Moulin Rogue
First Post
uv23 said:
I haven't seen it yet
Could someone please provide the exact Canadian price as printed on the book itself? The FRCS was $55.95 Canadian and I want to know if they're maintaining that rate for 320-page books.
First impressions of D20 Call of Cthulu
- Thread starter scadgrad
- Start date
I haven't seen it yet
Could someone please provide the exact Canadian price as printed on the book itself? The FRCS was $55.95 Canadian and I want to know if they're maintaining that rate for 320-page books.
Moulin Rogue
First Post
Ah, thanks. (and our $5 bill has hockey players on the back now, didja know?)
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Well I've got through a fair amount of the book so far. A few thoughts so far...
Its very technical. I think I was expecting more flavor and story and less things like specific disorders, psychiatric treatment and so on. I do realize this stuff is essential though seeing as very few of us are psychiatrists. Despite that, just reading it has proven to be sufficiently disturbing. There's just something about the absolutely bleak nature of HPL that makes me roll sanity checks just thinking about it.
One thing that bothers me is the preservation of the sanity system as has been mentioned before. The reasoning behind it being more effective because its alien to d20 is lame. They should have just gone fully d20 on it. I don't see how it would have been that complicated.
Anyways all in all its a good read although I find myself having to take breaks. When I first started reading it, it was more for fun and inspiration but the more I read, the more interested I am in playing in a CoC campaign. Its definitely the most challenging campaign of any d20 product thus far and will seperate the truly masterful game masters from the hack & slash masters.
Its very technical. I think I was expecting more flavor and story and less things like specific disorders, psychiatric treatment and so on. I do realize this stuff is essential though seeing as very few of us are psychiatrists. Despite that, just reading it has proven to be sufficiently disturbing. There's just something about the absolutely bleak nature of HPL that makes me roll sanity checks just thinking about it.
One thing that bothers me is the preservation of the sanity system as has been mentioned before. The reasoning behind it being more effective because its alien to d20 is lame. They should have just gone fully d20 on it. I don't see how it would have been that complicated.
Anyways all in all its a good read although I find myself having to take breaks. When I first started reading it, it was more for fun and inspiration but the more I read, the more interested I am in playing in a CoC campaign. Its definitely the most challenging campaign of any d20 product thus far and will seperate the truly masterful game masters from the hack & slash masters.
Broken Fang
First Post
I to got my copy earlier today and have gone through a good chunk of it...while also trying to go through Dirtside 2 (modern mass combat game). Its a good thing I didn't have to do anything today!
The book is very nice...PHB/DMG/MM all in one! For those of you worried about the D&D conversions only the last 30 pages deal with D&D, thats 285 pages of Cthulhu.
About character creation: There are no classes as stated earlier. BAB progression maxes out at +15/10/5. Each character gets 12 "core" skills (treated as class skills) and 8 skill points per level.Cthulhu Mythos can NOT be raised with skill points...only through experiance with the Mythos or reading Mythos tomes. HP are determined by d6 + CON modifier.
Sanity...I don't know why they didn't change everything to a d20 roll instead of a %, but oh well we all have the dice to roll. They do have a neat chart on p. 288 for monster sanity loss with D&D monsters...something I am thinking about bringing into the game.
Death from massive damage has been reduced to 10 points. DC 15 Fortitude check. That is going to be nasty. Even at 9th level with a good F save and +4 CON you fail the roll 20% of the time (1-4).
Magic is pretty cool and could be used for those "low" magic settings (though it might require some conversion). There is no spells per day...they all have some attribute/sanity cost (some attributes are permenantly lost from casting)!
There is a good section on the Mythos and how to run a horror game (about 50-60 pages). This section will really help those who are not familiar with the game/books.
I give the book an A! With SpyCraft you could have a great X-Files type campaign though you could probably make due with the information presented in CoC itself, just make up some more feats, etc.
The book is very nice...PHB/DMG/MM all in one! For those of you worried about the D&D conversions only the last 30 pages deal with D&D, thats 285 pages of Cthulhu.
About character creation: There are no classes as stated earlier. BAB progression maxes out at +15/10/5. Each character gets 12 "core" skills (treated as class skills) and 8 skill points per level.Cthulhu Mythos can NOT be raised with skill points...only through experiance with the Mythos or reading Mythos tomes. HP are determined by d6 + CON modifier.
Sanity...I don't know why they didn't change everything to a d20 roll instead of a %, but oh well we all have the dice to roll. They do have a neat chart on p. 288 for monster sanity loss with D&D monsters...something I am thinking about bringing into the game.
Death from massive damage has been reduced to 10 points. DC 15 Fortitude check. That is going to be nasty. Even at 9th level with a good F save and +4 CON you fail the roll 20% of the time (1-4).
Magic is pretty cool and could be used for those "low" magic settings (though it might require some conversion). There is no spells per day...they all have some attribute/sanity cost (some attributes are permenantly lost from casting)!
