Modern Mythos with Jon and Seth Modern Mythos ep.21 - Campaigning with Mike Mason!
Nov 21, 2022
Mike Mason, Creative Director at Chaosium and seasoned Call of Cthulhu developer, joins to talk long-running campaigns. He outlines campaign types, linking one-shots into arcs, and balancing player investment with survivability. They cover pacing, atmospheric scenes, avoiding pointless deaths, player prep, note-taking, and practical tools for keeping investigations coherent.
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Episode notes
From Episodic One-Shots To Published Campaigns
- Mike described running early playgroups that kept the same investigators and ran episodic one-shots together.
- He later ran published campaigns like Shadows of Yog-Sothoth and played in Masks of Nyarlathotep.
Turn Kill-Traps Into Playable Set Pieces
- Replace straight kills with captures, interrogations, or scripted escapes to create memorable scenes.
- Plan at least one nonfatal outcome per dangerous encounter so players use skills and creativity to resolve it.
Design Captures With Rescue Opportunities
- Plan at least one player who remains free during a capture scene to enable rescue and dynamic play.
- Use captures and inside/outside roles to create memorable cooperative action beats.