Play@YSDC

For all those non secret observations.

I've observed that it looks cool

The eyes are peeled.

Shortly I shall begin the process of character creation. According to the Achtung! Cthulhu - Fate supplement; "It is assumed that you have a copy of Fate Core System?" and that;



"Before jumping into making Achtung! Cthulhu Fate characters for the first time, there are a few things to bear in mind regarding how this build of Fate differs from Fate Core.

• There are more skills in this Fate build than in Core and many others, representing the broad scope of the setting from an action and intellectual character perspective. Because of that, Achtung! Cthulhu characters possess more skills.

• Skills have sub-elements known as “specialisations”, which cover having advanced knowledge or training in one area of a broader skill. Notably, this is used for academic and scientific subjects, as well as unusual lore.

• Characters will often automatically notice things that they have expertise in, either due to their high skill or their specialisations.

• There is a sanity system—the hallmark of Cthulhu Mythos gaming—that characters must pay attention to if they want to continue to fight the good fight. How sane (or insane) characters are will restrict or hamperthe sort of actions that they can take—for example, sane characters have a hard time dealing with unnatural threats.

• Combat against overwhelming forces is far more dangerous than in many Fate games, though this version still retains the typical pulp flavour when the odds are even.

• Skills can be drained—that is, their ratings can be temporarily diminished. This is mostly done with the Will skill in the Sanity system, or by using Resources to acquire expensive goods or services.

• Recovery from stress and consequences is different and takes longer than normal, depending on the nature of the conflict."

Further explanation will follow

So to begin with please take a look at the Fate SRD (http://fate-srd.com/fate-core/basics) and think about the kind of character you would like to be. Remember that it is hoped you possess some special talent that makes you attractive to the SOE. Also something (not a major mythos event) happened to you in your past that has brought you to the attention of N, something odd you saw perhaps or experienced as a child.
Please be aware that the period we are dealing with is early 1941 and the location France, so nationality is best confined to western European, British, or British dominion. America has yet to enter the war, but, as we know, there were many Americans serving with the British or Canadian forces, so a character may be American but will be equipped as per the British.
Rank is uniportant, although no one should be above Captain. Originally your character may come from any of the three services (army, navy, air force), but they begin the story as SOE operatives, so be carefull when thinking about possible military skills.

I am vaguely thinking of a hardy Norwegian sailor of ruddy constitution but modest intellect. Perhaps even a relation to Gustaf Johanson (the plucky Norwegian who sort-of carved up the Great Cthulhu himself).

Fleeing Nazi Norway in his fishing boat, he ended up on the shores of the UK, pledging himself to fight the fight.

As for event for the SoE, maybe he got stranded in the ocean for several days and through sheer pluck and determination made it through as young teenager. Add in feverish hallucinations of "mermen" (deep ones) if you wish. Alternatively, if he is the nephew of Gustaf Johanson that might be woven in. He might recall his uncles crazed mumblings of sleep.

Some connection with the Navy, I would guess.

Thoughts?

Supercape:
Sounds good, Norway of course was invaded by the German in April 1940. The Norwegian government relocated to London at the end of April that year, so it would have been more than possible that your character came to England to continue the fight to free Norway from the Nazi occupation, as many Norwegians did.

He may have been in the Norwegian navy, where he would have got his military training. Try and think of a talentl that he might have (military or otherwise) that would make him useful to the SOE (explosives, radio, forgery etc).
As for any connection to 'Cthulhu' or any other mythos beings, be careful, strange, indistinct mumblings from an uncle considered crazy by his family would be fine as would finding, as a child, strange footprints on the rocks near the sea's edge. or seeing odd looking people at odd times. But be careful of creating too strong a connection to the mythos.

Of course being a Norwegian national would stand him in good stead for any adventures in Norway or any place where a Norwegian exile would not look out of place.

Perhaps a Radio Operative? Presuming he had some Norwegian Navy Experience? I'll have a think. Other options might be mountaineering or arctic conditions (thinking to the old Skis and Rifle thing of the olympics). Depends a bit on what might be upcoming?

I'll lleave the relative idea up to you. I don't want to play on it too heavily, but throw it out there if it gives you any ideas you can use (I can hardly fail to throw it out as he is a Norwegian sailor).

I quite like the idea of him being adrift for several days in the Norwegian sea, then swimming to shore in freezing conditions. He gets a reputation as being a hard nut (his main quality?). I don't know if that could meld with any possible deep one connections. I'm Open to suggestion.

I was thinking about playing a Spanish Republican guerilla.
I've always been fascinated by this picture, so let's see if I can breathe her to life.



She would have been a translator/journalist before the Civil War and could have been recruited after fleeing Spain for the UK. Her most prominent skill would be her talent for languages, being able to master any tongue swiftly and thoroughly.

A Mythos encounter could be some magic she saw during a raid or a peculiar amulet she found on someone and kept.

I was thinking of playing a French-born actress named Monique Deveraux who married an Englishman in the late 1930s and emigrated to England. She kept her maiden name, as that's her stage name. She would be highly skilled in disguises and impersonations, as well as fluent in French and familiar with France and its geography. She grew up in Normandy, and she has family that still lives there under German occupation, so she's especially eager to do whatever she can to help bring about France's liberation. It's Monique's family history that has gotten N's attention. Her ancestors throughout the generations have been involved in odd events, though she doesn't know much about them, as her family doesn't like to talk about it.

Her younger sister Claire is in the French Resistance. She is in fact Oliver Carpenter's future wife (they meet on D-Day when he parachutes into France, and she saves his life), and the two of them will be the parents of Lionel Carpenter and grandparents of Sarah Carpenter, my characters from Ash. The Carpenter family has a similar family history, often being connected to strange happenings.

So far then we have;
A Norwegian radio operative.
A French Actress. Monique Deveraux.
A Spanish linguist.

I am waiting to see if aine is going to join us, until then think what 'special' talents you might have that would be of use to the SOEs operations in Europe. Example, demolitions, assassination expertise, some criminal skill etc.

Ok so a little refinement:

Finn Kagge, Norwegian Sailor

Mythos Link: Found strange coastal footprints as a child.

SoE Speciality: Demolitions (Explosives)


Hi main qualities / skills / stunts will be around being hardy and tough. Secondary atttributes will be about fighting, sailing, and being outoors. He is a friendly sort and probably will have reasonable (or better) rapport and empathy, but is basically an unlearned chap. Finn drinks and smokes too much, and has more than a few tattoos. His English is reasonable but he does have an accent and gets his grammar wrong often. Combined with his height and build, he isn't a man to blend in.

We are about to be joined by ghill with his 'old sweat'. So if aine joins us we will have five PCs and that fills us up. Before we go too much further with character generation please note the following;
Before jumping into making Achtung! Cthulhu Fate characters for the first time, there are a few things to bear in mind regarding how this build of Fate differs from Fate Core.

• There are more skills in this Fate build than in Core and many others, representing the broad scope of the setting from an action and intellectual character perspective. Because of that, Achtung! Cthulhu characters possess more skills.

• Skills have sub-elements known as “specialisations”, which cover having advanced knowledge or training in one area of a broader skill. Notably, this is used for academic and scientific subjects, as well as unusual lore.

• Characters will often automatically notice things that they have expertise in, either due to their high skill or their specialisations.

• There is a sanity system—the hallmark of Cthulhu Mythos gaming—that characters must pay attention to if they want to continue to fight the good fight. How sane (or insane) characters are will restrict or hamper the sort of actions that they can take—for example, sane characters have a hard time dealing with unnatural threats.

• Combat against overwhelming forces is far more dangerous than in many Fate games, though this version still retains the typical pulp flavour when the odds are even.

• Skills can be drained—that is, their ratings can be temporarily diminished. This is mostly done with the Will skill in the Sanity system, or by using Resources to acquire expensive goods or services.

• Recovery from stress and consequences is different and takes longer than normal, depending on the nature of the conflict.

Monique's specialties are disguise and impersonation. She is good at social interaction and also stealthy. She's a decent shot, but not very combat-oriented otherwise. She prefers to not be seen in the first place, or failing that, to talk her way out of trouble.

Maria's skills will mainly focus on linguistics and cyphers. She'll also be good at fighting, having killed several men in ambushed and skirmishes.
I'll read the rules presently.

As suggested by Priest I'm posting this here. A reserve character (I hope). Using the FATE rules, but not the AC Fate rules so subject to change.

High Concept: "Unflappable Old Sweat" veteran of Dunkirk.
Trouble: Always looking for the fight.

Phase Trio:
As a youth Robert Owen got himself into a lot of trouble with the law, in an out of Borstal. At 17 he took the option of joining the British army as a junior soldier rather than serving time in an adult prison, he never looked back.

* A promising second story man
* I Owe The Army Everything

As a soldier in the 1st Bn Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light infantry responsible for guarding the field hospital during the battle of Battle of the Ypres–Comines Canal while on duty he shot and killed what he described to his superiors as a dog-man who was raiding the hospital mortuary as a result he was charged with negligently discharging his weapon and then striking an officer.

# They can't handle the truth

One Great (+4) skill - Shoot
Two Good (+3) skills - Notice, Fight (Specialisation: Knife)
Four Fair (+2) skills - Athletics, Physique, Provoke, Soldier
Seven Average (+1) skills - Drive, Tradecraft (Specialisation: Burglary), Rapport, Will, Stealth, Survival, Deceive.

