22:44 "In fact, in all the years I've played CoC, I've only ever seen this at the last game we played [...] and oddly enough it ended up happening twice." This happened to me in five-hand poker. The only time I've got a straight flush, it happened two games in succession: first a royal then a regular.
You could also argue that when the main character in Shadows Over Innsmouth is talking to Zadok Allen, he fails his roll to persuade him to recount stories about Innsmouth's past. The protagonist then decides to take more time and ply Zadok with more whiskey. He then makes a pushed roll and succeeds, and Mr. Allen begins recounting stories of Innsmouth's past and Captain Marsh..
We have an house rule concerning the luck value - each characters luck is rolled with a d100 at the beginning of the game session ... it is luck after all ...
Eric, I'm genuinely curious: given that Luck is already randomly generated now (3d6 x 5), why did you choose to change to d100 to generate it? Or are you playing an older edition where Luck is still derived directly from POW?
Love it when you set the neckbeards straight Seth, re: "not Lovecraftian" or "not true to the game". As makers of the game Chaosium get the final say in what's true to the game, and beyond that it's the Keeper at the table.
I like to use penalty dice for when the player specifically is affected, vs. when the task itself is harder. So if trying to drive fast enough to a location is a regular roll, heavy rain would make the task at hand more difficult and therefore result in a hard test, whereas being drunk would make the character worse at driving and therefore result in a penalty die
I'm watching the series in preparation for (first solo) Call of Cthulhu, and think the explanations in part 4 are the best so far. How to apply skill and non-skill rolls to have the check match the unfolding events, how to advance the narrative, and when to give control back to the players; it's all very valuable. Thank you!
From RuneQuest 6 / Mythras, I'm more fond of the mechanic where they actually get the check to improve the skills when they fumble, rather than when they crit. The manual itself explains that characters learn more from their mistakes rather than their succeses, and when they go through a hard experience are more likely to learn what not to do next time. I just found it pretty reasonable and at least they know that their faliures are windows to new and better oportunities in the future.
I always like giving players the chance to propose a failure scenario for pushed rolls. It can help players feel in control of their fate. Edit: i agree with your opinion on bonus die / checking the box for development.
Just want to say a huge thank you for all your COC video's. I have GM'd for years but mostly AD&D 2nd ed, D20 and Homebrew systems and after seeing some of your videos, I decided to take the plunge and buy COC. I have run two games and I am hooked. Best game by far.
These are so helpful. Im just getting into Call of Cthulhu, and Ill be Keeper for the first time ever. These videos really help ease my anxiety about DMing for the first time. Thanks for the great content!
I'd love to hear your opinion about the RAW: So, the Keeper's book says to use an npc's skill to determine the difficulty needed. 'Normal' for under 50, 'Hard' for under 75 and 'Extreme' for under 90. It suggests to only use opposing rolls if the target is an important npc. It says you should use advantage & disadvantage die only in the case of ooposing rolls, and to try to refrain from opposing rolls unless you're dealing with an important npc or doing combat, and use difficulty levels for most of the common checks. I get the spirit of these rules, seeing it fixes the spotlight on the PC's rolls, and the speeding up of the more mundane parts of the story by avoiding the Keeper rolling for a lot of checks. As I'm about to start Keeping for the very 1st time, I'd love to hear some more experienced takes on this mechanic. Thanks in advance ☺️
Thanks for making these! No matter how well I think I know the rules, you always point out something I've overlooked. You're videos are really helping me up my Keeper game!
One house rule I added to my game is being able to increase physical attributes the same way skills do, I never understood why it wasn't added in the base game as well since building up cardio and working out is possibly the easiest thing a person can do.
It says a lot about you (not in a bad way) that you consider being athletic and getting stronger to be easier than learning to do something like lockpicking or driving. Quite charming.
@@Tecmaster96 I always found it weird that you can somehow get to be a competent medic or hacker in a couple of months of downtime yet you can't hit the gym and get stronger lol.
@@oz_jones Plastic surgery or even just taking better care of yourself, clean up and dress more on point, other than that appearance is really not that important compared to the physical stats, I've lost good characters simply because I've rolled like crap at character creation.
@@paulll47... Right. My bad, not sure what i was going through when i wrote that comment and i didnt expect a real answer. And yeah, appearance is really hyperspecific stat in CoC anyway. Have a good one.
Seth, I really appreciate this series. While I am not new to GMing I have never played CoC or been a Keeper, but I've wanted to run the system. This is really helping me confirm my reading and be more confident of my understanding of the rules. Thank you for your work.
Hey Seth, just wanted to let you know that your videos on CoC are what inspired me to start running it for my game group. They've been bugging me to run a game and we've all been craving a more story based and investigative setting. I ran them through The Haunting this past Saturday and while there were some hiccups from keeper and player alike, we all loved it. I'm working on the next scenario for a whole campaign now. Thanks for bringing the game to light and showing how fun it is to play!
Glad to be of service. If you're looking for some fun scenarios, I recommend you check out Dead Light, Edge of Darkness, and the Crack'd & Crook'd Manse.
Seth Skorkowsky Already way ahead of you, I have Edge of Darkness and Dead Lights in my plans. I've been watching your reviews over and over since January.
Man, You are absolutely making me want to get these books, it sounds like a really neat system. Frankly the only reason I'm not getting it now, is because I want to finish my ETU campaign, and doubt I would want to run horror for awhile after I finish that.
Thank you verry much for those, i finally played my first ever CoC and i run the Haunting as Keeper, unfortunally we didn't get to finish it in one session because of a medical emergency but we had tons of fun. Even though i am still confused on what happens if you need a regular success and a player rolls hard or extreme success because of this series i got to know one of the best RPG experiences i had. I played D&D for ~20 years and this game was like a fresh air. So thank you again for your work!
Happy to help. I hope you get to finish The Haunting. If they need a Regular Success and get a Hard or Extreme you either just treat it like a Regular, or maybe give some additional information if there is any.
This isn't strictly a review request for CoC but I would love to see some book reviews from you. I just finished The Devil Rides Out, which I know you've referenced before, but I'd really enjoy a more thorough take on this and other works you enjoy! This series is fantastic, can't wait for the next part!
It seems like you could also decide to use a bonus or penalty on the "ones" die for much smaller bonuses or penalties. This would only swing the percentage a maximum of 9% (e.g. if the bonus or penalty die is a 10 and the player rolls a 1 on the "ones" die. The regular bonus or penalty die can swing the result 90%!).
I think of the normal / hard / extreme difficulty level as reflecting how hard a given task is just by its nature. (ie: Some walls are harder to climb than others, some locks are easier than others to pick, etc.) I think of Bonus and Penalty dice as representing situational factors that make the task easier or harder to contend with. (ie: With a boost, a character may only have to climb half a wall's height, but the wall, itself, remains just as "hard" to climb. A bonus die would represent the boost making it easier to succeed at climbing a "hard" wall. Or, conversely, a player might get a penalty die for trying to climb that same wall in high winds, or maybe the character's height phobia kicks in. The wall doesn't change, the conditions do. And as Seth said, if something is commonplace for a given character, no roll needed. (ie: a doctor probably doesn't have to make a Medicine roll to diagnose a simple injury or illness, but a layperson probably would.)
About checking the skill box & bonus dice: a good compromise is to use dice of different colors, and denote one of them as the "base" performance die. If that specific die is a success, they get a check - otherwise they don't, even if they are successful overall.
Excellent overview of the CoC skills Seth! and I love your house rule on the 001 X marks the spot penalty roll. (I'm going to implement that one in my groups game now :) Great as always!!
Thanks again for another great entry! I appreciated hearing your house rules, especially with regards to the skill checks and penalty/bonus dice. I think by sticking with penalty/bonus dice, it will save me a little bit of headache of trying to get down to the specifics of every role and having to determine Hard/Extreme successes. Edit: And a quick question for you: As a new GM, I'd love to hear your insight into campaign and plot creation. Do you already have a video that touches on this?
Opposed skills does not imply opposed rolls necessarily. CoC 7 says opposed rolls are mainly for combat. Main approach is just the PC rolling against opposed skill level for the (non rolling) NPC
Thanks for this! I decided to help my gaming community by being a keeper for the Call of Cthulhu supplement and this series has been great for helping me understand things and ideas as a Keeper. Subbed and Liked!
