40th Anniversary Predictions Discussion

[klecser]

Hey everyone,

Many of us are eagerly anticipating the 40th anniversary of Call of Cthulhu that we are celebrating this year. If you are late to the party, know that several Chaosium employees, including President Rick Meints, have confirmed products are being developed for the 40th Anniversary, perhaps with a late October release (not official/certain).

What would everyone like to see? What do you think is likely to be seen?

One thing that I think is both likely and something that I would like to see is a 40th Anniversary Leatherette Edition of the 7th Edition rulebook, with all errata and corrections included, and with a new layout to match the layout of the post-Kickstarter books.

What do you think is likely?

What are you hoping for?

Nerd out! Discuss!

[klecser]

There is so much great stuff forthcoming. I am also eagerly anticipating the Dreamlands. I also think it would be awesome to unveil an updated Shadows of Yog-Sothoth for the 40th. It would be appropriately poetic to update the first campaign for a major anniversary. Everybody has their favorite, of course. I wouldn't be surprised if the "Cthulhu Cults" book that Mike Mason teased in a recent interview was part of the 40th. Celebrate the most sophisticated and established of cults of the game's Great Old One namesake...

Edited February 20, 2021 by klecser

[klecser]

5 minutes ago, Runeblade said:

I never played or read Yog-Sothoth, so I cannot comment on it. But it would be great to read a huge adventure with a shot at topping Masks. I would love to see more mystery, challenging and fun interactions/role-playing with humans before monster appearances in general in these modules. Horror is after all about anticipation.

I'm in total agreement. The hidden monster is the more frightening. I find Children of Fear very interesting, in this regard. There is a lot of potential for role-playing and ritualism in that campaign. It is far more skewed to the investigative and story-focused side of role-playing, in my opinion. Monsters DO appear often, but they don't necessarily have to be "in your face."

7 minutes ago, Runeblade said:

It’s funny, I love the rules so much, but one thing has always struck me as odd is why the malfunction of 38 automatic is 99 and for a 45 it is 100.

While this may be realistic it seems to me it would be more interesting to design it in the opposite fashion, given the armor of opponents. From a role-playing standpoint I guess some players want the smaller gun, and it would be easier to hide, but that may rarely, if ever, come into play.

Any thoughts on that?

What's stopping you from just changing it for your games if your group agrees it should be played differently? 🤔

Good on topic questions for people:

What play aides might we get?

What art pieces/props?

To what extent will redbubble.com open up the possibilities of celebratory products that wouldn't have been possible for the 30th?

 

[Grimmshade]

Since it's an anniversary, I hope it's tied into the early edition stuff somehow. Considering the other thread about old artwork, I'm really hoping for an anniversary edition... either a reprint of 1e somehow, or a reprint of 7e Keeper's guide with the original artwork. I'd also love a reprint of the original world map.

[kross]

I'd still like to see and art/history book for the game a la the Arts & Arcana book for D&D, showing the development of the game through the years. Fill it with art, photos, memorabilia, and so forth. I've got lots of scans of preliminary art sketches, including some censored stuff (did you know the totem-creature in "The Hills Rise Wild" originally had 'nads?). That's what I wanna see.

[klecser]

2 hours ago, kross said:

I'd still like to see and art/history book for the game a la the Arts & Arcana book for D&D, showing the development of the game through the years. Fill it with art, photos, memorabilia, and so forth. I've got lots of scans of preliminary art sketches, including some censored stuff (did you know the totem-creature in "The Hills Rise Wild" originally had 'nads?). That's what I wanna see.

To be clear, it's the art in general you want to see, right? Not specifically just the 'nads? 😜

[kross]

9 minutes ago, klecser said:

To be clear, it's the art in general you want to see, right? Not specifically just the 'nads? 😜

Uh. Yeah. That certainly could have been worded better. The art. I was talking about the art. 😳

[g33k]

1 hour ago, kross said:

Uh. Yeah. That certainly could have been worded better. The art. I was talking about the art. 😳

We all believe you.  Really, we do.

We've talked about you, and none of us think you're  all about the monster 'nads.

[klecser]

20 minutes ago, g33k said:

We all believe you.  Really, we do.

We've talked about you, and none of us think you're  all about the monster 'nads.

*Begins careful study of Kevin Ross scenarios for evidence of focus*

[g33k]

4 hours ago, Grimmshade said:

Since it's an anniversary, I hope it's tied into the early edition stuff somehow. Considering the other thread about old artwork, I'm really hoping for an anniversary edition... either a reprint of 1e somehow, or a reprint of 7e Keeper's guide with the original artwork. I'd also love a reprint of the original world map.

