[Call of Cthulhu - OOC] Whispers in the Darkness

PsychoLarry1

This is the out of character thread. If you aren't in the game and want to comment, go ahead and do it here. All are welcome! Just don't meta-game too much or try to ruin the experience.

1985- May
The world has fallen into an age of tension and sordid little conflicts. The reelected President Reagan has brought about an era of huge profits, and conspicuous consumption has grown into a brightly colored culture of flash and materialism. Behind the decadent facade racial tensions simmer, and the country suffers from the epidemics of homelessness, crack cocaine, AIDS, and New Coke. The once fearsome Soviet Union has come under the control of General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, who has promised to reinvigorate the stagnant economy. Soviet forces continue to fight a bloody war in Afghanistan against Islamic guerrillas and CIA weapons. South Africa seems primed to explode, as racial conflict over the policy of apartheid causes riots all across the country. Ethiopia is in the midst of a brutal famine and the Sudan has plunged into a second civil war. Terrorist factions from Ireland, Lebanon, Spain, Palestine, Germany, Libya and Iran have left Israel and Europe until a constant state of alert. Iran and Iraq remain locked in a costly war of attrition that bleeds both nations while the rest of the world looks away. South America is trapped between US backed dictators and drug cartels, as rebel guerrillas and covert American forces produce constant outbreaks of violence. Out of all of this blood and unrest, the EON Corporation has posted the highest earnings in company history.

Helmed by CEO Peter S. Elwyn Jr., EON is a defense contractor and policy think tank that offers "Aggressive solutions and peace of mind." The company is the modern iteration of the Elwyn Trust, founded by Peter's great-great-Grandfather Harold Elwyn, who built it up from a West Virginia mining monopoly into a national conglomerate with interests in weapons manufacturing, machine parts, banking and power plants. Trust busters forced the fragmentation of the company in the 1930s, but the Elwyn clan maintained control of the weapons production and continued to prosper throughout the 2nd World War and ensuing arms race. Rebranded as EON when Peter assumed controlled in 1975, the company has maintained a close relationship with the US Government, further helped by its consultant and lobbying subsidiaries. This relationship has earned EON a blind eye towards a number of instances of corporate espionage, war profiteering, and destabilizing political assassinations in the third world. Publicly, however, EON is seen as a pillar of the American business community, similar to competitors like General Electric or Boeing.

Officially, you are senior consultants for Axiom Associates, an EON subsidiary. Unofficially, you are a team of internal "problem solvers" employed by EON and answering directly to Mr. Elwyn and his Executive Vice President of Internal Governance, Benjamin Jurgen. Drawn from a stringent selection process from within the company, the military, academia and government service, you are expected to quietly resolve any issues which might tarnish the reputation of the EON brand. As "problems" covers a broad range of circumstances for a company like EON, your team is expected to possess a wide range of skills and exercise creativity and discretion.

Yesterday you were all contacted by Mr. Jurgen, who cut short your month of vacation and called you to the company headquarters in Arlington, VA.

Rolls:
Please link to rolls as you make them. Personally, I use Invisible Castle, but if you have some other site you prefer, that's fine.

Character Creation:

Spoiler:

Be sure to run your character concept by me either in the thread or by PM. If you'd like to use a custom occupation template, we can work it out by PM. In addition to the base occupations in the core rulebook, Delta Green has templates for characters from a bafflingly large number of agencies.

If you would like to transfer points from one skill to another, you may move 3 points at a time, up to 3 times. If your stats end up being especially horrible, contact me and we'll work out something. It's no fun playing a dead weight character.

Wealth
Roll 1d10, it'll represent your wealth. Could count for your income, your inheritance, a salary reflecting years at the company, investments, whatever. If it's wildly short or above your occupation and background, we'll work something else. It may not really matter, but it's good to have in case it comes up.

Wealth Table:

Spoiler:

1=15,000/year
2=25000
3=35000
4=45000
5=55000
6=75000
7=100000
8=200000
9=300000
10=500000

Assume you have 5 times that much in assets (house, car, big item personal effect). One tenth of your assets is cash in the bank, another tenth is in stocks and bonds. Your character will have a bit less than a month's income as cash in your pocket and in a checking account for quick access.

