Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Chaosium Digest Volume 11 Number 02
Chaosium Digest Volume 11, Number 2
Date: Monday, June 26, 1995
Number: 2 of 2
Contents:
Call of Cthulhu Live Rules (Ford Ivey) CALL OF CTHULHU
--------------------
From: <NeroNat@aol.com>
Subject: Call of Cthulhu Live Rules
System: Call of Cthulhu
Following are the rules for the Call of Cthulhu Live System that we
have been working on. As a note, these rules were written with a
character sheet attached, and there may be things unexplained or
unclear because of the lack of that sheet. I will try to cover that
deficiency, but may have blind spots due to my familiarity with the
material.
Ford Ivey
===================================================================
Call of Cthulhu Game Notes
(Note: Call of Cthulhu is copyright 1995 by Chaosium Inc., all rights
reserved. This game is run under a licensing agreement with them.) The
Live Action Version is written by Ford Ivey. All rights reserved.
CHARACTER DESIGN
We will restrict characters from starting as the following: Active
duty police, including FBI or any other government agency that carries
guns, ordained clergy or members of religious orders, Rich Playboys
types, or Elected officials. We also strongly suggest that you refrain
from playing characters of the following types: hoboes, tribal members
of native American or any other tribe, exceedingly poor or otherwise
socially undesirable types. If you choose to play such a character,
please recognize that we may only represent a limited portion of the
reality you play regularly around a table. We play here at this site,
and cannot therefore support the resources and contacts such a
character might have.
Weapons: When designing a character and planning on attending, be
aware that few weapons and limited ammunition will be provided for the
characters. This is intentional. If you bring a weapon with you, it
will be checked for safety, and put into the game as the event
coordinator sees fit. If your character cannot justify having a
weapon, you will not be allowed to start the game with one. All
characters will be restricted as to how much ammo they have.
If you want to make the most of this event, get us your character
history and a copy of your character sheet as soon as possible. We
will be designing plots and events around those character histories
that we have.
One warning: Character life is expected to be relatively short. There
are no resurrections and no miraculous healings, so don't get too
attached to your character. Now, that said, here is how we will deal
with character death: we will give the player a choice of bringing in
another character or joining the ranks of NPCs for the balance of the
weekend, or a combination of the two: NPC for a while, then bring in
the new PC at the dramatically appropriate moment. You will have to
work with the director of the event on this, and be prepared with
variations in costumes.
On the other hand, we will not go out of our way to kill players. This
is supposed to be fun, and you have fun by beating the evil minions.
There is every reason to believe that you will be able to do so. Just
don't make a mistake when you don't have any Dodges or Luck points
left.
CHARACTER DESIGN AND ATTRIBUTES
The six attributes (DEX, INT, EDU, STR, POW, and CON) are distributed
according to how important they are to your character concept. If, for
instance, he is a professor or a Doctor, EDU might be the most
important attribute, and would therefore be placed next to the 6. If
he is a Private Eye, the most important attribute might be DEX. Also
note that skill levels cost more in an area that is not primary to him
than one that is.
All the skills in a box headed by a given attribute are governed by
that attribute. The skill level of the skills in the attributes box
can go no higher than the attribute.
Example: If the EDU for a character is 4, then none of the skills
governed by that attribute (such as History or Anthropology) may start
higher than a 4. The skill may go higher, however, due to subsequent
assignment of skill points earned during game play.
If there are any points left over in an attribute box after initial
skills selection, they may be saved and used in combination with
general points earned for game play for skill levels in that attribute
box only. No skill will start at any level above zero unless bought in
this fashion.
INJURIES, DEATH AND DYING
One of the more difficult aspects of Live Roleplaying (Even more
difficult than tabletop roleplaying) is character death. In a game
like Call of Cthulhu, characters will die more often than in a fantasy
game where healing is so common and so powerful. In this game, Death
is just that: Dead. No resurrections or miracles, so expect a short
character life, and be ready to move on.
Now, that said, here is how we will deal with character death: we will
give the player a choice of bringing in another character or joining
the ranks of NPCs for the balance of the weekend, or a combination of
the two: NPC for a while, then bring in the new PC at the dramatically
appropriate moment. You will have to work with the director of the
event on this, and be prepared with variations in costumes.
