Call of Cthulhu Sourcebooks: What they contain and how people … · 2019. 12. 16. · Call of...

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Call of Cthulhu Sourcebooks: What they contain and how people use them

Dr. Dean Engelhardt

Halloween, 2013

1. Introduction

Over the years I have read a lot of Call of Cthulhu sourcebooks written by a range of different folks

and published by an array of different publishers.

I have also read a lot of things written about the game, and more particularly how gamers make use

(or, say them make use) of the different types of books published for the game.

From reading all those books and opinions, two things stand out fairly clearly. Firstly, there are

definitely different types of readers, each of which values different types of published information

and utilize that material for different purposes. Secondly, within the books themselves there is a

variety of different styles of game‐oriented and non‐game‐oriented information, different categories

of which satisfy different functions for players and Keepers of the game.

This paper aims to define some categories for readers of Call of Cthulhu sourcebooks (based on the

way they like to use the books) and also some classes of information of player‐valuable and Keeper‐

valuable information common to the books.

Why do this? Well, the objective is to try to better understand the degree to which different types of

sourcebook information support different types of readers, to hopefully allow for the proportion of

material included in books to be guided by the use to which the potential audience may derive from

that information. Ultimately the goal is to ensure that all readers are supported to some degree.

This “modelling” is being done primarily as part of the planning for the sourcebook “Secrets of

Australia.”

2. HowPeople(saythey)UseCthulhuGamingSourcebooks

While it’s a fairly subjective distinction, one easy approach to categorizing the ways Call of Cthulhu

readers utilize sourcebook material is to consider “verbatim” use versus “inspirational use. Some

gamers are looking for content which they can use “out of the box,” while others seek published

material from which they can “roll their own” game content.

There would certainly seem to exist sizeable communities which use published books in each of

these ways, which can be described as follows:

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Category 1: Keepers who just run the scenarios

Lots of people just buy Call of Cthulhu books (whether they be sourcebooks or scenario anthologies)

mainly for the scenarios. Surprisingly, many people who don’t even play the game like to buy books

to read scenarios as a kind of “meta‐fiction” akin to an enhanced story. Add to this the group of

active gamers who buy scenarios with the intention of simply running the scenarios unmodified for

their group, and you have a fairly large proportion of the active readership of Call of Cthulhu.

For this category of readers,

The most important feature of the books is the quality of the scenarios.

Less important is the “flavour” material included in sourcebooks (real‐world history,

geography, etc.) except where that directly enhances their enjoyment of the scenario or

gamers’ ability to run the scenarios for their group.

Material that has no obvious and direct connection to the scenarios (e.g., description of

cults/tomes/spells which are not mentioned in the specific scenarios in the book) is of less

interest.

Category 2: Keepers and players who want to be inspired to create their own content

Reading forums and other similar venues, it is easy to gain the opinion that there is a reasonable

community of people who “would never run a published scenario” but instead have sustained a

long‐term Call of Cthulhu game through writing their own “home‐brew” scenarios and campaigns.

Similarly there would seem to be some proportion of folks who buy sourcebooks not as Keepers

planning scenarios but as players who would like to use source details to enhance their portrayal of

a character role.

For this category of readers,

Scenarios are less important as sources of pre‐defined well‐honed narratives, but as

collections of raw materials which can be “mined”.

“Flavour” material which describes the era/place/topic of the sourcebook is significantly

more important, as it is a primary source of inspiration.

New Rules or other game‐oriented information (e.g., a fully detailed and statted‐out cult) is

of some interest, but primarily interesting as another set of components which can be

“mined” for basic information (rather than necessarily used in its published form).

While these are the two obvious self‐professed classes of Call of Cthulhu readers, I would propose

that there is actually also a third category of readers which is somewhere between these two

extremes.

Category 3: Keepers who are “Scenario Tweakers”, “Ad Libbers” or “Homebrewers” short on time

Many Keepers who are primarily interested in running pre‐published scenarios profess to

“customising” these scenarios to a lesser or greater extent. These “Tweakers” do so either because

they want to mix‐and‐match components of their scenarios (“I really like scenario X, but I wish it had

Deep Ones instead of Sand Dwellers), or because there’s something that they dislike that they want

to “swap out”. A related category of Keepers are those who run largely pre‐defined scenarios but

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like to have additional scenario “blocks” available to help them ad‐lib situations when players veer

off the path planned by the scenario writer. At the other end of the spectrum, there are readers who

would ideally like to be “world builders” creating their own scenarios from raw ideas, but due to

other commitment lack the (significant) time required to do so. These folks like to pick up semi‐

predefined scenario components (e.g., a mysterious manuscript and a well‐detailed NPC adversary)

and “plug” them together to build something new and original.

