I'm back. I'll get the game thread read and a post up shortly.
Welcome back!
I've invited "Bender is Great" to join us.
I haven't heard from "Bender is Great". I guess he's not joining us. I'll look for someone else soon.
Sorry I've been quiet, been quite a rough week or so. I'll have a post up soonish.
I won't take responsibility if you are all following me to our deaths! :) I just had no idea what else to do :)
Apropos of nothing, I'm looking for players in my online Sunday game.
Hey folks. I have a big jury trial through the 8th, so please don't expect much from me until then.
I'll have a post up soon! Moving stuff over to a better computer at the moment so bear with me please.
Hey all! I've answered the Call of Cthulhu in the Recruitment thread and I'm very eager to join this game! I'm a long time fan of pbp gaming (we're talking 25 years...) playing D&D 3.5 as well as Pathfinder, and after trying this game at GenCon50 I immediately loved it. Took me forever to find a game (I'm currently playing Masks of Nyarlathotep on Roll20 and having a blast), but I'm eager to play in pbp format - which I've always enjoyed - despite the relatively slow pace.
Anyway, after taking a quick glance at those of you still in the game (I haven't looked at character sheets, just at your signatures) I'm thinking I have two characters already made that could be a fit. Tell me which you think would be better for the group.
One is an archaeologist/scholar type who can handle a pistol when the need arises. He's not terribly strong, but quick and obviously smart. He was a character I made on another board long ago for another Cthulhu game that never took off (Murder on the Orient Express, I think...)
I've also got another pulp character I created as a backup for the Masks of Nyarlathotep game I'm playing (for when my main explorer inevitably gets horribly killed.) This one is a tough guy, good with shotguns and melee. He's also a doctor (I think I molded him after Doc Savage when I rolled his stats), in case we need some healing out in the field. In my current campaign, we've never needed more than First Aid (which is REALLY handy), and as nobody is a doctor I'm not sure how often more advanced medical knowledge is helpful. But he's got it if it is.
Anyway, any advice would be well-received. Hope to see you all in the game very soon!
On a related note, with my scholar type, I could give guide him toward the VERY dangerous realm of spellcasting, if the party comes across tomes of magic and the like. My son is playing with me in the Masks game, and his character is all over that idea - much to the amusement of the rest of us as he constantly battles with insanity. :) Anyway, if you need a more bookish type instead of the bare-chested hero type that might be fun to mess around with. But I'm definitely looking forward to playing either character - whichever one fits the party's needs more.
Hey West, glad you can join us. It sounds like you might have more Cthulhu experience than most of us. We're relative newbies to the system, but enjoying ourselves.
Either character would be a nice addition. The organization we're affiliated with is a medical aid organization (very MSF-type), so a doctor would fit in. We currently don't actually have anyone with more than basic first-aid knowledge, so it's a tad odd. But an archeologist scholar might fit in better with where the game is going, where we may need someone with a real scholarly background.
I'll let the others give you their thoughts. Antonio is a local Catholic Priest with experience with the larger world and so tapped to be a local liaison. He's also a bare-knuckle boxer and has a small bent for languages.
Oh I'm definitely a newbie as well! I'm still learning all the nuances of the game system. I'll wait for the others to chime in as well, but sounds like maybe you have all the heavy muscle you need? I really enjoyed building that archaeologist scholar, so if either one would fit I'll probably lean his way.
Welcome to the group! We're happy to have you!
Welcome to the group. Either character sounds like a good fit. Play what you'd like to.
Welcome! Enoli is a Cherokee naturalist with some shamanistic underlining in the form or the "folk magic" from the grimoire, but nothing eldrich etc.
Abraham is a mixture of the tough guy coupled with the classic gumshoe detective. Constitution is his strongest stat, followed by Dexterity, Education, and Intelligence. He is quite skilled with a pistol, shotgun/rifle, and brawling. For non-combat skills, he is exceptional at Spot Hidden (90%!), pretty good Psychology, Locksmithing, Stealth, Library Use, Intimidation, and Persuasion.
