Session 19 - Scene 1 (of 9)

When Father Mulroney wakes for the morning, his skin feels very dry; particularly his right hand. He looks down and notices that his fingers have become more webbed and his skin scaly on that hand. Naturally, this revelation further disturbs the father.

Not sure what to do and in an excited state, he decides to wake Gem. As Gem gains consciousness, Mulroney shows his the hand.

Gem, still thinking Mulroney is some kind of ghost, takes the horrifying visage in stride and calls it a "neat trick", saying that he thought the father could only turn himself invisible. Mulroney is a bit exasperated at Gem's stupidity.

Trying a new tactic to get the youth concerned, Mulroney explains his belief that the "glowing green juice" is causing the changes in his body. He says they must find an antidote before the Marduk Institute turns all of the children into monsters.

Gem agrees the green liquid is bad and needs to be taken off of the street. The father begins talking about needing to make sure they get all of it, but Gem notes they don't know where it is at.

The father goes on to talk about how finding the drug must be their number one priority. He asks Gem a rhetorical question about what Jesus would want. Gem doesn't quite get the point and tells the father he should have asked Jesus while he was dead; but then wonders if the father didn't go to heaven when he died.

Mulroney declares he has an idea on what to do next. Despite their discussion the previous night about splitting up, he wants them to work together. He wants to start by getting some preparations done for the evening's plans.

The priest explains to Gem that the lad will be going into the Blue Parrot while he watches outside, and then they will switch and have Gem watch while Mulroney goes into the Bamboo Room.

Father Mulroney has a pretty good idea what most of the Marduk members look like but Gem does not. To make sure there are no surprises, Mulroney plans for them to get pictures of all the men during the day so Gem can recognize them that night.

Before heading out, Mulroney knows he needs to alter his appearance a little. To hide his hand deformities, he wraps it up in a bandage so he appears wounded. He also shaves off his beard and makes sure to wear a hat. Gem is confused about the father shaving, and asks a question to Mulroney about whether his ghost powers allow him to regrow the beard at will.

The priest, growing tired of Gem's nonsense, pinches him and once again explains he is not a ghost, calling the boy a nincompoop. Gem finally realizes the father is indeed not a ghost – clearly he has been sent back to Earth by Lucifer, who is also clearly responsible for the priest's changing physical appearance.

When Gem explains his new theory, the father gets frustrated and explains he did not meet Lucifer; he simply woke up in a cemetery one night. He does say that he knows what will happen if he doesn't find an antidote, remarking that he is becoming "a member of the legion that is taking over this world". He reiterates that they must stop them, which Gem agrees with (though noting that he doesn't "like following demons", referring to the priest).

Session 19 - Scene 2 (of 9)

The two begin their investigation at the Central Public Library. After talking with the librarian, they find the storage area for old newspapers and begin pouring through them.

It takes quite a while, but the two do manage to locate most of them. One article discusses restaurateur Jonathan Allen Hill opening a new venue, and has a picture of him and his daughter Valarie. Gem notes that he remembers the daughter.

Also discovered is a not very good picture of David Thomas and Rebecca Lynn Morgan in the business section as part of a Chamber of Commerce gala. Luckily, Gem is already very acquainted with those two from the party as well.

Sometime later, Mulroney manages to locate an item in the society column about Richard Colcord and how he has been seen around town with Danish Countess Janne Mari Ahlefedlt. There is a not very well lit picture of the two of them taken at the Bamboo Room club. When he shows Gem, the youth exclaims "Leapin' lizards!" at the unpronounceable last name of the countess.

Gem also seems to think Colcord looks a little familiar from the party. After thinking on it a minute, he believes the man was the one he saw talking to Rev. Greene in the trophy room when he slipped into Morgan's house. Mulroney, meanwhile, notices that one of the men in the background of the picture looks very similar to Jethro Biggins.

The one man they can't find a good picture of is Phelan Fitzroy. Despite Fitzroy being mentioned frequently in the papers over his conflicts with the unions (and the anarchists), most of the pictures in his articles are of dockworkers, ships, or the docks area itself.

