Call of Cthulhu

[Henry]

You get an *AMEN* from the audience for that one.

BRP rawks. Ya just can't mess with perfection...although WotC tried, and look at the results? Like a Dunwich Horror, we get CoC d20. ACK!

(Shove that in your pipes and smoke it, CoC d20 lovers!)

Now, I won't go so far as to call it perfection - I'll say it's better for one-shots. If I were running a campaign, I'd definitely go with the d20 version, because it's a shade more optimistic in character mechanics than its predecessor, and I can actually get people to play it regularly.

 

[mmadsen]

But what Keeper worth his/her salt would run a d20 CoC game with 15th level characters? All of the CoC games that I have run have had 1st to 3rd level characters. I feel that that more representive of a normal person.

I have to agree. If you're running the game with 15th-level characters, you're deliberately changing the tone -- which might be fine, but it is a deliberate change.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

(Shove that in your pipes and smoke it, CoC d20 lovers!)

That's a kind of a sucky thing to say.

Ever think there might be those of us whom like both systems?

For your surliness, you get the official emoticon.

(No real hard feelings meant, just defending the work of those
whom created CoC d20)

 

[Stormborn]

Trouble at Black Rock is a free d20 Modern adventure by Charles Ryan available at the WoC site on the d20 Modern page. While not CoC it can very easilly be adapted to suit those ends. I have run it as strait d20 Modern and really creeped out some of my players.

If you are interested in weirdness and horror I have two suggestions for you. First, a Pyramid Subscription from Steve Jackson Games. Its an online e-zine currently in its 10th year this week, the whole run is searchable to subscribers. Ken Hite's Supressed Transmissions columns alone are worth the price. Along the same line, pick up GURPS Horror (3rd ed, I think) by the self same Hite. Great ideas and guide lines for a Horror Game.

Second, Unknown Armies. While not for all the players in my group, I love the book. It has great information for any horror game and lots of plot hooks even if you aren't playing in that world. There is a new edition out, but if you are only interested in it for setting I recommend finding some of the older books online for cheap. Or you could try http://www.unknown-armies.com/ a fan site with lots of little weird idea to incorporate into any modern horror game.

The previously mentioned Infest from Monte Cook is a great starting point for a CoCd20 campaign, but with out some modifications I don't think it works well as a one shot.

 

[Wraith Form]

That's a kind of a sucky thing to say.

Ever think there might be those of us whom like both systems?

For your surliness, you get the official emoticon.

(No real hard feelings meant, just defending the work of those
whom created CoC d20)

Thank you for the Officially Assigned Emoticon (tm)--I shoulda put a smiley or a "J/K" in my own post to soften the blow to all the CoC d20 lover's prides.

What can I say? At 33, I make a perfect grumpy old man..!

HA HA HA HA HA!

But seriously, I respect the effort put out by the CoC d20 group, especially John Tynes (Pagan Publishing), whom I generally adore. I just think d20 is an overly complex, unelegant system--whereas BRP is refined, efficient, and very simple to use to evoke horror. But we're all entitled to our opinions, and that's cool.

Can we be friends? Or at least mutually grumpy without fighting?

 

[Yellow Sign]

Well at the age of 40 I have more the right for the title of Grumpy Old Man!

No Offense Taken!

Though I prefer d20 because of it's more complex rules. Well not really complex but I think BRP is too simple. I would rather be focused on the roleplaying and horror than keep tripping over shoddy rules.

But hey! To each their own! Let's just be friends with Nyarlothotep and lets not worry about which of his thousand forms we worship!

 

[Geoffrey]

IMO, here is the core of Lovecraft:

The Call of Cthulhu
The Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
The Shadow over Innsmouth
The Shadow Out of Time

I'd say to definitely read at least those five stories.

 

[haiiro]

My favorite CoC one shot ever, hands-down, is In Media Res by John Tynes. It came out in Pagan Publishing's magazine The Unspeakable Oath, issue 10 (long out of print), and was recently re-released in The Resurrected Volume 3: Out of the Vault (very much in print).

This scenario is simply amazing, and requires no Mythos or CoC background from the players or the GM. Very mature themes, and definitely a roleplaying challenge -- but I can't emphasize enough how good it is.

I ran it once, more than 10 years ago, and I'm still excited about it.

 

[LcKedovan]

However, I am about to recommend something that may be a bit of d20 Heresy:

The BRP version of Call of Cthulhu (the original, from Chaosium) is better for Horror One-shots in my opinion.

Its ruleset is geared toward VERY normal men and women who face something out of their league; you have very little power in the way of defense against the mythos creatures, and you start out as good as you will EVER be. I daresay the original also contains even better information on running lovecraft horror than the d20 version does.

It is still available through Chaosium and through most RPG shops, and costs about the same as the d20 Book. Both systems are well worth purchase, but the Original version contains a greater wealth of source material.

Not just available most CofC fans prefer the BRP. I do like the D20 book, it is great, but why put the D20 detail into your characters for a game like CofC with it's body count.

-W.

 

[LcKedovan]

Y'know, when I was making my list, I started with RitW, erased it, and put Dunwich Horror instead! I love RitW, but the "investigator style" is better put forward by inspector Legrasse and company, and Professor Armitage and Company, than by de la Poer - although de la Poer is excellent inspiration for when an investigator goes to zero SAN.

RitW is a Lovecraft _MUST_ in my books

-Will