Okay, how do you die? To die, you must lose a lot more hit points than
you have or bleed to death. You are bleeding to death when you are at
a negative number of hit points, but not enough to be outright dead.
There are several different levels of health: Healthy, Wounded,
Incapacitated, Unconscious, Dying, and Dead.
Healthy: Your Character is undiseased and at full hit points.
Wounded: Your Character is wounded if he is at less than full hit
points, but a total of at least 3.
Incapacitated: Your Character is incapacitated if he is at 1 or 2 hit
points. If he is incapacitated, he must sit whenever possible, can
move no faster than a slow walk, and cannot fight with anything other
than firearms.
Unconcious: Your Character is Unconcious if he is at 0 hit points. He
will wake up and be at 1 hit point (incapacitated) after 10 minutes of
unconsciousness if otherwise untreated.
Dying: Your Character is dying if he is below 0 hit points (unless he
is dead: see below). If below 0, you are bleeding to death at the rate
of 1 point per thirty seconds. You should keep track of the total
damage in case you go to such an extreme number below 0 that you are
Dead.
Dead: Your character is dead if he has taken so much damage that he is
at a negative number of hit points greater than his total hit points
when Healthy. Example: Dr. Carlisle has a CON of 3, and therefore 9
hit points. He gets shot twice for 12 points of damage each time,
doing a total of 24 points of damage. He is dead, with no hope of
doing anything about it. If Dr. Carlisle had managed to avoid the
second shot, he would have taken 12 points of damage, going to -3. He
would take additional damage at the rate of 1 point every 30 seconds
for three minutes and thirty seconds, at which point he would be dead.
(Note: at three minutes, he is at -9, which is not yet dead. Dead is
in EXCESS of the negative of the Character's CON.
First Aid: First aid at level 1 will stabilize a character after 5
minutes of administering it. Each level of First Aid reduces the time
it takes to stabilize someone by 30 seconds. Stabilize means to get
someone from -1 to 0 (unconcious). They will then wake up in 10
minutes unless treated with the skill Medicine.
Medicine: Medicine is the only way characters can actually get hit
points back above the 1 they get from recovery from unconsciousness.
Each level of Medicine applied to the character gives the character
that many hit points in five minutes. The total is per wound, and is
only up to half (always rounded in the character's favor) as many
points as the wound (ie: a 14 point wound may be healed for up to 7
points, and it would take Medicine 7 or greater to do that). Each
wound treated must be done separately, and each one will take five
minutes. If there are more skill levels than points being restored,
(such as a skill level of 6 trying to heal a wound of 4) could have
the time reduced much as First aid. In the case mentioned, 4 levels of
the skill go towards healing, and the other two reduce the time by 1
minute, and it therefore takes 4 minutes to heal the 4 points. It
would in no case ever reduce the time for using this skill below 30
seconds.
Example 1: Stan has 12 hit points (a CON of 4). In combat, poor Stan
takes three wounds very quickly. The first is a shot from a .45 that
does 8 points of damage. He can take this and keep on fighting. The
next wound is from a sword cane that does 3 points of damage. This
puts Stan at 1 hit point: incapacitated. Stan, trying to get out of
the fight, takes another hit from a shotgun aimed at someone else that
does 15 points of damage. This puts poor Stan at -14. He is dead.
Example 2: Stan's friend, Fred, has 12 hit points also. He takes one
12 point shot from a shotgun. He falls to the ground, unconcious. He
will wake up again in ten minutes at one hit point and be
incapacitated. Unfortunately, Fred is hit again by the mad sword cane
wielder for 3 points, and drops to -3. He is now bleeding to death,
and will die in 5 minutes if untreated. His fellow Investigator, Dr.
Muldoon (who has a First Aid of 5 and a Medicine of 7) rushes to his
side and begins to administer First Aid. Due to his proficiency, he is
able to stabilize Fred in 3 minutes. Fred is now at 0 and unconcious.
