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Call of Cthulhu 40th Anniversary Edition


ColoradoCthulhu

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Woooooo! I'm mainly excited by the Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, I don't think I own anything in 7e that really features Cthulhu or Cults of Cthulhu except as tertiary things. 

I'm going to take a guess and assume the scenarios are in their original format just remade as electronic files like in RuneQuest classic? Not that I am complaining if they aren't updated, I'm just happy to see more material back in print.

Also that map in the background is gorgeous. Will that be going up on Red bubble? I'd love to get one to hang on the wall without crease marks.

Edited by glassneedles
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7 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

The short answer is that all of the items you see in this picture will be part of a Call of Cthulhu Classic Kickstarter shortly. It will be a simple Kickstarter, with few stretch goals, and no bling items. The only thing not pictured is the dice.

Cthulhu-Classic.thumb.JPG.d0c57ce64863c34061096fb8fb64d8d3.JPG

That’s fantastic. I cannot wait. 

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8 hours ago, sgtscott658 said:

Howdy-

Will the campaign and adventures be converted to 7E CoC or is this just a retro type of product for collectors?

It sounds to me that this is a retro product. On Twitter, another fan mentioned that, in an AMA, Mike Mason said that Shadows of Yog-Sothoth has been converted and is currently in the playtest phase as a separate product? So, although I don't know for sure, I think that this is a retro product and what is in here is early editions. 

Just as an aside, that is a LOT of material to convert to 7th and update the layout for. Mike has mentioned many times that, for smaller companies like Chaosium, a great deal of strategizing goes into the mixture of totally new, updates, and reprints. As he's said, the reprint strategy is for supplements that go for "collector" prices and have been out of print for a while. Original first edition box sets can go for as high as 750 USD. By Kickstarting this, Chaosium doesn't have to take a big financial risk on a retro product. Smart, in my opinion.

Edited by klecser
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4 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

This is Call of Cthulhu Classic. It's all for second edition. Nothing updated to 7th.

I like this more than if they had updated the books to 7e stats. I haven't read Shadows of Yog-Sothoth myself but from reviews I've seen the impression I've gotten is that it's a bit rougher than later campaigns with things like the Silver Twilight people only letting in men, the Worm that walks chapter and generally it feeling a bit disjointed between the chapters (please note I haven't read it myself so just going on what I've heard). 

If there is to be a 7e update of Shadows of Yog-Sothoth I'd want it to be in the Masks of Nyarlathotep format with it aiming to be the definitive version. From the picture Rick shared with us it looks like Shadows of Yog-Sothoth is the biggest book in the package but still around 180ish pages which is the original size

TL:DR I would be a bit disappointed if the 7e update for the first Call of Cthulhu campaign was pretty much a reprint with updated stat blocks.

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1 hour ago, glassneedles said:

I like this more than if they had updated the books to 7e stats. I haven't read Shadows of Yog-Sothoth myself but from reviews I've seen the impression I've gotten is that it's a bit rougher than later campaigns with things like the Silver Twilight people only letting in men, the Worm that walks chapter and generally it feeling a bit disjointed between the chapters (please note I haven't read it myself so just going on what I've heard). 

If there is to be a 7e update of Shadows of Yog-Sothoth I'd want it to be in the Masks of Nyarlathotep format with it aiming to be the definitive version. From the picture Rick shared with us it looks like Shadows of Yog-Sothoth is the biggest book in the package but still around 180ish pages which is the original size

TL:DR I would be a bit disappointed if the 7e update for the first Call of Cthulhu campaign was pretty much a reprint with updated stat blocks.

Your assessment of the original Shadows is pretty much spot-on: it IS rougher, with super-short scenarios compared to modern ones (fewer than 10 pages as opposed to 20 or more for new ones). It's also a hideously difficult mother too, with scenes in virtually every scenario that could lead to TPKs, monsters that can't be harmed by weapons, and incredibly powerful sorcerers, to say nothing of the effing murder-chapter. Still, there are lots of good scenes and characters and so forth, so it's worth revisiting just to see how the very first CoC supplement looked way way way back when.

The original SOYS, BTW, is only about 80 pages, not 180. Like I said, they wrote 'em SHORT back then.

