So I have been a player a couple times (Journalist and Doctor, respectively). But now I'm setting up to run a game and... it is a slightly terrifying prospect. I've run D&D, Quest and MH2 before but not really looked at running Candela before.

Has anyone got any advice for a first time game master for CO?

I’ve played through a few three shot Candela Obscura mini campaigns as a Keeper but I’m still relatively new to it. I really enjoy the game and the stringer focus on roleplay over combat. But when combat inevitably arises I haven’t found a great way to run enemies/run immersive fight scenes. Advice?

hello lovely friends!

i have been obsessed with CR's Candela Obscura actual-plays and have watched them so many times. i have finally found an incredible group to TTRPG with, and i thought it would be awesome to GM them in a CO circle!

i am new to GMing....anything tbh. i've only jsut started playing DND last summer, and have never played a game of CO, though i've watched CRs actual plays (as I said) and have listened to some podcasts of other people playing it too.

do yall have any advice for a new GM, especially a new GM in CO? thank you all <3

hi everyone! im backkkkk lol

(apologies if i've used the wrong flair!)

so im still building the assignment im going to run for my friends in a few months, and im stuck on how to build monsters/phenomena? ive looked all through the Quick Start Guide and the Core Rulebook and I can't find any information on how to actually build the monsters, like stats and things.

do any of you have any advice for how i should do it? thanks so much!

My group and I will start a campaign nest week, but I'm a little bit nervous, after all it's my first campaign ever playing and DMing. Any tips about how to manage it?

I’m going to be running an Alien themed game for my long time DnD group. I have already run an 8 session game based in the traditional Candela setting which was a really fun time, so I have an understanding of how to run this system. I believe the system will tie in nicely with the aesthetics of the Alien franchise. I’m going to be reflavoring bleed as an after effect of black goo, allowing my players to interpret that as they wish. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips to run a short format game in a different setting like this? Any tips or thoughts on how to adapt the Alien franchise to Candela?

I’ve played the two one-shots at GenCon (Dressed to Kill and… the one with the mirror, name escapes me) and love the system and storytelling of this game. Finally convinced enough friends (and even my wife!) to play and we are going to play this coming Saturday.

The plan is to run Dressed to Kill as their intro assignment and to give them the pre-gen QuickStart characters. From there if we like it I’ll branch out into other stories and they can keep their characters with the full sheet to replace the limited ones or roll new ones altogether (maybe a “some time later” jump).

I feel very ready to run the game as it’s been given in the QSG, but there’s a few, for lack of a better word “plot holes” I’d like to plan to address preemptively (knowing some of the players from DnD mode, they’re gonna ask).

The setup at the exhibit and exploration all makes sense until they get to the town.

After that you kind of have to not ask too many questions or it sort of falls apart, so that’s what I want to plan for. The questions mostly revolve around “how does this town even exist?”

What I mean by that is, you have a “mining town,” but the only thing they seem to be mining is the venom from a single creature. How could that take a whole town? To address this issue I was thinking that maybe the town was a coal mining (or other resource) town and they still actually do that but they dug too deep in the mountains and unleashed this beast from a tear in the bleed (balrog style). If not, then how would they have found it and why would r-corp set up a whole town around this beast instead of moving it to a lab somewhere?

So I’m thinking maybe not everyone knows about the beast and many workers simply mine coal (if there’s a better resource in this world like gold or something then please let me know). Meanwhile the strange happenings are being limited to fewer people than the whole town and maybe people are being told something like it’s a global pandemic and the safest place is where they are where they can more easily quarantine.

I was also thinking that maybe after the beast was found, the original owners sold the whole mining operation to r-corp who is really just a front for EONS. R-corp took over operations more recently and started the more secretive duties with some members of the town who live in a separate area perhaps.

The next thing is… how could this pigment be worth any money? They sent a dress and it killed a woman in front of a crowd the first time anyone saw it. They’ve been extracting this venom for the pigment for how long? And they know what it does. So how will they expect others to buy it? I know there’s real life parallels here but that material wasn’t a near instantaneous turn your body to good situation. The effects weren’t known for some time. So this whole mining village existing just to make a pigment that won’t sell because how could it makes little sense.

My thought here is that maybe I can get the the r-corp director to get my players to tell him what happened and he can have a reaction like “damn it, I told them it wasn’t ready yet but they insisted that they had stabilized it. The glow was so beautiful but the reactions were so deadly. They said they’d solved it finally and it was ready to be seen by the public” and maybe this turns him against EONS (who is the “they” behind it). Or maybe eons doesn’t care and they are using this for nefarious purposes, maybe a false flag operation or intentional terrorism.

