Begin discussion! Feel free to introduce yourselves, tell us a bit about yourselves.
The idea here is that you don't know each other, so don't worry about making connections.
Heya! Happy to be picked and looking forward to learning a new ruleset!
About me... I'm a long-time RPGer and consider it a team sport. So, I'm into the teamwork aspects of the game and I'm happy to tweak my build to shore up weaknesses our team may have.
Let's chat about builds when we have a chance.
Yeah! Always wanted to play some CoC, could never find a group to teach me/who was interested in learning with me! I'm a newcomer to the hobby, only been playing since 2012. Teamwork is great, and always a priority; what's important is that everyone is having fun, even if we disagree in character, it's probably not out of character at all!
I have been finding some difficulty with starting wealth/stuff to buy, anyone got any tips?
There's no real "starting wealth" in the game. Instead, the Credit Rating skill is a vague measure of your ability to procure stuff. Your actual accurate wealth level is not measured in game.
Thank you for choosing me!
And, to mirror Malcolm, Call of Cthulhu is definitely more of a team exercise; this is not a game where you train your character up to beat the baddies up like a dungeon adventure. I'm happy to work with everyone to figure out how to take care of ourselves and each other in the face of insurmountable terror.
Are you looking for 'tips' on how the system works or what you should specifically buy?
I plugged your CR of 75% into Hero Lab and it comes to:
Spending Level: $50 (this is kind of like your Per Diem - if you spend less than this, you don't really need to track it)
Cash: $375 (this is the money in your wallet right now.)
Assets: $37,500 (this is basically your savings account, etc.)
The Investigator's Handbook has lists of goods and prices.
It seems like a lot of regular, low cost, items (below your Spending Level) can be hand-waived as being in your possession... Luggage with a range of clothing? Check! Toiletries kit? Check! Given your CR, Howard probably has a silk smoking jacket and fine Turkish tobacco, too. :)
When you start buying expensive stuff that's when you need to consider tracking it. A Duesenburg J (fine car) costs like $20,000. In that case, you should reduce your total Assets by that amount. If you wanted to buy a shotgun (worth $50), you could probably pay for it out of your Cash or your Assets.
But the Keeper has the final say on all that. I made a few big ticket purchases that fit my character but are well above my Spending Level and Cash... so I accounted for everything I wanted to buy (because I'm just too used to PF) and reduced my Assets by that amount.
Presumably, we are just attending a funeral and will reading in NYC. Since you are coming from MA, you probably have luggage and personal effects. After that, I guess it comes down to how your character likes to travel and other stuff he'd bring with him.
Hi team!
Here's the alias that I'll use for Marcus, and I'll work on getting the character sheet moved from the PDF I linked to in the Recruitment thread to this alias. (But it is a busy time of year, so...)
I'm also still not sure which alias picture I'll use:
- This is the one that I'm leaning towards right now, because he's young enough and wearing period-appropriate clothing, maybe.
- This one is too old, but otherwise has all the right characteristics as I picture them.
- And this one has the right attitude, but he's wearing fantasy garb.
Anyway, as I said in the Recruitment thread, I'm also playing in a real life CoC game currently. I don't get to play RPGs in-person very much at all these days, so when my friend said he was going to start a game, I jumped in. However, our first game was a Delta Green game, and our current game uses the actual CoC ruleset, but it's set in the mid-2000s decade. Both games are fun, but I've been really craving the 1920s setting. So, I'm looking forward to this game!
I agree with the assertion that this is a team sport, so I'm open to discussing any adjustments to my PC. But the intent is that Marcus is a History and Library Use guy, with a specialty in Egyptology, but I also made sure he can use a shotgun without hurting himself and that he knows how to throw a punch. I expect he'll go down fast if he's ever in a one-on-one confrontation, but fortunately, CoC doesn't have to be that sort of game. (And he'll probably save everyone else's life when running from a threat, because he's the slowest!)
The two useful (I think) skills I'm seeing that none of us has thrown points into are:
First Aid - but the base is 30% so maybe that's not a big deal?
Psychoanalysis - this skill is good for helping people recover Sanity points over time. For the folks with CoC experience... is this a useful skill or do you normally hire a psychologist to treat folks that are about to crack? IF this is a good skill to take, my character went through intensive therapy so it could make sense that he picked up this skill. I'm happy to shuffle some points around to give us better than 1% chance on this. What do you think?
Glad to have everyone here already! First things first I usually create a discord server for all the games I'm running because it's easier to access me there when I'm away from my PC. Feel free to join! Invite link
Regarding changes and such, I do wish I could give you genuine advice as to the 'meta' skills or what have you, but as I am learning the system myself I cannot do so. The first few posts I am sure will just be flavor and setting the scene/introducing yourselves, so you have a couple of days to finalize the finer character choices.
