Call of Cthulhu: The Code - RPG Review

The Player Characters are called to the house of an old friend to witness an amazing discovery and a terrible mystery. Written by Christopher Lackey & Lynne Hardy, the adventure appears in 2020's Mansions of Madness: Volume 1.
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Guest Starring Jack the NPC
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#ttrpg #CallOfCthulhu

[@PimPimGamer]

Does anyone else find Seth's Scenario reviews really cozy to listen to? For me, it is almost like listening to your favorite uncle tell you a scary story back when you were just a kid. It is really awesome whenever I see a new Coc review. 😁

[@monkeytime9851]

Yes. And I don't even play RPGs.

[@terminaldogma01]

New channel: Call of Cthulhu ASMR reviews

[@SquirrelGamez]

Yes. Like I've said before, I don't even play most of the rpgs he reviews, I just enjoys the videos regardless.

[@BF-up5xw]

Completely. Cosmic horror served up as therapy for every day woes!

[@danacoleman4007]

​@@SquirrelGamezsame here!

[@witchdoctor1394]

If Seth covers another module with 'time skips', he should randomly appear as other members of 'The Gang' but with their mannerisms jumbled up...AKA Dweebles with Jack's voice and Flask, etc. Just to add a whole new level of weird 😂

[@ultimor1183]

Another great way to introduce Connolly is to just have him time travel teleport into a player character’s house, tell them he’s from the future, and to show up at his mansion a week from now to prove his theory when the players show up right after he does his test. But when he gets back Clint murders him and now these two people are trying to cover up a murder as the players show up like a monty python skit.

[@callahanklatt7773]

Congrats on the Ennie, Seth! It's been amazing watching your channel and style grow all these years. Here's to your next Ennie!

[@HanndyJobs]

I voted for you

[@originaluddite]

I love how Jack's backstory suddenly grows so that he _always_ knew cryptography. Classic RPG retconning. 😉

[@archonfett]

clasisc timey-wimy wibbly-wobbly retconning

[@DFloyd84]

He cracked the code and unlocked his backstory!

[@rollperception]

I think a very cool ending to the scenario would be saving the doctor by going back and warning him or stopping him from getting shot, which then makes it so the current present timeline never happens. Thus the scenario ends with all the player characters never actually going on the adventure and they just get a strange thank you gift from the doctor for something that version of themselves never did.

[@dutch6857]

I like it! Might take a bit of exposition, but real Twilight Zone vibe. "You are in your kitchen, just preparing to give the last lecture of a long, uneventful semester when a parcel arrives..."

[@GrimDarkHalfOff]

Calll of Cthulhu is easily my favorite tabletop game. It's just better for one shots than any other system or universe.

[@Rajaat99]

I am going to steal this adventure for Shadowrun. Instead of a time suit, it'll be a metaplane suit.

[@acemccrae7862]

All the best ideas in life are some variant of stolen :-D

[@JonHook]

Yeah.... I love this scenario, and I'm so glad you had a good time playing in it.

[@SSkorkowsky]

It was great, man. Thanks for running me.

[@colmhoran1663]

It might be fun to pull some inspiration from The Stone Tape and the Doctor Who episode "Hide". Like maybe the house or the site it's on has a reputation for being haunted for decades or even centuries, and then it turns out the "hauntings" are all caused by Connolly or the player characters using the suit right now. So then if they change the timeline by going back and saving Connolly, then suddenly the building's history of being haunted no longer exists. You might even be able to convince the players they're actually dealing with ghosts and not time travel at first! Congratulations on the Ennie, too.

[@harrycookson6086]

Hey thanks for putting me on to the Stone Tape, I watched it last night and it was great! :)

[@colmhoran1663]

@@harrycookson6086 You're welcome! Nigel Kneale was a great writer. "English folk horror that turns out to be sci-fi horror" is a natural stylistic fit for CoC. Check out Quatermass & The Pit too if you've never seen it!

[@danacoleman4007]

I laugh so hard when I have to remind myself that all these characters are just one person!😂 They're just so well done it's s very very easy to forget!😊

[@nooctip]

How could you? Jack is totally a real person. Totally:)

[@archonfett]

didn't you hear Jack at the end? they aren't the exactly same guy they are his variants

[@hunterkarr5618]

I always think that too with Seth’s characters. They’re so “real” 😮

[@rats-of-a-feather]

The alternate handouts are genius. Hope to run this one day.

