tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post1851259991807589938..comments2024-03-28T15:30:09.903-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: In Praise of Call of CthulhuJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-7328757870048259862009-03-18T15:48:00.000-04:002009-03-18T15:48:00.000-04:00Like my players often do in D&D, these ones ag...Like my players often do in D&D, these ones agreed to have fumbles be epic fails, as long as I gave double damage or more for crits (I actually prefer not to do either personally). <BR/><BR/>So if an innocent is near the line of fire, having them get hit on a cruddy was usually the option for me (if a barrel of explosives or something was nearby, I would for sure go for that!).<BR/><BR/>I also had him roll damage, so she had a chance at getting only a couple points of damage. The player rolled max damage though (I forget how much that weapon did, but it was a lot), and the princess was already down about half HP from the previous sword fight with her evil uncle.<BR/><BR/>This was my favorite COC campaign. I started it in Los Angeles (antique store in old Venice Beach was the HQ) and was planning to do more Hollywood stuff. But this player created the princess character, and it eventually grew into them all going to Europe to help her get the kingdom back - and thus I got to use that great Orient Express adventure book!).Kevin Machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14122665488285424578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-46129013980413029572009-03-18T15:27:00.000-04:002009-03-18T15:27:00.000-04:00Brunomac: that story is awesome and one of the rea...Brunomac: that story is awesome and one of the reasons I think guns <I>should</I> be a part of the game. It is a horro game right? What could be more horrible than killing the one you are trying to save?<BR/><BR/>However, you used the rules wrongly. On a 00 the a gun does for misfire, it jams. So the princess shuld be alive and well. :)<BR/><BR/>Still it was your game and you where free to screw your players as you saw fit. If it had been me though I would have raised theissue that the princess head doesn't just get blown off just because I had rolled a 00 to satisfy your wicked desires. :)Edsanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11619248696115787815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-43655099000642533212009-03-18T15:18:00.000-04:002009-03-18T15:18:00.000-04:00>are fools if they don't try to get their h...>are fools if they don't try to get their hand on some form of protection<<BR/><BR/>I think it is put best like "..fools if you do, fools if you don't."<BR/><BR/>I had a hard time keeping them out of games, so I didn't try. I did tend to throw a lot of human dangers at players. One player in a campaing was an "Anastasia" type princess of a fictional country (think Freedonia from Marx Bros), and she had assassins and such after her all the time. She fended off attacks with her great fencing skills, while other characters blast away.<BR/><BR/>That campaign ended with the Princess having led a rebellion, but she was captured and her evil, wizard uncle was about to sacrifice her on an alter to Cthulhu. As he was about to plunge the knife, the American boxer character (who had saved her at least once in past games) came in and blasted with his trusty elephant gun. He rolled 00 on his dice, and I had the princess' head get blown off. The uncle and his soldiers finished off the boxer. <BR/><BR/>Oh, before the elephant gun shot I said "You know, she is right there. A bad shot could hit her."<BR/><BR/>His reply "I gotta do it." He could have run up and punched the dude, but no, he was too damn used to shooting that gun at everything. The surviving characters skeedaddled.<BR/><BR/>A campaign centered around this princess lasted over a year. It ended with one PC's crappy shot. <BR/><BR/>So use guns all you want. Even if no monsters are present, you could be your own worst enemy. Your protector and savior blows your head off with a powerful rifle. It really had a horrible ending, without a demon or monster involved. I still get chills thinking about it.Kevin Machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14122665488285424578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-30567728722414870152009-03-18T15:14:00.000-04:002009-03-18T15:14:00.000-04:00All I can say is I wouldn't play in a CoC game whe...<I>All I can say is I wouldn't play in a CoC game where the keeper limits a character's acess to weaponry (beyond what is logical of course) just because he feels it is "out of place" with the setting.</I><BR/><BR/>I don't think it's out of place exactly. In some adventures and campaigns, it makes perfect sense. In others, though, I think it can push CoC more toward a pulpy, Derlethian sensibility that doesn't appeal to me. Granted, CoC owes a hell of a lot to Derleth's pastiches (elder signs, anyone?), so it's purely a matter of taste.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-67220885790168484932009-03-18T15:05:00.000-04:002009-03-18T15:05:00.000-04:00I have nothing against gun fondling as such. It ju...<I>I have nothing against gun fondling as such. It just seems a bit out of place in CoC is all.</I><BR/><BR/>I strongly disagree. After the usual intro adventure CoC characters are fools if they don't try to get their hand on some form of protection.<BR/><BR/>Ok, half the time it might be useless but what about the other 50% of the time?<BR/><BR/>This issue has been done to death in CoC forums. All I can say is I wouldn't play in a CoC game where the keeper limits a character's acess to weaponry (beyond what is logical of course) just because he feels it is "out of place" with the setting.Edsanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11619248696115787815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-18167210965012056222009-03-18T14:58:00.000-04:002009-03-18T14:58:00.000-04:00Gun Fondling is one of the best assets of the stuf...