as for Call of cthulhu, r/GordianScott covered that well enough. Several years after this post originally appeared, he also composed our Night’s Black Agents soundtrack. Call of Cthulhu. With the release of Call of Cthulhu (CoC) 7th Edition, there has been increased interest in people wanting to run CoC 7th Ed scenarios. . This problem is best solved by accepting that folly and having fun with it or by fudging the system in the name of the story. Trail of Cthulhu is a game written by Kenneth Hite, and published by Pelgrane Press. My question for you is, you have played both, which did you like more? Every roll thus becomes a comedy of errors. On the other hand, it's got good ideas for reinterpreting Mythos entities, the Sanity/Stability split makes a lot of sense, players have Drives to propel them into action despite fear, and so on. But I think ToC probably has a slightly less mortality rate. Also without additional books (from other game lines) you are more or less limited to the 1920's era of play. At its best the players will feel tension and fear as their characters barely survive or go insane. Press J to jump to the feed. /r/rpg is for meaningful discussions, questions, and help related to tabletop/pen & paper role-playing games(TTRPGs). I also took the idea of having a basic clue and an advanced clue (which you'd get by spending points in ToC). /r/rpg is for meaningful discussions, questions, and help related to tabletop/pen & paper role-playing games(TTRPGs). Trail of Cthulhu is more of a new school type of game. Which is why I like to start the game with a different system (which is where d20 CoC was handy), and as time passes, more and more weird stuff happens until, BAM Mythos entity. Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition vs Trail of Cthulhu I've run both Call of Cthulhu (CoC) and Trail of Cthulhu (ToC). And that is often posed. Or rolls a Library Use check ... and fails. I kinda liked d20 CoC but I'm weird. Since the m... Once upon a time, I used to run games at DunDraCon. CoC is a more "feature rich" system, but Gumshoe (system for ToC) is wonderfully suited for a particular type of game - investigative scenarios. Is there an edition of Trail you would recommend or a source book you'd recommend? I'm probably going to try out trail first since that's what people have been suggesting however I'll probably end up buying CoC as well. Honestly, CoC probably captures Lovecraft's nihilistic spirit a little better, but ToC is a better game. That's a good way to summarize the differences. starting out with a cthulhu game, i think Trail of cthulhu is easier to learn, in addition it uses the gumshoe system which several other games have been released for, so if you know that, you know a few more. Trail of Cthulhu is more of a new school type of game. This is the 3rd Annual Dead of Winter Horror Invitational. At its worst the game can come to a screeching halt because no one can spot that one clue or it can become a comedy of errors as characters keep on blowing their fingers off with their pistols. Now, there may be a legitimate question posed over 'its Cthulhu role playing, why get attached to a character . New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Call of Cthulhu has been around for ages and has fairly well thought out mechanics, and one of the best (if not THE best) percentile system out there. At its worst players will go from scene to scene getting clues with little to no investment. In Call of Cthulhu (CoC) 7th Edition, combat was changed to be more of an exchange of blows vs a single swing with a weapon. Your investigators will be more likely to survive. If someone isn't a terrible gm, Call is a much better system. I've been playing & Keeping CoC since 1st edition and I'm a ToC Keeper now. I've also heard very good things about tremulus. But if you just want some squicky tentacles to go with your 1920s murderhobo game, CoC is fine. Hope that helps. I ran games at DunDraCon 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. as a side note I've found that the problem with Call of Cthulhu is that you need players who are almost of the scooby-doo gang mentality of refusing to accept any possibility that there is anything supernatural happening until the very end. Musings about the world, life, and everything in it. Cthulhu Confidential - Review of another Great Game. I've heard that is partially common to fake out players. This is kind of a tough question. So when the investigators succeed in their rolls, I give them the full clue, and if they fail I give the basic just so we can move forward. Trail is actually fairly crunchy itself, but it's geared more to the theme of the game. That problem can be solved by the GM and players being especially committed to the atmosphere you want to create. It uses GUMSHOE One-2-One; one GM, one Player. