@@Mythda They were referring to The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China, the ones Seth used to compare the two in the video, I'd asusme that's the case, at least.
You ended up convincing me that pulp Cthulhu was a worthwhile pickup. Now, my group has been plagued by all my pulpy ideas such as The Robot Thief, Rocky Horror RPG, and Snake People on a plane.
Chatted with Mike Mason, you CAN have experience packages added to Pulp characters. He recommended the War Experienced Package for my veteran turned librarian.
Seth, I noticed a typo on your Luck Cheat Sheet: you wrote "Halfling Sanity Check" instead of "Halving Sanity Check". Do you have something against Hobbits? :)
Ah dang. That was an old version that was still lurking around my hard drive. Updated the downloadable version. Also... I don't dislike ALL Hobbits. But I confess some trust issues due to a bad experience when a family of shady Tooks moved into our neighborhood.
@@SSkorkowsky That is the disadvantage with keeping incremental versions of a file. But that is a fair trade off for being able to go back to older versions.
Theres something wrong with this video. Every time I get to the part where Jack says look into my eyes it ends. I know there are several minutes left, but the video seems to skip to the end.
Psychometry is a psychic talent in many games and stories. It relates specifically to touching an object like a watch or knife to learn more about a person or event connected with that object.
I was looking at the descriptions of Clairvoyance and Psychometry and I think the difference is Clairvoyance, in addition to allowing you to see invisible spirits and such, allows you to basically scry the CURRENT location of an object or person that isn't present while Psychometry let's you hold an object and know things about it. So in a scenario where the heroes are looking for a missing child, the hero with Clairvoyance makes his roll and sees that the child is currently crying in a cave somewhere to the South. The hero with Psychometry finds the boy's baseball in a field, holds it, makes his roll and sees that a wendigo grabbed the boy and started walking South just before the boy dropped the ball.
Another way I think you can look at it is Clairvoyance let's you see full images of events while Psychometry lets you feel the emotions connected with those events. Some real world psychics can only get feelings and impressions while others may see the past play out before then like a movie.
@@sophialaird6388 Something like that happened with Jeff Goldblum finding out that his girlfriend cheated in Vibes. They also did that in the first Puppet Master movie with a psychic using it to enhance sex with her husband.
Agreeing with Mauricio, Seth. You are the freakin' man. In the wasteland that is Call of Cthulhu content you are king. I really appreciate all the amazing content you put out there. Thank-you, Seth!
What I did as a Keeper was to have my Investigators take the characters who'd survived multiple scenarios and carry them over into Pulp Cthulhu as Heroes with the previous campaigns being their backstory for combatting the Mythos creatures.
Interesting, I might have to give this a try. Sounds like it could make a fun prequel to my Demon Hunters game. Wouldn't a pulp version of Cthulhu Invictus just be Xena with a high special effects budget?
I like the idea of injecting more Robert E Howard into my HP Lovecraft. Something about a pulpier, beating back the darkness take on the CoC has always appealed to me a bit more then the cosmic nihilism of Lovecraft's main work. Even if purest probably hate that idea. Anyhoo! Thanks for the review!
I consider myself a Cthulhu purist, but even I dabble with wild pulp style every now and then. Maybe add some Scooby-doo shenanigans, but instead of great dane, it is a great white gorilla.
I found this Channel having never played Call of Cthulhu, and hadn't played D&D in almost a decade. Your main CoC series taught me enough of the system that I got my groove back. Picked up 7e Keepers Guide + Pulp Cthulhu last month. Read both cover to cover and started a session last weekend. Hooked now, got u to thank homie. You rock, sent all my players to your channel to learn the basics. You are epic.
The TH-cam subtitles are confused by "Pulp Cthulhu" and substitute "Pope Cthulhu". But is this a genuine mistake, or a secret message revealing dread secrets? 😉
Nice call on Big Trouble in Little China there. I have absolutely loved the Pulp Cthulhu rules since I picked them up, and I cannot recommend them enough to people looking for a nice alternative to a typical pulp adventure game. I agree with the point on psychic powers and the gadget list. A few more really would have gone a long way to fleshing the book out a bit more and helping out the GM.
This actually reminds me of the time I took Twilight 2000's rule book and converted it for the Aliens universe. (By the way, nice Wayland Yutani shirt.) I let the players take their existing characters and upped the power of the weapons to reflect the sci-fi action improvements. Overall we had a great time and that's really what mattered.
You know, I bet that you could get a lot of mileage out of the Smith & Robards catalog of weird science gadgets from Deadlands. You could get ideas from a whole slew of inventions from that thing.
