This is a short guide to playing Call of Cthulhu 7th edition. Here we will examine key mechanics, the dice engine, familiarize ourselves with the character sheet and the character creation process.
Key Mechanics
As in any RPG, characters face difficulties, and skills and characteristics help them overcome these challenges. Skill levels range from 0 to 100 for humans. To determine how successful a character was in using a skill, the player rolls a d100. There are several possible check results.
| Fumble | Failure | Regular Success | Hard Success | Extreme Success | Critical Success |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | > skill | ≤ skill | ≤ ½ skill | ≤ ⅕ skill | 01 |
That is, to successfully pass a check, the dice result must be below the skill value.
Examples. The character sheet usually shows 4 numbers for a skill.
| Skill | Reg | Half | Fifth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spot Hidden (20%) | 65 | 32 | 13 |
The player rolled 54. This falls in the interval between 65 and 32, meaning it’s a regular success.
| Skill | Reg | Half | Fifth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Persuade (10%) |
In this case the character did not develop the skill and can only use the base value, which in this case is 10. The player rolled 37, meaning it’s a failure.
Combat
Please read Combat system note.