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I’m looking into running the Carrion Crown Adventure path starting in 1920’s England.
Obviously advanced firearms are common, Magic is unknown and the players are starting out with 2 levels in NPC classes (Adept not allowed .. again no starting spellcasting)
Once they have gained knowledge of magic then the classes in the Occult Adventures will become available; this will not be till 4-5th level however and they will be able to retrain their NPC class levels into standard class levels as they progress from 5th to 10th.
Base classes will be allowed but again without magic. No Wizards, Bards, Sorcerers, etc. Druids could be allowed when the Occult classes come online as Druidism is a valid class in a country dotted with druid circles. Alchemists will also be allowed as it’s basically chemistry infused with magic; again not till the other classes are available.
Obviously Technology will be available, Trains, planes and automobiles are around. Technology will replace many items. Many alchemical items will be available as they are available through technology. Travel will be easy as jumping on a steam train will likely get you close to any location.
Healing will be a problem in the early levels, bandages, antiseptic and painkillers will not be able to replace the potions of CLW’s and healing spells but they will find some healing potions and they will be amazed at their power …
Skills will need to be revised, many knowledge skills will not be available till later levels, spellcraft, use magic device as well as some others I’m sure
Will have to make some major changes with the haunts as they will not be able to effect many of them with basic NPC levels. I’m thinking about giving out more of the Haunt Siphon’s as these will help a lot with these and they won’t have any other way of hurting the haunts and ghosts of this book.
Has anyone else done this, I have noticed a couple have mentioned they might but I didn’t see if anyone has done any of the work and actually done this yet.
Regards
Sic
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A while ago I saw some posts elsewhere on the boards about a group that was going through a mashup of CC and Age of Worms set in the modern day in the US. I'll see if I can find where it was.
ETA: That was easy.
Have you considered getting yourself a copy of the d20 version of Call of Cthulhu, and adapting it that way?
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That looks like an interesting read, I will go through it and see what I can use.
I did think of using a different system but I'm going to stick with the pathfinder rules till we break them .. Then I may consider the Cthulhu ruleset and migrate to that one.
was looking over the d20 Modern rules and I didn't really like them that much.
Pathfinder is a rugged enough system for this I think. May take a few rules from d20 Modern and add them to this.
Thank you
Sic
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Looking over some Steampunk rules and they could fit in nicely but I decided that they would distract from the horror element as being steampunk it would already be a diversion from the normal.
I’m going to use the D20 Modern skills as they are more applicable to a 1920’s era, I’m also looking at using the background skills to let them have a little extra to begin with as I find the first adventures … (in fact the first four) are very skill intensive and need a lot of investigation abilities.
Been researching the 1920’s to see what differences there were then. Travel is much easier, Trains, planes and Automobiles are not uncommon. Steam Trains are the main form of transport followed by cars and planes. There were daily flights from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam which took an hour or two.
Moneywise I’m not sure what I’m doing yet … but I’m toying with the idea of either leaving it as it is or making 1PP = 1 Pound … This does not sit quite right with me for some reason though.
The exchange rate for money in 1920 and now is about 1 to 50 That is 1 pound then is equal to 50 pounds now. While this is not precise (housing and cars are definitely out) it gives some idea. You could buy a decent house then for 500 pounds for instance … you would have a hard time finding a decent house for 25k in England now.
Average yearly wage for a male factory worker was about 200 pounds … for women it’s about half this.
After talking to the group we have decided to keep the money in the pathfinder format for simplicity sake.
Regards
Sic
Any news on how you are going with this?
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I actually bought the D20 Cthulhu book and looked through it; the sanity rules are pretty good as is the rest of the book. Well worth looking into and thanks to Randarak for suggesting it.
I'm thinking about using this as a base with Pathfinder classes later on. Of course Skills need to be adapted to the Pathfinder standard as it's very 3rd ed. I was planning on using just Pathfinder rules but I think it would lose something if I did it that way.
The magic system will be a problem as you lose sanity for casting spells in the Cthulhu rules ... Which would make for an interesting though short game ...
