New Cryptworld Skills: Combat in the Victorian Era

And we're back!

This blog has been on hiatus for far too long. It's time to get back to work now that summer is about to transition into fall, and Halloween is just around the corner. To get things started, I've returned to my mission to bring you new rules for injecting a little Hammer Horror into your CRYPTWORLD games. Hammer Films produced such rich and colorful productions with beautiful period costumes and atmospheric sets I can't help being inspired to recreate that same feeling when I run my games.

Today I have not one but three new CRYPTWORLD skills, this time focusing on combat. While I tend to lean toward the Victorian age in my own games, these new skills could certainly be used in other historical eras including modern times (albeit a bit eccentric). You might have some trouble getting a swordstick past the TSA though...

Swordstick

Swordstick
Exclusive: No
Base: (Str+Agl+Dex+Per)/4
Check: Specific

The swordstick (or cane-sword) is by all appearances a typical men’s walking stick or cane that conceals a rapier-like weapon within. By the late 18th century, carrying a sword in public became increasing less socially acceptable and practically unheard of by the Victorian age. The swordstick allowed gentlemen trained in the art of swordsmanship to carry the weapon on their person without appearing uncouth. The sword parasol is a variant of the swordstick preferred by women of the Victorian era wishing to conceal their socially unacceptable (for the period) knowledge of swordsmanship.

Cane-Sword

Having the Swordstick skill is not required to use the weapon, but it takes 1 round to withdraw the sword from concealment within the cane. Those possessing the Swordstick skill do not suffer this penalty.

Stick Fighting

I said "Good Day", Sir!

Exclusive: No
Base: (Str+Agl+Pcn)/3
Check: Specific

Stick fighting is a martial art where any type of wooden stick is used as a weapon. Examples include staffs, canes, walking sticks, even umbrellas and parasols. It does not include fighting with heavier wooden weapons like clubs or maces (see the Short-handled Weapons skill instead).

Characters with the Stick Fighting skill at the Expert or Master level may choose to use the unarmed combat results key instead of the armed combat results key to reflect their training and ability to “hold back” their blows. This determination must be made during the declaration step of the Sequence of Play. All others including characters without the Stick Fighting skill may only use the armed combat results key. Anyone fighting with a stick may still make a called shot.



†Cloak

Dry Clean Only!

Exclusive: Yes
Base: (Str+Dex+Agl+Per)/4
Check: Specific

The art of fighting with a cloak was developed by various sword fighting schools during the Renaissance but saw a resurgence in popularity during the Victorian era when one did not walk around armed and armored in polite society. Cloaks may be used to deflect sword blows, cause confusion, obstruct an attacker’s vision, and entangle opponents. Characters trained in this skill are able to entangle their opponents with their cloak, cape or coat.

A cloak has no effect except on a “C” result. A “C” result indicates that the defender has become entangled in the cloak. As long as the defender is tangled in the cloak, they must make a general Agility check each round to remain standing. If they fail the check, they immediately fall down and are considered “on the ground” until they stand up—which also requires a general Agility check. The entangled defender may use no melee skill in attacking, and they defend in melee on column 1 while entangled. See the notes on the Bola in the core rulebook for the defender’s chance to free themselves (or be freed); the same rules apply.

At the Expert or Master level, characters with this skill may also use their cloak, cape or coat as if it were a small shield shifting their defense column one column to the right. All restrictions for shield use apply normally: protects against only two attacks per round and offers no protection from firearms or paranormal attacks.

Steampunk Tony Stark or Pulp Sherlock Holmes?

New Cryptworld Skill: Psychiatry

Halloween is fast upon us, so it's time to celebrate with some new content over the next few days! Up first is a new skill for CRYPTWORLD based once again on a skill found in the original Pacesetter CHILL roleplaying game. My version of Psychiatry presented below includes the NPC sanity determination from the original skill, but I've added a little something extra for dealing with the results of fear checks. As always, this skill is not intended to be a factual representation of psychiatry but to emulate the conventions found in horror movies that touch on madness instead.

For added flavor, characters that take the Psychiatry skill may also be interested in taking the Hypnotism skill presented earlier on this blog as well.

Tell me about your early childhood...

*†Psychiatry

Exclusive: Yes

Base: (Pcn+Wpr+Per+Luck)/4

Check: General

Psychiatry is a medical specialty that encompasses the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. Characters with the Psychiatry skill are medical doctors referred to as psychiatrists although they were commonly called alienists from the late Victorian era up until the early 20th century when the term fell out of use. This skill may only be taken if the character has the skill Medicine at the Expert level.

A character with the Psychiatry skill may attempt to mitigate the result of another character’s fear check. After a character makes a fear check, a psychiatrist can immediately make a general Psychiatry check to prevent the character from running away (or hiding) and improve their fear check result by one category. For example, failure on the fear check becomes an S (scared) result, an S result becomes an L (loathing) result, an L result becomes an M (misgivings) result, and an M result becomes an H/C (heroism) result. Failure on the general Psychiatry check means the psychiatrist has had absolutely no effect on the victim’s fear reaction. Unlike the Medicine skill, a psychiatrist may not use Psychiatry for self treatment.