One time I spend almost all of my luck points to be able to hold an alien weapon. It was at the end of an one shot and just for fun but this one retired policeman still has an alien weapon in his closet.^^
Seth. I don't know if you read comments to old videos, but there's a house rule of mine I use in RuneQuest which uses similar skill system. I also give experience check marks for failures too sometimes. Especially if the skill is low. "You often learn more from a failure than a success."
I think you have wet my appetite sir. When reading the book I was really taken aback by all the seemingly strange numbers and rules, but this is beginning to make sense and not be as complicated as I originally thought.
In practice I find it easier to replace bonus and penalty dice with D&D 5e's advantage and disadvantage system. It's functionally the same- re-rolling a d%, but the only difference is a change of the 1d10. I understand the appeal of rolling more dice, but I don't get to play tabletops in person much anymore (how tragic) and so explaining this over a voice call can be problematic. "Reroll and choose the higher/lower" is faster in my opinion.
Personally, what I like more and more about CoC is that the single hardest part for a Keeper, beyond the trying to justify player characters being together in the first place, is deciding what roll to make players do, and it is not so hard as some other systems where I am endlessly going back and forth trying to figure out rules, account for pluses and minuses, and splitting up rolls to reflect different skills at play at the same time. Trying to keep track of all the variables even in a simplified D20 system like DnD 5th Edition is much more work than I ever had to commit to CoC.
I like the idea of rolling a percentile and if above a 95 even on a mundane task or long list of them have them make an easy check if a 00 make a difficult check with a moderate negative effect on failure. Just to throw in some random bad luck even on mundane tasks. Keeps players guessing and is a lot like well-life. Most days nothing comes up but maybe 1/5 of the time some little thing happens like a cat jumps out in front of your car so you swerve around it or something. Tension is heighten when you ask for a roll before saying what happens.
Seth: Thanks for these vids. I started playing CoC back in 1931... err.. I mean 1981. (started D&D in 79). Haven't played in years, but have never stopped gathering adventures & etc for CoC. And, as far as I know, up until 1987 or so I had every CoC adventure or supplement that was available (barring things from magazines like Different Worlds, Dragon, or White Wolf - though I did my best to get them). I have not had the chance to play 7th Ed. yet & due to my current living location in the high plains of NW Kansas, I don't see opportunity to play anytime soon. So, I am living my CoC adventures through you & Jack. (Jack rocks, btw. w/Scotch, I'm sure). Btw, I have 4 CoC modules by Theatre of the Mind Publishing from 1983/84. They are: The Arkham Evil, Death in Dunwich, Pursuit to Kadath, & Whispers from the Abyss (and other tales). Have you heard of/experienced these? They have a different flavor from Chaosium modules. The first one starts in 1918/19 in coal mines of W. Penn. & deals with coal miner strikes, influenza epidemic, end of WWI attitudes/Pancho Villa/ & a mysterious comet. They all have permission of Chaosium & Arkham House. The others are secrets I cannot reveal due to that damn cursed idol I can't get rid of. (but I digress) The adventures have good maps/storylines/great npc's. There are some minor issues a Keeper might have to make to smooth them out, but good quality overall IMO. But I would love to hear you & Jack take them on. Thanks again & keep going. Sincerely, AJ Rabies P.S. Ever try to fly a 1920's German dirigible into Cthulhu? Whispers from the Abyss will help you.
I dunno if I'm just slow, but I just noticed this on Pg. 65 of the Traveller Core update under the Art skill: Write: Composing inspiring or interesting pieces of text. [...]Writing the Update of Traveller: Formidable (14+) Art (write) check (1D months, INT) Hehe Sorry, I just found that funny...😅 Edit: ROFL I AM slow...how else did I manage to post this under the wrong game overview? I'll go fix that now hehe
That is way too high of the DC, knowing how traveler works that should be a DC six and not even asking for a roll unless you’re trying to do it very quickly.
Hey. Thanks for these videos. I've played 5th and 6th version of CoC but those always felt bit... Distant? I never really understood their appeal. I did have great games as a player but I never really cared for the system. Now with 7th ed. I'm thrilled. This is much more streamlined and less in the way of playing as previous edition. I think the problem was that when it came to rules. As I didn't know them properly I got stressed about what I'm supposed to do or know so it pulled me away from the athmosphere of the session. Now that the skills are split into three different boxes for different difficulties, I don't have to calcluate them every time again and again. Calculating complex things isn't a problem in itself but it does pull my mind from the feels and athmosphere of the game (is this the divide between ability to have feelings or think logically?). Now this simple change from previous editions - it is marevlous! So simple, yet so powerful! Just so you know, you have a clone running somewhere around nothern Finland. You two have similar looks, (apparently) similar passion for Cyberpunk and are both great knowledgeable GM's!
This is six years old, but I do have an addition. You 'talk' about how to do this, but I think the game might be better described by some dice shot examples. You don't need the make up, but seeing the dice and maybe some frames showing the skill, the difficulty and how the dice work would help more. This is the video equivalent to 'wall of text'.
I very much enjoyed this series so far, they actually made me talk my regular role playing group into trying out CoC. Now I'm wondering: will you also be doing a review on the two scenarios included in the keeper's rulebook?
I watched every episode and I loved them all I have a very similar GMing style to yours and i felt like i was talking to myself most of the episode, I love Jack Mallone split screen and his character overall..Please do more CoC reviews of their other products like the card sets and maybe recommend more CoC or CoC related books, movies or/and game props. Yo touch on these and would love to see more, btw I just picked your 2 novels and will be reading them this coming weekend. Do you have a podcast or any other vids or audio stream we can all watch?...if so plz link.Maybe you can introduce us to your group someday and get their perspective of playing the game, anyways please make more vids, podcast and audio streams and i will be on the lookout for them...we all will and till then try to enjoy the daylight......
can someone help me: yesterday i had a szenarion where a PC ram his expensiv car into the Child-thing from "Mister Corbitt". i took the delux car because it was very expensive car but than i had the problem how to determan the damage in such a case. i look quickly through the keepers guide but could not find an awnsere. maybe i missed it. i ruled roll 6d6+6, cause the car was size 6 and the movement was 6 highter as the Child-thing and the plus six was just to increase the damage minimum. how would you have ruled this situation?
Damage for running something down is tricky. Most of the rules are going over the damage to the vehicle or occupants in a collision rather than the damage to something you've run down. However, in the very back of the Keeper Guide is a table called "Other Forms of Damage". In there, they have that being hit with a car going under 30mph is 2D10, and a speeding car is 4D10. Now, I found that rule wile casually sitting here and taking my time. If I was in the middle of a game and didn't want to slow the action down to get it right, I'd have ruled the same as you did.
Other than the mention of Aklo, I can not find anything about the various languages that the mythos may record history or knowledge. By watching video about the History of the Mythos it looks like there are a few mythos that would have a written language: Elder Things, Great Race of Yith, Mi-Go and Xothians (Cthulhu). Do you have a list of Mythos Languages, or do you just use Cthulhu Mythos Skill as a catch all?
If I’m rolling a penalty dice, do I roll a d10 and use it as the higher result of the 10 column? Or should I just roll a d100 and take whichever result is lower? Could you clarify this for me please? I’m playing online with online dice rollers so rolling a d100 is easy to do
You roll a second D10 and use it in the 10 column. So if you rolled 3 dice, and got "30", "70" and "4" That's be a 34 and a 74. Being a Penalty Die, you take the higher result. Honestly, though, if you simply roll a D100 twice and go by the higher, it makes no significant difference. So if it's just easier on the VTT to roll a D100 again, that's fine.
Thanks for the very clear and helpful video. I just started running 7th edition this week. How do you handle pushed rolls with multiple PCs? For example, the PCs walk into a farmhouse and the scenario says to call for a Listen roll to see if they hear the hobo hiding in the basement. All the PCs fail. Can they all get to push the roll assuming they take some action in the fiction? E.g they all freeze, listening intently. How would you adjudicate what happens if the pushed rolls are then a mix of success and failure?
All case by case, but for Pushed Rolls for individual things like Listen or Spot or Climb I have them all be separate. Any player can Push a failed roll. For rolls against a person (Charm, Intimidate, Fast Talk, etc.) I cap that at 2 attempts total. First person tries and fails, second attempt by anyone is the Pushed Roll (though there are exceptions). As far as results if some make and some fail a Pushed Roll, again all case by case. Depends on what they're doing, where they are, and a bunch of other factors. Sometimes the failure of the Pushed Roll only effects the player that failed the Pushed Roll. Other times it catches everyone in the bad effect. So with everyone listening, if one player failed the Pushed Roll and the badguy noticed them, the badguy possibly noticed all of them. Again, all case by case.
