Play@YSDC

Standard (i.e. not Pulp) Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition.

Usual rules about spending Luck and pushing rolls.

A note about the setting - this is modern day (well 2010) Britain - you can spend points on firearms skills if it makes sense for your character but be aware that access to firearms is very limited, even for law enforcement, it is unlikely you will have a gun unless you are a farmer with a shotgun.

We'll roll for characteristics in this thread, you can move around rolls for characteristics that use the same dice (i.e. switch POW for DEX but not SIZ). If your scores are appalling you can re-roll.

CoC is a bit oversupplied with skills - I'll try and give a few options for checks but also feel free to argue to use a specific skill. Maybe try and avoid dumping too many points in very similar skills. We'll use the transferrable skill benefits rule.

I'm not too fussed about ideology, traits etc except to flesh out the backstory. Do come up with a significant person and also, in addition, let me know if your character has any siblings and whether they're younger/older.

For money assume prices etc are 1:1 equivalent £ to $ - just easier that way.

In terms of careers/backstories: This is a kidnapping so law enforcement makes sense - I believe the local police are Thames Valley Police - and there is obviously going to be interest from the media so there could be journalists poking around.

There is prima facie cult involvement so specialist consultants could be commissioned, law enforcement looking at religious extremism (e.g. the Serious Organised Crime Agency, MI5), forensic psychology/psychiatry, academics with an interest in cults.

The family are also likely to commission private investigators.

Discuss any character ideas here so we can try and come up with a coherent background.

I’m thinking a detective in Thames Valley CID, from London originally, but now kicking his heels in the 4th dirtiest town in the south east of England apparently. Late 20s, a partner but no kids. Bored with the relative mundanity of coppering in a provincial town. Aside from the potential terrorist plot that happened before he arrived (but as a British-Asian was directly linked to his subsequent recruitment) the majority of his work relates to Saturday night fights at closing time, domestic violence, and a low-level turf war in the town over the local drugs trade.

Sounds good, they'll probably be taking the lead in the investigation, at least initially. Worth thinking about why he's in the ninth worst town in Britain (apparently) rather than working for the MET in the big smoke.

I'm thinking of playing an MI5 operative who usually does counter-terrorism work and is knowledgeable about religious extremism and hostage negotiation.

STR:
[dice]0[/dice]
CON:
[dice]1[/dice]
SIZ:
[dice]2[/dice]
DEX:
[dice]3[/dice]
APP:
[dice]4[/dice]
INT:
[dice]5[/dice]
POW:
[dice]6[/dice]
EDU:
[dice]7[/dice]
Luck:
[dice]8[/dice]
Okay, those are the worst stats I've ever rolled, or even seen. I'm taking a mulligan, since you so kindly allowed it.

STR:
[dice]9[/dice]
CON:
[dice]10[/dice]
SIZ:
[dice]11[/dice]
DEX:
[dice]12[/dice]
APP:
[dice]13[/dice]
INT:
[dice]14[/dice]
POW:
[dice]15[/dice]
EDU:
[dice]16[/dice]
Luck:
[dice]17[/dice]

Thinking about a consulting academic on religious extremism and cults called in to help with the case.

Old rolls,[dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice] [dice]2[/dice] [dice]3[/dice] [dice]4[/dice] [dice]5[/dice] [dice]6[/dice] [dice]7[/dice]

Yikes! These are pretty bad too, can I also take a mulligan?

If so,

[dice]8[/dice] STR

[dice]9[/dice] POW

[dice]10[/dice] DEX

[dice]11[/dice] CON

[dice]12[/dice] APP

[dice]13[/dice] EDU

[dice]14[/dice] SIZ

[dice]15[/dice] INT

[dice]16[/dice] Luck

[dice]17[/dice] EDU improvement check (Pass)

[dice]18[/dice] EDU boost

They all sound like good character concepts. Feel free to take a second mulligan if you wish.

