Cthulhu 7th Edition

Cthulhu's my baby.  Though it wasn't my first love (oWoD takes that title), Cthulhu was the girl I cheated on oWoD with and married later.  It's not without its flaws, but it's a beutifully simple, beautifully deadly system.  Unspeakable Oath offered a brief glimpse of the 2013 Seventh Edition of Cthulhu (which, they point out, is still up for revision), courtesy of a Continuum presentation of developers Paul Fricker and Mike Mason.  Below, I've got both a summary of what UO had to offer and my thoughts, having delved into the depths of unspeakable horror for nearly fifteen years.

•  Stats are now a d%.

This one takes the clunky stat rules and brings them in line with the rest of the system, much in the same way Unknown Armies did.  This means that stat rolls are much more clear, which is good.  I also assume that this means stat rolls are much more common and that stats don't play as much of a factor in starting skills, which isn't as welcome.

• Combat skills are being combined.

 This alone is a huge development.  In my latest draft of a Cthulhu campaign, I had done just this, by creating "Ur" skills, inspired by a MUD I used to play.  There are so many combat skills, and a trained professional shouldn't be any less talented at punching than kicking, for example.  The UO report mentions they are also combining Fast/Talk and Persuade.

•  You can re-try skill rolls for larger consequences for failure. 

This is the one I'm the most hesitant about.  I think this will add much more of a heroic feel to Cthulhu, a game about the everyman struggling helplessly to delay the inevitable.

• Check penalties have been streamlined.

Again, one I like.  Older Cthulhu modules have a lot of +/-10% skill modifiers, while newer ones (and the combat rules in 5th and 6th) use specific increments.  Streamlining it so that everything runs at either full skill, half skill, or 1/5 skill simplifies the rules to a degree that you really don't have to do much math.

•  The resistance table is gone.

Thank the heavens.  Tables are not Cthulhu's thing.  Instead of a resistance table, they modify the attacker's skill roll.  No more contested rolls, no more attack and defense rolls.  One roll, keeping it simple and clean -- what drew me to this ruleset to begin with.

• Luck can either work like action points or to influence scenarios.

Luck has been inconsistently applied, and there's never been a clear role for it.  They're defining that, in two ways.  Firstly, you roll for incidentals.  "Is there a knife in the kitchen?"  Secondly, you spend points from your Luck stack to adjust rolls.  I like the first, but I'm not particularly keen on the second.  It seems too much like the role Willpower served in World of Darkness: a clutch to make your heroic character perform a heroic deed.  Again, in a world full of everymen, people are certainly not everymen.

• "Connections," which are essentially feats.

I like this one.  Call it what you will - feats, backgrounds, merits and flaws, the connection concept is one that helps players see their character as more than a set of skills and stats.  I like the approach they're proposing as well -- you pick up to five characteristics.  Insanity takes one of these slots, and if they're all taken, it perverts or somehow distorts the connection.  I see it kind of like fetters in Wraith.

• Sanity is further defined as a game mechanic.

In Cthulhu, Sanity primarily comes across as either an inconvenience or a silly thing, and isn't particularly well-ingrained with the ruleset.  Sure, the checks are, but what happens from there?  Redefining it is very welcome, and hopefully will address both issues.  I also hope it realigns temporary insanity with a modern understanding of trauma, for both a much more realistic and horrific feel.

• You can go into negative hit points without dying.

This makes sense if Chaosium is expecting the game to support campaigns more than they support one-shots, but I'm a bit wary.  I expect this to lend more of a heroic feel to the game, where players are up, down, and all around.  If I wanted that, I'd be playing more Dungeons and Dragons.

• Magic is being streamlined.

This is absolutely necessary if players are to even hope to touch it.  Cthulhu magic rules are currently so obtuse and varied that it's pretty much limited to NPCs and enemies, and even then, every single one appears to have custom rules tailored to it.  I do, however, hope they continue limiting player access to magic.

Overall, these changes make Cthulhu a much more streamlined and playable system while keeping it true to its core.  It's a great update.  I am worried, however, that they are moving to a more heroic feel to appeal to players that weren't fans of the everyman concept.

What do you think of these proposed revisions to Cthulhu?