CALL OF CTHULHU is Chaosium's classic roleplaying game of Lovecraftian horror in which ordinary people are confronted by the terrifying and alien forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. CALL OF CTHULHU uses Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying System, easy to learn and quick to play. This bestseller has won dozens of game-industry awards and is a member of the Academy of Adventure Game Design Hall of Fame. In 2001 CALL OF CTHULHU celebrated its 20th anniversary. In 2003 CALL OF CTHULHU was voted the #1 Gothic/Horror RPG of all time by the Gaming Report.com community. CALL OF CTHULHU is well-supported by an ever-growing line of high quality game supplements. This is the softcover 6th edition of this classic horror game, completely compatible with all of previous editions and supplements for CALL OF CTHULHU. This is a complete roleplaying game in one volume. All you need to play is this book, some dice, imagination, and your friends.
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76 of 79 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A UNIQUELY DARK ROLE-PLAYING GAME,
This review is from: Call of Cthulhu: Horror Roleplaying in the Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft, 6th Edition (Paperback)
I remember reading about the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game way back in an old issue of Dragon magazine when they reviewed the first edition. I remember thinking, "Come on...who's going to play a game based on Lovecraft?" Well, nearly 25 years later, this game is still going strong and now on it its 6th edition. This game truly is unlike any other role-playing game, not only in style but in the players and GM's thought processes.
The book opens with a history of the Cthulhu Mythos including the stories and writers who crafted them. Characters are generated much the same with most role-playing games with die rolls for Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence Constitution, etc, along with probably the game's most important stat, Sanity. More on Sanity later...Next you choose your characters occupation which in turn starts the character off with certain skill based on that selection. You then have points to add to these skills as you see fit. The game doesn't have levels in the traditional sense. Advancement is in the form of increased skills which can improve a players skill in things such as investigation, weapons, medical, magic use, and many more. Combat is fought in rounds with the player or NPC with the highest dexterity moving first and so on. But Call of Cthulhu is not a game about combat. In fact as pointed out early and often, charging in with weapons as the ready often leads to the certain death of the PCs. This will be the most difficult transition for gamers of D&D. In this game, you're not superheroes...you're every day Joes confronting things that can rend you limb from limb without breaking a sweat. And that may be the best thing that will happen to you! Far worse than death may be the loss of your sanity. Throughout the game players will encounter information and creatures that are simply too much for our their minds to deal with and they will need to make a sanity check to see if they lose sanity points and how much. Dropping to low in SAN can result in temporary or even permanent insanity as you are reduced to a gibbering fool ready for a padded room. The book contains a comprehensive section detailing various types of mental disorders and their affects upon players. Luckily there are ways of increasing your sanity points such as by defeating these entities or by raising skills above 90%. The use of Mythos magic comes with a price and should be used sparingly. Using magic, reading and studying forbidden tomes of dark lore can all lower one's sanity points and yet magic is vital as it's often the only way to dispel the other-worldly creatures you will encounter. The book does a great job of listing these various books including such tomes as The Necronomicon, The Book of Eibon, and The King in Yellow, and how long it takes to study and comprehend them, and the loss of sanity you may suffer. The rules offer characters the chance to play in three different eras of time: The 1890's the 1920's/30's and present day, but it's quite evident that the 20's/30's are the preferred era since this is when Lovecraft and many of his contemporaries like Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard, wrote their stories. This may be a bit limited in terms of technology but it really is the best fit to get into the true spirit of the game. Playing in the era makes characters think more than if they played in the modern era with internet access and computers. They'll find out while private eyes were referred to as "gumshoes"! A detailed reference sections gives descriptions and statistics of the various elder Gods and Great Old Ones, such as Cthulhu himself, as well as the less servitor and independent races, including the Serpent People of Howard's Valusia and the Hounds of Tindalos, created by Frank Belknap Long. The rules also contain a history of the Necronomicon, Lovecraft's legendary tome of forbidden lore. And for those perhaps not familiar with Mr. Lovecraft, there is a short but comprehensive bio of Lovecraft. Call of Cthulhu is almost an anti-roleplaying game as it deconstructs many of the conventions of role-playing. It isn't about hacking and slashing and trucking off the Dragon's gold and personal advancement. Truly players have to work as a team in this game to not only solve the situations they will face, but to survive. The game also requires much more work and thought by the GM, referred to as the Keeper. Again, you're just not drawing a dungeon on a piece of graph paper and populating it with monsters who have no reason for being there, and sending the players on their way. A good GM can make or break a role-playing adventure, and that goes doubly for this game. Thankfully the editors have also provided for scenarios within the book to get players going and to give the Keeper some influence on designing their own adventures. In the first scenario called "The Haunting", the players are called to investigate strange goings-on in the Old Corbitt house. The next adventure, "Edge of Darkness" has the players called to the hospital bedside of a dying man who tells them he and some other students conjured up an evil spirit in an old farmhouse forty years ago. The entity is confined to the house until the last of the men is dead...and this old man is the last and near death's door. In "The Madman" the players investigate strange noises and lights in Jenning, Vermont where a reporter has disappeared. The last scenario, "Dead Men Stomp" is a 30's jazz era adventure about a cursed trumpet and what exactly the curse brings when the horn is blown. In addition to these adventures, Chaosium offers a wide selection of additional sourcebooks and scenario books. I suspect many keepers will use these until they get several games sessions under their belt in order to feel confident in developing their own adventures. Call of Cthulhu isn't for everyone. It's squarely aimed at a more cerebral and mature gamer who has become bored with the standard dungeon trawling. If this sounds like you then you can do no better that this chilling and wholly refreshing role-playing game experience. Reviewed by Tim Janson
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jhaeman's Review,
By
This review is from: Call of Cthulhu: Horror Roleplaying in the Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft, 6th Edition (Paperback)
I recently purchased the sixth (and newest) edition of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu rules. From what I understand, the game has remained remarkably consistent over the past 25+ years, such that the differences between the first and the sixth editions are relatively minor. I've only ran one session of Cthulhu, but I had a really good time and I would like to run more. Here's a chapter-by-chapter review of the book for those of you thinking about giving it a try.
