Best Version of Call of Cthulhu

[Garnfellow]

I have Trail and I have d20 CoC. How hard would it be to do a mashup of them? I'm thinking of a fundamentally d20 engine, but with Trail's madness and maybe drive systems.

 

[Desdichado]

Yup. And it's not just for creatures - I incorporated the VP/WP rules from Unearthed Arcana directly into CoC.

Right; I actually once took out all the spellcasting classes in D&D and lifted the entire magic system (including Sanity, which is integral to magic in CoC) in a hybrid fantasy game I ran. Excellent, excellent fun, with a real old school pulp horror/fantasy feel to it. Tons of fun.

Anyway, the back and forth interaction of d20 CoC and other d20 games is critical to me. I love it.

Of course, a major downside of the d20 version of the game is that it's out of print and has been running a bit on the expensive side on the used book market. Although that's also a testament to its quality, IMO.

As an aside; Bruce Baugh once wrote a little pdf called d20 Madness (I think) that takes the Cthulhu sanity system and makes it "native" to d20, instead of being a d% mechanic just sitting uncomfortably on top of a d20 system. Personally that was always a pet peeve of mine; although I'm also not that excited about system jambalaya, because it becomes very difficult to keep track of exactly which rules from which sources you're using. It can be fun to kitbash together the exact thing you want, but it's also challenging to keep it all straight in actual play, I've found.

 

[Obryn]

Of course, a major downside of the d20 version of the game is that it's out of print and has been running a bit on the expensive side on the used book market. Although that's also a testament to its quality, IMO.

I remember that I almost didn't pick it up... I'm so glad I did, nowadays. Originally, I bought it for the 3e Great Old One stats... It was only after Keeper of Secrets's Gen Con game that I really got into CoC as CoC.

As an aside; Bruce Baugh once wrote a little pdf called d20 Madness (I think) that takes the Cthulhu sanity system and makes it "native" to d20, instead of being a d% mechanic just sitting uncomfortably on top of a d20 system. Personally that was always a pet peeve of mine; although I'm also not that excited about system jambalaya, because it becomes very difficult to keep track of exactly which rules from which sources you're using. It can be fun to kitbash together the exact thing you want, but it's also challenging to keep it all straight in actual play, I've found.

I ended up liking the straight port of Sanity from BRP to d20. Basically, I think the BRP system works... It's an agonizing, long-term process over which the player slowly sees their character descending into madness over an extended timeframe. And, as the character gets crazier, they become more susceptible to further crazy. I like the fine-grained nature of the percentile system, and I think its disconnection from the d20 standard contributes to its freakiness, in-game.

Anyway, I guess I'm saying it never bugged me.

-O

 

[Obryn]

Then I must be so wise I'm a mystic sitting atop some remote mountain peak... because I don't recall seeing this at all.

Now, I've seen situations where a clue might be missed due to a bad skill roll or an incorrect player choice ("No, we won't bother checking out X") that would have been helpful. In one case, in a session I ran (homebrew modern scenario), not thinking to check out a particular type of data that was hinted at meant that a complete victory was impossible... but the game by no means came to a halt! It simply meant that the end was bloody when it didn't need to be.

Yeah, Wraith Form's comment is an example of bad adventure design, not bad mechanics.

It's an oft-repeated bit of game-mastering advice that, somehow, many GMs and adventure writers ignore. Never put essential information on the far side of a die roll.

-O

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

If there's information that will require a dice roll to obtain, then I usually make it possible for all the characters to have a go at it. If they still have bad luck, then I usually find an excuse to let them try again after a suitable period of time - come back the next day for an NPC, or spend four more hours in the library. If I want to get things moving, I'll make sure there are multiple clues available and always give them the least important, but the one that moves them to the next part of the adventure.

Playing through the starting scenario last night as an example - library use rolls are required to find all the clues about the haunted house. They all failed, so I told them the first clue, about who used to live there, and had them waste four hours. They decided that they had enough to look elsewhere, but missed out on the link to the chapel and it all worked out just fine.

 

[Betote]

I have fond memories of "Dead Reckonings", a compilation of 3 scenarios. I've run the first one several times, mostly to beginners, and it was always good.

 

[Garnfellow]

So far it looks like all the suggested starting adventures are set in the 1920s. Are there any recommended modern starter scenarios?

 

[Obryn]

So far it looks like all the suggested starting adventures are set in the 1920s. Are there any recommended modern starter scenarios?

I'd suggest one or both of the scenarios at the back of the CoC d20 book.

There was also one online, for free, I think called Brown Jenkin. I believe that was also modern-day.

There aren't many modern-day CoC adventures, to be frank. For most of its existence, the game has assumed a 20's/30's setting. Offsetting this is how easy it is to find modern-day plot hooks for future adventures... Most of my campaign sprung out of Wikipedia, Google Earth, Discovery/History Channels, and personal experience (for some of the locations, like a vast, abandoned steel mill that was a the set-piece for a major adventure).

-O

 

[Darkwolf71]

Delta Green is a modern day setting, there should be some scenarios in the book. (I have it, but have not actually read through it.)

The Stars Are Right is a book of modern day senarios and I think most of the 'Secrets of...' books are modern as well.

 

[Wraith Form]

That, sir, is just plain crazy. Please stop what you're doing a read the entire Delta Green book immediately. (That's kinda like saying "I own porn but don't look at it".) (kidding...although if I ever have children, the DG books will be required reading for them)

Seriously, though, the DG books are tremendous. Great fun.

I will echo what Obryn said--if you can find the CoC d20 book, the adventures in the back are quite good modern adventures. Honestly, many of the '20's adventures can be updated pretty easily to a modern setting without sanity-shattering difficulty.

If you want an 'official' Chaosium product, try Unseen Masters. It's for a modern setting and garnered quite a bit of positive attention for it's excellent writing back when it was originally released.