And there is indeed an updated/revised/expanded version of Shadows in the works, so the Classic reprint won't be an exact duplication by any means .

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Without trying to sound weird, frustrated or angry, the last few replies have sort of derailed this thread. The Call of Cthulhu Classic Kickstarter is about reprinting material from the 1980s. That material is only available at collector prices, often costing hundreds of $$$. This reprint project is separate from any efforts being made by the current 7th edition team and the books they produce. This isn't slowing down or stopping any of their ongoing efforts. We've had lots of requests from people who would love to get a early retro edition boxed set of CoC. If Classic reprints aren't your thing, that's fine too. 

If you want to discuss how you would like to update Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, please start your own thread. NOTE: SoYS is being worked on for 7th edition. Our starting point for that was the 2004 version, not the 1982 version.

 

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Rick Meints - Chaosium, Inc.

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36 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

Without trying to sound weird, frustrated or angry, the last few replies have sort of derailed this thread. The Call of Cthulhu Classic Kickstarter is about reprinting material from the 1980s. That material is only available at collector prices, often costing hundreds of $$$. This reprint project is separate from any efforts being made by the current 7th edition team and the books they produce. This isn't slowing down or stopping any of their ongoing efforts. We've had lots of requests from people who would love to get a early retro edition boxed set of CoC. If Classic reprints aren't your thing, that's fine too. 

If you want to discuss how you would like to update Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, please start your own thread. NOTE: SoYS is being worked on for 7th edition. Our starting point for that was the 2004 version, not the 1982 version.

 

Sorry if I derailed the thread. I wasn't trying to complain about the Call of Cthulhu classic stuff, in fact I'm very very happy about it and will be backing it on Kickstarter (I have stayed away from Kickstarter previous due to the uncertainty but with the track record set since the 2015 change I have no issues creating an account and backing this). 

I brought up Shadows of Yog-Sothoth as a potential 7e product to highlight what I feel is valuable about getting old products back in print, all the books I have for 7e are highly polished and easy to understand, I'm fascinated by the history of the hobby and want to read through older material without paying collector prices (I know PDFs are available and I like them as a back up while I run but I find it hard to sit down and read through a whole module as a PDF). With Shadows of Yog-Sothoth I can look forward to eventually receiving what I am sure will be another high quality product from Chaosium and I can compare and contrast the original edition with the later one to see what changed which I'm sure will be a valuable learning experience for my own scenarios. I'd like to do this with other books you have such as Masks of Nyarlothotep and Terror Australis but understand why you haven't made those available considering there are newer and better versions for 7e for sale (which I own and have enjoyed reading). 

TLDR: Sorry I derailed the thread woo classic stuff coming back!

 

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On 6/3/2021 at 2:20 PM, Rick Meints said:

Without trying to sound weird, frustrated or angry, the last few replies have sort of derailed this thread. The Call of Cthulhu Classic Kickstarter is about reprinting material from the 1980s. That material is only available at collector prices, often costing hundreds of $$$. This reprint project is separate from any efforts being made by the current 7th edition team and the books they produce. This isn't slowing down or stopping any of their ongoing efforts. We've had lots of requests from people who would love to get a early retro edition boxed set of CoC. If Classic reprints aren't your thing, that's fine too. 

If you want to discuss how you would like to update Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, please start your own thread. NOTE: SoYS is being worked on for 7th edition. Our starting point for that was the 2004 version, not the 1982 version.

 

Hi Rick ... I don't think I've seen this addressed yet in any of the announcements or in this forum thread, so I was wondering ... will all the books in the CoC Classic reprint material in the Kickstarter be re-typeset/laidout in the same fashion as all of the wonderful Runequest Classic material you released? I love what you guys did with the Runequest Classic material and would love to see the same approach with this CoC Classic stuff. Thanks & Cheers!

Don

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On 6/15/2021 at 5:39 PM, measuredrums said:

Hi Rick ... I don't think I've seen this addressed yet in any of the announcements or in this forum thread, so I was wondering ... will all the books in the CoC Classic reprint material in the Kickstarter be re-typeset/laidout in the same fashion as all of the wonderful Runequest Classic material you released? I love what you guys did with the Runequest Classic material and would love to see the same approach with this CoC Classic stuff. Thanks & Cheers!

