The Glass Cannon Podcast - Time For Chaos S1 | E1 – Dramatis Personae

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

Troy Lavallee leads an all-star cast including Ross Bryant, Noura Ibrahim, Kate Stamas and Rob Kerkovich through character creation to kick off the start of Call of Cthulhu's Masks of Nyarlathotep cam...paign. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/CQA7UBWi7Y8 Access exclusive podcasts, ad-free episodes, and livestreams with a 30-day free trial with code "GCN30" at ⁠⁠jointhenaish.com⁠⁠. Join Troy Lavallee, Joe O'Brien, Skid Maher, Matthew Capodicasa, Sydney Amanuel, and Kate Stamas as they tour the country. Get your tickets today at ⁠⁠https://hubs.li/Q03cn8wr0⁠⁠. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit ⁠⁠https://hubs.li/Q03cmY380⁠⁠. Watch new episodes when they premiere every Friday at 8PM ET on ⁠⁠youtube.com/theglasscannon⁠⁠, starting July 11th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Good evening everyone! it's Friday night. My name is Troy LaValley and it's time for chaos. I am so excited that I have acid reflux burning a hole in the back of my throat. This is not a bit I might throw up. That's how excited I am. This has been a project that I've wanted to do for a long time, and I can't believe that we're recording the first episode right now. We are going to be building characters tonight for a story that is often considered the greatest
Starting point is 00:01:23 role-playing game campaign ever written across all systems. That is of course Masks of Nyarlathotep for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. I've run about 15, less than 20 hours of Cthulhu at this point and I just obsessed with it so when I was thinking about the next project that I wanted to do I knew I wanted to do Cthulhu and since I'm completely incapable of doing anything in moderation. Anything in moderation. I decided to do the most epic, renowned, and longest campaign ever written. Say the name again.
Starting point is 00:02:07 Masks of Nearlithotep. Nearlithotep. Okay. Are we gonna, yeah, we're gonna nail down a pronunciation. You don't have to say that, right? I bet you he's not. This is it. This is, I read this whole friggin' thing here. We're gonna be giving this away later tonight.
Starting point is 00:02:23 But yeah, Nearlathotep, I wasn't sure until I had a call with Chaosium and they said it like that. But they're also mostly from Australia. So that might just be their weird way of saying it. It might be Nyarlathotep. However you pronounce it, it's going to mean you're doom. I am so excited and joining me on this journey. I mean, we're going to be playing this for the next 12 years. No, that's not true. We can finish this quicker than that. But joining me on this journey is what I'd like to call a dream group. Because when I was assembling this cast, I said, I assemble the other cast too,
Starting point is 00:03:07 and I don't really care if I'm not involved. No, that's not true. When I was assembling this set, I had one criteria in mind. I was like, I want a group of people that I just really, really wanna hang out with. And the good thing about that is it immediately eliminated all of the other founding members.
Starting point is 00:03:25 So rude. Send your hate mail to Troy Lavallee. Got to get that out of him. To hell. It's a safe space. Go for it. And then I called these guys and they were available. But this is really a dream-proof.
Starting point is 00:03:43 Not since P. Diddy put together Danity Kane. Indeed. Whoa, whoa. Wow. He has made the band. He has made the band. Has there been such a cavalcade of superstars? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:55 Look at this group. Who's gonna be the Aubrey O'Day? We'll never know. Yeah. So let's meet these rascals, huh? So let's meet these rascals, huh? First up, she is a resident queen of cosplay here, which means that I'm going to do everything I can to ensure that she plays a rodeo clown. Just as she has to dress up as that. Nora Ibrahim everybody, Nora. Hello. Thanks for choosing me to be in your favorite all time cast. I will say you get nervous acid reflux.
Starting point is 00:04:33 I get nervous burps. Oh. I'll just put that out there. Sorry for any nervous burps that you may hear initially. Oh, man. If I burped right now, it would just be projectile vomit on my camera. That's how I feel right now. No, I got like little mini micro-burps, like little teeny
Starting point is 00:04:49 tiny ones. I'm just like, oh no, but they subside. But I'm excited. This is good. This is how we're going to get to know each other. Really stir the pot. I will say, I think it's very rude that you called this Showtime for Chaos. It should be implied. Don't just throw that out there in our faces that we are going to be thrown into chaos. Just kind of, you know, you're supposed to softball it in there, not just make it the show title. Yeah, that's a spoiler, really, if you think about it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:14 Now we know. The irony of this is that we're creating characters that will be dead within a few weeks. Oh, why? Why do you have to be like that? Or permanently insane. And I'm not just being Troy, exaggeration Troy, like these characters,
Starting point is 00:05:30 no one survives. Like this is the hardest, craziest adventure. And so there's gonna be a real, real death count. Not even death, death would be kind of preferred versus some of the horrible things that happen in this. I should warn you, if you haven't watched a lot of Cthulhu or played a lot of Cthulhu, this is an adult game with like adult stuff that I was reading. I was like, I'm too young to be reading this.
Starting point is 00:05:55 So you might find that like this isn't your jam. But I just consider this my warning. You know, I want to make sure my players and I will talk behind the scenes, make sure that everybody feels safe. That's obviously important. But this is a fucking scary game. And Nora, you've played a decent amount of Cthulhu. Obviously we played together.
Starting point is 00:06:17 I've had characters die. And this is the only game where my characters die. I have a good streak in other TTRPGs. Cthulhuhu not so much. You're very squishy, but that's the fun of it. That's the... So yeah, I'm... I hate all of it. So I'm excited to play, but I hate creating a character that I love and then, oh, they die. I know. I know. I know. Well, I'm excited to see this rascally rodeo clown that you
Starting point is 00:06:44 come up with. I don't Well, I'm excited to see this, this rascally rodeo clown that you come up with. I don't know that we settled on that. No, I think that's a good, right? What does the chat say? Oh, rodeo clown. Now it's canon. Let's get a poll up. Next up, he is, he is on the fast track to be the 2022 Blast Cannon Rookie of the Year. He's the man of a thousand voices in one face. It's Mr. Ross Bryan, everybody. Yes, hello Troy. Thank you for summoning me like the wonderful P. Diddy that you are.
Starting point is 00:07:11 To this crew. And also by leading off with evocations of acid reflux and tiny burps that were just edging into the squeamish, Lovecraftian body horror that I'm sure we'll all be drowning in soon. Yes. Oh, you'll be hoping for acid reflux verbs. You shall pray for acid reflux where you're going, yeah. Ross, how does it feel to be universally loved by everyone in our network?
Starting point is 00:07:41 I don't know, Troy, I don't know. I ask that because the people who started this network are pretty much hated. So I'm curious what it feels like to be enjoyed. No you- I don't know, it's only because I haven't leered them yet. Everything we throw at you, you just, I don't know, I'm jealous of your talent.
Starting point is 00:08:00 And so when I knew that I wanted to do this, I was like, I hope Ross is available. And you were. Oh man, I'm when I knew that I wanted to do this, I was like, I hope Ross is available and you were. Oh man. I'm so, so, so stoked to do this. Um, and thank you Troy for having me. Uh, like, yeah, this, this was pretty much the game that kind of made me fall in love with sales, our role playing. Like when I first started playing with like Jared and Clint at all, um, this is the one where it really clicked, and I was like, oh, yes, this is real fun. We're building these imaginative universes
Starting point is 00:08:31 wherein we go quite mad. Yeah, you know, nothing against D&D 5e or Pathfinder or any of these other big role-playing games, but there's something about Cthulhu that just fits this medium so much better, because it's collaborative storytelling like any of these games are. But like the rules, you never feel like the rules get in the way of the story, because even when you fail horribly at a role, it only progresses the story for it. Now, one could argue you could do that in a D&D game, too, but like you could fail and then the boss just kills you. Here it's just the emergence storytelling.
Starting point is 00:09:05 I'm excited to see what we do with it. Uh, next up, uh, we, she was on pretty much every single episode of New Game Who Dis last year, we call her the queen of New Game Who Dis and I'm so excited, uh, that she's joining us for this. Give it up for Kate Stannis. Wow. Hi. You said my last name, right? Wow, the only reason I knew that is because I was watching a new game who dis I was editing it and you were on It and I wasn't running it and you said your name Stamos and I was like I've been saying Stamos the whole time
Starting point is 00:09:40 Everyone says that And then I got weirdly mad at you know Everyone says that. And she never corrected me. And then I got weirdly mad at you. No. But it's standards. Standards. But then you got not mad at me and now I'm, like you said earlier, we're all one of your
Starting point is 00:09:51 favorite people. Favorite. And it's canon now. That's what it is. It is canon. I love it. Tell us about this aquarium that you're in right now. Are you like, is this the Brooklyn Aquarium?
Starting point is 00:10:02 I thought this is what we were all doing. We're not all doing this. It's an underwater adventure. Right? Nihilar third tap is underwater. No? It's the under the sea dance from Back to the Future. Okay.
Starting point is 00:10:15 Yeah, no, we were all talking pre-show about how the depth of field of your camera really makes us all look like amateurs and it's borderline insulting. Yeah. And it's really the opposite. I am probably the most amateur, but I have fancy equipment, and my husband's computer behind me that makes me look really good, so. You make up for it with the tech.
Starting point is 00:10:35 Yeah. Ah, well, I'm so excited, and what I like, I mean, of the many things that I like about you is being a fellow Virgo, I know that you have memorized the rules of Call of Cthulhu and so I can lean on you when I forget them. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:52 Pretty much. No. Fellow obsessive compulsive, I'm excited. And finally, a new face to the network. This is a man who I go back with this gentleman 25 years, yet we have not hung out in any way, shape, or form in over 24 years. Don't say it like that, man, that's not cool.
Starting point is 00:11:17 That's true, but that's the truth. I know, it's crazy. I'm excited for it to not even feel like that. I'm excited for it to feel like 1997 all that. I'm excited to for it to feel like 1997 all over again. It's gonna be great. Well when we were talking before you know We you decided to join up with us I was saying that this is just gonna be such a great way to rekindle our friendship because we were very very close Ladies gentlemen, he just finished up seven seasons on NCIS New Orleans My good friend and I think you're gonna fall in love
Starting point is 00:11:45 with him as well, Rob Kirkovich. Hi, hey guys, thanks for having me. Troy, thank you for having me. This is obviously, I've never done any kind of streaming like this before. It's something I was really excited to do, and it's like serendipity, because I honestly was going to, the show wrapped,
Starting point is 00:12:01 and I was like, what am I gonna do now with my my life? And it was like, I should hit up Troy. And then before I even had a chance to email you, you sent it to me. So it was like, it was great. I can't wait. I refrained from having the I do have them upstairs, some high school yearbooks. Maybe they'll come out later. I've got sweet pictures of me and Troy in the high school theater. Little 12th night. A little me killing you as Dracula. You're Dracula on Van Helsing. Classic, that's right.
Starting point is 00:12:34 You took the stake into my heart. I'm all of five foot two, real tiny. It really sprouted like a stream. I needed like two arms to hold the stake up. You've got a sweet widow speak Dracula action going on This is the patreon content we subscribe to oh we got Shakespeare There's so many stories that should be yeah, that should be a tear Yeah in
Starting point is 00:12:57 Patreon is like do you want to hear about how I cut Troy's face open on stage in front of an entire audience? More so we want to see the photos Also will be present we want to see the photos. The photos also will be present. We do have plenty of photos. I forgot about those. And now I regret bringing one. I'm here now. It's too late. No, but seriously, I don't think the rest of them can hear me. The only reason I'm doing this show is so that we can rekindle our long-lost friends.
Starting point is 00:13:21 That's what, yeah, I was just going to speak to you directly the whole time. Yeah. I just, I don't have a lot of friends anymore. I've lost touch with everyone I've ever known and so this is so lovely I'll just have to start a show now for every friend that I've lost contact. Yeah old friends who it is. Yeah Well, I'm excited Rob one last question And this is a serious question. Yeah, did you ever talk to Scott Baccala about quantum leap all the time? Come up all the time, but I When I first met the man he was very great And I didn't want to come at him with a quantum leap thing because I felt like that was too obvious
Starting point is 00:14:00 Yeah, you know open quantum. Yeah, I don't want to open with quantum leap because it's like that's that's like kind of been done. So I open with necessary roughness, which is a movie he did, where he plays a like a 35 year old man who's pulled back into college football to be the quarterback of the team. It's a phenomenal film, a team of which consists of Cathy Ireland is the kicker. She's the kicker. She's the kicker. There's a guy who only does karate and gets penalized for like karate kicking people in the face.
Starting point is 00:14:31 It's based on a true story, I think. No, Robert Loja is there screaming his head off thinking he's gonna die every time he speaks. Ah, you know, he's just a guttural. Anyway, that's what I opened with. And I think he respected me all the more for that. And that really paved the way for a wonderful, beautiful friendship. I just want to know everything about Quantum Leap.
Starting point is 00:14:52 They're bringing it back, I think. They are, yeah. But you took this job over the reboot of Quantum Leap. Yeah, they called me and it was basically this or that. And I was like, I'm over being on television at this point and having a career I can kind of rely on. So I'm just getting this space. I'm pumped.
Starting point is 00:15:12 Just get into the very small screen. Well, I'm excited to have you here. This is going to be a real love journey here and you're in such wonderful company. Wait till you get to know these people because I've had the pleasure of working with them now for some of them for over two years at this point. Well, it's great. I've been watching a lot of the old streams and stuff. So it's not like I know you guys,
Starting point is 00:15:32 but I'm very excited to work with you guys. It's fun. We're going to have fun. And we're going to start with a giveaway tonight. Brennan, our main man Brennan, is in the chat. We're going to give away one of these box sets. This has both books, all 700 pages of the adventure along with a keeper screen and the over 300 handouts
Starting point is 00:15:53 that come with this adventure. We can only give it away to people in the continental US because were I to ship this outside of the country, it would cost $300 because this thing is so heavy. But I will be bringing it to the post office myself, which means this is probably gonna take months. But just follow the chat and maybe you'll win the masks of Neolethotep box set.
