PDA

View Full Version : Call of Cthulhu



incandescent
2011-02-15, 01:17 PM
I normally play 4e and haven't strayed too far from the d20 system. The only other Table top game I've really played is d20 Modern. One of the guys I play 4e with has invited me and a friend to play CoC and I was wondering what to expect from it. I realize it's a horror game and from peeking around on here have gather that those who survive the longest have the highest base speed, but I'm interested in knowing other people's experience with the system.

Tyndmyr
2011-02-15, 01:22 PM
I've got the system, and from what I've seen, there's basically one CoC plotline. This is fine. Merrily investigate, be cautious whenever possible, and remember that you're basically a character in a horror film. Yes, the logical thing to do is run the hell away and avoid all the plot forever, but this makes for a rather poor story.

It lends itself well to one shots.

Comet
2011-02-15, 01:36 PM
Be open minded, curious and play as smartly as you can. That's all there is to it, not a lot of ways you can prepare.

Call of Cthulhu is all about the story and having a good time even if your characters don't. Don't expect to win, but don't expect to lose either. Just do what comes naturally and you should be in for a lot of fun.

incandescent
2011-02-15, 02:17 PM
so it's basically a 'roll with it' type of game? I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks for your responses.

Bruendor_Cavescout
2011-02-15, 02:23 PM
"Roll with it" makes it sound like you've moved past the other four stages of grief and entered Acceptance. I think a slightly better way to look at Call of Cthulhu is "play the game, don't game the game."

The game is inherently unfair. Human enemies aren't that much harder to kill than yourselves, but the monstrous alien horrors are truly that - monstrous, alien and horrific. They shrug off bullets, and explosives are a mild setback. Magic is the most efficient way to combat them, but magic destroys a person's sanity as easily as the horrors themselves.

Terrible things are going to happen to your character. You'll have the most fun with it if you find a character to play and watch the descent into madness, rather than try to make a character that can "survive the longest." Sacrifices will be made - after all, you're saving all of creation with your deaths, at least for a little while longer.

incandescent
2011-02-15, 02:27 PM
I meant "roll with it" as in, if my characters arm gets bitten off by an Eldritch horror, not to sweat it too much :P

But, the description you gave me makes it sound like a nice change of pace from grinding combat.

Land Outcast
2011-02-15, 03:08 PM
Save a bullet.

No, not for you but rather to shoot the guy who's ahead of you so that they eat consume him first.

Wanna be safe? stay away from anything funny looking... wait, you kind of are an investigator?... oh, yes, you are damned.

Note: should an eldritch horror bite you... you either dissolve into nothingness, or panic, or hide it from everyone else.

WalkingTarget
2011-02-15, 03:23 PM
"Roll with it" makes it sound like you've moved past the other four stages of grief and entered Acceptance. I think a slightly better way to look at Call of Cthulhu is "play the game, don't game the game."

The game is inherently unfair. Human enemies aren't that much harder to kill than yourselves, but the monstrous alien horrors are truly that - monstrous, alien and horrific. They shrug off bullets, and explosives are a mild setback. Magic is the most efficient way to combat them, but magic destroys a person's sanity as easily as the horrors themselves.

Terrible things are going to happen to your character. You'll have the most fun with it if you find a character to play and watch the descent into madness, rather than try to make a character that can "survive the longest." Sacrifices will be made - after all, you're saving all of creation with your deaths, at least for a little while longer.

This is all excellent advice and you seem to be taking the right lessons from it.

You can play smart, and that usually means thinking your way around a problem rather than resorting to combat. My standard warning about CoC is that fighting is what happens when things go wrong. It sounds like you're getting into an established group (or at least a Keeper who's already familiar with the game), so hopefully you won't have people approaching the game as if it were D&D or some other combat-heavy system. In any event, I hope you enjoy it.

Safety Sword
2011-02-15, 05:12 PM
Stand at the back of the party with your eyes closed and burn all the books :smallamused:

Comet
2011-02-15, 05:27 PM
Stand at the back of the party with your eyes closed and burn all the books :smallamused:

In one of the older Cthulhu mythos-based text adventure games, Hound of Shadows, you could do exactly that.

