bigrig107's page

Without further ado, I'd like to welcome:

Howard Morgan
Malcolm Strom
Marcus Kingston
C. Oliver Vandermeer

Report to the discussion thread, if you please!

Not quite complete, but I hope this will do!

** spoiler omitted **...

Background looks great, what’s his deepest fear (preferably actionable by me) and darkest secret? Be sure to include those!

Yeah, totally okay with reallocating skill points after selection to make the party more well-rounded. Not an issue.

Unless we get a large influx of interest, I will most likely end the recruitment at the end of Friday and announce the party sometime Saturday. Should get everyone enough time to finish any details that may be lacking!

I'm back! Here is Marcus Kingston, professor at Brown University.

** spoiler omitted **

Marcus is an Egyptologist, but I'd be happy to change his focus if that fits better...

Looking great! Egyptology is fine, Egypt was pretty big in archaeology in the 1920's. I assume that's why you chose it, actually.

I'll allow a full reroll if you hit the line of 3 stats under 50, yeah.

But you have to accept the full reroll entirely, and you only get one. If they're awful again, the Fates have spoken!

Ah, appreciate the list, that’ll be helpful as we go along. Thanks!

@Fergus: now he fits in!

@NotEspi: looks great! Tons of character there.

@everyone: could we try and keep large blocks of texts behind spoiler tags in the recruitment? Don’t wanna clog it up with a bunch of stuff that people have to scroll past is all. Thanks!

I think the forensic surgeon examining some dug up body would be the most interesting one to me, but either of the other two would work well.

Do we have free rein in creating the tie-in with Farnwright? Within reason, of course.

I can work with just about anything. The goal here is a small connection that’s enough for him to remember you, but not enough for you to closely know him.

A single important meeting, a couple of interactions at a university event, seated next to him on a flight over the ocean to Europe, the like. He was a traveling archaeologist during his time outside teaching, so just about any region is plausible.

Here is a CofC character I played in the past. I'll just upgrade him to 7th edition if chosen and the game starts.

Be sure to update his backstory; how he came into contact with the professor, NYC instead of Arkham, his deep secret for me to play with, and his deepest fear.

@Wrong John Silver: fantastic! Don’t forget to include his connection to the professor, tenuous as it may be, and his deep secret in the final product.

Occupation - With these rolls, I am thinking about these:

All of the above would work and fit perfectly fine, I’m really only meaning any super exotic far left field type of job.

Great questions!

Farnwright was a professor of archaeology, and it is currently 1925.

As far as professions go, I'm more than willing to put in some work to make the job make sense. The more exotic ones might not be the best fit, but I don't think I'll go so far as to outright ban any (subject to the usual may change rule etc).

Knew I had forgotten something!

Background:
This game will be more long-form focused than a lot of other CoC games and one-shots, and as such I do expect a significant (but not overly complicated/long) background that explains who your character is and what they are like.

To that end, I would like each character to have one specific fear that is above all others for them, as well as one deep secret. The fear can be nearly anything, but should be specifically tied to some event in their background, and also something reasonably encountered. Sorry, you shouldn’t be afraid of wiener dogs wearing clown wigs.

Luck
We will be using the alternate rule of allowing you to spend your luck to improve certain rolls, as I think it’s an excellent and fun mechanic, especially in a long form game where every point of Luck will matter.

Hello, and welcome to Modern Dreams in an Ancient Land, a Call of Cthulhu 7th edition recruitment set in the 1920's in New York City, America.

You didn’t expect to inherit anything from Professor Elias Farnwright. You barely knew the crazy old man, or if you did it was strictly a professional relationship with him through your time at Columbia University. Not a word. Not a warning. And certainly not under these circumstances.

A funeral. A will. A death that doesn’t quite make sense. The blossoming Empire City. And you, stuck in the middle of it.

How Much Experience Do I Need?
Absolutely none. We’ll all be learning this together! This is my first foray into the CoC system.

How Much Do I Need to Know About the Cthulhu Stories?
Nothing at all. While my world will share similar themes with the Cthulhu Mythos world, it will be a world of my own design, separated from the big names of the usual setting, though I'm sure fans of CoC will recognize the inspirations well enough.

What Kind of Horror Should I Expect?
The best kind! Serious answer, though, all sorts of the usual suspects with CoC: body horror, gore, death, violence, loss of both property and personal natures (up to and including your own character and any of their associates), etc.

