Game Geeks #34 Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium Inc.

[CthulhuDarkLord]

I picked up Call of Cthulhu the 6th edition a while ago, definitely something to pick up!

[TheCaptainLulz]

I just rolled a 1 on my sanity roll.

[tehredmage]

@TheCaptainLulz roll 3d6 sanity damage

[monarkc]

Call of Cthulhu is simply the best game for my taste and Chaosium one of the best gaming company. Everything you need to play is in the single main book. Its been that way since the very beginning in 1981 where all you needed was the main box.

What they issued a lot was scenario anthology books and campaign books. None of these you need to buy or play but they are very good for the most part.

In 30 years and 6.5 editions everything is usable as is at any given time: two thumbs up Chaosium!!!

[spuddmc34]

Call of Cthulhu (both the original and the later d20 version) is a fantastic RPG system. Funnily enough, finished our first adventure last night, and boy did they shit themselves with fear. A tip is to play a horror movie soundtrack (I used the Aliens soundtrack by James Horner), make sure the room is dimly lit, and most of all for a game master: Your tone

[Samkoolkid14]

where exactly can you buy it?

[jonen95]

@Samkoolkid14 Local book stores, or internet. Google Call Of Cthulhu, or Chaosium.

[Kogerii]

Some people were graduating on 666.

[Gudamangipo]

Sanity is overrated anyway.

[ProzacPreacher]

Call is awesome game: simple mechanics, railroady, the monsters will win and you will die or go insane. But that just leaves you to freely soak up the horror atmosphere, because since you are going to die anyway....why not enjoy the ride? Do youself a favour and read the Lovecraft mythos. It really adds another dimension to the game.

[Diabolik771]

Get the 5th Edition rulebook, like 5.00 on ebay. Can't beat that.

[jordakai]

How much? What books do I need to play??

[leonardlongshanks]

Fantastic game, ive just started running one, its fantastic i just love scaring the shit out of my players!

[angryscotsman93]

Hey, exactly HOW POWERFUL is magic in that game? I'm trying to figure out if my character idea would work. Simply put, he's a batshit insane cultist-ish person whose arms are trapped inside a straightjacket- he moves the armflaps to simulate how he would actually move them. He manipulates objects by levitating them with his mind, so long as they're within what WOULD be arms reach of him.

Would such an awesome character work out?

[leonardlongshanks]

Magic is incredibly powerful, you would have to talk it over with your keeper but magic in coc isnt just known, its learnt. You must follow sets of instructions laid down by other mythos users.

For instance if you wanted to learn the spell levitate, you would have to have either found it in a mythos grimoire, or have learnt it from somone who already knows it.. Which your cultist probably would have!

However all magic costs both magic points and sanity to cast, make sure you have a lot of power!

[leonardlongshanks]

I think your character could work out, but working him in to the episodes might be difficult, your keeper would have to find a good way to work him in, you could be a master of levitate at your own strength, so you can pick up, throw, hold stuff equal to your investigators strength, he could have it so that you only spend magic points and not sanity to cast. It would be harsh if every time you wanted to pick stuff up you have to spend 1d6 pionts of sanity!

[jordakai]

Im thinking of trying this, what books and other stuff do I need? like what version of the game?

[leonardlongshanks]

Do try it, if you have played RPGs before this is a breath of fresh air, or horrific air if you want to look at it that way!

All you need is the Call of Cthulhu horror roleplaying sixth edition game book, it has everything you need to create your first few sessions. Once you have that i can reccomend Mansions Of Madness, chaosium inc.

It has some great scenarios in it and some fantastic thrills and chills to scare even the most hardened player! So have fun dude.

[jordakai]

Is it expensive? or like 40 bucks regular.

[leonardlongshanks]

yeah its like £30 here so $40 over there

[jordakai]

okay, thanks :)

[aksquash]

one thing that confuses me. I have read the call of cthulhu and i'm about to make a start on shadow over innsmouth and i'm just confused as to one thing. how does this game work in terms of mystery, i mean isnt it already ovbious to a person familiar with the cthulhu mythos that theirs a cult about a giant sea god behind everything? how can you keep a sense of suspense if you know whats happening? im not knocking the game im genuinly curious

[leonardlongshanks]

If somone is already familiar with the mythos then you build the suspense in other ways, honestly i played with people who were already very familiar with it but i still managed to have them gripping their seats. You can try long pauses before describing what they see or what happens, i find that banging the table to make them jump when they get attacked, is a good tool as well but dont overuse it.

