Creating your investigator...

These rules are designed to replace the standard Call Of Cthulhu character generation rules. One of my major gripes is that, under the regular rules, the highly educated professor gets a lot more skill points than the very experienced, but ill educated, private eye. These rules remove the dependence on the character's stats for the skill levels he can achieve, and offer the opportunity to speed the already swift process. They also limit the opportunity for very high skills and instead encourage broader based PC skill sets.

Characteristics Rolls:
STR: 3D	SIZ: 2D+6	EDU: 3D+3	Know: EDU*5
APP: 3D	POW: 3D	SAN: POW*5	Luck: POW*5
CON: 3D	DEX: 3D	INT:2D+6	Idea: INT*5

Doing The Numbers...

Roll characteristics on the characteristics table (D = 6 sided dice) ... use whatever fudging technique seems appropriate. My current favourite is to re-roll the lowest dice... if you want to. Of course, you may prefer your characters "as they come" or you may prefer to tinker with the stats to achieve the investigator you have in your head.
Decide on background and select occupation (consult the investigators handbook or use one of the samples below).
Skills (the list in the rule books is not exhaustive) :

Either spend 300 points on Occupational skills and 130 points on Hobby skills. One point spent gives an extra 1% on the selected skill up to 50%. Each increase of 1% over 50% costs two points. For instance, increasing Library use from its base chance of 25% to 50% would cost 25 points. Increasing it to 60% would cost an additional 20 points for a total cost of 45 points.
Or upgrade 4 skills to 60%, 5 skills to 40% and 6 skills to 25%. At least half the skills selected must be considered "Occupational".

STR+SIZ	Bonus
Damage Bonus:
2-12	-D6
13-16	-D4
17-24	None
25-32	+D4
33-40	+D6

In either event, skills should reflect the character as a person, not just an investigating machine. Try to have at least one skill in the "art (wine appreciation)" vein.
Select equipment and weapons (if any).
War experience. Investigators with suitable age and nationality may have served in the war. See later.
Compute your damage bonus by adding STR and SIZ and comparing with the damage bonus table.
Hit Points = (CON + SIZ)/2
Magic Points = POW

Sample Occupations

Antiquarian: Art, Bargain, History, Law, Library Use, Other Language, Spot Hidden + one other skill as personal speciality.
Artist: Art, Fast Talk, History, Photography, Psychology, Spot Hidden + 2 other skills as personal specialities.
Athlete: Climb, Dodge, Jump, Ride, Swim, Throw + 2 other skills as personal specialities.
Author: History, Library Use, Other Language, Own Language, Persuade, Psychology + 2 other skills as personal specialities.
Clergyman: Accounting, First Aid, History, Library Use, Listen, Other Language, Persuade, Psychology.
Criminal: Bargain, Fast Talk, Hide, Listen, Locksmith, Sneak, Spot Hidden, Handgun + 2 other skills as personal specialities.
Doctor of Medicine: Biology, Credit Rating, First Aid, Latin, Medicine, Pharmacy, Psychology, Psychoanalysis.
Journalist: Fast Talk, Other Language, Own Language, Persuade, Photography, Psychology + 2 other skills as personal specialities.
Parapsychologist: Anthropology, History, Library Use, Occult, Photography, Psychology, Other language + 2 other skills as personal specialities.
Private Investigator: Bargain, Fast Talk, Handgun, Law, Locksmith, Photography, Psychology, Hide, Listen, Sneak, Spot Hidden.
Professor: Credit rating, Library Use, Other Language, Persuade, Psychology + 3 other academic skills as personal specialities.

War Experience

Investigators with appropriate ages and nationalities may have served in the war. As a prerequisite, they must have STR and CON of at least 10, though CON may be reduced by wounds. The procedure for this is:

Rank	Condition
Private	INT* less than 15
NCO	INT* 15-17
Officer	INT* greater than 17
INT* = INT + Credit Rating/10

Select rank. The table shown below is for guidance only; social status will have a strong effect on the actual rank. Rank should not gratuitously exceed the number of years service (this means no Generals with one year's service…).
Select service (infantry, artillery etc.).
Determine number of years service (players choice). For each year of service:

Add the benefits shown in the service benefits table. Where options are shown, these may change from year to year. Note that these are guidelines, and would be modified for unusual terms of service (Gallipoli or North Africa for instance).
Subtract D4 SAN. War is hell. Roll against LUCK, a failure or fumble indicates a further D4 loss, and a fumble indicates an additional indefinite insanity.
War is also dangerous. Roll against LUCK. A success indicates no damage; a failure indicates -1 to APP and -1 to STR, CON or DEX (roll a D3 to decide); a fumble indicates an additional loss of -D3 to one of STR, CON, DEX. This damage may cause the investigator to be invalided out of the service if either his STR or CON falls below 10.

Characters may well have acquired souvenirs of the time in the armed forces. Privates and NCOs would have a rifle (.303 Lee Enfield), Officers a handgun.
Note: There is no facility for the character to die during the war; from a character generation point of view what would be the point?
Comment: +20% (4 years service) on 6 skills may seem overly generous. However, most characters will lose roughly 5D4 sanity (an average of 12.5 points) and could lose a lot more, including stats, as well as acquiring some worrying mental scars.

Service	Benefits
Infantry	+5%/year to First Aid, Listen, Spot Hidden, Conceal or Hide, Sneak, Rifle or Knife.
Artillery	+5%/year to Accounting or Navigate, Rifle, Speak (French or German), Mechanical Repair, Operate Heavy Machinery, Ride Horse, Physics. -5%/year to Listen
Air Force	Pilot Aircraft: base skill (DEX+INT+POW) +5%/year to Electrical or Mechanical Repair, Handgun, Machine Gun, Navigate, Pilot Aircraft, Speak (French or German).
Battlefield Medic	+5% to First Aid, Drive Automobile, Fast Talk, Navigate, Psychology, Speak (French or German).
Medical Doctor	+5% to First Aid, Pharmacy, Medicine, Fast Talk, Psychology, Speak (French or German).
Press	+5% to 6 of (Make Maps, Photography, Psychology, Drive Automobile, Debate, Fast Talk, Persuade, Speak French, Speak German)).
Cavalry	+ 5%/year Speak (French or German), Ride Horse, First Aid, Navigate, Rifle, Sword.
Armoured (2 years max.)	+ 5%/year Speak (French or German), Drive Auto, First Aid or Make Maps, Operate Heavy Machinery, Electrical Repair or Mechanical Repair, Machine Gun.
Officers	May replace any gun skill with Handgun, and any "heavy work" skill with any of Fast Talk, Persuade or Credit Rating

End Of Document. Last Updated 23-Nov-1999 by Mike Lay.