Suggestions and questions.

[JennyDK]

Here you may post any questions or suggestions you have!

[JennyDK]

Suggestion: While each character may risk hitting 0 sanity in a story, I think we should keep them separate, so even if you do reach zero, they are fully fine in another story.

That way, you can keep using your investigators.

[Neptune]

That's a good idea, otherwise we might end up having to create mulitple characters for the same era. As far as I know, there is no current way to regain sanity, is there? I mean the 'refreshing' of sanity back to a hundred could be passed off as something like therapy?

[JennyDK]

1 minute ago, Neptune said:

That's a good idea, otherwise we might end up having to create mulitple characters for the same era. As far as I know, there is no current way to regain sanity, is there? I mean the 'refreshing' of sanity back to a hundred could be passed off as something like therapy?

Perhaps I worded it wrong.

I meant that each story in the same era could be entirely stand-alone, meaning that any knowledge, experiences and such could remain each individual story. OTherwise, yes, sanity would have to be recovered somehow.

[Neptune]

My mistake then ^^; It's either you worded it poorly, or I read it incorrectly. But with no way to regain sanity, stand-alone stories would be a good way to go about it. 

[Cash Money Chad]

It's not a bad idea but the characters are aware of the others existence and would probably at least try to find the other characters for safety in numbers, but I do like the idea for your character to try to actively keep them isolated while they try to find eachother.

[JennyDK]

1 minute ago, Neptune said:

My mistake then ^^; It's either you worded it poorly, or I read it incorrectly. But with no way to regain sanity, stand-alone stories would be a good way to go about it. 

The best I could think of, is that surviving a story could give XX amount of sanity back, but in the end, the investigator will most likely meet their demise. Of course, they could be recycled for new stories without other prior investigators. I am very open to ideas on how to make it work better or at all.

2 minutes ago, MultiChara69 said:

It's not a bad idea but the characters are aware of the others existence and would probably at least try to find the other characters for safety in numbers, but I do like the idea for your character to try to actively keep them isolated while they try to find eachother.

Not sure you understood the issue I tried to confront: With loss of sanity and possible death, should investigators only act within each individual story or should there be ways to regain sanity?

[Cash Money Chad]

I think there should be ways to realign sanity, I also think finding someone character could be a good way to restore sanity..If that makes things clear.

[JennyDK]

3 minutes ago, MultiChara69 said:

I think there should be ways to realign sanity, I also think finding someone character could be a good way to restore sanity..If that makes things clear.

I assume you mean 'regain' in this context.

Then the question is: Is that investigator then 100% unusable once they inevitably reach 0 sanity or dies?

[Godot]

If for example a character of mine from the 2020 era experienced tons of things and lost all of his sanity (or became unplayable but not dead), I think I wouldn't want to play as them again as "someone new", as in as someone who haven't even experienced those "tons of things", unless the way to regain sanity is to be hypnotized or whatever, losing all memory of said events and therefore then regaining all sanity.

While I like these ideas, I wish it would be possible to keep a steady flow for each character's development. I hope I didn't explain it in a confusing way at what I'm trying to get at.

[JennyDK]

4 minutes ago, Godot said:

If for example a character of mine from the 2020 era experienced tons of things and lost all of his sanity (or became unplayable but not dead), I think I wouldn't want to play as them again as "someone new", as in as someone who haven't even experienced those "tons of things", unless the way to regain sanity is to be hypnotized or whatever, losing all memory of said events and therefore then regaining all sanity.

While I like these ideas, I wish it would be possible to keep a steady flow for each character's development. I hope I didn't explain it in a confusing way at what I'm trying to get at.

Regaining ALL sanity will be a bit stretch, in my opinion. Following how Europeans normally play CoC, the outcome is either death or insanity. It is more te American way to have things somehow still end up okay in the end.

I am not saying we need to stick to the European version, but I would like to see that there is real danger that a character might become unusable. That's just the nature of the setting.

I will still try and be fair and lenient of course.

[Godot]

3 minutes ago, JennyDK said:

Regaining ALL sanity will be a bit stretch, in my opinion. Following how Europeans normally play CoC, the outcome is either death or insanity. It is more te American way to have things somehow still end up okay in the end.

I am not saying we need to stick to the European version, but I would like to see that there is real danger that a character might become unusable. That's just the nature of the setting.

I will still try and be fair and lenient of course.

That's fine and dandy to me, but I got a suggestion. What if sanity can be recovered (either through religious terms, being hopeful/strong-willed, or "therapy", as mentioned before) but only from a certain number.

For example, those below 50 sanity can only go downhill and become more and more insane, while those above 50 sanity can still recover.

This, of course, depends on what they experience and how much sanity the game master decides to yoink away.

