Cthulhu with lots of Combat

[TPKthulhu]

So, I ran a game tonight for my players, which they seemed to enjoy, but they did have one unanimous complaint (the ungrateful fucks) (j/k), which was that there wasn't enough combat.

Mind you, two of the four players did slug it out with a byahkee for a few rounds, but no one got killed and (their complaint...) no one did any killing. I feel like they enjoy playing CoC but are upset when they take weapons skills and then have to use spot and listen to find clues and make the game progress. So I feel like I am choosing between playing CoC, or turning it into an elaborate modern day dungeon crawl with Mythos monsters.

Has anybody here had success with running CoC with lots of combat?

[clockworkjoe]

Just give them a straight up gunfight with cultists - let the dice roll out in the open and make sure the PCs are outnumbered at least 2 to 1. The cultists should have lower skills but not be totally incompetent.

See how much they clamor for combat after that.

[Z]

anyone that wants more call of cthulhu combat hasn't really had call of cthulhu combat

show them the meaning of open die rolls

[Ezechiel357]

... and before the combat starts, to avoid behind called a bloody murderer, show them the stat of the creature you are throwing at them and roll open dice.
They will quickly understand that you don't fight in Cthulhu.
Oh, and don't forget to quote Steve Jackson: "What happen when you drop a nuclear bomb on Cthulhu ? It is vaporised, then reforms 10 minutes later and is now radioactive."

[Addled GM]

Before you start up your next game explain to your players the themes in a CoC game.  This will smooth things over a bit when their characters die.  By explaining the overarching themes you can avoid many problems.  Every player sitting down at the table has to be on the same page about the game or it falls apart.

This is kinda like if you had players make characters for a Scooby Doo type RPG without explaining the themes you were going for.  There is no doubt that when they met the monster they would pull out machine guns and splatter him all over the walls only to find that it was Poor Old Man Whithers.  I don't think that the GM would want a shootout with the cops and the eventual execution of the Scooby Gang for the Whithers Massacre, but hey some people do hate Scooby Doo.
 
Anyways, if your players want more combat check out CthulhuTech. You still get the mythos but you also get giant robot combat.  Not my favorite flavor of Cthulhu, but might make your party a little less angry when they end up in a TPK.

[clockworkjoe]

other option: Throw a slow but bullet immune monster at them. Hilarity ensues.

[Kroack]

beware Yogsosnail

[Shallazar]

Suggestion of Shoggoths, the "Thing in the Fog" from Masks of Nyarlathotep London chapter, SO MANY BADGUYS an endless wave.

Werewolves in their human form, still need silver bullets to kill right? How long would that take them to figure out? GHOST Fight!

Have all their weapons get jacked, (stolen or broke), then attack them with bad doods.


If they manage to dispatch your monster(s) and you thought they would surely perish and you really just are going for that TPK, Send in the monsters' friends, masters, servants, summoners, and of course their entourages until all are dead. You are the almighty Keeper, if you want a Cthonian to burrow up out of the ground- just Fire it in there.

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Whenever we play Call my players always end up with goddamn 90% shotgun, one of the reasons we switched to Trail. More foes than bullets works pretty great though, and who is to say that once the cultists realize their enemies are olympic fucking marksmen, that they themselves do not recruit bullseye and annie oakley to their cause? "Yeah sorry, he used to be a Green Beret but now an alien is inside his body."

[Moondog]

Boy, that's a lot of 'DON'T EVER LET THE PC'S BE AWESOME AT ANYTHING'.

And people wonder why I don't like Call of Cthulhu. :p

[clockworkjoe]

honestly just give them dudes with guns - 3 to 1 odds vs the PCs - enemies have basic tactics and 30-60% gun skills. All are armed with shotguns or revolvers.

Example: A cultist compound - 12 armed cultists vs 4 PCs. PCs have to get X from compound. Let the PCs have a fair chance of sneaking up or into the compound. If they fail the sneak chance, the cultists can fire at them from open ground. If the PCs succeed, they can get a free round of shooting or silently disable the sentries - up to 3 cultists can be taken out before the alarm is hit.

Once the alarm is hit, the cultists take up positions and fire at anything that moves. PCs have to outfight a large group of determined defenders that will fight to the death.

If 4 PCs can kill 12 cultists without at least PC being seriously injured or killed, then you're either being too soft with the cultists (treat them like your own PCs) or the PCs are insanely skilled or lucky.

[Setherick]

In Ross' games, the ratio of cultists to PCs is usually 20-30:1. Tommy guns and stick grenades are usually required to win.

[clockworkjoe]

well and running away

[Setherick]

well and running away

As I recall, I held off the lot so the other players could run away and then calmly walked out of the burning mansion.

[SageNytell]

Boy, that's a lot of 'DON'T EVER LET THE PC'S BE AWESOME AT ANYTHING'.

And people wonder why I don't like Call of Cthulhu. :p

On one hand, you may be missing the point here. The point of the source material behind Call of Cthulhu is that there are things in this world that are so terrible as to be beyond our understanding, beyond our body of knowledge, and beyond our science. In the original stories, creatures shrug off bullets like raindrops. The point of this is not to make players feel like they can't be awesome, but to correct an unfortunate assumption that most other games embrace - if it's here, I can kill it. Players in Call of Cthulhu should be using their ideas to fight, not their weapons. If you have stooped to trying to take down Dagon with a machine gun and a prayer, you've already lost. However, if you're the distraction while the other players pull off a fiendish scheme to entrap the dark god even more dreamless aeons, you've got the point, and you might 'win' the scenario, as far as anything ceaseless and immortal can 'lose'. It's a horror game for a reason, and forcing people to use scarce resources carefully and come up with intelligent plans is part and parcel of the experience.

On the other hand, that sort of thing isn't for everyone. I think it's nice to sometimes have a plan that doesn't need the combined firepower of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, keeps my players on their toes, but at the same time an action game can be fun. It's certainly possible to run a high-combat game, but the players need to understand that given the mechanical lethality of the system, they shouldn't be getting too attached to their incredible gunslingers.

[Z]

people that play rpgs want to have immature power fantasies and not an engaging high-stakes narrative

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