Thats right just what the title says. Its all of your fault. (Well maybe a little bit of the d20 Monkey Innmouth Garden Society arcs as well:)) I finally bit the bullet and got off my cheap ass and bought CoC. OH my god! Fucking awesome! Best purchase I have made in a decade, easy. So that being said. I'm not looking for purchase anything else right away but what are good/useful supplements out there for CoC?
Quote from: Ronin;750069Thats right just what the title says. Its all of your fault. (Well maybe a little bit of the d20 Monkey Innmouth Garden Society arcs as well:)) I finally bit the bullet and got off my cheap ass and bought CoC. OH my god! Fucking awesome! Best purchase I have made in a decade, easy. So that being said. I'm not looking for purchase anything else right away but what are good/useful supplements out there for CoC?
Which version did you buy?
Excellent choice. All I can say is:
http://youtu.be/DBPly1aT8y0?t=1m18s
Sixth edition. Is their major differences between the editions? It was my understanding that they were the same rules wise? Just cleaned up as far as organization and setting content. Is that wrong?
Delta Green if you're interested in modern day mythos.
Quote from: Ronin;750072Sixth edition. Is their major differences between the editions? It was my understanding that they were the same rules wise? Just cleaned up as far as organization and setting content. Is that wrong?
It's correct - the only thing really changed is the profession's skill lists and spell lists I think.
As for the supplements:
Dreamlands
Bestiaries
Cthulhu Gaslight
Quote from: Ronin;750072Sixth edition. Is their major differences between the editions? It was my understanding that they were the same rules wise? Just cleaned up as far as organization and setting content. Is that wrong?
There is d20 Cthulu and Gumshoe has something called Trails of Cthulu.
I believe the rules in 6th are basically the same as previous ones (I have sixth and used to have whatever version was floating around in 1990 and by memory they seem about the same).
Quote from: Ronin;750069Thats right just what the title says. Its all of your fault. (Well maybe a little bit of the d20 Monkey Innmouth Garden Society arcs as well:)) I finally bit the bullet and got off my cheap ass and bought CoC. OH my god! Fucking awesome! Best purchase I have made in a decade, easy.
Sure took your sweet time, didn't you? ;)
Welcome into the fold.
Quote from: Ronin;750069I'm not looking for purchase anything else right away but what are good/useful supplements out there for CoC?
No idea. I've been playing it fairly regularly (mostly one-shots and mini-campaigns, never long term) for 16 years and I have yet to buy a single supplement. Right up there with D&D RC and MongTrav in the "best core rulebook ever" category.
I did get Delta Green as a gift, though. Great supplement, if a bit dated nowadays (looking forward to the long-delayed new edition).
And Masks of Nyarlathotep, a globe-trotting race-against-time mega-adventure, is legendary.
Quote from: Ronin;750072Sixth edition. Is their major differences between the editions? It was my understanding that they were the same rules wise? Just cleaned up as far as organization and setting content. Is that wrong?
Not really. Except for the French version which has quite a few interesting rulings and subsystems that set it apart from the original (not to mention dozens of awesome original supplements with no English version).
I didn't have too man of the supplements, but I remember the modules being good. I also remember liking the Miskatonic University Book (but it has been ages since I have read it).
Malleus Monstrorum is pretty much essential for details on the Great Old Ones.
1920s Investigator's Companion , Keeper's Companion 1 , Keeper's Companion 2 and Creature Companion are all very useful.
Cthulhu by Gaslight if you want to roleplay in the 1880s-1890s.
If you want to play in Britain , Games Workshop's Green and Pleasant Land and Chaosium's London Guidebook are a good place to start , Cubicle 7 are bring out their London Sourcebook at the end of this year too.
Dreamlands is interesting but unless you plan on going there you don't need it.
Cthulhu Casebook is probably the best collection of scenarios , with some of the articles from Different Worlds added.
If you want to play in the modern era then definitely get Delta Green and the Countdown supplement , they are very high quality.
Simon's list is pretty darn excellent.
I'd add Masks of Nyarlathotep which, despite some creaks, still is very good. Pulpy, but good.
Cubicle 7's Cthulhu Britannia line also includes Folklore, which is an interesting examination of what actual investigators of mythology and the paranormal were getting up to in the 1920s.
I'd also recommend Cthulhu Invictus and Cthulhu Dark Ages (that's what it's called?) for some Ancient Rome/Dark Ages action.
It's rare these days, but if you can track down Pagan Publishing's The Golden Dawn it's a really neat sourcebook for Gaslight-era Cthulhu stuff centred on a hugely important real-life occult group from the era.
