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How to Create a Call of Cthulhu Role Playing Game Character

The Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, which is based on the horror novels of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, puts players in the role of historians and investigators who discover that ancient and evil cosmic terrors rule over the universe. More so than any other role-playing game system, Call of Cthulhu is focused on the characters and how they interact with the game world, so how you make your new character is a very important aspect of the game. The rules for crafting a new character are rather archaic and dense, but these steps will help to streamline and simplify the process.

Things You'll Need

Call of Cthulhu rulebook
Character sheet
Dice

Instructions

- 1
  Check with the game master of your Call of Cthulhu campaign to find out which era the game will be set in; your character will be set up differently if the game takes place in the 1890s than if it is set in the modern day.
- 2
  Come up with a general model for your character before rolling any dice or writing anything down. Decide who your character is, what she does for a living, how much she knows about the Cthulhu mythology, what her beliefs and aspirations are, and what her personality is like in general.
- 3
  Print off a copy of the blank character sheet in the Call of Cthulhu rulebook or use a sheet of notebook paper to mark down your character's major information.
- 4
  Roll three standard six-sided dice and add the numbers. Repeat this process four more times and then assign these numbers to your character's Strength, Constitution, Power, Dexterity, and Appearance characteristics. Place higher numbers in the characteristics you want your character to excel at. Put your highest number in Power if you want a character who is adept at casting spells and resisting the sanity-draining powers of the various Cthulhu mythology creatures. Or put the highest number in Strength if you prefer a character who is able to throw powerful punches and break down doors.
- 5
  Roll two six-sided dice and add the numbers. Add 6 to this number to get your Intelligence score. Repeat this process again to get your Size score.
- 6
  Calculate your character's starting Sanity score by multiplying your Power score by 5.
- 7
  Choose an occupation for your character from the list of starting occupations in the main rulebook, or come up with a new occupation that is not listed in the book (verify with your game master that it is acceptable).
- 8
  Determine the number of points you have available to allocate among your character's skills by multiplying your intelligence score by 10. Put as many skill points as you'd like into the various skills available to your starting occupation.
- 9
  Finish creating your character by consulting the tables in the rulebook to determine your starting money and level of education. Then use that money to purchase any equipment or items your character needs.

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