[@ArawnNox]

As I was watching this I was thinking to myself, "He died while wearing the suit, could that be a reason for the anomalies?" I'm glad Seth and I were on the same wavelength :)

[@stewartthorpe2533]

Clicked within 38 seconds of video publishing. The other KZbin vid I was watching can wait

[@professorphantoms717]

"Oh, I'm supposed to pick one?" My session 0's

[@Xingmey]

13:25 watch out Jack - the NPC! behind you!

[@dustincameron787]

It was all going well until Seth got stuck in a time loop at the end of the video. Probably nothing to worry about, I'm sure we won't run into various other versions of him just kicking around...

[@mikehollen6608]

Congrats on your Ennie! I've learned a metric tonne of stuff from your channel. Keep it up!

[@justintiffin-richards6840]

just on a irrelevant side note for anyone interested... A US ton is 2,000/lbs. The long ton aka Imperial (British) ton is 2240 lbs. The "metric tonne" is, equal to 1000 kilograms, or approximately 2204 pounds.

[@mikehollen6608]

@@justintiffin-richards6840I suppose it was redundant to say metric and tonne 😂

[@gavinboyer4634]

I think the T'chalix (if I spelled that right) don't really have to worry about messing with the timeline too much because of how far in the future they are. Like in The End of Eternity.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Kind of like the Toclafane?

[@gavinboyer4634]

@@MonkeyJedi99 more or less.

[@michaelsbagley]

I think based on your suggested adjustments to the plot points, I see this one being worked into my current campaign.

[@bossman4799]

I have this scenario book and have read through The Code. Seems really cool, but I haven’t run it yet. I have run the old 6th edition scenarios and House of Memphis. All were very fun, especially House of Memphis. I recommend Keeper’s give it a try. It is essentially rated R monster house.

[@SorryBones]

Let’s gooooo!!!

[@rollsanity]

YAAAASS! A new review of CoC!

[@nlnrose]

13:24 I love how you put a mantis man in the background here. lol

[@Cameroo]

Always neat seeing Chris Lackey pop up in mythos adventure circles.

[@gothmissstress]

I am still waiting till the day when my players will want to run me but they say it's too overwhelming😤 Lucky Seth!

[@neilfrier3754]

Congratulations on your win!

[@tuomasronnberg5244]

But if the characters use the time suit to prevent the doctor's murder, then they wouldn't have arrived to investigate his disappearance in the first place, which means they wouldn't be able to prevent his murder 🤔 Are they setting up themselves to be stuck in a loop?

[@archonfett]

he still sent the original letter before he was murdered. and after they prevent he just has to remember to invite them again to stop it (Bill and Ted logic)

[@thetux459]

Might be amusing to run this scenario with none of the PCs getting the code, as Eve failed to invite the correct individual. Have one temporal anomaly reveal the conversation where Eve details her plan to invite the players and another one towards the end reveal an unknown person arriving with the code.

[@mikegould6590]

Congratulations on the Ennie, and well met. Unlike many CoC adventures, the monsters in this aren't the threat - humanity is. Nice.

[@MaxWriter]

Nicely done, as always. I've read this one and I agree, it has a kind of "We're done. Just walk away." feel to it. Perosonally, I want to know how your character ended up lost in time and forever accelerating towards the heat death of the universe. Jack at 6:09 reminded me of Jonathan Michael Lovitz's Pathological Liar from Saturday Night Live. That's the ticket! Also, Jack's idea at the end immediately made me think of Paranoia. Player dies, his timeline clone just shows up. Nice time loop/blooper ending.

[@cobaltsky6872]

Congratulations on the award, happy to see another video :)

[@Tweezle]

I appreciate the end bit a lot, really :) You stumbling over words and dealing with imperfect recordings. I deal with that a lot, and watching somebody make perfect videos despite it gives me hope I can do my own vocal projects!

[@Avankiri]

Great job earning that second Ennie! With the re-release of Mister Corbitt and The Crack'd and Crook'd Manse, guess we can look forward to an updated review of them? I'll give you an eldritch tome~! No wait, TWO eldritch tomes!

[@mr.pavone9719]

Jack's rant at the end was sorta what I was thinking.

[@rdbeef5645]

I was literally reading this 3 days ago and starting up notes to run it for my players, so this could not have been better timed!

[@SSkorkowsky]

Hope you all have fun.

[@G-Blockster]

Bravo, Seth! Congratulations, and thank you for all of the quality content.

[@Katosepe]

Congrats on the Ennie! Also I picked up Mansions of Madness based on your past reviews of it. Love this book!

