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frogspawner

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Awesome, I never got around to picking them up. I better have received a playtest credit damn it.

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Playing Call of Cthulhu is a bit like listening to late-Pink Floyd or The Smiths maybe.

Playing Call of Cthulhu is a bit like listening to The Smiths?

I like that, I like it a lot.

Something that you have to do but don't really like? Something that everyone else says is really cool but you don't see the point of? Something that is depressing at every possible level?

Spot On.

:D

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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Something that you have to do but don't really like? Something that everyone else says is really cool but you don't see the point of? Something that is depressing at every possible level?

Spot On.

Sir, I will have to challenge you to a duel now, for insulting my favourite

roleplaying game. :eek:

As the insulted party I have the choice of arms, and I decided to use poi-

soned marshmellows at a distance of 250 feet. :cool:

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Sir, I will have to challenge you to a duel now, for insulting my favourite

roleplaying game. :eek:

Thank goodness, for a minute there I thought you were going to say that I insulted your favourite band.

As the insulted party I have the choice of arms, and I decided to use poi-

soned marshmellows at a distance of 250 feet. :cool:

Ha! I eat your poisoned marshmellows. Uh, hang on, that's not right ...

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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Most games are analogous to bands, I think. Every great rpg has it's own soundtrack.

I mean, everybody knows the link between the psychedelic rock band, Hawkwind, and the Eternal Champion stories, don't they?

Led Zeppelin made explicit references to Lord of the Rings too, but I felt could easily be the soundtrack of RuneQuest (think folksy, anthropological, myth-making and escapism) or D&D (think adolescent lyrics! ;)). Add in a bit of Steeleye Span, and you'd have the whole caboodle.

Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures is pretty much a transcript of the world described in Vampire's World of Darkness, although one could also link this to Nirvana's grunge (similar sentiments but commercially a lot more successful). Traveller was a sort of New Wave/European electro/techno, I think - or actually like the band that Joy Division turned into - New Order. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay was an 80s British Heavy Metal band, like MotorHead. Champions is a sort of Van Halen/Bon Jovi, stadium rock thing. Ron Edwards' Sorcerer is a bit like The Libertines - clever and 'indie', but not entirely coherent or as original as their fans think.

D20 is The X Factor or Pop Idol.

Edited by TrippyHippy
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They investigate mysteries.

The fun comes from discovering answers and digging deeper into those mysteries - which can then frequently lead to death or insanity, in an absurdly nihilistic and futile manner, which can also be fun for the shock value.

It is a kind of like an exercise in existentialism. Lovecraft's universe is very existentialist.

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rust,

Just what do players do during a CoC game? As far as I can tell the purpose of the game seems to be to try and survive long enough to go permanently insane. :confused:

There are things man was not meant to know. >:->

BTW in high school I had a Champions character named Mr Apocalypse, kind of a human torch, night crawler mix with a little bit of the Tick thrown in (ok, a lot of the Tick, I never could take superhero games too seriously).

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rust,

Just what do players do during a CoC game?

The player characters can do whatever a player character could do during

the period. :)

If one simply ignores the Mythos altogether, Call of Cthulhu is an excellent

"BRP Gaslight", "BRP 1920" or "BRP Now", with all the gaming opportunities of

the historical period between the Victorian Age and today.

The Mythos, going insane and all that stuff is just one way to play CoC, it

can just as well be exploring Dark Africa, running guns to Latin America,

tramp trading in the South Sea or searching for Jack the Ripper - you name

it, CoC does it. ;)

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Yes, that's true. Call of Cthulhu has always been useable as a generic 'ordinary people in the real world' game system.

It's probably one of the first games that you could run a straight modern thriller with (as opposed to cinematic action stories), never mind the horror motifs. I mean, you could pretty much do any Hitchcock movie, or The Da Vinci Code, or Reservoir Dogs, or The Third Man, or Chinatown....., as well as Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie.

Edited by TrippyHippy
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The recently published German CoC supplement "Mittelalter" (= Middle Ages)

contains more than 300 pages of background information, medieval profes-

sions, adapted skills, equipment and everything else one would need for a

historical campaign in Europe between 600 AD and 1600 AD.

Whether one uses the Mythos material is purely a matter of taste. :)

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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The recently published German CoC supplement "Mittelalter" (= Middle Ages)

contains more than 300 pages of background information, medieval profes-

sions, adapted skills, equipment and everything else one would need for a

historical campaign in Europe between 600 AD and 1600 AD.

Is it an original German CoC supplement, or a translated one?

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They investigate mysteries.

Like Scooby Doo for professors.

The fun comes from discovering answers and digging deeper into those mysteries - which can then frequently lead to death or insanity, in an absurdly nihilistic and futile manner, which can also be fun for the shock value.

Or it can be deeply irritating and pointless.

It is a kind of like an exercise in existentialism. Lovecraft's universe is very existentialist.

Aaaaaargh!

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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Any compatibility with Cthulhu Dark Ages? or is it an altogether different take on the mediaeval mythos?

I never bought Dark Ages, but according to what I did hear from others,

"Mittelalter" has no connection at all with Dark Ages. Besides, the Mythos

is hardly mentioned in "Mittelalter", it is mainly a very good history book

with roleplaying material.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Like Scooby Doo for professors.

