Call of Cthulhu, from Chaosium Inc., is one of the most popular table top role-playing games on the market, being either number two or three most popular in the United States and, I've learned, the top selling TTRPG in Japan. The game is based on the cosmic horror stories by H.P. Lovecraft, more particularly the stories set in his Cthulhu mythos, although other stories, including his Dreamland stories can certainly be incorporated as well. Lovecraft was one of the most prolific writer of "weird" fiction in the 1920s and '30s and very influential with horror, fantasy, and science fiction writers; not just because of his stories, but because of his mentoring and friendship with many other such writers. Thus, elements and ideas from his stories can be found in the stories of other writers. For instance, Robert E. Howard who wrote the Conan the Barbarian stories corresponded with Lovecraft and incorporated ideas into various tales including some of the Conan adventures. One of the greatest awards in fantasy writing is called the Lovecraft award in recognition of his influence and importance.
Lovecraft lived most of his life in New England (he was raised and lived in Providence, Rhode Island) with just a short stint where he resided in New York City. True to the advice to "write what you know," the majority of his stories are set in New England or New York, including his fictional towns of Arkham (home of Miskatonic University) and Innsmouth, as well as real locations such as Providence and New York City. A few are further afield: Louisiana, Egypt, the South Pacific, or Antarctica. But aliens and entities from other times, solar systems, or dimensions also figure in his stories.
His characters are not adventurers, fighters or gunmen, but generally scholarly individuals--antiquarians, doctors, professors, and the like--that either come across a mystery or are thrust into a situation and then use their knowledge and wits to expose the danger or otherwise act to stop a dangerous cult or creature; and sometimes victory just means escaping from the danger.
The first edition of the Call of Cthulhu RPG was released in 1981, and I must have purchased it in either 1981 or 1982, because a second edition was released in 1983. The contents of the first edition boxed set are pictured below.
It came with three main rule and setting books. Because the game mechanics were adopted from a fantasy role playing published by Chaosium called RuneQuest, the boxed set included a booklet called Basic Role-Playing with the basic RuneQuest rules--sort of a quick start guide, if you will.
Then there was the main rule book (in the center of the photo, above) which included the character creation rules, a description of skills that a character might have, added combat rules for using firearms (which were obviously not part of the Basic Role-Playing booklet), a cyclopedia of the monsters and creatures of the Cthulhu mythos, the magic and spells that creatures and cultists might use (or possibly learned and turned against them by a player character), some guidance on how to play the game, and a few short scenarios to start the players out with the game.
But most importantly--and what distinguished Call of Cthulhu from other games--where the rules on sanity. One of the characteristics or attributes each character had was a Sanity score. Being exposed to monsters or the horrors of the mythos, reading forbidden spell books, and certain other events could cause characters to lose Sanity points. Losing a point could result in the character fainting or going catatonic, run away screaming, or suffer various psychological maladies. And a total loss of Sanity would result in the character becoming permanently insane.
Finally, true to most of Lovecraft's stories, the first edition was firmly set in the 1920s and so it included A Sourcebook For the 1920's that provided interesting and useful information for the period. For instance, in included a timeline from 1900 through 1930 split into three columns: important events, discoveries or inventions; weird or strange events as collected by Charles Forte; and natural and man-made disasters. There are short biographies of important or significant people from the period; important companies; information on the procedures of arrest and prosecution at that time; rules on bribery; optional rules for character creation to better flesh out the character; maps of typical railroad coaches; a section on transportation and the costs and time for traveling in the period; prices and costs; and a selection of non-mythos beasts and monsters. Maps and floorplans of famous ruins are scattered throughout the booklet. And the covers diagram the layout of a Zeppelin passenger airship.
In addition to the rule books listed above, the first edition boxed set came with a poster sized map of the world showing both major cities and locations of lost cities and significant locations from various Cthulhu mythos stories; a booklet of character sheets (which I never used because I would photocopy them) and a sheet with silhouettes of people and monsters that could be cut out and used as playing aids in the game for when there was combat or you need to know where the players are in relation to each other on a map or floor plan.