Stunts:

Shoot - Called Shot - Called Shot
Athletics - Hard core parkour - Rooftop Runner
Physique - Tough as Nails
Tradecraft - There is always a Way Out.

Very nice! If you have a opening keep me in mind. I will watch with interest.

Making characters in Achtung! Cthulhu pretty much follows the standard Fate model, for the most part. During the process you will come up with: (Note; This is not strictly to either system)

• Your character idea
• Your character’s name
• High Concept and Trouble Aspects
• Your Phase Trio (Three other Aspects)
• Your Skills
• Your Stunts and Refresh
• Your Stress and Consequence Tracks
• Your Equipment
• And finally, your Sanity

You begin play as members of Special Operations Executive (see the Vital Background Information section). As such you are trained military personnel (army, navy, or air force) with a something special that has brought you to the notice of the Intelligence community. You may decide not to be a British national, but for game purposes you are part of the British military establishment.

At some stage, either before or during your service, you have had a brush with the unexplained. This isn’t a face to face meeting with a supernatural being, it’s simply having experienced something ‘odd’ that could not be explained. It is this ‘event’ that flagged you to ‘Network N’, a kind of secret department within a secret department. To all intents and purposes you operate as an agent for the SOE, it’s just that sometimes ‘N’ has a little something extra that he wants looked into.
So to begin with you need to think about your characters concept. Who he is, and what he does. Give him a name and a bit of history.

Don’t limit yourself to a military background. Your pre-war life may have given you the skills that the military, and now the SOE, find so useful.

So, think about your character, his background and put together a brief story describing him. It does not need to be long, or overly detailed, but it does need to contain enough information to allow for the creation of the High Concept and Trouble aspects as detailed on p.32 of Fate Core System or http://fate-srd.com/fate-core/your-character-idea

High Concept Aspect
There is a reason that the SOE wants you for their secret missions.
Your High Concept Aspect covers the core of that motivation.
Start with combining those two elements (for example, British radio expert, French explosives expert, or American occult expert),
Technically, that should be enough to get you started, although in this state it is pretty bland.

Think about your description and make it more punchier by adding adjectives or losing some of the description.

For example: The British radio expert, might become ‘Best radioman in my class”; or, the French explosives expert might become, ‘What I don’t know about explosives hasn’t been written yet’, and American occult expert, becomes ‘Top of my field in classical occultism’.

Other examples might include;
• Veteran sniper
• Master linguist, master spy
• There’s nothing I can’t blow up
• Tough-as-nails soldier
• Quick mind, quicker finger
• know my way around an engine better than the back of my hand

Think about what you are and how best to express it in a short sharp way.

Trouble Aspect

The trouble aspect needs to answer the question: “What might get me into hot water on any given mission?” and by doing so gain extra Fate Points. Here are some examples to start with:

• Hot Temper
• Drink problem (stress has you reaching for the bottle)
• Recognizable Face (even if the enemy doesn’t know you right away, the second time they see you it could be a problem)
• Paranoid
• Too Curious for your Own Good
• Can’t Resist Punching a Nazi (not normally a problem if that is what the mission is about, but becomes one when you need to avoid detection, or keep up a ruse)

For anyone still struggling with the Mythos experience part of their backgroun, here are a few 'seeds' from the supplement;
Just ask yourself a few questions. It is not important to answer every one, as it is more likely that just one or two will be sufficient to inspire some creative ideas.

• What strange event from your childhood do you still dream about, even now?
• What odd toy do you still keep with you?
• Who or what was watching you as a child?
• What did your family promise would happen one day?
• Why was that “thing” kept in the attic or basement?
• What do you think that object was that your parents kept in a locked box?
• What strange voices did you hear at night and what did they say?
• What was really in that book your parents kept locked away?
• What strange sounds came from your house at night?
• What secrets did your garden hide?
• What secret do you hide?
• What strange mark do you carry?

Quatermass wrote:Very nice! If you have a opening keep me in mind. I will watch with interest.

Will do

As a very rough idea, will ponder more on it tonight:

An upper class twerp. No commonsense, maybe a stutter and poor eyesight. But, very intelligent - some sort of specialisation, also links with German royalty, super fencer; shaky hands until he has hold of a sword and then he is rock steady - has small facial scar, recognisable as a fencing scar by some - boyhood feud with a German bully cousin who he grew up with and had sword fights with. This German is now a big cheese in the German government/forces.

A little refinement based on Priests post:

Character Idea: Tough Sailor infused with slow burning revenge.

Character Name: Finn Kagge

High Concept: Weather (un)Beaten (A survivor in the harshest of environments)

Trouble Aspect: "Slow on the draw" (Fight's like a slab of stone - very hard, very slow)

Mythos Background: Found strange footprints on the shore of the Fjord he grew up on.

Phase Trio: tbd

Skills: [draft] Great (+4) Physique
Good (+3) Fight, Will
Fair (+2) Craft, Athletics, Rapport
Average (+1) Empathy, Notice, Drive, Shoot

Stunts: [draft] Heavy Hitter
Indomintable
Hard as Nails

Idea: Former Spanish Civil War guerilla with an uncanny knack for languages.

Character Name: Maria Vega

High Concept: Master of tongues, mistress of murder

Trouble Aspect: Hunted by "los Hermanos de la Sombra"

Mythos Background: Shot Commandante Lope Fuentes in the face and saw him absorb the bullet.

Phase Trio: (obvious try-out)
Taste for Germanic blood
Steadfast steely will of iron


Skills: [draft] Great (+4)
Good (+3)
Fair (+2)
Average (+1)

Stunts:

You may find the following usefull;
High Concept and Trouble

You need to define a High Concept, which is intended to convey the essence of your character. High Concepts are usually pithy, and ideally an interesting attention getter...the equivalent of an elevator pitch or a newspaper headline.

You also need a Trouble, which is the counterpoint to your High Concept. While the High Concept describes your character's essence, your Trouble describes the main source of dramatic tension in your character's ongoing story, the thing that holds them back, or causes them to get involved in circumstances that they'd rather avoid but which provide interesting interludes to their existence.

A good Trouble will not only make your character more "real", it also will provide your most reliable means of regaining Fate points during play. Though it seems counterintuitive, a Trouble that doesn't really complicate your character's existence will make your character weaker, not stronger. You want to be compelled and involved in the narrative, and your character's Trouble is a primary enabler of that goal.

Hold off the skills and stunts as the way AC does them is somewhat different to Fate core. I will explain later.

Character Idea: French-born actress who excels at disguise and impersonation.

Character Name: Monique Deveraux

High Concept: Woman of a Thousand Faces

Trouble: Memorably Beautiful

Mythos Experience: While bathing on a beach in Normandy in her late teens, Monique spotted something underneath the surface watching her. She couldn't see any details clearly, but it had vaguely the shape of a large man. Yet it could not have been a man, for no man could stay underwater that long without breathing. When it began to swim towards her, she fled back to the shore.

Dr P & Mr H, excellent i like them both.

Dr, P tell me more about "los Hermanos de la Sombra". The likelyhood of them appearing in France, perhaps?
Supercape, Finn's trouble 'Slow on the Draw' does that also apply to his thinking?

I'm still stewing it over in my mind. I think I may change it to "Heavy drinker", like a good Scandinavian Sailor. I do like the idea that he is slow to react, but on reflection I think flaws/complications are better when a bit more concrete than abstract.

Sorry I keep altering, its just a process of refinement! I am considering making him an ex-smuggler, might fit better with the setting.

I do like DrPetersons, High Concept "Master of tongues, mistress of murder"

Supercape: That's fine keep working on him until you are happy. At each part of Character Creation, there may be something that completely alters your idea.

Next we have;

Slightly different to the formula in the Core rules and AC as well. From each of the following create an aspect which you feel applies to the situation. For example, maybe Maria Vegas was forced to lie perfectly still for over an hour amongst the dead bodies of her former comrades until the Fascist squad had departed the area – ‘Steadfast steely will of iron’.
For each of these phases, an easy way is to think in terms of the back of a novel. The event story should be short, sharp and to the point.


1. Getting noticed by the SOE.
This first phase is not necessarily about an adventurous moment, but a moment where your character is tested, deals with an especially difficult situation, or displays exceptional aptitude, for example. This may well read like the back cover of a pulp dime novel, but it could just as well be something cosy and down-to-earth. To flesh out this phase, ask yourself the following story questions.
• Something dangerous (or potentially so) happened, and that is part of what made your organisation take notice. That danger certainly could be to life and limb, but it could also be to property, finances, reputation, and so on. What exactly was on the line?
• Did you seek out this situation, putting yourself in the path of this danger for glory or gain? Or did this situation happen to you, forcing you to escape or overcome it?
• Who or what stood against you? Did you expect the opposition you got? Did some of it come out of nowhere?
• Was it more skill or luck that saw you through this peril?
• What consequences arose from the outcome? What did you gain? What did you lose?
• How long ago did this event happen? Last week? Last month? (Note: do not go any further back than six months when answering this question.)
• Is this something you talk about to others while sharing drinks, or something you try to keep quiet and buried?