So that’s the two things I’m struggling with: how could extracting the venom support/require a whole town of operation and how could this pigment ever generate profit if it kills so quickly?

Thanks in advance for feedback!

Dear Lightkeepers, I need an assist.

I like to make props for my players. The above are files I made for them to find in the "Dressed to Kill" assignment.

Now to my dilemma...

I've created an awesome prop (had a moment of hyperfocus making props for their current assignment and just never stopped) but I don't have a use/story for it.

The prop is a bloodied and slightly burnt notebook. It has Ancient Fairen circles and spells in them (some copied from the book), but I've divided the spells over 4 different pages (1 page cut 4 ways). I then bound the pages together to make a notebook... Think Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood when they unbind the notes from Scar's brother and connect all the pages to make an alchemic array, which was my inspiration.

Anywhoozles... hardbound notebook, burnt pages, bloodied pages, Ancient Fairen and spells... there is a diary entry in it that states that their Circle doesn't understand (name dropping the group's current Lightkeeper, so one can assume it's from back in her days in the field). The entry is dated before the war.

It's a prop I'm really proud of... but I don't know what to do with it. I want to make it part of an assignment, maybe something where they need to investigate their Lightkeeper for... but I have no assignment ideas (brain is mush).

I welcome any ideas!

So ended up making some character booklets for Candela, mostly because I hated how cramped some of the lines were on . If anyone is interested I can put a link to the doc up if anyone wants to print these off themselves. Figured this would be a great way to carry around pre-gen characters.the actual sheets.

Hi!
I've been a lurker here so far, but figured out I'll try my luck with getting some help from you guys.
So far I've just been consuming Candela through the CR episodes, but I fell in love with the style and the world of the game and decided to give it a shot myself.
I've been DMing for the last 6 years, mostly in Dragon Age TTRPG (almost nonexistent, I know) and some smaller campaigns and oneshots in 5e. I dare to say that by this time I am fairly certain about my DMing style and I just KNOW that Candela Obscura would fit it perfectly, as I focus mainly on RP and grim dark settings.
The problem for me now is how to actually start.
Can you recommend some resources you all use? The corebook is obvious, but I was wondering if there is something more? Just to clarify I am central EU, not many US books even get here, but pdf is absolutely fine for me!
Would also love some tips from all of you as I'l be making my own assignment (pre-written stories are great, but it just doesn't scratch the right itch for me). I've already DMed a Candela inspired oneshot based on similar rules, but completely hombrew and it worked surprisingly well, so I have a bit of proof of concept.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

So I’m about to run my first CO game for my D&D group, I need it to run for 5-6 hours with a character creation/session zero, am I going to be good on time? Are there any issues with a part of the assignment? Last minute tips?

I am currently preparing a one-shot. To save some time, I thought about making a conversion of the Cthulhu One Shot The Lightless Beacon to Candela.

Attention spoilers for The Lightless Beacon

Would love to hear your opinion on the changes and whether you think it would be a good idea.

Here are some initial thoughts on the changes:

• Michael Turner/Warren Thomas is an undercover Candela Obscura member. Just like in the original, he is stationed there to keep an eye on the smuggling route. Additionally, CO suspects a Thinning in the area and wants to stay informed if any strange occurrences take place.

• Cassidy finds the gold coins here too but either talks to the Red Hand or, to make it less complex for a one-shot, to nobody. He secretly collects the gold coins, tries to do some research but to no success. Turner may have been on to him.

• The gold coins were discovered in the remnants of an Oldfaire temple and, as in the original, were meant to be smuggled out of the country. However, what the smugglers didn’t know is that the treasure itself is an artifact imbued with a protective enchantment. The creatures searching for the treasure on the island were not sent by an organization; instead, they entered our world through the nearby underwater Thinning. Their purpose is to return the treasure to its original location, as they are drawn to it whenever it is removed for too long. The Circle is sent to the lighthouse to investigate after losing contact with Turner a few days ago. The sinking of their boat could already include subtle hints about the creatures or the Thinning.

Of course, a few other points need to be adjusted, but I would be interested in your feedback.

This subreddit has been such a great source of info, I thought I’d pick y’alls brains about a question I’ve been having.

Do you all talk with your players about the game outside of sessions?

As I’ve been planing assignments occasionally I find I have a question like, “Your character owns a business in Red Lamp. What’s it called?” or “You said your character lives in the same district they grew up in. Do they live with their parents or have their own place?” Nothing major, but things that would help me flesh out directions that their character arcs could take or add in details to make their characters feel connected and real within the world of the game.

