The Whispers of the Ancient Ones
Being reading and playing The Call of Cthulhu, so the itch of doing something "simpler" got me... spoiler, it didn't ended up "simpler".
The Whispers of the Ancient Ones
Disclaimer
Although this is a game, and games are meant for players to have fun, mental illnesses aren't something to have fun with, so be respectful and tactful when portraying and approaching these themes.
Intro
Welcome to the '20s, the 1920s a place of dark streets with darker secrets. The person you just passed by could be a lawyer, a bootlegger, a cultist, or something far more sinister... something otherworldly in disguise.
Most people spend their lives without a clue of the horrors that lie beyond the veil of reality. Others burn through their lives, and their sanity, searching for a tear to peek what's on the other side. And then, there are those caught in the middle, forced to face or escape the unspeakable.
Whisperer & Investigators
One of the players will take the role of The Whisperer, taking care of plot, narrating the scene, interpreting the non-player characters and creatures, and a lot more.
The rest of the players will take the roles of Investigators, willing or unwilling people dipping their noses into the unknown and unreal.
Game Features
- No stats, just skills.
- No skill score division, the unit die tells you how good (or bad) the action did.
- Specialty Skills giving a little character customization, it also allows for more chances at better outcomes.
- Easy Investigator creation.
- 6 skill rolls outcomes.
- 5 Special Skills: Composure, Contacts, Credit, Luck, and Truth.
- Composure is the ability to remain calm and together.
- Contacts let the Investigator ask for help to others.
- Credit is used instead of money.
- Luck skill shows how fate favors of hinders the character.
- Truth skill measuring how much the Investigator really knows.
- Truth can increase by sheer encountering the unnatural.
- Truth directly reduces Composure having a direct and faster impact.
- Wounds & Insanity:
- Wounds come in two fashion, Superficial and Deep.
- Insanity are points that add up until Insanity is reached, the more points an Investigator has the worse the Investigator's state of mind will be.
Dice
Investigator Creation
If you are going to be a player then you are going to need an Investigator, follow these steps to create your own:
0. Concept: Who's your Investigator, what they do for a living, are they involved with the unnatural? If they are, how they got initiated?
1. Occupation: Roll or choose from the Occupational List (click here), or create a setting-appropriate one by choosing 8 fitting Skills as Occupational Skills (click here).
2. Skill Scores:
Occupational Skills: Put the following Scores on your Occupational Skills: 55%, 50%, 50%, 45%, 40%, 40%, 35%, 30%.
Regular Skills: Choose one option:
- 4 skills: 30%, 25%, 25%, 25%.
- 5 skills: 25%, 20%, 20%, 20%, 20%.
Every other Regular Skill has a default 10% Score.
Base vs Specialties: Instead of a Base Skill you can choose a narrower use known as a Specialty. At character creation one Occupational Skill may be swapped for a Specialty Skill from one of their Occupational Base Skills.
3. Special Skills Scores:
5. Superficial Wounds, Deep Wounds, & Insanity: All start at 0.
6. Choose Equipment: Pick some common items the character carries regularly around, use your Credit Score
7. Character Details: Give your Investigator a Name, physical description, and a background fitting of their Occupation and Skills.
Click above to access the list of Occupations, the list isn't exhaustive so feel free to create new ones, make sure the Whisperer approves any new Occupation.
Skills & Specialties
Skills gauge the Investigator's capability of doing thing. What follows are the game Skills by Category, each skill is followed by some possible Specialties.
Academical & Knowledge
Combat & Physical
Creative & Social
Investigative & Perceptive
Professional & Technical
Skill Rolls
On important situations the Whisperer may ask for a roll. Roll a d100 using Basic Dice and compare it with the Skill Score that is being tested to determine the Skill Outcome.
Skill Outcomes
Each of the 2 main roll Outcomes (Failure and Success) are further defined by the value of the unit dice:
| d10 | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 1-5 | Regular |
| 6-8 | Special |
| 9-10 | Critical |
This then gives a total of 6 Outcomes Ranks number (OR#) from OR1 to OR6 from worst to best.
