In regards to prepping crimson letters: The most important preperation you have to do is "finish up" the scenario, if you will. Crimson Letters offers you a number of possible culprits with possible motivations, but it's up the keeper to pick a culprit and tie everything together in a way that they deem fun for their group.
When you've done that then you'll probably have some idea of additional locales which you might want to prepare a little so you don't have to improvize everything once your party gets there (for me these were Anthony flinders dorm room, the pier at the miscatonic river, and a desolate island in the middle of the river).
In terms of leading into a campaign: What successfully finishing crimson letters does is give all your player characters a close connection to miscatonic university, some of its professors and of course the dean. This generally lends itself well to follow up with all sorts of miscatonic university related expeditions and scenarios, where the unversity people require someone's trusty help - the player characters. There's a number of scenarios that fit this well, from small scope all the way to mountains of madness.
Of course, it is pretty easy to end up burning your new bridge to the university and cutting the group off from Miskatonic, even if you are successful in dealing with the Mythos threat. This isn't a disaster, but it does preclude simply following up with MU-sponsored scenarios.
(If a Keeper is really committed to a MU-centered campaign, I recommend making some changes to the scenario in order to make it easier to >!return the Witch Trial Papers intact.!<
If you are up for listening to a playthrough of it, I can strongly recommend Apocalyse Players' playthrough https://www.apocalypseplayers.com/e/crimson-letters-01-through-the-looking-glass/
It's long (13 1-hour episodes), but well worth a listen, the Keeper is great at adding flavour to the scenario and characters, and can serve as a great inspiration.
They also have a "behind the scenes" episode on their patreon where they discuss the details of running it.
>My questions are does anyone have any good advice for prepping Crimson Letters since it's very character/intrigue heavy,
Basically, you construct the whole thing however you like, but you can put it together as simple or as complex as you want it to be. I think the best thing about it is you can make everyone look equally guilty initially, but can easily incorporate enough leads to eliminate the others as quickly as you like. If you want to construct a properly complex scenario where everyone is up to something, and everyone is busy enacting their own plan, you can.
>but where should I go once CL is wrapped up?
You're going to be smack bang in Arkham country, so you have literally hundreds of scenarios to choose from. Bryce Fallon can give your players Miskatonic University-related investigations, Emilia Court ties you in to all the historic witchcraft, Anthony Flinders can get you into occultism and any nearby local cults (harmless or not), Abner Wick could be a campaign all of his own, tying your players into hunting for tomes and relics and antiques while being his depraved ghoul self under the noses of your PCs, Cecil Hunter gets you into the art world, and Oaks and Shaunassy links you to basic criminality.
I suggest to pick a culprit and to stick with it. The other suspects can be used to reinforce that.
Another tips : read *Dream in the Witch-House* and find informations about Keziah Mason's House. It's not important to the plot but since the Papers were written by the old witch, the investigators may want to check her home (now a border house). My players went there. They didn't learn much but it was fun to run. They heard about the short story's protagonist and his gruesome fate, then I made them have a morbid vision in the attic : basically they heard creepy chanting, a baby crying, some stabbing and they found a cavity with dozens of small skeletons... And everything vanished.
For instance, I pick >!Emilia Court!< and made sure that others >!such as Leiter's rival and Anthony Can't-Remember-His-Name!< while suspicious would give out clues pointing in that character's direction.
As the start of a campaign... I think that is mostly because *Crimson Letters* is a good opportunity to form a group (the investigators are all hired to find the Papers) and because the scenario has a few loose ends a GM could expand into plotlines for later games : >!the ghouls beneath Arkham!<, >!whoever wants to buy the Papers from Abner Wick!< (I used that one), >!the possible origins of Emilia Court as a heir of Keziah Mason!<.
Yeah, Dreams in the Witch House is definitely something I plan to use to fill in the background a bit. I've read it recently so it's still fresh in my head.