<I>Gun Fondling is one of the best assets of the stuff PP has done so far. ;)</I><BR/><BR/>I have nothing against gun fondling as such. It just seems a bit out of place in CoC is all.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-60709619003166494632009-03-16T19:12:00.000-04:002009-03-16T19:12:00.000-04:00I'm (generally) a big fan of Pagan Publishing. The...<I>I'm (generally) a big fan of Pagan Publishing. Their stuff has flaws (notably a weird gun fetishism)</I><BR/><BR/>Wat do you mean? Gun Fondling is one of the best assets of the stuff PP has done so far. ;)Edsanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11619248696115787815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-32073694483190903032009-03-16T15:44:00.000-04:002009-03-16T15:44:00.000-04:00The only thing I dislike about it is that adventur...<I>The only thing I dislike about it is that adventures are bloody hard to create. The investigative quest is a chore to design compared to the traditional FRP adventure.</I><BR/><BR/>The <A HREF="http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/misc/three-clue-rule.html" REL="nofollow">Three Clue Rule</A> is how I deal with that problem. Once you get in the spirit of permissive clue-giving and robust clue design, the adventures pretty much write themselves.Justin Alexanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02227895898395353754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-70330584778655668762009-03-16T13:08:00.000-04:002009-03-16T13:08:00.000-04:00They seemed all "game canon," though, and I figure...<I>They seemed all "game canon," though, and I figured it was only proper that players should know even less of that than their Keeper.</I><BR/><BR/>Player since the first edition that I am, even I don't know all the game canon of CoC, or indeed much of it at all. From my perspective, each CoC campaign, even with the same Keeper and players, is distinct, with little or no cross-over with what came before or what will come after. On that model, game canon means nothing to me and I regularly change aspects of the Mythos to suit the kind of campaign I want to run.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-27487549962940232752009-03-16T13:05:00.000-04:002009-03-16T13:05:00.000-04:00Just curious: have you checked out the various thi...<I>Just curious: have you checked out the various third-party COC publishers like Pagan Publishing, Triad, and TOME, and if so, what are your thoughts on their products vs. Chaosium's?</I><BR/><BR/>I have zero experience with Triad or TOME, but I'm (generally) a big fan of Pagan Publishing. Their stuff has flaws (notably a weird gun fetishism) but it's also very good at re-imagining Mythos elements in ways that are very unnerving and, in my opinion, true to the Lovecraftian mindset.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-20921192954989119652009-03-16T12:58:00.000-04:002009-03-16T12:58:00.000-04:00Another reason for the lack of wars, is that COC t...<I>Another reason for the lack of wars, is that COC tend to be more mature than the average gamer. There are not the crybabies who mourn a loss of a favorite character, COC always carried mature themes</I><BR/><BR/>I agree that CoC players tend to have much less "possessive" attitudes toward their characters than do latter day <I>D&D</I> players. I'm not sure that explains why the game, as a product, has been so consistently good and thoroughly backward compatible through six editions and 28 years.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-20963967363895515892009-03-16T02:07:00.000-04:002009-03-16T02:07:00.000-04:00I really don't care which edition a player bri...I really don't care which edition a player brings to the table, although we might have to slash HP if it's First.<BR/><BR/>However, when I offered that as an argument against the need for radical revisions of D&D, a much more devoted CoCer arose to point out that there were critical differences.<BR/><BR/>They seemed all "game canon," though, and I figured it was only proper that players should know even less of that than their Keeper.Dwayanuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07388657516129827977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-85228770645874092662009-03-15T17:20:00.000-04:002009-03-15T17:20:00.000-04:00Since the late 80's I traveled to the San Francisc...Since the late 80's I traveled to the San Francisco area regularly for Ren Faires and the folk music scene I was part of. I always wanted to visit Chaosium whenver I hit Oakland, but my pals up there weren't gamers, and I was worried they would call me a geek.<BR/><BR/>Mind you, these were Ren Faire Morris dancers I was worried about. Man, I was so in the closet about gaming in my non-gaming scenes...Kevin Machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14122665488285424578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-30075470797776810302009-03-15T17:04:00.000-04:002009-03-15T17:04:00.000-04:00Hey James---Just curious: have you checked out th...Hey James---<BR/><BR/>Just curious: have you checked out the various third-party COC publishers like Pagan Publishing, Triad, and TOME, and if so, what are your thoughts on their products vs. Chaosium's?<BR/><BR/>I happen to like all three, but some folks have commented in the past that Pagan's material (in particular) isn't to their tastes.<BR/><BR/>Allan.grodoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11800184312511280050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-3653196097632684182009-03-14T10:33:00.000-04:002009-03-14T10:33:00.000-04:00Chaosium has its share of feuds and infighting but...Chaosium has its share of feuds and infighting but because they were a much smaller company than TSR there was less to fight over... You want a bigger share of the pie...ok here you go.<BR/><BR/>Although, I think the fight over editions in D&D is paralleled in the Quality Wars in COC. There were a few supplements like Bermuda Triangle or Secrets of New York that were simply attrocious. However, each time Chaosium has the good fortune to have enough money in the kitty and pull back and do a rethink to get back on track.