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tendentious

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  1. Below is (an admittedly complicated) version of Resurrection, that also incorporates elements from "Herbert West - Re-animator. It's part of an addendum to the existing magic system that I've been working on, involving different levels of corruption.. It's closer to the spell as it appears in the novella, but I can definitely see why the game opted for a simpler mechanism for the spell. It also seems more appropriate for a Pulp-style campaign. I have visions of a sorcerer on a train throwing down an urn, which smashes and spills powder on the floor. The sorcerer recites the Dragon's Head, raising up the mangled remains of tiger to attack the investigators. RESURRECTION (Perverted) Cost: 1 magic point per 10 SIZ of the subject Casting Time: 1 hour Foci: Astrology (Spring Equinox or Good Friday); Special (Dho Formula) Signature Manifestations: erratic and fearful behaviour in animals within a mile; arcs of lightning flashing to the sky; an invisible charnel miasma covers the vicinity carrying intolerable stenches and causing a reddening of the sun. A powerful spell that allows the caster to return the recently- or long-dead to “life”. The remains of any living thing may be resurrected: animals, humans, deep ones, elder things, etc. The first step is to acquire the remains of the being to be resurrected. The target may have been deceased for an hour or for many centuries. Anything from the occupant of a morgue drawer to a mammoth frozen in permafrost are viable subjects. The remains should be as “complete” as possible. Base Effect The Resurrection spell is performed in the presence of a corpse. This causes a form of life to return to the corpse. A resurrected being is referred to as a revenant. The revenant is only as “complete” as the remains upon which it is cast. The Keeper must decide the percentage of the remains that were recovered for the spell. Note that the completeness of a cadaver does not include missing water, which may make up 60% of the mass of a body. A mummified corpse may be more “complete” than the damaged cadaver of someone who died the day before. Up to 25% - the remains are too incomplete to revive. The spell fails. 26% up to 50% - the spell creates “ye liveliest awfulness” in the form of a dripping form of bone and skinless tissue. 51% up to 75% - The revenant is returned to some semblance of their former self, although they are still hideously incomplete. Their SIZ is halved. 76% up to 100% - The revenant is returned and appears as a living specimen, although they appear to be deathly ill or terribly injured. Their SIZ is reduced by a quarter. Revenants crave living flesh and blood. They have a rude intelligence and can be “trained” through the application of torture. They also respond instinctively to the commands of intelligent revenants (see below). Although a revenant can be killed again by violence, they no longer require sustenance to survive nor do they seem to age. They heal slowly, recovering 1 hit point per week. A revenant that is killed may be resurrected again, although it may be less complete than before, depending on how it was killed. Due to some principle of sympathetic magic body parts cannot be subjected to Resurrection unless the original organism is dead. Corrupted – If the remains are sufficiently complete then the deceased’s former intelligence and personality are restored, and the body may even be rebuilt through a terrible process of vampirism. 51% up to 100% - The revenant craves living flesh and can recover their SIZ at the rate of 1 point per day on any day they feed on living blood and flesh, slowly replacing their missing tissues. The revenant’s appearance improves as their SIZ rises, returning to their original appearance once all SIZ is recovered. Animal revenants - even if fully restored to a living appearance - or “ye liveliest awfulness” never lose their craving for flesh and blood. Sapient beings can control this urge, although they still feel its pull on them, especially if they have been injured. Being returned to life costs the subject 2d10 SAN. Additional Effects +1 Rank – Alchemical - The cadaver is rendered down into its “essential saltes” by alchemical means. This requires access to a laboratory and reagents, and takes roughly one day per 10 SIZ to reduce the remains to a few handfuls of frictionless powder. The cadaver may be “complete” even if it isn’t intact. A dismembered corpse may be just as “complete” as a whole corpse. The Resurrection spell is performed in the presence of the “essential saltes” of a corpse. This causes the “saltes” to combine in a swirling cloud into the form of the deceased. If the caster chooses the revenant may be resurrected but remain in “saltes” form (see below). The revenant can be reduced to powder again and