Call of Cthulhu d20 Preservation Society

[Ion]

You mean the Necronomicon isn't real???

I'm told the Necronomicon is real...but not as lovecraft described it...

/me just wanted an excuse to share the link...

 

[Tom Cashel]

ROTFL!

Got much free time on your hands?

When you're home with baby, and baby is sleeping...

In short, yes.

 

[Turanil]

I'm told the Necronomicon is real...but not as lovecraft described it...

/me just wanted an excuse to share the link...

Thanks for the link. It is really interesting. I still have a hard time to determine if all of this is fake or genuine...

 

[Ion]

I think half the fun comes from those blurred lines.

 

[Desdichado]

I love all things CoC. However one of the things that kind of bugged me about the d20 version was the concept of levels and advancement which seems to slowly take away the bleak hopelessness which has made the game so popular. I think it is a similar reason why I never found Ravenloft so frightening - zombies are pretty scary but not to 6th level characters with 40 hp.

I've never played a CoC campaign where the characters ever got higher than third or so level, at which point they're arguably weaker than their BRP counterparts, though. Levels are a tool to scale the game, not an imposition. You don't have to move levels if you don't want.

And even if you do, the Massive Damage Threshold goes a long way towards mitigating the effects of HP. Although, frankly, I think the game would have benefited greatly from a GrimNGritty Hit Points like variant. IIRC (and am not mixing it up with the very smiliar Darkness & Dread version) you simply take your CON score times a size modifier (for all medium creatures it's 1, so no effect in CoC) + your hit dice. So even a 15th level character is only CON + 15 hit points, hovering somewhere around 25-35. He may be extremely capable in a lot of situations, but he ain't shrugging off damage, that's for sure.

 

[barsoomcore]

I've never played a CoC campaign where the characters ever got higher than third or so level, at which point they're arguably weaker than their BRP counterparts, though.

I just have to say that if your CoC characters are blithely rising in level, well, you don't play it like I play. Over third level and still possessing any shred of sanity is profoundly unlikely in the games I've run. Usually everyone is stark raving mad by the end of the first session and it's roll up new characters for the next session.

 

[Desdichado]

I just have to say that if your CoC characters are blithely rising in level, well, you don't play it like I play. Over third level and still possessing any shred of sanity is profoundly unlikely in the games I've run. Usually everyone is stark raving mad by the end of the first session and it's roll up new characters for the next session.

Exactly.

Plus we play for months at a time without leveling up. Come to think of it, we don't ever level up. We just occasionally start a little higher than 1st level to give us enough staying power to last into a session or two.

Besides, CoC is about slowly mounting tension and creeping dread, in our games anyway. We can spend many sessions back to back without a single encounter with just a mounting sense of creepiness and wrongness.

 

[Narfellus]

I'm also running a Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep d20 CoC campaign. They are still in the London Chapter. I actually use a blend of 5th edition CoC, d20, Grim Tales, and d20 Modern. Our game is a little more action/hero oriented than default Cthulhu, but it's no less dangerous. For what it's worth, the new Australia chapter is my favorite in the whole book. REALLY scary from a players point of view.

I like the d20 CoC book enough, it's very pretty, and the rules work, but it didn't have the FEEL of the original game that I wanted. Still, it's one of WotC's better products, sorry to see it go. I as well am waiting for Delta Green d20. Maybe one of these days...

 

[Desdichado]

I like the d20 CoC book enough, it's very pretty, and the rules work, but it didn't have the FEEL of the original game that I wanted.

What... that Runequest feel?

 

[Tymothi]

** STANDS and raises his head ** I PLAY CALL OF CTHULHU D20! and I am not ashamed!! Call of Cthulhu d20 is a good system..yes I said it..