This week we discuss the Cthulhu Mythos skill in Call of Cthulhu: what it represents, how it works mechanically and what is new about it in 7th edition. The discussion is thoroughly unwholesome and touches upon many repellent and forbidden secrets. Matt is a bad influence when it comes to poking our noses into things man was not meant to know.
1D4 SAN loss with every sip
Leave your sanity at the door and come and join us as we listen to the whispers from between the stars. With any luck there will be fewer of those next week, once we start recording with the new microphone.
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Scott, what is the difference in the skill now vs. earlier versions? How much more can they add to a skill that was “cosmic truth” about the universe?
The main difference is that there is an optional rule allowing Cthulhu Mythos be used to perform acts of magic or manipulate artefacts and the like. You could, for example, try to improvise some way of communicating with an eldritch deity, with the risk of something going horribly wrong if you roll badly (or maybe even if you roll well, in this case).
Yes as Scott says, encouraging people to use the skill a little more broadly. Also the context of the skill has been reviewed, as we discuss in the episode, I see it more as a measure of a character’s understanding of and ability to plug in to the true nature of the universe rather than some learned facts and figures. As with most of 7th ed, it was there in 6th ed, it’s just been reworked a little.