Here are a few examples. Use these if you are stuck—either as-is, or as a springboard for your own ideas.
• With most of your unit pinned down by machine gunfire, you single-handedly took out the enemy bunker and saved most of your men.
• Deep behind enemy lines, you had to bluff your way onto a transport heading to the front.
• You were one of a handful of volunteers who swam out to enemy ships and planted explosive charges on their hulls.
• You had earned the particular ire of a Nazi commander, and had cost the occupying forces in men and resources in an effort to hunt you down.
• You held off an advancing force for three days from your sniper position.
• Your life at Oxford suddenly held more excitement once you and your research gained the notice of a German spy.
Once you have come up with this event, write an aspect that relates to some part of what happened. The general advice on pp.40-41 of Fate Core System (http://fate-srd.com/fate-core/phase-trio) applies to this phase.

2&3. Life before the war (I have combined Phases 2 & 3 so please pick two)
Formative events in your character’s life that happened before Germany began its march on Europe. These could be a childhood event, or something that happened as you travelled on the path that led you to becoming the soldier, spy, or scholar you are today.
Here are a few mundane examples. Use these if you are stuck—either as they stand, or to help generate your own ideas.
• Being bullied in school, or defending someone else from such abuse
• A particularly hard moment growing up in a rough home
• Dealing with a rival in basic training or university
• That time when you loved and lost (or fought to not lose)
• The brawl that lead to you earning your nickname
• Convincing your professors that your theory was sound

Maybe you had been involved in some sort of criminal activity, from which you had gained talents that made you particularly useful to the SOE.
• Being skilled in the use of explosives to crack open a safe.
• Being a gifted mechanic (not necessarily criminal, but could be useful).

At the end of this section you should have three final Aspects that further define your character. Next we move to skills.

Thanks! I was quite pleased with that myself


I was thinking the Hermanos could be linked to the occult branch of the secret police of the Spanish fascist state. They could be in close collaboration with the Gestapo and could be on Maria's track, so could show up pretty much everywhere. It's also why she was rather keen to join to SoE.

I sent you a pm and saw you replied, but I can't access my mailbox.

Ah the infamous los Hermanos de la Sombra, or as we in Great Britain know them the Brotherhood of Shadows, I believe the French call them Fraternité des Ombres, while the Turks know them as Gölgeler Kardeşlik. A quite villainous bunch.

Thanks Dr P and ghill, I have a feeling they might show up at any time

Dr P: the message I sent, that you can't read, is just to say that I couldn't get into my mailbox either so wasn't able to read the one you sent.

Idea: Upper-class cloud cuckoo land

Character Name: Clarence Dalrymple

High Concept: Genius for puzzles

Trouble Aspect: No commonsense / mind not on the mundane plane, often at inopportune moments ??

Mythos Background: As a child, Clarence once opened a certain book in his uncle's library and was never quite the same afterwards. When his uncle died the book collection was donated to the SOE.

Phase Trio:
Whilst perusing the Sunday papers over the kippers and marmalade, Clarence discovers a secret code in the crossword puzzle. It's the main communication for an East Anglia based German Spy network. He thinks for a bit and then sends answers back to the competition PO box and causes a major meltdown n the network. Unfortunately Clarence adds his name and address, SOE infiltrators have to work very quickly to rescue Clarence from the clutches of the irate remains of the spy network.

Skills: [draft] Great (+4)
Good (+3)
Fair (+2)
Average (+1)

Stunts:

aine wrote:Idea: Upper-class cloud cuckoo land

Character Name: Clarence Dalrymple

High Concept: Genius for puzzles

Trouble Aspect: No commonsense / mind not on the mundane plane, often at inopportune moments ??

Mythos Background: As a child, Clarence once opened a certain book in his uncle's library and was never quite the same afterwards. When his uncle died the book collection was donated to the SOE.

Phase Trio:
Whilst perusing the Sunday papers over the kippers and marmalade, Clarence discovers a secret code in the crossword puzzle. It's the main communication for an East Anglia based German Spy network. He thinks for a bit and then sends answers back to the competition PO box and causes a major meltdown n the network. Unfortunately Clarence adds his name and address, SOE infiltrators have to work very quickly to rescue Clarence from the clutches of the irate remains of the spy network.

Sweet think of a suitable aspect for that, maybe he has a pathological need solve puzzles/riddles

Okay, the Skills, specialisations and the corresponding Stunts. Long lists will break them up into post sized chunks
There are several more skills in Achtung! Cthulhu than in the Fate Core default skill list. For that reason, characters have more skills than Fate Core’s default.

When creating your character, choose either a deep focus or a broad focus. Characters with a deep focus have fewer skills, but have two that are rated as Great; characters with a broad focus have more skills, but with only one rated as Great.

Broad Focus
• 1 Great (+4) skill
• 2 Good (+3) skills
• 4 Fair (+2) skills
• 7 Average (+1) skills
(For a total of 13 skills.)

Deep Focus
• 2 Great (+4) skills
• 2 Good (+3) skills
• 3 Fair (+2) skills
• 5 Average (+1) skills
(For a total of 11 skills.)

Mediocre (+0) is the default for any skill that you do not take, though several skills will state that they can only be used by characters who do take them; in those cases, they cannot be rolled or otherwise used in an action by characters that have not taken them.
The one skill that is prohibited at character creation is the Mythos skill. That skill is gained as a result of grievous exposure to the otherworldly, and thus is handled in-play.

Specialisations
You may take up to two specialisations at character creation for free, provided that they relate to one of your aspects. More may be taken as stunts.
If you have problems coming up with two specialisations in character creation, you can elect to leave those specialisations unfilled, and instead reveal having a specialisation in play.

Some particularly broad skills—notably Academics, Lore, Mechanic, Sciences, and Soldier—have specialisations associated with them, representing advanced education or specialised access relating to that skill. Skills with specialisations have them listed in their descriptions. You can only select a specialisation for skills ranked at Fair (+2) or higher.
Specialisations come into play with overcome actions, or when creating an advantage revolving around gaining information (where having specialised knowledge or access is either beneficial or required for the action). For situations where having knowledge about the specialisation is required, if you have the relevant specialisation, then you can use the skill as normal. If you do not have the specialisation, but you have the skill ranked at Fair or higher, you can attempt to use the skill as though it was two ranks lower (so a Fair Academics is treated as Mediocre in that circumstance, for example)—this represents that you may have incidentally picked up what you need to know through your more general schooling. If you do not have the skill, or only have it at Average, you cannot attempt an action that has a required specialisation.

Specialisations do not convey additional aptitude in direct actions, including attack actions, defend actions, and overcome or create an advantage actions where such knowledge is only tangentially connected. Unlike skills, specialisations are not pre-defined lists, and there may be overlap between various specialisations; for example, Academics (History) and Academics (Ancient Egypt) both cover the history of Ancient Egypt, but the former covers many histories while the latter is more in-depth, covering the spirituality, culture, and languages of those people.
At the GM’s discretion, a specialisation may be so obscure that a character without it cannot use it at all if he does not have it. If no-one in the group has it, there should be a particularly compelling reason for involving an obscure specialisation in the story, as that otherwise leads to boring (and, potentially, frustrating) play.

Gaining & Enhancing Specialisations
You may take up to two specialisations at character creation for free, provided they relate to one of your aspects. Beyond that, look to the Broad Education stunt on Academics, which can also apply to other skills. (As mentioned, you can elect to leave those specialisations unfilled at character creation if none seem obvious, and fill them in later).

Automatic Noticing
In some cases, you won’t need to roll to notice something. Your character automatically succeeds in noticing anything interesting or peculiar relating to skills taken at Good (+3) or higher, as well as any specialisation taken (regardless of the associated skill’s rank). The GM will just simply give you the necessary information, and possibly also an aspect. Indeed, you cannot choose to fail, which becomes important when your character discovers facts that could risk his sanity (known as a “sanity trigger”).
This does not convey automatic situational awareness (and thus cannot help you notice an ambush or any other surprising, or dangerous, circumstances), just facts or out-ofplace
elements that others without such training would miss.
It will also not cause you to automatically succeed on situations where focussed scrutiny or lengthy research is required; it represents your character’s ability to see at a glance something that others would miss. Given that having automatic noticing comes from possessing a high skill or having a specialisation, you will likely find what you are researching when you do go looking for it—it will just take more time than this rule covers.
If you have a stunt that allows you to swap one skill for another in a given situation, and that effectively makes the skill in use ranked Good or higher, then that also counts for automatic noticing.

Skill Drain
Skill drain (or just “drain”) is the effect of temporarily losing ranks in a skill. This is most common with Resources and Will. When a skill suffers drain, it temporarily loses one (or, rarely, more) ranks, though it can never go lower than Mediocre (+0). This only affects actions, and not other benefits of a skill such as additional stress boxes, consequence slots, or automatic noticing.
The circumstance around regaining lost ranks varies with each situation. A peaceful night’s sleep will regain a lost Will rank.
Regaining Resources depends on the current rank—regaining to Average takes a day, to Fair takes a few days, to Good takes a couple weeks, and to Great or higher takes around a month. Note that these are the defaults, and individual story situations may hasten or delay recovery.
For stunts that replace skills, if that stunt would become a detriment—such as the Field Medic stunt replacing Medic with Soldier in battlefield situations—the character may switch back to using the original skill, until the stunt becomes useful again.