[@ComplejodeMaster]

I love time travel. I love this adventure.

[@oliverstaley-henne8182]

I appreciate all the things you do Seth. Because of you my friends and I have had countless hours of fun and memories playing Call of Cthulhu and other games. I have also majorly improved as a GM and it’s all thanks to you Congrats on the Ennie award!

[@danacoleman4007]

It's impossible to overestimate the impact of a great teacher!

[@Thenarratorofsecrets]

Love your work man, keep on.

[@pasqualecirone9755]

Thank you so much for this. I’m eager to play this ASAP!

[@pickard72]

This adventure does suggest many different things which the Keeper could add... It sounds great! Excellent review and suggestions for improving, Seth!

[@nickwilliams8302]

"Did you win this time?" "Well, I was sort of lost in time and accelerating toward the heat death of the universe." Well, it _was_ CoC.

[@BlueLoneWolf54]

Oh my God it looks like the exterior walls properly stack on this floor plan. I don't think they have any real sense of internal bearing walls, though. But hey, they're getting there! (also half-moon staircases stacking like that in early-mid century America would be a pain in the ass to fabricate).

[@sirguy6678]

Great video! Very imaginative! Looks like a fun adventure!

[@toveandrews17]

Awesome! Another COC module review!! And congrats on the Ennie award

[@SSkorkowsky]

Haven't played them, so no.

[@jackleg2007]

I was sitting on my bed getting ready to go to work and thinking it's time for a new video. And, BAM, I receive the notification soon after that.

[@pennybottoms268]

It looked like you dyed your hair purple with that light shining on it, I was like woh new radical Seth

[@CamelotGaming]

Congrats man. Been watching you for years. Gotta ask if you'll do a deep dive into Cyberpunk like you did for CoC and Traveller?

[@The_Kentuckian]

Jack would be the kinda guy to immediately announce he has the secret code everyone's looking for.

[@midnightplatypus1973]

Folks playing between or across systems could definitely fit this into Delta Green's mythos as a sort of prologue with DG's Resonator and Philadelphia Experiment lore. Doing so of course would require someone to stat Iron Maiden's Eddie, specifically the one on the cover of Somewhere in Time.

[@alemander_01]

This gives me significant CLUE (the movie) vibes. I can see picking stuff out of that movie and putting them into the scenario.

[@KyleMaxwell]

I just picked up this book yesterday, good timing!

[@josephkiddy3331]

Thanks for plugging Modern Mythos I'm stoked to listen to it!

[@Wesley_Youre_a_Rabbit]

Great review! I love this scenario, as I was planning on creating something very similar, now I’ll just run this instead! 😆 thanks

[@CaptAoife]

This was fun to watch. Great video.

[@cameronjames3499]

This scenario also provides a potential "out" for several other scenarios such as "Bad Moon Rising", "The Lost Expedition", etc (perhaps even "Disassociation" depending how you choose to play/interpret things) so that a campaign isn't effectively "soft-locked" or drastically derailed. Either a copy of one of the characters (in true "Ace Rimmer" style of course) or Dr Connolly show up as a friendly version of a deus-ex-machina and shuttle them back onto the campaign's official timeline before conveniently disappearing again, perhaps with a random cryptic remark or two before they vanish. Obviously, you can still saddle the group with a complication, perhaps the T'Challix pick the PCs as their new favorite must-view entertainment or 1-2 Corner Hounds keep showing up to harass the party for D4 more inopportune moments. P.S. It's not a perfect match-up, however this adventure makes me think a bit of the old 1989 episode of Doctor Who "Ghost Light". Some people might get some atmosphere benefit from tracking that down to watch.

[@Ulysses-xl4pv]

Watching the channel since Highschool I love the series.

[@dutch6857]

Hey, congrats on the Ennie! Well deserved! And I'm always stoked to see another CoC review. (Side note: was that a zip code on a telegram from the 20's?)

[@willgraham9867]

Great vid as usual. I'm trying to remember to comment on your stuff as a offering of devotion to the Great Algo. Fantasic for any Call of Cthulhu fan, and or anyone interested in TTRPGs in general. Congrats on the Ennie!

[@davewire87]

I’ve never played it but when I first got my hands on Mansions of Madness, this was the first adventure I read in the book and I absolutely devoured it. I love a good time travel story. Really hoping to run this one day.

[@rkannen]

I was having a lot of trouble finding the right adventure for my next call of cthulhu game, and this sounds PERFECT! this will be the next thing i will run!

[@SSkorkowsky]

Hope you and your players have fun with it.

