Call of Cthulhu (role playing game)

Call of Cthulhu is a horror role-playing game set in the twenties and in particular in the "Cthulhu Mythos", a fictional universe started by the American writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft. In fact, the title of the game takes up that of the story of the same title that Lovecraft had written in 1926 and published for the first time in 1928. This role-playing game was first published in the United States by the publisher Chaosium in 1981 and is currently in its seventh edition. The game's main author, Sandy Petersen, designed Call of Cthulhu by applying Chaosium's generic game system, Basic Role-Playing (1980) to Lovecraft's fictional universe., in turn extrapolated from another Chaosium role-playing game, RuneQuest (1978).

Game system

The game system of Call of Cthulhu is the one that Chaosium first created for its role-playing game RuneQuest in 1978 and that it began publishing from 1980 under the title Basic Role-Playing (or BRP for short) to apply to almost every role-playing game he would publish during the '80s. Stormbringer was, in 1981, the first independent Chaosium RPG from RuneQuest to be based on Basic Role-Playing. The Call of Cthulhu was the second, published shortly after Stormbringer in the same year of 1981. There has, however, been an edition of The Call of Cthulhu since 2001. of Cthulhu published under license by Wizards of the Coast and does not use the BRP system but the d20 system.

The BRP system is essentially based on the use of a hundred die to resolve character actions. For these purposes, character abilities are expressed as a percentage and success in an action related to one of those abilities is obtained when a player makes a die roll of one hundred equal to or less than the percentage that his character has in the ability in question. If for example a character has 25% in "Car Driving" and is forced to drive over the edge of a cliff, the character and his vehicle will fall off the cliff if the player playing the character rolls higher than 25. Driving would be successful if you get 25 or less. Another character with 85% in that same driving skill would obviously be a better driver, since his player would have less difficulty getting 85 or less on his die roll of one hundred. The percentages attributed to the abilities are, however, modified according to the conditions in which the character finds himself. Modifiers, positive or negative, are generally decided by the GM. If, for example, the character who has 85% in «Driving Car» is wounded by a bullet in the arm, the game director can decide that his «Driving Car» rolls suffer from a negative modifier of 25% (his 85% is seen then reduced to 60%).

In addition to the percentage system, which is the one that governs the resolutions of actions, the game system of Call of Cthulhu provides other rules for other aspects of the game, such as combat (with weapons of fire, although also with melee weapons, fists, kicks etc.), magic (in Call of Cthulhu the magic is essentially intended to summon horrible spooky creatures from other dimensions) or sanity (one of the originalities of the game: in accordance with what happens in Lovecraft's stories, the characters are at all times running the risk of partially or permanently losing their mental health, especially when discovering the supernatural horrors that are hidden behind everyday reality). Due to this occult aspect of the Lovecraftian universe, the game designates the player characters as "investigators" and the gamemaster as "arcana keeper".

Game universe

The Call of Cthulhu is based on the Cthulhu Mythos, the world created by the American writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft and a circle of authors who exchanged stories among themselves from approximately 1920 to 1930.

H. P. Lovecraft created his own horror, apart from the typical gothic terror of romanticism. His mythology includes a host of gods and monsters from the stars to dominate the world through his religious followers, all depicted in oppressive tales set in America during the Roaring Twenties.

In addition to the seven basic editions of Call of Cthulhu that have been published so far, set in the 1920s, some adaptations set in other times have also been published: in Roman times and in the near future (Cthulhu Invictus and Cthulhu Rising, not yet translated into Spanish), in the Middle Ages (Cthulhu Dark Ages, original title: Cthulhu Dark Ages), in Victorian times (Gaslight, original title: Cthulhu by Gaslight) and in the present day (Cthulhu Now, original title: Cthulhu Now).