Athletics: General physical aptitude regarding movement, callisthenics, etc.; used to avoid being physically harmed
Academics: Knowledge from academia and classical education
(various specialisations available)
Contacts: Having associates and knowing how to find useful people
Deceive: Lying, misdirection, and other subtle ways of manipulating others without their knowledge
Demolitions: Making, planting, and disarming explosives
Drive: Talent for operating automobiles and similar vehicles in stressful situations
Specialisations:
Helm—Drive skill for large seacraft
Operate—Drive skill for tanks and similar
Pilot—Drive skill for airplanes
Ride—Drive skill for horses, camels, etc.
Sail—Drive skill for small boats
Empathy: Ability to read other people
Fight: Physical, close-quarters fighting—fists, knives, etc.
Investigate: Capacity for detailed research, interviewing, and other information gathering and collating skills
Lore: Knowledge from esoteric and obscure subjects.
(various Specialisations available)
Mechanics: Aptitude for working with machines (and for blowing them up, with the Combat
Engineer stunt)
Specialisations:
Electrical – mechanical skill for electrical devices
Mechanical – mechanical skill for petrol or diesel engines
Medic: Diagnosing and treating the sick and injured
Mythos: Ability to understand, and even command, the unknown (This skill prohibited at character creation)
Physique: Strength and capacity to endure physical harm
Provoke: Intimidating, scaring, or otherwise hostilely manipulating others
Rapport: Command of a friendly and personable nature
Resources: Having wealth and capital, or at least access to some
Sciences: Knowledge of sciences and technology
(various specialisations available)
Shoot: Using firearms to inflict harm from a distance
Specialisations:
Archery—Shoot skill for bows and other natural missiles
Cannon—Shoot skill for vehicular weapons
Heavy Weapons—Shoot skill for rocket propelled grenades, flamethrowers, etc
Soldier: Professional skill of being employed in a military
(Various specialisations available)
Stealth: Ability to go unnoticed
Survival: Hunting, tracking, and general situational awareness; used to notice things and for initiative in physical combat
Tradecraft: Burglary, disguise, sabotage, and other spy-oriented skills
Will: Ability to keep one’s composure; crucial for retaining sanity

And now the biggie


The following is a list of Stunts available and which skills they apply to. Remember you can only have three stunts, unless you spend one refresh point per extra stunt. So you must choose which is the greater benefit, refresh points or stunts.

Athletics Stunts
• Sprinter. You move two zones for free in a conflict without rolling instead of one, providing that there are no situation aspects restricting movement.
• Rooftop Runner. +2 to overcome actions with Athletics if you are in a chase across rooftops or a similarly precarious environment.
• Dazing Counter. When you succeed with style on a defend action against an opponent’s Fight roll, you automatically counter with some sort of nerve punch or stunning blow. You get to attach the Dazed situation aspect to your opponent with a free invoke, instead of just a boost.

Academics Stunts
• Broad Education. You were practically raised by books. You have two additional Academics specialisations.
• I Know Where to Look! With lengthy access to an appropriate facility, you can attempt to use an Academics specialisation you do not have at 1 rank lower than your skill, rather than the usual 2 lower.
• Renowned Scholar. Between being published in journals and speaking in numerous universities, you have become well known in your sphere of expertise. You can use Academics instead of Contacts or Rapport, when your influence in any specialisations you have comes into play.
• University Backing. You may substitute Academics for a Resources action, if you can illustrate how your university or other institution can get the desired objects or services on your behalf. Drain normal for Resources does not apply to Academics as a whole, but it does apply to this use of it. Difficulties and regaining Academics for this purpose may vary from standard Resources use.
• Unquestioningly Brilliant. When you use an Academics specialisation to create an advantage, it has one additional free invocation.
(The “I’ve Read About That!” and “Shield of Reason” stunts in Fate Core do not apply to Achtung! Cthulhu).

Contacts Stunts
• Ear to the Ground. Whenever someone initiates a conflict against you in an area where you have built a network of contacts, you use Contacts instead of Survival to determine turn order, because you got tipped off in the nick of time.
• Rumourmonger. +2 to create an advantage when you plant vicious rumours about someone else.
• The Weight of Reputation. You can use Contacts instead of Provoke to create advantages based on the fear generated by the sinister reputation you have cultivated for yourself and all the shady associates you have. You should have an appropriate aspect to pair with this stunt.

Deceive Stunts
• Lies upon Lies. You have a +2 to create a Deceive advantage against someone who has believed one of your lies already during this session.
• Mind Games. You can use Deceive in place of Provoke to make mental attacks, as long as you can make up a clever lie as part of the attack.
• One Person, Many Faces. Whenever you meet someone new, you can spend a fate point to declare that you have met that person before, but under a different name and identity. Create a situation aspect to represent your cover story, and you can use Deceive in place of Rapport whenever you are interacting with that person.
• Trained Performer. You have years of theatre or other, similar, training. In addition to using Deceive for a legitimate performance, the skill covers Contacts in such worlds, as well as other potential situations where your acting comes into play.

Demolitions Stunts
• Master Defuser. With steady hands and nerves of steel, you are adept at disarming explosives. When doing so, you have a +1 to your skill. Additionally, if you succeed at a cost on such an action, you can choose for it to be a mild consequence related solely to the stress of the job, like On Edge or Too Much Adrenaline, rather than anything that happens to the scene or another character.
• Sixth Sense for Explosions. A life of handling bombs has given you a preternatural sense of when they are about to explode. When avoiding or defending against an impending explosion, you can use your Demolitions skill in place of Athletics (for diving for cover), Survival (for situational awareness), or whatever other skill would normally be used in the situation.
• Stealth Bomber. You are adept at hiding your death-dealing devices. You can use Demolitions in place of Tradecraft for such actions.

Drive Stunts
(Stunts with one Drive skill do not automatically convey to another. Some stunts will not apply to every single Drive variant— for example, Ramming Speed! does not work with Ride.)
• Hard to Shake. You have a +2 to Drive whenever you are pursuing another vehicle in a chase scene.
• Pedal to the Metal. You can coax more speed out of your vehicle than seems possible. Whenever you are engaged in any contest where speed is the primary factor (such as a chase or race of some kind) and you tie with your Drive roll, it is considered a success.
• Ramming Speed! When ramming another vehicle, you ignore two shifts of damage. So if you ram and hit for four shifts, you only take two yourself.
• Behind Any Wheel. Your talent for vehicles is unsurpassed. You can use Drive for another version of this skill (such as Ride, Sail, etc.). Any stunts that you have with Drive also count for that skill, when appropriate.

Empathy Stunts
• Grounding Presence. You have a +2 to all Empathy rolls made to understand and communicate with the clinically insane and others not of sound mind.
• Lie Whisperer. You have a +2 to all Empathy rolls made to discern or discover lies, whether they are directed at you or someone else.
• Nose for Trouble. You can use Empathy instead of Survival to determine your turn order in a conflict, providing that you have a chance to observe or speak to those involved for at least a few minutes beforehand during this scene.
(The Psychologist stunt in Fate Core does not work in Achtung! Cthulhu).

Fight Stunts
• Heavy Hitter. When you succeed with style on a Fight attack and choose to reduce the result by one to gain a boost, you gain a full situation aspect with a free invocation instead.
• Backup Weapon. Whenever someone is about to hit you with a Disarmed situation aspect (or something similar), spend a fate point to declare you have a backup weapon. Instead of a situation aspect, your opponent gets a boost, representing the momentary distraction you suffer having to switch.
• Killing Stroke. Once per scene, when you force an opponent to take a consequence, you can spend a fate point to increase the consequence’s severity (so mild becomes moderate, moderate becomes severe). If your opponent was already going to take a severe consequence, he must either take a severe consequence and a second consequence, or be taken out. The GM may refuse the fate point if, for whatever unnatural reason, what you are fighting cannot be so affected.

Investigate Stunts
• Attention to Detail. You can use Investigate instead of Empathy to defend against Deceive attempts. What others discover through gut reactions and intuition, you learn through careful observation of expressions.
• Eavesdropper. On a successful Investigate roll to create an advantage by eavesdropping on a conversation, you can discover or create one additional aspect (though this does not give you an extra free invocation).
• The Power of Deduction. Once per scene you can spend a fate point (and a few minutes of observation) to make a special Investigate roll representing your potent deductive faculties. For each shift you make on this roll, you discover or create an aspect on either the scene or the target of your observations. You may only invoke one of them for free.

Lore Stunts
(In addition to the Broad Education, “I Know Where to Look!,” and Unquestioningly Brilliant stunts for Academics, the following Lore stunt may come in handy.)
• Intimidating Scholar. Your command of the esoteric can be truly frightening to behold. When you can leverage your impressive knowledge in such a fashion, you may use Lore for Provoke actions.

Mechanics Stunts
• Always Making Useful Things. You don’t ever have to spend a fate point to declare that you have the proper tools for a particular job using Mechanics, even in extreme situations (like being imprisoned and separated from all your stuff). This source of opposition is just off the table.
• Better than New! Whenever you succeed with style on an overcome action to repair a piece of machinery, you can immediately give it a new situation aspect (with a free invoke) reflecting the improvements you have made, instead of just a boost.
• Combat Engineer. You can use Mechanics in place of the Demolitions skill, representing the breadth of talent combat engineers possess to construct and demolish objects on the battlefield.
• Surgical Strikes. When using Mechanics in a conflict involving machinery, you can filter out unwanted targets from whole-zone attacks without having to divide up your shifts. (Normally, you would need to divide your roll between your targets.)

