Customer Reviews

Call of Cthulhu: Fantasy roleplaying in the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft

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Few role playing games capture the feel of their genre perfectly in both feel and game mechanics. Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium is such a superb game, that it has endured six editions and over 20 years publication. At its core is the Cthulhu Mythos created by master Howard Philips Lovecraft who wove stories based around a pantheon of alien gods, powerful and diabolic beings whose merest incarnation would shatter the tenuous grip we have on our `mundane' world where things like night gaunts or shantaks are minor horrors compared to Yog-Sothoth, Azathoth or Great Cthulhu himself. Around these beings are often cults- dangerous underground societies who want nothing more than to see their fabled masters arise from ages past and walk the Earth again.

At it's core Call of Cthulhu is a rather mechanically simple game and characters are easy to put together so long as care as taken to understand what skills are needed with regard to the kind of game the Keeper is planning to run. Once your character is complete, make another one and don't get attached to either of them. Seriously, played smartly, most characters can and will survive physically in tact, mentally, however is another story. As the game progresses and as more and more elements of the Mythos are revealed, characters begin to have their sanity chipped away at. If they are strong (and lucky), they can overcome these lurkers in the darkness and restore some of their lost sanity.

Characters can also learn magic from a vast list of spells, some are good, most are not as good. It's important to know how to bind a dimensional shambler before you summon one. Spells and magic items can be the focus of adventures as characters race to prevent a cult from obtaining an artifact that will be used in a ritual to summon Cthugha for weenie roast in Central Park one warm summer night.

The beauty of Call of Cthulhu, aside from it's relative cheapness compared to other games (you only need the main source book to begin play), is that it can cover very nearly any era-1890's, 1920's (Lovecraft's era), and the present day, and good Keepers will go to some lengths to make sure their players understand what is and is not possible in the various time lines. Plus there are numerous web sites that deal with Call of Cthulhu and offer a host of resources for players and Keepers alike. It's easy to find historical information based on almost any location in the world that a Keeper may plan to run his or her campaign.

Most importantly is the mood of the game itself. I've played Call of Cthulhu for fifteen years and most of the games have had great suspense, excitement, and were a lot of fun. I've played it by candle light in the dead of winter, something that adds so much to the atmosphere. Good keepers can build suspense that, like a good novel, will make your skin crawl with a healthy dose of other-worldly fear. It is also important to remember that Call of Cthulhu isn't a meat grinder that chews up and spits out characters as fast as the players can roll them up. As an alternative to swords and sorcery or lightsabers and blasters, Call of Cthulhu is an excellent RPG. Additionally, I highly recommend the works of H.P. Lovecraft as source material, plus their darn good reads.

For those of you who own the 5th edition of Chaosium's award-winning game, you will find that not much has changed in this edition. This is good news though, because unlike many game systems, Call of Cthulhu does not need much improvement.

While there are some smaller additions, such as a section on alien technology, the most notable new find is H.P. Lovecraft's short story, "The Call of Cthulhu". This has long been considered required reading for players and keepers alike, but now a Lovecraft novice can find this signature tale without needing to purchase another book (but chances are you will want to).

If you do not own this game and are interested in role-playing at its finest, you are missing out. If you own an older addition, this can still be a worthwhile purchase strictly because of its hardcover format and captivating cover art.

Enter the world of H.P. Lovecraft, you won't be disappointed.

Classic horror roleplaying at its best, this book is the latest edition of one of the most enduring product lines in the industry. With more than 300,000 copies sold and an armful of industry awards this game is an excellent example of a complete system in one book In this game, the players are ordinary folks battling against the sanity-sapping horrors of the Cthulhu mythos made famous by H. P. Lovecraft. The basic rules have not changed much through five incarnations, mostly due to its completeness and elegant simplicity which made it such a joy to play. Call of Cthulhu also introduced rules for sanity and a whole range of phobias and pyschological disorders which often produced some of the most memorable experiences in gaming.

This new edition features tight, concise writing, terrific artwork, and wealth of information and ideas for GMs and players and is a sterling example of how a game should be put together. More importantly, this game actually encourages role play (since threatening any of the otherworldly horrors is a good way to die painfully) and captures the stark horror of the Lovecraft novels perfectly. A worthy addition to any rolegamers shelf.

"Call of Cthulhu" is hands-down my favorite RPG. I have been playing it for about 15 years now, and have to yet to get bored with it. In a testament to it's quality, the core rule book has gone through 5 editions without any changes to the core rules. This version, the 5th edition, is improved by higher production value, nicer art, inclusion of spells/artifacts created for various adventures over the years, and the necessary addition of H.P. Lovecraft's signature story, "The Call of Cthulhu."

"Call of Cthulhu's" strength is in it's simplicity. The basic d100 system allows for near instant character creation and absorption of the rules. As an RPG, it is a non-combat game that focuses more on roleplaying and atmosphere. (Indeed, investigators who are combat happy will be short lived. "Call of Cthulhu" is famous for it's high body count.)

This system has won pretty much every RPG award available. It is the "system of choice" for my regular gaming group of 10 years. Possibly the best roleplaying game ever made.

Doesn't it tell you something, that *every* review for this edition of this book gives it 5 stars? (Some of the out-of-print editions have reviews here too.) And let's face it, us RPG enthusiasts are not the sort of folks to shy away from criticizing.

Some people will say the Basic Roleplaying rule-set is outdated. It's true that games like Unknown Armies and Godlike are pretty cool, and I know people who are using those rules for their CoC games. But just try introducing a newcomer to those rules, or getting someone who's only played D&D before to convert. They get dizzy, I tell you. Nope, for a simple, elegant rule-set that just about anyone can grasp right off the bat, Call of Cthulhu's Basic Roleplaying has still got it, after more than 20 years. The rules fade into the background, where they belong.