Gambling in Spain

The third American edition of The Call of Cthulhu was translated and published in Spain by the Barcelona publishing house Joc Internacional starting in September 1988. After the publishing house Dalmau Carles Pla S.A. translated and published Dungeons & Dragons in 1985 Call of Cthulhu was the second role-playing game to be published in Spain as well as the first to be published by Joc Internacional. In addition to reprinting the basic book seven more times until 1997, this publisher also translated and published fourteen supplements, one of them (The Guardian of the Arcana) containing the screen of the game director (which is who precisely the game calls the arcana keeper while it calls the players investigators). It is noteworthy that in the 80s and 90s some of the first Spanish role-playing clubs, such as Auryn with Ricard Ibáñez or Los Pelotas with Álex de la Iglesia, created numerous supplements for The Call of Cthulhu, proof of the early success achieved in Spain by this role-playing game.

When Joc Internacional signed its closing balance sheet in 1998, Chaosium passed the exploitation license to the publishing house La Factoría de Ideas, who did not resume the editions of Joc Internacional but directly translated the edition that had just been published at that time, edition 5.5, a revised version of the fifth American edition.

In addition to the adventures and game aids created by fans and published in various magazines, the supplement La piel de toro was published in Spain, similar in appearance to the American settings but in the describing the Spain of the 1920s, with extensive information and touches of the Cthulhu Mythos. This independent module (created by Ricard Ibáñez) was first published in 1997 by Joc Internacional and reissued in 2004 by Proyectos Editoriales Crom. The 2004 reissue used both the d20 system and the classic BRP system as the rules system.

On December 11, 2008, Edge Entertainment announced on its website that it would publish the sixth edition of Call of Cthulhu, previously unpublished in Spanish. In its statement, Edge stated that it would also incorporate revised texts and original content so that it could be played without having to purchase more books than the basic manual, providing enough information for the creation of characters and adventures without any restrictions. In the aforementioned statement, Edge stated: "the sixth edition of this mythical title will be released in 2009." However, the year passed without the sixth edition being published and without further announcements being issued. Finally the 6th edition, by Edge Entertainment, went on sale on December 9, 2011, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the first edition of the game.

Subsequently, in 2020, Edge Entertainment published the seventh edition of Call of Cthulhu, with notable changes to the gameplay. He explained that the delay occurred because the original publisher of the game had serious legal and debt problems, which made it impossible to continue working with it. The brand was sold to another publisher and Edge Entertainment was able to work to get the new edition out. He sent the first version to the printer in March 2019.

US editions published by Chaosium

• Call of Cthulhu, first edition (1981)
• Call of Cthulhu Designer's Edition, edition of the game designer (1982)
• Call of Cthulhu, second edition (1983)
• Call of Cthulhu, third edition (1986)
• Call of Cthulhu, fourth edition (1989)
• Call of CthulhuFifth edition (1992)
• Call of Cthulhuedition 5.5 (1998)
• Call of Cthulhu, edition 5.6 (2000)
• Call of Cthulhu 20th anniversary editionedition of the twentieth anniversary (2001)
• Call of Cthulhu Miskatonic University edition (2001)
• Call of Cthulhu, sixth edition (2004)
• Call of Cthulhu, edition of the twenty-fifth anniversary (2006)
• Call of Cthulhu, edition of the thirtieth anniversary (2011)
• Call of Cthulhu, seventh edition (2014)

US editions published by Wizards of the Coast

• Call of Cthulhu D20 (2001)

Basic books and modules published in Spanish

Joc International

• Cthulhu's call, basic book, first edition translated in September 1988 (of the third original edition) and reprinted seven times until October 1997
• Fragments of Terror
• The asylum
• Just against the Wendigo
• The terror that came from the stars
• The Keeper of the Arks
• Yuggoth mushrooms
• The Curse of the Cthonians
• The shadows of Yog-Sothoth
• Only against the dark
• The trace of Tsathogghua
• Bohemia Crystal
• The Lands of Dream
• The seed of Azathoth
• Nyarlathotep masks
• The Primigen
• Secrets of Arkham
• Austral terror
• The bull skin

