I miss playing “Call of Cthulhu”.
While I wouldn’t call CoC the best tabletop roleplaying game in the world, nor would I even call it the best horror TTRPG on the market, there is just something… special… about playing that game. Maybe it’s just that I started playing it back in 1986, being the second TTRPG I ever bought with my own, hard-earned cash. It would have been the first, but the Friendly Local Game Store in the town where I lived then had run out of copies, so I picked up “Chill”, instead.
If you remember “Chill”, well congratulations… You’re old, like me! Don’t forget to take your meds! Anyway…
My Lovely Bride bought me the primary books for CoC 7th Edition a few years back, and sadly, I just haven’t done anything with them. Oh, sure… I looked over them, drooled over the supple pages and amazing artwork one comes to expect from Chaosium products, but I have yet to actually… y’know… play the game.
Well, this needs to change.
I have been pondering doing some more solo tabletop roleplaying, whether as an Actual Play podcast or just for my own enjoyment, and I’m thinking “Call of Cthulhu” would be a fine game to play. It’s moody, doesn’t require a lot of action (allowing me plenty of time to just revel in the Lovecraftian Goodness), and bets of all… it would work fine as a solo adventure.
Why do I say that? Because the stories of HP Lovecraft, upon which CoC is primarily based, are more often than not involving solo protagonists faced up against mind-shattering Horrors from Beyond. Sure, there happen to be side characters in these stories, sometimes many side characters, but they are just Non-Player Characters.
Basically, while CoC wasn’t written to be a solo TTRPG, it is perfect for solo roleplaying.
So here’ what I have in mind: I like to start my solo adventures off by building a character, and placing them in some relevant location. Then I let my solo Oracle help steer the adventure towards whatever way it will go. I’m thinking for this particular adventure, I will start off with a college student from Miskatonic (because that’s everyone’s alma mater in CoC), who travels down to Louisiana for some reason (yet to be determined), and Cosmic Horror Shenanigans ensue.
My intention is to build several adventurers who all happen to be connected in some manner, so when one character dies, disappears, or goes insane, the next can fall into the story to investigate whatever happened to the previous character. On and on it goes, until I get bored or move on to another system.
Here’s the thing, though… I know Me, and I know when I get an idea in my head who it will fester… Expect to see this turn into an Actual Play at some point.
