Rating: 
Summary: A Fine Adaptation
Review: Even though this product is a year old, and much reviewed, I felt obligated to contribute. The reasoning: I'm a 20 year long fan of the original CoC game - and HPL.This product is expertly produced and well written. The thematic approach taken is well illustrated on the credits page: Based upon Call of Cthulhu by Sandy Petersen and Lynn Willis, Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. With *inspired* being the key phrase. The Chaosium version is about roleplaying IN the worlds of HP Lovecraft - with that focus on an identical setting and parallel plot situations. The D20 CoC game isn't meant to replicate either the fiction or the Chaosium classic. Just like D+D 3E wasn't meant to replicate TSR AD+D (thank God(s). In addition to a stand alone game, it is clear that part of the intent of this book was to "officiate" the use of Lovecraft's mythos in D+D. Nearly 20 years after their banishment from Deities and Demigods, the Elder horrors can return to haunt the lands of Elves and Hobb- er... Halflings. Despite my serious worries over a level based CoC game - I will blasphem and proclaim that *system* wise - this game is superior to the original CoC. The D20 system is far more dynamic and flexible. Target numbers are simply the best way for characters and the GM to have more control/impact over the game environment. The dicing becomes a transparent medium with which to create drama in which the characters are the stars (lucky or otherwise). Most players I currently deal with find the idea of percentile scores and fixed, chart based target numbers very restricting. It makes character individualities and base traits less important. And I see no reason to enforce that through use of a dated - though very efficient - system. The provided flavor text constantly emphasizes Lovecraft's influence (he is quoted on nearly all the pages) and the frailty of the characters compared to fantasy/action counterparts. And that the game shouldn't be about duking it out with monsters. A noble attempt to immediately nix delusions of slugging it out with a shoggoth. But there is no way getting around an investigator with 75 hit points being able to survive multiple shotgun blasts unless they are very unlucky. One freak indigent with a baseball bat should be a real threat. The feats aren't particularly disruptive - many are non combative or only add a slight "edge". But neither are they necessary. They can easily be overlooked or adjusted as play style dictates. Psychic feats seem out of place at first, but I've had several players ask about having some slight mental or mediumistic power.
Level oriented advancement won't be a problem beyond the potential for very hit point heavy characters. This is easily remedied by simply using a d3 instead of d6 for hit point advancement - and of course in the best HPL based games - having most of the situations get worse through violence. One thing that strikes me as a bit confusing is that there is no substantial or logical adjustment to the sanity rules. With all the emphasis of a D20 in the D20 system, the sanity loss remains exactly the same - percentile based. I still think this is the best simulation of eroding sanity in any RPG, so I'm not complaining - but it seems an odd thing to leave inorganic to the D20 system in the context of changing just about everything else. I also have personal interpretive issues with the use of skills to "first aid" a character going insane (or even characters slipping to -10 sanity instead of just losing the plot at 0). The section pertaining to insanity classification and treatments is well researched and thoroughly explained. The handling of spells and tomes is fairly true to form. There is a bit more "D+Dism" here than elsewhere in the book, but that isn't something a good group/GM can't overcome. If you wish to make the forbidden books harsher to read and their associated magic/lore less easy to use - then go for it. Monte Cook won't have you arrested for changing his game.
The monsters are well presented, with some of the text coming right out of the original RPG. There are a few key creatures missing, which I can't imagine couldn't have been made room for. The "Mummy" template section particularly interesting - and have enjoyed some of the "variant" interpretations of the various "False Gods". Most people who shout down the D20 versions of various games have never played them, or even synthesized the rules. Many somehow reconcile a stand against corporate superstructure by turning up their noses at D20 while wolfing down as many fast food meals as their friends are willing to buy for them during their weekly gaming forays. CoC D20 core rules are no exception. If reliance on a percentile system to create a successful horror scenario is necessary - then you should probably look into a different hobby. Playing in the tradition of Lovecraft's horror is about setting and atmosphere. Not which dice you roll. However most players I know have come to prefer dynamic, target based systems over static percentile based games. I see no issue with using a 'different' system if that makes them happy and allows you all to enjoy the story. The fact that I have used AD+D 1st ed as dark fantasy/Lovecraft is testament to the mutability of Cthulhu and the mythos. After reading the rules and supplementary text I am confident that any alterations won't affect the ability of a good GM and players to enjoy Lovecraft's vision. Bad GMs and players will always pervert a game's intent and atmosphere with a predisposition towards superpowers and mega-damage. Does this game - through use of its level/feat/class based groundwork *promote* sessions in which Investigators attack cultist hide-outs A-Team style? No - bad players and worse Gamemasters promote that. Rules are static suggestions drawn from a page in a book.
