Character A Day, Day Twenty Four(ish)

Call of Cthulhu

Seventh Edition… I Think

Roit! So, Xmas dinner is done, lamb is ingested and is digesting, and Die Hard is sitting on top of the DVD player. But before I celebrate the holidays by watching Hans Gruber fall off Nakatomi Plaza, I want to get back to being only one day behind, and that means, a writeup! While I was tempted to “cheat” and grab something like Gamma World 1e, which is barely more complex than Metamorphosis Alpha 1e, I’m going to go with a new edition of an old game: Call of Cthulhu! (I also have a Fifth Edition, but I don’t have a First, so, I figure I’ll go with the newest I have instead of an arbitrary middling version.) This is the Revised Seventh Edition.

Unto Madness We Go!

First step is to Generate Characteristics!

Strength: 60
Con: 60
Size: 60 (Yes, really… these are all legit rolls.)
Dexterity: 40 (And see, once more — lousy Dex roll!)
Appearance: 55
Intelligence: 85 (Clumsy, ugly, and smart… a little autobiographical…)
Power: 45
Education: 45 (48 after age-related improvement check.)
Luck: 45

I now pick my age. I’ll go with 30. I make an “Improvement Check” for EDU. I have to roll over my current EDU on %ile dice, which I do. I add 1d10, which turns out to be 3.

I need to calculate Half and Fifth values, for Hard and Extreme checks.

And there you go!

A few more calculations:

Damage Bonus: None
Build: 0
Hit Points:  12
Move: 8

Occupy Dunwich!

Or, choosing an Occupation.

I had a lot of fun playing a WWI pilot turned barnstormer in one campaign, and a journalist in another, but this time, given my only marginally decent trait is Intelligence, I will go go for Antique Dealer, as that seems to have a lot of opportunities to stumble on things Eldritch.

Occupation Skill Points: 196
Credit Rating: 30-50. This comes from skill points. Let’s say 40, leaving me 156 skill points.

Skills (Includes base and allocated points):
Accounting: 11
Appraise: 25
Drive Auto: 30
Fast Talk: 30
Persuade: 45
History: 40
Library Use: 45
Navigate: 10

It’s about time I had a name, and fortunately, there’s a table in the book: Moses Crankovitch.

I also get to spend Int * 2 points on Personal Skills. When all is said and done, and those points are divvied up, including some back to Occupation, we have:

Programmed With The Most Tragic Backstory Ever

Now, I am tasked by the rules with creating a rich, full, backstory, replete with emotional details and storytelling hooks and all that hoo-hah. Sigh. John McClane is waiting, but, fine.

Moses Crankovich is a man in his late 20, who inherited an Arkham pawn shop/used furniture store from his father, and who has spent the past ten years remaking it into a much classier (but still not classy enough) antique shop, with a good sideline in used books, mostly purchased from students leaving Miskatonic U, either by graduating or by… not… graduating. He is simultaneously torn between world-weary acceptance that his life was plotted for him by his family, and idealistic hope he can transcend the shoddy, second-hand existence they led, by doing more than simply adding a few cents to a price tag, but studying and learning all he can about the sometimes-bizarre items he is brought and asked to purchase, no questions asked.

Despite his name, he is a strongly secular man, and tends to sign himself “M. Crankovich”, and wears no outward sign of his inherited faith, though he does not pretend to have assimilated into the harsh Protestantism of the town. Though never formally enrolled at Miskatonic (Go, Pods!) he was close friends with a professor of antiquities there, and ended up getting a pretty good informal education — more than enough to earn a degree, had time and circumstances permitted. But like it or not, the store (and the small living space above it, once shared by the entire family, now solely his — which is good, given the boxes of books he still has to sort through), is the heart of his existence, and leaving it in other hands, even for a few years, is something he cannot do.

As all good booksellers and antique dealers must, he has a pet cat — an immense Maine Coon named Colossus, after the statue at Rhodes.

It is quite likely his first steps into the madness lying just beneath the illusion of sanity that is our world will be when his professor friend vanishes on a seemingly mundane trip, and he follows to investigate, perhaps with a few intrepid companions.

Equipment is not as abstract as in some games, but it is recommended that reasonable, normal gear commensurate with Credit Rating be assumed. Thus, I’m not going to purchase items at this stage(also, movie waiting.)

And so, we do have a miracle — two postings in one day, leaving me, once more just one day behind.