For his talents, I took Hardy so the mundane horrors of gore, death, and torture don't cause him Sanity loss and Sharp-witted gives him a bonus die when making Intelligence rolls (but not Idea rolls).
We lost our medical student so someone with those skills could be really useful. I adore having dangerous spellcaster in the group, especially since I plan on dying/going insane soon since I'm the combat guy who notices things. Of course, play whatever you like the most since we'll all likely have a chance to play different character concepts in the game. :P
I think that a medic could have obvious uses. But a scientist type could be useful, as could a pilot.
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Whew... OK, I think I've got all the crunchy stuff done. Except for Luck.
= *5 = 65
I will work on the background tomorrow. Went with the Adventurer Archaeologist instead of the Scholar. Let me know if I got any of the numbers wrong - I think the sheet is good to go as far as that goes.
Just to make it easier to reverse engineer the skills:
8 Occupation Skills & Credit Rating:
Spot Hidden - 80
Archaeology - 70
History - 70
Library Use - 60
Mechanical Repair - 60
Language (Other [Latin]) - 50
Appraise - 50
Science (Cryptology) - 50
Credit Rating - 40
Non-Occupation boosts:
Occult +20
Fast Talk +20
Firearms (Rifle) +20
First Aid +20
Brawl +20
100 Bonus Skill points for Archetype:
Firearms (Rifle) +15
Language (Other [Arabic]) +29
Language (Other [French]) +29
Dodge +10
Fast Talk +17
If I made any mistakes, let me know and I'll fix them tomorrow while working on my background information. Wasn't sure about weapons... would like to have a hunting rifle or a shotgun, but I saw in the character creation rules it was nothing more than a pistol - though I thought maybe since I'm coming in after the start of the adventure there could be more flexibility. He'd also definitely have a hunting knife and/or a machete for sure.
Looking forward to the game!!
Made one small change... put one of those +20 to Listen instead of Fast Talk. So the latter only got a +17 to the base. He's not much of a talker anyway... :)
I like the photo. Cool!
Alrighty, we'll get you involved shortly.
Hello fellow adventurers!
Ok, so I'm going to put Chakos the medic/soldier together. No problem on process and format.
Can you confirm that I need to purchase both of the Cthulhu books from DrivethruRPG to get the full ruleset?
Uh... no? Because I'm honestly still failing away at it my own self.
I think you could probably get by with just Pulp Cthulhu, but I think the Investigator's Handbook is going to be useful.
Ok, so in looking at the order of character creation, it looks like I should "consult" with you guys before picking my archetype?
I'm thinking about selecting "Steadfast," and then eventually picking "Soldier" or "Doctor of Medicine" depending on which you guys think is most needed. I haven't looked deeper in the mechanic to understand the numbers yet, but I see First Aid, Handguns, Survival, and other things that seem pretty self explanatory in there.
So is there a straight up Call of Cthulhu book I need? This Pulp book keeps referencing it.
Ahh! I found the quick start rules! Hopefully those help.
Moving along...
* 5 = 55
Am I posting too much?
Can we discuss languages?
My background would have me a native Spanish speaker, with some English, and French. How do I do that? Being a Doctor of Medicine will give me some skill in Latin, I believe, as well.
EDIT: Oh, I can boost some languages as my non-occupation skills! Got it!
10. Add bonus skill points from the Pulp Archetype as desired.
Is this 4 x EDU as it lists for a Doctor of Medicine?
