Craig Pay's Blog

Last year I received an unusual Facebook message asking me to contact Ian Thomson about my RuneQuest scenario The Ever-Burning Torches published in the magazine Tradetalk. I had no memory of any such scenario!

Searching my loft I found the original paper copy of The Ever-Burning Torches and my memory was jogged. I’d written this for my roleplaying group back in the 1990s! It apparently appeared in Tradetalk issue #17 in 2009.

Ian was looking to republish The Ever-Burning Torches with others in ...

Here’s another house rule for Call of Cthulhu. I’m not a fan of the automatic fire rules in Call of Cthulhu because they feel too crunchy. I did have a look at the rules in Delta Green, but they felt too simple, and inapplicable to Pulp Cthulhu.

My aim was a single dice roll, no matter how many bullets are being fired. I wanted to keep ammo tracking simple, and to maintain some degree of realism.

Automatic Fire

Some firearms can fire a ‘burst’ or ‘full auto’ (Keeper rulebook, p.114ff & p...

This is a house rule for Pulp Cthulhu which I keep forgetting, so I’m writing it down as an aide memoire for myself, more than anyone else!

Original credit to Seth Skorkowsky in his video on Call of Cthulhu Skill Mechanics (starting at the 28:12 mark).

My own house rule is slightly more generous than Seth’s, so I’m only using it in my Pulp Cthulhu games, rather than Classic Call of Cthulhu, where it suits the more optimistic tone.

When an investigator successfully uses a skill in play, t...

The Lightless Beacon is one of my favourite Call of Cthulhu scenarios, especially as a one-shot for new players. The investigators are dropped straight into a mystery ‘in medias res’ with none of the usual frontloading. 

My only issue is that one of the pre-generated investigators has a tendency to overshadow the others. After comparing investigator characteristics and skills with those in the scenario it’s apparent why, so I’ve created investigators with more balance.

Let’s crunch numbe...

On page 15 of the Pulp Cthulhu rulebook there’s an optional rule allowing players to select an occupation before they pick an archetype.

My players seem to prefer this method but it can cause a lot of scanning back and forth through the rulebook trying to list which archetypes are then available.

Here’s a list of Pulp Cthulhu archetypes by occupation to save your players some time. I hope it proves useful!

Actor: Adventurer, Bon Vivant, Femme Fatale, Harlequin, Swashbuckler, Thrill Seeke...

Here’s a new house rule I’m adding to my Pulp Cthulhu games. It’s a riff on a similar rule in a Cubicle 7 publication, but I can’t say which one to avoid spoilers for my players!

Archetypes in Pulp Cthulhu seem somewhat forgotten beyond character generation. What’s to stop a Sidekick going Cold Blooded? Or an Outsider acting like a Bon Vivant?

This new house rule should encourage heroes to keep roleplaying the traits associated with their archetype, with a few bonus skill points awarded after...

I’m very happy to announce the publication of The Devil and the Drum, a scenario for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. I’d like to thank all of my play-testers, especially my family and the folks at Grogmeet November 2022.

This scenario is set in Devon, 1946. The investigators are National Trust volunteers asked to survey an old ruined abbey. Events unfold amidst an unnatural storm wreaking havoc across the United Kingdom.

I wrote The Devil and the Drum last year to run during a fami...

I like the skill-based system in Call of Cthulhu, but I’ve always thought that characteristics are somewhat underutilised, so I’ve decided to add the following house rule to my game…

A player may suggest the use of a characteristic instead of a skill roll to increase their chance of success, attempting the roll at one level higher difficulty: Normal requires a Hard Success, Hard an Exceptional Success, and Exceptional a Critical. The Keeper must deem the suggested characteristic appropriate: ...

I love the Luck rules in Call of Cthulhu, and especially those in the Pulp rules. Here are three new Luck Spends and a modification to an existing rule. Feel free to use these (or not) in your own games!

“Keep Calm and Carry On!”

Cost: 20 Luck

A player may spend 20 Luck points to avoid the effects of Temporary or Indefinite Insanity. A subsequent loss of 1 or more points of Sanity will trigger insanity as normal.

Alternative names: “Oh dear. How sad. Never mind…” or “Always looks on the brigh...

Here’s another example of some plans I’ve created using Rob Pearce’s excellent geomorphs. I’ve barely made any changes, tweaking the exits, applying some shading, and adding labels.

This bar featured in my campaign a few months ago. The Travellers were on the trail of a kidnapped child and they ended up in a violent confrontation with some pirates in this bar on Lanth. As this world is 90% water I decided that the starport was constructed like a giant underwater arcology with ‘sub’ levels goi...