@@SSkorkowsky hey, thanks for taking the time to reply in such detail, Seth! :) I recall it was perception rolls in particular where I was unsure e.g.“Everyone make a spot hidden/listen/psychology”. I really liked the push mechanic when I read it as I am not a fan of skill dogpiling in RPGs where the PCs queue up to make multiple attempts at skill rolls, just can be trickier to implement the pushed rolls in practice!
When you were describing the successes for the opposed rolls, you said that one would get a regular success and one got a hard success. Does this mean; 1) One roller has to beat their hard stat check while the other only has to pass their regular stat check? 2) One past their regular AND hard stat check while the other only passed their regular stat check?
Hey, Seth. First of all, thank you for providing these videos. They have been a great help while I have been learning 7th Edition. I am a new Keeper, and have no prior experience with the system. It's nice to have someone knowledgeable to explain things to me and cross-reference my own assumptions about the book's material to see if I understand it correctly. My players, similarly, are new to Call of Cthulhu, and I'm doing my best to ease them into the game's mechanics without overwhelming them with information. We've only had two sessions thus far, but I'm more comfortable running this system than I have ever been trying to run something like Pathfinder, and my players seem to be enjoying themselves as well. One point I'm a bit stuck on: when, exactly, does one call for an Investigator Development Phase? I have been running the 7th Edition reprint of The Haunting, which I have seen a number of sources claim can be played in a single session. However, between rules explanations, roleplaying, and, in general, some very brief play sessions, we should just be wrapping up that scenario during our third play session. In a situation like this, should I still be waiting until the end of the scenario to call for an Investigator Development Phase, or is there an appropriate time mid-scenario when this can be done? Thanks in advance for any tips you may be able to offer on the subject, and I look forward to viewing more content on your channel!
Development Phase is up to you. Mid-adventure is fine if they have a safe spot to sleep for the night or there's some break. Such as in The Two-Headed Serpent, there is one they recommend that occurs during the millisecond the heroes are going through a portal into a different world. So you might have 2-3 sessions where there isn't one, or if it's a particularly long session, you might have one in the midpoint.
If editions 1-6 are your jam, that's fine. Maybe steal Luck or something else you want to add to your table. The big benefit to a basic understanding the rules changes is you can grab a 7e adventure or supplement and convert it to the older edition for you to use.
Dear Seth Have you ever tried gum shoe system. I love BRP but the resource management element of Trail of Cthulhu seems to be fun and seems to be similar to the buying success with luck mechanic I am not sure about it.
Never tried it. Many people in different online groups have spoken very highly of it and there have been several theories floated out there that 7e Call of Cthulhu adapted some of Gumshoe's mechanics.
Hi there, Quick question about skill check. May be obvious but i can't find a direct answer. Let say an investigator put no point in jump so he got only the 20% base chance right? But what if that investigator is an Athlete with very high score in dex and/or Strength. Like in the 80+? Would you consider that a basic 20% jump is not 'fair' for such an athlete? Would you instead allow a hard strength instead?
Newcomer to your channel, you've definitely convinced me to buy the slipcase. Despite being a fan of the Lovecraft Mythos, I've generally shied away from this ruleset. I hear you mention Pulp Cthulhu and some of the rules you've snagged from it (2x hp, spending luck), do you grab anything else? Do you use talents? I'm considering running the new(er) 7th ed version of Masks, i'm fairly familiar with running multiple plot threads and my group likes large overarching stories but i'm concerned it's a bit of a meatgrinder and was looking to add a bit more... heartiness to my group without going full pulp. Curious as to how you would do it.
I'm a big fan of Pulp Cthulhu. Eventually, once my overview/review for 7e Call of Cthulhu is done, I'll give Pulp Cthulhu a proper review video. The short description is Pulp Cthulhu PCs get more skills, 2x HP, more Luck options, and Pulp Talents. They do have it set up so you can go higher or lower pulp, depending on your preferences. While I haven't read the new Masks of Nyarlathotep (or even a full read of the old versions) so I can't say how well it'll work. Rumor is that it will work as Pulp-lite. Currently, we're most of the way through the Pulp campaign The Two-Headed Serpent and have enjoyed it. That one, however, we go full pulp.
Seth Skorkowsky Thanks for the insight, from what looking I had done it seemed a lite pulp approach was the way to go for Mask. Difficult to get invested in a story or character when everyone dies. Also seeing that maybe Masks shouldn't be used for my first foray into the system ha. My group is extremely familiar with dnd and the archtypes therein so pulp cthulhu was looking good as a source of familiarity- but does it still keep the overall feeling of the game? I'm fine with changing Dick Tracy into Indiana Jones, but if an elder godling pops down and my party is more prone to fight than run I feel there's a problem.
Combat is definitely easier to survive in Pulp, but it's not like they'll be powerhouse characters. A powerful monster or Mythos entity will still mop the floor with them. But with Pulp, they'll probably be able to survive that initial blow and hopefully have the good sense to run away. In Call of Cthulhu, they need to be running before the big-bad lands that first attack. Think of it like this, if regular Call of Cthulhu characters are as strong as 2nd level D&D characters, Pulp Cthulhu Characters are like 5th level characters. Even a 5th level D&D character ain't taking a great red dragon anytime soon The mood is how you make it. We played regular 7e for a year before converting those characters to Pulp Cthulhu and then playing them for another year. For the most part, we still played regular Call of Cthulhu mood and style. In fact, I used many of the scenarios I'd already deemed as too difficult for a regular Call of Cthulhu adventures and just used those with minimal changes if any. Changes were stuff like upping the number of low-level baddies and converting the main villains to Pulp Villains, which gave them double HP, Pulp Talents, and Luck abilities.
Seth Skorkowsky So I guess the big question is did you and your group prefer regular or pulp in the end? Kinda sounds like you moved to pulp, so did that move turn out positive? Or is it just that there's a place and time for both as storytelling styles. I'm just now watching your review of the pulp campaign and I think I have a much better idea of the combat. And while I have your attention, I'd like to thank you for your responses here and especially for your videos. I had a lot of negative views of this system (many of which were similar to the ones mentioned in your introduction), and it's really exciting to know it's not as convoluted as I was led to believe. I'm currently going through the pdfs, and your explainations and breakdowns are very helpful (The book, like most rpg handbooks, is a pretty dry straight read).
Pulp Cthulhu has really hit the mark for us. It gave us the investigation and role-play we loved with Call of Cthulhu, but upped the ass-kicking when asses needed to be kicked. Once we're done with Two-Headed Serpent we'll probably return to regular CoC as a bit of a palate cleanser with some Modern Era 1-shots, then dive into Cthulhu Invictus or Gaslight. Not sure yet if we'll add pulp to those or not yet. One thing I didn't mention, if you're looking for some old-fashioned CoC scenarios that can be run with Pulp Cthulhu with little to no changes, Thoth's Dagger, Black Devil Mountain, and pretty much anything in Goodman Game's Age of Cthulhu line. I have reviews for all that if you want to see the spots I suggest changing. All have more combat than most CoC characters could reasonably take, but are perfect for Pulp Characters. Glad you've been enjoying the channel. The system is very simple and easy to customize. The myths I was led to believe about it have chased countless potential players (and paying customers) away. Hopefully some of those myths can begin going away as people become more aware of it.
Fantastic video as always. One thing though: I was interested to see what Seth might say regarding the use of the opponent's skill level to determine the difficulty level for a player’s skill roll (if the NPC has an opposing skill of 50% or more, then the difficulty for the player is Hard, etc), as it's sometimes hard to know when to use this mechanic and when to use Opposed Rolls (another one of those ‘grey areas’ in the rules). However, the ‘skill level sets difficulty’ mechanic never even got a mention. Seth seemed to take the view that all skill-vs-skill situations get resolved by opposed rolls, which is not my understanding at all (in fact, I think ‘skill sets difficulty’ is the norm whilst Opposed Rolls are intended to be the exception). An oversight?
Bit of an oversight. Sometimes I just set the difficulty higher, but just as often I do opposed. Just as often as the PC might be having a good day or bad and their rolls are all high or low, so can an opponent's.
