Eternal Lies?

By Veteres, in WFRP Gamemasters

After another disappointing lecture of a Warhammer Grand Campaign (TEW2) I have turned to the Cthulhu products line.

SPOILERS

Again, that is. I love the WH setting but the stories are a bit ... ah.

For some 10 years I've wandered if somrthing as a grand as Masks of Nyarlathotep could be converted to Warhammer. I never came to it as I envisioned it to be to much of work and because some of my players were to a level familiar with the Masks storyline.

Then 2 weeks ago... in my dispair ... I stumbled upon Trail of Cthulhu: Eternal Lies.

more than halfway through the 400 pages campaign and what a revelation!

SPOILERS!

All WH chaos gods themes are present as the story of hideous drugabuse, abismal fornication, primeaveal cagefights and blasphemous demon invocation is narrated. In an impressive synoptic format the pc are encouraged to research a terrible family secret. This is the rather innocent hook that will send the pc all over the globe; a metropolis (Altdorf?), 2 big coastal cities/harbours (Marienburg and Miragliano?), a colony on a dessertcoast (Southlands/araby?), jungle (Lustria?)...

Anybody out there also contemplating this same conversion?

I think Call of Cthulhu adventures can be easily converted into the warhamnmer setting. Investigation and horror fit well in the warhammer world, so with the change of some names of the gods it's pretty much done.

Not doing the same conversion as you, but your suggestions seems sound and Eternal Lies is a good campaign, I've played part of it as a playtester (look for Markus in the "playtesters" section, that's me ;) ). But I have done conversion from other systems to WFRP 3ed and it's actually quite easy and can be done on the fly to a large degree.

Good luck on the conversion. :)

I have contemplated Masks but have 2 players who were in it (one GM'd it) so skipped.

I thought about Eternal Lies, even pondering at one point re Enemy Within 2, "hmmm, perhaps Clothilde's father..." (Eternal Lies starts with a well off woman sending PC's to follow up on things her father was looking into before he died) but then moved idea to back burner just because the game moved in another direction etc.

Speaking of lovecraftian things, how about Titus Crow's Clock as a method of exploring other time periods in the warhammer world?

I have finished reading through the campaign book. It took me a while, but what a treat -that is the full 400 pages! Reading the campaign finale gave me goosebumps.

On thinking over the WFRP (3ed) conversion only one or two aspects of the campaign seem troublesome:

SPOILERS ETERNAL LIES SPOILERS ETERNAL LIES SPOILERS

1. Not the locale of M.C. itself poses a problem ... but the local cult's anomalous veneration of the god-being does.

The cult wants to convert/influence parts of humanity by means of music distribution -gramophone records with the voice of the god-being, instead of distributing the Nectar drug. What would be a good early renaissance alternative for this? Perhaps Leticia de la Luz can be introduced as an opera singer and the cult wants to influence groups of citizen in the Bilbali opera houses?

2. If players in a Eternal Lies campaign want to economically follow up trails from Los Angeles, most likely they will start in Mexico, then go to Malta and Ethiopia and finish in Bangkok (with the PC consistently choosing the nearest destination to investigate).

My first idea would be to convert LA in Altdorf, Mexico in Bilbali, Merida and Yucatan in the New World/Lustria, Malta in Miragliano or Saratosa, Ethiopia in New Coast/Southlands and Bangkok in Marienburg. Obviously above mentioned logic will stumble over this conversion. Does anybody know if this would pose a problem?

Applying the same logic in WFRP the PC's would first go to Marienburg, then to Bilbali and Saratosa. One could wonder if they would ever want to go to Lustria. Just visiting all locales once would take the PC 3 to 5 years using early modern traveling techniques ... and EL implies that Investigators might see the need to visit different locales more than once. Wouldn't it be better to convert all EL locales within the Empire or the Old World in order to reduce the in-game time course?

Not sure of answers to those. In a Rennaissance world I think the "printed word" being twisted is more apt a means to convey something, living writing etc.

The whole "multiple points of intrusion" thing is a bit high stakes but could be combined with something like the Twisted Paths of the Old Ones (that go all over but are now falled to corruption) to produce similar result.

One thing generally - part of the "fun" in Eternal Lies is "which classical villain is it" (very much a Cthulhu gamer issue where "oh, Tuesday, it's Nyarlathotep" gets tiresome) and the answer behind that. That would be good to keep in a conversion and the "battling, using each other, fighting each other" rival Chaos cults work well with that as well as the "rival to all" other powers (Nagash, Hornded God)

On related point, if using Eternal Lies the FAQ here may be useful.

http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=13264

This sounds like a great idea. I just ordered my copy of Eternal Lies.

I'm looking to keep the adventures within the Empire. There are many exotic locations within the Empire, like Drakenwald of the Grey Mountains. This will take more conversion work, but I think it is worth it.

Registration Reboot -am now Veteres II.

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2 sessions into the campaign and all is well.