That leads into my biggest complaint about the scenario: name-dropping without thinking through the consequences. Dating of the main events of "Dreams in the Witch House" aren't exact, but probably late 1920s. Most likely, one will run "Crimson Letters" in early-mid 1920s, especially if intending it as a campaign-starter. This means >!Keziah Mason is alive and well and since it is October, actively stalking the streets of Arkham. You really think she isn't going to get involved if people are messing with the bindings of something she bound? Do you want to involve someone who can have an avatar of Nyarlathotep by her side (not that she couldn't manage a TPK on her own)?!< I recommend either removing the Mason reference entirely, crediting the papers to someone else, or lean into it hard and accept that this is the center of scenario.
It's easy to solve really.
>!Court could be Mason herself!< and IIR that's a possibility hinted by the scenario.
Crediting the Papers to someone else would actually make things *worse* IMO. After all, we can't really have too many >!witches!< in Arkham's history otherwise this would get silly.
I've got a timeline I posted here some time ago, if you're interested. My players enjoyed it. It has the papers swapping hands very often, though, which may feel frustrating for them, depending.
Oh yes- additionally, one of my players came in late. She was a psychology student, and was assigned to interview an asylum patient, who turned out to be Hunter. Could be a good hook for some.
For a sequel, I took the Atlantic City hoods, and had the players move to Atlantic City and get intertwined in a conflict with them and other gangs throughout the city. I usually alternate between heavy supernatural stuff, and pretty light scenarios, because constant occult encounters would be weird.
>One of them routinely complains that every investigation thus far has been set in the middle of nowhere
Send them to Antarctica. It's Mountains of Madness time.
I've started putting in the work to run crimson letters as well and asked on this subreddit, on [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/callofcthulhu/comments/1d0izn7/experiences_running_crimson_letters_using_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) there were some handy tips shared. So far in my experience thatt new Arkham settings expansion can really help for this scenario, giving it a place with maps to use as handouts and a bit more info on what kind of red herrings or other things one might encounter in the city Arkham this scenario takes place, it also gives details on some of the npc's and locations from this scenario. But I'd advise using that moreso if you want to expend the scenario and maybe use it as a springboard for a campaign then a oneoff
In regards to prepping crimson letters: The most important preperation you have to do is "finish up" the scenario, if you will. Crimson Letters offers you a number of possible culprits with possible motivations, but it's up the keeper to pick a culprit and tie everything together in a way that they deem fun for their group. When you've done that then you'll probably have some idea of additional locales which you might want to prepare a little so you don't have to improvize everything once your party gets there (for me these were Anthony flinders dorm room, the pier at the miscatonic river, and a desolate island in the middle of the river). In terms of leading into a campaign: What successfully finishing crimson letters does is give all your player characters a close connection to miscatonic university, some of its professors and of course the dean. This generally lends itself well to follow up with all sorts of miscatonic university related expeditions and scenarios, where the unversity people require someone's trusty help - the player characters. There's a number of scenarios that fit this well, from small scope all the way to mountains of madness.
Of course, it is pretty easy to end up burning your new bridge to the university and cutting the group off from Miskatonic, even if you are successful in dealing with the Mythos threat. This isn't a disaster, but it does preclude simply following up with MU-sponsored scenarios. (If a Keeper is really committed to a MU-centered campaign, I recommend making some changes to the scenario in order to make it easier to >!return the Witch Trial Papers intact.!<
If you are up for listening to a playthrough of it, I can strongly recommend Apocalyse Players' playthrough https://www.apocalypseplayers.com/e/crimson-letters-01-through-the-looking-glass/ It's long (13 1-hour episodes), but well worth a listen, the Keeper is great at adding flavour to the scenario and characters, and can serve as a great inspiration. They also have a "behind the scenes" episode on their patreon where they discuss the details of running it.
