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A Brief History of Call of Cthulhu in China


Meow

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Recently, a series of events in China Call of Cthulhu community inspired me to write about the development of COC RPG in China.
I don't know if this is the right place to post such an article, pls kindly inform me if its the wrong place.
 
So here is the outline i've prepared. My english is quite poor, so i'll do this step by step. 
Be there any other issue you wanna learn about, just let me know. 
 
1. The Dynasty of DND 3E (2000-2010)
2. Rising of Cthulhu (2010-2015)
3. The Clash between Anime and Reality(2015-2021)
4. The Surge of Fan-made Content(2015-2021)
5. The Cthulhu Empire (2018-2021)
6. Arclight and the Official Chinese Version(2021)
 
Edited by Meow
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Clarification:
The following content is much based on my personal experience and perception.
 
 
1. The Dynasty of DND 3E (2000-2010)
 
Considering the popularity of Call of Cthulhu this year, it's kind of hard to believe that the game wasn't among the first trpg games introduced into China. However, the early days of Chinese Trpg were dominated by the 3rd edition of Dungeon and Dragon, or in other words, Fantasy Roleplaying. Several factors contributed to the publicity of the genre. 
 
By the year 2000, personal computers had entered ordinary chinese familes. Kids were eager to play any pc-game they have access to, so when Baldur Gate came into China, players were quickly facinated by its rich flavor of fantasy and the way it resolves combat, demonstrating a dangerous but vivid world. Baldur Gate was released in 1998 and introduced into China by The Third Wave (a computer game company based in Taiwan), which later published a chinese translation of DND 3e in 2002, the same year when Baldur Gate II came out. The rulebook was not a big hit compared to its computer game cousin, but has a certain amount of loyal supporters among Baldur Gate players and fantasy novel readers alike. Over the years, some of these books slept quietly in school and public libraries, just like treasures waiting for adventurers to discover.  
 
Year 2000 also saw the first chinese version of J.R.R.Tolkien‘s best-selling novel series, The Lord of the Rings, followed by Dragonlance Chronicle Trilogy and The Dark Elf Trilogy in 2001. Meanwhile, It was until 2005 that Robert Chamber's novel collection “The King in Yellow” was introduced into China. Buried among other weird tales, the story failed to attract enough audience to make Cthulhu Mythos a distinct genre. 
 
Later, a group of DND fans in Shantou University translated and published the revised version of Dnd 3e, or DND Ver 3.5. Both 3E and v3.5 rulebooks can still be found today in online flea markets , and they never failed to allure new players into the wild world of sword & magic.
 
On the other hand, bulltin boards or personal websites were the main online gathering places and a great way to grab and share game contents, including translation of game supplements unpublished in China and original adventures or monsters written by fans. 
 
In the following years, DND continued to be the most popular TRPG in China. WOD and other rules had a certain amount of players, but never too much. And in the shadow of the high fantasy kindom, a game of horror is quietly waiting for its debut in China. 
Edited by Meow
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On 6/17/2021 at 11:38 AM, Meow said:
 
Recently, a series of events in China Call of Cthulhu community inspired me to write about the development of COC RPG in China.
I don't know if this is the right place to post such an article, pls kindly inform me if its the wrong place.
 
So here is the outline i've prepared. My english is quite poor, so i'll do this step by step. 
Be there any other issue you wanna learn about, just let me know. 
 
1. The Dynasty of DND 3E (2000-2010)
2. Rising of Cthulhu (2010-2015)
3. The Clash between Anime and Reality(2015-2021)
4. The Surge of Fan-made Content(2015-2021)
5. The Cthulhu Empire (2018-2021)
6. Arclight and the Official Chinese Version(2021)
 

Wow! How interesting!

Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP ->

No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!

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