FWIW, I dig the 'caught Minerva in multiple personas' idea. And anyone is happy to come spar with Father Peña. Even someone just passing through or come to watch the spectacle could work. Maybe it's a one way recognition.
RD, how old is Louise? Father Peña left New York a while ago (4-5 years?), but while he was there, he certainly got banged up enough that he would have needed minor medical attention. Maybe his appearance is just average because of the way his nose was broken and a missing tooth.
Louise is 28 and her time line in New York looks like this:
Age 18 - Begins Freshman Year at Hunter College (CUNY).
Age 22 - Graduates Hunter College with BA in English.
Age 22 - Begins 1st year at University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College (NYU)
Age 26 - Graduates medical school.
Age 26 - Begins Surgical Residency at Caduceus Foundation.
Age 28 - Present, 2nd year of residency.
So Louise would have been seeing patients regularly for two years. It might be she saw some patients for minor things in her 2nd year of clinical education (fourth year of med school).
Maybe she could have met Father Peña that way. I'd say it's close enough, I don't know precisely how time was allocated in med school in the 1930's but there was certainly less to learn so patients might have entered into the mix earlier.
Yeah, so it would have been late in his time there and early in her medical schooling then. Maybe it was an observation. Or she could have just heard stories about the priest who kept getting beat up.
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@Tarondor: I'm wondering about how to allocate points for Louise's Credit Rating. I'm thinking about setting it at 60, the lower end of wealthy.
In terms of character fluff what I'm aiming for is Louise is extremely wealthy, but it's family money rather than her own. She has limited access to money from her family, (let's say the Zhou family is in the 90 CR range). She also has her own income from work, but that would be on the lowest part of the medical doctor range at around 30.
She rents a very nice, but not palatial, apartment rather than owning, and her only durable assets are her Scott Flying Squirrel motorcycle and Curtis Jenny airplane. Otherwise her money goes to basic upkeep, essentials, and entertainment. She buys quality but doesn't bother with ridiculous levels of luxury. She can draw on a more substantial amount of funds occasionally as needed, but needs to be careful about upsetting the parents with her spending.
Does CR 60 sound about right?
BTW: I don't expect her vehicles to actually play a part in the game. The plane is garaged at an airfield outside the city. She's a track and touring motorcycle rider, not an around town commuter.
Am I lucky?
*5 = 50
And I am not :(
Other than credit/gear I have the character sheet done, even a picture
Does CR 60 sound about right?
Sounds okay to me.
Love the photos you found for Father Peña and Enoli!
So I'm a little confused on the CR number, for the profession it shows 1-20, can I choose the higher, or has to be an average?
For gear/weapons can we "spend" out of our assets or only the cash?
We are not using standard CoC -or- Pulp Cthulhu character creation. Step #8 in the Character Creation process is:
Allocate the following values among the eight occupation skills and Credit Rating: one at 80%, two at 70%, two at 60%, three at 50% and one at 40% (set the skills directly to these values and ignore the skill base values). If your chosen profession states a lower Credit Rating skill than 40%, you should set an appropriate Credit Rating skill value and distribute the excess points elsewhere.
So your Credit Rating should be 40, 50, 60, 70 or 80 unless your profession says it should be less than 40%. In that case pick any number in the range as your Credit Rating and allocate the difference between that number and 40% somewhere else.
As for gear, Caduceus will equip you with what you need initially, so you don't actually need to spend anything. If you want a special or personal item, that has to come out of your cash, not assets.
Working on the character sheet.
I love the suggestion you made for Charles and Minerva meeting.
Working on the character sheet.
I love the suggestion you made for Charles and Minerva meeting.
I did make one mistake. For the second meeting to occur after the first, it would have to have been in 1919, not 1918.
OK so I messed up my skills, didn't catch you can't allocate the 100 extra points to occupation skills, just archetype skills. I'm not nearly as impressed with myself now :)
I like the connection that Charlie has seen Minerva under different identities over the years.
So it looks like Father Peña and Enoli have completed character sheets. Where are we on Character Sheets for Louise, Minerva and Charlie?
Also, does Minerva have a nickname? Is it Minnie? It is, and she hates it, right? :-)
Does she ever go by Athena?
Done except for weapons and possessions. I wouldn't think those prevent us from starting when everyone is ready.
