Call of Cthulhu grows to the second best selling RPG core book on Amazon USA

[MGibster]

I know the classic view of CoC is that everyone dies in the end as the world is destroyed, but that's because it's fun to do that at one-shots in conventions! Actual campaigns aren't like that at all. I've run several, and they overwhelming are about the heroes facing barely understandable cosmic horrors and saving the world.

I've railed against the summation of Call of Cthulhu as "that game where you go insane, die, or both" as I believe this harmful and more likely to drive people away from the game. But CoC is a horror game and every game I've participated in, as a Keeper or an Investigator, has been rather bleak. But I've only had one campaign end with a total party kill. Well, one of the characters ended up giving birth to herself so maybe it wasn't technically a TPK. (Cthlhu can be weird as well as bleak.)

 

[CleverNickName]

I've railed against the summation of Call of Cthulhu as "that game where you go insane, die, or both" as I believe this harmful and more likely to drive people away from the game. But CoC is a horror game and every game I've participated in, as a Keeper or an Investigator, has been rather bleak. But I've only had one campaign end with a total party kill. Well, one of the characters ended up giving birth to herself so maybe it wasn't technically a TPK. (Cthlhu can be weird as well as bleak.)

I don't understand that "everyone always dies" assessment, either. You can run a "Call of Cthulhu campaign," just like any other RPG. You can have the same characters in the same setting, growing more powerful over the course of several adventures, unlocking more abilities as they grow, defeating eldritch horrors and saving the world. We've managed to do it for (checks calendar) about a year and a half now.

 

[overgeeked]

Yeah, that everyone either dies or goes insane every session is a wild misunderstanding of the game. Call of Cthulhu is a horror & mystery game, but it's not a grindhouse RPG.

 

[overgeeked]

I don't understand that "everyone always dies" assessment, either. You can run a "Call of Cthulhu campaign," just like any other RPG. You can have the same characters in the same setting, growing more powerful over the course of several adventures, unlocking more abilities as they grow, defeating eldritch horrors and saving the world. We've managed to do it for (checks calendar) about a year and a half now.

Though, to be fair...unless you're running Pulp Cthulhu, the chances of characters going insane only ever increases as time goes on. So long campaigns with all the same characters from the start, none going insane or dying, becomes vanishingly rare as time goes on...unless the PCs are extremely lucky or the Keeper is going particularly soft on them.

 

[CleverNickName]

Though, to be fair...unless you're running Pulp Cthulhu, the chances of characters going insane only ever increases as time goes on. So long campaigns with all the same characters from the start, none going insane or dying, becomes vanishingly rare as time goes on...unless the PCs are extremely lucky or the Keeper is going particularly soft on them.

Valid point; the Lore Keeper has a good deal of control over how much Sanity is lost over the course of an adventure, and how quickly it is recovered. Similar to how the Dungeon Master has a lot of control over how many hit points and spell slots are in the party.

I don't think it's a problem with the game system itself.

 

[darjr]

Huh. Now I want to start a CoC campaign where all the PCs have the minimum sanity and the goal is to help each other get better through perilous adventures!

 

[overgeeked]

Valid point; the Lore Keeper has a good deal of control over how much Sanity is lost over the course of an adventure, and how quickly it is recovered. Similar to how the Dungeon Master has a lot of control over how many hit points and spell slots are in the party.

I don't think it's a problem with the game system itself.

Huh. I think characters being fragile, dying fairly easily, and going insane is a feature, not a bug. But I’m not sure this is the place for that conversation.

 

[MGibster]

I don't understand that "everyone always dies" assessment, either. You can run a "Call of Cthulhu campaign," just like any other RPG. You can have the same characters in the same setting, growing more powerful over the course of several adventures, unlocking more abilities as they grow, defeating eldritch horrors and saving the world. We've managed to do it for (checks calendar) about a year and a half now.

When looking at some of the older campaigns/scenarios from the past I can see where the reputation came from. Even a classic like Masks of Nyarlathotep has some sections in them that are real meat grinders.

Huh. I think characters being fragile, dying fairly easily, and going insane is a feature, not a bug. But I’m not sure this is the place for that conversation.

Sure it is! Maybe that's one of the reasons Chaosium is still printing books after nearly 40 years.

 

[aramis erak]

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn! This is good news and I hope Lovecraft Country has encouraged more people to give good old Call of Cthulhu a try.

It's made me more resistant than ever to the idea of it... But I'm not the typical gamer.

It's probably a lot of little things. The Critical Role one-shot you mentioned probably helped, and so did the Lovecraft Country series that @MGibster mentioned. For me, it was discovering The Magnus Archives podcast a couple of years ago.

THere's also that D&D doesn't do existential horror all that well, and that there are a lot of very compatible adventures available new and used.... because BRP is BRP. Plus, RAW, one can use CoC as a late 19th to mid 20th C game without any mechanical mods, just by ignoring the milieu elements.

I'm a little surprised that a somewhat depressing game like Call of Cthulhu is doing well right now. Members of my group said they didn't want to play Alien because it was too bleak in light of the current pandemic.

For some, a dark setting is a catharsis because they are reminded that life could be worse...
Not me, but I have a couple friends of that ilk.

Valid point; the Lore Keeper has a good deal of control over how much Sanity is lost over the course of an adventure, and how quickly it is recovered. Similar to how the Dungeon Master has a lot of control over how many hit points and spell slots are in the party.

I don't think it's a problem with the game system itself.

CoC is, if you ignore the bestiary, a solid 18th-19th C setting supported by the equipment lists.

Some people running the CoC rules aren't doing anything nearly as dark, just using the rules and mechanical setting elements. How many of those there are is anyone's guess.

 

[wicked cool]

I have never played however I may get the starter set and be a keeper. My questions are sort of related to Grahams post

4-6 players 1 shot? Can the starter sets handle that many players. Ive watched some lets plays and I'm not sure
after that best 4-6 campaigns

in many ways this game seems to work for non gamers as seems to be less complicated than 5e D&D