New skills for your Investigators:
Signals (05%): covers everything from morse code and semaphore to satellite coms and radio protocol.
Survival (10%): Locating food, building shelter etc. in a given environment.
Architecture (01%): Knowledge of architecture styles and designs, as well as some aspects of engineering.
Botany (01%): Identifying and using plants.
Carpentry/Woodcraft (10%): Fashioning and repairing wood objects with simple tools.
Cryptography (01%): Cracking and using codes.
Demolitions (01%): Knowledge of explosives, their uses, and how to defuse them.
Disguise (05%): Fashioning and using convincing disguises.
Forensics (01%): Knowledge of and ability to interpret evidence at a crime scene.
Forgery (01%): Spotting and creating convincing forgeries.
Mathematics (10%): Ability to perform complex calculations.
Military Science (15%): Knowledge of military tactics, equipment, and operations. Characters with military backgrounds may start at 34%.
Parachuting (01%): How to jump out of a plane without dying, and how to land where you want to, when you want to.
Scuba (01%): Proper operation of diving gear.
Zoology (01%): Knowledge of animals and their behavior, habitat, etc.

Some useful resources:
Call of Cthulhu Quickstart Rules - All of the basics you need to make a character and start playing, though slightly out of date
Byakhee - Character Generator, not perfect, but definitely useful
Yog-Sothoth - General Call of Cthulhu site
The Keep - Online character sheets
How to Survive a Call of Cthulhu Adventure
Call of Cthulhu - A cool silent movie based on the story
Let's Play Call of Cthulhu DCotE - Helloween's Let's Play in G&T. The game had a lot of flaws, but it handled the Lovecraftian tone pretty perfectly.

Main Game Thread

rucdoc

1 you can survive a call of cthulhu game?
2 1920's is cool, for the retro style, and modern is fun but only if truely modern, the 90's sucked
3 standard rules are fine.

gonna have to pull out my copy.

El Skid

Ooooo...Another CoC game. I was briefly in one that sputtered, and it seemed like a ton of fun.

Quick question- are you planning on playing PbP, or something that takes blocks of time in some way? I'd be very interested in a PbP, but my schedule can't handle the other way.

Captain Marcus

I've never played, but I do enjoy both Lovecraft's work and pbp games!

It wouldn't matter if we went Delta Green or 1920s. Pick one!

I would like an introductory experience, please. Will take a look through the rulebook tonight.

And I (despite school) have plenty of time for this game! Not hours a day, but a decent amount.

PsychoLarry1

El Skid wrote:

Quick question- are you planning on playing PbP, or something that takes blocks of time in some way? I'd be very interested in a PbP, but my schedule can't handle the other way.

It'll be Play by Post.

Capfalcon

I'd be interested in some Delta Green goodness.

rucdoc

until today I never knew what delta green was, now I will have to look into it because it looks like a rather interesting addition to the CoC game

Capfalcon

It's super amazing.

You should read all of it.

EDIT: Actually, if we're going to play it, maybe you shouldn't...

rucdoc

nah just need to look for the basic setting and rules information.

Void Slayer

Capfalcon wrote:

It's super amazing.

You should read all of it.

EDIT: Actually, if we're going to play it, maybe you shouldn't...

Sometimes knowing too much can be even more dangerous...

This looks interesting, I was wondering how many players you were looking for?

rucdoc

just as in real life my charatcer will know just enough to be a danger to himself and those around him in a large number of subjects. last CoC game I was involved in began as a modern game, then "somehow" all the players were transported back in time to 1920. along with the building they were in and all the belongings they had. only 2 out of 8 people went crazy.

and after looking into it I'm really liking the info on delta green that I can find

Fetzenfisch

mh i always was interested in CoC but i am not sure if even in a PbP game the timezones could be a problem. (Central Europe) so i either am the first or last in the scene probably

PsychoLarry1

Void Slayer wrote:

This looks interesting, I was wondering how many players you were looking for?

4-6

Fetzenfisch wrote:

i am not sure if even in a PbP game the timezones could be a problem. (Central Europe)

Can't hurt to try!

