Is Cthulu Calling Anyone Else?

So, is anyone else looking forward to Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth?

It's been in the making for so damn long, I had forgotten it was even coming out until GameSpot ran an article about it!

It looks and sounds like it should be pretty cool. I'm definitely picking it up whenever it gets released! As long as Doom 3 doesn't come out before it (ha ha ha), it'll be my first PC game purchase since... Neverwinter Nights.

Count me in amongst those "definitely looking forward to this." I'd forgotten all about this until just a few weeks ago -- a friend convinced me to pick up the newest edition of the d20 Call of Cthulhu hardback (during Gamekeepers going-out-of-business clearance sale), which prompted me to run a search for info on the computer game. Hadn't seen anything on this since the initial movie clips that Gabe and Tycho had linked to from Penny Arcade, what feels like it must be at least 2 years ago. I remember getting completely jazzed about the last clip which showed the swimming vision and hallucinatory effects of your character's sanity gauge getting dangerously low -- brilliant. With the exception of the Japanese V.G. and Asuka 120% series, I do almost no gaming on my PC, so this'll be my first American game software purchase since... well, since I don't know when.

--Chris

Yeah, he called me twice yesterday while I was asleep, kept saying I'd call him back, but he wouldn't listen.

I hear the call of the Great Old Ones every night, for great is their power and very close the day of their return. Ïa! Shub-Niggurath! The Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!



And yeah, I had also almost forgotten about this game. I think I first read a preview of it like 2 years ago, and I was very impressed. Promises to be very revolutionary, but I don't know how well they will implement all those features.

Btw, I've played Call of Cthulhu (the RPG) for like 10 years now. Not one of my most commonly played games these days, but surely one of my all-time favourites. Never tried the D20 version, though. Probably utter crap: how the hell can you play a Cthulhu game in which people have LEVELS and massive numbers of HP? A 20-level Private Investigator with 200 HP? Come on...

Cthulu ftahgn~
I hope this game will be great big hope in it...

If memory serves me correctly, wasn't another company actually doing this game and then Bethesda picked it up? I don't remember WAY WAY WAY back in the day when I first started looking into this game that Bethesda had anything to do with it.

I never really got into the Cthulu RPG thing. Couple of friends played when I was in 8th/9th grade, but since we were so young at the time it usually ended up with us "playing" the game for 20 minutes total out of the entire 6 hours we'd sit around the table...

I think the last Cthulu/Lovecraft game for the PC was Prisoner of Ice (or something like that). That was easily 8-10 yrs ago. It wasn't bad, I think, but it's been so long since I fired it up I honestly can't remember. And Alone in the Dark, the original, was loosely based on the mythos. Maybe that's why I like AitD so much more than the sequels?

For past games, shadow of the comet (i think it was the title) was great

If I had a better PC, I'd be all over this as well

After playing Eternal Darkness to death, I've taken an interest in Lovecraft's work.

Looks interesting, I need to get a new PC anyway

He called me the other day to tell me good news... he just saved a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to GEICO.

the roker said:

If I had a better PC, I'd be all over this as well

After playing Eternal Darkness to death, I've taken an interest in Lovecraft's work.

Looks interesting, I need to get a new PC anyway

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If you have an X-Box you can pick it up that way too.

BioMotor_Unitron said:

Yeah, he called me twice yesterday while I was asleep, kept saying I'd call him back, but he wouldn't listen.

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Stupid bastard kept paging me. I know I should probably get a cell, but it keeps the riff-raff from calling.

Bobak said:

Stupid bastard kept paging me. I know I should probably get a cell, but it keeps the riff-raff from calling.

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I just get heavy breathing.. But dammit, I *SEE* his name on the caller id! He isn't fooling anyone!

StickmanLoser said:

I just get heavy breathing.. But dammit, I *SEE* his name on the caller id! He isn't fooling anyone!

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Yeah, I get it on my Pager too:

"Cthulu, Dark Lord"

StickmanLoser said:

I just get heavy breathing

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Wouldn't it be more of a sloshing wet sound as opposed to breathing?

slerch666 said:

Wouldn't it be more of a sloshing wet sound as opposed to breathing?

