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, welcome to Lustmord -- Call of Cthulhu in 1928 Berlin: The Wicked City

20:25, 11th November 2024 (GMT+0)

Character Generation.

Posted by der WachterFor group 0
der Wachter
GM, 48 posts
45 years of RPGs
Ich bin dein Freund.
Mon 7 Nov 2022
at 11:31
  • msg #1

Character Generation - Nationality and Name

Nationality
The default (and recommended) nationality is German. If you are burning to play a suspect foreigner, there are a lot of Russian refugees from Communism and the Civil War. There are also a number of expatriates, especially English and American, mostly writers or artists (but also much anger/resentment toward former enemies). There are also plenty of Germans who have migrated from ceded territories like Alsace and East Prussia.

Name
I would prefer period and nationality appropriate names. Berlin: The Wicked City provides a chart to randomize German names or provide inspiration. If you have chosen a different nationality, we will work on a name.

1D10 Male            Female     Surname     Surname
 1      Alexander    Anita          Baum           Mainz
 2      Arthur          Brigitte       Becker          Mann
 3      Conrad        Cäcilie       Berend          Muller
 4      Erich            Charlotte   Borngräber   Neher
 5      Franz           Dinah        Busch           Neumann
 6      Fritz             Elisabeth   Desmond     Oswald
 7      Georg          Elsa           Eisler           Puttkamer
 8      Hans            Elsie          Frick            Raeder
 9      Hermann     Gerda        Gessmann   Reiter
10     Hubert         Gertrude    Grimm         Schäffer

1D10 Male           Female   Surname       Surname
 1       Joachim     Gilda       Grünbaum      Schnitzler
 2       Karl            Leonie     Herzl              Thiem
 3       Klaus          Lene       Hildenbrandt  von Freytag
 4       Kuno           Lotte       Kahan            von Loringhoven
 5       Maximilian  Lucie       Knobloch       von Meyernick
 6       Moritz         Maria      Koch               von Nathusius
 7       Otto            Marlene  Krauss            von Schrenck
 8       Paul            Martha    Langer           Walden
 9       Werner       Olga        Lanz               Walter
 10     Wilhelm      Rita         Levy               Wolpe
Choose among these options OR roll on the Surname column of your choice or roll once on each and create a hyphenated name. Remember, “von” names always come first and indicate a title in the family line. The ‘von’ may be omitted from any name to be common.
der Wachter
GM, 50 posts
45 years of RPGs
Ich bin dein Freund.
Tue 8 Nov 2022
at 13:08
  • msg #2

Character Generation - Attributes

There are eight characteristics that define your characters physical and mental abilities: STRength, DEXterity, CONstitution, SIZe, APPearance, INTeilligence, EDUcation, POWer. You may use either of two methods to determine these.
BONUS: If you want, you may try rolling first and, if not satisfactory, go Quick Fire. No, you may not mix the options.

Roll ‘em up.
Roll 3D6 and multiply by 5 for STR, DEX, CON, APP, POW.
For any total under 5, you may re-roll all ones.
Roll 2D6, add 6 and multiply by 5 for SIZ, INT, EDU.
Characteristics will range between 30 and 90.
You may swap scores that are rolled in the same manner (3D6 or 2D6+6)

Quick Fire.
Allocate 40, 50, 50, 50, 60, 60, 70, 80 for your characteristics.
Characteristics will obviously range from 40 to 80.

For Luck, roll 3D6 and multiply by 5.

Determine the Good (half) and Extreme (fifth) values for each characteristic.

Age Modifiers
20 to 39: Make an improvement check for EDU by rolling D100; if the roll is greater than your present EDU, add 1D10 to EDU.

40 to 49: Make 2 improvement checks for EDU and deduct 5 points from ONE of the following: STR, CON or DEX.

Derived Attributes

Damage Bonus (Db) and Build
STR + SIZ       Db     Build
  65 — 84         –1       –1
  85 — 124     None     0
125 — 164    +1D4      1
165 — 180    +1D6      2

Hit Points
CON+SIZ divided by 10 (rounding down any fractions).

Movement
If both DEX and STR are each less than SIZ: MOV 7 (x10 yds/round)
If either STR or DEX is equal to or greater than SIZ, or if all three are equal: MOV 8 (x10 yds/round)
If both STR and DEX are each greater than SIZ: MOV 9 (x10 yds/round)
If age is 40 to 49: deduct 1 from MOV

Sanity starts equal to POW.

Magic points (MP) start equal to one-fifth POW.
der Wachter
GM, 51 posts
45 years of RPGs
Ich bin dein Freund.
Tue 8 Nov 2022
at 13:08
  • msg #3

Character Generation - Attributes

Backstory
In addition to a brief biographical sketch of your character, I'll want some idea of their inner life. These aspects may play into your Sanity loss/recovery or otherwise play a part in the story. They include Ideology/Beliefs, Significant Person/People, Meaningful Location(s), Treasured Possession, and Trait(s). You can pick from these lists or roll them if you aren't inspired. You’ll be able to share this information in character as you want.