Yeah.

Or it can be deeply irritating and pointless.

If you aren't into that thing. If you are, it offers a genuinely different experience to the usual dungeon bash or other purely escapist stuff on offer in pretty much every other game.

Aaaaaargh!

As we can see, the horror motif is effective enough....:thumb:

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I never bought Dark Ages, but according to what I did hear from others,

"Mittelalter" has no connection at all with Dark Ages. Besides, the Mythos

is hardly mentioned in "Mittelalter", it is mainly a very good history book

with roleplaying material.

Er... So is it something like 'BRP Mediaeval Europe'?

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Er... So is it something like 'BRP Mediaeval Europe'?

In a way, yes. :)

It contains chapters about the Early Middle Ages (600 - 1050 AD), the High

Middle Ages (1050 - 1250 AD) and the Late Middle Ages (1250 - 1600 AD),

about Secular Life (e.g. cities, knighthood, etc.), about Religious Life (e.g.

the Vatican, monasteries and orders, etc.), about Non-Euclidian Life (the

Mythos part of the book, about 30 pages), about Medieval Characters (in-

cluding professions, skills, equipment, etc.) and two adventures.

The regions outside of Europe (the Caliphate, etc.) are mentioned and des-

cribed, but not in much detail, the focus is on Europe, and here understan-

dably on the Holy Roman Empire.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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The regions outside of Europe (the Caliphate, etc.) are mentioned and described, but not in much detail, the focus is on Europe, and here understandably on the Holy Roman Empire.

Germany only, or also Italy and Provence?

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Germany only, or also Italy and Provence?

Each of the three history chapters contains a description of important events

and developments of the period, then a more detailed look at the Holy Roman

Empire, and this includes events in Italy, although it is not mentioned often -

except when it comes to the Popes, whoever wrote that part of the book

really loved detail.

Then follow shorter descriptions of what happened in Scandinavia, Russia, By-

zantium, The Caliphate, the Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles, usually one

half page to one page each.

Finally each of the history chapters has a description of something especially

important for the age or especially useful for roleplaying.

In the early middle ages this is the Viking Raids, in the high middle ages the

Crusades, and in the late middle ages the Plague.

In the end, I think that Italy (except the popes - every single one of them

got a few lines) and the Provence are mentioned "in passing" whenever an

event there was important for the Holy Roman Empire, but there is not much

detail about them.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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The player characters can do whatever a player character could do during

the period. :)

If one simply ignores the Mythos altogether, Call of Cthulhu is an excellent

"BRP Gaslight", "BRP 1920" or "BRP Now", with all the gaming opportunities of

the historical period between the Victorian Age and today.

The Mythos, going insane and all that stuff is just one way to play CoC, it

can just as well be exploring Dark Africa, running guns to Latin America,

tramp trading in the South Sea or searching for Jack the Ripper - you name

it, CoC does it. ;)

I have always run COC without the mythos, as a straight horror rpg; vampires, zombies, haunted houses, etc. The loss of sanity isn't as great so the sanity award at the end tends to negate any lost on the actual adventure. The only problem would be short bouts of temporary insanity, which is very typical of "normal" horror movies and books anyway. You know, running screaming away from the horror, or standing, frozen in absolute terror as it bears down on you.

Rod

Join my Mythras/RuneQuest 6: Classic Fantasy Yahoo Group at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/RQCF/info

"D100 - Exactly 5 times better than D20"

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I have always run COC without the mythos, as a straight horror rpg; vampires, zombies, haunted houses, etc.

This is what I like most about CoC, one can use it for the entire roleplaying

spectrum, from historical campaigns through "soft" and "hard" horror up to

fantasy (especially if one includes more magic and the Dreamlands) and even

some science fiction - typical BRP, one good rules system "to rule them all". :)

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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This is what I like most about CoC, one can use it for the entire roleplaying

spectrum, from historical campaigns through "soft" and "hard" horror up to

fantasy (especially if one includes more magic and the Dreamlands) and even

some science fiction - typical BRP, one good rules system "to rule them all". :)

Hero Games came out with a supplement for their Justice Inc. line, called Lands of Mystery. To me the definitive lost worlds genre book, written by Aaron Allston. In the back of the book were conversions for Call of Cthulhu, Chill, Daredevils, and several other popular systems of the time.

I ran that campaign using Hero System and GURPS, but never COC because it would have been just too deadly, but now, with some of the options like Total Hit Points and Fate Points, It may be time to dig it out again.

Rod

Join my Mythras/RuneQuest 6: Classic Fantasy Yahoo Group at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/RQCF/info

"D100 - Exactly 5 times better than D20"

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As someone who likes CoC, the Cthulhu Mythos, the Smiths, Joy Division, Camus, etc., I have to pick my black-clad self up, go to my corner of existential anguish, and cry now. :P

I like CoC a lot, but tend to downplay the SAN penalties (normally halve them). I also try to ensure that the investigators are reasonably 'tough' (I use 2d6+6 for all abilities scores except EDU, and I give each player one 'luck point' to use per adventure -- a 'luck point' gives the character the 'best possible' outcome on one roll).

My CoC adventures more closely resemble "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Yog-Sothoth" than anything written by Lovecraft. :)

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