Home > TTRPG Reviews

Call of Cthulhu RPG

This Call of Cthulhu RPG review is part of my “Best Tabletop RPGs of All Time” article. If you want to check out more TTRPGs and see how other top-tier tabletop RPGs are ranked, visit that page.

My Review – 77 / 100

Bar graph showing game scores across several categories, with some bars including black segments.

Call of Cthulhu is a TTRPG based on stories written by one of the most celebrated horror fiction writers of all time: H.P. Lovecraft. Cthulhu is a deity of chaos worshipped by cultists in many of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories. If you aren’t familiar with books like the “Necromonicon,” I highly recommend you add it to your list.

You can still play Call of Cthulhu RPG without a working knowledge of the stories from which they are derived. However, if you are familiar with even some of the short stories written by H.P Lovecraft, you’ll almost certainly enjoy playing Call of Cthulhu substantially more.

Uniqueness of Call of Cthulhu RPG: (6/10)

The most unique part of Call of Cthulhu RPG is the “sanity system.” Basically, the horrors of the mythos are so tremendous that upon experiencing anything to do with the otherworldly pieces of the game, your character might go insane. The sanity system tracks your character’s sanity “hit points,” in a sense.

When your character experiences something ghastly or born of chaos in any sense, you have to make a sanity check. As you fail checks (which will happen from time to time), your character becomes weaker to the psychic/ mental traumas inherent in a universe with which your character fundamentally can’t fully contend. It’s pretty interesting to watch a character slowly go insane as they brush up against the horrors of Cthulhu multiple times.

Another feature I like in Call of Cthulhu RPG is that when your character succeeds at anything , there’s a chance for your character improve at that specific task. This means that characters get better by doing, which is a system that I love.

One huge downside of the game is that when it comes to skill checks, you really need to be good at math. There are scenarios where you need to half values, then fifth them again. Why? Why is that in the game at all? This is such a great game that I was surprised to find such a frustrating mechanic.

Ease of Learning the Game: (7/10)

As with rolling skill checks, determining character stats is easy if you’re good at multiplying numbers in your head, quickly. Many people aren’t, which really bogs down the game. Overall, the numbers aren’t that bad though, as most of the weird math problems are found in character generation and some occasional skill checks.

Primarily, Call of Cthulhu RPG is a mystery/ investigation game. The investigation process is quite cool, and it’s pretty intuitive for new players. Once characters are created, the game gets a little easier, and so long as there aren’t a lot of skill checks being made, the game is fairly simple to play.

Call of Cthulhu Presentation: (7/10)

I really like this game’s presentation in the core rulebook. The book’s font calls back to early 1900’s in the U.S., while the Cthulhu-like tentacles on important parts of the rulebook makes them stand out, and reminds you of the horrors that await you around nearly every corner. The rulebook is easy to follow from a practicality standpoint.

H.P Lovecraft Lore: (10/10)

As I mentioned, Call ofCthulhu is based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. So, the lore of Call of Cthulhu RPG is really the lore of stories contained in the “Necronomicon.”

There’s not better lore for a game’s foundation that can be found anywhere in the world.

Combat in Call of Cthulhu RPG: (5/10)

Combat in Call of Cthulhu RPG features relatively simple numbers. I enjoy that when you’re attacked, your character also attacks back in that same action. There are levels of success when it comes to combat checks, and related damage, which is a little weird the way it’s done, but also kind of cool. When you engage in combat, as with normal skill checks, there will be math, so prepare for that.

Combat in Call of Cthulhu is a simple system with not a lot to it. It’s not something I’d enjoy digging into for more than a few minutes at a time, and not for more than once or twice per gaming session.

It is important to note that Call of Cthulhu RPG is not about fighting the horrors of the H.P. Lovecraft mythos, like you might expect from games like Dungeons and Dragons. Instead, the game is one of discovery and investigation. It’s better to run from fights than to ever try and engage in something that’s very likely to end in your character’s death.

Call of Cthulhu comes with the premise that the monsters you’ll face are far superior to your character in almost every way. Their mere presence is sometimes enough to drive your character insane, so there’s often no point whatsoever in fighting them.

Game “Flow”: (7/10)

The tension of Call of Cthulhu comes from the journey of discovery. As you learn more about what’s happening in the game’s world, ideas flow out from your discoveries, and one set of investigations leads to another. With each new step along the journey, drama heightens.

