Anyone done any Chaos in Carpathia stats for Ghouls?

[pauld]

All these lovely posts have got me thinking about setting up a game.....Vampires and Ghouls in an underground tomb complex and a foolhardy brave band of hunters out to defeat the forces of darkness

Just painted today (I need to finish the bases, dot in a few details and varnish yet) and would like to use them in Carpathia



Should I start with the Asylum Inmate stat block and work from there?  Special traits?

but no point in re-inventing the wheel if it's already out there - anyone done these chaps before?

I'd be interested in seeing what you have ... help me out before I score an own ghoul 

Thanks

[anumberone]

 I think the stats and traits for the inmates would work just fine. Maybe giving them the Claws trait and the Cowardly trait vs. fire only, reflecting a fear of light from living underground.  Or some sort of Cannibal trait where the Ghoul has to make a Resolve roll if it defeats an opponent or be inactive the next turn. Depending on how that would balance in playtesting you could field them at the same or slightly less point cost as an inmate. Let me know what you think.

[Smokeyrone]

I think the stats and traits for the inmates would work just fine. Maybe giving them the Claws trait and the Cowardly trait vs. fire only, reflecting a fear of light from living underground.  Or some sort of Cannibal trait where the Ghoul has to make a Resolve roll if it defeats an opponent or be inactive the next turn. Depending on how that would balance in playtesting you could field them at the same or slightly less point cost as an inmate. Let me know what you think.

What he said.  Very good advice. 

We use just about  anumberone's  system in Chaos In Cairo (Rail Wars "Famites" as   ghouls made up of  lost, former explorers and porters, with the cannibalism resolve mechanic)

 and some Heroscape Ghouls,   mummy gouls etc.  but these we play more mummy like as far as traits go.)


Looks like you have some REAL ghouls there.  Nice figures! 

[ThorsHammer]

The lack of build rules for CiC really turned me off on the game  . I did think the rules were good, however.

IF I get around to Gothic Horror again, I'll probably go with Fear and Faith. Nice, easy build rules for just about anything if you use their other books. Plus, they even have programs on their site to assist.  Easy rules to explane as well.

What type of Ghouls are you planning on creating? Straight up attack types, or will they have some sort of grave rot or some such?

[Smokeyrone]

The lack of build rules for CiC really turned me off on the game  . I did think the rules were good, however.

IF I get around to Gothic Horror again, I'll probably go with Fear and Faith. Nice, easy build rules for just about anything if you use their other books. Plus, they even have programs on their site to assist.  Easy rules to explane as well.

What type of Ghouls are you planning on creating? Straight up attack types, or will they have some sort of grave rot or some such?

I winged what I couldn't find.  (I was doing Cairo all along, using Carpathian rules and stats a lot)We play it more as a pulp game, anyway.  The monsters kill plenty of good guys, but the good guys are 'sposed to win (at least against henchmen and lesser fiends, Im-Ho-Tep usually gets away, and the stats indicate thus.)

I think it plays to "pulp" horror fine.  I really like CoC.

[jet]

I think what you are really looking for are the warband expansions by Tom Weiss here: http://www.gh.tag-web.de

One of the new warbands is a Nosferatu warband that includes up to 4 vampires, 4 ghouls, 2 wolves, and a group of human slave henchmen which could easily be used to represent zombies, lesser ghouls, or what have you.

We are currently using the expanded lists in our group.  It's nice that there are different nationalities of Monster Hunters (British, American, French, Hungarian), two types of Vampire bands (Romanian, Nosferatu), and some very cool non-conventional warbands (Dr. Frankenstein and his creations, Gypsies, the Vatican Elite Hunters, etc...)

[pauld]

anumberone - thanks

claws and a bit of a yellow streak will do nicely  ... and I like the resolve/feeding ideam  I can't see a Ghoul turning down a free meal - it can't be often that food just walks in unannounced.

I may try Tough as well as they are already toes up (but I'll test that out in case it makes them too hard)

and Jet

I forgot about Tom's warbands.  I will download and look through them.

Thanks all for the nifty ideas.

[anumberone]

 Glad you like some of my ideas, Paul, and others. I must admit I am much more suited towards creating rules than I am to painting, try as I may. Happy to contribute. The Tough trait would be a good one too. Appropriate for zombies too. I would highly recommend Tom's stuff as well. There are so many amazing miniatures out there to be appropriated for horror games. CIC started a great foundation towards building new units and warbands. I think the key is trusting your own imagination and intuition.

[fourcolorfigs]

The rough system we use for designing characters in our games is:

Attributes
Agility = 3 pts. per die
Strength, Mind, Resolve = 2 pts. per die

For normal humans, you probably shouldn't spend more than 35 pts on
attributes.

Special traits range in cost from 2 pts per die to a flat 5 pts for non-dice abilities.

Traits that limit uses cost 2 pts. per additional use.

The rest involves play-testing and "eye-balling" characters until they see right.

Hope this helps!

Scott

[anumberone]

 Thank you Scott for weighing in on this topic. I love the game, and Cairo too. I did have one question though.  Would you recommend a -2/-5 pt penalty formula for negative traits such as Animal or Cowardly?

[Mike D. Mc Brice]

-2 work for both of these. The character profiles and the warband setup is much more important then the points system.

I have ghoul stats included in the Nosferatu list that are rather variable and allow you to equip them like pretty normal humand as well as nasty creatures. They have Str4 and the resulting high damage reduction. The tough trait should be used carefully, not because it's very strong but because too many rerolls bog down the game. I usually leave it as a special. If you want characters to be tough better give them an additional point of Vitality.

The Nosferatu list is pretty ghoulish anyways. A Master Nosferatu, 2 Nosferatu and 4 Ghouls make a nice warband for sure.

The feeding idea sounds nice but you should consider that characters in CiC are usually ko'ed rather than killed. A coup de grace can kill a character but at the cost of a further action. As ghouls feed from dead bodies usually and not from the living you would have to kill the characters first and then test for feeding. This would keep the ghoul busy for 3 turns which isn't practicable for the game in my experience.

[pauld]

Some excellent replies - I'll bear them all in mind.

I have a week or two yet before I get a live opponent so I have some time to play around solo and test.


Scott - nice ruleset, thanks. A good read too, gets the imagination going.  You just have to look at this board to see that.

[fourcolorfigs]

Thanks! I'd only go -2 on any negative traits unless they were really debilitating.