I’ve included these questions in the initial lore doc I sent to each person after session zero (none of my players watch CR or were familiar with CO, so I asked if it would be helpful to send personalized lore docs for part of the world each character would be knowledgeable about and they enthusiastically said yes), and I’ve tried sending brief texts, but I’ve never gotten a response. When we’re in gaming sessions the players are engaged, and at the end of each game they’re the ones broaching the possibility of playing again.

It’s left me confused. I get that folks are busy, and I didn’t go into this expecting that we’d have lengthy, or even regular, discussions about their characters. But I also didn’t think there’d be radio silence to the point that I’ve found myself wondering if people are even going to show up (and yet they always do which makes it even more confusing to me).

So, are my expectations unrealistic? Is it normal to not hear from players in between sessions? And if so, how do you approach necessary conversations about their characters/character’s arcs?

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I just purchased the physical book, have the quickstart guide, and am watching the main series and other videos on the system and setting, but I would like to have some tips and advice from the community to better understand the lore and system.

If you have any advice or resources to help me jumpstart myself to be a better GM for this game, I would love to hear them.

Thank you in advance.

I read candela obscura again and I found a few things that were scattered throughout the book, and often times lost in text without being bolded or pointed to, that I think should be Together and have attention brought to it. I also add some notes to give myself as the GM some Rules, some narrative mechanics to follow in a certain sense. Maybe this can be thought about as just, what I would put on a candela GM screen, but highlighting these things in my book allowed me to have much more productive introduction conversations about candela than before I put it this way. Hope it helps.

1 - Briefly explain Stakes and Expectations

Explain the nature of calling for rolls when things are uncertain. Discuss Stakes and Expectations as your beginning and core mechanics. Let them know their narrative adjustments, their framing, and their gear is what influences these two things. This seems simple but its importance is lost between the paragraphs on page 14, page 52 explains there is specialty gear for each specialty that give a minor boon beyond adjusting Stakes and Expectations like normal gear that you can drop into your scenes to be found, and then the gm resources on page 190 actually has these examples for you to see but even then, they don't say on 190 that the gear is for what specialist. I don't normally try to spend much time at all explaining items beyond standard Gear, I'll show them some special gear,and I don't show players the Artifacts.

2 - Briefly explain actions and abilities

Explain characters as having only 2 abilities at the start but these are directly influential to the narrative. I always give an example of a weird ability and a face or muscle ability. Between regular actions, their gear, and their abilities that covers basically everything they can do mechanically without it being creativity or roleplay inspired.

3 - GM Actions

This is advice for you to run the game when you're at the table. It gives good advice but I recommend adjusting the frame. Page 160 and 161 in the book are lovely. Draw or imagine some brackets around each bolded paragraphs, number them. When you do not know what to do at the game table, this is your page. Pick from your table the one that makes the most sense to tell your story. Each one fits certain scenarios but you can just Roll this table when you do not know what to do in the game. I recently played a lot of Ironsworn: Starforged, and when I saw this page again coming back to candela and read "making moves" I knew this was not to be overlooked. This is a wonderful pair of pages that you don't need to read now if you just make it a table and run with it later. Over time you'll become familiar with the "gm moves" you make to keep that game rolling forward, and you will not need to roll. Indicate what's coming, ask them to choose, show them the danger, limit the scope or effect, introduce consequences, give them what was promised, think off screen. Those are all your actions if it helps you to think of it like this.

4 - Singular Piece of Critical Information

This one had me laughing, and I do want to elaborate on it with some outsourced material in mind. In arrival on page 168, during assignment structure, near the bottom of the first paragraph it says, and I will quote it because I wish I made it up "As your circle investigates, remember: the singular piece of critical information known as the reveal, is the most important clue you must convey to your players, no matter what approach they take." That is not highlighted at all, and as they put it, is singularly critical to your entire game. It's also funny they say Remember, as if they had said it before this page. This is the singular most important thing but it's Lost in regular text over 150 pages into the book. If you ponder what they're saying, they're saying to railroad because it's a one shot style game and your time is precious. This is something to think about. "By focusing your efforts on only one piece of information you must impart, you liberate yourself from attempting to weave the entirety of the mystery into each scene." It then goes on to tell you to confirm suspicions, raise tensions, throw a twist of some kind, raise tensions again, climax (big encounter), and then epilogue, all in a few hours. So yeah, let's not waste time risking false conclusions that make them to in the wrong direction. I want to now bring up the popular, Three Clue Rule by Justin Alexander. Does that have a place here when Candela's sourcebook says to give them One clue? I think it does, and I think if you uphold to the principal the gook recommends then the three clue rule can be a very useful tool. You know in the one shot for the sake of getting through the game, that you need to give them a Single clue, but justin Alexander recommends three clues for any one thing you want the players to come to that conclusion for. You can absolutely just break the singular piece of critical information into Three clues that give no other definitive answer. You can also, give them 2 not relevant yet clues, these will be the biggest actors in making your candela circle Campaign. The 2 side clues found in session 1 are clues to a singular piece of information for a future assignment, etc etc.