@@SSkorkowsky Cheers for responding, Seth. Yeah, I never quite understood why the game has those two similar-but-different mechanics for resolving contests of skill (or characteristics). Whilst it's true that each has advantages in certain situations (opposed rolls are clearly the thing for melee, while it’s hard to imagine them working for an PC pitting his strength against a solid door, for example - is the door going to get a roll?) overall the existence of twin mechanics does muddy things somewhat. When I was getting my head around the new 7ed rules I actually kept forgetting about the skill-sets-difficulty rule and kept using opposed rolls when I technically shouldn't have (the rulebook states that opposed rolls between players and NPCs should be avoided outside of melee, but it doesn't explain WHY it takes this position). No biggie, I guess, but IMO it takes away some of the crispness of clarity that the rest of the ruleset has. Anyway, thanks again for a cracking set of videos; the entire channel is great. As somebody who started playing RPGs in 1981-ish, I'm also loving the reviews of old AD&D modules, Cyberpunk 2020 and Traveller, all of which I've played heavily in the past (and, in some cases, present).
🌟 *Please do character creation guides / overview for other systems you & your groups play .* *Just like you did for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition .* *I really want to learn more about RuinQuest RolePlaying in glorantha , Conan , aliens , delta green & Advanced Dungeons & dragons 1 & 2 .*
If your player gets in the situation where they roll a crit on their luck roll and subsequently end up adding points to their POW. Would you let them increase their sanity in that situation too, if the sanity was lower than the new POW score?
Much appreciated video(s) Seth... A seasoned and reasonable explanation of the game and mechanics is definitely helpful... (yay) As for all this selfless altruism out of you, you do know about George R. Price, right? His application of Game Theory to "Fisher's General Theorem of Natural Selection" provided that acts of altruism could be mathematically proven as greed-based acts of self preservation and therefore preservation of the genes in further generations... It's worth a perusal. :o)
The penalty dice and higher difficulty levels have a bit too much overlap for my liking. It feels redundant and it's not always clear when to use one or the other (or both). This is especially true if you're writing your own scenarios because there's no guide other than your own opinion on how hard something is supposed to be. Obviously I can use an extreme check for something that's clearly ridiculous, but the 'hard' check is big grey area.
That's not a bad point, but the way I see it, a task is assigned a difficulty ahead of time, when the scenario is written, whereas bonus/penalty dice are awarded to a player during the course of play. (Correct me if I'm wrong; I don't own this edition yet) So for example, a particular book could be totally mis-shelved in the library. Finding it would be an extreme task. But, if the investigator knew the book was recently returned and knew where the page was last shelving books, they'd get a bonus die. Conversely, that investigator recently lost their glasses in a tussle with cultists, and thus would get a penalty die. TL;dr answer: one is task-dependent, one is situation-dependent. Whether it's hard or extreme is a judgement call on the part of the author of the scenario or the keeper.
Are there any versions of the character sheet that condenses the skills a bit? I've never been a big fan of having too many separate skills, and it looks like the list could be pared down just a bit.
None that I've seen. The skills list is pretty good. 7e already condensed many of the skills from previous editions (such as Punch, Kick, and Knife were compressed into Brawl, while Debate, Bargain, and Oratory were all turned into Persuade).
Thanks for the reply there. Yeah, I was only a little familiar with the older editions, and I couldn't remember how extensive the older lists were. I plan on picking up 7th here soon, and will probably run a vanilla game at first, and see if my group feels the need to further combine a few down the road with house rules after that.
BRP (which CoC is a version of) is skill based, so having lots of skills is kind of common. Most people who play go out of their way to use any skill they can, because that's how advancement works.
It may work out well in play, but I may try and house rule a few once I get 7th. I'll definitely try out the base rules before doing anything, but my group usually likes a more concise list of skills for our games. Stuff like "Detect" instead of both listen and spot, or "Athletics" instead of both Jump and Climb. Still, I like a lot of what I've seen of 7th so far. Good stuff. Thanks for the reply there.
I'm new to the game and have a question regarding opposed rolls. In the case of a tie, doesn't the side with the higher stat win? If both base stats are tied, then wouldn't the situation remain at an impasse?
All Skill Checks run the risk of rolling a Fumble. If the skill's level is below 50, then a Fumble happens on a roll of 96-00. If the skill's level is 50 or higher, then a Fumble is only on a roll of 00. So if I have a Drive Auto skill that is 45, then I can Fumble if I roll a 96-00. But if I have a Drive Auto skill of 57, then I can only Fumble on a roll of a 00.
Good. D&D has enough TH-cam channels dedicated to it that it's good to see some other games get some love. Though that said, I do watch all of the videos you make. I even bought Cyberpunk 2020 after watching your videos about it so I hope you do some more reviews of that game as well.
I totally love the Call of Cthulhu game stuff Seth. I live your format. Its nice to have someone that goes in depth and gives advice. Nerdarchy, roll20 etc, don't do that
Hey Seth, I'm reading the Keeper book for the first time and rewatching your vids in between chapters. I noticed you said that pushed rolls are "re-rolls". According to the RAW a pushed roll is a separate attempt with time passing between a roll and a pushed roll, (a few seconds or maybe hours). Do you use this while playing? Or maybe that was a house rule I missed?
It's a 2nd and separate attempt. The player has to state what they're doing differently to warrant the pushed roll (i.e. rolling again, a.k.a. "re-roll").
Hey Seth, dumb Question about skills: Do you only get to use skills that you assign points to? or do you get the base amount on all of them? I just got the books, and have read the skills portion for both books (remarkably the same) but they seem to say that you only get skills you allocate points to. But then later, the keepers guide says "Everyone gets Drive: auto" which contradicts that.Thanks for the video, they are really well done. and thanks in advance, if you answer this question
We're lucky to have a Call of Cthulhu TH-camr like Seth.
We rolled really well for our luck
So true!
Definitely
10:32 A light sprinkle justifying a drive check? Seth definitely lives in Texas.
22:44 "In fact, in all the years I've played CoC, I've only ever seen this at the last game we played [...] and oddly enough it ended up happening twice."
This happened to me in five-hand poker. The only time I've got a straight flush, it happened two games in succession: first a royal then a regular.
LOL .. that shirt! Hahah!
Love it!
Just came here to type this :D
@@pettersonystrawman9291 I. can. not. look. away.
You could also argue that when the main character in Shadows Over Innsmouth is talking to Zadok Allen, he fails his roll to persuade him to recount stories about Innsmouth's past. The protagonist then decides to take more time and ply Zadok with more whiskey. He then makes a pushed roll and succeeds, and Mr. Allen begins recounting stories of Innsmouth's past and Captain Marsh..
Seth, would you consider live streaming a GM Master Class? I think it would be right up your alley, and I for one would definitely attend.
That'd be awesome.
We have an house rule concerning the luck value - each characters luck is rolled with a d100 at the beginning of the game session ... it is luck after all ...
nice, I just hope that the player who gets a one don kill me if I steal your rule. :)
Eric, I'm genuinely curious: given that Luck is already randomly generated now (3d6 x 5), why did you choose to change to d100 to generate it? Or are you playing an older edition where Luck is still derived directly from POW?
@@ricklecoat422 3d6 x 5 gives minimum of 15... d100 allows for less than 15.. also above the max of 90
@@thothheartmaat2833 Don't forget the bell curve aspect. It's the difference between 1d12 and 2d6.
This is evil.
I love it. It also works well thematically.
Love it when you set the neckbeards straight Seth, re: "not Lovecraftian" or "not true to the game". As makers of the game Chaosium get the final say in what's true to the game, and beyond that it's the Keeper at the table.
That shirt is the fucking best thing ever....
I like to use penalty dice for when the player specifically is affected, vs. when the task itself is harder. So if trying to drive fast enough to a location is a regular roll, heavy rain would make the task at hand more difficult and therefore result in a hard test, whereas being drunk would make the character worse at driving and therefore result in a penalty die
The use of bonus/penalty dice is excellent; that's a lot smoother, and I'll definitely start using that tip!
Chaosium is amazing. Not to knock the others, but it was Chaosium sytems and games that firmly cemented my love for RPG.
Seth, IMO these videos are some of your best work! Clear & very informative, I’ll definitely be directing newbies to CoC here in the future 😊
I'm watching the series in preparation for (first solo) Call of Cthulhu, and think the explanations in part 4 are the best so far. How to apply skill and non-skill rolls to have the check match the unfolding events, how to advance the narrative, and when to give control back to the players; it's all very valuable. Thank you!
