Call of Cthulhu: Paper Chase - RPG Review

A look at Paper Chase, an introductory scenario designed to be run for only a single player. It features a mystery, a classic Lovecraftian horror, and is very light in combat.

Guest starring Jack the NPC

[kanvaros]

Jack is the emotional heart of call of Cthulhu reviews

[mackbonham]

Having the players inherit the house instead of an NPC is GOLD. I'm absolutely going to Creatively Steal that idea the next time I run this one!

[greenstupid]

Just ran my first session ot Call of Cthulhu using this scenario. I used the hook you suggested of making the PC inherit the house.

The scenario ended with him pointing a gun at Douglass, realising it was his uncle and then when he allowed him to pick some books the PC shot Douglass in the back and killed him, only to be arrested by the police.

When he was asked at court if he pleaded guilty of killing his uncle he said that people already hunted animals and 'that thing' was no different. He then went to a prison for the mentally insane.

I loved it! Defintely a whole other experience than your average D&D game where killing someone is no big deal.

[GenericJake]

Ran Paper Chase for my wife and a buddy (who had never played Call of Cthulhu) last night. Wife played the niece of Douglas Kimball and buddy played an investigator she hired to find her missing uncle. We had blast, and the reveal of the now ghoul uncle Douglas was so fun.

[jesternario]

Tried the "Douglas is the uncle of the player" scenario. The Investigator, it should be noted, could not buy a success. He succeeded in three rolls all night, two of which are extreme successes. Any time he had to investigate something, he failed, and I just ruled it took him hours to find the clue (because you always need to find the clue if its a mystery), and he rolled a nat 90 when trying to talk to someone.

So I just kept describing as he would wake up every couple of nights and books were missing. In the end, he did finally find the tunnels in the cemetery and crawled through them, ACED his navigation roll with an 05, and managed to find his way back up where he found his uncle Douglas sitting at a tombstone waiting. The player succeeded at his sanity checks, they had a talk, Douglas explained the situation, they hugged, and Douglas said good bye. It was a good story all in all.

[shanejones]

Thank you for the suggestions Seth. On your recommendation I picked up the starter set rather than jump into the full game tomes, to help ease my daughters into a different roleplaying experience (fantasy gaming being their introduction to RPG). I took your advice and ran it as an endeared, if not introverted great uncle Douglas, as opposed to the original hook and the story became very personal and engaging for my daughters. I added a hook of an inheritance that was tied up due to the absence of body or death certificate (completed when they peacefully confronted Ghoul Douglas in the cemetery... as he departs, he leaves them an amended last will that hints at suicide for the release of the estate. My one daughter actually teared up at the emotional departure of her great uncle). It seems that they've been hooked and it'll be Call of Cthulhu from here on out. Thank you Seth for the wisdom and thank you John for the great introduction to a great game!!

[ExperienceLoss]

I'm actually in a monthly CoC game with John Sullivan and we talk about your videos all the time. Hes going to be thrilled to see that you reviewed this.

[FirstLast-lerf]

Realizing that Seth posted has been the highlight of my week.

[handlebarfox]

"I'm mostly here to tell jokes." ....you say that as if it were a bad thing.

[XX-sptt]

I'll admit, Jack's peanut gallery remarks are I look forward to in these videos.

[CToast]

Hey, he indeed got those towels he wanted!

[KoDaMoJo]

Fun review, and moved me closer to picking up the starter set to get the new version. "Paper Chase" holds a special place in my heart—pretty sure I've run it more than any other CoC scenario. The best hook in my experience came quite by accident: while perusing the bookshelves, the investigator noticed from a Spot Hidden that some titles more worn than others (indicating which were Kimball's favorite). When Kimball retrieved these books next, the investigator made the connection (if not Kimball's current disposition), and tracked him to the sarcophagus which led directly to the amicable confrontation. Least forced and most satisfying ending.

[richmcgee]

Love the towel joke.  One of my PCs used to "collect" ashtrays from wherever he stayed.  Kindred spirits, obviously.

[CitanulsPumpkin]

One of the guys from Chaosium ran a live stream of this scenario with the guys who write and draw the Penny Arcade webcomic and 2 others. Running 4 people through this 1 player adventure still resulted in everyone getting overwhelmed by ghouls, failing multiple sanity rolls, and waking up in a graveyard as the long lost uncle ghoul told them he could never go back.

[andysimmons]

When I ran this game last month I did exactly as you said; I had the PC as the heir. It allowed for Int rolls to remember things about their Uncle and to drop the seed that the ghoul-taint might be hereditary....

All in all an excellent game.

[Thewhiteknigth]

I am seeing that Cyberpunk Red Starter kit on your shelves, looking forward for your review :)

[zacharyjohnson]

My brother agreed to try out a session of Call of Cthulhu and for his first session I was going to use Paper Chase. Needless to say I was stokes to see this video had been uploaded. Thanks for all the helpful advice for us new Keepers!

[persephoneunderground]

Removed the graveyard mention the second time I ran this and it went *so much better* than the first time. Thanks Seth!

[miseriaultima]

Paper Chase <3 . My player wasn't too kind for Mr.Kimball. At the first day in his house, he stole a locked nightstand from the Kimball's bedroom and took it to the nearby forest. Tried to hack it open - only he found was a bottle of whisky in Mr. Kimballs nightstand. Before he tried to open the locks of the nightstand by lockpick.

[rawrbeez]

I ran this for my fiancé, but it was my first time as a keeper and maybe my third time as a GM at all. He was very nice and genuinely had a lot of fun, but I was terrible! I wish I had seen this video first! Can you review Dead Man’s Stomp as well? I found the older video for Edge of Darkness extremely helpful and am feeling much more confident about running it now! Your videos are very inspiring Seth! Keep going forever!