raised up from powder by a pair of relatively simple incantations. These are the Dragon’s Tail and its reverse the Dragon’s Head. These phrases are short enough to be learned in 10 minutes and recited with a casting time of 1 round. One may perform the Dragon’s Head or Dragon’s Tail even if one doesn’t know the Resurrection spell. If the Dragon’s Tail is recited in the presence of a revenant and a single magic point is spent the caster and the revenant may make an opposed POW check. If the caster succeeds then the revenant’s body returns to its powdery state. If the Dragon’s Head is recited and a single magic point expended in the presence of a revenant that has been reduced to saltes then the body will reform. The saltes of multiple revenants cannot be combined. Casting Resurrection or reciting the Dragon’s Head on a mixture of the saltes of two or more revenants will result in the return of only one of the revenants. A revenant that is wounded or even killed may be restored again by reciting the Dragon’s Tail to return their form to powder. Reciting the Dragon’s Head and spending magic points equal to the damage the revenant has taken returns the revenant to full health and life. Each time a revenant is raised up with the Dragon’s Head they lose 1d10 SAN. +1 Rank – The revenant does not view the caster as a source of food. An intelligent revenant may recognise that the caster is a possible source of food, but does not feel an urge to feed on the caster. +1 Rank - Resurrect multiple targets with a single casting. This costs the same number of magic points as Resurrecting each target individually.
  2. Sorry to...Resurrect...this thread. Actually, that was just a happy coincidence. The spell Resurrection as written works as discussed above. Having recently re-read 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward' I realised that the actually Resurrection spell as depicted in the novella is actually the process as described in Chapter 3 Section 6. It involves Charles chanting a different incantation to either the ascending or descending Dragon node for over 2 hours, along with a range of eerie effects: howling dogs, darkening of the sun, intolerable stenches. So it seems the resurrection process in the novella involves breaking down the body into "essential saltes" via alchemy, then performing a ritual that raises the dead back to life - followed by an extended period in which the resurrected individual needs to feed on blood to complete their reconstitution. It seems similar to the movie Hellraiser where Frank only partially returns and has to feed on victims to rebuild himself fully. Possibly the amount of feeding required depends on how much of the original remains the sorcerer managed to scrape together. Does that mean that the specimens that are described as "ye liveliest awfulness" could be returned to a complete state if provided with enough blood? Once an individual has been resurrected they can be reduced back to essential saltes and the raised up from saltes by using the ascending and descending Dragon nodes. So the ascending Dragon node is not the actual resurrection spell. The 'Dragon Head' and 'Dragon Tail' formula are only of use once a person has already been resurrected by the original ritual.
  3. After running a few chases I made two changes to the rules that worked for me. Firstly, the slowest participant in a chase gets 2 actions instead of one. All other participants also get an extra action. It allows all participants to make at least one move and perform one other action, which was more enjoyable for even the slowest participant. It also meant a chase was less of a forgone conclusion if there was a difference in speed of more than 1 or 2 points. Secondly, any character that moves more than 1 space cannot use an action to attack until everyone else has had a chance to move: you can't just run 3 spaces and tackle someone before they get a chance to move. Basically you can move up to someone, they can then act to move away or do something else. After they and everyone else has had a pass in the initiative order you can then use your remaining actions to move and/or attack.
  4. Here are some examples of chases in a game of Masks I ran. Given the nature of the campaign the examples are all chases between the investigators and human or human-like opponents.
  5. Just to add that although the investigators had 4 Pulp Talents by the end, I did limit them to one talent from each of the 4 categories: physical, mental, combat, miscellaneous.
  6. It was a while ago now, and I can't remember if I even required a roll. I know that I had the character spend a point of SAN every time they wanted to use the ability, so every shot they took they spent SAN. If I had them roll the Augmentation it was only initially. Or they may have been suffering indefinite insanity so I felt that just spending SAN was enough.