Dr. Muldoon has two wounds to work on. He will work on the larger of
the two first. In four and a half minutes he is able to return 6
points to Fred since the Doctor had 7 levels of Medicine and could
only return 6 points, he could use the other level to reduce the time
by 30 seconds). He will be able to return 2 points to the other wound,
and it will take 2 and a half minutes, as he can apply 5 levels of his
skill to reduce the time.
WEAPONS AND WEAPON DAMAGE
For the purposes of simplicity in a live rolelaying version of this
game, we will generalize the damage done by weapons into the various
weapon classes. The general classes of weapons are: Melee weapons and
Firearms
Melee Weapons:
Dagger: A Dagger as defined in the NERO rulebook: no more than 24"
overall length with the thrusting tip. A dagger does 1 point of damage
plus skill level plus damage bonus.
Sword: As defined in the NERO rulebook under Longsword. Some
modification of these standards are allowed so long as they are
inspected by a safety Marshal. A sword does 2 points of damage plus
skill level plus damage bonus.
Cudgel: This is a blunt one handed weapon as defined by NERO. A cudgel
does 1 point of damage plus skill level plus damage bonus. A rock or
table leg or other (approved by a safety Marshal) improvised item may
be used under this heading.
Waylay: For each level of skill you have at Cudgel, you get one Waylay
(as defined in the NERO rulebook) per day. A waylay is a blow aimed at
the base of the skill that knocks the unaware victim out with one
blow. For the purposes of healing, this does only one point of damage,
but renders them unconcious. After ten minutes, when the character
wakes up, he is at full hit points minus the value of the Cudgel blow.
Firearms:
Under firearms are Handgun, Rifle and Shotgun The general type of
weapon being used for firearms in this game are the nerf-type weapons.
There are several different manufacturers that make this type of
weapon, but we will generically refer to them this way. There will
eventually be several different types of weapons named by manufacturer
and stock number under each of the categories, but there will be many
others that will be brought to events that are not named. They will
have to checked for safety, of course, but will also have to be
checked for appropriateness to the category. The intent of each
category is as follows:
Handgun: A handgun should be operable with one hand and do moderate
damage (9 Points) at most. It may take both hands to load it, and it
may have a high rate of fire, hold no more than 6 shots, and have
short to medium range, and have only moderate accuracy.
Rifle: Takes both hands to hold, load, and fire. May have long range
and high accuracy and high damage.
Shotgun: May have high rate of fire and high damage, but must have
deplorable accuracy.
Examples:
Handgun: 22 cal 2 points + skill level
Handgun: 38 cal 3 points + skill level
Handgun: 45 cal 5 points + skill level
Rifle: 22 cal 3 points + skill level
Rifle: M1 5 points + skill level
Rifle: 30-06 6 points + skill level
Shotgun: 12 Gauge 8 points + skill level
SKILLS
Note: All Skills marked with a * MUST be used with the appropriate
prop. For instance, when using first aid, the character must have
bandages and other first aid type stuff; a Doctor must have a medical
bag and a few instruments, someone doing electrical repair must have a
few tools, and so on. Any skill noted: "As the Tabletop Game" is
referring to the Call of Cthulhu game as published by Chaosium, Inc.
There are also several references to the NERO rules, so it helps to
have a copy of this available, too.
Knowledge Skills: The game of Call of Cthulhu is based to a great
extent on knowledge that a character has rather than on his ability to
kill things (although that ability has it's uses, as well). Here's the
way we do Knowledge-based skills:
Professor Thompson has his degrees in Anthropology and History. His
skill level in Anthropology is 4, and his skill level in History is 6.
During the course of an event, he finds occasion to do research on
something and finds a book that could have information in it.
The character looks through the book and finds four envelopes in it.
The first has written on the outside "History 2, Anthropology 2,
Archaeology 2". The second envelope says "History 4, Anthropology 4,
Archaeology 4". The third envelope says "Anthropology 6, Archaeology
6". The fourth says "Archaeology 8". There is also a slip of paper
that says "There are one or more pages torn out of this book." in a
separate envelope. The good professor may open envelopes number 1 and
2, but may open the others only if he uses sufficient luck points.
After opening these envelopes, he may note the information separately,
and return them to the book, take the envelopes and leave the note
about torn pages, or take the book altogether.
