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Scent Skill


imakeeper

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We've been running the Twoheaded Serpent pulp campaign and have come across creatures called Voormis (page 150 of this pulp campaign book). The Voormis have a 75% scent skill. We haven't seen this skill before and was wondering how it works exactly. I started looking through the keeper rulebook and found that the dogs on page 337 of the keeper rulebook have a similar skill. Dogs have 90% Scent something interestingWolfs on page 340 don't have the scent skill, but instead use 90% track (by smell).

While I can probably fill in the gaps for these skills, I was wondering if there is an official ruling/description of the scent skill, much like how the various skills of investigators are described in the core books.

I'm guessing that the Voormis, having canine features, can smell the investigators/heroes from distance. And might be alerted of their presence, even if the Voormis haven't spotted the heroes. Though does that also mean that stealth is not something that can be used to oppose a scent roll? Do I give a bonus die to the Voormis making the scent roll, if a hero is wounded / bleeding? Or perhaps if the player playing the hero is particularly musky at the gaming table that night. So many questions!

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Hi

You are pretty much on the money with your description. At base, a Scent skill essentially replaces Spot Hidden.

Whether a bonus is granted (or a penalty applied to the PC's Stealth - who is bleeding/smelling bad) is the Keeper's call. 

If a PC makes an active attempt to disguise their smell, then perhaps they gain a bonus die to Stealth (or Disguise) roll - which then translates to a penalty on the Scent roll. 

It is meant to be flexible to accommodate various situations in play. 

 

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Back in 2015 I wrote a comedic Lovecraftian horror story called "The Telltale Fart" that deals heavily with the issue of scent.  Here are the first 2 pages...

It began in the Summer of 1905, the year the Miskatonic River burst its banks and Arkham was subjected to an epidemic of Cholera as the flood waters settled and stagnated in the streets.  At least that is the story carried in the local rags, because the truth of the matter so unsettling that it is far easier to offer up the palliative of an epidemic than to reveal the truth.  My name is Hezekiah Beaufort and I am perhaps the sole survivor of events who is able to accurately recall what transpired in those fateful and horrible days of memories better left forgotten, but some record must be kept, so those who come after can understand what occurred and make peace with it.  In those halcyon days before these events I was a sommelier by trade for the Boston Grand Hotel in Avery Street.  I was also the chairman of the Arkham Wine Club, closely associated with the prestigious Arkham Club which hosts the great and the good of Arkham’s oldest families, though my own lineage is more humble by far. Suffice to say that there was great overlap between the two, save the more sanctimonious Presbyterians and Methodists who indulge in the insufferable moral vice of teetotaling; a sin against Christ’s very own teaching by miracle.  I have always been of a sensitive disposition but my olfactory senses are notably acute and further trained and honed in the noble service of the appreciation of the vintner’s art. Suffice to say I am also a man of some culinary expertise, however amateur, but my hound-like nose is the envy of many in my profession and I am often called upon to judge matters of taste when pronounced acuity is required.  In short, my nose and my pallet are my instruments, and they are my life, and that is how I came to the situation.

            For my part I was never one to indulge in the whispered gossip of the superstitious Arkham locals. I smiled condescendingly at their tales of ghosts and witches and ghost-witches, and ghouls and missing children, and abandoned houses that harbored unspeakable things, and graveyards that were playgrounds for terrors on the full moon.  How could a modern man take such absurdity seriously ?  One must not mock one’s hosts on occasions when such matters are discussed, and indeed I often feigned distress at such tales as a means of absconding from such fruitless discussions when the night’s conversation turned in such direction.  Would that I had listened more closely, for I may have been better armed against the events nay horrors that were to unfold.

            The flood waters first rose on June 23rd of 1905, and left many of the properties along the riverbanks inundated, and indeed the ground water also rose, creating large pond-like stretches of water, as the storm waters banked up and overflowed into the streets.  Many was the house that had its basement flooded, or worse.  In all the commotion however nobody noticed the untimely and obscene demise of Thomas Atlee in his rooms.

