Freebie RPG: Chthonian

[Zak Arntson]

Okay, spurred by D&D -> Disposable Characters -> Call of Cthulhu -> CoC done "right" (read: Narrative) ... Props (mad even) to Jared for giving me the bug to write this.

I bring you http://zaknet.tripod.com/hmouse/">Chthonian.  Let me know what you think.

Here's a bit about design considerations:

One universal mechanic.  I decided on the most Lovecraftian die, the d12.  It's basically a d12 roll plus/minus modifiers.  You subtract the Difficulty from your roll for the Extent.  Zero or greater = success (so most of the time, you just try to roll higher than Difficulty).

Flowery text like Lovecraft (so instead of Sanity you have Terrible Insight which affects your Practicality and Cognizance Traits).

Very rules-light to encourage a Narrative style of play.  Even Combat is rules light (though there is an option, called "Atomizing" to make things a little more rules-y).

Three Styles of play: Pulp Adventure, Weird Tale, and Shocking Discovery.  These mostly
affect the lethality of the rules, like combat and Terrible Insight.

A Narrative mechanic in the form of Nodules (fancy word for token) that can be spent to get Automatic Successes, Authorial Power, or a Lucky Break.

Soooo, bust out your d12's and get ready to tell some Weird Fiction with http://zaknet.tripod.com/hmouse/">Chthonian!  And if you live in the Seattle area, let us run a game (Clinton?).

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Looks pretty cool, Zak...but I'm seeing things that just don't belong.  

I love the 3 "modes" of play -- do more with these!

#1 -- I'd ditch all the Qualities and Traits and just limit the attributes to a bundle of characteristics that appear in most if not all of HPL's work.  I like Practicality (Pragmatism?) and Cognizance.  I would add Xenophobia (fear of the unknown...especially strangers.  Especially savage, heathen brown-skinned strangers*) and Civility (desire to keep things calm, polite and "status quo").

So...

Pragmatism:  High = Logical and academic, Low = prone to flights of fancy and irrational behavior
Cognizance:  High = Understanding the way the universe "really works,"  Low = Loutish and uninspired
Xenophobia: High = rascist and/or closed to new ideas, Low = open and accepting
Civility:  High = stuffy and orthodox, Low = savage and primitive

How do these numbers work?  No idea.  The important thing is that the players are rewarded for doing things that could potentially hurt their characters...else the story becomes a dungeon crawl, where characters are continually working to save their ass rather than risking it at every opportunity (ala the archeologist who touches EVERYthing in that D&D game that was mentioned in another post).

#2 -- have the character get BETTER as they get more insane.  I'd make it so that the crazier a character is, the closer is gets to being an NPC character (er, not in the traditional sense...rather, that player becomes the guy who works for the GM).

* Needless to say, this has to do with the source material and not my own personal values

[Paul Czege]

Hey Zak, Jared,

It's pretty damn cool. I like Practicality and Cognizance as opposed values (and wouldn't change the names either). Although I think Jared's right that the character should get better in some ways as Terrible Insight goes up. My initial thought is that they should be absolute values that apply as bonuses depending on the nature of the scene. If he's assembling a square puzzle from round pieces carved from human bones, then Cognizance is the modifier. If he's discussing politics over drinks with a socialite he's attracted to and her brother, then Practicality is the modifier. So the GM would determine if a scene was based on Practicality or Cognizance...but maybe a player could spend a Nodule to flip the scene to being based on the other.

Okay...I updated this post with some additional thoughts:

I'm really getting into the idea of player control of flipping the basis of a scene from Practicality or Cognizance to the other by spending Nodules. One of the things I like about the source literature is that otherwise ordinary scenes become characterized by the strangeness and changes in the psychology of the viewpoint character. The character may not know where the narrative is headed, but the player does. If increasing Terrible Insight is the augmentation mechanic for the Cognizance score, the player will be motivated ramp up Cognizance for climactic sequences expected near the end of a scenario. Final sequences can be expected to be Cognizance-based, and to stay Cognizance-based because monstrous and horrible creatures would have enough Nodules to just flip it back if the player flips it to Practicality. So the player will want a character with high Cognizance (and some Nodules on hand for automatic successes and Authorial power) by the end of the scenario if he wants to make it through climactic Cognizance-based scenes. If you split it so Practicality and Cognizance increase separately, the way a player will get Cognizance for the climactic scenes is by focusing earlier scenes from Practicality to Cognizance and earning increases.

