GM Tarondor's The Two-Headed Serpent Campaign - Pulp Cthulhu

Game Master Tarondor

Right! POW can be regained also.

The campaign I’m running my buddies through at home has them losing a bunch of stats at the end, which is brutal if they ever want to play those same Investigators again.

Makes me wonder if every Pulp Cthulhu Adventure has a dhole in it!

Abraham? You still with us?

Non-Pulp style Call of Cthulhu is definitely brutal! At least in Pulp the investigators have a chance of survival!

That's the idea, anyway! We're doing "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," not "Saw."

I'm looking for Traveller RPG players!

And learn yet another system!

It builds character.

It builds character.

Characters!!!

Dang, thought I posted Elliot's action yesterday! Weird... It's up now, just helping Abraham. I think that gives him a normal STR check, right? I don't need to roll anything for Elliot? How is that gate looking?

Well, I hope Abraham's player is alright. It's been awhile. I see he posted in some of his other games that he got hurt about ten days ago, so let's hope he's going to be okay.

The gate is kaput!

Dang, I do hope he's OK. We'll get him outta there! Or die in the trying...

Sorry folks for the silence here. The move and injury I sustained had put my mood into the bad zone and I thought I had posted her but it seems I had not.

I am definitely wanting to finish up this chapter but I think after that, I'm going to be dropping out here. Work and life have gotten busier and this chapter just didn't grab me like the other one had. That isn't to say anything about our good Keeper's skill, Tarondor has been killing it. If Abraham gets out of this alive, he is going to retire away from it all a little more broken than most would. A fitting end for a guy who started the campaign with such terrible starting sanity! :P

I'm sorry to hear that, Abraham!

It's been great, having you Abraham!

Indeed, sorry to lose you, but I fully understand Abraham.

Hope you feel better soon, Abraham. I definitely know how burnout works in this medium. Been sick myself, and between work and other RL stuff I'm barely keeping up with my player posts and the adventures I've been moderating have been suffering from neglect. Your rugged ex-soldier will be missed!

We’re all 20% Drive Auto, but the Padre actually has some luck! I guess we know who is driving!

Friends. I'm laid up with COVID. Sick as a dog. I'll check in as and when I can.

Drink water, rest well, take it super easy friend!

Take care of yourself! I think we've all known folks with it over the last to years, so our prayers are with you.

Hey Heroes! I'll be out of town for vacation for a week, so someone bot me as needed please!

Folks:

I'm sorry to have been away. My recovery from COVID is going poorly and leaving me exhausted. If I'm player in your game, please bot me. If I'm the GM - I'll be back in the saddle as soon as I can.

Hope you’re feeling better.

Wearing my Miskatonic Alumni T-shirt around Massachusetts today. Looking for other Alums.

Hope you’re feeling better.

Wearing my Miskatonic Alumni T-shirt around Massachusetts today. Looking for other Alums.

Good healing vibes heading your way, GM!

And Chakos, that's awesome!

Hey folks! My strength is slowly returning and I am going to try to get back to gaming today or tomorrow. Please forgive a slow start, but I will do as my strength allows.

Hope you're feeling better GM!

Okay! We've finished the North Borneo chapter. I'm excited to go on, but I want to do an interest check. Abraham had said he was leaving at the end of the chapter. Is that still the case, Abraham?

And do the rest of you want to continue? We'd have to recruit a fourth, I think, if Abraham is leaving.

There's lots of pulpy goodness to come, but I'll leave the decision to you.

Chakos is in for the long haul! Or until his sanity runs out!

I love the game and definitely want to continue with it! Didn't think Elliot would survive, to be honest... :)

I'm in, though we defintiely need at least one more. And I thought we might not make it out of the blast...

I know a guy...

Okay. See if he wants to play.

Abraham, hoping for a post from you, buddy.

Apparently he's a bit swamped right now.

Any other ideas for a new Hero?

We can recruit on the recruiting page. Just giving you guys a chance to put forward any names you like first.

I'm going to call it here for now. I wanted to finish the campaign and not disappear mid-chapter is all. Thank you all for your patience and the privilege of playing. I wish you all the best on your fourth! <3

Thanks for playing!

Good to have gamed with you, Abraham!

Best of luck in everything Abraham!

THE HERO DEVELOPMENT PHASE

Regaining Sanity

1) Keeper Award. Everyone regain 1d6 Sanity!

2) Having returned to New York, you may use the Self-Help rule to spend time with your background elements (be sure to tell us a bit about this!). If you succeed on a Sanity roll, you regain 1d10 Sanity points. However, if you fail, you lose 1 SAN.

If the above time is spent with a “Key Connection”, then make the above roll with a bonus die. If successful, you recover from any indefinite insanity and gain 1d10 Sanity. If you fail, you lose that key connection. Tell us how it/she/they walked out of your life!

