Play@YSDC

In this thread we'll work up the actual characters for the game. Once they are close to finished, I'll start another thread to list the character sheets and backgrounds.

I have some seedling ideas from Samuel and Riotopsys so we can flesh those out here and get more ideas from other players on their characters as well. As far as rolling them up goes, I'll leave that to the actual players. Submit them here or via PM so I can look them over. I may put them on the myth-weavers site as they have a nice character section, but we'll see.

To reiterate, we're in the 1928 Arkham MA. Characters in some way affiliated with the Miskatonic University are good as a starting point if you don't have another idea. That's in no way required, though.

Got myself thinking the other day, and came up with an idea. I had a thought that maybe MU had a basketball team or some such. I'd like to play their new coach, or if there isn't such a team, the guy that's trying to start a team. I could also supply a rather simple and basically obvious plot hook that way:) I must add that I don't know much about basketball and baseball. I do know a bit about football and soccer.

OK, so we have a Lawyer and a Coach so far then? I'm thinking about playing a Student at MU. Possibly Med school or maybe a Science geek.

I'll start working on a background soon. Not sure about rolling up stats though, how do you want that done?

Looking forward to this, thanks a lot!!

Dondero wrote:OK, so we have a Lawyer and a Coach so far then? I'm thinking about playing a Student at MU. Possibly Med school or maybe a Science geek.

A student would be great, definitely. Sounds good! Riotopsys mentioned he wanted to play an interpreter investigator so that will about round out our group (unless another player comes along).

Dondero wrote:Not sure about rolling up stats though, how do you want that done?

I'll whip up a "rules" thread soon which will talk about rolling, but for now I'll give a crib sheet version. I'd like rolls to be done via http://www.invisiblecastle.com/roller which is how many of the games here roll dice. For this portion of the game, please use [TC] username generation as a character name (replacing username with your name here, of course! ).

You can roll STR, CON, POW, DEX, APP, and EDU all at once. Put 7 in for the number of rolls and 3d6 for the dice. This will give you one more roll then necessary so you can drop the lowest and then assign the other rolls as you see fit. Don't forget to add 3 to your EDU roll. Do the same for SIZ and INT except only do two rolls (no dropping the lowest) and change the dice accordingly (2d6+6). Let me know if anyone has trouble with this.

There will be a link you can use to post in this thread like so:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1450600/

Then build the rest of your character as per the rules. If there are questions or concerns, just let me know. Either PM me drafts of characters or post them here. Either way is fine.

Dondero wrote:Looking forward to this, thanks a lot!!

I'm looking forward to it, too! Thanks to all of you for joining. I didn't know if the game would ever get off the ground. Good to see a fellow Gunslinger fan, btw Dondero.

zielonobrody wrote:Got myself thinking the other day, and came up with an idea. I had a thought that maybe MU had a basketball team or some such. I'd like to play their new coach, or if there isn't such a team, the guy that's trying to start a team. I could also supply a rather simple and basically obvious plot hook that way:) I must add that I don't know much about basketball and baseball. I do know a bit about football and soccer.

Forgot to respond to this, too, sorry. I doubt Lovecraft ever mentioned basketball or baseball, but I'd guess that MU would certainly have those sports. Even if it were just an intramural team. So that would be just fine! Maybe your character can be a more physical type than the others might be? If you're picking between basketball and baseball, go with baseball ... I like it more than the other. Either one is fine, though.

Not sure if that occupation is in the rulebook so we'll have to work on the skillset. Shouldn't be too difficult, though.

Ondine Dumont



An Interpreter working in Arkham Mass under retainer with Miskatonic University and Arkham PD. She is fluent in French and Algonquian as she is decent from both stocks. She Settled in Arkham after the death of her mother while she was in attendance at Miskatonic University. Currently she has no interest in her Wampanoag Heritage and attempts to keep general knowledge of it to a minimum.

thats all the story i've got so far

amarriner wrote: Not sure if that occupation is in the rulebook so we'll have to work on the skillset. Shouldn't be too difficult, though.

Strangely enough, Manager/Coach appears in the 1920s Investigators Companion; there are tons of variant occupations in there, some of them are pretty far-out.... This is the blurb about it if you're interested :-

"Usually ex-athletes too old to compete, managers and coaches direct teams, conduct practices, and plan strategies, etc"

Contacts & connections - Athletic circles, sports writers, wealthy and influential alumnae.

