Oliver D. Bernuetz's Gaming Materials

Oliver D. Bernuetz's Gaming Materials - Drelbs

Years ago when I was involved in running games in a now defunct gaming convention in my hometown called Wingames I was asked to run a session of Call of Cthulhu. Leaving everything to the last minute as usual I found myself on the morning of the day I was supposed to run completely unprepared. I decided to wing it and quickly wrote up a character sheet which I photocopied for the other five players the session had room for. I cannot for the life of me remember what it was that I ran but for some reason it was a success. In succeeding years I ran more sessions expanding the event into a two group session (which involved some group interactions). As the years went by the rules became more and more rudimentary so as to not get in the way. Eventually a pattern was reached for the sessions. There were two parties of six people each with two gamemasters (it's very important that the players have a good sense of fun). Character sheets, skills and scenarios were kept to a minimum and the old Chaosium Basic Role-Playing System, modified by Call of Cthulhu was the system used. One party was usually composed of cthulhoid monsters (usually disguised as humans) and the other was a party of human adventurers (or weirder!) In the past scenarios have included :

1) The Drelbs vs. The Investigators

A group of six identical, hairless, genderless clones have arrived back in the 1920's United States on a fact finding mission where they investigate an abandoned house. The other party were standard CofC investigators who had to interact with the Drelbs.

Highlights

The famous Drelb salute (make a fist and place it upside down on your head).

2) The Mi-Go vs. the Cannibal, Inbred Hillbillies

The hillbillies were cthuloid worshippers looking for a snack on the Miskatonic U campus while the Mi-Go were up to the usual Mi-Go nonsense.

Highlight

The Mi-Go entering a seafood restaurant where they discover some of their larval form being held prisoner in a tank of water. They managed to successfully liberate the larva!

The next three drelb games all occurred at a con in Brandon, MB called Prairiecon.

3) Drelbs on the Lusitania (June 3, 2000) (the best prepared I have ever been!) The rules were now even more simplified by using D20 rolls under skill numbers. You can see the full "scenario" for what it's worth by following these links :

4) Drelbs on the Hindenburg or "Seven Brides for Seven Herr Schmidts." (June 8, 2002) The system is even more pared down with every stat and ability being a 10 which you have to equal or roll under on a D20 to succeed with the occassional plus or minus more or less arbitrary modifier. This was supposed to be a two party scenario with the able help of my friend Doug but the turnout was small enough that I was able to run just the drelbs. Fortunate that as I never really ever finalized the opposition. Doug did some great research though even drawing up floorplans of the passenger areas of the Hindenburg, what a guy!

5) Drelbs in Aspic (June 7, 2003)
A new low in infantile, lowest common denominator humour. I'd feel ashamed but it was too damn funny for words. (The system became even more atrophied. I allowed any 50/50 randomiser. I used a D30 (when am I going to every use a D30 again?).

*Originally I called the "system" Call of Cthulhu, then Cthulhu?!?!?! and now finally Mega, stealing the name from a different system that also used to be ran at Wingames. Mega itself started as Mega D&D and then just plain Mega. Defining quote occurred when a player said to the guy running it "You're making this all up as you go along!" "Well, yes." was the reply. Long live rules-lite/rules free roleplaying!

(The other great rule-lite free form sort of game run at Wingames was Rosie's Cantina).

Last updated February 22, 2022

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Email me at bernuetz@mymts.net