From RuneQuest 6 / Mythras, I'm more fond of the mechanic where they actually get the check to improve the skills when they fumble, rather than when they crit. The manual itself explains that characters learn more from their mistakes rather than their succeses, and when they go through a hard experience are more likely to learn what not to do next time. I just found it pretty reasonable and at least they know that their faliures are windows to new and better oportunities in the future.
That's how my Keeper did it for our Call of Cthulhu campaign as well.
Huge fan of Seth, just wish I had luck finding a group to play with. CoC and Chill are the only horror games I love
I always like giving players the chance to propose a failure scenario for pushed rolls. It can help players feel in control of their fate. Edit: i agree with your opinion on bonus die / checking the box for development.
Just want to say a huge thank you for all your COC video's. I have GM'd for years but mostly AD&D 2nd ed, D20 and Homebrew systems and after seeing some of your videos, I decided to take the plunge and buy COC. I have run two games and I am hooked. Best game by far.
These are so helpful. Im just getting into Call of Cthulhu, and Ill be Keeper for the first time ever. These videos really help ease my anxiety about DMing for the first time. Thanks for the great content!
I'd love to hear your opinion about the RAW:
So, the Keeper's book says to use an npc's skill to determine the difficulty needed. 'Normal' for under 50, 'Hard' for under 75 and 'Extreme' for under 90. It suggests to only use opposing rolls if the target is an important npc.
It says you should use advantage & disadvantage die only in the case of ooposing rolls, and to try to refrain from opposing rolls unless you're dealing with an important npc or doing combat, and use difficulty levels for most of the common checks.
I get the spirit of these rules, seeing it fixes the spotlight on the PC's rolls, and the speeding up of the more mundane parts of the story by avoiding the Keeper rolling for a lot of checks.
As I'm about to start Keeping for the very 1st time, I'd love to hear some more experienced takes on this mechanic.
Thanks in advance ☺️
Thanks for making these! No matter how well I think I know the rules, you always point out something I've overlooked. You're videos are really helping me up my Keeper game!
Reading the 7th ed Keeper Rulebook after watching this video. The Sample Insane Skill Push Roll Failures are hilarious.
One house rule I added to my game is being able to increase physical attributes the same way skills do, I never understood why it wasn't added in the base game as well since building up cardio and working out is possibly the easiest thing a person can do.
It says a lot about you (not in a bad way) that you consider being athletic and getting stronger to be easier than learning to do something like lockpicking or driving. Quite charming.
@@Tecmaster96 I always found it weird that you can somehow get to be a competent medic or hacker in a couple of months of downtime yet you can't hit the gym and get stronger lol.
@@paulll47how would you rise APP? "Just Be confident, bro"?
@@oz_jones Plastic surgery or even just taking better care of yourself, clean up and dress more on point, other than that appearance is really not that important compared to the physical stats, I've lost good characters simply because I've rolled like crap at character creation.
@@paulll47... Right. My bad, not sure what i was going through when i wrote that comment and i didnt expect a real answer.
And yeah, appearance is really hyperspecific stat in CoC anyway. Have a good one.
Thank you so much for this 7E series. It's been a wonderful way to get up to speed quickly. Thanks.
Seth, I really appreciate this series. While I am not new to GMing I have never played CoC or been a Keeper, but I've wanted to run the system. This is really helping me confirm my reading and be more confident of my understanding of the rules. Thank you for your work.
Hosting my first D&D campaign session in a couple weeks! Your reviews have been great for helping me think about what to do for planning and such!
Found a link to this on a Facebook page. This series has given my table top group the confidence to try the system. Keep it up please!
Hey Seth, just wanted to let you know that your videos on CoC are what inspired me to start running it for my game group. They've been bugging me to run a game and we've all been craving a more story based and investigative setting.
I ran them through The Haunting this past Saturday and while there were some hiccups from keeper and player alike, we all loved it. I'm working on the next scenario for a whole campaign now.
Thanks for bringing the game to light and showing how fun it is to play!
Glad to be of service. If you're looking for some fun scenarios, I recommend you check out Dead Light, Edge of Darkness, and the Crack'd & Crook'd Manse.
Seth Skorkowsky Already way ahead of you, I have Edge of Darkness and Dead Lights in my plans. I've been watching your reviews over and over since January.
Thanks for the English subtitles, it makes the video easier to watch by translating it into Spanish. (Google Translate) :D No bot. :3
I'm doing a CoC intro series on TikTok and Seth's videos are a huge inspiration for me. I come back to them for reference alot.
Man, You are absolutely making me want to get these books, it sounds like a really neat system. Frankly the only reason I'm not getting it now, is because I want to finish my ETU campaign, and doubt I would want to run horror for awhile after I finish that.
Thank you verry much for those, i finally played my first ever CoC and i run the Haunting as Keeper, unfortunally we didn't get to finish it in one session because of a medical emergency but we had tons of fun. Even though i am still confused on what happens if you need a regular success and a player rolls hard or extreme success because of this series i got to know one of the best RPG experiences i had. I played D&D for ~20 years and this game was like a fresh air. So thank you again for your work!
Happy to help. I hope you get to finish The Haunting.
If they need a Regular Success and get a Hard or Extreme you either just treat it like a Regular, or maybe give some additional information if there is any.
This isn't strictly a review request for CoC but I would love to see some book reviews from you. I just finished The Devil Rides Out, which I know you've referenced before, but I'd really enjoy a more thorough take on this and other works you enjoy!
This series is fantastic, can't wait for the next part!
Seth! I recognize that background! I almost bought that exact tapestry from Amazon but ended up going with a spooky tree.
Thanks for the intro, so helpful for playing for the first time tomorrow!
Have fun.
It seems like you could also decide to use a bonus or penalty on the "ones" die for much smaller bonuses or penalties. This would only swing the percentage a maximum of 9% (e.g. if the bonus or penalty die is a 10 and the player rolls a 1 on the "ones" die. The regular bonus or penalty die can swing the result 90%!).
I think of the normal / hard / extreme difficulty level as reflecting how hard a given task is just by its nature. (ie: Some walls are harder to climb than others, some locks are easier than others to pick, etc.)
I think of Bonus and Penalty dice as representing situational factors that make the task easier or harder to contend with. (ie: With a boost, a character may only have to climb half a wall's height, but the wall, itself, remains just as "hard" to climb. A bonus die would represent the boost making it easier to succeed at climbing a "hard" wall. Or, conversely, a player might get a penalty die for trying to climb that same wall in high winds, or maybe the character's height phobia kicks in. The wall doesn't change, the conditions do.
And as Seth said, if something is commonplace for a given character, no roll needed. (ie: a doctor probably doesn't have to make a Medicine roll to diagnose a simple injury or illness, but a layperson probably would.)
About checking the skill box & bonus dice: a good compromise is to use dice of different colors, and denote one of them as the "base" performance die. If that specific die is a success, they get a check - otherwise they don't, even if they are successful overall.
Outstanding. Keep up the great work.
Excellent overview of the CoC skills Seth! and I love your house rule on the 001 X marks the spot penalty roll. (I'm going to implement that one in my groups game now :) Great as always!!
Thanks again for another great entry! I appreciated hearing your house rules, especially with regards to the skill checks and penalty/bonus dice. I think by sticking with penalty/bonus dice, it will save me a little bit of headache of trying to get down to the specifics of every role and having to determine Hard/Extreme successes.
Edit: And a quick question for you: As a new GM, I'd love to hear your insight into campaign and plot creation. Do you already have a video that touches on this?
I’ve always liked games that use percentile dice. It always makes the fact that I have an actual 100-sided die worthwhile.
The problem is that there's no such thing as a true 100 sided die. Anything over 20 is technically a false die.
@@alexanderchippelconsidering I'm looking at it right now as I type, and it's a real and physical single die, it's a real die.
@@jesternario are you real?
@@DAEDRICDUKE1 I'm pretty sure I am. why?
Opposed skills does not imply opposed rolls necessarily. CoC 7 says opposed rolls are mainly for combat. Main approach is just the PC rolling against opposed skill level for the (non rolling) NPC
These videos are unbelievably helpful.
Thanks for this! I decided to help my gaming community by being a keeper for the Call of Cthulhu supplement and this series has been great for helping me understand things and ideas as a Keeper. Subbed and Liked!
Glad to be of help.