Hopefully I haven't spread my skill points too thin!
Yes it's Minnie and yes she hates it. "Everyone" shortens her name because when she's not working she doesn't "act like a Minerva".
I'll finish up backstory and get character sheet loaded up today.
Minnie the Moocher! :p
Are we even sure that's her real name?
If it get's me free drinks at the speakeasy then you can call me Minnie the Moocher, but only if there are free drinks.
Player profile is created, and the sheet has been uploaded.
I do have a question about dodge. I don't seem to have any points in it. How does it get calculated?
So what is everyone's top 5 skills, just as a way to see how diversified we are.
Enoli's
Track
Navigate
Natural World
Fireams - Rifle
Listen
@Minerva: Dodge is 1/2 Dex. I'm not sure whether we can add points past that. I guess so but not positive.
Louise's top 5 (excluding languages)
First Aid
Medicine
Science (Pharmacy)
Credit Rating
Pilot (Prop Aircraft)
If we're not including CR as a skill, I have several that are at 50% so it's a multi-way tie for 5th.
I do have a question about dodge. I don't seem to have any points in it. How does it get calculated?
@Minerva: Dodge is 1/2 Dex. I'm not sure whether we can add points past that. I guess so but not positive.
Dodge can be added to like any other skill (and I would definitely consider doing so). Its base is (1/2 DEX)%, meaning that if you place no points in it, it is equal to half your DEX.
Hopefully I haven't spread my skill points too thin!
I would be very careful about that. Better to have one or two skills you're reliably good at than a bunch of skills with which you mostly fail.
JoshB, you have not dotted in to the Campaign Info tab. That means you're not getting notified of changes here! I suggest you do that.
Are we even sure that's her real name?
My longest running D&D game (The Black Dragons, 1989-1996) contained an NPC called Father Aelius. I was just trying to give this important NPC a name that sounded like a late Roman name. Of course, all my players heard "Father Alias" and would always respond "If that -is- his real name." Eventually the good Father had to go...
CariMac - Can you make Minerva's picture visible to anyone with the Link, please? We can't access it.
Also, CariMac, you may want to check Minerva's age. If she's 26 in 1933, that means she was 11 years old in 1918 when she supposedly met Charlie, which gives that story a whole other meaning. I suggest she be born around 1899 or 1900 to make her both an adult in 1918 but still relatively young in 1933.
So I think we have character sheets for Louise, Antonio, Minerva and Enoli. I -believe- we're waiting on Charlie. Is that right?
Meanwhile, let's talk equipment.
Forget the gear you'll need in the jungle. Caduceus will equip you with weapons, food, survival gear and a radio. But if you want something special (a particular weapon, a camera, etc.), go ahead and buy it from your cash now. Minor items like wristwatches and bibles can just be had.
Otherwise, you have each been equipped with the following:
1) two rugged outfits, suitable for the expedition, including pants (even for ladies), shirts, hats, gloves, socks, boots and undergarments. Fedoras for everybody!
2) A wooden-frame backpack.
3) A very few personal toiletries and shaving kits.
4) A signalling mirror
5) A hatchet, machete, bayonet or bowie knife (your choice of hatchet or large or medium knife (Pulp Cthulhu, page 256).
6) Your choice of one of the following: A) .38 revolver; B) .45 automatic; C: Garand M1 Rifle; or D:12-ga. pump shotgun. Pistols come with 100 rounds. Rifles come with 50 rounds and shotguns come with 20 shells. If you're packing a pistol and you see yourself firing two-handed, then by all means take two. Same with knives.
In addition, one of you will carry a big and bulky backpack radio in order to make contact with Caduceus. In order to make this work, you need to set it up and someone needs to climb a tall tree with the antenna. Decide who will be carrying this.
A final note: I do not care if you know the correct nomenclature for weapons, ammunition or period pieces. If you call a cartridge a bullet or call a magazine a clip, that's okay. Just do your best to keep to period language, slang and social attitudes (within reason and good taste). "Have fun with it" is really the rule.
The Padre's top skills are:
Psychology
Persuade
Language (Latin)
Fighting (brawl)
Language (English)
Library Use
Then he has several at the 50 level.
