What to know what's stupid?

Trying to prep for two games that are to be run at the same time.

Roll SAN

My online game of The Murderer of Thomas Fell is currently in a holding pattern. I'm waiting for one of the players to come back to us, post-nuptials. I'd rather not start without him.

At my place of work, I have lunch with 3 other guys that are well-versed in the ways of role-playing games, and I'm mulling over the idea of running a Call of Cthulhu game with them. I just need to see if the idea would work and what scenario to run.

I've narrowed down my selections to two: The Crook'd and Crack'd Manse or Love's Lonely Children. I just finished reading Love's and I've got to say that that scenario is all sorts of fucked up.

Now I'm going to write up some stuff for both and see which one captures me more. I may lean more towards Crook'd because Love's may sour stomachs and turn the guys off of Call of Cthulhu.

I think I'm ready to run a game.

OH GOD NO I'M NOT

WAIT MAYBE

I DON'T KNOWWWWWW

Pull Yourself Together!

Stability is your mind's immune system. The higher the rating, the stronger it is and the less likely you are to snapping. Sanity is how much of your mind is left after having been exposed to the Cthulhu Mythos. Since Stability is the one dealt with more often, let's start with it.

STABILITY

There are just some times when you witness something that just messes with your brain. And that's when you make a Stability check!

The DN for a Stability check is 4, unless it's something you've seen before or something so horrifying it just blows your mind. Then it's a 3 or a 5, respectively. And like other skill checks, you can send Stability points to help pass the check. Just know that if you fail the check, you lose those points plus whatever the price of failing the check was.

Like Health, things happen if your Stability drops below 0.

Stability at 0 to -5 is SHAKEN: All DN's for checks increase by one and you can't spend investigative points.

Stability at -6 to -11 is BLASTED: You gain a mental illness! And it's permanent! You also lose 1 points from your Stability rating. You can always buy it back.

Stability at -12 and under is INSANE: You are officially cuckoo for cuckoo puffs. You got one chance to go out in a blaze of glory or you can consign yourself to a mental ward.

There are several ways to regain Stability. Stability points refresh after a adventure/session or the player can have the investigator follow their Drive.

And that's Stability.

SANITY

There's only two ways to lose Sanity. And the best way to say it is straight from the book!

• A Mythos shock drops your Stability pool to 0 or below.
• You use the Cthulhu Mythos.

If you lose Sanity, you lose Sanity. You can't roll to avoid Sanity loss.

What's a Mythos Shock? It's when the investigator witnesses a Mythos-related event and it drops the Stability score.

If the character is SHAKEN by the mythos, the Sanity raiting drops by 1 point.

If the character is BLASTED, the Sanity raiting drops by 2.

If both happen, you'll only suffer one of those losses during any given adventure. Yes, the more severe loss.

Now there are some ways to keep your Sanity and they're pretty awesome for roleplaying.

Denial - If no evidence exists at the end of the adventure, then it must have been all in your mind. At the Keeper's discretion, the player may be required to take on a mental illness or make up a story about what you think happened to what really happened. If the player ever uses info that he shouldn't remember, the Keeper can take a Sanity point from the player.

Fainting - Yup! If something so terrifying occurs and the investigator stands to lose more than 1 Sanity point, the player can declare that the investigator faints dead away and will only lose 1 Sanity point. They keep their Sanity but they're not allowed to participate for the rest of that particular scene.

But keep in mind that if the investigator faints and the team ends up running away, someone may be left behind...

And I believe that ends my Trail of Cthulhu blogs. I think it's time I start setting up for my online game!

Getting Hurt Sucks (Don't Do It)

As long as your Health is in the positives, there are no special rules. It’s when you drop into the negatives that you have to start worrying. And once you hit -12, you’re dead. Fo’ realsies.

Starting at -1, the player has to start making Consciousness rolls to stay awake. The DN to stay conscious will always be the absolute value of your current health. So if you’re at -1, you have to beat DN 1. -4, DN is 4. Of course, you can spend points from your Health pool to stay conscious but the DN will be the number before you chose to spend points.