Rating:
Summary: Call of Cthulhu D2002
Review: Even though this product is a year old, and much reviewed, I felt obligated to contribute. The reasoning: I'm a 20 year long fan of the original CoC game - and HPL. This product is expertly produced and well written. The thematic approach taken is well illustrated on the credits page: Based upon Call of Cthulhu by Sandy Petersen and Lynn Willis, Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. With *inspired* being the key phrase. The Chaosium version is about roleplaying IN the worlds of HP Lovecraft - with that focus on an identical setting and parallel plot situations. The D20 CoC game isn't meant to replicate either the fiction or the Chaosium classic. Just like D+D 3E wasn't meant to replicate TSR AD+D (thank God(s). In addition to a stand alone game, it is clear that part of the intent of this book was to "officiate" the use of Lovecraft's mythos in D+D. Nearly 20 years after their banishment from Deities and Demigods, the Elder horrors can return to haunt the lands of Elves and Hobb- er... Halflings. Despite my serious worries over a level based CoC game - I will blasphem and proclaim that *system* wise - this game is superior to the original CoC. The D20 system is far more dynamic and flexible. Target numbers are simply the best way for characters and the GM to have more control/impact over the game environment. The dicing becomes a transparent medium with which to create drama in which the characters are the stars (lucky or otherwise). Most players I currently deal with find the idea of percentile scores and fixed, chart based target numbers very restricting. It makes character individualities and base traits less important. And I see no reason to enforce that through use of a dated - though very efficient - system. The provided flavor text constantly emphasizes Lovecraft's influence (he is quoted on nearly all the pages) and the frailty of the characters compared to fantasy/action counterparts. And that the game shouldn't be about duking it out with monsters. A noble attempt to immediately nix delusions of slugging it out with a shoggoth. But there is no way getting around an investigator with 75 hit points being able to survive multiple shotgun blasts unless they are very unlucky. One freak indigent with a baseball bat should be a real threat. The feats aren't particularly disruptive - many are non combative or only add a slight "edge". But neither are they necessary. They can easily be overlooked or adjusted as play style dictates. Psychic feats seem out of place at first, but I've had several players ask about having some slight mental or mediumistic power.
Level oriented advancement won't be a problem beyond the potential for very hit point heavy characters. This is easily remedied by simply using a d3 instead of d6 for hit point advancement - and of course in the best HPL based games - having most of the situations get worse through violence. One thing that strikes me as a bit confusing is that there is no substantial or logical adjustment to the sanity rules. With all the emphasis of a D20 in the D20 system, the sanity loss remains exactly the same - percentile based. I still think this is the best simulation of eroding sanity in any RPG, so I'm not complaining - but it seems an odd thing to leave inorganic to the D20 system in the context of changing just about everything else. I also have personal interpretive issues with the use of skills to "first aid" a character going insane (or even characters slipping to -10 sanity instead of just losing the plot at 0). The section pertaining to insanity classification and treatments is well researched and thoroughly explained. The handling of spells and tomes is fairly true to form. There is a bit more "D+Dism" here than elsewhere in the book, but that isn't something a good group/GM can't overcome. If you wish to make the forbidden books harsher to read and their associated magic/lore less easy to use - then go for it. Monte Cook won't have you arrested for changing his game.