            The week prior to the beginning of this unseemly turn of events had been deeply traumatic for me.  I was in my thirties now, and all but a confirmed bachelor but a year before until I met the beautiful ginger haired Jessica Anne Saltonstall of Arkham, and had only moved to the apartment in Arkham so that I might be closer to her after she consented to be my wife. Imagine my dismay when I saw her parading through the streets of Arkham like a brazen strumpet with her ankle-meats on display for every leering pervert who chose to cast a slavering gaze at them.  When I remonstrated with her, my fiancé’s hidden degeneracy became more clear, for she honestly believed I was joking and she mocked my righteous outrage, until I tore my grandmother’s engagement ring from her finger and stormed out, livid and incensed.  Soon thereafter, imagine my further disdain and anger at discovering that the perverted little wench had the unmitigated gall to charge me with “Breach of Promise”!  I despaired for all that was good in the world, and the injustice that allowed such a worthless creature to think that she could bring such a charge when it was the immorality of her own behavior which had caused the breach, and now she sought to undo me through the courts through her family’s local influence in Arkham, the very connections that had first provided me with entry to the Arkham Club.  There is no justice in the world, and in truth I felt some mild sympathy even with the dreaded nihilism of Communism that the decadent and disgraceful rich may so abuse their position as to attack a self-made man like myself for not compromising his propriety.

             For my part, living on the second story and down the hall from Thomas Atlee I never had reason to suppose much amiss on that fateful day when it all began.  Indeed I was preoccupied with emotional matters more than with the foul smells that rose with the flood as the sewers were breached.  Indeed I was informed in advance while at work in Boston, and prevailed upon my good friends the Brewsters to grant me lodging until the worst was over, and continued my work much the same as before, though I did invest in a fresh suit to tide me over for attire in the period.  Some four days later after the waters had subsided I reluctantly made my way back to my apartment in Arkham. I had chosen my lodgings as they were close to the train station, as was the Grand Hotel, and my first understanding of what I would face hit me as I left the train in the early Summer evening.  The streets were redolent with the stink of the floodwaters and its detritus. I cannot say, but whether it was the work of fortune or fate, whomever, she is a cruel mistress.  I fortified myself with a dab of Vicks Vapo-rub under my nose as I left the train carriage.

            The streets were largely deserted and the dank aroma of foul water suffused with rotting carcasses and sewerage hung in the misty air despite my olfactory precautions, such that I covered my handkerchief with more Vicks Vapo-rub and increased my pace.  When I reached the door of the block, I was sufficiently pained that I forsook my usual politeness to my landlady and fairly bolted up the steps to my rooms, stopping only to catch a clean breath when I finally slammed the door behind me.  For fear of the stench outside I found a roll of masking tape and sealed up my windows as best I could and placed a damp towel across the crack under the door.  Soon thereafter I took it upon myself to burn some incense, simple sandalwood, to ward off what foul air had followed me off the street. I despaired at my choice.  How could I arrive tomorrow in Boston with even the hint of this on my clothing ?  Unacceptable !  I stripped, and put my garments into a sack, and that sack into a duffel bag, and barely stopped short of throwing the duffel bag into the fireplace and lighting it.  Wearied, I ate sparingly, and discovered that the milk was off, and the taps were running brown, so I drank a glass of a pleasant little shiraz with some lovely complex notes, and went to bed, though it was small comfort and sleep came but fitfully...

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Didn’t know Scent showed up in The Two-Headed Serpent—on a fairly regular occasion, I find myself wishing investigators had a “Smell” skill I could ask them to roll. It’s become something of a running joke in our playgroup. (Solution has been to either give them the info for free, or have them roll Luck.)

It could be fun to have them encounter an NPC or monster at some point with a Scent skill and see how they feel about that!

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It is also worth noting that Call of Cthulhu has a long tradition of adding skills to NPCs/Monsters that are not in the rulebook and are intended to serve whatever the needed purpose is in a scenario. Examples include "Be Adorable" for kids or "Whimper" for a pathetic creature. Have fun with these. All of my investigators have one or more deliberately comedic skills based upon an aspect of their character. Examples: "Fear the Wind," "Fall Off Mountain," "Yeet Child," and "Restrain Ally." They have very niche application and I usually start them at 70%.

