Investigator Management - LunarNeil/Call-of-Cthulhu-Campaign GitHub Wiki
Player characters are Investigators, and they posess a great number of personal attributes, including their skills, traits, obsessions, goals, madnesses and so on. Listing them all makes it sound confusing and complex, where in truth, our Call of Cthulhu campaign uses a very slimmed-down version of most character management systems. It just packs a lot of roleplaying tools into it, and is given an elaborate and exciting in-game personification called The Journal.
Managing your Investigator may seem daunting at first, because there are many terms and conventions that seem unusual, but read through this section and then the main Journal Section on the main page and you are sure to have everything made clear.
-Journal as Character Sheet
The Journal is more than just a fancy prop, it is a valuable addition to the character sheet concept. Call of Cthulhu is, in many ways, a mystery game. While you investigate the strange cults and mysterious locations of the Cthulhu Mythos you will uncover numbers of small clues, references to strange creatures, odd and occult symbols on the walls or in books full of bizarre ranting text. Players can't remember all that, or shouldn't be asked to, but without those details and bits of mystery it wouldn't feel like a Mythos game at all. The Journal helps make it feel like a real period piece from a bygone era, and it helps you keep track of all the tiny clues you find.
When the rules or Keeper say to add something to your Journal, they mean you should hang onto it, and ideally keep it with the rest of your game things. Paperclipping it to the inside of your notepad or adding it to a binder is the best way to make sure you don't lose anything, which can sometimes imply that your Investigator forgot lost it too! If you want to make sure you don't lose it, write it down as well. Your Journal is a great way to scribble down small clues that the Keeper drops and let you investigate them later.
-Understanding the Journal
One common element in Lovecraft's writing style is the use of a journal or letter to offer a believable rationale for his stories to be told entirely through first person narration... or for how the character can narrate after they've been eaten alive. Inspired by that, in our Call of Cthulhu campaign, each Investigator keeps a Journal that includes their character sheet information, Clues and Secrets they have collected, and any notes the player wants to make while on an adventure.
Just like in Lovecraft's stories, if the Investigator should die, they can opt to have their Journal (or at least parts of it) discovered so that their fellow Investigators don't lose any clues, notes, theories, or other bits of information they had recorded. It also allows the character to leave last words to his trusted (or hated) fellow Investigators, and to point them in the direction of that player's new character, often with a cryptic message that they "have to get this information to my good friend Professor West, of Miskatonic University..." or something similar.
-Journal Notes and Index Cards
You will see many mentions of index cards and other handouts being added to one's Journal, or suggestions to "scribble this down" on a page of your Journal. This isn't just because it is exciting to have a haphazard collection of scrawled notes and clipped on cards in your journal, but to make it easier to reference.
Weapons and major gear can have their information scribbled into a notebook page or onto an index card, allowing you to read the information on them quickly anytime you need them. Clues and Artifacts can be scribbled down or represented as Cards and Paper handouts, so when you and the other Investigators pause for a moment and compare notes, you will be able to sort out the leads and see where they point.
You don't have to do any of these things, but it will be much easier to track if you do.
-Investigator Attributes
Investigators are created using an Archetype, which is a basic character sketch that is itself built out of a few major Attributes that define what the Archetype does well, what it does poorly, and what character quirks it has by default. These Attributes are Skills, Traits, and Obsessions:
These define the things you can do either through natural talent, hard work, or knowledge. Skills are most notable for the beneficial modifiers they provide in Conflict Resolution. Every Investigator is going to have several skills associated to their occupation, interests, hobbies and experiences. Skills are relatively easy to pick up, but hard to master.
These are unusual physical or mental characteristics that can assist or hinder you. Traits are hard to pick up, you either have them or you don't, and the most common way to gain a Trait is by losing something else. Having an eye or an arm torn away by an abomination, developing a permanent psychosis, or taking on a strange fishlike appearance are all the kinds of Traits that Investigators generally prefer to avoid gaining. Traits come into play primarily in the special roleplaying opportunities they offer, but they do at times carry a special effect, such as water-breathing through your new neck gills.
These are personality traits that drive you, nearly to the point of irrationality. Obsessions don't need to be a sign of madness, but they tend to grow stronger as one's mental health erodes and their willpower grows weaker. Though generally a hindrance, obsessions are advantageous in one major way: they give the Investigator something more powerful than their fear, something inside them that drives them on. In just the right circumstances this weakness can be a tremendous strength.
Those cover nearly the whole spectrum of things a player has to worry about when roleplaying their Investigator. There are other sections to the character sheet that have places to write down additional items of interest, like the Investigator's long-term goals, but these aren't required. Investigators will also collect Clues, Secrets and Lore, and own equipment, but the above three Attributes cover all of the core character information.
