Tatters of the King (NyOr Remix)

(Spoiler Alert for Tatters of the King)

I ran Tatters of the King, the Call of Cthulhu campaign, four times in total. 

I believe it is one of the best campaigns ever written, but I also believe it has some serious flaws, which I tried to address in my runs. 

Since I am asked often what these fixes were, I am describing the main ones in this post (comments and constructive criticism are welcome). 

1- Quarrie

I believe the biggest weaknesses of Tatters of the King are related to Quarrie’s motivation and to the outcome of his actions. The scenario presents Quarrie as a religious fanatic who believes that the King in Yellow is the Second Coming of Jesus and wants to bring him to Earth to end war and suffering. 

However, in the scenario as written, this plan is very obviously flawed because it involves guiding the King to Earth, which will lead to WWII and the deaths of many people. This makes Quarrie’s quest seem like a fool's errand and makes it easy for investigators to want to stop him without reservations. 

Worse, it removes the responsibility of humankind for WWII. And I am not okay with blaming Cthulhu and friends for one of the worst manmade disasters in human history. This is supposed to be cosmic horror, not exculpatory horror.

I propose portraying Quarrie as a man cursed with the gift of prophecy. He has seen the future. He knows that WWII will happen. He needs to stop it. He devises a desperate plan to bring the King in Yellow to Earth. The arrival of the King will stop time like in Carcossa, and humanity will live forever in a cycle of eternal return. 

This will end death, war, and suffering, and Quarrie can argue that it is better for humanity to lose control of its destiny than to destroy itself. This makes Quarrie a more interesting cultist, as he does want a "better" future for mankind, creating a dilemma for investigators if they choose to stop him.

The investigators can be made aware of Quarrie's theories about pacifism and yielding control to the King to end violence and death by Roby and Hillary. I added letters to his correspondence with Hillary where he describes his prescient dreams of a world war. And I made it such that when visiting Carcossa the investigators find a museum of “wars to come” where WWII is documented in detail (especially the death and destruction it will bring).

2. Say no to railroads

I also removed some linear narrative and added more freedom for investigators to change the course of events. 

For example, I didn’t like that Edwards cannot be tracked or confronted in any way before Carcossa comes to Earth. In the original campaign, this is done to guarantee that the investigators explore Carcossa at the end of part one. 

Instead, I made it such that, no matter what else happens, Roby's presence will trigger the build Carcossa spell wherever he is at the predefined date. Like this, even if the investigators manage somehow to neutralize Edwards before time, Carcossa will still come to Earth. 

However,  Carcossa will be more lethal and aggressive if Edwards is there and alive - because his presence affects what aspect of Carcossa presents itself. For instance, the spawn of Hastur only appear if Edwards is there. Furthermore, Edwards will try to summon Hastur to Earth. Thus, the success of the investigators in tracking and neutralizing Edwards will make the Carcossa chapter easier, but it will not result in it being skipped.

Also, I removed Gresty's intervention to help investigators kill Bacon.

In my version, the investigators can go after Bacon or not (in any case killing him was always a side quest since, beyond murdering some beggars, his participation does not change the outcome of the campaign as a whole).

Like this, I can also allow the players to be clever and find other ways to engage with Bacon - or simply decide to ignore him. 

As for Gresty, he still appears later in my version,  shouting Hillary Quarry's name (along with many insults) during his trial. This will bring him to the investigators' attention, as I make it such that they read about his performance in court in their usual newspaper. 

3. Cultist Motivations

I took care of making clear the different motivations of each cultist. Quarry wants to save the world, Edwards wants supreme power over other humans, Bacon seeks knowledge and eternal life, Roby wants to go to his true home, Hillary is addicted to the forest and to Shub-Niggurath like drugs, but wants to protect her daughter, and knows that the cult is bad.

4. Skipping most of the second act

To skip the boring chapters of the second half, I made it such that Quarrie departed long ago and cannot be reached by normal means, but investigators can learn how to build a portal to the temple at Tse during the Italy chapter (I did it using one of the paintings of the artist). This allows them to jump directly to Tse and avoid unnecessary travel.

To make it clear, the reason I find these chapters “boring” is because there are no dramatic questions to be answered and very little space for investigator agency. This is an RPG, after all.