Starting point is 00:16:18 The players, I should let you know you're not eligible to enter because I don't want you to read it and cheat. Not cool. One other bit of business before we jump in. This is obviously happening on Friday night. This is going to be a Friday night show, our version of Full House. But next week, the first real episode, Beyond Session Zero, is going to be on Thursday night because we're going to be in the West Coast. We have a show in Portland on Wednesday
Starting point is 00:16:46 and in Seattle on Friday. We don't wanna play against ourselves for a big show like this. So this show will be on Thursday night, 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific. Otherwise, it'll be on Friday nights. Enough of this jibba jabba. Let's get to creating these characters.
Starting point is 00:17:03 Now, I told you guys via email, what the hell did I tell you? I told you, I told you, I wanted you to come in and like be really, have a couple of concepts, but be ready to change them and flow, or like just be completely open to what, maybe have the stats kind of
Starting point is 00:17:25 lead you to the occupation or the concept so I don't know where everyone is at I know some of you are maybe have more solid ideas than others but we're gonna figure it out together the one caveat that I told you in email is that whoever you build needs to have some reason to have traveled to a foreign country to take part in an expedition. And you could play any occupation and find that reason, but just keep that in the back of your head as you create this.
Starting point is 00:18:00 If you're a waiter at a Paris restaurant, what are you doing in the wilds of some country on some expedition? You can still be that waiter, but remember you're gonna have to think of what that connective tissue is. Beyond that, it's time to jump in. And I've given you the option of rolling for your stats, or doing the point buy. I get the sense that everybody wants... We got some gamb or doing the point by. I get the sense that everybody wants.
Starting point is 00:18:29 We got some gamblers in the group here. You guys all want to roll for your stats. Is that true? Am I assuming? Yeah, I don't know. Listen, I heard what you said in the email about being flexible and like my brain won't let me. I have this idea and I want to do it even though They're probably gonna die. Yeah, so with the point by you could shape that idea as opposed to being at the at the whims of the dice if you want to be a
Starting point is 00:18:58 in a 12 foot tall ice giant and you roll a 20 strength. That's not gonna work out, Kate. Well, listen, it's totally up to you. If you wanna do the point buy, you absolutely can. If you wanna roll dice, hey, you know what? Seems like everybody else wants to roll dice.
Starting point is 00:19:18 If you wanna roll dice and then you decide I don't like it and wanna throw it out, your backup plan can be the point buy. Oh, I love that. you like that. Yeah. Yeah That's only for Kate. Sorry Anybody can do that is Page is is like the point by on a specific page. I was trying to find it and I can't you know I have the the keeper rule book
Starting point is 00:19:43 Not the investigator handbook and so our imagination is a little different but I believe you get 480 points or something like yeah, excuse me 460 points that you have to spread amongst the eight characteristics Nothing can be lower than 15 or higher than 90 at character creation. And that'll be true. Well I guess you could roll higher than that. I don't know. We'll figure it out. But let's say we're all going to roll and if at the end of it you either don't like
Starting point is 00:20:14 your roll or you kind of shit the bed like if you roll three tens then there's a contingency for you like, all right, you got all your stats. Some of them are pretty bad, roll a D6 and then take, say you roll a four, take those four points, put them anywhere you want, and you can bring your stats back up.
Starting point is 00:20:33 Or you can be like, you know what, I'm just gonna do the point buy. It was fun, but I'm not a gambler. One thing they say right out the gate is, do low characteristics make poor investigators? And the long and short of it is, no. Everybody likes to min-max, you want to keep your character alive, you want to keep them sane as long as possible.
Starting point is 00:20:51 But the story is going to come out of real people. And that's what makes regular Kala Cthulhu, as opposed to pulp Cthulhu, so much different than other role playing games. These are real people. These are real people who are about to be put through the craziest adventure of their life. They're going to be exposed to things they never thought they would ever be exposed to in their life. They're going to come upon artifacts and tomes that are going to give them superhuman powers or kill them or drive them
Starting point is 00:21:23 insane in the process. So don't stress too much if you're like, ah, my stats are so bad. Let's start with strength. Roll 3d6, multiply it by five. Shit. And let's just see what happens. You know, this is like classic D&D. The old way was like, all right, let's roll for strength.
Starting point is 00:21:43 Here's my strength. Ah, 10. Guess I'm not gonna be a fighter, and you would just go down the roll. That's kinda how we're doing it here. 3D6 for strength. Times what? Multiply by five. And then multiply it by five. Okay, okay.
Starting point is 00:22:01 75. 70, oh. Whoa, also 75 35 Look at that wiggling it tracks with my idea. It's fine. You're good. I got a good five okay, you'd be fine My favorite number all right great Okay, so strength is set and we're gonna be using roll 20 for this We're gonna be doing some really cool things from roll 20
Starting point is 00:22:27 I want to shout out Emily Floyd from roll 20 hooked me up with a bunch of cool stuff for Cthulhu and just for roll 20 in general I'm finally going to be upping my roll 20 game with the help of Someone amazing named Michael who you will all meet very soon. But in the meantime let's move on to Constitution. Constitution is gonna be your, you know, your health, your vigor, your vitality, how a poison poisons and diseases affect you. Same as strength roll 3d6. I rolled good on this one. By five. Eighty. Eighty? Yo.
Starting point is 00:23:10 Alright, Hulk, I guess you're gonna be a pro wrestler. I'm just a, uh, I'm a gym clown, is what you already understood. Eighty. For car. This sturdy rodeo clown is coming more and more into focus wow popping out of barrels eluding bulls yeah Rob you're looking unhappy by this role because I have to use a calculator I was told role-playing game. I'm sorry, yes, this is the only math.
Starting point is 00:23:48 I know. Okay, it's 70, it's fine. Oh, that's good. Great, yeah, this was my thing too, when I first started, I was like, ooh, let us delve into a world of magic, imagination and wonder, but first, do this W2. I feel like I'm triplicate.
Starting point is 00:24:06 What did you get Ross? I got a 45. Okay, all right. Interesting. And what was your strength again? It was it was 75. Okay, so that's an interesting juxtaposition. Strong, not hardy. Kate? I got a 60. Okay.
Starting point is 00:24:23 Respectable 60. You passed! Yeah. Okay. Respectable 60. You passed! Yeah. Pass. Is this fitting your concept so far? Yes. That's what the world wants to know.
Starting point is 00:24:32 Alright, let's get to size. Size is a little bit different. Let's mix it up. 2d6 plus 6. And then multiply it by 5. Oh my god. 2d6 plus 6 then multiply it by 5. And then to the second power.
Starting point is 00:24:46 It's a free 6. You have to roll that third 6. That is true. That's right. That's a great way of looking at it. And the reason they do that is because they don't want anybody to have a size that is comically low. In fact, I think size and intelligence have a minimum that they need to be... Yeah, excuse me. You have to have a minimum of 40 for both intelligence and size. So hopefully everybody got at least a 40, otherwise I'll start panicking. Is it 2d6 plus 6 multiplied by 5? Yeah, as complicated as it possibly could be. 2d6 plus six times five.
Starting point is 00:25:25 And are you supposed to multiply the six times the five first? Order of operations? Ah, I'm already confused. There must be a parenthesis around the adding. Yeah, no, just 2d6. Everyone PEMDOT. Nope, throw it out. Have you done NURDL yet?
Starting point is 00:25:40 Everybody's cool on WURDL, but have you played NURDL? No, no. It's a math problem, It's a good time. What? Uh, yeah, so it'll be like, the answer will be 3 plus 7 divided by 4 minus 10 equals this. And so the equal sign and what, uh, thing is always different. Nurtle! Check it out! Alright.
Starting point is 00:25:59 Our new sponsor, Nurtle. Heh heh. Uh, what did everybody get for size? Nora, are you- 70. 70? Who is this hulking brute? I don't know! This is going against what I'm going for! Where? It's the star of the rodeo, that's who! I don't know, this is Troy's fault. This is going against what I'm... my concept.
Starting point is 00:26:21 As I said this morning in an email,'re the traveling strongman I think. You abandoned your life in the circus. Thanks I hate it. Rob what'd you get for size? I got a 60. 60 okay so you're right down Broad Street you're right down the middle with these stats so we need that high int character to come rolling in. Ross what'd you get? I got a 50. Okay, all right. And Cade? I got a 70 also. Ooh, all right.
Starting point is 00:26:50 All right, interesting. Let's get to Dex. Dex is gonna be important. Who's gonna be quick? Who's gonna be nimble? Who's gonna be flexible? Is this roll three, D six,6 and then divide or multiply rather? Excuse me. Yes. 3d6 times five.
Starting point is 00:27:10 Yikes. Okay. Uh oh. Right. Well, I hope, I hope this, this person, let's just say, I hope they're, I hope they're attractive or something. That's really what I'm hoping. That they have something going for them. I hope for appearance at this point.
Starting point is 00:27:31 What did you get, Nora? I'm just fixing my mind. 55. 55. Okay. Rob, Dex? 40. Oh, goodness gracious.
Starting point is 00:27:41 Yeah, I'm clumsy. It's gonna be great. You clumsy oaf. You clumsy man. What about Yeah, I'm clumsy. It's gonna be great. You clumsy oaf. You clumsy man. What about you, Ross? 35. 35. Rolled some snake eyes there in that,
Starting point is 00:27:55 those D6s. Stay in the back of the bunch. What about you? It's starting to come together? Yeah, see, I'm not, you'll figure this out. Kate? 65. 65. Rolling rocks over there. I can hide behind. All right, next up while I do this on air is going to be appearance. Who's going to be the real looker of the group? That's also gonna be 3d6 times five.
Starting point is 00:28:25 Don't knock appearance, it's the charisma stat of this is like sometimes you can get a lot done on appearance alone. Oh no. You ugly oaf. Rob, what'd you get? What is four times five again? 20. That's not good. Rob, what'd you get? What is four times five again? 20. That's a 20.
Starting point is 00:28:49 I'm horrifying. 20 appearance. It's ridiculous. That's incredible. That's great for both the character self-esteem and my own. I'm starting to feel this is how God made me. By the way, while we're on appearance for one quick second, I did notice through the rule book, and I take a little offense at this as someone who is 40, is that they tell you, once you go past
Starting point is 00:29:15 40, you start taking points off of your appearance? I think that's bullshit. I feel like I've only gotten more attractive, and I've gotten older. That That's gonna stop soon. That is ageist. But 40, come on. Anyway. Who says you hit your stride before 40? Like a fine one. Not everyone peaks before 40. Exactly. Although you get more, I think, education points.
Starting point is 00:29:37 You do, but who gives a shit? Who gives a shit if you're ugly and smart? Or you smoke show and that's your freakin' brain? No one's gonna wanna look at you're ugly? It's smart. We're in a smoke show, not some freakin' brain. No one's gonna wanna look at you, no matter how smart you are. Yeah, PhD, I'll go. Fuck off. You know what's funny is they tell you
Starting point is 00:29:53 what a 20 appearance means. A 15 appearance is ugly. It's just ugly. Possibly disfigured due to an injury or at birth. This is great. It's horrible. But. Yeah but that's a 15. So maybe yours was just you got hit in the face by a Car yeah something yeah, just directly a car on the face All right, so 20 appearance. What'd you get Nora? 70 you beautiful Adonis. She's got it all.
Starting point is 00:30:25 The girl can't have everything. I need to know what my dump stat's gonna be like. Something really bad. You should just loan some points to Rob at the end of this. There's always, the point buy is not a bad idea. So is an option. I've been looking at the point buy. That's more math.
Starting point is 00:30:41 That's a lot of math. It is more math. This is why I just didn't want to do it. Yeah. Like I'll just roll it. math. This is why I just didn't want to do it Yeah, like I'll just roll it. Yeah This is going quite well for you and Kate Ross. What'd you get for appearance? I got a 50 so yeah, straight down them in a way I'm jealous of Rob because I'm just like I'm like he's average
Starting point is 00:31:02 Hey new crowd 50 appearances average human appearance using neutral human It's funny above a 90 is one of the most beautiful people you could meet natural magnetism Okay, what did you get for appearance 50 also 50 all right couple of average looking people to trot around this Disfigured not they're gonna look way better than that around me. It's just like by comparison. Yeah Comparison you're all in the 70s All right, let's get to Intelligence okay, this is gonna play a pretty big role in this game You're gonna want have some smats.
Starting point is 00:31:46 This one is different. Judy, six plus six times five, just like we did size. Man! Okay, this is the one that I needed to be high. That in education needed to be high. Okay. You're loaded dice, What did you roll? I rolled very high again.
Starting point is 00:32:06 I rolled an 80. An 80? Intelligence? Smoke. The dice are hot, which means I'm gonna die first. I have beauty and brains. Beauty and brains. Oh.
Starting point is 00:32:19 Uh, wow. Okay, Rob, what'd you do for intelligence? I got an 80. Okay! All right. Now turns this character completely around. Oh, big time. Big time.
Starting point is 00:32:30 Okay, great. And Ross? 70. Ooh, it's a smart group. Not shabby. Kate? I got a 70 also. Wow, all right, that is very good.
Starting point is 00:32:44 Listen, Troy, between now and the first episode that we play, if you need me to lower any of these, I will do it, because this is not normal for... Well, this is kind of the risk reward of the role system. It's like, some people are going to be superhuman, but honestly, with this adventure, there's no such thing as like, my stats are too high. This is a killer.
Starting point is 00:33:08 You just might last slightly longer than your friends. Now I'll probably die first, just given, just for irony. Well, this is gonna be, this is gonna be interesting because I don't, there are some who would say this role isn't that important. I think this role is very important your power Stat because your power stat determines what your sanity is So give me 3d 6 times 5 and if ever you needed to pray to your outer gods
Starting point is 00:33:40 Now is the time Now is the time. Oh no. I think somebody's already having a break. Nora, have you cheated your way into a high power as well? No, I got a 60. That's pretty good though. That's still good. Oh.