The monsters are well presented, with some of the text coming right out of the original RPG. There are a few key creatures missing, which I can't imagine couldn't have been made room for. The "Mummy" template section particularly interesting - and have enjoyed some of the "variant" interpretations of the various "False Gods". Most people who shout down the D20 versions of various games have never played them, or even synthesized the rules. Many somehow reconcile a stand against corporate superstructure by turning up their noses at D20 while wolfing down as many fast food meals as their friends are willing to buy for them during their weekly gaming forays. CoC D20 core rules are no exception. If reliance on a percentile system to create a successful horror scenario is necessary - then you should probably look into a different hobby. Playing in the tradition of Lovecraft's horror is about setting and atmosphere. Not which dice you roll. However most players I know have come to prefer dynamic, target based systems over static percentile based games. I see no issue with using a 'different' system if that makes them happy and allows you all to enjoy the story. The fact that I have used AD+D 1st ed as dark fantasy/Lovecraft is testament to the mutability of Cthulhu and the mythos. After reading the rules and supplementary text I am confident that any alterations won't affect the ability of a good GM and players to enjoy Lovecraft's vision. Bad GMs and players will always pervert a game's intent and atmosphere with a predisposition towards superpowers and mega-damage. Does this game - through use of its level/feat/class based groundwork *promote* sessions in which Investigators attack cultist hide-outs A-Team style? No - bad players and worse Gamemasters promote that. Rules are static suggestions drawn from a page in a book.
Rating: 
Summary: A fine adaptation--I just wish it weren't d20!
Review: First, a word of warning to the shopper--although Amazon doesn't make it clear in the title, this is the d20 version of the Call of Cthulhu RPG. That out of the way--the greatest thing in this book is John Tynes' articles on how to GM a Call of Cthulhu game, and the background info on the Mythos. They are actually better than what's in the regular (non-d20) Call of Cthulu rulebook. Also, the rules for psychic characters are intriguing, and it's kinda kewl to have all those Mythos monsters and gods statted up for d20, so you can spring them on your unsuspecting Dungeons and Dragons characters. Those good points are so very very good that I give this product 5 stars, despite one very serious flaw: the rules are lame. Oh, Tynes and Cook do good things with them--many of their ideas were later used in other d20 products, and they certainly make some small improvements with the d20 rules. But it's still d20, and thus far clunkier and less elegant than the original Call of Cthulhu rules. Now, those CoC rules are far from perfect, but still, they are so much easier to learn and to use, and really, the *only* thing you need to buy to play CoC is the rulebook--no, not the "core" rulebook, because there *aren't* any other rulebooks! Oh sure, there are supplements, but unlike D&D, none of them is crucial to play. And unlike D&D, when Chaosium does a new edition, they don't change it so much that it's completely incompatible with previous material. Most of the changes are in gathering together published spells and monsters and equipment, so that (gasp!) you won't *have* to buy other supplements! So, I didn't actually buy it for the d20 rules--although that will allow me to introduce my local gaming group (some members of which refuse to play anything other than D&D) to CoC. I bought it as a supplement for the regular version of Call of Cthulhu--something entirely unnecessary, but beautiful and fun to have. Looked at that way, it's 5 stars, easy.
Rating: 
Summary: Good sourcebook, not so good CoC game
Review: Had this been a D&D3E (or, more generally, a d20) sourcebook for incorporating some Mythos into a campaign so that your axe-wielding barbarian with combat feats or some other action-based character can beat down a byakhee or two, then it would have gotten at least 4 stars. As it is, this is meant to be a stand alone game and is also meant to act as a emissary of things Lovecraftian to the standard 3E gamer. I am forced to downgrade it several marks for this. Also, it loses one whole star because it is something of a pointless product. CoC's original rules are simple, effecient, flavorful and able to present exactly what feel and mood is needed for playing in the Lovecraft world (not to mention cheaper than this book). This book actually makes the rules slightly more complicated, and is better suited to make an RPG based off the videogame Blood or a John Carpenter movie than off anything by HPL. It would be quite a kick to get Azathoth as a diety in a D&D campaign. I have often dreamed of the proper way to blend the two (for those of you who remember, Conan the Barbarian was in the legendary past of the Lovecraft world) for a horror-fantasy like no other. But this CoC is lacking the epic nature of what I was looking for high-fantasy, and is lacking the sheer desperation of a horror story. If you can use the fragmenting grenade to take out a roomful of minions, why be scared of them? It would almost seem that the major theme of this book is to remind us all to bring tactical nukes to handle the Old One himself. The strong chance that your character might die makes your character more real...and the danger of going too far more poignant... Use it to spice up an ongoing d20 campaign...use this book to make an action-oriented fun adventure that focuses more on kill counts than careful maneuvering...use this as a bridge for your new gamers into one of the oldest and best systems...but stick to Chaosium's award winning and fan-adored rules if you want to get into the mood of a Lovecraftian outing.
