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Trail of Cthulhu - my first experiences
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<blockquote data-quote="drscott46" data-source="post: 6019735" data-attributes="member: 46144"><p>Here's another illustration of the stability vs. sanity mechanic in this game. (I agree it's a bit difficult to explain in this format.) In my old campaign, my PC was an accountant with a sneaky side (technically a Private Investigator by occupation, but in this game classes are mostly skill bundles) who was the grandson of the elderly patron of the group (campaign used the Armitage Files milieu). He was ostensibly brought into the group to "watch the budget". At his introduction he was presented as a straight-down-the-line honest and competent man- his pillars of stability were the certainty of math and logic, his wife and children, and so on. As the campaign wore on he suffered an attack- I can't remember exactly what it was, some sort of gas maybe- and completely lost that math & logic pillar of stability. </p><p></p><p>This ended up being a great vehicle for role-playing, because the character was unable to execute those skills any longer- but he wasn't insane at all. He just simply became completely incompetent in that aspect- which led to a lot of "we should take a seaplane to the island!" and "there's plenty in the budget for supplies!" and so on. I figured that in between expeditions he'd merrily keep doing his job- and Enron-style accounting takes a little while to play out.</p><p></p><p>Having two mechanics to measure various aspects of your character's psyche really adds something to the game. Given the extreme simplicity of most every other mechanic in the game (not too many games out there that use nothing more than a single d6 and point applications to resolve everything), it isn't too bad to deal with.</p><p></p><p>For me, ToC provided a much more enjoyable experience than classic CoC. The 30s are a lot more pulpy and fun than the 20s (Nazis, car chases, the Great Depression), characters can stand up to the baddies a bit more, and it's an incredibly easy game to teach newcomers. The game can also be played "purist" style, which should help satisfy those CoC grognards. The modularity of the Purist vs. Pulp mechanics are really nicely done, and I hope the folks working on D&D Next have taken them into consideration.</p><p></p><p>I will say one more thing about ToC, though. Just like CoC, a lot depends on the GM's skill. Because the mechanics are so loose, the game really needs someone with some storytelling and RP ability at the helm. Especially if you're playing Pulp style and aren't doing the character-death-every-five-minutes thing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="drscott46, post: 6019735, member: 46144"] Here's another illustration of the stability vs. sanity mechanic in this game. (I agree it's a bit difficult to explain in this format.) In my old campaign, my PC was an accountant with a sneaky side (technically a Private Investigator by occupation, but in this game classes are mostly skill bundles) who was the grandson of the elderly patron of the group (campaign used the Armitage Files milieu). He was ostensibly brought into the group to "watch the budget". At his introduction he was presented as a straight-down-the-line honest and competent man- his pillars of stability were the certainty of math and logic, his wife and children, and so on. As the campaign wore on he suffered an attack- I can't remember exactly what it was, some sort of gas maybe- and completely lost that math & logic pillar of stability. This ended up being a great vehicle for role-playing, because the character was unable to execute those skills any longer- but he wasn't insane at all. He just simply became completely incompetent in that aspect- which led to a lot of "we should take a seaplane to the island!" and "there's plenty in the budget for supplies!" and so on. I figured that in between expeditions he'd merrily keep doing his job- and Enron-style accounting takes a little while to play out. Having two mechanics to measure various aspects of your character's psyche really adds something to the game. Given the extreme simplicity of most every other mechanic in the game (not too many games out there that use nothing more than a single d6 and point applications to resolve everything), it isn't too bad to deal with. For me, ToC provided a much more enjoyable experience than classic CoC. The 30s are a lot more pulpy and fun than the 20s (Nazis, car chases, the Great Depression), characters can stand up to the baddies a bit more, and it's an incredibly easy game to teach newcomers. The game can also be played "purist" style, which should help satisfy those CoC grognards. The modularity of the Purist vs. Pulp mechanics are really nicely done, and I hope the folks working on D&D Next have taken them into consideration. I will say one more thing about ToC, though. Just like CoC, a lot depends on the GM's skill. Because the mechanics are so loose, the game really needs someone with some storytelling and RP ability at the helm. Especially if you're playing Pulp style and aren't doing the character-death-every-five-minutes thing. [/QUOTE]
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