Starting point is 00:34:00 Yeah. What must it be like to be you? Sounds horrible. I'm just over here with my 30 power This poor guy's not gonna make it out of book one Rob how's your power? It's 50. Just yeah, all right average power. Yeah, that's good By the way that that will be the name of my autobiography Yeah Power. Yeah, that's good. By the way, that will be the name of my autobiography. Average of Power. The Rob Duggeridge story? Yeah. With Forward by Scott Bakula?
Starting point is 00:34:30 Yeah, exactly. Who is this again? That's the whole... That's it. That's the end. That's the blurb. Forward by Scott Bakula. Who is this again? Who am I writing this for?
Starting point is 00:34:43 That's a really short forward. Love the book, Rick. Kay, what'd you get for power? I shit you not, I got an 85. 85 for power? I rolled two sixes and a five. You guys are gonna like, walk into the lair of Nyarlathotep
Starting point is 00:35:00 and I'm gonna die by stepping on a rake. Ten extra points for just pronouncing it correctly. Yeah, that's right. Side show Bobbit. Wow. It is. Stepping on all the rakes. It is ladies night here.
Starting point is 00:35:13 It's time for chaos. This is kind of hilarious. This is gonna be a sitcom now. All right, so let's talk education. Could be important, could not be important. Depends on what way you wanna go. This is gonna be the one I get a thousand in. What's nice is like depending on your age,
Starting point is 00:35:29 you can improve this score. Because if you're at least 20 to 39, you could make an improvement check for your education. And that's gonna happen right after this. But then the older you are, you could make multiple improvement checks, because it kind of assumes that you've been through more schooling or you're streetwise or whatever.
Starting point is 00:35:47 So this is the one stat you don't have to stress too much about. 2d6 plus 6 times 5. What did you get? Hulk Hogan? 55. 55, okay. You're too busy working out to go to school. I needed the education one to be high. That's okay.
Starting point is 00:36:18 Maybe things didn't work out or make their character a little bit older and you'll get those education improvements. Yeah, I don't wanna do that though. Rob Rob what did you roll for education? I got 50. 50 okay. Ross? 65. And Kate? We're all average I got a 50. Okay what this group has in spades in terms of size and power. It lacks in education. The one stat I needed to be high, Troy.
Starting point is 00:36:50 Well, I mean, we're all friends here. I think that if you could flip your size or your intelligence... I could swap it out for size. You want to swap it out for size? Yeah. Yeah, because that's a 2d6 plus 6 and any of you can do a swap. Intelligence, we're all friends here, intelligence, size and education are all 2D6 plus 6. If you want to swap those around because you've got a concept that fits it, feel free.
Starting point is 00:37:15 And then the other ones you could swap as well. But size, intelligence and education, those ones roll a little bit differently. So you can't like switch your size with your power. Yeah, let's have some fun here. Did anybody have, uh, does anybody have three scores under 50? Um, yes. You do?
Starting point is 00:37:38 What if we have two scores at 50 and then two scores under 50? Alright, that's- Did anybody else like that? Me. You had two 50s and a 35. Two 50s and a 35. Okay, so that means you rolled a, you each have re-rolled at least three 10s.
Starting point is 00:37:57 So one of the other things they offer here is like an optional thing just to beef you up, just so you don't feel bad. Right when we start the adventure is modifying your lore world three or more under ten roll an additional d6 and whatever you roll add those points to your thing so obviously you already did the math but like if you rolled in a let just you know I mean like divide it by five and you'll know what that number was and then add whatever you want to it.
Starting point is 00:38:26 Does that make sense? And then multiply it by five again? And then multiply it by five again. So let's say you rolled for your 50. That means you rolled a 10. Let's say you roll a four on a D6. You got four points you can play with. Let's say, you know what?
Starting point is 00:38:40 I want to put two of those points into that 10 I rolled. So now that's a 12 times five becomes a 60. Now you get two other points to play with. Okay. Got it. I've done my best to make that as complicated as possible. Yeah, I'm sorry. I have an intelligence score of 20, so I didn't catch that. Let's all start.
Starting point is 00:39:01 Kate, Rob and Ross roll a D6. Great. Okay, I rolled a three. As did I. Same. Wow. Great. That means we get to reroll. Ready.
Starting point is 00:39:12 What's a- Yatsy. Everybody reroll. What's a stat, Ross, that you'd like to improve? Okay, I would like to improve my, let's say my intelligence or dexterity. What's your intelligence right now? The intelligence is 70.
Starting point is 00:39:29 70. I feel like I, I gotta have something. All right, so if your intelligence is 70, because I am very tired, that means if you divide that by five, that's a 14. So let's take that 14. You could make that a five, that's a 14. So let's take that 14. You could make that a 15, 16, or 17. She's got three points to play around with.
Starting point is 00:39:50 Once you decide that, multiply that new number by five, and then whatever you have left over, you can throw into some other stats. Rob, you had like a, maybe you wanna take your appearance up, or maybe you wanna play around with this real ugly son of a bitch. It's up to you.
Starting point is 00:40:03 I mean, here's the thing. I don't mind being in the game. I don't mind being ugly but my question is Appearance is what kind of is the equivalent of like charisma, right? Yeah, like you're probably not gonna be the face of the operation and there's nothing you can really do with those three points That's gonna change that right the difference is will you be shunned in public? Because you're so hideous.
Starting point is 00:40:28 So get that beast out of this restaurant! That's my son! I think I'll keep it. Because it feels like a gift. In a horrible... it feels like what Lovecraft would want. Yeah, I think so. He has no faith in life and existence. I feel like this is a good reflection of that. Yes, yes. He has no faith in life and existence.
Starting point is 00:40:45 I feel like this is a good reflection of that. Yes, yes. He was a horrible, horrible man. Yes. But yeah, so now you've got those three points. You could just beef up another stat that's lower. I'll be like, you know what? I'm playing with house money.
Starting point is 00:40:57 I'll kind of max up one of those things that I wanted to max up. You had a decent intelligence. Make it even better. It's up to you guys. Right, right, so I'm dividing it. Oh, sorry, go ahead, Ross. Oh no, I've made my choices.
Starting point is 00:41:07 Yeah, so I basically divided the one I wanted, altered by five, added my selected number of points from that three, and then re-multiplied by five to get my new numbers. So I bump my dexterity up to a hot, hot 47. Nice. But I also bumped up my- Is that Jackie Joyner, joiner cursey over there
Starting point is 00:41:27 Um oh no, did you just get hit in the knee by the ball-peen hammer? Exteriors low yeah, I and I bumped up my appearance a little bit so I went from a 50 to a 60 okay It's slightly above average right. It's very conceited of you, but I understand Where is everyone at? Like, I'm down to just figure out what's like a gap, and then I can, as long as it's not appearance, I can put it into that to balance things out. Yeah, is there anything here?
Starting point is 00:41:54 I mean, Nora's got every score above 80, so she can't help you with this, but. Yeah. She's a star child. Nora is a demi-god, so. Yeah, she's one of the elder gods. She's a star child. Nora is a demi-god, so. She's one of the elder gods. And we could come down.
Starting point is 00:42:09 She's what we like to call Nyarlathotep's chosen one. Yeah, tentacles will be there next week. Don't worry about it. Yeah, no, that's a good question, Rob. Like, where is the party weak right now? Yeah. I feel like you had two good intelligences. Obviously, don't sleep on power.
Starting point is 00:42:27 Kate, Ross, and Rob, you might wanna toss at least one of those into power since it controls your sanity. But I don't know, I feel like it was, I feel like Kate and Nora are so well-rounded that you guys can kinda do whatever you want. I have a 35 in strength. I was gonna put my extra into dexterity.
Starting point is 00:42:44 I think the strength. I can get up to 70 in strength if you wanna do that. That would help, yeah. You know, strength is gonna be important if you get into physical confrontations, hand-to-hand stuff. Also sometimes opening doors you're gonna wanna use. Your strength is gonna be very important
Starting point is 00:42:59 when you're combined. It's like, let's knock this door down. What's your strength and your strength? You combine it and your score has to be a certain number to even get past the strength of the door. So that's smart. Great. All right, great.
Starting point is 00:43:11 Question. Yes. We can put that extra points into any of the scores, not just the three that are low. Yeah. What were you thinking? I was gonna put it, I was thinking of doing appearance,
Starting point is 00:43:25 but I think for my character idea, I wanna just make, I wanna put all three into dexterity and put it from 65 to 80. Okay, great. Circus performer? No, don't tell me, I wanna be surprised. Now we'll talk about,
Starting point is 00:43:47 let's talk about age. I know we're not supposed to, it's impolite to ask, but how old is everybody? Because your age is going to affect your size, your strength, and your education. Well, this leads maybe to a question for you, Mr. Keeper. What year is it? Ah, I'm so glad you asked. 1920-something.
Starting point is 00:44:12 You know, I meant to look this up earlier today. Uh, I think it's 1923? Okay. I think it's 1923. It's definitely 1920-something. Would it be a di- if. Should I stress over this? It's like a big difference, but it's 1924. If you're like, well, try it. Life expectancy just in the 20s is roughly the same. I have a timeline here, but yeah, I think it's 23.
Starting point is 00:44:40 Oh god, I'm so excited to play that. You have no idea. I spent months reading this thing, because I didn't want to even start prepping until I finished reading the whole thing. And it's like two giant high school textbooks. But it is, I felt like I lost sanity reading this thing. It is absolutely amazing.
Starting point is 00:45:02 And I'm jealous that the four of you get to play this. Anyways, how old is everybody? I think with the backstory I have in mind, I wanna make her probably 28. 28, all right. Well, with 28, and this is the thing is, if you're between, if you're 20s or 30s, you just make one improvement to your education and you don't take penalties to Strength Con decks or appearance like the older you are. It's kind of like the safe route.
Starting point is 00:45:42 You just take, you make one improvement check for education. And what that means is you roll a D100 if your result is greater than your present education. So basically if you fail the roll, you add one D10 to your education score. Okay. No, I passed, I got a 20. Okay. So I don't add anything. That's all right. You're already superhuman.
Starting point is 00:46:06 Right? Not completely. Ross, how old are you? How old is Ross? No, your character. I think this character I was going to answer the exact same way. I think 28. 28. Was it like 29?
Starting point is 00:46:21 Okay. Then you will just, same same as Nora make one improvement check for education. What is your education score? My education score is 65. All right so you want a 66 or higher and if you get it you'll boost your education. Okay. I got a 64. Oh! Not. So close. Oh you want it to get higher that's right., this is the one time when you want to get higher for these education roles just under them the mockery of You just you like you couldn't get your degree, but I know I know I know why See that's that's how we make a story Kate
Starting point is 00:47:02 How old is your character? I was thinking late 30s. Late 30s but not 40s? No. Okay. Same thing then. One improvement check for education. What's your current education? My current education is 50. 50? Okay. Go either way. 51 or how you got a 50% chance here? I got a 51! Oh my god! Wow, okay, so the first improvement. So go ahead and roll a d10. And whatever you get, you add to your score.
Starting point is 00:47:36 It could be a 1 through a 10. That's fun. I got a 0. I got a 10! Oh, that's 10? Okay, you have a Horseshoe around your neck for these roles. Okay, so that's that's gonna bring your education all the way up to a 60 amazing
Starting point is 00:47:55 Rob, you've had some time to think about how old is this ugly human? He's uh, I think he's 39 and 11 months That's I had a I had a feeling he would be right in that ballpark. He's right up to the edge. Right. Well, happy almost birthday. What is your current education? It's 50 right now.
Starting point is 00:48:15 Okay, so give me a 51 or higher and you'll get an improvement. Only Kate has gotten improvement so far. Yeah, I got a 91. Okay, great. So roll a D10 and add that to your current education. I got a 3. Okay, that's alright. You know what it is? It's better than a 2 or a 1. There you go, thanks. Put it in perspective. That's how I like to look at things.
Starting point is 00:48:40 Let's talk about derived attributes. The beautiful thing about Roll20, if you purchase the Call of Cthulhu set, you get access to these character sheets and chefs kiss. They do all the math for you. So your sanity points should equal your power characteristic. Your magic points should equal one fifth of your power. Now when I ran Bleak Prospect for Nora and Becca and Joe and Matthew, what was that, seven years ago? Because that's what it feels like. It was last year.
Starting point is 00:49:14 It wasn't seven years ago. Last year. We didn't give any magic points to the point that I didn't even read the section on magics. I'm like, I know this isn't the adventure. I'm not going to deal with it. Magic points come into play in this story. Big time, you will be finding books that have like spells to contact the void to like call monsters to your side. And your magic points are what you use to cast these spells. You might find a spell that is so far above you that you don't have the magic points to do that.
Starting point is 00:49:49 But, and I might be paraphrasing, I think you can still cast those spells by draining all your magic points and start eating away at your hit points. So you're like selling your soul in order to enact these rituals. This is high level Call of Cthulhu play that we'll be getting into. It is wild. Wild. And the magic points again are one-fifth of your power? One-fifth of your power. And like any of these stats we'll have improvement phases, constant improvement phases throughout this adventure where you'll gain sanity, you'll gain intelligence, you'll make your statistics, you'll gain appearance.
Starting point is 00:50:29 You went with a part on the right, you stood to the left. I should, can I make like masks? Like, what was that show? Boardwalk Empire, remember? Yeah, just full on Janie Jr. You'll make improvements as you go and one thing we'll have to make sure that we track is like anytime you roll a check that you fail during a session you mark that box and then between sessions you have a chance to improve that because every time you fail you have an opportunity to get better at it so there's like a little downtime between each session where you'll roll and maybe have a chance to improve that skill that you failed on
Starting point is 00:51:08 This game is so beautiful. So I'll say the sanity points was equal to power equal to pal Pow and that goes on if you're looking at the sheet. It's gonna go on the right side of the Yes, let me look here. The backslash thing? Yeah, if you rate it, it's like a little... Yeah, so it's gonna go on the right side. I'm not sure why, like if you look on the sheet, it says 25 out of 13 for hit points. Just look at the right side. Okay.