One time I spend almost all of my luck points to be able to hold an alien weapon. It was at the end of an one shot and just for fun but this one retired policeman still has an alien weapon in his closet.^^
Seth. I don't know if you read comments to old videos, but there's a house rule of mine I use in RuneQuest which uses similar skill system. I also give experience check marks for failures too sometimes. Especially if the skill is low. "You often learn more from a failure than a success."
I think you have wet my appetite sir. When reading the book I was really taken aback by all the seemingly strange numbers and rules, but this is beginning to make sense and not be as complicated as I originally thought.
In practice I find it easier to replace bonus and penalty dice with D&D 5e's advantage and disadvantage system. It's functionally the same- re-rolling a d%, but the only difference is a change of the 1d10. I understand the appeal of rolling more dice, but I don't get to play tabletops in person much anymore (how tragic) and so explaining this over a voice call can be problematic. "Reroll and choose the higher/lower" is faster in my opinion.
Great video. Love the house rule of adding a penalty die for the Investigator development phase on critical success. Will totally be stealing that!
Personally, what I like more and more about CoC is that the single hardest part for a Keeper, beyond the trying to justify player characters being together in the first place, is deciding what roll to make players do, and it is not so hard as some other systems where I am endlessly going back and forth trying to figure out rules, account for pluses and minuses, and splitting up rolls to reflect different skills at play at the same time. Trying to keep track of all the variables even in a simplified D20 system like DnD 5th Edition is much more work than I ever had to commit to CoC.
Was there ever an episode where you talked about assisted skill checks? PCs helping other PCs with skill rolls?
Love the channel the videos are helping me understand the mechanics more for the group I play with
I like the idea of rolling a percentile and if above a 95 even on a mundane task or long list of them have them make an easy check if a 00 make a difficult check with a moderate negative effect on failure. Just to throw in some random bad luck even on mundane tasks. Keeps players guessing and is a lot like well-life. Most days nothing comes up but maybe 1/5 of the time some little thing happens like a cat jumps out in front of your car so you swerve around it or something. Tension is heighten when you ask for a roll before saying what happens.
Seth: Thanks for these vids. I started playing CoC back in 1931... err.. I mean 1981. (started D&D in 79). Haven't played in years, but have never stopped gathering adventures & etc for CoC. And, as far as I know, up until 1987 or so I had every CoC adventure or supplement that was available (barring things from magazines like Different Worlds, Dragon, or White Wolf - though I did my best to get them). I have not had the chance to play 7th Ed. yet & due to my current living location in the high plains of NW Kansas, I don't see opportunity to play anytime soon.
So, I am living my CoC adventures through you & Jack. (Jack rocks, btw. w/Scotch, I'm sure).
Btw, I have 4 CoC modules by Theatre of the Mind Publishing from 1983/84. They are: The Arkham Evil, Death in Dunwich, Pursuit to Kadath, & Whispers from the Abyss (and other tales). Have you heard of/experienced these? They have a different flavor from Chaosium modules. The first one starts in 1918/19 in coal mines of W. Penn. & deals with coal miner strikes, influenza epidemic, end of WWI attitudes/Pancho Villa/ & a mysterious comet.
They all have permission of Chaosium & Arkham House. The others are secrets I cannot reveal due to that damn cursed idol I can't get rid of. (but I digress)
The adventures have good maps/storylines/great npc's. There are some minor issues a Keeper might have to make to smooth them out, but good quality overall IMO. But I would love to hear you & Jack take them on.
Thanks again & keep going.
Sincerely,
AJ Rabies
P.S. Ever try to fly a 1920's German dirigible into Cthulhu? Whispers from the Abyss will help you.
Awesome. I love going through the classic modules and adventures. I'll be on the lookout for them.
I dunno if I'm just slow, but I just noticed this on Pg. 65 of the Traveller Core update under the Art skill:
Write: Composing inspiring or interesting pieces of text.
[...]Writing the Update of Traveller: Formidable (14+) Art (write) check (1D months, INT)
Hehe Sorry, I just found that funny...😅
Edit: ROFL I AM slow...how else did I manage to post this under the wrong game overview? I'll go fix that now hehe
Somebody needs to fire their Navigator, lol
That is way too high of the DC, knowing how traveler works that should be a DC six and not even asking for a roll unless you’re trying to do it very quickly.
Hey. Thanks for these videos. I've played 5th and 6th version of CoC but those always felt bit... Distant? I never really understood their appeal. I did have great games as a player but I never really cared for the system. Now with 7th ed. I'm thrilled. This is much more streamlined and less in the way of playing as previous edition. I think the problem was that when it came to rules. As I didn't know them properly I got stressed about what I'm supposed to do or know so it pulled me away from the athmosphere of the session. Now that the skills are split into three different boxes for different difficulties, I don't have to calcluate them every time again and again. Calculating complex things isn't a problem in itself but it does pull my mind from the feels and athmosphere of the game (is this the divide between ability to have feelings or think logically?). Now this simple change from previous editions - it is marevlous! So simple, yet so powerful!
Just so you know, you have a clone running somewhere around nothern Finland. You two have similar looks, (apparently) similar passion for Cyberpunk and are both great knowledgeable GM's!
This is six years old, but I do have an addition. You 'talk' about how to do this, but I think the game might be better described by some dice shot examples. You don't need the make up, but seeing the dice and maybe some frames showing the skill, the difficulty and how the dice work would help more. This is the video equivalent to 'wall of text'.
I very much enjoyed this series so far, they actually made me talk my regular role playing group into trying out CoC. Now I'm wondering: will you also be doing a review on the two scenarios included in the keeper's rulebook?
Very well explained - I’m now intrigued!
I have to find a group to play this with. I think that this is a fun game to play with a group.
May your luck roll be successful!
(Failure can make you end up with a group of zombies.)
I watched every episode and I loved them all I have a very similar GMing style to yours and i felt like i was talking to myself most of the episode, I love Jack Mallone split screen and his character overall..Please do more CoC reviews of their other products like the card sets and maybe recommend more CoC or CoC related books, movies or/and game props. Yo touch on these and would love to see more, btw I just picked your 2 novels and will be reading them this coming weekend. Do you have a podcast or any other vids or audio stream we can all watch?...if so plz link.Maybe you can introduce us to your group someday and get their perspective of playing the game, anyways please make more vids, podcast and audio streams and i will be on the lookout for them...we all will and till then try to enjoy the daylight......
can someone help me:
yesterday i had a szenarion where a PC ram his expensiv car into the Child-thing from "Mister Corbitt". i took the delux car because it was very expensive car but than i had the problem how to determan the damage in such a case. i look quickly through the keepers guide but could not find an awnsere. maybe i missed it.
i ruled roll 6d6+6, cause the car was size 6 and the movement was 6 highter as the Child-thing and the plus six was just to increase the damage minimum.
how would you have ruled this situation?
Damage for running something down is tricky. Most of the rules are going over the damage to the vehicle or occupants in a collision rather than the damage to something you've run down. However, in the very back of the Keeper Guide is a table called "Other Forms of Damage". In there, they have that being hit with a car going under 30mph is 2D10, and a speeding car is 4D10.
Now, I found that rule wile casually sitting here and taking my time. If I was in the middle of a game and didn't want to slow the action down to get it right, I'd have ruled the same as you did.
Other than the mention of Aklo, I can not find anything about the various languages that the mythos may record history or knowledge. By watching video about the History of the Mythos it looks like there are a few mythos that would have a written language: Elder Things, Great Race of Yith, Mi-Go and Xothians (Cthulhu). Do you have a list of Mythos Languages, or do you just use Cthulhu Mythos Skill as a catch all?
immediately cracked up at the shirt
this videos has helped me a lot understanding the game and how to be a new keeper! thanks!!
Excellent video. Thank you for posting it.
If I’m rolling a penalty dice, do I roll a d10 and use it as the higher result of the 10 column? Or should I just roll a d100 and take whichever result is lower? Could you clarify this for me please? I’m playing online with online dice rollers so rolling a d100 is easy to do
You roll a second D10 and use it in the 10 column. So if you rolled 3 dice, and got "30", "70" and "4" That's be a 34 and a 74. Being a Penalty Die, you take the higher result.
Honestly, though, if you simply roll a D100 twice and go by the higher, it makes no significant difference. So if it's just easier on the VTT to roll a D100 again, that's fine.