Example

Keeper: Stingray’s just been shot! His health has dropped to -3. Make a consciousness roll.


Stingray: Ok, I don’t want to chance it, so I’m going to spend 2 Health points. I rolled a 2 for a total of 4, so I stay conscious but my Health is now at -5.



You can NEVER spend Health points if it will drop you Health to below -11.

Other Health rules

Health is between 0 to -5: You can’t spend Investigative points and the DN for all tests increases by 1.

Health is between -6 to -11: You lose 1 Health point every half hour until you receive aid. And even if you succeed on your Consciousness roll, you can’t fight or take any actions.

Health is -12 and below: DEAD

Fist vs Tentacle

There comes a time when book smarts aren’t enough and you just got to plant a fist into something’s squishy face. And that brings us to combat.

The Basics

The Hit Threshold is the number to beat to connect with your target. For Investigators, their HT is 3, but if their Athletics skill is 8 or higher, the HT increases to 4.
Just because a character doesn’t have a particular skill doesn’t mean they can’t use it. No rating in Firearms? No problem. You can still shoot a gun. You just won’t do as much damage. In fact, you do -2 to all damage rolls and that’s on top of the bonus/penalty for whatever you’re using. This rule applies to Firearms, Scuffling, and Weapons.
Firearms goes to firearms.
Scuffling goes to fists, feet, and things like knuckle dusters.
Weapons are for things like swords, knives, maces, etc.

Mano-a-Mano

Whoever picks the fight, start the fight. Doesn't matter if you're shooting, stabbing, punching; the person that starts the fight gets to go first.

Ex. 1

Keeper: Tony "The Rat" Wilkins is standing directly in your path. There's no way he's going to let you through the door.

Stingray: I punch him in the face.

Keeper: Roll to see if you hit.

Ex. 2

Keeper: Tony "The Rat" Wilkins is standing directly in your path. There's no way he's going to let you through the door.

Stingray: I shoot him in the face.

Keeper: ...roll to see if you hit.

Ex. 3

Keeper: Tony "The Rat" Wilkins is standing directly in your path. There's no way he's going to let you through the door.

Stingray: I stab him in the face.

Keeper: ...roll to see if you hit.

Battle Royale

When you have 3 or more combatants, things change a bit. The fighters declare their actions and turn order for the entire fight is determined by the skill rating associated with the action.

Example

Detective Almonds is going to shoot (Firearms 12)
Junior Detective Robinson is going to punch some biscuits (Scuffling 5)
Cultist Pete is going to stab the Junior Detective (Weapons 7)

So the turn order is

1. Detective Almonds
2. Cultist Pete
3. Junior Detective Robinson

After the first turn, the players are free to choose a different combat action but the turn order won't change. Even if Almonds decides to sword fight the cultist (Weapons 0) on the next turn, he would still go first. Turn order is determined on the first round and won't change for the rest of the fight.

And the rest is done like a standard contest. Spend points from skill to hit, roll, if hit roll for damage, add/subtract modifiers.

This could be the penultimate Trail post! It depends on whether or not I need to explain hit points. Which I probably do so this isn't the penultimate post.

C'est la vie.

Dance Off for Sanity

There are times when a PC goes up against a PC/NPC and the only way to solve things is a dance off, or as it’s called in the book, a contest. Each character does a skill check, spending points and rolling dice, and the first one to fail their check loses the contest.

EXAMPLE
DANCE OFF w/ Detective Almonds (Athletics 10) vs Cultist (Athletics 8)

Keeper: Detective Almonds, you’ve run onto the dance floor, hoping to get lost in the crowd. Unfortunately, a kicking song just started playing, and the dance crowd has formed a circle around you as the cultist bursts through. OH DANG, THE CROWD WANTS A DANCE BATTLE! What’s your first move, Stingray?

Stingray: I’m going to spend 1 Athletics point and do the Worm.

Keeper: Ok, the Worm’s DN is 3. Go for it.