Starting point is 00:51:35 I don't know, maybe 25 is the maximum amount of hit points a human could ever have. That's the only thing I can think. I meant to look that up earlier, but you just have to worry about the right side and your sanity you have to enter in yourself So go ahead and just put your pow in this The sheet is not Not without its I don't want to say it's how it's flaws I think there's a reason that they did that probably because there's different things you can do to change your sanity now
Starting point is 00:52:03 Let's talk about luck. Luck is a cool stat and I will be using the optional rule for luck in this game in that let's say you're like I want to do I find this ledger I want to and you can't make heads or tails of it and I'll be like all right give, give me an accounting roll. I just need a regular success and you've got a 40 for accounting and you roll a 45 and you're like, mother, you can spend your luck points and with this optional rule, you could spend five luck points to get it down to a 40 so you succeed. Now luck, eventually your luck will run out and then between each session, you'll roll to see if you get some of that luck back or if you don't.
Starting point is 00:52:49 And so it kind of mimics how at any time throughout your adventure, you might be really, really riding a hot lucky streak or just ice cold, depending on how you use this luck economy. So it's a very cool stat. Whatever you roll here, if you roll low, don't worry about it. If you roll high, don't worry about it because it could fluctuate
Starting point is 00:53:12 throughout the game where some days you're riding high with 90 points of luck and you're like I failed that role, but you know, you need to succeed. I'm going to spend 50 points of luck to make that as a hard success and then next week you only have 10 points of luck. So 3d6 times five and that's gonna be your luck score. 2d6 plus six. Three, 3d6 times five.
Starting point is 00:53:37 Oh, my book says 2d6 plus six. How dare your book correct me. Live on air. No, you could very well be right. I'm just looking at the key. Maybe it's your alternate rule. No, cause I'm looking right at the quick reference investigator generation.
Starting point is 00:53:57 Do you guys see that as a 2d6 plus six? Oh, you know what? Also in this rule book, the header says roll 2d6 plus six? Oh, you know what? Also in this rule book, the header says roll 2d6 plus six, but then in the description, it's like roll 3d6. Yeah, 3d6. Are you reading the sixth edition rule book, Kay? I found a typo. Who do I email?
Starting point is 00:54:16 Send an email to Chaosium. I'll get outside, I'll shoot the email. They'll do a full reprint and recall. 3d6 times five. Who's feeling lucky? Ross, what'd you get? You got a 45. 45, great.
Starting point is 00:54:32 Respectable? Kate? Very respectable, I got that as well. Ah, 45. Respect, respect. Respect. Robert? I got a 60.
Starting point is 00:54:42 60. You lucky son of a gun all right This is so fun Okay, now your hit points how durable are these people gonna be it equals your size plus your con Divided by 10 and rounded down think of the minds that create these games How did they like play test this enough to be like, ah, figure it out. Divided by.
Starting point is 00:55:07 It's size plus con divided by size. So I think, do your sheets do that automatically for you? Yes, they do. I think so, yeah. It's just beautiful. Why are we wasting time talking about it? Let's talk about move rate. Did it calculate your move rate automatically or no? Where is that?
Starting point is 00:55:25 I'm just trying to find out where that is. You know the beauty of move rate is this isn't a D20 system and it's like alright, my dwarf can move 20 feet, one box, two box, three box. It's more about like I need to get from point A to point B. Troy, can I get there? And I'll be like, well, what's your move? Yeah, yeah, sure. Or like, oh. If you look under combat, it has calculated it for you under that, like their skills combat backstory.
Starting point is 00:55:53 Yes, you can click on those little, what a beautiful character sheet. All right, so. Oh, yeah, okay. All right, so it already did it for you. So it's calculated for you there. Beautiful. Did it? Mine doesn't have a number in it, just has like the placeholder number of eight.
Starting point is 00:56:09 Oh yeah, mine has eight too, I thought that was. If your strength. Yeah, that might be the default. Well, if your strength or your dex are equal to or greater than your size, then it's an eight. Okay. Eight is kind of the standard. If your dex and your strength are less than your size, it would be a seven. And then if your dex and your strength are greater than your size, it
Starting point is 00:56:34 would be a nine. And then if anyone was in their 40s or older, you start losing a point of no so. I mean, what the hell? Rude, so rude. God damn it. Good lord. Yep, wildly accurate. I'm fast. Wildly accurate. This truly is a horror game. I was looking out the window today and I just fell. Oh yeah? Out the window?
Starting point is 00:57:00 My wife was like, what the hell, what are you doing? She was like, you were just looking out the window and you just fell like, yeah, no, I just, I literally just fell looking out the window. So losing a point. Yeah, true story. It happened about an hour ago. I was like, did Amazon leave a fuck? I twisted my ankle in my sleep.
Starting point is 00:57:22 Woke up one morning and was hobbled because I somehow twisted my ankle while sleeping. So I think deducting one move from your 40s is actually a gift. It's wildly inaccurate. So scared to become 40. You know I move too fast or fall out of winter. Is that Amazon? Ah! I was wiped out. Oh god. What's wrong with daddy?
Starting point is 00:57:44 Why is it dangerous and confusing to me. Yelling at clouds and falling out of windows. The high point of my day was walking in the mailbox. That's where I'm at in life. Could be some coupons in there. I should ask, does anybody have less than a 40 in intelligence or size right now? No, okay, great They recommend don't go lower than that and no one's above a 90 or lower than a 15. I know
Starting point is 00:58:15 this Circus Freak is a borderline. I'm scared of the line. I'm right there. All right. We've done the education obviously when we put your when you put your stats in, the character sheet calculated your one half values and your one fifth values for you, which is great. Obviously, there's a table in the book. It can get a little pedantic, but those are gonna be important
Starting point is 00:58:37 because if you've got a 70 for power, and I'm like, give me a power roll. I just need a regular success. It's gonna be under a 70. If I need a regular success, it's gonna be under a 70. If I need a hard success, it's gonna be under 35, your half value. And if I need an extreme success, it's gonna be under your one fifth value.
Starting point is 00:58:55 So it's nice that the sheet does that for you. Again, a very elegant system for a simpler time. Let's talk about, oh my God, is it time? It's time. It's time? I would love to wait, but I think it's time we talk about it. I think it's time we talk about occupations.
Starting point is 00:59:15 Already? Okay. And we'll do it right after this word from our sponsor. Which is right now. What does everybody wanna do with their life, huh? What do you wanna be when you grow up in this fantasy world? I have something very specific. Nora, you're chomping at the bit. I feel like you're going to dip out of frame
Starting point is 00:59:39 and then come up as the dark. Yeah. My cosplay's ready. I just like, like pan and then stand back. I have something very specific. Okay. Here we are here. Postgraduate student of cryptologic research
Starting point is 00:59:56 at Miskatonic University with a focus on occult cryptography. That was my major. That was my major. That is awesome for a number of reasons that I can't tell you, but obviously invoking the Miscatonic University, the fake university of the Lovecraft setting is very smart as well. I love it. I love it. So you would be based in Massachusetts? That's right. At M-A-N-O-C. I love it. I love it. So you would be based in Massachusetts? That's right. At M.A. and O.C. Awesome. Okay, I really like that.
Starting point is 01:00:31 So what would be the technical occupation as listed in the book? Is there a student? Oh yeah, student is the very, very basic form of that. Okay. Great. And you'll see as you choose your occupation, or you find the one that like kind of matches what your idea is. It's going to have a list of skills. Yep. Got it right here. credit rating, and then occupation skill points. And we'll get into how those are distributed shortly. But it
Starting point is 01:01:02 helps you out in that way. And that like, you've got sort of kind of like class skills, your class skills as a student are blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All right, I like this. So once again, a postgraduate student at the Miskatonic University studying a cult, a cult with a like a focus on a cult cryptography, a cult cryptography and crypt cryptography is that? That's the study of codes and ciphers. Codes, oh man, that's great.
Starting point is 01:01:32 That's great. Okay, I love it, I love it, I love it. Tough act to follow. So let's put Kate on the spot, because Kate, you, you were the other one that came in. I feel like you had your idea. You're ready to go. Nothing was going to change it.
Starting point is 01:01:48 Tell us about this dexterous person you're thinking of. I'm going to be an artist. An artist? I'm going to be an artist. My mom wanted me to go to school and do something else. And I was like, no, mom, I'm going to hang out with my friends and get high and drunk and paint and Do woodcuts. So listen, they're gonna be German and They're gonna be really into like I think I want to make them
Starting point is 01:02:15 Like maybe they were part of the blue riders, which was like, I'm a German expressionist movement in like the 1910 1915 when you Expressionist movement in like the 1910 1915 when you Told us of like oh, we're gonna play call of Cthulhu and then like I thought about like what I would want to be For some reason I thought about an artist and I thought about one of Kirchner's paintings that's one of my favorite paintings ever of one of his like Dresden scenes where it's just like
Starting point is 01:02:48 neon and like in a book it doesn't look like this but when you see it in person it's just like overwhelming and it's creepy the way that he drew it or painted it and part of me was like, oh be like an artist who is a German expressionist who like maybe there's something like loose up there. And that's why they're painting these like dark cryptic things of like ordinary scenes. And also you always have a little bit of you in every character that you make, whether you want to or not, and I majored in art. So.
Starting point is 01:03:19 This is a very strong start. This is fucking awesome. I've never heard of the Blue Riders. Kandinsky was a Blue Rider. Der Blau Rider. Oh, I said it wrong. So Kandinsky and then they were the Blue Riders. I meant the bridge.
Starting point is 01:03:34 It's D. Bruch. They were the German Expressionists. The Blue Riders were like the French Expressionists and they got a little abstract and stuff. I was kind of going back and forth between that, but I didn't want to do a French accent. Did you go to MoMA recently? It appears they're doing a Dibruk exhibition of MoMA as we speak. They are? Guys field trip Let's do it!
Starting point is 01:03:56 Montage Quick montage of us at the MoMA And it's like that scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off where we're all just watching the movie. I can show you the painting. I have it. I don't have it. I have, I got this book. You have the original?
Starting point is 01:04:12 When I went and saw the Kirschner exhibition, probably at MoMA, I bought this book and I was like so broke, but I bought it anyway. It was probably like $70. Wow. And this is the painting. Look how creepy that little girl is with her bonnet. It looks like a mountain teeth and it's so dark, but also so bright at the same time. Yes.
Starting point is 01:04:33 So something is haunting their dreams in a way like maybe something from beyond the dark tapestry is entering into this German expressionist painter. Holy shit, I love it. Ross, where you at? Ross, correct me if I'm wrong. I feel like you came in, had a couple ideas, but you were kinda in the, let's see what happens, and as these roles started to go, this has evolved.
Starting point is 01:05:02 Yes, the picture is coalescing. We have average size, average dexterity. Like a better than average appearance, like decent education, decent intelligence. But a low constitution. This tells me that this is a person who's maybe a little bit dissolute or has some physical power, but maybe not the oomph to use it. And so I think what we're dealing with... I'm picking from the book, The Occupation of Dilatant. Nice. book, The Occupation of Dilettante. Nice. So I'm thinking like a second son of like, minor aristocracy. It's like, courses set, go to university, get a humanities degree, then start like tending the estates. But then of course, war breaks out. So he does this is the
Starting point is 01:06:07 reason why his education is interrupted. Because because all good folks and and this means that he would be English and would go to go to war. So it's not to be cowardly and got wounded, hence the loss of constitution sent back. And I think that wound is also a little mental, hence his low power and low sanity. And maybe spend a little time in a hospital like the Craig Lockhart Convalescent Hospital, where some of the war poets like Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen were, has got out. A lot of those guys who survived World War I scattered to the corners of the Empire. It's like, let's climb Everest, because I don't have a way of really processing this trauma, so let's just do things with it. Good for the lungs, you know. Good for the lungs, give me a blow. God, they're sherpa, just take me off the mountainside.
Starting point is 01:07:08 Yeah, so it's that sort of energy. Oh my god, it started out sounding like Buster Bluth, the next rich second son that was just going on expeditions, but now it's much darker. They've advanced something called Hero Squad. All right, so we have this Miskatonic University graduate student of cryptology, a German expressionist painter, an artist in general, and this British dilettante veteran. this British dilettante veteran.
Starting point is 01:07:49 I'm thinking like it's almost like it's like a cracked version of like a Robert Graves and yeah, working with a German. So like, oh, that's gotta be fun. Had a bit of trouble with the Bosch, but we'll see. We'll see if we come to an accord. Yeah. I imagine the artist, how jingoistic is the German expressionist painting? Jingoistic? That's like... isn't that like overly patriotic?
Starting point is 01:08:15 Yeah, like proud of being German. Oh, actually, Hitler said that the paintings that Kirchner made and the Debrooke group were awful. Degenerate. He hated, degenerate. So I think that's most as that gets. All right, so there might be a chance for them to get along. Perhaps a love story? I don't know, I'm just stirring the pot.
Starting point is 01:08:42 Rob, where you at with this crazy, I mean, this is, you're the wild card. You're the Charlie Day of this, I think. So, the two things I was thinking about now, I didn't really like look at deep at what the stats were that they would rely on, and they both seem to be about appearance. So I need some help here.
Starting point is 01:09:01 I was gonna go either con man, So I need some help here. I was gonna go either con man and an idea about a guy who had Married a much older widow with the plans. It's like when she dies. I'm getting the inheritance here But and I don't know if this steps on any story ideas, but maybe she's just like not dying ideas. But maybe she's just like not dying. She's like super old and continues to live on. And he's getting more and more like, what is going on here?
