No Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition at Gen Con?

I've really grown to love Call of Cthulhu.  I enjoy the game more than enough to buy the core rulebook from Chaosium.  I held off from buying the 6th edition rulebook because back in February word spread that there would be a 7th Edition which would be available at Gen Con this year. 

According to what I've been reading lately it seems that that will no longer be the case.  Rumors say that 7th Edition will be pushed back to 2012, but that there will be an Anniversary Edition available.  To celebrate 30 years of Call of Cthulhu Chaosium has decided to release a hard cover 320 page leather bound book... but with the 6th edition rules.  

I'm really torn here.  On the one hand I'd like to get the new rules (though with CoC there are very few changes between editions), but on the other hand I really like well made hard cover books and am willing to pay extra for quality.  Those who aren't interested in paying a premium probably won't be interested as this book costs $64.95.

I think this is all going to come down to whether the book is available at Gen Con or not.  I'm going to want to get myself something cool at the Con, and a leather bound Call of Cthulhu book certainly qualifies. 

Friday Video: The Call of Cthulhu In Under Two Minutes

I love the game Call of Cthulhu and am having a blast playing our current campaign, but when I read the story The Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft I was kind of shellshocked.  I wasn't very good.  In fact, I really thought it was bad. 

Hey don't throw things as me!

I've read other Lovecraft stories and enjoyed them (Dunwich Horror, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, etc) but I just didn't like Call of Cthulhu.  I may have been a matter of expectations  (it was the first Lovecraft story I ever read and I expected to love it) or it could be that it just isn't my cup of tea.  Whatever the reason I really wish someone has pointed me to the video below, The Call of Cthulhu in Under 2 Minutes.  It does an amazing job of telling the whole tale in, you guessed it, under two minutes and manages to be really funny at the same time.

Enjoy!

Getting Old and Taking Stock

I'm getting old.  Today is my birthday and now I find myself firmly entrenched in my late 20s.  As is typical for someone celebrating a milestone, I've started to take stalk of things.  Among those things is where I fit in the Gaming Community.  

I guess if I had to put myself into a category I'd say I fit into the Gaming Moderates... Alright fine that isn't really a widely recognized subgroup, but maybe it should be.  Hear me out... 

You have the new school, those who have migrated on to 4th edition D&D.  They play video games, and MMOs and don't mind when they spill into their table top gaming.  Well I don't fit in here.  I love video games as much as anyone but my WoW days are far behind me, and even when I was playing it I had no interest in a table top version.  Nah, 4th edition isn't for me and neither is a membership card in the "New School"

Then you have the "Old School."  These are guys who love their old D&D, especially first edition AD&D and retro-clones like Labyrinth Lord and Castles & Crusades.  These guys are likely to be in their 30s and 40s, and have been playing for a long time.  Well I don't fit in this group either.  It's a closer fit, but I still don't think I get in.  The biggest reason is that, though I've played AD&D and I think it's a great game, most of my play has come at conventions and one shots.  I haven't played any retroclones unless you count Hackmaster 4th edition (which people should, but often don't).  Nope I guess I don't have the Old School Cred to apply for my Grognard membership card.  

So where then does that leave me?  I don't fit into either of the two extreme ends of the spectrum I'm somewhere in the middle.  I've played (and enjoyed) far too much 3rd edition gaming to be old school, but I won't touch 4th so I can't be new school.  I like Pathfinder, but I don't like many of their changes especially the unnecessary power boost.  I really like the new Hackmaster, but Kenzerco has made so many changes and innovations that I'm not sure it counts as old school anymore, and I certainly wouldn't classify it as a retroclone.  I also love Kenzer's Western Aces & Eights, and I have no idea where that falls on the scale.  I'm really enjoying Chaosiums Call of Cthulhu (6th edition) that we are playing now.  CoC seems to be a game that appeals more to the old school crowd.  It is very rules light which is something that probably appeals to that audience.  

