Call of Cthulhu grows to the second best selling RPG core book on Amazon USA

[MGibster]

My gaming group from the late 80's to the mid 90's played AD&D, Traveller and CoC. D&D was not the light and fluffy game that it is today, and in Traveller you can die during character creation, so transitioning between those three was pretty easy.

You do bring up a valid point. I think character deaths were just something we were a lot more used to back then than we are today. During the course of a D&D campaign, I really didn't expect to have the same character a few weeks down the road.

 

[Jd Smith1]

My gaming group from the late 80's to the mid 90's played AD&D, Traveller and CoC. D&D was not the light and fluffy game that it is today, and in Traveller you can die during character creation, so transitioning between those three was pretty easy.

I started playing D&D in 1979. It was light and fluffy back in those days. Not as light and fluffy as 5e, but definitely 'good guys always win' oriented. PC death was more expected, however. 5e is a major failure in that regard.
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[CleverNickName]

You do bring up a valid point. I think character deaths were just something we were a lot more used to back then than we are today. During the course of a D&D campaign, I really didn't expect to have the same character a few weeks down the road.

Yep. And nowadays, it's the default expectation.

 

[Jaeger]

Do you have what the rankings were?

At 12-7-2020
#89 Call of Cthulhu Rpg Keeper Rulebook:
#90: PF2 Tome of beasts 2
#91: Paizo PF2 core

As of today 1-11-2020
#88: PF2 Core
CoC keepers not in the top 100
#94: CoC investigator handbook

So not a consistent lead by any means. But IMHO still doing rather well to beat out PF2 core book in stretches.

I don't understand that "everyone always dies" assessment, either. You can run a "Call of Cthulhu campaign," just like any other RPG. You can have the same characters in the same setting, growing more powerful over the course of several adventures, unlocking more abilities as they grow, defeating eldritch horrors and saving the world. We've managed to do it for (checks calendar) about a year and a half now.

This!!

You do not need to resign yourself to misery tourism to play CoC.

Yes, PC death/insantiy is more on the table than 5e. But that is a feature not a bug IMHO.

You can have long enjoyable campaigns, and the good guys can even get one over on the old ones as well. gasp

Personally I think CoC could do with a slightly more streamlined set of rules to make it even more accessible for new players, and still have that BRP feel.

But I doubt Chaosium would want to rock the boat much given the sales they are getting without touching a thing.

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[darjr]

Reaching second is an awesome achievement. And if you look at the numbers for all books BOTH CoC and PF2 were surging at the time.

 

[darjr]

Ah, here is the old thread with COC in it.

New numbers.
8,245 out of all books on Amazin US at $45

The investigarots hand book is at 11 thousand at $37

 

[Parmandur]

Ah, here is the old thread with COC in it.

New numbers.
8,245 out of all books on Amazin US at $45
View attachment 272598

The investigarots hand book is at 11 thousand at $37
View attachment 272599

Good stuff, the books are solid. I got the 40th anniversary box set a few months back with the old versions of the rules, and I appreciate that they remain compatible while still evolving.