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So I have an idea for two possible games:
"The Gatherer of Nightmares" : This would be a very short game (should be able to wrap it up within two weeks, with regular posting) set in 1910 London. Think Rohmer and M.R.James.
"The Mystery of Loch Feinn": So this is converted from the 3rd ed. Call of Cthulhu . I've adapted some elements from the Achtung! Cthulhu line and the scenario has been "reset" in the spring of 1941.
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They're on the site, under 'Free Downloads and Resources,' 'Condensed Rules.'
But to quickly summarize the Gumshoe system: skills are either investigative or general. Investigative skills, which reveal clues, pretty much work automatically, you just have to be in the right place and say that you're using them. You can spend points, with investigative skills, to gain additional knowledge.
An example, at the scene of a grisly murder:
"I use my forensic skill to determine the time of death."
"He was killed within the last twelve hours."
"I use my forensic skill with a 1 point spend to determine the time of death."
"He was killed at approximately three o'clock in the morning."
The main mechanic is a simple roll of 1d6: trying to beat a difficulty number set by the GM (4-8, usually). If you have points in the pool for the associated skill, you can add them to your die roll. Pool points refresh somewhat slowly, so you have to marshal them as a precious resource.
And that is pretty much 80% of the system.
DominoMasque |
I'd be interested, probably as an Adventure driven Dilettante.
And while I've played a lot of Call of Cthulhu, I've never actually played Trail of Cthulhu before.
I am currently readying to run Achtung! Cthulhu for my face-to-face group (using CoC 6th rules) so I have thoroughly read through both the players and keepers guide for that, if it has any impact. I'm happy with either setting.
James Martin RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32 |
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And come on down James Martin.
I'll post Monday on character creation specifics.
Mainly bear in mind that your character should possess some quality that would make them valuable to an intelligence agency established to protect the Home Islands against 'unusual' threats.
You're not, by any means, scholars of the Mythos: but you do have an inkling that there is something out there.
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So you get 65 Build Points for General Abilities. As you have all received some basic military training, you get 1 free point in each of the following: Athletics, Bureaucracy, Scuffling and Shooting.
You each get 16 points to spend on Investigative abilities. You probably don't need to spend more than a single point in an Investigative Ability unless you want to be a an expert in that ability.
Your highest General Ability can only be twice that of your next highest General Ability.
You cannot, at this point, buy any points in Cthulhu Mythos .
You may, as color, describe some incident in your past, that "opened your mind" to the possibility of the supernatural, making you an ideal recruit for Department "M".
To reiterate, the stripped down, basic rules are available as "Condensed Rules", under "Downloads and Resources" on the Pelgrane Press website.
DominoMasque |
Never actually made a character for this before, I'm running form the "Players Guide".
It seems to conflict on what ratings you should have on General Abilities, so I can spread them around more or up them more if suggested?
Maisie Chase
Adventure driven Dilettante
Sanity 8
Hit Threshold 4
Stability 8
Health 8
Special
May use Credit rating to call on personal connections in any field, generally relatives, schoolfellows and similar people of my social class.
Academic Abilities
Accounting 1
Art History 1
*Languages 4 (German, Russian, Latin, French)
Law 1
Library Use 1
Occult 1
Physics 1
Interpersonal Abilities
Bureaucracy 1
*Credit Rating 7
*Flattery 2
Reassurance 1
Technical Abilities
Art (Music) 1
Outdoorsman 1
Photography 1
General Abilities
*Athletics 10
*Driving 15
Health 10
*Riding 10 (Horses + 4 more)
*Piloting 15 (small boats, single engine light aircraft + 8 more)
*Mechanical Repair 15
Sanity 8 (pillars: Epicureanism, Progress)
Scuffling 6
Shooting 8
Stability 8
Zurias |
Adventure driven Antiquarian
Sanity (6) 10
Hit Threshold ?
Stability (6) 7
Health (5) 6
Special
<<Not sure if I have any special rules as an Antiquarian>>
Academic Abilities
*Architecture (2) 4
*Art History (2) 4
*Languages (2) 4 (Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Scots, Mandarin, Akkadian)
*Law (1) 2
*Library Use (3) 6
Interpersonal Abilities
*Assess Honesty (2) 4
Bargain (1) 2
*Credit Rating (2+3) 5
Technical Abilities
Forensics 1
General Abilities
*Athletics 6
*Driving 4
Fleeing (6+3) 12
Health 5
Sanity 6 (pillars: Human Dignity and Value, Artistic Sensitivity)
Scuffling 3
Shooting 5
Stability 6
Sense Trouble 5
Shadowing 3
Weapons 10
(Fairly certain this all adds up. Wherever possible, I put points spent in parenthesis)
James Martin RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32 |
Working on this. I'm leaning toward a Duty-driven Reconnaissance pilot for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, 702 Squadron. On a routine reconnaissance flight he observed an island that was not supposed to exist according to the charts, filled with squamous buildings of non-Euclidean architecture and dominated by a vast squid-like thing. He returned to his carrier babbling about shapes that were monstrous and alive and was promptly removed from duty due to "combat fatigue." In an effort to salvage his career, he was sent home to serve in a desk capacity until such time as his mind was healthy enough for duty.
