09 August 2014

Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Proofs

Folks who backed the Kickstarter for the seventh edition of The Call of Cthulhu RPG can download the proofs of the two main books now.  (The proofs are free for backers, not $499.95!  You need to provide a code to reduce the price to $0.)

After a quick skim, I think that the PDFs look quite attractive. I'm not a fan of all of the art pieces (unsurprisingly, they range in quality), but the overall appearance of both books is very impressive. 7e is definitely the most attractive version of CoC yet produced by Chaosium.

Also, it's worth noting that the Keeper's book includes all of the rules, so CoC remains a 'one book' RPG.  The Investigator Handbook includes only the information relevant to players.  I rather like that this option is available, as it keeps all the important Mythos 'secrets' exclusively in the hands of Keepers (at least in theory).

Right now, I find the shift to % abilities the most distracting change in 7th edition.  And I remain uncertain about many of the other changes in this edition.  However, I'm going to try to keep an open mind about 7e, and will be giving it a shot in September to see what I think of it in practice.

2 comments:

  1. Attractive book aside (not that previous ones were horrible looking)... I'm not yet seeing any reason for buying into 7e... and a seeing a few not to. IMO buying the thing is telling Chaosium I like/want those changes... and largely I do not.

    Still... if they're options I can easily ignore AND there are other good reasons to proceed... I'd be willing.

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    Replies
    1. My impression is that most of the significant changes are either optional (e.g., 'spending' luck) or easily ignored (e.g., the 'push' mechanic).

      Conversion between 7e and earlier editions also looks straightforward.

      I would have preferred for *all* of the new mechanics to be optional, and for 7e to have focused simply on 'cleaning up' and clarifying the 6e rules. But, as I said in my post, I'm willing to give 7e RAW a shot.

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I'm a Canadian political philosopher who lives primarily in Toronto but teaches in Milwaukee (sometimes in person, sometimes online).