<BR/><BR/>However, now, they have gone the quasi-OGL with the release of Basic BRP, and I wonder if more will be drawn into the game through the licences. As some of the licences harkon back to a golden era of COC but others will fall flat. This sort of spreading of the game can work well (as it did for Traveller) or fail miserably (as it did for d20). Incidently, success here should be measured in terms of the overall reputation of the brand. d20 may have financially very successful but it certainly killed much of the branding of D&D.<BR/><BR/>Another reason for the lack of wars, is that COC tend to be more mature than the average gamer. There are not the crybabies who mourn a loss of a favorite character, COC always carried mature themesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-52719948404070939392009-03-14T04:49:00.000-04:002009-03-14T04:49:00.000-04:00The 3rd Edition I have now was snapped up from e-b...The 3rd Edition I have now was snapped up from e-bay for next too nothing, damned lucky find since I never expected to see another one.<BR/><BR/>Had a look at it after I made the post last night, yeah lovely, and packed with 1920's material they have since dropped.<BR/><BR/>Most amusing was the number of occupations available for players to pick from, about eight! All academic, with the most combat capable being a P.I... That amused me.Brendan Falconerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05981719537527659745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-64619512205722549672009-03-14T02:08:00.000-04:002009-03-14T02:08:00.000-04:00Very nice. Great case study.Very nice. Great case study.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-23607848041800003052009-03-13T20:42:00.000-04:002009-03-13T20:42:00.000-04:00The UK 3rd edition hardcover is a work of beauty. ...The UK 3rd edition hardcover is a work of beauty. I wish I had a copy.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-24756643182275200512009-03-13T20:38:00.000-04:002009-03-13T20:38:00.000-04:00Call of Cthulhu is almost always on-going for our ...Call of Cthulhu is almost always on-going for our group. I favour my 3rd Edition UK hardcover, but the current Gm got that fancy anniversary edition they did right about 6th (show-off!) and we've got a few other editions around going back to 2nd.<BR/><BR/>Consistency unlike any other game, that's what Call of Cthulhu has got. It's a solid game, and barely changed. As was mentioned, you never hear of edition wars, nor even arguments over the minor differences between editions.<BR/><BR/>Not to say the game is flawless. It does adhere to its own Chaosium-canon, which isn't always the best. But when that's the only real complaint you can definitely point an accusing finger at I think it says something very good about the line in general.Brendan Falconerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05981719537527659745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-19969208710167784122009-03-13T19:46:00.000-04:002009-03-13T19:46:00.000-04:00Also brilliant: everything is in one book. That bo...<I>Also brilliant: everything is in one book. That book has got bigger and more detailed over the years, but the rules still only make up about twenty pages.</I><BR/><BR/>Makes you wonder why CoC is pretty much the only RPG available today about which you can say this.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-75763762577818033592009-03-13T19:43:00.000-04:002009-03-13T19:43:00.000-04:00CoC has the most literate and educated base of gam...<I>CoC has the most literate and educated base of gamers I have ever seen</I><BR/><BR/>Hardly a surprise, given that CoC is one of the most literate games out there today.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-18311281353803019552009-03-13T19:42:00.000-04:002009-03-13T19:42:00.000-04:00Its no accident they're both Chaosium games.No, I ...<I>Its no accident they're both Chaosium games.</I><BR/><BR/>No, I don't think it's an accident at all. Chaosium is one of my favorite companies, probably because they're one of the last remaining members of the old guard that are both still around and still holding true to the hobbyist mindset of the Golden Age.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-29842245958310182092009-03-13T19:40:00.000-04:002009-03-13T19:40:00.000-04:00Actually, there's another way that Chaosium have d...<I>Actually, there's another way that Chaosium have done good - through their CoC fiction line they've kept in print many of the great mythos stories written by HPL's followers (and even resurrected some classic out-of-print collections, like The Disciples of Cthulhu). Can you imagine how things would have gone if, instead of putting out Dragonlance tie-in novels, TSR had concentrated on producing reprints of classic sword-and-sorcery tales?</I><BR/><BR/>Now there's an alternate universe I'd like to have lived in :)James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-46544196899065911332009-03-13T19:29:00.000-04:002009-03-13T19:29:00.000-04:00Also brilliant: everything is in one book. That bo...Also brilliant: everything is in one book. That book has got bigger and more detailed over the years, but the rules still only make up about twenty pages. The rest is all good solid stuff to help you run the game. When I see friends lugging their pile of "core" rulebooks around, I am thankful that I am a <I>Call of Cthulhu</I> GM.thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-53886018184156304222009-03-13T18:13:00.000-04:002009-03-13T18:13:00.000-04:00You speak truth Jer! I did this in an investigati...You speak truth Jer! I did this in an investigative game in New World of Darkness. Had about a page of notes. The game went on for 3-4 sessions and by the end it didn't turn out much like my outline, but I literally had an entire setting locale filled with NPCs and future plot hooks I could have built an entire campaign around had we kept going. <BR/><BR/>Plus I was gonna add in some Delta Green too. It would have RAAAAWKED.Captain Rufushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00296697477771399357noreply@blogger.com