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Rub it in why don't you? I'm sure he's sensitive about that.

Lovecraft0110 said:

Btw, I've played Call of Cthulhu (the RPG) for like 10 years now. Never tried the D20 version, though. Probably utter crap: how the hell can you play a Cthulhu game in which people have LEVELS and massive numbers of HP? A 20-level Private Investigator with 200 HP? Come on...

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Speaking as someone who turned against D&D in 8th grade after discovering that other RPGs did indeed exist, and as someone who cursed the d20 System as the spawn of the Devil himself when it first hit the market, I have seen alot of potential in certain applications of d20 -- most notably Mutants & Masterminds (superhero RPG) and Call of Cthulhu.

One thing that both these games have done is to throw out the concept of Character Classes. Rather, all characters in M&M are super-powered (or super-skilled) beings and all characters in CoC are investigators of one stripe or another. CoC presents 17 different profession templates that list each profession's 9 Core Skills (these cost 1 point per Skill level and define the fundamental skills required for a character of that profession) plus 3 other skills of the player's choice. Any skills a player chooses (called Non-Core Skills) besides these 12 template-based Core Skills cost 2 points per Skill level. Core Skills can be mixed and matched to create other, unlisted profession templates -- for example, some of the skills from the Criminal template combined with some of the skills from the Technician template could be combined to form a Computer Hacker template. Other examples given are: Doctor + Soldier = Combat Medic; Archaeologist template with different Knowledge Skills could yield a Geologist or a Chemist template.

As far as Hit Points go, each character starts at Level 1 with 6 HP, plus or minus their Constitution modifier (-4 for a CON of 3, 0 for a CON of 10-11, and +4 for a CON of 18 -- meaning a 1st level CoC character will have 2-10 HP). When a character goes up a level, his player rolls 1d6 + the CON modifier, and adds the result (a minimum of 1) to his HP. So the only way a 20th level investigator could have 200 HP is if he had an 18 CON and rolled a 6 on his new HP die every time he advanced a level.

Even if a character remains alive and sane long enough to level-up to the point where he has a fuckload of HP, he still must always contend with the d20 System's "massive damage" rule. In CoC, it works like this:

"A threshold exists, called massive damage, at which a wound threatens death no matter how many hit points a character has. If a character sustains 10 points of damage in a single attack, that character must make a Fortitude saving throw (Difficulty Class 15). Failure means that the character dies immediately. Creatures have a massive damage threshold of 50 points. If that damage is subdual damage, the saving throw determines whether it is immediately knocked unconscious for 2d6 minutes."

Comparing this rule to the damage inflicted by CoC firearms shows that a good damage roll from a small handgun can inflict a massive damage result, while it will only take an average damage roll from a rifle or a close-range shotgun blast to do the same. Damage is not something that d20 CoC players can take lightly, nor is a gun pointed in your character's direction something to be scoffed at. I haven't played d20 D&D, but a friend who has said that he thought he remembered characters in that game having a higher massive damage threshold (closer to 50).

Hopefully, once the current Mutants & Masterminds campaign winds down, my friend who encouraged me to buy the d20 CoC book will start a CoC campaign. I'm seeing alot of stuff in this book that looks pretty intriguing.

--Chris

Dash no Chris said:

Speaking as someone who turned against D&D in 8th grade after discovering that other RPGs did indeed exist, and as someone who cursed the d20 System as the spawn of the Devil himself when it first hit the market, I have seen alot of potential in certain applications of d20 -- most notably Mutants & Masterminds (superhero RPG) and Call of Cthulhu.

One thing that both these games have done is to throw out the concept of Character Classes. Rather, all characters in M&M are super-powered (or super-skilled) beings and all characters in CoC are investigators of one stripe or another. CoC presents 17 different profession templates that list each profession's 9 Core Skills (these cost 1 point per Skill level and define the fundamental skills required for a character of that profession) plus 3 other skills of the player's choice. Any skills a player chooses (called Non-Core Skills) besides these 12 template-based Core Skills cost 2 points per Skill level. Core Skills can be mixed and matched to create other, unlisted profession templates -- for example, some of the skills from the Criminal template combined with some of the skills from the Technician template could be combined to form a Computer Hacker template. Other examples given are: Doctor + Soldier = Combat Medic; Archaeologist template with different Knowledge Skills could yield a Geologist or a Chemist template.