Rating:
Summary: I think folks are being a little harsh.
Review: Having read the above reviews, I feel a somewhat calmer voice might be necessary. This book is exactly what it says it is: a D20 adaptation of the Call of Cthulhu rules. The game designers' job was not to remove what had gone before, but to mesh two rather disparate systems together as seemlessly as possible. I don't think they succeeded on every front, but I think they did a very good job, overall. I think this game works especially well on two levels: 1. Introducing new players to the game and to HPL: Like it or not, D20 rules are the most popular RPG system on the market right now. There are many, many people playing D20 games who have not even heard of H.P. Lovecraft. Personally, I got into the game before ever picking up one of his books, and they led me to a whole genre of fiction I might never have looked at otherwise. D20CoC is now poised to do that for a whole lot of players. And I've had players who weren't at all interested in learning a new system to play Classic CoC express an interest in trying D20CoC, and, from that experience, become willing to learn the original game. 2. Making it possible to add CoC flavor/encounters to D&D: I've done it in the distant past, and I'm certainly thinking about it again. Do I think this game is a substitute or replacement for Classic CoC? No. I am running and will still run Classic CoC when I want to run Cthulhu. Do I think it's still a fun game and a decent adaptation? Yes, and I do recommend it for those who might want to try Cthulhu but who don't want to take the plunge and learn a whole new game system.
Rating:
Summary: Sad, bad, and aggravating for Lovecraft fans to read..
Review: How is it that so-called fans of Lovecraft never actually seem to read Lovecraft, and instead are fond of Lumley, Clark Ashton Smith, and Derleth? All three of these authors (especially Lumley!) bastardize and ruin Lovecraft's best work. Sure, Lovecraft was fond of the attention, but he was so impoverished he had to travel in seedy busses and reside at YMCA when he wished to go anywhere. As to Lumley, I've approached his sodden work and find it comparable to well edited grammar school level fiction. Montey Cook and John Tynes have not impressed me here, for their collection of mismatched rules, overweighted combat section, and odd list of monsters that somehow leave Cthulhu described in a few uncordial paragraphs, and misattribute Hastur (as *always* RPGs seem to) as the King in Yellow of Robert Chambers or the Hastur of Ambrose Bierce. My main dislike of this book is the preference of non-canonical Lovecraft material to authorial constructions in his mature period. Lovecraft was kinder and more permissive with the mythos in his personal letters, just as Tolkein tended to play loose and freely with his work in missives. The actual discipline of the written manuscript differs far from the avuncular and princely compassion authors grant on their compeers who seek derivation from Lovecraft. Most assuredly, the New England gentleman would smile on this work, as a sweet tribute, but so would he grant same blessing to heavy metal musicians who bandy about the name Cthulhu without actual capacity to read Lovecraft's simplest tales. Of all possible derivations of Lovecraft, this is among the piss poor and shoddy; its only value is that it keeps interest in Lovecraft going. For this, I must thank Cook and Tynes, who represent a fallow collaberation in the worst of pseudo-Lovecraftian works. May Plunkett and Poe forgive these rascals.