Stingray: Rolled a 2! Success!

Keeper: You worm your way across the dance floor, but the crowd and the cultist aren’t impressed. “So this is Chicago dancing?” the cultist says. He’s going to spend 2 Athletics to do a windmill, DN 5. The cultist rolled a 4 for a total of 6! The crowd is going wild over the speed of the windmill!

Stingray: I need to step up my game before I get served. The Superman.

Keeper: Ok, DN 6. Roll for it.

Stingray: DN 6?! Ok, I’m gonna spend 3 points first. And I rolled a …3. Thank god I spent those 3 points!

Keeper: Ok, ok, you did the Superman fairly well, but not enough to sway the crowd. The cultist, thinking he has it in the bag, is going to spend 1 point and do an Armchair Freeze, DN 3. He got a 1! He failed his roll and fell straight onto his face!

Stingray: I’m booking it.

Now I can’t promise that there won’t ever be a dance-off in my games (yeah, I can), but that’s how it goes.

Next up is COMBAT!

Contests! (or Skill Checks!)

There are just some times when the only way to solve a problem is with a good die roll and the only die you’ll need is a D6. Yup, the plain ones. The only abilities that need dice rolls are the ones listed under General. The Keeper will tell the player that he needs to roll a skill check, and he then needs to roll higher or equal to the Difficulty Number, which the Keeper may or may not tell you.

Difficulty Numbers (DN) range from 2 to 8. Whoa, whoa, WHOA. Hold on now. How do you get an 8 on a six-sided die? By Point Spends. For every point you spend, that’s +1 to your die roll. The players just need to remember that they have to declare how many points they’re spending BEFORE they roll the die.

Example

Keeper: As Detective Almonds drives up the narrow mountain road, the skies darken and unleash torrents of rain down up him. The road becomes slick with mud and visibility is reduced to almost nil. I’d like a skill check for Driving and let’s say the DN is 4.

Stingray: Let’s see…Almonds has a Driving rating of 6, so I have 6 points to spend. I’m going to spend 2 points for this roll. I rolled a 3, so my total is 5. I passed!

Keeper: Despite the treacherous weather, you’re able to keep your car on the road and drive safely to the top of the mountain.

It’s a very easy system. The only hard part is having players remember that they have to declare the point spend BEFORE THEY ROLL.

Y’know, I can’t really go any more in-depth when it comes to spending points for clues. There will be times when the Keeper asks a player if they want to spend some points towards a clue. If the player agrees, then the player gets a clue that has an added benefit.

“Free” clues move the story along; clues that cost points give you a little something extra to go with it.

Simple Searches

I had forgotten to mention “simple searches”. Just because you don’t have the necessary skills for a scene doesn’t mean you can’t look around. The player just needs to be specific when doing a simple search.

Ex 1: A player with Forensics

Player: I’d like to use my Forensics skill to search the room.
Keeper: As you search the room, you notice a slight impression in the carpet by the bed. Upon closer examination, you realize that it’s a footprint. Not a shoe print, however, because this print has the distinct outline of three webbed toes!

Ex 2: A player without Forensics and doing a simple search

Player: Doctor Van Wiffle is going to search the nightstand.
Keeper: You find several matchbooks all coming from the Goose and Maverick Tavern.
When it comes to simple searches, the players need to be specific.

Points and Benefits: Episode 1

This next part had me scratching my head for a bit. During the game, players can sometimes get additional clues by spending points from their pool. Their pool? Their pool of what? Investigative points? What in the hell are those?
It took me a few days of lurking in a forum dedicated to Call of Cthulhu games before I could find the answer.

Detective Almonds has a rating of 4 for Cop Talk, ergo he has four points to spend when it comes to Cop Talk.

GM: If you'd like, you can spend a point in Cop Talk to get a little bit of extra info from the snitch.
Almonds: Sure, I'll spend that point from Cop Talk.
GM: With that point spent, you're able to convince Wally the Weasel to give you the name of his employer and purchase some extra firepower, if you so choose.