As far as Hit Points go, each character starts at Level 1 with 6 HP, plus or minus their Constitution modifier (-4 for a CON of 3, 0 for a CON of 10-11, and +4 for a CON of 18 -- meaning a 1st level CoC character will have 2-10 HP). When a character goes up a level, his player rolls 1d6 + the CON modifier, and adds the result (a minimum of 1) to his HP. So the only way a 20th level investigator could have 200 HP is if he had an 18 CON and rolled a 6 on his new HP die every time he advanced a level.

Even if a character remains alive and sane long enough to level-up to the point where he has a fuckload of HP, he still must always contend with the d20 System's "massive damage" rule. In CoC, it works like this:

"A threshold exists, called massive damage, at which a wound threatens death no matter how many hit points a character has. If a character sustains 10 points of damage in a single attack, that character must make a Fortitude saving throw (Difficulty Class 15). Failure means that the character dies immediately. Creatures have a massive damage threshold of 50 points. If that damage is subdual damage, the saving throw determines whether it is immediately knocked unconscious for 2d6 minutes."

Comparing this rule to the damage inflicted by CoC firearms shows that a good damage roll from a small handgun can inflict a massive damage result, while it will only take an average damage roll from a rifle or a close-range shotgun blast to do the same. Damage is not something that d20 CoC players can take lightly, nor is a gun pointed in your character's direction something to be scoffed at. I haven't played d20 D&D, but a friend who has said that he thought he remembered characters in that game having a higher massive damage threshold (closer to 50).

Hopefully, once the current Mutants & Masterminds campaign winds down, my friend who encouraged me to buy the d20 CoC book will start a CoC campaign. I'm seeing alot of stuff in this book that looks pretty intriguing.

--Chris

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Nice to hear from another RPG gamer here. Despite your summary of the CoC D20 system, I still think it probably isn't as realistic as the original Chaosium system. Yeah, if a player suffers a massive amount of damage he'll have to make a Fortitude roll, but the problem is that it is likely that high-level characters will pass those rolls without breaking a sweat. At least, that's true of D&D, which I play a lot, btw. I am currently Dm'ing a campaign of Forgotten Realms (D20). I also play a lot of L5R, as you can see in my sig and avatar.

Lovecraft0110 said:

...yeah, if a player suffers a massive amount of damage he'll have to make a Fortitude roll, but the problem is that it is likely that high-level characters will pass those rolls without breaking a sweat. At least, that's true of D&D, which I play a lot, btw...

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Good point. The D20 System suits D&D really well, but the old Chaosium system is a much better match for Cthulhu. It was way more lethal.

I can't remember how many charcaters my old CoC group would run through in just one campaign.

tsukaesugi said:

Good point. The D20 System suits D&D really well, but the old Chaosium system is a much better match for Cthulhu. It was way more lethal.

I can't remember how many charcaters my old CoC group would run through in just one campaign.

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Yep. Cthulhu is probably the game that I've DM'ed more in all my "career", and I also have the same experience: high mortality rate!

The Spawn is calling me as well...

Not sure about that new game, but well, let's see how it turns out. Most developers, directors and artists seem to have troubles bringing Yog Sothoth mythos plots and deities to life (just look at all those abysmal movie productions), and it's my inspired guess that this will be the case here as well.

About the CoC pen-and-paper RPG, I've DM'd that a lot during the past few years but since my usual RPG players are focussed on high-fantasy RPGs such as Rolemaster, we never got into it that deeply, and if we did, it wasn't really all that because we all know Lovecraft's and other mythos authors' novels inside out which makes it difficult to set up proper standard encounters based on the usual parameters such as smell, certain remote noises, etc. Usual conversation: "After opening the door you see dark, vibrant smoke that emerges from one of the corners of the room, and"... Player: "Ah, a Hound of Tindalos, I'll summon a Nightghaunt to get rid of him!".... you know the score... that's why my campaigns tend to be completely on the mystic side, with challenges for the players' brains, not so much their characters' weapons, magical scrolls, resistance potions, artefacts, connections to mythos minions, etc.