In addition to scouring the past articles for clues, Mulroney also notices the current headlines. The bombing of the opera house and deaths of the Governor and others is all over the front pages along with related articles about singer Veda Beragon suffering damage to her throat from the smoke and a sidebar piece about the still unsolved crime of her husband's yacht that was stolen and vandalized a couple of months ago. Also mentioned is that the city election results have been suspended, which Joe DeMotte is protesting as he was projected to win over Bill Johnson.

According to the article, Secretary of State Louis Emmerson has taken over as acting governor. Using his new executive powers, Governor Emmerson has declared martial law in Lakefront City and is sending in the 33rd Infantry Division of the Army National Guard to restore order. Major General George Bell, Jr. is quoted in the article as saying that as soon as tomorrow, ten thousand troops will be active in the city to restore peace. Thinking of all the soldiers, Mulroney begins to think of how an army of troops injected with the green liquid could allow him to take over much more than the city.

Session 19 - Scene 3 (of 9)

Later that afternoon, Mulroney and Gem discuss what other supplies they will need. The father begins rattling off a list of items they should get: flashlights, a can of gasoline, rope, matches, and a gun. He notes they may need to take someone captive. Gem wonders if they also plan to set the captive on fire.

Mulroney simply says he wants to be prepared for once. He also wonders if they should talk to O'Conner at this point to get some help, but decides it would be better to keep him out of it for now.

The two drive over towards Harshaw's Hardware store downtown to get the supplies. As they start to get out of the car, Gem notes that since Mulroney gave all his money to Biggins they don't have any to buy the supplies. Gem is concerned about trying to pinch some of the larger, bulkier items without being noticed.

The father agrees it will be difficult, but that they will likely need to steal the equipment. Gem suggests that the priest could show his monstrous hand to cause a diversion while he steals everything and heads out the back.

Mulroney can't think of a better plan so he agrees to try it. When they reach the hardware store, Mulroney gets a little nervous as the back door is in the same alley as Little Augies and the Bookie Joint; both are Tolino strongholds.

They decide to continue on with the plan. Gem heads in first and begins examining large canvas bags. After a few minutes, Mulroney heads in after.

Middle-aged Joe Harshaw is behind the counter. One of his adult sons, Dave, works nearby while a stock boy is stocking one of the shelves. Mulroney also sees only a couple of customers are in the store at the time.

Father Mulroney begins his attempts to distract by disguising his voice and complaining about not feeling well and needing some lotion. Harshaw isn't buying it, and tells Mulroney to leave. Mulroney presses the argument, and Dave comes over to try and force him out.

The priest then unwraps his hand and slaps it down on the counter. He claims he may have leprosy. Dave warns his father to stay back.

Sensing trouble, the other customers begin to rush out of the store while the employees are focused on Mulroney. Gem takes the opportunity to begin filling his bag with the needed supplies.

Gem continues filling his bag while Mulroney argues with the Harshaws (with him describing the pus coming out of his hand and them continuing to try and get him to leave). Eventually they force him out of the store using a broom but by then Gem has already grabbed everything (except for a gas can) and headed into the back.

On his way to the back door, Gem spots a back office and notices a nice, shiny safe in it. Deciding he can't pass up the opportunity, Gem throws the bag of equipment out the back door and heads over to the safe.

Session 19 - Scene 4 (of 9)

While Father Mulroney walks around the block, Gem heads into the back office. He shuts the door and begins working on the safe. Having no experience cracking a safe, he decides to try and get it open by listening for the tumblers falling into place.

Gem finds such an approach is slow going, but manages to only get one tumbler in position when someone tries to open the door. Gem then hears Dave complaining to his father about the door being locked. He also hears the father telling his son to get the keys from the cash register to open it.

Not wanting to get caught in the office, Gem decides to make a run for it. Dave spots him, and yells for him to stop. Gem makes a break for the back door, but isn't nearly fast enough.

Meanwhile, out back, Mulroney sees the bag out the back door of the hardware store but no Gem. Just then, Gem falls out the back door being tackled by Dave.

