A few of you might have read that I was working on a variant to restrict each investigator's random starting items. Well it's done and available here:

Thematic Starting Possessions

In essence, you won't get Wendy Adams with Credit Rating and an Elephant Gun. Nor will you get Michael McGlen with Expert Occultist and The King in Yellow (his backstory says he doesn't believe in voodoo crap). Note that for the most part these restrictions were chosen on the basis of theme and not mechanics (there isn't much available to help Vincent Lee be faster, for example). But, in the interest of making sure that all of the non-basic skills got equal representation, things like Martial Arts might be allowed on certain characters that you might not expect. But that doesn't mean that character will get dealt Martial Arts, of course.

Nice work Tibs. I won't use it cause I don't want to confuse my group anymore than they already are but if we ever meet I will give it a try.

Also thanks for your input on these forums, it has helped me learn the game quicker.

I think Gloria is more likely to carry around a hip flask of whiskey than Carolyn, who could get fired over it. Though I highly approve of giving Hank a sledghammer and Finn a timebomb.

Also, you realize you're completely insane, right?

avec said:

Oh. Tibs. Rats. For a second I thought you were referring to me ;.(

I think the reason I made that decision was that I figured both were unlikely to carry Whiskey, but then Carolyn has to deal with nut-jobs all day long.

Tibs said:

Considering that any whiskey's illegal during this period, I think it interfering with her profession would be the least of her worries ;')

Thumbs up for the great work done! Uhm... not enough thumbs for such a great work... ok, TENTACLES UP for Tibs!

Just a little silly question: isn't it possible that in games with many investigators (10) the relationships restriction breaks? I haven't done the maths, just asking

Terrific work, Tibs! Good stuff for role-playing. I'll never get Wings to go for this, though; too many Investigators are restricted from the best weapons.

Two ways to look at it. Your way sets up that, up to Day 0, these people have had "relatively" normal lives, and now something has intruded. So Wendy can't START with an Elephant Gun, but she can FIND one on Day 1. The other way is "improv-ing" the beginning of their story to somehow explain why Michael is starting with the Necronomicon, implying that the abnormalcy in their lives started sometime before Day 0. Both work, really, but I like how you think...and I'm glad YOU did all the footwork setting it up.

Thanks jgt! Yeah, part of the the fun is explaining why somebody has something. But there's a point that an explanation is a little too silly to be believable.

Julia said:

Okay. You hit an important point. You'll notice that each investigator has been "allowed" only eight Relationships. There is a reason for this. If the first seven investigators get dealt Relationships on the 8th's list, then the 8th will be guaranteed to get a Relationship that's on his list. If I added more, then the investigators would be less customized, and I'd have to compromise some of the allowances. If I included fewer, then there's a risk that there won't be any "legal" Relationships left for the last one. Eight relationships was a good cap because 8 is the maximum number of investigators in a normal game. If you use expansion boards and go to 9 or 10, you risk not being able to get a relationship. But I don't think anyone will really want to do a 9- or 10-investigator game.

The "Rank Number" for the common items addresses this. The Rank Number roughly translates to the number of allowed common items from the base game (those items will be in every game). Investigators with low Rank Numbers gain their common items first because they'll be guaranteed to gain their items. Investigators with high Rank Numbers have a large enough pool that they won't be denied any items.

Lastly, the skills: every skill except for Speed, Sneak, Fight, Will, Lor e, and Luck is usable by only half of the investigators. Those other six skills can be used by 7/8ths of the investigators. I decided not to keep skill dealing to a rigorous order like the common items because there are 12 skill cards in the base game that can be used by the vast majority of investigators, and 8 that can be used by half. In other words, nobody would be blocked out of gaining a skill.

Michael clearly got the book from Louis. He keeps it around to remind him that he has a job to finish! He doesn't read it, of course, because it's full of mumbo-jumbo...

First of all, impressive work! It must be exhausting compiling such a large list.

I was only briefly able to scroll through, but how come Agnes Baker can start with a cross or a Bible? Wasn't she a witch in her previous life (according to her story so far)? They generally were considered unholy...

Tibs said:

Thanks for clarifyring. I also think it's very rare to see 9- or 10-investigator games, so probably the problem will never rise ;-)

mi-go hunter said:

Yes, but in this life she's not, until she has a flashback. It's a jarring vision, but probably not enough to instantly abandon her religious beliefs.

this look great, too bad we play next time in monday so i won't be able to try till then

Anarin said:

My plight is much worse. I can only play AH once every week! That's very ghastly indeed.