Ideology/Beliefs
Pick or roll 1D10 for one of the following. Make the result specific and personal to your investigator.
1: There is a higher power that you worship and pray to (e.g. Vishnu, Jesus Christ, Haile Selassie I).
2: Mankind can do fine without religions (e.g. staunch atheist, humanist, secularist).
3: Science has all the answers. Pick a particular aspect of interest (e.g. evolution, cryogenics, space exploration).
4: A belief in fate (e.g. karma, the class system, superstitious).
5: Member of a society or secret society (e.g. Freemason, Women’s Institute, Anonymous).
6: There is evil in society that should be rooted out. What is this evil? (e.g. drugs, violence, racism).
7: The occult (e.g. astrology, spiritualism, tarot).
8: Politics (e.g. conservative, socialist, liberal).
9: “Money is power, and I’m going to get all I can” (e.g. greedy, enterprising, ruthless).
10: Campaigner/Activist (e.g. feminism, equal rights, union power).

Significant People
Pick or roll 1D10 for one of the following. Make the result specific and personal to your investigator.
Think of names for these people.
First, who?
1: Parent (e.g. mother, father, stepmother).
2: Grandparent (e.g. maternal grandmother, paternal grandfather).
3: Sibling (e.g. brother, half-brother, stepsister).
4: Child (son or daughter).
5: Partner (e.g. spouse, fiance, lover).
6: Person who taught you your highest occupational kill. Identify the skill and consider who taught you (e.g. a schoolteacher, the person who taught you the ropes, your father).
7: Childhood friend (e.g. classmate, neighbor, imaginary friend).
8: A famous person. Your idol or hero. You may never have even met (e.g. film star, politician, musician).
9: A fellow investigator in your game. Pick one or choose randomly.
10: A non-player character (NPC) in the game. Ask the Keeper to pick one for you.
Significant how?
Pick or roll 1D10 for one of the following to determine why that person is so significant to you. Not all of these options will mesh with every person, so you may invent something.
1: You are indebted to them. How did they help you? (e.g. financially, they protected you through hard times, got you your first job).
2: They taught you something. What? (e.g. a skill, to love, to be a man).
3: They give your life meaning. How? (e.g. you aspire to be like them, you seek to be with them, you seek
to make them happy).
4: You wronged them and seek reconciliation. What did you do? (e.g. stole money from them, informed the police about them, refused to help when they were desperate).
5: Shared experience. What? (e.g. lived through hard times, grew up together, served in the war).
6: You seek to prove yourself to them. How? (e.g. get a good job, find a good spouse, by get an education).
7: You idolize them (e.g. for their fame, their beauty, their work).
8: A feeling of regret (e.g. you should have died in their place, you fell out over something you said, you didn’t
step up and help them when you had the chance).
9: You wish to prove yourself better than them. What was their flaw? (e.g. lazy, drunk, unloving).
10: They have crossed you and you seek revenge. For what do you blame them? (e.g. death of a loved one, your financial ruin, marital breakup).

Meaningful Locations
Pick or roll 1D10 for one of the following. Make the result specific and personal to your investigator.  Think of a name for these places.
1: Your seat of learning (e.g. school, university).
2: Your hometown (e.g. rural village, market town, busy city).
3: The place you met your first love (e.g. a music concert, on holiday, a bomb shelter).
4: A place for quiet contemplation (e.g. the library, country walks on your estate, fishing).
5: A place for socializing (e.g. gentlemen’s club, local bar, uncle’s house).
6: A place connected with your ideology/belief (e.g. parish church, Mecca, Stonehenge).
7: The grave of a significant person. Who? (e.g. a parent, a child, a lover).
8: Your family home (e.g. a country estate, a rented flat, the orphanage in which you were raised).
9: The place you were happiest in your life (e.g. the park bench where you first kissed, your university).
10: Your workplace (e.g. the office, library, bank)

Treasured Possessions
Pick or roll 1D10 for one of the following. Make the result specific and personal to your investigator.
1: An item connected with your highest skill (e.g. expensive suit, false ID, brass knuckles).
2: An essential item for your occupation (e.g. doctor’s bag, car, lock picks).
3: A memento from your childhood (e.g. comics, pocketknife, lucky coin).
4: A memento of a departed person (e.g. jewelry, a photograph in your wallet, a letter).
5: Something given to you by your Significant Person (e.g. a ring, a diary, a map).
6: Your collection. What is it? (e.g. bus tickets, stuffed animals, records).
7: You seek answers to something you found but don’t know what it is – (e.g. a letter you found written in an unknown language, a curious coin found among your late father’s effects, a silver ball dug up in your garden).
8: A sporting item (e.g. cricket bat, a signed baseball, a fishing rod).
9: A weapon (e.g. service revolver, your old hunting rifle, the hidden knife in your boot).
10: A pet (e.g. a dog, a cat, a tortoise).