[@RiftsCommando]

Ha! Nice ending there Seth. Max Headroom would approve.

[@RetroEvilHunk341]

Gotta love Chulthu style horror games 😊😊

[@kaelang12]

there's an episode of Red Dwarf called "Future Echoes" that might be good inspiration for this campaign's timey wimey shenanigans

[@TheShadowwalker007]

Yo! That PC idea at the end is fantastic! I might need to discuss the idea with the players to make sure I’m not taking away or messing with something special about the player’s characters-also which system is being played and how attached ppl are. That being said; that’s definitely in my GM tool box for any temporal game mechanics.

[@BF-up5xw]

Given Seth's suggestion of how Dr Connelly might be saved, I'm beginning to think Seth might be Chaotic Neutral. Jack is just obviously Chaotic Neutral! Nice fella. Chaotic Good is still on the table for Seth, but it's looking a little less likely now...

[@MarkLewis...]

Hi Seth! Long time fan/subscriber... I always binge-watch, rarely comment, but I LOVE your channel, especially the Call of Cthulhu videos! RESPECTFUL REQUEST: I know it's a daunting task, but is there any way you could review: "Horror on the Orient Express" duology??? Congrats on another ENnie Too! Thank you.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Hi Mark, the problem is I haven't played Horror on the Orient Express. It's known to be a 2+ year campaign, which is a serious undertaking. Being that we just started Secrets of the Ancients last month and I expect it to last us year at the very minimum, I don't see us tackling Orient Express anytime in the foreseeable future.

[@MarkLewis...]

@@SSkorkowsky Well, thanks for replying! I understand. See ya in the next videos.

[@firstname4382]

I like the idea of Connolly's mind being the cause of the anomalies, but I'm curious how the PCs could come to the conclusion that they could trap another person's mind *and* cram Connolly's mind into the vessel. Destroying the machine could trap him in the nether, or kill him outright. But "saving" him? Perhaps his mind is still connected to the machine, and whomever uses it runs the risk of trading places with him? Opposed POW or some such? So a PC might accidentally switch places, but in doing so the party learns of the conundrum, and must decide whom to leave in the nether before dismantling the machine to prevent more anomalies? Or there's a clear difference between Connolly's condition and the person(s) trapped: Connoly was stuck in the machine itself and the Other is trapped in the Nether with no connection to the machine. So the machine sticks around for future events?

[@ArticleNoun]

I’m commenting for the algorithm but not m not gonna listen cause I don’t want to ruin any surprises. Thanks for the good work.

[@archmagusofevil]

To be fair to your character, we are all lost in time travelling towards the heat death of the universe.

[@danacoleman4007]

Excellent point

[@laboratoryrack6488]

The end of the video caught me by surprise...Is that some glitch? Maybe a reference to the adventure and I'm not getting? And then the airplane came and I realized...Nice touch. I wouldn't mind some more bloopers on the next videos. XD

[@NefariousKoel]

I spy some Pendragon on your shelf. 😎

[@afBeaver]

Sweet! This scenario was one of the first ones I ran, and I really like it!

[@Hellfirematrix]

LOVE this book! Recommended!!

[@Paxchi]

Two things. 1) So, how exactly did you wind up in the scenario you described at the start? You know, hurtling toward the heat death of the universe? 2) One thing that might be cool with regards to the idea of saving the doctor is that when the characters see the replay of his death, his body vanishes as he's shot, leaving an empty time suit behind in this display of Eldritch fireworks. And the doctor is, like you said, the one causing these time disturbances because he's locked outside of time. But what if the player characters make a Spot Hidden roll and see a pair of transparent hands grab the doctor at the last second. This might give them the idea to use the suit, travel back in time to right before he was shot, and the players grab him to drag him back to the present. The time disturbances are then caused by the doctor being dragged through time and the close interaction of two time suits near each other, and when the player and the doctor both arrive in the present, the time disturbances end because the doctor is back in real space. This also prevents any paradoxes because as far as the bad guys were concerned the doc was dead. And if the players are having a hard time coming up with the idea, you give them another Spot Hidden / Idea Roll to recognize that it was one of their hands grabbing the doc. Like one of them has a specific ring or a burn on the back of their hand. A really good GM might be able to arrange things so that the hand they see saving the doc has an improvised bandage on it, but none of the players have an injured hand. You then contrive a way to injure said hand and have an NPC bandage it, which could be a great AH HAH! moment. Tricky to pull off but a great way to impress your players if you can.

