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Trail of Cthulhu: System Guide for New Gamers
Lowell Francis
United States
South Bend
Indiana
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This Geeklist should serve as an inventory and guide for gamers wishing to pick up Trail of Cthulhu. This is based on the excellent suggestion of fuzzydice82 in this thread.
Ideally each entry should offer a synopsis, who the book is aimed for (player/GM/both), if it covers a particular mode for the game (Pulp, Purist, etc), links to reviews, and how essential or useful that product might be.
I have focused on core materials to start, as I have not purchased many of the individual adventures or adventure collections. I hope that others will add to and complete this list.
The list is organized as follows:
*System statement
*Core rules books
*Supplemental rules books
*Larger collected volumes (campaign frames, monster manuals)
*Adventures
These will be organized alphabetically within the sub-groups- and I will rearrange the list as needed when items are added.
For more information please also see Share A Game - Trail of Cthulhu
For more game overview lists, please see RPG System Metageeklist. For more on GUMSHOE, see GUMSHOE: System Guide for New Players.
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Lowell Francis
United States
South Bend
Indiana
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Trail of Cthulhu uses the GUMSHOE system, adapting the Lovecraftian mythos over to a system that emphasizes investigation. It adds significant new core mechanics including sanity and drives to the game.
Other RPGs using the GUMSHOE system include:
The Esoterrorists Modern, non-Lovecraftian horror with agents against supernatural terrorists.
Fear Itself Modern slasher/horror movie simulation.
Mutant City Blues Superhero police procedural.
Ashen Stars Science-fiction troubleshooters.
Night's Black Agents (Dragonmeet SE) Modern spies versus a vampiric conspiracy.
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Lowell Francis
United States
South Bend
Indiana
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The core book for Trail of Cthulhu. No other books are absolutely needed beyond this one. It focuses on investigation, but borrows many conventions from classic Call of Cthulhu. The system uses d6's exclusively and only one is necessary for any resolution.
Unlike classic CoC, ToC sets itself in the 1930's, with the spectre of the coming war and the effects of the Great Depression. The system breaks campaigns into two styles: Pulp and Purist. Pulp allows for more combat, more cinematic action, and higher chance of survival for the players. Purist maintains the restraint and low survival chances of the original system.
Reviews of the Trail of Cthulhu corebook can be found here: Hiking with Cthulhu, New Paths to Madness, A perfect marriage of setting & rules, and My Profane Thoughts.
Pelgrane has been developing an online character creation tool for use with GUMSHOE and ToC in particular.
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Lowell Francis
United States
South Bend
Indiana
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The character creation and players section from the main Trail of Cthulhu rulebook. This is primarily useful for players at the table, offering the rules they need in a smaller form. Non-essential otherwise.
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commited hero
United States
Raleigh
Unspecified
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The screen contains all the charts that a Keeper will refer to in a game. Even nicer is the Resource Book, which provides sample clues and benefits for each Investigative ability, additional color for each General ability and Occupation, and over 30 NPCs to liven up a story.
This is particularly useful for a Keeper writing custom scenarios or looking to add verisimilitude to a campaign.
RPGG Review
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Lowell Francis
United States
South Bend
Indiana
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An supplement offering alternate magick systems and ideas for the Trail of Cthulhu system across both modes of play. This is one of the few actual rule expansions for ToC. GMs will want to carefully decide if the options provided within will be used in a campaign. Primarily a GM purchase.
Reviews: I Put on My Robe and Wizard Fedora, Highly recommended
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commited hero
United States
Raleigh
Unspecified
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The original book contained four investigative scenarios, while the extended edition cleans up the text and adds another case. Honestly, the biggest strike against it is that only this fifth one is set in Arkham - the rest take place in New York. So I recommend this unless someone is specifically looking for Arkham-themed material.
In particular, I like The Kidnapping, as it parallels the real-life Lindbergh affair, and Return to Red Hook, because of its direct ties with a Lovecraft story. I used the Wreck as an introduction to Trail of Cthulhu, playing out the off-screen crime as a way to familiarize people with the rules.