Psychometry is also known as object reading, and the psychometrist would be able to read the history of an object to some degree ... who used it, when, and why, for example.
Love the video as always just one minor thing at 8:17 you incorrectly mention luck regained in investigator development phase, you do have it as per session in your cheat sheet immediately thereafter, though it might be confusing for new keepers
Yeah, I caught that during editing, but by that point it wasn't worth it go go back and start over. It's correct on the handout and untimely, a Keeper should be checking the book.
So as a supercharger does pulp Cthulhu make shadows of you sosoth less meat grindery BTW I got into the game from your videos and I'll be getting the keeper book with the investigator handbook with the keeper screen for Christmas Thanks for the videos man
Never read Shadows of Yog, but it'll very likely tone down some PC fatalities. If nothing else, the Luck spend to avoid certain death will be helpful. Hope you enjoy them. In the Keeper Screen pack is a module called Missed Dues. Never run it, but have always wanted to give it a spin.
I love that Pulp Cthulhu can still be used with standard COC scenarios, just add more combatants or make them tougher. One issue I had trying to run a COC campaign was it's hard to use any of the monsters cause they can and will eat a player's face off in seconds. Regular COC doesn't have generic stat blocks for any human enemies either, so I had to stumble through the first combat. Coming off D&D, I was very used to having maybe 1 or 2 combats every session or every other session. So it was an interesting experience. Yet again, thank you Seth for having links to your self-made tables, maps, alternate charact sheets, etc.
You might check out the 'Feng Shui 2' RPG if you want that over-the-top mystic action movie feel with comedic undertones. Hits that BTiLC groove right on the head.
I had no idea Pulp Cthulhu had weird science. Has anyone in your group tried a weird science character? It would be so tempting to have a rocketeer or to have a Ghost Busters esc mythos pest controller.
I've had 2. One used a electric stun baton with great effect, but kinda-sorta blew up his house when he failed a pushed roll when building a Death Ray. The other (Buck if you've watched my Two-Headed Serpent series) kept trying to make some kind of glue-launching gun, but the player is dice-cursed, and he never pulled it off (His failure in making it ultimately led Caduceus to banning him from the upper labs due to damage caused). Buck did pull off some modifications to some Serpent-Person laser staffs and was able to operate their tech, which saved the party more than once.
I know it's probably been said before, but the difference between clairvoyance and psychometry: Clairvoyance: I see the present, but not from my perspective. I can't see what has been or any great detail about emotive events, but I can see what currently is with great clarity. Psychometry: I see the past as it pertains to this item, especially emotional events. I can't leave this item's frame of reference, but if this item has "seen" it, I can through it with great clarity. So clairvoyance, you can see a thing's present state, but only the present. Psychometry, you can see a thing's past, but you need the thing to do it and only that thing. Basically, the difference is the limiting factor - for clairvoyance, it's that you're limited to what currently is, for psychometry, it's what item you're looking through.
Great review and overview. I have really come to love Pulp Cthulhu as a way to take players more used to games like D&D and use it to give them an in to Lovecraftian RPGs without dying the first time they get a bit exited and forget that their 65 year old Archeology professor isn't a D&D fighter :) On top of the Excellent goodman games modules, I think Pulp Cthulhu finally gave me the system to actually run Shadows of Yog-Sothoth with and actually have a chance of the players surviving that meatgrinder campaign.
Good honest & insightful review. I recently got into the Arkham Horror novels and audiotapes. I've been using Pulp Cthulhu to convert the characters and scenarios from the books. It seems to work really well but I haven't group playtested it yet. During Lockdown, I came up with rules for playing Solo with allies - Pulp Cthulhu is also great for this! Ps. I bought and tested BRP Pulp but it doesn't have the right feel for what I wanted. I recommend Pulp Cthulhu for 'heroic' fights against dark cultists, Nazis and insane gods!
I always recommend Pulp Cthulhu over Call of Cthulhu. Too many CoC players are whiny little babies. "You can't fight the Mythos." "It destroys the spirit of Lovecraft's work." "Blah blah blah." **rolls to punch milquetoast intellectual stereotype character in the face**
Lovecraft loved Howard's contribution to the mythos, Howard's characters had a habit of punching, shooting and decapitating eldritch horrors. Even Lovecraft had story's where these things were defeated. In The Doom That Came To Sarnath a whole tribe of Deep Ones and their half human spawn get wiped out by a warrior band.