Before we begin in earnest, I'd like to go over a bit of the expectations I'd like all of us to have for this game. Just to be sure we're all on the same page. I mentioned a few of these in the recruitment, but just want to flesh it all out a bit more.
I am using the Call of Cthulhu ruleset and will be sticking to a lot of the general vibes the rules and setting lend themselves to, but the game will be taking place in a separate setting away from the big names of Cthulhu and the like. Don't expect the cosmic horror to take the same familiar forms you might be used to!
I also mentioned the content warning in the recruitment, and I just want to reinforce the idea that this will not be the typical heroic adventure most games on here are. I will not actively try to kill your characters (unless they do something or go somewhere they shouldn't), but you should expect harm and loss of life to both you guys and anyone in the story. Violence, fear, gore, death, children under threat, all sorts of nasty business. If there are any specific triggers or limits you'd like to avoid, best to let me know ahead of time and I'll see what I can do to accommodate it.
Other than that, I expect to have my opening post up this evening, and I'm glad to be gaming with you all!
I'm also still not sure which alias picture I'll use:
- This is the one that I'm leaning towards right now, because he's young enough and wearing period-appropriate clothing, maybe.
- This one is too old, but otherwise has all the right characteristics as I picture them.
- And this one has the right attitude, but he's wearing fantasy garb.
I decided to go with Grigori from Kingmaker. Please ignore the fantasy hat.
The two useful (I think) skills I'm seeing that none of us has thrown points into are:
First Aid - but the base is 30% so maybe that's not a big deal?
Psychoanalysis - this skill is good for helping people recover Sanity points over time. For the folks with CoC experience... is this a useful skill or do you normally hire a psychologist to treat folks that are about to crack? IF this is a good skill to take, my character went through intensive therapy so it could make sense that he picked up this skill. I'm happy to shuffle some points around to give us better than 1% chance on this. What do you think?
All of my CoC games have been mostly on-shots, almost as if CoC PCs are disposable, because everyone is likely to lose sanity sooner or later. I've rarely seen psychoanalysis used, but my experience may be different than standard.
I think that we should identify any skill overlaps before worrying overly much about any gaps. But also, it's been my experience that there are so many skills and not enough skill points to go around that there will almost always be gaps.
Glad to have everyone here already! First things first I usually create a discord server for all the games I'm running because it's easier to access me there when I'm away from my PC. Feel free to join! Invite link
Hello! I've joined the Discord, and I'll check it, but I've never found the appreciation for that site that others have, so most of my communication will still be in this Discussion thread, unless something changes. Can you keep a link to it on the Campaign Info tab or the header?
Regarding changes and such, I do wish I could give you genuine advice as to the 'meta' skills or what have you, but as I am learning the system myself I cannot do so. The first few posts I am sure will just be flavor and setting the scene/introducing yourselves, so you have a couple of days to finalize the finer character choices.
I am not by any means an expert, but I did come across this Reddit post about Coc characters recently, and it feels like good advice:
Survival isn't really the goal in a Cthulhu game, revelation and role playing are. That said, spreading your skills thin in the hope you can at least attempt to do anything is not a good strategy. Characters should have at least a few skills they're 60+ in. If it were me I'd want 1 interpersonal skill up that high, 1 detection skill up that high (e.g. Psych, Listen, Spot, Stealth) and 1 knowledge skill up that high (includes the repairs etc). I lump combat skills (and dodge) with tactical support skills like drive auto and first aid and physical skills like climb, jump etc. Find a reason to be good at something that helps in a physical situation
Before we begin in earnest, I'd like to go over a bit of the expectations I'd like all of us to have for this game. Just to be sure we're all on the same page. I mentioned a few of these in the recruitment, but just want to flesh it all out a bit more.
I am using the Call of Cthulhu ruleset and will be sticking to a lot of the general vibes the rules and setting lend themselves to, but the game will be taking place in a separate setting away from the big names of Cthulhu and the like. Don't expect the cosmic horror to take the same familiar forms you might be used to!
I also mentioned the content warning in the recruitment, and I just want to reinforce the idea that this will not be the typical heroic adventure most games on here are. I will not actively try to kill your characters (unless they do something or go somewhere they shouldn't), but you should expect harm and loss of life to both you guys and anyone in the story. Violence, fear, gore, death, children under threat, all sorts of nasty business. If there are any specific triggers or limits you'd like to avoid, best to let me know ahead of time and I'll see what I can do to accommodate it.
Other than that, I expect to have my opening post up this evening, and I'm glad to be gaming with you all!
Thanks, I appreciate the content warning. I'm usually okay with all of those, although some of them squig me out (but that's part of the point of a game like this). The only thing I don't like to participate in -- and it seems unlikely to happen in this game from what you've said -- is sexual encounters involving my PC. If they happen, I prefer they happen off-screen.
