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[Eagle of Fire]

Eere you insuneating that Moi cold nut speak Anglish well? Sacrebleu! You are undeerestimathing moi! Thiz is en outrage!

[TheChosen]

Alright, not to let this thread die, I'l write up rules for character creation, since then I dont have to spend time creating character with everyone.

Call of Cthulhu first. For this, you only need at least one six-sided dice. Suggested amount is 3, however.

Here is the character sheet for this game: http://www.rpgsheets.com/sheets/022007.pdf It is not identical to one in my rulebook, but close enough. Only thing its missing is physics skill.

First, roll up following stats for your character with the following amount of dice

Strength - 3d6
Constitution - 3d6
Size - 2d6 + 6 (This combines both height and weight)
Intelligence - 2d6 + 6
Power - 3d6 (kind of like "willpower")
Dexterity - 3d6
Appearance - 3d6 (Personality and sex appeal, but not necessarily charisma)
Education - 3d6 + 6 (Note: People with education 13-14 are considered to have a Bachelor degree while those with education over 16 are considered to be college graduates.)

And since I wont be there to watch you rolling the dice, please, no cheating. After you've rolled your stats, you are allowed to move stat points to another stat.

After rolling is done, fill the next parts:

Idea - Intelligence x 5
Luck - Power x 5
Magic points - Equal to your power
Knowledge - Education x 5
Sanity - Put 99 in SAN, between EDU and SIZ.
Sanity points - Power x 5 (circle the appropriate number)
Hit points - Size + Constitution divided by 2.

Also, fill in the following for these 3 skills:
Cthulhu Mythos - 0
Dodge - Dexterity x 2
Read/Write English - Education x 5

Damage bonus/penalty
There is a whole table for this. We will check it out before we start the game, because Im too lazy to type the whole table in here. You get bonuses in hand-to-hand combat if you have high strength and/or size, and penalties if you dont.

For next part, read all the rules carefully first before making any decisions

Next you choose your occupation. The book lists several occupations, but you are allowed to make one yourself. It has to fit in the 20/30's theme, where the game (and most of Lovecrafts stories) take place.

Here's list of available occupations, as well as skills that are tied to that occupation:

Anarchist
Camouflage
Fast Talk
Hide
Library Use
Oratory
Psychology
Read/Write Other Language
Sneak

Author
History
Library Use
Oratory
Psychology
Read/Write English
Read/Write other language
Speak other language
Any one other skills as a personal speciality

Doctor
Credit Rating
Diagnose Disease
First Aid
Pharmacy
Psychoanalysis
Psychology
Read/Write Latin
Treat Disease
Treat Poison

Farmer
Bargain
Botany
First Aid
Listen
Mechanical Repair
Operate Heavy Machinery
Spot Hidden
Zoology

Gangster
Bargain
Climb
Credit Rating
Drive Automobile
Fast Talk
Jump
Law
Listen
Spot Hidden

Historian/Antiquarian
Bargaining
History
Law
Library Use
Make Maps
Read/Write other language
Speak other language
Any one other skill as a personal speciality

Hobo
Bargain
Climb
Fast Talk
First Aid
Hide
Listen
Spot Hidden
Sneak

Journalist
Debate
Fast Talk
Oratory
Psychology
Read/Write English
Read/Write Other Language
Speak Other Language
Any one other skill as a personal speciality

Lawyer
Accounting
Credit Rating
Debate
Fast Talk
Law
Library Use
Oratory
Psychology
Read/Write Latin

Missionary
Accounting
Bargain
Credit Rating
Diagnose Disease
First Aid
Oratory
Read/Write Latin
Sing
Speak Other Language
Treat Disease

Parapsychologist
Anthropology
Archeology
History
Library Use
Occult
Psychoanalysis
Psychology
Read/Write Other Language
Speak Other Language

Policeman
Drive Automobile
Fast Talk
First Aid
Hide
Law
Listen
Spot Hidden
Sneak

Politician
Accounting
Bargain
Credit Rating
Debate
Fast Talk
History
Law
Oratory
Psychology

Professional Athlete
Climb
Credit Rating
Dodge
Jump
Psychology
Ride
Swim
Throw

Professor
Anthropology
Archeology
Astronomy
Botany
Chemistry
Debate
Geology
History
Library Use
Linguist
Occult
Physics
Read/Write Other Language
Speak Other Language
Zoology

Private Eye
Accounting
Camouflage
Credit Rating
Fast Talk
First Aid
Hide
Law
Listen
Psychology
Sneak
Spot Hidden

Soldier
Camouflage
Climb
Drive Automobile
Electrical Repair
First Aid
Hide
Listen
Operate Heavy Machinery
Spot Hidden
Sneak

The book also lists some occupations having combat related skills, but I will make an exception to those rules and provide combat skill as I see fit.

For those who wanted to make an occupation, choose the skills that would fit for that occupation. Dont go overboard and try to be realistic. Remember the theme were having.

Here's a list of all skills in game and the base stats for those that have them, regardless of your occupation

Accounting - 10
Anthropology
Archeology
Astronomy
Bargain - 5
Botany
Camouflage - 25
Chemistry
Climb - 40
Credit Rating - 15
Debate - 10
Diagnose Disease - 5
Drive Automobile - 20
Drive (A vehicle of your choice)
Electrical Repair - 10
Fast Talk - 5
First Aid - 30
Geology
Hide - 10
History - 20
Jump - 25
Law - 5
Library Use - 25
Linguist
Listen - 25
Make Maps - 10
Mechanical Repair - 20
Occult - 5
Operate Heavy Machine
Oratory - 5
Pharmacy
Photography - 10
Physics (again, not listen in the sheet you have)
Pick Pocket - 5
Pilot Aircraft
Pilot (a vehicle of your choosing)
Psychoanalysis
Psychology - 5
Read/Write (A language of your choosing)
Ride - 5
Sing - 5
Sneak - 10
Speak (A language of your choosing)
Spot Hidden - 25
Swim - 25
Throw - 25
Track - 10
Treat Disease - 5
Treat Poison - 5
Zoology

Now that you've chosen or created your occupation, its time to add skill points. You get two stacks of points.

