Call of Cthulhu CCG Review

HP Lovecraft, despite never achieving recognition or widespread acclaim for his work during his brief lifetime, is arguably more popular than ever in the 21st Century. It's not surprising that in an age of shadowy terror and fear of the unknown that Lovecraft's fiction would prove to endure. His influence can be felt in works from the likes of Stephen King, Brian Lumley and Ramsey Campbell (all of whom have, I believe, written unofficial stories that can be tied into Lovecraft's Mythos), as well as in both the Hellboy comic books and movie (the cosmic gods - the Ogdru Jahad - are obviously modelled on the Great Old Ones of the Mythos) and, bizarrely, in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels (the ichor god Bel Shamharoth is a parody of Cthulhu).

Lovecraft's short stories are readily available in different collections from numerous publishers - often with useful and informative annotations - various video games are currently in production that take the Cthulhu Mythos as their inspiration, the Call of Cthulhu pencil & paper RPG is widely available, a new version of the classic '80's board game Arkham Horror has just been released, and with the Call of Cthulhu CCG we have the second CCG based on the works of Lovecraft (Mythos was the first). I'm not sure what he'd make of the cuddly Cthulhu toys or Cthulhu slippers though...

But I digress. The Call of Cthulhu CCG is an attempt at marrying the dark and terrifying world of the Mythos to the world of the CCG, and for the most part is very successful. Players either use preconstructed decks (the Premium Starter Set is highly recommended as this contains totally fixed decks that are balanced for play against one another, whereas individual 'Investigator' or 'Mythos' Starters contain a certain amount of random cards, which makes them awkward to use for new players) or create their own from the hundreds of cards already available by buying booster packs. A deck of fifty cards is the minimum required when constructing a deck, but there is no maximum. The object of the game is to win stories by pitting your characters against those of your opponent. Once a player has won three stories, they win the game.

Players each begin with three Domain cards, which they attach resources to in order to pay for cards to enter play. With the starting hand of eight cards, three are used as resources (one per domain). A particularly interesting mechanic of the game is that each card doubles as a resource by placing it upside down on a domain with the faction icon displayed. This avoids what Magic players seem to call 'Mana screwage', but as the only CCG i'm familiar with other than Call of Cthulhu is Pokemon, I liken it to not having enough 'Energy' cards in your hand at any time. In any case, it's the same principle - basically having each card double as a resource means that as long as your deck isn't totally ineptly constructed, you will always be able to place a resource in order to pay for cards to be put into play.

Each turn, players first refresh any exhausted characters (exhausted characters are placed sideways - readied characters are face up in an upright position) and restore one insane character of their choice (insane characters are placed sideways, face down), as well as 'untapping' any domains that have been drained (domains are drained in order to pay to put cards into play - a counter is used to show which domains are drained and which are still able to be used). After the refresh phase, the active player draws two cards. The resource phase follows this - in which a player can choose to attach one card to a domain as a resource. The operations phase follows this, in which characters and support cards can be brought into play.

The story phase then follows. During the story phase, the active player chooses to commit (or not!) characters to any of the three story cards currently in play, in an attempt to win success tokens at those stories. Once a player has five success tokens at any story, he wins that card and can execute the powerful effect of the card (but this effect must be carried out by BOTH players). As soon as a character is committed to a story, it is exhausted. The opponent must then choose which stories he wants to defend and commits characters accordingly. Once each player has committed their characters, the 'struggles' are resolved on the story cards, in the order on the cards. First up is Terror - players add up the total of all the Terror icons their characters have - the loser must choose a character to go insane. Next is Combat - fairly obviously, combat icons are compared here - with the loser choosing a character to wound (most characters can only take one wound before being killed, with dead characters being relegated to the shame of the discard pile!). The Arcane struggle follows, with the winner of this struggle being able to instantly ready any one character committed to that story. Investigation is the final icon struggle, with the winner of this struggle gaining one success token. There then follows a skill success check - each player adds up the total skill of all their committed characters - the active player wins a success token at that story if he wins the skill check, and the defender succeeding merely stops the active player gaining the token. Once all three stories have been resolved in this manner, characters are uncommitted (but still exhausted where applicable) and play passes to the next player.

