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Old 11-20-2010, 10:05 AM   #1
East Timor Green Lite
 
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Default Cthulu dice - if you ain't got nothing good to say...

Ok, sorry to say, none of my friends seem to like Cthulu dice. The same from 2 different groups of friends.

As for myself, having dished out the dough for it, I have not yet given up on it.

- Us simple minded folks believe the game would go a lot smoother if the response shake was eliminated. Whose turn is it next? Oh, yeah.

- And before anyone is able to memorize what the symbols mean, the game is already over. Maybe just start out with 5 sanity tokens rather than only 3?

One possible solution I have thought of was to purchase..! a 2nd die of another color scheme and designate one of them as the Curser's die and the other as the response die. -- or..., I guess we could use that zombie/cthulu promo coin as the current player's place marker
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Old 11-20-2010, 07:29 PM   #2
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Default Re: Cthulu dice - if you ain't got nothing good to say...

Quote:
Originally Posted by East Timor Green Lite View Post
One possible solution I have thought of was to purchase..! a 2nd die of another color scheme and designate one of them as the Curser's die and the other as the response die. -- or..., I guess we could use that zombie/cthulu promo coin as the current player's place marker
I've seen both of these strategies used very effectively.
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Old 11-21-2010, 11:43 AM   #3
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Default Re: Cthulu dice - if you ain't got nothing good to say...

Since most of the games I play with people on this one is with 3 people,
I think we shall play with 5 sanity tokens each from now on.
It is way too short of a game otherwise, imo.
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Old 11-21-2010, 12:54 PM   #4
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Default Re: Cthulu dice - if you ain't got nothing good to say...

Okay, but you know it's supposed to be a short game, right? Like, there's no real meaning in saying, "I won a game of CD!" If you want to treat it as a full game instead of filler, you should run several games of CD. Winning a game = 1 point. Winner is the person with the most points after an <insert time frame here> of playing.
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Old 11-21-2010, 09:10 PM   #5
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Default Re: Cthulu dice - if you ain't got nothing good to say...

Quote:
Originally Posted by East Timor Green Lite View Post
One possible solution I have thought of was to purchase..! a 2nd die of another color scheme and designate one of them as the Curser's die and the other as the response die. -- or..., I guess we could use that zombie/cthulu promo coin as the current player's place marker
I made each of our players buy a die. I have a bunch, so I can toss different colors out for folks. Each having a dice makes the game go even faster and using "place cards" IE: cut out rules on a standie, makes things go smother and faster than normal.

Also, it really is, I think, a killing time game. I have 20 minutes between this game and this game at a convention, I pull out the dice and play...

Oh, by the way, the Cthulhu Dice bag will only hold about a dozen of the dice and the tokens and rules sets...

Pat
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Old 11-22-2010, 04:50 PM   #6
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Default Re: Cthulu dice - if you ain't got nothing good to say...

If someone wins you are playing the game wrong anyhow! Cthulu wins by default regardless. Anyhow.... I like having the dice to play in other Cthulu games using rule variations. Especialy in RPGs.
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Old 11-27-2010, 04:25 PM   #7
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Default Re: Cthulu dice - if you ain't got nothing good to say...

One option to simplify the game and keep "Who's turn?" confusion down is simple. No response rolls, and no going around the table for turns.

Caster targets and rolls.
Apply effects.
Now it's the target's turn.
Repeat.

It's easy to track turns, and balances out. You might say some people don't get as many turns, but they're also not being attacked as often. Someone who never gets a turn will most likely win, because they could only have lost sanity to Cthulhu, while everyone else is losing it to everything.

This also eliminates the response-tentacle confusion.
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Old 04-25-2011, 08:39 PM   #8
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Default Re: Cthulu dice - if you ain't got nothing good to say...

My wife and I bought two sets of Cthulhu Dice and gave it a try but we ran into some of the same issues people are talking about here (turn order is confusing, don't like playing multiple cultists, game is too short, not a lot of strategy).

The concept of the game is cool, and the big `ol dice is awesome. The fact that it's simple and fast is great. But we were hoping for something a bit closer to Zombie Dice than what we got.

I wrote up some alternate rules and we tried them out for the first time tonight. It was pretty fun! The game is still simple and I tried to keep all of the stuff that works well, but I tried to eliminate the things that our gaming group found confusing or weak.

Here are my alternate rules. If anyone gets a chance to try them out, or has any questions, or comments, or suggestions, please post. I'd be thrilled to hear it.

--------

Alternate Cthulhu Dice Rules

Setup

You will need:
  • 1 Cthulhu die
  • 1 d6
  • 10 tokens per player + 5 for Cthulhu (stones, pennies, etc)
  • 1 Cthulhu doll (not required but it's more fun that way)

Give each human player 10 sanity tokens. Place the Cthulhu doll prominently. Give him 5 sanity tokens.

Play

The owner of the game decides who goes first.

Take turns rolling the Cthulhu die. Based on the results do the following:
  • Yellow sign: _bet_ against a human opponent
  • Tentacle: _bet_ against Cthulhu. If he has no tokens, you get nothing.
  • Cthulhu: all players lose 1 sanity to Cthulhu
  • Elder sign: choose a human opponent. That player loses 2 sanity to Cthulhu.
  • Eye: steal 2 sanity from Cthulhu. If he has no tokens, you get nothing.

Play continues until only one player has any sanity left. That player is the winner.

If all players lose their sanity to Cthulhu then Cthulhu wins!

Madness

In a game of 3 or more players, if a player loses all of their sanity tokens they go "Mad."

When a player is Mad they roll the Cthulhu die as normal. However, the rules are slightly different:

A player who is mad can only receive sanity from Cthulhu. If the Yellow sign appears they lose their turn.

If a Tentacle appears they have a chance to regain their sanity without making a wager. The Mad player rolls a d6 and if they get a 6 they reclaim 1 sanity.

The Cthulhu, Elder sign, and Eye symbols have the same effect as normal.

If a Mad player has any sanity tokens at the end of their turn, they are no longer mad and may play normally again.

Betting

The betting player wagers 1 - 5 sanity tokens.

He or she then rolls a d6.

If the roll is greater than or equal to the amount of the bet, the rolling player steals the wagered amount from their opponent.

If the roll is less than the player's bet than they lose all wagered sanity to their opponent.

A player cannot lose more sanity tokens than they have. If a player wagers 5 tokens and wins against an opponent who only has three tokens, the player will only receive the three. (i.e. don't wager more tokens than your opponent has to lose).

Last edited by GloryFish; 04-25-2011 at 08:40 PM. Reason: typo
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Old 05-05-2011, 07:30 PM   #9
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Default Re: Cthulu dice - if you ain't got nothing good to say...

...it is a five buck game...fun to collect...and FNORD...
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Old 05-06-2011, 05:39 PM   #10
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Default Re: Cthulu dice - if you ain't got nothing good to say...

Why not add the Cthulhu die to Chez Cthulhu?

Setup and play CC normally, but one action per turn can be taken as a casting with the CD. Read the CD sanity loss backwards as an increase (or less often decrease) of CC madness.

And with strange aeons even death may roll a die.
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