Medic Stunts
• Trauma Doctor. By spending a fate point and at least half an hour, and having the right supplies on hand, you can reduce someone else’s physical consequence by one level of severity (severe to moderate, moderate to mild, mild to nothing at all) by succeeding on a Medic roll with a difficulty of Fair (+2) for a mild consequence, Good (+3) for moderate, or Great (+4) for severe. You cannot use this stunt on yourself. (Normally, this roll would only start the recovery process, instead of changing the consequence level.)
• Combat Surgeon. When using a surgical implement (such as a scalpel), you may use Medic in place of Fight. Such implements do not have a Weapon rating, regardless of what you are using.
• I’m a Doctor, Damn It! You can use Medic for Rapport in various situations where being a doctor carries weight, such as making people do things or get out of the way when you’re tending to someone in critical condition.
• Poison Control. You can use your Medic skill to create poisons, and you automatically have a Medic specialisation in poisons without needing to take it separately.
(Note that you don’t need this stunt to treat patients who are poisoned; that’s a matter of overcome to remove a situational aspect or address a consequence already incorporated into Medic.)

Physique Stunts
• Grappler. You have +2 to Physique rolls made to create advantages on an enemy by wrestling or grappling with them.
• Hardened and Lucky. Once per scene when dealing with an unavoidable attack, you can roll Physique and use stress boxes without paying a fate point.
• Take the Blow. You can use Physique to defend against Fight attacks made with fists or blunt instruments, though you always take 1 shift of stress on a tie. This stunt gives you the advantage of being able to do something else instead of actively defending with Athletics, such as taking the blow while holding a gate open or performing a ritual.
• Tough as Nails. Once per session, at the cost of a fate point, you can reduce the severity of a moderate consequence that is physical in nature to a mild consequence (if your mild consequence slot is free), or erase a mild consequence altogether. The GM may refuse the fate point if, for whatever unnatural reason, whichever foul menace that attacked you cannot be so casually shrugged off.

Provoke Stunts
• Armour of Fear. You can use Provoke to defend against Fight attacks, but only until the first time you are dealt stress in a conflict. You can make your opponents hesitate to attack but, when someone shows them that you are only human, your advantage disappears.
• Provoke Violence. When you create an advantage on an opponent using Provoke, you can use your free invocation to become the target of that character’s next relevant action, drawing their attention away from another target.
• Okay, Fine! You can use Provoke in place of Empathy to learn a target’s aspects, by bullying them until they reveal one to you. The target defends against this with Will. (If
the GM thinks the aspect is particularly vulnerable to your hostile approach, you get a +2 bonus.)
• Stand to Attention! You have a +2 bonus to Provoke when dealing with military characters under your command, and of those of lesser rank in general.

Rapport Stunts
• Best Foot Forward. Twice per session, you may upgrade a boost you receive with Rapport into a full situation aspect with a free invocation.
• Demagogue. You have a +2 to Rapport when you are delivering an inspiring speech in front of a crowd. (If there are named NPCs or PCs in the scene, you may target them all simultaneously with one roll rather than dividing up your shifts.)
• Popular. If you are in an area where you are popular and well-liked, you can use Rapport in place of Contacts. You may be able to establish your popularity by spending a fate point to declare a story detail, or because of prior justification.
• Inspiring Leader. You have a +2 to Rapport when you rally your soldiers and when otherwise making connections with those you lead (whether civilian or military).

Sciences Stunts
(In addition to the Broad Education, “I Know Where to Look!”, University Backing, and Unquestioningly Brilliant stunts for Academics, the following Sciences stunt may come in handy).
• In Theory. Your command over the natural world manifests in surprising ways. You can spend a fate point to substitute Sciences for any other skill, for the purposes of overcome actions or creating advantages, providing that you can justify your knowledge applying in such a way. This substitution lasts for the scene. (This is similar to the “I’ve Read About That!” stunt in Fate Core.)

Shoot Stunts
(Stunts with one Shoot skill do not automatically convey to another. Some stunts will not apply to every single Shoot variant—for example, Called Shot does not apply to heavy weapons).
• Called Shot. During a Shoot attack, spend a fate point and declare a specific condition you want to inflict on a target, like Shot in the Hand. If you succeed, you place that as a situation aspect on them in addition to hitting them for stress.
• Quick on the Draw. You can use Shoot instead of Survival to determine turn order in any physical conflict where shooting quickly would be useful.
• Uncanny Accuracy. Once per conflict, stack an additional free invoke on an advantage you have created to represent the time you take to aim or line up a shot (like In My Sights).
• Tank Master. You can use Operate (the Drive skill for tanks) in place of Cannon. However, you cannot drive a tank and shoot its cannon at the same time—that still takes multiple people to pull off simultaneously.
• Natural Shot. Your talent for weapons is unsurpassed. You can use Shoot for another version of this skill (such as Archery, Cannon, etc.). Any stunts you have with Shoot also count for that skill, when appropriate. Instead of choosing another version of the Shoot skill, you could choose Athletics for the purposes of thrown weapons (such as grenades).

Soldier Stunts
• Artilleryman. You are trained in the use of massive weapons, such as artillery, anti-aircraft cannons, or torpedoes. For these attacks, treat as Shoot but use your Soldier skill.
• Field Medic. You can substitute Soldier for Medic in dealing with typical battlefield wounds and addressing physical consequences.
• Honed Instincts. In battlefield and normal combat situations, you can substitute Soldier for Survival when it comes to situational awareness and turn order. Once your sanity threshold is not Of Sound Mind, this also applies to conflicts involving Mythos beings and situations.
• Tactician. You can use Soldier to create advantages based on employing superior tactics, as a quick contest against another commander’s Soldier skill or an individual enemy soldier’s Survival skill, depending on the nature of the battle.
• Well Connected. You have +2 to your Soldier skill for requisitioning equipment.
(Note: Aside from the above stunts, no stunt can add an attack or defence action to Soldier, such as allowing Soldier to substitute for normal uses of Fight or Shoot).

Stealth Stunts
• Face in the Crowd. You have +2 to any Stealth roll to blend into a crowd. What a “crowd” means will depend on the environment—an Underground station requires more people to be crowded than a small bar.
• Vanishing Act. Once per scene, you can vanish while in plain sight by spending a fate point, using a smoke pellet or other mysterious technique. This places the Vanished boost on you. While you are vanished, no-one can attack or create an advantage on you until after they have succeeded at an overcome roll with Survival to suss out where you went (basically meaning that they have to give up an exchange to try). This aspect goes away as soon as you invoke it, or someone makes that overcome roll.
• Slippery Target. Provided you are in darkness or shadow, you can use Stealth to defend against Shoot attacks from enemies that are at least one zone away.

Survival Stunts
• Danger Sense. You have an almost preternatural capacity for detecting danger. Your Survival skill works unimpeded by conditions like total concealment, darkness, or other sensory impairments in situations where someone or something intends to harm you. (In some cases, unnatural entities that bypass any human senses will still be a problem for you.)
• Body Language Reader. You can use Survival in place of Empathy to learn the aspects of a target through observation.
• Truly of the Land. You have a +2 to any Survival roll tracking game, foraging, building and maintaining shelter, and so on.
• Everything is Useful! You have a +2 to any Survival roll regarding scrounging and scavenging, provided you are in a situation where scavenging is an option. If it is not normally an option, you can pay a fate point to act anyway (at the normal rank), showing that even in a desolate wasteland, you can find something useful.

Tradecraft Stunts
• Always a Way Out. +2 on Tradecraft rolls made to create an advantage whenever you are trying to escape from a location.
• Demolitions Spy. You can use Tradecraft for Demolitions actions.
• Security Specialist. You do not have to be present to provide active opposition to someone trying to overcome security measures you put in place or worked on. (Normally, a character would roll against passive opposition for that.)
• Talk the Talk. You can use Tradecraft in place of Contacts whenever you are dealing specifically with thieves and spies.
• Poison Crafter. You can use your Tradecraft skill to create poisons.

Will Stunts
• Strength from Determination. Use Will instead of Physique on any overcome rolls representing feats of strength.
• Hard Boiled. You can choose to ignore a mild or moderate consequence for the duration of the scene. It cannot be compelled against you or invoked by your enemies. At the end of the scene it comes back with a vengeance, though; if it was a mild consequence it becomes a moderate consequence, and if it was already moderate, it becomes severe.
• Incredulous Mind. Add two boxes to the Of Sound Mind, Disturbed, and Unhinged sanity tracks. This stunt may be taken a second time to add two more boxes to each sanity track.
• Steeled. You have +2 to defend against Provoke attacks specifically related to intimidation and fear that come from non-supernatural sources.
(Note: No Will stunts can affect sanity tests, nor can another skill be substituted for Will in regards to sanity triggers. The Will skill alone is the only armour you have against the unkind terrors ahead).