Base skills - Accounting, Bargain, Dodge, Fast Talk, First Aid, Head Butt, Kick, Persuade, Psychology (your call whether you use these, just trying to be helpful!)

Similarly, here's the low-down on my Student:-

Contacts & connections - Access to professors, labs, libraries and other facilities.

Base skills - English, Library Use plus three fields of study

amarriner wrote: Good to see a fellow Gunslinger fan, btw Dondero

You too, huh? Total Stephen King, Dark Tower fan-boy here! Although I've just had a few of Lovecraft's books for Christmas, and I can see where a lot of SK's influences come from! Pretty wild!

Dondero wrote:Strangely enough, Manager/Coach appears in the 1920s Investigators Companion;

snip

Similarly, here's the low-down on my Student:-

Perfect, thanks a lot, Dondero!

Dondero wrote:You too, huh? Total Stephen King, Dark Tower fan-boy here! Although I've just had a few of Lovecraft's books for Christmas, and I can see where a lot of SK's influences come from! Pretty wild!

Yep, love the Dark Tower. Can't believe he actually finished it! For the longest time I didn't think he would. I've read a lot of his stuff (I believe there's a Nyarlathotep mention in "Needful Things" or some GOO if it isn't Nyarly). More recently I've been reading Neal Stephenson and Dan Simmons, but I do have some SK I have to get to at some point!

Dondero wrote:Strangely enough, Manager/Coach appears in the 1920s Investigators Companion

Strangely, that's where I got the idea from;)

A quick draft of my character: /edit. well maybe not quick and not draft, but practically his whole story

Born in 1872 in Viborg, Denmark, Donald Lutherhagen was quite an athlete back in the day. He found out he was great in goalkeeping in High School, and sports earned him a rather large scholarship. He went on to study Chemistry in Copenhagen and as he was still great at goalkeeping, played in a second league soccer club. In the winter before his graduation(Masters course in chemistry) when he was just starting to think about the future, his parents were killed in an accident. He never talks about it so nobody knows what type of accident it was. Donald fell into a depression and barely graduated. He used his savings to buy a ship ticket to New York to start anew. He left all his possessions in Denmark. His house, which his parents left him in Viborg, his apartment in Copenhagen stand empty to this day.
Upon arrival in New York(barely knowing the English language) He left for Boston which seemed like a nice place and around the climate he was used to. Cold and salty air, wet autumns, snowy winters. There he became a High School gymnastics tutor and after meeting some local acquaintances got pulled into baseball. He instantly loved the sport, the tactics, the finesse. He started playing center field in a local team. After a few years he decided that teaching was his destiny, so he quit the team and focused on teaching sports. Still a gym teacher, he became a peewee league coach. This is where he met his future wife Adelle. They had no children but they lived a happy life together. Adelle got cancer in 1925 and died from it in 1927.
Donald decided to move once again, to leave the past behind. He found a vacancy in Arkham for the Miscatonic University baseball team coach and manager. He's been training the students for a whole semester already and is quite happy with the situation. He found some talent brewing under the nerdy, bookwormish skins of the students at MU and intends to enroll the MU Fiends in next years local league, hoping for at least a minor success.

I think this about wraps it up:) I'll look into the dice rolling soon(tomorrow or Saturday). In the meantime gotta sleep:) Cheers!

Edit:
Oh well, might as well roll today;)
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1450698/
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1450703/

Looks great, zielonobrody! Let me know if you need help with the rest of the character creation process.

Dondero, a botany student would fit perfectly in this scenario if that's appealing to you.

What time of year (approx) is the adventure starting? Since we are at a University, I decided to make things a bit more logical and make my character a law student, most likely recently graduated.

amarriner wrote:Dondero, a botany student would fit perfectly in this scenario if that's appealing to you.

OK, amarriner, I'll take the hint and big up on Natural History!! Subtle as a sledgehammer btw!! Botany student coming right up....

Samuel wrote:What time of year (approx) is the adventure starting? Since we are at a University, I decided to make things a bit more logical and make my character a law student, most likely recently graduated.

Actually, either would be perfectly fine. All the characters don't have to be associated with MU. The University is just a starting point anyway and certainly not the main focus of the adventure. You could easily still be a full-fledged lawyer. Either way is okay.

We're going to start around May-June. I'll peg down a date soon, but that's roughly when it'll be.

