Well I know they say they fixed it ...
Message:... But in 30+ years of play I've never seen it. The dice rolls never made sense. I've heard that the Ref is supposed to add factors and not require rolls for mundane things. I just don't see it.
Worst, if I did ... it would negate all that careful character development. If a Ref said your roll is +25 versus +20 ... that days and days and days of effort to bump up my "Use beaker" skill would be meaningless.
For example, I'm 4 inches away from a person with their back turned. I've carefully planned and prepped my gear, position, and mind. I have extensive experience with combat and fire arms and I still have less than a 50 / 50 chance of hitting my target. The game is one "Are you kidding me?" mechanics decision after another.
Rather than focus on the players reaction of hot lead piercing their body in unexpected ways ... from a moment of angry triumph ... to realization that this will be your last moments in a world that is not as you expect ... how do you spend them? It's a exercise in bad math.
The mechanics for CoC are just flat wrong for the game you are trying to play.
The setting, mythology, and idea is interesting. Even getting it all in one book is a plus to me at least. One could pick at threads but the idea is that it's absurd ... so absurd as to drive one to lose their sanity. (See what I did there.)
Why again are you worried about hundreds, thousands of little improvements to make you viable for play?
The game is mostly:
(1) mostly normal person wanders into extraordinary circumstances
(2) uncover things man was not meant to know
(3) Queue the screaming and the gore
(4) Man, I'm glad I spent all that time getting my finger nail trimming skill up.
If the one criticism of D&D was that you had too many different colored dice, color me unconvinced. 99+% of all games (including the flawed CoC) simply copied D&D and tweaked a few things. Gamers of old had no trouble figuring out what a twelve sided die was.
Mental midgets of today can use their cell phones.
Besides, I kinda like the dice. What's wrong with a little color in one's life? The choice of the dice and the act of rolling them adds a player element to the game. Picking up the die and rolling it is an overt act ... you did that rather than simply wanted it to happen.
And, Traveller did what you suggest of skill progression in a world where you could live rationally for a long time. That you could perish in character generation is a thin complaint. Death is to check everyone from choosing the riskiest profession to somehow gain an advantage. You pushed your luck. Start again. That too was later removed. And, in comparison to CoC, after 30 years, has actually been eliminated.
It is a testament to the marketing that the followers can't see it or can't accept it. (It is a shame because it would significantly improve the game and reduce the burden on the Ref.)
Yours,
IronConrad
08-May-2021