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Lowell Francis
United States
South Bend
Indiana
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A campaign sourcebook, but with a twist. The Armitage Files offers the GM (or Keeper if you want to be exact) a toolkit for creating a linked campaign of improvised adventures. Each scenario begins with one of the documents presented in the book. GMs can then use the ideas, comments, characters and frameworks presented by the sourcebook to build a completely unique adventure. This should be a GM only purchase. It is an excellent campaign sourcebook, using Lovecraftian ideas which can be run as Purist or Pulp. However, it is recommended for experienced gamemasters or those GMs and groups more comfortable with improved storytelling.
Review: wow.
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Lowell Francis
United States
South Bend
Indiana
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While this is listed under the Trail of Cthulhu RPG heading, it is not truly associated with it. It shares the same core system, but this is a sourcebook of modern non-Lovecraftian horrors. It is primarily aimed at gamers playing The Esoterrorists or Fear Itself. Not recommended for ToC GMs.
Review: yikes.
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Lowell Francis
United States
South Bend
Indiana
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A campaign sourcebook which can be handled as Pulp or Purist. The book offers a couple of new modes, including handling the game as an emulation of Hammer Horror films. This is a GM only book, with some new options for character creation for the specific setting. That setting is 1930's London with the characters working for a specialized occult bookstore. The hunt for rare tomes and treasures, battles with rivals, and accidents brought about by those adventures serve as the backbone. This is a framework, with some specific ideas for scenarios, but the GM will have to develop material. It is not a pick up and run adventure.
Reviews: The Hounds of Lore are Hunting Me
A Fiasco playset has been developed which uses this setting: The Bookhounds
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Andy Leighton
England
Peterborough
Unspecified
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A compilation of four adventures. All of which are available individually as PDFs.
Castle Bravo
The Black Drop
The Big Hoodoo where you are part of a group of famous SF writers.
Not So Quiet which is set in a military hospital during the Great War.
Most are in the purist mode. The Black Drop is the most pulpy of the stories and could be run in either mode.
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Lowell Francis
United States
South Bend
Indiana
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A set of adventures which can be linked should the GM decide to. These take on what the authors call "Backlot Gothic" echoing the horror cinema of the 1930's and 1940's. These are not Lovecraftian adventures, and GMs who want to tie these to the Cthulhu Mythos will have to make some changes. This is primarily a GM book- the adventures presented here would be useful for pick-up games to try out the ToC system.
Reviews: Flicker of Fear: Adventures for Trail of Cthulhu, Bela Lugosi Isn't Dead
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commited hero
United States
Raleigh
Unspecified
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An all-fluff companion to Bookhounds of London as written by a traveller in that city's occult circles. This small tome lists many interesting monuments in the city, with careful indexing to the maps in Bookhounds. The in-game author died shortly after the books' publication, and the mystery of his death is a (heretofore unsolved) mystery that can double as an investigation.
Since it contains no stats, it can be used for any game involving 1930s' London.
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The Harnish
Germany
Duisburg
NRW
Cult of The Harnish Leader
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This is another of the purist adventures, although unlike most of them it's set in the 1950s. Another great one shot.
My review
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The Harnish
Germany
Duisburg
NRW
Cult of The Harnish Leader
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A Purist adventure that is idea for a one-shot (though it may span several sessions) - it's not really meant for campaign play due to the nature of the story. Absolutely fabulous, especially when run with the pregenerated characters included (they fit the story perfectly).
My review
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Mario Perez
United States
Worland
WY
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This is a scenario by GUMSHOE creator Robin D. Laws, based on the short story of the same name by Robert W. Chambers. It features a different version of the normal TOC character creation rules, has a winnowed down list of Investigative Abilities, and different Drives
The main difference from normal scenarios is how build points are apportioned. Rather than assigning them before play, in Repairer, the players assign these during play, whenever an appropriate situation comes up. This makes the "pregens" at the end of the scenario merely blank character sheets.
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commited hero
United States
Raleigh
Unspecified
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A strong collection of four scenarios in the pulp style. Highly recommended if a campaign can accommodate tropes like world travel and masked crime fighters. Two of the cases have real-world ties, which is a plus in my mind. At times, it seemed that the investigators' potential exposure to the Mythos was tenuous.
RPGG review
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Posted Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:28 am
Ithaca
New York