@Dondero
Hehe sorry I don't mean to imply that you have to be a botany student. Just that it would make a very easy tie-in to the scenario. Seriously, pick whatever you like. If botany is interesting to you, go for it. If not, go with something else. Like I said, botany is just an in to some of the initial NPCs. Otherwise it's just as good as any other specialty. Sorry if I implied something different.

amarriner wrote:[@Dondero
Hehe sorry I don't mean to imply that you have to be a botany student. Just that it would make a very easy tie-in to the scenario. Seriously, pick whatever you like. If botany is interesting to you, go for it. If not, go with something else. Like I said, botany is just an in to some of the initial NPCs. Otherwise it's just as good as any other specialty. Sorry if I implied something different.

No worries, I was only kidding! Botany's as good as anything else I know absolutely nothing about!

Will try and sort out rolls, etc out tomorrow and have a character background up by the weekend!
Cheers

When you submit your character sheets, you can omit the skills that are left at the default level. Just give me which ones you're increasing out of your occupational pool (EDUx20) and which you're increasing from your personal pool (INTx10). You can bold the occupational ones and italicize the personal ones. That makes it easier for me to look through them and verify them. Thanks!

amarriner wrote:When you submit your character sheets, you can omit the skills that are left at the default level. Just give me which ones you're increasing out of your occupational pool (EDUx20) and which you're increasing from your personal pool (INTx10). You can bold the occupational ones and italicize the personal ones. That makes it easier for me to look through them and verify them. Thanks!

Sorry 'bout that.

Riotopsys wrote:

amarriner wrote:When you submit your character sheets, you can omit the skills that are left at the default level. Just give me which ones you're increasing out of your occupational pool (EDUx20) and which you're increasing from your personal pool (INTx10). You can bold the occupational ones and italicize the personal ones. That makes it easier for me to look through them and verify them. Thanks!

Sorry 'bout that.

Nothing to be sorry about. I never said to do it before you submitted your character! No worries. You're just really fast at getting your character to me.

Any limit to the skill values we upgrade? just curious.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1451654/

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1451656/

OK, with any luck I've rolled and linked these properly...fingers crossed!

Sorry, amarriner, I forgot to include the TC bit in front of character name...only realised once it was too late!

Anyway, almost finished background, will assign stats, etc. Almost there!

zielonobrody wrote:Any limit to the skill values we upgrade? just curious.

None can be over 99%, you can't increase Cthulhu Mythos at all during character creation, and you can only assign your EDUx20 points to your occupational skills but other than that you can assign the points however you like. Unless I'm forgetting something I think those are all the restrictions.

Dondero wrote:http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1451654/

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1451656/

OK, with any luck I've rolled and linked these properly...fingers crossed!

Sorry, amarriner, I forgot to include the TC bit in front of character name...only realised once it was too late!

Anyway, almost finished background, will assign stats, etc. Almost there!

No worries about the TC thing. Not really that big a deal. Looking good! Riotopsys has completed his character and it seems like everyone else is well on their way.

Also, if anyone truly hates their rolls we can discuss a re-roll of the character. I'd like people to keep their initial rolls if possible, but if it'll lead to a disinterest in the character then I'd prefer we work something else out.

amarriner wrote: Also, if anyone truly hates their rolls we can discuss a re-roll of the character. I'd like people to keep their initial rolls if possible, but if it'll lead to a disinterest in the character then I'd prefer we work something else out.

You've obviously seen my rolls!! I'm going to keep them, I'll just have to play my guy with all kinds of afflictions. Maybe a limp.

Forgive the newb question, but is there a program we can use to populate our character sheets or do we just type them in the Dramatis Personae thread?

I wish to ask if I my character may amount a +3 Edu and -2 App for being 56 years of age? I guess the deaths of loved ones has had it's effect on his appearance, but not his state of mind. This is an option I found in the character creation of the 5.6 rulebook.

Furthermore, the investigators Companion(I'm looking at vol. 2 at the moment) the Manager/Coach class has a "Special: +1 to SIZ". May I take that as well?

Dondero wrote:You've obviously seen my rolls!! I'm going to keep them, I'll just have to play my guy with all kinds of afflictions. Maybe a limp.

Forgive the newb question, but is there a program we can use to populate our character sheets or do we just type them in the Dramatis Personae thread?

