Play@YSDC

So, let's begin! First of all, let me know if this is the first time playing ToC and if you need any assistance creating the investigator.

For beginners, this is the link to go: http://www.pelgranepress.com/trail/file ... _rules.pdf
I'll add some material to read and I'm of course available to answer any question you might have.

Now, a few guidelines/restrictions for character creation:

The following professions are available, and Credit Rating 5+ is required:
Archaeologist
Clergy
Dilettante
Doctor
Military (Official)
Professor
Scientist

The following professions are available with no CR restriction:
Artist
Nurse

Practically, at the beginning of the scenario, you're to be presented at a party to a very rich man (Mr. Dupont) that should finance you next research/expedition/charity foundation/etc.
For a Military, Mr. Dupont's business includes weapons and armament, so naturally the military keeps good relations with him.
As a Dilettante you already belong to the elite and might have some sort of relationship with Julien Faure.
When it comes to an Artist, you're looking for a rich patron, or just wish to showcase your art in an important social gathering.
For a Nurse, you come from one of the orphanages or hospitals that Mr. Dupont has created with his immense wealth.

You don't need to be French, people of many different nationalities have gathered in Paris during the war. If you're not French, though, having one point in Languages for French would be strongly preferred.

All the Drives are fine but I would prefer not having Revenge and Sudden Shock.

The Cop Talk ability is removed and in its place there's Military Talk. I'll put some information on it later on, but it should be easy to understand more or less what it does.

Purist rules will be applied for this scenario. I'll add some details on that if needed, but it basically just means that you'll go insane much more easily It shouldn't have a huge impact on character creation.

Consider for now 16 points of Investigative Abilities, 60 of General Abilities. I'll give you a few more points if no other player joins the game.

Player: Mr. Handy

Name: Colonel Jacques Hebert
Age: 65
Sex: Male
Background: Military (Official)
Drive: Curiosity
Pillars of Sanity:

• Vive La France!
• Every Mystery Has a Solution
• Tomorrow Will Be Better

Sources of Stability:

• Marie Hebert, loving, devoted wife for over 40 years
• Andre Hebert, eldest son and major in the Army, who is proud to follow in his father's footsteps
• Jean-Claude Hebert, Andre's firstborn son and newly minted second lieutenant, who admires his grandfather's patriotism and lifetime of service

Investigative Abilities:

Academic
History 1
Languages 2
Law 1

Interpersonal
Bargain 1
*Bureaucracy 2
Credit Rating 5
Interrogation 1
*Intimidation 2
*Military Talk 2
Oral History 1
*Reassurance 2
Streetwise 1

Technical
Evidence Collection 1
Forensics 1
Locksmith 1
*Outdoorsman 2

General Abilities:
*Athletics 8
Explosives 5
*Firearms 10
First Aid 4
Health 8
Mechanical Repair 2
Preparedness 3
*Riding 6
Sanity 9
*Scuffling 6
Sense Trouble 6
Shadowing 3
Stability 10
Stealth 3
*Weapons 6

Does 5 count as our minimum Credit Rating in terms of free points, or do we have to spend investigative points to raise it from the occupation's minimum to 5? I assumed the latter and spent the points, but please let me know if it's otherwise and I'll add the three points elsewhere.

Mr. Handy wrote: Does 5 count as our minimum Credit Rating in terms of free points, or do we have to spend investigative points to raise it from the occupation's minimum to 5? I assumed the latter and spent the points, but please let me know if it's otherwise and I'll add the three points elsewhere.

Yes, you need to raise the CR with your points as usual. You can consider Military Talk an occupational ability for your character, so the 1 build point becomes two points in the ability.

Andre Saint-Pasquet



Born:- Rennes 18 Oct ???? (aged 37)
Sex:- Male – Slightly invalided (club foot)
Profession:- Archaeologist
Drive:- Scholarship
Pillars of Sanity:- Patriotism – Vive la France
Reality of Science - I need to see it, to touch it, to test it, before I believe
Value of intellect - I may not be able to fight like my poor brother did, but I can make my name in other ways, by using my knowlwdge
Sources of Stability:- Romaine Saint-Pasquet (Brother Living in family home in Rennes - lost left leg in Great War)
Marie Petit (Andre’s lover - former secretary at University)
Alexandre DuBois (Younger cousin - living with Romaine in family home – parents killed in German attack)
Sanity:- 11
Stability 9
Health 7

