Call of Cthulhu: Operate Heavy Machinery

AND THEN JOHN WAS A SKELETONNot all skills in Call of Cthulhu are created equally, but this scenario totally justifies the existence of the red-headed stepchild of skills, Operate Heavy Machinery. Marvel at how a group of intrepid blue collar workers fight off the horrors of the mythos through the clever and frequent use of heavy machinery.

Also, as a special bonus for the few of you who actually read the comments, listen to this previously unreleased AP of Fiasco with RJ And Cody!

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29 Comments

  1. Holy crap, a double dose of RJ and Cody on April Fool’s? No way this goes wrong.

  2. Tom Church fails an 01 roll? *checks date* Ah, gotcha. It’s that kind of game.

  3. I remember you talking about this session on an episode some time ago. Also, fuck yeah, Fiasco!

  4. Sling Blade!

  5. That Fiasco was hilarious.

  6. a double episode! Fiasco! yes! have you guys considered running CoC in the Eclipse Phase dice engine? y’know, blackjack rules, your roll is your MoS, doubles are crits, etc? your chance to crit is only about about half what it is under 15% impale rules, but nobody ever sits around going ‘is dat a crit?’ either. works well for me!

  7. Dr. Crowley at SommaTech? My god, know evil has crossed over!

  8. Anybody else think that after doing his Scruffy voice for too long Aaron ended up sounding more like Bob Dole?

    My hat is off to Caleb for a masterful character design and for roleplaying like he rolled. “If he’s covered in it and still talking than it’s probably safe.” That is a calibur of gaming that all others should aspire to.

  9. SPOILER ALERT.

    I don’t think anyone used “Operate Heavy Machinery” in this one.

  10. Nope. No one used operate heavy machinery.
    Though there were several cases were it could have been used.
    Such as to fight the creature, maybe force them to fight a weaker version and notice the cows are popping out of existence rather then what happened

  11. Next one-shot has to be Caleb’s Red Tower (if there is a recording). The “fearful symmetry” would “twist the sinews of [my] heart.”

  12. Oh my god, best bonus feature ever and one of the better games ever. You’ve made this the best April ever, Ross!

  13. And for role playing a Canadian so well. XD
    And yeah I can hear the Bob Dole in there totally.

    That was an entertaining episode.

  14. I hope you guys gave Fiasco another chance! I know Ross did that one at Gencon a while ago. it can be fantastic when the group is fluent with it. the boys at Ragnerdrok do amaaazing ones. not that this wasn’t painfully hilarious just as what it was.

  15. Wait! Where was the bone solvent?

  16. Bone solvent? What is this? A Road Side Picnic?

  17. No heavy machines were operated in the making of this podcast.

  18. Near-TPK, reasons why, NOT USING HEAVY MACHINERY IN A GAME NAMED AFTER IT. 🙂

  19. Also, I’ve now listened to the Fiasco game.

    Well played.

    You should do a session of Phoenix Command for the next Ransom.

    But seriously, every first-time play of Fiasco I’ve listened to has been almost this rough. I’ll bet it’s awesome once you’ve played it half a dozen times, though.

  20. I believe that Scruffy believed in that company.
    Right up to the moment he believed he was reenacting the ending to Thelma and Louise. Greatness.

    Tom, I’m sorry to have ever talked shit about how ridiculously lucky you always are with your rolls. You proved you are indeed a human and not some number-crunching killbot… or maybe just some other kind of killbot not related to numbers.

    Caleb, you did awesome, I’m only sad that not only did you never get a chance to deal any meth (although using is still a bonus) but you never had a chance to showcase your fine Inuit culture. That one’s OUR loss.

    Jason, you showed up in medias res, had no idea WTF was happening, and made it even better.

    Entertaining as hell, guys. And Ross, maybe they would have used the skill if they had some sort of clue in the titl… oh…[Plinkett voice]oh.[/Plinkett voice]

  21. Of all the CoC actual plays I’ve listened to, THIS one gave me nightmares. I don’t understand.

    Hat tip to Aaron for trying to play something different (yeah, OK, a techie, but a really grumpy techie).

  22. Toby: I totally agree. The industrial slaughterhouse was a *fantastic* setting. And the three different kinds of bizarre liquid were really scary.

  23. As an actual machinist, I am so disappointed in all of you.

  24. Fox, I am an actual machinist as well! I’m not sure what application a machinist would have in a meat packing plant, either..

    Terrific AP, guys. Extra special ending. Or should I say… Especial?

  25. You know what the most tragic part of this episode was? In the end, it only emphasized how useless of a skill operate heavy machinery really is. Nobody can ever think of a use for it until much too late!

  26. A very fun episode, I think I finally understand the real theme behind CoC now. Also, I kept thinking ‘when is someone going to reference bone solvent?’ I was about to consider it and the acutal skill referenced as missed opportunities.

    Of course if it were me playing, I’d have conspired with the players to not use Operate just to keep the streak alive.


  27. The fiasco scenario linked with this is missing could this be fixed.

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