Call of Cthulhu

  • Call of Cthulhu,  current event horizons

    Cthulhu by Gaslight – A Single Light in the Dorkness

    July 11, 2014 /

     

    Here are the steps to go through making your character:

    1. Download the following: Call of Cthulhu Core Rulebook, Cthulhu by Gaslight, 1890s Character Sheet. The username and password can be found on Facebook, or by asking me.
    2. Start on page 33 of the pdf. There will be two pages which list all the steps to make your own investigator. But guess what??? A lot of that is already done for you by the next step.
    3. Visit the Puppyrush Character Generator to generate your character’s stats. It’s that easy! Try and ignore the typos, though; computer programers are not known for their spelling abilities. Fill out the character sheet with the information it gives you.
    4. Browse through page 40 in the Core book and pages 9-12 in the Cthulhu by Gaslight books, which provide you with lots of sample Occupations. If you already have a certain type of investigator in mind, adjust your stats. If you want to be a professor, but you’ve rolled an INT of 9 and a STR of 18, feel free to switch them.
    5. Once you have your basic stats figured out, continue with the steps listed in the Core book to finish your dudes and dudettes. But first, read:
    6. Some Character Restrictions (This Is Important And In All Caps):
      1. No poors. All investigators have to be at least lower-middle class. As much as I enjoy being a champion of the working man, unless we’re running a certain type of game, poverty does not make for much freedom in Victorian England. Or today, for that matter.
      2. Everyone has to have at least 15% in either Archeology or Anthropology. Most of you will probably need to invest Interest Points into this, but maybe one or two of you will have Occupations that include this. I’ll explain why a little later. If you invest enough points to reach 30%, you’ll gain a specialty. I’ll talk more about that when we meet.
    7. Be sure to bring:
      1. Your character sheets
      2. A pencil (you’ll be doing a lot of erasing on your sheets)
      3. Something to write notes on
      4. DICE! If you have dice please bring dice. We’re particularly looking for d10s (10-sided dice, whether they are 00-09 or 10-100).
    8. If you are really confused by any of this, I’ll be around to help with character creation and setting you up, as will others who know the system. If this is necessary, PLEASE COME BY EARLY, EITHER TO WEST HYATTESVILLE METRO (BEFORE 3PM) OR TO SOUTH CAMPUS DINER (AFTER 3PM) where I’ll be hosting High-Minded Twaddle. We’re already beginning quite late, so if you come by at 6 and we have to set up your character… I mean we still will, it doesn’t take THAT long, but it would be so much easier if we had it finished earlier.

    The Story

    The time is October 1891; the place, London, England. A few years earlier Jack the Ripper made headlines around the world, nowhere moreso than here, the staging place. Steam power has ushered in a new age of connectivity and travel, while the advances in electricity by the Americans have already produced marvels which will take some years to be replicated in England. The automobile remains an extreme luxury, and the few motorists who exist are throttled at 4 mph inside London. The notorious London fog is in full effect, rendering travel at night a dubious proposition, despite the government’s best attempts at ensuring the many gas lights which adorn the city streets remain lit at night.

    The investigators are spending a cool but humid Saturday morning at the Amateur Archeological Society, a social club located in Holborn (a London district), near to the British Museum. The club at present is headed by a Sir Kevin Holstaff, a wealthy amateur explorer who makes a habit of going on expedition whenever possible, whether in the jungles of the Congo or the mountain valleys of Tibet. At a relatively young age of thirty-seven, Holstaff inherited the family fortune after his father and two older brothers were lost at sea. Due to his young age and the shirking attitude he adopted as the youngest of three brothers, the Amateur Archeological Society is unique (and notorious) among London social clubs in that it caters to both men and women. While there, someone approaches the club, and asks the doorman to speak to one of the investigators…

     

    The Investigators

    Eugene Fairbanks, American-born electrical engineer

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  • Call of Cthulhu

    Call of Cthulhu – Dead Men Don’t Cry, They Only Go Insane (6/25)

    July 3, 2011 /

    Last weekend was the first time in a very, very, very long time we’ve all gotten together for a good and proper p&p rpg, and what’s more it was Call of Cthulhu! We had a lot of fun, drank a lot of sugar, and even had a few special guest stars. Who were they? Well I’m glad you asked! Here was our rogue’s gallery:

    Returning cast:

    Bruce McPherson, Professor of Physics and Canes at Miskatonic U., played by Enoch
    Johnny Ikea, Pilot with a Degree in Gastronomy (also Medicine), played by David
    Harry Gallagher, Unstable Sergent in the U.S. Army, played by Kevin

    New to the party were:

    Micky “the Sticky” O’Houlihan, Former Boxing Champ and Currently Sort-Of Braindead, played by Justin
    Salazzo Grizzlebee, Grizzled Forester with an Axe to Grind, played by Eric*
    John Thompson, Merchant Banker and Dead-Eyed Wunderkind, played by Tony
    Colin O’Shea, “Smooth” Talking Con-Man with a Heart of Bronze, played by Pedro*

    * new failures

    With this ragged group of players, we immediately set to work investi – oh, that’s right. Actually, since we couldn’t find anyone’s characters sheet we went to work recreating the existing characters to the best of our knowledge. Then we rolled the new dudes and everything worked out more or less for the best. I say “more or less” because in the grand scheme of things some damage was probably done but most of our investigators managed to get by with only severe cases of indefinite insanity, the breadth of which has yet to be determined. That’s what seeing a horde of the undead rise from their graves can do to a mind not carefully weaned on pop fiction since birth!

    What we had was essentially an investigation centering around what appeared to be the sudden reanimation of a a man shot dead by a mob hitman. There were police officers, speakeasies, mobsters, more jazz musicians than an episode of The Cosby Show and even THE LIVING DEAD. How very exciting! Now let’s take a look at the catastrophe tally:

    Pedro trying to brute-force negotiate with cop: 1
    Pedro trying to brute-force negotiate with musician: 1
    Two people (don’t remember who!) calling a Mr. Louis Armstrong’s manager and failing to talk their way past him: 2
    Tony shooting an unarmed man: 1
    Eric shooting an unarmed man: 1
    Tony killing an unarmed man: 1
    Kevin taking a ride on the insanity train and checking out early: 1
    Unarmed (dead) man summoning an army of zombies: 100

    Comedy of Errors Score: 107 – HILARIOUS

    And then almost everyone got an indefinite insanity. Overall a good, if crowded, showing. That being the case, we are now finished with the tiny adventures in the core rulebook and will begin Tatters of the King after the next Pathfinder game. For which we will have to clear up some space because everyone seems agreed that seven players is far too many to run smoothly and efficiently. It’s gonna be tough.

    As a bonus treat, we captured rare video footage of some nerd actually roleplaying Louie Armstrong (under great duress) on the phone with the investigators. He’s not worried about money; he just loves to help people!

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