  7. Spoilers. I ran MON using Pulp rules. I souped it up, giving the investigators one pulp talent at the start, and letting them gain another at the end of each chapter until they had 4 talents each. I also allowed them to swap out one talent between chapters, as we discovered which talents work and which ones don't. There were only a couple of times where people had to spend all Luck to avoid certain death - like being engulfed by a shoggoth. Everyone finished the campaign with the same characters that they started with, and I didn't feel the need to hold back or to "play nice." I even souped up some climactic encounters. For example, I figured that if there was a chakota in the pit in NY, then there should be an even bigger chakota in the Mountain of the Black Wind. And this chakota could emerge from the pit and attack the investigators. I think by the end that almost everyone had taken the talent that grants more LUCK at the start of each session, and a lot had taken the talent that allowed SAN loss to be bought off point-for-point with LUCK. These are easily the most powerful talents. By the time one of the investigator's SAN was lower than his Cthulhu Mythos he basically didn't have to worry about SAN loss anymore. 10 points of SAN loss becomes 5 because of high Cthulhu Mythos, and 5 points of LUCK takes that to 0. I felt that the Pulp rules we used made the game highly enjoyable, as MON is a combat-heavy, pulp adventure style campaign as written. From my experience I would recommend giving the Pulp rules a try.
  8. In a game of Masks that I ran, the investigators "found" a book on mysticism, philosophy and higher dimensional mathematics. This gave the ability to intuit the relation between four-dimensional space and the manifested Hound of Tindalos that had tracked down one of the investigators. Basically, without the augmented mathematics skill the Hound would have been effectively impossible to defeat in combat. As it was, while all the other investigators ran away, one of the investigators managed to shotgun the Hound out of curved space/time by firing along the vertices of angular space/time.
  9. According to the spell description in the Appendices, the eye if filled with blood once per hour. It's a very slow drum beat! I seem to remember that when I ran MoN, I explained this by saying that the reference to a drumbeat was an idiom that referred to a type of watercock that dropped a single droplet onto a drumskin once per hour. Or something like that.
  10. One possibility is insane insight. Particularly appropriate if it's caused by witnessing one of the cult rituals. If the PCs have already encountered at least two of the cults, and are aware of their respective gods, the god standing before them at the ritual may appear to the insane investigator as one of the other gods. So, while the other Investigators are looking at - for example - the Bloated Woman, the insane investigator is seeing the Sand Bat. And perhaps the Sand Bat turns and changes into the Howler in Darkness; and then the Black Pharaoh. Another option is to scatter enough clues throughout the campaign that the players begin to piece everything together. This was the route I opted for when I ran Masks. I actually can't remember if the players ever realised that the different gods were all Nyarlathotep, but they certainly realised that a single shadowy presence stood behind everything that was happening, which is the main point of the campaign anyway.
  11. My "Nuts" comment is to do with the fact that an NPC just tells them this in conversation. It's not to do with the idea that the gods are all Nyarlathotep - although the rest of the post details my thoughts about that.
  12. At at least one point in MoN, a (friendly) NPC flat-out tells the PCs that the different gods are avatars of Nyarlathotep. I said "Nuts" to that! My take was: what's the point of being a trickster god if everyone is in on the gag? The different cults worshipped their various gods, and worked towards the common goal that would release them all. It makes the organising efforts of the Carlyle expedition more necessary, to weld these disparate cults together and work towards a single goal. Another possibility is that the idea that all the gods are avatars of N is just one belief held by some followers. Other followers view their particular god as an entity in it's own right. Or they view it as the manifestation of another entity entirely, such as Yog-Sothoth or even a more traditional figure such as Satan. The mind-blasting visions bestowed by your god may not be the most reliable source of information from which to draw any conclusions. Or what if just as N sometimes takes human form, maybe sometimes the Bloated Woman (for example) is a singular entity, and other times it's N masquerading as the Bloated Woman? Maybe some of the gods "are" N; some gods "are" N some of the time and something else at other times; some gods only "think" they're N - what's the difference between a god that "is" Nyarlathotep and a god that merely thinks that it is Nyarlathotep? For me, it's a bit weak if the players can say "the gods of all the cults are Nyarlathotep - got it!" and go on as if they know what's going on. They should never feel that they've reached the bottom. As for the NPCs, the cults may be sporadically wracked by violence brought about by disagreements about the nature of godhead. Don't forget; these cultists are crazy. They may each have a different idea about the nature of their god.
