Character Ideas and Generation

[amarriner]

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.

[zielonobrody]

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.

[Dondero]

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!!

[amarriner]

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).

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.

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.

[amarriner]

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.

[Riotopsys]

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

[Dondero]

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

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!

[amarriner]

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!

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!

[zielonobrody]

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/

[amarriner]

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.

[Samuel]

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.

[Dondero]

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....

[amarriner]

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.

[Dondero]

[@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

[amarriner]

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!

[Riotopsys]

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.

[amarriner]

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.

[zielonobrody]

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

[Dondero]

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!

[amarriner]

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.

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.