My boyfriend and I are Lovecraft fans--especially Cthulhu. We saw the Call of Cthulhu game at the entertainment store where he works and had to get it, however, we've never played a Fantasy Flight game before. The manuel doesn't explain resources at all, so we have a few questions:

-What does draining do?

-How are resources used?

-What should I look for when determining what card I should use as a resource?

Draining means you have used up that domain for this turn. Typically it is indicated by placing a token (like the Cthulhu statuette) on the domain to show you've used that one for now. At the beginning of your next turn you Refresh all the domains (remove the markers).

Resources are simply cards that are placed under the domain marker. Most of them have a single "dot" on the bottom indicating it is worth one point of the corresponding color. You spend these points by Draining the domain. (Note you don't remove any cards to drain - you just use up their points. So domains can increase in value because you can place one card each turn under a domain of your choice.)

I think the most difficult part of the game is choosing which cards to resource! I always figure I am putting the wrong card under there and will need it later!

What are the resources used for in the game?

oh! They are used to play cards from your hand.

The "cost" of a card (character, event, support...) is given in the upper left corner.

Let's suppose it is your first turn. In the beginning you placed one resource under each of your three domains. Now because it is your turn, you draw 2 cards (well, only 1 if you are the first player on the first turn), and you can place another card under a domain as a resource.

Maybe you want to bring Keeper of the Golden Path into play. You note that it has a 2 in the upper left corner, and it is of the Cthulhu faction (green).

Thus you need to drain a domain that has 2 cards in it, at least one of which is green.

Now you used up that domain that has 2 resources (cards) and you still have two more domains, each of which have 1 resource.

You could use them now to bring in characters or locations or attachments with cost 1, or you could save them for later to play an event as a surprise or solution to the opponent's actions.

If we stay with the same situation, and imagine that you have an Adult Deep One in your hand. This card costs 3. You may NOT drain your domain with 2 resources and your domain with 1 resource to pay 3. It has to come from a single domain.

Does this help?

Hi! You might want to take a look at the tutorial video . It'll talk you right through it! Have fun...

Thanks a lot!!

That's my biggest pet peeve with the game, your cards have to do double-duty as resources, unlike Magic the Gathering which has conveniant resource-only cards for exactly the same purpose. Someday I might sleeve a deck & designate a certain number of my non-deck cards as resources & add them in to see how much it changes/improves gameplay.

Has anyone else thought of or tried this?

Evil Jim said:

I don't think it'll improve gameplay. I play Magic too, and it just pisses me off that when I have a cool deck idea, out of the 60 card slots I have to have around 25 really boring resource-only land cards instead of the option of putting in all the really awesome cards I want to put in. Then, when I play, these lands have a good chance not to show up at all, or start showing up too much when I want to actually have things to play.

I often have the feeling that when I'm playing my Call of Cthulhu deck, I'm playing my Call of Cthulhu deck - But when I'm playing my Magic deck, my Magic deck is playing me. Magic takes away a lot of the decisions. The only 'conveniance' is that you just don't have to think about it much - But I want to win games because I played well, not because my deck gave me just the right amount of resources to play my other cards. Or because my opponents didn't get to play their deck because of manascrew.

The resource system of Call of Cthulhu is pretty much like playing a game of boosterdraft, and the game itself at the same time. Determining the card value on the spot versus all other cards in hand, depending on the situation. It's a very dynamic thing. Yes, it allows you to screw up a lot more too, but at least I'm making the decision there and then, instead of before I play my deck, during deck construction.

Also note that resourcing is optional . If you don't want to develop a domain, you don't have to.

Your CoC deck will have what is basically your sideboard included game one, and they'll double as your lands.

I can see how, for a Magic player the resource system may be a little overwhelming. CoC doesn't hold your hand as much and all that sudden freedom may come as a sudden shock. Try to understand it, even embrace it - then master it and all your games of MtG feel unnecessarilly restrictive.

Honestly, the double-purpose of the cards is one of the major things that drew me to this game. Having cards that serve only the purpose of paying for other cards is something that has always kept me from enjoying Magic, while being able to enjoy Hecatomb, which was basically 5-sided Magic except for the one distinction that cards doubled as mana.

And it had Yog-Sothoth in it.

So basically, this game is everything I wanted out of Hecatomb and more, and possesses the staying power that Hecatomb didn't.

Ok, I'm seeing your points now. I never really had an issue with the mana cards in Magic because it was my first ever CCG. I should be more irritated with the Monty Python & the Holy Grail CCG where cards doubled for "grail draws" where you had no choice over what you would lose. But I'm not going to let mere resourcing ruin my enjoyment of Cthulhu. I suppose part of my frustration with it comes from knowing if I resource a card it's gone because I don't yet have multiples of everything. But my collection will keep growing & eventually I'll be able to better strategize these things.

Anyway, thanks for the insight.

i have thought about this as well. I had a thought about making a deck and trying to include the double resouce cards as much as possible. havnt tested it out though

JesseOlivier said:

Evil Jim said:

Correct. Those Transient resources are a bit of a double-edged sword. It's nice to have some immediate gain, but on the long term, they hurt more than help.

Wouldn't being able to play a turn 3 Ancient One be worth the setback?

MarthWMaster said:

MarthWMaster said:

Just play Y'Golonac on turn 2 with no setback . Turn 1, Priestess of Bubastis, one domain with 2 resources. Turn 2: One domain with 3 resources, exhaust PoB to lower Y'Golo to cost 3.

Evil Jim said:

I think the resourcing in CoC is very themati.c As in, I'd like to have this super tough guy to fight, but right now I need him to run some errands so something else can happen.

CoC has fewer problems with resources than Magic. However, I agree that what card you resource can make or break the current match.

MarthWMaster said:

You're not playing much of anything turns 1 and 2, which in most metagames, is lethal. Concidering that you won't be playing much after turn 3 either, since your resources are gone... The big guy has his work cut out for him...

If you're looking for quick ancient ones, using Opening the Limbo Gate (Core Set, F116) will have better results, if you can get your AO's in the discard pile (not a huge problem for Yog...)