Content Warning:
This game may have slight sexual themes such as scenes inside of a brothel or interactions with a prostitute or other sexual content. What this game will not have, however, is any sort of direct, on-screen sexual assault content. Not the place for that.

Character creation: Follow the standard character creation process in the core rulebook, rolling for stats and everything. You aren't supposed to be super powered heroes, these are every day people sucked into something beyond them!

End Date:
I plan for this to run for two weeks, in order for people to have a chance to get everything together. That means I'll be aiming for December 7th as the end date, but that is subject to change.

Let me know if I missed anything or if you have any questions at all!

Need to do a lot more research, it turns out, so expect the recruitment post in a week or two.

Alright. So I know NOTHING about Magnus Archives. Should I read up on that a bit? Or can you give a brief rundown of what you are intending to do initial scenario-wise?

So that I can start looking into investigator options Or rather what should be avoided? For example, (picking a random occupation here) a Mountain Climber would make no sense in this setting.

When I put up the actual recruitment thread (which I expect to be tomorrow), I’ll include plenty of details about the setting and such.

The Magnus Archives is an audio drama/podcast, and I won’t mind if you have listened to it and know what’s up. But it’s also good that you haven’t, so don’t worry about that at all!

Interested, but there is a caveat. I may need a refresher on character creation .The last CoC game I was in was years ago, fairly brief, and I had a lot of help from our keeper creating the characters (I was new to TTRPGs at the time).

But if that's a hurdle you're willing to jump over, hell yeah let's go.

Reading the investigator's handbook as I write this.

Luckily for you, I know nothing about the system (yet)! I will be learning right alongside you, so newcomers are extremely welcome.

I'm assuming you're aware of this:

Magnus Archives RPG

As a matter of fact I am! I have heard it is not fully supported yet, and it's an overall better decision and experience to use CoC for the vibe I'm going for. Thank you, though!

My assumption was the best to use would be 7th, which I think is the latest? That’s the one I have access to, anyway, though I do need to actually learn how to play it. That’s part of why I want to do this, I’ve heard great things about the system.

Recently discovered the Magnus Archives podcast and have been binging it excessively (not finished yet, so no spoilers!), and I just have to imagine a game using the CoC system in the MA universe would be incredibly fun and fitting.

Is there any interest in this?

You wouldn’t have to be intimately familiar with the Magnus Archives world (it would be preferable to have at least a couple players who aren’t, honestly), and I’m still working on the actual details of the plot and setting. It’s mostly just a floating collection of ideals at this point, rather than any concrete details.

Warning: this would deal with pretty heavy subjects and would absolutely be full on horror, as is tradition with CoC.

Hate to do this after all the work DeathQuaker put in for me, but I’m just not feeling the theme and I don’t have the time to learn the system to the full confidence I feel I need.

I’m gonna sit this one out, work on my understanding of the game and come back for the more Avenger style one you mentioned.

Thanks for all the help and the opportunity!

Thursday and Friday I'm not going to have much time to attend to evaluating builds, so feel free to take the weekend. I'll spend Sunday and Monday figuring out how to proceed. Whether to do a big group, two tables, or have to cut a couple folks, which I don't want to do.

If you want my unrequested opinion, I’d aim for two smaller tables over one large group. I find large groups to be worse for both sides (GM and players) in character development and combat terms.

Of course I’m not sure how this system handles the combat side quite yet, so that may be irrelevant.

Lóngshēng wrote:

If someone could take a look at the roar specifically and make sure I did it right, I'd appreciate it!

I'm a little surprised that it is a Fort save as opposed to a Will save to resist but it looks fine to me

Is that a choice you can make? I might have messed that up, lemme double check.

Yeah basically a base to alter and customize with my own ideas. I think I’m sorta getting the hang of it, so I’ll work on getting a few of the basics done and what powers are the most critical and combine that with the base Deathquaker is working on for me.

I talked to them a bit about what’s important to the character idea so I’ll see what they come up with.

What sources are we allowed to use? I'm seeing there's the core book, then a few others I might want to use: Power Profiles, Gadget Guides, and Supernatural Handbook.

Coming back to work on my character, an ancient Chinese sorceress (Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) cursed with immortality to guard some artifacts that are the source of both her magical powers and immortality.

Some control over the five Chinese elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water), some other magical powers TBD, the ability to adopt draconic aspects for protection and offense, and eventually work up into taking the form of a full dragon but I am not sure I'll be able to get that done with the points yet or not.

