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Mario Perez
United States
Worland
WY
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I'd like to preface this by saying that there have been some excellent reviews of late. I'd especially recommend Mr. Harnish's excellent write-up.
Trail of Cthulhu is the Pelgrane Press license of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, adapted to work with the GUMSHOE System, by Robin D. Laws.
Setting
The background will be a familiar one. Whereas the default setting of Call of Cthulhu is the 1920s, Trail advances it to the 30s, where the lurking menace of eldritch monsters and vile Outer God-worshipping cults is set against the dread of the times: The everyday worries of the Great Depression and the all-too-human danger of the rise of totalitarianism.
There are two styles, or idioms, of play: Purist and Pulp.
The Purist idiom seeks to emulate the cosmic horror presented in the writings of H.P. Lovecraft and others. Players' actions are ultimately futile in the face of ancient and inhuman terrors. Death and insanity are not just likely, they are nigh inevitable. In Purist mode, General Abilities are set at 65 points, Sanity and Stability are capped at 10, and Health is capped at 12. Also, lost Stability or Sanity points cannot be regained.
The Pulp idiom is for your Indiana Jones/ Doc Savage style of play. Exotic locations are far more likely encountered and players are more likely to survive the dangers of the Mythos. General Abilities are set at 75. Abilities such as Hypnosis become available, and you CAN regain lost Stability.
The GUMSHOE System
Player Characters are known as Investigators; the GM is called the Keeper. The system takes a narrative approach and uses a single d6 to resolve tests.
Investigative Abilities give you core clues automatically. In a given scene, the Keeper may tell the player a clue, e.g., “Your Chemistry tells you this is no known metal” or the player may trawl for clues: "I use Cop Talk to buddy up to the constable for rumors." Several abilities may each get the clue: figure out that insane mosaic with Art, Occult, Theology, etc. An ability pool of 1 point is competent; 5 points, world-class.
Point Spends of 1 or 2 points from the Investigative pool give access to special benefits or to supplementary clues: calling in favors, cutting red tape, making a contact, finding a tome, etc. A point spend allows a player creative input in the game world, or a is a keeper-planned part of the investigation.
General Abilities cover physical actions and contests with a strong element of the uncertain. A Test involves using an ability by rolling a single d6 against a difficulty of 2 to 8. Point spends from the general ability pool add to the roll result, but deplete your pool and are lost no matter the outcome. Ability pools refresh in downtime between investigations.
Piggybacking happens when investigators act together, e.g. a hike or sneaking around. One investigator leads, spends points, and makes a test. The others spend 1 each: these are not added to the leader’s roll but give them the benefit of his success. Everyone who cannot pay 1 point increases the difficulty +2.
Cooperation is possible on some tasks, e.g. breaking down a door or performing a ritual. Here, each assistant spends X points and adds X—1 to the leader’s roll.
For Contests between characters, each makes a test. The first to fail loses the contest. The keeper determines first actor; generally fleers roll before chasers; the lowest pool goes first in simultaneous acts.
Characters act in order of pool size. An action other than an attack drops you to the end of the order. Roll Weapon against Weapon, Firearm/Firearm, etc., vs a hit threshold. An Investigator's is generally 3, or 4 if the character's Athletics is 8+. Cover will raise or lower the threshold in a firefight. Automatic weapons add 2 or 3 to the Firearms pool (depleted in a single burst) and may be used to hit multiple targets within 10m. Roll to hit each. In the Pulp idiom, possession of Firearms 5+, allows the character to spend 1 point to fire two guns; +1 difficulty to hit a second target.
On any hit, roll 1d6 for damage modified by the type of weapon. Armor subtracts from damage.
Damage is subtracted from the Investigators Health pool, and damage can be mitigated by a First Aid spend.
Sanity and Stability
Stability protects you from shock. Test Stability vs 4 for ordinary horror, vs 5 for Mythos events. If you fail, lose a stated amount from your Stability pool. Some Mythos threats cause Stability loss even on a success! Point spends from the Stability pool may be worthwhile against far greater loss from a failed test.
Blasted investigators may gain a madness like a delusion or an obsession, and/or become shell shocked: when facing the source of fear again, test Stability; on failure, you freeze up for 15 minutes and are shaken for 24 hours, but lose no Stability.
Each investigator has a Drive leading him into situations normal people avoid; fighting the drive costs up to 4 Stability or 1/3 the current pool, whichever is worse; following the drive refreshes 1 or 2 points.
For every 3 points of Stability, you may name one person as a Source of Stability.
Sanity is the ability to believe in any part of the human world. You permanently lose points from the Sanity pool when failing Stability tests against Mythos threats. The worst phenomena cost some Sanity even on a success. At 0, the ability to act in a human frame of reference is gone.
Use of the Cthulhu Mythos investigative ability to gain cosmic clues... at cost to both pools, with no test. Once you have points in Mythos, maximum Sanity equals 10 minus Mythos. Denial of a Mythos event when there is no evidence remaining shaves 1 Sanity point off of loss; or you can faint at first blush, lose only 1 Sanity, and gain some clue on recovery. While the keeper will not kill fainters, all else goes.