So as you can see, I just don't fall neatly into either camp, but somewhere in between.  I'm sure I'm not alone, I'm sure there are many other Gamers out there who find themselves caught between the two more easily identifiable Gamer subgroups.  Maybe it would help to have a scale laid out that people can place themselves on, I might just make one.  Until take just take my word for it, I'm a Gaming Moderate.  We might not have a cool name (yet) but I'll think of one.

Could You Use Call of Cthulhu Magic In D&D?

Has anyone out there used portions of Call of Cthulhu's magic system in D&D?  It seemed like a weird idea first, but if one were aiming for a Conan-esc Sword and Sorcery feel it seems like it would be just right.  Half-mad Necromancers summoning demon-gods that wreak havoc and cause gruesome death to all they encounter seems to fit into both categories nicely.    

There are a couple of options if one chose to go this route as well.  You could pair d20 Cthulhu with a 3rd edition D&D or Pathfinder game and because they both use the same base mechanics they would likely fit together pretty well.  I don't have much experience with the d20 Cthulhu rules and I've heard conflicting reports about their quality but it certainly is a streamlined option. Alternatively you could pair old school D&D and traditional Call of Cthulhu, though the rules would take some tweaking to fit together. 

The more I read of the Cthulhu magic system the more I like its dark and ominous feel.  That having been said, I'm not sure it would encourage people to play Magic Users in games if they had to deal with the added danger of going insane through spell use.  

Has anyone out there tried to pair D&D and CoC magic?  What worked and what didn't? Please feel free to share any sage wisdom you have. 

Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition

Chaosiums classic Call of Cthulhu is getting another edition.  This latest version, the seventh, won't feature a massive overhaul of the system.  Like its predecessors it will feature only a few select changes ensuring that it is compatible with all previous editions.  Chaosium hopes to have the book ready by Gen Con this summer. 

I'm glad I heard about this before I pulled the trigger on buying the 6th edition rulebook.  With luck I'll be able to pick up my 7th edition rulebook at Gen Con in August. 

Call of Cthulhu Student ID Template

By request here is the Miskatonic University Student ID template I used to create student IDs for the PCs in our Call of Cthulhu game.  All that needs to be added is a picture (Yearbooks are the best places to find them) and the character specific information.  I added that with a typewriter font called "Old Typewriter" that can be downloaded for free at Dafont.

Enjoy!

Miskatonic Universary Student IDs

I wrote previously about the really cool NPC cards that the Professor is using in our current Call of Cthulhu game set at Miskatonic University.  I've also previously mentioned that we were looking for new players for our table and were having some trouble.

Well the trouble is finally over.  We once again have a full table with six PCs, but our two players (Let's Call them Eberis and Elbereth) are pretty new to table top roleplaying.  Elbris has played a little in the past but nothing recent, and Elbereth has never played at all.  All she knows of gaming is what she saw on the recent (and awesome) AD&D episode of Community. 

For someone new to roleplaying to come into a a game in the middle of a campaign can be a very intimidating experience even if you know what you are an experienced Gamer, but for someone new it can be totally overwhelming.  You have the rules to learn, the setting to get familiar with, the plot to date to review, the NPCs to get to know, oh and the other PCs as well. 

To help with that last bit I created mock Miskatonic Student IDs for each of our characters.  The IDs (Seen above) have a picture of each character (I took a page out of the Professor's book and used old yearbook photos from the 20s and 30s) as well as some important information about each on them, most of which would never be seen on an actual student ID, but that worked well for reference purposes. 

I printed them on card stock so they feel like real IDs minus the lamination. They came out great and worked out well, helping the new guys keep everyone straight.  Everyone's favorite ID was the one of Bear's character, Lagos.

I think it's my favorite too.

NPC Cards

 I wanted to share something really cool from our currant Call of Cthulhu game.  I'm not running the game, The Professor is.  He, like the rest of us, was new to the system when we began, but that has not impeded his ability to GM.  So far the game is absolutely awesome and part of it is the small things like his NPC Cards.