I didn't have time tonight to do any further development, let alone read all of the details, but I should be able to get it done tomorrow night.

I did realize that with online rollers, you can simulate a fudge die with 1d3-2, which will give you -1, 0, or 1. Thus, you can roll 4dF by rolling 4d3-8.

Dn't fret Mr H, the game starts when everyone is ready. There is a lot to be taken in, fortunately the character creation is the longest and most confusing part of the system. Which of course it should be for a system that is more character driven.
Good spot on the dice rollers by the way, that is so much easier. Luckilly it works on Orokos too, since I managed to lose my password on IC and there seems to be no one able to reset it.

I suspect after you've done it once FATE character creation would be really quick. Considering how story driven it is.

I think my Phase Trio 1 may be a bit wrong as it shows how his High Concept and Trouble got Clarence noticed by the SOE so it doesn't result in a new aspect - except that he appreciates the finer things in life. Which I'm happy to go with. I also wanted him to be very lucky; it's amazing how he seems to bumble through life and just miss one disaster after another. Would this be a suitable aspect? I could work it into Phase Trio 2/3 along with 'Surprisingly good swordsman - who? HIM??'
I'm having a problem weaving puzzles (maths/codes/riddles) and fencing into the skills and stunts as there's nothing really similar. What do you reckon?

aine wrote:I think my Phase Trio 1 may be a bit wrong as it shows how his High Concept and Trouble got Clarence noticed by the SOE so it doesn't result in a new aspect - except that he appreciates the finer things in life. Which I'm happy to go with. I also wanted him to be very lucky; it's amazing how he seems to bumble through life and just miss one disaster after another. Would this be a suitable aspect? I could work it into Phase Trio 2/3 along with 'Surprisingly good swordsman - who? HIM??'
I'm having a problem weaving puzzles (maths/codes/riddles) and fencing into the skills and stunts as there's nothing really similar. What do you reckon?

I would put his skill for puzzles etc in the Accademic skill, perhaps with a specialisation in mathematical solutions. Try and think of a name for a specialisation that covers it. 'cCodebreaking', 'Cryptography'?
Luck is okay, but try and define it slightly. For example, 'Devils luck' has a beneficial side and a flip side, 'Lucky Charm' for some reason he seems blessed with good luck, which also can be invoked to benefit others. Or if you wanted to be really clever, how about 'One step from disaster' could be both invoked as an aid or compelled to give you another fate point.

As for the Fencing, I would imagine it has to go with Fight and for a stunt I would go with heavy hitter, and simply flavour it more.

Idea: Hard drinking Sailor/Smuggler

Character Name: Finn Kagge

High Concept: Knuckle-cracking Hardman for all your dirty jobs.

Trouble Aspect: Drinking on the job.

Mythos Background: Found strange footprints on Norwegian coast as a child.


Phase I Aspect: Gritty bare-handed killer

Finn's and his brother, Ingvar, did their bit when the Nazi's swept over their homeland. They were smuggling weapons and explosives to the resistance from Sweden. However, when Ingvar was captured by the Nazi regime and their operation uncovered, Finn knew his time was up. Warmed up with Vodka, he commandeered a small German ship (by swimming through freezing waters, strangling the captain with his bare hands, and stabbing two other guards to death) and - in the middle of the night - sneaked away, making his way to the shores of England. Finn is pretty proud of his feat of guts, bravery, and endurance, but tends to skim over the part where he left his brother behind.

Phase II Aspect: Stands up for the little guy

In school, Finn was not a great student. He had a particularly sadistic PE teacher, fond of caning and freezing his students. When his school friend, Gunnar, was getting a ferocious beating, Finn stepped up at the tender age of 14 and smashed the sadistic teacher up. As a consequence he was expelled from school.

Phase III Aspect: Ten steel thumbs

Despite, or perhaps because, of his juvenile records, Finn did basic military training like every Norwegian man. It went well enough; he was big and strong and reasonably athletic. One particular black moment was when he fumbled a hand grenade, and sent himself and four of his squad members to the infirmary. His training officer, Captain Jens Borgen, lost two fingers, but after considerable rage ended up being quite friendly with Finn afterwards. Finn might have giant, indestructible hands with a grip of iron, but nobody let him near explosives again. "Butterfingers" was his Army nickname. He still has some scars on his body from the shrapnel.


Skills (Broad Focus)

Great [+4] Physique
Good [+3] Fight, Will
Fair [+2] Athletics, Survival, Drive (Specialisation: Sail), Mechanics (Specialisation: Mechanical)
Average [+1] Demolitions, Empathy, Provoke, Rapport, Shoot, Soldier, Stealth


Stunts (3)

Steeled, Heavy Hitter, Tough as Nails

Supercape:
I like it, Finn Kagge is looking good.

Just about there I think

Robert Owen
High Concept: "Unflappable Old Sweat" veteran of Dunkirk.
Trouble: Always looking for the fight.

Phase Trio:
Son of an absent father and alcoholic mother Robert Owen got himself into a lot of trouble with the law, in an out of Borstal. At 17 he took the option of joining the British army as a junior soldier rather than serving time in an adult prison. The army provided both discipline and a family, Robert never looked back.

# A promising second story man
# I Owe The Army Everything

As a soldier in the 1st Bn Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light infantry Robert was responsible for guarding a field hospital during the battle of Battle of the Ypres–Comines Canal. While on duty he shot at what he described to his superiors as a dog-man who was raiding the hospital mortuary. As a result of this he was charged with being drunk on duty, negligently discharging his weapon and then subsequently striking an officer. When the battalion returned to the UK his report led to him never going to Colchester MP but being drafted into SOE.

# They can't handle the truth

One Great (+4) skill - Shoot
Two Good (+3) skills - Notice, Fight (Specialisation: Knife)
Four Fair (+2) skills - Athletics, Physique, Provoke, Soldier
Seven Average (+1) skills - Drive, Tradecraft (Specialisation: Burglary), Rapport, Will, Stealth, Survival, Deceive.

Stunts:

Shoot - Called Shot - Called Shot
Physique - Tough as Nails
Tradecraft - There is always a Way Out.

Excellent, just the Sanity, stress and consequences bit to do and you' there. Well sort those bits when the others have caught up.

I'll get Maria sorted tonight, which skill do you propose to cover her linguistic aptitude? A high Rapport, Academics, or Lore?

The Academics skill is about knowledge gained from academia and/or a classical education. It includes essential skills required to navigate and utilise an education (such as library use), and a basic understanding of a variety of subjects: art, history, geography, mathematics, literature, etc.

The Lore skill is about unusual collections of knowledge. Lore is about the breadth of what people believe is true about the world, not necessarily what is true. Whereas Academics revolves around a classical education, Lore involves
religious study, outlying beliefs, ancient stories, studies deemed not rooted in reality, etc. This includes folklore, mysticism and occultism, mythology, theology, conspiracy theory, and fringe science.

The Rapport skill is all about making positive connections to people and eliciting positive emotion. It is the skill of being liked, trusted, and respected. Military commanders with high Rapport are the sort of people that enlisted men say they “would follow into Hell”.

Difficult since linguistics doesn't really fit with any of the above. Lore is definately out. Academics, difficult unless we use it as a specialisation which we can. Raport really is about influencing people whereas I would imagine that her linguistics covers her ability to quickly learn a language, so probably Academics with a specialisation in Linguistics.

I shall impertinently suggest you could have a custom stunt for linguistics, like "Speaka Da Lingo" or something?

Supercape wrote:I shall impertinently suggest you could have a custom stunt for linguistics, like "Speaka Da Lingo" or something?

That's not impertinent at all, in fact if you are customising a skill to fit the concept of your character, creating a stunt to suit is okay. As long as its reasonable.

Idea: Former Spanish Civil War guerilla with an uncanny knack for languages.

Character Name: Maria Vega

High Concept: Master of tongues, mistress of murder

Trouble Aspect: Hunted by "los Hermanos de la Sombra"

Mythos Background: Shot Commandante Lope Fuentes of the Fascist secret police in the face and saw him absorb the bullet.

Phase Trio:
Taste for Germanic Blood
On assignment in the Schwarzwald, Maria was caught by an SS-unit. She managed to single-handedly overcome her interrogators using her nothing more than her charms and her bare teeth. Once she had managed to acquire her captor’s weapons, she made short work of the rest of the unit, but the experience left her thirsting for more.

Steadfast steely will of iron
Maria’s squad was decimated during the last day of the Segovia Offensive. She managed to survive by hiding underneath the body of Roberto Cortes, her long-timelover, where she stayed when the soldier’s took care of any survivors after the battle. To be sure she wasn’t detected, Maria waited till past nightfall as the blood and juices dripped from Roberto’s corpse onto her. The skirmish had ended at 9 a.m.

The Darling of Nations
Maria worked as a reporter at the start of the Civil War, but her gift for languages soon saw her translating and running messages for and between the different units of the International Brigades. Her fiery temperament and loose tongue soon had her conquering and breaking hearts in every regiment.


Skills:
Great (+4) Academics (Linguistics), Tradecraft
Good (+3) Shoot, Will
Fair (+2) Fight, Rapport, Soldier
Average (+1) Notice, Survival, Stealth, Deceive, Athletics

Stunts:
• Strength from Determination (Will): Use Will instead of Physique on any overcome rolls representing feats of strength.
• Always a Way Out (Tradecraft): +2 on Tradecraft rolls made to create an advantage whenever you are trying to escape from a location.
• The Gift of Gab (Linguistics): When you encounter a language you are not familiar with, you gain a free invocation to try to learn or understand it.

