The first RPG I started GMing on a regular basis was Call of Cthulhu.
I actually didn't Gm it...AT ALL like how you're supposed to in the book.
The games resembled more like Scooby-doo. Where the players would go out solve the mystery,
Encounter some supernatural and then call it a day.
Red haired player: "Gee gang, it looks like Cthulhu was trying to enter our dimension!"
Blonde player: "ZOINKS!"
I hadn't killed anyone in a plot even though this was our fifth game.
However, I ended up having my first death and first TPK in one of my sessions.
You might be thinking..."It's Call of Cthulhu, I already know how that ended."
Trust me. It didn't end the way you're thinking.
So the investigation took place in a hotel.
However, this hotel used to be a house that was built by this insane owner.
He thought that the house was possessed by some kind of...evil spirit.
And the only way he could confuse it was to continuously keep building, disorienting the entity.
Because of that the home was remodeled again, and again, with hallways leading to nothing,
stairs that go up, and back down leading nowhere.
The place was designed like a labyrinth.
The players had gotten locked in. The new owner had been listening to the house
and it told her to bar the windows, and make sure that no one could leave.
So the players were in the spooky house.
They also followed a trail of blood into this place, so they KNOW they're looking for a potential murderer.
So what's the best thing to do?
Split up.
One of the characters searched some of the rooms, another went to the library, and last went to the master bedroom.
Well...
The guy who goes to the master bedroom gets jumped.
The enemy in there is this ooze monster that is particularly weak.
However, because he doesn't know what its weakness is and because it's just him by himself, and a few unlucky rolls...
He dies.
A while later one of the others comes in and finds his body.
He had been in a library and found out that the monster was horribly phobic to fire.
So. At this point the player pulls out a lighter...
He looks at me as the GM and says...
Red haired player: "If that's the case...I light the bed..on fire."
GM: "Okay, it's-...it's on fire..."
I'm not exactly sure what he's going for at this point.
However, I say "but it is a little smoky in here...
...You're coughing a bit, and the smoke doesn't have anywhere to go."
Player: "Then, I light the wardrobe on fire."
GM: "but, okay..."
Player: "Then, I light the nightstand on fire...
Then I light the drapes, the cabinet, the closet, and then all of the walls on fire including the door."
GM: "Okay, okay, okay. They are ALL on fire..."
GM: "Uhhhmm...
The fires and the smoke are whirling around in here. It's-...it's getting hard to breathe and see."
Player: "Oh dear, I guess I have to leave."
GM: "You-...you can't. I said the door is on fire." as I said that his calm eyes suddenly became wide
as he had this sudden realization like:
"oh SHIT what have I done!"
I could see him mentally searching to figure out a way to...unfuck himself.
Then he had this epiphany and realized he had a very simple solution...
Player: "I'll lay down on the floor."
GM: "Ooohhhkaaayyy?"
Player: "You said there was a small puddle of water on the floor right?"
GM: "Yes..."
Player: "I lay in it." He said with his arms crossed.
"I can't get burned." he had this relieved look on his face like: "Disaster averted!"
I then DESCRIBE...how the roof of the building caves in, killing him.
Now if you recall, there was one last player trapped in the house.
However he had told me in an earlier session, that he wanted me to put in a dangerous situation and kill off his character.
So.
IRONICALLY, the guy who told me he wanted to die...
...Perished last.
so-...so now everyone was dead, BUT...the monster died as well.
Perishing in the fire.
After that I had them roll up new characters and continued the mystery.
They investigated why the house burned down, killing all the occupants.
The investigators the last session became the plot hook for the following session. Most people were happy with the way the story turned out in the end.
The Human Torch retconned that with the death of his friend, his character had gone insane.
(Even though he had originally passed a sanity roll...)
And that the house, was burned down in a heroic attempt to end...the darkness.
For those of you who think I was being overly harsh on our...
fire...man.
Uhh, I would also like to mention that this was the same player, who in an earlier session...
Had (in order to collapse a cave) had put dynamite in the cave.
And then detonated it...WHILE HE WAS STILL INSIDE OF THE CAVE.
I let him live from that one, not from this one.
*End of audio*