Will hopefully have something up by tonight!

bigrig107 wrote:

I have been sitting on the edge of the recruitment struggling to figure things out, mind if I PM you some details on what I want to do with my character idea and see what's possible?

Please do!

Sent, thanks!

Andostre wrote:

So, while I absolutely have the free time to post in a PbP, it seems that I don't have the free time to sit down and learn a new system, especially one designed to take abstract concepts and turn them into numbers. In other words, I just can't get a handle on the rules. I've been reading the SRD in bits and pieces over the past week, but I don't feel like I could make a viable character. (And I tried!) I'm dropping out of consideration. I have to travel for work for a couple days, and I don't think I could bridge this knowledge gap before recruitment closes.

GM SuperTumbler, I'm glad to see you back, and thanks for running what looks to be a game with a fun premise.

As you are an awesome person, Andostre -- I hate to see you go. So please consider the following (same goes for to all the lovely folks who dropped out or who is hesitating to enter because they're not sure what to do):

I am very happy to try to help build out your or anyone else's character if you are struggling with just getting the framework of the character together. I can do this in Ski's CharGen, which is a custom-built Excel Sheet, so I can put it together, email it to you, and you can make any additional tweaks you want to yourself for free. I am not a perfect character builder by any means, but if you tell me the gist of what you want the character to do, I can make a character that can do those things.

The hardest part of M&M is character creation. It just takes some getting used to, especially learning to break down your concept into power effect components. There is no shame in taking a pregenerated build and going from there (and if you don't want me to build a character, there are loads of pregens out there too seek out).

Once you have your character together, M&M is easy. It's the d20 system. That's it. Roll d20, add a thing. While there's stuff like caps to bonuses and stuff, all of that is usually precalculated into your sheet, so once you have your sheet, you're golden. Damage is...

I have been sitting on the edge of the recruitment struggling to figure things out, mind if I PM you some details on what I want to do with my character idea and see what's possible?

Finishing the final touches on my flame oracle, will have a post form her alias shortly.

Do you have adaptations for the Kingmaker campaign traits? Cause they're all campaign/Stolen Lands specific.

Working on the details for my lizard Oracle of the Flame, with a focus on spells I can find an in-universe flavor for (burning hands is me blowing on a torch or a handful of sparks etc).

Just curious, are there any pre-selected characters? If so, what are their planned races and builds?

You’ve mentioned the discussion thread (I’ve read along a bit) and I want to be sure I’m not inadvertently stepping on their toes and lowering my chances of making a cohesive group.

bigrig107 wrote:

Would you be open to allowing the oracle? There's a super thematic curse I'd like to use (cold-blooded), and certainly fits why she'd not be a normal 'villain' of her species.

I understand that it'd likely be limited to 6th level spells, would there be any other changes?

You know what, Oracle's flavor does work in (this game's version of) this world, kinda the same way Witch does, so I'll allow it. Use the Inquisitor charts for spells known and spells per day, but otherwise you should be able to run it as written.

Missed this at first, gonna go back to Oracle I think. Looking into mysteries now.

I know some of the mysteries add SLA eventually that may be above 6th or stuff like animal companions, I'll just avoid those options.

So Redwall, by default, is a completely magic-less setting

Ah, I did not know that. So you're looking for more natural-feeling spellcasters if any at all, got it.

In that case I might be switching to bloodrager, will mess around a bit.

Not feeling the inspiration, best of luck to you all!

Would you be open to allowing the oracle? There's a super thematic curse I'd like to use (cold-blooded), and certainly fits why she'd not be a normal 'villain' of her species.

I understand that it'd likely be limited to 6th level spells, would there be any other changes?

Oh completely missed that, sounds good! Thanks, will use that one and have something together soon.

Is there a lizardfolk race you prefer I use? The base rules don't actually have an option for the player race, but there are a few 3PP ones for PCs.

Lizardfolk 1
Lizardfolk 2

Do you have stats on what they'd use? Presumably grippli and nagaji, or maybe vishkanya?

This looks super interesting, getting some similar vibes as Bloomburrow, a recent Magic: the Gathering set that basically has the same premise of "everyone is anthropomorphic". Will likely browse some cards and get an idea of what I want to play.