Couldn't agree more with the comment about Pulp being good if you want to have a longer-form campaign. I'm running my group through Masks of Nyaralathotep right now, and mixing in some Pulp rules just makes my life so much easier - I'm not averse to character death or insanity, but the dramatically reduced odds of losing _everyone_ means I have the freedom to let the dice fall where they may, both literally and figuratively. One bad decision from the party is now pretty unlikely to mean the campaign falls apart. What I've had great success with so far is mixing in bits and pieces of Pulp to CoC. Keeping the survivability bits, adding in archetypes, and using talents. I'm planning to very judiciously add in a couple of the pulpier bits (insanity powers, psychic abilities) as Big Moments tailored to individual characters over time, and probably never bring in weird science.\ For my group, at least, they're still playing through in a very CoC style (lots of investigation, avoiding direct confrontation more often than not), but when the action does kick in, there's a bit more meat on the bones, IMO.
As usual, this is a masterfully made and incredibly useful look at the system. This is a wonderful guide to how Pulp changes the game and provides tips on how to handle things that are less well supported in the system. Thank you again! Your Cthulhu series should be required watching!
The classic definition of Psychometry is the ability to touch an item and get a pychic impression of some aspect of its history. I could see that being a very dangerous power in any COC game.
Seth is there a monster manual for call of Cthulhu because I don't know a lot about Lovecraft books and would like to run a campaign centred around Cthulhu.
The Keeper Guide has a vary large section on monsters. Then there's the Malleus Monstrorum, which is like a Monster Manual with a lot more in it, but it's only available for old editions currently. Word on the street says they're going to release a 7e version of it. Also, we have Petersen's Field guide, but that's more like a player Monster manual, as it just goes into their behavior and descriptions and doesn't offer any stats. Now if you're meaning that you want to run a campaign in something that isn't Call of Cthulhu, Petersen Games has release a Cthulhu Mythos manual for Pathfinder and is finishing up on for D&D 5e petersengames.com/cthulhu-mythos/
I look at the comparison as "videogames". For Call of Cthulhu, it's more akin to Silent Hill 4. Sure, you could fight these horrors, but it's more investigation and learning just what's going on as forces beyond one's understanding (or set in motion by a cult) tug the protagonist along, like Henry Townsend. With Pulp Cthulhu, it's more like... Resident Evil 4. Yes, there are horrors to combat, but you'll have enough firepower to bring them down and plan... usually. Your protagonist in this case is the guy they call to rescue the President's daughter. XD ... Now I wonder if Leon S. Kennedy is indefinitely insane on a minor level and the wise-cracks are a coping mechanism. Hah.
I'm actually planning on starting my players out in standard COC then about 2 or 3 mysteries in boosting them into higher tier pulp Cthulhu sort of like leveling up
Your videos have really helped me explore the hobby with some friends. Getting ready to run Paranioa for the first time, and I'd love to see videos on some of the additional goodies outside the core set.
Have you ever considered the Achtung Cthulhu campaigns to run with Pulp Cthulhu? Modiphius have a ridiculous sale at the moment and the campaigns look great.
Finally got Pulp Cthulhu and I love it. I was shocked, however, that there was no Shadow-style "Cloud Men's Minds" ability. Maybe it is too powerful for CoC but I thought it would be natural and obvious for Pulp Cthulhu. I don't know the rules all that well yet but I keep thinking I am missing it somewhere.
Agreed. I'd have loved some Shadow-esque ability. But consider doing it as an Insane Talent for Hypnosis. Insane Talents let you kinda go nuts with what skills can do.
@@SSkorkowsky That is actually a really good idea. I was thinking of a mesmerist-type stage magician ala Mandrake the Magician so he would go high on Hypnosis. Thank you.
For something "completely different," I would love for you to run and review on a module such as "The Dying of St. Margaret's", or any similar "the investigators are doomed" module. These strike me as being beyond even Purist in their philosophy, and I have a hard time wrapping my head around them.
The problem is that I run what I review. I'm not one of those reviewers who simply reads a module and then quickly pumps out some "This is great" or "This is awful" report based on nothing more than my armchair opinion before racing off to the next review module so that I can increase my content. No. I run that thing through the gauntlet with my players. I spend hours prepping and then hours (mine and the players') playing it. So, I'm not going to ever run a module I see as not being enjoyable.
@@SSkorkowsky I do have to say that I wouldn't mind maybe some sort of "quick looks" so that someone who wants your take on it can have a good jumping off point? I know it wouldn't be in-depth, but your advice would be invaluable even for these trickier, less playable modules.
I've been wanting to try out Pulp Cthulhu for awhile, since the slower pace of Call of Cthulhu just didn't work for my group. This looks really fun and a lot more engaging!