My understanding is that the second edition--which used the same artwork and style on the box and in the books--was essentially the same as first edition, other than the Basic Role-Playing booklet was no longer included and its concepts moved to the main rule book, and there were some minor tweaks to the rules. But concurrent with the second edition was a steadily growing library of supplements and adventures, including rules for running the game in the modern day (at that time, the 1980s and '90s).
The game is now in its Seventh Edition, pictured in the photo at the top of page. You will see there the main rule book (the "Keeper Rulebook") which:
- Provides an introduction to role playing games.
- A brief introduction to H.P. Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos.
- Character creations and skills.
- The basic game system mechanics.
- Combat.
- Rules for chases.
- Rules on Sanity, magic, the tomes of eldritch lore, and a spell grimoire.
- An overview of artifacts and alien devices.
- Tips on playing the game.
- A compendium of monsters, beasts and alien gods.
- A couple example scenarios.
- And various appendices including equipment for the 1920s and for the modern era.
You will also see in the photo a couple of adventure books that I've picked up (including one for solo play--sort of a choose your own adventure type scenario) and a supplement entitled Pulp Cthulhu which presents a slightly different set of rules for those who do want a "shoot 'em up" scenario over the more low key, investigative approach in the traditional game.
I've also picked up a packet that includes a game master screen (you can see the artwork on the back of the screen in the photographs) and some other materials. The photo below shows the tables on the GM screen as well as the materials that come with the GM screen including another adventure book as well as several maps and player handouts.
Although the various editions have sometimes significantly changed some of the rules, the 7th Edition seem to have returned to the game's roots and has rules that are similar to the first and second editions.
Looking at the 7th Edition rules, however, each character has 8 characteristics: Strength, Constitution, Size, Dexterity, Appearance, Intelligence, Power, and Education. These are determined by rolling a number of six sided dice (3d6 for most) and multiplying the result by 5. There are also certain derived attributes such as Sanity Points, Hit Points, and Magic points calculated off of the main characteristics. For instance, starting Sanity Point is equal to the character's Power; while Hit Points are equal to the character's (Strength + Size)/5.
Characters will also pick an occupation (which come with certain skills) and otherwise receive certain skills.
To resolve actions, the players must role 1d100 (a percentile die) and roll under a certain target number depending on the difficulty of the action. For instance, if the character were using a chemistry skill with a score of 75, and it was a regular task, the player would need to roll equal to or less than 75 on 1d100 to succeed. If an action was more difficult, the player would have to roll equal to or less than half the skill score or a fifth of the skill score if extremely difficult. If the character is acting in opposition to someone else (e.g., a contest of strength, speed, or some other direct competition) the player (for the player character or PC) and the game master (for the non-player character or NPC) will select an appropriate skill or characteristic and roll to see who succeeds. The character (PC or NPC) with the highest level of success wins.
Combat is essentially a specialized set of the normal task resolution rules but covering all the other factors that can impact combat (initiative, resolving an attack or other action like dodging, armor and damage, etc.). Melee combat is a variant of the action resolution for opposed actions; and ranged weapons, such as firearms, are resolved like a normal skill versus difficulty.
Weirdly, even though the National Firearms Act had not yet been passed, the 1920's list of weapons has a whole section on "illegal weapons" that you would have to buy on the black market although they were actually perfectly legal to buy over the counter or through the mail in the 1920s (assuming no state or local restriction); but there is no similar list or rules for the same or similar items in the modern weapon lists even though they would now be covered by the NFA or be illegal to purchase (e.g. a post 1986 automatic weapon).
That aside, the game can be quite fun. And, of course, not every adventure needs to be Cthulhu mythos related. For instance, one of the more memorable adventures my friends and I played when I was in high school was one where the characters encountered a traditional vampire. And of course the difference between the aggressive, combat oriented play of the standard RPG and the more careful and thoughtful approach needed in this game can be a good change of pace.
The Seventh Edition can be quite complex. however. Fortunately, Chaosium still sells Second Edition boxed sets--a basic set and a deluxe set that includes everything in the basic set plus several supplements.
The video below from Seth Skorkowsky is the introduction and overview to a series of videos going over the 7th Edition rules:
VIDEO: "Call of Cthulhu: Part 1 - Introduction"
Seth Skorkowsky (24 min.)
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