svensson

This really ought to be a law somewhere....

OK, I've played CoC off and on over the years... mostly just one-off games and the odd short campaign. Last time I owned a set of the rules was way back in the 4th or 5th edition. I mean, what precisely do you have to learn in CoC from one edition to the other after you learn 'Don't read the book!', right? 😁🤣 But I got the Investigator's and Keeper's Handbooks for my birthday this year. I've been slowly devouring them over the last couple days and enjoying myself immensely while I'm doing it. One thing I do a lot of in multiple-era games is take a look at the technology and costs/benefits thereof... this is the historical reenactor and military historian in me. In most of my previous games, we didn't worry too much about things like cars or homes and so on and I got curious about some of the cars listed in this edition. Now, most of them look precisely like you'd expect... variations on the Model T theme... but a couple of these rides are seriously pretty. For example, the Duisenberg J [an American car company, contrary to popular belief] looks like something a supervillain would drive! [see pic below]. So I guess what I'm saying here is take the time to look up the technologies in the games you run. Not only does it give you a solid feel for 'time and place' but you might be surprised at what a Victrola phonograph player or a Kodak Brownie might add to your game.

I can't imagine why it would be. Each new exposure to the Mythos or each new realization might cause a rise in the Mythos skill, but not continuing bouts of madness. At least not logically. And I'm well aware that 'Mythos' and 'logic' are two very different concepts 😁

Unhappiness is going to my FLGS and not finding the Investigator's Handbook. 😪 But I was able to get the Keeper's Book though, so it isn't a complete wash.

Coming soon to a joke thread near YOU 😁

Sun Dome Militiaman A Yelmalio initiate doing his annual two weeks cult service Gloranthaisms: All metals 'brushed bronze', bright bronze, or brass gold tones [initiates don't rate gold, after all] Armor is painted Cuirboulli, medium shield is painted with the 'hollow sun' of Yelmalion worship Armor is Open Helm [4 pts], Cuirboulli torso and limbs, medium shield. Weapons are spear, shortsword, and dagger.

Military-ish Korlest, thane of an Axe-Orlanthi tribe Gloranthaisms: All metals 'brushed bronze' in color, as if he's been out on campaign for a time Storm Pantheon Air Rune in appropriate orange-on-blue colors Equipment: Cheeked Helm [6 pts], Heavy Scale Hauberk [5 pts], Cuirboulli limbs [3 pts], Medium Shield. Spear, Battle Axe, Dagger [Javelins have presumably been thrown already]

As for military units, I have a Sartar tribal thane done, as well as a young Yelmalio militiaman

Nope. Kesten Blackblade is my own character. I'm glad you like him though. Here's a pdf of his character sheet. Kesten CSheet.pdf

I've loaded an overview file on Atalan on the blog for those interested. No game mechanics, but some history, top-level government organization, and a bit about the Atalan people. Comments welcome.

Former tanker here. I served on the first generation of Abrams way back in the 80s when Cold Warriors and other dinosaurs proudly walked the Earth😁 My version of the Abrams had the Rheinmetall rifled 105 gun, but the M1-IPs were already in the squadron [I served in an armored cavalry regiment] and the first M1A1s were just arriving. I entirely agree with your assessment of vehicle mounted heavy weapons. The danger with game systems that rely on skills rather than experience levels is that you can get entirely too detailed with table rules. You don't want get so granular with skills that you look like a college literature department...

In several discussions we've talked about the availability of some fairly serious weaponry in the US during the Classic Twenties era. The US didn't start regulating firearms nationwide until the bank-robbers of the 30's and fully automatic weapons were available to anyone who could afford them. This is one reason why the IRA worked so hard to establish itself in the US in the period. Now, CoC7 has two skill slots for Firearms, Handguns and 'Firearms' [specifically for long guns, Rifles and Shotguns]. However, a great many men came back from World War One skilled with automatic firearms like the Chauchat, the BAR, and the Erma MP18 'Kugelspitze'. And that's not even getting into those who came back from the trenches skilled in machine guns, hand grenades, and grenade thrower mounts on rifles. So my question is this: How does CoC7 handle advanced weaponry of this nature? Are they just write-in skills? In one NPC over at Dhole House, there's an NPC pilot whose background specifically mentions being a military aviator but he has no MG skill. This is what got me thinking about this.

THANKS!

GREAT resource.

Want to know a little something about my game? Well, here's the work-in-progress overview about Atalan and her people. Atalan Overview (1).pdf