  13. Finished running Masks on the weekend after 42 sessions. Each session was about 5 hours, for a total of more than 200 hours! So the total time is not much different from your estimated 77 3-hour sessions. The players went most places in the campaign. They didn't do the side missions in Shanghai and in Australia. They also skipped investigating the Clive Expedition in Egypt, no matter how many times I mentioned it.
  14. I'm curious about the changes that people have made when running this campaign. I've made several, but I think the biggest one is probably this: M'Weru is an ancient crone lying insensible on a slab at the Mountain of the Black Wind. She does, however, make extensive use of a version of the Mind Exchange spell. Her version of the spell allows her to switch minds with subjects who have been specially prepared with a mystic tattoo. Larkin wasn't possessed by Nyarlathotep - it was M'Weru who was manifesting through Larkin. This seemed more appropriate to me, as I didn't see N as being that invested in trying to free himself from the pyramid. Whether he was freed by human intervention or by simple erosion over thousands of years, N was not concerned enough to take a hand in the matter. So the M'Weru who went to New York wasn't actually M'Weru; it was a young woman possessed by the mind of M'weru. A cultist on the ship to Mombasa who stalked the investigators and cursed them one by one, then taunted them with the familiar voice of M'weru. A young woman that the investigators "rescued" from evil cultists en route to the Mountain of the Black Wind is another of M'Weru's vessels, so M'Weru has now inserted herself into the heart of the party. Curious to see how that's going to play out. Smaller changes that I made: - i placed a secret temple to Mordiggian under Plum Castle, in a way reminiscent of the HPL story The Rats in the Walls. Eloise didn't escape - she found her way down into the temple. - I removed Carl Stanford. I couldn't really see what useful role he played if the PCs had never met him before. - The cults are not aware that the various gods are avatars of Nyarlathotep. They each have their own god, and their cults have been brought together by the efforts of (primarily) Huston and Penhew to enact the Rite that will release all of their gods. In fact, no-one is exactly aware of who or what Nyarlathotep is. They are aware of the entity called the Crawling Chaos, who can appear in a multitude of forms. But it is never clear who or what may be the Crawling Chaos. Think John Carpenter's The Thing. Basically, I wondered what was the point of being a trickster god with a thousand forms if everyone knows exactly who you are? So what changes have other people made?
  15. By the rules I'd say that, while Temporary Insanity (TI) begins at the same time as a Bout of Madness (BoM), Temporary Insanity is not a requirement for a Bout of Madness. In the case of a BoM that lasts 1d10 hours, at the end of the bout the character may or may not be suffering TI depending on the duration of the TI. If they're lucky, once the BoM ends they have recovered and suffer no further effects: ie, the TI duration was equal to or less than the BoM duration. Otherwise, after the BoM, they are still vulnerable to a further BoM from a single point of SAN loss: ie the TI duration was greater than the BoM duration. Also consider the case where a character suffers a BoM for 1 hour and is TI for 10 hours. The BoM ends, but the character may suffer another BoM if they suffer any SAN loss in the next 9 hours. Suppose that after another 8 hours they lose 1 point of SAN, prompting another BoM. By the rules the BoM doesn't extend the duration of the TI, or begin a new period of TI. And if the BoM were to go for 2 or more hours, at the end of the bout the character would recover with no TI. Underlying Insanity (UI) is not really a factor when suffering BoM, as a character cannot suffer SAN loss during a BoM. Also Delusions, Phobias and Manias do not play a part in a BoM. These features only apply when the player has control of their character's actions, which a BoM precludes.
  16. Exactly! I think they just used the one example to demonstrate how the two different ways of ameliorating SAN loss work: double LUCK to halve SAN, and Resilient's one-for-one LUCK for SAN. It doesn't make any sense to do it that way, but you certainly could. It might have raised fewer questions if they had mentioned Dirk's friend, Kirk, who also happened to lose 20 SAN, but lacked the Resilient trait and had to spend the 40 LUCK to halve the SAN loss. Unlike Dirk, who spent (let's say) 15 LUCK to cut the SAN loss to 5. Why doesn't Dirk spend 16 LUCK to avoid the Bout of Madness? Maybe he only has 15 LUCK left. Or maybe he wants he boost to his Cthulhu Mythos skill.