If you loves mystery games and solving riddles/ puzzles, you’ll probably love Call of Cthulhu. For myself, I don’t enjoy uncovering mysteries enough to make it the premise of an entire RPG campaign. Furthermore, I don’t think I’m alone in that sentiment.

So, I scored this game as well as I could for this section of the game’s review, but I don’t believe pure mystery to make for an optimal game flow. Again though, if you love mysteries, go ahead and give this game another 3 points (to make this section 10/10) and you’ll have a better idea of whether or not Call of Cthulhu is the right game for you.

Artwork: (5/10)

Most of the artwork in Call of Cthulhu comes in a comic book style. I like the artwork a lot and feel it fits the dark, mysterious vibe. That being said, you won’t find the high-end art here that you might be used to seeing in other higher-budget RPGs. Overall, there’s not a lot of standout art in this book that will wow you.

There is terrific – and I mean truly terrific – Cthulhu art all over the internet. Search it for yourself and be amazed. It’s just that the quality of artwork you can find literally anywhere online is (astoundingly) not found in the Call of Cthulhu RPG rulebook.

Ease of Purchase: (10/10)

It’s very easy to purchase Call of Cthulhu RPG at either the Chaosium website, or through online retailers like Amazon.

Price & How Many Books Do You Need to Play: (10/10)

You can purchase the game’s starter set for $25. There are also higher tiers of entry according to how much you like the game and want to invest. The options for purchasing the game make it much easier to give it a try if you or the other players in your gaming group are new to Call of Cthulhu.

Fame & Availability of Supplemental Material: (10/10)

Call of Cthulhu has lots of supplemental material to help inspire an ongoing campaign. Plus, all you have to do is pick up the “Necronomicon” for literally endless ideas.

Call of Cthulhu is one of the easier tabletop RPGs to get going with a new group, for this reason.

Call of Cthulhu is Produced By:

Chaosium Inc.

Man in blue shirt and khaki pants smiles, sitting on a green railing. Dark background.

Jacob Tegtman

Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed my article. Tabletop gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 6 years old. I've played just about every game from Dungeons and Dragons to video games like Final Fantasy. These games have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought me endless hours of enjoyment.

I started Eternity TTRPG - and the indie tabletop game that goes along with it (Eternity Shop) - to share my love of gaming with others. I believe that in our technology-driven age, tabletop games help bring a sense of magic and community back into our world.

If you love the site, please share it with others! I have lots of gaming-related material for you to peruse and use in your own gaming sessions. If you have any questions about the site or want to contribute, just send me a message using the "Contact" page, which you can find in the site's footer.

Jacob Tegtman

D&D books and dragon art collage with text: “Help! Get My Girlfriend to Play D&D”