Imagine the character talking to the socialite who flips the scene to Cognizance. Suddenly the whole nature of the interaction is changed. Her and her brother begin describing their exotic collection of gynecological tools to the character.

The reverse would be also true. A player who flips an otherwise monstrous scene to Practicality is veneering and rationalizing something terrible. "What a marvelous collection of pickled infants you have doctor. We simply must exhibit them at Lady Emmerich's gallery in Chatham."

And the whole thing is driven by the player's desire to be augmented for the scenario's climactic sequences.

Am I making any sense?

Paul

[ This Message was edited by: Paul Czege on 2001-06-10 16:16 ]

[Zak Arntson]

Jared sez

I love the 3 "modes" of play -- do more with these!

Will do.  I will address these Styles more when I rewrite it, seeing as I want players to really get what I'm saying, especially with a strange name like Shocking Discovery (i.e., short, lethal adventure with a twist ending that drives yah mad).

I'd ditch all the Qualities and Traits and just limit the attributes to a bundle of characteristics that appear in most if not all of HPL's work.

I will introduce a sort of Xenophobic Trait to the Weird Tales section (optional for the others, I don't think Pulp Adventure woudl benefit from this), but I don't want to call it Xenophobic.  I want to call it something the Excursionist would call it.  You know, a euphamism.

Also, I am going to ditch Qualities, but keep the Traits.  It's just a common-sense whether the Trait helps or hinders the Excursionist.  I put in Qualities, I think, as a Gamist reaction (I've got to make it look somewhat fair).  I should've seen this earlier, since Traits were originally going to be point-based chargen (you know, X points, negative Qualities give you more points).

Civility: High = stuffy and orthodox, Low = savage and primitive

I am going to tie Practicality into this trait.  Practicality is from a gentleman's point of view, and so includes orthodox matters.  

have the character get BETTER as they get more insane

Oops, that was kind of part of the exercise that I lost sight of.  ENCOURAGE the players to take risks and not worry about their Excursionist.  I think I nailed a big part with quick 'n easy character creation.  But yeah, I'm going to rewrite the Terrible Insight rules to encourage this behavior.



Paul sez

If he's assembling a square puzzle from round pieces carved from human bones, then Cognizance is the modifier. If he's discussing politics over drinks with a socialite he's attracted to and her brother, then Practicality is the modifier.

This is closer to my original intent than even I thought!  You rule.  Yes, I will stress this with the rewrite.  The two Terrible Insight Traits will have subtly different meanings, depending on the Style of game, too.  A Cognizant Pulp Hero would scorn the effete and have tremendous knowledge of ancient cults, while a Cognizant Weird Tale character would gain knowledge through a maddening logic.

Practicality = Social ability & general Upperclassness.
Cognizance = Weird-logic ability and understanding of lesser known things.

I'm really getting into the idea of player control of flipping the basis of a scene from Practicality or  Cognizance to the other by spending Nodules.

I love that idea, too.  I will definitely add it as a use for Nodules.  I think the idea of spending Nodules to flip the bent of the situation is WONDERFUL.  Though I'm wary of giving anyone but characters Nodules.  I can imagine that certain situations would impose a higher Difficulty to switch it.  So spending a Nodule could give you a chance of flipping (increase the chance by spending more Nodules?)

This will further encourage Players to get Terrible Insight.  Jared noted above that the current rules don't encourage the Player enough, which I agree with.



Thanks to the both of you ... I'm hoping this'll become a truly playable game.

[Paul Czege]

Hey Zak,

I hope you don't mind a little prodding for your revised version of Cthonian. This is me prodding...[prod]...[prod].

Paul

[Zak Arntson]

Heh.  I've reworked the Traits and Rolling, and added the Insightful Shift option to Nodule spending.

I also added some navigational links, to make it easier to cruise through the document.

Let me know what y'all think!  I'm aching to hear about somebody trying it out ...

http://zaknet.tripod.com/hmouse/games/chthonian.html