If World War II is your bag there's an embarrassment of resources at the moment: Achtung! Cthulhu comes in a player's guide and keeper's guide and features factions within the Nazi power structure dabbling with Mythos stuff in a way which it is implied will have horrendous consequences when it inevitably runs out of control. It's got a pulpy tone that the Call of Cthulhu system itself doesn't support, though the core books are dual-statted for CoC and Savage Worlds (and there's FATE versions forthcoming) so if you want to switch to a pulpier system that'd work, and it also has fairly broad coverage - so you can use it to run military-based stuff, intelligence-based stuff, or run games set in the "home front". (Which sounds awesome - imagine all the complications that an investigation might face in London during the Blitz...) The core books also provide decent support for playing British, American or French characters (or Germans, if you want extra grim).
Cubicle 7, meanwhile, have done World War Cthulhu: The Darkest Hour, which is much more focused (it is assumed that PCs are spies for a particular British intelligence organisation), contains more detail directed to intelligence-based missions, and includes a really awesome sample campaign. It's more darkly purist in tone and I think the two lines complement each other nicely; apparently they also intend to do World War Cthulhu treatments of WWI, the Cold War, and WWIII. (I'm particularly interested in the WWI one as a source of background stuff for mainline CoC campaigns, since in the default 1920s setting a lot of player characters will at least remember WWI and many would have been of the right age to actually serve in the war.)
Quote from: Warthur;750096It's got a pulpy tone that the Call of Cthulhu system itself doesn't support,
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zxzdAfsSdVA/UukCH-EIjRI/AAAAAAAAJRw/Qt5zQvOdIcc/s1600/tumblr_inline_myy3bqpK6G1rg0g8s.gif)
Quote from: Ronin;750069Thats right just what the title says. Its all of your fault. (Well maybe a little bit of the d20 Monkey Innmouth Garden Society arcs as well:)) I finally bit the bullet and got off my cheap ass and bought CoC. OH my god! Fucking awesome! Best purchase I have made in a decade, easy. So that being said. I'm not looking for purchase anything else right away but what are good/useful supplements out there for CoC?
It's about time. I've loved it since the first edition was published back in the 80's. Many of the best scenarios I've run or played with my friends or at a convention were CoC games. It should have a place on anyone's "Top 5" or "Top 10" must-have lists.
You don't really
need any of the supplements but I really like Malleus Monstrorum, the Lovecraft Country sourcebooks for Arkham, Dunwich and Kingsport and the scenario book Mansions of Madness.
Quote from: Ronin;750072Sixth edition. Is their major differences between the editions? It was my understanding that they were the same rules wise? Just cleaned up as far as organization and setting content. Is that wrong?
Rules-wise you're right. Organisationally CoC 6E still leaves plenty room for improvement, though. Also, design-wise many prefer the cleaner looking CoC 5.6E.
Quote from: The Butcher;750101*snip*
I don't particularly agree either, but regarding deadliness one
might consider the CoC rules unfit for pulp. BRP Astounding Adventures or the upcoming Pulp Cthulhu may be of use in that case.
Congrats - you won't regret it!
Like already mentioned galore; Delta Green is amazing and the supplement Countdown might even be a tad better.
Scenario-wise I'm not a huge fan of most of the Chaosium scenario books/campaigns. But Mortal Coils from Pagan Publishing has some outstanding one-shots/scenarios that can be fitted into a campaign. Dream Factory being probably the best CoC scenario I've played.
And yeah, the Lovecraft Country-books are good and packed with atmosphere.
Quote from: 3rik;750111I don't particularly agree either, but regarding deadliness one might consider the CoC rules unfit for pulp. BRP Astounding Adventures or the upcoming Pulp Cthulhu may be of use in that case.
All right, I'm spinning this into its own thread.
Another vote for Malleus Monstrorum.
Also, while I'd never run it, Trail of Cthulhu has a lot of interesting content that can be yanked straight into a CoC game. CoC gets knocked sometimes for its particular slant on the mythos... which is generally much more RPG-compatible than 'pure' Lovecraft would be. ToC provides some alternative approaches... views of the mythos... which I think are interesting and good for tweaking the imagination.
No suggestions beyond those above. But I will chime in by congratulating you on making the move. The design team at Chaosium ca. 1980 was simply genius; definitely the best quality line of games from a single company. Runequest. CoC. Pendragon. Elric!. And a few smaller titles. The crazy thing is that basically all of these games can be played with their first printed editions, straight up and without a bunch of house rules or later supplements, and you would hardly notice the differences from the latest editions. Each one of them is built on a rock-solid set of mechanics, and then adds some new 'twist' that makes it a totally unique game that is uniquely tied to its setting and/or niche genre. Cults and various magic systems in RQ; Horror elements in CoC. Personality traits in Pendragon. Sorcery in Elric!. It is telling that you basically never hear anyone engaging in edition wars or generally talking shit about any of these games.
