The Sanatorium - How to Run Call of Cthulhu

[@mjarsvin]

Planning on running this one so Thank you soo much for this video 🙏🏻

[@christopherlee622]

this was very helpful as I am planning to run this investigation very soon, and I am not new to running ttrps in general but I am still a fairly new Keeper so this helps a bunch

[@patrickfitzpatrick2945]

Great work on this one. Really useful for me as I was planning to run this scenario. Thanks a bunch for sharing! New sub.

[@johnstorm9314]

When I played this, I had the brilliant idea of creating the estranged brother of Dr. Brewer. Yeah, that was fun.

[@mikhail9418]

What a coincidence! I am running this scenario this week. I have been searching for a video about it for a while but there is none. Quality is fantastic! Thank you for this!

[@spoonrpg9520]

Fantastic! I often find myself in the same position which is why I started making these videos in the first place. Super glad it helped and I hope you have a great playthrough !

[@andrewsnee]

As written, the monster could easily feed itself, yet it hides until Johnson is killed, at which point it suddenly finds its courage. If the players confront it before then, it could quickly kill them all. To fix this, I feel like its metamorphosis should be more gradual. Perhaps at first possessing others is its only weapon. Then, after a number of people are killed, it becomes corporeal and can drain the life from someone directly, but only one person at a time. This gives the players time to figure out how to defeat it and avoids a sudden TPK. The exact number of victims required before each stage of the metamorphosis can be decided on the fly, as needed.

[@spiritconsumer]

I like this approach and will do it for my scenario

[@PsychesGamingAddiction]

An MCDM Running the Game refference, nice

[@spoonrpg9520]

Huge fan - and so much of the content applies to Call of Cthulhu as well.

[@superconquerorpl9532]

Tomorrow I will run this scenario and this video is very helpfull! One issue ive had with this scenario is that the monster is hiding in it and players may want to enter the lighthouse too soon and consequently die

[@spoonrpg9520]

This happened the first time I ran it too! My players ran straight to the lighthouse on the first night. The good news is the monster is slow, so as long as they're smart enough to run they should be able to get away. In that game we also had another player from our gaming group join for the second session only, so I wrote him in by having his character be a boater in the area who sees a light in the lighthouse and crashes his boat on the rocks. If you have PCs die early you could have their backup characters arrive via a similar boat wreck. I hope your playthrough tomorrow goes great!

[@tonton_cristobal2683]

Really helpful and very well done, thank you !

[@stomach-turningthrush9432]

Excellent video! This was really helpful.

[@crax83]

Love these videos, but I have a point that I hope you find constructive. I'm guessing you have your manuscript/bullet points to the side of the camera, which is why you look towards the side from time to time. I would recommend getting som kind of teleprompter or move your script closer to the camera's line of sight so that you "keep eye contact" with the audience more. Besides that I really like your CoC videos, I get a "Seth light" feeling. Subbed.

[@spoonrpg9520]

Guilty as charged! I very much appreciate your feedback and I'm 100% onboard, you've noticed something that really bugs me about my videos as well. I have a few different pieces of equipment I'd like to get to make these more enjoyable to watch, but before I lay down the $100+ I'm waiting to see how much people engage first. Everyone has been so nice so far so I'm hoping to up the production value and fulfill your wishes soon! Thanks again for watching, I truly appreciate that you care enough to give such thoughtful feedback.

[@crax83]

@@spoonrpg9520 hey man, the content is great so the people will come. However the cthulhu community isn't super large. Just look how many views Chaosium get on their videos. I don't know what your studio setup looks like, but if you have an extra phone, tablet, laptop or even a monitor there are apps out there that you can use as a DIY teleprompter for basically no extra money. Even if you just place the screen on a stand behind the camera it will look better. Keep up the good work.

[@crax83]

@@spoonrpg9520 also, do you have a discord for the channel?

[@Arbbal]

Good ideas, I would actually go TPK if they decide to hole up somewhere. The creature has enough to complete its metamorphosis at the end of the last day. Only question is if the ferry captain is killed the first day wouldn’t somebody on the mainland notice right away? Shouldn’t his family or friends notice his absence that night? Or if he is a hermit that keeps to himself what makes anyone think there will be a boat in five days? The captain is dead.

[@spoonrpg9520]

Check out page 82 of Mansions of Madness. My interpretation of "Ebenezer's Shack" is that Ebenezer lives on the island full time, and his personal effects and his letter from his friend imply that he's lived a transient lifestyle and doesn't have a family on the mainland. I think the scenario intends for Ebenezer to be in Dr. Brewer's private employ so the only people who would take his ferry are sanatorium employees and guests of the doctor. Thus no one would think he's missing, since the only people who interact with him regularly are the sanatorium staff who are all dead already. The "five days" time period is totally arbitrary - what I was driving at is that its a good idea to establish with the players the length of time their characters were planning to stay on the island beforehand. That way the people waiting for them to return on the mainland won't consider them missing while the scenario plays out. It'd be a very different scenario if the Coast Guard showed up on day 2 to rescue them. Hope that helps. These are just my own suggestions and readings, so feel free to interpret things differently if that works better for your game!

[@Arbbal]

@@spoonrpg9520 I don’t have the book yet, I watch videos like this to see if I want to run a scenario before taking the financial plunge. Being a Keeper can get pricey, especially when you’re like me and insist on physical books. Good to know the Captain is a hermit that won’t be missed either. Although, I still think if the party hides for the time period, that magical number of sacrifices is made and the creature completes its metamorphosis. They could have stopped it, but they chose not to.

[@KoWahiKit]

Just a heads-up, seems like something strange happened with the audio on this upload near the beginning. Not sure if it’s an issue with your production but I thought you should know.

[@spoonrpg9520]

Sorry about that :/ hope its not too distracting. My neighbors were making some loud noises that caused my noise suppression to clip on my mic and I didn't notice until after the whole video was recorded. I didn't want to trash the recording since I felt the content was good otherwise. Might rerecord in the future since its noticeable though.

[@xRozmarzony]

Erm, I watched 8 minutes. You're just repeating what's in the book. No new ideas, not anything how to run it better of funnier for players.