Cthulhu and his Pool
I've been thinking about running another game of Call of Cthulhu. I'm still looking for a system that I'm happy with for the game though and I thought I'd give Pool a go (specifically Anti-Pool). It seems an ok fit; though there are problems I'll get to in a bit. It's a narrative tale where the player characters are human. As long as the players were willing to play within more realistic constraints then I think a good tale would come out of it. I was thinking about how to play insanities though. Possibly having negative skills (Agoraphobia: -1) that if a player was describing an action involving that they'd have to take a dice from their pool (before they roll it) as a cost to take that action. How you get any form of insanity is an interesting one too. Possibly as the failing point for an action (as you describe the success/failure of any given action) when faced with crazy hoards. If you read a book (that might give you access to spells) it might also come with insanity.
If I can get some people together that are interested in playing this I might see if I can take it anywhere.
4 comments:
Pool works fine for WHITE-WOLF, but I don't think it would for CoC. Tried BRP?
I have played the BRP version (I've never played the D20 version actually). I have a few problems with the way it works, combat doesn't feel quite right. Not lethal enough or their certainly feels that there is something missing from it. I even considered using the White Wolf D10 system for Cthulhu. Pool though is a system in itself, it is designed for narrative gaming where the players given intent for a larger action rather than smaller ones. So in a more dice focused game you'd roll to see if you hit with the tommy gun you're firing. In Pool you'd say "I keep the deep ones at bay, dropping a few of them while unloading all the rounds of my tommy gun into them, giving the rest of the group time to get away". Succeeding in a roll means you control the action there, failing means the GM decides what happens (maybe your gun jams, maybe the other characters still get away anyway).
Posted on the 12th of January? Surely the time travel shenanigans should be happening within the game, not when you're talking about it? :-)
I've found the BRP system for CoC fine. It's simple and doesn't get in the way much. Plus I'd say it's fairly lethal. Certainly when GMing CoC, my main issue has been keeping Investigators alive, not how to threaten them physically.
I've always felt there was something missing from BRP. I'm not entirely sure what that is. Maybe it is a larger "I want to try more narrative roleplaying". Who knows? I shall try and sort something to give it a go though :D.
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