Quote from: Larsdangly;750125No suggestions beyond those above. But I will chime in by congratulating you on making the move. The design team at Chaosium ca. 1980 was simply genius; definitely the best quality line of games from a single company. Runequest. CoC. Pendragon. Elric!. And a few smaller titles. The crazy thing is that basically all of these games can be played with their first printed editions, straight up and without a bunch of house rules or later supplements, and you would hardly notice the differences from the latest editions. Each one of them is built on a rock-solid set of mechanics, and then adds some new 'twist' that makes it a totally unique game that is uniquely tied to its setting and/or niche genre. Cults and various magic systems in RQ; Horror elements in CoC. Personality traits in Pendragon. Sorcery in Elric!. It is telling that you basically never hear anyone engaging in edition wars or generally talking shit about any of these games.
All true. I doubt CoC has changed much in 6 editions (7e may change that, I'm fine with my copy of 4e). For the OP I recommend the classics like
Masks of Nyarlathotep and
Fungi from Yuggoth.
The mechanics of BRP are nicely transferrable, although need some thought to make them work naturally. (Shameless plug: I am publishing my game notes for a CoC/Stormbringer crossover called
Elric of R'lyeh on my blog.)
Quote from: smiorgan;750135All true. I doubt CoC has changed much in 6 editions (7e may change that, I'm fine with my copy of 4e).
For what it's worth, based on the quickstart and Dead Light (both of which have gone out to Kickstarter backers), I reckon you could fit the basics of 1-6E/7E conversion on one side of a business card.
I dont know why really its taken so long for me to get CoC. But after reading the rules, it like its the game Ive been looking for for a long time. I know that sounds fairly corny. But tis true.
I recommend skipping the RPG supplements and just reading Lovecraft's original stories instead. Go to the source.
If you are a fan of Moorcock's Elric and decide you like the CoC system, then I highly suggest getting the Games Workshop edition of Stormbringer. I think its Stormbringer 3rd.
Most people prefer the later editions of Stormbringer, and I suppose I get why, but I like the original better. It's magic system is much more distinctive and connects with the stories. The later editions basically replaced this with standard Runequest magic (tweaking the spell list a bit), and the end result feels pretty unlike the books.
Quote from: Spinachcat;750161I recommend skipping the RPG supplements and just reading Lovecraft's original stories instead. Go to the source.
If you are a fan of Moorcock's Elric and decide you like the CoC system, then I highly suggest getting the Games Workshop edition of Stormbringer. I think its Stormbringer 3rd.
Quote from: Larsdangly;750186Most people prefer the later editions of Stormbringer, and I suppose I get why, but I like the original better. It's magic system is much more distinctive and connects with the stories. The later editions basically replaced this with standard Runequest magic (tweaking the spell list a bit), and the end result feels pretty unlike the books.
For CoC you should read the books
and the adventures. Cthulhuchick's epub of Lovecraft's complete works is free.
The value of CoC (and Stormbringer) is making the game world accessible to the players and making it a good game. So while you won't get Lovecraft from just reading CoC, you won't get how to run CoC just from reading Lovecraft. Chaosium's CoC adventures are high quality for handouts and clarity of vision in how to bring the worlds to life (although some might veer towards pulp).
As for Stormbringer... I also prefer the 1e-3e magic system. Calling them "demons of desire", "demons of knowledge" etc. made them an extension of the sorcerer, rather than an otherworldly beastie.
However, Ben Monroe says (http://www.stormbringerrpg.com/?p=329) that the system was changed in 4e ("demon breeds" and point-buy) to bring it
closer to the original source. 5e/Elric! kept demon and elemental summoning, but it did add RQ-like spells which diluted the demon magic feel. I don't think any of Chaosium's offerings properly reflect magic in Moorcock, but I do think they're decent products in their own right.
Good luck finding a 3e print with its binding intact, though.
Quote from: smiorgan;750208For CoC you should read the books and the adventures. Cthulhuchick's epub of Lovecraft's complete works is free.
The value of CoC (and Stormbringer) is making the game world accessible to the players and making it a good game. So while you won't get Lovecraft from just reading CoC, you won't get how to run CoC just from reading Lovecraft. Chaosium's CoC adventures are high quality for handouts and clarity of vision in how to bring the worlds to life (although some might veer towards pulp).
I don't think most of Lovecraft's stories are all that conducive for RPG play... usually it's a lone individual observing some horror prior to going mad, running away or both. Only a few feature anything like a team effort towards any sort of positive action. The CoC modules aren't 'pure' Lovecraft, but they're playable where 'pure' isn't so much.