Rolls for me:

STR

[dice]9[/dice]

CON

[dice]10[/dice]

SIZ

[dice]11[/dice]

DEX

[dice]12[/dice]

APP

[dice]13[/dice]

INT

[dice]14[/dice]

POW

[dice]15[/dice]

EDU

[dice]16[/dice]

LUCK

[dice]17[/dice]

OOC,Well, these were shocking... I’ll mulligan! Rolls for me: STR [dice]0[/dice] CON [dice]1[/dice] SIZ [dice]2[/dice] DEX [dice]3[/dice] APP [dice]4[/dice] INT [dice]5[/dice] POW [dice]6[/dice] EDU [dice]7[/dice] LUCK [dice]8[/dice] Hmm..., the dice roller appears cursed... :cry:

You're not the first to notice the curse of the dice roller. That second set of rolls is actually worse than the first, which doesn't seem that bad by comparison. My second set of rolls is pretty good, so I'll stick with that.

EDU (current level 70) improvement roll:
[dice]0[/dice]

Player: Mr. Handy
Name: Jocelyn Leigh
Sex: Female
Age: 29
Occupation: MI5 Counterterrorism Operative (Federal Agent occupation)
Birthplace: London, England, UK
Current Residence: London, England, UK
Colleges, Degrees: B.S., Criminal Justice, University College London, 2003



Characteristics:
STR: 35 (17/7)
CON: 65 (32/13)
SIZ: 55 (27/11)
DEX: 65 (32/13)
APP: 55 (27/11)
INT: 70 (35/14)
POW: 60 (30/12)
EDU: 70 (35/14)

Hit Points: 12 / 12
Magic Points: 12 / 12
Maximum Sanity (99 - Cthulhu Mythos): 99
Sanity: 60
Luck: 55
Move Rate: 8
Build: +0
Damage Bonus: +0

Skills:
Non-Default are bolded. Occupational Skills in Italics. Personal Interests preceded by a DOT.
Accounting (05%):
Animal Handling (05%):
Anthropology (01%):
Appraise (05%):
Archaeology (01%):
Art: / Craft: (05%):
Charm (15%):
Climb (20%):
Computer Use (01%):
Credit Rating (00%): 20%
Cthulhu Mythos (00%):
Demolitions (01%):
Disguise (05%):
Diving (01%):
Dodge (1/2 DEX): 32%
Drive Auto (20%): 50%
Electrical Repair (10%):
Electronics (01%):
Fast Talk (05%):
Fighting (Brawl) (25%): 60%
Firearms (Handgun) (20%): 60%
Firearms (Rifle/Shotgun) (25%): 35%
.First Aid (30%): 60%
History (05%):
Hypnosis (01%):
Intimidate (15%):
Jump (20%):
Language (English) (EDU): 70%
.Language (Arabic) (01%) 31%
Language (Other) (01%):
Law (05%): 25%
Library Use (20%):
.Listen (20%): 55%
Locksmith (01%):
Mechanical Repair (10%):
Medicine (01%):
Natural World (10%):
Navigate (10%):
Occult (10%): 20%
Operate Heavy Machine (01%):
Persuade (10%): 60%
Pilot (01%):
Psychoanalysis (01%):
.Psychology (10%): 55%
Read Lips (01%):
Ride (05%):
Science (01%):
Sleight of Hand (10%):
Spot Hidden (25%): 60%
Stealth (20%): 60%
Survival (10%):
Swim (20%):
Throw (20%):
Track (10%):

Background: Jocelyn Leigh is a petite, pretty woman with auburn hair. Her father, Albert Leigh (significant person), has been in the London Metropolitan Police for decades and has risen to the rank of Detective Chief Inspector. It was he who inspired her to consider a career in law enforcement. Her mother, Kathleen Leigh, is a Queen's Counsel. Jocelyn has an older sister, Janet.

Jocelyn studied Criminal Justice in university, have always planned to follow her father's footsteps into law enforcement. When the September 11th attacks happened, she decided to focus on counterterrorism to protect her country. She joined MI5 after graduating in 2003, where she specialized in battling Islamic terrorism, focusing on the extreme Wahhabi variety. She is also a trained hostage negotiator. She was part of the team that investigated the 7/7 Tube attacks and the 7/21 attempted attacks in 2005.

Mr Handy, you get an extra 10% on rifle/shotgun for taking handgun over 50%. Note that MI5 agents don't routinely carry firearms so while you might have firearms training you'd be unlikely to have access to a firearm unless an operation demanded it (e.g. a hostage negotiation). Even then MI5 probably wouldn't carry a gun - I'd allow it but we'd be in TV territory. In reality firearms would only be used by specialist police units. Similarly for our CID character, they might have firearms training, and maybe could handle a firearm in a specific situation like a siege, if they had kept their firearms accreditation up to date, and I'd allow that, but in reality they'd leave it to specialist armed officers. I'll leave it for you guys to decide on realism vs TV but nothing is going to depend on packing heat!

