Savage Worlds: Realms of Cthulhu experience?

[Autumnal]

Plain people of the Internet, I come to you once more. Have you played Savage Worlds using Realms of Cthulhu, as either player or GM? If you have, was it fun? Did it add enjoyable things that you wouldn’t have had with just the core rules?

I’m looking here at this mound of Call of Cthulhu material I’ve accumulated over the decades and am thinking that perhaps I might take the Savage Worlds backhoe to it. So I wonder if Realms should, er, ride shotgun. So to speak.

 

[Jahydin]

Realms of Cthulhu is a great product that not only has a ton of setting info and crunch, but also acts as a tool bag filled with adjustable mechanics to dial in the exact type of game you want to play. It is certainly worthwhile to pick up.

It's been a very long while, but I recall running a few games with friends and having a blast.

Here is the official conversion PDF to update it to SWADE.

It's out of print, so hard copies are expensive. I recommend looking for a PDF version.

 

[smcc360]

I don't know if I'd call it a necessary product, especially now that the SWADE Horror Companion exists, but it's a damn good product. It includes some fun adventures, good advice for character creation and campaigns, a Sanity system that some may prefer to the official Horror Companion version, and a whole horde of hideous entities in the Bestiary, including the Big C himself. Plus the character sheet, designed to look like something cobbled together from police and psych ward reports, is a miniature work of art all by itself.

 

[Autumnal]

Thanks! That all sounds pretty appealing.

 

[thullgrim]

I used elements from it when I ran Masks of Nyarlathotep in SWADE. I think i pulled the sanity, tomes, and a couple other things from it. That was pre Horror Companion but I think if I were to revisit that campaign I’d still use Realms as a resource. It’s a great resource.

Same publisher wrote Agents of Oblivion which is a fantastic resource for modern day spies, monster hunting, etc.

 

[Autumnal]

Thank you for reminding me of Agents of Oblivion! I got that years ago on the strength of John Rogers’ endorsement and used bits of it in Fate. And thanks for your experience during Cthulhu stuff in Savage Worlds. How long did Masks take, and how did it go?

On the side, I note that even just occasionally buying something for Call of Cthulhu really adds up over decades.

 

[Aldarc]

Plain people of the Internet, I come to you once more. Have you played Savage Worlds using Realms of Cthulhu, as either player or GM? If you have, was it fun? Did it add enjoyable things that you wouldn’t have had with just the core rules?

I’m looking here at this mound of Call of Cthulhu material I’ve accumulated over the decades and am thinking that perhaps I might take the Savage Worlds backhoe to it. So I wonder if Realms should, er, ride shotgun. So to speak.

If SWADE doesn't work out, I would also recommend Cthulhu Awakens: The AGE RPG of the Weird Century.

 

[Autumnal]

Oh, sure, I like the work of Chris, Joe, Malcolm, et al. I have a bunch of friends at Green Ronin. But this is where my interest at the moment.

 

[Jahydin]

I used elements from it when I ran Masks of Nyarlathotep in SWADE.

Lucky!

How did it go? Did you finish? That is certainly is on my "bucket list".

That was pre Horror Companion but I think if I were to revisit that campaign I’d still use Realms as a resource. It’s a great resource.

I haven't picked this one up yet. Any idea if it's worth while?

 

[thullgrim]

Re: SWADE Masks of Nyarlathotep
It went great. I ran it more pulpy style. The 7e edition has sidebars everywhere with pulp style suggestions so that helped.

I used Realms of Cthulhu, Achtung! Cthulhu (dual stat CoC 6th/Savage Worlds version) the SW Deluxe Horror Companion and some stuff from Rippers.

It went great. Loyalty Major Hindrance resulted in a total party kill late in England. There’s still a lawyer in Harlem who might call on more investigators to keep going. We had a great time with it.

I find SWADE works well for investigations, I’ve run Nights Black Agents in SWADE too, and since we like action games the system works for us.

If I revisit it I may still have to pull creatures from older edition sources and I’d need to make a call about sanity. The old sanity score system works fine but the current Horror Companion has a different system I might try.

Enhanced Fear effects are a just. You could tune it to be gritty instead of pulpy if you wanted with the Tough Choices setting rule and limited access to any healing.