Van Helsings Cthulhu / Strange Aeons / DreamQuest Miniatures Thread

[Van-Helsing]

I'm very envious!

I am too - I was wondering about the practicality of turning the A!C Scenarios into Skirmish Scenarios actually

[Mr. Peabody]

I was wondering about the practicality of turning the A!C Scenarios into Skirmish Scenarios actually

Three Kings has a clear, episodic approach to its encounters, so hammering out a series of scenarios following that plan wouldn't be too hard at all...

I'd be curious to compare notes on converting PC and NPC stats to 7TV.

[Van-Helsing]

Let me get more rough stuff down first, I'm still mulling over things - I want it to be "right" - One thing I haven’t done so far is include the rules for Insanity – such rules are much better suited to extended Role Playing Sessions IMHO – and not skirmish Wargaming, THAT BEING SAID – I have modified “Fearsome”  - REALLY scary creatures can now have a rating, Fearsome as it stands in the 7TV Rules has a Rating of Zero (0) – but Fearsome here has an open ended scale (1, 2, 3, etc) with models taking their Morale test with a penalty equal to the Fearsome Rating.

I’ve also left out Great Old Ones and Outer Gods mostly because they are pretty much unplayable in a small scale Skirmish game, they would simply kill everything that moves and be impossible to injure.

No challenge (or too much challenge, depending on how you look at it) equals no fun.

So, Focusing on the Achtung! Cthulhu Miniatures here is the initial list of "Creatures" -

Mi-Go
Nightguants
Larval Cthonian
The Risen (Zombies)
Cold Ones
Deep One Commando
Servitor Overlord of Nyalarthotep
Cultist of the Old Gods
Bloodborn
Bloodborn Swarm
Hound of Tindalos
Augmented Mi-Go
Servitor of Nyarlathotep
Der Draugr

[Booboo]

I've mentioned before to you Drew, that I always wanted Sanity to be a replenishing resource much akin to Hits (health points, etc).  Players watching their models slowly losing points during a game, perhaps having some slight chance to recover.  The 7TV fear (and scared status) leading to a retreat move is on the low end of the scale of negative outcomes AFAIC, love to see things get darker.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the rated Fearsome ability, as it might be good for a ghostbusters/haunted house style games as well.

[Van-Helsing]

Personally I think sanity "replenishing" or a model recovering from "losing their mind" is a worse idea than an initially static score that drops consistently during play.

If you have a mind-bending shock - you simply don't recover in a matter of moments!

Plus, as I am not including anything which can FUBAR your mind (Lets face it, such creatures really are pointless in a skirmish game) - it's a redundant thing to include anyway really.

Creatures with a Rating of 1 or above, also "Stun" their victims (as they recover from the shock of the encounter) which would be a number of Turns = to the Creatures "Fearsome" rating.

Corporal Ernest Pickwick rounds the corner of the ruins and encounters a Deep One, Pickwick fails his Fearsome roll and is therefore in shock (or "stunned" if you prefer) for 1 Turn (as the Deep One has Fearsome - 1) - as the effect was caused by a creature with a Fearsome rating above Zero, poor old Pickwick cannot recover any sooner - the only way is by some form of external "influence" - either a Prayer (of restoration), some form of military discipline from an NCO or Officer (the "pull yourself together" rule), or Magick.

[Booboo]

I didn't envision a completely balanced give or take --1 , +1, -2. +1 +1  ....etc throughout a game based on circumstance,  Merely a mechanism that allows a model to regain their composure (which is probably a better term for sanity than what I was thinking).  I envisioned replenishing to be rare and limited and only 10% as common e  deductions.  I would also mention, that my doctorate in psychology has taught me the mind is fairly mailable, kind of like of tapioca pudding, oh wait, that's the consistency of the brain.  But I would stand behind the resiliency of the mind to shake back to reality in particularly heroic moments, though rare.

All that said, I think your example illustrates well examples of which to shake it off, and I those are pretty much what I was thinking of.  so whether it's on the attribute end, or the status marker end, it's all good.

And are you telling that you don't want Hugo Solomon going head to head against ole' squid-face himself?   

Now, you've got "stun" in quotes and that interests me, and here's why.  Because that's another place to make rating specific changes, or status token specific changes.

[Van-Helsing]

You're actually talking about the same thing as me then - Shock rather than insanity.

As for Cthulhu vs Solomon - the result? Cthulhu 10,000,000, Solomon Nil . . . .

[Booboo]

Shock rather than insanity.

A finer line than most appreciate.

You're actually talking about the same thing as me then

Somehow I didn't expect we would disagree on this one, loose choice of words on my part.

As for Cthulhu vs Solomon - the result? Cthulhu 10,000,000, Solomon Nil . . . .

Yeah, the discussion had been on the CD forums about Godzilla at point.  Same conclusion, too big, too powerful, giving them stats just makes no sense.  Best you can do is define them by a collection of special rules as to how to interact.  The true question being not how much fire (or magic) power does the hero need to take down Cthulhu, but rather how to figure out how long the hero can survive the encounter, 1 second or 2.

[Van-Helsing]

I SUPPOSE we could include Star Spawn, they are (in some instances) like Baby Cthulhu 

[Mr. Peabody]

Yes. We need the Star Spawn. Serious fun at parties.

[Van-Helsing]

I prefer Mi-Go, such Fun Guys . . . . .

[Booboo]

Deep ones always bring the shrimp cocktail to the party.  But I'm an old softee for the amorphous pools of gelatinous goo, whether its eyes, mouths, or tentacles that come out of it.

[Van-Helsing]

Shoggoths are going to be SO expensive in Points!

[EndTransmission]

Longer term effects of sanity loss/shock would be interesting to investigate for those using the Summer Special campaign rules. Other than that, I like your thinking so far

[Van-Helsing]

IF the idea goes the distance, and people are interested - I can see the logic of including Insanity as a Campaign rule