Trail of Cthulhu - Oneshot

[color=#008040][size=180]TRAIL OF CTHULHU - WITH ZEAL HAVE I BEEN ZEALOUS FOR THE LORD GOD OF HOST[/size][/color]

[size=129][color=#008040]Style:[/color] Investigation; Horror-esque
[color=#008040]Synopsis:[/color] The Playercharacters organise a benefit auction to aid a convent, who looks after a lunatic asylum.
[color=#008040]Setting:[/color] A lunatic asylum, that is looked after by a convent. Bosten in the late 1920s.
[color=#008040]Characters:[/color] … are all respected members of society, who have something to do with the upcoming benefit auction.

[color=#008040]System:[/color] TRAIL OF CTHULHU (GUMSHOE) [6 pregenerated characters]
[color=#008040]Dice:[/color] one D6[/size]

Awesome!

Sounds awesome! Is this just an information post? Or, dare I hope, a recruitment one? Because if so, I’m interested. I never played this particular system, but I’m familiar with the themes and mood of CoC.

[youtube]jEBfUzYOSWs[/youtube]

In.

[size=150][color=#008040]GUMSHOE System:[/color][/size]

Tests on Investigative Abilities are always a success, as long as you have that Ability!
Should there be something to find, you will get a “small success”.
Afterwards you can spend 1 or even 2 Skill Points to get a “great” or a “critical success”!
You regain spend Skill Points at the end of the story.


Extra: Credit Rating states your social / economic status:

0: Pauper = Hobo life; rags; no permanent home; handouts or scavenge

1: Lower Class = Janitor, hired hand, or servant; soft cap; flop house, SRO, live with relatives; bus; cans of soup or beans

2: “Working Class” = Factory work or skilled service; hat; tenement apartment; bus; meat most days

3: Lower MiddleClass = Clerk or high-skilled service; neckties; shabby apartment; used car in bad condition; good Sunday meals

4: Middle-Class = Supervisor, lesser professional; one good suit; bungalow or decent apartment; modest car; restaurant occasionally; part-time cleaning lady

5: Upper MiddleClass = Professional; tailored suits; good house or fine apartment; new car or two cars; fine meals in or out; live-in servant

6: Upper Class = Independent income or exclusive professional; bespoke suits; mansion or penthouse; luxury cars; luxury dining; multiple domestics

7+: Wealthy = Landed gentry or industrial fortune; fabulous jewelry; landed estate; yachts or private planes; personal fourstar chef; multi-tiered staff of domestics


Tests on General Abilities: d6 … 4+ = Success (can be modified by the GM)
BEFORE rolling the d6, you can spend any amount of Skill Points, to get +1 per spend Point as a bonus to your die roll.

As with Investigative Abilities, you regain spend Skill Points at the end of the story.


Extra: After succeeding on a First Aid Test or on a Psychoanalysis Tests, you can spend (additional) First Aid/Psychoanalysis Points to heal a patient:

Every First Aid Point spend after the Tests heals 1 Health if used on yourself, or 2 on someone else.
Every Psychoanalysis Point spend after the Tests heals 1 Stability if used on yourself, or 2 on someone else.


Drive…is what drives that charakter deeper into this story. The gamemaster can use this to lure that playercharacter. You can resist, but you would loose 2 or 4 Points Stability (the gamemaster will tell you before you have to make your choice how many Points you would loose).

Health … Hit Points (a fist makes d6-2 [min. 1] damage)
Hit Treshold …how difficult it is to hit this character in combat.
Stability …“mental Hit Points” versus shock and trauma.
Sanity …how strong the belief of the character is, that his reality is the real one
Pillars of Sanity…structures of the beliefsystem of this character, which drop should his Sanity drop to a certain number and vice versa!


“Health”

0 bis -5: hurt
-> you have to succeed on a Health Test to stay awake
-> you are not allowed to spend Points on Investigative Abilities
-> +1 Difficulty on all General Abilities

-6 bis -11: seriously injured
-> you have to succeed on a Health Test to stay awake (again)
-> you can not fight (any fight -> dead)
-> if you don’t recieve medical care, you will loose Hit Points (one every 30 min.)
-> First Aid can only be used to stabilize you, but not to recover Health Points.