[aksquash]

still keeping the mystery must be pretty hard though if you know the story behind cthulhu.

what version would you say is the best?

[leonardlongshanks]

hmmm the mystery... yes. But that doesnt matter when you have the suspense nailed!

Plus you dont always have to do what the mythos says, there are pleanty of ways you can chop and change it, remember as the GM its your game and you dont always have to adhear to the mythos.

Id say the 5th edition ruleset is the best, although i havnt played any of the others :-b

[Gorillaz84444]

thanks for my birds when i was doing the "Color Out Of Space" the birds jumped on the ranches roof making some rustles one of my freinds jumped from his chair and turned around like "WTF WAS THAT!?!" we laughed so much but its a really good game i recommend buying it

[leonardlongshanks]

The terror in this game comes only partially from the mythos, the other is the GM's ability to describe the scene, i find COC needs alot more description than you walk into a room, its dark.

Need to describe what they smell, what they feel, what the air is like etc. Also blood and gore descriptions are always good!

[Gorillaz84444]

@aksquash well remember that cthulu isnt the ONLY god in CoC theres more like Shub Nigurrath or Yog Sogoth.

Some tips i recommend if your the keeper:

1. When you describe a death describe it following the setting of the god in your mind:

Y'glonac: We find mr harborson on his bed with a frozen shriek and a pale face his shirt was ripped and there was a smell of decayed blood there are bite marks all over his body still dripping wet red blood...and on and on

Describing this will get moar attention

[tingly7654321]

where can i get this and what is it about

[leonardlongshanks]

ok you can buy it from amazon or chaosium's site.

Its based on the short stories by HP Lovecraft a horror writer in the 1920s.

He dealt with horrors unimaginable, creatures from beyond the ether of space that seeped down to our planet millions of years ago. The stars changed and now they sleep eternal. You play investigators that deal with the supernatural events that unfold around you connected with these creatures and ones for more terrible...

[lukekelly76]

Does anyone know of any good contact sites for CoC players in the UK. Played many RPGs years ago but never CoC. would love to play again, so if anyone got any ideas?

[Diabolik771]

What's cool about this game is that all occult phenomena can be linked to something horrible.For ideas watch the following Mythos feeling films: The Thing, Children of the Corn, Dagon, Rosemary's Baby,The Fog, City of the Living Dead,

[Skirza]

I had some of the most fun of my 20+ years of gaming with this game. Unfortunately the game system is not very good. Yes it's simple, but it doesn't play very well. I like rules lite games (like Savage Worlds) and that is not the problem with this game system; it's the arbitrary nature of the percentage system that is the real problem. If I was going to do a Cthulhu game again, I would use another system.

[pspboy7]

More games need to be simple like this, too many rules can really bog down a game, although in all honesty, I cannot fully judge this kinda thing because I haven't role played much at all since I was in my teens. And to be further honest, I never liked fantasy as much as I liked drama/adventure and science fiction role playing.

[Marcos2138]

Obrigado!

[Marcos2138]

Opa. Existe CoC Traduzido ou você tem as regras em inglês?

[wesleyfilms]

My copy is coming in this April im so exited! I will have to review it myself on youtube if I like it that much.

[take13production]

Does anyone know if there is a video that shows Call Of Cthulhu Character generation? Would be nice to have a 3 minute video to show potential players how its done.

[Nightbreed24]

I don't think, that people need something like that. It's one of the simplest, but also BEST game systems out there. If somebody doesn't understand a percentile system, than he's an idiot.

[tetsubo57]

I still proudly own that first boxed set. :)

[yousini]

is this the 6th edition, 5.5 or what? I do like this cover more than the blue with one the ship

[manel444]

confirmed,this its like reading a good book,like a adventure of indiana jones.i think if the last indiana jones it was based in this game,probably it wold be mutch more interesting.

[renos21]

Is Cthulhu Dark Ages a stand alone RPG? (i don´t have to buy the Call of Cthulhu rulebook, rigth?)

Thanks!

[nutherefurlong]

I don't think they actually answer questions in the comments section (which is a shame, because this community seems fairly together and is asking pertinent questions for the most part). I looked things up and saw that the 2004 edition of Dark Ages is stand-alone.

[kigunonomiko84]

Man, I tried implimenting the sanity system into my d20 modern games and my friends hated losing their minds >:D

[nutherefurlong]

Maybe you should tell them to transfer some of that insanity to their characters! :)

[kigunonomiko84]

Yes >:D  Maybe I will

[JenxRodwell]

Well, of course its' rail-roady. Let's face it, that's what Lovecraft's stories are about - about the fact that no matter what you do, where you hide or who you defeat, there isn't just much you can do to change your fate.