I am eager to learn the system...wish I could have a learning session with you one day
Thanks for the very clear and helpful video. I just started running 7th edition this week. How do you handle pushed rolls with multiple PCs? For example, the PCs walk into a farmhouse and the scenario says to call for a Listen roll to see if they hear the hobo hiding in the basement. All the PCs fail. Can they all get to push the roll assuming they take some action in the fiction? E.g they all freeze, listening intently. How would you adjudicate what happens if the pushed rolls are then a mix of success and failure?
All case by case, but for Pushed Rolls for individual things like Listen or Spot or Climb I have them all be separate. Any player can Push a failed roll. For rolls against a person (Charm, Intimidate, Fast Talk, etc.) I cap that at 2 attempts total. First person tries and fails, second attempt by anyone is the Pushed Roll (though there are exceptions).
As far as results if some make and some fail a Pushed Roll, again all case by case. Depends on what they're doing, where they are, and a bunch of other factors. Sometimes the failure of the Pushed Roll only effects the player that failed the Pushed Roll. Other times it catches everyone in the bad effect. So with everyone listening, if one player failed the Pushed Roll and the badguy noticed them, the badguy possibly noticed all of them. Again, all case by case.
@@SSkorkowsky hey, thanks for taking the time to reply in such detail, Seth! :) I recall it was perception rolls in particular where I was unsure e.g.“Everyone make a spot hidden/listen/psychology”. I really liked the push mechanic when I read it as I am not a fan of skill dogpiling in RPGs where the PCs queue up to make multiple attempts at skill rolls, just can be trickier to implement the pushed rolls in practice!
love the shirt
🤣
Like Gandalf said to Zelda on Arrakis - use the Force, Harry
When you were describing the successes for the opposed rolls, you said that one would get a regular success and one got a hard success. Does this mean;
1) One roller has to beat their hard stat check while the other only has to pass their regular stat check?
2) One past their regular AND hard stat check while the other only passed their regular stat check?
For opposed, you go with the character that rolled the better success level Regular
@@SSkorkowsky ok thanks!
Hey, Seth. First of all, thank you for providing these videos. They have been a great help while I have been learning 7th Edition. I am a new Keeper, and have no prior experience with the system. It's nice to have someone knowledgeable to explain things to me and cross-reference my own assumptions about the book's material to see if I understand it correctly.
My players, similarly, are new to Call of Cthulhu, and I'm doing my best to ease them into the game's mechanics without overwhelming them with information. We've only had two sessions thus far, but I'm more comfortable running this system than I have ever been trying to run something like Pathfinder, and my players seem to be enjoying themselves as well.
One point I'm a bit stuck on: when, exactly, does one call for an Investigator Development Phase? I have been running the 7th Edition reprint of The Haunting, which I have seen a number of sources claim can be played in a single session. However, between rules explanations, roleplaying, and, in general, some very brief play sessions, we should just be wrapping up that scenario during our third play session. In a situation like this, should I still be waiting until the end of the scenario to call for an Investigator Development Phase, or is there an appropriate time mid-scenario when this can be done?
Thanks in advance for any tips you may be able to offer on the subject, and I look forward to viewing more content on your channel!
Development Phase is up to you. Mid-adventure is fine if they have a safe spot to sleep for the night or there's some break. Such as in The Two-Headed Serpent, there is one they recommend that occurs during the millisecond the heroes are going through a portal into a different world. So you might have 2-3 sessions where there isn't one, or if it's a particularly long session, you might have one in the midpoint.
@@SSkorkowsky thanks for the quick reply and the advice! I'll try out some pacing options and see what feels best for our group.
I prefer the pre-7th edition mechanics but I do like the Luck points concept. This was a useful video though so thanks!
If editions 1-6 are your jam, that's fine. Maybe steal Luck or something else you want to add to your table. The big benefit to a basic understanding the rules changes is you can grab a 7e adventure or supplement and convert it to the older edition for you to use.
@@SSkorkowsky definitely. There are some great 7th scenarios & other material out there. It's a snip to convert to earlier editions.
Dear Seth
Have you ever tried gum shoe system. I love BRP but the resource management element of Trail of Cthulhu seems to be fun and seems to be similar to the buying success with luck mechanic I am not sure about it.
Never tried it. Many people in different online groups have spoken very highly of it and there have been several theories floated out there that 7e Call of Cthulhu adapted some of Gumshoe's mechanics.
Hi there, Quick question about skill check. May be obvious but i can't find a direct answer. Let say an investigator put no point in jump so he got only the 20% base chance right? But what if that investigator is an Athlete with very high score in dex and/or Strength. Like in the 80+?
Would you consider that a basic 20% jump is not 'fair' for such an athlete? Would you instead allow a hard strength instead?
Newcomer to your channel, you've definitely convinced me to buy the slipcase. Despite being a fan of the Lovecraft Mythos, I've generally shied away from this ruleset. I hear you mention Pulp Cthulhu and some of the rules you've snagged from it (2x hp, spending luck), do you grab anything else? Do you use talents? I'm considering running the new(er) 7th ed version of Masks, i'm fairly familiar with running multiple plot threads and my group likes large overarching stories but i'm concerned it's a bit of a meatgrinder and was looking to add a bit more... heartiness to my group without going full pulp. Curious as to how you would do it.
I'm a big fan of Pulp Cthulhu. Eventually, once my overview/review for 7e Call of Cthulhu is done, I'll give Pulp Cthulhu a proper review video. The short description is Pulp Cthulhu PCs get more skills, 2x HP, more Luck options, and Pulp Talents. They do have it set up so you can go higher or lower pulp, depending on your preferences. While I haven't read the new Masks of Nyarlathotep (or even a full read of the old versions) so I can't say how well it'll work. Rumor is that it will work as Pulp-lite. Currently, we're most of the way through the Pulp campaign The Two-Headed Serpent and have enjoyed it. That one, however, we go full pulp.
Seth Skorkowsky Thanks for the insight, from what looking I had done it seemed a lite pulp approach was the way to go for Mask. Difficult to get invested in a story or character when everyone dies. Also seeing that maybe Masks shouldn't be used for my first foray into the system ha. My group is extremely familiar with dnd and the archtypes therein so pulp cthulhu was looking good as a source of familiarity- but does it still keep the overall feeling of the game? I'm fine with changing Dick Tracy into Indiana Jones, but if an elder godling pops down and my party is more prone to fight than run I feel there's a problem.
Combat is definitely easier to survive in Pulp, but it's not like they'll be powerhouse characters. A powerful monster or Mythos entity will still mop the floor with them. But with Pulp, they'll probably be able to survive that initial blow and hopefully have the good sense to run away. In Call of Cthulhu, they need to be running before the big-bad lands that first attack. Think of it like this, if regular Call of Cthulhu characters are as strong as 2nd level D&D characters, Pulp Cthulhu Characters are like 5th level characters. Even a 5th level D&D character ain't taking a great red dragon anytime soon
The mood is how you make it. We played regular 7e for a year before converting those characters to Pulp Cthulhu and then playing them for another year. For the most part, we still played regular Call of Cthulhu mood and style. In fact, I used many of the scenarios I'd already deemed as too difficult for a regular Call of Cthulhu adventures and just used those with minimal changes if any. Changes were stuff like upping the number of low-level baddies and converting the main villains to Pulp Villains, which gave them double HP, Pulp Talents, and Luck abilities.
Seth Skorkowsky So I guess the big question is did you and your group prefer regular or pulp in the end? Kinda sounds like you moved to pulp, so did that move turn out positive? Or is it just that there's a place and time for both as storytelling styles. I'm just now watching your review of the pulp campaign and I think I have a much better idea of the combat.
And while I have your attention, I'd like to thank you for your responses here and especially for your videos. I had a lot of negative views of this system (many of which were similar to the ones mentioned in your introduction), and it's really exciting to know it's not as convoluted as I was led to believe. I'm currently going through the pdfs, and your explainations and breakdowns are very helpful (The book, like most rpg handbooks, is a pretty dry straight read).
Pulp Cthulhu has really hit the mark for us. It gave us the investigation and role-play we loved with Call of Cthulhu, but upped the ass-kicking when asses needed to be kicked. Once we're done with Two-Headed Serpent we'll probably return to regular CoC as a bit of a palate cleanser with some Modern Era 1-shots, then dive into Cthulhu Invictus or Gaslight. Not sure yet if we'll add pulp to those or not yet.
One thing I didn't mention, if you're looking for some old-fashioned CoC scenarios that can be run with Pulp Cthulhu with little to no changes, Thoth's Dagger, Black Devil Mountain, and pretty much anything in Goodman Game's Age of Cthulhu line. I have reviews for all that if you want to see the spots I suggest changing. All have more combat than most CoC characters could reasonably take, but are perfect for Pulp Characters.
