Call of Cthulhu d20 Preservation Society

[Turanil]

Here's some conversions I've done. The first two files are bringing Gaslight into d20 (really, all that needed done was the addition of some new occupations) and the last is a conversion of the adventure "Eyes of a Stranger", from Sacraments of Evil.

Thanks for the files. I guess that d20 Past will be the perfect book for doing Call of Cthulhu with d20 when not having access to d20 CoC. We can expect some later supplement geared at d20 Past horror I guess (with Cthulhu like denizens, sanity rules from UA, etc.), and so in the end Chaosium will look plain stupid... (for not having continued to distribute and support d20 CoC).

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Thanks for the files. I guess that d20 Past will be the perfect book for doing Call of Cthulhu with d20 when not having access to d20 CoC. We can expect some later supplement geared at d20 Past horror I guess (with Cthulhu like denizens, sanity rules from UA, etc.), and so in the end Chaosium will look plain stupid... (for not having continued to distribute and support d20 CoC).

I imagine so. The blurb about D20 Past on Wizards' site says about Victorian horror, IIRC. The star doppelganger in the Menace Manual was pretty Cthulhuvian, and the blood fiend/jumping jack in the same book is a Victorian-era iconic monster (Springheel Jack, dontcha know). As to other non-COC "Cthulhu" monsters, the monster books from Necromancer, in particular, have some Cthulhuoids. Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia has major COC flavor.

 

[Monte At Home]

Let's first look at Sanity (now this is based on the RQ system):

In BRP to get a +1d6 to Sanity you must have 90%+ in a single skill. Assuming a character starts with around a maximum of 75% in a skill and he earns a check mark meaning he will have a 75% of earning +1d6 to his skill, meaning an average of 0.875 skill point on the first adventure (per skill with a check). The average number of skill points you get will mathematically decrease arithmatically (to 24%, 23%, ... , 9%) and thus it will take over TWENTY adventures to gain that sanity bonus. Also Gaining Cthulhu Mythos could destroy your character in that same amount of time.

You're forgetting to add that standard CoC characters gain lost Sanity back by defeating Mythos creatures, which is what the Sanity regained per level mechanism mimics.

 

[Monte At Home]

Accually the Gamemaster secton was written by John Tynes of Delta Green fame. Monte wrote the rules section.

Actually, FWIW, as far as the non-system stuff goes, John wrote the Mythos chapter (probably the best chapter in the book) and some of the Gamermaster chapter, as well as the End of Paradise scenario. Ken Hite, Scott Glancy, and I worked on the Gamermaster, Stories and Settings chapter (I no longer remember who wrote what exactly among that stuff).

For the system stuff, I wrote the first 7 chapters (John Crowe wrote most of the gun stuff in Chapter 6), the Little Slices of Death scenario, and all the appendices. Bruce Cordell and John Rateliff did the initial conversion of most of the monsters in Chapter 8, although I developed the final version of them as well.

I bring this up mostly because I don't think the other writers who worked on the book beyond John and I get enough credit.

 

[MonsterMash]

The source material is excellent. Not only can you use it for non-Cthulhu games, because it's standard d20 format, but the GM advice is probably the best. ever. written.

And you can pick it up new from Amazon for about half the original price. I'd absolutely recommend it. EDIT: at least in North America. I haven't looked at amazon.uk.

Amazon Uk is still selling it for a reduced price from list, but not by as much - list was about 22 pounds, Amazon sells it at 17 pounds, which works out at close to $30 US plus shipping.

Looks like it might well be worth it though, but I'll check e-bay and the sales threads here before going with amazon.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

You're forgetting to add that standard CoC characters gain lost Sanity back by defeating Mythos creatures, which is what the Sanity regained per level mechanism mimics.

I had thought that mechanic was retained in CoCd20, I remember seeing it in the web enhancement for the adventure sequel to rats in the walls. But then again as I approach 1/3 of a century my memory does fail me.

 

[Gomez]

Actually, FWIW, as far as the non-system stuff goes, John wrote the Mythos chapter (probably the best chapter in the book) and some of the Gamermaster chapter, as well as the End of Paradise scenario. Ken Hite, Scott Glancy, and I worked on the Gamermaster, Stories and Settings chapter (I no longer remember who wrote what exactly among that stuff).

For the system stuff, I wrote the first 7 chapters (John Crowe wrote most of the gun stuff in Chapter 6), the Little Slices of Death scenario, and all the appendices. Bruce Cordell and John Rateliff did the initial conversion of most of the monsters in Chapter 8, although I developed the final version of them as well.

I bring this up mostly because I don't think the other writers who worked on the book beyond John and I get enough credit.

I stand corrected and Thanks for the info and for the Great book by the way!

 

[TerraDave]

The "lack" of combat in BRP Call of Cthulhu is really only relative to other games. Combat has always been a part of Chaosium's own adventures and always will be.

I did play through what I think was a Chaosium adventure that was all investigation. There was some danger, maybe potential combat, but no actual exchange of blows or gun fire. And then at the end some horrible creature was summoned, and we didn't run fast enough and all died (but it wasn't the really bad creature, so the world was saved).

But yes, normally there is some, and there can be a lot, though again I think CoC d20 could handle that sort of thing a little better.

 

[TerraDave]

Actually, FWIW, as far as the non-system stuff goes, John wrote the Mythos chapter (probably the best chapter in the book) and some of the Gamermaster chapter, as well as the End of Paradise scenario. Ken Hite, Scott Glancy, and I worked on the Gamermaster, Stories and Settings chapter (I no longer remember who wrote what exactly among that stuff).

For the system stuff, I wrote the first 7 chapters (John Crowe wrote most of the gun stuff in Chapter 6), the Little Slices of Death scenario, and all the appendices. Bruce Cordell and John Rateliff did the initial conversion of most of the monsters in Chapter 8, although I developed the final version of them as well.

I bring this up mostly because I don't think the other writers who worked on the book beyond John and I get enough credit.

I just want to second Gomez is saying thanks for such a great book.

Clearly one reason was the resources that WotC was willing to put in it. To bad that doesn't happen more often, and it is too bad that there has been so little follow up/support

 

[Narfellus]

As much fun as CoC one-shots can be, for a larger, overarching storyline, i would have to recommend picking up one of Chaosium's modules. Masks of Nyarlathotep is a great one, one of the best adventures i've ever read. Seriously, it's fun and creepy just to read from a GM's point of view. Beyond the Mountains of Madness would be another one, and then there's one i have i want to run one day, Escape from Innsmouth. And all of them are combat heavy in my campaign, but the PC's have only fought mostly cultists so far, and one wearboar that they were able to kill with a silver-plated axe, but once the Mythos creatures start pouring in their little peashooters won't be doing much good. Fortunately, they have one brave character who will have access to an Elder Sign if he ever finishes reading the Libris Mysteriis.