Call of Cthullu and GNS

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

This post is mainly to see how much of GNS I am understanding, so please feel free to correct me on any of this.  I really want to gage if I am understanding all this right.  So here goes,

I thing CoC can be played by using any of the three CAs.  Here is my justifications:

Gamism:  You're the protagonists against overwhelming bad guys.  Stepping up in this game means escaping with your life/sanity or actually managing to kill some of the monsters.  Also, problem solving and mystery solving are ways of Stepping Up.

Simulationism:  The game is built on exploring Lovecraft's novels.  The player goal could be to match, as closely as possible, the atmosphere and mind shattering suspence of his works.  The closer you remain in cannon Lovecraft the better.

Narrativism: The Premise is being able to hold on to your sanity when all you believe to be true is turned up side down.  Sometimes I think Sanity Points are used more as hit points, but if you really get into the phobias and do your best to adress the Premise above, then you would be playing CoC Narrativist style.

So, did I get this right?  Do my justifications make sense?  If not, where am I mistaken?

Thanks guys, really appreciate it :)

Peace,

-Troy Costisick

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Troy,

Pretty much right.

I really want to emphasize that "you can play it this way" can be applied to almost any role-playing game. The GNS stuff applies to play, so if several imaginative primates can manage to play their way with it, then they do. And no surprise, many primates out there are very imaginative.

In many cases it involves de-emphasizing or subtly re-interpreting how various rules are used in the game, but that is not a requirement.

Best,
Ron

[b_bankhead]

As an rpg Call of Cthulhu has serious issues no matter what GNS mode you try to play it in.  It's hard to  play the game in any mode without skillful drift of the rules. I am working on a Lovecraft game of my own and discuss Call of Cthulhu's GNS problems here:
Drifting to R'lyeh
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=8459

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Pretty much right.

Sweeeeeeet!  Im getting somewhere!

I really want to emphasize that "you can play it this way" can be applied to almost any role-playing game. The GNS stuff applies to play, so if several imaginative primates can manage to play their way with it, then they do. And no surprise, many primates out there are very imaginative.

LOL.  Very true.

In many cases it involves de-emphasizing or subtly re-interpreting how various rules are used in the game, but that is not a requirement.

Yeah, I knew that is what I was basically doing in this post.  CoC in this instance was just a vehical to test out my understandings of GNS.  I've been banging my head against the table for many months now trying to figure it out, and it's all finally coming together.  Very exciting.

Peace,

-Troy

[Marco]

Simulationism:  The game is built on exploring Lovecraft's novels.  The player goal could be to match, as closely as possible, the atmosphere and mind shattering suspence of his works.  The closer you remain in cannon Lovecraft the better.

Well, this illustrates why Virtuality is pretty distinct from other things in the GNS "Sim" bucket--Sim players may not find that the closer you remain in canon the better and, in fact, may not see themselves as exploring Lovecraft's novels at all. Certainly the goal of play wouldn't be matching the atmosphere and supense of the novels as "closely as possible."

But I agree: it's a pretty good take on what's presently understood as GNS Sim.

-Marco