I like how, despite being a more action focused game with an easier difficulty curve and lowered mortality, pulp cthulhu is actually liked by basically everybody, it is rare for such kinds of spin off to be so successful, guess that the catharsis that comes from kicking the deep ones ass after countless classic cthulhu games of getting mindfucked (and also regular fucked) by them is something that you can get into very easily.
Hey Seth, I was wondering did you ever try some rules light Cthulhu games like Cthulhu Dark or Tremulus or any similar systems, if yes what's your experience with them?
Thank Seth! While I've been thinking about getting into Call of Cthulhu, my group is a little hesitant. They are more of your typical "Big Damn Heroes" instead of your troubled investigator types and like punching things more than investigation. Pulp Cthulhu looks like it's right up our ally and I think it's worth a shot! We regularly compare ourselves to a lot of your pulp movie examples!
Simple fix on Clairvoyance vs. Psychometry: Psychometry is exclusively reading items/non-living objects that can be touched and that ability should be removed from Clairvoyance.
6:20 You should hold the revolver in your left hand and the semi-automatic pistol in your right hand. I bet early versions of the latter had the cartridge case ejection always on the right side.
It's actually not a huge issue. Most semi auto pistols eject right and up, and won't end up anywhere near the other hand. Especially the 1911 in question, the early high ejection port models throw brass at like 1 O'clock.
If anyone is interested in trying out the pulp era setting or is an experienced player, I am starting up a new full plotted campaign. Message me if interested.
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This is, hands down, one of the best RPG related channels on TH-cam. Seth, you're the man. (You too Jack)
The Scott Brown Cyberpunk story is a classic. I think about it a laugh almost every time I see a for sale sign out in front of a house.
Telephone shoe
*random cultist*
"Its for you"
*cultist killed by telephone shoe*
My favourite way of summing up the difference between base and Pulp?
Evil Dead 1 vs Army of Darkness
This checks out as true.
The similarity is that both include Kurt Russel.
@@real_mereghost .... did you mean Bruce Campbell? pretty sure Kurt Russel wasn't in either of the movies.
Groovy.
@@Mythda They were referring to The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China, the ones Seth used to compare the two in the video, I'd asusme that's the case, at least.
You ended up convincing me that pulp Cthulhu was a worthwhile pickup. Now, my group has been plagued by all my pulpy ideas such as The Robot Thief, Rocky Horror RPG, and Snake People on a plane.
>References both The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China
You are a man of culture, I see.
Chatted with Mike Mason, you CAN have experience packages added to Pulp characters. He recommended the War Experienced Package for my veteran turned librarian.
Interesting. Good to know that's still available.
Seth, I noticed a typo on your Luck Cheat Sheet: you wrote "Halfling Sanity Check" instead of "Halving Sanity Check". Do you have something against Hobbits? :)
Ah dang. That was an old version that was still lurking around my hard drive. Updated the downloadable version.
Also... I don't dislike ALL Hobbits. But I confess some trust issues due to a bad experience when a family of shady Tooks moved into our neighborhood.
@@SSkorkowsky That is the disadvantage with keeping incremental versions of a file. But that is a fair trade off for being able to go back to older versions.
I cant wait for parts 2-9 of the Pulp Cthulhu series!
This really didn't age well, did it?
He did a 9 part review of Two-Headed Serpent though.
still waiting...
Theres something wrong with this video. Every time I get to the part where Jack says look into my eyes it ends. I know there are several minutes left, but the video seems to skip to the end.
Next thing I knew, I was standing in front of the fridge with the door open, staring into that abyss.
@@NefariousKoel was Gozer
looking back at you?
Actually that literally happened to me... or at least midway through, my cellphones alarm went off and the video had to stop. 😉
Psychometry is a psychic talent in many games and stories. It relates specifically to touching an object like a watch or knife to learn more about a person or event connected with that object.
I was looking at the descriptions of Clairvoyance and Psychometry and I think the difference is Clairvoyance, in addition to allowing you to see invisible spirits and such, allows you to basically scry the CURRENT location of an object or person that isn't present while Psychometry let's you hold an object and know things about it.
So in a scenario where the heroes are looking for a missing child, the hero with Clairvoyance makes his roll and sees that the child is currently crying in a cave somewhere to the South. The hero with Psychometry finds the boy's baseball in a field, holds it, makes his roll and sees that a wendigo grabbed the boy and started walking South just before the boy dropped the ball.
Another way I think you can look at it is Clairvoyance let's you see full images of events while Psychometry lets you feel the emotions connected with those events.
Some real world psychics can only get feelings and impressions while others may see the past play out before then like a movie.
There’s a movie with a psychometrist. He makes the mistake of touching a table 2 people had s*x on.
Edit: I think it was called Vibes.