Here's my sheet. This is one of my first time's making a character in 7th edition, and I used Dhole House to help me through most of it. Please let me know if I made any egregious errors.

Player: Silver Priest
Name: Simon Eagleton
Sex: Male
Age: 38
Occupation: Consulting Psychologist for the Police.
Birthplace: Manchester
Current Residence: London
Education: MA in Criminal Psychology from Oxford.

Characteristics:
STR:45(22/9)
CON:60(30/12)
SIZ:45(22/9)
DEX:55(27/11)
APP:50(25/10)
EDU:64(32/12)
INT:85(42/17)
POW:70(35/14)

HP: 10/10
MP:14/14
Max San:99
San:70
Luck:50
Move:8
Build: 0
Damage Bonus:0

Skills: (Non-Default are bolded. Occupational Skills in Italics. Personal Interests preceded by a DOT.)
Accounting (05%):
Animal Handling (05%):
Anthropology (01%):
Appraise (05%):
Archaeology (01%):
Art: / Craft: (05%):
Charm (15%):
Climb (20%):
Computer Use (01%):25%
Credit Rating (00%): 45%
Cthulhu Mythos (00%):
Demolitions (01%):
Disguise (05%):
Diving (01%):
Dodge (1/2 DEX): 37%
Drive Auto (20%):
Electrical Repair (10%):
Electronics (01%):
Fast Talk (05%):
Fighting (Brawl) (25%):
Firearms (Handgun) (20%):
Firearms (Rifle/Shotgun) (25%):
.First Aid (30%):
History (05%):40%
Hypnosis (01%):
Intimidate (15%):
Jump (20%):
Language (English) (EDU): 94%
Language (Other) (01%):
Law (05%): 15%
Library Use (20%): 80%
Listen (20%): 30%
Locksmith (01%):
Mechanical Repair (10%):
Medicine (01%):
Natural World (10%):
Navigate (10%):
Occult (10%): 75%
Operate Heavy Machine (01%):
Persuade (10%): 30%
Pilot (01%):
Psychoanalysis (01%):52%
Psychology (10%): 75%
Read Lips (01%):
Ride (05%):
Science (01%):
Sleight of Hand (10%):
Spot Hidden (25%):
Stealth (20%):
Survival (10%):
Swim (20%):
Throw (20%):
Track (10%):

Background: Simon was born in Manchester to a working class family. Extremely intelligent from an early age, he attended university and studied his two great loves-- understanding what made other people tick and the occult. He became a professor of psychology at his alma mater but finds little interest in the work. But when a string of occult related murders haunted the city, his passions were awoke and he took to investigating the matter, helping the police to crack the case and achieving some degree of respect for his abilities. Since then, he has consulted on several cases with religious or occult themes, speculating on the perpetrator's mental state and ideology. Simon himself believes it's all rubbish of course, but he knows the criminals believe it, and thus it's important to be able to decipher the code.

Well read and somber, Simon has a tendency to believe he's the smartest man in the room. It helps that he usually is. Many find him to be a bit condescending, a charge even he'll admit to gladly.

Cool, afraid I don't know how to access the career skills once you've chosen them on Dhole's House. Did you select the psychologist career from the player's handbook? That has the skills: Accounting, Library Use, Listen, Persuade, Psychoanalysis, Psychology, any two other skills as academic, era or personal specialties. Although if that was the case your Credit Rating would be slightly out of range (10-40).

Thanks, I updated my character sheet. I'm fine with playing it as realistic as possible if the others are, although my character actually is inspired by a TV MI5 operative (Zoe Reynolds from Spooks/MI5). And Simon Eagleton reminds me a little of Tony Hill from Wire in the Blood.

Yeah, I chose the professor template. I think I put a few personal points in it to represent him having a successful career as a consultant, but I'd not mind reducing his credit rating a bit either.

Professor is credit rating 20-70 with skills: Library Use, Other Language, Own Language, Psychology, any four other skills as academic or personal specialties.

Thanks; updated my sheet.

