Character Generation - LunarNeil/Call-of-Cthulhu-Campaign GitHub Wiki

"I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more. Penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug which alone makes life endurable, I can bear the torture no longer; and shall cast myself from this garret window into the squalid street below. Do not think from my slavery to morphine that I am a weakling or a degenerate. When you have read these hastily scrawled pages you may guess, though never fully realise, why it is that I must have forgetfulness or death."

From Dagon by H. P. Lovecraft

To play Realms of Mythos and Madness you need to create a character. Player-controlled characters in the game are called "Investigators", as they primarily spend their time investigating mysteries. Creating your investigator is so easy that you can grab a sheet when you arrive at the game and be ready to play before the Moderator has finished the opening scene narration.

Every Investigator begins life as an Archetype, which is a kind of generic character concept with three Skills and Storylines that give them a starting boost. Once an Archetype has been chosen, the player adds three extra skills and spends 100 Starting Sanity to upgrade them so that their Investigator has a bit of individual flair.

Once this simple task has been finished the Investigator is ready to play. Players will get one more opportunity to make major alterations to their character at the end of their character Trial Period, after a few sessions of play.

The following is the procedure for character generation:

Read the Scenario Handout

The first thing a player has to do is aquatint themselves with the scenario details, usually in the form of a detailed setting handout referred to as The Newspaper. Once you've read your Newspaper you should have a good idea what the theme is, the kinds of Archetypes and Skills the Moderator is planning to get the most use out of and what (if any) optional restrictions will be in place.

If your Moderator has not yet decided on the details of the campaign, you may want to wait before generating your Investigator.

Select an Investigator Archetype

Archetypes are generic character concepts that describe an Investigator in terms of their place in the story, not strictly their profession. They give Investigators a basic foundation of appropriate skills for playing while remaining broad enough that you don't need to make major character decisions right now.

Note about the Information Section and Investigator Character Development

Investigators start out in Realms like any new character from a book or television show: you don't know much about them the first time you see them, and the interesting stories come out only once the character has had time to develop.

Players are discouraged from making an elaborate background for a character who has just been created. The Information Section is a useful guide to laying important elements of a new Investigator without defining too much about them. Players are free to imagine a potential background, but should take a "show, not tell" approach to revealing character information.

Social Status is also left up to player choice, as the literary genre Realms is based on assumes characters are members of a comfortable middle class with opportunities to indulge in world travel and strange hobbies. Players can freely choose a higher or lower class of their choosing without changing their effective financial level from a moderate monthly stipend.

Pick Three Additional Skills and spend Starting Sanity

Once the Player has decided on an Archetype, they will be able to give their Investigator a personal spin by adding three new Skills to their sheet. These new Skills represent the other interests and areas of expertise your Investigator has and that other characters from the same Archetype might not.

You can improve those three Skills (and only those three) using the Starting Sanity your Moderator assigns as a new character bonus. Make sure to read the section on Sanity Points in the previous How to Play chapter, and for more information on Skills see the Skill Progression section of Character Advancement.

The standard amount for a "Gritty Campaign" be 100 Sanity Points, enough to purchase twenty five Skill half-steps.

The Rules of Starting Sanity Spending are as follows:

You may only use Starting Sanity to upgrade new Skills.
You may not keep any unspent Sanity Points once character generation is complete.
When you have spent all Starting Sanity, give your sheet to your Moderator for checking.

Get Checked by the Moderator

Moderators need to take a quick look at every new Investigator to make sure the character generation instructions were followed properly. If you picked a playable Archetype and made sure not to add too many points, then you're ready to play!

Moderators will also try to make sure your Investigator concept fits with the tone of the game, but withhold concerns over character concept. The appropriate period for this would be at the end of the Trial Period.

That's it! You now have an Investigator who is ready to test the limits of their own psyche in a struggle against the worst abominations in the cosmos. If you have any problems with this process or just want to clarify some of the rules, ask your Moderator and fellow players.