Cthulhu Mythos

3) Make a Cthulhu Mythos check. If successful, gain +1d4 Cthulhu Mythos and lose 1d4 Sanity. If the check fails, gain 1 Cthulhu Mythos and lose 1 Sanity point. Don’t fumble!

Psychotherapy

4) If you are still down Sanity Points, you may enter into intensive psychotherapy. Roll 1d100 against 45. If the roll succeeds, you gain 1d3 sanity per month. You may spend three months doing this (one roll per month). If you fumble, you lose 1d6 Sanity.

Advancing in Skills

5) For each skill you used successfully in the North Borneo adventure, roll 1d100. If you roll higher than the current skill number, or the result is over 95, then you improve in that skill: roll 1D10 and immediately add the result to the current skill points. Skills may rise above 100% by this method. The Cthulhu Mythos and Credit Rating skills never receive a skill check. When an investigator attains 90% or more ability in a skill during an investigator development phase, add 2D6 points to their current Sanity. This reward represents the discipline and self-esteem gained in mastering a skill.

The flight back home allows Elliot some time to decompress and forget about the horrors they'd endured in North Borneo. Already, some if it was becoming dream-like, the memories less sharp and horrific.

Keeper Award (Sanity Regained): 1d6 ⇒ 3 Sanity Regained

After landing in New York, Elliot parts with his new friends with promises to stay in touch, but he is looking forward to getting back home for a spell. He makes the three hour drive to visit his mother for a very short while, but as usual she is deep in the drink and their reunion eventually turns to the kind of mental abuse that he remembers so well - and is the reason for his very infrequent visits. It takes him just a bit over an hour to drive from there to Philadelphia, where is warmly greeted by Duke as the sun sinks below the horizon. The two spend the evening talking about the weather, work at the garage, and both national and local news until quite late. It seems to Elliot as though his world has already returned into some semblance of normal, which continues over the next several weeks as he falls into his regular work routine, taking his Buick D-45 for long drives in the country, and eating real meals in restaurants rather than in the jungle. But his dreams are still haunted, and he starts to see a psychotherapist for a couple of months, trying to forget images of the dhole racing toward him from that other dimension, the horrifying serpent creatures hiding behind the guise of regular people, the ghouls and the other horrors he’d faced in Borneo.

Sanity Check (with Bonus Die - 73): 1d100 ⇒ 51d10 ⇒ 6 = Success (Critical?)
Self Help with Key Connection (Sanity Regained): 2d10 ⇒ (1, 3) = 4 Sanity Regained

Intensive Psychotherapy Check (45): 1d100 ⇒ 77 = Failure for Month 1..

Intensive Psychotherapy Check (45): 1d100 ⇒ 7 = Success for Month 2!
Intensive Psychotherapy (Sanity Regained): 1d3 ⇒ 1 Sanity Regained

Intensive Psychotherapy Check (45): 1d100 ⇒ 17 = Success for Month 3!
Intensive Psychotherapy (Sanity Regained): 1d3 ⇒ 2 Sanity Regained

Still, despite his return to his ‘normal’ life (or perhaps because of it), his mind drifts back to his recent adventures, and as well his treasure-hunting obsession for archaeological finds. He begins to spend his time looking for books on rare antiquities, and eventually he starts looking into references on the occult. He even makes the drive back to New York and spends a couple of nights there in the company of his old friend Algernon Blackwood - who has much to tell him about the subject. Their discussions bring back much of the terror he’d experienced, but the older man’s soothing tone and learning something of the horrors lurking out there seems to bring a sort of balance to his mind and spirit.

Cthulhu Mythos Check (05): 1d100 ⇒ 34 = Failure! 1 Cthulhu Mythos gained, 1 Sanity Lost

Luck Increase: 2d10 + 10 ⇒ (5, 5) + 10 = 20

The weeks continue to roll steadily onward into months as Elliot balances his sessions and the rather mundane garage work with his own research on finding the next great archaeological treasure that will surely bring him fame and fortune. He also continues to practice with his firearms and goes out with Duke a few times to hunt deer and turkey. He finds it oddly comforting that during these excursions he remains solidly in the role of ‘hunter’, rather than the ‘hunted’ by some terrifying monster…

Firearms (Handguns - 20): 1d100 ⇒ 47 = Improvement!
Improvement: 1d10 ⇒ 6

Firearms (Rifle/Shotgun - 60): 1d100 ⇒ 68 = Improvement!
Improvement: 1d10 ⇒ 9

Listen (with Penalty Die for Crit during adventure - 40): 1d100 ⇒ 61d10 ⇒ 9 = Improvement!
Improvement: 1d10 ⇒ 1

Spot Hidden (80): 1d100 ⇒ 13 = No Improvement

Stealth (20): 1d100 ⇒ 50 = Improvement!
Improvement: 1d10 ⇒ 5

Wasn’t sure if that Critical success on the Sanity checks means anything. Also wasn’t sure if that Key Connection lets us roll an additional d10 for regaining Sanity? If not, just ignore the second roll. Depending on how that shakes out, I will either wind up with 76 or 79 Sanity, all told. I saw in the House Rules that we also roll to Increase Luck – and since mine is currently 0 that’s an automatic failure, so I rolled the 2d10+10, hope that’s OK!. Thanks!