The players are currently visiting the Juliuspitaal. This state-funded hospital/sanitarium, sits on top of a 50m high cliff, overlooking the small town of Gersdorf am Stir in Talabecland. The players travelled to Gersdorf following the request of Gretel von Ramrodt, daughter and sole heir to Merx von Ramrodt, a.k.a. Melanchton -a wealthy Averheim merchant/pharmacist that recently passed away.

In Gersdorf am Stir the players are visiting Reinhard Schenk on Gretel's request. Schenk was a former companion of her father and she hopes he will be able to shed some light on the things that happened to him in 2511 and changed him for ever after. At the Juliuspital the pc's learn that some 13 years ago Melanchton led a group of investigators on the trail of a Black Lotus gang but ended up documenting something quiet more sinister...

On visiting the sanitarium Pecalion (Light Wizard) ended up being bitten by a mental patient. Meanwhile Heinrich Fleich (Roadwarden) thinks he hallucinated and saw an animated sickly human mouth appear out the ceiling, soundlessly forming words at him... and Reinhard von Üblingen (the gold tier foppish Agent) was stalked by doctor Adam Schiller, the overambitious director of the underfunded Juliuspital.

7 Hours of great TOC-inspired WFRP fun so far with a minimum amount of conversion -some new names for NPC and changing early 20th century logistics and sciences to 16th century stuff. Easypeasy. Hardest part so far (but lots of fun) was the making props, including some 12 tea-stained letters from Schenk to Melanchton (tried them in full Elisabethan style), location templates, clue cards and NPC cards. Happy to share them -though in Dutch.

I am planning to locate the Los Angeles chapter in Nuln -which will be next stop after Gersdorf. Parravon will be my Malta chapter, Marienburg my Bangkok, Bilbali New Mexico, with Lustria substituting the Yucatan. The Southlands will work perfectly as an alternative for Ethiopia . As for my former problem with the New Mexico cult, with the music recording etc. -found a solution after reading Valvorik's suggestions: the chapter will feature the Estertores de Pasion, Estalian opera sheet music of haunting quality (based on Throes of Lust, from Books and Printed Matter in Liber Fanatica).

If you haven't, be sure to check out pelgrane press's page xx etc. materials which include some material about this campaign and approaches to it - intended for its original use/CoC conversion but perhaps useful to other conversions such as the FAQ points about clues etc.

http://www.pelgranepress.com/site/?cat=10#Eternal_lies

I have finished reading through the campaign book. It took me a while, but what a treat -that is the full 400 pages! Reading the campaign finale gave me goosebumps.

On thinking over the WFRP (3ed) conversion only one or two aspects of the campaign seem troublesome:

SPOILERS ETERNAL LIES SPOILERS ETERNAL LIES SPOILERS

1. Not the locale of M.C. itself poses a problem ... but the local cult's anomalous veneration of the god-being does.

The cult wants to convert/influence parts of humanity by means of music distribution -gramophone records with the voice of the god-being, instead of distributing the Nectar drug. What would be a good early renaissance alternative for this? Perhaps Leticia de la Luz can be introduced as an opera singer and the cult wants to influence groups of citizen in the Bilbali opera houses?

2. If players in a Eternal Lies campaign want to economically follow up trails from Los Angeles, most likely they will start in Mexico, then go to Malta and Ethiopia and finish in Bangkok (with the PC consistently choosing the nearest destination to investigate).

My first idea would be to convert LA in Altdorf, Mexico in Bilbali, Merida and Yucatan in the New World/Lustria, Malta in Miragliano or Saratosa, Ethiopia in New Coast/Southlands and Bangkok in Marienburg. Obviously above mentioned logic will stumble over this conversion. Does anybody know if this would pose a problem?

Applying the same logic in WFRP the PC's would first go to Marienburg, then to Bilbali and Saratosa. One could wonder if they would ever want to go to Lustria. Just visiting all locales once would take the PC 3 to 5 years using early modern traveling techniques ... and EL implies that Investigators might see the need to visit different locales more than once. Wouldn't it be better to convert all EL locales within the Empire or the Old World in order to reduce the in-game time course?

I dunno if you could still use these, but here are my thoughts.

1) An opera singer is good, as is having the song be transmitted in concert halls. Another idea is traveling bards who go to taverns to sing the song. Another idea is that the group puts out the songs as hymns to Sigmar to be played in the Sigmarite church. Attendance in the churches has been going up rapidly, and no one knows why.

2)Definitely go for keeping things within the Old World. I don't know the specifics of the local flavor used in the locations for Eternal Lies, but you should be able to find some suitable things in the Old World. Just consider how geography is used for the locations and how culture is used. The Border Princes can be fun since it's basically about making up a culture. Honestly, it could be fun to change up the campaign a bit by seeing how it taking place in iconic old world locations would modify it. How would it be affected by taking place some in Brettonia? Sylvania? What about a Journey into the World's Edge mountains? Kislev or Norsca. Try approaching it that way.

Basically, my advice to you is not to just go for 1:1 analogues but instead figure out how the interesting parts of the warhammer setting could modify the adventure in cool or fun ways.

5 sessions in the campaign and all is well.

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Main reason for the slow campaign progress was my reluctance to commit to the earlier described campaign path featuring Bretonnia, Estalia, Lustria, Tilea and the Southlands. That, and my uncertainty on how to best rule sanity loss...