-Tracking Health and Insanity Numbers
While further detailed below, both the Investigator's health and their level of insanity can be tracked on the player sheet. The two functions assigned to this are the Wound Gauge for health and damage concerns, and the Madness Meter for sanity and insanity. In both cases they track values from 0 (good) up to 20 (bad) and don't require any more book-keeping than that. Investigators cannot improve their Wound or Madness maximum, though they can raise the minimum of the Madness Meter by corrupting their mind with arcane magics.
-Sanity Points as Experience Points
Investigators who survive are given a valuable reward that allows them to improve their Skills, buy new ones, develop Traits and Obsessions, and contemplate the clues, creatures and strange events they've witnessed. The name for this valuable reward is the Sanity Point.
Sanity Points are like Experience Points, they simulate the way the mind works as it practices and experiences things. Sanity Points are usually handed out at the end of every session, to be spent with Keeper approval before the end of the next game session. Players cannot save up Sanity indefinitely, and unspent Sanity will disappear like sand through an hourglass if it is not by the end of the session after it was awarded. Keepers are free to bend this rule if a player really wants to save up for a major item and doesn't know what they want, but should be firm on not letting them carry more than a small amount of Sanity in their pockets at a time.
For an average session, where all the players had fun and the game ran smoothly, the award should be 5 Sanity Points.
Sanity is a generic resource, meaning that a player who receives bonus Sanity can spend it unpredictably. If a Keeper wants to reward a player for good use of a skill, they may want to consider increasing that Skill's progression directly. Similarly, if the player roleplayed exceptionally well, rather that giving, give them special Clues or Secrets. Allow players, through their own actions, to define what kinds of rewards they recieve. Sanity is not a carrot to encourage good behavior, but to encourage skillful playing of the core game.
-Optional Sanity Budget Mechanic
Optionally, Sanity can also be given out at the beginning of a session, in full or in part. When this is done, Sanity can be "burnt" to give the Investigator a +1 on the result of a Conflict Resolution roll. If an Investigator had been given 3 Sanity at the beginning of that session, and they needed a 12 for a contest that they only rolled a 10, they could burn 2 Sanity to nudge their roll upwards. Sanity is extremely valuable, so Investigators should be hesitant to ever use this option, but it does allow the Keeper to add an element of dark temptation to the Sanity spending mechanics if they feel their players will respond to the tension.
-Clues, Secrets and Lore
Investigators will pick up a lot of Clues as they advance through the adventure. Clues, which are talked about above in their own section, are small plot threads that the characters can scribble down and try to investigate later. Once a Clue has been investigated it may reveal a Secret. Clues and Secrets are incredibly valuable, but they can be hard to keep track of in your head, so use your Journal to track them. There's no specific place you need to put clues, you can write them anywhere.
Not all clues are explicitly handed out, you may hear the Keeper narrate some conversation on the dock that you think is interesting. Write that down and later on you might want to follow up on it. Sometimes the Keeper will hand you pre-made clue cards or handouts when you find clues or reveal a secret that are of special importance. Using your Journal means you won't lose track of these.
Lores are Secrets that have a potent Mythos connection that could cause one to go mad from the revelation of it. They too are often the product of research or following plot threads, but Lores can also be burnt into your mind through contact with Mythos situations. Like Secrets, they can be simple or complex, anything from knowing that the Elder Sign repels certain creatures to knowing the exact non-euclidean layout of the city of R'lyeth.
-Equipment, Artifacts and Money
Money can be important in some campaign settings, but there is no need to track exact figures or worry about the precise costs of items. As such, Money doesn't really need to be anywhere in your Journal, but if your Keeper wants to make your game more nitty-gritty (or if you wash up in Hong Kong and trying to make money for a boat back home becomes a bit of a plot point) then you can track it in the Gear section of the character sheet.
Equipment should be negotiated with the Keeper, who will allow an Investigator anything they deem reasonably available and within their budget. When looking for equipment, make sure to negotiate with your Keeper for some small items your character normally will be carrying on their person. Things like pocket watches, handkerchiefs or small knives are good examples of things that might not have an obvious use now but may be valuable later. Your Investigator will not be walking around with a duffel bag full of adventuring gear at any time, so scribbling your character's generic "Gear" down onto an Index Card and paper clipping it to your sheet is extremely valuable.
Big or important items, like rifles or scientific gear or the eldritch notes of your mentor, are worth creating a quick-reference index card for and scribbling down somewhere in your Journal.
Artifacts are much harder to get than Equipment, and often the point of an adventure will be to secure just one. These can be anything from small carved figures and ritual items to arcane tomes filled with eldritch lore. Artifacts should not be given out to Investigators unless their is a compelling campaign reason, and whenever a player has an Artifact it should be well noted in their Journal as well as clipped in, if the Artifact has a handout as well.