-12: dead


“Stability”

0 bis -5: shaken
-> you are not allowed to spend Points on Investigative Abilities
-> +1 Difficulty on all General Abilities

-6 bis -11: your mind is blasted

-> you can either run away in panic or attack like a berserker (your choice) until the end of the scene.
-> you loose -1 permanent Stability Maximum
-> you gain a permanent mental derangement

-12: incurable insane


“Sanity”

0: incurable insane

… additionally Sanity loss can make you loose your Pillars of Sanity

[size=150]FATHER LUIS MONCADA[/size]

[size=120]Role: … is a young and ambitious priest from a poor family background. He was send from the archdioceses Bosten to aid the convent, since nuns are forbidden to say Mass. Some say, that he was send to keep an eye on the convent for the archdioceses.
Once pushed aside via church-internal scheming, he worked himself up again thanks to his duty and his diligence. He serves at the church of “Our Lady & St. Joseph” next to the asylum and helps with pastoral care. In the asylum he takes care about the anointing of the sick and oversees the burial ceremonies for nuns and patients.
Via his public relations work he tries to gain the necessary public funds to be able to run the convent with its church and its asylum. The benefit auction was his idea.[/size]

[size=120]Stats:[/size]

Drive: Arrogance

Occupation: Clergy
Occupational benefits: Spend Reassurance/Theology to give instructions to nuns. Once per game talk to a nun in downtime to refresh all points of one Interpersonal Ability.

Health: 10 (-12: dead)
Hit Treshold: 4

Stability: 12 (-12: insane)

Sanity: 10 (0: insane)
Pillars of Sanity: your religious vows (loose at 8), loves the Convent/Asylum (loose at 5), your christian faith (loose at 2)

Investigative Abilities:
-Academic Abilities: Accounting 1, Languages 3 (English [native], Ancient Greek, Italian, Latin), Library Use 1, Medicine 1, Theology 4
-Interpersonal Abilities: Assess Honesty 1, Bureaucracy 1, Credit Rating 3, Flattery 4, Interrogation 1, Oral History 1, Reassurance 2, Streetwise 1
-Technical Abilities: Evidence Collection 1

General Abilities: Athletics 8, Driving 1, Psychoanalysis 2, Scuffling 8, Sense Trouble 7, Shadowing 7, Stealth 7

Equipment: flask with holy water, blessed silver cross, rosary, an old car

[size=150]ANATOLE BECKETT M.D.[/size]

[size=120]Role: … is the experienced, although exhausted psychiatrist of the asylum. The nuns of the convent dilligently act as nurses, although he is the only medical doctor at the facility. He grew up in a christian orphanage and later served as a medical assistant in WWI. Afterwards he became a psychiatrist and made career at the famous Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. As he heard, that his old mentor and former Professor Karl Schreckt, who he owed so much, had died, he went to the asylum to resume his mentors position. Since half a year he works day and night, but the low public funding takes a toll on the asylum as well on him. Therefore he personally supported the idea of the benefit auction from the ambitious priest Father Luis Moncada.[/size]

[size=120]Stats:[/size]

Drive: In the Blood

Occupation: Alienist
Occupational benefits: Spend Medicine/Reassurance to give instructions to nuns. Psychoanalysis you spend heals 2 Stability for yourself (instead of 1) and 3 Stability for others (instead of 2).

Health: 9 (-12: dead)
Hit Threshold: 4

Stability: 10 (-12: insane)

Sanity: 10 (0: insane)
Pillars of Sanity: your belief in a reality of science (loose at 8), the legacy of Karl Schreckt (loose at 5), your hippocratic oath (loose at 2)

Investigative Abilities:
-Academic Abilities: Biology 1, Languages 3 (English [native], German, Hebrew, Latin), Library Use 1, Medicine 4, Theology 1
-Interpersonal Abilities: Assess Honesty 1, Credit Rating 3, Interrogation 1, Oral History 1, Reassurance 2
-Technical Abilities: Chemistry 2, Evidence Collection 2, Forensics 2, Pharmacy 2

General Abilities: Athletics 8, Driving 1, Explosives 2, Firearms 2, First Aid 3, Psychoanalysis 4, Scuffling 6, Sense Trouble 6, Shadowing 6, Stealth 6

Equipment: a stethoscope, an old car

[size=150]COUNT VLADIMIR RUSTOVICH[/size]

