12/8/2022 0 Comments Chaosium call of cthulhuTo begin with a couple of Herber's points, he writes " Call of Cthulhu was unique to RPGs in that it did not rely on experience points, treasure or other tangible rewards" (Herber 2007: 41) and that player characters (PCs) would not be working to gain "fame or respect." Second, I will claim that the rulebook and many of the scenarios show a consistent bias towards the gamist agenda, and then third, I will contrast the narrative of Herber's scenario with the more dramatist/narrativist styles prevalent in some more recent RPGs. Herber attempts to distance Cthulhu from some of the gamist elements of D&D and other early RPGs, but I don't think that some of these distinctions (such as with player motivation and the 'saving throw' mechanics) are entirely valid.įirst, I want to look at a couple of Herber's claims and argue that Call of Cthulhu is really a lot less unique from a narrative point of view than he argues and closer to the gamist roots of role-playing games than it might appear at first sight. Wargaming scenarios usually provide what is hoped to be a fair fight giving players a chance to "win." D&D grew out of that background and in it rewards are offered in the form of points or benefits. Why might this be? Well, role-playing grew out of tabletop wargaming, as Herber notes, and so it is natural that the game element is prominent. What I am arguing is that Chaosium's CoC is constraining players in its promotion of the gamist element and The Haunted House is a further example of this. It is a matter of debate as to whether stressing the gamist part of an RPG must result in a weakening of either of the other two. If they value being part of a consistent fantasy world (simulationist) and want to explore it they will feel robbed when something breaks with their world's established canon. If they want to be part of an exciting story (valuing the dramatist/narrativist part) they will be disappointed if it all falls apart and the story falters because they kept rolling low numbers with their dice. If they want a fair chance to solve the mystery and rescue the situation they will start to feel hard done by, if they realise that they are doomed to failure (or success) no matter what. Whether or not these models prove useful for designers or academics, they resonate with players because they expect or want an RPG to provide them with something and quickly come to see that not everyone wants or expects the same. Ron Edwards, an influential game designer and theorist in the Indie-RPG community came up with the slightly different GNS model (gamist, narrativist, simulationist) (Edwards n.d.) and developed that further into his "Big Model" where these three elements are recognised as "Creative Agenda" (Edwards 2004). One does not have to accept the model or the interaction of the elements that make up the model in order to appreciate its existence. The other two styles in the model have been labelled Dramatist (values the unfolding story) and Simulationist (values the coherence of the game world - which should be noted is not the same thing as being 'realistic'). Kim puts it as follows: "'gamist': is the style which values setting up a fair challenge for the players (as opposed to the PCs )." (Kim n.d.) It has been nicely defined by one of the contributors to the forum, John Kim, in the FAQ he produced. I am borrowing the term 'gamist' from the Threefold Model which grew out of the forum. To put it bluntly, I think Cthulhu is more gamist than it needs to be (or indeed wants to be) and The Haunted House scenario falls into the same trap. The Creative Agenda of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu Keith Herber makes a number of claims regarding CoC that I feel are overstated I see the roots of these exaggerations as being in the weaknesses and assumptions of the original Cthulhu game. That does not mean that all praise is warranted, nor criticism unjustified, however. Even RPGs based on the most wonderful films and books regularly fail miserably. That it is such a commercial success and so beloved by its players after a quarter of a century is testament to its brilliance, a brilliance which cannot be fully explained by the underlying mythos. Call of Cthulhu ( CoC) is a rare phenomenon in the world of role-playing games (RPGs).
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