I think the Pulp Archetype is the 100 points that (as far as I can tell) everyone gets and you can break down into any amounts and put into the skills listed for your particular archetype (pg. 15-22.) The EDU points are substituted for the pre-determined Occupation skill points (1x80, 2x70, 2x60, 3x50, 1x40) for your 8 skills listed for your occupation plus credit rating. You also get the five +20 non-occupation boosts that you can put into any five skills of your choice. As an example, here's my breakdown for my Adventurer Archaeologist:
8 Occupation (Archaeologist) Skills & Credit Rating:
Spot Hidden - 80
Archaeology - 70
History - 70
Library Use - 60
Mechanical Repair - 60
Language (Other [Latin]) - 50
Appraise - 50
Science (Cryptology) - 50
Credit Rating - 40
Non-Occupation boosts:
Occult +20
Fast Talk +20
Firearms (Rifle) +20
First Aid +20
Brawl +20
100 Bonus Skill points for Archetype (Adventurer):
Firearms (Rifle) +15
Language (Other [Arabic]) +29
Language (Other [French]) +29
Dodge +10
Fast Talk +17
From what I can tell, your EDU score doesn't really affect how many skill points you get, but I could be wrong in the way I interpreted the character creation.
For languages, I took Latin (cause yeah, my character is into the occult and I'm thinking a LOT of occult texts will be in Latin), as well as French and Arabic. He's not fluent in those latter two, but he knows enough to get by.
Alright, so if you have it right, then here is what I have so far.
Ok, so I chose Doctor of Medicine, with Talents of Sharp Witted and Rapid Fire, although I’m not sure how they will play into things.
8 Occupation Skills & Credit Rating
First Aid - 80
Medicine - 50
Other Language (Latin) - 50
Psychology - 60
Science (Pharmacy) - 50
Science (Biology) – 70
Survival – 70
Occult - 60
Credit Rating – 40
Non-Occupation Boosts
Firearms (Handguns) +20
Language (French) +20
Language (English) +20
Library Use +20
Psychoanalysis +20
100 Bonus Skill points for Archetype
Language (French) +19
Language (English) +9
Psychoanalysis +19
Firearms (Handguns) +40
Spot Hidden +13
Is 80 going overboard on handguns? I mean, while I love roleplaying, and intend to do it, when combat happens, and let’s be honest, it WILL happen, I want to be hitting things, right?
Oh, and how about this photo from his time in the Legion? Dressed in civilian clothes, it's more like the one I have for his profile.
So is there a straight up Call of Cthulhu book I need? This Pulp book keeps referencing it.
The Investigator's Handbook.
Chakos, I want to be sure you're using the Character Creation rules I set out on the Campaign Info tab. I haven't had the time to double-check your work.
An 80 is not going overboard if you picture your character as very good with guns. It -may- be going overboard for a doctor, but then again it might not.
The photo is great.
I'm absolutely using the character creation rules you posted.
However, after reading it again, I think I'm going to use the last +13, and maybe some more to Dodge, to keep myself alive, rather than to Spot Hidden.
We can just start our own Latin club over here. :)
Looking good. I like that we have Mechanical Repair and Medicine in the group again.
I’m going to readjust and focus on some skills more, per the Keeper’s recommendation to “not be a generalist.”
Keeper, can you confirm that Step 10 is to apply another 100 points however you choose?
I think the 100 points in Step 10 is ONLY for your particular Archetype skills (listed on pgs 15-22). The five +20 boosts can be put literally anywhere you want.
And yes, Elliot likes to rebuild cars (helps pay the bills more consistently than finding valuable treasures in ancient temples!)
Oh!!!
I’ll fix that then!
Ok, modified numbers. Can't get above 21 in French and English, so far from "fluent," but I'll take it. We can converse in Latin then! I added a special object: his grandmother's rosary.
8 Occupation Skills & Credit Rating
First Aid - 50
Medicine - 80
Other Language (Latin) - 50
Psychology - 60
Science (Pharmacy) - 50
Science (Biology) – 70
Survival – 70
Occult - 60
Credit Rating – 40
Non-Occupation Boosts
Dodge +20
Language (French) +20
Language (English) +20
Library Use +20
Firearms (Handguns) +20
100 Bonus Skill points for Archetype
First Aid +30
Firearms (Handguns) +40
Spot Hidden +30
Now how do we do gear? I figure a man like Chakos feels most comfortable in hiking/combat boots, and outdoors clothing, with a felt fedora. They didn't have "fatigues" yet in the 1930s.
