I have a certain amount of interest in running a short adventure or two in a forum setting using the d20 Call of Cthulhu rules. If I can find a small group of good writers (RPG experience is not necessarily required) interested in trying out this style of communal storytelling in a modern horror setting... well, we'll see!
This isn't Dungeons & Dragons, so if you want to play an epic hero battling evil monsters, this game is not for you. People wanting to play ordinary folks dying horribly at the hands -- er, tentacles -- of amoral monsters are more along the lines of what I'm looking for here. The players in my ongoing Dungeons & Dragons campaign can attest to this.
At this point I'm just sending out feelers, nothing is definite. Post if you're genuinely interested.
Posted by Human (Member # 2985) on :
Oh, I'm interested. Just as long as...well, I showed interest in the Murphy's Wager game, and kinda got overrun by the more experienced players. But I'm interested!
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
I'm interested... I have a character I created for the Lovecraft Country MUSH at skotos.net, that might fit... Is this 1930s, or contemporary Cthulhu?
-Bok
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Or ancient Babylonian Cthulu?
Posted by no. 6 (Member # 7753) on :
quote: At this point I'm just sending out feelers
What kind of feelers? Tenticles? Does this mean that the time of humans is past?
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
quote:Originally posted by no. 6:
quote: At this point I'm just sending out feelers
What kind of feelers? Tenticles? Does this mean that the time of humans is past?
You make it sound like the "time of humans" was relevant to anything important at all. Surely you know better?
-Bok
Posted by no. 6 (Member # 7753) on :
It isn't?
*goes insane*
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
*dies, then goes insane*
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Ia! Ia! Cthulhu f'tagn!
-Bok
Posted by no. 6 (Member # 7753) on :
Is there an SRD for that, Twink?
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
This will almost certainly be contemporary Cthulhu. There's no SRD, but I have the book (both hard copy and PDF format). I'll be able to help people get their heads around the rules.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I'd be more likely to play old-school d100 Cthulhu, which I still think is one of the best game systems ever written. Can I talk you out of d20?
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
Only if you can tell me where to find the sourcebook. Last weekend was the first time I'd ever seen a physical copy of any Cthulhu RPG material, and the only book in evidence was the d20 sourcebook. Naturally I bought it.
As d20 goes, I actually don't mind it. But if we're switching systems, I've got this great homebrew system a friend of mine designed... Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I'd be willing to mail you my copy. But I'm pretty sure you can still find old-school Chaosium stuff in stores.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
I believe this is what you are looking for, twinky:
Thanks, Bok. I'll look into it.
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Cthulhu for president (this campaign really exists, did you know?)
I'd be interested...
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
So let's say I get the Chaosium sourcebook. That means I have no way to make the rules available to the players, leaving anyone who doesn't have his or her own copy of Chaosium's book out in the cold. I figure that since in either case I won't be using a ruleset that is freely available, I have a certain obligation to provide access to the rules I'm using (which I can do with the d20 ruleset as I have a PDF version of the book as well as my hard copy).
I'll see if I can't get the Chaosium sourcebook anyway, because I'd like to have it, but for the sake of people who don't have it (that is to say, most people), I lean toward sticking with d20.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Man, this is why d20 is taking over the game industry.
The thing is, if I ever get another nibble on my game system -- which I still say is the best one ever written -- no one will buy it unless I put it on the web for free. Which will mean no one will buy it. Maybe I can get a movie made first. Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
I agree with your sentiment -- I absolutely love my friend's homebrew system, and he has even given me permission to use it to run games of my own. I'm considering adapting it to my campaign setting (which would take very little effort; the core rules are very clean), but if I use it, I need to keep it "safe," so to speak, since like you I know that he'd ultimately like to see it published.
The trouble is, that's more or less how things stand. And I'm not even talking about legitimate distribution here, my [added: PDF] copy of the d20 CoC rulebook is by no means legitimate unless you consider that I own a physical copy. If I could get my hands on an illegitimate [added: data] version of the Chaosium book, I could make the important parts available privately to players in the game (e.g. through a password-protected FTP server) and that would work fine.
BtL and I were lamenting this just last weekend, actually. But it wouldn't be fair of me to offer to run a game and then ask all of my players to go and buy the book. What I could do is say "this is the ruleset I wish to use; if you don't have it, tough." I don't like doing that, though, because it excludes people who haven't done this before.
[ September 28, 2005, 04:57 PM: Message edited by: twinky ]
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Tom -- this is why you put it on the web for free, then provide additional value in other ways which cost money.
And since you've decided nobody's going to buy it, why not just put it on the web now ?
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
I think the thing to do is to put the core rules on the Web for free, but leave out classes, setting-specific skills, equipment, and so on. That way if the rules are good any enterprising soul (such as myself) can graft on their own setting-specific stuff.
