The Trial Period - LunarNeil/Call-of-Cthulhu-Campaign GitHub Wiki

Every new Investigator goes through a Trial Period before they are entirely finished and approved for play. This is a chance for the Moderator to talk with the Player about their character concept, how they want to fit into the game, and address any group conflicts. Once the Moderator approves, you're ready to play!

The Trial Period is essentially an audition that may kill you. During this time the Investigator concept can be perfected by the player, as if they were still in character generation. Trial Periods last three sessions, though players can end Trial early or petition the Moderator for more time if necessary.

Once the Investigator concept has been tested, revised, and approved, the Moderator will allow the player to make some Final Touches that improve their survival chances. These are usually a few more Sanity points and an extra Trait, as well as any final changes the player needs to make before their Investigator is a ready for the spotlight.

Final Touches

The Final Touches are both an opportunity to add the last bit of personality you felt your Investigator was lacking and to negotiate with the Moderator to change some part of your Archetype that you didn't think fit your concept. If the Trial Period is an audition, the Final Touches are when you put on makeup and finish their costume.

After this point your Investigator will only change slowly, so make sure this is someone you want to play now, not after a few months of gaining improvements!

The Final Touches include the following perks:

+20 Sanity Points

Bonus: These additional Sanity Points can be spent on any skill the player chooses.

+1 Good Trait

Bonus: This extra Good Trait should exemplify some unique aspect of their character concept.

Attribute Exchange

Swap: With Moderator approval, the player can exchange one of their Archetype Skills, Traits or Obsessions for a similar attribute of less value. This means that if you trade an Archetype Skill for one of your choosing the Moderator may drop the swapped Skill level.

Terrible Secrets

This final approval stage is also an opportunity for player to ask for a Terrible Secret, or for the Moderator to offer one.

Terrible Secrets are usually both Terrible and Secret because they refer to some outside influence that tempts the holder of the Secret to perform a foul deed upon their fellow Investigators. The group will naturally object to this, so the discovery of a Terrible Secret can lead to summary execution by your fellow players.

Even if your Terrible Secret has no such stipulation, this book right here states that they usually do and there is no way of knowing if the holder of the Secret is lying, which they have every reason to do and probably had been until they were caught. The group will have no reason to believe you after reading this, so you better keep your Secret safely hidden.

It's not paranoia if the Rulebook tells you to kill them now.

Terrible Secrets almost never come with a card to explain what you are concealing from the group, if you even know for sure yourself. You will not be able to show them to prove your innocence.

As you progress you may investigate your Secret, either to avoid it or realize its full potential. This will require you to make Journal entries. These are allowed to be cryptic and well hidden, you are required to document your Secret somewhere but the more obscure and unusual you are the better.