Casting Shadows

This is a seed for Call of Cthulhu from Chaosium, now ostensibly in the final stretch of preparation before the eventual release of the game’s 7th and most greatly changed edition.

The seed
This seed focuses on cult activity and is suitable for both established and new groups. This can be planted for a slow build and can become a major part of a framework for a longer campaign. Once complete, it might be looked back on as a ‘prequel’ for the horrors the campaign might uncover later.

Planting the seed
As this seed focuses on cults, and operates on a very human scale, there is little that has to be done to plant it. The characters will be sought out by the cultists, and so do not need to be in any particular location, condition, or course of action. They will, however, need to be of occupations or positions of use to the cult. This could range from groundskeeper of a spot important to them, on up to chief of police. Specifics depend on the goals of the cult.

The details
For once, there are few details. The characters have been targeted for recruitment and several waves of this will be undertaken, first via friendship, then romance, then broader enticements, then blackmail, then overwhelming psychological pressure, then finally overt threats such as kidnapping of loved ones.

What’s going on
The characters should feel tried and tested by this experience and come out with a very real opposition to some very human threats, or a very real alliance. Ultimately, the characters have something the cultists want. They will do whatever it takes to get the characters on their side, and as the Keeper, it is perfectly acceptable for you to be as persuasive as possible. The best kind of temptation is one that goes unrecognized.

What can make this seed even more bewildering and engaging, is if the cult in question has a splinter group who is also seeking to turn the characters. Who do the characters come to see as allies, and who as villains? How are their beliefs portrayed, and how far from the cosmic horror of the Mythos have they degenerated?

Enjoy~