Mankcam

Pledged !!!

Yes, ToC certainly has captured a fair bit of the old CoC market, and as you say, it does have a big presence on Yoggie. I guess if I ask the same question in twelve months from now then it may gather more interest. However there should hopefully be official Pulp CoC 7E rules by then (but history has taught us not to hold our breath for this!) It will be interesting to see how it holds up to ToC and whether or not it reclaims fans back from Gumshoe to BRP Honestly I think tweaking the Luck rules for particular trademark abilities is all that is required, as CoC 7E is handwavey enough to do low to mid Pulp quite well.

Hmmm one reply within 5 days...not much interest at the moment I guess...!

I got mine a week or so here in Australia. I'm absolutely stoked, they were worth the wait. Sturdy hardcovers with great art, evocative of a low-pulp setting flavour, which reminds me of what I initially liked all those years ago when I saw the CoC 3E hardcover core rulebook (Games Workshop edition), and its nice seeing that again here. More recent editions didn't grab me as much as the old CoC 3E did, however I feel that it has finally been surpassed with this edition. Easily the best presented english language version of Call Of Cthulhu that I have seen. Most of the rules changes are a step in the right direction to make the game a little more loose, yet more defined as well. My only gripe is that the GM Screen pack has a flimsy paper cover, and that it will be tatty in a few years from now and won't look great in the slipcase. However the easiest solution if this happens is to replace it in the slipcase with the hardcover Peterson's Guide. The screen itself is good quality however, and very useful. It's good to see Call of Cthulhu presented so well, and I really hope this translates into sales so we can continue to have many CoC 7E products in the years ahead.

I know what you mean here but I think that would be a bad move as most of the changes have been good updates. I can see the core Characteristics returning to usual range however, primarily just to maintain consistency with the stat blocks in the back catalog.

I forgot there were optional rules for these in RQ2, I will have to read it more thoroughly. Making them default rules makes more sense

I have been running the Masks Of Nylarthotep campaign for quite some time, and it has been a rollicking adventure which owes more to Indiana Jones than H.P. Lovecraft at this stage. Such a well crafted campaign, full of flavour, and I can see why it has captured the imaginations of many in the gaming community. I really wanted to run a long pulp era Mythos campaign, but didn't want the hassles of TPK from both a GM and player perspective. I think for one-shot scenarios my players would like the investigative horror genre of CoC, but for a longer commitment they are much more into cinematic adventure. So this campaign has definitely been firmly in the 'pulp' camp rather than a 'purist' camp by design. I could not wait for the official Pulp Cthulhu rules to be released, so I ended up making Call Of Cthulhu fit my needs instead. I am in the process of updating it to run with CoC 7E rules, as I think this edition has aspects that lends itself well to cinematic play from the outset. I have found that the main thing with running any 'Pulp' game over a 'Purist' game is the setting flavour created by the GM. In addition to this, having a very liberal view of the scope of Skills can also play a huge role in a cinematic game. I find that this encourages very colourful descriptions of what the characters try to achieve with their skills, and can be alot of fun. These things won't really change regardless of which edition I use, as they are more narrative approaches rather than actual game mechanics. My only issue is that in my current game the PCs each have a few 'trademark' talents that we came up with, and these are notions that I will need to presently consider. In my current BRP/CoC 6E rules, I portrayed these extraordinary abilities by importing the Stunts system from BRP Blood Tide, and have made a few new ones up. Stunts use Power Points just like spells, but are natural abilities rather than magical, and are designed to emulate cinematic play. For example, 'Trick Shot' allows the PC to ignore a circumstantial negative modifier (ie; uneven ground, blurred vision, etc) for 1 MP, whereas 'Steely Gaze' demoralises an opponent down to half skill chance. The main problem is that sometimes these Stunts feel a little overpowered for the level of pulp I am going for (think something between Magnum/Burn Notice and Raiders Of The Lost Ark). Generally these abilities will play in a way that feels right for the game setting; however occasionally these Stunts can feel almost like activating Super Powers, which really isn't what I was initially after. These abilities need to feel different from Super Powers or Magical Spells, so having a similar game mechanic to portray them may not have been my best solution, despite its ease of implementation. The nature of the game still needs to be challenging, otherwise it just becomes too predictable, but I certainly don't want to see TPK unless it is a result of pure stupidity. So it is a balancing act here. My solution for a Pulp CoC 7E is to keep these abilities, but I am re-envisioning the concept by using a house rule I named 'Stretching Your Luck'. This is essentially an extension of the optional rule for 'Spending Your Luck', except I want to reduce the cost of Luck depletion for particular situations. For example, 'Trickshot' would allow a reduced Luck cost for failed Firearms rolls due to incurred Penalty Dice (for situations like uneven ground, blurred vision, etc), or 'Steely Gaze' allows for reduced Luck expenditure for failed Intimidate or Persuade rolls. It also stops the actual feel of 'activating' a Stunt, and brings it back to core skill use and lucky chances. I think this feels more in the low to mid pulp flavour I am trying to emulate, which is along the lines of 'High Road To China' or 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark'. Indiana Jones feels more like he is a character with some trademark abilities who happens to survive just as much by luck than anything else (perhaps moreso in the first Raiders film where he was portrayed with slightly less plot immunity). The characters would still be able to spend Luck at the usual rate for other actions, so it would only be cheaper for their particular trademark abilities. I don't want Luck to be too cheap, however, otherwise it may lose its value. On the other hand, I still want to retain a pulpy flavour to the characters. My question is: " What should the cost for 'Stretching Your Luck' be?" I initially considered 1 Luck Point per 5%, but this may possibly be a little excessive. At the moment I'm trying to work out whether 1 Luck Point for 2% or 3% is in the vicinity I should be aiming, or whether it should remain 1 Luck Point for 5%.. I would certainly welcome any advice or suggestions on how other GMs may approach this

