One-2-One games (Cthulu, GUMSHOE & others)

[Hector Trelane]

The Bundle of Holding out this week is for a series of one GM, one player games, including a game on my mid-term to-do list, Cthulu Confidential/One-2-One: https://bundleofholding.com/presents/BundleForTwo2

Pelgrane Press is coming out with 9 more adventures for Cthulu Confidential here (https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/even-death-can-die-an-adventure-collection-for-cthulhu-confidential/) and is in pre-order for a Night's Black Agents version of One-2-One, known as NBA: Solo Ops (https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/nights-black-agents-solo/).

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=26309

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=26310

Has anyone run these on FG? MoreCore could be a good choice since the character sheet can accept Image, Story, and Note links, which could be used to simulate and keep the Edge and Problem cards players earn/get stuck with during the game. And damned just released a Trail of Cthulu MoreCore ruleset (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?47731-Trail-of-Cthulhu-Full-working-ruleset) that could be tweaked to fit to Cthulu One-2-One (a simplified version of Trail of Cthulu, plus the above-mentioned card mechanic).

Note that this is a game that helped launch (at least partly) the award-winning Harlem Unbound, with its great cover art (https://www.darkerhuestudios.com/shop/harlem-unbound-core-book) and fascinating-on-many-levels setting:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=26311

Tabletop Audio liked Harlem Unbound so much that a custom soundset was created for this setting, the Cotton Club (https://tabletopaudio.com/index.html?145).

[damned]

Hola Hector
I have Cthulhu Confidential and to my disappointment it looks like I will need to read a goodly chunk of the rulebook to work out the differences to standard Gumshoe.
If you have read the rules and would like to present me with the changes required from ToC/Eso extensions I will certainly have a look at building it out for MoreCore

[NotRussellCrowe]

I have Cthulhu Confidential and plan on running with my wife this year. Great theme, love the noir feel just from reading the book.

Now I don't have a firm grasp on the rules but I don't think there needs to be much automation or custom rollers built. The one thing I recall is that if you have a 2 in a skill you roll one die at a time because if you pass the challenge with one die you can spend the second for an Edge I believe.

Now the game does use player aids called Edge and Problem cards. These are cards that get handed to the player that have either a bonus or hindrance on them. If you deal with a Problem before the scenario concludes that is a negative to the ending or something like that. Anyways, I don't think there needs to be any functionality added for this but if the character sheet had an area where the player could drag images and list them and remove them as they are spent/solved that would be nice. I am assuming that the GM would just have each Edge/Problem as an image since that is easier than typing it all in and dragging/dropping those.

[Hector Trelane]

I can answer in more detail later, but the rules differences are:
—investigation abilities have no points—it’s binary. You have the skill (and get clues with no spends) or you don’t.
—General abilities have ratings which are the number of dice you can roll in a test.
—Spends of Investigation (and maybe General) abilities are replaced by Pushes. You start with 4 and can maybe earn more and certainly spend them. You could track these with the Hero Points field.
—the card mechanic referred to previously can be handled as images or notes or story entires or a combination.

Your existing use of a skill without a spend can be adapted well for this version of GUMSHOE.

[Hector Trelane]

I have Cthulhu Confidential and plan on running with my wife this year. Great theme, love the noir feel just from reading the book.

Now I don't have a firm grasp on the rules but I don't think there needs to be much automation or custom rollers built. The one thing I recall is that if you have a 2 in a skill you roll one die at a time because if you pass the challenge with one die you can spend the second for an Edge I believe.

Now the game does use player aids called Edge and Problem cards. These are cards that get handed to the player that have either a bonus or hindrance on them. If you deal with a Problem before the scenario concludes that is a negative to the ending or something like that. Anyways, I don't think there needs to be any functionality added for this but if the character sheet had an area where the player could drag images and list them and remove them as they are spent/solved that would be nice. I am assuming that the GM would just have each Edge/Problem as an image since that is easier than typing it all in and dragging/dropping those.

I’d love to play, NotRussellCrowe!

[NotRussellCrowe]

I’d love to play, NotRussellCrowe!

Deal!

I'm going to try it out with my wife first and see how it goes but if I like it I'll happily run more. There's a new book coming out soon (TM) with 9 more scenarios in it, three per character,so there's a bit of life in this system so lots to enjoy. I get the feeling from the little reading I've done that writing scenarios for this system is a bit more complex than other games. At least that's the feeling I get.

