Wraith Form
Explorer
I, for one, am behind you 100% on this--I think d20 is utterly inappropriate for CoC (and other "mood- or narrative-based" rpgs). You expressed eloqently the very feelings I had about the BRP vs. d20 debate.The Great Sun Jester said:What I have been trying to address is the question of whether the original Chaosium BRP system or D20 is more condusive to a Keeper wishing to conjure up the requisite Lovecraftian atmosphere of horror and futility. I fail to see how using D20, where improvement in combat skills and survivability are the central pillar of character advancement, helps a Keeper to do this. D20, so far as I at least have observed, adds nothing worthwhile to the game that Chaosium's own system did not already offer.
Certainly, in the original BRP system a player character can begin with impressive combat skills, which will slowly advance if they are used in the course of games, if he's a soldier, federal agent, policeman or member some other profession where such skills would be appropriate. If, however, he's an academic, artist or socialite, then he, appropriately enough, won't possess combat abilities. Further, a character, no matter how fortunate and long-lived, remains realistically vulnerable to gunfire and everyday damage. Using D20, on the other hand, a character cannot aviod improving in combatitive ability, and will continue to accrue hit points until they are unrealistically tough and enduring. Worse than that, they get Sanity points back every level, eroding the fundamentals of the setting yet further. This is my central objection to the appropriateness of the D20 system to Call of Cthulhu. Not only is this, and the attitude it encourages amongst players, out of place in an atmospheric, investigative game, but it is essentially a rather stupid set of mechanics, which fail to sustain believability in a real-world setting. As I've said before, I wouldn't even use D20 for a high fantasy game, and yes I'm well aware that Delta Green contains some impressive lists of firearms, but Delta Green, excellent though it is, is a very different game, operating upon very different premises, and in a diferent setting, from those generally used in Call of Cthulhu.
As it stands, the D20 conversion of Cthulhu offers nothing of itself that the original does not, and adds the flaws of an imperfect conversion to an inappropriate, and already thoroughly flawed, system. Please, if you can, contradict me here, but to be brutally frank, the only reason that I can see for anyone to wish to use D20 in place of BRP is the lack of sufficient imagination to look for a better system, or indeed any system other than D20.
I especially agree with you regarding the BRP system's learning curve--when I first learned the 5th edition CoC rules, I had it down in (as you mentioned) about 1/2 hour. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, it's just that BRP is that easy to learn--it's very intuitive. I've had the core d20 books, the d20 CoC product and d20 Modern since their respective release dates--and I'm STILL trying to wrap my brain around some of the over-elaborate complexities offered in them, over three years later.
d20 has it's place, no denying that--but it's function as a combat-intensive miniatures-based war game seems to be increasing and it's usefulness as a ROLE-playing product seems to be diminishing.
Whatever. Easy solution: use the game engine you want with the style/genre you prefer. Some people actually LIKE d20 Cthulhu.