Call of Cthulhu: The Idol of Thoth - RPG Review 

As an archaeological student, i love the dig at archaeologists

Seth is the reason I’m trying CoC out. Very cool modules (and reviews).

Minor note: I allow recognizing an expensive car to be a credit rating roll or a hard related experience roll, in this case driving or maybe mechanical repair if the player was a car mechanic.

Hey Seth look this map has clearly marked bathrooms for the WC's aint that nifty?

Sounds kinda like a Dead Space-like scenario, with the idol acting kinda like a Marker and drawing people to it to brainwash them into mad killers and defenders. Sounds awesome.

Hi Seth. Not related to this video but wanted to say I've just finished the audiobooks for your Damoren and Hounacier stories, and I'm about to start with Ibenus. Really enjoyed them so far - and R.C.Bray's an fantastic narrator too!

Gonna watch this on my break! Been waiting with bated breath for another rpg review from you, Seth. You successfully helped convert my whole D&D group into a CoC group. We'll all be running a marathon game of CoC at Texas Ren Fair this year.

I'm going to be running this in a few days as a small interlude/prequel to Masks after the Peru chapter. My group are based in 1923 NYC currently so I've had to reframe a lot of the module (ie. Swapped Columbia University for Miskatonic, the museum is the Brooklyn museum, etc) and it's probably a good thing because unfortunately there are so many inconsistencies and holes in this scenario as written and it gives me a good excuse to make up actual handouts. Keepers, don't expect to go into this one without a bit of clean-up on your part! Some spoilers below... The biggest hole I'm grappling with right now is why would our apparently clever bad guy just leave the open sarcophagus and mess in the atrium? They want the show to go on. Its essential for them and they clearly have the mental capacity to leave and lock the door again behind them after they see the idol... pick up and close the damn sarcophagus. Sure, the police might still get called for the other broken artifact... but attention won't even be drawn to the idol. Much less risk of the show being cancelled.

Yes! New video on my birthday! Love this channel!

I tried to run this for my group recently introducing the Idol in a newspaper as something one of their contacts, a local mob boss had bought, and was donating to the museum, and there was going to be a fancy gala... The party immediately investigated the idol, the auction is was bought and and split up to investigate auction House, other potential buyers and the previous owner... Now its the day before the Gala, and I have a heist to GM

Yes make more

your Pc left a gun behind? my PC always try to plunder everything, bolted down or not

After listening to around 8:11 I realized the players are investigating the crimes committed by the NPCs and player from Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. :D

Hey seth, I'm a first time keeper and I ran this module for 3 players. It was all of our first times playing CoC. It went really well, thanks in large part to your advice in this video and others. It ended up with one player in jail following a skirmish with browning that ended with her dead and a botched escape. The other two players managed to avoid police suspicion and got away mostly scot free. Highlights also include butterfield rolling a crit and taking out a player with a tire iron followed up by a second player rolling a crit and a fumble on their pistol rolls and killing butterfield and the KO'd player in the same action. That player ended up taking over the driver of another player and continuing on with that. Everyone had a great time. I think overall I ran the game really well too. I'm usually a pretty mediocre DM but this one went pretty darn great. Thanks again, love your videos.

Are you gonna tackle the Masks of Nyathotep

Another awesome video dude! Great work!

I actually really like that your players were smart enough to take advantage of phones in this module. I might not have thought to do that but it makes perfect sense for a group of professionals on a timer.

Please, make a review of the module "beyond the mountains of madness"!

It's always the small editing parts that catch me. At 26:56 the handout has the word 'an' before Science which should be just an 'a'. Just a pet peev.

Nicely done and enjoyable, as always. Keep up the good work.

Damn that's some crisp audio. Love the new mic. Love the video.