Critical Failure (CF): Failing with a unit score of 9 or 10. The worst kind of Failure, it generates a very hard setback or negative consequence. Running entirely out of ammo or getting the gun broken, getting lost, making things harder for the Investigators (or easier for their opponents).
Special Failure (SF): Failing with a unit score of 6 to 8. As above but they also get a negative consequence or setback, running out of ammo on the gun or getting it jammed, wasting extra time or resources...
Regular Failure (RF): Failing with a unit score of 1 to 5. The Investigator fails at their action, some actions may be retried while other can't, but all actions can be Forced.
Regular Success (RS): Succeeding with a unit score of 1 to 5. The Investigator reaches the intended consequence for their action.
Special Success (SS): Succeeding with a unit score of 6 to 8. A great outcome, the Investigator gets something extra out of their action, be it an increased reward, taking less time, a better deal, etc...
Critical Success (CS): Succeeding with a unit score of 9 or 10. The best possible outcome, the Investigator gets a couple of benefits or a major one along with their intended consequence.
Skill Specialties
Each Skill Base have a large amount of more focused uses: Specialties, these work like Base Skills with the downside of their narrower scope but with the benefit of adding a Bright Dice on their rolls, when rolling with Bright Dice use the most beneficial unit die.
Difficulty
Difficulty gives 1 or 2 Light or Dark Dice. Light Dice are used for easier rolls, Dark Dice are used for harder rolls. When rolling Light Dice you use the better of the Light or Regular die. Dark Dice work the opposite way.
| Difficulty | Dice | |
|---|---|---|
| Very Easy | 2 Light | |
| Easy | 1 Light | |
| Regular | - | |
| Hard | 1 Dark | |
| Very Hard | 2 Dark |
Failing Forward
Failing a roll doesn't have to mean there is no story advancement, a Whisperer can rule that an action is still successful but at a price with the failure outcome weighting on said price.
Aiming for Quality
Before rolling the Investigator may decide for a trickier or harder approach in hopes of a better Outcome, the Investigator can auto-impose a Dark Die in order to roll an extra Bright Die.
Forcing a Roll
After a failed roll is made the Investigator can decide to try a second, last time in hopes for a success, this attempt must be accompanied by the narrative, this is not a redo of the action but a new attempt, as such it uses the same time plus any possible goods as before and it doesn't nullifies any drawback originated by the first roll.
There is a major, very important addition to this second attempt: rolling any kind of failure comes with extra negative side-effects.
Luck Rolls
These are used to see if the Investigator is lucky (or unlucky). The Luck Score will change based on the roll Outcome.
Credit Rolls
Use to see purchase services, goods and valuables. A successful roll means that the desired purchase has been completed. The cost of the object can give Bright and Dark Dice.
| Cost | Dice | |
|---|---|---|
| Very Cheap | 2 Light | |
| Cheap | 1 Light | |
| Regular | - | |
| Expensive | 1 Dark | |
| Very Expensive | 2 Dark |
Credit Reduction
The Credit Score will be reduced as the character pays for goods and services:
Credit Restitution
At the start of each month, provided the Investigator is receiving their pay their Credit Score returns to its initial Score.
Permanent Changes
Based on the Investigator's activity their Credit Score can increase or dim by one or more dice representing extra effort, absence in days, promotions, etc... These changes can be temporary or permanent based on the actions causing the change.
Contacts Roll
There are people that can lend a hand in times of need, either by providing information, goods, services, etc.
You make a Contact Roll when asking for help, the Whisperer can give Bright or Shadow Dice based on what is asked and how fast is needed.
Debt
Each Contact has a Debt value showing the relationship between them and the Investigator.
Gaining Debt: After a successful roll, or a Critical Failure, the Contact's Debt is reduced by 1, once it reaches -3 the contact becomes unavailable until the Debt goes back to 0.