Straight Jacket Required

This skill may also be used to determine if a seemingly insane NPC patient is in fact telling the truth about a supernatural encounter with a thing, or merely making up stories, rambling incoherently, or hallucinating. After a character with Psychiatry spends 1-5 hours (1d10/2 rounded up) with the patient, the CM makes a general check for the PC in secret. If the check fails, the PC is convinced only of the patient’s insanity whether they truly are insane or not. Success reveals the truth as determined by the CM: the patient did indeed experience a supernatural encounter with a thing and is quite sane (or perhaps was driven insane as a result of the encounter), or the patient is completely insane and their persistent belief in or deception about having an imaginary encounter with a supernatural being is symptomatic of their mental disorder.

This Nice Padded Room Awaits You...

New Cryptworld Skill: Photography

Mama don't take my Kodachrome away!

Like the Hypnotism skill posted previously, Photography is another skill found in the original Pacesetter CHILL RPG that didn't make the cut in CRYPTWORLD. Since CRYPTWORLD attempts in part to be a little more contemporary in setting than its predecessor, this exclusion makes sense in our modern world of digital photography where everyone has a camera on their smartphone, an Instagram account, and access to YouTube. Traditional film photography does have its role to play as witnessed in many classic horror movies predating the digital age (both in terms of setting and theatrical release date), so I've decided to add it back in.

Here is my conversion of the Photography skill updated and re-written for the rules and terminology found in CRYPTWORLD:

†Photography

Exclusive: Yes

Base: (Pcn+Dex)/2

Check: General and Specific

Brown Lady of Raynham Hall

The Photography skill encompasses both traditional still photography and moviemaking requiring the use of film (or photographic plates for early still photography in time periods prior to the late 19th century). Characters with this skill can take photographs or make movies with professional equipment as well as process and develop their work as a general check; failure means something went wrong such as poor lighting, overexposure, uneven development, or the lens cap was accidentally left on. This exclusive skill is not required, however, to use consumer friendly point-and-shoot instamatic cameras and instant self-developing cameras, or when using more modern digital photography including digital cameras and smartphones to take pictures or films.

Characters possessing the Photography skill may also attempt to determine specific facts about  an existing photo or film such as how it was taken, its age, the type of camera, film, or paper used, or if the photo has been faked or doctored in any way. This is a specific check using the Knowledge check result key.

Photography can be a valuable tool when collecting evidence of the existence of the supernatural and preparing to confront it. While this evidence may easily be dismissed as a hoax by the scientific community or general public, those aware of the supernatural’s existence can sometimes find the answers they seek hidden within. The Photography skill can be used to discover information about the subject matter of a photo or film including mundane facts like where and when it was taken, or more esoteric insight as to the nature of the supernatural occurrence or thing depicted. This is a specific check using the Research check result key.

Old Camera - photo by George Hodan

New Cryptworld Skill: Hypnotism

CRYPTWORLD is a horror roleplaying game from Goblinoid Games that is in every way the spiritual successor to the original (or first edition) CHILL RPG published by Pacesetter Games back in 1984. While it still uses the same "old school" Action Table resolution system found in the original, CRYPTWORLD differs from CHILL in that it is missing the original setting material (like S.A.V.E. and The Evil Way) and has also been updated to better emulate the horror movies from the 1980s and early 1990s. And while you can certainly use CRYPTWORLD to run a campaign with a Hammer Horror vibe (horror movies dating back to the late 50s, 60s and early 70s), there are still a few skills missing that were found in the original CHILL that I think fit the classic horror movie genre very nicely, particularly Hypnotism, Photography, and Psychiatry. Since first edition CHILL and CRYPTWORLD are so close mechanically, I decided to go back to the original game and adapt those missing skills for my own games. Here's the first of those skills updated and re-written with the rules and terminology found in CRYPTWORLD specifically in mind.

†Hypnotism
Exclusive: Yes
Base: (Pcn+Wpr)/2
Check: General

Characters with the Hypnotism skill are able to hypnotize any living human character as long as they agree to be placed under hypnosis of their own free will. Once hypnotized, the subject (the hypnotized character) is under the direct control of the hypnotist (the character possessing the Hypnotism skill). Hypnotism may never be used under any circumstance by a hypnotist to force a subject to do anything that would cause the subject embarrassment, physical harm, or go against their ethical principles. Hypnotism allows the hypnotized subject to:

1. Recall any repressed, altered (e.g. due to the mass implantation or memory alter powers), stolen, or otherwise forgotten memory. The subject will immediately forget any recalled memory upon awakening from hypnosis.
2. Repress any memory by forgetting the event ever happened. The subject will no longer recall the memory after awakening from hypnosis.
3. Later act upon any suggestion implanted by the hypnotist after the subject awakes from hypnosis in response to some trigger event. For example, upon next seeing a particular person or thing as a trigger, the subject will act upon a suggestion to contact the hypnotist immediately to report the sighting.
4. Act as if in a particular emotional state or state of pain upon awakening from hypnosis. Conversely, the subject may be made to act upon awaking from hypnosis as if they are no longer in a particular emotional state or state of pain they were in before undergoing hypnosis.
5. Reveal the name and general nature of any person or thing that is using the demonic influence, domination, manipulation, mesmerize, or similar power against the subject if that information is known. At the CM’s discretion, the hypnotist may contact this person or thing through the hypnotized subject directly who will then communicate with the hypnotist using the subject’s voice. The person or thing holding this undue influence over the subject, however, is not considered to be hypnotized.