Of course, if you can't stand to see your beloved ruleset bastardized by amateur tinkerers, this might not be the best plan.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
quote:Of course, if you can't stand to see your beloved ruleset bastardized by amateur tinkerers, this might not be the best plan.
The only way you can stop this is by not letting anyone see the ruleset without going through a strict vetting process Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
And from what Tom's said, he may well be doing exactly that! Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
No wonder there isn't a profit in it at this point... Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
My local game store will tell me whether they can get the Chaosium sourcebook in a day or two. Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
Let me know when you start running an archive, I'd like to read it. Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote: I think the thing to do is to put the core rules on the Web for free, but leave out classes, setting-specific skills, equipment, and so on.
If your FLGS can't get you the Chaosium version of Call of Cthulhu, they have no business calling themselves a game store. It's one of the most famous and celebrated games ever written, and easily in the top ten for all sales figures (if you take D&D and its various expansions as one unit; taken separately, each D&D book probably dominates that list.)
My own Hall of Fame list, in case you're interested:
1) Call of Cthulhu, by Chaosium 2) Star Wars, by West End Games 3) Dungeons & Dragons, by TSR/Wizards of the Coast 4) Mage: The Ascension, by White Wolf 5) GURPS, by Steve Jackson Games 6) Mind's Eye Theatre (LARP), by White Wolf 7) Werewolf: The Apocalypse, by White Wolf 8) Middle-Earth Role Playing, by Iron Crown Enterprises 9) Shadowrun, by FASA 10) Paranoia, by WEG/Mongoose
Nods go to Puppetland and Orcworld, both of which aren't particularly playable but are still brilliant concepts. And while I haven't played it, Kenzer & Company's Aces & Eights looks like a darned good gunslinger game, which might well knock Deadlands out of contention. I don't put Vampire: The Masquerade on the list because a) the Masquerade itself was always kind of stupid; both tabletop games from White Wolf that made the list had a better rationale for that "we live in the shadows" schtick and b) Mind's Eye Theatre did the vampire rules BETTER and more enjoyably, even with the whole Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic. Although the bodices probably bias those results.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
Perhaps it isn't widely distributed outside the U.S.? I can tell you, now that I've seen what the book's cover looks like, that I have never seen it before in my life. The number of game stores I've been in is not insignificant.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Wow. It's been a long time since I've seen anybody mention I.C.E.. I have soooo many MERP books from high school. I loved them, but didn't get a chance to play it that much.
I noticed that you didn't put Rolemaster in that list. I'm not surprised. Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
I always liked Toon, by SJG...
-Bok
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
This still does not resolve the problem of making the rules available to new players. One of the reasons I thought about running short adventures was that it might entice people who haven't done this before to get involved. That sort of conflicts with my desire to run Cthulhu, though. Posted by Jaiden (Member # 2099) on :
Hmmm... Twinky, do you want me to check the local gaming store here if they have a copy?
I know they run campaigns for it. I once attempted to play but got scared of my fellow gamers.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
I didn't see this post, Jaiden! I'd really appreciate it if you could do that, because not only does my local game store not have it, none of their distributors do either. I suspect that your big store might be a distributor for my little store, but nonetheless...
Just so you know what not to get: The book I'm looking for is notthis one. That's the one I've already got.
In any case, I intend to forge ahead with d20 for now. I'm still interested in acquiring the Chaosium book, and if Jaiden's store doesn't have it I'll order it directly from Chaosium. It's a shame that it's softcover, but I'll live.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
Now that this thread has been bumped I can ask you something--How on earth do you pronounce 'Cthulhu'?
Posted by Jaiden (Member # 2099) on :
As I'm bad at writting out how to pronounce things... Ted/Pod says: "k uh th oo loo... if you really want to be irritating about it it should be an ejective "k" which means there's no vowel after it so it'd be kthooloo. However, kuhthooloo should be close enough for government work"
Twink- I'll check it out tomorrow Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Straight from Lovecraft himself (or rather, his letters):
quote:The actual sound - as nearly as human organs could imitate it or human letters record it - may be taken as something like Khlul'-hloo, with the first syllable pronounced gutturally and very thickly."
"The best approximation one can make is to grunt, bark, or cough the imperfectly formed syllables Cluh-Luh with the tip of the tongue firmly affixed to the roof of the mouth. That is, if one is a human being. Directions for other entities are naturally different."
Honestly, though, almost everyone pronounces it Kuh-thoo-loo.
-Bok
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
Hey, Jaiden, since I didn't hear anything from you, I assume you couldn't find it.
Anyway, for my first simple adventure I'm sticking with d20. I sent email to the people who expressed interest earlier this week, so the ball's rolling now. I plan to set up the forum next week and getting the game started before the end of this month.
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The players in my ongoing Dungeons & Dragons campaign can attest to this. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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