I'm not ashamed to admit: I'm a huge Call of Cthulhu fan.
It doesn't hurt that I'm also a huge fan of the works of H.P. Lovecraft and his coterie of weird fantasy writers. But I love the game for more than just its Lovecraftian elements. Personally, I think the game does exactly what a good RPG system should do: it lays in wait as the game unfolds, virtually invisible when it's not needed; it's minimally intrusive when called upon to intervene; and it supports the atmosphere of the setting without being dictatorial about it.
My one lament about CoC is this: aside from my fiancee, none of the gamers in my group even come close to sharing my love for the game. This is a bummer for two reasons, the first being - of course - that we don't get to play the game nearly enough. But the second reason is what really bums me out: when we do play the game, I never, ever get to be a player. I'm always the Keeper. (You've heard the saying: "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride?" Well, I'm always a Keeper, never an Investigator. I know - it doesn't sound quite as spiffy...)
Anyway, in order to keep things rolling around here (since I'm too busy with work to take more than a few minutes to post anything meatier), here's a replica I made of the second-edition CoC character sheet. Quality electronic character sheets abound for fifth-edition CoC and later, but I've found myself hard-pressed to find one for my favorite edition of the game (third edition - the one that introduced me to the game, in a nifty hardbound book that is - to this day - my favorite book in my RPG library). Therefore, I recreated the sheet based on the only electronic sheet I could find at the time (from the second edition). I may be wrong, but I don't think there were any significant changes from the second to the third editions (significant being relative - CoC has not significantly changed since its first edition; if it ain't broke, why fix it?). Therefore, I believe this sheet will work just as well for third-edition CoC as it does the second edition (and probably first edition, as well).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_EI8_4EGgJN2fPFn7nvFXBnXNcXMefKkkMP6YMxRod0qzoPTnm_UtDXwE88kH_w_0ApJ9EAC-k8MlmS3MKmqgrwtEKgJJmHvmOb39uqhEw8T_pLmyHFTnmBs7IzT8VeSve40h-DUBI2r/s200/CoC2-cover.jpg)
My one lament about CoC is this: aside from my fiancee, none of the gamers in my group even come close to sharing my love for the game. This is a bummer for two reasons, the first being - of course - that we don't get to play the game nearly enough. But the second reason is what really bums me out: when we do play the game, I never, ever get to be a player. I'm always the Keeper. (You've heard the saying: "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride?" Well, I'm always a Keeper, never an Investigator. I know - it doesn't sound quite as spiffy...)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3eCG0fdXrmhvTBRDEJhQMFS1vE0vykRgZ1IhWPLeTeFbWHy86z1GyEnGCD-9DllHr97qmboZOnqf9wKMg-0paJCsSFMZfgu0dz4UUcdGB0Z1m_R2M8lOACoTRmQRRR8izZFLWfshc4ek/s200/CoC3-cover.jpg)
*whine, cry, moan, sniffle* No monsters to poke, no axes in the chest, no crazy cultists chasing me around, no sanity points to loose.... I never have any fun.. See what happens when you live in the middle of nowhere!!! I love COC
ReplyDeleteNo friendly Investigators to shoot you in the leg for endangering the party, no dead comrades to posthumously "marry" and inherit worldly goods from... :P
ReplyDeleteListen, I did what any good occult writer would do. He had no right to shoot me and I thought actually he was trying to "kill" me come to think of it. Also, the man had no relatives a girl has to fund her expeditions& I got a house out of it. So na na na boo boo :P
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should play COC this weekend as a one off you can sick nasty creatures on me if you wish. I'll even make a new character and won't name her molly or fiona..