Negative Debt: Once the Debt reaches -3 the Contact becomes unavailable until the value goes back to 0.
Positive Debt: Is possible that a Contact increases their Debt into positive numbers up to a maximum value of 3. When rolling for a Contact positive points may be expended for added effect, an extra point lets the Investigator add a Light die to the roll, two extra points can be used to automatically succeed on the roll, note that the roll is still made for Outcome utility.
Increasing the Debt Value: This is done on Downtime.
These are mainly triggered when the Investigator faces a disturbing situation like encountering an unspeakable horror, but can also be used to check if they can keep calm, control their emotions, etc.
An Investigator can make Truth Rolls in order to get some information about otherworldly entities.
Facing The Truth
Sooner or later, willingly or not, an Investigator will face the Truth; be it by witnessing supernatural events, reading obscure scriptures, being part of dark rituals, etc; this is a truth so twisting, shattering, and even corrupting that the more is learned the more it crumbles down.
A Character that Faces The Truth must follow these steps.
1. Truth Roll
When a character faces an unnatural situation they must make a Truth roll, failure means a new grasp of what lies beyond reality and an increase on the Skill Score.
Note that some encounters are so powerful that they'll reveal something even on a successful roll.
| Situation | CS | SS | RS | RF | SF | CF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shocking | 0 | 0 | 0 | d5 | d5 | 5 |
| Disturbing | 0 | 0 | d5 | d10 | d5+5 | 10 |
| Extreme | 0 | d5 | 2d5 | d10+d5 | d10+5 | 15 |
| Insane | d5 | d10 | d10+d5 | 2d10 | d10+d5+5 | 20 |
| Unreal | d10 | 2d10 | 2d10+d5 | 2d10+5 | d10+d5+10 | 25 |
2. Truth & Composure
The Truth Score is used as a reduction on the Composure Score representing the effects that knowing the Truth has on the character's mind.
3. Composure Roll
When confronted with a Composure Roll, the Outcome is used:
4. Insanity
As an Investigator's Insanity value increases their mind shatters changing them. A break is an involuntary reaction lasting from a few seconds to a lifetime.
5. Breaks, Signs of Alteration, and Aftershock
A Break is the loss of Composure for a specific period of time, the Investigator will act by reflex or instinct screaming, running away, getting frozen in place, attacking carelessly, etc...
Signs of Alteration show the Investigator's behavior, they come in two variants, Minor and Major:
Minor Signs include nervousness, a state of constant vigilance, refusal to do specific tasks, general distrust on others, among others...
Major Signs may be: Insomnia, obsessing over a subject, early stages of paranoia, a flat refusal to perform specific tasks.
An Aftershock is an increase on the Sign of Alteration that lingers after a Break.
CombatNot ideally but sometimes fighting is the only option.
Surprise
Sometimes the Investigators are caught off guard, sometimes they are the ones catching others with their guard down, and sometimes all sides involved aren't expecting each other.
When different sides meet unexpectedly all involved individuals will make a roll and compare it with either Alertness or Composure, whichever is lower.
Failing a Surprise rolls means the character won't be able to act until the next round, a Special Failure means the character can't act on the 1st Step and a Critical Failure means the character will act on the 3rd Step.
If the situation calls for a Composure roll the same roll against both scores and use the worst Outcome for both Surprise and Composure.
Initiative
This is used to give an order of action to those involved. When more than one individual acts on the same Step they go from highest to lowest Skill Score.
Altering Initiative: An Investigator (or opponent) may decide to act faster or slower, for each Step reduction they gain a Light or Bright Die, on the other hand, for each Dark Die they choose to have they can increase their place by 1 Step.
Initiative Steps
- Fast Actions: Readied firearms, small/light weapons.
- Medium Actions: Most actions goes here.
- Slow Actions: Heavy tools & weaponry.
Actions
Aim: The Investigator can wait while aiming at a target, next round they can use their action to shoot on the first block regardless of the weapon's speed.