Fetzenfisch

well then i'd consider myself in

PsychoLarry1

Alright then, I will start writing up the intro. Should be up later tonight or tomorrow. We'll be using the modern setting, with a bunch of elements from Delta Green added in, and I'll start us off with something simpler to get everyone acclimated to the game. Go ahead and start thinking of what kind of character you'd like to play.
You'll all be employees of a private defense contractor/think tank in the mid-1980s. That means a) You can be ex-military/law enforcement/civil servant or not, as long as you have a good reason for working there
b) No restriction on nationality. You don't have to be an American if you think a foreigner might be more fun to play
c) You can still be a member of Delta Green or some other secret organization from the Delta Green book if you'd like, either secretly or with the knowledge of the higher ups in the company. A government liaison or mole in the company could be pretty interesting, as long as you don't intend to start gunning down the other players at the first opportunity.

Dread__Cthulhu

Got room for another?

Delta Green is cool by me.

El Skid

1980s Cthulu, eh? That should be interesting!

Dread__Cthulhu

If you're in need of a player, I gleefully put myself forward to fill the need.

rucdoc

will begin refining my character for the 1980s? well I guess it's better than the 90's

PsychoLarry1

Sorry, rucdoc, the 80s works a bit better for the tone I'm looking for. Plus the internet and smart phones create a whole new level of headache to work with.

Anyway, OP is updated, start sending in those characters. At least to start I'm going to cap the game at 6 players, scaling it for more than that can hurt the immersion and makes for some complications with sanity. If it looks like the group can handle more players, or if someone drops out/is incredibly inactive, I will certainly bring in more people.

rucdoc

no worries like I said better than the 90's will finish off my entry and submit it soonish
thinking of building my self as a free-lance bum, or a hacker/consultant

rucdoc

Mathew Stadler; Sex: Male
Age: 26; Birth Place: San Diego, CA
Occupation: Consultant; Degree: Bachelor of Science, Computers

Description

Spoiler:

Mathew is an odd gentleman. He stands at six foot and five inches tall and weighs in at three hundred pounds. While many would consider him fat or portly, he feels he is simply bigger than everyone else. He eats rather lightly and gets a little more exercise than most people in his line of work. He has brown hair, which he routinely forgets to get trimmed. His eyes are blueish green. The most distinguishing thing about him is his choice of clothing. While he is a government consultant, he normally arrives at work in jeans and canvas shirts, with a canvas duster and wide brimmed hat during wet weather. Mathew does wear glasses, and has freckles covering his face and arms. He has a scar on his left arm from a surgery he had during his stay at university he required after breaking his arm while playing hockey.

Background

Spoiler:

Mathew Stadler was born at Balboa Naval Hospital on October 11th in 1959 to Philip and Barbra Stadler. His father was a Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy and at the time stationed there in San Diego. Due to his fathers service in the Navy, by the time his father retired in 1975 while stationed at the Norfolk Naval Shipyards, Mathew had lived in five different states California, Hawaii, Mississippi, Maine, and Virginia. Due in large part to some of his fathers connections in the navy Mathew had been exposed to computers from the age of six. Mostly the computers he saw and sometimes got ot interact with were larger research machines, but for his sixteenth birthday his parents bought him an IBM 5100. Mathew was hooked instantly. He began teaching himself Basic, and after a month was so frustrated with the small display he took the tv that was in the study and wired it to his computer. This got him in a bit of trouble with his mother, his father simply smiled and told him next time to ask first. When he finished high school he applied to the University of Utah for their computer science department which was connected to the development of Arpanet, one of the greatest steps forward in computer systems and information sharing. He spent four years working on his bachelors degree, then began working towards his masters. Mathew worked for two years towards his masters, and even finished most of his masters thesis. However during researching one portion of his thesis, he came to the attention of Axiom Associates when he used telnet to access their Cray X-MP super computer. Most companies do not appreciate their computer system suddenly stops responding to spend time compiling a program over an unsecure telnet connection. However the fact that he managed to access their system thru telnet did impress them enough to extend to him an invitation to join their company as a computer consultant.