Call of Cthulhu is easy to learn and plays relatively quickly - for my first game with a deck I constructed, the game lasted just thirty minutes or so. Even without first hand knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos, it is still an enjoyable game. My only opponent so far has been my girlfriend, who has never read Lovecraft but who nonetheless greatly enjoys playing. Over several games, we seem to have one a roughly equal number of times (she tends to favour a deck that leans towards the Investigators, whereas I go for more Mythos based decks) - which has made it seem to us that it is a very well balanced game even with the ridiculous amount of cards available (for the record, I have been beaten with a deck containing Agency/Miskatonic University cards when my deck contained Cthulhu himself as well as several powerful Cthulhu servitors).

The theme is beautifully interwoven - the Mythos characters really do seem overwhelming at times - it's quite satisfying (even as a Mythos player!) to see the humans triumph against such seemingly impossible odds. It's worth noting that factions can be mixed and matched any way the player chooses when constructing a deck (thus creating hybrid decks containing professors, cops and monsters for example!) but in order to keep the theme together to a certain extent, some characters are Heroic or Villainous...and one will not work with the other (if a Villainous card is in play on your side, a Heroic one cannot be brought into play, and vice versa).

The Call of Cthulhu CCG is brilliantly illustrated - the cards have a great 1920's 'period' feel to them, with lavish painted illustrations on each one. These illustrations perfectly capture the feel of Lovecraft's chaotic universe, and for such a large set of cards the paintings are for the most part consistently brilliant. I can think of one, maybe two illustrations that struck me as slightly indistinct or unimpressive, with the rest being great across the board. Fantasy Flight should be immensely proud of themselves for assembling such an obviously talented roster of artists, all of whom seem to be firing on all cylinders. I guess Lovecraft's Mythos is incredibly inspiring to the artists involved!

Having not had much experience with CCGs except with Pokemon (which I adore, coming from a background in video gaming both personally and professionally), I can't honestly compare Call of Cthulhu with other CCGs. What I will say is that the mechanics of Call of Cthulhu seem to be very elegantly designed and well thought out - the resource card mechanic in particular really stands out as being a particularly superb piece of design. The story cards, with the icon struggles they bring, are also fantastic - adding action and tension at every turn.

In short, I think that Call of Cthulhu is a superb game. Even given any reservations you may have about CCGs and the bottomless pit of spending that they seem to incur, Call of Cthulhu is well worth checking out - the Premium Starter Set plays very well out of the box, with a balanced pair of decks representing six of the seven factions available - and at a very reasonable price (the excellently designed decks contained within this set means that buying Booster Packs isn't the necessity that it is for other CCGs). The fun gained from buying extra boosters and finding Ancient Ones such as Cthulhu in them can't be underestimated though...neither can the enjoyment of creating a deck, as any CCG player will attest to. Also worth noting is the fact that rare cards don't seem to be the all powerful beasts that they can be in other games - many common cards in Call of Cthulhu are pretty powerful, so there seems to be less of a problem with players paying their way to victory with this game.

Due to the excellently interwoven theme, great mechanics and excellent graphic design, as well as fast paced gameplay and the availability of the Premium Starter Set, Cthulhu comes highly recommended both for fans of the Mythos and those gamers who have never even glanced at a Lovecraft story or a pair of Cthulhu slippers.

Summary

Presentation: One of the most consistently well illustrated CCGs I have ever seen. Brilliantly atmospheric artwork, perfectly evocative of both theme and the time period it is set in. Stunning. 9.8/10

Clarity of Rules: A fairly complex game is explained clearly and with enough examples to make learning the game very easy indeed. A few timing issues do crop up - but everything is adequately explained in the rules to avoid much confusion. 8.9/10

Game Length: Usually no more than around 90 minutes, with many tense situations every step of the way. Very addictive! 9.3/10

Value: The Premium Starter decks are two fixed and very well balanced decks (including rare cards) for a reasonable price. Single Starters are not as good, given that some random cards are included. 7.8/10

Overall: For Mythos fans, this is a no-brainer. For CCG fans, this is a total breath of fresh air - with some unique and interesting mechanics and a superbly tense experience, this is not to be missed. Anyone yet to try either Lovecraft or CCGs should start with a Premium Call of Cthulhu Starter Deck - I can't recommend this game highly enough. 9.8/10 (not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown