[CoC] What is it, exactly?

[Henry]

We only play it as one shots, and I've never met anyone who did differently.

I have played two call of cthulhu campaigns in my life.

The first one went pretty well - the players had fun, and we played it more in the line of movies like "The frighteners," "Cast a deadly spell," and "Army of Darkness" - in other words, horror, but mixed with a heavy amount of dark comedy. It's the only way in my opinion to play it, because unless you enjoy being severely depressed, a long-term campaign in pure Lovecraft style does not work well.
Most everyone played multiple characters over time, because getting killed off is a part of life for COC, and I gave "character points" at the end of each session. People could use those points to add to their new characters to make them more survivable. In the end, since the average character's life expectancy was about 3 sessions, the points did not accumulate too high.

The second game did not go as well, because we played it more seriously, and several players quit as a result. It was just too depressing to play a character, Who started out the best they could be, and would never get better, only worse as their minds and bodies were shattered by the truth of the universe, and crazy cultists who wanted to end everything around them.

IMO, it does indeed work well as one-shots, just as Lovecraft's short stories did, but in a long-running campaign, you need something additional to focus on besides the horror elements, or you get burnt out quickly.

 

[Geoffrey]

Wombat, it sounds to me that you might like to play De Profundis.

 

[Desdichado]

Lovecraft himself isn't that great of a writer, actually. I wouldn't say he's a master of evoking dread or insanity -- mostly it's kinda of a "the scary scariness scared me because it was so scary" and I find myself saying, "Great, but how does that scare me as a reader?" Much of what he wrote was just too weird to be scary too; weirdness makes you raise your eyebrow and say "Weird," not get freaked out.

That said, when he was really on his game, he did write some pretty good stuff -- "At the Mountains of Madness" is a great example of slowly building dread. Of course, when it gets to the punchline, I found myself going "that's it?" a little bit.

The game itself is good for any kind of horror, though -- and reflects that, as it has very non-Lovecraftian things like zombies and the like available as well as Deep Ones and Yog-Sothoth.

EDIT: Apparently the word I was using to describe what you do with your eyebrow caught the filters. Weird.

 

[The Little Raven]

"Cast a deadly spell,"

You rule. I love that movie.

 

[Geoffrey]

Oops.

 

[Gellion]

Never is it to be thought that man is either oldest or last of the Masters of Earth; nay, nor that the great'r part of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces known to us, but between them, They walk calm and primal, of no dimensions, and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate, for Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future -- what has been, what is, what will be, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through in time to come until the Cycle is complete. He knows why no one can behold Them as They walk. Sometimes men can know Them near by Their smell, which is strange to the nostrils, and like unto a creature of great age; but of Their semblance no man can know, save seldom in features of those They have begotten on mankind, which are awful to behold, and thrice awful are Those who sired them; yet of those Offspring there are divers kinds, in likeness greatly differing from man's truest image and fairest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is Them. They walk unseen, They walk foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at Their Seasons, which are in the blood and differ from the seasons of men. The winds gibber with Their voices; the Earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest. They raise up the waves. They crush the city -- yet not forest or ocean or city beholds the hand that smites. Kadath in the cold waste knows them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones whereon Their seal is engraven, but who has seen the deep frozen city of the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. As a foulness shall They be known to the race of man. Their hands are at the throats of men forever, from beginning of known time to end of time known, yet none sees Them; and Their habitation is even one with your guarded threshold. Yog-Sothoth is the key to the gate whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where once They ruled; soon They shall rule again where man rules now. After summer is winter, and after winter summer.They wait patient and potent, for here shall They reign again, and at Their coming again none shall dispute Them and all shall be subject to Them. Those who know of the gates shall be impelled to open the way for Them and shall serve Them as They desire, but those who open the way unwitting shall know but a brief while thereafter.

 

[AdamBank]

Call of Cthulhu: The novella

The RPGs called Call of Cthulhu are incredible at capturing the story, look, and feel of one particular Lovecraft story: the original Call of Cthulhu short story! Both the flavor of horror and the structure of adventures--investigation, terrible insights, flight from conspiracy, boss fight where everyone loses, etc--is taken straight from the plot and execution of the original work.

Here's a online version of the original story. The best way to understand the game is to read the story.

Both versions of the game (d20 & BRP) also work well in many other flavors of horror. d20 does "survival horror" wonderfully--just start the PCs with a handful of levels. There are great BRP adventures covering subgenres such as schlock horror, slasher flicks, gothic weirdness, etc.