  17. A simpler version that doesn't use Contact Points. - Contacts is a skill reflecting a character’s network of contacts. During character creation points are allocated to the Contacts skill. These points may be from either Occupational Skills or Personal Interests. Starting Contacts skill is 25% - a contact is a person with whom the player has an existing relationship. The contact is open to assisting the character, based on their own interests. - when a player wants to establish a contact they make a Contacts skill check; a contact from the same country and background requires a Regular success; a contact from another country or from another background (but not both) requires a Hard success; a contact from both another country and another background requires an Extreme success. Again, Contacts skill is not checked on a success. - (Optional) a fumble on the Contacts check creates an enemy or rival, or establishes history between the character and existing adversaries and villains, making it harder for the character to operate around the NPC. - If successful, the Player decides if contact is basic, significant or strong (as defined above) - (Optional) Penalty die applied to the roll may increase the contact’s power and influence. A police chief, faculty head, head of a hospital, city councillor, mob captain, CEO of a mid-sized corporation, bishop, captain or major in the armed forces, or newspaper editor as a contact would add a penalty die. Police commissioner, dean of a university, city mayor, senator, mob boss, CEO of a large corporation, archbishop, general in the armed forces, or newspaper magnate would add two penalty die. It is recommended that such contacts are never more than basic contacts when they are first established. Their contact level may improve based on in-game events. - creating a contact reduces Contact skill; -1d6 for basic contact, -2d6 for significant contact, -3d6 for strong contact. This reflects the fact that, as the character's network of contacts becomes more and more defined, the pool of remaining (undefined) contacts grows smaller and smaller. - As contacts are created the player should note their contacts and the level of the contact (basic, significant, strong). The level of a contact may change over time based on in-game events. - The Contacts skill can be improved during down time if the player has the PC spend time developing their social network. Make a standard improvement check. In the previous example, Mike would require a Regular success, Gerald a Hard success, and Andre an Extreme success to establish Dr Westcott as a contact. If Mike wanted Dr Westcott as a Significant contact, his Contacts skill would be reduced by 2d6 points.
  18. I like the idea of a Contacts system for RPGs; a way of reflecting a character’s past life without having to describe everyone the character knows in advance. In CoC the Contacts system (roll the relevant skill to see if you have a contact) is simple, but leaves a few unanswered questions. While the skill check for professional contacts is usually obvious (Medicine, Science, Language, Archaeology, etc), the skill check required for other contacts is less clear. What is the skill check for a criminal contact? A street contact? Also, how often can one attempt to establish a contact? There are rules around pushing the skill check to establish a contact, but no guidelines about how many contacts it's reasonable to establish. Finally, I find that I as Keeper as well as the players tend to forget about the option of creating Contacts, so it remains an interesting but under-used game option. So here are some Contacts house rules I’ve come up with. Contacts - Contacts is a skill reflecting a character’s network of contacts. During character creation points are allocated to the Contacts skill. These points may be from either Occupational Skills or Personal Interests. Starting Contacts skill is 25% - a contact is a person with whom the player has an existing relationship. The contact is open to assisting the character, based on their own interests. - At start of play each player makes a Contacts check; The character starts with one Contact Point (CP) plus additional points based on the outcome of the check. Regular success equals one extra CP, Hard success equals two extra CP; Extreme success equals three extra CP. The skill is not checked on a success. - (Optional) a fumble on the Contacts check creates a pool for the Keeper to create enemies or rivals or to establish history between the character and existing adversaries and villains, making it harder for the character to operate around the NPC. - During play players can spend CP to create a relevant contact. The number of CP required for the contact depends on character background and skills. A contact in the character’s country consistent with their background costs one CP. A contact outside their character concept costs an extra CP. A contact from another country costs an extra CP. - Extra CP can be spent to increase the PC’s relationship with the contact. A basic contact will assist the character by performing tasks consistent with their profession or role, and will probably require remuneration if risk is involved. For an extra CP the contact is Significant and will accept significant inconvenience and possibly even risk without necessarily requiring remuneration. For two extra CP the contact is Strong and will go out of the way to assist the character, to the extent of risking their own life. - (Optional) Extra CP can be spent to increase the contact’s power and influence. A police chief, faculty head, head of a hospital, city councillor, mob captain, CEO of a mid-sized corporation, bishop, captain or major in the armed forces, or newspaper editor as a contact would cost one extra CP. Police commissioner, dean of a