Insofar as real "gear," I figure a stocked medical bag/pack, to include surgical and first aid type gear. With where he's headed, anti-malarials like quinine are probably a must. Aspirin, etc. Maybe some snake oil, hahaha.
If there's some sort of "lab" equipment available, that would be great. Sample jars, erlenmeyer flasks, microscopes and sample slides, a centrifuge. Medicine in 1933 was fairly advanced in this way. Sure, no X-Ray, and although penicillin has been discovered, it isn't in general usage.
No need for a handgun, or other weapons, unless Caduceus is giving them out, in which case, Chakos would gladly strap on a couple .32s, and a bunch of extra magazines. Chakos is a small guy, and the French used 32s and 7.65s in their military, so no 45 for me!
Caduceus has labs in major cities all over the world, but you're getting airdropped into the jungles of darkest Bolivia. No Erlenmeyer flasks for you! They will, however, hand you a pair of war surplus .32's and a box of ammunition. Also a machete.
Similar set-up for you, Elliot, unless another pistol or melee weapon appeals to you.
I’ll take them!
Any sort of medkit?
Airdropped? Chakos has no experience as a paracaidista!
No shotguns? :)
If not, the .32 and machete works just fine. Figured I'd have a hunting knife as well, if that's OK?
How is damage done for "Hard" and "Extreme" successes with a weapon?
I believe the 'Hard' and 'Extreme' mostly come into play when comparing against the defender's Dodge or Fight Back rolls. If the attacker ties or beats their roll, the attacker wins. If the attacker loses, the attack fails.
Extreme attack successes are automatic I think (since that can't be beat) and do double damage if I remember correctly.
Again, I'm definitely no expert in the regular or pulp rules, but playing every Monday night (except when the session gets canceled like tonight *sniff*), has gotten me used to at least some of the nuances of the rules. Still a lot I don't know or I'm unsure of, though!
I’ll take them!
Any sort of medkit?
Sure. Basic 1930's medical supplies, but only what can be carried. You're being dropped onto a field hospital, so there should be as much as you can carry there.
Airdropped? Chakos has no experience as a paracaidista!
Don't worry. Gravity does all the work and the ground will break your fall.
No shotguns? :)
If not, the .32 and machete works just fine. Figured I'd have a hunting knife as well, if that's OK?
Sure. Shotgun and knife sound fine.
Looks like Elliot is our new rules expert!
Looks like Elliot is our new rules expert!
LOL! I'll try to help! I really am having a blast with the game I've been playing on Roll20. Amazingly, nobody has died yet over the last nine or ten sessions. Though we've had some close scrapes!
Thanks for the shotgun! I'll try not to kill any friendlies... :)
Looks like Elliot is our new rules expert!LOL! I'll try to help! I really am having a blast with the game I've been playing on Roll20. Amazingly, nobody has died yet over the last nine or ten sessions. Though we've had some close scrapes!
Thanks for the shotgun! I'll try not to kill any friendlies... :)
Congratulations Elliott!
I’ll take them!
Any sort of medkit?
Sure. Basic 1930's medical supplies, but only what can be carried. You're being dropped onto a field hospital, so there should be as much as you can carry there.
Sweet!
I’ll take them!
Any sort of medkit?
Sure. Basic 1930's medical supplies, but only what can be carried. You're being dropped onto a field hospital, so there should be as much as you can carry there.
Airdropped? Chakos has no experience as a paracaidista!Don't worry. Gravity does all the work and the ground will break your fall.
I'm just excited that I got to use one of my favorite Spanish words, paracaidista! A word that is only cooler in German as falskirmjager.