Attack: These go on the 2nd Step Medium actions. Roll Brawl. Distance can give Dark Dice: 1 for Long Range, 2 for Extreme Range.
Multi-Attack: An Investigator can use their time to do up to 3 attacks, depending on the weapon's Recovery some or all of these attacks will receive 1 or more Dark Dice, use the table bellow by crossing your weapon's Recovery with the number of attacks the Investigator is doing, the values are the amount of Dark Dice for each attack.
Reactions
Blocking: Uses Brawl with a Light Die, requires an object able to block the attack. On a Special Failure the blocking object may be damaged and on a Critical one it may be broken or severely damaged (depending on both attack and object used).
Counterattacking: Is possible while brawling with a Brawl roll with 1 Dark Die. If the roll wins the Final Outcome is used as damage on the original attacker.
Diving for Cover: Works against ranged attacks, requires a reachable cover, use a Dodge roll. If successful the Investigator gets behind cover and can't do any other action without losing or reducing their cover.
An Investigator behind Full Cover can't be targeted by normal attacks, it will require a weapon able to get through the Cover (roll with a Dark Die) or attacking from another angle (the attacker must change positions or use a weapon able of "indirect" attacks), if they are behind Partial Cover, they can be targeted but the attacker suffers 1 Dark Die.
Dodging: Use a Dodge roll, dodging a ranged attack is done with a Dark Die.
Final Outcome
If both are Failures the attack fails if its a ranged one. In case of Brawl attacks treat it as if both had Succeed.
If the attack is a Success and the Defense is a Failure the victim suffers damage based on the Attack Outcome.
If the attack is a Failure and the Defense is a Success the attack fails, if the Defense was a Counterattack it succeeds with an Outcome Rank equal to Defense Outcome Rank minus Attack Outcome Rank.
If both are Successes the bigger Outcome wins, if its the Attack's the target suffers damage based on Attack Outcome Rank minus Defense Outcome Rank.
Weapons
Not every Investigator will go around carrying a loaded gun, a machete, or a ignited flamethrower, but some will do, specially those knowing what lies ahead, the same can't be said about their Opponents...
Ammo
When using weapons that runs on ammo don't worry for each bullet shot, only when the roll is a Special or Critical Failure or as the result of a Pushed or Failed Forward roll.
Cost
Weapons are purchasable things thus having a Cost Category, note that having the ability to purchase a weapon doesn't give the legal ability to carry it, consider an Investigator having a Skill training as having the necessary legal paperwork, also, not every weapons is easily available and some will require specific contacts, access or clearance.
Damage
Damage uses a Rank based on weapon that gives the damage done according to the attack's Final Outcome: Regular Success, Special Success, Critical Success.
The Damage Rank may represent more than one attack like in the cases of guns with semi or full auto-fire. Size can increase or reduce damage rank, armor reduces it.
| Rank | Regular S | Special S | Critical S | Weapon Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Small critters |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Punch, Large Critters |
| 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | Kick, Knife, Giant Critters |
| 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Baseball, Small gun, Small Monstrosity
|
| 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | Riffle, Medium Monstrosity |
| 6 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Machinegun, Big Monstrosity |
| 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Heavy Artillery, Lesser Horror |
| 8 | 3 | 4 | 4 | War-Machine, Minor Horror |
| 9 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Great Horror |
Recovery
A weapon's Recovery is used to modify the Dark Dice added when performing multi-attacks, cross the weapon's Recovery with the number of attack done to see how many Dark Dice each of the attacks suffer.
| # of Attacks | |||
| Recovery | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 1-1 | 2-2-2 |
| 2 | 0 | 1-1 | 1-2-2 |
| 3 | 0 | 1-1 | 1-1-2 |
| 4 | 0 | 1-1 | 1-1-1 |
| 5 | 0 | 0-1 | 1-1-1 |
| 6 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-1-1 |
| 7 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1-1 |
| 8 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0-1 |
| 9 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0-0 |
Speed
While Recovery shows how easy is for the Investigator to perform multiple attacks on the same round, Speed shows how much it takes for the Investigator to do those attacks. Each weapon corresponds to one of the 3 Initiative Steps.