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2 hours ago, klecser said:

 All of my investigators have one or more deliberately comedic skills based upon an aspect of their character. Examples: "Fear the Wind," "Fall Off Mountain," "Yeet Child," and "Restrain Ally." They have very niche application and I usually start them at 70%.

Okay, I am going to give all my players a new skill (of their choice) the next time we play!

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5 hours ago, klecser said:

It is also worth noting that Call of Cthulhu has a long tradition of adding skills to NPCs/Monsters that are not in the rulebook and are intended to serve whatever the needed purpose is in a scenario. Examples include "Be Adorable" for kids or "Whimper" for a pathetic creature. Have fun with these. All of my investigators have one or more deliberately comedic skills based upon an aspect of their character. Examples: "Fear the Wind," "Fall Off Mountain," "Yeet Child," and "Restrain Ally." They have very niche application and I usually start them at 70%.

These are some of the best features of CoC imo. I normally give every player 1 as a freebie and then 1 "vaguely useful" trait in exchange for 1 "mildly annoying" trait.

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On 7/8/2022 at 11:47 AM, Mike M said:

Hi

You are pretty much on the money with your description. At base, a Scent skill essentially replaces Spot Hidden.

Whether a bonus is granted (or a penalty applied to the PC's Stealth - who is bleeding/smelling bad) is the Keeper's call. 

If a PC makes an active attempt to disguise their smell, then perhaps they gain a bonus die to Stealth (or Disguise) roll - which then translates to a penalty on the Scent roll. 

It is meant to be flexible to accommodate various situations in play. 

Thanks Mike for your very quick reply, this helps! 

..As a complete newbie on these forums I'm being restricted to a single post/reply per day. SOHEREWEGO.

On 7/8/2022 at 1:15 PM, Darius West said:

Back in 2015 I wrote a comedic Lovecraftian horror story called "The Telltale Fart" that deals heavily with the issue of scent. 

Inspired by the Tell-tale heart?

On 7/8/2022 at 5:25 PM, Joe Kenobi said:

Didn’t know Scent showed up in The Two-Headed Serpent—on a fairly regular occasion,

Not that regular- So far it has only shown up in one chapter of the book- I think after this encounter we probably won't see these canine humanoids again. Probably.

On 7/8/2022 at 9:37 PM, klecser said:

It is also worth noting that Call of Cthulhu has a long tradition of adding skills to NPCs/Monsters that are not in the rulebook and are intended to serve whatever the needed purpose is in a scenario. Examples include "Be Adorable" for kids or "Whimper" for a pathetic creature. Have fun with these. All of my investigators have one or more deliberately comedic skills based upon an aspect of their character. Examples: "Fear the Wind," "Fall Off Mountain," "Yeet Child," and "Restrain Ally." They have very niche application and I usually start them at 70%.

Haha, really? Roll for ☆ adorableness ☆. Haven't come across these kinds of skills yet. We will definitely have fun with it when we find one of these skills! Also I'm now imagining your investigators tumbling down mountains and yeeting babies at mythos beasts. Very peculiar!

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3 hours ago, imakeeper said:

Inspired by the Tell-tale heart?

No, not really, more inspired by the Color out of Space, but this is comedy so I opted for a low brow pun for a title, because of the Poe Story, and because farts can be telling.  The full story mocks H.P. Lovecraft by being similarly politically incorrect in a way that undermines itself.  HP was kinda on-the-nose.  See what I did there?  (Oh FFS, please believe me that the rest of the story isn't as cringingly awful as this comment, it is filled with 1920s period humor and is entirely lore friendly to CoC, it's really funny too I swear!)  

Edited by Darius West
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4 hours ago, imakeeper said:

Haha, really? Roll for ☆ adorableness ☆. Haven't come across these kinds of skills yet. We will definitely have fun with it when we find one of these skills! Also I'm now imagining your investigators tumbling down mountains and yeeting babies at mythos beasts. Very peculiar!

Yeet Child comes from a scenario where kids get infected with Something Eldritch™ and become violent. I want to say it's in OG Mansions of Madness? The investigator just picked a kid up that was threatening him with a knife and chucked him into his sister.

Fall Down Mountain resulted from the investigators climbing Mam Tor in Masks and critically failing an attack roll on the switch backs. Off-balance on a mountain, are you? 😉 

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