Name: Krishen ‘Kris’ Sapru
Occupation: Detective Constable, Thames Valley CID
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Residence: High Wycombe
Place of Birth: Harrow on the Hill, London
Education: Leicester University, MSc. in Criminology (2002)

Born into a family of 3rd generation immigrants, Kris grew up in Harrow on the Hill, an affluent suburb in Greater London. Unlike his dad and older brother, he didn’t want to work for the family wholesale business, and headed off to university instead. Four years later, he emerged with an MSc in Criminology and enrolled with Thames Valley Police’s graduate recruitment programme, convinced he represented a new dawn in modern policing.

Kris’ somewhat brash attitude rubbed some of colleagues up the wrong way and, while his senior officers had no complaints about the quality of his work, the people he worked alongside began to resent his constant advice about how much better he thought he could do their jobs.

Following the 2006 arrests in High Wycombe, the call went out for Asian officers to join High Wycombe’s predominantly white British CID to help with community relations. Kris was assured that it would be a short-term posting, but four years later, it shows no sign of ending and he has begun to dread the endless litany of Saturday night fights at closing time, domestic violence, and a low-level turf war in the town over the local drugs trade...

Kris lives with Bina - his partner - in a small, new build apartment on Cooper’s Rise, in the town. He now owes more than the apartment is worth and it’s only Bina who’s keeping him sane and from chucking everything in and heading back to Harrow on the Hill for a career in wholesaling...

Characteristics

STR 35 (17/7)
DEX 50 (25/10)
INT 70(35/14)
CON 70 (35/14)
APP 50 (25/10)
POW 70 (35/14)
SIZ 66 (33/13)
EDU 75 (37/15)

Idea 70

Hit Points: 13 / 13
Magic Points: 14 / 14
Maximum Sanity (99 - Cthulhu Mythos): 99
Sanity: 70
Luck: 50
Move Rate: 7 (8/6)
Build: +0
Damage Bonus: +0


Skills
Accounting (05%):
Animal Handling (05%):
Anthropology (01%):
Appraise (05%):
Archaeology (01%):
Art: / Craft: (05%):
Charm (15%):
Climb (20%):
Computer Use (01%): 65%
Credit Rating (00%): 45%
Cthulhu Mythos (00%):
Demolitions (01%):
Disguise (05%): 30%
Diving (01%):
Dodge (1/2 DEX): 25%
Drive Auto (20%): 26%
Electrical Repair (10%):
Electronics (01%):
Fast Talk (05%):
Fighting (Brawl) (25%): 25%
Firearms (Handgun) (20%): 30%
Firearms (Rifle/Shotgun) (25%):
First Aid (30%): 40%
History (05%): 50%
Hypnosis (01%):
Intimidate (15%):
Jump (20%):
Language (English) (EDU): 75%
Language (Hindi) (01%) 40%
Language (Other) (01%):
Law (05%): 50%
Library Use (20%): 30%
Listen (20%): 35%
Locksmith (01%):
Mechanical Repair (10%):
Medicine (01%):
Natural World (10%):
Navigate (10%):
Occult (10%):
Operate Heavy Machine (01%):
Persuade (10%): 55%
Pilot (01%):
Psychoanalysis (01%):
Psychology (10%): 30%
Read Lips (01%):
Ride (05%):
Science (01%):
Sleight of Hand (10%):
Spot Hidden (25%): 40%
Stealth (20%):
Survival (10%):
Swim (20%):
Throw (20%):
Track (10%):

(I did this using the Dhole’s House and the tracking of what points went where was somewhat erratic so I’ve just highlighted where the base skill has been improved for now).

Brilliant. Does Simon Eagleton have any siblings? Can you come up with a significant person in his life?

If you can move your characters to the finished characters thread and add in income (for you guys cash = CR x 40, assets = CR x 1,000, and spending level = £200) and any equipment you want. I'm happy just to assume you have any reasonable equipment and we can roll luck for anything more esoteric but if there's something specific you want add it in (I'll veto if it seems unreasonable).

Then we can start, we'll begin with separate threads but soon meet up.

Keep track of any passed skill checks in case we do another scenario, for character progression.

One other thing RE: Simon, you might want to consider him having a PhD if he's a professor. I'm sure we can come up with a reason why he doesn't if you want, it's just I notice his highest qualification is essentially the same as our police officer.