Starting point is 01:09:38 And I don't know if she because she's involved in some interdimensional cultist, whatever, that's prolonging her life or whatever. Oh, interesting. So that was sort of where I was going. Although now he's Horrifying to look at so I didn't know if I did a similar after marrying her He gets kicked in the face by a horse He's like helping her on the horse like yes, or whatever you want my darling and then Now he's extra resentful because he was a con man who relied on a lot of like e and now that's gone and he's still not made any money I'd love
Starting point is 01:10:11 this like you he got married for opportunistic reasons like the old the old bats gonna die any day now and it's just been a living hell of getting kicked in the face by horses yes no problem my sweet I'll go ahead and repair some of those shingles I'll sweep the chimney what could go wrong? Now but I don't want to necessarily you know That I don't know if that works with the mechanics. Oh, I think it does. I absolutely think it does. I mean, it's kind of amazing. It's like this inadvertent long con.
Starting point is 01:10:48 And now your con game that relied on your looks is over. And so this expedition to leave is a perfect excuse for you to get away from it. And then maybe she'll die while you're gone. I don't know. I like it. And I like that it kind of plays against what you would normally think,
Starting point is 01:11:07 because like, oh, this Debonair con man. Right, because it could be fun if he's still relying on old habits, where he thinks he can pull something off, forgetting that he is missing half his face or whatever. Like, you know, he's like, don't worry guys, I got this, I'll let you saunter up to the bar, and everyone's just like sliding away. How this used to go, and he's like, don't worry guys, I got this, uh, I'll just saunter up to the bar and everyone's just like sliding away. He's like, this is not how this used to go.
Starting point is 01:11:27 And he's also, that's making him more resentful about his situation because he's like, I don't even have, I don't even have my looks, man. Um. He could still be like a great talker though, you know, because you could put a ton of points into charm, like he has all of those skills, but now, you know, you said earlier, we were joking about maybe a mask, but maybe he does have a mask to hide this, and so he's still, he's got all that charm, but he doesn't have his main weapon anymore, which was his look.
Starting point is 01:11:58 I was thinking since, I don't know, I can't remember, I feel like I read somewhere in the book about intelligence doesn't necessarily mean like, book smart, like you can't remember, I feel like I read somewhere in the book about intelligence doesn't necessarily mean like book smart like you can like if he's got an 80 and in like street smarts or whatever, you know That's where his intelligence lies is So, you know, he's kind of can be crafty that way But I don't know if that's stepping on the toes of another stat that would Be relied on instead, you know what I mean? No, I don't think so. Yeah, you could really, the system is made for you
Starting point is 01:12:26 to break it for lack of a better word, you know. So I think that it's only gonna make it much more interesting. I love this. So it sounds like we know where everyone else is based unless this British guy is not in England right now. Yeah, I think he might be one of these guys that's like one week he's, um, like traipsing through the Raj, one week he's in Nepal, one week he's like, uh, in, in Australia,
Starting point is 01:12:55 like, uh, just taking the, he has the, he has the resources and they, and he's running from himself. Yeah. Oh man, you're not gonna last long. No way. You're gonna just roleplay breaks even when you pass sanity check. I was describing almost like this sort of Martinette. I think it's a little more sensitive. He's a sweet boy.
Starting point is 01:13:21 I think he and Kate's character are going along just fine. I love this. So we've got this con man, a student, an artist, and a dilettante. And so you said, Rob, there is a con man occupation. It's in the investigators' handbook. There is, yeah. It's under criminal. Okay, great. So now all of you have chosen your occupations. Fucking brilliant. And you see that each occupation, I think all of these say Lovecraftian. I don't think anybody says Modern. Obviously no one's a hacker.
Starting point is 01:13:52 But if anything says Modern, just ignore those skills. But for example, Dilaton. Your skills, I'll now explain what this means, is Artcraft Any. So you can choose, like you put decide to put points of that art craft Origami, you know, whatever Firearms other languages ride one interpersonal skill like charm fast talk intimidate persuade like Rob
Starting point is 01:14:19 You sound like some would be like charm and fast talk Yeah, and then any three other skills and so what that means is out of those skills you can allocate what your occupation skill points are to any of those so for a dilettante it's your education it's funny where do they come up with this education times two plus appearance times two so what number is that? Great. Education times 2 is 130 plus appearance times 2. So it's 250 altogether. 250. So you have 250 points that you can allocate in any way you want between those skills that are listed in your occupation. You're going to have a chance for personal skills that you can use to either bolster
Starting point is 01:15:10 these skills now if you want to min-max or spread around other skills that don't fall into this wheelhouse. But even the dilettante, unlike other occupations, you can choose those skills or any three other skills because the dilettante has different focuses. Maybe your focus was archaeology. And so you can use that if you wanted to. But you've got, what did you say, 250 points? That's right.
Starting point is 01:15:35 To put into that. Now, one thing I have to look up real quickly, and you'll see each of you have, depending on your things, student. What is student's what is students? Occupation skill points. It's education times four. So for me, it's going to be 280 points allocate. Jeepers. Okay. Um, and the skills, it did say one of them says language owner other, and I do want my
Starting point is 01:16:01 character to be Arabic. So I think I want to have Arabic language as one of those skills. Yeah, don't sleep on languages. I think that was something else I said to you. All of you need to be at least fluent in English, but having access to other languages is only gonna help you in this campaign.
Starting point is 01:16:20 However, you're always gonna have access to guides and translators that can help you along the way Wow, will it be great though? If you just happen to be in an Arabic setting and not have to rely on the help of someone who you don't know If you can trust yeah All right. So the one thing I need to check so each of you Calculate what your occupation skill points are is Each of you calculate what your occupation skill points are. Is credit rating.
Starting point is 01:16:47 Credit rating for each of you. So Dilaton is 50 to 99. What that means is you need to allocate a certain amount of points to get your credit rating between 50 and 99. And your credit rating is basically to determine how much money you have. Because this game doesn't work like other games. Like you found four gold pieces. I can buy a dagger.
Starting point is 01:17:07 No, it's like, what is your base credit rating? I want to be able to do that. I'll be like, all right, give me a credit rating check. You know what? I don't think you can afford that. So it's much more loosey goosey, so you're not doing a bunch of bookkeeping about like, I want to buy this thing. Ah, I don't have enough money.
Starting point is 01:17:24 What's your credit rating? Oh, no, you're fine. You can buy it. The fact, by the way, that they used credit rating as a phrase in this book, like I got flop sweats first. It was like, oh, God, no, no, no, no, please don't ask me. And there's a credit score now. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's BS, man. They don't do this in other games. They want to make it that real life. And give me a credit score now? Yeah. Yeah, it's BS, man. They don't do this in other games.
Starting point is 01:17:45 I'm gonna make it that real life. Gotta give me a credit score. You gotta roll for how many credit cards you can keep open to increase your credit score, which somehow makes no sense. All right, so I'm pretty sure I could be wrong. You need to use this pool to bring your credit rating in that range.
Starting point is 01:18:04 So of the points that you gather via the occupation skill points, you must allocate, in my case, between 50 and 99 of those towards the credit rating. Right, and you'll have personal skill points as well that we'll get to in a second that you can also allocate. But I'm pretty sure that you have to use your occupational skill points
Starting point is 01:18:24 to get your credit rating within that range So how many points did you say you get 250 250? Yeah, you've got to put at least 50 into credit rating so it's a little limiting in that sense, but You know for a student, what's the student credit rating range? Oh low right five to ten You've got 280 and you only have to put five. If you want to, you can put more, but you can't put more than 10. That's the one drawback.
Starting point is 01:18:50 You have to stay within that range at character creation. So calculate those numbers and start dropping those skill points in, and then we don't have to go through everything. Oh, what'd you do? But I will want like sort of the highs and lows of what people have thrown their points into. What's nice about the occupational skill points is you're limited. You know, you're by your occupation.
Starting point is 01:19:15 You only get so many things. Where is it? Where is it? Criterating on the sheet? Yeah, that under our craft. Okay. Thank you. Alphabetical. There, okay. Thank you.
Starting point is 01:19:25 It's alphabetical. There it is. Thank you. Okay. One thing to keep in mind, you'll see a skill called Cthulhu Mythos. I'm pretty sure no one has that as an occupational skill. If you do, let me know. Where is that?
Starting point is 01:19:41 Under which... It's a skill under... La la la la. It's a skill under... La la la la. It's under Artcraft. Oh. You'll see Gatholomithos. Oh, I got a zero.
Starting point is 01:19:53 Yeah. So, oh, this is one other thing. Every skill has a base score. So for example, Climb, and I'm looking at Rob. I think Accounting, it probably says one or something like that, right? Uh, accounting, I have a five for some reason. Okay, is that the base?
Starting point is 01:20:13 Maybe that's the base. Anyways, all of these scores have bases, and you add to that base. So if you decide, like, I want to put 10 points into accounting, then your accounting would be a 15, not a 10 10 because you've got a base score so yeah accounting always starts at 5% so whenever you allocate points you're allocating to whatever's there so library use always 20% very useful skill uh spot when you allocate points you're adding to that adding to that score yeah but the one thing i was going to say is about Cthulhu mythos, you cannot add points to Cthulhu mythos. The Cthulhu mythos skill is unlocked
Starting point is 01:20:50 throughout play as you are confronted by the horrors of the Cthulhu mythos. And what happens is as your skill goes up in Cthulhu mythos, your sanity goes down by the same exact amount as you start to like understand what else exists beyond what you see. So take a moment and kind of divvy around let me know if you have some stuff to talk about and I'm just gonna chat a little bit about what happens after this but you don't have to listen to me. So the the skills that are listed under our specific occupation,
Starting point is 01:21:27 those are skill, like is it like D&D, where it's like I'm proficient in that, or that's the only things I can add points to? It's the latter. Yeah. It's what I can add points to. It's what you can add points to. But I think like Ross, some of you will have things that says, and any other X amount of skills,
Starting point is 01:21:41 and then you can just choose. So the Dilithon can choose like three other skills that aren't listed there To allocate those points does the con man have that or no? No, it's I can choose between two interpersonal skills and they list like four of them in terms of okay in terms of options Yeah, when you we get to the personal skills point you can put those anywhere you want but yeah, you're limited by You have to put those points into credit rating to get it within that range and then whatever else you want. And you could honestly put all of them into charm if you wanted to.
Starting point is 01:22:13 Well, you couldn't have, you have to keep it below 90. Nothing can go above 90. Okay. And so if mine says, so for skills, mine says language, owner, other, library use, listened, three fields of study, and any two other skills as personal or error specialties. So because I said cryptology, could I add that as one of my skills
Starting point is 01:22:35 and allocate points to it? Oh yeah, and you absolutely should, I mean, cause that's gonna come in handy and it's the type of thing, you're like, can I use my cryptology here? And nine times out of 10, I'm gonna be like, yup. So, languages. It says you're proficient in your own language.
Starting point is 01:22:51 For me, I'm assuming that's German. Yes. So we need to be also be fluent in English. So that means I need to add English and put 50 in it. That seems lame, right? I feel like you just know English. But I mean, I did make a character that I don't... You did make a German, yeah. But, man, that just seems like I'm burning you to 50 points.
Starting point is 01:23:15 I feel like everybody in Germany knows English, right? I feel like English is half German anyway. Right. I added it, and I going to see how everything works out and I feel like I really want to add something else and it'll really be great. Yeah. I'm happy with you playing it the way you want to play. If you're like, you know, I want to put that in there. You can.
Starting point is 01:23:40 Or if you want to just be like, you know what? I know English. That's cool too. Yeah. The credit rating's the real sticking point. Like, you know, the student obviously lucks out. You only need that nine, but you're limited because you can't, or excuse me, five to 10. You can't be higher than 10.
Starting point is 01:23:59 So when it's time to eat, nobody can hand you the bill. Now your credit rating can improve and it will improve as the game goes on. But you're going to have to arm wrestle people and make bets to pay my. Pay my bills. A pool shark on the weekends. All right. Anything, any, any highlights they're jumping on? And also don't be like, don't feel like super pressured to have to nail this all down now between sessions,
Starting point is 01:24:33 between now and the first session you can play around. I'm definitely gonna up that occult because I've got like a base of five. I'm definitely gonna up the occult one at some points in cryptology, add some points in Arabic, have the credit rating and then just kind of see what else makes sense to distribute some extra points and some other things. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:24:54 I think this character bump poured a lot of it into that credit rating. That's how he's making his way through the world. And I put a lot into the language of Latin, which I feel like often anyone who spent this much time in the British school system has probably soaked up quite a bit. That's great. And I think I emailed you guys, I had mentioned some, this is straight out of the book here, some skills that are good to keep in mind. Where are they? I think they were like archaeology and blah blah blah. And when we do. Archaeology, disguise, first aid, history, on and on and on.
Starting point is 01:25:43 Yeah. All right, so you have that list. There's just some skills that like, if they fall into your occupation, maybe pay special attention to it or not. But when you get to your personal skills, those might be things you wanna cover. Also, don't be worried that like, Nora's character is gonna be the occult person.
Starting point is 01:26:01 You'll be like, well, we're playing Cthulhu and I don't know anything about occult. That's fine, like everyone's gonna have their, what they do well, and then what they stretch themselves to do. Troy, when we do checks, and I don't wanna get like, two behind the curtain or whatever,
Starting point is 01:26:19 but like, I've got sleight of hand. Is that a check that's based off of whatever my sleight of hand number is, or does that go off of dexterity, or is it some combo? No, it's sleight of hand. Is that a check that's based off of whatever my sleight of hand number is or does that go off of dexterity or is it some combo? No, it's sleight of hand. So whatever your sleight of hand is, that would be what you roll. And sometimes I'll be like, I just need a regular success. Sometimes it has to be, it's based on the spot hidden of the person you're trying to hide something from. So if I have a character and I have their stats here
Starting point is 01:26:45 and I know their spot hidden, which is basically like perception in this, is a 90. That means you're gonna need an extreme success on your sleight of hand to try and get it by them. But if they have a spot hidden of 20, they just need a regular success. All right, any other highlights you wanna talk about now? And again, don't feel like
Starting point is 01:27:05 you have to nail it down now, but if you have some stuff you're like, I definitely know I want to do this. That might be interesting. So I'm not committing to points for everything yet, but for artists I get art, craft, any, so I'm going to do fine art. Okay. And then I get history or natural world, which I have to look into a bit. So I'm not sure with that one.