[size=120]Role: …is a rich Romanian tycoon and a young widower. Additionally he is a notorious big game hunter. Skulls of various animals decorate his castle in Romania. Of late he has heard about “Werwolves” and that these creatures do really exist. It is his dream to shoot one and that is the reason why he always has two silver bullets in his coat.
He had married into the rumanian aristrocracy, but his young wife Libussa died of tuberculosis far too early. Even their wish for a baby remained unfulfilled. Since the tragic death of his wife, he aids a lot of religious institutions. He is the patron for the upcoming benefit auction.[/size]

[size=120]Stats:[/size]

Drive: Adventure

Occupation: Dilettante
Occupational benefits: You may spend Credit Rating to get a Contact. This Contact will not be trustworthy and only likes you because you are rich.

Health: 10 (-12: dead)
Hit Threshold: 4

Stability: 8 (-12: insane)

Sanity: 8 (0: insane)
Pillars of Sanity: your christian faith (loose at 5), your honor as a gentleman (loose at 2)

Investigative Abilities:
-Academic Abilities: Accounting 2, Languages 1 (Rumanian [native], English), Occult 1, Theology 1
-Interpersonal Abilities: Assess Honesty 1, Bargain 2, Bureaucracy 1, Credit Rating 7, Flattery 2, Intimidation 1, Reassurance 1
-Technical Abilities: Evidence Collection 1, Outdoorsman 2

General Abilities: Athletics 10, Driving 5, Firearms 12, Piloting 2, Scuffling 8, Sense Trouble 6, Shadowing 6, Stealth 6, Weapons 10

Equipment: a pair of .600 silver bullets, an Abercrombie & Fitch Camp Knife*, a rented car, “Sascha” a Holland & Holland Double Express .600 Elephant Rifle** plus 20 rounds (in the car)

  • hunting knife; deals d6-1 [min. 1] damage

** single-shot rifle; clip 2; deals d6+2 damage, d6+4 at point-blank range
next round action must be an Athletics test (Difficulty 3) to remain upright

[size=150]VICTORIA ASH[/size]

[size=120]Role: … is an author, who works as a freelancer for the Boston Press. She discovered her talent for writing very early. The occult appealed to her very quickly afterwards. Since noone wants to publish her novel “50 Shades of Twilight”, an enthralling lovestory between a werwolf and a vampire princess, yet, she still works as a journalist.
Many of her colleagues disregard her, because she is “only” a woman. Although she has used this to her advantage several times, since men tend to underestimate her. Because of her strong sense of independance and her brash tongue, she has not found a husband yet, but this is only a small price she is gladly willing to pay.
It will be her task to write a story about the benefit auction for the local press.[/size]

[size=120]Stats:[/size]

Drive: Artistic Sensitivity

Occupation: Author
Occupational benefits: Up to 4 times per game if you found inspiration for your novel, you can do research in downtime to regain 1 spend Academic Ability Point.

Health: 8 (-12: dead)
Hit Threshold: 3

Stability: 8 (-12: insane)

Sanity: 8 (0: insane)
Pillars of Sanity: aesthetics / high principles of art (loose at 5), your love for your hometown: the city of Boston (loose at 2)

Investigative Abilities:
-Academic Abilities: Accounting 1, Cryptography 1, History 1, Languages (English [native]), Library Use 1, Occult 1
-Interpersonal Abilities: Assess Honesty 1, Bureaucracy 1, Cop Talk 2, Credit Rating 2, Interrogation 1, Oral History 3
-Technical Abilities: Art 1 (writing), Chemistry 1, Evidence Collection 3, Locksmith 1, Photography 1

General Abilities: Athletics 2, Conceal 4, Driving 1, Filch 4, Firearms 3, Fleeing 8, Scuffling 6, Sense Trouble 12, Shadowing 12, Stealth 10

Equipment: a photocamera, a pen & a notebook, the manuscript for your novel

[size=150]DR. GIOVANNI MILLINER[/size]

[size=120]Role: … calles himself an “Action-Archaeologist”. He prefers hunting for ancient treasures in a jungle, instead of looking through dusty tomes, or teaching in crowded lecture auditoriums. Although he is one of the few summa cum laude degree holders of the University of Boston, he has a controversial reputation among his colleagues, thanks to his unorthodox style.
Almost a year ago he was attacked and bitten by a wolf. Since that day, he keeps a Lupara shotgun near, especially when he is on an excavation site.
His patron Count Vladimir Rustovich tasked him to gather most of the artefacts for the upcoming benefit auction. [/size]

[size=120]Stats:[/size]

Drive: Curiosity

Occupation: Action-Archaeologist
Occupational benefits: You may spend Conceal, Filch and Shadowing AFTER rolling, but you have to spend 2 points to gain the benefit of 1.

