Dead Beats | Directors commentary

This is the rambling thoughts and notes behind Dead Beats and how I created it. It’s also a WIP page and will be expanded as I find time to add more information but as I’m planning on expanding the PDF at some point, I will probably use the content here to add more pages to the core scenario.

When will it stop being a WIP? Who knows. Will I fix the typos? Not bloody likely.

Spoilers ahead, so beware

Background

After getting two other scenarios out the door, Dead Beats was my first attempt to write a short, con-length scenario that can be picked up and played in under 4 hours. I’ve managed to run it in around 3 hours with 4 players taking part each time and for me this is a comfortable length. It means there’s room for players to have some fun and also time for a quick break halfway through if needed.

So, how did I come up with Dead Beats? I was chatting to friend of mine, who I’d introduced to Call of Cthulhu a while ago, and we started brainstorming idea of a one shot that is set in a single location and can be run in one go. We back and forthed with a few ideas including one set in the Paris catacombs, one set in an 80’s high school (a bit too much like the Dare, which I do recommend), and we ended up talking about one based on a band before settling on it being set at a punk club in the 80’s.

So we had a location, I then took this idea and started looking at ways to connect it to Lovecraft and the Mythos. The music of Erich Zahn seemed like an obvious fit at this point so I went back and reread the story. The idea of music being used to protect or control something felt interesting, so ran with that idea.

I tried to write it quickly and the final scenario is short in pages as I wrote it as a framework for Keepers to build their session around the setting and not have to spell out every step. This is both a blessing a curse, there’s not much meat there to learn, but it means the keeper may have to use some imagination to fill in a few blanks.

I don’t know about you dear reader, but I never run a scenario as it’s written, or even the same way twice. Every time I’ve run this scenario I’ve come up with something new, as such I’m likely to be expanding DB, the trick is going to be making so it prints the same way without blank pages.

How I run Dead Beats

I like scenarios which give me, as a Keeper, room to run with a concept and I find it hard to improvise sometimes when I have too much information. I know other Keepers are different and want more details spelled out for them. Neither way is wrong, neither way is right.

The following is how I like to think about the different parts of Dead Beats.

Location

Does it have to be a punk night club in the 80’s? No. It is loose enough that it could be set in a 1920’s jazz club (Markus could be the student in Erich Zahn), a 1940’s dance hall (Markus was given the music by the student), a modern day night club (same setup but a longer gap). The only one it may struggle with is Gaslight due to the speakers, but then it could be just spooky music playing around the club and it’s set before the events of Erich Zahn.

NPCs

Skidz. He may look and sound like a sleezeball but I tend to play him as a bit of a dithering fool. He is the main tool to keep things moving for the keeper. He should be wary about revealing too much early on as it give the group something to pry out of him.

Rosie. The most popular NPC, I’ve seen players try to save her over other Investigators. She’s a smart woman and I tend to play her a little sarcastically. She gets annoyed by Skidz but doesn’t want anything bad to happen to the club as it’s a good job for her.

Dirt. In my games, Dirt tends to disappear back to the front door and not come back. Mainly as the group forgets about him after he goes for a smoke. He is there as muscle if the Investigators needs some backup when the fight starts.

Sonic Mayhem. In case nobody picks up on their appearance, they’re based on Electric Mayhem from the Muppets. These poor fools end up usually as just background noise once they arrive and make good cannon fodder to be dragged off when the incursion starts.

Investigators

The pregens all have their own motive for being at the club, I wont repeat them here but they are just springboards and can be ignored. They shouldn’t be milling around for two hours with nothing to do, I get them off on their own paths and let them help or hinder each other. Get them busy doing things to get the players rolling some dice early on.

Here’s my thoughts on how to give each of them something to do while waiting for the incursion to happen.

A&R Representative (A&R). The Rep has been instrumental (badoom-tish) in unlocking the sheet music in playthrough’s I’ve done. A bit of a snake, the Rep start off g

Aspiring Musician. The prospect of getting someone (cheap) on the stage to fill it for a night will be like catnip to Skidz. The minute he finds out someone is eager to play, have Skidz fall over himself to sweet talk them at the start.

Electrician. The obvious place for this character to head is onto the speakers and the sound system. Once they start to look at the electricals, they will find a rats nest of bad wiring but no clear reason for the cello music to be playing without outside interference.

Local Council Inspector. Possibly the one I’ve had the most fun watching cause chaos at the start. Armed with a clipboard and an agenda to shut the club down, I make sure Skidz comes to despise this character quickly. A few early spot hidden rolls will find plenty of Health and Safety infractions, bad wiring (for starting fires), chemicals badly stored (for throwing around when the fighting starts), and a few intimidate rolls to put Skidz in his place should cause some fun.

Investigator. I don’t like this character type in CoC. There, I’ve said it. The PI, the Police officer, etc… Cliches and stereotypes work well in TTRPG’s as they allow players to fit into something quickly, but I (personally) try to avoid this kind of character when I play as a character, so I found it hard to write some background for this one. I felt with the missing persons angle, there should be some kind of investigator though and someone may love them. This one needs a bit more warming up than the other Investigators and I keep thinking about creating some handouts specific to this character. It seems like a lot of work so I haven’t done it yet.

Music Journalist. Like the Rep, the Journalist is likely to come into their own once Sonic Anarchy turns up. Having a bitter, failed musician who hates anyone who has got ahead in the industry they wanted to be in, seemed like fun.

Bar Staff. What started as a way of squeezing some medical skills into the group, I have grown to have a soft spot for this character. They tend to bond quickly with Rosie behind the bar and have had a good survival rate in playtests. While the character has the least obvious agenda, they do have some good social skills and can usually weedle the mystery behind the cello hanging on the wall pretty fast from either Rosie.

