We has just finished our D&D campaign that has run since 2021 with 45 sessions spread over 100 hours and while we took a break over the summer before starting the next one, I decided to try and run something entirely new.
To keep the learning curve low, I chose the Lovecraftian Eldritch Hack rules from Professor Dungeon Master.
I have now finished running a 5-episode mini campaign and am currently a player in another campaign run by one of my regular D&D players.
Here is what I think is different in running Eldritch Hack from running D&D:
- Eldritch Hack is all about the mood, not the action. Vague descriptions such as “It looks like the tree has human features with streaks of what looks like blood running from openings”. I used a few pics to show the locations where the different events took place. But NEVER show monsters or NPCs. these should live in the imagination of the players.
- A fixed timeline of events is important as it makes the players feel they never have the full picture. Contrary to D&D where I will move events around so the heroes are the main story, the investigators in Eldritch Hack should not be the main story, but simply people being affected by it and swept away by it.
- Fewer, but much much richer NPCs, with moods, motivations, personalities and personal preferences and goals. Really build up the NPCs by having the players meet them again and again.
- Far less dice rolls… but make those few really count! At the end of my campaign, there was a vortex sucking in everything. One of the investigators rolled a Nat1 and the result was she was sucked in and dead!
Want to try Eldritch Hack?
Get the rules. Eldritch Hack is only $6 and here is a training oneshot I made to tach my players the rules.
Let me know how it goes!
Eldritch Hack – Case file 0: The Watcher Beneath the Roots (educational oneshot)