[NodDisciple1]

What do you think of Delta Green?

[Jeffrywith1e]

Have you done an episode that covers the Chaosium system (Basic Roleplaying I think it's called)?

[Duhad8]

Ya he has now

[Jeffrywith1e]

Yes, thank you. It was excellent. I want that book now.

[frididjurhuus]

i am not really sure how this works. Do you play with books and do you need to know the skills in real life like Latin and stuff?

[wolneymartini]

No, your character knows the skills.

[JenxRodwell]

If it required real life knowledge in Latin the game would probably be even harder than it already is.

[zackspacks]

Superb review, and like the few other reviews by yourself, very concise and energetic. Thanks !

[wesleyfilms]

Call of Cthulhu makes killing your carecters in brutal ways soooo fun.

[ErikEtrigan]

i love this game but i have a question to the US Gamers, im from germany and we have some own game books about germany at World War I and settings in Germany at Cthulhu Now, do you have those books in USA too?

Greetz from Germany. IA Cthulhu ;)

[DudleyScardsdale]

This games makes going insane sooooo much fun

[lawn0gnome]

the game sounds really good actually....but one problem,i dont nessesarily know everything about the 1920s....does the book tell you what you need to know?

[wesleyfilms]

You could do research on 1920 to learn more about how life was and you could steady the other eras to beter understand everything.

Just a thought.

[reptomicus]

There's some 20's background, at least enough to play, it doesn't have to be so precise, just impressions of the era. Lovecraft's fiction wasn't exactly rife with 20's background flavor either. Scarce were references to prohibition, and less to jazz and flappers or the vernacular. But it has rules for modern era play if you don't wanna go that route.

[lawn0gnome]

hmm yes,i think ill do my first game in the modern setting and work my way to the 20s setting lolz,thanks for the help

[shadepriest]

Ihave to tell ya guys, I've been a keeper for almost 10 years now, and this is one of the best games ever

[Duhad8]

Same hear I went from D&D to CoC and I have to say that there was no comparison. Call of CthulhuIs by far the better of the two and catapulted me into the whole horror RPG genera. Good to see it get the respect it deserves.

[DarrylCross]

I remember one of my characters had the most mundane death in this game.... fell from a really high tree and broke his neck. Otherwise it was awesome.

[OptionallySavage]

Playing with special rules for Sanity, the best I've ever had was a gratuitous pistol to the mouth after having to put down a team mate in Delta Green.

[XStrangeekX]

woah!!,you are a awesome guy Kurt!!

im addicted to your youtubeshows!!

Game Geeks Forever!!

[Zenpanteki]

He means that the stories are usually less about the Player characters than they are about the mystery.

[finniksa]

I dunno, having skill points in Research has always been the fastest way to sanity loss, in my experience... So maybe knife-use and NO research would be the most sane, but I guess it comes down to... do you want to die sane, insane, or become a cultist? :)

[Tellynorth73]

Another point - I can't disagree more when this guy says that CoC doesn't offer character development. It is one of the few rpg's which actually does! But it all depends how you want to play it...but gun bunnies and hack and slash types should steer clear - because everything in CoC is stronger than you are. If you want to be a hero, best stick to DnD.

[Tellynorth73]

This is the best roleplaying game there is. I have played pen and paper on and off for about 24 years, so trust me. Leave the unicorns. If you are a player already, D20 or whatever, and fancy something more cerebral, then give it a whirl - you'll love it. Although power gamers will cry.

[MuslimViking]

Yes!!!!!

[aikighost]

Great review, can wait to see what you make of the new BRP book when it comes out.

[korrozive]

Do you pronounce is "HAS-tur HAS-tur or Has-TUR Has-TUR"? ;)

[KurtWiegel]

Option 2, but I try not to say it too much.....

[GBCh]

KULT and IN NOMINE VERITAS, please!

[Jeffrywith1e]

Several years ago we played in a campaign where we were a film crew in the 1930s shooting a horror film. What a blast! The actors were getting eaten and the director tells the camera man "Keep rolling!". Great game.

[schiz02]

I've always been interested in CoC, but never played. Luckily, I've found a group of players and a keeper.

[BillionSix]

I played in a great Call of Cthulhu game years ago. Instead of normal investigators, we all played children living in an orphanage. Pretty cool game.