Author Topic: It Came from Cthulhu...  (Read 8082 times)

Offline adgramaine

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #15 on: October 18, 2010, 06:30:15 PM »
Wow! Things went a lot better than I had ever expected! It's taken me a bit to type up everyone's characters and whatnots, but here we go...



It Came from Cthulhu

Character Creation: By The Book
   Submerged; 10 Refresh; 35 Skill Points
   Musts: at least 1 group Phase Aspect

Sanity:
   starts at 2
   add in ½ bonus from Conviction and Discipline
   can go over 4

The Players:
SSG Marc G. Lawerson
   High Concept: “Who's in Charge Here?!”
   Trouble: “Its Coming to Get Me”
   Background Aspect: “It Got my Sister”
   Rising Conflict: “Can't Sleep, It's Gonna Eat Me”
   Story, Phase Three: Group Aspect “It Never Rains is Dhahran”
   Story, Phase Four: “Call the Thunder Upon Ur”   
   Story, Phase Five: “Something in the Shadows”

   Skills: Superb (+5) – Guns, Discipline; Great (+4) – Athletics, Endurance; Good (+3) – Fists, Might; Fair (+2) – Survival, Contacts; Average (+1) – Presense, Weapons, Intimidation, Alertness, Stealth
   
Stunts: Paranoid? Probably; Unshakeable, Fast Reload, Tireless, Leadership

   Stress:
   Physical OOOO
   Mental OO
   Social OOO
   Sanity OOO

   Refresh: 5+2 (pure human)

SGT Jeffrey F. Phillips
   High Concept: “I'd Rather Have a Desk Job”
   Trouble: “Too Good at My Job”
   Background Aspect: “Straight out of High School”
   Rising Conflict: “If the Kids Die, It's On Me”
   Story, Phase Three: Group Aspect “It Never Rains is Dhahran”
   Story, Phase Four: “TH3 Reputation”   
   Story, Phase Five: “I've Got You Covered”

   Skills: Superb (+5) – Guns, Conviction; Great (+4) – Discipline, Endurance; Good (+3) – Athletics, Alertness; Fair (+2) – Survival, Presense; Average (+1) – Scholarship, Rapport, Empathy, Fists, Stealth
   
Stunts: Person of Conviction, Resilient Self-Image, Calm Blue Ocean, No Pain No Gain, Fast Reload, Listening
   
Stress:
   Physical OOOO; +1 mild
   Mental OOOO;+1 mild
   Social OOOO
   Sanity OOOO

   Refresh: 4+2 (pure human)


SGT Maxwell C. Hauser
   High Concept: “Terror of Terrors”
   Trouble: “Anger Issues”
   Background Aspect: “Only Survivor”
   Rising Conflict: “Humvee vs. Deep One”
   Story, Phase Three: Group Aspect “It Never Rains is Dhahran”
   Story, Phase Four: “I'm Not Scared, but You Should Be”   
   Story, Phase Five: “I'll Take You All On!”

   Skills: Superb (+5) – Guns, Fists; Great (+4) – Athletics, Intimidation; Good (+3) – Alertness, Might; Fair (+2) – Endurance, Driving; Average (+1) – Presense, Weapons, Conviction, Discipline, Stealth
   Stunts: Unshakeable, Tireless, Shake the Tail, Driving Shotgun (less penalty when shooting from moving target), Rule with Fear, Interrogator, Subtle Menace
   
Stress:
   Physical OOO
   Mental OOO
   Social OOO
   Sanity OOO

   Refresh: 3+2 (pure human)

SPC David Q. Norris
   High Concept: “Super Patriot”
   Trouble: “FNG”
   Background Aspect: “Good 'Ol Boy”
   Rising Conflict: “I've Seen the Colour”
   Story, Phase Three: Group Aspect “It Never Rains is Dhahran”
   Story, Phase Four: “I AM The Bolshevik Muppet!”   
   Story, Phase Five: “If I Only Had a Lighter....”