@@sophialaird6388
Something like that happened with Jeff Goldblum finding out that his girlfriend cheated in Vibes.
They also did that in the first Puppet Master movie with a psychic using it to enhance sex with her husband.
For that time when your cthulhu characters wake up in the village of homlet
Don not forget , the 1930's is when Superman came out.
Agreeing with Mauricio, Seth. You are the freakin' man. In the wasteland that is Call of Cthulhu content you are king. I really appreciate all the amazing content you put out there. Thank-you, Seth!
What I did as a Keeper was to have my Investigators take the characters who'd survived multiple scenarios and carry them over into Pulp Cthulhu as Heroes with the previous campaigns being their backstory for combatting the Mythos creatures.
Interesting, I might have to give this a try. Sounds like it could make a fun prequel to my Demon Hunters game.
Wouldn't a pulp version of Cthulhu Invictus just be Xena with a high special effects budget?
Or any special effects budget?
I like the idea of injecting more Robert E Howard into my HP Lovecraft. Something about a pulpier, beating back the darkness take on the CoC has always appealed to me a bit more then the cosmic nihilism of Lovecraft's main work. Even if purest probably hate that idea. Anyhoo! Thanks for the review!
Crom laughs at your Deep Ones
I consider myself a Cthulhu purist, but even I dabble with wild pulp style every now and then.
Maybe add some Scooby-doo shenanigans, but instead of great dane, it is a great white gorilla.
I found this Channel having never played Call of Cthulhu, and hadn't played D&D in almost a decade. Your main CoC series taught me enough of the system that I got my groove back. Picked up 7e Keepers Guide + Pulp Cthulhu last month. Read both cover to cover and started a session last weekend. Hooked now, got u to thank homie. You rock, sent all my players to your channel to learn the basics. You are epic.
Glad you're all enjoying it. Have fun.
The TH-cam subtitles are confused by "Pulp Cthulhu" and substitute "Pope Cthulhu". But is this a genuine mistake, or a secret message revealing dread secrets? 😉
Raiding the Vaults of the Holy See is definitely a Pulp thing to do
Nice call on Big Trouble in Little China there. I have absolutely loved the Pulp Cthulhu rules since I picked them up, and I cannot recommend them enough to people looking for a nice alternative to a typical pulp adventure game. I agree with the point on psychic powers and the gadget list. A few more really would have gone a long way to fleshing the book out a bit more and helping out the GM.
Hell yeah, I have been looking forward to this video
This actually reminds me of the time I took Twilight 2000's rule book and converted it for the Aliens universe. (By the way, nice Wayland Yutani shirt.) I let the players take their existing characters and upped the power of the weapons to reflect the sci-fi action improvements. Overall we had a great time and that's really what mattered.
I mixed pulp and normal Cathulu to make it so a that they should still run/investigate, but also be a hero/and fight monsters.
I literally turned on youtube to watch a Seth video while going to bed. Seth uploads 1 minute ago? *WTF*
*liking and replying to my own post because I do stuff like that all the time #witchcraft
So like... you go to sleep watching my vids? Hmmm.
*jots down note to make a video of just Jack singing lullabies (badly) *
Good to know I'm not the only one who watches Seth's videos as I drift off to sleep
Jack is fully welcome to sing lullabies, "Night Before Crit-Mass", do it all! Do NOT hold back!
Yes. Do it.
I like my Cthulhu like how I like my OJ, with pulp
Seth is the best at what he does.
Now this seems like my kind of game. Was hesitant to grab call of Cthulhu but with this I think I could actually run it with my friends :)
Alexander Mandzi - Cthulhu seems intimidating but the latest edition is very doable! Go for it!
As always, you deliver top quality content. Thanks for so much Seth!
You know, I bet that you could get a lot of mileage out of the Smith & Robards catalog of weird science gadgets from Deadlands. You could get ideas from a whole slew of inventions from that thing.
Psychometry is also known as object reading, and the psychometrist would be able to read the history of an object to some degree ... who used it, when, and why, for example.
Love the video as always just one minor thing at 8:17 you incorrectly mention luck regained in investigator development phase, you do have it as per session in your cheat sheet immediately thereafter, though it might be confusing for new keepers
Yeah, I caught that during editing, but by that point it wasn't worth it go go back and start over. It's correct on the handout and untimely, a Keeper should be checking the book.
Untimely = Ultimately. I can't even blame auto-correct since I'm at a keyboard.
Sprinklers in the back of a limo.
Yeah.
Sure, why not.
From all channels I subscribe to, Seth's the fastest click/like
i'm running a pulp cthulhu game this satudary, thanks for remembering me some details.