Impertinence happens to be one of my strong points


Alright, Above's a try for Maria. I'm open to thoughts and suggestions.

I think Finn is finished. I hope the paradox of being ten thumbs and having a basic demolitions skill is OK. Basically he is good to set simple explosives up and make things go boom effectively, but don't let him toss a hand grenade or disarm a booby trap.

DrP: Maria looks fine to me. If you're happy then she's good to go.

Last Bit of Character Creation

Stress &Consequences
This works exactly as per Stress and Consequences in Fate Core System, p.50 (http://fate-srd.com/fate-core/stress-consequences)


Sanity
All characters begin with the sanity threshold Of Sound Mind, with all of their sanity boxes unchecked. Every character has the same three sanity tracks with the following
boxes.
Of Sound Mind: 10 boxes
Disturbed: 8 boxes
Unhinged: 6 boxes
Taking the Incredulous Mind stunt will increase the number of sanity boxes for each of the sanity tracks: Of Sound Mind, Disturbed, and Unhinged.

Once everyone has finished their character, and is happy with the result, I will create a Character section for them

Character Idea: French-born actress who excels at disguise and impersonation.

Character Name: Monique Deveraux

High Concept: Woman of a Thousand Faces

Trouble: Memorably Beautiful

Mythos Experience: While bathing on a beach in Normandy in her late teens, Monique spotted something underneath the surface watching her. She couldn't see any details clearly, but it had vaguely the shape of a large man. Yet it could not have been a man, for no man could stay underwater that long without breathing. When it began to swim towards her, she fled back to the shore.

Phase Trio:
Whatever It Takes
When the war broke out, Monique joined the Wrens (Women's Royal Naval Service) and served aboard a British destroyer on convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic. In the early spring of 1941, the ship was holed below the waterline by a U-Boat's torpedo and sunk. Monique made it off in a lifeboat with several of the surviving sailors, but the U-Boat surfaced and they were captured. There was not enough room for all of the prisoners aboard the U-Boat, so they remained aboard the lifeboat which was towed by the U-Boat as it set its course towards L'Orient. However, the commander of the submarine invited Monique aboard. The sailors advised her not to go, but she did anyway, as she had come up with a plan and was willing to take the chance and pay the price. The skipper was an old-school Prussian gentleman with a strong sense of honor, which was why he had not simply killed them with the deck gun as she had heard other U-Boat commanders did. She seduced him easily, as he wanted to be seduced, and that night he took her to his "cabin," which was really just a curtained alcove. While sleeping with the enemy and being unfaithful to her husband disgusted her, she did not show it, and she knew it was the only way to win her freedom and rescue the British sailors.

After the commander fell asleep, Monique quietly put on his uniform, concealing her hair under his cap. They were about the same height, as being tall was a disadvantage aboard a submarine. Like his crew, he had a full beard, as nobody shaved on a U-Boat, but she solved this problem by using his toupee as a fake beard. She also took his sidearm and keys. In the dark confines of the U-Boat, her diguise was good enough to fool the crew. She headed right for the weapons locker, loading guns and ammo into an oilskin sack, which she brought up to the deck. The sailor who was up there keeping watch and guarding the captives was tricked by her disguise long enough for her to dupe him into letting her take his weapon, after which she tied and gagged him, then distributed the weapons to the British sailors. They easily commandeered the U-Boat, overwhelming the surprised Germans, and sailed it back to a British port.

(Historical footnote: This event did not actually happen according to recorded history, though U-110 was captured on May 9, 1941 under different circumstances (along with code books and the vital Enigma code machine). However, that event was kept for secret for quite some time, as it was one of the biggest secrets of the war. That U-Boat was damaged and ended up at the bottom of the sea, so an intact U-Boat would be an even bigger prize. Thus, this could have happened, only it was kept secret forever).

It's Good To Be Bad
Monique's breakthrough stage role was Lady MacBeth, where she brought humanity to the part and got the audience to sympathize with her despite her wicked ways, emphasizing her inability to commit murder herself and her later remorse for getting her husband to do it. Through this experience, she gained an understanding of the human motivations of evil people, who did not see themselves that way and had justifications for all of their actions. This would serve her in good stead later in undercover work, enabling her to be friendly and relate to Nazis and collaborators in spite of despising everything for which they stand. Plus, she rather enjoys playing the villain.

Never Give Up
Monique's future husband first saw her performing in a play in Paris and met her after the performance. She fell in love with him, but a rival actress tried to steal him away. It was looking more and more like he was falling for the other woman's charms, but Monique used her costuming and acting talents to set her up in a situation where her true rotten self was revealed and contrived for her love to witness it. He promptly dumped her rival and devoted himself fully to Monique. In spite of the odds having been against her, her determination would not allow her to lose hope.

Skills (Broad Focus):
Great (+4): Tradecraft (Disguise)
Good (+3): Deceive, Rapport
Fair (+2): Athletics, Shoot (Archery), Stealth, Will
Average (+1): Contacts, Empathy, Fight, Investigate, Physique, Resources, Survival

Stunts:

• Trained Performer (Deceive)
• Best Foot Forward (Rapport)
• Always a Way Out (Tradecraft)

Stress:
Physical: 3/3
Mental: 3/3

Consequences:
Mild:
Moderate:
Severe:

Sanity:
Of Sound Mind: 10/10
Disturbed: 8/8
Unhinged: 6/6

Mr H: Monique looks good. If you're happy she's finished, please take her to the finished characters section.

Don't want to be "that guy" but shouldn't a Trouble be a personal struggle and or problematic relationship/s? Memorably Beautiful seems like a description of what she is. I would have thought something like "Men cant see past her looks" for a problematic relationships or something like "I'm not going anywhere until my hairs right" as personal struggle.

Priest says its cool so either way no matter.

I'd guess it would be an effective complication when one wants to remain incognito; people would not forget her? At the end of the day, how often complications come up is largely dependent on what sort of game and plot is going on, so I would imagine Priest has some spy-craft ideas!

That said, I think that it might be awkward having both high disguise skill and that flaw; in some respects they are in opposition which could be odd. Of course, I guess there might be other complications like garnering unwanted attention. Its an interesting flaw to my mind, albeit one that historically I have tried in other games (and systems) and I confess I didn't get much personal mileage out of it (I think I have a personal block on quantifying characters attractiveness). In any case, I'm very interested to see how it plays out!

A point of clarification for me on rules if you pardon my bamboozled brain; I took it from rules that specialisations are only for a few skills (like academics or soldiers)? A few of the sheets seem to have weapon specialisations. Not that I particularly object, just getting it straight in my brain!

ghill: The trouble aspect 'Memorably beautifull' that Mr H has put for Monique will work as Supercape says. It needs to be some kind of Aspect that can cause you problems, thereby being a source of possible Fate Point replenishment. Imagine if when trying to infiltrate a table full of SS officers in a small cafe in search of vital clues, when a local starts looking at her strangely. Does he take a Fate Point for the complication that is about to happen, or does he pay a fate point and have the Frenchman shake his head and return to his pernod?

Supercape: Weapon specialisations are fine. They merely add to the narrative flavour.

I think Finn is ready to post...ok by you, Priest?

Idea: Upper-class cloud cuckoo land

Character Name: Clarence Dalrymple

High Concept: Genius for puzzles "It's as Easy as Pi"

Trouble Aspect: Simply no commonsense

Mythos Background: Once opened a certain book in his uncle's library and was never quite the same afterwards.

Phase I Born with a Eccentric Silver Spoon in his mouth
Clarence had a sheltered and privileged upbringing (Harrow) but he was a third son and a loner and spent most of his free time wandering obscure libraries and reading old and convoluted books. He particularly liked staying with his uncle, Viscount Dalrymple, who lived in a mansion filled with esoteric art, archeological oddities, an eclectic library and an extraordinary cellar. Viscount Dalrymple was ancient and totally bonkers, when he died, Clarence was the one who showed the SOE around the house, the library and the extensive catalogue he had compiled. The SOE were singularly impressed with Clarence's knowledge, the catalogue's structure and the choice of wines with lunch. They took the library books with them and put Clarence on their own books.

Phase II One Step From Disaster
Clarence is always mulling over a complex conundrum; he rarely needs paper as the workings and solutions lay like a bright and sparkling map in his mind. With his eyes so often turned inward, Clarence has little notice of what is going on in the real world and often has or causes a mishap or misunderstanding. But when it looks certain that real disaster is about to strike, it seems someone or something is looking after him. Just the other day, a runaway milk dray was galloping headlong towards Clarence who, obliviously pondering 'something' and heedless of the desperate shouts, suddenly spotted a rare yellow-legged tortoiseshell butterfly as described by Belon (1517-1504); he stepped out of the way to have a look as the horse went thundering by. Those who know him, just can't believe how he's survived up until now.

