Starting "Our Ladies of Sorrow" advice needed

[Amongor]

Just read the 1st part KRoss's excellent Our Ladies of Sorrow (OLOS) and am planning to run it this Friday.
I would like to get advices from either the author or anyone else who has run/read this to give me some input or advice on how to successfully run this.

Thanks,

Amongor

[tlynch999]

What, specifically, are you looking for? I'm sure many here would be happy to help, and someone could even nudge Kevin, but if you could narrow your question a bit, it would be hugely helpful.

[Shrike]

Indeed, what Tom said. I can offer some opinions on how best to integrate OLOS into a Delta Green campaign, but I have no idea if that would be helpful to you ...

[Amongor]

I'm not looking for anything specific but would like to hear what others did or their story of this scenario.
One of the thing that I've enjoyed about this forum is hearing how other GM went thru their scenario.
DG sounds interesting. Shrike, yeah I would like to hear how you integrate it to DG.

Thanks,

Amongor

[Badger]

Well, i've never ran it (yet), but having read it more than once, i can tell you that what i'd do when running it is to not try to present it as a Call of Cthulhu campaign with supernatural overtones. Instead, flip it; that it's a very somber, desolate story heavily stacked with supernatural events and beings. What Mythos influences that may exist really just dance around the edges of the plot.

I'd also suggest checking out some of the movies, TV shows, and music that Kevin listed as influencing his writing of the book. If nothing else, it would probably help you get in the right mindset.

-=B

[KRoss]

Hi. Just noticed this thread, thanks to The Badge.

His first point cuts straight to the heart of OLOS: This is NOT NOT NOT a Cthulhu Mythos story. Instead it is an unabashedly SUPERNATURAL horror story. By that I mean in a normal CoC run, events may be weird and even otherworldly. But in OLOS, the antagonists are basically somewhere between spirits and gods, and they don't play by the normal rules of physics and reality and such-like. When you're running the adventures, don't be afraid to break rules to tell a better story. (There's a good example of this in the 1st scenario, where the person who truns out to be the avatar of the first Mater actually has a good alibi for her whereabouts during a certain murder. Come to think of it, there's another good example in chapter one where the avatar is present when another manifestation/phenomena takes place. There are more examples in chapter two, where a single entity turns out to have been many characters met by the investigators throughout the adventure.)

What it all boiled down to for me was that this was a flat-out horror story. To me, "true" horror isn't something you seek out to put an end to. Horror finds you and has its way with you, and you should be happy with just getting the hell out alive. There isn't a big cult ceremony you have to prevent here, nor a god-summoning or any other of the usual types of ending of horror campaigns. Here it boils down to the investigators running afoul of these entities and trying to escape with their lives -- and perhaps the life of an NPC as well. No end of the world bullshit here, though the choices set up in the finale should be pretty troubling.

I think another way the campaign differs from most is that it allows the investigators to do some researching, but what they find won't give them any pat answers or obvious solutions to the problem at hand. Instead, they'll just keep finding references that ask more questions or suggest an even wider scope to the Mothers' mythology. But not a damn thing about what they can do about it.

I'm not really sure what other advice I can give you, other than to reiterate what Badger suggested: this isn't Lovecraftian horror, this is supernatural horror a la modern Japanese ghost cinema, M.R. James, Fritz Leiber, Stephen King, or what have you.

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, so I'll try and get back here to add more if I think of it.

You'll have to let us know how it goes. Let's hope you leave 'em so spooked they have to leave the lights on at night.

Good luck!

Kevin Ross

[diamondjack62]

just watch SUSPIRIA. When I ran this adventure, I used some screenshots from the movie to show the interior of the apartment building. I never put as much time into minute details in an adventure as I did for this one. I just loved the idea of an adventure based on SUSPIRIA. Characters should spend a lot of time alone. It helps with the overall mood. I removed some of the npc's and had the characters take apartments in the building, but they each had a different apartment and they were each living alone.

[Amongor]

Hi guys,

I just finished our 1st session of this game last Friday and I will put my story up at a later time as I am still at work.
I do not know what SUSPRIRIA is but will check out.

Tim

[Amongor]

The session went pretty good. We ended with the 1st night attack.

Spoiler alert!!


Here are some of the highlight of last session.

Without knowing the name of the apartment, one pf the pc approached the old religious lady on the second floor and told her that he was looking for the 3 sisters who lived in this unit since Ryder mentioned about the 3 sisters at the scene of the accident.
The pc later saw the name in front of the apartment and there was this "Ah ha" moment.
The pcs finally realized why every tenants where dismissing them so easily.
Another pc decided to distract Todd Beach by posing as a prospective tenant so that another pc could sneak around.
It was fun for me to play Todd as the slick salesman trying to get the pc to rent the unit with cash incentives and then threats of giving it to one of "4" other prospective tenants.

Although the idea of the 1st night hag attack was great, I don't think that I pulled it off successfully.
Perhaps it was my description or the environment that we were playing in but the pcs did not walk away with a sense of dread. This was supposed to be the cliff hanger for next session. I will have to work on my timing and delivery next time.

Another problem that I had was to give them a good logical in game reason to hang together and solve this mystery. So the pcs are having a Friday night dinner together and then they encounter this bizarre accident that leads them to this apartment followed by a nightmare afterward. My pcs will dutifully go back and investigate but I feel that the hook is not strong enough for them to logically go back.
How can I get them into this mystery without being too railroady. I did mentioned at the start of the game that the pcs were looking for a new place to stay and that another pc is a writer but they are not picking up on it. I prefer not to mention it again as it will be too obvious.
Few ideas in mind are:

1) Have them go back to their regular lives and then have another attack or haunting incident. They will think correctly that the apartment is the source of the hag attack and thus go back.
2) I can use Madeline as a hook. I know that my pcs will be interested at the mention of a pretty girl although this could complicate the plot a bit.
3) Since my pcs are playing characters who are either attending or teacher at Miskatonic U, I can have them stumble upon either Kurt doing his investigation or Madeline and then draw them emotionally back to the apartments.
4) Have them meet the author Ahern (sp) at Miskatonic U and then listen to his lecturn on the night hag attacks.

What do you guys think? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Tim