Yeah those were pretty brutal! Sorry about that. Before you post in the Dramatis Personae thread PM me your character so I can look him/her over or post them here. You can either type them up or sign up for the http://www.myth-weavers.com site and put them into a character sheet there. If you do that I'll probably just type them up for the DP thread anyway so either way is fine by me. Sound good?

EDIT
On second thought, I think I'd prefer not to use myth-weavers. I'd like them typed similar to how Riotopsys did if that's feasible for everyone. Pictures aren't necessary, but if you want to look for one you can use the site Riotopsys used (http://www.silentladies.com/) or something similar. The NY Public Library has a nice archive of pictures (http://www.nypl.org/digital/). I believe welsh from this site told me about it.

zielonobrody wrote:I wish to ask if I my character may amount a +3 Edu and -2 App for being 56 years of age? I guess the deaths of loved ones has had it's effect on his appearance, but not his state of mind. This is an option I found in the character creation of the 5.6 rulebook.

Furthermore, the investigators Companion(I'm looking at vol. 2 at the moment) the Manager/Coach class has a "Special: +1 to SIZ". May I take that as well?

Yep, those things are perfectly fine!

OK. one more thing. I'm thinking about a sixth sense sort of thing. When somebody is a goalkeeper, they tend to sense where the ball is going to be kicked. I'd like to incorporate that somehow, like Donald could tell where something is going to fall, and automatically jump to catch it, or it could be used negatively -> something gets thrown, he doesn't know what it is, but instinctively jumps for it(it turns out to be a rock portal and he gets sucked in never to be seen again ). I guess it's not something I could use as the player, but an instinct that the Keeper could use at his discretion:)

zielonobrody wrote:OK. one more thing. I'm thinking about a sixth sense sort of thing. When somebody is a goalkeeper, they tend to sense where the ball is going to be kicked. I'd like to incorporate that somehow, like Donald could tell where something is going to fall, and automatically jump to catch it, or it could be used negatively -> something gets thrown, he doesn't know what it is, but instinctively jumps for it(it turns out to be a rock portal and he gets sucked in never to be seen again ). I guess it's not something I could use as the player, but an instinct that the Keeper could use at his discretion:)

Sounds interesting. I'll keep it in mind!

We're doing really good with character creation. Two are fully complete (one just hasn't been posted to the DP thread yet) and a third is 99% complete. So once the last two players are able to get their characters in we'll be ready to get things started! Let me know if anyone has questions so far.

My initial thoughts are that the student and the coach will begin the adventure together in some fashion and the lawyer, interpreter and private investigator (HellBlazer's character) will begin together and they'll meet up shortly thereafter.

I'm thinking about a Psychiatrist. Albert Winston was born in Arkham and went to study in Boston then in Vienna. Now he's back to his city to lecture at Miskatonic University.

He's single. He lives in his parents' house (since they are dead now). He's 42 years old.

What do you think?

Does he still live with his parents? Sorry, I just had to ask We'll find out soon enough

No, his parents are dead now. That's one of the reasons he came back to Arkham. He has no siblings and had to take care of the business of his family. He has only one sister, but she's married and lives in Boston.

I was trying to make a joke

Miss Scarlet wrote:I'm thinking about a Psychiatrist. Albert Winston was born in Arkham and went to study in Boston then in Vienna. Now he's back to his city to lecture at Miskatonic University.

He's single. He lives in his parents' house (since they are dead now). He's 42 years old.

What do you think?

Sounds great, Miss Scarlet. I'm not sure how best to match your character up with the rest, but that's all part of the fun of being a Keeper, right? Welcome to the game! Go ahead and roll Albert up and submit his character sheet here or via PM for me to look over.

I don't think I'd start you off with Donald or Mickey, but maybe with Ondine. I had another path for her, but she might be able to start with Albert instead. We'll see how things go.

So we have 3 complete characters out of 6. Samuel and HellBlazer, do you need any help with your characters at all?

amarriner wrote: Samuel and HellBlazer, do you need any help with your characters at all?

No trouble anymore, now that the power is back on (Northern California, we had hurricane speed wind on Friday). I got the majority of my character worked through last night, and will PM you with the details for you to review after work today. A couple of harsh rolls, but they actually gave me some ideas for a background.

-Samuel

Samuel wrote:

amarriner wrote: Samuel and HellBlazer, do you need any help with your characters at all?