I'm thinking of making it a shifting scale so you lose less sanity for casting a lower level spell till it reduces to nothing when you get higher ... of course this will nicely limit the higher level spells they cast ... Will have to make sure there are not any spells to remove the insanity as this would be counter to the system.
It's going to take some time to work through this and will be a work in progress which will need to be adjusted as we play to make sure it works.
Hoping to put together an outline of the rules and these will be posted here when they are finalized for people to make any recommendations.
Thank you
Sic
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Magic and Sanity
I’m considering using the following system to cover the use of magic and the resulting sanity loss from tapping into the minds powers.
We will be using the Occult Adventures for magic classes with a few exceptions, being England Druids are available and sorcerers with limited bloodlines (Abyssal) could be available with permission. No Clerics or Wizards …
Sanity loss is an important part of the Cthulhu Mythos and using magic causes your somewhat fragile grasp on sanity to slip even further. I’m thinking of allowing a decresing sanity loss for the lesser spells as they progress. (If they want to play a magic using character)
So the top 4 levels of spells will have a sanity loss ..
Highest level = 1d6 sanity loss
Highest level -1 = 1d4 sanity loss
Highest level -2 = 1d3 sanity loss
Highest level -3 = 1 sanity loss
I’m toying with the idea of a temp loss to your primary casting stat .. say 2 points for your highest level spell and 1 point for your highest -1 … regain a point per hour. I’m unsure if this would cause further issues. Would mean in a protracted spell battle casters could drop from exhaustion or mental fatigue. It sounds good in principle but interesting to see how it works in practice.
Major Adversary
I’m thinking of changing the BBEG to a more well know BBEG … Professor James Moriarty … He could easily be alive during this time though old; advancing old age could have given him a drive to look into other paths of staying alive and his mind could easily have delved into the arcane with some success as a genius mathematician.
Based in Lepidstadt and being a professor of mathematics at the university there he could have been a colleague, student, tutor or competition to Professor Lorrimor and his research. Also gives him a good reason to be at his funeral and to meet up with the PC’s.
Additionally he would have a house in Lepidstadt where the party could be invited to when they are there; he could give them a few side quests to try to deter them from the course they have set. Get to know them and find out their weaknesses. Plus try to have them killed in various nefarious ways …
In the guise of a helpful mentor he could sponsor the party in their endeavors and possibly even replace Judge Daramid or Dr. Montagnie Crowl. But I’m thinking that would be too much and just setting him up as a friendly advisor and occasional quest giver would be more appropriate.
But the whole Moriarty as the BBEG amuses me; a quote from Holmes states that he has a diabolical mind which also could be taken as having a diabolical tendencies. Additionally he wrote a book called The Dynamic of an Asteroid which could have opened him to the Dark Tapestry’s notice. … he was a man of great mathematical and scientific genius …
Anyway those are my thoughts for the moment.
Are you still working on/running this? I'm currently working on converting this AP to be set in the United States circa 1875, and would love to hear more about what you’re doing.
For rules I'm using Pathfinder as the base, as it's the only set all my potential players are familiar with, then substituting d20 Modern base classes (ie Strong Hero, Fast Hero, etc.) for available starting classes, using some advanced classes and the firearm rules from Sidewinder: Recoiled, and the sanity/magic system from d20 Cthulhu.
I'd be interested in knowing what modifications you're making to the plot and encounters for the modules. The Moriarty angle is a cool idea. For my own, I'm keeping the magic rules pretty much as they are - I'm converting the whole AP over to a sort of Lovecraftian western, where the cost of trying to learn and use magic will be made pretty clear.
I've just begun working on the Haunting of Harrowstone (HoH), and so far have decided on the following changes:
I'm changing names and the like to more appropriate ones, of course, just using the published ones here to avoid confusion.
Overall I see the group starting in upstate NY then moving westward with each subsequent adventure, with the final module having them head south into Mexico/Central America.
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That sounds like fun. Some nice idea’s, might borrow a couple.
