Call of cthulhu D20 or not so D20?

[TheEldereye]

Our group just played a BRP game of CoC last weekend after only using the D20 system for our CoC games. As the GM I think they play very similar to each other, infact I was suprsied to see that the claim that the D20 version is "too combat oriented" is not true. We've enjoyed both sets of rules and both rulebooks have very similar mythos sections. I agree with the others that support for D20 is lacking, but it would take no time to convert any of the many BRP adventures.

For D20 if your players have played anything D20 its no problem to make PCs and start playing. I'd make them at first level, in our games no one has stayed sane or lived long enough to really worry about level advancement. It is a well written book, and one of the best D20 things I've purchased.

My players had never played the BRP game until this weekend, I had sent them the quick start PDF (you can get it the Chaosium website) and had them come up with PC background beforehand. It took about 45 minutes for us to make our PCs that night and explain how the system works. The rulebook is well written and was super eay to run. It relies on simple percentile checks with the GM determining difficulty. I really enjoyed running it. The sanity rules for both games are exact copies of eachother

Check out: http://www.yog-sothoth.com/ for stuff on both games. Its a great website with a forum section that was really helpful to me when preparing games.
Check out http://www.yog-sothoth.com/

 

[Plane Sailing]

Plus the d20 book has some excellent advice/rules on how to set up an adventure to give xps for solving problems and progressing the adventure (after all, in CoC if you end up fighting the monster you've probably already lost...)

 

[jdrakeh]

Plus the d20 book has some excellent advice/rules on how to set up an adventure to give xps for solving problems and progressing the adventure (after all, in CoC if you end up fighting the monster you've probably already lost...)

Sadly, the only BRP edition that had comparable great advice was the rare 3rd Ed hardcover from Games Workshop (speaking of gaming books that I wish I hadn't parted with). In fact, of all the BRP editions, I think that the GW hardcover is the best (it contains, among other things, an entire sourcebook for the 1920s and several adventures).

 

[Garnfellow]

I like both versions quite a bit -- either way you're going to come out OK.

From a mechanics perspective, both systems have good and bad points, so I don't think there's a clear winner there.

If I were in your shoes I would think the d20 version would have a big advantage just because you already know the game engine. If you had been a big RuneQuest or Elric fan, I'd give the nod to the BRP version.

Right now I'm starting a mashup game of d20 Call of Cthulu and d20 Modern. All of my players are veteran D&D gamers, but none have experience with any incarnation of CoC or d20M. I'm finding that they have picked up the new rules seamlessly.

From an aesthetics persepctive, the d20 Cthulhu book is probably the best looking book in my gaming collection -- and, as many folks have already noted, it has great advice on running a CoC game.

 

[Job]

I concur with Garnfellow. I've run both the BRP and D20 versions of CoC, but have lately been staying with D20 CoC because:

- My players are already familiar with the D20 ruleset via D&D
- I use the D20 CoC book to import mythos monsters and effects into my D&D campaign
- I have many extra options for expanding the game into other eras and genres (I'm toying with a D20 Spycraft/CoC merger right now...).

I've read many posts where BRP Keepers bash the D20 ruleset, but IMHO, if you understand the setting and the tone of the CoC game, and read HPL's stories, the ruleset is merely a tool to accomplish your desired environment.

 

[Stormborn]

I am also going to vote for the CoCd20 book. While you can run CoC with anything (my group has used GURPS more often than anything else) I think the d20 book is excelent and has applications for other things and is thus the better value.

Personally if I was going to run a CoC game again I would use d20 M, possibly with the Taint rules or some other alternative to SAN, and aim for a more Delta Green-esque game. But thats just me and my group, I still say CoCd20 is the way to go.

 

[Henry]

Depends on what you want.

If you want to do one-shots, and you want maximum Lovecraft hopeless-horror feel, I'm going to go against the crowd and say get the Chaosium BRP version. It also has more flavor material in it, and more adventures than the d20 Version.

If you want something the players will want to invest in, maybe have a hope of keeping the investigators around for two or three sessions before they die or go blistering mad, then get the d20 version. It is also the perfect book for a "realistic" d20 rules set; the abilities a PC gets are within the realm of human possiblity, with a touch of supernatural thrown in (maybe a single cleave, but no whirlwind attacks here!) Characters do have a slight feel of improvement compared to BRP characters, which in my experience have little to no improvement going on except in the less-trained skills, and you have less control over what improves; however, I say it still edges out d20 version for "overall Lovecraft ratio."

Summary: Chaosium version for nasty one-shots, d20 version for longer-termed horror campaigns. IMHO.

 

[Desdichado]

That said, the support material for CoC d20 is not only sparse, but also of lesser quality than much of that available for BRB CoC (with the exception of the few dual-stat sourcebooks published by Chaosium). If you want a lot of pre-written support, from campaigns to setting supplements, you'll want to consider picking up BRP CoC instead of the d20 version.

Don't forget, though, that most of the d20 Modern adventures (and there are a ton of pdf ones) not to mention d20 Modern supplements of all kinds, are pretty much compatible as is with d20 CoC. So are all the Monster books, for that matter.

I like both systems well enough, but I strongly prefer d20 CoC both for it's greater utility outside of strictly Cthulhu type scenarios, but also for strictly Cthulhoid scenarios too.

 

[Jim Hague]

Don't forget, though, that most of the d20 Modern adventures (and there are a ton of pdf ones) not to mention d20 Modern supplements of all kinds, are pretty much compatible as is with d20 CoC. So are all the Monster books, for that matter.

I like both systems well enough, but I strongly prefer d20 CoC both for it's greater utility outside of strictly Cthulhu type scenarios, but also for strictly Cthulhoid scenarios too.

Uh...? The character classes don't map at all, and D20M classes're significantly pulpier and more powerful than CoC d20's.

 

[Rykion]

I was going to say what Henry has already said. The D20 CoC is good for building ongoing campaigns. The BRP is best for one shots or a 2 or 3 adventure campaign, and even then most players will have probably lost 1 or 2 characters. The D20 CoC book is IMO the best book ever put out by WotC. It is very useful and out of print.