Custom Investigators and Investigator Cards

Besides the groupings of gods, entities which aren't gods have almost always been completely defined, but only as loose concepts, which I guess is what you mean - i.e. a shoggoth was always a mass of flesh, but would be presented in different ways or with differing details in other authors' visions. I enjoy this sort of thing, as long as it doesn't go completely against the grain (i.e. something silly like Mi-go being the servants of Hastur or some such going against the original description).

Victimizer wrote:
Besides the groupings of gods, entities which aren't gods have almost always been completely defined, but only as loose concepts, which I guess is what you mean - i.e. a shoggoth was always a mass of flesh, but would be presented in different ways or with differing details in other authors' visions. I enjoy this sort of thing, as long as it doesn't go completely against the grain (i.e. something silly like Mi-go being the servants of Hastur or some such going against the original description).

What I mean is that when the "shoggoths" in "Notebook" sound quite different from those in HPLs tales, then perhaps "Shoggoth" is being used losely to mean "horrible monster that serves the ancient ones". Or perhaps the backwoods priests of "notebook" don't quite use terms in the same way as the elder Things in At the Mountains of Madness etc. After all the meaning of words can subtle alter over 3 or 4 aeons

And I'm not convinced that the human worshipers of the Old Ones are quite as knowlegeable as they'd like us to think.

I think the monsters in "Notebook" quite clearly provide the inspiration for the CoC/AH Dark Young even if they are called Shoggoths in that story.

Just my 2c - Mariana the ex-nun cultist

kingtweety wrote:Over in the other threads, Lola Hayes is deemed useless by many posters.

Here's my take on designing an actress. No backstory yet as I just want a template. The idea is that an actor/actress must have a diverse skill set (hence starting with two skills) and is rather adaptive to many situations. Hayes does it by cycling through the Skill deck; I am proposing one who cycles through other team member's special abilities.

It's like the masks in CotDP except that the abilities rotate. Method acting is probably most powerful with two or three investigators though, since it's easier to synchronize one's action with who holds the first player token.

Balance issue- she's strictly better than whoever's ability she's copying that turn.

Also, I don't see her as being that much fun to play, since she does nothing different.

Cynical wrote:

Also, I don't see her as being that much fun to play, since she does nothing different.

But I would rather gaze lovingly at her picture than Lola's

Cynical wrote:
Balance issue- she's strictly better than whoever's ability she's copying that turn.

Also, I don't see her as being that much fun to play, since she does nothing different.

I like characters whose abilities work best within a team. The main reason I preferred copying ability is that players should know every official character's ability. But remembering the stats of the first player can be tedious, especially if the player has acquired several Skill or Ally cards. Nonetheless, here's another possibility, taking cw67q's suggestion into account.

"Method Acting: Once per turn, before making a Skill check, Naomi may choose to substitute the basic Skill value of the first player as her own."

So if Michael McGlen is the first player, and Naomi needs to pass a Fight check, she may take on McGlen's current Fight value. I use the word "basic" to imply that this ability works for combat check as well - she adds McGlen's Fight value to her own weapons to form her combat value.

The one problem I see is that the first player's current Skill value may be augmented by allies, and copying the stats augmented by allies isn't thematic.

madquest8 wrote:

Cynical wrote:

Also, I don't see her as being that much fun to play, since she does nothing different.

But I would rather gaze lovingly at her picture than Lola's

Originally I was going to use a B&W magazine picture where she was screaming. It felt more thematic - fit right in with Vincent Lee's horrified look.

But looking at it while working on her stats gave me a headache. Hence the current picture.

Maybe limit it a bit, but also make it more powerful such as:

Method Acting: Naomi may use any skill that an investigator has that is in the same neighborhood as she is. When she uses this ability, she may spend 1 clue to retain use of the skill until the next Mythos Phase.

These abilities would work well I think....

ANIMAL AFFINITY
Roll one dice , on a success Naomi may summon her pet Gorilla 'Kong' to destroy all monsters in any one location, Including the sky.She can use this ability once per turn.

ANIMAL GUARDIAN
Any monsters that attack Naomi are smashed to a pulp by her gorilla guardian 'Kong'. This requires no dice roll.

WEAKNESS
If Biplanes appear at any time, Kong is considered destroyed and Naomi can no longer call upon him.

Bah to any thematic complaints, The Dude is awesome:

While I'm at random custom content:

Also, posted elsewhere:

Don't really think the Dude is too anti-thematic, since he is a guy that gets entangled in things beyond his control. Plus, he's the Dude.

Dark Crystal was an awesome movie.

I dunno about the guy with a chainsaw... I'd suggest lowerng will to 4, increasing lore by 1(I think it skill scores of 2 should not be used at all) and increasing focus to 2. The two items seem a bit overpowered...and I can't imagine someone pumping a shotgun with a broken hand...the less operating a chainsaw effectively...(unless, of course, It's a Rambo movie or something

)

You clearly need to watch the "Evil Dead" and "Army of Darkness" films

(which have small references to the Necronomicon). B-Movie Trash Horror, but cream of the crop in that junction of films.

but never the less, 'all 5's rolled count a two successes' is pretty...hmm...unbalanced? with a +4 bonus, a 6 on fight and maybe one Enchant weapon here and there, nothing can stop you!