The concept is simple and certainly not a new one, but there is a reason this has been around for a while... It's a great idea.  The Professor's execution of the concept is flawless.  He lists pertinent information to the character like their name, nickname, and a Fraternity or Sorority if they belong to one.  Then he gives some key biographical notes like where they are from, what their major is, what clubs and/or sports they are involved in, etc.  Finally he lists character traits and events that have become clear as the PCs have interacted with them.  For example, Ruth has proved untrusting of the PCs every time they have met her, Beth has a short temper and constantly yells, and Bobby beat the crap out of Revil's character, Kenneth.  

Perhaps the most important feature of the card is the photo.  Ever one for authenticity, The Professor has gone back into archives of old yearbooks and pulled actual student photos from the late 20s.  It's a great touch that makes each NPC seem that much more real and gives each NPC card a yearbook-ish feel.  That works really well as our characters have gone to old Yearsbooks as important sources of information on various persons around campus.

One person in particular, Reginald St. Birmingham III, has been of particular interest to our characters.  Birmingham is the villain of this chapter of the story and is obviously up to some shenanigans, though our characters aren't sure of exactly what at the present time.  When investigating him we started our research (where else?) in the yearbook.   His entry provided some background information and some important clues on where to look next.    One of the characters, Charles (Doodle's character) is also from Newport and had heard of the affluent St. Birmingham family and knew what kind of business they were in, their general reputation, and where they live.  We proceeded with our investigation by looking into the activities Reggie was involved in, specifically the Bohemian Club and Sigma Phi.  While we haven't cracked the case yet, this information certainly put us on the right track.

NPC cards like this are easy to make and definitely worth the time and effort.  They help yours players connect with the various important NPCs and provide them with a quick reference guide to the pertinent facts about them.  If you are playing a CoC game, particularly one set at Miskatonic University, you will want to also follow the Professor's lead and lean heavily on old yearbooks from the 20s and 30s as a resource of both pictures and great information about the time.

Arkham Horror Review

Since my group has recently delved deep into the Cthulhu Mythos in our Call of Cthulhu game it wasn't much of a transition this past week when we broke out Arkham Horror to give it a go.

Expectations could not have been higher, each of us had heard nothing but glowing reviews of the game.  Considering a few of the members of the group are avid Board Game fans, the bar was set pretty damn high.  One reason that I was ecstatic when my wife got me the game was that I love co-op board games.  The entire concept is still relatively new to me, but Defenders of the Realm really got me hooked on the concept.  So the question really became not just is the game good, but can the game possibly live up to the unrealistic expectations. 

The first thing you should know about Arkham Horror if that the game is big.  There are a lot of parts to the game and it takes up a lot of room.  Make sure you clear of your whole table if you decide to break out the game because you will need every inch of the space.  If you choose the path of madness and play the game with all the expansions you better clear off two tables and push them together!  Since we were just playing the base game we didn't have any problems fitting everything on the table but that was all we fit on the table.  The pizza had to be put elsewhere. 

Arkham Horror - Just the base game

Prices from AH and the Expansions not including boards

The first thing we did was chose investigators.  We opted to do this at Random, but I don't see any problem cherry picking the ones you want.  I've heard people say that the Investigators are for the most part balanced, and that is probably true but there are certainly some that are better than others.  Mandy Thompson (The Researcher) for example is great.  I didn't get her though, I got Dexter Drake the Magician.  To round out the part Bear got Darrell Simmons the Photographer, Revil got Ashcan Pete the Drifer, and the Professor got Joe Diamond The Private Eye (Private Dick jokes were rampant).  Everyone except me was seemed pretty content with their character.  I'm not crazy about the Magician.  His special ability allows him to draw two spells and choose the better one, but the sanity loss from casting spells adds up fast so I didn't use them a lot throughout the game. 

