CoC: Everyone is dead.

[NemesisPress]

Any good gamer can come up with his/her own rules, but the purpose of a published set is twofold: to provide some common frame of reference for players, and to provide some playtested ideas and mechanisms.

CoC is badly underdeveloped as a game system (which is rather ironic considering the quality of the published scenarios). Sanity is thematically the centerpiece of the game, yet the Sanity rules are of little help. (Take a look at the Book of Broken Dreams if you want to see what those two tables really imply.)

If you're happy with your own house rules, that's great. In fact, I'd like to hear what ideas other CoC players have come up with. But if you are looking for an existing system that is detailed and well-designed take a look at Ravenloft and then supplement that with the Book of Broken Dreams. (By the way, whether or not you like the setting, 3rd Edition Ravenloft and the new supplement for it are extremely well written - as are the products from Netherlands Games.)

 

[mmadsen]

CoC is badly underdeveloped as a game system. Sanity is thematically the centerpiece of the game, yet the Sanity rules are of little help.

I still have no idea what you're talking about. You give no specifics. Call of Cthulhu d20 offers an entire chapter on Sanity, Chapter 4, with rules for going insane, tables listing various ways to go insane, descriptions of mental illnesses, etc.

But if you are looking for an existing system that is detailed and well-designed take a look at Ravenloft...

I own Ravenloft 3E too, and I still don't know what you're getting at. Are you against an ablative Sanity score? Are you fond of dividing Terror in Fear, Horror, and Madness?

 

[Wicht]

Any good gamer can come up with his/her own rules,

Who mentioned making house rules?!?

The sanity rules seem playable as is. what I was getting at is that each group will role-play the rules differently.

In DnD for instance, one group will simply describe the to-hit numbers and the hit-points until the DM says "you killed him," while another group will have a DM that says, "you slashed at him and cut into his arm, he is wounded but not badly so."

The rules stay the same but how the group makes them playable changes from group to group. Likewise with the sanity. Using the rules one group might simply roll up paranoia as insanity and tell the player, "Your character is paranoid now, you are scared of all spiders." While another will go into more detail and greatly elaborate. The mechanics tell you when you went insane and how but the group has the responsibility to make the whole thing playable by incorporating them smoothly into the scenario.

That is all I was saying.

 

[333 Dave]

"Your character is paranoid now, you are scared of all spiders."

Why are you relating paranoia with arachnophobia? I'm sorry, did I miss something?

The rest of your post I agree with.

 

[LcKedovan]

I just managed to get myself a copy of the D20 rules for CoC. I haven't read through the whole thing, and my only worry was that it wouldn't be CoC enough or dangerous (levels?!?!?! We don't need no stinking levels!) but it lightens my heart to read that there was a TPK. CoC should be about insignificant man being thrown against forces he has no chance against but perhaps can succeed to buy just a little more time.

In CoC the characters should expect their untimely demise, that makes those rare characters that survive that much more precious. I remember running Masks of Nyarlathotep one time and on player died 7 times in one night's session (AHAHAHAHAH). I shudder to think what his campaign death count was.

-Will

 

[Horacio]

Will, you're back! Cool!

 

[LcKedovan]

Yup! And just in time it seems . The only problem is on some threads I have to log in about 5 times, which is a pain in the @$$. But here I am, hey check out the online CoC thread in this forum too! I'm going to sign up if it's a PBP or email game.

-Will

 

[Horacio]

The login problem is becoming rather common in this temporal boards...

Going to see that thead!

 

[Wicht]

Why are you relating paranoia with arachnophobia? I'm sorry, did I miss something?

Oops.
Slip of the brain

 

[Horacio]

Oops.
Slip of the brain

Roll Sanity, Wicht!