OOC

[Priest]

For all those non secret observations.

[DrPeterson]

I've observed that it looks cool

[Supercape]

The eyes are peeled.

[Priest]

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;

General Differences from Fate Core

"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.

[Supercape]

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?

[Priest]

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.

[Supercape]

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.

[DrPeterson]

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.

[Mr. Handy]

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.

[Priest]

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.

[Supercape]

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.

[Priest]

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;

General Differences from Fate Core.

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.

[Mr. Handy]

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.

[DrPeterson]

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.

[ghill]

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.

[Quatermass]

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

[Priest]

Creating your Operative/Agent.

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?

[Priest]

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

Will do

[aine]

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.

[Supercape]

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