How do I get My Girlfriend to Play D&D? Floral Dragons Field Guide

By Shawna Tegtman • July 1, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeVWenMXd68 Transcription Hey, y'all. How's it been? So one of the questions that I hear so often is, " How do I get my girlfriend, my wife, my significant other to play D&D with me or other tabletop role-playing games," right? I always also hear, like, I hear from my husband's friends, "You are so lucky you have a wife that wants to do these things with you." It was not always like that, okay? Five years ago when I met this man, and he was like, "I am into Fan Expo, and animes, and ren fairs, and tabletop role-playing, and D&D," and I just looked at him like, "What are you talking about? What are those things, and why are you into them? They just seem really silly." Um, of course, now five years later, I enjoy them with him, um, but it wasn't always like that, okay? So we spent a lot of time trying to figure out what would [00:01:00] get me into it, right? And of course, I did my first campaign, created my first character, and something that I really liked about that character is that it had a familiar, um, a summon that was its buddy, right? And, you know, I'm the kind of person that if I have a little furry friend, it's makes everything better. Real quick to interrupt. Eternity TTRPG is releasing a card game battler which emulates combat from the D&D tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our pre-sales page live now, packed with details. No [00:02:00] payment info needed. Just let us know if you want an email when the product becomes available. Now, back to your video So that's one of the things that I want to bring up that you could potentially use to help get your significant other into tabletop role-playing. Um, and one of the things that I've found that I actually really like, I found it last year at Gen Con, is made by Hit Point Press, okay? So we were just walking the aisles at Gen Con, and I found it out of nowhere, It made me change my look a little bit, and it was, like, exactly what I wanted from a game rather than just constantly seeing the I don't know. It's just, it's weird when you're looking at it from a female perspective versus a male perspective. Um, and anyway, Hit Point Press had this item, and it is called The Floral Dragons Field Guide. And it is beautiful artwork, which really drew me in, [00:03:00] but it takes these everyday whimsical flowers and turns them into dragons. It is so beautifully illustrated. , There was a wisteria dragon, a dandelion dragon, , oh, goodness, the cherry blossoms. The cherry blossom dragon is probably my favorite. But what this did for me was give me a really beautiful outlet, but also a way to dive into the world and my own way to connect, right? So this field guide is 5e D&D compatible, which is great, right? And it was this whole field guide and idea of just finding these different dragons in the world around us, and it brought an everyday whimsy to my life 'cause now I don't just see a flower, I see the dragon that it could be, or perhaps the fairies that are in it. And I think that is the way to [00:04:00] get your significant other, wife, girlfriend, to connect with you on these tabletop role-playing games, is to bring the whimsical into your everyday life. Okay? So go out on that walk, point it out, and say, "Hey, maybe a fairy lives there." Now, obviously, not all w- women are this way. Um, I just happen to be that way, and I feel like there are a lot of women that are that way, that want to find that whimsy in life, that whimsical thing. So this guide that I found, um, it actually sold out in a lot of different versions at Gen Con, and I was able to get the box set. So it had the field guide, but it also had flashcards of each dragon, and then it had, uh, a DM screen. So super pretty art on one side showcasing all the dragons, and the other side showing how they can poison, paralyze, and do all the mean things that- You know, [00:05:00] we just like to do sometimes. That it goes into your role-playing game, right? 'Cause if you're gonna sneak up on some, um, fungi dragon, right, you would hope they would do something back to you. 'Cause you know, fungi in normal life can be good or bad depending on how you consume it. So it just kind of makes sense. Um, so anyway, that was one thing that helped me connect into this tabletop role playing world, was bringing the whimsy into my normal everyday life. And this guide, The Floral Dragon's Field Guide by Hit Point Press, did just that for me. Of course, there's other things that have come up over time, and I do hope to dive into those more because every woman's different and every woman finds what they enjoy and how they can connect with their significant other. Um, but this is just one way that has worked for me. Um, and like I said, you can take pieces of this field guide that I found, put it into just about any tabletop role playing game. Of course, if you wanna know [00:06:00] more about the one that my husband created, that's gonna be at eternityttrpg.com. And of course, I have to hype him up 'cause he's amazing. Um, but as always, you can head over there and like, comment, subscribe and we'll jump more into his game, other D&D stuff, other tabletop role playing and just see what we can find in life. Bye, guys.