Is there a place in either book which shows an example of play with the mechanics (i.e. skill rolls, etc.)? I'm trying to understand what my Linguist talent does when it says, "gains a bonus die to Language rolls." I had thought succeeding was to roll under the skill rating, so a bonus die sounds bad.
I'm sure you've all seen movies from or set in the 1930's. Two I'd like to recommend for getting into the mood for this game are: 1934's It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, a great movie and a fun take on sexual politics of the time and 1948's Treasure of the Sierra Madre, starring Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston, for classic look at some adventuring Americans in Latin America.
Tim:
A bonus die means you get to roll two d100's and take the better roll. A penalty die means you must roll two d100's and take the worse roll. Somewhat like a Boon or Bane in Traveller.
Technically it's only the "tens" die that changes, not the "ones" digit, but that's a bit picky for my tastes. We'll just give you two d100 rolls and you take either the better or worse, depending.
Note that some circumstances may grant -two- bonus dice or impose -two- penalty dice.
This is all spelled out on page 91 of the Keeper's Guide, but it's unnecessary for you to have that book.
Okay, it's 5:00 a.m. and I'm sure the kids won't let me sleep past 8:30, so I'm off!
How long has Caduceus initially told us that we would be gone? Weeks? Months?
I've gone through and compared Louise's skills to the other characters. I didn't really cross reference other characters against each other, that would have taken a lot of time, so I'll be relying on memory and my comments might be a little off as a result. Of course this also doesn't include JoshB's sheet, which might change things some.
It looks to me like me have very little overlap among the character's developed skills except in combat, which is good overlap. We'll all need to be able to fight in some way. There's also overlap in First Aid, with three of us investing skill points. Again this is good since we want options in case the person who does first aid is the one who desperately needs first aid. That said, Louise is most trained with 80%, while Father Antonio and Enoli both have 50%, fine Volvo engineering levels of assurance someone will be able to do it. On the other hand, if either of the 50% people was looking at another skill they really wish they could take but didn't have the points for it, one of you could probably take the first aid points and put it there instead. Just not both of you!
With only Pathfinder experience to draw on, it's hard to predict what skills will prove to be very or less important. That said, if skills are groups into "spheres of use" based on the Pathfinder way of linking skills to attributes, there are a couple of places we might be a little weak.
Again, we haven't seen JohsB's sheet, so that could change things. But we might be a underinvested in social skills. Right now Father Antonio is our guy for that with points in Charm and Persuade. Otherwise only Louise has points in social skills with a 35% in Charm. I didn't put much into the area because I sort of expected Minerva would have points in the area. However Louise and Minerva overlap in Mechanical Repair with Minerva better at it. I could remove Louise's points since Minerva is already better at it and reallocate them to Charm so we're not so reliant on one person. I'll wait to see what JoshB's sheet shows and what any of you think before making the change.
We might also be a little weak in the sciences. Louise has points in Biology and Pharmacy, but she's the only one with any science skills. I don't figure we need to cover every possible science, but it might be good to have another basic one or two like chemistry or physics. Again, this idea is open for any opinions on the questions the rest of you might have.
@Tarandor: There is a very sore spot with my character development. Other Language (Latin) is an occupational skill for Medical Doctor. Under the character development guidelines I have to devote points to it. Even the minimal amount, which is what I have in there now, is 40 points.
This isn't a skill that's going to see much, maybe any use. Even if it does come in handy Father Antonio also has Latin and is better at it than Louise. He also had an actual reason to know Latin. There is no reason for a doctor to know Latin and it's not taught in medical school, at least in the 20th century.
There are a couple of ways I could handle this, one of them being switching to the Nurse occupation and using it for doctor anyway. They're mostly identical except now that I've looked at it, Nurse is probably better. It does away with Latin and the two open choice slots and instead gives Listen, An interpersonal skill of choice, Spot Hidden and switches Pharmacy to Chemistry.
I could switch and redo things but that would be some work. Instead would you be willing to allow me to switch Latin for one of the Nursing occupation skills? I'd probably take either the interpersonal skill or Chemistry. Nurse actually makes a better doctor than Medical Doctor.
One thing, how much does Pharmacy overlap with Chemistry? Would it be roughly an organic vs inorganic divide or something else?
unfortunately pretty locked down into whatever skills Explorer/Ranger provider, and needed my 5 non-occupational skills in other skills those didn't give me.