Career based skills - Education x 15. Distribute these points to your career based skills. You dont have to put points on all these skills.
Other skills - Intelligence x 5. Distribute these points to any skills you want, career or otherwise.

Notes!
You cant put any points or choose the following skills as your career skills: Dodge, Read/Write English and Cthulhu Mythos (I can make an exception to the latter, If you have a good reason)
Remember to count in the base stats. If I didnt mention a base stat for skill, its 0.
Maximum stat for skill is 99.
If you're planning to have your character drive an automobile, the minimum stat requirement is 25.

Now that were done with career, its time to look into your character itself:

Name - Self explanatory.
Sex - Again, pretty self explanatory.
Occupation - The one you chose
Age - How old is your character. Please be realistic: Its most unlikely that you can become a professor at age of 18 or so.
Nationality - As most of the investigations take place in America, I'd recommend that or Great Britain as your nationality. Still though, I wont stop you If you want to be a German or Finnish. Again, be realistic.
Residence - Again, as most of the investigations take place in America, I recommend choosing an American city. Most of Lovecrafts stories take place in Massachusetts area, so Boston would be best choice. Another good choice is Arkham, which is a central city and mentioned in a lot of Lovecrafts works (it also has a good university).
Schools - Which school did your character went to. If he has a high degree, write a name of university here. Otherwise, high school is sufficient enough.
Degrees - If your character is a professor or in other occupation that requires some studies, put one in here. Note that this isnt necessary If your character isnt a high educated person.
Portrait - Feel free to draw your character in this small box. Its fun!

And that about covers it. I'l personally decide your characters savings, salary and possible combat skills. If you have any questions or wonder what some skills do, ask.

In next post, I'l explain the game more deeper.

[Pex]

I love this stuff, though so far had bad experience in playing it on forums. The campaigns tend to die when they're most interesting.

[TheChosen]

Our plan was to play on Skype.

In any case, here's a little FAQ I made up.

What is Call of Cthulhu?
Call of Cthulhu is a Pen and Paper Roleplaying game based on the works of great horror writer H.P Lovecraft.

So...what does it include?
In Lovecraft works, usually called "Cthulhu-mythos", included characters investigating and facing off unspeakable horrors and "Eldricth" Abominations. Most of the stories end up with characters dying or going mad. The game version reflects a lot of that.

So does this mean I get to kick Cthulhu's but!?
Yes...and no. Call of Cthulhu isnt your standard RPG. While a standard game like Dungeons and Dragons are dungeons crawlers where you kill, loot, purchase stuff and solve an occasional puzzle, Call of Cthulhu concentrates more on the puzzle and storytelling aspect. You do get change to fight stuff, but not as often as you'd think, and there are no random encounters in the game.

So what do we do in the game then?
You spend time investigating, looking for information and plan how to take on the Eldrich horrors. Its much more interesting than it sounds.

Do I have to read any Lovecrafts stories to play the game?
Not necessarily, but it is recommended. You can find Lovecrafts writings on the internet, your local library and in bookstore. Most of his stories are put in collections, which I really recommend buying. The book lists following Lovecrafts stories that players and DM's should read.

Lurking Fear
Horror at Red Hook
Colour Out of Space
Dunwich Horror
Shadow Over Innsmouth
Dreams in the Witch-House
Haunter of the Dark
Shunned House
Call of Cthulhu (A must!)
Case of Charles Dexter Ward
Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
Shadow Out of Time
Herbert West - Reanimator (Personal recommendation!)

There's plenty of other stories too.

There are also lot of writers who contributed to Cthulhu-mythos after Lovecrafts dead. Check out Wikipedia for more information.

If books arent your cup of tea, lot of these have also been made into movies, more or less. Cant recommend any, because I havent seen them.

There's video games too, most famously Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth for PC and X-Box. There's couple of old DOS games as well, namely Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of Comet and Lurking Horror, both which are available on Abandonia. Check out also Alone in the Dark and Dark Seed, both which draw inspiration from Lovecrafts work. Other Lovecraft inspirated games include Chzo-Mythos, Amnesia, Penumbra, Eternal Darkness, Splatterhouse and Dead Space, available here and there..

[Japo]

You won't probably get anyone to play if you expect them to read some books before, unless they've read them already.

Anyway I haven't read any Lovecraft book (some of my friends have), although I've played this RPG a couple of times. But I saw one "indie" movie and I can recommend it:

http://www.cthulhulives.org/cocmovie/index.html

http://www.cthulhulives.org/cocmovie/trailer.html

It's only about 45 minutes long, if you happen to acquire a copy somehow... It's also very retro--black and white and silent!

[TheChosen]

Doesnt anyone read what I write? I said "Not necessarily"!

[Japo]

You also wrote "should" and "a must!" :P

[TheChosen]

Yeah, If you're planning to look into the mythos.

[Japo]

Let's not hijack your thread anymore. :P Anyway I recommend the movie, not only to learn about Cthulhu, I only watched it once a while back but I think it was cool.

[The Fifth Horseman]

What are the rules governing moving points between statistics?
I'm asking because I've ended up with Str 15, Con 15, Siz 8, Dex 13, App 7, Int 14, Pow 6 and Edu 21. I'd like to move a point each from Str, Con and Dex into Pow, since I figure it might be a bit more important.