Yeah at the moment Classic BRP seems to favour Impaling weapons above all else. I think that wide range of different damage effects are a highlight of the MRQ/RQ6 lineage and it feels right to me. From a gamist perspective I think damage types should be more or less balanced on their special hits - you roll a special, then get to add the Impale effect, or the Stun effect, etc etc it makes perfect sense to me, and really adds to the tactile flavour of combat. I would be quite happy to see a version of this for the next RQ, as it will not complicate the flow of combat at all, and it means that impaling weapons won't be always chosen over bashing weapons etc. I would also like to see some consistency with CoC 7E skill mechanics as well - Hard rolls (half value), Extreme Rolls (fifth value) etc and Special Effects will be just the effects different damage types do upon Extreme Rolls. Combing these things just makes great sense. I should add that the notion of Hard and Extreme Rolls doesn't necessarily mean that those values need to be recorded on the character sheet - they are easy enough to calculate during game play and there are quick reference tables that can be available for such as well. I prefer my character sheets not to look overly cluttered. As far as other CoC 7E innovations, I actually don't mind the Bonus/Penalty Dice from a GM perspective; its nice and clean, a quick and easy way to replace fiddly +/- modifiers. Of course we have the D&D 5E Advantage/Disadvantage rules to thank for it, but we also have the original D&D to thank for the Characteristics block so that's not a big issue. It may lend itself to a more 'loose' sense of gameplay that may not suit the RQ setting, although I personally think its an improvement (and I have been playing BRP rpgs since the mid 1980s). But getting back to the initial suggestion of various Special Effects based on Damage Types, I really hope this is one area that is being considered in the next RQ edition.

Raising profile on Geek N Sundry is certainly a good thing The next trick is to get Wil Wheaton to run a CoC 7E scenario on his Tabletop program

Simon is right in saying that Morse Code could be a specific Language skill. However I think would portray it as one of many codes known under the skill of Knowledge (Cryptography), as this is a broad skill and can cover many situations and codes. Just vary the success level required according to how much emphasis you wish to place on the decryption process for particular codes. Morse Code is fairly well known by current times, so I would make it a Regular roll if setting the game in our contemporary era. Other codes today would call for Hard or Extreme rolls, but probably not Morse Code. If focusing on the pre-WW2 era, Morse Code would perhaps call for a Hard or Extreme roll with Cryptography. It all depends on whether you use Morse Code regularly, or if you are attempting to 'break' into it. Perhaps set a goal of four successes (or more) over a specific time frame to break the code, just to heighten the drama. If you really wanted to drag it out, there may be times you could even call for a Hard Cryptography roll for each 'word' that the Morse Code spells out. A failure could indicate static or some other distraction that impairs the decryption process. Hopefully playing it like this would be useful for putting a player 'in-the-moment', and could make a scene more interesting.

Great video. Good to see the quick list of rules changes for 7E, most of which I really like. Good stuff!

I am hanging out for this to arrive on my doorstep up here in Queensland any day now...

Having read the A!C pdf, I think it would easily port to CoC 7E, and if you want an even more pulpy flavour consistent with Savage Worlds then give the characters some Trademark Abilities which replace SW Edges, and just make it cheaper to use Luck Pts for these situations (perhaps 1 Luck Point grants 3% or 5%). It should run pretty good!

That is truly a thing of beauty...

It's either RQ7 or RQG I hope; It just doesn't feel right to call it anything else

I so want this to happen as a twin companion volume to the G2G...

I am really looking forward to the new RuneQuest, I hope we have it by the end of the year

Either that, or he spent time in San Francisco in the late '60s

I'll have to hunt down my copy of the History Of The Heortling People now for further perusal Glorantha - very few other settings attract this level of detail and immersion; it's one of the reasons I really dig it - great post Joerg

That's pretty much how I remember it from RQ2/RQ3. As mentioned earlier, before I saw the Orlanthi warrior in the RQ3 Glorantha Box I actually thought the Sartarites may have been more Hellenic, given the artwork from the RQ2 rule book and RQ2 Cults Of Prax. We only had Prax very detailed at that time, so I had no firm ideas of Dragon Pass, and my thoughts were more focused towards the Praxian cultures. When Hero Wars came out I had to considerably readjust my view of the Orlanthi.

Now that's an excellent idea Simon

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I guess the Mycenaean elements in Orlanthi culture are perhaps things like architecture (esp the cities), perhaps some armour styles and possibly some influence on clothing. I think the socieo-structure feels very anglo-saxon, and the mythology has both anglo-saxon and classical elements. Perhaps all of this is more flavour than anything else. Joerg you do raise some very good points as to whether all this elements could realistically mix. However perhaps an argument against that may be perhaps the magical ecology allowed things to develop differently to how it has happened in our history. Not sure how strong an argument that is, but this is Glorantha. In any case I will be interested in seeing how the Orlanthi will be developed in The Coming Storm. A return to the more ancient flavoured Orlanthi (and Malkioni) is a strong feature for me, as this is the kind of setting that initially grabbed me all those years ago.

Yes these are great examples of how I envision Mostali inventions to be; the sense of eccentricity and weirdness really suits them