Or rather, you could decide that investigating the strange spiritual presence hovering above and around your friend is not worth the risk and wander around London, going to the movies or visiting a classy opera to pass your time.

Everything would be fine for a day or two, as you live your life in this sandbox. Then you get a message, telling you that your friend is in the hospital, suffering from a mysterious illness. You could go to visit him, kickstarting the invastigation anew. Or you could go see another movie or maybe take a walk in the park.

Eventually, your friend will die in the hospital, rather violently. Like a wild beast had attacked him.

You, on the other hand, are fine, since you never stepped into this world of occult mysteries and immaterial dangers.
Or you would be, at any rate, if the Hound didn't decide to eat you, too. As if the universe itself is mocking you for running from the adventure, the Hound finds you and devours you just because you happened to spend a few moments in the presence of your friend at the beginning of the game. And, since you were too scared to look into this occult stuff to begin with, you have no methods to defend yourself from the beast.

So yeah, closing your eyes will only bring about the worst end possible. Better to go down fighting. You might even win :smallcool:

Safety Sword
2011-02-15, 05:46 PM
In one of the older Cthulhu mythos-based text adventure games, Hound of Shadows, you could do exactly that.

Or rather, you could decide that investigating the strange spiritual presence hovering above and around your friend is not worth the risk and wander around London, going to the movies or visiting a classy opera to pass your time.

Everything would be fine for a day or two, as you live your life in this sandbox. Then you get a message, telling you that your friend is in the hospital, suffering from a mysterious illness. You could go to visit him, kickstarting the invastigation anew. Or you could go see another movie or maybe take a walk in the park.

Eventually, your friend will die in the hospital, rather violently. Like a wild beast had attacked him.

You, on the other hand, are fine, since you never stepped into this world of occult mysteries and immaterial dangers.
Or you would be, at any rate, if the Hound didn't decide to eat you, too. As if the universe itself is mocking you for running from the adventure, the Hound finds you and devours you just because you happened to spend a few moments in the presence of your friend at the beginning of the game. And, since you were too scared to look into this occult stuff to begin with, you have no methods to defend yourself from the beast.

So yeah, closing your eyes will only bring about the worst end possible. Better to go down fighting. You might even win :smallcool:

It was a bit of a nod to Knights of the Dinner table animated series... but yes, I realise that you have to get involved. It's kind of boring if your don't anyway.

Ravens_cry
2011-02-15, 05:47 PM
So yeah, closing your eyes will only bring about the worst end possible. Better to go down fighting. You might even win delay the inevitable.

I believe I have rectified your statement to more accurately reflect the true nature of the situation.
Still, Call of Cthulhu is definitely one of the RPG I intend to play if given the chance, that and Toon. Maybe even combine the two. Toons are pretty scary if you imagined them in the real world. Nigh Indestructible, psychopathic, reality warping monstrosities.

Matthew
2011-02-16, 10:08 AM
Out of interest, this is BRP Call of Cthulu we are talking about here, not the ill received D20 version, right? :smallbiggrin:

Darrin
2011-02-16, 11:15 AM
This is the most helpful handout I've ever seen for Call of Cthulhu:

Cthulhu Encounter Problem Solver (http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5210/5243259440_cf297e0ac6_b.jpg)

The Big Dice
2011-02-16, 07:06 PM
My advice to someone picking up CoC for the first time is, think of how many different adventures you can run during the Prohibition era. Then add cultists, monsters and other weirdness to the mix.

Monster of the week ends up with dead PCs fairly fast. Which is a fun way to play in short bursts. But what if the rum runners are in cahoots with Deep Ones, making sure their boats don't get sank but customs and coastguard ones do.

