Casting Shadows

This is the eighth day of #RPGaDAY2025 and the prompt today is explore. Most, but not all, of the prompts this year will be put into the pitch in ways that affect all of the players directly, but for this one, I think it’s time to take a step to the side to get our bearings, assess where we are and have been, and then fix our eyes on a star which shines down on roads less traveled.

Day 8: Explore

This is an introspective step in the pitch. Now that there are some elements in place to imagine, it’s time to explore what can be done with them. What will make this campaign different in good ways from what has been done before or improve on how we do what has been done before? Sometimes, the answer to those questions will be that nothing new needs to be done and we don’t have to try something different than we have before – but it is important to ask.

As I look over the 7 prompts we have touched on so far, one theme leaps out at me, the tipping point between action and inaction. First reflected in our patron we have an innovator, inventor, and Dreamer, who chooses to eschew the fame, fortune, and companionship of the big city and has instead retreated to seclusion and isolation until goaded by a threat he could not ignore. This is likewise mirrored in the grand threat of the campaign, the Sleeper. Buried deep underground somewhere between the waking and dreaming world, Tsathoggua waits as his acolytes and his spawn piece together the nightmare he wishes upon the world, bit by formless bit. The cult of the Sleeper operates in secrecy and openness, one hand ignorant of what the other hand is guiding it toward, while below ground even more secret plans and twists are prepared and left for moments when their time comes right. Even the Loch Lomond Arms, sits peaceful and solid by the shores of the lake, taking in travelers and seekers of all sorts on their myriad journeys, yet remaining solid and stable around them.

What does that mean for running the campaign? No one wants play to fall into long periods of inactivity, and hesitation. At the same time, the dragging weight of growing dread, that weakening sense that it might already be too late, and the desperation of knowing that something has to be done should be features of this campaign.

This suggests two things to me. The first is being liberal and transparent with twin factors in Leagues of Cthulhu called Sanity and Corruption. These have a way of keeping the player firmly in the driver’s seat of their character, while at the same time scarring the character visibly. When desperation pushes them too far from a noble path, such as when characters take the tools of their enemies into their hands for fear of losing the war, Corruption begins to build. Sufficient Corruption metastasizes into Flaws which cannot be hidden, and can rarely be overcome. Likewise, the exposure to the horrific inhumanity of the threats they may uncover will eat at their understanding of the world and its laws until their ability to function in it falters and then fails. Seeing these twin pressures begin to take root in their hearts, minds, and bodies can entice the recruitment of other characters, the building of a resistance, and the focus to find those points vulnerable to quick and decisive action – even at the cost of one’s own life or freedom.

The second is to personalize the surface members of the cult and show their spread through known organizations, through acquaintances, through friends, and through family. When will a member of the group give in?

Things like these should help us explore the surging and unpredictable impetus of the Sleeper’s vile plan in a way that lets us feel the grind of its fear, while also highlighting the heroism of the average person.

See you tomorrow for Day 9: Inspire!