(This article is one of the backlog that piled up when I went off on a much needed vacation. As I slowly get back into blogging and prep for fall semester, I'll be working my way through these in addition to more NUNA, game design, Coyote & Crow, and Stormbringer posts)
The image of Chaosium games is that they use the same D100 system with minor tweaks over decades. They are considered stable and reliable, and due to this their games have thus largely avoided the edition wars and varying receptions of other big name games such as D&D, Vampire the Masquerade, and Shadowrun, to name a few.
In the past few years, with the publication of Call of Cthulhu 7E and now the new game Time Without Tide, which boasts an entirely new system, Chaosium seems to be trying to break out of its mold.
 |
| This character seems more roaring 20's flapper than faux-Victorian, but only a fogey like me would notice... |
But how much of the mold was there to break?
The Mythic Past - Golden Age & Tough Times
Looking over the past, a lot of this stable & unchanging image is not entirely true.
First, Chaosium from the start has tried lots of different mechanics with its games. Pendragon had the Virtue system, Stormbringer (and later Magic World) had demon summoning, Ringworld had root-branch skill differentiation, and Nephilim has D&D type spells in an Occult setting of evolving immortals. Although Call of Cthulhu has gone through the most editions of any Chaosium game, it still has gone through adjustments of the skill system, especially in terms of starting skills.
Runequest has seen out of house editions such as Moongoose and Mythras from The Design Mechanism (albeit these were partially due to financial constraints and not just for innovation's sake). Ditto with Stormbringer, which saw Moongoose & D&D (Dragon Princes) editions, as well as the re-creation of Elric! before those.
I would say that although incremental change and limited experimentation has always been a quiet feature of Chaosium, but they are now pushing for much faster and larger change in response to the changes in the market, technology, and the publishing industry.
Adapting To The Future - Bold Strides
I see Chaosium now as very much embracing the future in many ways. First, their embrace of Kickstarter lets them test ideas out first and avoid the pre-production costs of traditional print. Considering Paizo's huge losses in stock from the bankruptcy of Diamond Distribution, and the consignment system that left millions of dollars of their stock in limbo due to lender claims, this offsetting of risk by switching to crowdfunding is a smart move.
Second, their switch in rules away from traditional 3D6 for stats in Call of Cthulhu 7E, along with its leap in art quality, has proved a success. The game is #1 in Japan so was a guaranteed success there, but in English countries it also took 2nd place in sales to D&D, as well as over 150, 000 in sales of Miskatonic community content.
Third, the 2024 BRP Design Contest was an out of left field promotional event that really raised the consciousness of Chaosium and created lots of buzz. As a recipient I was very honoured to be chosen, but the lack of guidance towards making a finished project was, in my opinion, a misstep. Of the four winners, as far as I know only two of us have produced games (The Prince of Masks and the quickstart for my post-apocalyptic Inuit game, NUNA). With help from Chaosium we definitely could have all made good quality games by now, instead of the indie/amateur products we are proud to have completed.
Which brings us to Tide Without Time.
Tide Without Time - Craft Beer & German Pretzel D&D Killer?
One of the biggest surprises is that Time Without Tide (hereafter TWT) does not use the BRP D100 system. Instead, from what has been discussed online, it seems a D6 versus difficulty level, rules light system with character classes which some have noted is similar to the Flabbergasted/Mesmerized RPG in mechanics and tone.
 |
| Body, Mind and Will? I think we all tried and failed to make this type of game at one point. |
Looking at the promotional image above, there are only 3 attributes (Body, Mind, and Will) versus BRP's 7, and 6 skills (Culture, Industry, Navigation, Skullduggery, Survival, and Violence) versus BRP's lengthy and infinite roster of skills. Having played the rules light Lasers & Feelings RPG and been totally smitten by both its ease of play & running plus the absolute gonzo way adventures go off the rails, I heartily endorse this direction.
In fact, my next game, Giri-Ninjou: The Soul of Japan RPG, will be very rules light.
And market shift has a lot to do with this, I reckon. If you follow D&D online discourse, you'll see that many younger gamers are playing without reading the rulebook and have injected lots of whimsy into their games. Chaosium's demographic is 25-49, with only 3% of the NA market versus dominance in Japan, so it is in their interest to take a chance to improve this.
The only doubt I would have is if an old school class-based game of exploration (ie dungeon crawling) can bite into D&D's treasure hoard, and if younger players will make the switch. I find the marketing for TWT has been rather bland and atonal, despite having a charming art style, and appealing to how it could replicate stories such as Over The Garden Wall or older Ghibli films would be more of a draw. Then it would have a better chance of drawing a wider audience and their wallets.
Hope For The Best
Still, I think Chaosium knows what it is doing, and that taking risks is the only possibility to have a hit game. I am sure that Chaosium diehards will buy a copy, but for its ultimate popularity and sales, only time will tell.
Good luck Chaosium!
As for the continued use of D100, if TWT is a smashing success, you might have to give your D10s a little rest.