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. CoC uses a system geared for combat in a setting that doesn't put a high emphasis on combat, but that's terrible for investigation. Lovecraft to understand Personally, I love Trail. I know that a lot of people like that sort of thing. They'll fail their investigation rolls and not discover the horror that would kill them. Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed - Tricks of the Trade for Beginner GMs, Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition vs Trail of Cthulhu, Delta Green vs Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition, Conan (Monolith boardgame 2016) - Painted Miniatures. It's impossible to fail investigation, so they will eventually discover the horror that will kill them. I've played both Trail and Call but have never ran a game in either system, so which one would you recommend. If you wan't light, then Cthulhu Dark is the way to go. Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition - What I Like About It (vs older editions), Morgan's FG Con 9 Adventure - The Derelict. I've found GUMSHOE works very well. I had gone to the 1st event several years ago. Trail of Cthulhu Adventure Conversions. James has worked with Cthulhu before (in a manner of speaking), creating the intro to the excellent Yog Radio, and he composed a Trail of Cthulhu soundtrack and effect album. I ran a Stargate SG-1 game where the PCs opened a gate to a planet that was blocked from the DHDs, and ended up in R'yleh. Trail of Cthulhu vs Call of Cthulhu Been off since Call of Cthulhu rulebook was the white soft booklet with the blue Cthulhu on it (a negative of a picture), I still agree that every 'anew reading' of Chaosium's rules convinced me they were so focused on business that they actually never developed themselves into experienced roleplayers. . On the plus side the rules are (mostly) simple and there's a lot of material ready-to-go. All I've really heard is that Trail is slightly less crunchy, and I was hoping someone could elaborate for me. ?' Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Trail of Cthulhu. You may also want to check out Cthulhu Dark, a free system that is even more rules light. I can recommend Shadows Over Filmland as one-shots or, as I ran them, a campaign. things like hero points, action points, general "I spend a point to make something cool happen" don't really exist in it. I'm a big fan of the mythos, but not so much CoC's BRP system. Call of Cthulhu. I'm looking to run a couple of one shot games set in the love craft universe, so I wanna know what RPG system will work well for them. It's like if someone made a GURPS character but almost no skills were above a 7. Probably you enough about the Cthulhu mythos tales of H.P. What exactly is the difference between these two? Unless your players are looking for ultra-pulpy, Robert E. Howard-style "go in, shoot the cultists and dynamite the cave entrance" style games, I have to say Trail of Cthulhu. They were more or less OK with the Innsmouth looking people, but then their god Dagon started waking up. While CoC does have things like the Idea roll, Trail was specifically developed to solve problems with CoC and similar systems about what happens when a player rolls a Spot check ... and fails. ToC has the problem where simulationists run up against the wall of "I spent my points so now I've got much less of a chance to succeed - why can I be really good sometimes but not later?" It's not that it's more crunchy, it's that it has a whole bunch of mechanics that are wasted on the theme. Trail of Cthulhu is great because the system is designed for the process of solving mysteries. http://realityblurs.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=24, http://catchyourhare.com/files/Cthulhu%20Dark.pdf. It's impossible to fail investigation, so they will eventually discover the horror that will kill them. To answer your question I actually do not remember playing either system, I know I DID just don't remember which game goes to which system. And the other way around; here, our Trail of Cthulhu adventures have been converted for Chaosium’s classic Call of Cthulhu. Call of Cthulhu is great because the system is designed to simulate the Cthulhu Mythos. at least the versions I have don't (5.6 and I ain't upgrading any time soon) Also the core book (up until 7th from what I hear) supports 3 eras of play, 1890's, 1932's and modern day. I have run CoC for over twenty years and always had a good time but I am running a campaigns of ToC right now and hate to admit it but it is a better RPG.