Traits
Pick or roll 1D10 for one of the following. Make the result specific and personal to your investigator.
1: Generous (e.g. generous tipper, always helps out a person in need, philanthropist).
2. Devious (e.g. secretive, lies even without reason).
3: Dreamer (e.g. given to flights of fancy, visionary, highly creative).
4: Hedonist (e.g. life and soul of the party, entertaining drunk, "live fast and die young").
5: Gambler/risk-taker (e.g. poker-faced, try anything once, lives on the edge).
6: Arrogant (e.g. exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities)
7: Innocent (e.g. artless, credulous, guileless, gullible, ingenuous, open, unworldly).
8: Loyal (e.g. stands by his or her friends, never breaks a promise, would die for his or her beliefs).
9: Superstitious (e.g. believing in magic, chance, fortune, fate, and the like).
10: Ambitious (e.g. to achieve a goal, to become the boss, to have it all).
der Wachter
GM, 62 posts
45 years of RPGs
Ich bin dein Freund.
Fri 11 Nov 2022
at 13:31
  • msg #4

Character Generation - Attributes

Skill Points
Occupation Skill Points are based on Occupation and can be added to the base of *Occupational Skills; max 75 rating to begin.
Personal Skill Points are based on INT x 2 and can be added to the base of any Skills; max 75 rating to begin.

To help me in verifying skill point use, please enter the skill points you’re adding after the plus sign, then total. If you are adding Personal skills to an already improved Occupational Skill, please use an additional plus sign, like so: Accounting 05+15+05=25%

Accounting 05
Animal Handling 05
Anthropology 01
Appraise 05
Archaeology 01
Art and Craft 05
specialized for Acting, Dance, Drawing, Forgery, Music, Painting, Photography, Sculpting, Singing, Writing, etc
Bow/Crossbow 15
Brawl 25 includes Punch, Grapple/Tackle, Kick, etc
Charm 15
Climb 20
Craft 05
specialized for various trades
Credit Rating 00
Cthulhu Mythos 00
Demolitions 01
Disguise 05
Dodge (half DEX)
Drive Auto 20
Electrical Repair 10
Fast Talk 05
Fighting 20 includes Club, Knife/Dagger, improvised weapons
First Aid 30
History 05
Hypnosis 01
Insight 10*
Intimidate 15
Jump 20
Language (Own) EDU
Language (Other) 01
Law 05
Library Use 20
Listen 25
Locksmith 01
Machine Gun 10
Mechanical Repair 20
Natural World 10
Navigate 10
Occult 05
Operate Heavy Machinery 01
Persuade 10
Photography 05
Pilot 01
specialized for Aircraft, Small Boat, Ship, etc
Pistol 20
Ride 05
Rifle/Shotgun 25
Science 01
specialized for Astronomy, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Medicine, Meteorology, Pharmacology, Physics, Psychiatry, Zoology, etc
Seaman 10
Sleight of Hand 10
Spot Hidden 25
Stealth 20
Submachine Gun 15
Survival 10
Swim 20 includes Dive
Throw 20
Track 10

*Insight has replaced Psychology to avoid confusion with the therapeutic skill. It's a perception skill common to all humans. It allows the user to study an individual and form an idea of another person’s motives and character. The Keeper will provide information (perhaps affected by the target's skills or characteristics) that the user gained by employing it.
der Wachter
GM, 80 posts
45 years of RPGs
Ich bin dein Freund.
Sun 20 Nov 2022
at 11:27
  • msg #5

Character Generation - Politics and Religion

In beliefs, I'd like you to include political and religious information.

Politics and Religion were an important part of a person's background in Germany between 1920 and 1940. Even those who eschewed political speech and action were someplace on the Left-Right spectrum. Likewise, virtually everyone had been raised in some religious tradition.

Politics
Locate your character on the following spectrum. They aren't necessarily politically active (though elections are coming up at the end of the month) or belong to a party but they have at least a vague positiion on the turmoil of the culture.

 1—2—3—4—5—6—7

1 Bolshevik: international communist
2 Marxist: national communist (KPD)
3 Socialist: Center Left
4 Centrist: democratic: Weimar Republic
5 Monarchist: Center Right
6 Nationalist: Consol, Wiking
7 Fascist: NSDAP (Nazi)

The Left tends to talk about Justice and Rights; The Center tends to talk about Stability and Moderation; The Right tends to talk about Honor and Tradition.

Religion
Whether devout or lapsed, you were raised in some religious tradition. Catholic, Protestant (Lutheran, Reformed, United), Jewish vastly predominate. You don'y need to understand the minutia of your tradition and may even have lost your faith. You still know the basic tenets and rituals of your childhood beliefs.
Don’t worry about details. I’ll supply those if needed.

[It will be helpful to the story to have at least one investigator with a Catholic background, though not a major plot line.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:27, Sun 20 Nov 2022.
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