For this category of readers:

Scenarios are of interest either as a source of “game‐oriented” components (e.g., a

compelling NPC which can be substituted elsewhere) or as the raw material for tweaking via

substitution of external components.

“Flavour” material which provides some basic information about a setting, but which has

little defined game content, is of interest but not necessarily of direct value. If time is short,

the effort involved in creating “game content” (stats, spells, etc.) from this raw information

may still be prohibitive and is less likely to be useful than material that can be picked up with

the game details already defined.

New rules or stand‐alone “game components” (e.g., layout of a cult HQ complete with game

descriptions of traps/wards/gates/spells) are of significant value, as these are basic material

which can be substituted in during scenario tweaking or used as a basic building block in the

“plug‐and‐play” approach.

3. TypesofSourcebookInformation

There are obviously many different ways to slice‐and‐dice the types of information which commonly

appear in Call of Cthulhu sourcebook, none of them intrinsically better than any other. What follows

is a classification which is based mainly about the “function” to which the information might be put,

and the potential value it might provide to Keepers and players in the categories noted above.

Figure 1 on the next page summarizes the classifications, which are described in more detail below.

Both are divided into information providing value to players and information providing value to

Keepers, although this division may be arbitrary for many readers.

ValueToPlayers

The figure identifies four classes of information which have value to “players”, participants who are

portraying Investigators (i.e., not the Keeper). As indicated, some of these classes are more “game‐

oriented” or “game‐specific” than others – the listing below is from least “game‐oriented” to most.

Class P1: Basic “Colour” information relating to characters

Players’ portrayal of their Investigator character can be enhanced by a better understanding of the

realities of life in the place/era in which the game is set. Knowing social customs, modes of speech,

or other similar items of real‐world “colour” can inform a player’s portrayal of a role and lead to a

more enjoyable game experience for all concerned. This is not necessarily something that all players

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Figure 1: Categories of sourcebook information of potential information to Players and Keepers

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are interested in – some enjoy adding colour and detail to their characterization of an Investigators,

others do not.

Characteristics of this class of information:

It is based entirely on real‐world information (which is to some extent also available in non‐

gaming books or on Wikipedia).

It includes no game‐specific information.

Class P2: Home‐base

For campaign‐style games, it is often helpful to players if they have a detailed understanding of the

“home base” city or location where their Investigator spends time between scenarios (or is the main

location in which scenarios are set). A knowledge of the details of this local “neighbourhood” (e.g.,

the name of the antiquarian book store Investigators can always go to for advice, the local gun shop)

can nicely round out the campaign experience from a player perspective.


For real‐world locations (as opposed to fictive places like Arkham), this will be mostly based

on research into real‐world places, but the actual sites listed may be a synthesis of multiple

locations. The raw information would be available in non‐gaming books, but probably not

the synthesized version.

It may or may not include some game‐specific information (e.g., statistics for the local

gangster boss), but this is not a major focus for players.

Class P3: Rules for new situations/equipment

If the place/era portrayed in the sourcebook incorporates some special types of challenges that are

not explicitly covered in the core rulebook (e.g., details on desert survival), new rules would

normally be included in the sourcebook. In some cases these rules would be equally as useful to

players as they are to Keepers. Similarly, if there is a special type of equipment peculiar to the

place/era (e.g., Chinese Puzzle Boxes) it may have some unique rules associated with it.


Although inspired by real‐world things, the key value of this information is its game content.

Class P4: Rules for new character options

New places/eras present some new opportunities for different types of Investigator characters. This

might be new occupations/character templates or special rules associated with the abilities of

certain types of characters (e.g., a native tracker’s innate ability to find a trail).


Although inspired by real‐world things, the key value of this information is its game content.

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ValuetoKeepersFigure 1 identifies six classes of information which have value to Keepers of Call of Cthulhu games.

As indicated in the figure, some of these classes are more “game‐oriented” or “game‐specific” than

others – the listing below is from least “game‐oriented” to most.

Class K1: Basic “Colour” information about factual setting

Keepers frequently use real‐world “colour” information about the game setting as way of describing

a more “realistic” or compelling version of the game world. Some Keepers imbue their games with

copious amounts of detail about period/place (e.g., realistic law enforcement, technology, etc.);

others less‐so. The more unfamiliar the place, the more a Keeper’s portrayal of its game version

necessarily needs to make reference to basic “colour” descriptions in the sourcebook.


It is based entirely on real‐world information (which is to some extent also available in non‐

gaming books, or on Wikipedia).

It usually includes no game‐specific information.

