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Chaosium Digest Volume 01 Number 06
Chaosium Digest Volume 1, Number 6
Date: Sunday, February 28, 1993
Number: 1 of 2
Contents:
Spells for Starting Characters (Alex Antunes) CALL OF CTHULHU
New CoC Skill for Mythos Readers (Alex Antunes) CALL OF CTHULHU
Modern Mythos Investigation (Jason Corley) CALL OF CTHULHU
Cthulhu Gaming Styles (Harry Campbell) CALL OF CTHULHU
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From: Alex ANTUNES <alex@astro.isas.ac.jp>
Subject: Spells for starting characters
System: Call of Cthulhu
[this excerpt will also be appearing in "Guild Notes", published in Japan]
Here is a modification for CoC character creation which allows spells.
They were devised originally for a player who made a young Sufi
mystic, much like Haji from Johnny Quest.
Character Creation and Spells:
Players may take individual spells as skills, as follows:
The gamemaster must agree that the spell desired fits with the
character being created (this also preserves game balance). Note - be
reasonable in limiting what players may have! Taking spells is a
benefit, not a right.
The spell is taken at some skill percentage, with normal points being
spent. Each spell is recorded as a separate skill. The skill
reflects the player's general ability, at any given moment, to be able
to try and cast the spell.
Using Spells:
Characters with spells as skills, when they wish to use the spell,
must first roll against the skill. If they fail, they cannot quite
recall how it works, and the attempt ends. If they succeed, they may
continue the spell casting procedure as outlined in the rules (ie
spend power points, roll at 10% per point to see if the spell worked,
etc.) If they succeed, normal experience checks may be made.
Example:
Fred the Sufi Mystic takes the spell "Summons Frogs from Rain" at 25%.
When facing the mighty Lily Pad of Doom, he decided the party's only
hope is his spell. He rolls... and gets a 35%, a failure... under the
pressure of the moment, he just can't quite remember if the fifth rune
in the chant is "Ohmmm" or "Omhhh"... the attempt ends (and the Lily
Pad moves ever closer...)
Cheers,
Sandy antunes@rosserv.gsfc.nasa.gov (Sandy Antunes)
--------------------
From: Alex ANTUNES <alex@astro.isas.ac.jp>
Subject: New CoC Skill for Mythos Readers
System: Call of Cthulhu
[this excerpt will also be appearing in "Guild Notes", published in Japan]
Having faced a recurrent complaint by Call of Cthulhu players that "I
know more Cthulhu Mythos than my character does", I sought to remedy
this. Thus was created the skill of "Lore." This is handled
differently from any other skill, acting more like an intrinsic
ability.
Lore: "Knowledge" of Cthulhu Mythos which has been gained secondhand
through old fables, odd stories and other minor parts of a
character's history. The material was watered down enough in the
telling that there was no sanity loss, and the accuracy is always
in question. This enables a character to say things like "Hmmm...
looks like the Innsmouth Look" without ever having had a specific
Deep One adventure, and so on.
Lore must be taken at 30% (and there is, of course, no default for this
skill). Lore is never rolled against - 30% is deemed enough that a
character may always speak. Characters with Lore may say anything
about Cthulhu mythos they know (subject to good roleplaying, of course).
The gamemaster will never comment or correct their information, nor
may the players use this skill to ask the gamemaster for clues.
If used in a game, the player may make a check mark to try and
improve the skill, as per normal. If the skill is improved, half
of the roll on the d10 is applied to Lore, and half to actual Cthulhu
Mythos skill (with the corresponding sanity loss, ie "oh my god,
that old story my grandfather told was TRUE!!!"). This is optional -
the player can judge whether they think it is worth doing or not.
This slowly allows conversion of book knowledge to true sanity-eroding
mythos knowledge. Note that the most the players could ever gain would
be a Mythos skill of 35% via this method-- with 35 lost sanity points
(at present, I am still debating if the sanity loss should be doubled or
not-- comments are welcome).
This skill has been playtested and was very satisfying to the one
player who chose to take it. I found in running the game that it
didn't unbalance things. In fact, it made matters much easier, as I
now have less to worry about the boundary between in-game and out of
game comments.
I should comment, since Lovecraft tales generally were written by
insane people shortly before their suicides, that the stories
themselves are not necessarily the best of sources for the players,
and as gamemaster I often change minor details, for example keeping
Elder Signs as much less powerful than the CoC rules have them. Also,
my stories tend to be more "man meddling in unknown forces" than "big
creature eats city, film at 11", so the knowledge doesn't give power
to the characters. Also, people using this "skill" tend to make wrong
conclusions as often as right ones. Since the gamemaster does not
arbitrate or comment, it does not give them a large edge on the
situation.
Cheers,
Sandy antunes@rosserv.gsfc.nasa.gov
--------------------
From: corleyj@GAS.uug.Arizona.EDU (Jason D Corley )
Subject: Modern Mythos Investigation
System: Call of Cthulhu
Well, netters, my players have sidled through yet another Cthulhu Now
scenario and I think the time has come to make some comments on
hunting the terrors of the Mythos in the 1990s.
The first and probably most important thing I want to tell you about
is The God's Gift to Mythos Investigators, The Holy Grail of Those
With SAN, The Elder .Sig if you will:
I give you:
The cellular mobile phone.
They had 911 in the speed dial memory at first. By the end of the
adventure, they had it in every slot. It is invaluable in urban areas
and can essentially make or break an investigation.
