This game uses the Call of Cthulhu 5.6 (Chaoism) system. Lots of help will be given to those unfamiliar with this system. I will be using the core rules alongside the "Green And Pleasant Land" suplement but there will be a custom character creation system detailed below. I am also adding a new skill - Seduction (base chance = APP) - that covers sexual seduction.
Social skills are handled differently between PCs and NPCs. for PCs it is really up to both individuals who wins in a social conflict situation. For NPCs it depends on the NPC. In general a 'bit part' NPC will require a skill roll regardless of how persuasive the player is in their post. For major NPCs success or failure is at the GM's discretion.
Character Generation
Step 1 - Allocate Build Points.
Build points are split between Attributes, Wealth and Skills.
The base points are:-
Atrributes
Strength: 3 (Max 18)
Constitution: 3 (Max 18)
Size: 8 (Max 18)
Dexterity: 3 (Max 18)
Appearance: 3 (Max 18)
Intelligence: 8 (Max 18)
Power: 3 (Max 18)
Education: 6 (Max 21)
Wealth: 1 (max 10)
Skills: +0
Each player has 85 build points to allocate to these. 1 build point adds 1 to an attribute, 1 to wealth or 5 to skills.
e.g. Meili Lín is the Chinese daughter of a rich Arisocrat who has made a career for herself in balet. For this she needs to be artistic, beautiful, graceful and well-educated. She will also be rich.
She has 85 points to spend so she allocates them thusly:-
Atrributes
Strength: 12 (9 points)
Constitution: 12 (9 points)
Size: 9 (1 point)
Dexterity: 16 (13 points)
Appearance: 18 (15 points)
Intelligence: 15 (7 points)
Power: 14 (11 points)
Education: 18 (12 points)
Which gives her 77 points put into attributes. This leaves her with 8 points. She forgoes the extra skills to put her wealth up to 9, putting her in the upper class category for wealth.
She could have decided to drop her wealth to 7 which would still have made her upper class, but would have given her an extra 10 points to put into skills. Instead she chose the extra wealth.
Step 2 - Determine Derived Characteristics
The following characteristics are calculated based on the attribute scores of the character:-
Idea - Intelligence X 5
Luck - Power X 5
Knowledge - Education X 5 (max 99)
The character's damage bonus is based on their Strength + Size:-
Strength + Size Damage Bonus
--------------- ------------
2-12 -1D6
13-16 -1D4
17-24 0
25-32 +1D4
33-40 +1D6
41-56 +2D6
57-72 +3D6
73-88 +4D6
Add Constitution and Size, Divide by 2 and round up. This is the maximum number of hit points that the character has. The character's maximum number of magic points is equal to their Power. The character's maximum Sanity is 99% and their Cthulhu Mythos Score at the start is 0% The character's current sanity is 5 X their Power Score.
The Characters Wealth is based on their Wealth points. Consult the table below.
Wealth Income Savings: Bank / Property
------ ------ ------------------------
1 £50 £25 / £225
2 £100 £50 / £450
3 £200 £100 / £900
4 £400 £200 / £1600
5 £800 £400 / £3200
6 £1000 £500 / £4500
7 £2500 £1250 / £11250
8 £5000 £2500 / £22500
9 £7000 £3500 / £31500
10 £10000 £5000 / £45000
e.g For Meili we have:-
Idea: 75
Luck: 70
Knowledge: 90
Damage Bonus: 0
Hit Points: 11
Magic Points: 14
Sanity: 70
Class: Upper
Income: £7000
Savings: £3500 / £31500
Credit Rating Base Chance: 25%
Ride Base Chance: 25%
War experience:
Male characters that reached the age of 16 before 1918 can opt to have served in the great war. Each year of service adds 1 point to EDU but costs 1d4 points of sanity loss. These additional EDU points transalate to skill points that can only be used to increase the following skills.