[@TheWallsofDis]

Love the subtle mantis shadows

[@Avankiri]

I just realized that Seth once said at the start of his CoC 7E review that the Hound of Tindalos was "a favorite of Call of Cthulhu players", but this is the first scenario review he's done where they show up. I get the feeling he prefers the scaly serpent people. Esit: nevermind, I forgot the hounds were only mentioned as an idea for what might happen AFTER the adventure.

[@ericjome7284]

Brilliant idea for copies of the characters. Bravo.

[@griselame]

ooh I see the Pendragon starter set behind you, looking forward to see what you think of it one of these days :)

[@Escylon]

Why do these anomalies remind me of the TV-show Primeval, where anomalies appear in our present day that connect to various pre-historic periods of earth with all the strange creatures living there?

[@fotipitrakkos1193]

The idea of having his mind trapped outside time inside the suit, as it were, is absolutely brilliant. Takes this adventure to a whole new level. Perhaps that's also why the outside is so hostile, keeping them on the property - it's all the doctor can do to keep the players here to help him escape the suit

[@fotipitrakkos1193]

And an added thought. The various dangerous landscapes can even relate to the doc somehow, to provide an extra clue. Perhaps there is a painting of a prehistoric scene in the house somewhere that looks like the scene outside, etc.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Ohh, I like that. Say there's a wolf's head mounted on a wall, then half an hour later they're getting chased by wolves.

[@fotipitrakkos1193]

@@SSkorkowsky yeah that's wicked. You can do some slow, subtle burns with the idea early, and then get more blatant as the game progresses.

[@johncollins7631]

I can see this being adapted to a Mage/Hunter game. Might have to look into that later.

[@bigsarge2085]

Incredible.

[@thomaswhite8251]

It is a good day when it is a Seth video!

[@thorinbane]

Didn't know about modern mythos. Subbed👍

[@justintiffin-richards6840]

Ah this sounds awesome! I've long been musing about a CoC timey wyme adventure... in a train like a Möbius strip endlessly repeating a time period... This adventure well I might get to actually running it and not just endlessly musing about it 😉 wishing you all the best

[@shadowheartart3898]

It's really good that you get to play more these days, instead of being a forever GM. This scenario seems pretty cool. I might need to get a copy next time I have extra cash ❤

[@dubuyajay9964]

11:20. No dinosaurs, Whooly Mammoths, Sabretooth Cats, Yithians, etc? :( 🦣🦕🦖👾 12:39. Why aren't they Yithians?

[@deckrect]

I loved this adventure. It doesn't even need to be played in Call of cthulhu. It would be system agnostic. I miss finding more adventures like this one.

[@sindarpeacheyeisacommie8688]

You need a segment on your geek-wear, a video of all your t-shirts.

[@BaoHadir]

Can someone remind me of Seth's video where the skit has him starting and sidelining campaigns for new ones? I wanted to use it as an example for some of my players who are new to DM'ing (and the creativity storm it brings).

[@skullman-us7wn]

Congrats on the award. You deserve it pal. Also i gotta admit. While I’m an aspiring keeper. I dont really think i mind being spoiled from a player’s perspective. I dont play CoC for the mystery.

[@lionelt.9124]

19:38 Paraphrasing Jack: If I wanna' get off the property Imma find a way. Oh, wait there's Velociraptors outside? Shut the doors, close the shutters, and batten down the hatches if we got any! Life outside: We'll find a way.

[@jassu7873]

This adventure sounds awesome. Might have to pick up the book and try running the adventures :) trying to learn some GMing.

[@Xt3rminat318]

Another fun bit you can add to the anomalies is to have branching paths show up. Like before/after they take an action they can see alternate realities of that action. For example in the wolves scenario, they may see a few different versions of themselves either dying, fighting, fleeing, or walking away from the door but they only see themselves. This gives a Schrodinger vibe of anything can happen until the PC actually takes an action and collapses the wave function.

[@jeffagain7516]

Sounds like another really fun one Seth (and Jack!), thanks very much! One point of interest, if I may; you mentioned at least one player should have familiarity with the "Mythos" however I did not hear you make any mention of aspects of the Mythos in your synopsis. Is there something we overlooked? Cheers my friend!

[@russelljacob7955]

I would have smells for the time glitch. Like wood smoke. Or flowers. Perhaps even a strong, cold draft where air is being pulled through.

[@nonya1366]

As for the idea at the end of the video- For some reason I'm reminded of that time in venture bros, where Brock samson teams up with...Brock Samson.