There is a good section on the Mythos and how to run a horror game (about 50-60 pages). This section will really help those who are not familiar with the game/books.
I give the book an A! With SpyCraft you could have a great X-Files type campaign though you could probably make due with the information presented in CoC itself, just make up some more feats, etc.
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TalonComics
First Post
Re: Silly
And that's the reason why publishers are converting their games to D20 because there are thousands of people out there that have never played the original system. Legend of the Five Rings D20 is a perfect example of that. So will CoCD20.
www.taloncomics.com/cthulhud20.html
~Derek
i8flesh said:
And that's the reason why publishers are converting their games to D20 because there are thousands of people out there that have never played the original system. Legend of the Five Rings D20 is a perfect example of that. So will CoCD20.
www.taloncomics.com/cthulhud20.html
~Derek
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Vocenoctum
First Post
I might simply go back to the Con=hp thing, perhaps with the addition of con bonus per level...
Do you still gain sanity for completing missions? or has the xp system replaced that?
I ordered the signed copy, so mine's one of the "bumped until April 9th" books frag it all!
Do you still gain sanity for completing missions? or has the xp system replaced that?
I ordered the signed copy, so mine's one of the "bumped until April 9th" books frag it all!
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Pielorinho said:
I was with you right up to that point, and then you suddenly lost me.
Wulf
HP = not a big deal
I think too much is being made of Hit Points in d20 CoC. Consider 2 kinds of CoC games:
1.) The short-lived game where everyone or almost everyone dies. In this case, the characters are usually pregenerated, or if not pregen, then they are created at the same level (say level 1 chars) or what-have-you and the GM can base obstacles on that level of power (and Hit Points.) It would be uncommon for 10th+ level Investigators in this scenario as that wouldn't represent real people too closely, but if they were 10th level then the GM should have make the defeatable foes releatively the same or lower level. HP just don't make a difference here.
2) A long-lived campaign where Investigators are going up in level from game to game assuming they survive. Well this is a different style game, and if it has high mortality, new characters can be made at level 1 and surviving characters will likely die before level 5. You'll never have an uber-PC; that is, unless the campaign has lower lethality/insanity and the PCs can be in it for the long-haul. Well this is yet another style game where it makes sense for PCs to become stronger and more powerful over time, and the GM should scale the threat accordingly. If HP are a problem in this game, then so are increasing Feats and Skills. A 10th PC could be a world-class expert in many fields and an ultimate soldier, is this more outlandish that high HP?
When you sit down to prepare and play a d20 CoC game, you'll know what to expect by what you want in the game, and HP should pose no real mechanical problem.
I think too much is being made of Hit Points in d20 CoC. Consider 2 kinds of CoC games:
1.) The short-lived game where everyone or almost everyone dies. In this case, the characters are usually pregenerated, or if not pregen, then they are created at the same level (say level 1 chars) or what-have-you and the GM can base obstacles on that level of power (and Hit Points.) It would be uncommon for 10th+ level Investigators in this scenario as that wouldn't represent real people too closely, but if they were 10th level then the GM should have make the defeatable foes releatively the same or lower level. HP just don't make a difference here.
2) A long-lived campaign where Investigators are going up in level from game to game assuming they survive. Well this is a different style game, and if it has high mortality, new characters can be made at level 1 and surviving characters will likely die before level 5. You'll never have an uber-PC; that is, unless the campaign has lower lethality/insanity and the PCs can be in it for the long-haul. Well this is yet another style game where it makes sense for PCs to become stronger and more powerful over time, and the GM should scale the threat accordingly. If HP are a problem in this game, then so are increasing Feats and Skills. A 10th PC could be a world-class expert in many fields and an ultimate soldier, is this more outlandish that high HP?
When you sit down to prepare and play a d20 CoC game, you'll know what to expect by what you want in the game, and HP should pose no real mechanical problem.
Vocenoctum
First Post
Well, the HP problem as I see it is that you have 6 hp at 1st, and potentially 6 at each level, meaning you're twice as resistance to damage at 2nd, thrice at 3rd, etc.
Enhancing your skills through learning is a lot different than increasing your ability to withstand damage on such a level.
But, what doesn't make too much sense to me, is that SW and D20 modern will use a fixed hp system where armor reduces damage instead of making you harder to hit. That's what CoC has to start with, but they used a more classical D&D system instead.
Then, they kept the sanity rules from the original game.
Does CoC have any prestige classes or rules for such?
Enhancing your skills through learning is a lot different than increasing your ability to withstand damage on such a level.
But, what doesn't make too much sense to me, is that SW and D20 modern will use a fixed hp system where armor reduces damage instead of making you harder to hit. That's what CoC has to start with, but they used a more classical D&D system instead.
Then, they kept the sanity rules from the original game.
Does CoC have any prestige classes or rules for such?
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