I have no idea what character to play in CoC...

[Arravis]

My gaming group and I normally run a FR campaign with two DM's, I'm one of them. Recently we decided to try out CoC (something I hadn't played in over 10 years and then not very much) and I am DM'ing. The first game (which we played Fri, Sat, & Sun in a CoC marathon hehe) went extremely well and was a ton of fun for everyone. It was so creepy, one of the players couldn't go to sleep for several hours after the first game, hehe. Well... the other DM wants to try DM'ing in CoC, so I have to think of a character; and honestly, I'm drawing a blank.

The current make up of the group is a female exotic dancer (played by the other DM's wife), a chinese delivery/internet porn site running guy (played by my girlfriend, lol) and a pawn store gunsmith/conspiricy theorist (played by the other DM). All the characters live in the same neighborhood in NYC and went to high school together.

The only two characters that sound appealing so far are the two old CoC characters I played in high school. A mafia hitman or a martial arts dojo owner/teacher. Both are too violent and not enough RP oriented in my opinion for the kind of game I'm wanting to run though... so I wanted to see what kind of characters you guys have played or think would be good to play in CoC. Thanks guys!

 

[Furn_Darkside]

..or think would be good to play in CoC. Thanks guys!

A down on his luck private investigator who gets horrible cases nobody else would want.

A burnt out doctor in a the local health clinic- who has lost most hope in humanity after dealing with the dregs of society.

A seedy lawyer- an ambulence chaser.

A clerical-type who is fighting to keep the spiritual life alive in such a run down community.

A high-school drop out deli-worker, trying to keep food on the table for a family he had too young.

FD

 

[Default Name Player]

One of their former high school teachers...

As the older character, you can also "tsk tsk" them for their questionable lifestyle/professional choices.

 

[Henry]

When in doubt, play an idealized version of yourself, or mimic a famous TV personality you like!

Other idea snippets include:

Psychic Rock Star
Right-wing Collegiate Political Sci Professor (don't laugh, they exist)
Fireman with an obsessive fascination with fires
Pakistani Wall Street Financier

The possiblities are endless!

 

[Bagpuss]

I always found athletes a good choice and putting some effort into running skills/feats.

Anything so you are faster at running away than other characters, you live longer that way.

My longest running character in original CoC was Eddie "Homerun" Willson, due to the fact he had 80% in sprint and carried a baseball bat (a non-impaling weapon). I'm not sure how he would convert to D20.

Another long lived CoC character was a old British army officer from WWI, already partly insane from the horrors of war, he managed to explain most things away as german sabotage and the work of enemy spys.

However you design your character give them a couple of personality hooks that you can quickly grab hold of since you need to get into character quick in CoC else your dead before you've had a chance to roleplay them.

 

[Dr Tenebrous]

If you want to keep some of the combat focus, but have more flavor and RP potential, you might try a former gang member who's a petty crook. In addition to some fighting skills, think burglar, pickpocket, forgery, hacking, stealth, gather info, bluff, intimidate, driver, etc. He can be a customer/muscle for the dancer, a driver or tech support for the chinese/web guy, and uses the pawnshop to fence things. Since he'd always be sticking his nose where it wasn't wanted, he's a great hook to hang new episodes off of.