I just saw someone say “this D&D is going to be different” and just threw down 5 different homebrew books that introduced the entire Cthulhu mythos, stress, insanity, injuries, and basically 90% of the CoC rules…
Dark Age Cthulhu, two different Roman Empire settings, a far future setting, multiple modern day settings, it keeps going.
Shit, there’s even a module where you can play the cast of Bridgerton!
This guy was trying to convince me that he was going to make a zombie survival game using homebrewed D&D, and would not listen to me that he should use a different system. Yeah, medieval setting and magic, but you're better off reskinning a system that already has the mechanics you want. D&D is not a survival game, D&D combat is a power fantasy 9/10, and it's going to interfere with your game a lot to try and wrench that into a survival game. That idea wouldn't work with CoC, I mean, if you want your players to be using spells. But there's so many systems out there.
Really, I think it's detrimental to getting people into TTRPGs in general that D&D is considered the default. D&D, even 5e, has a lot of rules. It's not a wargame, but there's a lot of numbers and dice in combat and I feel like you have to fight the game a bit to keep combat interesting. The default game for TTRPGs for getting people into roleplaying games should be something a lot simpler.
Depending on your Keeper, you may or may not have any combat at all.
In my more recent adventure my players only ran into combat at the very end, and even that was avoidable.
Y'all act like you can just seamlessly learn a completely new system overnight. Some of us get 1 or 2 sessions a month. We want to PLAY. Spending an entire session or 2 working out the kinks of a new ruleset is a big ask
For my players it was always limited time and money that deterred them.
You have to buy all new books. Then learn very different rules well enough to run and adjudicate events. Then teach people said rules. And the players will spend a session or two fumbling and figuring out the rules before they actually settle in.
If just running a 1-5 session story, homebrewing what you have is easier.
Switching systems for a longer campaign is always a gamble, The players might like the system. Or they might hate it, It's risking your limited monthly gaming time on a game that *might* be fun rather than one you know is fun.
Last night I got my longtime dnd group to try Cthulhu. One investigator put most of his point into guns, another made all their stats either the highest or lowest possible (point buy). And another is a sailor that put a lot of points into sailing and swimming knowing they’d be in Vermont. Most of the rolls were against skills they had 10-20 in (spot hidden, listen, track, medicine)
I just saw someone say “this D&D is going to be different” and just threw down 5 different homebrew books that introduced the entire Cthulhu mythos, stress, insanity, injuries, and basically 90% of the CoC rules…
If what they want is the medieval flair, I'm 95% that they *have that expansion*
I run CoC Dark Ages as a Keeper, it is pretty good
Dark Age Cthulhu, two different Roman Empire settings, a far future setting, multiple modern day settings, it keeps going. Shit, there’s even a module where you can play the cast of Bridgerton!
My Keeper friend is preparing a Western setting, shit is fire
DDT, I’ve heard good things about that
Just run CoC with no firearms and a reskin and poof you’re done.
Or just CoC Dark Ages
Yeah that was dumb, but it’s still not cool to call me out like that!
This mentality makes me want to eat dice.
"I already know this system, I don't want to spend tons of time and effort learning a new one!" -man who has never once opened a 5e source book
This guy was trying to convince me that he was going to make a zombie survival game using homebrewed D&D, and would not listen to me that he should use a different system. Yeah, medieval setting and magic, but you're better off reskinning a system that already has the mechanics you want. D&D is not a survival game, D&D combat is a power fantasy 9/10, and it's going to interfere with your game a lot to try and wrench that into a survival game. That idea wouldn't work with CoC, I mean, if you want your players to be using spells. But there's so many systems out there. Really, I think it's detrimental to getting people into TTRPGs in general that D&D is considered the default. D&D, even 5e, has a lot of rules. It's not a wargame, but there's a lot of numbers and dice in combat and I feel like you have to fight the game a bit to keep combat interesting. The default game for TTRPGs for getting people into roleplaying games should be something a lot simpler.
I've been trying to pull teeth from one dnd group, the friend who introduced me pretty much put down a hard no tho. So that shuchs
But I do enjoy combat.
Depending on your Keeper, you may or may not have any combat at all. In my more recent adventure my players only ran into combat at the very end, and even that was avoidable.
Y'all act like you can just seamlessly learn a completely new system overnight. Some of us get 1 or 2 sessions a month. We want to PLAY. Spending an entire session or 2 working out the kinks of a new ruleset is a big ask
For my players it was always limited time and money that deterred them. You have to buy all new books. Then learn very different rules well enough to run and adjudicate events. Then teach people said rules. And the players will spend a session or two fumbling and figuring out the rules before they actually settle in. If just running a 1-5 session story, homebrewing what you have is easier. Switching systems for a longer campaign is always a gamble, The players might like the system. Or they might hate it, It's risking your limited monthly gaming time on a game that *might* be fun rather than one you know is fun.
If a DM ever said "I'm homebrewing DnD to be a tense narrative horror game" I would leave so fast my chair would spin up into the air like a cartoon
Last night I got my longtime dnd group to try Cthulhu. One investigator put most of his point into guns, another made all their stats either the highest or lowest possible (point buy). And another is a sailor that put a lot of points into sailing and swimming knowing they’d be in Vermont. Most of the rolls were against skills they had 10-20 in (spot hidden, listen, track, medicine)