Detective Almonds still has a rating of 4 in Cop Talk, but now only has 3 points to spend towards Cop Talk.

The example given was fairly bland, but it's just a stop gap until I get more in depth into point spends and benefits.

Don't make my mistake

Detective Almonds's skill allocation is really crappy. I should have had more skills in the Academic category.

Invetigation in Process!

The crux of the GUMSHOE system for Trail of Cthulhu is the gathering of clues and piecing all the bits together. And how do you gather clues? By using your Investigative Abilities (and some General Abilities)! There's no need to roll a die because as long as you have the ability, you WILL get the clue. If you're an accountant and have the Accounting ability, you will be able to decipher the ledgers with all the numbers and whatnot. You can't blow a dice roll and somehow read the numbers backwards.

Using Detective Almonds as an example...

GM: You step into a dingy motel room; the smell of burnt flesh stinging your nostrils. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the partially burnt corpse hanging from the ceiling fan.

P1: Did they burn him while hanging him? That's a bit overkill. Detective Almonds is going to use his skills in Forensics to see if any accelerants were used to burn the poor guy or if anything sticks out.

GM: As you begin examining the body, you notice a slight odor of gasoline beneath the smell of burnt flesh. Not only was gasoline used to burn the victim, it seems that three of the fingers from his right hand were severed shortly before death.

That's a crappy example, but you get the idea. To get the clue, the player only needs to say that they're going to use that skill. You could say "I'm going to use Intimidation to get some info out of the snitch" or you could throw a little bit of flavor in there and say "I take all but one bullet out of my gun and point it at the snitch. I'm getting the murderer's hideout one way or another."

Or the Keeper could ask if any players has a specific skill. I'm hoping to take this route less.

Core clues that continue the story have no cost. Clues that give you a little bit of extra info or benefits may require a point spend. WHAT

Next time, Spends and Benefits!

(Slowly) Creating a ToC Character FIN

Let's Go Shopping!

When it comes to shopping, it's the GM's way or well, there's only the GM's way. After having a bit of a chat with the GM (me), it's been decided that the player (also me), will be able to spend up to half of the lower number of the player's Credit Rating. The range of Credit Rating 3 is between $1,250 to $1,500, so I can buy $625 worth in gear. The GM is also letting me have a gun and a car for free, because those things come with my job. Getting a free gun also allows me to slam it on the desk when the captain accuses me of being a loose cannon and asks for my badge and gun. That gun was issued to me so I don't feel too bad about giving it up. I have a spare.

Police Issued
Colt Police Postive .32 Revolver
1927 Ford Model A

Personal Items
Colt Police Positive .32 Revolver - $15
100 rounds - $.60
Remington M32 20-gauge shotgun - $35
50 shells - $1.40
Trench coat - $11
Fedora - $15
Wrist Watch - $10
Flashlight - $1
2 Batteries - $.15
Two packs of Cigarettes - $.30
Zippo lighter - $1

That leaves me with $536.55. So maybe half of $1,250 was a little much. I might go with a 15% next time.

And that is character creation. Detective Stingray Almonds is now complete and can be used in any campaign I so choose. I will most likely change the name. I'll be sure to upload my completed character sheet when I get home tonight.

Next post is still Trail of Cthulhu related but I'm not quite sure in what way.

(Slowly) Creating a ToC Character Part 3

Partially Optional!

For every 3 full points in Sanity, you must designate a Pillar of Sanity for your character. A Pillar of Sanity is an idea or code that your character believes in ex. justice will prevail, God watches out for us all, for King and country. For every 3 full points in Stability, you have the option of naming a Source of Stability for your character. A Source of Stability is a person that keeps you grounded and helps you wash away the troubles of the world ex. Police Chief Rowlings (Det. Almonds boss) or Steph (waitress at the Detective’s favorite eatery). Sources of Stability can be used for some dramatic tension like when Steph gets kidnapped by a cult of lizard men.

Losing a Source of Stability or having a Pillar of Sanity crumble can be very devastating, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Next post, we go shopping!