Stats

Spoiler:

Str: 16
Con: 13
Size: 14
Dex: 14
App: 9
Sanity: 83
Int: 15
Pow: 16
Edu: 18
Idea: 75
Luck: 80
Know: 90
Damage Bonus: +1d4
Magic Points: 16
Hit Points: 14 (11)

Skills

Spoiler:

Computer use: 90
Cryptography: 52
Dodge: 28
Electrical repair: 70
Electronics: 50
Fast Talk: 30
History: 30
Library Use: 40
Listen: 30
Occult: 25
Signals: 45
Spot Hidden: 30
Own Language: English: 90
Other Language: Computer(Basic): 72
Fire Arms: Hand Guns: 43; Rifle: 45
Hand to Hand: Fist: 60; Kick 50
Cthulhu Mythos: 3

Rolls

Spoiler:

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3231022/
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3231029/
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3231038/
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3231049/
extra sanity points
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3287623/

Equipment

Spoiler:

Winnebago RV
Electric Generator
Good PC System - IBM 286 Clone (hand built)
Good Laptop - Compaq Portable
Messenger Bag
Portable storage disk drive
Portable storage disk X10
Flat bed scanner
CD writer
Honda Accord
CB Radio w/ Police Scanner
Digital Camera
Jeans 8 pair
Leather docksider shoes
cross trainer shoes
good trenchcoat
Wide Brimmed Hat
Twill shirts x10
Bullet proof vest
Motion Detector alarm set
Wireless Perimeter alarm
Flash Light
Glock 17
SKS carbine
.30 carbine 400 rounds
9mm 400 rounds
10 clips for the Glock
10 magazines for the SKS

Fetzenfisch

i wont be able to attend before sunday evening. (CET) got an project at the Uni

El Skid

rucdoc- I dont think you're allowed to start with skills above 75. Is that right Larry?

rucdoc

I'll have to recheck the book, but didn't see anything about that.

El Skid

It's stated on page 7 of the quickstart linked in the OP:

Quckstart Rules pg 7 wrote:

You now have to assign percentile points to the
skills on the character sheet. Before you do so,
please note that no skill can start play with a rating
higher than 75

rucdoc

never checked the quick start as I own a hard copy of the rule book and have been playing for years. in fact the sample character they make harvey has an archeology skill of 80 to start.

El Skid

Huh. That's interesting. Larry, what's your stance on this?

Dread__Cthulhu

Oscar Schmidt
Sex: Male
Born: Camp Lejeune, SC
Age: 48
Occupation: Lawyer / Legal Consultant


Die Rolls

Spoiler:

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3231284/
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3231286/
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3231290/

Stats

Spoiler:

STR 12
SIZ 14
CON 15
DEX 14
APP 7
SAN 80
INT 18
POW 16
EDU 12 + 3 = 15 (age =48)
Idea 90
Luck 80
Know 75

Damage Bonus: +1d4

Skills:

Spoiler:

Bargain 36
Credit Rating 45
Fast Talk 45
Law 75
Library Use 50
Persuade 50
Psychology 25
Latin 10
Sp. English 80

Shotgun 75
Fist 75
Martial Arts 50
Dodge 75
Computer Use 25

Background (kinda rough)

Spoiler:

Oscar Schmidt is a consulting lawyer, preferring to work in the background rather than as the lead, handling research and developing white papers.
He is a physical fitness fanatic, having discovered Boxing and MMA fitness programs. He shoots sporting clays and skeet on the weekends, developing
a great deal of skill with a shotgun, regularly shooting his quota of ducks and geese during hunting season. His aggressive outlook on his personal life
and his preference for policy and consulting make him an excellent fit at EON. Oscar stands 5' 11" and weighs 175 and is well-built.

Oscar was raised in a military family, his father a Marine drill instructor at Camp Lejeune. He was involved in youth boxing at his father's insistence and
developed a personal interest in Judo in college. His face bears the scars of the his interests. He went to the University of Mississippi for pre-law and
his law degree, where he became interested shooting sports.

