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    Investigator Example (Harvey Walters)

    Griggle990
    Griggle990
    You are tearin' me apart!
    You are tearin' me apart!


    Posts : 101 Join date : 2010-12-06

    Investigator Example (Harvey Walters) Empty Investigator Example (Harvey Walters)

    Post by Griggle990 Fri Feb 25, 2011 2:09 pm

    Here begins the story of how Harvey Walters, the noted 1920s New York journalist, mystic, and psychic investigator, comes to be. The player takes up a fresh investigator sheet, a pencil, and three six-sided dice, and then opens the rulesbook to p. 34. Characteristics STR (Strength): the roll is 3D6. The player rolled a 4, nearly the worst possible result. In consequence, the new investigator is an exceptional weakling. But the player is not dismayed: Call of Cthulhu is an unusual game—the stars yet may be right.

    DEX (Dexterity): the roll is 3D6. The roll result is a 12, high average, and the investigator’s Dodge is 24%. Given good Dexterity despite low Strength, the investigator might want to learn skills which show off that ability—or perhaps he or she will just be a good dancer or a good typist.

    INT (Intelligence): the roll is 2D6+6. The INT result is 17, an excellent score. This investigator may be someone to reckon with. Her curiosity piqued, the player smiles and rolls the next characteristic.

    CON (Constitution): the roll is 3D6. The result is 14, another good score. This investigator’s hardiness helps compensate for the terrible STR score.

    APP (Appearance): the roll is 3D6. The result is 17, another outstanding score. Whatever other flaws arise, this investigator’s personality sparkles.

    POW (Power): the roll is 3D6, and the result is a 9. No one with POW 9 is destined for greatness in the magical arts. Nor should someone with a Luck roll of 45% count on luck to extricate himself or herself from a tight situation.

    SIZ (Size): the roll is 2D6+6, and the result is a 16. As soon as the dice stopped moving, she started thinking of her new investigator as male. At SIZ 16, he is hefty, if weak. Perhaps he is overweight, or perhaps an injury has left him partly paralyzed. The mere bare numbers of the characteristics may suggest personality. Roleplaying begins in explaining unusual combinations of characteristics. A first name comes to mind. She has never had an investigator named Harvey, but it seems to fit. For now, the investigator is Harvey.

    SAN(Sanity):the multiplier is 5x POW, a result of 45 for Harvy. Not a terrible score, but less than average. Perhaps he
    is nervous and high-strung, or he has undergone a shattering
    mystical experience already.

    EDU (Education): the roll is 3D6+3, and a 16 comes up, a
    good score, high enough that it makes Harvey a college graduate.
    His player decides that Harvey has an Master of Arts
    degree, though that title has no game function. Harvey
    speaks English at 80%. His player wants Harvey to be
    youngish, and does not age him, so he remains age 22
    (EDU+6 years).
    Idea Roll: with an INT of 17, Harvey’s x5

    Idea roll is 85%. He
    is quite clever, and stands a high chance of coming up with
    workable plans.

    Luck Roll: with a POW of 9, Harvey’s x5 Luck roll is 45%. He is slightly more often unlucky than lucky. He should depend on ideas and knowledge, and not hope for the best from a roll of the dice.

    Know Roll: with an EDU of 16, Harvey’s x5 Know roll is
    80%. He worked hard in school and learned a lot.

    Damage Bonus: the sum of Harvey’s STR+SIZ is 4+16=20.
    His bonus is zero.

    Hit Points: the sum of Harvey’s CON+SIZ is 14+16=30.
    Divided by 2, he has 15 hit points, a good score. Harvey is not
    a fighter, though. With his brains and charm, he can often
    talk his way out of difficulties.

    Magic Points: these equal POW. Harvey has 9. At this point
    Harvey’s last name comes to his player: Walters, because the
    wall sound reminds her of wallflower, and because Walters
    rhymes with falters, which she thinks a nervous guy like
    Harvey may do.

    Background
    Harvey is a 1920s character. Rolling on the Investigator
    Income Table, his player gets a 2, putting $2500 in Harvey’s
    pocket and another $2500 in the bank. (The keeper cruelly
    rules that the rest of Harvey’s property is in his inheritance,
    unavailable until his parents die.) Even with adequate money
    for a time, Harvey sharpens a pencil and wisely starts looking
    for a job.