university, city mayor, senator, mob boss, CEO of a large corporation, archbishop, general in the armed forces, or newspaper magnate would cost two extra CP. It is recommended that such contacts are never more than basic contacts when they are first established. Their contact level may improve based on in-game events. - Ultimately cost is based on Keeper judgement. - As contacts are created the player should note their contacts and the level of the contact (basic, significant, strong). The level of a contact may change over time based on in-game events. - During character improvement phase players make another Contacts check to generate more CP. Unspent CP carry over. - The Contacts skill can be improved during down time if the player has the PC spend time developing their social network. Make a standard improvement check. Example of creating a contact: The PCs find themselves in need of a medical professional who won’t ask any questions. One of the PCs, Mike, is a gangster. Mike’s player says that Mike knows a disgraced former doctor, Dr Westcott, who does work for the mob. As the character’s are in their home city, creating this contact costs Mike 1 CP. If another local PC, Gerald, who is a book seller, were to come up with the same contact it would cost him 2 CP, as he has little experience with the underworld. And Andre, a miner who has just arrived from Peru, would have to spend 3 CP for the same contact. Suppose that the PCs are being hunted by the mob. While Dr Westcott would normally help Mike, as no-questions-asked medical service is what he does, in this case he may decline to help if he is aware that Mike is wanted, or he may help Mike but then spill his guts if the mob come knocking at his door. Mike’s PC may want to spend an extra CP to make Dr Westcott a Significant contact. Mike reminds Westcott about that time he destroyed those incriminating medical records for Westcott and how Mike beat up those gangsters who were strong-arming him. Westcott agrees to help Mike. He’ll also keep his mouth shut if anyone comes around asking after Mike. Of course, if the gangsters have reason to believe that Westcott knows anything about Mike, and hold a gun to his head, Westcott is going to tell them everything he knows.
  19. The spell as written seems unambiguous: "Reduces a corpse to its essential salts, a bluish-grey powder, or reverses the process to yield ultimately the form and soul of the deceased." So casting the spell on any corpse causes the body to break down into powder; a handy way of disposing of evidence if you ignore the SAN cost. Casting the spell again on the resultant powder causes the powder to coalesce into a body and brings the person back to life. Personally, I think it should work as it does in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, where the process of breaking a corpse down to its "essential saltes" is an (al)chemical one that takes expertise, resources and time. The spell then allows the caster the raise up or put down the already-powdered remains.
  20. pp 431; map of The Great Temple. Map has "5" as the bone pile but the map key has bone pile as "4". Map has "4" as sacrificial pits but the map key has sacrificial pits as "5"
  21. This seemingly simply set-up hurt my brain. Faking an Accent. Is the speaker speaking language A but in the accent of language B? So speaking in English but with a German accent? Or are they speaking German and trying to mimic a German accent to hide their own? And is what is the speaker's native language or dialect? Is the listener an English speaker? A native English speaker? A German speaker? I'm assuming that the reason a roll is required is because the speaker can at least passably fake an accent, so it's not immediately obviously fake - like almost anyone attempting a fake Australian accent. So the speaker probably needs some skill like Art/Craft (Acting) or the relevant Language skill. And their skill level does not exceed 50%, so does not influence the difficulty of the opposed check. The skill check required and the difficulty of the check is going to depend on each listener's background. Suppose the speaker is an American speaking in English but faking a German accent. IMO those most likely to spot the fake accent would be native-German speakers who also speak English, and American-English speakers who also speak German. I'd say that these people can make a regular Language (English or German) check, or a Hard EDU check. For each step away from this base-line, the difficulty of a check for the listener goes up. Native-German speakers with no English, native-American-English speakers with no German, non-native speakers of English AND German all make a Hard Language (English or German) check or Extreme EDU check. Non-native speakers of English OR German can make an Extreme (English or German) check or Critical EDU check. Everyone else realistically has no chance of spotting the fake accent. Identifying a Regional Accent Here the skill check and relative difficulty will again depend on background and familiarity. Say the speaker is from Yorkshire. You might say that anyone from Northern England would automatically identify the regional accent. People native to the British Isles would identify the accent with a Regular Language (English) check or Regular EDU check. Others who have spent time in England or are English speakers from other nations can make a Hard Language (English) check or Hard EDU check. Non-native English speakers can make an Extreme Language (English) or EDU check. To sum up, I'm not trying to come with a complete system for faking or identifying accents. Instead, I'm just breaking the scenario down to show that, again IMO, the skill checks required and the difficulty of the checks will be based on the background and the skills of the listener.