   Skills: Superb (+5) – Craftsmanship, Discipline; Great (+4) – Guns, Conviction; Good (+3) – Alertness, Athletics; Fair (+2) – Stealth, Weapons; Average (+1) – Empathy, Rapport, Endurance, Investigation, Contacts
   
Stunts: Demolitions Training, Jury-Rigger, Good Arm, Swift and Silent

   Stress:
   Physical OOO
   Mental OOOO
   Social OO
   Sanity OOO

   Refresh: 6+2 (pure human)

SPC Michael Fallon
   High Concept: “I Make This Uniform Look Good!”
   Trouble: “Maybe I am Too-Good Looking...”
   Background Aspect: “One-Liner Trivia”
   Rising Conflict: “'Shoggoth' is a Funny Sounding Word”
   Story, Phase Three: Group Aspect “It Never Rains is Dhahran”
   Story, Phase Four: “I'm Not Into Deep Ones”   
   Story, Phase Five: “I Never go Anywhere Without Protection!”

   Skills: Superb (+5) – Presense, Rapport; Great (+4) – Guns, Endurance; Good (+3) – Alertness, Stealth; Fair (+2) – Athletics, Discipline; Average (+1) – Empathy, Conviction, Fists, Investigation, Contacts
   Stunts: Sex Appeal, Best Foot Forward, Personal Magnetism, Fleet of Foot, Too Fast to Hit, On My Toes, Hand-Eye Coordination
   
Stress:
   Physical OOOO
   Mental OOO
   Social OOOO
   Sanity OOO

   Refresh: 3+2 (pure human)

2LT Christopher Perry
   High Concept: “Butterbar Badass”
   Trouble: “Gunslinger Rep”
   Background Aspect: “Small Town SWAT”
   Rising Conflict: “Fort Polk Owes Me”
   Story, Phase Three: Group Aspect “It Never Rains is Dhahran”
   Story, Phase Four: “There's Something you Don't See Everyday”   
   Story, Phase Five: “Finding Serenity in a 7.62 Round”

   Skills: Superb (+5) – Guns, Weapons; Great (+4) – Athletics, Endurance; Good (+3) – Alertness, Discipline; Fair (+2) – Fists, Discipline; Average (+1) – Presense, Conviction, Intimidation, Investigation, Lore
   
Stunts: Leadership, Pin Them Down, Target Rich Environment, Hand-Eye Coordination, Too Fast to Hit, Corner of My Eye, Finely Tuned Third Eye
   
Stress:
   Physical OOOO
   Mental OOO
   Social OOO
   Sanity OOO

   Refresh: 3+2 (pure human)
« Last Edit: October 18, 2010, 06:54:36 PM by adgramaine »
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Offline Belial666

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #16 on: October 18, 2010, 07:22:58 PM »
Is the group intended to be pure mortal? Generally speaking, pure mortals are weaker in the short term than supernaturals. Even a submerged pure mortal is going to have problems against a lowly ghoul of he's not prepared. And ghouls are some of the weaker supernaturals around. Something like a tentacled horror (or a shoggoth) is gonna rip through a group of unprepared mortals with ease.

Offline MyNinjaH8sU

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #17 on: October 18, 2010, 07:37:15 PM »
Is the group intended to be pure mortal? Generally speaking, pure mortals are weaker in the short term than supernaturals. Even a submerged pure mortal is going to have problems against a lowly ghoul of he's not prepared. And ghouls are some of the weaker supernaturals around. Something like a tentacled horror (or a shoggoth) is gonna rip through a group of unprepared mortals with ease.

That sounds exactly appropriate to me...

Offline adgramaine

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #18 on: October 18, 2010, 07:52:58 PM »
The guys wanted to do character creation By The Book, but we breezed through it. They loved working up to Aspects and kept laughing about how all this work wouldn't pay off once the dice started to roll. The favorite at the table for the night was SPC Fallon. Personally, I thought he was based off of Carlos, but none of these guys have ever read Dresden....

Sanity was treated as a Stress Track, and high Discipline and Conviction scores modifying. We worked out an exchange where Sanity damage could be accepted as Social or Mental Stress at the group's agreement, a mild Sanity Consequence could become a moderate Social and so on. Of course, severe Physical Stress (any level of Consequence) might also cause Sanity damage. This was a beautiful thing, because no one took any kind of First Aid skill.