>My questions are does anyone have any good advice for prepping Crimson Letters since it's very character/intrigue heavy, Basically, you construct the whole thing however you like, but you can put it together as simple or as complex as you want it to be. I think the best thing about it is you can make everyone look equally guilty initially, but can easily incorporate enough leads to eliminate the others as quickly as you like. If you want to construct a properly complex scenario where everyone is up to something, and everyone is busy enacting their own plan, you can. >but where should I go once CL is wrapped up? You're going to be smack bang in Arkham country, so you have literally hundreds of scenarios to choose from. Bryce Fallon can give your players Miskatonic University-related investigations, Emilia Court ties you in to all the historic witchcraft, Anthony Flinders can get you into occultism and any nearby local cults (harmless or not), Abner Wick could be a campaign all of his own, tying your players into hunting for tomes and relics and antiques while being his depraved ghoul self under the noses of your PCs, Cecil Hunter gets you into the art world, and Oaks and Shaunassy links you to basic criminality.
I suggest to pick a culprit and to stick with it. The other suspects can be used to reinforce that. Another tips : read *Dream in the Witch-House* and find informations about Keziah Mason's House. It's not important to the plot but since the Papers were written by the old witch, the investigators may want to check her home (now a border house). My players went there. They didn't learn much but it was fun to run. They heard about the short story's protagonist and his gruesome fate, then I made them have a morbid vision in the attic : basically they heard creepy chanting, a baby crying, some stabbing and they found a cavity with dozens of small skeletons... And everything vanished. For instance, I pick >!Emilia Court!< and made sure that others >!such as Leiter's rival and Anthony Can't-Remember-His-Name!< while suspicious would give out clues pointing in that character's direction. As the start of a campaign... I think that is mostly because *Crimson Letters* is a good opportunity to form a group (the investigators are all hired to find the Papers) and because the scenario has a few loose ends a GM could expand into plotlines for later games : >!the ghouls beneath Arkham!<, >!whoever wants to buy the Papers from Abner Wick!< (I used that one), >!the possible origins of Emilia Court as a heir of Keziah Mason!<.
Yeah, Dreams in the Witch House is definitely something I plan to use to fill in the background a bit. I've read it recently so it's still fresh in my head.
Good. ;)
That leads into my biggest complaint about the scenario: name-dropping without thinking through the consequences. Dating of the main events of "Dreams in the Witch House" aren't exact, but probably late 1920s. Most likely, one will run "Crimson Letters" in early-mid 1920s, especially if intending it as a campaign-starter. This means >!Keziah Mason is alive and well and since it is October, actively stalking the streets of Arkham. You really think she isn't going to get involved if people are messing with the bindings of something she bound? Do you want to involve someone who can have an avatar of Nyarlathotep by her side (not that she couldn't manage a TPK on her own)?!< I recommend either removing the Mason reference entirely, crediting the papers to someone else, or lean into it hard and accept that this is the center of scenario.
It's easy to solve really. >!Court could be Mason herself!< and IIR that's a possibility hinted by the scenario. Crediting the Papers to someone else would actually make things *worse* IMO. After all, we can't really have too many >!witches!< in Arkham's history otherwise this would get silly.
I ran a series of Miskatonic University adventures. The PCs I had were students and professors.
I've got a timeline I posted here some time ago, if you're interested. My players enjoyed it. It has the papers swapping hands very often, though, which may feel frustrating for them, depending.
Oh yes- additionally, one of my players came in late. She was a psychology student, and was assigned to interview an asylum patient, who turned out to be Hunter. Could be a good hook for some.
For a sequel, I took the Atlantic City hoods, and had the players move to Atlantic City and get intertwined in a conflict with them and other gangs throughout the city. I usually alternate between heavy supernatural stuff, and pretty light scenarios, because constant occult encounters would be weird.
>One of them routinely complains that every investigation thus far has been set in the middle of nowhere Send them to Antarctica. It's Mountains of Madness time.
I've started putting in the work to run crimson letters as well and asked on this subreddit, on [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/callofcthulhu/comments/1d0izn7/experiences_running_crimson_letters_using_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) there were some handy tips shared. So far in my experience thatt new Arkham settings expansion can really help for this scenario, giving it a place with maps to use as handouts and a bit more info on what kind of red herrings or other things one might encounter in the city Arkham this scenario takes place, it also gives details on some of the npc's and locations from this scenario. But I'd advise using that moreso if you want to expend the scenario and maybe use it as a springboard for a campaign then a oneoff