EDU BASED SKILLS
Note: to be an MD, you must have an EDU of 6. A masters or Ph.D. must
have an EDU of 5 or 6. A college graduate must have an EDU of 4, 5, or
6.
Accounting - As the Tabletop Game.
Anthropology - As the Tabletop Game.
Archaeology - As the Tabletop Game.
Astronomy - As the Tabletop Game.
Biology - As the Tabletop Game.
Chemistry - As the Tabletop Game.
Geology - As the Tabletop Game.
History - As the Tabletop Game.
Law - As the Tabletop Game.
Medicine * Medicine is the only way characters can actually get
positive hit points back. Each level of Medicine applied to the
character gives the character that many hit points in five minutes.
The total is per wound, and is only up to half (always rounded in the
character's favor) as many points as the wound (ie: a 14 point wound
may be healed for up to 7 points, and it would take Medicine 7 or
greater to do that). Each wound treated must be done separately, and
each one will take five minutes. If there are more skill levels than
points being restored, (such as a skill level of 6 trying to heal a
wound of 4) could have the time reduced much as First aid (by 30
seconds for each level applied. In the case mentioned, 4 levels of the
skill go towards healing, and the other two reduce the time by 1
minute, and it therefore takes 4 minutes to heal the 4 points. It
would in no case ever reduce the time for using this skill below 30
seconds. The skill of Medicine may also give you some information
when doing research.
Read Other Language - This is a live version of the tabletop skill
Other Languages. It gives the character the ability to read whatever
language he writes in the blank next to the skill level. If the player
has the ability to actually speak the language, so much the better.
Pharmacy - As the Tabletop Game.
Physics - As the Tabletop Game.
Psychoanalysis - The description in the tabletop game describes this
skill, but it is applied somewhat differently here: The character may
recover, in sanity points, the skill level of the Analyst in a half
hour of roleplaying the therapy. If, however, the patient wishes
additional sessions, he may do so. The effectiveness of the session
reduces by one for each subsequent session. If you later find a
Therapist with a greater skill that the one you started with, he may
restore to you the points the first did not.
Example: Fred has had a rough day. He has had his wife killed horribly
in front of him, seen foul perversions of nature shamble out of the
darkness and eat his best friend, and then things got really bad. He
has lost 35 sanity points, and seeks out Doctor Schmitt, who has a
Psychoanalysis skill of 5. During the first 30 minute session, Fred
gains back 5 points. The next 30 minute session, he gains back 4, the
next 3, the next 2, and the next 1. Dr. Schmitt can help Fred no more.
Later that day, however, he meets Dr. McIntyre, who has a
Psychoanalysis skill of 7. Fred immediately has a session with this
doctor, and gains back 7 points in the first 30 minute session, and 6
points in the next. Doctor McIntyre can now help Fred no more. You
will notice that Fred has now gained back as many points as if he had
seen Dr McIntyre exclusively. Remember that your sanity points can
never go above 99 minus any Cthulhu Mythos you may have.
Psychology As the Tabletop Game.
DEX BASED SKILLS
Dodge - Dodge works precisely like the NERO Dodge skill. you may
expend it to escape one physical attack. You get one Dodge per event
for each level of the skill you buy. For instance, if you are shot by
a shotgun at short range, you may use one of you Dodges to escape the
damage.
Locksmith * This skill allows you to attempt to open a lock. There
will be locks of several different levels, each marked with the
appropriate number. It takes you two minutes to open a lock of your
skill level. For each skill level you have in excess of the lock
level, you may reduce the time it takes you by 30 seconds. For each
level the lock difficulty is higher than your skill level, it will add
30 seconds to the time it will take to open the lock. It will always
take at minimum 10 seconds to open. For instance:
Sam the Snake, who has a Locksmith skill of 4, finds a chest with a
lock on it. The lock is marked with a sticker indicating it is a level
2 lock. He gets out his tools and gets to work. He has a skill level
two higher than the lock, and is able to open it in one minute.
Inside, he finds a small box with another lock. This lock is marked
with a tag with the number 6 on it. This lock, being 2 levels higher
that Sams skill level, will take him 3 minutes to open.
