game, but this time I would prefer to provide a dreamy, somewhat brooding atmoshere. My backstory begins in March 1925 when the stars come right and great Cthulhu awakens from his slumber. Artists go mad and worldwide cults become more active, sensing their time is near. "Sensitives" and the weak minded fall into a deep slumber from which they may never recover. The barriers between ordinary reality and the Dreamlands weaken, and at the height of the panic on March 23rd, Nodens destroys the strange high house as his first protective act. Que the beginning of the campaign with The House on the Edge. I think the second scenario may be the next one in the Kingsport book about the artist suicide. I like the idea of using We Have Met the Enemy from Mortal coils as one of the real world scenarios as it forces the pcs to make some rather nasty choices. Might be too violent though. I suppose the ultimate baddie will be Nyarlathotep, making a play for power when the boundary between dream and reality weakens. The campaign will end when the characters awaken just a few days later with loved ones at their side asking, "Are you okay, I think you were dreaming?"
So I've got the beginning and the ending- how do I fill in the middle? Any advice is welcome- good scenarios, either Dreamlands or 1920s. I'm thinking I may use The Whore of Baharna and I need to read the Dreaming Stone to see if it has promise for the culminating adventure. What Lovecraft Country scenarios have the best props in your opinion? I think I will send a packet of props to each player by mail prior to each scenario. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Mike D

[Agent_Bluescale]

First of all, I love your idea. I've wanted to run a similiar campaign before, having the Dreamlands adventures be almost D&D-esque/sword & sorcerery, the characters being unsure what is and isn't real. Now your inspiring me to consider it agsin.

There were two adventures I would use. The first is 'The Pits of Bendal-Dolum' which leaves off in a possible cliffhanger/the return of a powerful Dreamlands sorcerer. There is another adventure which is in 'Adventures in Arkham Country' (I think) called 'Malice Afterthought'. I played in it years ago, with one of my first COC groups which was ran by the mother of a friend of mine, which involves a Dreamlands sorcerer possesing people in the real world with the plan of framing them for murder.

[littleo]

Hi. Which book is the Pits scenario in? I did consider using Malice, but I think it is probably too violent for what I have in mind. Wrona Bors would be a good continuing villain though, and I do like the idea that the players all have a loved one in Arkham's sanitarium as the introductory lead in. I'm going to encourage non combat characters- artist, physician, scientist, parapsychologist. I don't think they could survive the combat in that scenario. Pickman's Student looks promising with just a quick pass through. What I really need is 1 or 2 real world scenarios that complement the tone of the campaign. Do you have any ideas for that? Maybe I need to look at bringing in an Innsmouth tie for one of the characters, or look at the Pagan work done on ghouls. Thanks.
Mike D

[Agent_Bluescale]

Pits is in 'Cthulhu Classics'.

[mib_dg]

I once ran a pastiche of White Wolf style troupe play for Call of Cthulhu called The Heralds of Hypnos. It was about superpowered dreamers searching for the missing god HYPNOS during the end times.

[Malik]

I'm currently running 'The Dreaming Stone' and it's going swimmingly so far. Although my players (as so many do) seem to suffer from ADD and insist on exploring everything in the Dreamlands and don't seem worried about the encroaching outer god. But there is a nice mix of 'Roleplaying' and 'Rollplaying' and can even be done with minimal combat [spoiler] probably until they get to the moon, where I suspect more combat will be needed[/spoilers]

I read a scenario (which I can't remember the name of) that pitted the investigators against Hypnos and it looked fun. I remember it started with recurring dreams of a particular set of fields or something that they were supposed to go and find in the Dreamlands... That's not really enough to go on is it? The only reason I haven't used it is that the investigators need prior Dreamlands experience, which mine didn't have at the time. But it'd work well later in a campaign.

EDIT: Found it. Porphyry & Aspodel: http://cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/2...penelope-love/

[dce]

I read a scenario (which I can't remember the name of) that pitted the investigators against Hypnos and it looked fun. I remember it started with recurring dreams of a particular set of fields or something that they were supposed to go and find in the Dreamlands... That's not really enough to go on is it? The only reason I haven't used it is that the investigators need prior Dreamlands experience, which mine didn't have at the time. But it'd work well later in a campaign.

EDIT: Found it. Porphyry & Aspodel: http://cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/2...penelope-love/

BTW Malik ... speaking as the guy who had the (enviable) job of constructing the PDF layout for "Porphyry & Asphodel" ... if you *do* decide to run it, I'd love to hear how it went for you. Drop me a PM, or even better post something here on the forum.


Dean (from Adelaide)

[GBSteve]

I've found that for dreaminess, a good way is to have a theme running through the game that hints at connections between seemingly unconnected events, the real world and the dreamlands. I find Jungian archetypes are good for this because they are themed around people. So for example, in a game (not actually Dreamlands) which culminated in the Shub-Niggurath breaking through time and space into our world, I used the Dark Mother archetype which I introduced through a variety of strong female icons appearing in the background so the psychic's spirit guide was Diana Princess of Wales, when the group were in New York, it was Halloween and they saw several Wonder Womans, and Linda Carter was doing a book signing tour. You can have Dreamlands characters being real world people that the team recognise, they don't have to be alive in the real world either and you should choose them to reinforce the thematic elements of the game. If you're going for a Black Pharoah style Nyarlathotep, you might have pharoahs turn up as NPCs Merry Hathor, the Innkeeper or Sean Kiber the drover. The important thing here is a) don't over do it. Keep it subtle and background, release information in a very limited way. Don't get a player to roll history and say blankly Meryhathor was 10th dynasty and Seankhibre a 13th dynasty pharoah. You might hint about some aspect of the NPC, such as the player remembers his profile from somewhere, only later in the game will they find a frieze in a museum which gives the game away. Also go for other senses, smells and sounds which don't quite fit and provide links to other times or places: the Dreamlands sea smells for all the world like a dusty tomb, the princess has the same perfume as your wife. Also get background information on the characters, or make it up, and add details from it to the story, an NPC might resemble a loved 1st grade teacher, or a pet dog, an event might recall something that happened to them or a loved one. But don't have it all make sense, dreams don't always make sense. The layering of sensations and vaguely connected information is what conveys the strangeness, not there being a reason for it.

[ash]

Oh fantastic, I'm about to run my second session of Spawn of Azathoth, a Keith Herber mini campaign. It is great so far, I love having the option to have dreams mean things that might connect with the narrative or that might just be for the sake of it being 'out there'. The Spawn of Azathoth is very well written and easy to run so far. I recommend it. Keep me up to date with your game. I'm starting to throw dreams into my narrative already but will give them more time with the dreamlands later on in the campaign, for now the dreams are working as gap fillers and plot intrigue aside from the main 'waking' storyline.