Call of Cthulhu: The Lightless Beacon - Starter RPG Review

[@craigdesilva]

Good review :) one thing l will add though is that many people forget when reviewing 7e material is that the philosophy of dice rolls in the 7e book being that dice rolls are not always about failing or succeeding at the task but are also about who has “possession of the story”. As such, nothing “hinges” on dice rolls. Player succeeds, player gets what they want and how they want it (within reason), player fails the roll, GM controls the story and uses it to ramp up the horror (but that can still mean the task is succeeded). Example, failed mechanical repair on the radio could mean player just takes longer doing so, leaving them out of action in combat making life harder for the others, or cannot flee immediately if they want to fix it whilst hearing creatures crawl up the lighthouse side, or they succeed but just takes a little longer whilst secretly the cultist on the other side picks up the signal and heads over. Failed rolls shouldn’t mean failure at the all the time.

[@1ShotJC]

This is such a great reminder. CoC has always had a reputation that "one bad roll" can ruin an adventure, but GMs should never let that happen, and always give the players some way of continuing the investigation. At least until Nyarlathotep eats them in the final act!

[@matthew_thefallen]

This was the first scenario I ran for my play group as a first timer GM! I never played anything before this. I can't recommend it more! 🙌 For the details about why they can't reach land, I just thought that the storm was getting worse and the waves getting bigger and bigger and that a storm was getting close. So I made the investigators reach beacon island as a safe area under orders of the captain, telling them to look for the lighthouse guardian and tell them to call land for help. I thought it was obvious that there was a storm coming and that the players couldn't reach land for this reason 😅 In fact as soon as they got close to the lighthouse entrance, the rain started getting heavier.

[@richard.walker]

Oh man that hammer gag is great 😂

[@ymdw45]

Good review! I own Call of Cthulhu but have never run it. This will help if I do. Good advice on hooks and endings. I love your delivery BTW. Charisma +4. :)

[@Kasino80]

I'm planning on running this for two brand new players. As another way to have them contact the main land and/or fighting the deep ones, I was thinking of having two barrels of fuel that can either be set on fire as a massive explosion, to get the attention of the mainland, or as something that can be used as a defensive measure: torches, Wall of Fire (with the risk of burning down the light house).

[@1ShotJC]

That’s a fun idea. And the deep ones are smart enough that if the PCs lock themselves in the lighthouse they might very well use it against them!

[@Kasino80]

@@1ShotJC Just had an idea, borrowing from Doctor Who. If/when they look in the binoculars, instead of having a Deep One Hybrid on the other shore...I'm gonna have counterparts of the Investigators. Like the Doctor Who episode Sunken Earth. Just for shits and giggles. It won't come into play, but it'll be a nice creepy thing to throw in.

[@richard.walker]

I might have a crack at running this as my first Call of Cthulhu adventure.

[@1ShotJC]

Then my job is done - have fun eating all those investigators with those deep one babies!

[@UncleHooston]

I recently ran this with some friends of mine and I had a lot of fun with it! It was my first experience with CoC, and it really made me want to try more. The session ran much longer than anticipated at around 5 hours as well, but it didn’t really feel like 5 hours and I was engaged the entire time. Hoping to have the opportunity to try some of the classic modules like The Haunting or Edge of Darkness. :)

[@1ShotJC]

While I think the Haunting is a little overrated, Edge of Darkness is a wonderful starter adventure!

[@zarathustraowens771]

The haunting is UNDER RATED because it has so many leads you can do with it. Don't forget...pastor Michael Thomas escaped from prison...what happened to him?

[@zarathustraowens771]

What the adventure doesn't explain is WHY are they transporting gold...the answer is simple: by 1926 Prescott bush (thats right, George bushes father...in fact, George was born quite near the fictional location of this adventure), but, in reality, Prescott was buying gold and transporting it to the nazi party at this exact time period. This is the basis of my campaign. (World war cthulhu and achtung cthulhu both have adventures that relate the nazis to the mythos). Hitler gained power at 2 time periods (1921 and 1926)...the first was sudden "influence" (relation: the haunting scenarios...pastor Michael thomas...one of his cultists is a local politician...obviously knew hitler). The 2nd influence was GOLD, which built the first post war steel plant in Germany (gold from Prescott and the deep ones of this adventure.). Don't forget that Prescott was in "skull and bones"...a branch of the same german society (thule society) that hitler was part of. Same occult group? Gold? Coincidence? NO WAY. Welcome to cthulhu.

[@1ShotJC]

I love all these connections you bring up - definitely seeds for a whole campaign here.

[@CloseingStraw97]

Not to mentiom Prescott also help funded the almost successful "Buisness Plot" where they were funding and arming a knowm facist organizarion called "American Legion". Like I am not saying this as a "Oh they thought different then I am so they're facist." No I mean once in an interview the then leader "Alvin Owsley" once was asked "Would you take over government?" and he said "Exactly that."

[@Owl_of_Omens]

That's just as nefarious as some prominent bankers in London and New York funded the communist civil war in Russia. Could use some interesting plot points to show a political movement being funded by ancient ones leading to the murder and starvation of millions of people.

[@owenhershey13]

Great video -- I'm about to run this, so this is really helpful!

[@owly33]

The adventure does have another escape option, there is a yellow rowboat at the South pier.

[@danielfalke6907]

I ran the first evening of this 2 Weeks ago and i started even before the beginning. My players started on the ship, cause they were all new ones, and learned how to act with each other and the crew, free roam for a while and even see a little concert on boad, heard that there might be something wrong do to whispers between the crew and the captain and eventually had to make their way off the boat when it crashed. Not to mention the fire on board due to the engine failure and not enough lifeboats. Pretty intense first evening for a CoC but they loved it! Lets see how they like the second evening and the scenario with a whole different tone to it. Also gets rid of the main problems with Lightless beacon in my opinion: why they dont just go onto land (cause their lifeboat crashes) and what happens with the crew (cause they play what happens with them). Mine nearly fought with them over the last boat^^ It also gets rid of the main issue i have with the scenario: the lack of social interaction.

[@1ShotJC]

Love that you expanded the prologue here. I also think that the NPCs on the boat are rife with opportunities for roleplaying. Like if some sailor is a total jerk to them with the lifeboats, he can show up later on the island and act as a foil when the deep ones show up.

[@danielfalke6907]

@@1ShotJC exactly :) we had a really funny and intense flirting scene with the musician on board and one of my players, who plays a music critic,fell for her... im thinking about washing her ashore and further add an emotional dilemma for him :) also adds a lot more depth why they have to find out what happened on the island cause of their trauma. Im really curious how they handle the deep ones^^

[@benhardy6744]

I found this module on Roll20 and want to run it as my first game as a keeper and I have three groups of DnD players I GM for wanting to try Call of Cthulhu. I always like seeing people’s thoughts on modules from KZbin and liked the little suggestions you gave to tweets and changes for the module! 😊

[@kurtoogle4576]

I think that I'm going to run this in Vaesen, with a few tweaks of course. :) I might make it part of the Silver of the Sea adventure.

[@1ShotJC]

Yeah this one would make a great interlude in that adventure - you could probably even tie the deep ones into the mermaid somehow

[@kurtoogle4576]

Yeah. We have a merfolk half-breed in that story already. I was thinking that he might be the most human of the bunch, with the usual form being deep spawn. @@1ShotJC

[@DiZzYDeNnis2k9]

I have just played ths adventure with a group of experienced D&D players that were new to Cthulu. I loved how detailed everything is laid out and how tight and creepy the plot is. What I really disliked is, that the whole thing feels VERY railroaded in the end. The investigatprs dont really have much influence on the outcome of the whole thing. At some point the Seamen come and either flood/kill them or make them run away. This makes it so that I can only recommend this to players that are completely new t pen and paper RPGs. I just never feel good, railroading my players too much.

[@1ShotJC]

Yes, for experienced RPG fans this is definitely a very straightforward adventure without a ton of options. But I think it gives a nice Lovecraftian vibe and shows how easy it is to die in this game. But for experienced roleplayers, I think I'd jump right to other more robust CoC adventures like Dead Light, Viral, or Dead Man's Stop.

[@owly33]

Thanks! great review and tips!

[@Violenceinmind40]

Love these vids.

[@alexplaysgames_2]

My favorite campaign is the orient express!

[@1ShotJC]

I have never played that one but have long admired it...

[@AetherflyerGames]

Nice review!