Call of Cthulhu

„That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons, even death may die.”

 

Call of Cthulhu (or short: Cthulhu) is a roleplaying game based on the horror stories of Howard Philips Lovecraft (1890-1937). Lovecraft was one of the cornerstones of American horror literature, and especially his creation of the Cthulhu-mythos which was taken up by his friends and other authors and built into their own stories has influenced horror literature to this day. The mythos is all about the “Great Old Ones”, titanic and mostly evil beings who came from the stars and possess powers beyond human comprehension. Named after the gargantuan Cthulhu who is said to lie in a death-like slumber for aeons inside the sunken city R’lyeh deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. However, the fictitious book “Necronomicon” announces his awakening with the above mentioned quote, which would wipe all of humanity from the face of the earth. Besides Cthulhu there is a whole pantheon of monstrous and grotesque creatures, beings and gods within the world of the mythos, and more or less all of them are working towards either controlling all of humanity or are machinating their demise. To this end they utilize willing and power-hungry, but also naïve and innocent or just plain careless humans which they enthrall and use as pawns in their game. On the other hand there might be people that stumble upon the existence and machinations of these beings, recognize the magnitude of this threat and decide to act against it. These are the player characters in a Cthulhu RPG.

 

About the Rulebooks:

In 1981 Chaosium inc. published the first “Call of Cthulhu” roleplaying game, and many things have happened since then. The current version is the 7th edition from 2014. As a player, all you need is the player’s handbook which contains rules to create characters, give them background and explain the possible skills. If you are planning on enjoying Cthulhu as a player only I recommend that you don’t read any of the other books. Although all of the rulebooks, adventure modules and sourcebooks are nicely formatted and feature photographs and pictures that are quite immersive, but the more you read about the background material the less you may enjoy the horror itself during play.

 

About the Game Background:

Most sourcebooks and adventure modules play in our world – enriched by elements of the mythos – during the time period of about 1920 – 1937, which is exactly the time when Lovecraft wrote his contemporary stories. Besides the main time period there have been additional settings published like medieval (Dark Times, 1.000 AD), Victorian era of about 1890 (Cthulhu by Gaslight) and the current time (Cthulhu Now). These three additional scenarios are provided with a good number of sourcebooks and adventure modules, while the 1920s has a large supply of material. There are a number or other, smaller supplements for other time periods like Roman Empire or World War II, but those are not as popular as the others. Besides the official scenarios an inventive game master can also make up their own setting if they are willing to invest time in research of the time and place to make the game world believable.

Probably the most interesting aspect of the 1920s setting is that it’s different from today in many ways. The 1920s had a different lifestyle, for some a fresh start, for some a bitter end (like through inflation and stock crash). It was a decade of exploration with still a vast number of places on the earth unexplored and undiscovered (like the grave of Tut-Ankh-Amun), it was a time of organized crime rising to power during the prohibition in the US and of economic growth and invention (mass production of cars, radio, telephones etc.). Technology was available, but not yet reliable and stable.

 

About the Player Characters:

Among the “classic” player characters in a Cthulhu-RPG are police detectives, private investigators, scholars, librarians, explorers and doctors. All of these have in common that they are curious by nature and are likely to be researching things that might get them into situations where they could encounter hints of the mythos. The cast of most Cthulhu-stories are from this type of profession. Of course, in a roleplaying game there is a whole lot more to choose from, and according to the time period where the adventure takes place this may also vary greatly. Gender is also a thing here, as this setting is trying to mimic the real history, and, for example, in medieval times the most independent women were nuns in a monastery. Cthulhu draws part of its style and immersion from as much historical accuracy as possible because the closer the setting gets to reality the more frightening the horror becomes.

 

About the Rules:

At first glance the Cthulhu character sheet may look confusing and complicated, but if you look into it a bit it all becomes quite clear and simple. There are physical and mental attributes that are rolled once during character creation and don’t change significantly afterwards. There are a few characteristics that are derived from the attributes, but these are also quite static.

The one exception are the three main stats hit points, magic points and sanity points. They not only exist as a number, but also as a grid where the max and current amount can be kept track of. Hit points define the physical health of a character and decrease when he’s injured. Since hit points are generally quite low and can’t be upgraded, but weapons and creatures deal a significant amount of damage, this makes Cthulhu a quite lethal system if characters act too reckless. Magic points are also rare, and too much tampering with magic can also have other side effects. The most important stat is sanity which is tested whenever a character comes in contact with a part of the mythos. If this check fails, sanity will decrease which can cause mental illness, phobias, paranoid delusions and finally madness. This stat will not regenerate automatically.

In addition there are a number of skills with percentage values that can be added during character creation and these can actually be improved by successfully using the skill. Some skills already have a good chance of success while others need to be improved to be anywhere near efficient.

This also means that all relevant dice checks are done using percentile dice, yielding results between 1 and 100. If the roll total is below the chance of success for a certain skill it was successfully used. Other dice (d3, d4, d6, d8) are rarely used, mainly for weapons damage in combat.

So, the rules are quite simple and easy to learn which in turn serves the most important thing in a game of Cthulhu: the atmosphere.

 

About the Game Master:

While Cthulhu has simple rules and the character creation can be quite fast and streamlined which makes it a good choice for novice players (IF they are interested in horror, that is), the game has very high requirements for the game master. Managing the rules is the easiest part of this. Since Cthulhu draws much of its flair from historical pseudo-accuracy it seems important to do proper research about a location, an event or historical objects that you want to integrate into an adventure. For the commercially available adventure modules and the sourcebooks the publisher has done a whole lot of this work for the GM, delivering in descriptions, photographs, drawings, maps and other details that can be used to set the scene or depict some of the events going on. Also, handouts to the players are an important part of this, as hearing about an ancient parchment is different than actually holding it in your own hand.

Which brings us to the final and most crucial part: The GM needs to be able to create a certain mood among the group where bits and pieces of horror can be trickled in until the truth is revealed. If the group keeps talking the newest gossip or rolls on the floor laughing the whole time something has gone completely wrong. A good Cthulhu-GM must be able to create a goosebump-atmosphere with few words or sentences and must be able to keep it up during the whole adventure. It is an open secret that the choice of suitable locations and decorations can help set the mood, but it is entirely up to the GM if they make or break the game.

 

Conclusion:

I love the Cthulhu stories by H.P. Lovecraft and other authors and the nightmarish atmosphere of a great Cthulhu adventure is unparalleled. Call of Cthulhu lets you dive deep into the innate fears of mankind and promises many hours of excitement for fans of cultivated horror stories.

Overview: Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game

Genre: Horror

Based on: the Cthulhu-mythos from the literary works of H.P. Lovecraft.

Setting: our world, in different time periods, mostly 1920s.

Publisher: Chaosium inc.

Date of Publishing: 1981 (1st Ed.), up to 2014 (7th Ed.)

Availability: Currently the 7th edition is readily available. Older material may be available in antiquarian book stores.

Additional Products: First of all, there are the original novels by H.P. Lovecraft and other authors who contributed to the mythos. There are board games and computer/video games. There have been adaptations of the setting into other roleplaying games (like d20).

Since the source material is quite old and widespread there are numerous references in lots of other media products like movies, TV-shows, novels, comics and games, that are not labeled as “Cthulhu”, but clearly reference it or are inspired by the mythos. Notable examples include several novels and comics in the Star Wars franchise (like “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye”), the old gods in “World of Warcraft”, or the video game “Eternal Darkness – Sanity’s Requiem” which is essentially an unlicensed Cthulhu game with a somewhat reduced pantheon that very much plays on the sanity mechanic.