Cosmic Horror! Learn to Play Trail of Cthulhu! Purist Lovecraft
"The more you discover, the more the Mythos infects your mind. Your friends cannot be trusted, your knowledge means nothing, and everything you hold d
TYPE
SYSTEM
EXPERIENCE
AGE
About the adventure
A group of Investigators has come together in the cellar of Jacobs Books, an occult bookshop in London’s West End, to try to piece together the details of what they believe to be a threat to humanity. They call themselves The Friday Group, as they meet on Friday evenings. Each of them has encountered maddening hints which no one else believes, and they are trying to discover how the threat can be combatted. As they uncover the facts behind each revelation, they are faced with a final, inescapable truth none of them could have guessed, the fate of the world.
Game themes
$25.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Friday – 7:00 PM UTC
Campaign Length / 10–20 Sessions
2–3 Hour Duration
0 / 3 Seats Filled
GAME MASTER
James
he/him
5.0
(68)
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(68)
4 years on StartPlaying
482 games hosted
Highly rated for: Storytelling, Creativity, Teacher
Average response time: Under 1 hour
Response rate: 100%
About me
Hello my name is James, I have been in the hobby for almost ten years and have been a Game Master for several games a week for the last four years. I have a very wide spectrum of interest's and am always interested learning and trying out a new game systems! While I usually prefer to use pre-published campaigns as opposed to homemade I have recently both authored and ran several of my player groups through a custom setting based upon World of Darkness. I have successfully ran over three dozen modules from diverse variety of game systems including but not limited to Pathfinder 2e, Starfinder, Shadow of the Demon Lord, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4e, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Call of Cthulhu 7e, Delta Green, Trail of Cthulhu, Savage Worlds and Vampire the Masquerade. I am always eager to learn new things and meet new people.
View Profile →Reviews (68)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Storytelling
Creativity
Teacher
Joshua
Played 164 sessions
I haven been playing with James for going on 2 years and have been in a number of his games, ranging from Call of Cthulhu to Vampire the Masquerade to Traveller, even Deadlands. James is a hardworking & knowledgeable GM, He takes the games he runs seriously, and prefers when players are willing to become somewhat invested in the story or solving the mystery. He was actually the first Person who GM'd for me in all of the games above, and I have learned a lot and had loads of fun while playing with him.
Benjamin
Played 154 sessions
He successfully draws your character into the setting while tying into other characters well. Well spoken, detailed and keeps you in mind through each part. You are in excellent hands and should expect a very good time.
Mandy
Played 136 sessions
Made it super easy for a beginner like myself to join in games. Was very informative with lots of visual aids that helped set up each scenario. He works with his players to create interesting and engaging plots. James is really good about remembering to give every player a chance to be part of each session. He was super helpful getting my character set up
Gregg
Played 124 sessions
Very good with newbies/beginners to the game in question and the various devices for playing it (foundry/forge/discord etc). Excellent at encouraging character development and roleplay. Sets the "mood" of the game story very well.
Ian
Played 115 sessions
James is one of if not the best GM's I've had the pleasure of being a player for in fact im in both of his games at once because of how much i love his GM'ing style. His incredible story telling matches perfectly well with the amazing environments he produces in one of the campaigns ive joined with him which has been more mystery focus the enviroments and tensions have been nail biting with so much freedom on what to do, i was even able to find something out that none of the other players did, kept it to myself for character reasons and its almost like im on my own personal story within the story. James is also amazing with player freedom as well, doing as much as possible to mesh the story with the character you want to create and want to play. One of the things I appreciate the most based on my personal enjoyments with the game is the combat with james is always dynamic. One time a horde of ghoul goblins where surprised with an interference of their ritual, the party gathered around me the champion for safety but instead of all of them crowding around a choke point with me infront of the party they started running. I chased after one to get a quick kill but as fast as they ran away they ran back into the fray getting in the faces of the cleric and summoner. Man did that make me feel stupid but in a really good way. Overall James is a stellar GM and I couldn't reccomened anyone more to play pathfinder with.
Ghoul King Gruul (Meme's Legion)
Played 83 sessions
Really flexible and dedicated to delivering a high-quality experience to both new and old players alike.
Character creation
Creating your character
Once we have at least three or four players, I will announce a session zero that will be held at the time of our regularly scheduled game time. Everyone will be create two investigators together as a group during the session zero. This will allow for optimum narrative as well as mechanical cohesion. This campaign is somewhat unique in it's approach to investigators in that, players will be playing up to five unique characters each. The first "The Friday Group" are an occult research society looking into various ill-fated past investigations. Each of the other groups is an self-contained scenario with a separate set of investigators. Rules for character creation will be went through during session zero and subsequent sessions. For any of these four stories, pre-generated investigators are provided which may be used.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
I will be using two platforms for this Call of Cthulhu game, discord for voice/messages and foundry for dice rolls/character sheets. Equipment-wise players are expected to bring a desktop computer or laptop with a stable internet connection and a working microphone. Voice chat and the majority of text messages will be done through a discord server, I will provide the invitation link to the server when players after join the game. It is preferred that players have a noise free environment or set push to talk when there is much background noise. Players will need an account for Foundry VTT and a PC that can meet the requirements to run the software. As a player you do not need to own the Investigators Handbook but it is recommended. This can be purchased from either Amazon, Drive Thru RPG, or Pelgraine Press's website directly.
What James brings to the table
Hello, my name is James Tate. I have been pro-game mastering for well over a year and by no means am a stranger to the Mythos. In fact, Call of Cthulhu was one of the first roleplaying games that I discovered. However, Call of Cthulhu is by no means a game without faults, which is where Trail of Cthulhu comes in. The Gumshoe system exists to fix the inherent problem found in most investigative games "How does the game continue when the clue's or missed?" The Gumshoe system introduces a revolutionary concept by giving the players always handing the players the clues as long as they have the skill for it. This shifts the sole focus of play to be more on the story and the characters. I have a great deal of passion for Trail of Cthulhu and for gaming as a whole, I hope to share this love with players new and old with these advertised games. Feel free to send me a private message any time. I am always eager to respond.
Equipment needed to play
Computer
Headphones
Internet
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How James creates a safe table
This campaign is meant to capture "the Purist" play style. With an encroaching sense of dread, a strange enemies that one cannot truly understand, and a conclusion that adds to the horror more so than it does to resolve anything.