El Skid

Guy Laperdue
Sex: Male
Born: Montreal, Quebec Canada
Age: 29
Occupation: Private Eye

Stats:

Spoiler:

Rolls:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3229088/ first stats
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3229090/ size and int
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3229092/ education
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3231700/ 2xreroll with Larry's blessing
url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3290365/]Sanity Gain from 90 skill (2d6=9)[/url]

Str: 17
Con: 13
Dex: 14
Pow: 16
App: 12

Size: 11
Int: 12

Education:14

Idea: 60
Knowledge: 60
Luck: 80
Damage Bonus: +1d4
Magic Points: 16
Hit Points: 24
Sanity: 89-2 = 87

Wealth Roll: Wealth roll (1d10=10). Guy is a rich mofo! :o

Skills:

Spoiler:

Occupational:
Own language (English) 105
Spot Hidden: (25+30=55)+3 = 58
Sneak: (10+44=54)
Listen: (25+30=55)+6 = 61
Martial Arts: (1+75=76)
Persuade: (15+76=91)
Conceal: (15+11=26)
Drive Auto: (20+5=25)
History: (20+9=29)
Cthulu Mythos: (0+0=0) +2 = 2

Hobby:
Dodge: 28+60 = 88
Cryptography 1+50 = 51
Survival = 10+10 = 20

Background:

Spoiler:

Guy is a thrill seeker- he enjoys flying by the seat of his pants, facing off against dangerous people, and seducing women. He has an often over the top french accent which he puts on as part of his persona, despite not having heard a word of French since he moved to the States with his American mother when he was 3.

Guy has moved from place to place since he was old enough to leave home, choosing to forgo University to hitch his way across the country and learn what he could from whoever was willing to teach him. On his way he picked up a variety of martial arts, from kung fu to Kendo to karate, and of course had quite a bit of practice fighting off attackers, what with his womanizing ways.

Because of his lifestyle and his wanderlust, he was definitely not content to stay in one place for long, and for money has tried a variety of jobs, from Used Car Salesman (which he was entirely too good at, but got boring quickly), to Security guard, to bounty hunter, and most recently to private investigator.

During his last PI job, Guy struck it big. Following a man who he thought might be connected to a missing person he was looking for led him straight to a drug lab, where he found a suitcase full of money laying around, with nobody to take care of it or show it the love and attention it deserved. So of course he grabbed the suitcase and ran, and to his knowledge nobody was the wiser- though to be safe he decided to move along to the next town upon finishing this last case. Small-time operators didn't keep that much money laying around, and the mob were such sticklers for people who stole from them... Which of course made things MUCH more exciting going forward.

A chance encounter with an EON recruiter as he was looking to set up new roots has led to an interesting career opportunity that Guy just couldn't pass up. Flying to exotic places cleaning up a wide variety of "messes", meet lots of new people, and not having to advertise or really do any of the paperwork involved in getting a reliable stream of exciting stuff to do? It's like they read his mind and gave him his dream job.

Equipment:

Spoiler:

Owns a house and a black corvette, and a Honda CB750k Motorcycle.

Only real other belongings of note is an authentic Samurai sword he had imported from Japan, which hangs in his rec room, and some PI gear he keeps tucked away- some listening gear, a good-quality camera, a pen-camera, a few syringes for sedating unhelpful types etc.

Updates:

Spoiler:

Gained 6 points in listen and 3 points in spot hidden and listen from skillups, gained 2 cthulu Mythos skill and lost 2 sanity from yucky powder visions

PsychoLarry1

El Skid wrote:

Huh. That's interesting. Larry, what's your stance on this?

It looks like the quickstart rules are from an older edition. The 6th edition rules place no limit on how you assign your skill points, and actually suggest starting a skill at 80 in a few places. Sorry about the confusion, it's fairly annoying that the official site is using an old set of rules for their guide. Go ahead and assign your stats however you'd like.

Captain Marcus

Kristofer von Todt, P.h.D.
Sex: Male
Born: Wurttemburg
Age: 32
Occupation: Professor/Researcher

Stats:

Spoiler:

Str- 12
Con- 12
Dex- 13
Pow- 18
App- 12

Size: 9
Int: 14

Education- 21
Idea- 70
Know- 105
Luck- 90

Sanity: 90
Hit Points: 11
Damage Bonus: None

Skills:

Spoiler:

Biology- 81
Credit Rating- 70
Dodge- 51
Listen- 80
Library Use- 80
Language (English)- 81
Medicine- 80
Own Language (German) - 99
Handgun- 80
Psychology- 80

Background:

Spoiler:

The good Doctor was born into the Von Todt family, wealthy German mining magnates. Like all the sons of the family, he had a choice- business or medicine. He chose medicine. He received average marks on his schooling and went to America to make his fortune. Upon arrival, an EON recruiter noticed his credentials and offered him a job. Dr. von Todt has been with the company several years now, and enjoys target shooting with handguns.

edit- I made it with the character creator, is that all right?