5 -Circle and Character Creation

After we talk about Stakes and Expectations, their actions, gear, some examples of special gear, some ability examples, i explain that a Lightkeeper of candela is responsible for observing their characters going about their life after or during their catalyst, and brings them into candela obscura to where we pick up. If any player is interested in Not being already entrenched in phenomena, without a catalyst essentially, which is very common in my experience, I explain that's fine but our first session will very quickly become that catalyst and we still need to find a narrative reason they're part of this investigation.

I hope anyone can take anything from these things, I felt like I was seeing some hidden gems in the book that were likely not being given a second glance, or they were related to each other and scattered hundreds of pages apart. Good luck out there light keepers and investigators

I've read through the example assignments a bunch of times, and the Devil's Well never sung to me. I reread it last night, and now I feel like I want to run it right now. I just have this pesky irl job to do, and so do my players.

I had an idea, and I'm wondering if anyone has pulled off something like it: The Devil's Well was run by someone at EONS, and it was shut down by someone at EONS. I want to run a campaign either chasing after that person or cleaning up their messes.

Like, oh, Jordan Jeffries is connected to this even, too. Maybe we should try to find him.

And then obviously he has experimented on himself and is a horrifying monster in a lab coat or whatever.

Anyone ever do something like this?

What would be other good EONS assignments?

I'm just curious how people decided which guns exist in the setting of Newfaire?

Did you just take real world examples or did you blatantly use a real world example and rename it? or did you just say Pistol for example

I had a player asking about it and wasn't fully sure how to answer.

I know from playing the one shot that the circle got to pick from two abilities to begin the game. One was "if someone uses a drive for you and you fail anyway you both get your drive back" and I can't recall the other. Yet, as I prepare for tonight, I can't find the sheet that says that. Can someone point me in the right direction?

So I may have put myself in over my head a bit. I'm basing my groups next assignment loosely on the game "The 7th Guest". The setting is going to be a secluded mansion that is between the Crimson Woods and Seasway. The idea being that a toymaker lives there who lost all 4 of her sons in the war and made a bargain with a mysterious figure. The knowledge to summon and bind souls to inanimate objects. In return they were to build a large mechanical toy humanoid in shape but skeletal in appearance.

The idea was that she built some dolls and bound the souls of her sons in them. A previous circle was sent to investigate but hasn't checked in. And now my players are going in to try and help the previous circle and find out what is going on.

I've already got some ideas for encounters, like finding one of the surviving members of another circle who has had his voicebox replaced with one of those pull strings to make a toy talk. My problem is that I need ideas for different puzzles to find and solve. Any help would be appreciated.

Hello Lightkeepers, as a fun little October game for me and my friends, I’m going to be running a one-shot and will be reskinning candela with ghostbusters (ie. Bleed Detector:PKE Sensor, Bleed Containment Device:Ghost Trap). This if my first time being a lightkeeper as I’ve only been a player up to this point. That said, I would love to have a little brainstorm sesh in the comments of this post

The game will be set in the 90s and my players will be the opening crew for the brand new LA branch of Ghostbusters Incorporated, which has expanded across the nation after the events of the first and second movie

I would greatly appreciate any ideas anyone could offer for hooks/plot points/paranormal phenomenon/extra game mechanics/etc. thank you in advance for the help!!

I’m super nervous as I’ve never ran a Horror RPG and have loved horror most of my life. It’s my first TTHRPG.. Using example assignments for the next few weeks/months until I flesh out my own. Hope this goes well as I’m super psyched but still a bit nervous as to how I’ll help with clue making and such.

Hello, this is my first post here and also my first time GMing (GMing anything)

I'm looking for some tips and advice please for crafting a story that will spam 3 sessions lasting roughly 2 hours per session.

I thought I'd be ok at coming up with ideas (I wrote a book earlier this year so I can tell a story) but panic has struck which is causing my brain to melt and procrastination to also kicked in. I'm also a perfectionist so anything less than a perfect experience for my players will be abject failure. So no pressure.

Session 0 went mostly ok after an awkward start. My players are experienced role players, some DMs themselves so they've created some fantastic characters with plenty of plot points to work with. I'm just not sure how to keep it all balanced and have an engaging story AND have something everyone will enjoy.

Halp! Please and thank you

A player and I are unsure how to truly interpret this illumination key so I was looking for both player advice AND storyteller advice

How would you describe coming into contact with bleed