I’m considering expanding the roster if I think up any new ones. They wont be added to the core group but I may add them here as I try them out.

Character connections

Following a recent play through, a point was raised about having the characters knowing each other in some way, rather than just rando’s. This is a fair point, I wrote the scenario with the idea the players may not know each other (at cons) but there may be a reason they have some connection to each other allowing them to have a reason to chat early on.

If you want them to have connections, it means they can arrive together in small groups or as written, solo and recognise each other once they arrive. I’ve plotted out the following as jumping off points.

Rep and Aspiring Musician. the Musician has sent demos to the Rep in the past and is begging to be signed. The Rep is here to see Sonic Anarchy and the Musician has been desperately trying to pin them down. The Musician needs to secure a gig with Skidz to prove they are “worthy” of the Rep’s time.

Rep and Journalist. The Journalist was signed to the Rep when they started their musical career. It fell apart when the Rep let them taste the good life a bit too much. There’s now bad blood between them as the Journalist has recently published a scathing review of one of the Rep’s bands. The Rep knows the Journalist is here tonight and is looking for a confrontation.

Electrician and Council Inspector. The inspector is here to shut down the club and they know the electrician from previous council related jobs. The Inspector can try to pressure the Electrician to find faults that will justify closing the venue. This will complicate the Electrician’s efforts to actually repair the system and has to juggle two masters.

Investigator and Council Inspector. These two frequent bump into each other due to the Investigator constantly digging into Council affairs. Their relationship at The Threshold will be tense because they both want a result, but have clashing priorities. The Inspector wants the club shut down, which would make the missing persons cases harder to investigate. The Investigator needs the club to stay open and quiet (or at least not shut down yet) to find more clues or witnesses.

Investigator and Journalist. The Investigator has used the Journalist in the past as a source as a source of local gossip, tips, and contacts at the newspaper. They have a quid pro quo relationship where the Investigator could have tipped off the Journalist that a story is breaking at The Threshold. They meet at the club to help each other get to the bottom of what is happening.

Journalist and Council Inspector. The Music Journalist has recently written a highly critical expose in the local paper about the failure of the local council support of Music and Arts. The Inspector now views the Journalist as an irresponsible and nosy troublemaker. The Journalist sees the Inspector as a perfect subject for their next piece about the council being oppressive bureaucrats trying to shut down a piece of local culture.

Bar Staff and Musician. Being youngish, these two know each other from high school or university (perhaps the Bar Staff, is the older of the two and has helped the Musician study). This is a simple, friendly connection allowing them to bond early on. For a more hostile approach, the Bar Staff knows the Musician is underage and could threaten to reveal this to Skidz or Rosie.

Electrician and Investigator. The Local Investigator relies on a network of people who work in the trades delivery drivers, bouncers, and electricians to get tips about low-level crime, disputes, or shady dealings in the area. The Electrician has, on occasion, passed along gossip or a useful piece of information to the Investigator in exchange for cash.

Bar Staff and Rep. The Bar Staff is the relative of a musician the Rep signed and then dropped years ago. This relationship ended badly, perhaps professionally or personally, leaving the Bar Staff with resentment to the Rep and some loyalty to their relative.

Character Sheets

Download the Dead Beats Character sheets

Handouts

Sound effects

I have been playing with sound effects to use. I’ve added some music tracks that are bought and licenced. I’ve mixed one with some sound effects to simulate the distorted noise the Investigators hear.

Google Drive music files

Newspaper clippings about the disapearances

Blah. Coming shortly.

Alternative intros to the scenario

The following are some other ideas on how to introduce the group to the scenario. I mention some of these in the scenario but for the sake of completeness, they’re here as well.

1. The investigators are all band members. This could be a fun way to introduce the group if they want to start off knowing each other.
2. They’re cultists and want to poke around the club thinking there’s something sinister going on. Is there? You, as the keeper, know this. Maybe Skidz has been running something sinister all this time and Markus stumbled onto something without realising it.
3. The investigators are on a night out. Nothing wrong with them just turning up somewhere for a drink mid other campaign and it all kicking off.

During the Scenario

Depending on how the players are responding to events, there are a few things you can throw in to add a bit more chaos.

1. The band turns up, one goes to the toilet and vanishes.
2. One of the players opens a door (to the toilet, the storeroom, Skidz office) and one of the Things is there. When anyone else goes to look, it’s gone.
3. There’s a power cut for some reason (the electrician fails a roll, someone spills a drink, Sonic Anarchy plug their gear in, or just randomly) and the group has to deal with everything going dark.
4. I’ve kept the SAN loss rolls low through most of the main body of the scenario but upping the amount loss for failed rolls could push the players.

Triggering the Incursion

The Incursion shouldn’t happen until you’re ready for the grande finale. For me, the Incursion isn’t a big fight the group are meant to necessarily “win”, more a chaotic assault they’re meant to survive.

1. The obvious one is one of the players humming or playing the music.
2. Sonic Anarchy warming up is a good point to have it happen.
3. When it’s cool. A series of minor events lead up to the point the Incursion starts, there isn’t a specific trigger, it just happens.

Ending the scenario

While there’s an ending detailed in the scenario, it’s obviously not set in stone. I like to have Skidz survive just to give his little comment at the end, but that has resulted in one group being convinced he is working with the entities. Not my intent, but a great thread for possible further adventures as theres nothing wrong with Skidz being a John Constantine type character who is hard drinking, hard smoking, hard loving, and hard Mythos summoning.

I haven’t had any TPK’s so far when running the game as the groups tend to decided to stick together when the Incursion kicks off, plus having the band and Dirt as meat shields helps. If you want to be evil, just hand wave them being taken off quickly and let the group deal with the Incursion on their own.