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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2009647" data-attributes="member: 172">Call of Cthulhu mini-review(My full review of d20 Call of Cthulhu is on d20 Weekly. I am providing this mini review to highlight a few salient points that have not been covered here.)D20 Call of Cthulhu is an d20 system adaptation of the classic Call of Cthulhu RPG by Chaosium, which is based on the seminal horror works of early 20th century author HP Lovecraft.In keeping with the mood of Lovecraft's work, the BRP Call of Cthulhu game was very gritty and dangerous. The combat system did not pull any punches, and knowledge of the horrifying true nature of reality could lead to a slow slide into insanity.The D20 version of the game is in keeping with that. The system does use D&D-style HP, with some modifications. The massive damage threshold is lowered from 50 (as it exists in D&D) to 10. This makes most armed confrontation or confrontation with Cthulhu mythos creatures a dangerous affair.Another major setting feature emulated by the d20 CoC rules is the insidious nature of reality. Characters receive an insanity score that is often difficult if not impossible to replenish; losing sanity can result in temporary or permanent psychological disorders. In addition, learning spells does not require a specific character type, but costs the character sanity, and the casting spells causes temporary or permanent ability loss. These aspects of the d20 CoC system work well.Of more dubious value is the character generation system for d20 CoC. To make the system more functional in modern settings, d20 CoC does not use classes per se. Rather, it uses options and profession templates.All characters choose one of two options, the offense option or the defense option. This determines the characters BAB and saving throw advancement (though you can pick WHICH saving throws are good). The problem with these is that they don't really represent anything concrete. Further, it easy to see characters that fit one or the other but it is also easy to see characters who do not fit either.Skill points per level is the same for all characters, but "class" skills are determined by the selection of a profession template. Each template represents a number of skills associated with the profession, some of which the player is allowed to select. The choice of option and template profession is permanent; there is no "multiclassing" of options or templates in d20 CoC. This makes the initial choices very static.D20 Call of Cthulhu has a plethora of campaign source material for Lovecraftian elements, from tomes to creatures. The Cthulhu Mythos chapter is particularly good, provided a very good overview of the Cthulhu universe's central elements and providing ideas for using them in a game. The gamemaster chapters provide excellent advice for running investigative style horror adventures. Further, appendices provide information on using the elements of this book in D&D and other d20 system games, with rules for more heroic play as well as major mythos figures statistics for epic-style play.ConclusionIn short, I think D20 Call of Cthulhu is a great supplement but not so great a game. The add-on rules such as insanity and elements like mythos creatures are very well done, and the adaptation material in the appendix should make it easy to adapt to a variety of settings regardless of the style of play you are looking for.But when compared to other offering for modern games, the character generation system seems very weak and inflexible. The systems for Spycraft and D20 Modern would make for much more flexible venues for investigators in a d20 based CoC game.-Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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