A fantastic addition to your library of reviews, Seth. Thank you for furthering the hobby.
The campaign we just started in running in Victorian England with Steampunk elements. Make use of the weird science aspect for many things.
Sounds fun!
So as a supercharger does pulp Cthulhu make shadows of you sosoth less meat grindery
BTW I got into the game from your videos and I'll be getting the keeper book with the investigator handbook with the keeper screen for Christmas
Thanks for the videos man
Never read Shadows of Yog, but it'll very likely tone down some PC fatalities. If nothing else, the Luck spend to avoid certain death will be helpful.
Hope you enjoy them. In the Keeper Screen pack is a module called Missed Dues. Never run it, but have always wanted to give it a spin.
@@SSkorkowsky thanks man yeah I got yog because I heard it was fun but after reading it I'm gonna wait till my group is a tad more experienced
I love that Pulp Cthulhu can still be used with standard COC scenarios, just add more combatants or make them tougher. One issue I had trying to run a COC campaign was it's hard to use any of the monsters cause they can and will eat a player's face off in seconds. Regular COC doesn't have generic stat blocks for any human enemies either, so I had to stumble through the first combat. Coming off D&D, I was very used to having maybe 1 or 2 combats every session or every other session. So it was an interesting experience.
Yet again, thank you Seth for having links to your self-made tables, maps, alternate charact sheets, etc.
You just named my favorite director, actor, and movie in the same sentence.
I'm sold.
Just got the book and waiting for Masks to arrive
I always wanted to play Big Trouble In Little China.
You might check out the 'Feng Shui 2' RPG if you want that over-the-top mystic action movie feel with comedic undertones. Hits that BTiLC groove right on the head.
I had no idea Pulp Cthulhu had weird science. Has anyone in your group tried a weird science character? It would be so tempting to have a rocketeer or to have a Ghost Busters esc mythos pest controller.
I've had 2. One used a electric stun baton with great effect, but kinda-sorta blew up his house when he failed a pushed roll when building a Death Ray. The other (Buck if you've watched my Two-Headed Serpent series) kept trying to make some kind of glue-launching gun, but the player is dice-cursed, and he never pulled it off (His failure in making it ultimately led Caduceus to banning him from the upper labs due to damage caused). Buck did pull off some modifications to some Serpent-Person laser staffs and was able to operate their tech, which saved the party more than once.
I’ve been looking forward to giving pulp a try.
I’m thinking of running a Victorian era Campaign combining Castlevania and Bloodborne. I think this would be perfect.
I know it's probably been said before, but the difference between clairvoyance and psychometry:
Clairvoyance: I see the present, but not from my perspective. I can't see what has been or any great detail about emotive events, but I can see what currently is with great clarity.
Psychometry: I see the past as it pertains to this item, especially emotional events. I can't leave this item's frame of reference, but if this item has "seen" it, I can through it with great clarity.
So clairvoyance, you can see a thing's present state, but only the present. Psychometry, you can see a thing's past, but you need the thing to do it and only that thing. Basically, the difference is the limiting factor - for clairvoyance, it's that you're limited to what currently is, for psychometry, it's what item you're looking through.
Great review and overview. I have really come to love Pulp Cthulhu as a way to take players more used to games like D&D and use it to give them an in to Lovecraftian RPGs without dying the first time they get a bit exited and forget that their 65 year old Archeology professor isn't a D&D fighter :)
On top of the Excellent goodman games modules, I think Pulp Cthulhu finally gave me the system to actually run Shadows of Yog-Sothoth with and actually have a chance of the players surviving that meatgrinder campaign.
Good honest & insightful review. I recently got into the Arkham Horror novels and audiotapes. I've been using Pulp Cthulhu to convert the characters and scenarios from the books. It seems to work really well but I haven't group playtested it yet. During Lockdown, I came up with rules for playing Solo with allies - Pulp Cthulhu is also great for this!
Ps. I bought and tested BRP Pulp but it doesn't have the right feel for what I wanted. I recommend Pulp Cthulhu for 'heroic' fights against dark cultists, Nazis and insane gods!
So luck is a lot like Dark Heresy fate points?
Well you sold me, I’m buying this ASAP
I always recommend Pulp Cthulhu over Call of Cthulhu. Too many CoC players are whiny little babies. "You can't fight the Mythos." "It destroys the spirit of Lovecraft's work." "Blah blah blah." **rolls to punch milquetoast intellectual stereotype character in the face**
Lovecraft loved Howard's contribution to the mythos, Howard's characters had a habit of punching, shooting and decapitating eldritch horrors. Even Lovecraft had story's where these things were defeated. In The Doom That Came To Sarnath a whole tribe of Deep Ones and their half human spawn get wiped out by a warrior band.
