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Title: Call of Cthulhu: Horror Roleplaying in the Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft by Lynn Willis, Gene Day, Tom Sullivan ISBN: 1-56882-014-3 Publisher: Chaosium, Inc. Pub. Date: November, 1994 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: BRP or d20?
Comment: Ah, the confusion! Well, just as Amazon didn't indicate that CoC d20 was, uh, d20, here, there is no indication which rule-set this one uses. A quick search at Chaosium.com tells us, however, that this one is *not* d20 (as the reviwer below thought)--this is the next edition of good-old Basic Role-Playing rules Call of Cthulhu.
Really, this is just an updating of the 5.6 edition rules (even the cover art is the same), with a few tweaks and so on. That's the Chaosium approach, and one I really admire: Unlike D&D 3.5, when Chaosium does a new edition, they don't try to make the most recent previous edition obsolete. They don't try to *force* you to buy the new one. It may not pull in the most money, but it does make for very loyal customers. (Chaosium vs Wizards of the Coast is a little like Linux vs Microsoft.)
Rating: 4
Summary: First Rate Conversion
Comment: With the creation of wizards d20 OGL many RPG's saw conversion from their old systems to d20 as well as games that appeared in Polyhedropn magazine. Some of these conversions are good, others stink (or are at least rather weak).
I have been a player of Chaosium's BRP (Basic Role Playing) Cthulhu for over 16 years and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with the system my one desire was to be able to utilise one system for all the game genres I liked (this is not actually important to the review, I just want you to know where I'm coming from, and no I'm all that wrapped in GURPS which is why I dodn't go that way).
For those not familiar with BRP Cthulhu, you play people off the street who are thrust into a world where everything you know is not what it seems, mysteries lie just under the surface of reality, and the only reward for most characters is retirement in a sanitorium reliving nightmares best left unsaid.
This was well realised with Monte Cook's d20 Cthulhu with using characters who are no stronger than NPC characters from D&D's Dungeon Masters Guide (commoner, expert, warrior). So how do these worthies manage to pit themselves against the unholy, cankerous mythos beasties?
Cthulhu has always been about investigation and using your noggin. Kicking the door down to attack the monsters vary rarely works (unless you GM is being soft on you for a greater horror later). Only through studying your foe can you learn how best to defeat it without having your face torn off.
The magic system also greatky impresses me. Learning magic spells by rote as one goes up a level like a D&D wizard just doesn't happen. Characters can find find tomes of ancient knowledge (which usually erodes your characters sanity and puts him out of commission for a few months) which contain spells of variable power. It is quite possible for a first level character to learn the equivalent of a ninth level spell. However casting the spell is another thing entirely. Each spell costs a character temporary ability points, which in turn reduces any possible skill bonues. Not something you would want to do often. On top of that spells cost sanity.
So whats sanity? One of the most endearing mechanics I believe of Cthulhu is the ability of your character to go bonkers through reading the wrong thing, seeing the wrong thing, and doing the wrong thing. Brough over hollus bollus from the BRP system, whenever you meet a mythos beasty you will need to roll percentile dice to see if the horror of it affects you, if so you lose sanity points (which begin equal yo 5 times your Wisdom). When Sanity points reach 0 your off to the funny farm. Of course if you lose an amount of Sanity equal to half your Wsidom you gaa gaa for a little while anyhow. Insanity, more then death, is the usual way for an investigator to end hiw career.
On top of all this there is oodles of GM information about setting up a game, the mood, and assorted other advice, as well as how to incorporate Cthulhu in your D&D campaign.
So in a nutshell if your looking for a horror theme for your d20 game, don't go past Cthulhu.
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Title: H. P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands (Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game) by Chris Williams, Sandy Petersen ISBN: 1568821573 Publisher: Chaosium, Inc. Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: The Keeper's Companion 2: Prohibition, Firearms, Tomes, & Creatures (Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying, 2395) by Lynn Willis ISBN: 1568821867 Publisher: Chaosium, Inc. Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Cthulhu Dark Ages (Cthulhu Dark Ages) by Stephane Gesbert ISBN: 1568821719 Publisher: Chaosium, Inc. Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: H.P. Lovecraft's Kingsport: City in the Mists (Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying, 8804) by Kevin Ross ISBN: 1568821670 Publisher: Chaosium, Inc. Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The Keeper's Companion: Blasphemous Knowledge, Forbidden Secrets, and Handy Information (Call of Cthulhu) by Keith Herber, Chaosium Inc. Staff ISBN: 1568821441 Publisher: Chaosium, Inc. Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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