A re up date of a classic system that adds complexity and richness to a brilliantly playable system. A very good complete guide to running your own Cthulhu games and to role playing in general. I didn't think I needed this being a hardened Cthulhu gamer for over thirty years, but how wrong I was. Very very good. ( )

Call of Cthulhu (CoC) is a "pen and paper" roleplaying game (RPG) first published in 1981 by Chaosium and still very popular.
CoC has been inspired by the books of H. P. Lovecraft. Following their theme it’s an investigation-suspense-horror RPG with a classic "gothic" atmosphere of the late 19th or early 20th century.
However, with time, most of the other eras of human history (including future) have been adapted to the game, which now has a huge collection of core books, supplements, campaigns and adventures that range from experiences of several months (long elaborated epics) to short less-than-one-hour-play missions.
Now, in its seventh edition, CoC presents a very simple but realistic set of rules based on opposing percentual skills and probabilities decided by dice. Based on the Basic Roleplaying set of game rules, also called D100, it is very similar to the actual probabilities to which we are accustomed in the real world and allows a very easy and smooth gaming experience without the multiple tables, stats and calculations which complicate and slow down most other roleplaying games (D & D, anyone?). In addition, the stats of human players and characters are generally compatible with real people with real skills and abilities. Magic exists but it’s limited and almost always with dire effects. Experience is needed for using weapons and these have the effects and defects experienced in the real world. Normally players do not benefit from superhuman powers (as found in other RPGs): reckless players can "die" quickly in CoC! The superhuman abilities are reserved for enemies of the players: villains and monsters.
An important characteristic is sanity which is spent each time a player has a terrible experience or has a contact with the Occult, directly or through texts, objects or rituals. Loss of sanity causes psychotic surges and, ultimately, leads to definitive insanity.
A great benefit for the CoC collector is the continuous compatibility of its basic rules which allow playing ALL the published adventures for the game using any of the different editions of CoC: a fact unfortunately almost unique in the RPG world!
The game is very easy to learn and the adventures are relatively easy to prepare. The simple and intuitive rules and a large number of clever options and scenarios allow a fluid and animated game and a unique and suspensive game experience.

The seventh edition’s books (this is the main one) have a very good quality featuring very nice illustrations and text. The game "per se" is excellent as always. A significant conceptual and graphic evolution has taken place since the barely legible sixth edition with its very fancy text and dark pages!
This edition of CoC is the first spawning from the modern Web "kickstarter" system which finance quality projects by cashing on the approval of its subscribers. ( )