paulgorman.org

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Wed Feb 28 09:02:49 EST 2018 Slept from eleven to seven. Woke briefly around four. Work: - Work on MECS Done. Unprompted, Scott called me an exceptional IT director. Nice. Sometimes I feel like he holds me barely above contempt. Twenty-minute walk at lunch. Partly cloudy. Almost too hot to wear a light jacket. Saw a robin, the second one I've noticed this year. Home: - Work on Lovecraftian game Done. - Birthday wishes to Jack Hardaway Patrick Waters Done. Re-reading Cthulhu Dark, I like it more than the first time I read it. Remember to download Stealing Cthulhu. http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Cthulhu-Dark-PDF.html http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/the-final-revelation/ The Trail of Cthulhu concept to the "scene" is nice. Adventures are divided into scenes. Each scene contains something the characters want or need. When the characters get the necessary thing from the scene, the Keeper automatically(?) "cuts" to the next scene. (Page 202-203.) This saves the players from making endless, pointless "search again" rolls, etc. I would probably combine the Scene idea with Zak's investigative success/fail structure. In Trial of Cthulhu, Sanity might be better termed "Humanity". Here's the way I imagine it. Once the character has had sufficient exposure to the mythos to erode his Humanity to zero, the character becomes an NPC. The character is not necessarily a raving lunatic (i.e., the character might have Stability), but effectively a psychopath. But more than a psychopathic lack of empathy, the NPC's motives are inhumanly opaque. A character reduced to zero Humanity may or may not exhibit too much impulsively for long-term planning. Such a character may or may not be willing to act with violence. The keeper should answer three questions for each character that looses humanity: - Will the character proactively pursue his interests or is he effectively inert or reactive? - Will the character use violence? - Do the NPC's interests align with or oppose those of the player characters? - Such alignment of interests may change over time. - Even if the NPC's interests align, contact with the NPC may still be dangerous for the player characters and their sanity. Maybe I'd want slightly more complex characters than Cthulhu Dark. Pick a profession. Assume you have skills related to that profession. Pick a hobby. The hobby must be something from which most people could not make a living, but in any case the character doesn't practice at a professional level. Assume you have skills related to that hobby. (Does a hobby really add anything? Like what would be a worthwhile hobby? Maybe not. Maybe. Maybe boxing could be your hobby, for example.) Pick one of these characteristics: strong, fast, charismatic, reputable, lucky. Add a Life characteristic with a one to six range. Unarmed attacks do one or two damage; armed attacks to one to six damage. (Unnatural adversaries still auto-kill a character that confronts them.) Maybe a way to regain sanity that doesn't involve suppressing mythos knowledge, but results in a phobia/compulsion/eccentricity? http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/cthulhu-dark/ Lunch: coffee, Thai noodles Dinner: Mexican

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