Thanks for the recommendation and the notes! Gonna run this scenario at my next game. Looking forward to seeing more videos and reviews. :)

Great analysis, as always. My players and I just finished this scenario, so I have some additional thoughts. They are more variations on your ideas. 1) Hollister didn't want the cops involved in my game because he didn't want any artifacts seized as evidence. 2) I noticed the Butterfield/Butterworth discrepancy mid session and did a fourth wall break with my players. They called him Butterscotch from that moment forward. Amusement was had. 3) I have two concerns with the construction of the scenario itself. Obviously a four-dollar cost tempers these. First, the scenario is really lacking in necessary handouts. I think that most players would benefit from information on Egyptology at the time (given that it was recently a fad), so I printed off some basic history of Thoth for them to roll to get. They got up to three pieces based upon any relevant skill (Egyptology) requiring easier successes than Library Use. This adds some depth to the backstory that is fairly basic in the scenario text. You mentioned cutting out pieces of the text, which works fine. I elected to produce actual handouts that I felt the module lacked, such as Butterfield's notes. I also think that the "race-against-time" works against the narrative punch of the scenario and also runs counter to what the module says about discouraging combat. Races-against-time are more likely to lead to rash decisions that the module discourages. If you tell someone: "You need to act! Now!" they aren't likely to go into creative mode. Since I wanted creative mode, I removed the race against time and timed everything so they had a few days to prepare for the scheduled viewing. I had to shift the calendar anyway since my group has a precisely established 1923 calendar for our game right now. It worked like a charm. One of my players was an engineer and produced mirrored goggles to protect players from the Idol's influence. My social types visited Browning in disguise and arranged to be at the viewing. I made a map of the display hall to show where everything and everyone was located. I increased the number of hypnotized patrons to 100 and we had a great scene where the players tried to distract the patrons with gun shots after the opening began. This did nothing, and all 100 patrons creepily turned simultaneously and started approaching the PCs. A pair of PCs managed to work together, with one tackling Browning and the other bull rushing the platform, knocking the Idol over and smashing it before the patrons could overwhelm the rest of the PCs. Nobody dies. The emphasis was less on the combat and more on their preparation, which was very creative.

Hey Seth, I love your videos and they are part of the reason why I find myself rummaging through the Shelves of my local tabletop store. I was curious if you have ever played/ read the "Down Darker Trails" Old West setting for Call of Cthulhu? I love Weird west, but never really seemed to get into Deadlands, so I would love your opinion if you are familiar.

Great work, Seth!!! AND Great video!!! Okay, I always love these... SO just for the record, YES, the microphone is DEFINITELY clearer and louder. The "weird background under-digital-water" stuff is also GONE... Not that ANY of those "issues" actually bothered me, but it's important for YOU to get some kind of "real world applicable" feedback. ;o)

Seth, gotta say, your videos are top shelf

Damn Thoth, always dropping his crap!

I just noticed- the butler's name is Henry Rhodes. That's the same name of the professor in Blackwater Creek! With some creative re-writing, perhaps they could know each other? Or perhaps it's his son?

Very helpful as always. Thank you!

I played this one (as keeper for a party of 3) and I loved it. Between this and the Haunting one can really prepare a party of new players for CoC. Thank you for the review and keeper hints.

Love your reviews but can you tell us who worked on the adventure and/or show the credit page ... my main interest here is whether the adventure had an editor or whether another set of eyes looked it over. Great review and look forward to hear what you have for us next.

Great job especially being the player character. I’m old to gaming but new to this game

I'd have 2 of the problems cancel each other. The police refuse to investigate because they have no idea if there was anything inside to being with therefore the museum hire their own PI. You could have marks inside that allude to something that was there or it now weighs a lot less.

Nice review.

i was a player on this year a and a half ago, still used the Irish PI and had a portable armory in a suit case including a Remington police fighting rifle, a lot of priceless artifacts were destroyed for no reason and the insane doctor ran getting shot, everyone who seemed suspicious got shot eventually

Can you review Curse of Chaugnar Faugn? Love these

If I run this adventure, I'm going to try giving my players a way to "disarm" the idol without destroying it, saving Mr. Butterfield and Ms. Browning.

Great video I love them rock on.

19:00 Well, it's a great way for the 'the players have somehere to go' vibe to happen, if the encounter happened during a time sensitive adventure.

Keep on Cthulhu fhtagning! Great video again :) - support Seth!

*Absolutely love the Module reviews .* *The only thing is they should be marked GM/DM only ( As they are mostly focused on GM/DM dealing with them .* *But it would be also neat to have a player version of them as well ( so you don't have players dropping off of your GM/DM review videos and ruining your metrics on them ) .*

9:17 " I Love IT !"