CHAPTER 1: H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu short story, reprinted in full. I haven't actually read this particular one yet, as I'm getting ready to read S.T. Joshi's annotated collection of Lovecraft stories. Still, I think it's a great idea to include an original Lovecraft story to give fans a feel for the type of mood and pace they're likely to encounter. Lovecraft stories fall into the weird horror genre, which is a genre most people aren't familiar with and one that is quite different than what most people today think of as horror stories (Saw, slasher flicks, zombie apocalypse movies, etc.). You can definitely tell standard horror stories using Call of Cthulhu rules, but it may be a short and lethal session. CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION A nice overview of the game and how it differs from most other RPGs. I especially like the "Expectations & Play" section, which is divided into 1) Accumulate Information; 2) At the Scene (of the crime); 3) Make a plan; 4) Use your head; and 5) Avoid gunfights. In other words, Cthulhu is designed as a game of role-playing and investigation, where combat--especially combat involving firearms--is likely to be quite deadly. Unlike D&D or many other games, the system doesn't assume that the director ("Keeper") will throw weak opponents at the players early until they "level up" and can face stronger and stronger monsters. Characters never gain more hit points, do more damage, or otherwise become tangibly better at combat over the course of many sessions (except for *very* slowly getting more accurate at using their main weapon). This chapter also has a nice two-page spread defining terms and a good list of resources for the game. CHAPTER 3: ABOUT INVESTIGATORS This is the character creation chapter. All characters have eight randomly rolled characteristics. The normal method for character creation is to roll, in order and without switching the numbers around, 3d6 for the character's Strength, Constitution, Power (willpower), Dexterity, and Appearance; 2d6+6 for the character's Size and Intelligence; and 3d6+3 for the character's Education. Because this is a totally random process, players should either pick their character's occupation after rolling base ability scores or be willing to play a character with an occupation that is counter-intuitive to their ability scores (a scientist with a low Intelligence but a high Education may have earned several degrees through charm, family connections, and a good dose of cheating!). There are also several characteristics derived from the randomly rolled ones. Starting Sanity is Power x 5, Damage Bonus (to melee combat) is determined on a table after adding Strength and Size together, Hit Points is the average of Constitution and Size, Occupation skill points is Education x 20, while Personal Interest skill points are Intelligence x 10. One of the characteristics that I found quite useful in the game is Luck (Power x 5): want to know which investigator a monster attacks? Roll Luck. Want to know which investigator is closet to the exit, steps on the creaky step, or looks the most like a cultist they want to impersonate? Roll Luck. Quite handy, and something I wish other games would adopt. Each character is expected to pick an Occupation. The Occupations aren't the same thing as Classes in D&D--they're simply a list of six or eight Skills that the character is expected to be good at. Characters have to spend their Occupation skill points on Skills listed under their Occupation, but can then spend any Personal Interest skill points on any skill they desire (each skill starts with a small base chance even if no points are spent). In practice, this means that there isn't necessarily anything that, say, a Lawyer can do that a Drifter cannot--they're simply likely to be better at different Skills. [in my game, I use the 1920s Investigator's Handbook, which adds to the flavour of the occupations and gives each one a special bonus or ability that the other occupations lack]. Character creation is very easy and quick, taking maybe 30 minutes. Once random characteristics are rolled, derived characteristics are figured out, and skill points are spent, all the player has to do is purchase equipment. I've always found this part of the system a bit wonky, as characters start out with a lot of money. A modern day character, for example, starts out with a yearly income of anywhere from $ 15,000 to $ 500,000, plus assets equal to 5 times that amount. As most players and GMs don't want to go through the hassle of actually purchasing a house, furniture, clothing, a vehicle, etc., it would be better just to assume away these background things using Keeper discretion and then allot to the player a much smaller amount of "fun money" to spend on weapons, investigating gear, and travel to exotic places during the course of the game. CHAPTER 4: RULES AND SKILLS This is the core of the book for those interested in mechanics. Movement is treated in the most abstract way. Humans have a Move of "8", but what unit of distance per time that "8" represents in any given context is up to the Keeper. Basically, it serves only as a unit of comparison to tell whether a tiger (allotted a Move of 10) is gaining on the Human or losing in the footrace. Obviously, with such an abstract system, Call of Cthulhu is not really designed for tactical miniatures combat (though I'm sure it would be possible to use them if you really wanted to). Unlike more modern systems, Cthulhu doesn't allocate a certain number of "actions" or distinguish between different types according