    Choosing Skills
    Harvey Walters is to be a journalist, and his player states that
    he has joined Enigma Magazine, which looks into mysteries
    of the occult.
    Harvey has EDU 16, and multiplied times 20 yields 320
    points to add to his base chances. His player may add occupation
    points only to the skills listed for the occupation
    Journalist. Since there are rarely more than eight skills listed
    for an occupation, each can get an average of 40 points.
    Harvey’s present skill in Own Language (English) is
    already 80% (EDU x5), so she decides not to add points to
    that score. She chooses that he learns Latin: it has a base
    chance of 01%, and she adds 49 of his 320 points for Latin
    50%. Now he is at home in a language encountered in Mythos
    researches; 271 occupation points remain.
    Next, she adds 60 to his Fast Talk rating, raising it to
    65%, and increases Persuade by 50, for a total of 55%. To
    evaluate the people he questions, his player adds 55 to make
    a 60% Psychology. As an investigative reporter, Harvey is well
    equipped to ask questions and get honest answers. With
    Persuade, he can change minds and make allies. Now 106
    occupation points remain. Every reporter needs to collect
    evidence. His player puts 20 points into Photography for 30%
    total, since seeing is believing in the 1920s. Now 86 occupation
    points are left. Journalists are permitted two skills as
    personal specialties: she chooses Archaeology and adds 79
    points to that for 80%, and 7 points for Law, for a total of
    12% in that skill. Harvey’s player now has spent all of his
    Journalist occupation points. He has good communication
    skills, useful for a reporter, and is expert in a Mythos-related
    skill, Archaeology.
    Harvey’s INT is 17, so his personal interest points total
    17 x10 or 170 points. These can be spent as the player
    desires. Harvey’s player spends 59 points for Pilot Aircraft
    60% (“Because it sounds exciting”) and, since she is an experienced
    Call of Cthulhu player, she adds 40 points to Library
    Use, raising it to 65%. There are 71 personal interest points
    left, and these she splits up for their potential tactical advantage,
    adding 20 for Listen 45%, 25 for Occult 30% (this low
    score may be a weakness in Harvey’s job), 15 for Bargain
    20%, and 11 for Credit Rating 26% (another weakness for a
    person who must make person-to-person contact all the
    time). All of Harvey’s points have been spent.
    Harvey's player did choose to increase his weapons skills, though he might have. Harvey is a 1920s intellectual,
    not the sort to carry a gun. If anything is unrealistic about
    him, it might be the choice of Archaeology instead of a higher
    Credit Rating that might gain him entrance to upper class
    homes and functions. The Archaeology choice clearly anticipates
    game situations.
    Harvey has other skill points, preprinted on the investigator
    sheet and even more points tucked away as base
    chances in the weapons tables, all part of his human inheritance.
    She gives him 5% Ballroom Dancing under the Art skill.
    Her early idea about his Dexterity didn’t survive, but she salvages
    this much. Harvey is ready to play. She will continue to
    accumulate ideas about him. She ignores the chance to age
    Harvey: he makes an interesting young man now, but aged by
    ten or twenty years he would be relatively ordinary.
    Harvey’s player must decide what he will look like.
    Satisfied with Harvey’s unique characteristics and skills, she
    finds him easy to visualize. She is so pleased with how
    Harvey turned out that she commissions a fine portrait of
    Harvey on the front of the character sheet. Sometimes she
    photocopies a picture of some 1930s film star and pastes that
    in—other players immediately understand the sorts of
    investigators she intends.

    Deeper Background
    Harvey Walter’s player decides that Harvey attended
    Miskatonic University, and that he graduated with a M.A. in
    Journalism. She also decides that Harvey is brave. She already
    knows that he has an engaging personality, but is delicate
    physically and emotionally. She has not yet decided what
    Harvey’s low STR means, but for the moment will play him
    as physically lazy, always scheming to get someone else to lift
    the box or change the flat tire.
    She thinks Harvey’s grandfather made great profits during
    the Civil War, but that his father and elder brother have
    since gambled away much of it, or spent it on mysterious
    projects they refuse to discuss.
    This is enough. Roleplaying Harvey in the future will add
    more information, and that accumulation over time is much
    of the fun.

      Current date/time is Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:58 pm