James Martin RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32 |
Lt. Cmdr Henry Readington-Smythe
Duty-driven Pilot
Sanity 8 (pillars: Family Honour and the Rightness of Our Cause)
Hit Threshold 4
Stability 10
Health 12
Special
Credit Rating 4
Academic Abilities
Languages +1
Law +1
Interpersonal Abilities
Assess Honesty +1
Bureaucracy +1*
Cop Talk +1
Credit Rating 4 (3)
Interrogation +1
Intimidation +1
Reassurance +1
Technical Abilities
*Astronomy +2
Photography +1
**Trading 4 investigative pts for 12 general ability points
General Abilities
Athletics +10* (9)
*Driving +6 (3)
*Electrical Repair +8 (4)
Firearms +10* (9)
First Aid +2 (2)
Health 12 (11)
*Mechanical Repair +14 (7)
*Piloting +16 (8)
*Sense Trouble +2 (1)
Sanity 8 (4)
Scuffling +8* (7)
Stability 10 (9)
Weapons +3 (3)
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I'm going to alter LCDR Readington-Smythe's history a bit: he himself did not see the dread corpse-city of R'lyeh, or its hideous lord. He was a co-pilot on a Short Singapore (a bi-plane flying boat, used mainly for long-range naval reconnaissance), flying out of Wellington New Zealand, in April of '38. He had briefly left the cock-pit, to check on equipment issues when the pilot's babbling over the intercom brought him hurriedly back. The pilot gasped a largely incoherent tale of shifting, non-Euclidean architecture, and a horrible thing that ambled through avenues thick with primeval muck.
Circling the area, a strange, faintly luminous fog was seen, hanging in a tiered cloud over the sea. There was no sign of "a city, with buildings that were all strange and shifting."
The plane made a return to Wellington. The stricken pilot was hospitalized, and the plane's camera, and film, seized. LCDR Readington-Smythe suddenly, and inexplicably found himself attached to Department M.
James Martin RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32 |
James Martin RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32 |
Keith the Thief |
You're more spies in the John LeCarre mode, rather than Ian Fleming.
So, we're still on for Monday, and I'm anticipating:
Danforth Chambers.
CMDR Readington-Smythe.
Maisie Chase.
Howard Osborne.
Is recruitment closed?
If not I was wondering if you'd be willing to consider another.I actually own the Trail of Chtulhu rules, but I've never played it.
I am an old RPG guy... as in, started in 1978 with original D&D.
Curiously, I'm a physicist in real life, but that role is taken.
I could create a science fiction writer ("scientific romance writer"), who's been slowly losing it ever since he discovered one of his stories came true.
If you're closed it's cool, but if you're still open I could try to create a character over the weekend.
Thanks,
Keith
Keith the Thief |
Keith: If you think you can throw a character together really quick you're in. I'm not sure if we have a vagabond physicist or not.
Maisie: Yep.
Thank you. I created one this afternoon for fun and on the off-chance you were still open.
I'd like to introduce Dr. Edward R. Carter, III
Investigator Name: Edward R. Carter III
Drive: Sudden Shock
Occupation: Author
Sources of Stability: Dr. Stephanie Harrison, Dean of the College of Women (confidant)
Pillars of Stability: His own fictitious worlds; Ancient manuscripts from the Holy Land
Dr. Edward Carter was a successful author of "planetary romances" who inexplicably quit writing at the height of his career in 1930. One of his novellas, "The Thing in the Trenches", which was based on his experiences during the Great War, turned out to have been a real incident. The horror of that experience has shocked him into disavowing any writing, despite an incredibly successful career both in England and America. He had been called the next H.G. Wells.
During the Great War he worked in mechanical cryptography, and gained substantial experience in code breaking and repairing (or manipulating) mechanical and electrical equipment.
Born in London in 1899, Dr. Carter spends his days as a scholar on the Holy Land. He wants to return to his literary career, but every time he tries it induces sheer terror.
Now, his only sources of stability are his dear confidante, Dr. Stephanie Harrison (Dean of the College of Women) and the strange manuscripts that have been brought back to London from Jerusalem.
Academic Abilities:
Archeology -- 1
Cryptography -- 2
History -- 1
Languages -- 1
Law:
Library Use -- 2
Theology -- 1
Interpersonal Skills:
Assess Honesty -- 1
Credit Rating -- 1
Flattery -- 1
Streetwise -- 1
Technical Abilities:
Evidence Collection -- 2
Forensics -- 2
Locksmith -- 2
General Abilities:
Athletics -- 4
Conceal -- 5
Electrical Repair -- 5
Firearms -- 4
First Aid -- 4
Fleeing -- 5
Health -- 5
Mechanical Repair -- 6
Preparedness -- 4
Sanity -- 5
Stability -- 4
Sense Trouble -- 4
Shadowing -- 4
Stealth -- 4
Weapons -- 3
Keith the Thief |
James Martin RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32 |
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So this a Trail of Cthulhu game, set in Scotland, during the spring of 41. Our characters are agents with Department M, an agency tasked with defending the Empire from more 'outre' threats.
Our agents have just arrived in the field, tasked with investigating a mysterious Nazi operation Wasser Pferd (Water Horse), that, if sources are to believed, is unfolding at the site of a remote Scottish Loch.
So our pair of agents are feeling a little overwhelmed: anyone care to help out?
A minimal set of rules is available at the Pelgrane Press website, under Resources and Downloads.
You'll either be fellow agents from Section M, locals recruited to help, or colleagues outside of military service that the active agents have reached out to.