And unlike other games with their multivolume core rulebooks and endless splatbooks that you *need* if you want a fully fleshed-out campaign, everything you really need is right there in this one rulebook. Heck, every time Chaosium does a new edition, they comb all the supplements for spells, monsters, skills, and so on, and add them into the new edition--to save you time and money! Chaosium even printed the entire short story, "The Call of Cthulhu," in this edition, so newbies can get a taste of what it's all about.

If you've got an older edition of CoC, you don't need to buy this one--the rule changes are quite minor. Unlike D&D, a new edition doesn't make everything you already know obsolete--"editions" of CoC are back-compatible with older editions and old supplements. Chaosium does new editions to keep the book in print and to make it a little better every time, not to force the fans to spend money. I bought it because my old book was getting worn out, and I wanted a more durable hardcover edition. Now I can loan out the old book to players. But I'm really happy with the little changes, and it's nice to have some of the information that used to be in adventures and supplements all gathered together in one book.

The works of master horror writer H.P. Lovecraft of the 1920s have influenced almost every single good horror writer to date, from Ann Rice to Stephen King. COC is likely the best RPG ever put to print, and the publisher Chaosium just makes things easier for players by adding content from their various supplements with each new edition. A typical game session has your characters snooping around for clues, and interrogating various NPCs (non player characters), and then implementing a course of action. The climax of a campaign also often (unfortunately for players) includes one of the hideous deities of the Cthulhu Mythos, such as Azathoth, Cthulhu himself, Dagon, or, possibly the worst, Nyarlathotep, trickster god with a thousand avatars or "masks". COC is the only game that has ever given me, as the gamemaster, chills reading a supplement in the middle of the day. I also recommend picking up one of the numerous Cthulhu Mythos anthologies of short stories. Prepare to be scared

This is a very unusual role playing game. There are no happy el ves dancing in the forest c start with, and characters hardly gain in abilities. The bad dudes you are fighting are impossible to kill. Your character can go nutty, and become a non player character. One shot can kill your character. You dont fight much, becuase if you do, you die. This is role playing with a difference.

Call of Cthulhu is set in the dark worlds of H P Lovecraft. Characters (or better "investigators") are ordinary people- journalists, doctors, reporters, police- drawn into discovering that there is more to the world than meets the eye and the hand of ancient dieties is behind supernatural goings on. That haunted house down the street may be a result of more than a mere ghost- it could be an an anchient deity trying to re enter the earth. Sounds a bit dull huh? And, if you are a "hack and slash" RPG player it may well be. Where Cthulhu shines is its remarkable ability to create real feelings of fear and dread as you sneak around haunted houses. The mythos is wonderfully sketched, and the rules are readily understandable. You should be ready to play in about one hour. Combat is straightforward, although quite deadly.

The game can be set in any era, such is its flexibility. We played in 1860's London, it can just as easily be 1880 Auckland, 1920's Chicargo ( that is the "typical" era) or if you are hankering for a "X Files" experince, in the modern day.

This rule book is VERY high quality. Thick cover, OK illustrations, nicely laid out. It even has a reprint of the title story.

I can honestly say that in the hands of good experinced players and referees you will have one of the best role playing experinces ever. In one game I played a few years back it got so creepy one of players had to stop as she was getting too "freaked out". and how often can you say that you have had that experince playing D & D?

Like all Chaosium games, Call of Cthulhu (or "Call", as it is referred to by initiates) is based on litterature. In this case, its Litterature with a big L: that of mr. H. P. Lovecrafts "Cthulhu Mythos". It explores such things as sleepy old new england towns, dreams, cats, terrible ancient books, ancestral secrets, insanity, and the wonderfully inhuman nature of the universe. It uses pulp melodrama to reveal the boiling terror under the world.
You also end up using a lot of percentile and 6 - sided dice.
The system is very smooth, indeed to such a degree that one does not even notice how much it supports the games world - view: you just end up playing that way: its one of the few systems i have never felt the need to customize.
Most impressivly, the game suceeds where countless horror writers (often of great abillity) failed: it is a worthy continuation of mr. H. P. Lovecrafts stories. It has had the good sense to ignore the well - meant travisties of august derleth (though recently there has been worrying signs of degenerate sympathy towards his "ideas"), and though one could quibble about the need for stats in cases such as Azathoth, it has suceeded in bringing Lovecrafts darkly holy world to life.
Simply put, this is one of the two best role - playing games in the world.
Pleasant nightmares.

Call Of Cthulhu is a terrific roleplaying game based on the horror fantasy writings of H.P. Lovecraft. Players are confronted by the terrifying, forces of the Cthulhu Mythos where Great Old Ones who came from the stars and once ruled the earth in the first aeons of Earth history, before the coming of man, are again seeking to rise and walk the planet once again. Players will be able to immerse themselves in role-gaming, playing out horrific adventure scenarios with just some dice and their friends. Call Of Cthulhu will prove to be a much appreciated, core title for the serious gamer's reference shelf.

For years, Chaosium has brought its faithful followers the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. Arguably the ultimate horror role-playing experience in existance, Call of Cthulhu combines the workings of H.P. Lovecraft, shaping it into a mold that is beautifully crafted about insanity and the occult. This book comes with the complete version of the rules, and you need not purchase other books to play the game (even if you are running it). Comprehensive, in-depth, informative, and realistic, this book is a must-buy for both the experienced roleplayer and those who are just starting alike!