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CastingsofCthulhu

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  • RPG Biography
    I started with Warhammer FRP back in the 80s and since then have played Runsescape, Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu (3rd and 7th ed), Star Wars (West End Games version), Star Trek (FASA and Modiphius editions), Rifts, Judge Dredd and others that I can't remember right now.
  • Current games
    CoC. Star Trek (FASA), Warhammer FRPG,
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    Ipswich, UK
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    I'm a designer and sculptor. I have a website where I blog sometimes (kirkd.co.uk) and a facebook page facebook.com/castingsofcthulhu

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    https://www.kirkd.co.uk/blog/

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  1. Bob Murch does a wonderful range of Pulp figures that I use for games. They make perfect investigators, NPC's and villains. https://pulpfigures.com/
  2. You may be best picking up the additional pulp rules and playing using those as well, the core CoC system isn't very combat heavy. Characters can die in gun fights instantly in the vanilla rules, and it sounds like you're playing it more in the pulp vein. I've been playing it since 2nd ed in the 80s and melee combat is often more common that gufights. Also, characters are never really designed for fighting. One game I was in a few months ago, I attacked a werewolf with a cricket bat. Did quite a bit of damage to it as well.
  3. Theres nothing wrong with using the rules on role20, I've used, and played in games with maps. It's just down to how you interpret the players actions. You're just not bound by strict limits of time so theres plent of chances for players to move around while also attacking or interacting with their surroundings. I recommend watching the melee video if you haven't already. At the 4 minute mark it talks about how its not a tactical combat system and encourages interaction with the environment. It then details how a character searches a kitchen, finds a knife, then attacks. How long would that take in real life? 10-30 seconds maybe? but the system allows players to be more creative. The firearms video also talks through the (optional) move and shoot rules.
  4. oh and with regards to the move and/or attack, again its down to what the investigator is doing. You can close in on someone and attack them in melee, step behind cover, lean round and fire off a shot or two, dive behind cover (and doing a full dodge which means anyone firing at them has a penalty die pg 113), any number of things. CoC is far more abstract than other systems like Alien which has fast and slow action or D&D which has bonus actions. Ask your players what they're doing, work out if it is possible without it being totally stupid, then tell them what they need to roll or the outcome of their action.
  5. Yes and no, thats not quite right, its not like D&D where you have a specificly designed fragment of time of 6 seconds. If you look on page 102, it talks about time being a deliberatly elastic unit of time which stretches or contracts to allow everyone to do their (at least one) action. If you read the section that follows Dex and the order of attack, it talks about the action in a combat round and gives examples of what may happen. If you're forgoing an attack, you (as a keeper) could say the investigator pushes themselves a bit to run a bit harder, but then maybe make them do a dex roll to push themselves or avoid the combat situation. Theres a really good set of youtube videos which talk through the 7e system and how it works. I'd recommend watching the fight ones, they're numbers 3 and 4 on this playlist. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJmFJXf3BXjx-HGqco2c1BXUQnRlYmkZQ
  6. On the whole, if you're just thinking about the character sheet, theres a few different skills in Dark Ages and you'd probably be able to work out what each one is pretty easily. With regards to the rest of the Dark Ages setting, theres quite a few other nuances to the rules. You could possibly run a game if you knew the normal rules but you'd struggle to run it with all of the full flavour of the era. eg Sanity is sort of similar but players have more of an inclination to believe that the supernatural is real and accept it. Combat is obviously more hand to hand A lot of the rest of the book is setting information and source material. Theres some extra rules, other mythos entities and a handful of scenarios. I've run quite a few Dark Ages games and they always feel very different to gaslight or 1920s onwards games. Its worth picking up the book though. I really enjoy the setting.
  7. As others have said, it can come down to the immersion or the way you're trying to use it but you can lean into the way the party reacts. If you ask for a spot hidden and they suddenly think something is going on, work with it, put them into a slightly suspicious mood but help them justify why. Maybe they fail the dice roll but somebody heard something that puts them on edge, saw something out of the corner of their eye. Push the paranoia a little. Another use would be similar to something described in the pulp rules. In pulp, it suggests that failed dice rolls can still give you an outcome but something bad or unexpected happens. The examples in the book are things like failing a lock pick and the door opens but it sets off an alarm but it can be used just as well for spot hidden, they may still get important clue but what happens as well? - being pick pocketed, the victim may fail the dice roll so they notice but not until the thief has got a good distance away. - finding a secret passage, they push it open but that was a VERY loud creak. Did anything hear it? - you spot a cultist who actually hadn't been tailing you, but he's spotted you at the same time and he's not alone.
  8. I really enjoy it for its simple 'monster of the week' format. Theres a bit of a sandbox feel to it but its only a small sandbox compared to others. If you want to see my notes on how I've run it, theres something on my blog about it. https://www.kirkd.co.uk/blog/index.php/call-of-cthulhu-the-derelict/
  9. I've run The Derelict a few times for new players as one session games. It's a nice haunted house style story, which keeps the group fixed in one area and doesn't have too much complexity in terms of things going on in the background. My only tweaks are that I run it with an alternative crew of a salvage vessel, I have the skipper and first mate as NPC's which can be used to guide the players and die at dramatic moments. Hotel Hell would be my second choice, simply as again, its a fairly simple setup. The group are there to open up an old hotel, which gives some good opportunities for them to go exploring around the area. The downside is that the end of the scenario gets messy very easily. The others in the book need a bit more prep and setup from my experience, but are worth it if the group gets into them.
  10. I'd say it depends on the situation and how stressful it is. In your example of the skull, if the skull is floating around and comes at them in a threatening manner, it may call for another roll but only lose 1 point if they fail. Its a bit weird but yeah, you're kind of ready for it. If it's a hideous bloated corpse that is moving or a giant monster that is aggressive, coming back to it at a later point would call for another roll because its such an even greater unsettling experience than a floating skull.
  11. Awesome. Good spot, thanks for that. I don't have the PDF of the rulebook so couldn't search for it and didn't think of looking for the conversion rules.
  12. As we're on a Dark Ages theme, one of the life events is 'Family crops failed: +10 Spot Hidden, –5 Conceal' What is conceal? Its not a skill listed on the sheet so should it be Stealth?
  13. I played a couple of games of Alien at the weekend and its very simple, theres only a handful of stats, you just need plenty of D6s. The rulebook is huge and looks imposing but once you get into it most of the book is background material. The Cinematic oneshot in the back is a great intro to the system.
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