This goes on up to a point where only the basic rules of the whole standard and companion rulesets apply and the DM gets full control over the party again. IMO, this is tricky to achieve without letting the players feel that despite their mental and physical powers, they just meet even bigger opponents that render their newly-aquired magic, artefact, etc. useless, which often leads to lame discussions...

A lot of my adventures during complete sets of campaigns deal with the base for most mythos lore, the books, the black tomes of the Yog Sothoth legend. It's very interesting to build a plot on that specially if your players are very HPL-savvy and have read the occasional book on occult topics.

I just love the Chaosium CoC rule- and sourcebooks, very good material. One of my fave is Arkham Unveiled (Chaosium #2325) which fueled dozens of our smaller Arkham/Miscatonic area/Dunwich/Innsmouth adventures and campaigns with nice plots and stories.

Takumaji said:

The Spawn is calling me as well...

Not sure about that new game, but well, let's see how it turns out. Most developers, directors and artists seem to have troubles bringing Yog Sothoth mythos plots and deities to life (just look at all those abysmal movie productions), and it's my inspired guess that this will be the case here as well.

About the CoC pen-and-paper RPG, I've DM'd that a lot during the past few years but since my usual RPG players are focussed on high-fantasy RPGs such as Rolemaster, we never got into it that deeply, and if we did, it wasn't really all that because we all know Lovecraft's and other mythos authors' novels inside out which makes it difficult to set up proper standard encounters based on the usual parameters such as smell, certain remote noises, etc. Usual conversation: "After opening the door you see dark, vibrant smoke that emerges from one of the corners of the room, and"... Player: "Ah, a Hound of Tindalos, I'll summon a Nightghaunt to get rid of him!".... you know the score... that's why my campaigns tend to be completely on the mystic side, with challenges for the players' brains, not so much their characters' weapons, magical scrolls, resistance potions, artefacts, connections to mythos minions, etc.

This goes on up to a point where only the basic rules of the whole standard and companion rulesets apply and the DM gets full control over the party again. IMO, this is tricky to achieve without letting the players feel that despite their mental and physical powers, they just meet even bigger opponents that render their newly-aquired magic, artefact, etc. useless, which often leads to lame discussions...

A lot of my adventures during complete sets of campaigns deal with the base for most mythos lore, the books, the black tomes of the Yog Sothoth legend. It's very interesting to build a plot on that specially if your players are very HPL-savvy and have read the occasional book on occult topics.

I just love the Chaosium CoC rule- and sourcebooks, very good material. One of my fave is Arkham Unveiled (Chaosium #2325) which fueled dozens of our smaller Arkham/Miscatonic area/Dunwich/Innsmouth adventures and campaigns with nice plots and stories.

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A true believer! At last!

Aye, Chaosium published very fine stuff in the day. I also have "The Compact Arkham Unveiled", which is really a superb book. Have you ever tried the book about the Dreamlands? It's really great if you want to steer your campaign in a rather uncommon direction, which you seem to like (and me as well).

Where in Germany are you located? I may move to Germany next September (well, it's still unclear whether I'll end up in Germany or the US, lol). More espefically, to somewhere in Lower Saxony.

Lovecraft0110 said:

A true believer! At last!

Aye, Chaosium published very fine stuff in the day. I also have "The Compact Arkham Unveiled", which is really a superb book. Have you ever tried the book about the Dreamlands? It's really great if you want to steer your campaign in a rather uncommon direction, which you seem to like (and me as well).

Where in Germany are you located? I may move to Germany next September (well, it's still unclear whether I'll end up in Germany or the US, lol). More espefically, to somewhere in Lower Saxony.

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I live in Nuremberg, which is in Northern Bavaria (we prefer to call it Frankonia, tho).

