Now, monsters become the only real source of xp; meaning a greatly-slowed level advancement (good) and combat becoming the go-to option (not so good).
if one does as God does enough times one becomes as God is
Now, monsters become the only real source of xp; meaning a greatly-slowed level advancement (good) and combat becoming the go-to option (not so good).
While I get that awarding XP for collecting treasure incentivizes a single specific form of campaign play that by no means has to be the only style to play a fantasy RPG, making XP for defeating enemies the only clearly codified way of getting experience was just a horrible thing with, I would argue, severe permanent damage to the RPG medium.Where this changed at many tables (including ours) was when xp-for-gp was dropped; and this became RAW in 2e. Now, monsters become the only real source of xp; meaning a greatly-slowed level advancement (good) and combat becoming the go-to option (not so good).
For the stuff in the middle or at the top I think you need to be Hellboy instead of Ash. Or possibly Titus Crowe.
In any case, even they didn't get through without being maimed, all three of them have artificial limbs
While I get that awarding XP for collecting treasure incentivizes a single specific form of campaign play that by no means has to be the only style to play a fantasy RPG, making XP for defeating enemies the only clearly codified way of getting experience was just a horrible thing with, I would argue, severe permanent damage to the RPG medium.
So much dumb followed from it that became the default for all fantasy RPGs.
With regard to Vampire, it's worth comparing it to how vampire fiction at the time (and still today) was steadily moving away from vampirism being a miserable curse and into being something cool. You can see a major change in how Anne Rice (one of the codifiers of the modern vampire) was approaching it, even between Interview with the Vampire and the sequel. The first one is a depiction of an abusive relationship where the vampires are superficially glamorous, but hollow and numb to the monstrous things they do, the latter has literal rock star vampires who love their life and only eat naughty people. The Lost Boys would sum it up pretty well around the same time with the tagline "Party all night, sleep all day and never grow old."
I'd argue that those tended to still suggest it was a fundamentally corrupt life-state though. Its not like David and his friends were depicted as the heroes of the piece; they just showed that it was a state that could be tempting.
I agree with you - CoC RPG as a system does not support the feel I want for CoC mythos.As a GM, I want to love CoC for a lot of reasons, but I am frustrated that neither the system nor the examples of seem capable of producing the results that I want and it's not obvious to me how to create a game that does accomplish what I want.
For a laser-focused RPG like some of the PbtA games we see today, having a "Do a dungeon crawl to find monsters to kill so you advance" mechanic works just fine.While I get that awarding XP for collecting treasure incentivizes a single specific form of campaign play that by no means has to be the only style to play a fantasy RPG, making XP for defeating enemies the only clearly codified way of getting experience was just a horrible thing with, I would argue, severe permanent damage to the RPG medium.
So much dumb followed from it that became the default for all fantasy RPGs.
I'm reminded of the Winchester boy's go-to, rock salt. But yes, perhaps an investigator should be more like Dr. Van Helsing, armed with knowledge of the weaknesses of his foes; silver, crucifixes, holy water, wooden stakes (with a mallet because, as a doctor, he knows that there's bone protecting the heart!), etc..I agree with you - CoC RPG as a system does not support the feel I want for CoC mythos.
If I wanted to get away from the heavily armed and more back to the investigators, I'd start putting in resistance to modern weapons depending how eldritch something is. So against a cultist sure your guns work, but against things like zombies they aren't more effective than a knife, and against something horrifying they are a lot less effective.
At the same time, put in occult means to hurt them. I'm not talking about making an Occult check just a mystic bullet to beat them up, but things that need to be prepped with either investigation or time. Like finding out that these fish-men are hurt by iron filings, while we know a name that causes torment to that abomination, and if I draw a ritual circle and lure them inside my chanting can dissolve them. And armed with that prep and/or knowledge allow Occult to attack. With it being more effective the more knowledge/prep you have. And things like enchanted athame and such still will work as well.