Such is my humble contribution, and I'm more than happy to make clarifications or to talk about TOC supplements.
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Josh Bazin
Canada
Edmonton
Alberta
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What does ToC do better than the original, in your opinion?
Does it lend itself better to a particular play style?
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Mario Perez
United States
Worland
WY
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Believe it or not, I'm not very familiar with the Original; I have it all backwards. I've started with ToC and only more recently have I picked up COC supplements, primarily for conversion to Trail.
Having said that, it lends itself to fast play because of it's simple resolution system; there's never more to roll than one die.
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Tyler Hudak
United States
Akron
Ohio
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Thanks for doing this! I've actually been reading the ToC book so my questions are probably a little basic.
With the abilities pool, do the characters have pools equal to that ability, or one general pool? In other words, if a character was performing a test against Driving (and had a skill of 3 in Driving), would they have a pool of 3 they could pull from or a much larger one from all their general abilities?
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Brian Cooksey
United States
Nashville
Tennessee
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Bazin wrote: What does ToC do better than the original, in your opinion?
Does it lend itself better to a particular play style?
I've played Call of Cthulhu and I've read ToC. I've just started a PbF game of ToC so I've made most of a character.
As Mario said, ToC keeps things moving. A game of ToC will never stall because someone blew a Spot Hidden roll. That's my favorite thing about it. GUMSHOE was designed to solve the problem that many investigative games have. Namely, the paralyzing effect of bad rolls and/or missed vital clues. There are, of course, things a good GM can do to mitigate this problem but it's nice to see a system that gives you the tools.
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Mario Perez
United States
Worland
WY
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trevlix wrote: Thanks for doing this! I've actually been reading the ToC book so my questions are probably a little basic.
With the abilities pool, do the characters have pools equal to that ability, or one general pool? In other words, if a character was performing a test against Driving (and had a skill of 3 in Driving), would they have a pool of 3 they could pull from or a much larger one from all their general abilities?
When speaking of General Abilities, those numbers are tied to that skill. Spending from them adds an equal number to the result of the roll. So in your driving example, you could only spend three, and thereby exhaust your Drive pool, but likely succeed.
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Tyler Hudak
United States
Akron
Ohio
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tutunaku wrote: When speaking of General Abilities, those numbers are tied to that skill. Spending from them adds an equal number to the result of the roll. So in your driving example, you could only spend three, and thereby exhaust your Drive pool, but likely succeed.
Thanks, thats what I thought but I was unclear.
So, given that you have such a small pool to draw from, do you think this makes the game more difficult for players? (Since they have less of a pool to draw from until it gets refreshed.)
Or is it that since most tests only occur when something big is happening, it doesn't factor in as much?
On another note, do you have a favorite supplement? I have the main rule book and am trying to figure out my next purchase. (Leaning towards Shadows over Filmland)
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Mario Perez
United States
Worland
WY
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trevlix wrote: tutunaku wrote: When speaking of General Abilities, those numbers are tied to that skill. Spending from them adds an equal number to the result of the roll. So in your driving example, you could only spend three, and thereby exhaust your Drive pool, but likely succeed. Thanks, thats what I thought but I was unclear. So, given that you have such a small pool to draw from, do you think this makes the game more difficult for players? (Since they have less of a pool to draw from until it gets refreshed.) Or is it that since most tests only occur when something big is happening, it doesn't factor in as much?
In theory, the players can easily run out, but I think your last statement is how t works in practice. You're only ever really going to roll General Abilities when it's dramatically appropriate. And you don't have any obligation to make Investigative spends to move the plot along.
trevlix wrote: On another note, do you have a favorite supplement? I have the main rule book and am trying to figure out my next purchase. (Leaning towards Shadows over Filmland)
That's a tough one, as I can't choose between Shadows over Filmland, Bookhounds, and Armitage Files. I like Bookhounds for its depth, Shadows for its breadth, and Armitage files just because it's awesome but I think I'll have to come down on Armitage files; you can't go wrong with any of them though.
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Tyler Hudak
United States
Akron
Ohio
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Awesome! Thanks for the info!
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Anthony Friedman
United States
Long Beach
California
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What is character progression like (if there is any)? Do characters gain levels, experience points, or anything as the game continues?
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Dan Owsen
United States
Redmond
Washington
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Nice summary!
In practice, I've found it rare that someone will totally exhaust their pool, but there is always that tension where the pools are getting low... Is this the last shock? Should I spend?
I like all flavors of Cthulhu, but Trail is probably my current favorite. The only short-coming in my player's eyes is the less detailed combat rules, but that's really been a minor quibble since I like to run purist, investigative adventures where combat is not in the spotlight.
There are some rules for improving characters in the Pulp version, and you can gain "tolerance" for certain Mythos shocks if you encounter them repeatedly. In Purist mode, you lost things permanently, and don't gain anything. (Though your pools do refill between adventures or if enough time goes by.)
