Years ago when I was involved in running games in a now defunct
gaming convention in my hometown called Wingames I was asked to run a session of Call of
Cthulhu. Leaving everything to the last minute as usual I found myself on the
morning of the day I was supposed to run completely unprepared. I decided to wing it
and quickly wrote up a character sheet which I photocopied for the other five players the
session had room for. I cannot for the life of me remember what it was that I ran
but for some reason it was a success. In succeeding years I ran more sessions
expanding the event into a two group session (which involved some group interactions).
As the years went by the rules became more and more rudimentary so as to not get in
the way. Eventually a pattern was reached for the sessions. There were two
parties of six people each with two gamemasters (it's very important that the players have
a good sense of fun). Character sheets, skills and scenarios were kept to a minimum
and the old Chaosium Basic Role-Playing System, modified by Call of Cthulhu was the system
used. One party was usually composed of cthulhoid monsters (usually disguised as
humans) and the other was a party of human adventurers (or weirder!) In the past
scenarios have included :
1) The Drelbs vs. The Investigators
A group of six identical, hairless, genderless clones have arrived
back in the 1920's United States on a fact finding mission where they investigate an
abandoned house. The other party were standard CofC investigators who had to
interact with the Drelbs.
Highlights
The famous Drelb salute (make a fist and place it upside down on
your head).
2) The Mi-Go vs. the Cannibal, Inbred Hillbillies
The hillbillies were cthuloid worshippers looking for a snack on the
Miskatonic U campus while the Mi-Go were up to the usual Mi-Go nonsense.
Highlight
The Mi-Go entering a seafood restaurant where they discover some of
their larval form being held prisoner in a tank of water. They managed to
successfully liberate the larva!
3) Return of the Drelbs, or Send in the
Clones (June 3, 2000) (the best prepared I have ever been!) The rules were
now even more simplified by using D20 rolls under skill numbers. You can see the
full "scenario" for what it's worth by following these links :
"Scenario"
The Lusitania
The Kranzons
The Drelbs
4) Drelbs on the
Hindenburg or "Seven Brides for Seven Herr Schmidts." (June 8, 2002) The
system is even more pared down with every stat and ability being a 10 which you have to
equal or roll under on a D20 to succeed with the occassional plus or minus more or less
arbitrary modifier. This was supposed to be a two party scenario with the able help
of my friend Doug but the turnout was small enough that I was able to run just the drelbs.
Fortunate that as I never really ever finalized the opposition. Doug did some
great research though even drawing up floorplans of the passenger areas of the Hindenburg,
what a guy!
5) Drelbs in Aspic (June 7, 2003)
A new low in infantile, lowest common denominator humour. I'd feel ashamed
but it was too damn funny for words. (The system became even more atrophied. I
allowed any 50/50 randomiser. I used a D30 (when am I going to every use a D30
again?).
*Originally I called the "system" Call of
Cthulhu, then Cthulhu?!?!?! and now finally Mega, stealing the name from a different
system that also used to be ran at Wingames. Mega itself started as Mega D&D and
then just plain Mega. Defining quote occurred when a player said to the guy running
it "You're making this all up as you go along!" "Well, yes." was
the reply. Long live rules-lite/rules free roleplaying!
(The other great rule-lite free form sort of game run at Wingames
was Rosie's Cantina).
This page last modified June 11, 2003
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