A pyramid structure can be a good tool too. Instead of going for the throat with the Shoggoth, the first contact is with lay member cultists. Basically normal people who go to a weird church. Then move in to the outer circle of the organisation. The people who have an idea of what goes on, but aren't involved in the real SAN bashing stuff. And so on, through the Inner Circle, the cult leaders and finally encountering the Eldritch Horror itself.

incandescent
2011-02-16, 07:46 PM
I ended up rolling a character with 4 POW and have only about 20 sanity points. I'm one of two people who have points in a gun related skill as well :smallamused:

The only one who really knows the game is the keeper and form what I hear he's experienced with it and is a good DM in general. The rest of us just kind of followed the character gen rules to the letter.

This first session was basically a background and char gen session.

We have a criminal who runs a speak easy in the back of the doctor's office, propping up his waning practice. The forester of the group ships the alcohol around for the criminal and the antiquarian furnishes the doctor's place. I play an unlucky, crooked police investigator who spends most of his money in the speak easy :smalltongue:

Safety Sword
2011-02-16, 08:00 PM
I ended up rolling a character with 4 POW and have only about 20 sanity points. I'm one of two people who have points in a gun related skill as well :smallamused:

The only one who really knows the game is the keeper and form what I hear he's experienced with it and is a good DM in general. The rest of us just kind of followed the character gen rules to the letter.

This first session was basically a background and char gen session.

We have a criminal who runs a speak easy in the back of the doctor's office, propping up his waning practice. The forester of the group ships the alcohol around for the criminal and the antiquarian furnishes the doctor's place. I play an unlucky, crooked police investigator who spends most of his money in the speak easy :smalltongue:

As far as coherent party generation goes, that's pretty awesome.

WalkingTarget
2011-02-16, 08:03 PM
I ended up rolling a character with 4 POW and have only about 20 sanity points.

Wow. There's following the character generation rules, and then there's following the character generation rules. I'm assuming that with a stat like that you used the "roll for stats, in order" variant. There are other options given in a sidebar (including simply the ability to put your rolled stats where you want them).

A character with 20 starting SAN really isn't likely to last very long as a POW of 4 implies that you're a real pushover - easily swayed by others, unlucky, and will have almost no ability to use or resist magic.

You'll also only have a 1/5 chance of passing a sanity check and the inevitable failure will just cause you to spiral downwards. I mean, there are plenty of 0/1d6 sanity tests out there (that is, 0 lost on a success, 1d6 lost on a failure) and they can add up quickly if you're only succeeding less than 1 try out of 5.

Not that this type of character can't be fun to play, but just be prepared for what you're getting yourself into.

incandescent
2011-02-16, 08:13 PM
i switched because i didn't want a 4 in appearance if I remember correctly :smallbiggrin:

the guy helping me through warned me of the implications of a low sanity, and I decided I'd like to go with the challenge, since I always play somewhat "stalwart" characters in DnD.

i have 95% jump as well and plan on leaping over any abominations :smalltongue:

(i have a penchant for a good jump check in any system)

WalkingTarget
2011-02-16, 08:21 PM
i switched because i didn't want a 4 in appearance if I remember correctly :smallbiggrin:

the guy helping me through warned me of the implications of a low sanity, and I decided I'd like to go with the challenge, since I always play somewhat "stalwart" characters in DnD.

i have 95% jump as well and plan on leaping over any abominations :smalltongue:

(i have a penchant for a good jump check in any system)

Heh. Well at least you went in eyes-open, then. Good luck. :smallsmile:

rayne_dragon
2011-02-16, 10:35 PM
This is the most helpful handout I've ever seen for Call of Cthulhu:

Cthulhu Encounter Problem Solver (http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5210/5243259440_cf297e0ac6_b.jpg)

Funny, but I've seen a number of modules that tend to kill people who would follow that chart. Including one of the ones that comes in the rulebook. Call of Cthulhi is a game about fighting off the inevitable messy end rather than winning. I'd go as far as to say dying peacefully is winning.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2011-02-16, 11:17 PM
I normally play 4e and haven't strayed too far from the d20 system. The only other Table top game I've really played is d20 Modern. One of the guys I play 4e with has invited me and a friend to play CoC and I was wondering what to expect from it. I realize it's a horror game and from peeking around on here have gather that those who survive the longest have the highest base speed, but I'm interested in knowing other people's experience with the system.