Hmmm.  This seems very do-able...  if there's enough of a market for it.

On the Chaosium website, it looks like 7E (including Pulp/DDT/DarkAges) is the only lineup.  They already have 7E in regular & Leatherette, so I'm not seeing yet another "Special Edition" being likely.  They've got stock of everything, sitting in their warehouses -- representing many thousands of dollars of sunk costs, plus ongoing charges to maintain inventory (warehouses & "order fulfillment" are a 3rd-party, not Chaosium) and a "Fanservice 40th Anniversary Edition" would compete for market share and further delay recovery of those thousands of dollars (that they could OTHERWISE use to pay authors/devs/artists/etc for new material).

It may be worth us looking at RQ for comparison...  RQ has more variety on offer:  RQG is current, but there's a LOT of "Classic" (2e) content that's back in print, plus some PoD.  Chaosium demonstrated the RQ-Classic market interest via a Kickstarter campaign (raised over 200K on a 35K target, with Stretch Goals being the extra sourcebooks in the lineup).

Returning to CoC with the RQ lessons learned... I'm not sure whether Chaosium wants to play that KS game again (I'm guessing that'd be a "no" (probably verging on "oh HELL no")); nor which edition would be the "CoC Classic" edition, if so... does the fandom even HAVE a favorite?  I'm guessing, though, that it wouldn't be CoC1e ... 

Still; fans can hope!

Edited February 20, 2021 by g33k

[klecser]

11 minutes ago, g33k said:

On the Chaosium website, it looks like 7E (including Pulp/DDT/DarkAges) is the only lineup.  They already have the base 7E and the 7E Leatherette, so I'm not seeing yet another "Special Edition" being likely.  They've got stock of everything, sitting in their warehouses, and a "Fanservice 40th Anniversary Edition" would compete for market share.

Yeah, I thought about this, and I'm wondering if a layout update is the great equalizer. Let's be honest, and no offense to Paul or Mike, or anyone, but I think the layout of the main rulebook is among the least attractive layouts of any product available for 7E (excepting Canis Mysterium and Nameless Horrors maybe). I'm not trying to insult or anything, just pointing out that the core layout change was a very good idea, in my opinion. So, to what extent does Chaosium now have the capital to produce perhaps a limited print run of an updated rulebook? My publishing knowledge is infantile, so I defer to anybody who knows better. As a fan, I just wonder if the collector market of this game is large enough to make a limited run worthwhile? I recognize that "core books drive profit" has long been a mantra of the industry, and price point influences accessibility, but I've always heard that in the context of DND. How might a smaller publisher have their own conventional wisdom?

Edited February 20, 2021 by klecser

[g33k]

10 minutes ago, klecser said:

Yeah, I thought about this, and I'm wondering if a layout update is the great equalizer. Let's be honest, and no offense to Paul or Mike, or anyone, but I think the layout of the main rulebook is among the least attractive layouts of any product available for 7E (excepting Canis Mysterium and Nameless Horrors maybe). I'm not trying to insult or anything, just pointing out that the core layout change was a very good idea, in my opinion. So, to what extent does Chaosium now have the capital to produce perhaps a limited print run of an updated rulebook? My publishing knowledge is infantile, so I defer to anybody who knows better. As a fan, I just wonder if the collector market of this game is large enough to make a limited run worthwhile? I recognize that "core books drive profit" has long been a mantra of the industry, and price point influences accessibility, but I've always heard that in the context of DND. How might a smaller publisher have their own conventional wisdom?

I think this is likely only when the existing stock runs down (and I have zero knowledge of their existing stock supplies).

Original goes on markdown and new-layout / errata / etc just becomes "7.1" or "7e Revised" or whatever.

I suppose it's even possible this could coincide with the 40Y anniversary; but make a Luck Roll for that...

[Grimmshade]

I'm trying to think of what else I would want for a 40th Anniversary product, and besides SOMETHING with that awesome original art (both the box cover and the rules cover), I can't think of much. We have a lot of awesome for 7e already. Maybe a new box set of some type? That would be pretty sweet! 

Of course I would love a reprint of the original miniatures (or honestly, an updated plastic set of the original minis), but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Regardless of what they do, I hope it includes that nostalgic artwork.