Next we chose our opponent, the Ancient one we would be trying to stop.  Like Investigators, not all Ancient Ones are created equal.  They all have different abilities, attacks, and Doom Tracks (The amount of time before they appear and you have to fight them).  The rules say draw randomly, and this isn't an instance where cherry picking would work;  random is the only way to go.  The Ancient Ones abilities really make the game different depending on who you get, another aspect of the game that adds to the replay value.  We ended up with Nyarlathotep or as he was known at the table, the Asshole.   As Ancient Ones go he actually seems to be fairly beatable.  His worshiper ability might actually make things easier because it puts the weakest monster (Cultist) back in play over and over.  Not that we were complaining! One thing that did come to bite us in the ass was his attack, but I'm getting ahead of myself.   

Once everything was set up we divided up the responsibilities for running the game.  In my opinion this is the only way to do it as there are many.  We had one person in charge of Mythos Cards and the Ancient One (Me), another person was in charge of monsters and gates (Bear), Revil was in charge of Money, Items and Clue Tokes, and finally the Professor handled all the encounter cards (and read them in a very dramatic voice which made the game even better).  Spread out like that the responsibility weren't bad at all, ensuring that no one person became overburdened. Each person has to look to their own character afterall, and there are often a number of things to do during the upkeep phase of the game that you can't forget about.  

With everything set up and each person knowing their roll we place our character markers on our home space and got started.  

Quick note: There are two different versions of the board, the older dark one and the newer light one.  I have the newer light one.  Both versions can be seen below.  

The game opened up with a gate opening in the black cave.  This wasn't a problem (yet) and we all went about collecting as many clue token as possible so that we could use them to close gates and, if necessary, battle Nyarlathotep.  The black caves quickly became a problem as a second gate was drawn the following turn resulting in a monster surge.  This monster surge would haunt us for the rest of the game.  

While none of us had drawn the best fighting characters I had gotten some really great equipment including a Tommy Gun!  So I figured I could deal with the monsters and moved to do so.  

Mistake.

I got my ass handed to me and ended up in the hospital.  I spent much of the game trying to fight and failing horribly (damn you dice!).  I found myself in the hospital or the asylum pretty regularly.  During this time Bear was doing great.  He had gotten a bank loan and because he was the Photographer he also had a retainer.  He was rolling in dough so he zipped around the board buying up a truck load of equipment and spells to use.  As it turns out he should have been collecting clue token with some of those turns, but more on that in a bit.  

During the later turns on the game we were really working hard, and struggling, to close gates.  That damn monster surge had made it hard to move around the board early in the game and when I finally got into the gate and closed it I found that I didn't have the Clue tokens to seal it.  So naturally a gate opened  again and I got sucked right back in.  This happened three times.  When I shut the gate for the final time it turned out to be the last action I would take before the end of the game.  We had waited too long and Nyarlathotep had awoken.  

Now there are three ways to win this game.  1. Seal 6 gates 2. Close all Gates 3. Defeat the Ancient One.  Those are really in order from easiest way to win to the hardest so fighting the Ancient One is really a last ditch effort.  It is best avoided by going for one of the first two, but that just didn't happen for us.  Still, I felt that we were in pretty good shape to fight Nyarlathotep until I realized that Bear has Zero clue tokens.  As I mentioned his attack caused us some problems.  That is because if you have no clue Tokens you are Devoured (Dead and Eliminated from the game) so that happened to Bear straight out of the gate.  After two rounds Revil joined him and left just me and the Professor to do the deed.  The fight took a while, you have to get a number of success equal to the number of players in order to remove a doom token (which now act as the Ancient One's hit points).  Fortunately for us the dice turned around.  I was making my Lore check left and right which was a good thing as I went in with only three clue tokens.  The Professor was battling like a champ but was devoured with Nyarlathotep at 1 doom token left.  It came down to me with one clue token left vs him with one doom token left.  In the end I was victorious, but it couldn't have been any closer.   