I didn't have the heart to do anything but laugh once all the skill points were spent.



So the squad was sent into Iraq at the behest of some backdoor antiterrorist groups the USA had locked in place. Intel placed a Pathfinder group at a temporary station within the security perimeter of Ali Air Base. Locals were quick to look towards the Ziggurat of Ur. The squad was sent in to have a look around, and try and find the Pathfinders.

SSG Lawerson quickly snared the lead spot from the 2LT, who said he'd rather hang back with the grunts anyway (2LT Perry had hear a local legend of the Ziggurat and wanted to keep eyes on everyone, knowing that the squad had only minimal knowledge and experience with the metaphysical). SSG Lawerson lead the group up the stairs towards the city proper. The LT and SPC Fallon noticed movement along the outer reaches of the walls, though of course when everyone else looked, there was no sign on anything. Upon reaching the apex of the structure, everyone experienced a sharp burst of pain as the psychic nature of Ur made a valiant attempt to frighten the group away.  SGT Hauser thought he 'saw' something during the experience, some sort of large shape, almost like a really tall person, reaching out to take his hand.

The player told me that the Sergeant would be continuing forward with his finger on the trigger. I smiled.

The group found a crack in the structure, which they attributed to battle damage from back in '91. They rappelled down and popped chem lights, revealing what looked to be a throne room. They fanned out, and almost immediately they heard scurrying sounds like clicks on stone. SGT Hauser lost his nerve and let fly a dozen or so rounds, screaming something like "I've got more than enough rounds to share!" Everyone rolled their eyes, trying to stay on point and make it obvious that SGT Hauser could have blown their element of surprise (which they never had to begin with, but alas, I digress). SGT Phillips found a secret passageway that reeked of sea salt, and everyone stood around for a few minutes wondering what on earth that could mean. They guessed everything from underground lake to the fact that the region might have been underwater at some time (with kudos going to Perry for the unknowingly correct answer). SPC Norris noticed some brass along this new corridor, so the squad figured the missing soldiers obviously came down this way.

After following the corridor and coming to a stair way, Phillips called for the group to halt, spent Fate on his Aspects "If the Kids Die, It's On Me" and "I've Got You Covered", and Listened, maxing his roll and scoring a Legendary success with NO points in Investigation. So I threw him a big bone and told him that he heard what sounded like two voices further down, each saying one word: I'a and R'lyeh. Perry rolled Lore and got a Great success, so again, I threw them a bone telling him that Perry has heard the word Cthulhu in reference to both these words, and that Cthulhu was some sort of priest.

And bless their hearts - they all played their characters as if they might encounter this priest, a human priest.

They came to a chamber barely lit by irregularly placed torches, three solid columns forming a sort of center, wherein the floor was recessed a few feet. They could make out three forms wearing thick cloaks, Lawerson called out for the others to identify themselves. That's when it got really fun....

The Deep Ones fell out of their robes, launching themselves at the human intruders. Everyone took 2 Sanity Stress. No one balked at it. Rounds were thrown throughout the chamber, Hauser took a nasty hit and collected the "Sliced Open" mild Consequence and 1 Physical Stress. Perry spent some Fate and used his "Serenity" Aspect to take out a Deep One with a solid shot to the head. The group could have done better with invoking Aspects, but they're new at it. I expect things will pick up quick next session.

Once the Deep Ones were slaughtered, they quickly became mounds of disgusting ichor, and everyone reeled from the stench (Fallon screaming out: 'And I thought they smelled bad... on the outside!'). Fallon turned away from the dissipating forms to see more robed shapes coming in from an antechamber that was previously not seen. He raises his M4 and orders the robed figures to stop where they were.

The squad could make out five of them, but the shadows suggested their might be a few more, and that it seemed they were carrying something between the whole of the group. Whatever it was, it was placed on the floor and quickly ignored once Lawerson discovered that it was impossible to open. There was a sigil of Dagon upn its top, and it hit Lawerson for a 1 Sanity Stress hit. The new group proclaimed ignorance as to its contents. The lead figure pulled back their hood, revealing a very attractive young woman. Fallon turns on the charm, telling the woman that the squad can get them out of here, but that they need to find the other group of soldiers. She introduces herself as Alliana, and states that she and the others were being used as slaves, occasionally sacrificed to 'dark gods' - Fallon falls for it hook, line and sinker, declaring himself as her protector.

