CoC d20: convince me

[Eben]

First of: I'm a d20 fan.
But: I don't feel that liking this system is enough for me to buy the book. I already have the Chaosium version. I like d20 better, but I don't feel that "system" has any bearing on a game like CoC. I've had great games using the original. What makes d20 CoC so great that it would even enhance my experience. (And justify the expense other than the materialistic drive to own stuff.)

Thanks for the input.

 

[Geoff Watson]

It's really really cool!!!!

Ok.
Seriously, if you've already got the old CoC, the d20 version isn't designed for you. It's designed so that all the D&D fanboys see how great CoC is and give up D&D and buy lots of the old Chaoism system stuff.

Geoff.

 

[Eben]

Hm, kind of what I thought.
Would investigators have a higher survivability rate? While CoC in the Lovecraftian style shouldn't be about action, some essential encounters contain a certain amount of mundane physical danger (a mad club wielding cultist, his dog, my mother-in-law, to name but a few.) But even in running away, the most sensible and psychologically preferable reaction, you risk investigators galore. (Yes, it is the first time in my life I get to use this word. Now I just hope I used it right.)
I feel that a game of CoC should be about cosmological and existential dread and not just the threat that something even slightly bigger than you can have you for dinner. It shouldn't be about BOO scarry, but about WOOHOO scarry.
I can't but help feel that a higher survival rate would help accomplish this. I don't feel that a story-line is served by different protagonists after virtually every encounter.

 

[drnuncheon]

First of: I'm a d20 fan.
But: I don't feel that liking this system is enough for me to buy the book. I already have the Chaosium version. I like d20 better, but I don't feel that "system" has any bearing on a game like CoC. I've had great games using the original. What makes d20 CoC so great that it would even enhance my experience. (And justify the expense other than the materialistic drive to own stuff.)

Thanks for the input.

Well, I basically got it so that I would have the stats for Mythos monsters, gods/old ones, spells, and magic in a format that's compatible with D&D. I mean, come on - who doesn't want to throw a shoggoth at their players sometimes?

J

 

[Eben]

Throwing a shoggoth... Now there's an interesting concept. How large an area do you think it would spread out onto? Maybe it would be an interesting war-machine when youre besieging a city!

 

[mmadsen]

As drnuncheon pointed out, a huge draw of d20 CoC is that you can mix and match it with D&D. You can throw Cthulhu-esque monsters at your D&D party, you can borrow Cthulhu-esque spells for your evil necromancer, you can throw out huge chunks of D&D (like the magic system) and use CoC's rules instead, etc.

 

[kengar]

I'm considering buying d20 CoC though I own a copy of Chaosium's 5th ed. I've always loved Chaosium's stuff, back to the original RuneQuest. However, d20 (D&D) is the system that all my players already know, and I am loathe to make them learn all new mechanics for a campaign if a compatible version exists.

 

[estevans_lackey]

as far as GMing is concerned...

I think I'm going to do a CoC/Masque of the Red Death (Ravenloft) merger. Of course, I won't let the players know this. I'll run a "one-shot adventure in where the PC's find out that the "dark powers" of the Core are actually the Cthulhu Pantheon. By the time they find this out, though,... IT WILL BE TOO LATE! HAHAAHAHHAAAAAA!!!

Then I'll run the real campaign with the players out-of-game knowledge of what they've really gotten into slowly start to drive THEM insane. hehehe

 

[Brown Jenkin]

First of: I'm a d20 fan.
But: I don't feel that liking this system is enough for me to buy the book. I already have the Chaosium version. I like d20 better, but I don't feel that "system" has any bearing on a game like CoC. I've had great games using the original. What makes d20 CoC so great that it would even enhance my experience. (And justify the expense other than the materialistic drive to own stuff.)

Thanks for the input.

I own the old Chaosium stuff but I purchaced the new d20 version for several reasons. I like the d20 mechanics better and it is easier to switch between games I am playing. It still uses all the old good stuff like the insanity rules and is a well put together system, it doesn't feel like the parts are put together by Herbert West. I also like the new book, it does have some really good Lovecraft artwork. And of course ...must buy Cthuhlu stuff.

 

[trancejeremy]

IMHO, the best use for it is a D&D/Cthulhu crossover. This is not as wacky as it sounds.

For instance, the Kane novels from Karl Wagner are set in a world with a Cthulhu-ish setting. Particularly the novel, Darkness Weaves. One of the main characters is kinda like a Deep One, only creepier.

The Freeport Trilogy deals with Hastur (which predates HPL, but same basic premise). Speaker in Dreams from WOTC is somewhat Cthulhu-ish.

I would love to see a d20 Dreamlands book.