Pulp Cthulhu - what happened?!

[Kafkonia]

I've never seen the monographs actually, I usually buy books from buy.com. I don't think they have the monographs.

Besides, Chaosium's not the best for letting folks know what they make.

True enough. I only discovered them by hanging out at old Yoggie (www.yog-sothoth.com.) And I don't own any myself.

You can get them from Chaosium directly -- and if you can find $120.00 worth of stuff you want there, you can select the UltraSlow Free Shipping Option. I believe they send it by yak.

 

[Professor Phobos]

They've been better the last couple years- ever since Secrets of Japan came out, not a year has gone by without at least a book or two. The Malleus Monstronum and Secrets of Kenya are both pretty good.

 

[Kafkonia]

They've been better the last couple years- ever since Secrets of Japan came out, not a year has gone by without at least a book or two. The Malleus Monstronum and Secrets of Kenya are both pretty good.

IIRC, the Malleus Monstrorum was originally a German book that was translated into English for Chaosium's release. If I was really into the Mythos (rather than just the atmosphere and BRP mechanics) I'd probably snap it up.

 

[Graf]

IIRC, the Malleus Monstrorum was originally a German book that was translated into English for Chaosium's release. If I was really into the Mythos (rather than just the atmosphere and BRP mechanics) I'd probably snap it up.

My understanding is that Malleus isn't translated they just took the art.
There was a lot of "in game" material in german (news reports, etc) that didn't get converted.

I still haven't got my copy to confirm, unfortunately.

Chaosium's issue is basically that they're really into the BRP system. Unlike HPL's work (which is in the public domain) it's their IP. If you swapped to D20 I think they'd be worried that people would start buying other supplements and they'd create a corps of smaller companies eating their lunch.
It's why you periodically see spasms of them trying to do something else with BRP. (Very little spasms, because it's not a system the community actually takes seriously).

 

[Shawn_Kehoe]

Yeah, Chaosium really fouled-up on the D20 movement. The CoC D20 book was one of the slickest productions of its day, but support was minimal - the dual-stat sourcebooks mentioned above, plus I believe some kind of combined Keeper Screen / rule expansion. According to the reviews I read, the implementation of the CoC d20 rules in that product were poor.

I agree that Chaosium appeared to let their fondness for their own system blind them to to the potential of the d20 one. A status update on Pulp Cthulhu from a few years back read something like "the book will no longer be d20, as that boat has sailed. Besides, everyone prefers BRP anyways." It reminds me of a local game shop owner, who only stocks GURPS products because he played GURPS in the 90's, and doesn't want to educate himself on the market now.

Also, the established fanbase of the BRP system bears some blame. Many so-called Chaosium supporters were treating the d20 version like it was infectious, telling anyone who wandered onto their forums to stay away from it and stick with BRP. Even friends of mine who played CoC in college were badmouthing my copy of d20 Cthulhu and saying that they wouldn't want to play it that way - without ever looking at the book. Ironically, this has probably served to accelerate the eventual demise of CoC, whenever that may occur.

Shawn

 

[Shawn_Kehoe]

I brought up the lack of d20 CoC to the Chaosium reps at Gen Con Indy last year. They claimed that the WotC was the reason they weren't publishing more d20 material, which goes against everything I had heard online. Rather than poking the bear, I just smiled and moved on.

 

[CarlZog]

Ok, like I said, it was two years ago so I forgot some of the specifics (Carl, help me out here. )
....

The main thing I remember is that I really wanted the book after playing it. Besides campaign potential, it felt like the ultimate one-shot ruleset because it was easy to learn, fast to play, and surprisingly robust for what it allowed the players to do.

I had very little experience with CoC before stepping into this game, so I can't speak in any meaningful way about the system details or their differences to regular CoC.

But everything GlassJaw said, I heartily agree with. It was one of the best Con games I've ever played.

No matter how long it takes Chaosium to get the book out, I'll be waiting to grab it. Of course, it would be nice to get it sometime in this decade... :\

Carl

 

[Professor Phobos]

(Very little spasms, because it's not a system the community actually takes seriously).

The hell? This isn't a reiteration of "the most popular is best for everyone" screed again, is it?

BRP is a fine and dependable system, and has been for decades now. This "D20 Uber Alles" stuff gets on my nerves.

 

[theredrobedwizard]

The hell? This isn't a reiteration of "the most popular is best for everyone" screed again, is it?

BRP is a fine and dependable system, and has been for decades now. This "D20 Uber Alles" stuff gets on my nerves.

He isn't saying that it's a bad system, it just wasn't a widely loved system. You can have a great system that not many like.

-TRRW

 

[Professor Phobos]

He isn't saying that it's a bad system, it just wasn't a widely loved system. You can have a great system that not many like.

"Takes seriously" is not the same as "widely loved" or "well known."