Edit: or, instead of waiting I could read up a bit and make my inaugural run of the system using MoreCore as long as you're okay being used for testing purposes :)

[Hector Trelane]

Deal!

I'm going to try it out with my wife first and see how it goes but if I like it I'll happily run more. There's a new book coming out soon (TM) with 9 more scenarios in it, three per character,so there's a bit of life in this system so lots to enjoy. I get the feeling from the little reading I've done that writing scenarios for this system is a bit more complex than other games. At least that's the feeling I get.

Edit: or, instead of waiting I could read up a bit and make my inaugural run of the system using MoreCore as long as you're okay being used for testing purposes :)

Yes I’d be happy to play the role of Guineau pig

I have read only the Red Mist, a free sample adventure by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan (which is great, and I could run). I also have a hard copy of a A Cable’s Length From Shore— a sequel by the same author. Haven’t read it yet, and still need the PDF.

damned, I think these One-2-One adventures would be ideal candidates for a full commercial release.

There is a One-2-One SRD funded by, but not yet released from, The Yellow King Kickstarter. (A stretch goal.) So the rules can be a public domain module (I’ll work on that one as well.)

[NotRussellCrowe]

Yes I’d be happy to play the role of Guineau pig

I have read only the Red Mist, a free sample adventure by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan (which is great, and I could run). I also have a hard copy of a A Cable’s Length From Shore— a sequel by the same author. Haven’t read it yet, and still need the PDF.


I'll run something from the book and leave those two for you to run sometime. Just pick which of the three protagonists you want to have your first scenario with.

[Hector Trelane]

I'll run something from the book and leave those two for you to run sometime. Just pick which of the three protagonists you want to have your first scenario with.

Any of the three are good but Langston Wright is especially intriguing ...

[damned]

NotRussellCrowe could you download the Trail Of Cthulhu extension + MoreCore Ruleset and give it a short whirl.
From the above it sounds like the changes needed to tweak this might be:

Thats good Hector thanks
relabelling Hero Points to Push - easy.
The character sheet already supports players dragging images to their sheet - is the current frame ok for that or wold you say want an additional small frame on the front page?
For rolling - if you only roll 1 dice still - and have the option to reroll if you have more points then the current mechanic already supports that - but possibly the default double-click behavior (roll and spend) should be switched with the shift+double-click behavior (roll and no spend)?
customise the list of skills that are generated for new characters
And then themed out?

Thats probably one days work the theme being the big part.

Id be happy to do that as there is some interest in this...

re: commercial release there probably has not yet been enough interest expressed on either this or Trail of Cthulhu just yet but will certainly be monitoring.

I do also have an Esoterrorists one that is almost ready to go.

I wonder if the Gumshoe 1 to 1 system plays ok with 2 players still?

[NotRussellCrowe]

NotRussellCrowe could you download the Trail Of Cthulhu extension + MoreCore Ruleset and give it a short whirl.
From the above it sounds like the changes needed to tweak this might be:

Thats good Hector thanks
relabelling Hero Points to Push - easy.
The character sheet already supports players dragging images to their sheet - is the current frame ok for that or wold you say want an additional small frame on the front page?
For rolling - if you only roll 1 dice still - and have the option to reroll if you have more points then the current mechanic already supports that - but possibly the default double-click behavior (roll and spend) should be switched with the shift+double-click behavior (roll and no spend)?
customise the list of skills that are generated for new characters
And then themed out?

Thats probably one days work the theme being the big part.

Id be happy to do that as there is some interest in this...



Yeah the ToC extension works well enough for sure. You can add images on the Main tab to the Clues or Contacts areas or on the MoreData tab under Notebook or Scratchpad or Images. Not sure how easy it would be to add a remove under the right-click menu, if not just backspacing is easy enough.

The GM will always tell you the range you need for each Challange. There are always three ranges: Setback, Hold, and Advance, so you couldn't really code these ahead of time since they can change per challenge. I don't think there's much else you can do here.

There are only two types of abilities: General (19) and Investigative (37). There are three subcategories for each category. General has Manual (7), Physical (5), and Mental (7) and Investigative has Academic (17), Interpersonal (11), and Technical (9). Not sure the best way to lay these on the sheet. Characters won't have every skill so the ability to hide them will come in handy I think. I am not sure if there would be room for another area for Edges and Problems, but having them all on one page would make things easier. Again I'm not sure how that would work though.






re: commercial release there probably has not yet been enough interest expressed on either this or Trail of Cthulhu just yet but will certainly be monitoring.