Investigative Abilities
Academic Archaeology – 4*
Architecture - 2*
Cryptographhy - 1
Evidence Collection - 3
Geology - 1
History – 3*
Languages – 4*
Library Use – 2*
Interpersonal Assess Honesty - 2
Bargain - 2
Credit Rating – 5*
Technical Evidence Collection – 4*
Photography - 2*

General Abilities
Conceal – 5
Disguise – 3
Driving – 3
Electrical Repair - 1
Firearms – 4
First Aid – 4*
Fleeing – 4
Mechanical Repair – 4
Preparedness – 5
Riding – 2*
Sense Trouble – 4
Shadowing - 3
Stealth - 2
Weapons - 2

Andre Saint-Pasquet, native of Rennes, where the family chateau was located. The fourth son, he was not entitled due to anything through primogeniture so he studied Archeology at Université Rennes 2. His elder brother fought and died at the start of the Great War, which he was spared, much to his embarrassment, due to his deformed left foot and lower leg. The family were rich enough to move in higher circles of society and Andre fits in quite well making several high profile friends, among them Julien Faure, personal secretary of Sebastien Dupont, the wealthy industrialist. You went to Université Rennes 2 with Julien Faure for a few years and formed a friendship with him that has endured, despite some years spent apart since Julien left to take his position with Dupont.

Overlord87 wrote:

Mr. Handy wrote: Does 5 count as our minimum Credit Rating in terms of free points, or do we have to spend investigative points to raise it from the occupation's minimum to 5? I assumed the latter and spent the points, but please let me know if it's otherwise and I'll add the three points elsewhere.

Yes, you need to raise the CR with your points as usual. You can consider Military Talk an occupational ability for your character, so the 1 build point becomes two points in the ability.

Thanks, I updated Military Talk.

@Cearlan: ok, good starting point, but there a few things to fix. First of all: you need to select a Profession. Judging from your list of abilities, I suspect it might be Archaeologist, or maybe Professor. Anyway, pick one, then look on the condensed rules. You'll see that every profession is associated with a list of "occupational abilities". Every build point spent on one of these abilities will effectively give you 2 points in that ability. So, for example, an Archaeologist clearly has Archaeology as an occupational ability, so spending 2 build points (out of the 16 you have) will result in 4 Archaeology points for your character. Same applies for all the other occupational abilities.
Secondarily, an Archaeologist has CR 4-5 (from the quickstart rules), meaning that you start with a value of 4 for free (the minimum value listed on each profession is available for free). So, increasing it to 5 will require only 1 point.
Third point, consider that using an Investigative Ability in Trail of Cthulhu is ALWAYS A SUCCESS. No dice roll is required (only General Abilities roll). In this regard, having 1 point or 4 points in an ability does not change your percentage of success. Having more points means only that you'll be able to make more "spends" - a spend will provide you with additional information that are useful but never essential to solving the mystery. Considering this, is practically never a good idea having more than 4 points in an investigative ability, and even 4 are a lot of points. It's usually better to have a larger number of abilities with a lower rating (even 1 point is usually sufficient). For an Archaeologist, Art History and Geology might be good starting points, but pick what you prefer.

Thanks Overlord - fixed I think???

Cearlan wrote:Thanks Overlord - fixed I think???

Ok, now another thing I hadn't noticed - you lack a rating of Health and Stability.

Sanity, Stability and Health are all General Abilities. You need to purchase them with your points from the General Abilities pool. You have Sanity 4, Stability 1 and Health 1 for free.
Sanity is the mental balance of the character in the face of the cosmic horrors he'll face, it's an overall measure of how far (or how close) he's to insanity. Stability defines the mental state of the character on the moment, how well he's handling the pressure and the shock. As such, Stability refreshes when the character has enough time to rest and recover, while Sanity keeps slowly diminishing and is much more hard to regain.
Consider cutting some other abilities and spend some points there, you'll probably need at least 6-8 points in each of these three abilities.
Consider that you should have 1 Pillar of Sanity for each 3 points in Sanity and 1 Source of Stability for each 3 points in Stability.

Also, I would like you to elaborate on your second pillar of sanity. Why not being able to fight would be a pillar of sanity for your character?