Amusing, since the only time a full moon would shine down through a skylight would be close to midnight. The full moon, being full, would be on the horizon shortly after sunset.

You constantly referencing Edith Browning was trippy.

One thing that really stood out to me is that the NPC pictures don’t look like they’re from the era-they look modern. I know it’s a small detail, but I think they dropped the ball on that one.

2:12 Well they probably thought that, being locked up in the same place as the Joker means he's a totally lost cause.

I always LOL at the Chaosium NPC portraits. Not their strong suit. Also, it's super weird how Seth always has to correct maps & descriptions & fill in big holes in these adventures.

Have run this twice, with a few more coming up for (virtual) Cons. I had phones be available at the museum, Arkham, and Grey's house (though a PC would need Miskatonic connection to be able to get it). I didn't have a phone in the run-down tenement where CB lived, though I did put it about a 15-20 minute walk from the museum. I decided that Ormond had no immediate family, so his out-of-state relatives were behind the quick sale of his assets. Think I had them be in Chicago and worked through a local estate lawyer. They never tried to track down said lawyer, but I'm pretty sure he would be in court for some matter all afternoon. I had the butler given a lump sum severance, and he departed with no forwarding address given. The most challenging thing for me was when the PCs got back to the museum before 5, after having dealt with CB. Browning has no backup at this point, and given the stakes I can't see the party ever being held off by her holding a gun. I'm thinking of having that unmarked room between her office and CB's office be a work room of some sort. She'll usher them in there and then depart to fetch Mr. Hollister, and she then locks them in to buy more time.

I'd have to make it "Butterworth" If only to let someone ask "So, is there a Misses Butterworth?"

Joe also has a podcast "how we roll" they cover call of Cthulhu and some Dungeons & Dragons. They're really fun to listen too

Seth - Did you hear about the new upcoming edition of the Cyberpunk RPG? Would be great to have an official version with some of the old rules/setting complaints adjusted and updated!

Q: Do you use handgun hard cases to store your minis? I suppose that's not a bad idea if the internal foam is compressed tight enough while still being somewhat affordable.

Im running a pulp campaign now. This is a fantastic resource.

Nice use of the Lament Configuration

I love your shirt My friends and I are always quoting that Stay on target Stay on target! Almost there Stay on target!

Thank you.

Hey, Seth! Am one of the subscriber who's just loving your videos. I'm actually trying out this scenario soon as my first-time GMing and getting loads of help from your video while preparing for it...So thank you!!! Just one question though. Is there a map of Boston Museum of Fine arts inside the module? I had purchased a PDF from Drivthru rpg and wasn't able to find the museum's map, so had to created a cheap map of exhibition based on today's floor plan. But it seems that, based on your video, there's a map provided inside the module...? or is it a fan-made prop from other forums? or did you make your own map for the scenario?

I think I can explain why it's Butterworth in some parts of the book: Originally, that was Clarence's last name, but he got married to a Mrs. Butterfield; he ended up changing this surname to that. Only problem was some of the papers haven't been updated to show that. Either that, or the author really likes syrup.

Could the insight role be for modern d20 version?

Maybe the mention of "Dead light" was meant to be another option for expanding the adventure, that it could be occuring while they are driving? Or maybe that they notice something that they would want to investigate later when they have more time?

Seriously Thoth you ought to keep these in your shed even if it's called Egypt!

Is this compatible w/ Thoth's Dagger since both involve Thoth?

So... When is your CoC Review DVD Box Set being released?

I've never played CoC (Only played Starfinder, WtA and a little DnD) but this sounds super interesting!

Such good vids

That sounds like a great module. Would you recommend running it as Pulp Cthulhu or just standard rules?

Nice Mic

I don't get them adding Dead Light either as adding that adventure would prevent them from arriving to the museum on time.

when are you going to review the core rulebook for the Conan RPG by modiphius? i saw your review for pits of Kutallu and it seems interesting but i want to know a bit more about the system. the real shame about modiphius is that because they are an indie company you can't find lots of reviews for their stuff.

A see a Seth video. I hit like!