I do also have an Esoterrorists one that is almost ready to go.


I wouldn't think there's enough interest for a commercial release of Cthulhu Confidential at this time. Though maybe the market for One-2-One games and Fantasy Grounds has a large intersection?

If I ever get around to running Trail of Cthulhu I'd love to go with Shadows Over Filmland so if that module existed in FG it would make things easier for me (obviously). I'd also be happy to assist in creating modules for ToC.




I wonder if the Gumshoe 1 to 1 system plays ok with 2 players still?

On the Gumshoe Discord (https://discord.gg/kyCSWq) someone asked this and the one response was that regular Trail of Cthulhu was better for 2 players. I haven't run either so I don't have a personal opinion.

[NotRussellCrowe]

Any of the three are good but Langston Wright is especially intriguing ...

Not a problem. Cue the theme song for House of Cards.

[damned]

Much appreciated Kelly. Ill loook to spin up something for this.

[Hector Trelane]

For One-2-One, you’d set up the spotlight character at creation of the adventure module, and he/she doesn’t change skills (you only need to track pushes, problem, and edge cards—health and sanity loss comes in the form of problem cards). So when setting up a PC, I think it’s okay to list only those skills known by that character, allowing more room on the sheet. (If you want a complete skills list for reference, you could put that in the story entry.)

One thing I previously forgot: each character has a number of Contacts with whom they can go to discuss the investigation in interlude scenes during the game. These are friendly NPCs who have a short list of additional investigation abilities that the main character lacks. These should be listed on the character sheet somehow. It may be as simple as creating NPCs and dragging links to the character sheet — that works as long as the player can see all the NPC stats.

[NotRussellCrowe]

For One-2-One, you’d set up the spotlight character at creation of the adventure module, and he/she doesn’t change skills (you only need to track pushes, problem, and edge cards—health and sanity loss comes in the form of problem cards). So when setting up a PC, I think it’s okay to list only those skills known by that character, allowing more room on the sheet. (If you want a complete skills list for reference, you could put that in the story entry.)

The Trail of Cthulhu sheet allows you to hide skills that you don't have a rank in. There's a little circle at the top-right of each group that you click/check to do this. So you can have all skills listed and then just hide the empty ones after you are done creating your character.

Now, if hiding skills would allow more room to drop two groups on the main sheet for problems and edges that would be great.



One thing I previously forgot: each character has a number of Contacts with whom they can go to discuss the investigation in interlude scenes during the game. These are friendly NPCs who have a short list of additional investigation abilities that the main character lacks. These should be listed on the character sheet somehow. It may be as simple as creating NPCs and dragging links to the character sheet — that works as long as the player can see all the NPC stats.

I didn't look at the NPC sheet last night but it may be overkill for sources from a purely mechanical point of view. Just a note kept by the player or a story entry for each source shared by the GM I think would do the trick.

I think problems and edges are more important to see at a glance than sources. A problem and edge you would use in the immediate scene, a source you have to start a new scene so flipping tabs on the sheet to see sources I don't think would detract much.

Of course maybe everyone will only have 1 or 2 of problems and edges each, so leaving images up on your screen would be enough of a reminder? I'm sure actually playing through will reveal how accurate my statement is. :)

[damned]

Hey guys,

Yeah as NotRussellCrowe says - use the Hide button to shorten up your lists once you have finished allocating points.
Please once you have built up a char - or even better - played thru a scenario - send me a screenshot so I can see the number of skills in use and find out how many problems and edges you need to track.
It does sound like NPCs would be the way to track Sources - and yes I can have them add to the PC sheet - again we will need to find the best spot.

[Hector Trelane]

One vs two player question: the adventure content is all geared to one player, one GM, with a number of significant adjustments to how you’d otherwise prepare and pace GM content.

But for mechanics, you could use them for multiplayer. In fact, the game designer has partially done that for The Yellow King roleplaying game, and has emphasized that GUMSHOE doesn’t attempt to be a generic system such as GURPS (which has a core of uniform mechanics that applies consistently across all settings) but instead has different builds optimized for each setting.

As far as Investigation Abilities and spends, the designer’s thinking has evolved, and now may prefer the arrangement in One-2-One, which removes any confusion that gaining a core clue would ever require a spend. These are replaced by Pushes, which can be spent to gain a special benefit via use of any skill that you have (whereas in standard gumshoe you have points in specific skills and those points can only be spent on special benefits related to the use of those specific skills).

