The Crimster
First Post
Ok, here is the information on creating your character for the d20 Call of Cthulhu campaign. If you have questions, feel free to email me or post it here. Today is Wednesday; we should be started by as early as Friday, or maybe as late as Monday. It’s all up to you guys to get me your characters on time. Those who wish to use Iconics, just say so. There are 4: Marie (Journalist), Claire (Athlete – more like a martial artist than anything), Sam (Police officer), and Kristof (Assistant History Professor – Already taken). If you have the book, please make your own character. While it would be nice to have a game ‘about’ the d20 Cthulhu Iconics – I must tell you that the Iconics have no greater chance of survival than anyone else…!
Rules
As per the d20 Call of Cthulhu. I’m going by the book on this one, and I won’t be using many of the variant rules (the one big exception is the Defense Bonus, found on page 15. That rule should help you guys survive a little bit). If you think any others should be included, let me know, and we’ll talk about it.
Your Character
We’ll be starting out at level 1, obviously. All feats are fine with me – even the psychic feats if you wish. Starting money and income is going to be random (as per the book). Let’s use the first number in your random assortment (see Stats, below). Assign your skills, buy gear that you might typically have, and we’ll be ready to go.
Backgrounds
The time is mid-August, 1999. Los Angeles, California. I would prefer characters that are at least 18 years old, but any type of profession or collection of skills. No knowledge of the Cthulhu mythos, and I would prefer little to no knowledge of the Occult. Use the profession templates on page 12-13, or come up with your own. Other than that, your background is whatever you want.
The World
Normally, this is where the DM will fill in the players on the history, religions, and races of their world. I obviously don’t have to. It is our world, our time. It is the same world, filled with wars, crime, poverty, disease, and a thousand other horrors. Our world – but perhaps slightly different. Darker. More malevolent. There is a dark underbelly to this world that is unseen by the masses. And you’re about to taken by the scruff of the neck and forced to take a deep, long look at it.
Stats
Sadly, the point buy system will not work here. We’re going to do it the old-fashioned way – random. 4d6, drop the lowest, assign as you wish. The catch is that we’ll be using an on-line website to generate the numbers. You email the site, using the info below (cut & paste) and it will email both you and I the random numbers. It’s very easy, and very quick. Email the following block (cut and paste) of info to dice@pbm.com , with the appropriate modifications - no subject. Voila, instant stats. You may reroll if your total modifiers add up to 0 or less, or if your highest score is 13 or lower.
#P timothycraft AT yahoo DOT com (obviously modify this)
#P YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
#S 6
#D 1
#R 24
#L 6
#T Stats for YOUR NAME
(for those interested, the #S is the sides of the die, the #D is how many dice to roll, #L is how many to display per line, #R is how many times to roll it, #T is just the header)
Death
It is entirely possible you may die. Your character, that is. Don’t fret, you can always come back into the game with someone else if you wish. The standard Call of Cthulhu game can have quite a high body count. The d20 version may have a slightly less level of character death, but not by much. Darwinism is hard at work in the Cthulhu universe; the smarter usually survive longer than the ones who go in, shotguns blasting. Your new characters level is one less than the average of the party.
I’ll be posting the stat block for Kristof on the Rogue’s gallery tomorrow (hold off on sending in your characters until then), followed by the rest of the Iconics for those who wish to have them as their character. Please do try to follow that example. We’ll use it as an on-line character sheet. =)
*** ADDED ***
Hit Points
Unless someone has a very good argument against it, I’d like to keep hit points/damage secret. I will not say, “You’re hit for 5 points of damage” – instead, I will say, “The ghoul claws at your arm, ripping your clothes and scratching you slightly.” I will be very specific as to your health levels – you’ll know if you’re slightly wounded, wounded and near death, for instance. I will be even more specific if you wish, through email. But I think not breaking down damage/HP numerically will increase the mystery and aura of mortality that can be missing in d20 games, but should be present in CoC. Any objections?
Rules
As per the d20 Call of Cthulhu. I’m going by the book on this one, and I won’t be using many of the variant rules (the one big exception is the Defense Bonus, found on page 15. That rule should help you guys survive a little bit). If you think any others should be included, let me know, and we’ll talk about it.
Your Character
We’ll be starting out at level 1, obviously. All feats are fine with me – even the psychic feats if you wish. Starting money and income is going to be random (as per the book). Let’s use the first number in your random assortment (see Stats, below). Assign your skills, buy gear that you might typically have, and we’ll be ready to go.
Backgrounds
The time is mid-August, 1999. Los Angeles, California. I would prefer characters that are at least 18 years old, but any type of profession or collection of skills. No knowledge of the Cthulhu mythos, and I would prefer little to no knowledge of the Occult. Use the profession templates on page 12-13, or come up with your own. Other than that, your background is whatever you want.
The World
Normally, this is where the DM will fill in the players on the history, religions, and races of their world. I obviously don’t have to. It is our world, our time. It is the same world, filled with wars, crime, poverty, disease, and a thousand other horrors. Our world – but perhaps slightly different. Darker. More malevolent. There is a dark underbelly to this world that is unseen by the masses. And you’re about to taken by the scruff of the neck and forced to take a deep, long look at it.
Stats
Sadly, the point buy system will not work here. We’re going to do it the old-fashioned way – random. 4d6, drop the lowest, assign as you wish. The catch is that we’ll be using an on-line website to generate the numbers. You email the site, using the info below (cut & paste) and it will email both you and I the random numbers. It’s very easy, and very quick. Email the following block (cut and paste) of info to dice@pbm.com , with the appropriate modifications - no subject. Voila, instant stats. You may reroll if your total modifiers add up to 0 or less, or if your highest score is 13 or lower.
#P timothycraft AT yahoo DOT com (obviously modify this)
#P YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
#S 6
#D 1
#R 24
#L 6
#T Stats for YOUR NAME
(for those interested, the #S is the sides of the die, the #D is how many dice to roll, #L is how many to display per line, #R is how many times to roll it, #T is just the header)
Death
It is entirely possible you may die. Your character, that is. Don’t fret, you can always come back into the game with someone else if you wish. The standard Call of Cthulhu game can have quite a high body count. The d20 version may have a slightly less level of character death, but not by much. Darwinism is hard at work in the Cthulhu universe; the smarter usually survive longer than the ones who go in, shotguns blasting. Your new characters level is one less than the average of the party.
I’ll be posting the stat block for Kristof on the Rogue’s gallery tomorrow (hold off on sending in your characters until then), followed by the rest of the Iconics for those who wish to have them as their character. Please do try to follow that example. We’ll use it as an on-line character sheet. =)
*** ADDED ***
Hit Points
Unless someone has a very good argument against it, I’d like to keep hit points/damage secret. I will not say, “You’re hit for 5 points of damage” – instead, I will say, “The ghoul claws at your arm, ripping your clothes and scratching you slightly.” I will be very specific as to your health levels – you’ll know if you’re slightly wounded, wounded and near death, for instance. I will be even more specific if you wish, through email. But I think not breaking down damage/HP numerically will increase the mystery and aura of mortality that can be missing in d20 games, but should be present in CoC. Any objections?
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