Rating: 
Summary: a sudden, inelegant flashback
Review: I love the new d20 system that has redefined Dungeons & Dragons. The game is elegant. You can do more with a simpler, less byzantine set of rules. (Using a 20-sided dice, you roll to determine your character's success or failure. A high roll is always better.) Wizards of the Coast has wisely insisted that all new modules and rule systems respect this core approach. Until now. Call of Cthulu's crucial "sanity" rules revive the old percentile system -- and suddenly players want to roll a low number. A more graceful approach would have used the d20 system's inherent strengths. Perhaps a Will saving throw combined with attribute damage. (Dungeons and Dragons has wonderful rules for initial and delayed damage from poisons. A similar system would work for the various mental diseases that make Call of Cthulu such a treacherous game.) The right rules are lurking somewhere inside the d20 framework. Other than sheer nostalgia -- an emotion felt by many 2nd edition D&D fans -- I don't understand why these authors didn't take the time to develop them. There was a time when games writers felt that they needed an entirely new rules concept to create a different mood or feel. The result was endlessly complex and contradictory rules schemes, often within the same game. Call of Cthulu takes us back down that path. It's too bad. Lovecraft would have worn the d20 cloak very handsomely.
Rating: 
Summary: 1 Star because 0 wasn't an option.
Review: I love the stories by H.P. Lovecraft so for me this book is painful. If you want a book where you try to kill big monsters, then this is the one for you. If you actually want a book that evokes the feel of an H.P. Lovecraft story then buy the Chaosium edition by Sandy Petersen.
H.P. Lovecraft's stories are about regular people encountering horrifying situations that test their orderly views of reality.
They are not about a bunch of guys with weapons kicking monster tail. If you want that you should get the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.
3E feats and combat rules in Call of Cthulhu make about as much sense as they would in "The Smurfs RPG".
Rating:
Summary: How this book won me over
Review: I never liked D&D 3rd Edition; it was too rules-heavy for me. I've played Chaoisum's Call of Cthulhu since the second edition way back in '85. I never thought I would want this book, but I am a complete convert. Why? The way the d20 Call of Cthulhu rules handle the Mythos. Instead of presenting a dogmatic listing, essentially a bestiary, for the "higher powers" of the Mythos, guidelines are given for how to capture a Lovecraftian feel in your game. The Mythos powers are handled the way Lovecraft did (as argued by ST Joshi) - as plot devices. This section alone returns the wonder and mystery to Cthulhu gaming and is worth the price tag. Other highlights? The scenario and setting advice are excellent. The presentation and art are topnotch. Spells are much deadlier and riskier to cast than in BRP Cthulhu. Tome attributes are not set in stone, letting the Keeper make them as powerful as he wants. Reading tomes is also more story-based than before, with some creepy side effects for failure. As for the d20 rules? Honestly, they really aren't all that different than the BRP rules. They ARE more detailed, but do have their own internal logic. As long as you aren't afraid to dig in and try something new, the system plays just fine. Simple conversion notes are included for the original system and the GM Screen will have a more detailed system for conversion apparently. Between converting existing books and new d20 Cthulhu releases, there will be plenty of support for this system. All in all, this game has put new life into my Cthulhu gaming.
Rating:
Summary: Cthulhu without the Mythos.
Review: I understand why this might of seemed like a good idea;D&D 3E is a GREAT game and Call of Cthulhu is without a doubt the greatest game of all time. But however, the two games by their very natures are not compatiable. D&D focuses on combat and Call of Cthulhu focuses on investigating. D&D is about standing up to monsters, killing them, and walking away more experenced. Call of Cthulhu is about using a quick wit to advoid confrontations that would leave your character dead.
Despite these vast differences it could of, just barely, been pulled off. But it wasn't. The book did a passable job with the rules, but failed miserably with the content.
The creatures, which are the greatest part of the mythos, have been twisted and altered beyond recognition.
The tomes have lost the reason why they are coveted,
And worst of all, the great deities have become even less recognizable then the creatures.
The people who wrote this book did not understand the nature of the mythos, and thus had NO RIGHT to tamper with it.
I recomend this book to NO ONE, and it takes Lovecraft's name in vain.
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