Achtung! Cthulhu Solo Actual Play Session 1

 

Bold text: mechanics
Italics text: Roleplaying
Plain text: Out of character explanation

Materials used: Achtung! Cthulhu Core, A!C Vive la Resistance, A!C Secret War Documents, Mythic GME 2e, Wikipedia, Starsmith Expanded Starforged Oracles

Achtung Cthulhu Wallpaper Village of St Sulac

Set the Scene

Diego Vega is currently working on the docks as a day laborer so that he can keep an eye on the incoming German ship, Bessel, which ostensibly contains a shipment of Panzer I tanks for the Spanish Nationalists.  Diego is tasked with sabotaging the operation after night falls, but first he wants to see who gets off the ship as it docks.

Chaos Factor 5
Test the Scene: d10= 9 Expected Scene

Diego went about his expected work there on the docks.  Helping to shuffle cargo around, tie and untie ships as they docked and undocked, etc.  It was a warm day, and Diego’s shirt was beginning to stick to him with sweat.  Many of the other stout dockworkers had shed their shirts, and Diego decided to do the same.  His lean, athletic build drew a few good natured cat-calls from his fellow dockworkers. “Hola, chico bonito!” and “Luciendo bien, guapo!” was something he had heard several times already.  He had been on the all star football team at the University of South Carolina where he had been a linebacker there.  He would just sheepishly wave his hand at his fellow workers.  They would slap him on the backside as they walked by and he was carrying some heavy load. He tried to remind himself that these were probably fascist scumbags, but sometimes it was nice to just work hard and have a little camaraderie with the guys.  They might be victims of circumstance, the same as he was. After a few hours, the Bessel was finally ready to start unloading passengers.  The gangway was in place, and fit looking German “all male tourists” began shuffling off the ship.  They were not wearing uniforms, but Diego suspected they were accompanying the armor, probably to train the Nationalists in their use. Except for HER!

One of the most beautiful women he had ever seen walked down the gangplank, a large hat keeping the sun from her face.  She had radiant copper hair that glinted in the sun, a loose tan blouse and flowing brown pants.  She noticed him looking at her, and shot him a quick wink. She was probably 10-15 years his senior, but a very good looking and well formed woman.  And a NAZI! He reminded himself.  But he couldn’t help but watch her walk down the docks with the other Germans.  As she waited her turn to get inside a waiting car, she glanced again at him staring.  With a start, he felt…something…grasp at his thoughts.

Black Sun Liesel Bohm casting Mind Reading on Diego. 
Opposed check:
Liesel Will+Obersvation = 9+1  Mind reading difficulty 2
2d20=15, 12 Fail
Diego Will+Resilience = 10+1 Mind reading resistance difficulty 1
2d20= 14,8 1 Success

In A!C, the skill checks are a 2d20, and you want to roll at even to or under your attribute + skill being used for that test. A difficulty is assigned to the task, and you have to get at least 1 successful roll at or under your stats per difficulty.  In this example, it was a difficulty 2 for the woman to establish a mind link with Diego.  She rolled a 15 and 12, both of which were over her combined stat of 10.  This means she failed.  I strictly didn’t need to roll for Diego, but I wanted to see if I could gain some Momentum.   Despite her failing, Diego was able to succeed in one of his rolls, the 8, which was lower than his combined stat of 11.   Since resisting was only a difficulty of 1, then he was successful in resisting.  If BOTH rolls would have been successful, and he only needed 1 success, then the second success would have been added as Momentum that he could use later to boost another roll with an additional d20.

The woman frowned slightly as she stared at Diego, then ducked into the car and it sped away into the town of El Ferrol.  Diego shook his head, the feeling of probing having ceased.  Very strange. Diego went back to his work, making his way closer and closer to the vessel.  He was eager to “help” get some of the smaller cargo unloaded so he could scope things out.

Fate Check, are there any guards on the docks preventing workers from boarding the ship? 90 No (almost an extreme yes, but not quite)

As Diego neared the gangway, he could see 2 Spanish Fascists standing near the access point.  They were talking among themselves, sharing a cigarette. But they didn’t seem to be stopping workers from boarding.  Diego approached them and offered them another cigarette. [I’m going to write the dialogue in English, you can assume everyone is speaking Spanish unless otherwise noted].  “Hola, amigos!  Hot day, isn’t it?”  They just stare at him and nod their heads, then continue their conversation.

Fate check, as he boards, did he arouse their suspicion? 20 Yes

Diego walks on up the gangplank and one of the guards turns to watch him.  Dang it, he just had to go and open his mouth, real smooth.  If he had just walked by with purpose they probably would not have noticed.   Nonetheless, he knows there are at least 2 guards on the gangway, he decided to follow the rest of the workers and legitimately unload some of the boxes small enough for carrying on dollies.  He pushes one of the dollies under a stack of crates and begins pushing it down onto the dock.  He makes several trips and the guards cease looking at him. 

Diego observation roll, can he sneak a peek under the tarps and see if there are indeed tanks there?  Insight + Stealth = 9  Difficulty 1.  2d20= 7,18 1 Success

As Diego waits his turn at the stacks of cargo, he surreptitiously looks under one of the tarps while out of sight and sees tracks and armor. Definitely not tractors.  Apparently, SM whoever that is, was correct again.  He made as though he was stretching his back then carried one last load down to the docks.   The sun was starting to get low on the horizon, so he grabbed his shirt, and went to the dockmaster’s office. 

“I’m heading out for the day,” he said, and kind of held his hand up for his daily wage. 
The dockmaster looked at his outstretched hand and gave it a slap.  “You think you deserve any peseta after standing around gawking at women all day, eh?  Strutting around with your American muscles, eh?”
Diego is not the most insightful when it comes to interactions with people.  He frowns, not able to tell if the man is joking or not.   The hefty man grumbled, then reached into a strongbox and retrieved a few coins and slapped them onto the table.  “Come back tomorrow if you want more,” he grumbled and went back to his logbooks.  Diego scooped up the coins and slipped out of the office, eager to get back to the safehouse and report.

 

That’s the end of this scene.  I’ll add the Nazi woman, Liesel Bohm to my character list as well as the dockmaster, though I won’t give him a name unless he becomes more important.   I’ll also add the fascist guards and the German armor trainers as well to the list.

See you next time!