When I first read the post, my immediate thought was that Chaosium was planning to make a Call of Cthulhu boxed set that merely used the art and general appearance of the original while still making use of the current rules. But then I remembered that Chaosium already had a Call of Cthulhu boxed set for its current edition – a Starter Set, to be clear – so it seemed unlikely the company would produce a second one of a similar sort.
This thought was further strengthened by two other details. First, the image above uses the tagline, "Fantasy Role-Playing in the Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft" (italics mine), which the current edition does not use. Second, the sentence "This is a Complete Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Ready for Use" also appears, exactly as it did back in 1981. Taken together, it now seemed more likely that what Meints was teasing was a boxed reprint of the original edition of the game and not merely wrapping the current edition in the warm blanket of nostalgia.
For various banal reasons, I'm not a fan of Call of Cthulhu's current edition. I remain, however, a huge fan of the earlier editions of the game, especially the 1981 version, which is what I first started playing four decades ago. My copy of the game is long gone, worn out from continual use. The idea that I might be able to replace it makes very happy. Fingers crossed that I am not mistaken!
Chaosium has published reprints of the first two editions of RuneQuest, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Call of Cthulhu receive the same treatment.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point. I picked up the RQ2 hardcover reprint when it was released and I was very glad I did.
DeleteI no longer will support the NuChaosium for a number of reasons- Their poor handling and fulfillment of the RQ KS chief among them. They were always my favorite gaming company from the time I discovered them, and I heavily supported the new owners at the beginning. I've no use for them at this point. /end CrankyGrampaMode
ReplyDeleteA reprint of 1E or 2E would definitely tug at my nostalgia strings but my 3rd Edition hardcover works just as well now as it did during it's heyday, and there is an abundance of great older material out there on the used marketplace for CoC from the previous Chaosium/s.
The third edition hardcover is a thing of beauty. If I had one, I'd never need another CoC book ever.
DeleteNot to stir up trouble, but could you elaborate on what happened with the RQ KS? Is this the reprint of the 2e rulebook or a different one?
It took them 5 years to complete it. During that time they were extremely lean on updates and when they did give an update for the massive delays of the rest of the classic PDFs, it was always "layout issues" and lack of staff/time to handle the layouts (all while producing plenty of brand new pretty RQ:AIG and COC products over this time period). Once the PDFs were finally done (end of 2019/early 2020), they still took another year to make them available in print (which was also part of the KS goals). IOW- they got the money, got out the initial print product (which they had pretty much ready to go at KS end) then took their sweet ass time in fulfilling the rest of it. 5 years. I know others have been burned by KS and never got anything so I shouldn't complain, but I really got sick of the constant excuses about layout and nobody/no time to do it while getting emails and seeing G+ updates every weeks about all the new products being published and in the pipeline with updates on their progress.
DeleteThanks for the clarification.
DeleteNo problem. If I ever find myself ready to sell my 3E Hardcover, I'll shoot you an email ;)
DeleteI'm not quite so hard on NuChaosium but they certainly have taken a very firm business stance with folks. Sadly a casualty of that is my RQ1/2 comparison document which I have taken private due to their complaints about too much copied stuff. Then Mr. Meints accused me of copying from his Meints Index of Glorantha for content of my own index, so I took that private also despite never having seen MIG and instead had laboriously made my own index, only borrowing a few magazine indices from other web sites.
DeleteI will buy stuff from them when it makes sense, but I am definitely a critical fan.
All that said, I will say their customer service is very good. When I got RQ2 POD instead of the Old School Resource pack I ordered, they quickly sent out a replacement and told me to keep the RQ2 softcover. And after confusion about one of the PDFs from the Kick Starter, they created an order for that PDF for free so now I have that one in the regular library and not just the Kick Starter download section.
I get the frustration with the timeline of the Kick Starter fulfillment and maybe they should have devoted more effort to it than they did, but at least they did complete it despite winding up with so many stretch goals. Many other Kick Starters with a huge list of stretch goals struggle to fulfill.
are you sure that is newchaosium? I know the new(old) owners came back in due to the lack of planning for shipping for the massive Horror on the orient express boxed set, which was beautiful, but lost as much as it brought in, pushing them into bankruptcy/near death
Delete@ Rick, Unsure if you directed this question at me, but yes the RQC KS was the first project by the new crew at Chaosium
Delete"...likely that what Meints was teasing was a boxed reprint of the original edition of the game..."
ReplyDeleteThat was my take on the info I've seen as well. And like you, my copy fell apart ages ago (it didn't even survive my high school campaigns) so the temptation to pick up a replacement is considerable, although I've no complaint with the current edition - or Pulp Cthulhu for that matter. The latter probably resembles my high school games more than actual CoC does, honestly. :)
This is definitely exciting. I'm on the fence as to whether to get the reprint. I long ago got rid of CoC and I doubt I would ever run it. But it would be nice to have a more complete collection...
DeleteIt would be strictly a nostalgia buy for me as well, but that's not an invalid reason to buy something. I can see myself running C0C again, but more likely with the current edition. Or perhaps Pulp if I want to tone down the hopelessness and dial up the action - which is the antithesis of Lovecraft but not wholly out of place for Howard's Mythos dabbling.
DeleteI have to admit I found it funny when Chaosium released Pulp Cthulhu, since, by my lights, CoC has always been much pulpier and less bleak than Lovecraft's writings.
DeleteCan't help but agree. As I said above, my 1st ed high school games bore more resemblance to gangster films than Lovecraft's work most of the time, and even these days I'd be happier with more action at the table than a faithful adaptation of his writings would allow. Being doomed is fine, but you can at least make it a struggle on the way out - which is not something HPL's gloomy protags were known for.
DeleteI do think Pulp is surprisingly good at doing what it intended to do. The mechanical changes are small but the impact on character survivability is pretty big.
Always loved that picture of Cthulhu.
ReplyDeleteI'd be very interested in this if it is true. I did not play CoC back then so I would like to get the boxed set. I picked up a hardback copy of RQ 2nd Ed though I'd didn't play it either. I'd like to know what I missed.
ReplyDeleteThe Chaosium has had its ups and downs, and the last management transition in 2015 was no exception. Here are some additional things that haven't been pointed out though about our Kickstarters:
ReplyDeleteWe have always fulfilled them and every backer has gotten every one of the rewards they paid for. The quality of the items produced has been very well received. The last two Kickstarters we have done (Khan of Khans and Miskatonic University) both delivered on time, in full, on budget, and with no communication problems. Were mistakes made in the past? Of course. As usual, all criticism is welcome. Fortunately, we have also been learning from that feedback and past mistakes. Call fo Cthulhu Classic may not be everyone's cup of tea, yet for those that are looking forward to it, we don't expect that you will be disappointed. Chaosium has been working hard to rebuild trust and good will. The next Kickstarter we do will provide one more example of those efforts.
Thanks for stopping by, Rick. I appreciate your candor and wish you and Chaosium all the best. I'm certainly looking forward to CoC Classic!
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