[Hack] CoC/Don't Rest Your Head

[niwandajones]

OK, I'm test marketing this here, and I may decide to cross-post it on RPG.net or somesuch later. If you're not a gamer, or you're not a gamer interested in CoC or DYRH, you might not find this very interesting


Here're the major changes:

Discipline is pretty much the same: it represents your mundane skills and abilities, and when it dominates a conflict, things stay tight and sane. However, instead of starting with 3 Discipline dice, characters begin with 2, and then choose an area of specialization which grants them a third die when applicable. CoC characters aren't as generally competent as DRYH characters, and this will also allow for more differentiation between characters. (which is good, since I'm going to end up excising several of the things the DRYH uses for differentiation.)

Exhaustion becomes Mythos Lore, and now represents just how much you know about how the world really works. Like Exhaustion, you can add 1 Mythos Lore die per scene, though the player is charged with describing appropriate color for how this new insight is gained. Unlike Exhaustion, Mythos Lore dice are not simply added toe very roll; rather, you gain access to their benefits through Invocations:

• a minor invocation allows you to add your Mythos Lore pool to a roll, but you have to add at least 1 Madness Die as well.
  
• a significant invocation allows you to add your Mythos Lore pool to a roll and sets the minimum number of successes you can achieve to the number of Mythos Lore dice you currently have. You have to add at least 3 Madness Dice to your pool, as well.
  
• a major invocation allows you to add your Mythos Lore pool to a roll and gives you automatic successes equal to your Mythos Lore pool in addition to however many successes you actually roll. You have to add the full 6 Madness Dice to your pool for this one, though.
  

How the Invocations are actually expressed is color left to the player to determine; it could be a spell, it could be insight into the monsters origin, it could be... well, whatever works for the group.

When Mythos Lore dominates a conflict, you gain another die in your Mythos Lore pool. You've learned another little bit about how the world works... which isn't exactly a good thing.

If your Mythos Lore hits 6, you are consumed by the Mythos. Maybe you're knifed by a cultist, maybe your body is stolen by a dying sorceror, maybe you realize it's time to join your people in the sea. Regardless of how it's described, your character's story comes to an end. You learned too much.

Madness (including Fight or Flight responses) works the same way in this hack as it does in DRYH-as-written, except for the Incantation rules noted above. So do Pain, Despair, and Hope (though they can probably use new names).

So, what am I going for here? First and foremost, I've always wanted a CoC game where players are rewarded for their character's pursuit of Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. I think this mod to DRYH will do just that, and bring along a neat side-effect: characters aren't likely to fail in stopping the Mythos' incursion into the realm of man, but they are likely to destroy themselves doing it.

Which sounds like a good Lovecraft story to me.

So... whaddaya think, sirs?

Comments

[niwandajones.livejournal.com]

Another thought about incentives crossed my mind: as your Mythos Lore pool gets bigger, the concern about being consumed is going to increase. Now, the two things a player can do to hold off consumption seem to be to rely only on Madness and Discipline, or if they do use Invocations, throw in more Madness dice along with the Mythos Lore dice to try to skew the odds. And, since those Madness dice are there anyway, why not get more bang for your buck and use the more powerful Invocations...?

So, as you become more initiated into the horrific mysteries of the Mythos, you can try to drive them from your mind and go mad with the effort of denying them, or dive in deep but go mad from the knowledge you use... and be more likely to invoke more terrible powers along the way.

Now, if it ends up working like that, I'll be freaking thrilled. :-)