Streamer at desk with “Eternity TTRPG Races” text overlay, in a gaming room

Custom Races for Your Next D&D Game in Eternity TTRPG

By Shawna • June 26, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_sdjZdLByE Transcription Ateri, Kror, Empyrean, Esper, Human, Jadori, Stoneborn, Treant, and Yzarc. These are the nine races that make up the world of Eternity. We're gonna take some time and dive into three of these races, so here we go So the three we're gonna talk about today is gonna be human, Aeteri, and Empyrean. Okay? So to get started with human, human is gonna be your all-around class, right? They're the most diverse in the ways that they look, act, perceive the world. They have determination, ingenuity, and compassion that allows them to create these very powerful nations in the lore of eternity, right? More than all, though, they tend to be very emotional, which can lead to a lot of passion for the good, but it can also lead to corruption. So that's the thing that you have to worry about with humans is because of their passion level, they can just take things too far one [00:01:00] way or the other. Um, as far as, like, their stats and everything goes is they're gonna be your most even keel character, right? They're gonna be across the board even with their strength, their agility, their magic, their speed. They're really just a good race to pick for any class, especially as a gets, getting started race. Um, other thing about them is they have decent HP, um, right in the middle of any other race. So it's definitely just a good starting race, right? Real quick to interrupt, we now have free downloadable D&D cards at the Eternity TTRPG website that you can use at your table. Everything from combat actions to status effects. No more flipping through your book to see exactly what being petrified does to your character. You can just take our graphics, print them out at home, and slap them on your table for fun and easy reference. Grab yours today using the link below. [00:02:00] Now, back to the video Jumping into Aeteri is where we're gonna start, Aeteri actually means ascended in this world because the Aeteri are ascended humans because of an item from the lore. Okay? This item is called the Gift of Kings, and a human uses the Gift of Kings, and they can become a elf, for lack of a better word. It's a matter of is it going to be an ascended Aeteri elf or an Empyrean dark elf, right? So pretty cool right there. Um, but jumping in with the Aeteri, right? So they're ascended. They use this magical artifact. They transcended from human nature, and Because of their transcension, they have gained a lot of wisdom, their initiative is faster, and they have a lot of good trade-ons. However, a trade-off is that your HP is gonna be lower as an Eteri. So instead of starting with, like, three or four [00:03:00] health points, hit points, you only start with two. However, that's not as bad as the Empyrean. So jumping into Empyrean, um, as I said, the Empyrean is gonna be your dark elves or fallen humans, is what they've been termed. Um, their thought process is basically, "Nobody is good enough to use the Gift of Kings, and we're gonna enslave all of human, all humans," right? Um, because they're just, they're dark, and this is the way that they feel, right? So you have this balance going on of the Eteri being the ascended and the Empyrean being the dark. So you got that going for them. Thing about Empyreans, though, and what I don't necessarily like about them, is they only have one hit point. So you have to be very careful when you're navigating your different encounters because of that. However, they do have high magic, high agility, initiative, um, high wisdom, which [00:04:00] is all really good. And then one thing that happens with an Empyrean to counteract them having one hit point, is that when they fall to zero, they actually turn into a lich, and they have three turns to do whatever they want, cause as much damage, wreak as much havoc as they can before they fully fall, right? Um, so that's kind of neat, a kind of neat play. So you take this human, you let them use the Gift of Kings, and they're either gonna turn into an Eteri or a dark elf Empyrean. So either way, kind of cool stuff going on, right? Out of those three, let me know which one is your favorite, right? My favorite out of those three has to be the human, because they are even-keeled, and they're a really good starting point for someone that doesn't know how to play tabletop role-playing games, what they're really going after, and it pairs really well with any class, right? Because you can just [00:05:00] make it work. You're not teching for anything. Um, so let me know what you think. Would you prefer human, Eteri, Empyrean? And of course, if you wanted to look into these more on your own, please go to the Eternity website, eternityttrpg.com, and that's gonna get you some more information on those races along with other classes, right? Um, so let me know what you think. Like, comment, subscribe, and we'll see you next time for those other races.

