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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 4591272" data-attributes="member: 2205">There used to be a free adventure floating around on the old WotC website written by Monte Cook that I liked.  Used it twice as the kick-off to a Cthulhu campaign.I know, I know... the ship has sailed... but I like talking about Cthulhu rules, so I'll weigh in anyway, in spite of the lateness of the post.  I have the 3rd edition of the BRP rules, a British printing (so it sits kinda funny on my shelf since the British A4 standard is a bit different than the American 8½" X 11" standard), and I'm in a game right now that uses, I believe, the 6th edition rules.  There's little noticeable difference other than presentation.  The rules aren't "familiar" but they're intuitive and simple, and in that sense they tend to disappear fairly easily which in my opinion is pretty key in this genre; you don't want to be constantly reminded that you're playing a game.However, the d20 Call of Cthulhu book is probably my favorite RPG book of any system, any line, any time.  Great presentation, great fluff text, and a pretty good interpretation of the d20 rules into the genre.  It works so well largely because the rules are already familiar, they have been simplified in many cases to make chargen and combat easier and less reliant on tactical combat (you can easily---and I recommend doing so---run CoC d20 combat "cinematically" rather than tactically, which I think greatly eases immersion and is important for this particular genre).  It's also got a great magic system; I actually strongly prefer the d20 Magic system to the BRP one.The big advantage of the d20 book is the fact that its compatible with everything else d20.  In my opinion, that is a feature that has a value that is difficult to overestimate.  And it works both ways.  You want to have byakhee or hounds of Tindalos in your D&D game?  You can take them from here (I've done so.)  You can also add anything into your Cthulhu game that you need to from any d20 source.  You like that little glimmer imp that steals eyes from people from the Monsternomicon?  Guess what?  His stats are compatible with your Cthulhu game.  All you need to do is add a Sanity cost for seeing him, and you're good to go.  You like the Fiendish Codex version of Dagon?  Well, why not use him?  And if you need more Outer Gods type figures, guess what?  Any of the demon lords fits in fairly well, as well as lots of other powerful demons, aberrations, or other D&D critters.  Lots of them were directly inspired by Lovecraft in the first place, and for my money, D&D is one of the best sources for new Mythos out there, if you sift through it.Much is made over the levelling issue.  I agree that having a Cthulhu character go from 1st to 20th level sounds very bizarre.  I'd certainly never do it.  In my experience, very low level d20 characters are actually considerably more fragile and less capable than their BRP counterparts.  BRP characters seem to be more or less equivalent to 4th or 5th level d20 characters.  I'd never consider playing a CoC game that had PCs get out of the single digits in levels.  Rather; I see the levels as a tool to adjust my campaign to my own needs.  If I want very fragile characters, I'll start them at 1st level.  If I want tougher ones, I'll start them at 3rd or 4th.  If I want pulp characters, I may start them at 6th or 7th.  I also would never have a CoC campaign; even a relatively long-running one, that changed more than three or four levels from the starting position, so if I start at 3rd level, you can expect that character leveling will cap at 6th or so, either arbitrarily, or by campaign design.Anyway, like I said, I love to ramble on and on about Cthulhu and theory, strategies, and experiences I've had running it.  I'd love to answer more specific questions, but I'm not sure that I have an answer to "which adventure to start with..." since I rarely (if ever) run published adventures.  Like I said, I do like the Monte Cook freebie that used to be on the web, with the parking garage elevator, and I've also adapted the old Dark•Matter "Exit 23" to Cthulhu before with good results.  I'll second obryn's recommendation to start things in the modern day; 20s is fun (my current game is a 1920's era BRP Cthulhu game, but I'm a player not the GM) but a bit more daunting of an experience.  Modern day Cthulhu at least allows everyone to be on the same page, because presumably all your players are familiar with the modern age.</blockquote>

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