@@Julian_The_Apostate Crom laughs at your sleeping Idiot god at the center of the universe
This is great, thank you! Looking to get into Pulp after I finish my current campaign and this video only increased my hype.
Have picked up any of the Achtung Cthulhu adventures to run with Pulp Cthulhu?
I haven't.
Couldn't agree more with the comment about Pulp being good if you want to have a longer-form campaign. I'm running my group through Masks of Nyaralathotep right now, and mixing in some Pulp rules just makes my life so much easier - I'm not averse to character death or insanity, but the dramatically reduced odds of losing _everyone_ means I have the freedom to let the dice fall where they may, both literally and figuratively. One bad decision from the party is now pretty unlikely to mean the campaign falls apart.
What I've had great success with so far is mixing in bits and pieces of Pulp to CoC. Keeping the survivability bits, adding in archetypes, and using talents. I'm planning to very judiciously add in a couple of the pulpier bits (insanity powers, psychic abilities) as Big Moments tailored to individual characters over time, and probably never bring in weird science.\
For my group, at least, they're still playing through in a very CoC style (lots of investigation, avoiding direct confrontation more often than not), but when the action does kick in, there's a bit more meat on the bones, IMO.
Masks is _brutal._ tons of fun, but brutal
You can have a fine playing experience with just pulp the starter set and your phone
As usual, this is a masterfully made and incredibly useful look at the system. This is a wonderful guide to how Pulp changes the game and provides tips on how to handle things that are less well supported in the system. Thank you again! Your Cthulhu series should be required watching!
In order to play Pulp Cthulhu you need..... Kurt Russell
The classic definition of Psychometry is the ability to touch an item and get a pychic impression of some aspect of its history. I could see that being a very dangerous power in any COC game.
Every time he says Cthulhu...DRINK!
Adam
Seth is there a monster manual for call of Cthulhu because I don't know a lot about Lovecraft books and would like to run a campaign centred around Cthulhu.
The Keeper Guide has a vary large section on monsters. Then there's the Malleus Monstrorum, which is like a Monster Manual with a lot more in it, but it's only available for old editions currently. Word on the street says they're going to release a 7e version of it. Also, we have Petersen's Field guide, but that's more like a player Monster manual, as it just goes into their behavior and descriptions and doesn't offer any stats.
Now if you're meaning that you want to run a campaign in something that isn't Call of Cthulhu, Petersen Games has release a Cthulhu Mythos manual for Pathfinder and is finishing up on for D&D 5e petersengames.com/cthulhu-mythos/
I look at the comparison as "videogames". For Call of Cthulhu, it's more akin to Silent Hill 4. Sure, you could fight these horrors, but it's more investigation and learning just what's going on as forces beyond one's understanding (or set in motion by a cult) tug the protagonist along, like Henry Townsend. With Pulp Cthulhu, it's more like... Resident Evil 4. Yes, there are horrors to combat, but you'll have enough firepower to bring them down and plan... usually. Your protagonist in this case is the guy they call to rescue the President's daughter. XD
... Now I wonder if Leon S. Kennedy is indefinitely insane on a minor level and the wise-cracks are a coping mechanism. Hah.
This review just made me login into Amazon:)
I'm super late, but Hellboy is an exceptionally good Pulp Cthulhu setting.
Awesome! Seth, you ought to check out Pulp Alley. It's more of a "wargame" than an RPG, but still a ton of fun.
So... what you’re saying is that we should be trying to be Kurt Russel in Call of Cthulhu.
When do we get a Valducan RPG?
I'm actually planning on starting my players out in standard COC then about 2 or 3 mysteries in boosting them into higher tier pulp Cthulhu sort of like leveling up
Pulp Cthulhu, the film that instantly sprang to mind was "Doc Savage : The Man of Bronze" (1975)
Great Video Seth. Wasn't sure about it before but I gotta check it out now
Your videos have really helped me explore the hobby with some friends. Getting ready to run Paranioa for the first time, and I'd love to see videos on some of the additional goodies outside the core set.
Please review Achtung Cthulhu
It sounds interesting, but aside from a brief flipping through a book at a game shop, I haven't read it.
RATS!
Great work as usual! Haven’t tried out Pulp rules yet but based on this video seems just right for my group
Kudos for Jack always handing firearms per correct safety protocols, regardless those be real or props.
Are you going to move the reaping to this playlist? Cause it should probably be with Icarus
Have you ever considered the Achtung Cthulhu campaigns to run with Pulp Cthulhu? Modiphius have a ridiculous sale at the moment and the campaigns look great.