  22. As an extended skill check, handling SAN loss is a bit different. Instead of SAN loss as a single blast sustained upon reading the last word of a tome, the loss is gradual over the course of reading the book. This doesn't result in temporary insanity or a bout of madness, but it may result in indefinite insanity as described below. This is more of a creeping madness; an insidious change to the character's outlook rather than a dramatic breakdown (ie, bout of madness) Assume that you require 10 successes to complete reading a tome. On an initial reading roll SAN loss as normal at the start of reading. The character loses 1/10th of the SAN loss for each success achieved - this isn't rounded off, just track the fractional amounts of SAN and apply. If any loss of SAN would bring the amount of SAN loss up to 1/4th of current SAN at the time of loss then the character enters indefinite insanity, although there is no obvious bout of madness. Example - the character starts reading the Necronomicon. The Keeper rolls and determines that the SAN loss is 12. Divided by 10, the character loses 1.2 SAN for every success achieved in reading the tome. After 8 successes the character has lost 9 SAN (8x1.2=9.6). On achieving the 8th success and losing their 9th point of SAN, if the character has 36 SAN or less at that time, then they have become indefinitely insane, as the SAN loss so far is at least 1/4th of their current SAN. For an extended reading, make a SAN check every time the character would lose SAN. On a success they suffer no SAN loss. Otherwise the same rules apply, and they may enter indefinite insanity if the total SAN lost ever equals 1/4th of current SAN. You'll notice I've gone with 1/4th of current SAN instead of 1/5th. This is because it compares the SAN loss to the character's SAN after loss (1/4th of SAN after loss) instead of before loss (1/5th of SAN before loss).
  23. Thinking about it, I think one of the reasons I came up with these house rules is that CoC as written doesn't have a mechanic for Extended rolls: when performing a task that takes a long time the whole thing is not dependent on a single roll. Extended tasks require multiple rolls and are only accomplished when the requisite successes are achieved. This wouldn't be hard to introduce to CoC. Assume that a Regular success counts as one level of success, Hard counts as two levels, Extreme counts as three levels and Critical counts as four levels. A task requires a number of levels of success - 10, 20, 50, whatever. Once the successes are achieved the task is completed. Failure would really only occur if the character has a time limit in which the task must be finished, and they fail to achieve the required level of success in time. A fumble indicates that the character has made a fundamental error of understanding and loses some number of achieved successes. For reading tomes, the process could be broken down into one week periods. At the end of a week the player rolls and records successes achieved. This would also allow for a partial reading, that may grant some benefit. You might gain a single point of Cthulhu Mythos skill once you achieve a certain number of successes. If you only had time to read half of the Necronomicon you still probably learned something, and possibly discovered the information that you require to defeat the particular threat or whatever. Maybe every time you earn a point of CM skill, you can make a Luck check to determine whether you stumbled across the particular information that you're looking for. I still like the idea of Fluency. If the character's language skill is less than the Fluency then the tome cannot be read. Outside factors (libraries, assistance, etc) would allow a character to read a tome that would otherwise be beyond them. Additional factors would add bonus die to each week's skill check.