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Simon Crowe
United Kingdom
Sheffield
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Just to show my support for ToC. I've just started running a campaign and it's going great so far (real easy to GM as well).
I'd recommend Shadows over Filmland (in fact, I just reviewed it) but note the adventures there are fairly short. For more meaty pulp scenarios Stunning Eldritch Tails seems good.
The best read I've had so far is the Armitage Files, even if I doubt I'll ever run it.
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The Harnish
Germany
Duisburg
NRW
Cult of The Harnish Leader
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I was hoping someone who bring up ToC for share a game. Aside from my two recent reviews, I have a host of others coming out for the game over the next months so stay tuned on that front.
I will second Simon's recommendation for Shadows over Filmland - I was actually surprised at how much I like it. I own all of the material put out for ToC so far and all of it is terrific. The adventures are all well-written, though the differing styles (i.e., purist vs. pulp) mean that some adventures are better suited for some groups than others. The other supplements are terrific too - Bookhounds of London is simply great as is the Armitage Files. My plans are to run some one shots of ToC in September and then use the game as the basis for my next major campaign once we wrap up our Osirion campaign.
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Chad Bowser
United States
Kernersville
North Carolina
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trevlix wrote:
So, given that you have such a small pool to draw from, do you think this makes the game more difficult for players? (Since they have less of a pool to draw from until it gets refreshed.)
There are also plenty of opportunities to refresh you pools. I don't have the books in front of me,but I believe that athletic general skills refresh every 24 hours. Other, non-athletic based abilities tend to refresh slower or only because certain triggers are met.
trevlix wrote: On another note, do you have a favorite supplement? I have the main rule book and am trying to figure out my next purchase. (Leaning towards Shadows over Filmland)
I'd go with Bookhounds. But, they're all worth owning. If you want Shadows Over Filmland, IPR has copies for $10.
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Mario Perez
United States
Worland
WY
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Stix_Remix wrote: What is character progression like (if there is any)? Do characters gain levels, experience points, or anything as the game continues?
You're lucky to be alive, in Purist at least.
However, the default is two build points after every session. This can be used to raise Abilities on a 1-to-1 basis. You can also reassign up to 2 points you already had. However, Sanity, Cthulhu Mythos and Credit Rating cannot be raised this way.
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Barad The Dwarf
Belgium
De Haan
Got some sanity left?
Come over to the RPGG Tavern, I buy you a drink.
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Is it worth investing in Trail if you already play and enjoy Call of Cthulhu?
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Josh Bazin
Canada
Edmonton
Alberta
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Barad_the_dwarf wrote: Is it worth investing in Trail if you already play and enjoy Call of Cthulhu?
Maybe?
I know that as a CoC fan, I'm regretting trading ToC away. It has some neat ideas, some different approaches to the game and the like. If you like adding different things to your CoC game, ToC has some great things to add, in my opinion.
With that said, my regular "Cthulhu" GM ran ToC once and decided it wasn't for him, since there was more preparation required with clue-seeding and that sort of thing.
If I didn't have a game budget, ToC would be one of the games that I'd pick up right away - mostly just to have.
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Chad Bowser
United States
Kernersville
North Carolina
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Barad_the_dwarf wrote: Is it worth investing in Trail if you already play and enjoy Call of Cthulhu?
I enjoy Call of Cthulhu, but reading Trail has shown me new ways to maximize my enjoyment of Call. Ken Hite's interpretation of the Mythos is well worth the price of admission alone.
But, if you want to check out the ideas behind Gumshoe on a budget, take a look at Fear Itself or The Esoterrorists. Both use the same underlying GUMSHOE system (core clues, spends, stability, spines, etc) but are softcover and don't have the marketability of the Cthulhu name, so they're less expensive. You can get Fear Itself from Amazon for $15.95.
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The Harnish
Germany
Duisburg
NRW
Cult of The Harnish Leader
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trevlix wrote: On another note, do you have a favorite supplement? I have the main rule book and am trying to figure out my next purchase. (Leaning towards Shadows over Filmland)
My favorite supplement is The Armitage Files, although Bookhounds of London is a very close second.
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GB Steve
England
East Dulwich
London
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Nice article!
Here's a short clarification of mine of the three ways in which investigative abilities work.
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Eric Dodd
New Zealand
Martinborough
Wairarapa
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Barad_the_dwarf wrote: Is it worth investing in Trail if you already play and enjoy Call of Cthulhu?
There's a free 10-page PDF preview on Pelgrane Press's website which might help you make up your mind: http://www.pelgranepress.com/trail/files/sample.pdf
As a long time CoC player I'm happy to have bought Trail for the alternative viewpoints on the Mythos, adventure structure suggestions, Cult ideas and other little things. You can treat it as an "alternative" sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu and not worry about trying the game system at all - but I think the system is worth a go.
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Posted Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:51 pm
