Call of Cthulhu- which version should I buy?

[griff_goodbeard]

Another question, does anyone have any experience with PbP CoC? I was wondering how well it worked in that medium.

 

[Henry]

Another question, does anyone have any experience with PbP CoC? I was wondering how well it worked in that medium.

There have been Call of Cthulhu Play by Post games here on ENWorld.

Doing a search, I came up with:

Diogenes Club (Cthulhu by Gaslight)

Pulp Cthulhu: Lost Temple of Yig

Nocturnum: Snowflake Valley

Cthulhu d20: What Rough Beast Part I

Cthulhu d20: What Rough Beast Part II


I followed "What Rough Beast" for quite a while, and the GM and players were quite good -- good enough to keep external readers interested.

 

[TiQuinn]

That first link is broken.

 

[griff_goodbeard]

Thanks Henry

 

[Spell]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. Another question. Is the d20 set in modern times? I remember playing a "Cthulhu by Gaslight" set in the 20's or something like that. I'd like to stay in that time period. I'd imaginge that changing the time period can't be that hard, something akin to changing from Greyhawk to FR. But does d20 support playing in different time periods.

follow this link
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=74_79&products_id=830

my opinion is that the choice of the system really depends on what you and your players are looking for and what your style of game mastering is.
Chaosium's CoC is great is you want a relatively free-style rule light system. d20's CoC is better is you want some more complex rules, and in you are really too comfortable with the system to look for anything else (or if you don't have the time to learn anything new... not that there is much to learn, really, but still...)

as somebody else's pointed out, chaosium has loads of supplements available, both in paper and pdf, focusing in the 1920s period of game... but you can get a number of supplements (or adventures) for 1890s, too (or for modern time, for that matters).

the d20 version doesn't have that support. that doesn't mean that you can do some conversion work, though.

moreover, just like you shouldn't listen to chaosium fanboys, you shouldn't listen to d20 ones, too. stating that the BRP csystem is simplistic just because, say, with 70% in surgery you have a 70% chance to be successful in every surgery is just wrong. as far as i rememberer, my copies of chaosium's CoC manual (5th and 6th edition) explicitely said that it's fair to impose bonuses and penalties to skill rolls depending on special situation...

just read the various reviews on the net (not just on amazon), and i think you will be able to decide for yourself. i think rpg.net, however much is hated by some people, is a good place to start.

 

[TiQuinn]

Are there any sites that anyone knows of that has some conversions for CoC to d20?

 

[Gomez]

Here are the Call of Cthulhu games that I have run as PBP.


Masks of Nyarlathotep
OCC Thread
Characters
Evidence
IC - Chapter 1: New York City
IC - Chapter 1.5: New York City
IC - Chapter 2: London

Delta Green: Operas and Avatars
OOC Thread
Characters
Game 1 - Tapeworm
Game 2 - Puppet Shows and Shadow Plays
Game 3 - Burn
Game 4 - Convergence

 

[Henry]

Interesting thought I was reminded of with Spell's comments: I think it was Piratecat from these forums who once said he ran BRP Call of Cthulhu games for a year or two before he had ever seen a rulebook. He was familair from playing elsewhere, and as long as people had character sheets, he made up the rest on the fly.

 

[Gomez]

Are there any sites that anyone knows of that has some conversions for CoC to d20?

There is a d20 Conversion Archive at Yog-sothoth.com.

 

[Spell]

The d20 CoC book did not focus on any specific time frame. Pulp Cthulhu was to be a d20 or duel stated book in response to the D20 book put out by Wizards. But Choasium has turned it's back on anything d20 and will not be putting out any d20 material. Pulp Cthulhu which was to be set in the 1930's is now going to be a BRP book only though I doubt if we will see it anytime in the near future if at all.

the book was supposed to be in support, not in response. chaosium would be rather dumb to conced the use of its own license to wizards, if they wanted d20 cthulhu to do bad.
having said that, i do agree that possibly the chaosium tried to jump on the d20 bandwagon only to interest new D&D fans in their own BRP system. which is quite fair, i think.