.. okay so is the sky light the only window? how big is it? small enough to empty thick black paint on it, then throw some cloth on it. tada, no moonlight(and there has to be a a way up, for cleaning from the outside

Always like it when Seth slings 'tent!

I know the odds of getting a reply to a comment on a 3 year old video are slim to none, but something was bugging me about this whole thing. The gala is clearly meant to be at 5. There's even the typo about it being at 7 that got brought up in this video. What makes the authors think the light of the full moon would be available to reveal the idol at 5 o'clock? Wouldn't the 7 o'clock time make more sense? If it's autumn or winter, it's dark by 7, but there's no point in the year where the moon is out at 5 in Boston.

Butterfield/worth must have lived in that tenement to afford paying off his 1917 Abbott-Detroit: perhaps the popular model 44 which would have cost - depending on optional appointments - something around $1300.00 USD (That's over $43,000.00 USD today, by the by). So maybe have the investigators find he was subsisting on tinned sardines and soda cracker, too. NB - no, I did not mistakenly add/omit any zeros from those figures. Having this NPC own such a vehicle begs a lot of questions as to a more full background story normally not worthy of a -disposable- NPC.

Or as you said yourself, if there's a PI and said PI has a police contact, you can have it be where the police contact redirects Hollister to the PI saying "well, we're swamped at the moment BUT I know someone who can help.."

Arkham Asylum: It's nice to finally be a visitor here for once

Always keep the interest in cars!!!

1:38 He returned from Egypt with a small 18" high cheese grater.....

You could have made the journey back more interesting by having them pulled over by the police for speeding or somebody at the exhibition's door telling them no ticket, no entry.

How do they know the sarcophagus used to contain something of value? Have the archaeologist notes lift the weight of the object. Then compare it to the weight of the current object. By the difference in weight, something must have been inside, and the very fact that it's missing suggests someone thought it had value enough to hide.

Why does Jack have both eyes?

A Call of Cthulhu party expected to SPLIT UP! Good luck on this one. My players NEVER split up - under no conditions ;-)

I would like to point out (1&1/2 year later lol) that the moon couldn't be out a 5pm, not even at 6. After some google-fu, the sunset time in boston on Feb 10th, which is wen the showing takes place, is at 6:44. Since it is a full moon that's supposed to take place, hit the idol, and enrapture the audience, the time for that to happen would be closer to 730 or even 8 at its earliest. Only just now realizing this after going through the module again myself for a game im running tonight.

That is a highly specialized field that Jack and the Gang have fallen into you know if they ever do run into Thoth they can ask him whether or not he thinks writing has been in that positive in the 5,000 years since he invented it or however long it has been

Me having to watch all these since none of my players would ever be interested in running CoC, and I'm the only one interested.

I'm a little confused on the plot of this adventure... Was the idol *actually* stolen and the villains' plan was to bring it back for the event? Or was it still inside the now-open casket the whole time and just undetectable when it's not under the light of the full moon?

what are your rules, for losing credit?

Seth, I'm about to run "The Idol of Thoth." Hollister found the sarcophagus open and the idol missing. Yet nothing was taken, so where is it during the scenario?

He heard about the other Thoth item they dealt with.

I'm not very familiar with the Cthulhu mythos and all that (reading the Lovecraft collection on my kindle, but very slowly and in between other books), it Thoth evil there? Or is he merely that kind of person who leaves valuable stuff behind (or simply loses it) but booby traps it juuuust in case someone ever picks it up?

Does anyone else think that 5 o'clock is really early for what's happening?

I feel like the PCs need a reward

Where’s the player agency in this scenario? Maybe I play too much D&D, but it seems like the players are just helpless for 85% of this scenario. Can’t imagine it would go over well in my own group.

The Emerald Tablets of Thoth?

,Ahhh, the flask is back!

Seth, why did you say "Seth Skorkowsky" so much differently in the opening of this video than the other videos? Like there's a sense of uncertainty. Well, it could also be because the script was a bit far, perhaps? Whatever the case, it really stood out!

Siemano Seth!

The moon is visible at 5 PM? That doesn't sound right, but has anyone checked out an almanac to see if the date of the adventure allows this lunar appearance?

I had no idea Doug Stanhope solved mysteries during the 20's

As an archaeologist unfortunately that is our history.