Health & Healing
Every Investigator starts game with 5 Superficial Wound points, and 5 Deep Wound points, these are lost in order unless very specific situations.
- Superficial Wounds: Superficial damage. At 0 the Investigator will star suffering Deep Wounds.
- Deep Wounds: A deeply wounded Investigator suffers 1 Shadow on any skill roll.
Receiving Wounds
When a Wound is first received is marked as Untreated with their corresponding value as an individual wound, then its value is taken from the Wound Points, in case a character suffers a Superficial Wound with a value greater than the available points it taken as a Deep Wound. In cases where the Deep Wound exceeds the available points the Investigator goes down and will die in 5 minus Wound value minutes.
Treated & Untreated Wounds
A First Aid roll can be made to treat Superficial Wounds and a Medicine roll for Deep Wounds treatment, each of these rolls can be made once per Wound per day.
A successful roll converts as many Wounds of the same type from Untreated to Treated.
Healing
Superficial Wounds are recovered daily in the following order:
- 2 Treated Wounds, or
- 1 Treated Wound and 1 Untreated Wound, or
- 1 Untreated Wound.
An Investigator recovers Superficial Health points equal to the healed Wound value.
Opponents: People, Critters, Monstrosities, and Horrors
Opponents are those that will try to hinder or harm an Investigator, or that simply have antagonistic intentions that could or not involve the Investigators.
Each Opponent has an associated Rank, for ease these are used for all their stats but some Opponents will have different Ranks on different stats (like a highly skilled individual having a high Skill Rank but a low Health Rank. The Opponent's Stats are:
Composure, Damage, Health, Recovery, Skill, Truth.
Ranks & Critter Scores
The Opponent's have 2 Skill Scores: Main (used mostly for Occupational skills) and Secondary (non-occupational skills where the person is good at), Skills outside these groups have a flat 10% Score.
| Rank | Main | Secondary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40% | 25% |
| 2 | 50% | 25% |
| 3 | 60% | 25% |
| 4 | 65% | 35% |
| 5 | 70% | 35% |
| 6 | 75% | 35% |
| 7 | 80% | 45% |
| 8 | 85% | 45% |
| 9 | 90% | 45% |
Ranks & Health Score
| Health | |||
| Rank | Roll | Range | Flat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | d10 | 1-10 | 5 |
| 2 | d10+5 | 6-16 | 10 |
| 3 | d10+15 | 16-25 | 20 |
| 4 | 2d10+30 | 32-50 | 40 |
| 5 | 2d10+70 | 72-90 | 80 |
| 6 | 2d10+150 | 152-170 | 160 |
| 7 | 3d10+300 | 303-330 | 315 |
| 8 | 3d10+600 | 603-630 | 615 |
| 9 | 3d10+1200 | 1203-1230 | 1215 |
Opponent Type
Opponents come in different forms and sizes, and have their own Skills and other stats.
People: From other Investigators to thugs and cultists. Most of them are Health Rank 2, they also have their own Composure Score. People doesn't have an associated Truth Situation on their own, it depends on what they are doing and how they look when encountered.
Critters: These are animals, beasts, vermin, and the like... They can posses natural attacks such as a bite or sting.
Monstrosities: Lesser supernatural be it mutated beings or created through rituals and other dark arts. They are tougher than mundane beings and may posses supernatural abilities and resistances. Facing he Truth with them is a Shocking to Extreme situation
Horrors: Things from beyond reality, extremely resilient to damage, they have supernatural abilities, may be weak against specific materials or relics or vulnerable to rituals. Facing he Truth with them is an Extreme to Unreal situation
Indescribable Horrors: Mind-shattering beings, no direct confrontation will work on these. Facing he Truth with them goes beyond the Unreal, each round before the presence of an Indescribable Horror will automatically add one or more d10 directly to their Truth Score.
