Sam E.

As far as I can tell from the 7e Keeper Rulebook, Appearance seems to have no explicit mechanical role (or "roll" ... ). Do correct me if I'm wrong about that! If I'm not, it's not necessarily a problem for me as a Keeper, but I would worry that players might treat it as a dump stat. How do / would / could you use Appearance in your CoC games? A couple of my own ideas: Appearance could, if relevant, impact the Keeper's assessment of the difficulty level of a social skill roll. For example, if circumstances might otherwise make a Charm roll Hard, APP might bring it back down to a regular roll, if the Keeper judges that the relevant NPC might find the PC attractive. Appearance would be important to the various social situations in which Investigators find themselves. For example, a high APP might be required for entrance into that cool new speakeasy that just opened up on the fancy side of town, but an overly high APP might make an Investigator stand out like a sore thumb at a late-night truckers' diner ... And a more radical option: get rid of APP altogether, and just roll it into the informal character description. How about you? Thoughts?

As it happens, I'm running CoC7e for a single player, so thanks for this!

I need to buy Pulp Cthulhu! 😄

Just curious about how folks handle bonus & penalty dice. From the rules, I see that they are mainly used for opposed rolls, and that a PC with one bonus die and one penalty die cancel each other out and just result in a straight roll. What if two PCs are engaged in opposing rolls and both have an advantage of one kind or another? Would you have both PCs roll with a bonus die, or would you have those dice cancel each other out, and just have both PCs roll straight-up? Also, do you ever assign bonus or penalty dice to NPCs for whom you (the Keeper) are rolling during an opposed roll (e.g., combat)? Or do you just shift it over to the PC? For example, instead of a penalty die for the NPC, give the PC a bonus die instead? Curious to see how folks handle these sorts of things!

@GrimmshadeYes, the maneuvers are excellent! @ClosterphobiaI haven't had the occasion to use the automatic fire rules yet, but I have heard similar concerns. I should probably do a mock combat with them sometime and see how they play out.

Just a shout out. 🙂 I dig BRP / d100 stuff in general, but I often find the combat parts too fiddly for my tastes. On the other hand, CoC7e nails it for me. It's elegantly simple. Or is it simply elegant?! Either way, I find it fast, intuitive, and just plain fun. In particular, the "fighting back" option for melee combat is freakin' brilliant, and really mitigates the issue I have with some other BRP / d100 games' way of resolving attack vs. defense. Well done, Chaosium!

I noticed that the BGB PDF was updated a few days ago. Anyone know what's different? Recent errata incorporated?

Well, that's a sneaky place to put a rule! 😃 Thanks for that. It seems like that would go for non-impaling weapons too (minus the extra die roll): if it can only hit on Extreme, then it only gets (non-impaling) max damage on a Critical. Is that how you play it?

Arise, thread!!! Was there ever an official ruling on this? My impression is that the combat section is correct, and the earlier reference to critical damage in the skills chapter is just wrong (though I like the above suggestions that the critical could involve an extra cool description of the attack). If that's correct, then perhaps it could be added to the errata thread.

Man, just when I think I'm done with fantasy RPGs, I see something shiny like this. 🙂 I doubt I'll find anyone local to play this with me, but I'll probably pick it up just the same ...

Are there any CoC scenarios out there that are structured similarly to Crimson Letters (in the Keeper's Guide)? I really like how it gives background and a problem to solve, and then lots of detail about various characters and locations, rather than the more typical series of scenes that one finds in most scenarios. Any suggestions welcome!

I'd keep it pretty simple, eyeball the situation as a whole, then just roll it all into the throwing roll. Most of the time, I'd probably make it a hard success against a normally clothed person in order to hit an exposed area, doing whatever damaged you've assigned from breaking and/or blunt force. If it's just a regular success, then it hits a well covered covered area (leather, denim, etc.), does minimal damage from blunt force, depending on size and weight of object. A failure is a miss or it just bounces off harmlessly. A critical failure: breaks in hand of thrower before releasing it. 🙂

I received my hardcover Keeper Rulebook in the mail a few days ago. So ... pretty ... *sniff* ...

Thanks! I've been looking through the forums for advice on 1 PC games and finding a lot of good stuff. I'll be sure to ask if I have questions or need advice!

I just ran the first scenario in the Does Love Forgive? PDF with the quickstart rules for a pal. It went great! I've ordered the Keeper's Rulebook and he's ordering the Investigator's Handbook. Looks like we're sold on CoC7e.

FWIW, and being a big fan of both M-Space and Mass Effect, I think they're a nice match. M-Space has great rules for alien creation, and various "powers" such as psionics, cybernetics, and Q-Tech can be reskinned as Tech Powers and Biotic Powers very easily.

I talked my mom into playing Holmes D&D with me once back around 1980. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure she deliberately got her character killed by an owlbear so she could stop playing ...

Rolemaster is the game I always loved without ever really getting to play or run it much. I don't think I even knew about Spacemaster back then, though. To be fair, I was much more active with MERP anyway.

Oh, yes ... https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/461/Iron-Crown-Enterprises/subcategory/6498/Spacemaster-2nd-Edition

That reminds me (Star-Wars adjacent) that M-Space would be great for a Mass Effect campaign. Between psionics, cybernetics, and Q tech, you'd have stuff for all the tech and biotic powers.

M-Space is the perfect system for The Expanse, of which I am a big fan (especially the books). The AGE system looks nice enough, but I'm not really in the market for another new system. I might buy it and convert it, though ...

I just finished reading Elevation, and really dig it. I like the Star-Trek-past-its-prime vibe. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to stir up any serious interest from my local players (they aren't generally into sci fi), but I'm thinking about trying it solitaire with Mythic GME.

I took a long break and missed 2e through 4e. I've run a bit of 5e, and it seems all right. Still, if I had a hankerin' for something nostalgic, I'd probably just want to try Mythras and Classic Fantasy these days.

Wow. And with that ...

This is one reason I like Mythras. There's just over 20 standard skills, and the rest are professional skills (available by culture and career during chargen, or special training later), of which a starting character might only have a half dozen tops. Mythras also keeps things under control by distinguishing between general skills and specialized skills. Having said that, I wouldn't want to simplify the skill list much more. Since most BRP-family games don't have advantages & disadvantages, skills really help differentiate characters from one another.