Call of Cthulhu: Servants of the Lake Scenario Breakdown 

there is some problems, check out the PDFs, they usually stealth update them every so often.

You mention it at the end, but I was just wondering if Amidst the Ancient Trees is another one-off sort of thing that you could incorporate between other modules, or is it even worth it to run?

@@williamholly9530 Hey there. Its a scenario i'm looking at running in the future, i've skimmed through it for this video and i'm a fan of Gla'aki as the big bad. the scenario does have a lot of scope and the pay off is quite good, there is alot of open space in there during the hunt to add more of your own ideas (this could also lead to problems if not prepped) and its pretty flexible to relocate and plug into a grander sequence of 1 shots , as i mention in the video ol' Gal'aki has some issues that hes stuck in certain settings which act as tells for the players if they have met him before. Where it could shine is the dreams and that angle. If you play on that over the coarse of it, even introduce it in other scenario it might be a great pay off in a long game. But at the end of the day i think he's an oddity rather than something like Nyarlathotep that can hold a bigger scoped game like Masks, again that is unless you go above and beyond with those dreams and grow its mythos yourself.

@@RPGNook Right. I purposely ran Servants of the Lake before Genius Loci because I wanted to foreshadow and get the players used to the "Dreamland" idea. I think it's ripe with potential. Not even in sleep are your PC's safe...I could be wrong about this, but it also allows me to then easily foreshadow events, or build dread or suspense, even when the PC's go off the wall with what they want to do. Admittedly, I just love the psychology mind-fucking potential of dream sequences, as it's used in literature for the same purpose; in a hyper realistic setting, the dreamland allows some narrative flexibility and play.

@@williamholly9530 Yeah i was sceptical about Dreamlands at first but i ran Season of the Witch for April 30th, and it went down a storm. The great thing about the dreamlands is it is very surreal and reminds me of CS Lewis more that anything. That and you can get quite brutal with it. 2 of the 3 runs of that scenario ended with atleast one PC dying in the Dreamlands, however because it was the dreamlands they lived but with the memories of what dying feels like. I had one wake in the asylum being hosed off and ended it there. It was a lot of fun and because all the players had never been to the DL before it was a massive, wtf is this moment.

yeah, its quite bad. These were some of the first we did, and we had a lot to learn with the audio, i'll be replacing these ones in time. But they get the points across until then.

@@RPGNook I liked it, so please keep them coming

Thanks!

I agree its the handout isn't really a problem, its just usually the player mindset that will want it to mean more. Sounds like you got some nice idea of how to put a twist on the module, let us know how those play out! Good Luck, we have played this one often on Nook.

@@RPGNook It went generally quite well! The conceit was one of my investigators' Key Connections organised a holiday for them, and they end up getting stranded at the motel on the way. Using the ITMoM-style into the place getting weirder and weirder set the mood quite well, and also was fun to flip the general "slow buildup to sanity-wracking finale" around such that the start was just as unsettling. I reasoned Gla'aki's malign influence as they slept in the lake caused the distortion, and once Gla'aki was woken and focused just on the lake, then escape becomes possible. Half-way through they attempted to nope the hell out of there with Jacob. Knew they'd try, sigh haha. Where things were more challenging I found was in moving time forwards satisfactorily. Suspicious types are going to investigate their rooms and find the trap-doors - having an Attack of the Fishmen style scene just wasn't possible for that reason. I'd be surprised if most run-throughs even get to investigators to _willingly_ sleeping in their rooms for the dream-pull, as all my investigators were on edge. I improv'd Gla'aki's fog on the lake having a knock-out like effect so they could experience the dream-pull. I agree where the written scenario provides little detail but has a lot of interest is in the surrounding environs of the lake - the half-sunken village, the dense forested areas etc. - my group didn't head out though even when I added a few hooks for them such as the possibility of fishing or boating, along with the area history hand-out (I moved it to the motel's reception, framed on the wall as "local history", rather than being research). It was a fun session, and ended in a desperate attempt of the last sane investigator working with an NPC to man-handle his insane co-investigators (and their Key Connection, about to be spiked) into the car so they could speed away before they got turned by the avatar. Fortunately, Luck, Strength and Drive Auto were all on their side in the end... :)

@@darkowl9 nice one! sounds like you had a lot of fun. Yea, i don't think anyone has managed to pull off the trapdoors well yet.

Illustrator, easy enough to do with a blackboard background, and some Chalk fonts :D

It really is! but we have gotten better, this one is quite an early one. Thank you for your feedback.

True, I realy like your "let's create a scenario" videos.

@@thonktank1239 Thanks, i'm recording the next one this week. hope to see you in the comments again and this hasn't put you off. :)

Oh wow, lucky me. I just discovered this channel yesterday and was really disappointed that the series wasn't complete yet