Core Mechanics - LunarNeil/Call-of-Cthulhu-Campaign GitHub Wiki
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."
From The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft
Many things can happen in the Realms of Mythos and Madness, and you'll need every tool at your disposal to beat back the horrors that threaten to awake and destroy out world. Luckily for you, the game provides you with a system for handling these threats in a fair way, even when nobody can agree on what happens next. This bundle of rules is referred to as the "Game System," and refers to all the extra stuff that happens in a game aside from the talking and storytelling. Game Systems work as a kind of agreement between players and the Moderator that both sides will stick to a set of codified rules when something important is at stake.
The following helps define what those game-altering rules are and how to use them.
Playing The Game
Realms of Mythos and Madness is a game set within a world of bleak horror, set in turn of the century America and inspired by the stories of H. P. Lovecraft and other authors of the Cosmic Horror genre. Common themes are helplessness and futility in the face of threats beyond human understanding, a universe where human life has no special value or merit, and our civilization's existence is so transient and pitiful that our world is not even our own to command.
Yet, through all this, individuals continue their struggle to save their fellow humanity, even at the price of their life or their sanity. There is heroism and hope in the Realms of Mythos and Madness, but it is a slim hope, a desperately slim hope. Maintaining the level of oppressive horror requires the Moderator to challenge players with a world that is dangerous, mysterious, and often unfair. When they fail, their failure was inevitable. When they succeed...
-What You Need
- This Rule Booklet
- Two 10-Sided Dice
- Pencils, Paperclips and a Notebook or a Binder
- Two or More People to Play
The Rules
In a game of Realms of Mythos and Madness several players each take control of an Investigator, special player characters that run, fight and sleuth their way through a terrifying mystery set forth by one friend who plays the Moderator, a kind of game referee who also gets to run the story and play the parts of all monsters and insane cultists that oppose the Investigators.
The core mechanic of Realms campaign, which is to say the most important rule for running the game, is something called Dramatic Arbitration. This is just a fancy way of saying that when there's something you want to do or something at stake in the game, you should handle the question of "what happens next?" it in a dramatic and exciting fashion, rather than by using dice. Narrating what your Investigator does in a way that fits the tone of the scene, and meets with the Moderator's approval, is the main way that the story unfolds at the gaming table.
You don't need to be a good actor or public speaker, just do your best to describe what you want to do and what you'd like to happen, and if everyone agrees then that's the way the story goes. There are other ways to add drama to the game table, and whenever something can be solved by doing something more interesting at the table, like playing cards rather than rolling a card playing skill check, the Moderator should give the players the option... assuming it is safe to do and the materials are available!
The only rule of Dramatic Arbitration is that the Moderator has final authority on what happens. This means that the Moderator has the right to ignore the rulebook, disregard scenario materials, or alter events involving the Investigators. This should be done in the spirit of fairness and genre authenticity, keeping the game consistent as well as enjoyable.
-The Fair Play Rule
The Fair Play rule states that the Moderator should not infringe upon the rights of players to have real consequences for success and failure.
The most common usage for this is to remind the Moderator not to step in on behalf of the Investigators when a situation turns against them. When the players feel that they no longer are being allowed to fail, or that the Moderator is softening situations for their benefit, the horror and tension that the campaign depends upon is lost. It also reminds the Moderator not to dismiss the Investigator's creative attempts to defeat the Mythos threats, so long as such attempts fit with the tone of the game.
This rule ensures the Realms of Mythos and Madness remains a game that can be won or lost according to player skill and not the whims of the referee. Players must have the latitude to both succeed and fail, because the option to do one without the other renders any outcome meaningless.
-The Banter Rule
The Banter rule states that any challenge that requires focus or attentiveness from an Investigator has a higher potential of success when it is accompanied by appropriate action descriptions, in-character party chatter, and exclamations of surprise, horror, and excitement at dramatically appropriate moments.
In the simplest terms, this means that if describe what you're doing, talk to your buddies as if you were your Investigator, and keep your ears open for any small cues from the Moderator, your Investigators will get favorable treatment throughout the game. Investigators are less likely to be ambushed, or to fail a task under pressure, when the players are keeping their heads in the game. This is one of the few ways that the Moderator can intervene on behalf of the players without breaking the Fair Play rule, and helps the players to keep themselves immersed in the world of the game, which makes everyone have a lot more fun.