Secrets of Arkham

For our upcoming Call of Cthulhu campaign you will be making your own characters. We will do this as a group at session zero. But I would like to give you some guidelines to get you thinking about the type of character you might want to play.

• Setting is 1923 in Arkham, Massachusets. 
• Tie your character to Miskatonic University. For example: students, faculty or staff. 
• Characters live either on campus or in Arkham itself, but can be from anywhere you choose
• Characters need a reason to investigate the supernatural, and continue to want to do so, even when things get dicey.
• What is your character's occupation? Examples include: Artist, Athlete, Dilettante, Doctor, Journalist, Librarian, Professor, Student.
• Think about a few skills your character would be great at. These can be tied to your job or maybe be a hobby they have.

For your backstory, Call of Cthulhu uses certain key elements to help you retain, regain and lose sanity. Think about some of these, so you might have a few idea when we get to character creation.

• What is your character's key ideology or belief? (could be religous or philosphical or just something be believe strongly in)
• Who is the single most important person in your life and why? (family member, lover, mentor, famous person, etc)
• What location from your past holds the most meaning for you? (somewhere you could envision or travel to if you needed to set your mind at ease)
• What is your most treasured possession? (a physical item that helps ground you in times of stress)
• What word or phrase best describes your character? (examples: generous, dreamer, hedonist, gambler, seductress, loyal, ambitious)

For anyone wanting additional information... If you take a peek at the character sheet for Call of Cthulhu you might see a few oddities on there. Here is a quick description:

• STR - Strength
• CON - Constitution
• SIZ - Height and weight (65 is average, 80 is very tall or strongly built or obese, 40 is small in stature or super model thin)
• DEX - Dexterity
• APP - Appearance (50 is average, 80 is extremely alluring or has a magnetic personality) (can decrease with age)
• INT - Intelligence 
• POW - Power (mental fortitude and willpower)
• EDU - Education (60 high school graduate, 80 Master's degree) (can increase with age and experience)

Skills

• Social Skills (each is slightly different) Charm, Fast Talk, Intimidate, Persuade.
• Credit Rating - How much spending cash you have, but also how you present your wealth to others (some NPCs will use this stat to judge if you are worth even speaking to)
• Cthulhu Mythos - Always starts at 0, but increases as adventures continue. Each point added here permantly removes a point from your overall sanity
• First Aid - patching up injuries on site, as opposed to Medicine which is specialized knowledge of a doctor.
• Occult - Tied to folk traditions, secret knowledge passed down from human history and human societies, knowledge of traitions and rituals tied to non-traditional religions. Does not include knowledge of the otherworldly mythos.
• Perception is not a skill in this game - you have Listen and Spot Hidden.
• Psychology is the COC version of D&D Insight. Psychoanalysis is what you need to treat insanity and diagnose mental trauma.
• Drive Auto is handling tricky driving. Ride is typically used for equestrian activities.
• Navigation is used for not getting lost. Track is used for tracking or hunting. Survival is a specialized skill and usually tied to specific environment.