Skill Improvement
Over time an Investigator's Skill Scores will increase allowing them to perform better at those related tasks.
Checks Marks
When a skill is used on an important roll a Check corresponding to the Outcome is marked, only one mark per Outcome can be put.
Improvements
At the end of a scenario the Whisperer gives an amount of Improvements (between 10 and 20 based on the investigation's length and difficulty). Each Improvement can be used on a single skill.
Score Increase
When an Improvement is used its Score increases by 2pts +1 per Checks it has. Occupational Skills increase by 1 extra point. Extra Improvements can be used on the same Skill giving an extra point, but no Skill can increase their Score by more than 10pts between Investigators.
Downtime Activities
Between investigations characters have some time on their hands, downtime is divided by ten-day, each ten-day the Investigator can do two of the following actions:
Credit Management
Credit Increase: The character either looks for a new job or for a pay-raise, after the ten-day make a skill roll related to the job and a Credit roll, you earn Progress Points based on the following:
| Skill | Credit | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Regular Success | Regular Failure | 1 |
| Special Success | Special Failure | 2 |
| Critical Success | Critical Failure | 3 |
The Investigator must repeat this process each following ten-day, failure to accumulate points reduces the amount by half.
Once the Investigator has 10 or more Progress Points they can exchange them for their Credit increase by adding 1d10 to their score per 10 Progress Points expended.
Credit Save: By doing extra hours, side-gigs, adjusting their belts, etc, the Investigator can earn a temporary Light Die or remove a Dark Die that can be used when doing Credit rolls, these extra die remain until the roll in which they are used is a Success, the Investigator can use 1 or more of this extra dice at the same time.
Recover Health
Healing Deep Wounds: Only Treated Deep Wounds can heal. After a ten-day the Investigator heals all the Deep Wounds sharing the same value starting from highest to lowest.
Increasing Composure: An Investigator can regain some Composure after a ten-day of relaxation, make a Composure roll, on a Success increase the score by the unit's die, on a failure double the increase. Falling into the "help" of substance can give a Bright Die.
Reducing Insanity: A slow but important process that allows an Investigator recover their grip over their mind, there are two ways of reducing Insanity:
Skill Increase: Every 10 Skill Increases earn from Investigations (not from Downtime) reduce 1 Insanity Point.
Treatment: After a ten-day of self or professional help make a roll with a Skill Score based on the type of Treatment.
| Treatment | Quality | Base | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Care | Alone | 25% | ||
| Home Care | Assisted | 30% | ||
| Therapy | Low | 25% | ||
| Therapy | Standard | 50% | ||
| Therapy | Good | 75% | ||
| Institutionalization | Low | 40% | ||
| Institutionalization | Standard | 60% | ||
| Institutionalization | Good | 75% | ||
| Institutionalization | Excellent | 90% |
The roll Outcome will give the amount of Progress Points the Investigator earns or loses, for each 10 points gained the Investigator reduce their Insanity by 1 point.
| Outcome | Home Care | Therapy | Institutionalization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical Success | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Special Success | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Regular Success | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Regular Failure | -1* | 0 | 1 |
| Special Failure | -2* | -1* | 0 |
| Critical Failure | -3* | -2* | -1* |
*Note that a character can go into the negative points realm.
Skill Increase
The Investigator can dedicate their ten-day studying or training a skill this gaining an Improvement thus increasing their Score by 2pts.
Socialize
Improving Contact: Uses one or more Improvements, each one increases the Contact Score by 3pts.
Gaining a Contact: It uses 3 or more Improvements, the higher the cost the greater the Contact's "reach". Only one Improvement can be used each ten-day while gaining a specific contact. A new contact starts with a 20% score.
Earning/Paying Favors: Using a ten-day visiting and helping a Contact gives a Light Die (or cancel a Dark Die), a second die may be earn/cancel if the Investigator has a "gesture or appreciation" earning a Dark Die on their Credit skill.
Credit & License
Created and written by Martín Serena (Dimirag)
This game is under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
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