Rethinking D&D: Design Oriented Conversations to Improve the Game

By Jacob Tegtman • May 5, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2pHaAcKDbo Transcription [00:00:00] I want to start talking more about Dungeons Dragons and game design So far on this channel it's really been a news style kind of coverage where new things are happening new books are releasing and so forth But one of the things I've experienced and probably a lot of other people have as well is that Dungeons Dragons hasn't really improved as a game over the last many editions I started playing Dungeons Dragons at 3.5e Many of you probably were around the same time Maybe there's a lot of 5e players originals out there or there's you know basic or advanced Dungeons Dragons players I love Dungeons Dragons It was my introduction to the TTRPG hobby and TTRPGs are one of the main pillars of my life in a way I've spent most of my life making games creating supplemental [00:01:00] material for Dungeons Dragons exploring some of the lesser-known TTRPGs the indie games and trying to understand why I love it so much and then bring that joy to as many people as possible in as many ways as possible I think there's a lot of ways to play this hobby But one of the disappointing things to me is that D&D 3.5 compared to say 5.5e now is there's still a lot of things I prefer in 3.5 And as I've learned about basic and advanced D&D there's a lot of things I prefer even in those games So if you're not getting what you really want out of Dungeons Dragons this is kind of the direction I wanna take things I still love D&D This channel isn't gonna become about roasting D&D or even necessarily going to a ton of other TTRPGs and reviewing them And I mean there's a million other games out there you can try and a lot of them are great Pathfinder Daggerheart I've reviewed a [00:02:00] lot of them on the Eternity website But what I wanna do is present some of the ideas that myself as a game designer I've come up with over the last Well I I've probably been designing or editing games since I was about six Uh I think I was 12 when I first made a map where people could play through and you know actually engage in a a full-fledged game that I made So Let's say twenty-four years of game design experience for myself I'm a at this point a hobbyist so I'm not a professional I've never worked for Wizards of the Coast or any other publishing company I have published my own TTRPG and I'll be sharing that more in the future But all of that aside I wanna start talking about in this channel still some of the news things that are coming out but I wanna share it from the framework of here's maybe how you can take this and make it better There's a lot of elements in [00:03:00] D&D that I wanna be talking about that I think are cool but we could make a lot better So some of those topics number one being initiative I think initiative is very uninspired There's nothing wrong with it right Like the initiative system for D&D gives you everything you need to play a combat encounter It's very simple You roll a d20 you add your modifiers If you have like the alert feat in 5E Then you get to go faster and going faster typically means that you're gonna get like one extra turn than a lot of your other friends at the table or enemies that you're facing Because say you're you're seven rounds in you're taking your seventh turn they've only had six but then all the enemies are dead um that's kind of the the value of initiative right Like so going first does matter but it's not that exciting is it Like you just roll you add your bonus and then you're locked in like a static initiative for the rest of the battle [00:04:00] And these kind of issues with D&D lead to very stagnant situations where people take their turn and then they pull out their phone and they know that it doesn't really matter if they're engaged at the table because for the next five ten fifteen minutes going around the table for everybody to take their turn depending on how well the dungeon master runs a combat encounter they could have literally nothing to do especially if they don't have any reactions so forth So you kinda see this with initiative number one You see this w even with basic things like hit chance and these kinda tie in a lot because players will roll saves when it's not their turn and it gives them sort of something to do at least But with AC it's just a static value it's a situation where the dungeon master may not even need the player because a lot of DMs they write down their player's AC Before the battle even starts So they know when they're rolling behind their uh little table or you know whatever however they [00:05:00] use it maybe as a DM you're just rolling out in the open so anybody can see the D20 Other people hide that number but if they roll a five and the monster's got a plus ten or whatever they just know that they hit somebody who has a fourteen or lower right So they don't even really need the player You just Dungeon Master rolls you take X amount of damage and then all the player has to do is record that on their character sheet then they can get back to their iPhone right Like that's lame There's a lot of situations like this that could be improved I also think it's really interesting looking at old school D&D and other [00:06:00] channels talk about this kind of thing a lot and I think it's something that we could bring back to modern D&D with very good results would be things like the dungeon turn or random assigning of how enemies or NPCs feel towards the party I don't think that the critical role way of playing D&D the the theatrical way of playing D&D is necessarily the best way of playing D&D And I don't have anything against that I really like narrative gameplay A lot of the dungeons um a lot of the campaigns that I have dungeon mastered for have been fairly narratively driven And I really like I I've never written a novel but I like writing the the campaign style novels and then being free to adjust that as my players make decisions But I also think it it isn't necessarily the best way sometimes I've [00:07:00] been very inspired as a dungeon master and I've come up with great narrative plots that my players are super into and it makes for an amazing twenty-five to thirty-five session campaign over the course of a year year and a half that people love and we still talk about And there's been a lot of times as well where I'm not very inspired but I'm still trying to rely on those kind of plot points that older styles of D&D don't make you use because they generate a lot of that for you Emergent storytelling is the term I'm looking for where you don't necessarily know what plot is going to come out of the story but sometimes that's much better because at those moments in my own campaign creating where I haven't been the most inspired those campaigns can die really easily Those are the campaigns that last anywhere from two to seven sessions and just like you often hear about most campaigns die after seven sessions Those are the ones that don't make it [00:08:00] So I think that there are a lot of great older ideas that for some reason the newer versions of Dungeons Dragons didn't bring forward I also think that D&D being a fairly old game and don't get me wrong I love older games I play them all the time but it's surprising the lack of innovation I think that has been in the industry over the past What I mean when did D&D come out I Is it I can't think off the top of my head Is it forty fifty years I'm surprised there isn't better stuff Um and don't get me wrong I I love the other games too I love Pathfinder I love Daggerheart I think they're all cool but I think we can do better And so I'm not necessarily saying I have all the ideas for what could make it better but over my twenty years of designing games twenty plus I've come up with some very simple ideas that I wanna share with you and I think that when you try them out for yourself give me some feedback let me know what you think um I think together we can come up with something that is [00:09:00] substantially better And so that's my goal Everything from the mechanics of initiative in combat to the way campaigns develop narratively to player agency to things like allowing dungeon masters to also play characters in their own campaigns within limited scopes perhaps sharing the roles of dungeon master I think there's a lot of things that we could do to actually truly advance the TTRPG hobby genre beyond what we've seen so far So that's the direction that I plan to take with the channel moving forward I'm looking forward to some of these first videos We're gonna talk about the initiative system We're gonna talk about the hit chance system and I can't wait to get your feedback on it But hopefully this is a turn for me away from just new style stuff and towards stuff that you can use in your campaigns [00:10:00] like tomorrow And I hope that you enjoy it and I hope to hear from you on topics that you want to see improved in your own D&D games And again I think together we can come up with some truly amazing improvements So until next time talk to you then.