Quote from: smiorgan;750208Good luck finding a 3e print with its binding intact, though.
Very true. Like the original Rogue Trader, the book is beautiful, but the binding is crap. But as long as it has all its pages, then its an easy enough job to make due.
I know I'd rather a beat up copy of Stormbringer 3e than a brand new copy of any of the later editions. It's the crazy flavor, fast brutal combat and wild magic - all of which felt somehow tamed in later editions.
Quote from: Simlasa;750213I don't think most of Lovecraft's stories are all that conducive for RPG play...
They aren't conducive for RPG play, but only his stories contain the purity of Lovecraft's tone and his words - that quality that the CoC adventures try to emulate and while any good horror GM can create a good horror adventure, the whole point of a Lovecraftian adventure is the Lovecraftian flavor.
AKA, the "Lovecraftian flavor" in the RPG supplements is a diluted version of the raw and disturbing concepts of HPL whose writings not only contain his brilliance, but his fears, concerns and instabilities. And while the RPG writers write about the 1920s, HPL was writing in the actual 1920s so his from his perspective, he is in his "modern day".
Quote from: Spinachcat;750227They aren't conducive for RPG play, but only his stories contain the purity of Lovecraft's tone and his words - that quality that the CoC adventures try to emulate and while any good horror GM can create a good horror adventure, the whole point of a Lovecraftian adventure is the Lovecraftian flavor.
I wasn't arguing against reading them, gawd forbid... just against the idea of reading them as the sole source of inspiration for what to do with CoC.
I've seen people talk about running 'pure' Lovecraft campaigns and I don't really get how they plan to pull that off.
Make a Sanity check.
Depending on your era of play, you may want to get Achtung Cthulhu!
If you want something pulpy and occult-heavy, you'll want to get "Raiders of R'lyeh", once its out!
Played it since 1st ed. Simply one of the best. If you haven't already check out the web material available.
Yog-Sothoth.com (http://www.yog-sothoth.com/) is invaluable with forums, articles, scenarios etc.
Pelgrane press (http://www.pelgranepress.com/site/?tag=download&cat=10) publishes Trail of Cthulhu but has a load of material for background plus a couple of good free scenarios convertible to CoC.
Stealing Cthulhu (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/106251/Stealing-Cthulhu?filters=0_0_0_44502_0) is an extended essay by Graham Walmesley, author of some of the best ToC material, which basicly takes a hard look at using the original Lovecraft stories and learning from them when designing scenarios. It also then talks about swapping out elements of stories to refresh or create new ones. Excellent stuff! Highly recommended.
The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society (http://www.cthulhulives.org/) are a group of uber-fans who have made period movies (i.e. a silent film and a 30's style talkie) based on the tales. The site has tons of material including free props, period fonts etc. for your games. A must see (check out the trailers if you haven't seen their films.
Above all have fun!
Dave
Quote from: Ronin;750069Thats right just what the title says. Its all of your fault. (Well maybe a little bit of the d20 Monkey Innmouth Garden Society arcs as well:)) I finally bit the bullet and got off my cheap ass and bought CoC. OH my god! Fucking awesome! Best purchase I have made in a decade, easy. So that being said. I'm not looking for purchase anything else right away but what are good/useful supplements out there for CoC?
Stealing Cthulhu is an outstanding, system-free guide to running terrific CoC adventures, and horror adventures in general. (You could easily replace Lovecraft with "Stephen King" and it would make an excellent guide to running games in King's Maine.)
Delta Green: Countdown is one of the best CoC books ever written, hands-down, anybody who tells you otherwise is crazy.
If you don't mind converting from Gumshoe -- and I believe some fans have already done the work for you -- I would recommend the Armitage Files and Eternal Lies. EL is a gigantic whale of a campaign that's a little less pulp than Masks of Nyarlathotep, but very well done, and Armitage Files is a really bizarre temporal sandbox kind of adventure. It's hard to explain but really neat.
I'll also say that CoC's fans are if second, second only to Pathfinder's, for the sheer amount of fan support for published adventures. I mean, Masks of Nyarlathotep has thousands of pages of support and documents drafted by fans. Don't be afraid to check out Yog-Sothoth.com and other sites for this stuff.
Welcome to the cult- er I mean club.
I heartily agree with others suggestions of Delta Green, the Malleus Monstrorum, and the Keepers Companion. All are books I browse over and over again for ideas for all sorts of rpgs not just CoC.
Another idea, depending on what era you play, is the news or real world history articles. They can be mythos up quite easily and often make for good adventure hooks.
Wikipedia something like the Dyatlov Pass incident or the Fatima Prophesies and watch the creative gears start turning.