Starting point is 01:27:25 And then for my interpersonal skill, I chose persuade because I feel like, you know, in the art house, they're just like debating each other all the time and then maybe making out afterwards. Other language, I have two languages so far. And then I also get to put skills in psychology and spot hidden two other skills as personal or era specialties which era specialties can you elaborate what is it called
Starting point is 01:27:56 era special it says any two other specialties yeah oh my goodness never heard of that one they all seem to say that. And I think it's like, anything that makes sense error wise for the character you're describing, is it that loose or is there a definitive? It says in the book skills that were particularly useful and ubiquitous in a given era.
Starting point is 01:28:21 So you're going with Charleston. Yeah. On the character sheet, there is spaces for you to name and price your own skills. And I feel like that's what that means. If there's something really you want that's not represented here,
Starting point is 01:28:36 I think you can do that. Oh, that's interesting. So yeah, you should feel free if you like start reading about the roaring twenties and you're like, this was a big thing. You could have a specialty in that. I mean, I am the worst person to ask because I don't know anything. Like flapper dresses, stitching flapper dresses.
Starting point is 01:28:56 Have they even called flapper dresses? But yeah, I don't know. Don't feel like you have to do that. Psychology spot hidden, huge don't know. Don't feel like you have to do that. Psychology, Spodhannon, huge in this campaign. But if there's something that strikes your fancy, feel free to throw it in that. That's a trap door so you can add skills that you just want for them to make this character make sense.
Starting point is 01:29:18 Yeah, got Latin, got the, put in some fast talk. And if this guy's a veteran, he's got some rifle skills also. Oh yeah. And this is now we'll get to personal skills. So just remember, keep track of how many points you have and how many you can allocate, keeping in mind that some of these started at a base value, like accounting started at a five, but just remember how many more you need to allocate.
Starting point is 01:29:43 And then we'll just talk a little briefly about personal skills. You get a certain amount of personal skill points equal to your intelligence times two, and you can put those anywhere you like. So you could buff up things that are your occupational skills and you should. You know, you want to be really good at the things that are associated with your occupation. But you also be like, well, shit firearms isn't in my occupation, but I want to be able to know how to, I want
Starting point is 01:30:12 to have a chance to fire a gun. And so that's key is like, don't forget things like firearms, fighting brawl, your unarmed combat is equal to your brawl. But don't worry if that's not your jam. Maybe this artist doesn't know how to fight or fire a gun. That's gonna be interesting story. And maybe you have to learn and you'll slowly gain points in that. Don't... I don't want you to feel like this is a role-playing game. I need to know how to use weapons. You don't. That's with the beauty of
Starting point is 01:30:42 Call of Cthulhu because someone here is gonna be really good at it. What was that intelligence times two thing you said? Intelligence times two whatever that number is that's the number of personal skill points you can put anywhere you want. On top of the other number? On top of the occupation yeah but you're now you can add them to the other skills as well. You're not limited by your occupation skills. So this is what really rounds out you as a person. And from a metagame perspective, it also makes sure that you cover your bases.
Starting point is 01:31:14 You don't want to have a zero spot hidden or whatever the low is. That's going to be important. But you're going to have to make some decisions, because if you really want to have something else maxed out, it's up to you if you want to min-max or be more well-rounded. Hey, Ross. Yes, sir? Where are you at with Fast Talk? I bumped it up. Let me see what I got here.
Starting point is 01:31:40 How fast does this guy talk? Are you a Micro Machines guy? Yeah,ines guy? Or are you? Yeah, that guy? No, I'm at 55. Okay, so I'm gonna, because I had gotten up to 45 with that, I'm gonna switch over to Persuade instead, because that's a different social skill that I can take, so we can kind of keep it great.
Starting point is 01:31:59 That's cool. Balanced. Now I can't remember what the base fast talk was it it says it on the like example sheet that you have a time stone base fast talk is 5% okay I think it's like that if you have the keeper handbook it's like the last page of the keeper hammer gives you a sample sheet okay but you know we'll also go through these and I'll check them and make sure the numbers are right also it's like the last page of the Keeper Hammer, gives you a sample sheet. Oh, okay, great. But you know, we'll also go through these and I'll check them and make sure the numbers are right.
Starting point is 01:32:28 Also, it's not the end of the world. If there's slightly off, I don't think we're gonna have any gross errors. Again here, you can take some time between sessions if you wanna divvy these all up, but some of you might already have, well, I'm done. Either way, anything sort of wanna highlight here
Starting point is 01:32:44 if you're like, oh, you know what? I think this is interesting. I decided to blah, blah, blah. Well, actually I have one other question about the, as the game goes on, I don't know, I didn't really see how it works with, is there XP or is it like a situation where these are gonna be the stats that last
Starting point is 01:33:01 or do we get to like add to them as we level up? They're constantly changing. So it's not like XP so much as what they call investigator development phases, which happen periodically throughout the adventure. So there's gonna be stuff that happens between each session with luck points, for example, but when you get to the end of certain scenarios
Starting point is 01:33:24 or sidetracked scenarios, because there's stuff that happens in this adventure that you're just gonna go off in a tangent and it has absolutely no connection to the main campaign whatsoever. And it's just like a horrifying sidetracked scenario. This thing is loaded with them. We must find this evil scone recipe.
Starting point is 01:33:42 Right? But the good thing is you develop your investigator when you do them, so there's some benefit. And I'm sure I'll still tie it. But we should be keeping track of how successful we are on certain roles, because isn't that how? Every time you fail a role, you mark, that's what the little box is next to your skill.
Starting point is 01:34:02 So anytime you roll a skill and fail it during a session, mark that box and then at certain times, I don't know if it's between sessions or each investigator phase, you're gonna roll to improve that skill. Okay. But am I wrong in that if you get, if you roll like on a hard,
Starting point is 01:34:20 if you succeed on like a hard success for a certain number of rolls, isn't that like, you get like some sort of ability improvement on that or am I wrong? I'm not sure. It doesn't ring a bell, but it might be true. It might be true. I'll know by the time we actually start. But I do know that when you fail a role, you mark it and then you get to like improve that. It shows that you're like learning through failure but that might be something but the short answer your question is Rob these numbers are going to change as you grow okay I didn't know if I was supposed to be like you know right now
Starting point is 01:34:57 my max status of 50 or 55 I didn't know if it's like I'm gonna get this thing to above a 50% chance of passing for the entire game or not right now? Yeah, no, you're gonna, this character will develop. It's actually a very cool way of developing. It just feels more organic. You don't all of a sudden wake up the next day superhuman. You just wake up a little better. But then sometimes you might open a treasure and find this headband that you put on and all of a sudden your strength, your attract- You're attractive. that you put on and all of a sudden your strength is now 120. Yeah, no, you will change and then you'll die and build something new.
Starting point is 01:35:31 Can't wait. All right, I think I did. What's looking good for personal, as you added those personal skill points in, Ross? Built up his, trying to build up his sort of veteran, the veteran slash dilettante thing. So throwing throwing stuff into into charm, fast talk, rifle, just a little bit into ride, that kind of thing. So like he has some of these kind of skills of soldiers. My take on this guy is he didn't spend long at the front.
Starting point is 01:36:04 He was injured real, real soon after being there. Though he has some bulk, like, there's like maybe a limp or a hitch in his giddy up from taking some mini ball or some shrapnel in the hip or something. I like it. It totally fits the character. And it's wildly different than what everyone else has.
Starting point is 01:36:26 Anybody else want to share anything that kind of jumped out at you as interesting? Now, okay, so I'm looking at these, the different skills and it says natural world under one of them. Is that like the equivalent of, let's say like a nature check or what is? Biology? It allows you to like identify species, plants. Okay. It's like... I ran into that one
Starting point is 01:36:59 because I was gonna choose that also and it's like a non-scientific way of identifying natural stuff. And I thought that fit in with mine with like the whole like the way that they paint street scenes. So maybe they're observant in that way. You're right. I'm looking I'm on the Cthulhu subreddit right now. And I think the way it's explained in Seventh Edition, which is what we're playing, it originally was the study of plant and animal life,
Starting point is 01:37:28 but by the 19th century, natural world had separated into a range of academic disciplines, like it represents unscientific knowledge and personal observation of the world around you. So like watching a farmer. That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, very, very useful skill.
Starting point is 01:37:46 It's not something you all need to take, but having one or two people have it, you know, when it gets down to brass tacks and I'm like, and you're trying to think of what can I possibly roll to contribute to the, I think that natural world is one of those ones that you can kind of finagle the keeper and be like, could I do a natural world check because I observed the way that fisherman threw the line in? And I'd be like, all right, this natural world. Yeah, for your character, Kate, that seems like a no brainer.
Starting point is 01:38:18 I did all my basic ones, but then the intelligence times two gives me another 140 points. I'm a little overwhelmed. That's a lot of points. I definitely need to do this between sessions for my brain. But I'm kind of writing down where I feel like points need to go into. Same.
Starting point is 01:38:39 Your Christmas list. And I definitely want to have one, like a wild card that's like not on the sheet. That's like 20 seemed Yeah Crafts crochet radio listening Yeah, I know I totally don't want to put in the spot I want you to take that time This is as much for all of us as for the audience who hopefully see this and be like, I need to play this game.
Starting point is 01:39:11 So let's just move on then. And we'll talk about this between sessions. Damage bonus and build. I think maybe only Nora would be borderline having something different. But do the sheets calculate your damage bonus in your build? So damage bonus is like when you punch somebody in the face, if you're super strong or you have a certain size, you add your strength and your size and
Starting point is 01:39:38 there's a table that lets you know what your damage bonus is. If you go into the combat, it's calculated for you. It is. Okay, great. Does anybody have the bonus like, is anybody above 125 when you add your strength and your size? Yeah just barely. I'm at 130. The damage bonus it has here is a 1d4. Yeah I have 1d4 as well. Okay so you both have a build of one then right? Yeah. Okay, and then so Ross and Kate's character you have a build of zero and no damage bonus. Yeah Mine's 125 do I not? Oh 125 you just made the cut. Just made it. Build of one. Yep
Starting point is 01:40:19 So you got a build of one and one and four and build really comes into effect with combat maneuvers if like somebody's trying to grapple you or in chases and chase mechanics are they're a big part of Cthulhu. There's gonna be a time when you're like running through the streets of some very James Bondy and so your build comes into effect based on the build of the person you're chasing or the person chasing you. Great. Again, shout out to Roll20 for these awesome character sheets and now we're gonna get to the end Here is where we start to flesh out
Starting point is 01:40:49 Who these people are? inside with their backstory and The gear just like these things you guys can do gear off-air and the gear is very simple You just what do you want to have and if you're like? I'm not sure. Can I have a tank, Troy? I would say no. But for the most part, it's not like you roll.
Starting point is 01:41:11 I have 15 gold pieces, what can I buy? Just put on your sheet what you want and go to the back of the handbook and you'll see in like the appendices, there's a list of all the equipment. You can have whatever you want. And honestly, I'm not gonna rake you over the coals for this. If we're playing and you're like, I feel like my guy has a handkerchief, a monographed
Starting point is 01:41:30 handkerchief, if it fits the dilaton, I'm not gonna be like, well you didn't write it under she. I have a power ring that makes me, gives me the powers of flight and invisibility. I have a sports almanac from the future. I do have one of those. That's now. Oh my gosh, this guy's cornering the market. Oh my god, the stock market's crashing. Are we living in Biff's Cthulhu world?
Starting point is 01:41:55 Exactly. This is why the depression happens in this universe. Masks of Biff. Let's go through the basics and then we'll go through the tables. We can save name, we'll save name for the end. That's always fun. We know what everyone's age is, or we know age range,
Starting point is 01:42:13 so it's kinda settle on what you want that age to be. I know Rob's character is 39 and 11. Staring down the barrel of 40. There it is. Oh, I remember that. Sweet summertime. We know what your occupations are. Current residents? I think we've established this except for Rob. Where are you currently located? Well, I figure just, you know, obviously for you and I, Troy, and just the general thing, I think Massachusetts. I think kind of old New England money is where this wife comes from. You know, maybe like a Hamilton when a marble head kind of purple head.
Starting point is 01:42:50 Gloucester by the sea. Yeah, exactly. Okay, yeah, that's perfect. Now we have two of you in Massachusetts and then to a German and a Brit. Okay, great. And if you want to put what your hometown is if it's different from where you currently are feel free But I find it terribly interesting unless you do Now we'll go through these backstory tables, these are really fun, you know, I think some people think like I'm a good role play I don't need to use these I'm just gonna I'm gonna create the character myself But what this does is it like it just adds things that you may not think about as you create your backstories
Starting point is 01:43:29 And we can go through these pretty quickly. I think So the first one is ideology beliefs. Do you guys see these? tables I wish I'd grab the investigators handbook, but I'm using the keeper. So our pages are probably a little bit different It's under backstory, the backstory on the sheet. But I don't know where it is in the handbook. Okay, it's page 43 in the keeper handbook, but. Rat decided to grab it.
Starting point is 01:43:57 Let's see, yeah. Raspberries. All raspberries. Oh, it's 50, page 50. It says 50FF, I don't know what that means. 50FF. 50 in following probably. Okay, yeah, it's on page 50 of the investigators.