We are staying pretty true to the original CoC layout, just like we did with the RQ Classics. Same approach.

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Rick Meints - Chaosium, Inc.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I realize I can expect to learn the answer in but two short days but, does anyone know how long this Kickstarter will run? (1 week, 3, a month?) Thanks!

I'm excited for this, I owned nearly all of these back in the early '80s (and read and reread them), but gave them away in the mid '90s. Hoping to get these new copies! (The first time I ever went to Gen Con, in 2005, I went specifically to look for old Chaosium stuff I'd once owned but no longer had... I had recently moved to the Indianapolis area though so, not like it was a huge stretch for me to attend.)

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4 hours ago, NotRussellCrowe said:

Forgive my ignorance, but why re-release 2nd edition as opposed to 1st? What's the difference between the two editions?

First edition had the BRP rulebook and a separate Call of Cthulhu rulebook and you needed to reference both. Second edition took the relevant rules from the BRP rulebook and put them in the Call of Cthulhu one. 

You can see the BRP rulebook in this post that Chaosium posted on their blog a few months ago. With 3rd edition I believe they split the existing Call of Cthulhu rulebook into a GM booklet and a Player booklet but not 100% positive on that bit.

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26 minutes ago, glassneedles said:

First edition had the BRP rulebook and a separate Call of Cthulhu rulebook and you needed to reference both. Second edition took the relevant rules from the BRP rulebook and put them in the Call of Cthulhu one. 

You can see the BRP rulebook in this post that Chaosium posted on their blog a few months ago. With 3rd edition I believe they split the existing Call of Cthulhu rulebook into a GM booklet and a Player booklet but not 100% positive on that bit.

Several of the later supplements were also written using 2nd Edition as well, I expect?

First and Second are practically indistinguishable?

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10 minutes ago, klecser said:

Several of the later supplements were also written using 2nd Edition as well, I expect?

First and Second are practically indistinguishable?

Earlier today I happened to read this blog post on an old Games Workshop (they reprinted for the UK) version of Call of Cthulhu. That is where I was getting my information. Before I reread it to confirm I would of sworn the author mentioned the 3rd edition didn't change much and just split out the info but that isn't there on a second read through... 

I am sure someone will be along shortly to correct me on early Cthulhu editions, my knowledge is based on reading these forums and other places on the internet and not familiarity with the source material at the time.

By the way the Refereeing and Reflections blog is fantastic for RPG reviews of Chaosium and non Chaosium products and I highly recommend giving it a peruse.

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7 hours ago, NotRussellCrowe said:

Forgive my ignorance, but why re-release 2nd edition as opposed to 1st? What's the difference between the two editions?

The first edition had one supplement published for it. It was also considered a bit rough and in need of a bit of balancing and refining. Thus, errata came out very quickly, followed by the 2nd edition in about a year. We decided the 2nd edition is superior, and more playable. Any background or scenario related info that was cut from the 1st edition has been included as bonus material in this remastered 2nd edition. We did a comparison of the 1st and 2nd edition rulebooks and the leap was small enough, and clear enough that the 2nd edition was the way to go, plus it had more and better art than the first edition. In some ways, we did what we did with RuneQuest Classic. We mainly focused on the getting the 2nd edition available again, for much of the same reasons.

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Rick Meints - Chaosium, Inc.

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Just want to point out the DNA of the first 3 editions because they are separated not just by time but by geography:

1st - I believe this version was not made in a UK version so any version would be the standard Chaosium version.

2nd - this exists in a US Chaosium version and a UK Games Workshop licensed version. The box for the UK version has "Games Workshop" on the spine and is deeper but smaller than the US Chaosium version. The contents are the same.

3rd - the US version is very different to the UK version. The US Chaosium version is still boxed and is basically a reformatted contents of the 2nd edition ( the rulebook is split into Keeper and Investigator rule pamphlets ). The UK Games Workshop version of 3rd edition is a single hardcover book and contains the full contents of the 2nd edition boxed set plus the contents of the first Cthulhu Companion supplement tacked on afterwards.

This website gives a good overview

Edited by groovyclam
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