Trying to help, Mulroney grabs a flashlight out of the bag and attempts to hit Dave over the head with it. But his aim is off, and he smashes Gem instead. The blow nearly knocks the lad out, and gives Dave an opportunity to get a solid punch in as well.

Fearing for his life, Gem tries to get his pistol out and shoot Dave as the two wrestle on the ground. He fires off three shots but they go wild. Luckily, the shots don't attract any of Tolino's men. They do, however, attract Joe Harshaw and Mulroney sees him heading towards the doorway carrying a shotgun.

As Gem takes another punch on the ground, Father Mulroney steps off to the side and draws his knife. When Harshaw exits into the alley and points his gun at Gem, Mulroney stabs him in the neck.

Harshaw's body collapses to the ground and Mulroney takes the shotgun. Dave stops fighting Gem and cradles his father's dying body.

Mulroney tells Gem to grab Dave, but the youth is upset about getting beat up. He takes the deadly rosary he got off of Sister Mary and begins strangling the man. Mulroney decides to finish him of quietly and slashes his throat.

The father then quickly goes through the two men's' pockets, gaining them $30. Mulroney is also happy to find that the shotgun comes apart and can fit in the bag. He and Gem then grab the bag and quickly leave the area before Tolino's men or the cops show up. And despite a service station (Bud's Garage, Oil, and Gas) being located nearby, the two decide to find one further away that isn't right next to the downtown police precinct and county courthouse.

Session 19 - Scene 5 (of 9)

Detective Cletus VanDamme wakes up early in the afternoon, having slept in most of the day after working on the bombing investigation. He decides to head into the precinct and do some research on Fung Xian, the man Father Mulroney wanted him to check in with in Chinatown. He also wants to see what information is on David Thomas Morgan, who Mulroney named as being affiliated with the Marduk Institute.

VanDamme doesn't find much on Fung Xian, he appears to be a new arrival in from Hong Kong. The only thing of note in his file is that he came into town on the Irish Rose. Cletus recognizes the ship's name and being the same ship Ulnovsky blew up to kill Flynn and those federal agents, which happened a couple of weeks after Xian arrived. The detective starts to form a theory that Fung Xian was working with Ulnovsky for the bombing.

On David Thomas Morgan, VanDamme doesn't find any criminal record but there are a lot of notes in his file. The family information discusses David and his wife Rebecca (described as a socialite and would-be artist), and his son Niven who contracted polio a couple of years back and has been sent to a clinic in Marseilles to recover.

Morgan is listed as the victim of several crimes, including some more recent ones involving a robbery at First National Bank (for which Cody Powers is wanted) and a robbery at his home of a diamond necklace (for which an unknown youth is wanted).

VanDamme also finds a related murder case involving Morgan's former bodyguard, a PI named Johnny Cannon. He was killed in the parking lot of Bloomfield County Hospital, with "Handsome" Dan McCarthy as the main suspect. McCarthy himself appears to have gone missing, and is listed as having connections to Local 78 of the Plumber's Union and ties to Deanie O'Conner's North Side gang.

The file also contains background checks done on several of Morgan's employees – including his maid Wong Ma, his chauffer Alfred Mortimer, and his gardener Edward Pritchett. Nothing interesting shows up on the background checks.

Session 19 - Scene 6 (of 9)

After reviewing files, VanDamme decides to head out on the streets. He wants to find a junkie with connections to Chinatown. But he doesn't have much luck; even his usual reliable Chinatown snitch, an opium smoker named Dummy Uhl, isn't around.

With little success, the detective heads back to the station and checks in with Captain Deakins. Deakins asks him if he has made any progress on the governor's assassination. The captain is quite agitated about the situation and clearly unhappy about the National Guard taking over tomorrow, which he reminds VanDamme will make things difficult for a man like him to operate.

Deakins impresses on VanDamme that the mayor is breathing down everyone's neck over this investigation. He needs it solved now. The captain tells him that everything else, including the Biggins case, can wait. He says they will need to find out where the Russians are and who made the bomb.

