Achtung! Cthulhu! review

[jackleg2010]

A few days ago, CoC fan and my favorite YouTube reviewer, Scott Skorkowsky, did a review of the new version of A!C! 

He liked the setting but not a fan of the 2d20 system. The previous editions used FATE, Savage Worlds and CoC, 6th edition.

I was wondering what rules mods were used for the CoC edition.

[JDS]

I like the AC! concept, but would want to use the 7E rules.

[Baron]

Hey Jackleg, are you asking what the CoC 6th ed rules looked like under Achtung Cthulhu? If you are and I get a few minutes, I'll pull the book down and give you some feedback. It's been a good while since I've looked it over. I never got around to running it, but I hope to run or play it someday using the 6th edition rules.

[greger]

I bought a PDF from Modiphius last year, or something, that is for 7e.

 

[TwiceBorn]

20 hours ago, greger said:

I bought a PDF from Modiphius last year, or something, that is for 7e.

 

Yep, Modiphius did make CoC 7E PDFs of the Achtung! Cthulhu player and GM books. I don't think they're available anymore now that Modiphius's CoC license has expired.

Edited May 5, 2022 by TwiceBorn

[Darius West]

At some stage I plan to run a CoC game in Stalin's Russia.  A!C! Rules will be quite handy for that I hope.

[KarlF]

I loved the concept and setting and also got the 7e PDFs while they were still available.
However IMHO the books are very poorly laid out and hard to use. Also their wartime experience system was pretty convoluted and I didn't bother trying to use it. I have run a couple of scenarios and my players quite liked the setting so I might return at some point.
I would recommend using Pulp Cthulhu rules if you want to get the same vibe as the stories in the books/other sources, and if you want your players' characters to have the slightest chance of survival.

[KarlF]

@jackleg2010 btw that's Seth Skorkowsky - and yes he is an excellent reviewer

[SaintMeerkat]

If it helps, I am about halfway through Shadows of Atlantis with my Thursday night group, and I am not using any of the rule mods from the Keeper or Investigator Guides. They aren't even mentioned. I'm just using straight up 7e.

[jackleg2010]

On 5/8/2022 at 5:06 AM, Karl Frost said:

@jackleg2010 btw that's Seth Skorkowsky - and yes he is an excellent reviewer

Yep. My bad....

[KarlF]

@SaintMeerkatComments/feedback re Shadows of Atlantis would be appreciated, I have been toying with the idea of trying it - it sounds like you are running it as straight Cthulhu i.e. not Pulp?

[SaintMeerkat]

@Karl Frost Correct. I am not using the Pulp Rules. My group isn't all that into combat, so I have made opportunities for them to bluff their way around it or just really nerf it so they will survive. The campaign provides a different set of pregens for each section with specialized skills for that section, but I am making adjustments to skill sets as needed so we can use the same characters throughout.

While I love the ideas behind the campaign, and my group is enjoying it so far, there are a few issues.

1. They are really light on any sort of Keeper aids like handouts for key texts, NPC portraits, and player maps.

2. There are some organization issues. There are a couple of sources that the investigators use that have their information spread out over multiple chapters. It would have been nice for it all to be in one place.

3. There is a little too much history/background. Each region/country gets a complete history going back pretty much to the dawn of civilization in that region. That's a little overkill. While it's well written, I think that could be pared way down. Forewarned, you could jump straight to the adventure background and save yourself some time.

This all applies to the 6E CoC version. I haven't seen the 2d20 one, yet.

 

[KarlF]

On 5/13/2022 at 8:53 AM, SaintMeerkat said:

 

2. There are some organization issues. There are a couple of sources that the investigators use that have their information spread out over multiple chapters. It would have been nice for it all to be in one place.

3. There is a little too much history/background. Each region/country gets a complete history going back pretty much to the dawn of civilization in that region. That's a little overkill. While it's well written, I think that could be pared way down. Forewarned, you could jump straight to the adventure background and save yourself some time.

 

These are both problems I found with the AC 7th ed rulebooks, especially the latter (so much time/space spent on in-depth history of WWII rather than getting into what matters for the players/characters).
Thanks for the feedback, most appreciated!