Call of Cthulhu- which version should I buy?

[DnDChick]

No problem ... a lot of people miss or don't remember the low MDT in Cthulhu d20.

 

[Spell]

Whoooooo boy, yes it does.

ok... so, after some 10 years, i can say i was unfair to the italian publisher...
i have to say, though, that the 5th edition of call of cthulhu was instrumental in my change of policy when it came to buying (no more italian translations!). since then, it has been responsile for:
1. the sky-rocketing in my english skills.
2. the realisation that some parts of GURPS did made sense... they were just translated poorly.
3. the realisation that the art of english version of the warhammer core book was not supposed to look like a patchwork from a thousand different sources.
4. the demise of the italian role playing industry D well, not really! i suppose a lot of other people just got sick of waiting ages for translation that, sometimes, were obviously made by people who either didn't get role playing games at all, or didn't have a fantastic knowledge of english to begin with...)

 

[JoeGKushner]

If you play D&D/d20 Modern at all, you should pick up the d20 version for the monsters, advice, and other bits.

As far as I know, it's sold out so you'll only be able to get it through secondary markets though.

 

[Will]

I have BRP and D20 CoC. My suggestion is ... odd:

Get D20 CoC.
Get Mutants and Masterminds (perhaps wait for second edition), cap everyone at Power Level 5. Use the 2nd edition rule of 'PL stays at 5, no matter how many points you have'
Use M&M for most stuff, but use sanity and spells from D20 CoC.

Why?
M&M solves one factor people didn't like about D20 CoC... you can make your librarian with no attack bonus. It also has a cool hero point mechanic that you can use to enhance the pulp element or otherwise help people save their butts from time to time. Or, if you want it more raw, skip the hero points.
Better, IMO, is that M&M doesn't use hit points; this is one thing I never liked about _either_ BRP or D20 CoC. There are also nice optional rules for 'mental damage' and 'penalties due to damage.'

Anyhow, off my box.

 

[Henry]

If you play D&D/d20 Modern at all, you should pick up the d20 version for the monsters, advice, and other bits.

I have a "setting" that I run for conventions, I call it "Arkham Squad." It's "the Cthulhu Mythos meets Special Unit 2." I use Modern for the PCs and "standard magic," and Cthulhu for the spells (which are rituals anyone can do, not just spellcasters), the beasties, and the sanity system. It's fun watching someone try to pin down a Dimensional Shambler or Hound of Tindalos with Rocket Launchers & Automatic Machine Gun fire on top of a high-rise building, as it keeps popping in and out of reality and trying to bull-rush the PCs off the edges.

 

[Chiaroscuro23]

The two systems are substantially similar. Both use a linear distribution die, both use HP, both use fairly similar stats (Seriously, IIRC, Nyarlahotep has a Dexterity of 19 in BRP), the sanity system is identical.

The few differences might matter to you in play, and they might not. BRP has no feats, of course, and has a roll-under percentile skill system. That's easy to learn but takes away some character differentiation and simulation ability. IME, speed of resolution in play is about the same. People have the impression, from D&D, the d20 combat takes forever. This mostly doesn't carry over, because normally you don't have interative attacks or rampant spellcasting in CoC.

Finally, the DM advice in the d20 version is fantastic. It's worth the price of the book on that alone, IMO. Also, as Joe suggests, if you want Cthuloid beasties and sanity-blasting magic premade to drop into your D&D game, d20 CoC will give it to you.

I own and like both, but when I run I prefer d20 because my players hate learning new systems.

Cheers.

 

[KaosDevice]

It's fun watching someone try to pin down a Dimensional Shambler or Hound of Tindalos with Rocket Launchers & Automatic Machine Gun fire on top of a high-rise building, as it keeps popping in and out of reality and trying to bull-rush the PCs off the edges.

I knew there was something about you I liked.

 

[Henry]

I knew there was something about you I liked.

You want what's REALLY fun? Just apply the sanity rules to NPCs, and tell the PCs they're not affected -- but they don't know why. That alone will unnerve them. It also means they are VERY hesitant to trust anyone or call for assistance, because of the likelihood of an ally wigging out and blasting them as well as the horrors:

HQ on Radio: "Squad Omicron, sounds like you are in a firefight! Should we send backup? Over?"
PC, looking at the Shoggoth they're fighting: "HQ, do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT send assistance! Over!"

 

[KaosDevice]

HQ on Radio: "Squad Omicron, sounds like you are in a firefight! Should we send backup? Over?"
PC, looking at the Shoggoth they're fighting: "HQ, do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT send assistance! Over!"

My players were like that anyway. They hated having to call for backup because of fears of attracting Majestic-12 or blowing any sort of deniability they might have if they had to cover anything up. Deniability is KING in Delta Green.


"That green ooze seeping into the sewers? It's a harmless chemical foam used as an acid retardant. Nothing to worry about citizens, move along."

 

[TheLostSoul]

This is a little OT, but Chaosium has annouched the release of PulpChtulhu for next year on GenCon. You can see a short resumé of their GenCon seminar here.

IIRC it will be BRP. That was annouched more than a year ago. The precise releasedate is not known yet and is very susceptible to delayes. Chaosium is infamous for that (the last few reasons has been a harddrive breakdown (took the entire San Fransisco manuscript with it...) and economy).