It has a VERY simple system so the game can focus more on psychological horror and plot than on combat tactics and optimization. It's REALLY good for running horror and I sometimes even scare myself when GMing.

Earthwalker
2011-02-17, 07:09 AM
I can share one bit of advice for you. Don't make the mistake I always do.

Play your character with an open mind. I always play characters less willing to accept the oddities around them. It is better to be slightly paranoid and open to the fact there is more out there then we can sense.

This way you are prepared when the crazy cultist guys seem to be able to cast spells.

Playing a student and treating the archeological dig as an excuse for a holiday never ends well.

BayardSPSR
2011-02-17, 07:17 AM
Just try not to play a character of an ethnic minority. That's always bad news.

Jan Mattys
2011-02-17, 08:26 AM
Long Answer:


Standard Cthulhu adventure:

1- Something weird and possibly gory happens. Investigators are called to investigate. Go to point 2.

2- Investigators find clues about something even worse hiding in the dark corners of society. Go to point 3.

3- Some NPC contacts the investigators for a talk about a secret and dangerous cult. Cultists come out of the shadows and kill the NPC. If the investigators take precautions not to be seen and manage to talk to the guy before he gets killed, go to point 5. If the investigators don't care about being seen and manage to talk to the guy before he gets killed, go to point 4. If the investigators don't manage to talk to the guy before he kicks the bucket, go to point 2.

4- Cultists come out of the shadows *again* and try to kill the investigators. If the investigators die, go to END 3. If they survive, go to point 6.

5- Investigators follow the hints given by the *now dead* NPC, investigate further and find more evidence that something really dangerous is about to happen in day X. If they manage to to put their hands over something important for the cultists go to point 6. If they don't, go to point 7.

6- Cultists decide it's time to get serious to protect their cult before the investigators can mess up the day X ceremony. They attack the investigators en masse and repeatedly. If the investigators are smart and have decided to take precautions and/or hide, go to point 7. If the investigators are just very lucky and survive the assaults, go to point 4. If they investigators die, go to END 3.

7- In day X the cultists perform their unspeakable ritual. If the investigators decide to solve the problem by themselves, go to point 8. If the investigators find enough evidence to justify Police intervention, go to END 2. If the investigators miss the deadline, go to END 3.

8- Investigators have managed to stay out of reach of the cult while gathering evidence and clues. Well done, guys! ...And they have decided they can save the world by themselves. That's quite stupid, guys! If the investigators waste time and/or get delayed by significant resistance, go to point 9. If they act as a commando, and their quick and lethal striking force manages to stop the ritual from being completed, go to END 1.

9- The investigators have managed to stay out of reach, they have managed to gather evidence, and they have managed to storm the HQ of the bad guys. Being late, they have the honor of witnessing firsts-hand the Awakening of the Elder Horror / God / Thing. They meet a quick but horrible and far-from-merciful death, and go to END 3.


Endings:

END 1- Some investigators may have died, some may be ready for a one-way trip to the sanitarium, but the world lives to see another day. Yay!

END 2 - Police intervention makes the whole place a mess. Cultists defend the place with their life, but meet tommy-guns levels of resistance. In the end, many cops die and many lose their sanity, but almost all cultists die as well. The cultist cell is destroyed before it can complete the ritual. This is often considered the best possible scenario for the investigators, but it costs an awfully high price in terms of human lives.

END 3- In day X, the world is invaded by some Elder Horror / God / Thing. Armageddon ensues. Epic fail.

:smallbiggrin:

Short Answer:
The best tactic ever in Call of Cthulhu is "always have a bullet left in your gun".
Why? Not, as many think, to save the bullet for yourself in order to avoid the horror. Oh no. The reason is that when you and your friends are fleeing from the unspeakable creature of doom, if you cripple one of your friends with a well-placed shot in the leg you might gain a few precious seconds while the beast eats him first. :smallbiggrin: