Science Fiction DOuble Feature

Rules for Cinematic Call of Cthulhu

Overview
The Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, while it has some excellent published campaign-length adventures, is ideally suited to one-off scenarios. However, since these one-off scenarios are designed to have all the action and adventure of a full campaign but squeezed into a couple of sessions of play, they can often have very high body counts in terms of player characters - both due to insanity and also death. While this is fine if the players are going to have new characters for each scenario, it makes stringing a bunch of individual scenarios together into a campaign using the same group of characters more tricky. Therefore, these rules are designed to string together a series of Call of Cthulhu scenarios as a series of horror films starring the same actors. Drawing inspiration from both the Blood Brothers series of Call of Cthulhu adventures (Chaosium, 1990) and the It Came From The Late, Late, Late Show RPG (Stellar Games, 1989), each player plays an actor; and that actor in turn plays a part in each film.

Tone Although Call of Cthulhu itself is designed as a horror game, it is not without dark humour at times. These rules play to that humorous and often somewhat ridiculous side, and aim to emulate the tongue-in-cheek tone of cheesy low-budget horror films.

The Character
Each player initially creates their character as normal, choosing a profession for their actor as if choosing a profession for their investigator. The profession represents a combination of the actors day-job before they took up acting and the actors stereotyped role. In addition to their normal attributes, each actor has a Fame score. During character creation this score is given an initial value of 5xApp; but it may rise and fall throughout the campaign. Like Sanity, Fame is measured on a 1-100 scale. If Fame ever reaches 0, the actor must retire since their reputation is so low that they will not be given parts in any future films.

Casting
At the beginning of each film (i.e. scenario), the Keeper should present a number of pre-generated characters. These characters do not need full write-ups, only a description and a primary skill (see Talent Coaching below). There should be at least as many characters as there are actors, but there may optionally be more if the film demands it. Players take turns to choose which character in the film their actor will play, choosing in descending order of Fame (i.e. The most famous actor gets to choose first). If there are characters left un-chosen at the end, those characters can either be brought along as extras (i.e. NPCs) or simply discarded if unimportant to the film at the Keepers discretion. Talent Coaching Each character in the film should have a primary skill assigned to them. If the actor playing that character has a value in that skill below 50%, they are given Talent Coaching, which raises that skill by 50%. This increase in skill is temporary and only lasts until the end of the film.

Filming
Each film is played as a normal Call of Cthulhu scenario. Although the players are actually playing actors who in turn are playing the characters in the scenario, they should not break character and play the actors themselves except in specific circumstances given below. Any rolls they have to make as a character are done using the actors skills and attributes. Fame Armour Everyone knows that famous actors can survive damage that would kill a red-shirted extra in one hit. To represent this, each character in the film has bonus hit points equal to one tenth (round down) of what their actors Fame score was at the start of the film. Stunt Doubles When a character is about to do something really stupid, or when they are about to be attacked by something, their actor can call for their Stunt Double. The Stunt Double replaces the character temporarily

and takes the consequences of the action or attack in their place. The Stunt Double will only appear for a single action (just long enough for the explosion or attack or whatever) and then the actor will be returned to the set. The Stunt Double has the same skills as the character (including Talent Coaching) and has the same number of hit points (but without the bonus hit points for Fame Armour). A Stunt Double can be called in repeatedly over the course of a film, providing they are still alive. Once a Stunt Double has been killed they are no longer available until the next film. Stunt Doubles cannot take sanity losses in place of an actor. Actors must take their own sanity losses. Tea Breaks Once per film, each actor can call for a Tea Break. The Tea Break is a five minute break in filming while the actors get a cup of tea and have their make-up refreshed. When a Tea Break is called, the players have five minutes of real time in which they can discuss the current state of the film as their actors rather than as the characters their actors are playing. The actors will all be together for the conversation and may share in-character information and make in-character plans at this time, which they may then use in-character even if the characters they are playing are in different locations and would have no in-film way of sharing this information. Demanding a Re-Write Once per film, if an actor is unhappy with the way the film is progressing, they may lock themselves in their trailer and refuse to come out unless changes are made. This is a risky business for an actor, since only those with great fame (and good agents) can get away with it. In order to demand a re-write, the player must make a Fame roll. If they fail to roll equal to or less than their actors current Fame score, their actor is told to get back on set or be fired; and the scenario continues from where it left off. If the Fame roll was successful then the actor has five minutes of real time to negotiate with the director (played by the Keeper) in order to gain concessions (which could be scene re-takes, or alterations to the plot, or agreements that a particular NPC or monster will act in a particular way). The Keeper should be sensible here and offer concessions that they think will be to the characters benefit but which will not completely mess up the film. If, after five minutes, the actor and director have not agreed on a concession to be made; the actor must return to the set unsatisfied. Note that each actor can only demand a re-write once per film, regardless of whether the demand was successful or not.

Cast Party
After the film has finished, it is time for the cast party. Skill Checks As with any other Call of Cthulhu scenario, players may check for skill increases in any skill that their characters have used during the film. In the case of a skill that was subject to Talent Coaching, the check does not need to be made. After removing the temporary bonus, the skill will automatically be increased as if a successful check had been made. Death, Injury and Sanity Any death, dismemberment, mutation or other injury is considered to have only happened to the character, and not the actor. The actor will start their next film fully healthy (and, if it matters, fully human).

However, due to typecasting, actors can get a reputation for playing insane characters and be expected to act that way in future projects. Therefore, unlike injury, some sanity loss does hold over from film to film. At the end of each film, only half the sanity lost (or gained) by each actor is restored. However, because the actors sanity is not really at risk, only their reputation for playing sane or insane characters, specific effects of sanity loss (such as temporary or permanent insanities) that happened within a film are considered to have only affected the character, not the actor. Also, any spells learned during the film are considered to be known only by the character, not the actor; and will not be known by any future characters they play. Fame Characters gain or lose fame depending on the reputation they gained from the film. Fame gains or losses are done for the following situations (and are cumulative): Actors character survived the film: +1d10 Fame Actors character did not survive the film: -1d6 Fame Actor did all their own stunts without using a Stunt Double: +1d8 Fame Prima Donna (Actor demanded a re-write): -1d10 Fame The Show Must Go On (Actor returned to set unsatisfied with offered re-writes): +1d6 Fame Actor required Talent Coaching to play their role: -1d10 Fame Actors character went temporarily insane during the film: -1d6 Fame Actors character went permanently insane during the film: -1d10 Fame

Between Films
During the down-time between films, actors may increase their skills by taking on a day-job. This is somewhat bad for their reputation, as they are seen as not being serious about the craft, but does make them more proficient at the skills that the day-job entails. In game terms, this is represented by the actor spending 1d6 fame to get an experience check on a skill of their choice. This can be done repeatedly, providing the actor has the fame to burn. Similarly, the actor can put themselves through various types of steroid abuse, plastic surgery, de-tox clinics, and initiation into strange cults that prey on the rich an gullible. As with having a day job, this is bad for the actors reputation and make them less likely to be taken seriously as a thespian - particularly amongst the tabloid reading public; but it can boost the actors ability scores. In game terms, this is represented by the actor spending 1d6 fame to increase a single attribute by one point. Increasing Con or Siz will increase the actors hit points, but increasing Pow or App will not increase their sanity of fame scores.