Yes, I have the Dreamlands volume, and another rather obscure tome by German publisher AHA (which doesn't exist anymore, got sued for copyright issues and vanished soon after), written by W.H. Müller, it's called "Lovecraft - Schatzmeister des Verborgenen" (translates to "keeper of the occult/hidden lore"). The book contains a very interesting semi-scientifical correlation between Lovecraft's novels, his dreams mentioned in his Selected Letters and the virtual "map" of the Dreamlands, inlcuding Kadath, the Ghoul undergrounds, Ulthar, etc, together with some sort of HPL psychogram. It's very good source material for Dreamland-based adventures and about HPL's "dream-based geology" in general. It's very hard to find but AFAIK an english translation does exist, published by enigma research in the mid 90s. Should be available in ascii format somewhere on the 'net.

I usually choose the "mystic" style of campaign/adventure DM'ing for various reasons, one would be the almost unlimited power of even lesser gods of the mythos, as others already stated. It's totally futile (and frustrating for many players) to confront your party with an Old One every other day because even if they survive the first encounter, they will be dead or at least violently insane after the next one. That's why I follow the HPL style of creating terror by showing my players anything BUT the big bad supermonster. Most of the time, they're busy researching bits of mythos lore woven into a detective plot, combined with historical elements. Of course there are encounters involving normal or magical combat but I'd say our standard ration of psychological terror vs. actual "mythos battles" is about 10:1.

Scream Of Cchulu

Other KODT Cartoons

Takumaji said:

I live in Nuremberg, which is in Northern Bavaria (we prefer to call it Frankonia, tho).

Yes, I have the Dreamlands volume, and another rather obscure tome by German publisher AHA (which doesn't exist anymore, got sued for copyright issues and vanished soon after), written by W.H. Müller, it's called "Lovecraft - Schatzmeister des Verborgenen" (translates to "keeper of the occult/hidden lore"). The book contains a very interesting semi-scientifical correlation between Lovecraft's novels, his dreams mentioned in his Selected Letters and the virtual "map" of the Dreamlands, inlcuding Kadath, the Ghoul undergrounds, Ulthar, etc, together with some sort of HPL psychogram. It's very good source material for Dreamland-based adventures and about HPL's "dream-based geology" in general. It's very hard to find but AFAIK an english translation does exist, published by enigma research in the mid 90s. Should be available in ascii format somewhere on the 'net.

I usually choose the "mystic" style of campaign/adventure DM'ing for various reasons, one would be the almost unlimited power of even lesser gods of the mythos, as others already stated. It's totally futile (and frustrating for many players) to confront your party with an Old One every other day because even if they survive the first encounter, they will be dead or at least violently insane after the next one. That's why I follow the HPL style of creating terror by showing my players anything BUT the big bad supermonster. Most of the time, they're busy researching bits of mythos lore woven into a detective plot, combined with historical elements. Of course there are encounters involving normal or magical combat but I'd say our standard ration of psychological terror vs. actual "mythos battles" is about 10:1.

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Sounds cool. I tend to alternate between "mystic" and more classy kind of adventures, though. I love the classic CoC adventures published in the late 80's. Haven't played Cthulhu for a long time now, though, since we're concentrating more on Legend of the Five Rings (ever played it?) and Forgotten Realms. With L5R (Legend...) we have a very nice campaign running now, in which there are actually 3 DM's (one of them is me). We alternate in the role of DM, but try to keep our respective adventures within the larger plot of the campaign. If you like the history of Feudal Japan and the Sengoku Jidai, or just chanbara films, you have to try this game!

A CoC Pc game would be alright if it has unlimited continues and a massive number of save points.

It always seemed to me that CoC, the dice n' paper RPG, was more fun for the GM than the players. The GM could indulge his sadistic side in finding more imagintive ways of making characters dead/insane While the players just roll up more and more characters, to be used for food for the Old Ones' insatable hunger.

(In terms of PC deaths, CoC is the WWI of dice n' paper RPGs)

There's no way you can get attached to your character(s) if you lose two or three per gaming session.