Call of Cthulhu (6th Ed)
The Great Old Ones ruled the earth aeons before the rise of humankind. Originally they came from the gulfs of space and were cast down by even greater beings. Remains of their cyclopean cities and forbidden knowledge can still be found on remote islands in the Pacific, buried amid the shifting sands of vast deserts, and in the frigid recesses of the polar extremes. Now they sleep -- some deep within the enveloping earth and others beneath the eternal sea, in the drowned city of R'lyeh, preserved in the waters by the spells of mighty Cthulhu. When the stars are right they will rise, and once again walk this Earth.
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 2011 Call of Cthulhu celebrated its 30th 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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I first started playing Call of Cthulhu with the 3rd edition and am now among those awaiting the arrival of the long anticipated 7th edition. That being said, this 6th edition of the game has been gracing my shelves for many a year. It’s without question my favorite RPG, and in my humble opinion one of the best RPGs and *the* best horror RPG out there.
THE SYSTEM
Call of Cthulhu uses a customized version of Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying System. The rules are simple and easy for players to pick up (there’s also usually a free Quick Start available on the Chaosium website for people to try out before they buy the game).
Creating a character (“investigator,” in the terminology of the game) is relatively easy and quick, especially once you’ve done it a few times. Attributes are generated using six-sided dice, so that will be familiar to the majority of players already familiar with systems such as D&D, and skills and attribute-based checks are done using a percentile system. Degrees of success and failure relative to those percentages can result in extremely good or bad results, depending on the roll.
Investigators earn experience “checks” for using their skills, and then between games they get a chance to improve their skills by rolling against the checked skills. Rolling over the current skill value lets the player improve their investigators rating in that skill, so the better an investigator gets at a skill the less likelihood that they will be able to learn from their experiences.
As a horror game, what makes Call of Cthulhu stand out for me is that investigators’ health and sanity are genuinely in jeopardy. These are normal people facing horrors beyond the comprehension of humanity. While some of the lesser horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos can be faced with physical combat, many cannot and all of them threaten the sanity of the investigators. The games includes detailed rules for temporary and permanent madness that results from exposure to the horrors of the Mythos, and combat can be quick and lethal. As one might expect, as investigators the player characters best approach is research and study in order to find a way to foil the dark forces that they are confronting.
Magic exists in Call of Cthulhu, but it is the kind of forbidden occult lore that is described in the stories of H. P. Lovecraft and those who came after him. Dabbling in magic is dangerous and even studying many of the tomes of ancient lore can weaken an investigators sanity, forcing them to walk a fine line between the benefits and perils of mystic knowledge.
THEME
Call of Cthulhu is, of course, rooted in the stories of H. P. Lovecraft and others who have added to what has come to be known as the Cthulhu Mythos, or sometimes the Lovecraft Mythos. It has some components for using it to tell “conventional” horror stories, but it’s true strength comes in telling tales of the unspeakable eldritch horrors of the Mythos. The rules even suggest that if you are going to throw in a zombie, mummy, or vampire that the game master (referred to as the Keeper) add a Mythos twist to the monsters. The sheer volume of material (creatures, tomes, arcane mysteries) to be explored gives this RPG massive replay value–players will be able to come back to the table and never know just what it is they are confronting.
The game has a strong horror aspect to it. Many of the horror games out there (Beyond the Supernatural, Chill, etc.) have characters with special abilities such as psychic powers or membership to an organization of paranormal investigators to aid them in their struggles with the supernatural. Not so in Call of Cthulhu–investigators are regular people, and their lives and minds are fragile compared to the horrors they will face. Players will often have to make difficult decisions about whether or not their investigators can bear the strain of continuing to delve into things humanity was not meant to know. In the end, even successful investigators will rarely emerge from their experiences unscathed.
IN CONCLUSION
I consider this one of the best RPGs on the market. The system is easy to learn and play, letting the players focus on story and role-playing, and the thematic and atmospheric elements are excellent. It can be used to run ongoing campaigns or shorter stories that can be told in just a session or two.
This is my personal favorite RPG. It was one of the first ones I ever purchased, and it’s been on my shelves ever since in one edition or another. Horror fans, and particularly Lovecraft fans, will enjoy this game. That being said, if you have a play group that likes to have epic battles and face the monsters head on, they probably won’t like this one as much–I had one player who refused to play the game because “you can’t fight the monsters.” But if you’re looking for a great horror game, this is the one for you.
I have to admit – I am a big HP Lovecraft fan. I have read just about everything he has written. I also am a big horror fan – but lean more toward the less graphic styles, so Cthulhu-style horror intrigues me the most. Have been playing this game since it first came out. Love the fact that you can play with a small number (even just a game master and one player). Also, the themes and stories are very engaging. Best thing, though, is that it takes thinking to “win” more than brute strength. Winning of course is all in the perspective of going crazy as you progress. If you love RPGs and horror and thinking games – THIS IS THE BEST! A must for any serious gamer.
I am reading about this game from here, the more I do not understand it. You investigate about monsters but without spells, or weapons, or power. You are just people. I do not read books of P.H. Lorecraft but the are about cults and weird gods who destroy everything. You have some guns and money and books that make you go insane if you make spells, how do you defeat a god monster with a machine gun!!! Even Drizzt would not do that! Haha!
This seems like a game no obe can win so why do you play?