Basically I was struggling with the question on how to blend the two wonderfull settings of Cthulhu and Warhammer with full respect to both systems and atmospheres.

As for the setting dilemma I realised in the end that I am looking for that great Old World sphere that was invoked by the 1st ed. Enemy Within Campaign. Especially the Oldenhalder, Mistaken Identity and Bögenhafen episodes caught my fascination. Never played these ... but somehow I have always thougt that the Kislev book and Power behind the Throne too, as well as Tim' Eccles Private War fan campaign were or could be somehow of that same virtue.

So after pondering over MaSc and Nimsim's feedback for a while (much obliged!) I decided on the following campaign path:

(great many thanks again btw to Gitzman for his Super Huge Map)

Los Angeles= Nuln , where the pc's research what became of the cult that was almost but not quiet defeated by Merx von Ramrodt and cie. some 13 years ago -with the pc's discovering an Empire wide kartel/sekt that is the network of Reuben Wanner and university professor Johannes Grass, both heirs to the Estallian Ramon Echavarria's former cult.

Malta= Talabheim , as I needed a harbour (Talagaad), a place to set a yacht, warehouses, a hospital, catacombes and an underground ruin. Here the pc's will meet a very succesfull, but an increasingly reluctant heir of Echavarria.

Mexico City= Wolfenburg , as I needed a rather big town locale with bars, parties, an old manor. the music connection I just made up (Wolfenburg will have a strong reputation for making music instruments or composers. Still need to work this out more).

Yucatan= Ferlangen and adjoining Forest of Shadows , as the locale/chapter needs a town near a jungle with ruins basically. The Forest of Shadows has a rather nasty reputation so I guess that some old ruins (don't even have to be, but certainly could be old elven ruins)

Ethiopia= Erengrad and beyond into the northern Oblast as far as Fort Ostrosk. In a way I just needed a desert and frontierlike situation. Storywise the desert doesn't need to be arid, might as well be very cold. Point is that the pc's should feel estranged and challenged by the environment (will have to explore Kalevala's 3ed Norsca rules). recurring themes are local villages, military manoeuvres, extreme temperatures, a vulcanoe, an archaeological dig. Fjell Bolensk will be my volcanoe site and Leblya and Dhazhyn my Kolluli and Dalol villages.

Bangkok= Marienburg and the River Reik delta. The locale needs slums, a big river, warehouses, sewers and a desolate Island -all of which Marienburg can provide, as well as fight clubs and lots of expats.

Thibet= Kislev and beyond the stanista of Kalinora, where I will set the Devouring Ravine in the World's Edge Mountains.

For the finale the pc's will return to the Juliuspital in Gersdorf am Stir .

As for the chaos gods/demon conversions I am pondering following premisse: What if all the sages were wrong? what if the wise men vainly tried to symplify reality and caught different aspects of a plethora of alien gods and monsters that fell to the world in the mists of prehistory in four somewhat intelligible devine and demonic registers. Why shouldn' t the names of Khorne, Slaanesh, Tzeentch and Nurgle feature next to or interfere with a Gol-Goroth, Groth-golka, Y'golonac, Abu Hol or the Blind Hydra? Something to entangle my pc's with...

As for the sanity loss conversion I found k7e9's contribution in ColeChtulhu's Invictus post on this forum most inspiring. Initially I tried to use 3ed insanity rules but found them somehow shortcomming as a means of invocing the typical dreaded Chtulhu sanity erosion.

k7e9's idea to use the 3ed insanity rules for short term trauma and corruption rules for structural/long term erosion feel totally right (very much obliged!). I've made up a draft corruption check list for the campaign, with a Heroic (5d) Corruption check for an audience with Gol-Goroth as an absolute climax. Also made up a draft XPlist for the campaign.

I would be more than happy to share or discuse these draft lists.

More info shared here, on a blog or emailed would be great!

Not quite sure what you mean Valvorik. Should I quit this thread?

True, this is a lot of info shared, but my intention with my posts was always threefold: reaching out for feedback on my ideas, getting some great experienced DMs helping on some of my campaign bottlenecks and hopefully giving new ideas to some GMs out there. For me this thread has been most usefull these past months...

To be honest, I got my inspiration for this thread by reading and enjoying your own TEW2 thread...

Perhaps I should ommit or minimise details specific for my Eternal Lies adaptation in future posts?

To much campaign fluff probably burdens the thread I guess?

I think you misunderstood Veteres II. If i'm not mistaken Valvorik was simply encouraging you to keep it coming and share more of this stuff, whether here there or anywhere. It's great. Plus apart from anything else Veteres...it's your **** thread. Go wild man! :)

Yes, keep it coming, if you can find someone to translate stuff into English even better.

obviously I'm no native speaker. silly me. language can be so slippery...

thanks for the kind clarification.

btw. I would be happy to translate and share my conversion notes (general and singular episodes) and handouts (location and npc cards, etc).

If interested give me notice.

Yes yes and yes again. I'd be happy to have that stuff :)