So the squad follows the cultists deeper down. Another quick encounter with Deep Ones, Alliana takes a hit, which infuriates Fallon ('Get away from her, you BITCH!'), Perry takes a huge Sanity hit, leaving him "Scared Shitless", a Moderate Consequence, and with 2 Sanity Stress. The group invoked their shared Aspect and they rally around Perry and scrub the Deep Ones. A few of the cultists took 'friendly fire', and a few died. The Squad followed even deeper, coming to a long rope bridge leading to what looks like a temple of sorts. As they are crossing the bridge, the cultists make a break for the far side, save Alliana, who falls to her face on the bridge making Fallon rush forward just in time to see a flying polyp rise up from the depths. Norris is blown over the edge of the bridge, but Lawerson manages to grab him before he falls away to unseen depths, just barely. Hauser runs out of ammunition and Phillips is launching grenades as fast as his M203 will let him. The polyp vanishes after Fallon got extremely lucky and throwing a TH3 grenade into the foul thing's maw. So the squad believes it dead, as it drifts back down from whence it came. Everyone gathers themselves up and begins to head to the temple, with Perry screaming and babbling about how much he doesn't want to die. Hauser is feeling the urge to throttle the LT by now, and Lawerson is barely keeping things going.

We called game as they approached the monolithic obsidian doors. Alliana says the other soldiers are within, along with the priest Cthulhu...

I hate that I have to wait a week to keep the scenario going....   ;D

Honestly I think the Fate points and the high grade explosives are the only reason they made it as far as they did. Now that their supplies are running low/out, I doubt they'll make it much further, but it promises to be a lot of fun! Mwahahahaha!
« Last Edit: October 18, 2010, 07:55:08 PM by adgramaine »
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It's a Living!

Offline Belial666

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #19 on: October 18, 2010, 08:12:07 PM »
That's what I mean about mortals. A single wizard among them could have far more easily recognized what they were facing (high Lore), used Thaumaturgy to ward the group against Outsiders both physically and mentally and his evocation would have been stronger than explosives. Not to mention he could sense that the "cute girl" was an evil cultlist by soulgazing her.

Offline babel2uk

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #20 on: October 18, 2010, 08:26:56 PM »
That's what I mean about mortals. A single wizard among them could have far more easily recognized what they were facing (high Lore), used Thaumaturgy to ward the group against Outsiders both physically and mentally and his evocation would have been stronger than explosives. Not to mention he could sense that the "cute girl" was an evil cultlist by soulgazing her.

You're applying Dresden Files character types to Cthulhu. Which really doesn't work. Cthulhu is intended to be pure mortals struggling against overwhelming supernatural creatures. Cthulhu magic tends to destroy the caster's sanity when they cast it. If you translated a Dresden Files power wizard to Cthulhu terms, the character would be completely insane, and probably doing far nastier things for power than the nastiest bad guys in the Dresden Files ever have.

Offline Belial666

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #21 on: October 18, 2010, 08:36:04 PM »
Considering the things warlocks, necromancers and outsider-summoners have done in Dresden Files so far (and considering that dark magic does make you insane), I doubt it.
I mean, I haven't seen anything really bad magic-wise in the Mythos. Just a bunch of insane guys summoning banal incarnations of evil. They are more pitiful than evil. Compare to someone starting two world wars so they can have lots of corspes for their army of undead or killing entire cities so they can eat the souls of the inhabitants and become dark gods...

Offline adgramaine

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #22 on: October 18, 2010, 08:41:32 PM »
You're applying Dresden Files character types to Cthulhu. Which really doesn't work. Cthulhu is intended to be pure mortals struggling against overwhelming supernatural creatures. Cthulhu magic tends to destroy the caster's sanity when they cast it. If you translated a Dresden Files power wizard to Cthulhu terms, the character would be completely insane, and probably doing far nastier things for power than the nastiest bad guys in the Dresden Files ever have.