Hi. Just going through the quick start character creation rules. I should have my character posted by tomorrow night !!

Done Version II

I think I will grab the Dilettante. I have a idea for a Duke De Richleau type character.

I might grab the scientist. Will post later today or tomorrow and ask for guidance This would be the first ToC for me

Update: almost have it Bear with me

If anyone needs assistance creating the investigator, let me know

Character in progress....

Artist

Drive: Artistic Sensitivity

Pillars of Sanity:

- Quest for a new aesthetic to define the times
- The reconciliation of nature and art
- An unexamined life is not worth living

Sources of stability:

Abilities

Interpersonal
*Assess Honesty 2
Credit Rating 3
*Flattery 2

Academic
*Architecture 2
*Art History 4
*History 2
Languages
- French 2
*Library Use 2

Technical
*Art 4
*Craft (Woodworking) 2
*Photography 2

General
Athletics 3
Conceal 4
*Disguise 6
Driving 5
First Aid 2
Fleeing 8
Health 10
Preparedness 2
Sanity 9
Scuffling 5
Sense Trouble 5
Stability 9

@Pickman37: if your character is French, he already speaks French without having to spend points (also, spending points does not improve your knowledge of the lanaguage, unlike CoC where you have a percentage). Every point in Languages allows your character to know an additional language, so with 2 points you could speak for example British and Italian, Italian and German, German and Spanish, whatever.

Remember that having one point in an ability is enough to always succeed when using that ability, having additional points is only for spends, which are optional. So, while it's fine for your character to have 4 points in Art since he's an artist, consider spreading your skills a bit more. This is just an advice, though, in the end feel free to spend your points as you like

Jean-Luc Coté

Age: 51

Jean-luc was always his mother's favourite. Pushed from the very young age to better himself. His mother supported him with books and got quite a collection back at the farm. All hidden from his father of course. "Science and learning is not something God wants people to be interested in. This life is but a passing moment." he would say. Jean-luc moved out at the earliest opportunity. He devoted his life to science. He's convinced that superstition and dogma are the downfall of humanity. Sees the current war as an immense waste of resources and opportunities.

Scientist (leaning towards astrophysicist).

Drive
[Scientific] Curiosity

Pillars of sanity
- Science is the only true way to discover humanity's place in the Universe
- There is a logical, biological explanation for everything
- Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent

Sources of stability
- Paulette Coté, his mother who inspired him to never stop looking for a rational explanation, often going against the wishes of his father
- Bastien Cormier, long-time friend and fellow physicist at the university
- Marie-Paule Chapelle, his only female friend which whom he has hour-long discussions about humanity's place in the Universe
- William Vernier, his brother, who stayed behind at the farm

Abilities

Interpersonal
Asses honesty - 1
Bureucracy - 1
Credit Rating - 5
Flattery - 1
Oral History - 1
Reassurance - 1

Academic
Biology - 1
* Languages - 2 (english/latin)
* Library Use - 4 (may be too much)
* Physics - 4
Geology - 1
History - 1
Occult - 1

Technical
* Astronomy - 2
Chemistry - 1
* Evidence collection - 2
* Photography - 2

General Abilities
Athletics - 2
Conceal - 2
Driving - 2
* Electrical repair - 4
Explosives - 4
First Aid - 2
Fleeting - 4
Mechanical Repair - 2
Piloting - 3
Preparedness - 2
Psychoanalysis - 6
Riding - 4
Sense trouble - 2
Stealth - 1
Firearms - 1

Sanity rating - 10
Stability Rating - 12
Health rating - 12

Please tell me if I got this right. Also - I've kind of spread my 60 points over the GA, don't know if that's a good idea. Will write the bio soon.

@krzyspmac: Sanity, Stabiity and Health ratings are capped at 12 for Purist games (this one is Purist). Anyway, 20+ points is way too much in any kind of game

Overlord87 wrote:@krzyspmac: Sanity, Stabiity and Health ratings are capped at 12 for Purist games (this one is Purist). Anyway, 20+ points is way too much in any kind of game

Oopsie Will correct and update the post soon.

GA stats have been fixed.

@Quatermass: are you still there? I'm in no particular hurry to start, but at the same time I don't want to drag things on for too long. Can you have your character ready by the end of the week?