Class K2: Cthulhu‐skewed basic “Colour” information

The types of stories which form the focus of a “typical” Call of Cthulhu game often make reference to

relatively obscure items of real‐world detail. Information about real occult practice, strange

archaeological sites, odd historical characters, and the like can form the raw material around which a

custom Cthulhuoid scenario can be constructed. Mock historical detail (i.e., things which resemble

period/era detail but are actually fiction) fulfils an almost identical function.


Some details may be based on real‐world information, but information that would typically

be difficult for someone to easily obtain from other sources.

Where mock historical detail has been created, it is not available from other sources (unless

part of a mock‐historical “cycle”).

It usually includes no game‐specific information.

Class K3: Guidance on creating evocative scenarios

Ironically, considering how much time is spent by some Keepers in constructing their own scenarios,

there has been little attention made in published books to provide guidance on creating evocative

scenarios. A primary exception would be “Dissecting Cthulhu” which is a book containing nothing but

information of this type.


It summarizes themes/styles of a body of fiction and provides a “digested” set of guidelines.

While the raw fiction is available in other places, the guidelines are not.

It usually includes few game‐specific details, since it focuses on the narrative aspects of the

game.

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Class K4: Partly‐constructed “Scenario Components”

Some situations make it desirable for a Keeper to have access to game‐oriented components

(complete with relevant “statistics” or rules) which exist independent of the framework of a specific

scenario narrative. These items form the raw materials for “plug and play” scenario building as well

as the primary means of “tweaking” scenarios via substitution of components. Historically there are

some types of scenario components that have commonly described in an isolated manner – creature

descriptions, tome descriptions and spell descriptions being principal examples. Other scenario

“building blocks” – for example, isolated plot templates – are less commonly described in this way

(or are described in a way which does not make them easy to directly “pick up and use” without

significant work).


It is strongly game‐oriented, but not part of a single “package” of components (e.g., a

scenario).

Each component is detailed‐enough to pick up and use with little or no additional creative

input being required by the Keeper (facilitating a “time‐poor” style of scenario

building/tweaking as well as easy ad libbing).

Class Keeper‐5: New Game Mechanics Unique to Setting

If the place/era portrayed in the sourcebook incorporates some special types of challenges that are

not explicitly covered in the core rulebook (e.g., types of traditional magic), new rules would

normally be included in the sourcebook. In some cases these rules would be solely for the eyes of

the Keeper rather than also available to players.


Entirely game‐oriented and free of any narrative elements.

Class Keeper‐6: Fully Self‐Contained Scenarios

Sourcebooks typically contain one or more fully‐detailed scenarios. These are important as they

provide an example of how a Cthulhuoid story would manifest in the setting/era, effectively

grounding the more abstract description that makes up the majority of the book. Scenarios are also

excellent “raw material” for additional components (although unlike independent “game

components” described above, these may be more tightly interwoven with other elements and thus

harder to extract).


Game‐oriented and designed to work with a specific narrative provided by the writer.

Less flexible, but a more “self‐contained” package of information.

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4. WhoBenefitsFromWhat?

Some of the goals when creating a sourcebook are generally to fill it with content that is of some

interest and use to all classes of reader and also to support the most “average” group of readers to

the greatest degree. From a commercial sense, the former ensures that there is some reason for

everyone to be motivated to buy a product, while the latter ensures that the largest group of

readers receive the greatest amount of support.

The categorization described in the preceding sections give some (perhaps very crude) tools to think

about this in a bit more detail. In particular, considering the different ways in which Keepers

(apparently) use sourcebooks it is possible to hypothesize the degree to which the six different types

of Keeper information (K1 through K6) identified in Section 3 support the different modes of use.

Table 1, below, is a simple attempt at such an assessment (admittedly in a subjective way).

Class Description Scenario‐Runners Homebrewers Tweakers

K1 Basic “Colour” information about factual setting

Low High Low

K2 Cthulhu‐skewed basic “Colour” information

Low High Low‐Medium

K3 Guidance on creating evocative scenarios

Medium Medium‐High Medium

K4 Partly‐constructed “Scenario Components”

Medium Medium High

K5 New Game Mechanics Unique to Setting

High High High

K6 Fully Self‐Contained Scenarios High Low Medium

Table 1: Degrees to which different classes of information satisfy Keeper needs (by style)

Things to notice about the table:

With the exception of “Guidance on creating evocative scenarios”, every type of information

is rated as Highly useful to at least one of the three groups.

No category information is universally seen as of Low usefulness to all groups of Keepers.

The preceding points, taken together, would seem to suggest that with the possible

exception of “scenario guidance” every category should ideally be included in a sourcebook.