PsychoLarry1

Captain Marcus wrote:

Skills:
Language (German)- 81
Own Language (English) - 105

Background:

The good Doctor was born into the Von Todt family, wealthy German mining magnates. Like all the sons of the family, he had a choice- business or medicine. He chose medicine. He received average marks on his schooling and went to America to make his fortune. Upon arrival, an EON recruiter noticed his credentials and offered him a job. Dr. von Todt has been with the company several years now, and enjoys target shooting with handguns.

edit- I made it with the character creator, is that all right?

UNACCEPTABLE! No, yeah, that's fine, I don't care how you make your character.
Two notes: 1) skills can't go above 99% 2) If your character was born in Germany, his Own Language is going to be German, with English as a second language.

rucdoc

ok updated character in my previous post, still have some gear to buy, but mostly done. I hope living in an rv won't be a bad move.

PsychoLarry1

Well, it's been quiet the last few days, and we can definitely run with 4 players. If you still want to play we can take 2 more, so try to get characters in soon. Otherwise I'll put up the IC thread tomorrow night.

If you've already got a player, make sure you make your wealth roll and pick out your equipment. If you have a weapon or something else that isn't listed in the normal rulebook, I probably have it in one of my resources, so I can get you stats/cost.

Capfalcon

Right, I've been buried in some work recently, so I don't think I should take on another game.

Hope it goes well!

rucdoc

I have a few items I'm looking for but can't find in the books I have access to. like a flash light, clips, and mags for my guns, ect, can I use real world prices or do you want me to pm you with the list, I still have a fair bit of cash left over what I should have spent in assets, though I probably poured alot of that into my computers, in spare parts ect, and I would want to own a small bit of land to park my rv, unless I'm living in the parking lot at work

PsychoLarry1

rucdoc wrote:

I have a few items I'm looking for but can't find in the books I have access to. like a flash light, clips, and mags for my guns, ect, can I use real world prices or do you want me to pm you with the list, I still have a fair bit of cash left over what I should have spent in assets, though I probably poured a lot of that into my computers, in spare parts ect, and I would want to own a small bit of land to park my rv, unless I'm living in the parking lot at work

I wouldn't worry about the minutiae too much, you really only need to detail special items that your character would have. If you can't think of it ever coming up in the game, don't worry about it.
We'll say $50 for the light. For magazines and clips and such, you have as many as would make sense to have with the number of rounds you carry, no cost. Without a backpack or something of the sort, you can carry 5 mags at a time.

Captain Marcus

Whoa we can buy stuff? What page is this?

PsychoLarry1

I guess I really should have read through the quickstart rules more closely. Basically roll 1d10, it'll represent your wealth. Could count for your income, your inheritance, a salary reflecting years at the company, investments, whatever. If it's wildly short or above your occupation and background, we'll work something else. It may not really matter, but it's good to have in case it comes up.

Wealth Table:

Spoiler:

1=15,000/year
2=25000
3=35000
4=45000
5=55000
6=75000
7=100000
8=200000
9=300000
10=500000

Assume you have 5 times that much in assets (house, car, big item personal effect). One tenth of your assets is cash in the bank, another tenth is in stocks and bonds. Your character will have a bit less than a month's income as cash in your pocket and in a checking account for quick access.

As far as stuff, I'll get you the basic list from the rule book in a bit. Think of any special items your character will have (unusual clothing, survival gear, specific guns, flashy car, first aid kit, camera, flask of whiskey, or gear for your occupation) that you think might be important in the game . Try to make sure it fits with your overall wealth; if you make $35k/year you probably aren't going to drive a BMW or buy season box seats for the Yankees.

El Skid

Apparently Guy is independently wealthy. Wealth roll (1d10=10)

Once I have that equipment list I'll flesh things out more- apparently I have lots of toys to buy!