Starting point is 01:44:11 Okay, and if you're following at home, the keeper handbook. Page 43. So again, we can go through these quickly, but I think it's going to help flesh out who they are a little bit more. Ideology beliefs, all of these you can either roll or just pick one. Or roll and if you don't like it, pick one. I kinda like that method a little bit better because then it gets you in the game here.
Starting point is 01:44:34 So everybody roll a D10 and see what you come up with and see if it kinda fits along with what you're thinking. The nice thing is if you're not, never thought about what their ideology is, this might give you some inspiration I got three signs has all the answers to pick a particular aspect of interest evolution cryogenics space exploration I'm gonna choose probably the next one which is like fate or something. Yeah, I mean for Nora
Starting point is 01:45:04 What did you roll Nora? I rolled a five member of a secret member of a society or secret society Okay, that's pretty interesting because I was looking at seven the occult but now this all but then again This is also kind of cool to you in some like weird society could be we shall find out I like the idea. I love it, right? I looked at this. I'm like, oh, you know, her her her Quest for knowledge in the occult
Starting point is 01:45:33 Yeah, I think this could be really interesting and where you're a student of Miskatonic There's all these sort of little inner circles like this Parts, so you you do what you there. Ross, what did you roll? Did it do anything for you? I rolled a two, which is mankind can do fine without religions, like a staunch atheist, humanist or secularist. And I mean, as this character kind of swims into focus,
Starting point is 01:45:56 probably raised like High Church Anglican, but World War I has a way of making that more complicated. Yeah, the horrors of war. I think the guy died for this guy in the trenches and perhaps now going around the world, just in a way almost proving, like, soaking up existence because this is all there is. The religions of the world, there are so much theater and foolishness. Oh my god, I love this. Yes, yes, of course he was raised in the church and then the horrors of war have changed everything for him.
Starting point is 01:46:35 Rob, what did you roll? I got a seven so it says the occult. Nice. But maybe, maybe the only reason it's maybe it's more of like a recent thing, given what's going on with his beloved, in quotes. Just sort of like, why is this woman not dying? Something's going on. And so maybe he just starts studying. Because I feel like a con man would be very practical. by, you know, their sort of fallback nature would be like, the world's tough, you got to con the world to get what you want, you know, that kind of a thing. So for him to get into the occult, I mean, it says like tarot card potentially, but I
Starting point is 01:47:16 feel like he's only kind of getting into it now, or he's just looking into it, it's like, is there a way to vaporize my wife is the way yeah and make it look like she spontaneously combusted or something you know I don't know yeah what I'm throwing this as an option what if he maybe like stumbled upon a book in her library yes that's great what is this well and you know what that's what I was because you know you had specified in the in the the pre-show email you know as long as they have a reason to have gone on an expedition. I didn't know if that meant in their past
Starting point is 01:47:49 that he was with her on some exploratory adventure where he had to tag along and carry the suitcases and stuff. But him coming across some of her stuff, I think, would be cool. Yeah, that could be interesting. And maybe that's what led him to be like, I need to go do this for us. Yeah, for us maybe, baby cakes.
Starting point is 01:48:10 It's untold riches will be set for life and it's really just an excuse to one, get away from her and maybe find a monster to kill her. Yeah. I re-rolled and I got a five, a member of a secret society. And I don't know what it's going to be, but I'm gonna do that. Ooh, a couple of secrets. Maybe we're in the same one. Oh, is that what you got?
Starting point is 01:48:30 Or an opposing one. And we see each other and we're like. You give each other the sign. I don't know you yet. Yeah, we do the secret handshake. She's in the German chapter. Yeah. Alpha, beta, chi.
Starting point is 01:48:47 Are you a Mason or a Scottish Rite Mason? That would be cool to tie us together in some way so we're not just like four random, completely random people. I like it. Oh yeah, same secret society. Maybe there was a, like on the periphery of Cambridge or whatever, I knew people who weren't too secretive about their relationship with the secret society. Hell, maybe I was an initiate. Yeah. Yeah, I like this. I Hell, maybe I was an initiate. Yeah. Yeah, I like this. I mean, Secret Societies are always fun.
Starting point is 01:49:08 Can't go wrong with a Secret Society. Never. They only help things. When moves are... Look at Nixxiom. Oh, no. Let's talk about... Which one of us is the vanguard of this organization?
Starting point is 01:49:22 Absolutely no volleyball in this game at 6 a.m. Guys, after we finish this character creation, why don't we just go play a little 1 a.m. volleyball? It's just for some team building. Let's talk about significant people in your life. This one you really, I think you can't go wrong with the role here because you can make it anything you want. Like you might be like, no, I want to be married.
Starting point is 01:49:44 You can still be married, but like who is someone and like what is their story? So I had an idea for this going into my character's backstory, I wanted her to be like a second generation Arab American and her dad was a professor or still is a professor at Miscatonic. So that's how she kind of got in to the world that she's in and so her dad would be a
Starting point is 01:50:10 significant person. So it would be her dad and then if you look on the following page you can roll or determine why they're significant to you and so is it because you're indebted to him in a way? I would say he would, I don't know if this is in here. Did he financially protect you through, like get you through there? Like, I know this is going to be tough. I want to say that number two, like he taught me something and he's kind of the one that's getting me into the occult studies. And bringing me into a world that is hidden. I like it. Yeah, maybe he saw something and he's not overtly telling you what it is, but he kind of wants to help guide you to find it on your own.
Starting point is 01:50:57 Yes. Yes, I love it. Here's a pamphlet for this volleyball-loving secret society. Don't call me dad anymore. Call me- Call me vanguard. We'll talk about it later. Here's a gold sash. Daughter, you've earned this. Oh no.
Starting point is 01:51:20 Did anybody else roll something or come with an idea of who they're significant, like a child or something I Rolled and I got The who is a person who taught me my highest occupational skill. So probably my fine art skill I still have to figure all that out. It's probably gonna be my art skill And I have a feeling of regret towards them. Oh What's that all about?
Starting point is 01:51:46 I don't know. I mean, let's see. Feeling of regret, maybe I like, stopped listening to their advice, maybe? Spurned their sexual advances? Maybe. Maybe you thought that they were just this mentor, but they fell in love with you and you were like, I don't like you like that and you feel bad. That could be regret. That mentor sort of teacher student relationship could be very complicated as complicated as you want to make it. Hmm.
Starting point is 01:52:18 Regret is interesting. Yes. Okay. Oh my god, this is this is is I just want to build characters. Ross, what did you anything jump? Do you choose a role? Um, I think I don't know if this is too dark. But like, I feel like I feel like maybe this character was really not into the idea of going to war, but a companion of theirs at university enlisted and it was like, well, can't have them go alone. And it's not so much that he has someone in his life now, but the specter of this of this
Starting point is 01:53:08 person who passed away in the war. He's got some so maybe the significant person is this companion who has some survivor's guilt. Okay. He went to war with. I like that and they're based in England as well. Yes classmates Classmate and do you think they're suffering in the same way that you are? I Mean, I think that they may have passed away. Oh, okay. I don't know if that that skirts it but uh
Starting point is 01:53:40 No, as long as there's still that connection there. I think they're very much a presence in the life of this character, I think. Okay. Be sure between sessions to name these people as well and put those on the sheet, because like, oh my god, I can mine the hell out of that, Ross, and we're gonna see this character at some point. Yeah, yeah. So knowing more about them, knowing their name and what they meant to you is gonna be important.
Starting point is 01:54:09 Rob, what about you? I mean, it's perfect. I rolled partner, spouse, fiance lover, so that's... Oh, perfect. Yeah. And then what is your... Why are they significant? Because you're... You wronged them as a shared experience, you idolize them, maybe a feeling of regret. You're indebted to them. Yeah, basically indebted for sure. Yeah, indebted. Perfect. Yeah. Changed to. Changed to. Yeah, and again, these are just
Starting point is 01:54:37 suggestions. You can adapt them and change them anything you want. They're jumping off points for whatever you want to make it. What's great too is all the list of period names is all old lady names. There's Agatha, Agnes, Ethel, Bernice. Perfect. Let's talk about meaningful locations. These are cool too, and you know, not only do these help you kind of round out the character,
Starting point is 01:55:01 they help me as the keeper kind of build, connect you to this story, because I want to use what you come up with and really infuse the pre-written adventure with it. So this isn't just an exercise. Go ahead and roll or choose for meaningful locations. Norah, what'd you get? Let's see here. I'm rolling it now. roll a seven. The grave of a significant person. Ooh. Huh. Interesting.
Starting point is 01:55:33 You talked about your relationship with your father. Yeah, let's say it's mom. That's what I was thinking, yeah. Yep, wow, okay. Yep, and then when it extremes. We'll say she died in mysterious circumstances. She sure did. Was dad involved?
Starting point is 01:55:50 I don't know. Was dad trying to save her? Not Vanguards. No. It was a volleyball accident. It was a horrible volleyball accident. She suffocated at the net. Kate, what'd you get?
Starting point is 01:56:07 I rolled family home. Is that stupid? Family home? Yeah. Your German helmet? My German family home out in the country. Oh, was it made of candy? It was made of fruit.
Starting point is 01:56:23 Why do you think your family home was so significant? We've talked about your background with your artists, this complicated relationship with your teacher. Do you have a strong relationship with your family? Do you think? I think I blow up all the relationships in my life. I think with my teacher, like I just said something awful in that fallout that we had that I just regret to push them away.
Starting point is 01:56:45 I think that my meaningful location is my family home, but it's not somewhere that I'm always comfortable going back to because I don't get along with my family if they're still around. Haven't decided that yet. Yeah. But I push everyone away for who knows what reason why yet. Yes.
Starting point is 01:57:03 Maybe you find that tension inspires you as an artist, like you force people out just to create chaos that you can then do art in. I like that. I like that family home and then it gives you so much room. Why? Why is the family home important? Rob, what'd you go with? I was going to... This is fucked up. I was going to go with the grave of a significant person that's the plot that we have by the mansion that I was staring at constantly, because the two headstones already
Starting point is 01:57:37 chiseled with their names next to each other. Each day now, my dear. I'm staring into the middle distance, and I'm constantly staring. You're working on our crypt again. Now my dear just like staring into the middle distance like constantly stare. Yeah, but looking on that Are you working on our crypt again? I'm just digging it preemptively my love But that's messed up my ankles Here's your creams
Starting point is 01:58:02 Could be Or it could just be like, there's like a place for socializing, so it could just be like his escape. He's just sort of like, I just got to get out of here. I've got to go to the gentleman's club, my love. Yeah. Yeah, and then maybe there's some unsavory character or mysterious figure there that draws you into this as well.
Starting point is 01:58:22 It could also be that I'm in a massive amount of debt. Maybe that's how you got kicked in the face by a horse, quote unquote. Oh yeah. When I first went into debt, I was like, I got this, no problem, this lady's gonna kick the bucket no time. And then it's just like, she's still alive. 20 years later.
Starting point is 01:58:43 And I'm earning interest into Big Jimmy or whatever his name, I don't know. Oh yeah, you might have, you know, loan sharks that are looking for their money and you thought this would be an easy payday for you. Too much betting on the ponies. Yeah, okay, I like this. And Ross, did I ask you your meaningful location?
Starting point is 01:59:04 I rolled a family home, which I like, because I think, yeah, this this this fellow comes from means I think he has like a like just an idyllic country house in England that his that his family's from. Let's eat a Eagles Grange. It's called Eagles Grange is it's called. Eagles Grange is the name of the estate. Agile, because it dates back to the... dates back to Norman, or to pre-Norman times. So these are like an old... the land was an old like pre-conquest farm, farming
Starting point is 01:59:47 estate. There's some old standing stones on the property. You should come and see them. I love it. Okay. This again, this makes sense. And I like that there's some overlap here. A couple of family homes, a couple of people that have graves that they visit.
Starting point is 02:00:04 Maybe there's a symbol that mysteriously appeared on my mother's gravestone and I'm trying to decipher what that means. Whoa. It's always been there and you never knew and your dad won't tell you. Yeah. Yeah, yes.
Starting point is 02:00:19 And yes. Only a couple more here and then we're done. There's just treasured possessions and then traits. And then we get to your, and we finish with your key background connection, which is a really interesting mechanic. So talk to me about treasured possessions. You can either roll or choose or make up something
Starting point is 02:00:39 that's not on the list. If you're like, no, my guy always has his lucky rabbit's foot. I rolled a two which is an essential item for my occupation. Which like painter would it be like my paintbrush? I don't know. That's kind of silly. Your favorite brush. Your easel. Your paint. Your favorite color, yeah, I don't know. Like, is it supposed to be something
Starting point is 02:01:09 that we carry with us all the time, or can it be like a painting that someone made me? I feel like in order to make it interesting, it's something that if like you lost, it would be a big deal. And so it's tough, like with paintbrush, maybe it is a brush that like you just it paints exactly the way you want and any
Starting point is 02:01:28 other brush you try can't do what that one does. But feel free to pick something else, you know. Well, can it be something that I can't carry on me? Yeah, for sure. Can it be like a big painting?
Starting point is 02:01:37 So that's what I'm thinking. Like maybe someone I used to be close with, I don't know, I follow everyone painting me something amazing and it means something to me because I did like them, but I pushed them away and I have their painting. You have that and it's in your home. And if anything happened to it, that would be bad to you.
Starting point is 02:01:55 Yeah, no, I think that's great. What about you, Nora? My mother's journal. Oh yes, what secrets does that journal hold? What do those last few entries say? Your father said he's going to kill me. I mean, there's clearly, there's clearly to be pages that are torn from it.
Starting point is 02:02:17 Of course. The last few pages. Written in blood, and that same symbol appears on the last page. Someone's knocking on the... Took the die to took the dagger right to dash. Why does he make me play volleyball at one in the morning? Your father insists on working on his serve. 1.45 a.m. Son of a great side out.
