Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook - Revised Seventh Edition: Horror Roleplaying in the Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft (Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying)

A very nice book indeed (and a great game!).

Order late on a Thursday, arrived, well packed on the Friday. Wow, what wonderful piece of Art and Literature. The print quality is excellent, solid hardback too. Also the pages and illustrations are beautiful. The info is well laid out with lots of handy tables and extensive Appendices. I had downloaded quick start and was reluctant to pay pay for a rule book, however, I am glad I did. On offer at £30 it was good value.

Between 1st and 6th edition the Call of Cthulhu rules hardly changed, but 7th edition introduces some real changes.Changes include: Characteristic values have been multiplied by five placing human values in the percentile range and saving the need for mental arithmetic during play. Occupational skill points are no longer derived solely from EDU. It depends on your occupation. For example an actor derives half his points from EDU and have from APP. Luck has been divorced from POW and is now a discrete Characteristic. Optional rules enable players to spend Luck points to turn failed Skill rolls into successes, and to increase Luck in the same way as Skills. The Skill list has been overhauled and new rules allow for varying degrees of success, which replace the Resistance Table in previous editions.So an Extreme Success beats a Hard Success, and a Hard Success beats a Regular Success. The weapon proficiency skill list has been streamlined so a competent fighter needs fewer skills. For example all unarmed attacks and attacks with simple weapons use the same skill (Brawling). And characters now have the option to fight back instead of dodging, which makes combat more of a two-way process. And these are just some of the changes. I haven't even mentioned rules like Pushing and Bonus/Penalty Dice. All the changes are for the better. 7th edition is just as simple as previous versions but it's far more dynamic. At last the game has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. And despite the numerous changes it's easy to convert previous editions to 7th editions. Finally the rule book comes with two adventures, both of which are new. 7th edition is however rather expensive. Chaosium is selling it for about $85 and many UK distributors are selling it for about £85, and despite the improvements and glossy hardback format it's not worth £85. So shop around. I got mine for £45 including postage. You may also want to check out the Quick Start Rules before you part with your cash. They're available as a free download on the Chaosium site and cover many of the new rules.

The product was in stellar condition when it arrived, and the contents do not disappoint. Within is an explanation of the Mythos, some background on Lovecraft’s writing, and then detailed explanations of character creation, combat, chases, gameplay, and magic, as well as a full list of magic items and stat blocks for more monsters than you could ever need for a good game. In a world were RPG producers seem to feel a need to split content between dozens of books, trying to force you to buy as many as possible, this volume is a breath of fresh air. Would definitely recommend.

I was actually really blown away by the quality of the rulebook. Well laid out, with lots of excellent illustrations and also well bound (some rule books for RPGs are shockingly put together). I also like the 7th edition - some nice builds on the older version we have been playing to date. I would certainly recommend the book - CoC is a great game I have been playing for (ahem) 30 years or so.

I have yet to play 7th edition. The quality of the publication, including presentation, content and some wonderful colour images, is vastly improved from the 6th edition.

Well I have everything except the first edition and have to say that most of the changes have been sensible. Artwork had improved greatly and something as simple as the bookmarks have been useful. If only every game changed things to improve the game rather than change because the new project manager wishes to make their mark.

It went down a treat…