As far as races go, are the reptiles and amphibians allowed? Like frogs, lizards, etc.

bigrig107 wrote:

I’m taking a look into the core rulebook, as it were, and the idea that pops out above all else is a gorgon, one of Medusa’s sisters that wasn’t killed and survived from the Ancient Greek days to the modern age.

Claws, snake hair limbs, poison bite, the classic paralyzing stare, maybe a snake tail if that can happen (still looking into that), some climbing and fighting skills, the like. Possibly with some stone controlling magic for some battlefield control, maybe a few other thematic spell powers she’s learned from different Greek gods over the many centuries she’s been around.

Will have some form of something together by the end of tomorrow, hopefully!

Take a look at the first post. I know on the surface this looks like just monsters as heroes in the style of BPRD or similar. But PCs in this campaign have to be specifically powered by the Universal Monsters series from Universal Studios. There is a link there to sources.

I might use other monsters as opponents (maybe even allies), but our protagonists should be related to the Universal Monsters.

Ah! I will take a look and see what that's all about.

I’m taking a look into the core rulebook, as it were, and the idea that pops out above all else is a gorgon, one of Medusa’s sisters that wasn’t killed and survived from the Ancient Greek days to the modern age.

Claws, snake hair limbs, poison bite, the classic paralyzing stare, maybe a snake tail if that can happen (still looking into that), some climbing and fighting skills, the like. Possibly with some stone controlling magic for some battlefield control, maybe a few other thematic spell powers she’s learned from different Greek gods over the many centuries she’s been around.

Will have some form of something together by the end of tomorrow, hopefully!

Always been pretty interested in super hero TTRPGs but have absolutely zero experience with Mutants and Masterminds. If you don't mind having a complete noob I'd love to give this a shot, as I have a few ideas floating around already.

Is there perhaps a starting point for learning the system?

Interested!

Working on a Cartomancer/Hedge Witch that worships Pulura the Shimmering Maiden, the North Star and patron of those travellers that become homesick, lost, or injured in the snowy wastes of the far north. Likely heading into her Stargazer Prestige class at a certain point, though I’m still planning out the build. Definitely aiming more towards a supportive role that can throw some cards for either nasty debuff spells or ranged healing/buffing for her allies.

Will either be Rescued by Koya for the healing boost, or a Friend of the Family, still deciding on that. Either way, Koya will be her NPC of choice (though not romantically, closer to a mother).

Koya and her mother taught me all about the stars and the fortune telling powers of the Harrow, I just combined them and discovered the North Star on my own.

Certainly interested, build ideas pending rules changes. Likely something to do with the shifter, should Spheres still be available. Could certainly find something else should they not, so I'll hold off n planning until the rules are finalized.

Apologies, thought I had posted this earlier. She's not coming together as a character so I'll be pulling myself out. Good luck all, and have a great game!

Finishing up my sylph draconic/storm druid, rolling HP.

HP: 4d8 ⇒ (8, 6, 2, 3) = 19
Reroll: 2d8 ⇒ (6, 3) = 9

So that makes 8, 6, 6, and 3. Not too bad.

@GM: undertabaly missed my question, but can we take an archetype (trading things out as normal) for our class or is the free archetype the only one we get?

That’s what I thought it’ll end up being, but I wanted to clarify!

Extremely interested, thinking of some flavor of Draconic Druid. Few questions though.

1. With the free archetype thing, the archetype replaces the domain/companion choice (and a few other things) completely and gives you a Drake companion. Would I be allowed to choose a domain anyway? Don’t worry, I wouldn’t select another companion, I just think Drake companions kinda suck.

2. It alters my wild shape, giving me a lesser form (kinda bad) in exchange for losing every wild shape form until 10th level, when I can turn into a medium dragon. Would I keep the base wild shape ability for beast shape?

3. Is this free archetype the only archetype we can take? Or can we trade the abilities out normally as well?

And of course, the rolls.
3d6 + 6 ⇒ (1, 2, 2) + 6 = 11 10
3d6 + 6 ⇒ (4, 6, 6) + 6 = 22 18
3d6 + 6 ⇒ (3, 1, 2) + 6 = 12 11
3d6 + 6 ⇒ (6, 4, 4) + 6 = 20 16
3d6 + 6 ⇒ (5, 5, 3) + 6 = 19 16
3d6 + 6 ⇒ (4, 6, 1) + 6 = 17 16

Actually not as bad as I expected. Plenty suitable!