To the OP: My sympathies. I've had to rodeo a clown car like that more than once and in more than one game system 🤣 OK, a question I think is valid: - Does the party know about the two 'oddball' characters, the yakuza and con artist medium? That knowledge can alter relationships in more than one angle. My assessment of party composition is that you have two 'toughs' [soldier and yakuza], three brains [professor, scientist, zookeeper], one arcane [the medium], and a 'talky guy' [the con artist]. Presuming you're setting this in the Classic Twenties, find out if any of the PCs are veterans of the Great War. Perhaps they met in relation to that. The Great War is an aspect of history that many Twenties Keepers tend to forget. It's a GREAT way for people of diverse backgrounds and nationalities to meet. If an American or European male with a CON of 11 or better was an adult in 1917, the odds are VERY good they were drafted into their nation's military. This provides a common experience from which to work. Even if the characters are from different nationalities [perhaps the professor is English and the con artist is French...] they can still meet via military service.... They met in an influenza ward during the great Influenza Outbreak of 1917-20, for just one example. To take a page from @soltakss suggestion, they could meet aboard a luxury liner. THAT would provide a vehicle [pun very much intended] for everyone to meet... most PC's are paid passengers, the con artist is working the passengers, the medium may be an entertainer [seances etc. were HUGE entertainment in the Radio Era], the yakuza could be the bartender or steward aboard the ship [maybe things got a little hot with the authorities and he had to ship out], etc.

Well, it's been awhile. OK, I'll admit it, I completely forgot I was doing a blog on this. *sigh* I'm not the greatest diarist in the world so this is something of a mental discipline for me. Apologies to those who might have waited for a follow on. 1. What Has Gone Before: I've introduced my new players to the system using some 'average Jane' characters. These were built to be good at their stated role but average in every other respect. The Hoplite, for example, had 15s in her STR, DEX, CON, and SIZ but 10 everyplace else. The idea was that the characters could be reasonably disposable if the system turned against their skill rolls. I feel it's important to show a computer gamer that in the table top the odds of dying are there and real, especially in a system like BRP/CoC/RQ. "In RuneQuest, there is no QuickSave" We then had a break because of 'this thing called life', BUT by happy coincidence that break took place when the Starter Set came out and I thought it would be a fine time to convert the setting to Glorantha. The next time we got together we tried that using the SoloQuest/Battle of Dangerford. Once we got done with that, the girls decided they preferred the Atalan setting. OK, I guess I have more writing to do. So I generated several 'real' characters and got a pretty good batch. After being given a stack to choose from, I now have a Light Cavalry-woman Poseidon cultist, a Leatherworker Athena cultist, and a Healer Apollo cultist. My ref NPC character is an Hunter Artemis cultist.. 2. My Referee Emphasis ['emphases'?] This is the first time in my gaming life that I've had a table of just women, and one of them an impressionable tween. Now, I grew up in a house full of women in the 70's. Things have changed a bit since then. These are the identifiable issues I see with all this: a. The girls are not as aggressive or combative as most male tables are. I have to make sure to adjust my scenarios to include more success without combat options. Thank Greg that the RQ/BRP is very amenable to that, more so than DnD or other systems. This is just a mental thing on my part. b. Sexuality is being kept to a low key. I don't want my grand niece to feel as if her character has to be pretty or use sex to succeed in the game. OTOH, social manipulation is part of every game and I want to leave that avenue open. c. De-emphasizing cults. In Glorantha, cult advancement is a vital part of the game. I think that many of us think of achieving Rune level status as a benchmark of advancement... RQ's version of 'DING! I just levelled!'... and I want to open up the Atalan game to success beyond just religious affiliation. I'm still working out how to do that. 3. Where We Are Now. With the new characters in hand, the party has just stepped on to the dock of Soldier Port of the RQ3 Griffin Island boxes set. This will be, with extremely heavy modification, my starting sandbox. If the players get bored with that, I can always load them on another boat. Maugre has become Master Tythos, an Atalan factotum who has taken over and fortified a township as a 'Hudson's Bay' style operation. Society in Soldier Port is an mixture of Atalan overlaying the local culture. I'm basing much of the local culture off the Ashtanti of Ghana. There is also a layer of generic 'people from everywhere' in a kind of 'Old Coaster' society. Atalan hasn't colonized or claimed Soldier Port, it's a profit-making enterprise... a fortified trading post with a native village outside it. But there are several mainstream personalities in town who might be exiles or whose lives just washed them up on this particular shore. The first mission for the team will be a reverse path from their earlier characters... they'll be sent to find the wreck of the ship their original characters survived. At that point, they'll get all their old treasure back 😁

TOTALLY forgot I'd started that! ROFL!😄😁 Well, I've posted an update for those interested.

Roderigo de Torres is confident of his skill and the superiority of the Aldana style.

Iain the Red of Clan MacDhugal prepares to engage. Designer's Notes: Obviously, I can't put a tartan sett with the HF program. I can't honestly see how it could be done with a 3d printed fig.

Gretchen Lauter seems vexed at something. Time to show her what vexing an Eisenerin can do for you.

Giacomo di Villanova prepares to show a foolish Montaigne the way things are done in Vodacce....

Gerard de Beauchamp is quite pleased with his last musket shot, thank you. Time to reload,

Adrianna della Norte smiles knowingly as the strings of Fate play out as she had planned. Design notes: The HF program doesn't let me put a veil over Adrianna's face, but the black and grey cloak and navy blue dress provide a suitable 'funerary' air for this Strega witch.

I've been asked by a couple folks to share the information I'm generating for my faux-Atlantis campaign for RQG. Where would be the best place for me to post such documents and so forth? I don't want to clutter up the forum with unwanted posts, but I want to share the info with those interested. Thanks guys