If each category of Keepers is considered to be of equally important “weighting”, the

“median” rating for each of the six categories would be:

o K1: Basic “Colour” – Low‐Medium

o K2: Cthulhu‐skewed “Colour” – somewhere just below Medium

o K3: Guidance on Scenarios – somewhere just above Medium

o K4: “Scenario Components” – Medium‐High

o K5: New Mechanics – High

o K6: Scenarios – Medium

In order from most important to least: New Mechanics, Scenario Components, Scenario Guidance,

Fully‐Developed Scenarios, Cthulhu‐skewed Colour, Basic Colour.

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5. CaseStudy:Designing“SecretsofAustralia”

To make any practical use of the abstract model described above, it is important to have an

understanding of what audience is being targeted for a particular book. For the “Secrets Of …” range

of books the general philosophy would seem to be one of maximising appeal to the broadest

possible audience of Call of Cthulhu readers (with a bias towards Keepers over non‐Keepers).

For the new “Secrets of Australia” project this basic assumption of target audience has been

continued. Based on that, the “median” assessment of relative importance of Keeper material

somewhat applies.

A simple way of using the ranking of importance would be to ratio the word‐count in some way that

reflects this metric … however this theory doesn’t really work in practice. Categories of content such

as “New Mechanics” and “Scenario Guidance” are inherently always going to take up a fairly small

proportion of the word‐count of a normal sourcebook unless its primary purpose is to be a “rules

book” or a “writers guide”, neither of which are really goals of a “Secrets Of …” book.

However, if those two types of information are excluded, a kind of ratio‐based approach is

potentially possible. For “Secrets of Australia” a beginning assumption is that “New Mechanics” and

“Scenario Guidance” will together take up about 5% of the overall word‐count. Another assumption,

based on other books in the line, is that scenarios will take up about 40—50% of the page‐count.

This would suggest a breakdown something like:

Scenarios (K6) – 40%

Scenario Components (K4: highest rated by median Keeper usefulness) –25%

Cthulhu‐Skewed “Colour” for Keepers (K2) – 12%

Home Base for Characters (P2) – 5%

New Character Rules (P3) – 5%

Basic “Colour” for Keepers & Players (P1 & K1)– 5%

Scenario Guidance (K3) and New Setting Rules (K5) – 5%

Rules for Character Generation (P4) – 3%

Regarding what content goes into these various sections, the diagrams on the following pages

summarise some initial ideas.

Figure 2 shows some proposed information to meet player needs; Figures 3 and 4 show information

to meet Keeper needs (broken into two figures for ease of reading). In all cases the circled numbers

in the coloured rectangles relates back to the information categories defined earlier. Thus, for

example, the box labelled ③ in the player’s information figure would refer back to the type of

information called P3 elsewhere (i.e., “new rules governing situations equipment”). Similarly, for

example, the box labelled ④in Figure 4 would relate back to the type of information called K4 (i.e.,

“scenario components”).

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Figure 2: Functional Breakdown – Player‐Relevant Information proposed for “Secrets of Australia”

Figure 3: Functional Breakdown – Keeper‐Relevant Information proposed for “Secrets of Australia” (part 1)

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Figure 4: Functional Breakdown – Keeper‐Relevant Information proposed for “Secrets of Australia” (part 2)

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6. ConclusionThe preceding material is an admittedly simplistic attempt to try to understand the different needs

which a Call of Cthulhu sourcebook serves to the very diverse range of readers. It proposes that

there are four classes of reader:

Players,

Keepers who just want to play the scenarios,

Keepers who want to build “homebrew” scenarios, and

Keepers who like to tweak existing scenarios, ad lib around existing scenarios or who

otherwise want to adopt a “plug & play” approach to creating something original.

All four of these groups have different information needs, although their needs clearly overlap.

A range of ten different forms of information need have been described (four for players, six for

Keepers), which is admittedly an entirely arbitrary system of categorisation based mainly on what

has been published previously and what people (claim to) want from books.

Using this very simple modelling tool it is conceivable that one could guide the design of a

sourcebook by assigning proportions of different types of information based its utility to a specific

target audience. An example of this process, undertaken for “Secrets of Australia” is included.

At the end of the day, any such “architecting” of a book’s contents can only go so far towards

assuring its marketability. An enormous factor in the success of any written work is the quality of the

writing, and ultimately an excellent writing team can make something a success no matter how well

it addresses the information needs of specific groups. When it comes down to it … everyone loves

cool things. But, unless the team that is writing a book is both highly experienced and one which has

worked well together as a team previously, such moments of brilliance are outcomes that are

“hoped for but by no means guaranteed.” In such situations there may still be value in

understanding the needs of the predicted marketplace for a specific book and taking some time to

consider how different needs of that audience will be met by different parts of the design.

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