Camouflage, Climb, Credit Rating, First Aid, Handgun, Make Maps, Oratory, Psychology, Ride, Rifle, Sabre, Sneak, Spot Hidden, Swim, Pilot Aircraft
For characters who have 1-5 wealth points they are considered working class. This gives them the following base chances:-
Working Class:
Credit Rating - 05%
Ride - 05%
Drive Auto - 05%
Drive Carriage - 20%
Upper Class:
Credit Rating: 25%
Ride: 20%
Drive Auto: 20%
Drive Carriage: 05%
Step 3 - Allocate Skills.
The skills and base chances are listed below. Firstly multiply the characters Education by 20. Now pick eight skills that will be your 'occupation' skills. You may now add these points to ONLY those eight skills. No skill can be raised above 99%.
Once that is done, multiply your Intelligence by 10. These points may be put into ANY skill. Finally, if you have purchased additional skill points they may be allocated to ANY skill.
Finally, to make it easier for players wanting to play foreign characters and still keep it fair I'm allowing everyone to have an additional EDUX5 (max 99) skill points to allocate to anything they want.
Skills list and base chances
Accounting (10%)
Anthropology (01%)
Archaeology (01%)
Art {specify type} (05%)
Astronomy (01%)
Bargain (05%)
Biology (01%)
Chemistry (01%)
Climb (40%)
Conceal (15%)
Craft {specify} (05%)
Credit Rating (BASED ON CLASS)
Disguise (01%)
Dodge (Dex X 2%)
Drive Automobile (BASED ON CLASS)
Drive Carriage (BASED ON CLASS)
Electrical Repair (01%)
Fast Talk (05%)
First Aid (30%)
Geology (01%)
Hide (10%)
History (20%)
Jump (25%)
Law (05%)
Library Use (25%)
Listen (25%)
Locksmith (01%)
Make Maps (01%)
Martial Arts (01%)
Mechanical Repair (20%)
Medicine (05%)
Natural History (10%)
Navigate (10%)
Occult (05%)
Operate Heavy Machinery (01%)
Other Language {specify} (01%)
Own Language (EDU X 5%)
Persuade (15%)
Pharmacy (01%)
Photography (10%)
Physics (01%)
Pilot Ballon (01%)
Pilot Aircraft (01%)
Pilot Boat (01%)
Psychoanalysis (01%)
Psychology (05%)
Ride (BASED ON CLASS)
Seduction (APP%)
Sneak (10%)
Spot Hidden (25%)
Swim (25%)
Throw (25%)
Track (10%)
Axe (20%)
Blackjack (40%)
Club (25%)
Knife (25%)
Sabre (15%)
Sword (20%)
Handgun (20%)
Machine Gun (15%)
Rifle (25%)
Shotgun (30%)
Fist / Punch (50%)
Head Butt (10%)
Kick (25%)
Grapple (25%)
e.g. For Meili we choose 8 skills that befit a dancer / artiste. Then we allocate EDU X 20 (360 points to these skills) :-
Art {Ballet} (05%) 95 (+90)
Credit Rating (25%) 75 (+50)
Other Language (English) (01%) 61 (+60)
Listen (25%)
Persuade (15%) 95 (+80)
Psychology (05%)
Seduction (18%) 98 (+80)
Spot Hidden (25%)
Now she allocates an additional INT X 10 Points to skills (150). Since she has spent no build points on skills she doesn't add any additional skill points to this total. Her final skills are:-
Art {Ballet} (05%) 95 (+90)
Credit Rating (25%) 75 (+50)
Other Language (Cantonese) (01%) 61 (+60)
Listen (25%) 75 (+50)
Persuade (15%) 95 (+80)
Psychology (05%)
Seduction (18%) 98 (+80)
Spot Hidden (25%) 55 (+30)
Occult(05%) 75 (+70) <- Additional 'Hobby' Skill
Finally she states her native language as Chinese (Mandarin) and allocates the free EDUX5 points to speaking English:-
Own Language (Mandarin) 99
Other Language (English) 99
That's all there is to it!