VanDamme agrees and says he is on it. Deakins goes on to complain about there being too many bombings lately. He says that perhaps they do need martial law as crime appears to be out of control; even a hardware store downtown had a shooting earlier that day.

Before leaving, Cletus asks Deakins if he knows of any contacts near Chinatown, in case anything is going on there. Deakins wants to know what Chinatown has to do with anything, remarking that it was a bomb that went off not a fireworks show.

The captain does note there has been a lot of violence in Chinatown lately, but using some racial epithets, he says he doesn't care as long as the Chinese are only killing each other. VanDamme explains he has a hunch about a connection between the Russians and the Chinese.

Deakins laughs at the suggestion, saying the Chinese and Russians would never work together; they have completely different ideologies. VanDamme convinces the captain to let him work the angle, but he remains highly skeptical. Deakins reminds him just to be sure.

Session 19 - Scene 7 (of 9)

Heading into the Chinatown area, Detective VanDamme finds the patrolman Deakins gave him as a possible contact, a man named Kevin O'Donnell. VanDamme explains to O'Donnell that he's looking into some leads in the area.

VanDamme starts by asking the patrolman if he's heard of a man named Fung Shang. O'Donnell corrects him on the name, saying he must mean Fung Xian. VanDamme is glad to see his ploy worked and confirms that Xian's name is known in the area.

Officer O'Donnell goes on to say what he knows. Xian's name has shown up on the streets a lot lately. He gives VanDamme a brief rundown on how Xian has come in from Chinatown to support the Hop Sing Tong, who are at war with the On Leong Tong. He even mentions the name of Chiang Li Ching, nearly whispering it, talking about how the man controls everything in Chinatown – especially the heroin trade.

The detective takes in all of the information. Up until now, he hadn't paid much attention to Chinatown politics. He asks about people working with Fung Xian, specifically Caucasians. O'Donnell, however, hasn't heard of anything like that; leading VanDamme to believe that either Mulroney doesn't have very strong ties to Xian or that he's very discreet about it. He thanks O'Donnell and leaves one of his cards with the man in case he hears more.

Session 19 - Scene 8 (of 9)

Across town, Father Mulroney and Gem finish getting their can of gasoline filled at a service station and try to decide what to do next. They elect to head over to the Blue Parrot first.

Mulroney parks a discreet distance away and waits while Gem heads inside. The priest keeps the re-assembled shotgun close by in case there is any trouble.

Gem heads inside and goes straight to the bar. The small, skinny youth is out of place amongst the large, tough-looking stevedores. He orders a gin, which the bartender gives him in an obviously dirty glass. He decides not to complain.

Looking around, he gets a feel for the crowd. Several of the longshoremen appear to be Irish, several other Italian, and the bulk of them are Polish, Russian, or some other type of Slavic ethnicity.

Gem decides to sit down next to the most Russian-looking person he sees. Making small talk, he offers to buy the man a drink. They both agree the gin is awful.

Once they get a little friendly, Gem asks for help. Remembering that Ulnovsky was connected to a doctor, Gem explains he is looking for Doctor Bolkanski to fix him up from the fight he got in earlier.

The man agrees, noting the doctor is very helpful about such things. He explains the doctor's office is just down the street. Gem wonders if the man would still be in his office at this hour, but he assures Gem that Bolkanski always answers his door at night as he lives in the back of the office.

Gem finishes his drink and discreetly leaves without attracting any unwanted attention. He reaches the car and explains to the father what he found. They decide to head over and see Bolkanski, thinking he might be able to set them up a meeting with Ulnovsky. Mulroney also notes they will begin with attempting a friendly meeting, but he is prepared to go the other way.

Session 19 - Scene 9 (of 9)

Once again, Detective VanDamme heads back to the station to check in with Captain Deakins. The captain is surprised to see him back so soon.

VanDamme immediately gets down to business. He explains that a name he heard in connection with the Marduk Institute was David Thomas Morgan. Deakins is immediately upset, reminding VanDamme he can't go around throwing accusations about someone as powerful as Morgan.

