![]() ![]() The assumed mode of play involves the Keeper dreaming up a mystery for the PCs to investigate, with the assumption being that most investigations will tie into Lovecraft’s mythology of dormant godlike alien entities whose return would mean the destruction of humanity in its current form, and who stir in their slumber when humans accidentally or deliberately prompt them to act. Player characters are even referred to as investigators, whilst the referee is referred to as the Keeper – or, to give the rarely-used full term, the Keeper of Forbidden Lore. Since then designers aiming for novelty have had two choices: they could offer something very different from the traditional RPG format, or they could work within that framework but offer something different, either by providing an interestingly different take on a previously-described mode of traditional RPG play or by offering a new mode of traditional RPG play entirely.Ĭall of Cthulhu falls squarely into the latter category as the first traditional RPG designed to focus on an investigative mode of play. Dungeons & Dragons captured people’s imagination back in the day partly by being the first commercial game to outline the traditional RPG format, and partly by offering an evocative and easily understood mode of play within that context revolving around exploring dungeons and wildernesses, battling monsters, and amassing wealth and power. That core experience is the reason Call of Cthulhu became the perennial favourite that it has been since its release. That’s appropriate enough the mission statement for 7th Edition was to brush some of the cobwebs off the game rather than transforming it entirely, and where the core Call of Cthulhu game experience is distinctively and clearly communicated by the existing text there’s little driving need to rewrite it. ![]() These include Dead Light, and Cold Harvest, given away by the Krank regime to tide us over, Alone Against the Flames which was provided free to everyone, not just backers, but which seems to be a natural companion to the (also free) quickstart rules, and Doors to Darkness, given to us by Moon Design to compensate for the cancellation of random tat.Īlso known as the Keeper’s Rulebook, this is a complete-in-one-book core reference, a central tome contains more or less all the necessary information that the main Call of Cthulhu rulebook has included over the years, including great swathes of text simply recycled from old versions of the game. ![]() Lastly, I will cover the extra unexpected bits which weren’t promised to us during the main campaign but we received anyway. Next, I will cover minor accessories and stretch goals, including items cancelled or only provided as PDFs, most of which are random bits of ephemera which don’t represent especially significant additions to the product range. These are all significant products in their own right which have filled out the 7th Edition product line as distributed to game stores as well as Kickstarter backers. Next up, I will cover major supplements and accessories that were part of the actual Kickstarter itself – Cthulhu Through the Ages, Pulp Cthulhu, the card decks, the Nameless Horrors adventure collection, and the Field Guide. These seem to be offered as central aspects of the game line. OK, this is a complex enough deal here that I think I had best order the reviews of individual items carefully.įirst off, I am going to review the core game books, and the Keeper screen and the stuff that came as part of that package, and the quickstart rules. Now, at last, we can turn to actually looking at the delivered goods. In part 1 of this article (which contains the usual note on methodology which you should read to understand where I’m coming from), I recounted the hideous gestation period of this project, which saw the old Krank regime at Chaosium departing in favour of new blood from Moon Design Publications, with elder gods Greg Stafford and Sandy Petersen supervising things. This article was previously published on Ferretbrain due to the imminent closure of that site, I’m moving it over here so that it can remain available. ![]()
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