[Rick Meints]

A while back I got to contemplating how many of the early Call of Cthulhu supplements would fit inside a 2" Call of Cthulhu box. We recently brought back the 1" classic Chaosium box with the CoC Starter set and it was well received, so a 2" box might be doubly so. Some people know I have a desire to see what's been out of print for too long finding a way back into print. Lo and behold, all of the items on the table fit neatly inside of the box. Normally, a 40th anniversary is "ruby" themed, but that doesn't mean it couldn't have a substantial "paper" component to it as well...

[Grimmshade]

That would be AMAZING!

I store all my Call of Cthulhu 5e stuff in my 1e box (along with my 1e stuff.)

[kross]

57 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

A while back I got to contemplating how many of the early Call of Cthulhu supplements would fit inside a 2" Call of Cthulhu box. We recently brought back the 1" classic Chaosium box with the CoC Starter set and it was well received, so a 2" box might be doubly so. Some people know I have a desire to see what's been out of print for too long finding a way back into print. Lo and behold, all of the items on the table fit neatly inside of the box. Normally, a 40th anniversary is "ruby" themed, but that doesn't mean it couldn't have a substantial "paper" component to it as well...

Wow. Everything looks so... PRISTINE. All of mine show every bit of their age.

[MrJorgensen]

1 hour ago, Rick Meints said:

A while back I got to contemplating how many of the early Call of Cthulhu supplements would fit inside a 2" Call of Cthulhu box. We recently brought back the 1" classic Chaosium box with the CoC Starter set and it was well received, so a 2" box might be doubly so. Some people know I have a desire to see what's been out of print for too long finding a way back into print. Lo and behold, all of the items on the table fit neatly inside of the box. Normally, a 40th anniversary is "ruby" themed, but that doesn't mean it couldn't have a substantial "paper" component to it as well...

If you're saying what I hope you're saying ... hooolyyy shiiiiiii--

[greger]

As a person who recently (less than a year ago) bouth the 7e slipcase set, I am hopeing there will be something that both celebrates the 40th, and can supplement the books I already have, since I am not really going to be wanting a new set of core books anytime soon.

I would love to see a nice walkthough and overview of all the rule changes that has happened through the history of the game, though.

[Count V]

That would be awesome!

[Mat Mobile]

I agree that another "core rulebook" isn't really necessary but a 2" box with a bunch of PODs of the classic scenarios would be super fun!

And if you need to add rubies @Rick Meints, just add some blood red dice in the box. You can't have too many dice!

[klecser]

Kind of an updated Cthulhu Classics, but with the ability to draw on a much wider selection of older and mid-age classics. I like it.

[DreadDomain]

On 2/21/2021 at 6:58 AM, klecser said:

Yeah, I thought about this, and I'm wondering if a layout update is the great equalizer. Let's be honest, and no offense to Paul or Mike, or anyone, but I think the layout of the main rulebook is among the least attractive layouts of any product available for 7E (excepting Canis Mysterium and Nameless Horrors maybe). I'm not trying to insult or anything, just pointing out that the core layout change was a very good idea, in my opinion. So, to what extent does Chaosium now have the capital to produce perhaps a limited print run of an updated rulebook? My publishing knowledge is infantile, so I defer to anybody who knows better. As a fan, I just wonder if the collector market of this game is large enough to make a limited run worthwhile? I recognize that "core books drive profit" has long been a mantra of the industry, and price point influences accessibility, but I've always heard that in the context of DND. How might a smaller publisher have their own conventional wisdom?

Lately I was wondering how come Mask looked more beautiful that the Core books. While the layout/template of the later might be better, I still like the core books. The real difference for me is the sketch like drawings that are more prevalent in the Keeper and Investigators book (I really do not like them). However, an "aligned" layout doesn't sound worthy of a 40th anniversary special release.

On 2/22/2021 at 3:48 AM, klecser said:

Kind of an updated Cthulhu Classics, but with the ability to draw on a much wider selection of older and mid-age classics. I like it.

It may be not something that I am after but it absolutely sounds like a good idea for a 40th anniversary special release.

Edited April 27, 2021 by DreadDomain

[10baseT]

I would love to see the scenario that was in the 1st Ed rulebook that was associated with mission San Gabriel added... (i think it was in the 1st ed rulebook and 2 pages or so.)

[klecser]

Rick coyly teases the possibility of a two-inch box set for the 40th in the latest Out of the Suitcase...

https://www.chaosium.com/blogout-of-the-suitcase-10-can-some-investigators-help-solve-this-mystery-with-library-use/ 

[StevenGEmsley]

Not necessarily nostalgic anniversary, but we have had superb books on magic and monsters, time for cults and cultists to shine with their own book. 

And Dreamlands please!