I hope people have fun playing it, but I feel like the Cthulhu mythos is tied to a certain sort of cultural moment; a time when people feel like they have all the answers through logic and...
I hope people have fun playing it, but I feel like the Cthulhu mythos is tied to a certain sort of cultural moment; a time when people feel like they have all the answers through logic and rationality, where cults, monsters, and the occult are ludicrous to even consider. The Elder Gods are an out of context problem for a human-only civilization that thinks it has everything solved. Against a fantasy background Cthulhu is just a different sort of big bad, but not fundamentally weird. Of course there are monsters in dark places and unknown or unknowable mysteries.
I'm not trashing it, as I haven't tried playing it, I just don't quite see how the narrative skeins align.
yeah I definitely think there's a modern sensibility to the vibes of Lovecraftian horror that can be difficult to replicate in a fantasy environment. I recall watching a YouTube video (I think by...
yeah I definitely think there's a modern sensibility to the vibes of Lovecraftian horror that can be difficult to replicate in a fantasy environment. I recall watching a YouTube video (I think by Yahtzee Croshaw but I may be misremembering) about a similar frustration with use of the Cthulhu mythos in videogames as just another monster. That said, curious to see how their approach goes!
Cthulhu is everywhere right now. While I love it, it seems in many places it gas become just substitute with weird monsters, a soft horror relying on cults rather than jumpscares. Which is not...
Cthulhu is everywhere right now. While I love it, it seems in many places it gas become just substitute with weird monsters, a soft horror relying on cults rather than jumpscares. Which is not bad, but I felt the 'cosmic horror' part of it is missing in many of its implementations.
That said the system cannot be worse than the traditional D100 of Call of Cthulhu so...
I love the CoC d100 system. :-D I also really like the AGE system. Definitely worth a try. That said, this supplement is the exact thing others in this comment section has criticized: Fantasy and...
That said the system cannot be worse than the traditional D100 of Call of Cthulhu so...
I love the CoC d100 system. :-D
I also really like the AGE system. Definitely worth a try.
That said, this supplement is the exact thing others in this comment section has criticized: Fantasy and also Cthulhu. If you want to try a true Cthulhu Mythos experience with an alternative RPG system, have a look at Cthulhu Awakens.
I've been recently getting into a new TTRPG that's currently in beta called Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, which focuses on handling investigation and detective stories well, and it's also...
I've been recently getting into a new TTRPG that's currently in beta called Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, which focuses on handling investigation and detective stories well, and it's also very well-suited to handling the same type of experience many people look for from Call of Cthulhu. They give explicit instructions for how to convert modules from games like CoC to their system in the rulebook, and their blog has given explicit recommendations for both free and paid Call of Cthulhu modules that they recommend running in Eureka (since their own modules are themselves still in beta and naturally a bit limited at this point, and Eureka is recommended to be run with modules because improvising a good mystery is hard work). From my own exploration into the modules the creators have written for Eureka (which I have access to bc I support their patreon), the system definitely does horror (including cosmic horror as well as other types) really well.
While the 7ed is a substantial improvement with Luck, I still feel that it's clumsy unless the narrator is very familiarized with running games. Trail is much better for investigation games, IMHO.
I love the CoC d100 system. :-D
While the 7ed is a substantial improvement with Luck, I still feel that it's clumsy unless the narrator is very familiarized with running games.
Trail is much better for investigation games, IMHO.
So the main thing is how clues work. In CoC you use one of your myriad abilities, with a binary roll. You may have to use search books, or Biology, or Nature for some checks. The main problem with...
So the main thing is how clues work. In CoC you use one of your myriad abilities, with a binary roll. You may have to use search books, or Biology, or Nature for some checks. The main problem with this is dealing with a bad row of rolls leaving characters without the proper clues - usually having the narrator intervene in some creative ways. There's is also the fact that separating skills so much can be difficult: there's so many of them and can be hard to create a character properly. Plus due to being a D100, unless you have very very high skills, failure is really common. Now, all of this isn't a dealbreaker and plenty of players/narrators have dealt with it in many ways. For a experienced group all of this is usually overcame with "good dm'ing". This is also a problem acknowledged in proper CoC, which is why they have introduced things like pushed rolls, luck or Idea.
Trail is more tailored for these games and can be easier on novices without having to make rules on the fly. The skills are less granular, and more investigative focused. If you have the relevant skill, like Library, you automatically get any core clue. Furthermore, you can spend points of the skills and get additional clues. So it's more like a "stamina" system where the players trade effort and time into investigation instead of failing around until they can get a success.
