We've made it to Day 20 of #RPGaDay2020! Today's word prompt is "Investigate," so yes, I'm going to look back at my big CoC campaign.
Looking back, we had a useful core of investigators, albeit a bit off the regular track.
- Dr Nathanial "Doc" Millheim - Crackpot parapsychologist and author
- Brian Nichols - Crooked accountant
- Steven O'Hara - Math/Science Teacher at the local prep school.
- "Smitty" - Proprietor of the Angry Welshman in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Smitty's predecessor had Library Use for days, but he ran afoul of the house in The Haunting.
Doc Millheim had a few points in Library Use, and a lot more in social skills, but for the rest of them, they focused on their respective forte: Accounting forensics for Nichols, Basic science forensics for Steven, and a large pipe, club, or firearm for the Welshman's "research." Surprisingly, they got by gathering most of the clues that were available. As Keeper, I put the odds further to their advantage by choosing scenarios that focused on their stronger skills.
Smitty stayed in the Wilkes-Barre to tend to his speakeasy, but for the other three, this technique of playing to their strengths peaked with Blackest Hills, Blackest Secrets, out of Day of the Beast. Fake ledgers, radiation sickness, and a good dose of bamboozlement gave the group one last success before the group size would almost triple in the next scenario.
One advantage of playing to characters' strengths? After twenty plus sessions, even with cosmic horror and murderous cultists at every angle in the midst of Masks of Nyarlathotep, there was some chance to celebrate as they hit 90% in those skills.
And spoilers: Nichols went mad in London, Millheim got "lost" in Ancient Egypt, and O'Hara? He actually made it through all of Masks with only a few unpayable debts to dark forces.
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