Regaining Sanity

Keeper Award: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Sanity(44): 1d100 ⇒ 62 Fail

Sanity regained: 1d10 ⇒ 1

Cthulhu Mythos

Cthulhu Mythos (10/5/2): 1d100 ⇒ 99 Fail

Cthulhu Mythos +1, Sanity -1

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy(45): 1d100 ⇒ 75 Fail
Psychotherapy(45): 1d100 ⇒ 91 Fail
Psychotherapy(45): 1d100 ⇒ 19 Success

Sanity regained: 1d3 ⇒ 1

Skill Improvement

Firearms (Handguns) (80/40/16): 1d100 ⇒ 46 Success
Firearms (Rifle/Shotgun) (25/12/5): 1d100 ⇒ 85 Fail
First Aid (89/44/17): 1d100 ⇒ 18 Success
Medicine (80/40/16: 1d100 ⇒ 21 Success
Spot Hidden (55/27/11): 1d100 ⇒ 98 Fail
Survival (70/35/14): 1d100 ⇒ 54 Success

Firearms (Rifle/Shotgun) Improvement: 1d10 ⇒ 9
Spot Hidden Improvement: 1d10 ⇒ 3

I go out of town for Boy Scout Camp this Sunday for a week. I will NOT have access to any internet.

Have fun!

Keeper Reward: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Sanity 72: 1d100 ⇒ 77 Bonus die: 1d10 ⇒ 2
Making the roll a 27. Success!
Sanity regained: 1d10 ⇒ 8

Returning from Borneo, Antonio calls his old friend, Father Gregory Potter, and asks whether the Church can spare a room for him. Instead, Potter insists he stay with him for as long as he needs. That's how Antonio finds himself back at Potter's house, nearly 20 years after he first arrived in New York.

When he opens the door, Potter embraces Antonio as a brother, but he feels a stiffness in his latino friend. The Irishman pulls back and stares at the haunted look on Antonio's face. "Mary and Joseph...Antonio, what's happened?" The Latino just sighs and pats Potter on the back as they walk into the house. "I will take my things upstairs. My old room, yes, Greg? You haven't turned it into a sewing room or anything?" He turns back to face a questioning look on the Irishman.

"It's a long story, Greg. Maybe tonight. Maybe another night. But I think I will need your whiskey..." He chokes back a sob as Enoli's face comes to his mind. Then his memories cascade as a flood: the demons, the disease, and the enormous explosion. Time blurs and Antonio finds hismelf sitting in a chair, sobbing. He looks up at Potter, and speaks in a deathly whisper. "Greg...I think I killed thousands of people."

Cthulu Mythos 10: 1d100 ⇒ 73 Fail, gain 1 Cthulu skill point, lose 1 Sanity

No Psychotherapy for Antonio. Unless you consider the confessionals a form of it.

Skill improvement
Persuade 70: 1d100 ⇒ 54
Drive 20: 1d100 ⇒ 75 Increase: 1d10 ⇒ 7
Brawling 70: 1d100 ⇒ 34
Psychoanalysis 50: 1d100 ⇒ 66 Increase: 1d10 ⇒ 5
Firearms (shotgun) 25: 1d100 ⇒ 83 Increase: 1d10 ⇒ 9
Psychology 80: 1d100 ⇒ 90 Increase: 1d10 ⇒ 4
Spot Hidden 54: 1d100 ⇒ 79 Increase: 1d10 ⇒ 5

Hello all. I am leaning towards a mechanic/grease monkey unless someone has a better idea. I am looking at getting the books now.

Hello! I'm liking Thrill Seeker/Aviator especially since y'all need a pilot! I've started reading through the books

Just to clarify we aren't using Personal Interests Skill rules correct or do those go to archetyepe skills?

The irony in having someone aim to be a pilot now, is that it's probably akin to preparing for the LAST war. The need for a pilot might be done with for this adventure, but who knows!

Knowledge type skills are always needed. I've probably got First Aid and Medicine about covered.

Everyone needs to have at least some plan to be useful in combat.

TThe need for a pilot might be done with for this adventure, but who knows!

A pilot will be MIGHTY useful in the last adventure of the campaign. And of course, pilots are always useful if you can turn an adventure into one with a plane.