Trail of Cthulhu Thursday

Trail of Cthulhu
Miskatonic University Expeditions

Trail of Cthulhu (which uses the Gumshoe engine) takes a lot of interesting ideas to the investigatory horror genre of gaming; I really like its take on clues, for instance. Whereas in Call of Cthulhu, one failed Spot Hidden check will make things much more difficult for both players and Keeper, in ToC the clue will be found, only the results will be left unknown. Like in CSI, the test results always come back (instead of rolling a forensics check) but conclusions must still be drawn. It also cuts down on useless or confusing scores such as Appearance and Size as well as adding more power to the character’s backgrounds. While I really like Call of Cthulhu, I want to see if I like Trail of Cthulhu better and if it suits the gaming style of our group better. I'd like to start on Thursday.

The campaign will start in Arkham in the summer of 1928. Here is the scene- the Arkham Advertiser has published an interesting story on the front page.

MU Prepares for Arctic Expedition

In Greenland, the glaciers move across the land slowly, their progress measured in centuries. One such slow moving glacier has recently revealed a great wall of stone, covered in ancient hieroglyphs that are thought to be thousands of years old. Details are still sketchy, but reports say that the massive slab of stone, which apparently protrudes from a glacier features a massive bas-relief of an ancient Eskimo god. Odd hieroglyphs surround the figure, and it is hoped that they may reveal the secrets of a civilization thousands of years old.

Professor Curtis Mathieson of Miskatonic University has recently secured permission from the Danish government to head an expedition to conduct research in the area. He has already begun to select his team, and has recalled the Darlena, a research vessel leased by the University, to carry the expedition to Greenland. Mathieson expects to have the expedition under way in mere weeks.

When asked to speculate about the origins of the wall, Mathieson said, “I am not prepared to do so at this time, although I will be happy to make a full statement when accurate research of this phenomenon has been accomplished. Suffice to say, the wall seems to be extremely ancient, and the sketches I have seen of the hieroglyphs seem to indicate that they belong to no known linguistic family.”

Mathieson is still looking to fill out Greenland research team. Individuals already selected including Doctor Henry Ethelrod, a staff member of the British Museum; Charles Granger, a graduate student at Miskatonic University; Terrence Bhule, a young though renowned anthropologist, and a team of French mountaineers under the leadership of the esteemed climber Phillippe Luvois. Currently, Professor Mathieson is interested in expanding the participants of the expedition, and urges anyone who is interested in helping (particularly Miskatonic students) to contact him at the Department of Archeology at Miskatonic University.


Trail of Cthulhu character creation is fairly simple, it should only take a few minutes, but it will be useful to have a concept ready. If you want, you could remake old characters (even those who might have died in CoC) to provide interesting characters in the Trail of Cthulhu universe. Here is the basic rundown of investigator creation.

Choose Occupation: Full List- Alienist, Antiquarian, Archaeologist*, Artist*, Author*, Clergy, Criminal, Dilettante*, Doctor*, Hobo, Journalist*, Military, Nurse*, Parapsychologist, Pilot, Police Detective, Private Investigator, Professor*, Scientist* (asterisks indicate occupations better suited to the adventure)

The occupation will determine skills, special abilities, and credit rating.

Choose Drive: Adventure, Antiquarianism, Arrogance, Artistic Sensitivity, Bad Luck, Curiosity, Duty, Ennui, Follower, In the Blood, Revenge, Scholarship, Sudden Shock, Thirst for Knowledge.

This will provide a concrete reason why your character would be interested in pursing investigation of the Mythos and is based on your investigator’s backstory and occupation. You can be as specific as you like. Failing to pursue your drive may result in Stability loss (explained later).

Next, you spend build points on abilities, making sure the party has a wide variety of skills.

Finally you choose your Pillar(s) of Sanity (an abstract principle your investigator implicitly believes in, such as a religion, family values, scientific progress, or whatever) and your Source(s) of Stability (a person or people who keeps you sane when things get bad). Last, you can choose to write about any other contacts your investigator might have.

Here are some character ideas for the campaign.

Archeologist- another archeologist would be welcomed on the expedition.

Artist- a painter, sculptor, or photographer would be needed on the trip to keep visual records of the sights, and a student artist might need the school credits or excuse to see such beautiful and exotic sights as the arctic.

Author- like an artist, may be a student or simply a interested party who might accompany the expedition to keep records or simply find inspiration.

Dilettante- a great way for a wealthy student to escape parental control during the summer, and to brag to the guys/gals in the club, as aiding an archeological expedition could be quite an adventure.

Doctor/Nurse- a doctor or nurse, or even a medical student would be very useful on an expedition in case of injury or disease, and one would be encouraged to join. Credits in a social science may also be useful to a pre-med or nursing student as well.

Journalist- either a journalism student working for the school paper or a professional from one of Arkham’s major newspapers (or other city) deciding to accompany the expedition for the inside scoop into its discoveries, a journalist would find themselves put to work as well by the scientists.

Professor- another professor or academic grad student could also be invited to accompany, either for their erudite knowledge on a subject or simply as brute labor in the more dirty aspects of archeology.

Scientist- a person with knowledge of a hard science, such as a geologist or biologist might also enjoy the expedition, and even an engineer might wish to test out new arctic designed motors or other technology. Students in the sciences may need humanity credits available from participating in the expedition.