GMing Tips

GMing Tips #1 ... written by S. John Ross

The most useful advice I have for GMs running _any_ RPG that's new to them is "relax, and don't overthink it," and that applies many times over for Pokéthulhu.
It's the kind of game where players usually bring a lot of enthusiasm to the table (anytime you let gamers play small children or animals, there's an extra level of energy) so it can be overwhelming if you let yourself feel too unsteady.

STEPS TO ADVENTURES

• Begin with simple set-ups that highlight the game's basic goals:
  • the meeting and acquiring of new and interesting thulhu
  • the sporting battles between cultists
  • the exploration of creepy gambrel-roofed structures
  • the flipping-through of ancient tomes to look for the pictures
  • the occasional summoning of something that makes the universe go pop

The starter adventure provided with the game (2nd and 3rd Editions only) is a solid one, and it's pretty easy to concoct more, either by twisting Lovecraftian bits or twisting Pokémon bits, or both or occasionally neither.

GMing Tips #2 ... written by Hituro

A traditional Call of Cthulhu adventure is usually very investigative, with a prolonged runup for the final terrifying conclusion (what the rule book called "onion skinning"). I don't think that is really the right model for something based on an episodic format, which is why I went for something based on Pokemon instead.

Pokemon episodes tend to

• start with the characters arriving in a new location (usually a wood, mountain or something like that, sometimes a town)
• then meeting a mystery/danger of some sort (usually a pokemon they have not seen before)
• getting into a sticky situation
• then solving it by the end of the episode

Along the way

• the new pokemon gets showcased
• some one-off or recurring characters show up (there are very few episodes without a cameo from Team Rocket)
• and then things are generally back to the status quo

Usually though it is always in the context of a multi-story arc, such a particular tournament, that requires the characters to be travelling somewhere, or preparing for something. I found that a great inspiration for my scenario - "Saving New Sunnich".
Pokemon episodes tend to establish a reason for the party to be going somewhere and then have a self-contained encounter along the way. As with the cartoon I went for them arriving at somewhere new at the start of the episode, and defeating the menace (it has to be a menace in Pokethulhu ) by the end.

If you did it as a mini-campaign the next episode would involve crossing the river, or something like that. In a way it is rather like reading an Usagi Yojimbo arc.
If you've not seen Pokemon at all some of the parody looses its force (like Team Eibon, or Librarian Lumley, who is based on the fact that all Pokemon Nurses and Police Officers look exactly the same, and have the same name, no matter where you go), so I would totally recommend watching some.

GMing Tips #3 ... written by Pygmaelion

"Having just run my first Pokethulu adventure (more in the style of cynical satire of a certain cartoon show, than in the classical spirit of horror), I must say that it's a great way to break up the monotony of a serious dramatic gaming run.

Where else can you break out with scissors, markers, crayons, and stickers, and redecorate discarded pokemon cards with all the info from an rpg?"

GMing Tips #4 ... asked by thebigroundsquare , advice by S. John Ross

Q... I just started playing Pokethulhu, and i was wondering, how do you capture them? It doesn't say in the rulebook, but am i right in assuming that you just "kill" them, to capture them?
A... Cultists acquire Pokéthulhu in any number of ways, as we've seen on TV and in the comics, etc. Sonia once earned an entire _flock_ of Fightgaunts by stopping the Song of Nine Moons from collapsing the Pretzel Tower in Shudde M'all, remember!
See page 10 of the rules (3E), at the top left, for a brief list, which includes defeating wild thulhu (causing them to be trapped or to faint), but also gifts and wagers and summoning rituals (Randy's own preferred method, despite the notorious dangers of combining almond bark with ectoplasm).

Q... Is there Maximum number of 'Thulhu you can have with you at any one time?
A... No; there wasn't much evidence in canon that there should be. In _Episode #203: Writchester With A Captial B,_ the Ghoul of Britchester claims to have amassed a collection of over two thousand thulhu when she was a child, and judging by the bronze statues in her Museum of Pain, she was either being truthful or had access to a heck of a lot of brass and sculpting time.

GMing Tips #5 ... asked by shane_fhl, advice by S. John Ross

Q... What happens when a thulu is KOed? Does the fight end? Or do you summon another thulu to do your evel bidding? A... In the field, it just depends on the dueling Cultists and how eager they are to keep scrapping (in _Strawberries Aren't a Kind of Mold,_ Titus and the Squatney Twins went for seventeen rounds before the Squatneys finally admitted defeat, as you'll recall).
In most sporting competitions, though, the Cultists are required to adhere to the standard Seventh Dimensional Convocation rules, as per the Pokéthulhu Encyclopedia and/or the summary in the CCG rules.
And don't think I missed your cool pun! Of course, Marcy Evel is one Cultist who _never_ seems to follow the bidding of the Shuddering Mass, but that's why she doesn't have any Hax Glyphs or tournament badges, and why Randy had to spot her an anemic Barrel Grinder for her to compete in the Maven's Beach Invitational.
That's an example of the difference between a good sport, like Randy, and a poor sport like Marcy. And I think that's a lesson all of us should take from the show when planning our games, and pondering questions like yours.

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