No trouble anymore, now that the power is back on (Northern California, we had hurricane speed wind on Friday). I got the majority of my character worked through last night, and will PM you with the details for you to review after work today. A couple of harsh rolls, but they actually gave me some ideas for a background.

-Samuel

Wow, I'm sorry to hear about weather problems! That can be scary stuff. I didn't mean to rush you by any means. Just wanted to make sure you weren't stuck on something (though you probably know more than I do! ). Anyway, thanks for letting me know.

Oh yeah, did you decide on a student or a full-out lawyer? As I mentioned either one is just fine.

zielonobrody wrote:I was trying to make a joke

I got it. But I was trying to make sure he's not a "mom's boy", "au contraire".

Albert is ready. His character sheet is at "Dramatis personæ". He's now a teacher of Psychology at Miskatonic University. So maybe through there he knows the others...

amarriner wrote: Oh yeah, did you decide on a student or a full-out lawyer? As I mentioned either one is just fine.

Due to the nature of the stat rolls, I had to go with full lawyer with a background to explain the 6 and 8 I ended up with. I aged him up a little and will use a war injury to explain the low CON, etc. I'll send a fleshed out idea for your approval tonight, but I think it makes the most sense.

-Samuel

Samuel wrote:

amarriner wrote: Oh yeah, did you decide on a student or a full-out lawyer? As I mentioned either one is just fine.

Due to the nature of the stat rolls, I had to go with full lawyer with a background to explain the 6 and 8 I ended up with. I aged him up a little and will use a war injury to explain the low CON, etc. I'll send a fleshed out idea for your approval tonight, but I think it makes the most sense.

-Samuel

Sounds perfect! That should fit in quite nicely. As I said, I wasn't trying to rush you on your character.

On another note, it seems like a lot of you got some bad rolls via InvisibleCastle. That's too bad, but I think everything will be fine. In one of my games here (Miss Scarlet's game, actually) I've twice rolled a 100 on San checks and have yet to even pass a San check yet, I believe!

In this game I have found that Stats and skills count for far less than good planning and roleplaying, compared to other games. A difference of 2 or 3 hit points really doesn't matter if you are dumb enough to rush into the cultists' inner sanctum in the midst of a summoning.

Amen to that, Samuel! My strategy will be to cower behind Donald, the hulk of a Coach, for most of the game. Hell, with a SIZ of 17, I think we could all use him as a human shield!

Dondero wrote:Amen to that, Samuel! My strategy will be to cower behind Donald, the hulk of a Coach, for most of the game. Hell, with a SIZ of 17, I think we could all use him as a human shield!

Haha, I think that's a strategy a lot of CoC player use.

You guys are right, though, the stats don't seem to matter as much as in other games.

When we play table games (CoC), we usually say, if some player couldn't come, he/she will become our human shield. He/she will always enter first in the rooms, or follow the passages in the first place.

I'll definitely make sure I post daily then!

Be sure that, because you know what could happen...

That's not fair! I guess I have to change my tactics and be the first one to run away yelling "Gott in Himmel! Gott in Himmel! Mein Gott, verfluchte kultisten!"

Hi all , sorry for the delay in finishing my character , busy with work ,and all......but it'll be done hopefully tonight.

Oh and amarriner , what is your position on firearms? my character is an ex-police detective turned private investigator so I am going to carry a weapon...nothing too crazy , I am thinking a colt m1911 .45 auto.

HellBlazer wrote:Hi all , sorry for the delay in finishing my character , busy with work ,and all......but it'll be done hopefully tonight.

Oh and amarriner , what is your position on firearms? my character is an ex-police detective turned private investigator so I am going to carry a weapon...nothing too crazy , I am thinking a colt m1911 .45 auto.

No worries on the delay. Just wanted to make sure you weren't hung up on something.

Sure, a handgun is fine.

Here's how I'm going to start everyone off:

Ondine, Jack and Samuel's lawyer are going to start the adventure off together at the lawyer's law offices. They'll all know each other professionally. Things will get started from there.

The other three characters (Mickey, Albert, and Donald) will start in a separate thread centered around Miskatonic University. I'll probably start with Mickey and he'll pick up the other two soon after the start of the thread. I think I have a decent way of doing that, just hammering out the details.

The adventure will start on Monday June 6th, 1927 in Arkham, MA (natch!).