He also wants to know how this is related to the bombing. He asks VanDamme if the Marduk Institute is related to the bombing, and VanDamme says it is his theory that it is, though he's still putting it all together.

Deakins is skeptical, noting that it would be unlikely Morgan would try to bomb the governor as his friend, Senator McCormick, was also killed.

VanDamme tries to appease the captain by also explaining that he has identified the possible Russian suspects at the bombing as Ulnovsky and Krasnik, noting they are both supposed to be dead but that he believes they survived the earlier warehouse bombing.

Captain Deakins wonders if VanDamme is mistaken, noting that all the Russians look alike. When VanDamme explains the descriptions matched, Deakins encourages him to chase down the lead. He reminds the detective that the Russians were active in the docks area, and encourages him to start there and check out what is going on around the docks.

Session 19 - Session Notes

This was another short session. In this case, we started a little late due to complications for a couple of the guys, then had to quit early because of technical issues for our remote player.

Overall, the session was a lot of fun and a nice change of pace. The last two sessions were very investigation / exposition heavy, and this session got back to some wacky mayhem.

It did, however, have the same fundamental flaw as last session - VanDamme is too independent and isolated from the other characters. I'm going to have to use some GM powers to course-correct the game to make sure he is tied in a little closer with Mulroney by making sure next session starts with both groups running into each other on the docks.

Other notes about the session:
* Mulroney lost a large number of sanity points this session. Expect more insanity to creep in soon.

* Gem's stupidity (in the form of failed idea rolls) allowed him to lose very little sanity. He's literally too dumb to be overcome by horror.

* I loved how he stopped believing Mulroney was a ghost, only to change it to believing he was a demon.

* I liked the little research venture to the library. They failed the roll, but that just meant they didn't get a picture of everyone.

* I don't recall where I got the countess' name from (whether I combined random Danish-sounding names or stole it from somewhere). I do know that I'm not at all sure how to pronounce "Ahlefedlt" correctly.

* Gem didn't actually recall Colcord from the party, I added that in later when I remembered it came up in the previous session. Biggins appearing in the photograph at the club was also likewise something just added to the notes (this time, for humor value). The same with the side articles about Veda Beragon (an homage to her throat problems from being strangled in Mildred Pierce) and the callback to Monty's yacht being stolen and burned (by Father Mulroney).

* Louis Emmerson really was the state secretary of state at the time. I have no idea what actually happens when the governor gets blown up and there was no record of a lieutenant governor at that time so I wasn't sure if that was a thing yet. So, I had him take over.

* Similarly, Maj. Gen. George Bell Jr. was a real officer in the 33rd Infantry during WWI. In real life, he moved up to being a corps commander then retired to become a banker in Chicago. But I wanted to use him here so my historical timeline is slightly different.

* The PCs really learned their lesson about preparing. At least, mostly so; they forgot about the whole "not having any money" thing until I asked what they were buying the equipment with.

* After the fiasco at the hardware store, I asked why they just didn't pickpocket one guy to get a wallet instead of coming up with such a complicated plan. The answer was they didn't really think of it until committing to the complicated one.

* Mulroney disguising his voice was a last minute improvisation, which no one understood the purpose of. The leprosy, however, was inspired. During the scene, he actually kept asking for calamine lotion and/or Epsom salts.

* Mulroney and Gem made a fair amount of luck rolls during the robbery to avoid getting noticed and not upsetting the Harshaw's enough to pull a gun earlier.

* The hardware store and the characters inside come from the TSR Gangbusters product, as does the store layout. There was an office with a safe, so I let Gem see it. I knew the player would try to go for it, though.

* I tried to get them to use the gas station on the map from TSR that was between the police department and the courthouse, but they wouldn't go for it.

* I try not to give PCs complete dead ends when they come up with ideas, so I had VanDamme find out a lot of info on Xian and Morgan from the police files that wasn't necessarily realistic. In reality, Xian shouldn't have been in there at all and Morgan would have had a lot less.