Starting point is 02:02:38 Father's got his knee pads on again. I swear that man's going to kill me. That said Spike, I'm never got at the spike. It's interesting. Maybe I said it jokingly, but maybe that same symbol that you saw in the grave is you find that buried within a page of the journal. What was this? Was your mom part of the society as well? Was she a necessary sacrifice? I don't know. Maybe she just died of natural causes. Who knows? Ross, what did you get? We shall find out. I think it's a memento of my deceased friend.
Starting point is 02:03:14 I think he was... He had an artistic temperament. And I have like a poem that he dedicated to me. Fold it up and always close at hand. Oh I like that. It'll fold or... Yeah, it's always close to your heart. Just worn and increased but always close at hand.
Starting point is 02:03:36 From time to time you pull it out and give it another read. I like that. Rob? Mine's a locket. When you open it up, on one side is a picture of a photograph of me before the accident. And then on the other side is another picture of me before the accident. Just so handsome. I lost it. And if I lost that, oh, it's the only two photos of me I have. It's the only memory, yeah. It was before and still before.
Starting point is 02:04:06 Yeah. God damn, I'm a good looking man. I wanna see the fan art on Twitter. Yeah. Again, I'm just gonna throw out ideas. You take what you want, you throw the rest out, but maybe this is also part of this occult thing. It's like, is there a way to get those looks back?
Starting point is 02:04:22 Can I get my face back? Ooh. I would do anything to get those looks back. Oh, that'd be sweet. Yeah. Oh, man. Oh, boy, this is gonna be... Let's talk about traits. This is the last one before key background connection.
Starting point is 02:04:37 You know, again, just a little added layer to this character. Is someone gonna roll hedonistic? That is very interesting. Is someone a gambler, a ladies man, or seductress? What did you get? Kate! I rolled nine at first, which is a good reputation. The best after dinner speaker in the country. Right, which is not resonating with me, Especially since I'm sitting here being like I destroy all my relationships And then I rolled again, and I got ten ambitious
Starting point is 02:05:12 That's what I got What about dreamer dreamer Yeah Dreamer place to type which if that's what you can do that or you can do something else. But I think Dreamer is also very open as well. Maybe there are things happening in your dreams that you wake up and you paint what you see.
Starting point is 02:05:36 I might be Dreamer or I might just be something random like a good cook. Yes. Good cook is fun too. There's gonna be times on the road. Or seductress or ladies man, I haven't decided who this is yet, could be cool because I just get all these people
Starting point is 02:05:56 throwing themselves at me. Right, what is your appearance? 50. But I figured they are trendy. So maybe that's like smoking mirrors a little bit get closer to them. You're like, oh, you're not actually that Hot you just have a nice haircut Yeah, I think I'm the lighting was so poor Like that Seinfeld episode where she looks good in one light. Oh, yeah Ross what did you roll?
Starting point is 02:06:27 I rolled a loyal, which I think that's true. This lapsed Anglican veteran dissipated bright young thing is a little drunk. Okay. I also feel like lapsed Anglican is just Anglican. Yeah. I go through the paces. I sing some dirge-like hymns, and rinse, repeat. Yeah, okay, so maybe a little bit of a drunkard. That's going to be interesting too, because when those sanity breaks inevitably happen, maybe you end up turning to the bottle and it gets out of control the more you spiral. I think that also helps to explain his like limited dexterity in constitution.
Starting point is 02:07:26 Junky hands. Um, and a bad liver. Okay, and then Nora. I rolled 10, ambitious. Maybe she is in her quest for occult knowledge because she is power hungry in some way. Yes. Yeah, once you see what the possibilities are and whatever the secret society is,
Starting point is 02:07:55 you realize that you could have it all. You could have a credit rating above five. One of these days. I feel like she wears glasses. Does she wear glasses? We'll find out. I'm just bittering this Miskatonic student now. I need to cosplay. What does a keeper dress like? Robes. Just thick robes. Maybe get some squid and just put it on your face. Squid and a robe. That's the keeper. Yes.
Starting point is 02:08:24 It works. Welcome to Time for Chaos. Rob, what did you roll for trait? and just put it on your face. Squid and a robe. That's the keeper, yes. It works. Welcome to Time for Chaos. Rob, what did you roll for trait? I rolled Dreamer, which felt a little off, but then I saw Gambler, which feels like- That's how you got in trouble in the first place. What got him in trouble to begin with, yeah.
Starting point is 02:08:38 Yeah. Did you ever watch that show on HBO, Luck? It only ran for season because it was all about horse racing. Hoffman was just hoppin in that yeah It was fucking great, but like 20 horses died during the filming and they were like we have that's not on this show But it was so good. There was this one character. Who is just he was a degenerate gambler But he was also like a ladies man and a bit of a con man, too And they I can't remember the actor was phenomenal and he just had a
Starting point is 02:09:06 Six cents for what horse would win and he kind of reminds me of this this character When I which horse would win and which was the day? Key background connection and then we finish with the name of your character Which I will put you on the spot for your key connection is, you take one of these traits that we just rolled for or chose and you choose, what is the one that is like, the most important to you? It could be a person, it could be your father,
Starting point is 02:09:36 it could also be your family home. It could be that, it's that thing that you, that means more to you than anything. And the way it works mechanically is all of this stuff that you create background wise is fodder for me to destroy or more and twist as this story goes along. But the thing you choose is your key connection. I can't do that without at least giving you a chance to roll.
Starting point is 02:10:03 So it's just this small little mechanical thing. If all of a sudden I decide, if you choose your father and I decide because of something you get rolled up in, your dad is now a target, I can't just be like, and he was torn apart. You've walked it without giving you the chance to save him. So it could be a person, place, or thing that we just went through. What do
Starting point is 02:10:28 you think is your key connection? And then just mark it with a star or an asterisk if the sheet doesn't have the functionality for it. Tough call. I know mine. What's the most important thing to you, Kate? So I'm going to make it my treasured possession, which is the painting someone made me and I thought about it. And this also goes back to the trait that I rolled of good reputation. I'm keeping that.
Starting point is 02:10:59 And here's why. The painting that someone made me was painted by my significant person and it's a portrait of myself. They painted me as they see me and to me it's like, it's so beautiful. I wish I could be this person that like they see in me, but unfortunately like I'm not. And then I have my trait like a good reputation. Like I had a good reputation and might slowly be going down, but that's what attracts these like maybe amazing people to me that I end up just like kind of throwing away
Starting point is 02:11:27 but yeah, so my mice What's it? He? I am session you keep possession is he connection that painting That's like keeping me tethered to being like maybe I can be this good person this amazing person. I Love maybe I love that Kate, that's great. That's really great. And my wheels are just spinning now
Starting point is 02:11:50 and like how I can destroy it. You can make me not that person. I can like, how can I use this against you? Ross, what about you? I'll connect it to that poem again. And I think from the hand of my friend and let's say his name was Oberon Doyle. Whoa.
Starting point is 02:12:08 Whoa. Wow. Now I gotta know what your character name is in a second. How are you gonna beat Oberon Doyle? And it's written in the trench, in like a crabbed small hand, but it's like, and talking about how there's all this ugliness around us, but we, we can travel and even if we can't travel in our right now, we can travel in our
Starting point is 02:12:33 minds to places unseen, places and dreams, far carcosa, distant, distant places unseen by by others and then and in a way my wanderlust is inspired by this. That I'm experiencing the life that Oberon didn't get to have. Yeah. It's brilliant. Brilliant. Oberon Doyle. Okay. Rob, what about you? Key connection. I think I'm also going to go with the locket possession thing just because I feel like in describing that and coming up with that, it just feels like
Starting point is 02:13:07 he's just a really selfish guy. He's just really self-absorbed. I think that thing is sort of like physical evidence of that. And that I think is his closest, I mean, the reminder of what his life was like before he made this terrible decision. Yeah, I feel like there's like a Dorian Gray thing going on too with this.
Starting point is 02:13:29 Okay, great. It's funny, I thought everyone would choose people and we haven't had a person yet. Nora, what about you? Mine is also my treasured possession. My character's mother's journal, I will say, she kind of knew what was coming and left clues in her entries and I just have to find out what happened to her and why.
Starting point is 02:13:55 Yeah, oh it's, my god, great. I don't even know if we should play this. I think we should just write an adventure. These amazing things you guys have come up with. This is great. This is really, really good. And oddly, already kind of connected to what story we're about to jump in. I mean, I already see the connections right there. It's as if you've already read it. Let's wrap up this session with the name of the character.
Starting point is 02:14:26 This is really, what they look like is gonna be important. We're gonna have character portraits drawn for all of these by the time we do the first session. So we'll get to see them and I'll email you. You can send me some input on what their physical characteristics are. Like, does your guy, Rob, does he have a mask? I think he has to. I'm gonna do some real disturbing research. Like, does your guy Rob, does he have like a mask? I think he has to.
Starting point is 02:14:45 I'm gonna do some real disturbing research. Yes, yes. And all I think of is that guy on Boardwalk Empire. I know, that's all I can think of too. Maybe that's what it ends up being. Yeah, I saw this documentary recently about someone that makes like prosthetics that are real, true to life.
Starting point is 02:14:59 Anyways, so that should be really interesting. So I'll send you an email, you give me the description, but I'm gonna put you on the spot. What are the names of these investigators? Nora, you look ready. I was actually ready. Usually I'm a person that names their character at the very last, this time I named her
Starting point is 02:15:16 at the very beginning. Her name is Feroz Gibran. Feroz Gibran. Great, can you spell that for me? Because we'll put it on your... Well, you already did. I did. F-A-I-R-U-Z-G-I-B-R-N-B-R-A-N. Now, I don't want to make any assumptions. Is obviously a woman? Yes. Okay. And is everyone playing? She her. She her, okay. Rob, is everyone playing, what is everyone playing? In terms of like, are you playing, if you're a man, are you playing a man,
Starting point is 02:15:52 are you playing a woman? Yeah. Okay. I could have made that question. Yes. I'm so afraid I'm gonna say the wrong thing. Just tell me. No, no.
Starting point is 02:16:00 Just tell me the answer. I'm gonna be a two year old. Just tell me the name of the two. I'm gonna be a lady. Okay, what's your lady's name? Her full first name is, how do you pronounce this? I'm just like looking up German names and I really like this one.
Starting point is 02:16:15 I think you pronounce it Margarita. It's spelled different than that, but close. Margarita Hitler? Close, no. Oh my god. What is kind of name is that? It's pretty nice. It's spelled like it looks like it says Margarita Hitler? Close call. What kind of name is that? It's spelled like it looks like it says Marguerite. But I'm looking up that you pronounce it Margarita.
Starting point is 02:16:33 I don't know. I'm going to get back to you on that. But friends call her Margo. And the significant person that like loves, lost, teacher, whatever, his name is going to be Gunter. Gunter. I love that so much. Oh, Gunter. Marco and Gunter. And you regret what you did to poor Gunter. You gonna think of a last name later or you got some?
Starting point is 02:16:55 Yes. Okay. Not is there? Not is there. No. Kaiser, the Kaiser. Don't rule anything out. Yeah, it was a bill.
Starting point is 02:17:03 Gerbils, Marguerita Gerbils. What... Sorry. What about Ross Robb? Anything to jump on? Yeah. Yes. So if you see that see that poem again, and that same school tight schoolboy handwriting, it just says to from Oberon Doyle to Vaughn Villiers. Vaughn Villiers. Nice alliteration. Vaughn Villiers from what was it? Eagles? Eagles Grange. Eagles Grange. Vaughn Villiers from Eagles Grange.
Starting point is 02:17:40 Ah yes, the Villiers. Awesome. Okay. And Rob, what is this disfigured con man's name? Carter Tillinghast. Carter Tillinghast. Tillinghast is in the book. Tillinghast is his, he took his wife's last name. Of the Little Dining Tillinghasts? Yeah, Gloucester Tillinghasts. Most responsible family.
Starting point is 02:18:04 Yeah, it's funny. Tillinghast. Most responsible family. Yeah, it's funny. Tillinghast, I think, is from like a Lovecraft story. I think there's a story that either he or one of his contemporaries wrote that's part of the Mithos. Oh, nice. It's this machine that... I might be getting this wrong, but it's a machine that stimulates the pineal gland in a way that... Oh, is that from beyond? It opens up a rip into another dimension or something I think that's I think that's because I went
Starting point is 02:18:29 deep into Wikipedia I started with Cthulhu mythos today but then I just ended up reading about all of Stuart Gordon's movies yeah like the best adapter of Lovecraft and I'm pretty sure that's from beyond because they talk about the pineal gland like turning into some sort of like snake thing that comes out From beyond is a wild-ass movie. It's awesome. It's never seen. Oh, and now I have to see this You know, there's all suggestions in this book of like as we get into different sections like Suggestions about movies to watch I'll send them to you if you want to get in this zone But I mean this is Indiana Jones meets James Bond. It's going to be, it's really going to be a wild ride.
Starting point is 02:19:08 And now our investigators are complete. Obviously, you've got a little bit of homework to take your time and build the character you want. If you want to change some things, go for it. And then before our next session, I'll get a physical description for you. We'll get some character portraits made, and then we will jump in to the Rolls-Royce, the Holy Grail, Mask of Nyarlathotep. Congratulations to the hopefully American winner of this book. Sorry, well, you know what, to our Australian friends, we'll hook you up. It's an easy shit. We'll just ask them. Can you just send one to our Australian friends, we'll hook you up. It's an easy shit. We'll just ask them.
Starting point is 02:19:46 Can you just send one to someone? Yeah, there you go. But for now, congratulations. Please join us on a special night next Thursday for the first episode. We're just diving right in to this story next week and then after that, every Friday, it will be time for Chaos. Have a wonderful night. Thank you to these amazing players.
Starting point is 02:20:07 I mean, I knew this was gonna be a great group, but now I'm just nervous. Yeah, that's reflex again. It's the small burps. Yeah. Oh, God. It's time to make your membership official. Start your 30 day free trial today and become an official member of the N.A.C.E.
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