The Idea Factory

• Cthulhu's call (basic book, translation of the 5.5 edition of Chaosium)
• Compendium of Monsters
• Heart of the Horror
• Cthulhu Actual
• Cthulhu Dark Age
• Guard Team
• Screen of the Guardian
• Handbook of the Guardian
• Estigma de la Locura
• Cairo Guide
• London Guide
• New Orleans Guide
• Guide to Researcher of the Years 20
• H.P. Lovecraft, Dunwich
• Innsmouth Walk
• Gas Light (Cthulhu by Gaslight)
• The Primigen
• Kingdom of Shadows
• Secrets of New York
• Cthulhu D20's call (basic book translated from Wizards of the Coast edition)
• La Cosa in the Umbral
• Rainbow Project
• Land of Nobody
• Cthulhu: the End of Times
• Acolytes
• Hidden masters
• Before the Fall
• The Forest of the Thousand Falls
• Mortal calculations
• In the Shadows
• Strange Evos
• Kingsport
• Beyond the Mountains
• Horror at the Orient Express
• Dark Designs
• Resection in Time
• The King of Chicago
• Secrets
• The Seed of Azathoth
• The Shadows of Yog-Sothoth
• The Bermuda Triangle
• Guide to Miskatonic University

HT Editors

• Mortal Coils, mortal spiral (a compendium of scenarios translated in 2000 by HT Editores, Canarian publishing house that closed after having published this unique book)

Crom Editorial Projects

• The bull skin (2004, reissue of the supplement published in 1997 by Joc International)

Edge Entertainment

• Cthulhu's call. Primigenian Edition, basic book, published on December 9, 2011 (of the original sixth edition).
• Screen of the Guardian, published on December 9, 2011 (of the 6th American edition, which in turn is adaptation of the 6th French edition).
• The Nyarlathotep MasksAdventure campaign. Published for the first time in full Spanish on August 31, 2012 (of the fourth original edition).
• The Guide to the Researcher of the Years 20, reference manual for players. Published in September 2013 (of the fourth original edition).
• The Mansions of the MadnessOne-Shot adventure supplement. Published for the first time in Spanish in December 2014 (of the second original edition).
• The Harapos of the KingAdventure campaign. Published for the first time in Spanish in 2018 (of the first original edition).

Related games

Chaosium has licensed to other US publishers the use of the Call of Cthulhu game system, in particular with the standalone game Delta Green, from Pagan Publishing. From this line of products, the books Delta Green Basic and Delta Green Adventures have been translated into Spanish by La Factoría de Ideas. Other licenses for Cthulhu games include those granted to Miskatonic River Press, Theater of the Mind Enterprises, Triad Entertainment, Games Workshop, Fantasy Flight Games, RAFM, Grenadier Models and Yog-Sothoth.com. These different products are set in different times and even in different game universes than those of the original RPG.

Trail of Cthulhu

On March 1, 2008, Pelgrane Press published Trail of Cthulhu, an indie role-playing game created by Kenneth Hite using the Gumshoe system. and developed by Robin Laws. In June of the same year the game was translated into Spanish by Edge Entertainment.

Shadows of Cthulhu

In September 2008, Reality Deviant Publications published Shadows of Cthulhu, a supplement that brings a Lovecraftian setting to Green Ronin Publishing's True20 system.

CthulhuTech

Another role-playing game set in the Cthulhu Mythos but adapted to a sci-fi setting is CthulhuTech. Originally published in English by Catalyst Game Labs in 2007 CthulhuTech was translated and published in Spanish by Edge Entertainment in January 2011.

Nameless Cults

The last role-playing game related to the Cthulhu Mythos published in Spanish is Unnameable Cults, using the MILESTONES system as its game system (which in turn is based on the FATE system). On this occasion, it puts the players for the first time in the role of their traditional adversaries, since now the roles to be interpreted are those of the sectarians dedicated to the cult of the entities of the Myths; The setting of the game takes place in the present day. It is an original creation of the Spanish publisher Nosolorol Ediciones launched at the end of 2014.

Card games

• Mythos It was a collectible card game based on Cthulhu myths and that Chaosium produced and traded in the mid-1990s. The game was a commercial failure but it is important to mention it because its failure affected the company to the point of reducing its ability to produce material for Cthulhu's call.

• Call of Cthulhu, the Living Card Game is another game of collectable cards, but more recent and produced by Fantasy Flight Games. The Sevillian publishing house Edge Entertainment has translated it into Spanish and marketed it since 2009 with the title Cthulhu's call, card game.