At first, I was going to tell you just to choose a different skill, but I realized that unlike Priest, both Nurse and Doctor only have 8 occupation skills.
Yeah, 8 occupation skills for both so no flexibility on skills to put points into, only how many points to allocate.
I thought all the occupations had 8 skills, even if in some cases one or two are listed as "choice". Looking at Priest I see 8 for it too?
I guess that's true. I took Other Language twice, so I didn't have to take Accounting.
Grease Monkey and Cat Burglar don't lend themselves to "face" skills. I could go Rogue instead of Grease Monkey. Either would fit her.
@Louise: Mechanical makes more sense for you as a pilot. You want to be able to work on your plane.
I can also drop the Mechanical skills. I could choose to raise electrical instead, and pick a different personal skill.
Currently my top 5 are:
Stealth 80%
Sleight of Hand 70%
Locksmith 70%
Spot Hidden 60%
Appraise 60%
I have 50% in climb so I think I've got the climb the tree to put up the antenna covered.
@Torandor: I raised Minerva's age to 33.
How long has Caduceus initially told us that we would be gone? Weeks? Months?
Eight weeks.
we might be a underinvested in social skills. Right now Father Antonio is our guy for that with points in Charm and Persuade.
The two-fisted guy is unlikely to have a lot of Face skills.
Yeah, I agree that the team might want to think about having at least one strong social skill in the bunch.
Instead would you be willing to allow me to switch Latin for one of the Nursing occupation skills?
That's fine.
One thing, how much does Pharmacy overlap with Chemistry? Would it be roughly an organic vs inorganic divide or something else?
Since I myself am no expert in either discipline, I'd have to rely on the descriptions of the skills themselves:
Chemistry - A study of the composition of substances, the effects of temperature, energy, and pressure upon them, as well as how they affect one another. With chemistry, one might create or extract complex chemical compounds, including simple explosives, poisons, gases, and acids, requiring at least a day or so with the proper equipment and chemicals. Thee user could also analyze an unknown substance, given proper equipment and reagents.
Pharmacy - The study of chemical compounds and their effect on living organisms. Traditionally this has involved the formulation, creation, and dispensing of medications (whether a witch-doctor using combination of herbs or a modern pharmacist operating in a laboratory). Thee application of this skill ensures the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs, including synthesizing ingredients, identification of toxins, and knowledge of possible side effects.
Let's wrap these up by tomorrow, please.
Thanks Tarandor!
I shifted some points around, taking out Latin and adding Charm. I decided to go big on Charm, so Louise now has 70% in it. With Father Antonio's 70% in Persuade as well, we should be alright for social skills.
Minerva, if you don't mind making the change I think what you suggested is a good idea. Louise doesn't have bunches of points in Mechanical Repair but I was able to add a few more. If you take your points in it and move them to Electrical Repair we should be able to fix most things I can think of from the time period.
Possessions/Gear and Weapon info added to Louise's sheet so I believe I'm done.
Thanks for the movie suggestions Tarandor, both are great!
Here are a few more suggestions if anyone is interested.
Design for Living: A 1933 pre-code romantic comedy starring Fredric March, Gary Cooper, and Miriam Hopkins as a trio of Americans in living in Paris and trying to manage a romantic triangle. Absolutely scandalous in a cute thirties way! One of the top 10 grossing films of 1933.
Shanghai Express: A pre-code drama made in 1932. Marlene Dietrich doing what she does best on a train.
Cat People: A Val Lewton horror film made in 1942. Lewton is known for making out of the box horror movies with crazy titles (ie I Walked With A Zombie). Lewton didn't get to pick his titles and the movies are generally much better than the titles would suggest. This one isn't a monster movie but deals with dread and psychological horror. It was influential in moving horror movies away from the earlier Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, formulas that were so popular at the time.
Babylon Berlin: If you have trouble watching old classic movies, and honestly they can sometimes be difficult to get through, here is a great recent series for you. It's a German show set in Berlin 1929. At its core it's a neo-noir police procedural, but it has mystery suspense, political thriller, comedy, and musical elements mixed in as well. It's gorgeously done, Berlin is almost a character. It's also surprisingly accurate in its rendering of social and political subjects. It is a dark and violent show, be warned if that's not your thing. One of my favorite Netflix shows in the last few years. The dubbed version is poorly done, watch it with subtitles.