An excellent horror/dark fantasy game that emphasizes role-playing and character development though a simple but innovative rules system. Not quite Conan meets the Exorcist, it's in that general area. Much better than the disappointment that was Cthulhu: Dark Ages
Post originally by unterhund at 2005-01-24 07:44:32
Converted from Phorums BB System
We just had our first regular session of our new CoS campaign on Saturday. (We spent one day just creating characters before that.) It went well, but as GM I ran into a couple of issues.
The skill list simply isn't long enough for my taste. Once in a while I had to bend the description of some of the skills to determine which applied in a given situation. It slowed play down a bit and occasionally got annoying.
The character sheet problem with
More drastic were problems with the goon rules. Even a high-caliber goon with 4d6 has a hard time holding his own against a PC. And if the PC had an appropriate Descriptor that applied, the goon was toast. Not just in combat, either. Negotiation, intimidation, rope-typing -- goons lose to PCs. That's nicely heroic, but hardly horrific.
You'll see my review linked to the right of this one. I complained about the character sheet there. You know what? My players complained, too. Especially that Relationships/Resources switch from the tables. Memo to Bob Goat Press: an alternate sheet that has that fixed, and that you can just write numbers on, would be a welcome download.
On the plus side, the free downloads at the Bob Goat website are invaluable. The revised cell creation rules got a serious workout during character creation a couple of weeks ago. The switch to Asset points from Relationship and Resource points makes the bookkeeping so much easier.
Advice to GMs contemplating a CoS campaign: I've never needed a campaign bible more. I have five players. Thanks to cell creation, they helped create the background of the game. This includes an apothecary, an inn, a parish and about a dozen NPCs associated with these. Plus they invented at least two demonic influences wholly unrelated to what I'm using. And I have to track all this when determining what happens next.
It's wonderful that they did all this work for me. It's just not always easy integrating it into the work I've already done.
Post originally by Keith at 2005-01-24 08:14:25
Converted from Phorums BB System
Hey,
What areas did you run into trouble with over the skills?
It's funny about the goons, in your game you found them easy to deal with. In the game I run the players ran into trouble with some attack/war dogs (3D6 goons) the big bad had prowling his compound. One solution I can see to your problem is a slight tweek in the Goon rules which goes like this:
Use only 2D6 and add to it a base number starting with 6 for the weakest Goons and topping out at 12 for the toughest.
The new character sheet is forthcoming (this week in fact). It just got pushed back behind other things.
Oh and the Game Guide addresses some tips on keeping things organized cause there is a lot of player input into the game.
Glad you like it and would love to hear more about your actual play experience either as a post on a forum or in an email.
Post originally by unterhund at 2005-01-24 15:38:18
Converted from Phorums BB System
Keith wrote:
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What areas did you run into trouble with over the skills?
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Mostly social skills. Frex, is "Etiquette" really the skill to use for intimidation? It's the only social skill available in the game. I could add more skills to make it more to my liking, but then the available number of skill points starts to look inadequate.
I like the goon idea. It allows for a more predictable result. Consider it in use.
You already have a new character sheet on the way? Thanks! My players will be happy, too, especially if that background image isn't on it. A couple of them find it too creepy to have her staring at them during the game, so they've altered her with pencils. The shades really do make her less threatening
Post originally by Keith Senkowski at 2005-01-24 20:16:01
Converted from Phorums BB System
Well, for things like Intimidating someone I usually take the context of the situation. For example, if the mercanary is trying to intimidate someone I would use a For/Tem Check. If it was the smuggler using dropping not so subtle hints about the target's family getting it from the "family" I might choose Larceny/Tem. It all depends upon the way the character is going about it.
New character sheet is up and so is a Cell worksheet. Though the woman that seems to creep you guys out (which blows me away that it would have that affect on you guys) is still there, but maybe I can take her out in a separate character sheet
Post originally by Jeremy at 2005-01-25 02:22:50
Converted from Phorums BB System
Well, I think the point of Goons is they don't put up much of a fight, even the "tougher" ones.
Even the tough goon will on average roll a 15 (on 4 d6), which is about the average roll for an average PC (figure a 7 on the dice and 6-7 total for the attribute/skill). But the PC will be more consistant.
It's not too tricky to stat out major villains, as it's not exactly a rules heavy game.
The lack of skills I can understand, but I've run a lot of D6 games, and some of those were very skill light, too. Usually if there doesn't seem like an apropriate skill, I pick the closest attribute and use that.
Post originally by Dan Davenport at 2005-01-25 09:27:55
Converted from Phorums BB System
I'm curious to know what you thought of the weapon damage mechanic, which differentiates weapons not so much by the damage they can do in general, but rather by the extra damage they can do under certain circumstances. It reminded me a bit of Pendragon's damage mechanic, but with the "default" damage set much lower.
Post originally by Keith at 2005-01-26 08:58:15
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Thanks for the positive review. It was very fair, pointing out both the highs and lows. I did have one question though. You mentioned that some of the art reminded you of a confederate soldier. Which piece was that?
Post originally by James D. Hargrove at 2005-01-28 13:30:26
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While there's little doubt that the premise of the game is innovative, I don't see anything that makes the system itself stand out as being different than a myriad of other 'roll and add' systems. Similarly, character definition seems to be extremely generic, rather than somethign new and different. Am I missing something?
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