* Dummy Uhl is a character from Dashiell Hammet's story about Chiang Li Ching. If VanDamme hadn't failed that roll, he might have met him.

* I try to have Deakins keep VanDamme on point without railroading. I'm starting to think he's relying on him too much.

* I also used the captain to make a couple of (unintended for him) jokes - the one about fireworks not being bombs, and the one about the Chinese and Russians never being on the same side.

* Patrolman Kevin O'Donnell is also in the TSR product, though I assigned him to Chinatown. O'Donnell had a lot more info about Chiang Li Ching, but VanDamme didn't go there.

* Gem recalling Bolkanski was very unexpected. Particularly since I already had notes on how Bolkanski ties in to Karina and Yulian's post-bombing plans.

Cthulhubusters - More About Rules (Ethnicity)

I've had some questions so here's the basics on the rules I'm using in the campaign.

Mostly, it's straight CoC rules with the Gangbusters setting.

Characters are created using standard CoC rules, but I do add Ethnicity as a characteristic.

An excerpt from my house rules document:
Ethnicity: During this period of time (1880 – 1920), a lot of heavy immigration was occurring in the US from various countries. Characters are often identified with a particular ethnicity / immigrant group, either by choice or circumstance.

The majority of the population is referred to as Assimilated – meaning a white person who is not a recent immigrant and has no ties to a specific ethnic community (usually with a family with colonial ties to England or France; Spanish colonial descendants tend to be excluded as Hispanic, see below).

More recent immigrants from Europe are often not fully assimilated and live in ethnic neighborhoods in major cities. All are the targets of the various anti-immigrant sentiments that are growing in the country, along with the resurrection of organizations like the Klu Klux Klan.

The two largest populations of European ethnicities are Irish and Italian, followed by German (or Austrian, which are usually called Germans by the assimilated) and Polish.

Other European ethnic groups include Russian (which Ukrainians are often incorrectly lumped into), Slavic (an assimilated term for anyone from Eastern Europe or Eurasia other than the Polish), and Scandinavian (from United Sweden-Norway or Denmark).

The largest non-white ethnic group is the Black descendants of the American slave trade. They are heavily (and legally) discriminated against in many areas.
The next largest are the Hispanic descendants of Southern Native Americans and Spanish colonials. They have the highest populations in the Southern states of the country.

There are also a large number of Jewish immigrants (though often of European descent, they are not technically considered "white"). Most Jewish immigrants came from Germany, Russia, or Eastern Europe.

Finally, there are the various Native American peoples (called Indian by assimilated society). Native American culture is currently under severe attacks by assimilated society as the Eugenics movement gains strength, with huge numbers of children taken away and forced into boarding schools to become assimilated into society. Native Americans who can pass for assimilated usually do so. Others live on the federal reservations and make a living through tourism by playing up the exoticism of their culture.

Non-White immigrants other than Jewish immigrants are relatively rare and very few have any large communities. The recent rise of anti-immigration fervor in the country has led to increasingly strict immigration regulations against all immigrants, but particularly against non-European ones. The largest are the Chinese. The next largest group is the Lebanese, though they are typically found only on the East Coast; Indian immigrants from colonial India can also be found in small

Cthulhubusters - More About Rules (Skills)

Another thing that is different about my campaign is my use of a custom list of skills. I needed skills a lot more relevant to the Gangbusters setting rather than being pure Lovecraft focused.

I wrote up my skill descriptions closer to Trail of Cthulhu in style, because I wanted to keep the list focused on why a PC would use a particular skill.


