Skills and Sanity

(All the posts in this blog are OOC, it turns out. So I'm gonna stop labeling them OOC.)

Ghosts & Time will make use of standard Call of Cthulhu rules for skill progression and sanity awards. Awards will also be based on characters' actions in game.


Skill progression.

According to the basic rules, when a character successfully passes a skill check, that skill earns a tick. A skill can receive a tick once every episode in our game. At the end of the episode, the Keeper will roll a percentile dice against each ticked skill. If that check fails then the character is considered to have learned something from the successful use of that skill. 1d10 points are then added to that skill. As skills increase, it becomes more and more difficult to get better at them.

Bonus ticks will be awarded for skill uses that cannot be summarized in a single skill check. For instance, a character might use a skill like anthropology in a very broad context – say, conducting fieldwork – that is not appropriate for a single skill check. As another example, a bonus tick would be called for to represent the effects of concerted practice at something. A bonus tick would be granted if a character took a class in a certain subject or sought formal training in a trade.


Sanity awards.

Sanity is essentially about maintaining the dignity of one's own little world, and so sanity points might be awarded when a character does things that reaffirm whatever passes for an acceptable perspective on the universe. Solving mysteries, saving lives or making them better, and stymieing the influence of occult forces all contribute to a character's sense of sanity and dignity. Thus there are minor sanity awards given out for completing such acts.

Whenever a skill reaches 90%, a sanity award of 1d6 points will be made. Seeking therapy through psychoanalysis also grants sanity.

Sanity might be derived from being around loved ones, visiting a familiar place, completing a collection, or other affirming activities. Constructing a manageable narrative of the events in one's life also helps a person to maintain a certain level of sanity and social capability. This is precisely what psychoanalysis therapy does. Writing in a journal is another way to construct a personal narrative and so sanity might be one of its products – and so might be a bonus tick in a character's "Own Language" skill.


Awards for contributing.

On one hand I've said that the pace of the stories would be set by the players. On the other hand, I've also said that there would be awards for contributing.

But there's a conflict there, because, as promised, different strands are moving along at different rates.

I have thought of three solutions. Please let me know if you care, and if so then what solution you prefer.

1) Forget awarding for posts. Because there is no ultimate victory in the grand, horrible scheme of things, there is but little advantage in having a score of 90% in fist/punch, anthropology, or even first aid. While skill scores generally go up in this game (albeit very slowly), the most important kind of character change in Call of Cthulhu is anything but advancement or progression. Because what matters in CoC is the map of a character's downward (or outward) spiral - and because there is, in that, a refusal to confound numerical representations (stats) with actual characters - making additional awards for posting might be against the spirit of the game.

2) Award small amounts of sanity points for contributions. Characters of players who post frequently will likely be the ones who are most central to the continuation of the narrative – thus, it will be useful to me as well as to the other players if these characters' potential longevities are increased ever so slightly. Obviously not all posts are open to sanity gains.

3) Award luck rolls. Usually, a luck roll is a last-ditch effort to keep a character from being killed. However, under this plan, luck rolls would be a finite resource – a character would receive access to one luck roll (to be used whenever the player wishes) per every one or every few contributions to the narrative. The exact rate would be determined later.