Mechanical Repairs * As the Tabletop Game.
Electrical Repairs * As the Tabletop Game.
Melee Weapons Each level of skill the character acquires in the
specific type of weapon is added as a damage bonus to the base weapon
damage. Each skill level of Cudgel gives the character one Waylay each
game day as well.
POW BASED SKILLS
Occult - As the Tabletop Game.
Credit Rating - Somewhat more limited than the tabletop game. A high
level here along with some decent roleplaying will allow the character
to cash a check or get a good reference from his bank. It is also used
in combination with EDU to determine a character's income per year.
Firearms - Each skill level adds one point of damage to the base
weapon damage.
INT BASED SKILLS
Art - Art in the live version of this game means the ability to
appreciate and evaluate works of art.
First Aid * First aid at level 1 will stabilize a character after 5
minutes of administering it. Each level of First Aid reduces the time
it takes to stabilize someone by 30 seconds. Stabilize means to get
someone from -1 to 0 (unconcious). They will then wake up in 10
minutes unless treated with the skill Medicine.
Library Use - May work as a general ability to locate specific books in
a library or library-like collection of books. May also act as a sort
of general knowledge skill. If you do not have Library use (and can
read), the default time to find the information in a given book is:
number of minutes = number of pages in the book.
Natural History - As the Tabletop Game.
Navigate - As the Tabletop Game.
Photography - Creatures will have a rating which indicates how
difficult it is to capture on film. The character must equal or
surpass this number or the film just doesn't work.
Track - Track is now a Times-per-event skill. To use a Track, find a
Marshal and search the ground in an appropriate area, then ask the
Marshal if you find anything. If the answer is "Yes", then you have
burned a Track, and will be given a direction. If the trail is
particularly difficult, you may be asked to use more than one Track.
OTHER POINTS
Luck - Luck can be used several ways:
1. Increase any EDU or INT based skill. If you have found, for
instance, a book that contains what you believe to be vital
information that takes, say, History 2 to read, and neither you nor
anyone in your party do not have the skill History at all, you may
spend 2 luck point to gain that skill for that instance only.
(Apparently, it's an area you happened to pick up some knowledge in
while dabbling in school). Once the luck points are used, they are
gone for that event.
2. To escape dying. If your character takes a shot that would render
him dead or dying, you may take a luck point to raise him to the level
of unconcious.
3. As a wild card. Luck points may be used in situations where no
other skill or ability seems to apply. This is at the discretion of
the Marshal. Luck may not be used to augment a times-per-event skill.
The times-per-event skills are Dodge, Waylay, and Track. Players
should note that we do not guarantee that use of this skill will yield
any useful information. It should also be noted that it is an
extremely Marshal-intensive skill, and if the Marshal does not know
where the quarry went, there is no way he can lead you to it.
Luck points are per event.
SAN - SAN is the highest level of Sanity the character may have, even
with the best of Psychotherapy.
Sanity - Sanity is the current state of the characters mind. It may go
down with exposure to vile things, or up with Psychotherapy.
Income - The yearly income of the character is figured by the following
formula: EDU times Credit Rating (to be found under POW) times $1,000.
The Event Organizer may give a particular player with an appropriate
character background more, and may allow less for similar reasons.
When "HOLD!" is called: Stop what you are doing, drop to one knee, and
CLOSE YOUR EYES!
A final note: This game is to be run by the Event organizers. These
rules are not complete, nor do we believe that it is possible to write
rules that are. The intent of the rules, however, is clear, and it is
the intent that will be played to rather than the letter. Latitude may
be given from time to time, but that latitude should be considered the
exception, not the rule. Our intent is for you to have a good time by
overcoming the challenges we set for you, not through allowing the
player to "win" because they were better at negotiating the rules than
the player next to them.
--------------------
The Three-Lobed Burning Eye is an unofficial discussion forum for
Chaosium's Games. To submit an article, subscribe or unsubscribe, mail
to: appel@erzo.org. The old digests are archived on
ftp.csua.berkeley.edu in the directory /pub/chaosium, and may be
retrieved via FTP.