Need to call the curator of the museum for the name of a previous
owner that might just be the same guy that's sacrificing cats on that
altar over there? You have a phone. Being chased by angry cultists
in gigantic black Chevy vans? You have a phone. About to be smashed
horribly? Going to need an ambulance pretty soon? You have a phone.
Right there. Right at your fingertips. Ready to go.
The next thing I want to mention to you is the police themselves.
Policepeople in the 1990s are not the dumb beat cops of the 20s or the
constables of the 1890s. They are trained professionals, and all of
them are competent, calm, image-conscious (that's why they have
uniforms) and (usually) valuable allies. However, they are also
incapable of dealing with Mythos forces. The same can be said for the
Army. Certain people in the FBI, CIA and NSA may have a little Too
Much Knowledge, but they certainly aren't going to be cooperative, and
their methods are going to be brute-force and blunt. Don't expect to
ever see any evidence out of those houses again.
Finally, there is the government as a whole. This sort of sidled its
way into my campaign, a little snippet here, a little hint there, but
by the time the players stopped arguing about it, they had convinced
themselves that there was some monstrous conspiracy in the government
to help the Awful Creatures from Beyond The Void and that the
government was not to be trusted under any circumstances. So, I
helped them along in their paranoia, just to add another layer of
darkness around them...but, when I thought back on the campaign, it
actually made sense: who, of the people on the earth, are the most
interested in power? It's the politicians...and the Mythos means very
little else if it doesn't mean power.
Hopefully over the next few days I can straighten out my thoughts on
exactly what happened in the game last night and give some more ideas.
--------------------
From: harry@bacchus.dseg.ti.com (harry campbell)
Subject: Cthulhu Gaming Styles (Was: Re: Who Plays Cthulhu?)
System: Call of Cthulhu
I have only been a player once or twice, but I have been the Keeper
for many strange eons (eg lots of times). These two experiences, as
in most games, are quite different. But first off, let me say that
Call of Cthulhu is not like most RPGs. It is subtle, and requires
skilled role players who are willing to put the effort into thinking
about what they would do if they were in the same situation. The
characters are ordinary people, and this throws off the typical "Kill
and Take Treasure! Kill and Take Treasure!" type player. The players
need to be cautious, and thoughtful or they WILL soon get themselves,
and sometimes other members of the party killed.
In one game we played, the characters followed this man, who drove far
out of town, stopped by the side of the road and walked off into the
woods. The characters followed him into the woods, and ran across a
camp of squatters At first the players were polite, and though the
squatters were suspicious, they "dinna botha any body who dinna
trouble wid dem." One of the our KTT players (that's "Kill, and Take
Treasure!"... I'm afraid Tom never recovered from D&D syndrome) saw
something bright and shiney in one of the huts. He decided he wanted
it and threatened the squatters' leader at gun point. As the other
players groaned "Oh Tom, don't do that. Don't be an #$%hole to these
people," one of the squatters who was hiding in his hut "jus' a hodin'
his 'coon rifle a jus' in case deys da feds a com' ta take da still"
cracked off a shot that misses Tom "dagone these ol' rusty sights" but
dropped Shawn who was standing right behind him. A gun-fight ensued,
and the players, out-numbered, wisely retreated from the woods to find
that their car has been sabotaged, and that the other man's car was no
where in sight...hehehe. Shawn, who's character had just died,
started to pummel Tom.
However, once the players realize what it takes to be successful (e.g.
to survive), they play better, enjoy it more and tend to live longer.
They learn where to look, and begin seeking out the encounters without
much effort by the Keeper. This is when the struggle for sanity
really begins: Older characters who have seen a little too much to
feel comfortable about what it all means, yet know too much to turn
their backs on humanity, sit home drinking tea, hoping for an end to
the recurring night-mares of the gelatinous psuedopod oozing through
the upstairs window and dragging good ol' Verlyn out of his bed and
into the sink-hole in the dark woods behind the house.
Call of Cthulhu requires a special breed of game master as well. The
published modules are usually very good, but unlike D&D (I'm sorry
I'll never say it again) they are not seamless (as Matthew points
out). In the aformentioned other RPG, the players in a dungeon seem
to have many choices, all of which have been carefully stocked and
ready for their approach. In Cthulhu, the setting is usually not
restricted by stone walls and tunnels; the events that make up a
module do not always flow logically from one to the next. So, the
game requires a skilled Keeper, with an intimate knowlege of the
underlying plot, who can adlib everyday occurences to blend together
staged encounters, and gently nudge the players toward the hidden
clues.
I have played in games (a few Star Trek adventures I can remember)
where I felt like the game master was pulling the party around by the
nose. It was more like listening to a story than playing a game. By
its nature, Call of Cthulhu can be susceptible to this "canned" feel.
When an adventure does feel staged, it could simply be a bad adventure
(no guarantees that the published adventures are all excellent, though
most are pretty good). There have been times when I, as the Keeper,
have wondered if my players felt this way.
The solution to this problem is not an easy one. With experience,
some keepers learn how to draw the players in by what they think is
their own will, and when players don't follow the storyline, let the
storyline follow them, hopping on one hairy foot, with four eyes at
the compass points around the furry body, and ooze dripping from the
toothed mouth snapping from what, on a man, would be the top of the
head.
Most of all, HAVE FUN: the beauty of role playing is you get to die
over, and over in so many chillingly horrifying ways. Smile, Cthulhu
loathes you!!
Harry Campbell (one of the many manifestations of Nyarlothotep)
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