The Old 1987 version Board

Overall the game was an absolute blast.  The expectations were high, but the game was more than enough to meet them.  Perhaps more than any game I've ever seen Arkham Horror has an insane amount of replay value.  With just the base game you get 16 investigators, 8 different Ancient ones, 67 mythos cards, 64 encounter cards, and three different ways to win.  If I have a knock on great games like Defenders of the Realm it's that the games always feel very much the same, but given the number of random factors involved in Arkham Horror one could play a dozen games and have them all feel quite different.  This all is to say nothing of the various expansions available for Arkham Horror which have board add-ons, new Investigators, Item Cards, Mythos Cards, Ancient Ones, and more.  To give you an idea of how much we are taking about if you were to buy all the expansions the number of Investigators you would be drawing from would jump from 16 to a whopping 48!

Arkham Horror has come a long way since the old 1987 version.  While I'm sure that game was good I can tell you that this game is great.  It very well could be my new favorite board game.  It mixes clever design with a multitude of choices, and the classic Cthulhu Mythos to create a real winner.  If you love board games and haven't already check out Arkham Horror.  I promise, you'll be glad you did. 

Bolstering the Ranks: Why the Hell is it so hard to find new players?!

I've played with the same group for about eight years now.  We have had many people come and go for various reasons over the years, but the core four members of the group have remain unchanged.  Recently we lost two members in quick succession and found ourselves down to just the aforementioned four players.  While it is certainly possible to play with four, and we have done it many times, it was the general preference that we add a few more members to fill out the table.  

Normally when we need new members we will invite a friend of one of the already existing members.  This is the easiest option for both the group who is getting a known quantity, and for the new player who already knows someone at the table.  However, after eight years we seem to have exhausted this option; none of us could think of a single person to invite to the game.  After a bid of head scratching we examined our options.  We do live in the information age after all, how hard could it be to reach out and pluck a prospective gamer from the orchard of the internet? 

As it turns out, pretty hard.

Now there are various ways to find new members, many of which I'm sure we weren't aware of., but of the ones we did know the three that seemed the most promising to us were message boards, Obsidian portal,  and Pen & Paper Games. 

Message boards for specific games have worked really well for people I know.  I once knew a guy who would hit the D&D boards and within a week would have a whole new group.  That man had a talent for finding people that it quickly became clear that I, and the other members of my group, lack.    The problem is that my group no longer plays just D&D anymore.  When 4e came out it became clear that the game was not for us and so we started looking elsewhere.  In the time since 4e came out we have played Hackmaster 4th Edition, Hackmaster Basic, Hackmaster Advanced, Aces & Eights, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, 1st Edition D&D, 2nd Edition D&D, and D&D 3.5.  So though it was cool that the release of 4e caused us to branch out and leave our comfort zone a little bit, it no longer made it possible to hit the D&D boards looking for players.  Similarly, Paizo has prolific message boards, but by and large those players are Pathfinder players who might not be interested in switching systems should the need arise.  So in the end we didn't have much luck with message boards and decided to forgo others like ENWorld, RPGNet, and others. 

Obsidian Portal is an awesome site and a great resource for many things including finding games.  We used Obsidian Portal as kind of a passive way to look in the months leading up to our active search.  We listed the campaign we were playing along with some information on our group and tossed our line out, hoping some Gamer without a group would bite.  Alas, we had little to no luck.  We considered contacting some of the other groups in the immediate area, but many of them were playing 4e, so it was unlikely they would have been a good fit.  However, all was not lost.  Obsidian Portal partnered with Pen & Paper Games, a site dedicated to helping Gamers find Gamers.  We all figured this would be our best bet. 

It was at Pen & Paper Games that we made our last  ditch effort to find some new blood.  We threw a wide net over the area, opting for a "spray and pray" philosophy.  Rather than working our way down a long list of people one at a time, we just emailed everyone we thought might be a good fit.  So just how many was that? 

Thirty two.

That's right, thirty two people got messages from us offering them a seat at our table.  This was not just a quick "hey you don't know us but join our game" email.  No, this was thorough.  We talked about our group, how many members, what ages, our play styles, what games we play, what times, how long we had been together, what we were looking for, what we would be playing, and a host of other things.  We added a "no pressure clause" by stating that it was just a trial to see if the person was a good fit for the group and the group a good fit for the person.  When we finished writing the email (a group effort) I was sure that we had emailed too many people and would be bombarded with responses.  This was a little worrying because the table we play at is only so big.  Turns our I shouldn't have worried.  Go ahead and guess how many responses we got.