Glad you've been enjoying the channel. The system is very simple and easy to customize. The myths I was led to believe about it have chased countless potential players (and paying customers) away. Hopefully some of those myths can begin going away as people become more aware of it.
BTW can you share your Jack Mallone Character sheet , if thats ok with you, i would love to have him in my game like right away.
Here you go. drive.google.com/open?id=1-8ydmTvG-IaSmGfqtQMjepo3EmlaiJVL
THANKZ!!!!
Fantastic video as always. One thing though: I was interested to see what Seth might say regarding the use of the opponent's skill level to determine the difficulty level for a player’s skill roll (if the NPC has an opposing skill of 50% or more, then the difficulty for the player is Hard, etc), as it's sometimes hard to know when to use this mechanic and when to use Opposed Rolls (another one of those ‘grey areas’ in the rules). However, the ‘skill level sets difficulty’ mechanic never even got a mention. Seth seemed to take the view that all skill-vs-skill situations get resolved by opposed rolls, which is not my understanding at all (in fact, I think ‘skill sets difficulty’ is the norm whilst Opposed Rolls are intended to be the exception). An oversight?
Bit of an oversight. Sometimes I just set the difficulty higher, but just as often I do opposed. Just as often as the PC might be having a good day or bad and their rolls are all high or low, so can an opponent's.
@@SSkorkowsky Cheers for responding, Seth. Yeah, I never quite understood why the game has those two similar-but-different mechanics for resolving contests of skill (or characteristics). Whilst it's true that each has advantages in certain situations (opposed rolls are clearly the thing for melee, while it’s hard to imagine them working for an PC pitting his strength against a solid door, for example - is the door going to get a roll?) overall the existence of twin mechanics does muddy things somewhat. When I was getting my head around the new 7ed rules I actually kept forgetting about the skill-sets-difficulty rule and kept using opposed rolls when I technically shouldn't have (the rulebook states that opposed rolls between players and NPCs should be avoided outside of melee, but it doesn't explain WHY it takes this position). No biggie, I guess, but IMO it takes away some of the crispness of clarity that the rest of the ruleset has.
Anyway, thanks again for a cracking set of videos; the entire channel is great. As somebody who started playing RPGs in 1981-ish, I'm also loving the reviews of old AD&D modules, Cyberpunk 2020 and Traveller, all of which I've played heavily in the past (and, in some cases, present).
🌟 *Please do character creation guides / overview for other systems you & your groups play .*
*Just like you did for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition .*
*I really want to learn more about RuinQuest RolePlaying in glorantha , Conan , aliens , delta green & Advanced Dungeons & dragons 1 & 2 .*
🌟
Very good and useful video
Extremely helpful!
I need that shirt.
If your player gets in the situation where they roll a crit on their luck roll and subsequently end up adding points to their POW. Would you let them increase their sanity in that situation too, if the sanity was lower than the new POW score?
Much appreciated video(s) Seth... A seasoned and reasonable explanation of the game and mechanics is definitely helpful... (yay)
As for all this selfless altruism out of you, you do know about George R. Price, right? His application of Game Theory to "Fisher's General Theorem of Natural Selection" provided that acts of altruism could be mathematically proven as greed-based acts of self preservation and therefore preservation of the genes in further generations... It's worth a perusal. :o)
Is there a skill experience roll for Cthulhu mythos skill if a player uses it in game?
Awesome!
Where did you get that cool shirt.
I got it from these guys. pegasuspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=42_163_176_94&products_id=3568
Thanks🕶
The penalty dice and higher difficulty levels have a bit too much overlap for my liking. It feels redundant and it's not always clear when to use one or the other (or both). This is especially true if you're writing your own scenarios because there's no guide other than your own opinion on how hard something is supposed to be. Obviously I can use an extreme check for something that's clearly ridiculous, but the 'hard' check is big grey area.
That's not a bad point, but the way I see it, a task is assigned a difficulty ahead of time, when the scenario is written, whereas bonus/penalty dice are awarded to a player during the course of play. (Correct me if I'm wrong; I don't own this edition yet) So for example, a particular book could be totally mis-shelved in the library. Finding it would be an extreme task. But, if the investigator knew the book was recently returned and knew where the page was last shelving books, they'd get a bonus die. Conversely, that investigator recently lost their glasses in a tussle with cultists, and thus would get a penalty die.
TL;dr answer: one is task-dependent, one is situation-dependent. Whether it's hard or extreme is a judgement call on the part of the author of the scenario or the keeper.
Keep up the great work Seth :)
Are there any versions of the character sheet that condenses the skills a bit? I've never been a big fan of having too many separate skills, and it looks like the list could be pared down just a bit.
None that I've seen. The skills list is pretty good. 7e already condensed many of the skills from previous editions (such as Punch, Kick, and Knife were compressed into Brawl, while Debate, Bargain, and Oratory were all turned into Persuade).
Thanks for the reply there. Yeah, I was only a little familiar with the older editions, and I couldn't remember how extensive the older lists were. I plan on picking up 7th here soon, and will probably run a vanilla game at first, and see if my group feels the need to further combine a few down the road with house rules after that.
BRP (which CoC is a version of) is skill based, so having lots of skills is kind of common. Most people who play go out of their way to use any skill they can, because that's how advancement works.
It may work out well in play, but I may try and house rule a few once I get 7th. I'll definitely try out the base rules before doing anything, but my group usually likes a more concise list of skills for our games. Stuff like "Detect" instead of both listen and spot, or "Athletics" instead of both Jump and Climb. Still, I like a lot of what I've seen of 7th so far. Good stuff. Thanks for the reply there.
Great stuff!
it's great you are making this series, it very helpful to me as a starting keeper of arcane knowledge.
I'm new to the game and have a question regarding opposed rolls. In the case of a tie, doesn't the side with the higher stat win? If both base stats are tied, then wouldn't the situation remain at an impasse?
It can remain at an impasse until the next round, or the Keeper can call for a re-roll.
is fumble just for regular skill (50) or "effective" skill like if your hard is 25, and extreme 14 does that still count as only 00 is fumble ?
All Skill Checks run the risk of rolling a Fumble. If the skill's level is below 50, then a Fumble happens on a roll of 96-00. If the skill's level is 50 or higher, then a Fumble is only on a roll of 00.
So if I have a Drive Auto skill that is 45, then I can Fumble if I roll a 96-00. But if I have a Drive Auto skill of 57, then I can only Fumble on a roll of a 00.
@@SSkorkowsky thank you Seth!
More D&D please. I'm blind and your reviews realy help
I do have some more D&D-specific reviews planned, but not a whole lot. Call of Cthulhu is my primary game and focus.
Good. D&D has enough TH-cam channels dedicated to it that it's good to see some other games get some love. Though that said, I do watch all of the videos you make. I even bought Cyberpunk 2020 after watching your videos about it so I hope you do some more reviews of that game as well.
I totally love the Call of Cthulhu game stuff Seth. I live your format. Its nice to have someone that goes in depth and gives advice. Nerdarchy, roll20 etc, don't do that
Hey Seth, I'm reading the Keeper book for the first time and rewatching your vids in between chapters. I noticed you said that pushed rolls are "re-rolls". According to the RAW a pushed roll is a separate attempt with time passing between a roll and a pushed roll, (a few seconds or maybe hours). Do you use this while playing? Or maybe that was a house rule I missed?
It's a 2nd and separate attempt. The player has to state what they're doing differently to warrant the pushed roll (i.e. rolling again, a.k.a. "re-roll").
@@SSkorkowsky oh I see. Thank you!
No problemo. Have fun with Call of Cthulhu.
Sure. Tell me it's not a crash course when I'm already 4 videos in..
Hey Seth, dumb Question about skills: Do you only get to use skills that you assign points to? or do you get the base amount on all of them? I just got the books, and have read the skills portion for both books (remarkably the same) but they seem to say that you only get skills you allocate points to. But then later, the keepers guide says "Everyone gets Drive: auto" which contradicts that.Thanks for the video, they are really well done. and thanks in advance, if you answer this question
You start at the base for all skills. So even if you didn't assign any points to them, you still get the base as the minimum for checks.
ok, I can work with that. (running my first game for free rpg day, cause my FLGS is short GMs). Thanks a lot,