RPG of the Week

Okay, it's finally out. Was it worth the wait? In a word, yes. Let's break this down section-by-section, starting with character creation.

Before we start, however, let me come clean about my prejudices: I love Lovecraft's work. Love it. In fact, I'm something of a purist. Yet I've never enjoyed playing Call of Cthulhu. Why? It's too hopeless and nilistic. Nothing you do matters. I'll talk about this more later.

Okay, character generation. There are still levels. But there aren't really classes... it's highly customizable. After determining attributes in the usual d20 way, you choose whether your character is "offensive" or "defensive". "Offensive" characters have a better base attack bonus and worse saving throws, while "defensive" characters have better saves and a worse attack bonus. Regardless, you get to choose which save bonuses go with each save, for even more customization.

After that, you pick a profession, which determines your "core skills", the ones cheapest to buy, though you get to choose three core skills of your own, or you can (with GM permission) make up a profession. Every d20 Call of Cthulhu Investigator has a d6 for hit dice (modern people aren't exactly hardened adventurers), and through the wonders of modern education everyone gets (8 + Int bonus)x4 skill points. It's d20, all right, but it ain't D&D.

There's also an interesting optional variant at the end of the character creation section for a more pulp-style game, giving the PCs a level-based Defensive Bonus to Armor Class that only PCs get, to simulate the way pulp heroes shrug off danger.

Then there is a section on skills. Standard D20 fare, updated for the modern day. Most notable is the Cthulhu Mythos skill -- unlike other skills, your level does not limit the number of ranks in Cthulhu Mythos, though you can never put points in the skill, earning ranks only through studying blasphemous tomes. Like in the original Chaosium version of the game, the more Cthulhu Mythos you have, the lower your maximum sanity, though since the scale is different (the original game uses a percentile scale for everything), d20 Cthulhu strikes me as less harsh than the original game.

Then, like all D20 games, there are Feats. Anyone who's played D&D3E or the new d20 Star Wars will find nothing new here, though everything has a nice modern-day flavor, such as the "Drive-By Attack" Feat. In the back of this section is a set of Feats associated with an optional psychic powers system. This is an excellent and well-balanced system -- using psychic powers costs Sanity, and it's very low-powered compared to anything from D&D or Star Wars, right in keeping with the general helplessness of humanity in Lovecraft's mythos. (It would also make an interesting low-power alternate "spell system" for a magic-low D&D campaign, but more on that later.)

Then there is the Sanity section. Sanity is relatively unchanged from the original game, showing that the authors knew when to leave a good thing alone, though d20 Call of Cthulhu seems a little less harsh on the matter of Sanity than the original game. It's a percentile score based on your Wisdom, and seeing the horrible creatures of the Mythos (and other kinds of shocks) calls for a Sanity Check. Roll percentile dice, and if you get over your Sanity, you fail, which reduces your Sanity. Otherwise you succeed, which might still cost Sanity, but not as much. Lose too much Sanity at once, and you may go insane. The section is lovingly detailed, with up-to-the-minute information about insanity culled from the latest in psychological theory. I was very impressed.

Combat is the same as D&D 3E, with the addition of firearm rules. The only thing I disliked about the combat section was the way automatic fire was handled. In most third-party d20 products with modern weapons (notably Dragonstar and Spycraft), a burst or supressive fire is handled by a single die roll. Wizards of the Coast has you roll for every single bullet, at a penalty. Even GURPS eventually realized this was a bad idea. This isn't so bad for Call of Cthulhu, where the PCs shouldn't have automatic weapons anyway, but it bodes ill for d20 Modern when it comes out.

There's an excellent equipment section, putting modern equipment in d20 terms, tho it's a little heavy on the firearms for my taste.

Then there is the Magic section, which is very much in line with the original game. Spells can only be learned from tomes, and cost Sanity, as well as temporary ability score points, to use. There is a detailed system for examining ancient tomes, for determining what you learn, how long it takes, and what the cost to the character's Sanity is. I particularly like the "Strange Events" part of the process, where if you fail to comprehend the tome, something odd happens, like disturbing dreams or hallucinations where the tome seems to writhe and move. Several example tomes are given, including the dread Necronomicon. There is also a section on magical artifacts, discovering the function of which requires a process not unlike examining a tome, with attendant Sanity risks.

Then there is a creature section. Want d20 stats for a Byakhee? Here they are. All the old favorites are covered. The section is thin but it's got a pretty good cross-section of the classic Lovecraftian monsters, including my personal favorite, the shoggoth.

In the next section the book really begins to shine. It's about the Cthulhu Mythos, and as a Lovecraft purist, I can only approve. It lays out, in no uncertain terms, the hopeless and nilistic universe Lovecraft paints. And then it examines why humans might strive against it anyway, a section which I much appreciated seeing, considering my feelings about the original game. The arguments were only so convincing, but it gave me a better handle on why the game might be fun to play. Also, the section goes into "heretical" views -- essentially alternative views that have been held by some non-Lovecraft authors when writing about the Mythos, which can serve as beliefs for characters or alternative cosmologies for GMs who wish to blunt the horror a bit. The excellent section on designing cults, tomes, artifacts, and strange places that round out this section is an excellent lead-in to the next section, a well-written collection of GM advice for running Call of Cthulhu.

The last few sections are on setting, giving a good overview of potential eras to play in, from 1910 to the modern day, and a couple of solid introductary adventures.

But the Appendix is the best part, in my opinion. It's about mixing the Cthulhu Mythos with D&D, something which has precedent, as the Conan stories have some connections to the Mythos. The different magic systems and spells are examined, Sanity costs for monsters from the Monster Manual are given, and there are even a set of less-harsh Sanity rules for the "hardened adventurer". Most notable is the writeup of the Cthuloid gods in Deities and Demigods format.

Plus there's a good quick n' dirty conversion system between the original game and d20 in the very back of the book.

Overall, if you want to go with straight Lovecraftian horror, you're probably better off with the original system, though running "straight d20 Cthulhu", while less harsh than the original game, still sets the Investigators up as being rather fragile. Where the game shines, in my opinion, is in its compatibility with other d20 products, allowing you to put some Cthulhu in your D&D, or your Spycraft, or in Dragonstar. Certainly importing the Sanity rules to a D&D game could make things interesting (might work well for Planescape), and I like the idea of being able to throw an aboleth at a group of Investigators.