An excerpt containing my skill list and a sample skill entry:

Skill List
Skill   Default
Accounting   10%
Anthropology   5%
Archaeology   1%
Architecture   5%
Art*   5%
Art History   5%
Astronomy   1%
Athletics   25%
Bargain   5%
Biology   20%
Brawl   25%
Chemistry   1%
Concealment   15%
Construction   15%
Cryptography   1%
Credit Rating   15%
Cthulhu Mythos   0%
Disguise   1%
Drive   20%
Electrical Repair   10%
Evidence Collection   1%
Explosives   1%
Fast Talk   5%
Firearms   20%
First Aid   30%
Forensics   1%
Geology   1%
History   20%
Language*   1%
Law   5%
Law Enforcement   1%
Library Use   25%
Literature   5%
Martial Arts   1%
Mechanic   20%
Medicine   5%
Military   1%
Notice   25%
Occult   5%
Outdoorsman   10%
Perform*   5%
Persuade   15%
Pharmacy   1%
Photography   10%
Physics   1%
Pilot   1%
Politics   1%
Psychology   5%
Psychoanalysis   1%
Ride   5%
Sleight of Hand   1%
Streetwise    1%
Theology   5%
Weapons   25%


Streetwise (1%)
Skilled in criminal acts and culture. Characters can use this skill to:
•   Use proper etiquette when dealing with criminals to avoid trouble.
•   Identify unsafe locations and dangerous people.
•   Make and utilize criminal contacts.
•   Determine the value of illegal goods.
•   Gather underworld rumors.
•   Produce illegal alcohol (bootlegging).
•   Fence stolen goods.
•   Forge signatures.
•   Oversee prostitution rings.
•   Sell narcotics.

Cthulhubusters - More About Rules (Combat)

My rules for combat vary a fair bit from standard CoC.

A large number of these changes are related to firearms. In my rules, firearms get a number of shots per round based on their action type (revolvers get 2 shots while semi-autos can make 3, for example) and there is a recoil penalty attached to making multiple shots based on caliber (so a .25 pistol can fire multiple times a round with minimal penalty while a .45 is going to have some issues hitting with the other shots).

An excerpt of the firearm attack action from my rules:

Firearm Attack

The character may shoot a firearm one or more times using this action. As part of this attack, the character can move up to half his normal move rate but all shots are considered wild (see below) if he moves more than 1 yard.

Prepared Shots: All combatants with a readied and aimed firearm may fire in DEX order before all other actions occur.

Normal Action Fire: If the weapon fired a prepared shot and can fire more than one shot, a second shot can fire during the normal DEX order. Alternately, a readied gun can be aimed and fired during the normal DEX order.

If a weapon can fire another shot during the round based on its number of attacks, it can fire once more at the ½ DEX order.

Readying and Firing Weapons: An unready firearm can be drawn / readied along with the normal action fire, but the weapon can only fire once during the round and it fires at the DEX-10 order (the drawing/readying occurs at the DEX order).

Wild Shots: A combatant may fire his weapon without any aiming at all. In this case, the weapon can be fired a number of times equal to the weapon's attacks number.

All attacks will occur at the normal DEX order (or DEX-10 if drawn this round).
Wild shots have a -30% penalty and the recoil penalty is doubled for subsequent shots.

Cthulhubusters - More About Rules (Combat, cont)

I added a lot of extra rules to combat to account for special circumstances. To be honest, I rarely ever follow most of them because I don't want to look things up in the heat of the moment.

I did revamp the burst fire rules to something closer to being playable (I don't care for the CoC standard burst rules).

Some excerpts:

Automatic Fire and Bursts

Weapons capable of automatic fire can fire multiple shots as part of a single attack called a burst.

Short Burst: A short burst fires 5 shots at once at a single target. If the attack hits, the damage is doubled.

Long Burst: A long burst fires 10 shots at once at either a single target or 2 targets standing next to each other (roll for an attack against each). An attack against a single target does 5x normal damage, or double normal damage against both targets if firing at two.

Extended Burst / Spray: An extended burst fires 20 shots at once over a 15 degree area. Roll to hit for each target in the area, up to a maximum of 10 targets. The total damage taken by targets is 10x normal damage, dived by the number of targets.