Health: 12 (-12: dead)
Hit Threshold: 4

Stability: 8 (-12: insane)

Sanity: 8 (0: insane)
Pillars of Sanity: living your life to the fullest (loose at 5), your family (loose at 2)

Investigative Abilities:
-Academic Abilities: Archaeology 1, History 1, Languages 1 (English [native], Italian), Law 1
-Interpersonal Abilities: Assess Honesty 1, Bargain 2, Cop Talk 1, Credit Rating 4, Interrogation 1, Intimidation 2, Reassurance 1, Streetwise 2
-Technical Abilities: Evidence Collection 1, Locksmith 2, Outdoorsman 1

General Abilities: Athletics 8, Conceal 4, Driving 2, Filch 4, Firearms 6, Scuffling 8, Sense Trouble 8, Shadowing 8, Stealth 8

Equipment: brass knuckles*, a car, a Lupara** plus 26 shotgun shells (in the car)

  • a pair; deal d6-1 [min. 1] damage

** short-barrelled, double-barrel shotgun; clip 2; deals d6+0 damage, d6+1 at close, or d6+3 at point-blank range
will deal +1 additional damage, if you fire both barrels simultaneously

[size=150]AISLING STURBRIDGE[/size]

[size=120]Role: … is a young and attractive art history student. Most of her fellow students only see her as a cute girl. She really hates being reduced to her appearance and dedicates her life to the world of books. She really loves dusty libraries. This adds to her unquenchable academic thirst for knowledge. Since her fellow students only see her as a potential date, she send all suitors away immediately. Humans are so complex and taxing - especially if compared to books.
It will be her task to write a paper about the upcoming benefit auction for her studies. Additionally she hopes, that she will be able to read in the ancient library of the convent, which is sadly only available to nuns. This and the fact, that the notorious Dr. Giovanni Milliner had worked on the excavations, convinced her to enlist the project.[/size]

[size=120]Stats:[/size]

Drive: Thirst for Knowledge

Occupation: Antiquarian
Occupational benefits: Once per game you will be able to find a book with a topic of your choice, if you are in the library of the Convent.

Health: 8 (-12: dead)
Hit Threshold: 3

Stability: 8 (-12: insane)

Sanity: 8 (0: insane)
Pillars of Sanity: your love for your hometown: the city of Boston (loose at 5), your belief in the value of intellect (loose at 2)

Investigative Abilities:
-Academic Abilities: Archaeology 1, Architecture 1, Art History 2, Biology 1, Cryptography 1, History 2, Languages 2 (English [native], Ancient Greek, Latin), Law 1, Library Use 4, Medicine 1, Occult 1, Physics 1, Theology 1
-Interpersonal Abilities: Credit Rating 1, Flattery 1
-Technical Abilities: Astronomy 1, Chemistry 1, Evidence Collection 2

General Abilities: Fleeing 12, Preparedness 6, Scuffling 5, Sense Trouble 10, Shadowing 10, Stealth 10

Equipment: your notes, a backpack

Hmm … do I detect the influence of another game here? Interesting, interesting.

Dibs on Indiana Milliner!

Calling dibs again? Alright :smiley:
Dibs on Count Vladimir Rustovich

Sweet setup! :slight_smile: I’d find the priest (Moncada) intriguing… or the author (Ash)… or the shrink (Becket)… lots of nice chars there, actually…

Someone’s going to sue somebody. :wink: :stuck_out_tongue:

Fairly obvious as far as references go, but still appreciated. :laughing: Didn’t see before that this was an offshoot of the other thread. This is intended for one of those Thursday evenings, yes? Alas, those don’t work well for me at all, so I fear I’ll have to retract my interest.

information post;
Being familiar with CoC is not necessary. I’m not even sure if it helps at all^^

Maybe I will run it again in the future,
if you find enough players. :slight_smile:

Same here :slight_smile: I guess we’ll decide on the spot…

Looking forward to Thursday! This looks lovely and I’ve wanted to test the Gumshoe system for a while now. Perfect.