Call of Cthulhu vs Tales from the Loop
Compare Call of Cthulhu and Tales from the Loop side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Call of Cthulhu | Tales from the Loop | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Modern | Scifi, Modern |
| Play Style | Investigation, Deadly, One-Shot Friendly, Atmospheric, Roleplay-Heavy, Mystery, Horror, Corruption, Skill-Based | Narrative, Beginner-Friendly, Character-Driven, Mystery, Rules-Light, Licensed IP |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d100 equal to or under your skill percentage. Success tiers at half (Hard) and one-fifth (Extreme) of the skill value. Bonus and penalty dice adjust the tens digit. Failed rolls can be pushed for a second attempt at greater risk. | Roll a d6 dice pool (attribute + skill). Each 6 is a success. Push to reroll failures but take a Condition. Kids cannot die: instead they accumulate Conditions (Upset, Scared, Exhausted, Injured, Broken) and must roleplay recovery with anchors. |
| Dice | d100 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | Low |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | High |
| License | Chaosium Fan Material Policy | Year Zero Engine OGL |
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Chaosium | Free League Publishing |
| Year | 2014 | 2017 |
| Best For | Investigation-driven horror where combat is deadly and sanity is fragile. Great for one-shots. | Groups wanting a rules-light, nostalgia-driven RPG about kids solving sci-fi mysteries in an alternate 1980s: Stranger Things meets E.T. |
| Highlights | Tracking Sanity as a depletable score ties mental erosion to the fiction, so confronting cosmic horror mechanically wears characters down. The percentile skills resolve on a d100 roll-under, with Hard and Extreme bands at half and one-fifth of the rating. Bouts of Madness convert failed Sanity checks into temporary phobias, manias, or loss of character control. | Very simple rules, distinctive 1980s setting, Conditions system encourages roleplay over combat, accessible for new players and younger teens |
| Considerations | The chase rules add a detailed positioning subsystem whose complexity outweighs how often it sees use. Character creation allocates points across a long list of skills, a slow first step for new players. In long campaigns the sanity spiral can strip a character of player control as madness accumulates. | Trouble mechanic resolution can feel arbitrary, limited mechanical differentiation between kid characters, investigation pacing relies heavily on GM skill, sessions can stall without clear mystery structure |