"Which edition of Call of Cthulhu do you prefer?" Topic

Like it says, which edition do you prefer? Can anyone tell me what the differences are, if any, and why you like a particular edition over the others?

I bought fifth edition, many years ago (Sandy Petersen & Lynn Willis, 1992). It has a clean, double-column layout and a concise, readable style. There is enough monochrome art to give one a feel for the subject matter, but it doesn't dominate the book. Within its 240 pages, one has enough material (less dice and paper) to play the game. I don't represent it as the ultimate expression of the game, but it's always been enough for me.

Ron

My Wife, the CoC aficionado prefers the 3rd edition because she likes the clarity and precision of the rules. She also likes "Trail of Cthulhu" because it has simpler play, useful for the less Crunchy players. She is also looking at the "Spirit of the Century" rules, Which has an online CoC component.

5th is the one I pull out most of the time, because it's handy… though I'm still fond of the original boxed set.
They're all pretty similar. Certainly not as much alteration as most RPG rules go through… which is fine by me. It ain't broke so it don't need fixing.

Trail of Cthulhu rules are not my taste but it has some fun fluff/story ideas.

The last one I bought for myself was 3rd (after buying 1st and 2nd as well) but I have to admit the later ones are more polished.

Used to play in mid 80s. What edition was that? We used to play by candlelight, oil lantern or flashlight all the time. Talk about insanity rolls. Never saw so many adults looking over their shoulders at the smallest noise. There was always a sigh of relief when the over head lights came on.

@Doug,
That sounds truly inspired.

I first played 3rd Edition in College and will always remember it fondly as 5 of us crowded into my small room and had marathon game sessions… These days I've 6th Edition and I've played it a lot and quite enjoy it and agree with Space Wizard that all the editions are more-or-less similar… I know my various supplement aren't all 6th Edition and they still work just fine with the 6th Edition rules.

BRP with some bolt ons. It's basically 6th edition.

The first, as it is the only one I play.

5th is the one I have to hand usually but the core mechanics are the same in all editions, its not like D&D where each edition is a different game. I think 5th doled out more skill points during chargen and the skills list itself is sometime tweaked between editions but otherwise the differences are largely aesthetic and organisational.

The projected 7th ed will be making a number of rule changes though.

There are differences in the rules ????? I can't believe there's enough rule differences to make any impact on gameplay. I've played many many games of Cthulhu accross loads of versions and I've not noted any differences whatsoever. Any differences must be in the detail – which we ignore anyway.

Ian

Yj

the 3rd edition is my favorite.

I only have the 2nd Edition. Not a great game IMO, but very thematic. The cover is groovy.

The nice thing about Call of Cthulhu editions is that they are mostly refinement, prettier art/presentation, and expansion. Chaosium has lots of backwards compatibility built in, so adventures from earlier editions can be used with almost no changes.

Trail of Cthulhu seems to have appealed to folks who didn't care for the CoC mechanics and to CoC fans who appreciated a wealth of easy-to-add concepts for their CoC games. It has some pretty great adventures also and those can be used for CoC with extremely easy translation ( easy enough that you probably wouldn't need the actual rulebook to do it). The core investigative system (Gumshoe) that it uses would make for a great non-horror Police/Private Detective game all on its own.

CoC d20.

D20. It has a lot of inherent add-ons and tie-ins.

Thanks guys. Sounds like just about any edition will do. I think they have 6th at the local shop.

not strictly on-topic, but may be helpful:

yog-sothoth.com/content

Ron

Any CoC is good CoC :-)

@ Coelacanth,
Thanks for the link. One of our group is in on the Achtung Cthulhu kickstarter already, and another is wanting to buy CoC so we can do it up right.

@jgibbons.
I'm the only one in our group who has actually ever read Lovecraft (fell in love with his work in high school) so I agree, there can only be good CoC!

Any edition EXCEPT D20.

In D20 you "LEVEL UP" like in D&D, gaining additional 'hit points' for the character. Pretty soon you have experienced Librarians who can effectively sneer at double-barreled shotgun blasts.

Perfect for Munchkin play. Sheesh.