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About Cthulhu
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About the Call of CthulhuMay the merciful Gods, if indeed there be such, guard those hours when no power of the will, or drug that the cunning of man devises, can keep me from the chasms of sleep. death is merciful, for there is no return therefrom; but with him who has come back out of the nethermost chambers of night, haggard and knowing, peace rests nevermore.
H.P.Lovecraft.
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If you want to be the hero in shining armor this game is not for you, but if you are the person who likes the dark and mystical places in this world, you feel strange during the full moon when the bats fly and you can just hear the lonely cry of a wolf, this is your game. The world in CoC (Call of Cthulhu) is filled with dark arts, cults, madness and despair. You never know if the nice old lady next door is really some horrible monster in discuise, just waiting for the night when the stars are right to come and sacrifice you to some evil god. H.P.Lovecraft the creator of the Cthulhu Mythos lived himself in the strange world, He was born August 20, 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island. His father, Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a travelling salesman, died of paresis (insanity and paralysis caused by syphilis) when Howard was eight, after five years in an asylum; his mother, Sarah Susan Phillips, also died after being committed to the sanitarium (in 1921). For more H.P.L. info visit my lovecraft page. Most of his stories are situated in Arkham MA. The original CoC game is also situated in that time and place, but there are other versions of Coc also, including Cthulhu by Gaslight, played in Victorian England 1890, Cthulhu now, and Delta Green. Both Cthulhu now and Delta Green are located in our time. About Delta Green I don't know much, but it is kind of X-files game with lots of conspiracy, It is the game I am most interested in, but I just need a GM to run it. In CoC there is something Evil in the world just out of the eyes of the normal people. The Characters (Investigators in CoC) run into these strange things and have to deal with them in any way they find best. If you want to get into the atmostphere of the CoC you should read some stories written by the Master himself H.P.Lovecraft.
Some things about the system:
If you know the RuneQuest you also know the CoC system, there are only some small differences.
-No levels:
I have found the level based systems bad for roleplaying for many reasons:
- The hunt for experience spoils the feeling. Many times I have run into players who just wait in the background and then in the end of the battle make the killing blow and take the experience points for the kill. Ok. this can be fixed by the GM.
- Because of the case 1. the GM has to put lots of energy to counting the experience. This happens even without the case 1. the GM has to think if the players idea is good or not etc. and time and energy is wasted.
- What are these levels anyway?... think about it ... too many things are depending on the level (atleast in AD&D)
-There are many skills and you get to use them. When you use your skills succesfully, there is a great chance that you will get better in that skill. (so you get better in those thing you want) You can invent as many new skills you want without any cost. Again if I compare to my AD&D experience, I played my mage to the 14th level and used my skills in that time only few times (less than 10)
-No Super Heroes. Your character will mostlikely stay weak and easy to kill his whole life. You must use your mind, not your body as a shield.... One of the first things to learn about the CoC is that the character who is the first to use guns is usually the first to die.
-Profession doesn't limit your learning possibilities. Your profession is used in character creation to see what skills you can increase, you can increase these skills also later no matter what is your profession. So in the game if your private eye desides to learn archeology, he can do it as easily as his professor friend.
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