Other than that, I'm excited to get going!
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Well, now that you've mentioned the hat, how can I not see it? :P Actually, I don't find it distracting at all.
I think there are some skill overlaps but most of them seem reasonable... like skills you may want more than one player to have, just in case - Listen, Spot Hidden, etc.
I'm fine with there being gaps in our skills, I'm just hoping we're not missing a really obvious skill (to experienced players) that only newbs forget to pick up. I did notice none of us has Locksmith, for instance.
Survival isn't really the goal in a Cthulhu game, revelation and role playing are. That said, spreading your skills thin in the hope you can at least attempt to do anything is not a good strategy. Characters should have at least a few skills they're 60+ in. If it were me I'd want 1 interpersonal skill up that high, 1 detection skill up that high (e.g. Psych, Listen, Spot, Stealth) and 1 knowledge skill up that high (includes the repairs etc). I lump combat skills (and dodge) with tactical support skills like drive auto and first aid and physical skills like climb, jump etc.
This all seems valid to me and my character fits that criteria... so I'm cautiously hopeful that I did a decent job building him.
CoF, I appreciate the warning and I don't flinch at seriously dark and/or mature themes happening.
I'm satisfied with expectations and don't have any content I'm worried about.
And, as a high-POW, high-EDU, low-LUCK character, it'll be fun to try to stick around, anyway!
I'm satisfied with my expectations as well! Big fan of the original Lovecraft work and a lot of his author friends extended universe, so it'll be easier to keep any meta game knowledge out and away if I don't know anything about the setting in the first place!
I sat down to convert my PDF character sheet to my alias, but I got distracted comparing our skills on a spreadsheet.
I don't see any major overlaps that are concerning. I'd say we're a pretty well-rounded group.
Vandermeer, you have two skills that I didn't recognize, however: Bargain and Reputation. Where did they come from?
I used the list from the Obsidian Portal. But perhaps it uses a previous edition?
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The skill sheet post has reminded me of a couple of things I wanted to clarify: I'll be using a couple of things that I think are house/optional rules? Unsure.
Spending Luck on Rolls: when you fail a roll, you may spend points from your Luck score (permanently losing those points) to increase the die roll by 1 for each point spent. I mostly see this happen in one shots where it doesn't matter as much, but remember that I envision this as a much longer, slow burn campaign. So save those luck points until you really need them!
Pushing the Roll: if you fail a particular roll and are able to think of a way to try again that also puts yourself in greater danger of some sort, you may reroll that failed roll. You must take the results of the second roll, even if it's worse.
Mythos: this isn't really a house rule so much as a name change. As Cthulhu and his famous friends won't be involved this time, the mythos skill will be just that, Mythos. Small, but felt worth acknowledging.
I used the list from the Obsidian Portal. But perhaps it uses a previous edition?
Yes, I looked it up, and 6th edition used Bargain, so that's probably what you saw on the Obsidian Portal site.
Here is Chaosium's official character sheet, which lists the 7th edition skills.
Okay, if my skill list is using the wrong edition, then can I make the following updates:
Bargain -> Appraise
Reputation -> Law
This means I've got one free personal skill (since Law was one of them). I'll change that from Law to Science(Mechanics). That's the science of how things move, stress and strain, how buildings fail, that sort of thing.
The skill sheet also doesn't mention my personal skills, just my occupation skills. It's on my character sheet: Occult 25, Archaeology 20, History 25, Law 25 -> Science(Mechanics) 20.
Ah luck... couldn't be me...
Ah luck... couldn't be me...
Okay, if my skill list is using the wrong edition, then can I make the following updates:
Bargain -> Appraise
Reputation -> Law
This means I've got one free personal skill (since Law was one of them). I'll change that from Law to Science(Mechanics). That's the science of how things move, stress and strain, how buildings fail, that sort of thing.
The skill sheet also doesn't mention my personal skills, just my occupation skills. It's on my character sheet: Occult 25, Archaeology 20, History 25, Law 25 -> Science(Mechanics) 20.
Okay, those changes make sense. Sorry for missing the second section on your alias. You have two History skills! Architecture History could be pretty useful if we go traipsing around old buildings, and then it looks like you also have a more general History understanding.
I'm not trying to force you to change your character, just curious about the two skills I didn't recognize.
No, I meant that I literally rolled as low as possible for my in-game luck stat.
I'm not trying to force you to change your character, just curious about the two skills I didn't recognize.
No worries! I'm still thinking changing the skills is the best thing to do, because then everything is set up for the proper edition. If the GM agrees with the change, I'll make it.
Yeah those sounds like good changes to me. Consider them agreed with!
Changes made, thanks!
Sorry for the delay on my part. We still have family in town for the holidays, so I have commitments related to that. Hopefully I'll be able to post tonight.