I looked at the D20 Modern and I was not fond of the classes, I’m running base D20 Cthulhu classes for the first adventure; afterwards they will gain enough exposure to magic to pick up a class from Occult Adventures, Alchemist or possibly Druid along with any non full caster class from the other books.
Cthulhu Classes are basically an offensive class or a defensive class and then you pick a Job and that details your skills. Seems like it should work fine. Time will tell …
Magic will have issues with Sanity but not as bad as the Cthulhu rules but still will make higher level spells dangerous to cast. Also thinking of having the spells in the D20 Cthulhu book as available with their set cost castable by anyone who can learn it and pay the cost. As long as they can find the spells that is …
It’s going to be pretty Lovecraftian with the sanity loss and strange things happening, I’m considering having the Mothmen acting like the Silence from Dr Who but that will require some more work on my part. I just love the whole idea of an alien race running everything but no-one knowing. We will have to see what we can do with that.
1. Looking at increasing the number of Haunt Siphons as they will have little other way to handle haunts and other incorporeal undead. Holy water being their only other way at their disposal. Either that or a spell they might learn.
2. Stirges I was just re-tooling as Giant Mosquitoes but Giant Rats would also work well. Might use these instead.
3. I was considering making it a Lunatic asylum as well .. Makes little difference in the long run as the prisoners detailed could be lunatics by any standard.
4. The date of the fire was going to be a couple of hundred years previous and the place as in the book has a history of hauntings which of course people don’t talk about or fully believe.
5. I’m not having any undead encounters till after they have entered the building. The Headman’s Scythe & Skellies in the lake are too early; they would have been triggered by anyone else exploring the site. I’m having a few dead bodies scattered round inside the building in various stages of decay; from dusty corpse to the blood still warm and dripping … Foreboding of how dangerous this place is.
6. I’m keeping the haunts and the prisoners as they are; Likely switching the Splatterman to a psychic as only a very few will be actual Wizards or Sorcerer’s in a low magic world.
I would be interested in any more thoughts you have on yours.
I’m currently running Wrath of the Righteous and once that’s finished we may play this one.
Regards
Sic
I would recommend Pure steam from ICOSA entertainment for inspiration.
So I started my 1875 U.S. version of Harrowstone, found here; feel free to lurk if you'd like. The campaign page still doesn't have the full list/explanation of rules amalgamations/variations, as I worked out the specifics with the players where needed for their characters. I do plan on completing it at some point.
I've further altered the plot in the following ways:
There's also the d20 rules for Fellowship of the White star
I'd never heard of this before, and it certainly sounds very much like what I'm trying to accomplish. I may download it and give it a read, thanks!
how did you do healing?
It hasn't come up yet, but currently their only option is conventional healing (I've included an NPC physician in the party to assist with this.) As play progresses and I get a better sense of how combats tend to go down, I may introduce options for magical healing - probably mostly single-use items, or possibly a times per day item that has some cost to the user (ability or sanity damage come to mind.) Learning magic will also become an option, but at a cost to one's sanity.
I've kept very few "monsters" in the adventure, enemies mainly being people or animals/vermin, and plan to continue the trend if the group decides to continue play past the first module. I've really just cut a large portion of the combat encounters altogether; I'm still relatively new to PbP, and I have little interest in slogging through room-by-room dungeon scenarios for any portion of the game. I don't know how this will play out in the long run, but after reading the first two modules and skimming the third, I think I'll have little problem revamping them to be less combat heavy while still maintaining a fair pace and aura of danger.
I'd also like to keep the adventures firmly grounded in a gritty, more realistic campaign world - I don't want the players or characters to think they can just bring themselves back from the brink of death with the snap of a finger. I plan to largely save supernatural enemies for "boss" fights; for instance, the only truly supernatural threats I'm using in the first adventure are the main Splatter Man villain (which I've tranformed into a sort of possessing entity) and a single custom haunt in the ruins. The rest are otherwise mundane enemies who are being affected/controlled by the Splatter Man.