Firearm Attack Modifiers
Situation   Modifier
Target is...   
...Standing Still   +0%
...Crawling, Walking, or Prone   -5%
...Running, Leaping, or Jumping   -20%
   
...Partially Concealed or in Soft Cover   -10%
...Dropping Behind Cover   -20%
...Behind Cover   -30%
   
...Car Moving Slow   -10%
...Car Moving Fast   -30%
   
...At Point-Blank Range   +30%
...At Short Range   +0%
...At Medium Range   -10%
...At Long Range   -20%
   
...Small   -10 to -20%
...Medium-Sized   +0%
...Large   +10 to +30%
   
Attacker is...   
...Standing Still   +0%
...Crawling, Walking, or Prone   -5%
...Running, Leaping, or Jumping   -20%
   
...In a Car Moving Slow   -10%
...In a Car Moving Fast   -30%
   
...Firing after Aiming for 1 Round   +10%
...Firing into Melee   -30%
...Firing with the Off-Hand   -30%
...Firing Two Handguns   -30% each
...Firing while in Melee   -40%
   
...Shooting Up   -10%
...Shooting Down   +10%
   
...Drawing and Firing   -10%
...Turning and Firing   -10%
...Drawing, Turning, and Firing   -20%
   
..Firing a Second Shot   -recoil
...Firing a Third Shot   -2x recoil
   
...Firing a Short Burst   +5%
...Firing a Long Burst   +10%
...Firing an Extended Burst   -30%
   
...Attempting a Called Shot   -30%

Cthluhubusters - More About Rules (Vehicles)

The rules in CoC for vehicles were pretty light (and focused exclusively on chases), so I added some extra rules.

Some excerpts:
Vehicle Table

Vehicle   
Passengers   Max Speed*   Hit Points
Coupe   2-3   50 mph   25
Limousine   5-7   70 mph   40
Sedan   5-7   60 mph   35
Sport   2-3   70 mph   30
Sport Touring   2-3   60 mph   30
Touring   5-7   60 mph   30
         
Truck, Light   2-3   50 mph   45
Truck, Heavy   2-3   50 mph   70
         
Motorcycle   1-2   70 mph   15
* Luxury models can often travel much faster than the listed speed.


Collisions

Collisions with Other Vehicles
A car colliding into another car takes damage based on the nature of the collision.

Head-On Collision: Combine the speeds of both vehicles. Each vehicle takes 1d6 damage per 10 mph, while passengers in each vehicle take 1d3 damage per 10 mph.

Sideswipe: A sideswipe does 1d6 damage to the vehicle hit, and 1d6-1 damage to the attacking vehicle. Passengers in each vehicle take 1d3-1 damage.

Rear End Collision: Subtract the speed of the vehicle hit from the attacking vehicle. The vehicle hit takes 1d6 damage per 10 mph while the attacking vehicle takes 1d6-1 damage per 10 mph. Passengers in each vehicle take 1d3 damage per 10 mph.

T-Bone Collision: Use the speed of the attacking vehicle. The vehicle hit takes 1d6 damage per 10 mph while the attacking vehicle takes 1d6-1 damage per 10 mph. Passengers in each vehicle take 1d3 damage per 10 mph.

Collisions with Pedestrians
A car colliding into a pedestrian takes no damage from the collision while the passenger takes 1d6 per 10 mph the vehicle was travelling at.


Special Maneuvers
Special driving maneuvers can be attempted by the driver when the car has all tires intact and is traveling at high speed.

Bootleg Reverse
A car making a bootleg reverse uses the brakes to cause the vehicle to skid into a 180 degree turn and come to a complete stop. This maneuver is often performed as a way to quickly reverse direction. The maneuver takes two rounds to complete – one to turn to 90 degrees and another to complete the skid to 180 degrees.


Vehicle Hits
When vehicles are hit, roll for hit location to determine the effect.
Roll   Effects
1-2   Tire Hit: The vehicle takes 1 point of damage and suffers a Tire Blowout (see Crash table).
3-5   Internal Damage: The vehicle takes normal damage and the engine is critically damaged and will stop in 1d6-1 rounds.
6-9   Body Hit: The vehicle takes normal damage. See also Passenger Injuries.
10   Windshield Hit*: The vehicle takes 1 point of damage and the window is broken. See also Passenger Injuries.
* If there are no windshields, the vehicle takes no damage but passenger injuries must still be resolved.