Exactly. CoC isn't about power in the hands of the characters, and how they deal with it. It is about the horror that lies beneath reality, and what you might be able to do in order to survive it. CoC wizards tend to be running cults, and usually doing so with a fraction of the power a DFRPG Wizard might ever have....

CoC evil is different from evil in most any other genre. You are right about one thing Belial, CoC mages are usually pitiful. The powers they call upon, however, are not.
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Offline babel2uk

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #23 on: October 18, 2010, 09:01:20 PM »
Considering the things warlocks, necromancers and outsider-summoners have done in Dresden Files so far (and considering that dark magic does make you insane), I doubt it.
I mean, I haven't seen anything really bad magic-wise in the Mythos. Just a bunch of insane guys summoning banal incarnations of evil. They are more pitiful than evil. Compare to someone starting two world wars so they can have lots of corspes for their army of undead or killing entire cities so they can eat the souls of the inhabitants and become dark gods...

You're missing the point. In Cthulhu there's no such thing as nice magic. All magic, regardless of it's application makes you insane. The Lawbreaker stuff in Dresden Files is frankly tepid by comparison. And the nastier the stuff you do the worse the insanity becomes. I wasn't saying that the stuff in the cthulhu mythos as Lovecraft wrote it was worse than the stuff the bad guys in the Dresden Files have done - it's not (certainly to modern perceptions), simply because of the era that Lovecraft was writing in. What I was saying is that if you apply Cthulhu style magic to Dresden Style characters you get something that's far far nastier than what's currently there. So someone like Kemmeler would have been far far worse. To be fair I found the necromancers in Dead Beat far too sane and banal.

The key thing to remember about purist style Call of Cthulhu is that the protagonist is generally speaking doomed to failure and worse from the start, surviving (let alone surviving with any sanity intact is a phenomenal success). Where Dresden Files is all about standing up to the big bad and coming through in the end, Cthulhu is generally speaking facing up to the big bad and winding up (at best) in a mental institution, and at worst being stepped on without even slowing the thing down. That may not be your preference for a game, but that's the essential core of Lovecraft's horror stories - the simpe idea that man is completely irrelevant in the grand scale of things.

Offline zerogain

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #24 on: October 22, 2010, 03:18:43 AM »
Sounds like it was a really fun session!

I have to ask though, I can't find anything in YS about "group aspects" and at one point it seems they all used it at once.  Is this a house rule or am I missing something?  I notice the Baltimore samples have "The Gang's All Here", but I don't see an easy compel or invocation of that or "It Never Rains is Dhahran".

Anyone want to toss me some enlightenment?

Offline adgramaine

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #25 on: October 22, 2010, 06:49:28 PM »
"The Gang's All Here" could be invoked saying that one of the group is in trouble. For my guys, "It Never Rains is Dhahran" is great because it's essentially like 'it never rains, it pours'. I invoked it twice in the first session, as a fair warning that things were going to get more than a little messy.

We took the group aspect on the example of 'the gang's all here'. Sure the book doesn't come out and say "use this rule for Group Aspects", but during character creation, if you tie two character's together through "Guest Starring", then you are essentially bringing a Group Aspect to bear right there, albeit only between two characters.

It's not a far leap from there to the concept of a fully "group" Aspect.
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Offline babel2uk

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #26 on: October 22, 2010, 07:38:38 PM »
if you tie two character's together through "Guest Starring", then you are essentially bringing a Group Aspect to bear right there, albeit only between two characters.

Only if both characters take the same aspect and indeed only if both characters use the same story in the aspect generating section of character creation - the aren't obliged to, just because the story was a defining moment for one character doesn't mean it was for another.

Offline ralexs1991

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #27 on: October 23, 2010, 02:53:12 AM »
this all sounds totally awesome
Oh, hi, Mr. Warden!  How are you this fine day?  My, what a shiny sword you have there...

Offline adgramaine

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Re: It Came from Cthulhu...
« Reply #28 on: October 23, 2010, 03:27:07 AM »
Monday can't get here quick enough. This next session is a bit less violent, but a whole lot more info searching. I'll post next game no later than Tuesday.
Faith is seeing the light when all about is dark.

It's a Living!