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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 6004627" data-attributes="member: 17106">My experience is with CoC d20, so I can't speak to the original BRP game (or any of the many CoC-based games out there).Mechanics are only part of it, but let's take a look. In CoC d20, you still have the basic level advancement architecture (meaning that you get better at attacks, saves, and hp no matter what you do). However, there is no "good" base attack, there is a very low massive damage threshold (10 or 15 I think), and there is the sanity system. Everyone gets 8 + int mod skill points, and the skill list is expanded. There are only two "classes", offense and defense. If you stay in low levels, you are getting a relatively good simulation for a d20 game.The sanity system does not allow will saves or any d20 rolls to resist it and has nothing to do with your level or your character power (and is a central mechanic, and, IIRC, is ported in from BRP CoC). The effects of insanity are essentially copied from the DSM-IV-TR (i.e. the book psychiatrists use to diagnose disorders and bill insurance). Does it truly model mental health? Of course not; it simplifies complex biological and psychological processes to percentile rolls. But it subverts the scaling of d20 mechanics and offers a lot of verisimilitude.As to monster design, the monsters are built in 3.0 style, but without much of a sense of balance (despite the token CRs). The DMing section strongly advises that fighting is very different from D&D, and that characters should run when they see a monster, not fight it.***It's also worth noting that despite the fact that he wrote about monsters and magic, Lovecraft himself was very "simulationist", was a huge science nerd and history nerd, and did the best he could to incorporate realistic elements into his stories, despite the existence of unrealistic ones.***That being said, d20 mechanics are still not great at simulation. I've used vp/wp for a while used CoC as a test venue for my injury system and grittier d20 combat rules for that reason.(Seems like I have some things in common with [MENTION=11821]Obryn[/MENTION] with regards to CoC).</blockquote>

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