Finally got Pulp Cthulhu and I love it. I was shocked, however, that there was no Shadow-style "Cloud Men's Minds" ability. Maybe it is too powerful for CoC but I thought it would be natural and obvious for Pulp Cthulhu. I don't know the rules all that well yet but I keep thinking I am missing it somewhere.
Agreed. I'd have loved some Shadow-esque ability. But consider doing it as an Insane Talent for Hypnosis. Insane Talents let you kinda go nuts with what skills can do.
@@SSkorkowsky
That is actually a really good idea. I was thinking of a mesmerist-type stage magician ala Mandrake the Magician so he would go high on Hypnosis.
Thank you.
Cthulhu gaslight to steampunk sounds amazing!
Thanks For the content Seth. You inspired my players and myself to create our channel. Hoping to eventually do reviews like yourself, Thanks!
For something "completely different," I would love for you to run and review on a module such as "The Dying of St. Margaret's", or any similar "the investigators are doomed" module. These strike me as being beyond even Purist in their philosophy, and I have a hard time wrapping my head around them.
The problem is that I run what I review. I'm not one of those reviewers who simply reads a module and then quickly pumps out some "This is great" or "This is awful" report based on nothing more than my armchair opinion before racing off to the next review module so that I can increase my content. No. I run that thing through the gauntlet with my players. I spend hours prepping and then hours (mine and the players') playing it. So, I'm not going to ever run a module I see as not being enjoyable.
... which is why we love this channel! :D
@@SSkorkowsky I do have to say that I wouldn't mind maybe some sort of "quick looks" so that someone who wants your take on it can have a good jumping off point? I know it wouldn't be in-depth, but your advice would be invaluable even for these trickier, less playable modules.
I've been wanting to try out Pulp Cthulhu for awhile, since the slower pace of Call of Cthulhu just didn't work for my group. This looks really fun and a lot more engaging!
I like how, despite being a more action focused game with an easier difficulty curve and lowered mortality, pulp cthulhu is actually liked by basically everybody, it is rare for such kinds of spin off to be so successful, guess that the catharsis that comes from kicking the deep ones ass after countless classic cthulhu games of getting mindfucked (and also regular fucked) by them is something that you can get into very easily.
Deep one? More like lame one!
Hey Seth, I was wondering did you ever try some rules light Cthulhu games like Cthulhu Dark or Tremulus or any similar systems, if yes what's your experience with them?
How would you feel about rewarding Luck Points as an alternate kind of XP?
Thank Seth! While I've been thinking about getting into Call of Cthulhu, my group is a little hesitant. They are more of your typical "Big Damn Heroes" instead of your troubled investigator types and like punching things more than investigation. Pulp Cthulhu looks like it's right up our ally and I think it's worth a shot! We regularly compare ourselves to a lot of your pulp movie examples!
Interesting.
This sounds perfect for one shots.
I like the idea of tougher investigators. Thanks for this review..going to share it my RPG group.
I was expecting to need Kurt Russle to play pulp Cthulhu
I like this, I'm going to be playing a oneshot this weekend. Might suggest to the Keeper to do a Pulp campaign after it ends.
Simple fix on Clairvoyance vs. Psychometry: Psychometry is exclusively reading items/non-living objects that can be touched and that ability should be removed from Clairvoyance.
📝 you should make a video listing what Scenarios are best played as Call of Cthulhu or Pulp Cthulhu.
Has anyone done a "cthulhu count" for this episode yet?
Yur movie tastes...John Carpenter did a literal modern day Cthulhu movie and its great...with Sam Neal.
6:20 You should hold the revolver in your left hand and the semi-automatic pistol in your right hand.
I bet early versions of the latter had the cartridge case ejection always on the right side.
It's actually not a huge issue. Most semi auto pistols eject right and up, and won't end up anywhere near the other hand. Especially the 1911 in question, the early high ejection port models throw brass at like 1 O'clock.
Love the channel. Would Pulp Cthulthu/CoC 7E be a good choice to play world war 1 or 2? how would they compare to Acthung Cthulhu by modiphius?
Kurt Russell fan ? Oh the Ego ;-)
Hey, do you think escape from NY was a 1 shot adventure where the player actually lived?
A 1960-70's game in the vein of Johnny Quest would be perfect for Pulp Cthulhu.
can you mix Pulp Cthulhu with Call of Cthulu and not have to worry? Like take rules from Pulp to use in base without much worry for balance?
...and now I want orange juice...
So which game system is Escape from New York Kurt Russell?
If anyone is interested in trying out the pulp era setting or is an experienced player, I am starting up a new full plotted campaign. Message me if interested.