Have you played BRP Call of Cthulhu?

[Tom Cashel]

I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. It is altogether against my will that I tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invasion of the antarctic - with its vast fossil hunt and its wholesale boring and melting of the ancient ice caps. And I am the more reluctant because my warning may be in vain.

--H.P. Lovecraft, "At the Mountains of Madness"

Hello, folks!

Yep, it's your old buddy-pal Uncle Thomas here with a poll to satisfy my curiosity.

Without a doubt, D&D is the RPG I've played the most in my 20 years of gaming. But also beyond that festering shadow of doubt is the fact that BRP Call of Cthulhu is my favorite RPG of all time. It may get a bad rep for chewing up and spitting out PCs (or simply absorbing them into its protoplasmic mass), but my games were never so satisfying before I had the epiphany that the Keeper need not go out of his way to kill PCs. Since then, I've enjoyed games where all the PCs survived but I managed to scare witless the players themselves.

Right now my group is about halfway through "Beyond the Mountains of Madness," Chaosium's epic (and out-of-print) sequel to Lovecraft's above-quoted tale, and widely considered one of the best RPG supplements ever written, for any game. So far I have to agree...it is gripping, well-written, and astonishingly complete. In three 8-hour sessions we've had a lot of fun, and learned an amazing amount of things about what it was really like to go to Antarctica on a ship in 1933. And they haven't even gotten onto the ice yet!

So...the poll is just to find out how many devoted, D&D-loving, EN Worlders have played BRP Call of Cthulhu, and approximately how many times.

The thread is for your comments: How did you like the game? Why did you dislike it? Have you played a campaign, or just one-shots? Have you played under GM/Keepers who ensured wholesale slaughter? ...or let the chips fall as they may? Anyone played BtMOM?

Extra for experts: If you've played BRP and D20 Call of Cthulhu, which do you like better, and why? (I have never played D20 CoC, so you may enlighten me on its merits if you wish!)

 

[Chronosome]

I've played BRP Cthulu once, in a oneshot at PegCon. Fun, frightening, fun.

 

[Wombat]

I play CoC a couple times when the game first came out; my group was already into RuneQuest, so it wasn't much of a switch, mechanics-wise, but a huge shift mentally. At first they were not sure they liked it, then they kinda got into it, and finally they asked me to stop running it because it was creeping them out.

Subsequently I have played in two games run by other people. The problem with these games was absolutely classic -- the GMs had bought a campaign module from Chaosium, were determined to run it "as is", didn't put limits on the types of characters that were going to be involved (no guidance, thus the teams didn't mesh or have a reason to stay together), and stumbled through the books, getting upset when the characters veered off into areas not directly covered by the written material. In the second case we met Nyarlathotep in the second session (!), who warned us off investigating any further -- the GM was hopping mad when all the players took the Herald's advice! These campaign packs have to be read through carefully by GMs ahead of time, advice given as to types of skills needed, the party should have a purpose and a core motivation, and the GM should still be prepared to wing it, as with any other sort of game -- these rules are simply common sense, but as the old New England expression goes, "Common sense ain't that common."

Overall I find the BRP system pretty easy to grasp and simple to employ. OTOH, I don't feel that CoC really captures the feeling of Lovecraft very well -- characters get involved in long-running campaigns, find out about the Great Old Ones and come back for more, even after learning the implications of such actions, etc. It's a fun game in its own way, but it never feels "Lovecraftian".

I have not played the D20 version, but I would have even less faith in the conversion, for personal reasons.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I love Chaosium's CoC and it will forever be the only CoC for me. Sadly, finding a group to play it is almost impossible... it is one of those things that you try to get a pre-existing group to try. Same thing goes with my hunt for a Twilight:2000 group.

 

[the Jester]

Only once. I was in an annual Halloweed CoC game at Goldeneagle's pad a while back.

 

[kengar]

I played BRP a few times in college. It was a blast. It's such a great switch from the "wade in and hack" kind of D&D games that I was used to.

I own d20 CoC and read it through a couple times, but have never run or played it. I originally got it to try and tempt my 3e group into a CoC game. I can say that I think it is an excellent adaptation of the original game. My impression was that the d20 version is suited better to a pulpier game of zombie shooting whereas BRP fits the investigation-style game that I see as the "true" CoC.

 

[Psion]

Yup. We used to play it quite a bit. Probably a few times a month for about a year, and then probably 2-3 times a year as a special occasion after that.

I have not actually played d20 CoC but I will say this:
I prefer BRP's Chargen to d20 CoC's (which I dislike perhaps more than any other d20 game), but I think the d20 dice mechanics are head and shoulders over BRP. If I were to run a CoC game nowadays, I'd probably use d20 modern (or now that it's out, Grim Tales) for chargen and add CoC rules for magic and sanity.

Also, the GM sections of d20 CoC is simply very will written and inspirational and I recommend it even if you don't actually intend to play d20 CoC.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

So...the poll is just to find out how many devoted, D&D-loving, EN Worlders have played BRP Call of Cthulhu, and approximately how many times.

I'm not a devoted DnD lover so I suppose I'm outside your survey group, but it's a game I've played off and on for years (and one of the few I've never refereed). As a player I love it whether it's a one off from Blood Brothers (gangsters vs. Vampires, we still talk about that one) or as a campaign.

Me (having missed a session and noticing that one of the players is missing): 'Where's John?'

Others: 'He's Dead!'

Me (worried about my sanity): 'What Happened?

Others: 'A Glacier fell on him!'

Only in CoC.

GOM

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

Although I play D&D more than any other RPG, Call of Cthulhu is the game I always come back to. Horror on the Orient Express is one of the best adventures written for any RPG, period.

Cheers


Richard

 

[The_Gneech]

Strictly CoC, I think I got as far as building a character, I can't remember if I ever played him or not.

However, I did play in a Justice, Inc. game that was very much a CoC-flavored thing. It was very good, indeed!

-The Gneech