  24. Not all skills are equivalent. I have no problem with the idea that a complete novice can pick up a gun and hit the bullseye with their first shot, however unlikely that might be. But when it comes to reading in an unfamiliar language, your high-school French lessons are not going to grant you a 10% chance of reading and understanding a la recherché du temps perdu. At least not without a lot of assistance. So here are a few house rules I've been toying with. Tome Quality – Fluency – each tome has a Fluency rating, representing the difficulty of the text. To read a tome, the character’s relevant language skill must equal or exceed the Fluency of the tome. Additional factors can increase the effective level of a character's language skill, allowing a character to read a tome they would otherwise be unable to read, or reducing the amount of time it takes to read a tome. Factors – quality reference material (typically a library) - skilled assistance (PC or NPC with language skill equal to or greater than tome’s Fluency) - character is familiar with a different edition of the same tome and have said tome for reference - a complementary skill (Archaeology, Anthropology, Occult, History, etc) equal to or greater than Fluency - any other plausible aid the player can think of that the Keeper agrees provides significant assistance (wearing a Mi-go brain-o-tron helmet, the entity bound within the tome telepathically funnelling the contents into the character's head, coffee) Each factor increases character’s effective language skill by %100 of the skill (not by 100 points) Result Effective Skill Less than Fluency – cannot read Fluency up to twice Fluency – read time factor 1 Twice Fluency up to three times Fluency – read time factor 2 Three times Fluency up to four times Fluency– read time factor 3 Four times Fluency up to five times Fluency – read time factor 4 etc The system can be used in downtime or in active game time. Downtime – calculate effective language skill then divide read time by read time factor Example - Necronomicon, Latin, Fluency 75 Character with Latin %60 cannot read the Necronomicon as their language skill is less than the Fluency. By using a university library their effective skill is %120 and they can read the tome in normal read time. With reference library and assistance from a wise, old mentor with Latin %80, the character's effective skill is %180 and they can read the Necronomicon in half the read time (base time divided by 2). With reference library, proper assistance and an Occult skill of %85 the character's effective language skill is %240 and they can read the tome in one third of the read time (base time divided by 3). Reference library, assistance, Occult %85 and the character has successfully read the English edition of Necronomicon, and the character's effective language skill is %300 and they can read the tome in one quarter of the read time (base time divided by 4). In game – calculate effective language skill then multiple hours or days spent reading by read time factor Example - Necronomicon, Latin, Fluency 75 Character with Latin %60 cannot read the Necronomicon as their language skill is less than the Fluency. By using a university library their effective skill is %120 and each day spent reading equals one day towards the total read time. With reference library and assistance from a wise, old mentor with Latin %80, the character's effective skill is %180 and each day spent reading equals two days towards the total read time. With reference library, proper assistance and an Occult skill of %85 the character's effective language skill is %240 and each day spent reading equals three days towards the total read time. Reference library, assistance, Occult %85 and the character has successfully read the English edition of Necronomicon, and each day spent reading equals four days towards the total read time.
  25. I hadn't really considered it. At this stage it's just speculation about what I might do if I were to run MoN again. One dark possibility; what if Masters learned the Mind Exchange spell? Perhaps learned from Nyarlathotep. Once Masters realised what was happening to her, and what was growing within her, she began using the spell to exchange her mind with a family member, such as a sibling, in order to escape her fate. So perhaps at the start of the campaign, Masters is actually back in New York in the body of her brother or sister. Maybe the PC with the relation with Masters was aware of the "breakdown" of Master's sibling, who was confined to an institution but was eventually released when they "recovered" from their breakdown. Perhaps "she" was invited to the meeting with Jackson. Perhaps she is one of the PCs - with the players consent of course. What does she want? What is her state of mind? Does she want to further the Great Endeavour? Does she want to stop it? As for Carlyle, while he's totally insane he doesn't need to be quite so insensible. Perhaps certain things can move him to action, such as the possibility of revenge against M'Weru. The idea of Carlyle destroying himself and the Mountain of the Black Winds with a radium bomb taken from Grey Dragon Island would be a cool send-off.
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