You still have rolls for other general situations. For example, you may want to be driving to chase a suspicious guy. Then you will a D6 and succeed with a 4+ (or whatever the difficulty is). Before you roll, you will expend Driving skill points as much as you want, and those will be a modified by that amount. Rolls are only required where there a consequences for failure, of course.
Its a system explicitly designed for investigation, and falls flat if you want something more pulpy with the investigators wanting a tactical firefight with cultist, for example. But for general investigation I think D100 is very clumsy and requires the narrator to be experienced.
I hope people have fun playing it, but I feel like the Cthulhu mythos is tied to a certain sort of cultural moment; a time when people feel like they have all the answers through logic and rationality, where cults, monsters, and the occult are ludicrous to even consider. The Elder Gods are an out of context problem for a human-only civilization that thinks it has everything solved. Against a fantasy background Cthulhu is just a different sort of big bad, but not fundamentally weird. Of course there are monsters in dark places and unknown or unknowable mysteries.
I'm not trashing it, as I haven't tried playing it, I just don't quite see how the narrative skeins align.
yeah I definitely think there's a modern sensibility to the vibes of Lovecraftian horror that can be difficult to replicate in a fantasy environment. I recall watching a YouTube video (I think by Yahtzee Croshaw but I may be misremembering) about a similar frustration with use of the Cthulhu mythos in videogames as just another monster. That said, curious to see how their approach goes!
Cthulhu is everywhere right now. While I love it, it seems in many places it gas become just substitute with weird monsters, a soft horror relying on cults rather than jumpscares. Which is not bad, but I felt the 'cosmic horror' part of it is missing in many of its implementations.
That said the system cannot be worse than the traditional D100 of Call of Cthulhu so...
I love the CoC d100 system. :-D
I also really like the AGE system. Definitely worth a try.
That said, this supplement is the exact thing others in this comment section has criticized: Fantasy and also Cthulhu. If you want to try a true Cthulhu Mythos experience with an alternative RPG system, have a look at Cthulhu Awakens.
I've been recently getting into a new TTRPG that's currently in beta called Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, which focuses on handling investigation and detective stories well, and it's also very well-suited to handling the same type of experience many people look for from Call of Cthulhu. They give explicit instructions for how to convert modules from games like CoC to their system in the rulebook, and their blog has given explicit recommendations for both free and paid Call of Cthulhu modules that they recommend running in Eureka (since their own modules are themselves still in beta and naturally a bit limited at this point, and Eureka is recommended to be run with modules because improvising a good mystery is hard work). From my own exploration into the modules the creators have written for Eureka (which I have access to bc I support their patreon), the system definitely does horror (including cosmic horror as well as other types) really well.
While the 7ed is a substantial improvement with Luck, I still feel that it's clumsy unless the narrator is very familiarized with running games.
Trail is much better for investigation games, IMHO.
I'm not familiar with Trail. What do you like about it?
So the main thing is how clues work. In CoC you use one of your myriad abilities, with a binary roll. You may have to use search books, or Biology, or Nature for some checks. The main problem with this is dealing with a bad row of rolls leaving characters without the proper clues - usually having the narrator intervene in some creative ways. There's is also the fact that separating skills so much can be difficult: there's so many of them and can be hard to create a character properly. Plus due to being a D100, unless you have very very high skills, failure is really common. Now, all of this isn't a dealbreaker and plenty of players/narrators have dealt with it in many ways. For a experienced group all of this is usually overcame with "good dm'ing". This is also a problem acknowledged in proper CoC, which is why they have introduced things like pushed rolls, luck or Idea.
Trail is more tailored for these games and can be easier on novices without having to make rules on the fly. The skills are less granular, and more investigative focused. If you have the relevant skill, like Library, you automatically get any core clue. Furthermore, you can spend points of the skills and get additional clues. So it's more like a "stamina" system where the players trade effort and time into investigation instead of failing around until they can get a success.
You still have rolls for other general situations. For example, you may want to be driving to chase a suspicious guy. Then you will a D6 and succeed with a 4+ (or whatever the difficulty is). Before you roll, you will expend Driving skill points as much as you want, and those will be a modified by that amount. Rolls are only required where there a consequences for failure, of course.
Its a system explicitly designed for investigation, and falls flat if you want something more pulpy with the investigators wanting a tactical firefight with cultist, for example. But for general investigation I think D100 is very clumsy and requires the narrator to be experienced.