Call of Cthulhu: The Necropolis - Starter RPG Review

A review of The Necropolis, a Call of Cthulhu's starter adventure that you can find in the Gateways to Terror adventure supplement. If you're looking to get started with horror TTRPGs, give this review a look.
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00:00 Introduction
01:15 Overview
13:21 Final Thoughts
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[@Greatfang1319]

Ran this adventure, and i agree its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. I added more roleplay at the beginning with the cultist and researching the library and museum in Cairo. I also added more with the cultists at the end once the party escaped the tomb. Lead to a nice chase across the desert in jeeps. Thanks for the review, i enjoyed it

[@rynowatcher]

I do like how this one gets to the point; I tend to use it as a go to for con games with 1 to 2 hour slots. I agree the lack of npcs is an issue, but if you foreshadow the betrayal too much, you get players too paranoid to enter. I have had a few air shafts be exposed so they can talk to npcs in the excavation camp. 1 bad guy, 1 neutral guy, and 1 helpful one. That way you can talk to them without them directly affecting the adventure too much.

[@kylescott1]

I just discovered you're content from the GURPS Discord and couldn't be more impressed with your work.

[@1ShotJC]

Why thank you, glad you like it!

[@AceFrahm]

I want to see videos of J.C. running a whole campaign of live-game, say, 5 adventures, with the same players. In GURPS, of course.

[@1ShotJC]

I do need to set one of those up!

[@rynowatcher]

I feel giving players a stick of Dynamite, not telling them how to use it, and having them die if they use it on the monster is very cosmic horror and very lovecraftian. All these elements work together to do a good job of letting you know, as a player a) combat is not the answer, b) think about what you are doing, and c) the world does not care if you survive. This is a horror game after all. Agency is about making choices matter, to me. Giving players an out for them to survive regardless of what choice they make actually takes agency away from the player. This is a one shot with pregens; who cares if they do not survive? Most players I ran through this do not have more fun if they survive or not. The mystery will either entice players or not; some do not care about the creature and are just focused on getting out. The hyroglyphics thing is not that big of a deal; maybe if there were a secret weakness to the monster that might matter, but since it is all fluff the roll to translate seems appropriate and interesting. Having run this one a few times, it is a great con game as it is short. It is also great for expanding if you want a four hour game by putting in a few more rooms and putting the dynomite further back as it gives a good base to start with.

[@1ShotJC]

I can see that perspective - and certainly I'm one who has fun regardless of whether we all die or go insane in a CoC adventure. I think my problem with the dynamite is how binary it is though. The one single player who picks up the dynamite is the one who gets to make the entire pivotal choice for the entire group. It's not like they all decided to do a ritual together, or go explore a dangerous attic, etc, where they can all share in the results of their decisions.

[@rynowatcher]

@@1ShotJC if Call of Cthulhu was not a game where one player's decision could turn the whole story, I would agree with you. Again, this is cosmic horror in an uncaring and indifferent universe that does not care about the outcome. You can have the guy with the Dynamite fail a San check and use the Dynamite on the nearest PC because they rolled Red Mist on the bout of Madness table and not only is the Dynamite used to kill a pc but there is no likely way to beat the monster or escape. You say it feels like a generic scenario in your review, but this is what makes it cosmic horror, in my mind. You cannot kill the monster without killing yourself... slowly and painfully over the next few weeks or days. Congratulations, you won. You unlock the ending for The Thing... "why don't we just wait here and see what happens?" That is not how a D&D game is supposed to end, right? This is a feature of Call of Cthulhu; it is what makes it cosmic horror versus another genre. I have had players waste the Dynamite, live, or die without affecting how much they enjoyed the scenario; this is a go to for con games for me. Survival is not a big factor for enjoying a one shot, in my experiance.

[@d.unterreiner161]

I think an additional interesting way to open the tomb would be to add a spell that the players could find to open the a door out. This would work as a way to introduce them to Call of Cthulhu's magic system.

[@1ShotJC]

That's a good idea - especially if the spell has a cost associated with it. Like a harsh SAN hit, or some horrible wasting disease.

[@frameperfekt]

IMO this one works really well when used as a trap room for the Cairo section of Masks of Nyarlathotep, to give the Pyramids of Giza section some added interest. If the wolf isn't dealt with by whatever method, he can be encountered later in the complex. The dead German could tie into the Clive Expedition in whatever way would be interesting. (Maybe replace the betrayal with the boulder with a cave-in that occurs, foreshadowed by the amount of silt that softly cascades down from the ceiling in the area. Or maybe a member of the Clive Expedition or someone nefarious from Cairo offers to be their guide, and intentionally leads them there.)

[@1ShotJC]

Ah, I like that idea of inserting this into Masks!

[@S.Gaston]

I ran this one twice last year, with two groups over the same weekend in two different systems. (CoC for one, and our group's custom MotW inspired hack for the other). TPKs both times! In one, the PCs got stuck trying to escape and the monster got them one by one! In the second game, we took a break at the monster reveal, and returning from the break, with the very first action one PC triggered the Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies ending! It was hilarious and abrupt!

[@1ShotJC]

Haha! I love that idea of taking a nice break from the game only to die 30 seconds later... the only winner was the dynamite

[@S.Gaston]

@@1ShotJC it was hilarious, literally the very first action after the break killed everyone!

[@ivancarabano]

Your suggestions to run the adventure are great ❤

[@1ShotJC]

Glad you think so!

[@kurtoogle4576]

Great review! I think I have an idea of how to run it as a Nordic Mound of a King.

[@1ShotJC]

Undead Viking lords are almost as fun as mummies!

[@MinaBell]

hi j.c I was wondering if theres somewhere i could reach out to talk to you about the sims2 on the ds!

[@1ShotJC]

Sure - DM me on Twitter

[@balamstudios]

I played it. We ended up exploding the entrance while we took cover inside the tombs and letting the mosnter out before we went there. We never ever found out about the heart because we could never even get into that room. I believe that the best thing would be for player to discover and detroy the heart, but ere are no clues about that and if the abomination is standing at the entrance of that room there is no way the player will go in there. So, for a future idea if I run this as a DM, I plan to add some small door in the last room where players can go while the abomination would have to turn around . Perhaps make the tomb a sort of circular corridor and I love your idea to make it kinda blind

[@1ShotJC]

My players always assumed there was an entrance out the back and so worked hard to get around the monster, but I like the idea of inserting a secret passage. Maybe it was way too small for the monster to use, but the priests who created him used it as a means to check on him from time to time...

[@rollsanity]

I've run it 5 times, the last one for the channel....and each time the first thing investigators are trying to do is to attack this thing for some reason...

[@1ShotJC]

Ah, that's been my experience as well! How many times did they use up the dynamite on the attack?