Part of why I’d like to play one-2-one is to gain direct experience in gameplay using these mechanics, which could then perhaps be transferred over to standard gumshoe games.

[Hector Trelane]

Hey guys,

Yeah as NotRussellCrowe says - use the Hide button to shorten up your lists once you have finished allocating points.
Please once you have built up a char - or even better - played thru a scenario - send me a screenshot so I can see the number of skills in use and find out how many problems and edges you need to track.
It does sound like NPCs would be the way to track Sources - and yes I can have them add to the PC sheet - again we will need to find the best spot.

You’ll have zero to four of each type of card at any moment under normal circumstances. Maybe you’d get up to 6 in a category on rare occasions. So double that for total number of cards that a PC would have.

It’s prob nice to have separate link lists for Problems and Edges on the PC sheet.

Clue lists could be useful too—I know that’s already on the PC sheet.

NotRussellCrowe, how are you thinking of doing the cards? My thought is a story entry with the text plus a link to the card image, or maybe the image alone.

[NotRussellCrowe]

You’ll have zero to four of each type of card at any moment under normal circumstances. Maybe you’d get up to 6 in a category on rare occasions. So double that for total number of cards that a PC would have.

It’s prob nice to have separate link lists for Problems and Edges on the PC sheet.

Clue lists could be useful too—I know that’s already on the PC sheet.

NotRussellCrowe, how are you thinking of doing the cards? My thought is a story entry with the text plus a link to the card image, or maybe the image alone.

I expect someone somewhere to take a problem card for each challenge to get that extra die just to see how that impacts the game :)

As for how I was thinking of using them in FG I was just going to screenshot them and have each their own image. I feel this will be quicker than typing them all up manually and less error prone. Typing them up could be done but I think it will be quicker to just screenshot them all. I hadn't thought of doing both, I'm far too lazy for that. Maybe if I was doing a commercial module then the extra effort would be expected but for an initial run through of the system I plan to keep it simple.

[Hector Trelane]

I picked up the game last night, and glad I did since there's a lot of rules, explanations, and setting support. Bundle of Holding is still live for a few more hours!

[Raz_Kabooz]

Note that this is a game that helped launch (at least partly) the award-winning Harlem Unbound, with its great cover art (https://www.darkerhuestudios.com/shop/harlem-unbound-core-book) and fascinating-on-many-levels setting:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=26311

Tabletop Audio liked Harlem Unbound so much that a custom soundset was created for this setting, the Cotton Club (https://tabletopaudio.com/index.html?145).

Hi Hector, the Harlem Unbound looks very interesting. Any chance you are able to run this for Fantasy Grounds soon? Looks like you even have the soundset cued up! NICE!

Perhaps you can even try testing it as a one-2-one or even as a one-2-three or more?

Cheers,
Raz

[Hector Trelane]

Looks like you even have the soundset cued up! NICE!

Perhaps you can even try testing it as a one-2-one or even as a one-2-three or more?

Cheers,
Raz

Just found more soundtrack/music background from a post pm the DriveThru RPG page for Harlem Unbound:


Petter F wrote:

I can only assume the title is a reference to the fantastic Freddy Johnson tune Harlem Bound (recorded 1933).

As a swing music enthusiast, I have long wanted to set my Call of Chtulhu game in Harlem. The swing craze, with ensorcelling rhythms and dance possessed jitterbugs, seems ripe for Lovecraftian mysteries.

As a European however, only being familiar with a romanticized portrayal of Harlem, it's challenging how to tackle the social issues in a respectful manner. Now armed with this book, I hope I have what I need to be able to handle it.

If you need some background music for your games, here's a spotify playlist of awesome swing era Harlem related tunes, with plenty of Duke Ellington and Fats Waller:
https://open.spotify.com/user/pettef/playlist/5LSVcVfzAY9zGyEvAbUIjQ?si=HSFN-xqCRDipNDfeuhhvCw

[Raz_Kabooz]

Just found more soundtrack/music background from a post pm the DriveThru RPG page for Harlem Unbound:
That's awesome! Looks like you're making progress on the game!

[Hector Trelane]

Cthulu Confidential and more up for sale on the Bundle of Holding: https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Confidential

Update: got it myself. Boy would I love to play Solo Ops. Still may run (someday) and love to play Cthulu Confidential.