Edited September 3, 2020 by Godot

[JennyDK]

1 minute ago, Godot said:

That's fine and dandy to me, but I got a suggestion. What if sanity can be recovered (either through religious terms, being hopeful/strong-willed, or "therapy", as mentioned before) but only from a certain number.

For example, those below 50 sanity can only go downhill, while those above 50 can still recover.

This, of course, depends on what they experience and how much sanity the game master decides to yoink away.

I like this suggestion, really. It can be hard to tell how well it works this only on, of course, but I am willing to give it the green light unless an even better idea comes along. Good job!

I cannot say yet, but it might better if you can only recover once you are below 50 and then only up to 50 again.

Seeing how I have only deducted sanity once so far, I do not yet know how often and how severe it will be each time.

[Godot]

16 minutes ago, JennyDK said:

I like this suggestion, really. It can be hard to tell how well it works this only on, of course, but I am willing to give it the green light unless an even better idea comes along. Good job!

I cannot say yet, but it might better if you can only recover once you are below 50 and then only up to 50 again.

Seeing how I have only deducted sanity once so far, I do not yet know how often and how severe it will be each time.

I like your version better, to be honest. It sounds better to the flow.

The first deduction was fair, in my opinion, especially to a character like mine who freaked out over it.

But I don't think every encounter should really deduce sanity, and even if they do, it would be a low amount to allow longer use of the character.

I'm no good when it comes to real sanity, since I've never lost mine, but I think you should make a sort of Sanity Meter post that helps people adapt when the situation calls.

So, for example:

• Sanity between 80 and 100: Naturally, you're fine. The sightings and crazy shit you've witnessed grazed your sanity, but you still keep yourself together.
• Sanity between 50 and 80: Your mind becomes less focused, unless you're strong-willed and adaptable. You start to talk to yourself more, out loud or in your mind, your mind constantly going over the horrors you've seen so far.
• Sanity between 10 and 50: You're hardly able to focus on your well-being anymore. Depending on character traits, you'll either start to give in more and more to the evil, losing your train of thought frequently and nearing the urges to suicide.
• Sanity between 1 and 10: Your sanity is hanging on a thin thread, about to snap. You can still go on, but the voices in your head get louder and louder and your vision gets blurrier and blurrier every minute. You start seeing things, and seeing evil within your friends around you, despite nothing being there.
• Sanity at 0: You have completely lost it. You are unable to take control of your own mind now, and, while still conscious, you are no longer yourself.

Then again, I'm not sure if something like this is necessary, because each character is different. One can be strong-willed, the other can be religious. Maybe, among the investigators, there can even be a priest or a therapist that would constantly relieve everyone, unless they become insane or die themselves. So, I don't know. I'll leave the decision up to you! ^^

Edited September 3, 2020 by Godot

[JennyDK]

Hello everyone.

Just quickly wanting to hear what the players of the test scenario thought about the adventure. Specifically @Neptune and @Cash Money Chad but also happy to hear what @Godot may have to say about it.

[Godot]

I don't feel right to be able to judge it, since technically I "dropped out" and in quite a poor way as well, so I'm not happy about myself for that. I had quite a lot of fun, and it was my first time trying something like this, however it felt much complicated and I had to use extra neuron power to really push out replies. All in all, I really did have fun as I said, but I'd like to think I prefer much more laid-back style settings and genres, where I don't have to constantly worry about losing my character and actually feel like I may achieve something (in many ways) by participating.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Godot

[JennyDK]

Losing y our sanity and potentially your life is part of Lovecraftian horror.

You will never lose a character permanently of course, as they will "reset" after a finished adventure.

Of course, prefering more laid back adventures is something you cannot fault anyone for or should for that matter. We all have our own preferences and in any case, I am happy that you wanted to give it a shot.

If there are any ways I can make it work better for you, I will try to aim for that - however, the staple marks, like the ones mentioned before, will never change as it wouldn't be the same without them.

[Godot]

No need to change anything just because of me, of course. I know you didn't intend this club to be some sort of "immortal protagonists explore a horror world just so they can have sex later" type of club.

Before you ask, no, I didn't expect it to be that. xD Maybe.

I guess in a way I wasn't quite ready for everything, yet.

Personally, I always wanted to create a world for others to enjoy, but it's a little bit difficult to do so, as you kind of have to control everything, do the world building, play lots of side characters and such. Not that I wouldn't be able to do it, just definitely not in this style.

[JennyDK]

While I am a great fan of such setting and setups, the topic matter and format simply don't mesh well with the Lovecraftian thing. Lovecraftian horror is very much about how things are going to end and in the end there is nothing you can do about it. At least if you go by the European "model" whereas the American version is more about having a miniscule fighting chance.