Skull & Bones + Call of Cthulhu + d20 Modern = BIG FUN

[barsoomcore]

I ran my S&B/CoC/d20M bastard child game and it turned out a hoot! The players were all D&D players exclusively so there were a lot of new mechanics to get used to, but they grooved on Sanity and the keen d20M class abilities, and the flavour of S&B (along with the vitality/wound combat system) added a whole new level of fun.

Lots of highlights -- I'm tempted to start a new Story Hour but the two I currently have get updated so rarely...

Observations: splitting a D&D player's focus between dropping hit points and dropping Sanity confuses them in a good way. Suddenly the fight-or-flight decision is complicated. People do dumb (but incredibly cool) things.

You can never have too many explosions.

Or too many unsavoury pirates.

Vitality points mean more and tougher encounters are viable. Individual encounters can't suddenly be meaner, but you can have more of them. Cool.

Or too many talking monkeys. I am all about the talking monkey action.

Anyway, it went well and my mini Skull and Bones campaign is off -- thanks again to trilobite for the notion. They encountered the first crystal skull and know that there are five others. They also know that some evil bokor is searching for the skulls. They have not heard anything of the Mayan Vampire Concubine, however.

Anyone else running Skull & Bones? Thoughts?

 

[Turanil]

d20 Modern and Vitality points

I ran my S&B/CoC/d20M bastard child game and it turned out a hoot!
<snip>
Vitality points mean more and tougher encounters are viable.

In order to better prepare my future campaign, I am interested to hear more about these points:
1) Did you use the d20 Modern Massive Damage Theshold ? (In which you make a DC15 Fort save or die when you suffer damage in excess to Con score rather than in excess of 50 pts.)
2) What system of vitality points did you use: as in d20SW ? (In which you have wound points equal to Con, plus normal hit-points per level that are considered wound-points).
3) Did you mix vitality points with massive damage threshold ?
4) Why vitality points mean more and tougher encounters ?

Thanks,

 

[trilobite]

Anyway, it went well and my mini Skull and Bones campaign is off -- thanks again to trilobite for the notion.

Anyone else running Skull & Bones? Thoughts?

Thanks barsoomcore! Glad you liked my idea! I ran my first game a couple of weeks ago. It was basically the "Welcome to the Account" introductory scenerio from the Skull and Bones rule book. Everyone had lots of fun. They took the spanish supply ship, had a duel for leadership of their group, found some zombies in some barrels of rum in the ships hold, and they took the owner of the barrels, a pretty nasty bokor, to his destination. They are now just arriving in New Providence to sell their ill gotten booty. I was pretty light on them their first game but things should start getting tougher from now on! I am going to then run them in "The Island of the Damned". That's where they will run into the first Crystal Skull. Should be lots of fun!

 

[barsoomcore]

1) Did you use the d20 Modern Massive Damage Theshold ? (In which you make a DC15 Fort save or die when you suffer damage in excess to Con score rather than in excess of 50 pts.)

No. Using Skull & Bones' system where you can lose as many hit points as you have without issue, but losing half your Con after losing all hit points requires you to "Roll the Bones" to stay conscious.

2) What system of vitality points did you use: as in d20SW ? (In which you have wound points equal to Con, plus normal hit-points per level that are considered wound-points).

Skull & Bones: Hit points are considered "vitality points" and characters have "wound points" equal to Con.

3) Did you mix vitality points with massive damage threshold ?

No.

4) Why vitality points mean more and tougher encounters ?

Because PCs recover their loss without consuming resources -- you heal vitality points at a rate of several per minute, which means that after ten or so minutes, the entire party is fully healed (unless they've lost Con). So many encounters effectively consume ZERO party resources -- whereas in D&D you use up your healing ability throughout the game and thus each encounter, even if you get your hit points restored afterwards, has used up some of your party's effectiveness.

More nasty encounters == more DM fun! And work. Hm.

trilobite: my opening adventure was essentially a cross between Island of the Damned, the "Tammeraut's Fate" Dungeon module and Lieutenant Hornblower. Monsignor Domino will figure strongly in my campaign -- he's one of the people racing to recover the skulls.

 

[trilobite]

trilobite: my opening adventure was essentially a cross between Island of the Damned, the "Tammeraut's Fate" Dungeon module and Lieutenant Hornblower. Monsignor Domino will figure strongly in my campaign -- he's one of the people racing to recover the skulls.

Yep, my group was really freaked out by Monsignor Domino and they are going to have a fit when they find out whose island that Captain Bobo wants them to go to. But of coarse they will not find out until they are on it!

 

[ledded]

<snip>
Lots of highlights -- I'm tempted to start a new Story Hour but the two I currently have get updated so rarely...

Awww c'mon, I love your other stuff. And there are monkeys, man, talking MONKEYS!!!

<snip>
Vitality points mean more and tougher encounters are viable. Individual encounters can't suddenly be meaner, but you can have more of them. Cool.

I *love* a good WP/VP system, and that is one of the reasons I love it so.

Or too many talking monkeys. I am all about the talking monkey action.

Heh. Monkeys are funny.

Sounds like a really fun game, I'd love to get my group into a game like that. We're planning something sort of similar for the distant future, but it will be a little more on the Steampunk side.

Keep us posted man.

 

[Desdichado]

BC, you're amazing yet again. This was a great idea when tril first suggested it; it's fun to see it running it's course. All Hail Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean which thankfully made this kind of stuff fashionable again!

I'd be interested in a story hour. I don't check that forum all that often anyway, so I won't even notice the sparse updates.

 

[barsoomcore]

Okay, I'm just saying.

HATED Pirates of the Caribbean. Hated almost everything about it.

Got it off my chest. I know, I know, best picture of last year, so funny, great fun, everyone loved it, I know, I know, I know.

Done now. Sorry about that. And thanks!

 

[Desdichado]

Okay, I'm just saying.

HATED Pirates of the Caribbean. Hated almost everything about it.

Got it off my chest. I know, I know, best picture of last year, so funny, great fun, everyone loved it, I know, I know, I know.

Done now. Sorry about that. And thanks!

But you can't deny that it made pirates fashionable again!

 

[Piratecat]

This sounds wonderful. I wish I was in the campaign.