Phase III A surprisingly fine swordsman - who? HIM??
As a child and young man, Clarence had to spend his holidays with his German cousins in Rotenburg. These were Ernst, Leopold,Karoline and Chlodwig of Lippe, the children of Leopold IVof Lippe. The German boys were keen students of academic fencing, or Mensur; Chlodwig was also a bully and the English boy was perfect fodder. Clarence had a hard time of it in the beginning but he was light on his feet and maybe it was because he could analyse the patterns and rhythms of the swords and predict his opponent's next move; he eventually became very, very good. Chlodwig of Lippe is now very influential in the German military.

2 Great (+4) skills: Academic, Fencing
2 Good (+3) skills: Lore, Will
3 Fair (+2) skills: Resources, Investigate, Contacts
5 Average (+1) skills: Sciences, Physique, Athletics, Rapport, Deceive.

Specialisations:
Academics: Mathematics, Language:German, History,
Lore: Literature

Stunts:
Broad Education. You were practically raised by books. You have two additional Academics specialisations.
Unquestioningly Brilliant. When you use an Academics specialisation to create an advantage, it has one additional free invocation.
Heavy Hitter. When you succeed with style on a Fight attack and choose to reduce the result by one to gain a boost, you gain a full situation aspect with a free invocation instead.

Stress:
Physical: 3/3
Mental: 4/4

Consequences:
Mild:
Moderate:
Severe:

Sanity:
Of Sound Mind: 10/10
Disturbed: 8/8
Unhinged: 6/6

Supercape wrote:I think Finn is ready to post...ok by you, Priest?

As long as you are happy with him.

That's how I envisioned Memorably Beautiful working. While Monique can change her disguise after someone has seen her, she might not always be able to do a costume change, depending on the situation. She's not Wonder Woman, so she can't change her appearance just by spinning around. Some people might have seen her on stage and notice her resemblance to a certain famous actress. Being beautiful also means that she'll get a lot of unwanted attention, particularly from men, which could cause complications. She may have a thousand faces, but they're all gorgeous.

I also noticed that some characters have the Notice skill, which is not on the list of skills here (it's from Fate Core). I thought Notice had been folded into Survival. The other two completed characters have both Notice and Survival, so this may free up a skill slot for them.

I've posted my character in the completed characters thread, with a few minor alterations (I added more details to the third Phase Trio story and reworked my boxes).

I was mulling this over last night in the car. I wondered if "Unnerving Haunted Beauty" would work and get more mileage ~ not only would you get that "Spot in a crowd" look, but there might be something in her eyes that would make people nervous if they look too deeply. A Cthulhu variant of being so beautiful all the boys get clumsy and stupid.

PS: Sorry for being impertinent and suggesting on another character; I confess I have always found flaws/complications (or whatever the system calls it) very interesting (as well as important) so I have a penchant for dissecting them and discussing them. Apologies, because this can come across in a bad way (it's not meant as such) ~ its the players character and the players choice always. I just find discussing the ins and outs helpful, not just for that particular game, but for future consideration in future games!

I also noticed that some characters have the Notice skill, which is not on the list of skills here (it's from Fate Core). I thought Notice had been folded into Survival. The other two completed characters have both Notice and Survival, so this may free up a skill slot for them.

Yeah you are right the Fate Core skill notice has been folded into Survival for AC. Luckilly the only player who had put Notice in his skills was ghill, but he seems to have lost it in his finished character. However in case I missed it Mr H is quite right if you have it, change it and free up a skill slot

I put this in a pm to Dr P, I think, but if anyone spots me missing a rule, or has an idea that helps run the system, shout out. Fate is a narrative, collaborative system in which the players shape the scenario as much as the gm. Yours (the characters) imaginations rock so let them roll

Mr. Handy wrote:I also noticed that some characters have the Notice skill, which is not on the list of skills here (it's from Fate Core). I thought Notice had been folded into Survival. The other two completed characters have both Notice and Survival, so this may free up a skill slot for them.

Nice catch Mt H. I've changed Notice to Survival, I've also swapped Survival around with Soldier, raising my Soldier skill and lowering the survival skill as this seems more appropriate.

I guess with the trouble I thought it had to be more active, the trouble is something you do, or something which is likely to be done to you. So 'memorable' just seems a bit passive was all.

FYI a long list of aspects are here My favourite is "My eyes are up here" Although I also have a warm spot for “I Never Promised You Anything!" and “No, You Do it Like This!”, largely because I feel in all three cases the troubles and concept would pretty much write the character.

Have to say a thank you to Priest for this introduction to FATE. I have a feeling it will be a nice game to play with the kids. Now to see how it plays

Clarence is done (see edited post, page 3) Except that I just can't fill his average skill slots as nothing else remotely fits with his character. I could make some up: Arts and Music, Fine Living (Knowledge about wines/attire/clubs etc), Craft - book restoration, Antiques... I realise these are probably just more specialisations of Academics though. What shall I do?

I changed mine to Physique, Maria's wiry!

I think this game is ideally suited to discussing character concepts and quirks, and I took some of Priest's suggestions and warped them according to my own idiom.

Hahaha! Never expected Sartre to make an appearance in this game Applause!


What about Rapport (What Ho, Bertie?), Clarence could have some skill at banter with other clueless upper class jobs.
Or maybe some athletics, not as in an active sportsman, but more like instinctive dexterity from his fencing ability?

Aine how about:
Tradecraft because Clarence is in the SOE now and they don't send their agents out into the field totally unprepared
Shoot for the same reason perhaps with a specialisation in pistol
Athletics to represent "he was light on his feet"
Stealth because a boy who analyses patterns and rythms is going to use those skills to help avoid those same bullys when the unexpected happens.

Aine:

ghill says it all really. Look at the various skills and see how you can apply them to your character using any obscure reasoning. Shoot as he may have done a spot of shooting in conjunction with his fencing classes. Also how many of the 'upper class' types don't indulge in a bit of shooting, and that would cover things like stealth, disguise, survival etc.

The SOE were rather horrified at how 'green' Clarence was so they got him doing some basic PT. Hence athletics. Clarence is a friendly chap and his naivety is somewhat disarming; one can be lured into a false sense of security, hence rapport and deceive. He's done,I'll post him in Characters tomorrow.

Dr Peterson, good spot! Sartre is perfect though.

I don't know if "Unnerving Haunted Beauty" would fit with my concept. It might cause people to avoid Monique, which would be less interesting.

Another way her beauty can cause trouble is that it can inspire jealousy.

I decided on "Memorably Beautiful" after looking through the sample Troubles and seeing Recognizable Face. That would definitely not have worked with her disguise expertise, so I chose this instead for something similar.

Four characters up, so now we are waiting for just Supercape to move his character to the finished section. Then I will start molding the scenario to fit the characters.

Sorry for delay, I have posted Finn up, with two minor changes

He now has two specialisations in Drive; Helm and Sail as befits a true Sailor.

Changed Demolitions (which I think clashed a bit with Ten Steel Thumbs history / aspect) to Tradecraft (broadly fitting a smuggler and recruit to the organisation)

Looking forward to this; Mixing Cthullu atmosphere with a more modern "indie" story system!

Apologies chaps, been having a few computer issues. Hopefully all sorted now will get going again shortly

Good to hear it is just the computer!

Phew! I feared the worst!

Tad concerned too. Unfortunately I'm now away 21st - 10th. So Clarence will have to either lie low and/or be npcd. Happy with either and looking forward to getting stuck in once I'm back.

Due to the lack of computer for a while, I'm considering holding this game for a bit. And as aine is absent until October, I will take this as a chance to get my act together. So this game will pick up in mid-October. In the mean time I'm considering a Tremulus adventure for any interested parties.
Tremulus for those who have not seen it, is a Lovecraftian themed system using the Apocalypse World engine. Narrative as opposed to rules. "I want to do..." rather than "you can do..." Simple rules 2d6 + Attribute rolls, 10+ success, 7-9 success with complications, 6- failed with even more severe complications.

I will be running it anyway, so its a chance for you to bag spaces

Welcome back!

I'd be interested in giving it a try.

Thanks, Mr H. You would be more than wemlcome

I'll just wait here.

ghill wrote:I'll just wait here.

You don't fancy Tremulus then?

Its not so much don't fancy as having a fair bit on my plate at the moment, so cherry picking

I'll almost certainly lurk.

Also trying to kick off a short two player, one shot, modern at the moment.

I have heard great things about Apocalypse World (it seems to be the hottest RPG game right now) so I am interested.

Supercape wrote:I have heard great things about Apocalypse World (it seems to be the hottest RPG game right now) so I am interested.

I'll add your name to that of Mr Handy

Meanwhile in the world of Achtung! Chthulhu - Fate

aine should be back soon and we shall be ready to recommence. Papa Gateaux will be joining us, and will be making an appearance in the Martin's kitchen .
So as soon as Clarence returns, "Bon chance mes amis"*

(*Schoolboy French I'm ashamed to say )

I shall be updating the game over the weekend. We shall be recommencing in the Martin's kitchen.

I'm on vacation til the 23rd October.

Edit - but will try and post when I can

Holding till after the 23rd for Papa G to respond to any posts.

yay I'm about - please post away

I suspect a watch list is not necessary and we are looking at a scene cut to the morning, but Im happy to go with whatever list is put up

Yes indeed but I'm setting the precedent so I don't have to write something similar every time

I concur.
First watch is my favourite.

Hulloooooo </echoes>