If you guessed one and a half, you are correct.  

What do I mean by that?  Well we got one ligit response by a guy who was interested, and one quick email from a guy who said he might play if we change the day we play on.  To say we were disheartened would be an understatement. 

Now I should mention that all of the people who we emailed were not held in equal regard.  We rated each person on a 1-10 basis and only emailed the top 32 people.  So naturally where was our one response from?

If you guessed the very bottom of the list, you are correct. 

Needless to say it was more than a little disheartening, but we emailed the guy (Doodle, by handle).  Doodle seemed nice enough via email and was very prompt in his responses so we invited him to come down for the start of our Call of Cthulhu game and roll up a character with us.  When he showed up we were all pleasantly surprised, he was friendly and very normal.  Hey, don't look at me like that... it's the internet you never know what you're gonna get.  Doodle had played CoC before so he was a help with some of the rules and his sense of humor really seemed to mesh with the rest of the group, something of underrated importance in my opinion. 

As I write this we are two weeks into our CoC and things are going great.  Everyone is very happy with Doodle and he seems reasonably happy with the group.  Still when I think of the process we went through to find and recruit him I have to ask myself, why the hell is it so hard to find new players? 

If you have a story of your own trials and tribulations of finding new group members please, let's hear it!  If you have any advice on finding new members, please share that too!

Got Any Cthulhu Tips?

My group is beginning our long awaited Call of Cthulhu campaign this Thursday. To that end I have decided to elicit any advice those more knowledgeable (just about everyone) might have on the subject.  

I've done some prep to get geared up for said campaign.  I've read a bit of Lovecraft (not my favorite writer to be honest), some Mythos fiction by other writers, got and plan to play Arkham Horror tonight (woot!), and looked over the rulebook (6th edition is what we are playing) for Chaosium's CoC system as well as the Miskatonic University book (we are playing student investigators).

Even with all that though I still don't feel like I know everything I need to know.  That's where you come in!  Here are some questions/issues I have. 

These guys looked screwed.  I'm hoping to avoid this.

1. How to I maximize PC survivability?

I enjoy games where the same cast of characters sticks around for most if not all of the campaign.  The long running bonds between characters and the trails they make it through together is one thing that keeps me coming back week after week in most games.  That having been said, I keep reading that CoC isn't a game with a great survivability rate... so how do I maximize PC survivability? 

2. What type of skills will prove the most useful?

As I stated above, we are playing matriculating freshmen at Miskatonic University so we don't really get a whole lot skill point to work with.  I want to make sure I use mine on skills that I'll actually use, so what are some good useful skills?  

3. What are some common pitfalls for new/inexperienced players?

Obviously I'm not going to take a swim looking for the city of R'lyeh, but what are some common missteps people have encountered?  

Watch out for this guy... check!

4.  What are some good ways of preserving sanity?

I've heard that becoming insane is just as big a danger as dying, so what steps can be taken to help prevent that?  Should ancient tomes be avoided at all cost?  I've heard those can be dangerous.

5.  How much combat can I expect?

There see to be a number of combat related skills in the game, but the game doesn't seem like it focuses on combat.  Are these skills worth investing in, and how much fighting can I really expect in CoC?

6. I rolled some pretty pedestrian stats

Which stats would everyone say is the most important?  My best stat by far is intelligence (14) my worst is Con (8).

7.  Got any other tips I should know?

I'm not sure what else to ask, but I'm sure there is more good advice to be had! 

This will be a first for everyone in the my group. Though I have limited knowledge of the Mythos and the game itself, I would certainly categorize myself as both excited and enthusiastic.  There are high expectation from every member of the group this game is going to be one to remember.  Any help you can offer to ensure that we are right would be much appreciated! 

If you can't beat em, join em?