to how many you can do in a round (like d20 does with "Standard", "Move", and "Free", for example). The rules tell you that you can attack once a round or dodge once a round, and that's about it unless dealing with special cases like rapid-shot guns or a variant dodge rule. For Skills, you always roll a d100 and want to roll below your character's rating in that Skill. The only real type of "experience" point system is that, at the Keeper's discretion, if you use the Skill to accomplish something significant or learn something important, you can place a checkmark next to that skill. After the adventure, you can roll to see if that skill improves by 1d10 percentiles (it's not guaranteed, and the higher your percentage in a skill, the less likely it is to improve). The system has a nice array of knowledge skills (Accounting, Chemistry, Occult, etc.); investigation skills (Spot Hidden, Listen, etc.); social skills (Persuade, Fast Talk, Credit Rating); and combat skills. This last category is divided into several different types, each requiring a separate investment of points to improve: Fist/Punch, Kick, Grapple, Dodge, Rifle, Shotgun, Handgun, etc. As written, there's no limit to the points a character can put into a skill: in theory, you could have a Librarian start out with 99% in Occult or a Soldier start out with 99% in Rifle. It would require quite an investment in the character's Occupation or Personal Interest points, but I think setting a starting cap (say, 75%) would be a better way to allow for a starting character to fail and slowly improve over time. One of the aspects of this system that I really like and that sets the Chaosium version apart from other systems is the Cthulhu Mythos Skill. The only way for this Skill to improve is to suffer insanity from encountering the unspeakable horrors of the Mythos. Every point a character gains in Cthulhu Mythos is a permanent reduction in the character's Maximum Sanity, so as a character learns more and more about what he is up against, he is less and less capable of resisting it. It's a clever and quite evocative way of incorporating Lovecraft's themes in the mechanics of the RPG. I also really like that the game makes it clear that it's perfectly acceptable to come up with new Skills and slot them in anytime there looks to be a void in the list provided. Some NPCs in the back of the book, for example, have points spent in "Hold Liquor", "Lack Mercy", and "Take Credit for Everything". Things like this add character to characters, and should be encouraged. Another interesting thing is the game's use of a Resistance Table to handle opposed characteristic (ability score) checks. The Table works for both characters opposing each other as well as other things not covered by the Skill system, such as breaking down doors, resisting poison, successfully using magic, etc. It works by matching the characteristic score of the Active character against the characteristic score of the Passive character (or object) and expressing in a percentage how likely it is for the Active character to succeed. The reason I like this is because it gives real significance to a character's ability in a particular area, while still leaving room for randomness (in contrast, for example, the d20 system of opposed ability score checks emphasizes the randomness of the d20 roll because the likely difference between someone with an average ability score's +0 modifier and someone with a pretty good ability score's +3 modifier is less likely to make the difference). I don't want to delve too deeply into combat because it's ordinarily not a major part of the game, but it has a couple of wrinkles which set it... Read more ›
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Game; Questionable Quality Edition,
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This review is from: Call of Cthulhu: Horror Roleplaying in the Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft, 6th Edition (Paperback)
I can't even tell you how much I love this roleplaying game. This short review won't even try. I'm simply going to point out a few negative things I noticed, which you can take into consideration after reading the other reviews.
* Yes, the new art is beautiful. I'm glad I own 6th Edition. It utilizes a few gallons of blank ink, which truly does make the game--not only LOOK darker--feel darker. But, man, it's just murder on the copy machine. Lots of black backgrounds with white font. KINKO'S is going to hate you. * I'm not sure if I found anything else new about the game. I was hoping they'd catch some of the typos that have spilled over from previous editions. They did not. I was hoping they'd put the weapons table in alphabetical order. They didn't. And it would have been nice if they'd taken all of the house rules that have appeared over the years and incorporated them into the bulk of the text. The game feels like a quilt of rules. * I was eager to see how they beefed up the investigator record sheets. The 1920's investigator sheet looks good. But the present day sheet contains a major misprint. Instead of "Investigator Skills" they wrote "Sanity Points." And the 1890's investigator sheet has no labels at all. * I was hoping they would expand a few areas. I felt the combat system needed a little more explanation. A few more examples. * I was hoping they'd give us a new adventure, too. Maybe a couple of maps to accompany the Arkham section. SOMETHING to set this edition apart from the others. Having said all that, I must repeat: it is an attractive book. And it's a great game.
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