Yeah, agreed. I was just commenting on the broken hand+chainsaw thing. It makes perfect sense in the movie :p

The chainsaw and gun definately seem a bit good, despite the high price.

Hahha of course he's overpowered, he starts the game with +10 with 5's and 6's counting as two successes (you'll notice how the Boomstick handily avoids curses as well)...he shouldn't lose. Who wants to play as Ash and get beat up? lol ...consider Ash a fanboi creation

The 2 Lore is thematic because he can't remember a three-word incantation lol. Klatu...Verata...Nik*cough*cough*cough*.

I think The Dude came out remarkably balanced and cool. I'm definitely playing as him on occasion.

I thought being beat up was part of being Ash

Which reminds me that those Army of Darkness vs Re-Animator comics were kinda fun.

the two weapons are an interesting addition to the common item list, with that high prize...
about the dude, did anyone else notice he doesn't have a skill?

Ha! I sure didn't. Wonder if that was done on purpose. The Dude probably should have one, methinks.

Decided to give this a go w an Idea I had:

Designer's Comments:
Charles Fort (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fort) makes for such a great complement to HP Lovecrafts stories with his enthusiastic accepting of anything weird and wonderful. My thought was that he provides a counterpart to the "Serious" scientist Kate Winthrop. Relying rather on keen observations and being there than critical method, in order to avoid being upset by the most weird and horrible things.

In keeping w his disdain for doctors I toyed w the Idea of a penalty at Hospital/Asylum, but I can't come up w a good solution.

Another Idea would be to increase his Combat Rolls by +1 dice if he has a trophy of the corresponding monster in his possession.

Thoughts?

Picture needs to be changed and "Thats Good!" can only be used when he has no whiskey.

HorzaSe wrote:Thoughts?

I like him (Charles Fort)

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

Hey Teydyn,

Nice work I particularly like the special abilities. I have been toying with a related, but somewhat different "fisherman" character, but haven't done a strange aeons yet. The fisherman isn't quite as physically touch as your guy. The current (working) version goes something like:

Sanity 4 stamina 6
Focus 2
speed4 sneak 3
fight 4 will 5
Lore 3 Luck 5

(I notice that the stats are very similar to your "sailor" but with fight/will reversed, great minds)

Fixed: 2 common items (see my earlier post on page 11 this thread for details of these) Pipe Tobacco ($1), Gaff Hook ($2), $3, 3 clues
Random: 2 unique, 1 common, 1 skill

Special: not yet come up with something that I'm 100% ahppy with. I was considering:
Sailing When starting in an aquatic location may spend all movement points to directly to any other aquatic location.
But this is quite situational & very weak in Arkham only, & perhaps too easy to move around Kingsport & Innsmouth when it comes out. Kind of appeals to me, but not sure. Perhaps I might change it to (or add) something about gaining an extra clue or a die once per turn in an aquatic location.

Cheers - Maraiana the ex-nun cultist

Hi folks,

A common new item "Camera"... Oh rats I can't get unzip to work. I'll edit the card in later, here is a summary for the nonce (or maybe a couple of nonces while I sort out the techie problems).

$3 common item

Any phase: Exhaust when a succesful combat check is made or a successful evade check against a monster.

Upkeep: If exhausted refresh & make a Luck -1 check. Pass gain 1 clue token. Fail nothing happens.

?? is this too weak should it be clue tokens = number of successes?

Darrell gets +1 to each die result for this item i.e. a roll of 4=5, 2=3 etc.

Optionally Darrell can start with this as a fixed item instead of his random common (although I always draw great items like the motorbike when I play Darrell).

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

The camera is too cheap (gut feeling). No Sanity Cost, Reusable.

And why not make the check after the successfull combat check with an exhaust?

Teydyn wrote:The camera is too cheap (gut feeling). No Sanity Cost, Reusable.
And why not make the check after the successfull combat check with an exhaust?

Hello Teydyn,

The investigator doesn't know if the photos will come out well until later when s/he develops then. Sometimes they don't come out clearly enough to be useful: the investigator was too flustered and pani ced; sometimes the other dimensional enities just won't show up on film (the Whisperer in Darkness) etc.

Any clue token don't acrue until the investigator can process the photos & look them over. Think of all those films & books where a photographer character witnessing some event subsequently develops their work in a later scene hoping that something important will come out in the images. The devopment scene is almost always included in the script as a moment of truth/tension: did the hero successfully capture the evidence or not?

I'm not convinced that the camera is too cheap. It can only be used after a monster enounter & then is exhuasted. It also requires a will-1 check & there is a delay in getting any benefit. But i do have an open mind on the cost issue & could be convinced that the camera should be more expensive (I just haven't been so far

). I find costing new items quite difficult to do.

Thanks for your feedback.

Best - Mariana the ex-nun cultist