We have all been there. You are packing for a convention or a game night at a friend’s house, and you have to decide between bringing the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook or a second set of clothes. The book usually wins, but your back pays the price.
While the new So You Want To Try Out Call of Cthulhu bundle is ostensibly marketed at fresh meat for the grinder, there is a significant amount of value here for the veteran Keeper, primarily in digitising your library and filling gaps in your scenario collection.
The Math for the Compleatist
Even if you already own the standard literary monoliths (the Keeper and Investigator books), the pricing mechanics here make this an efficient way to pick up the supplements you might have missed.
The bundle price sits around $25 (approx £19).
On DriveThruRPG, a single PDF of a scenario collection like Nameless Horrors or Dead Light often runs close to that price point individually. If you are missing even two of the included titles, buying the bundle is cheaper than purchasing those PDFs separately. Think of the extra copy of the Rulebook as a digital spare tyre.
Beyond the Core Rules
The real draw for the experienced table is the scenario content.
- Nameless Horrors: This is the standout inclusion for long-term groups. It features six scenarios involving entities that are not standard Cthulhu Mythos creatures. If your players have memorised the stats for a Dimensional Shambler or know exactly how to banish a Hound of Tindalos, this book is how you put the fear back into them.
- Dead Light & Other Dark Turns: Dead Light is widely considered one of the best “roadside attraction” scenarios in 7th Edition. It is the perfect survival horror one-shot to have in your back pocket when a scheduled session goes off the rails or you are down a player.
- Investigator Handbook: While less useful for the Keeper, having a legal, shareable PDF of this to hand to your players during Session Zero is invaluable. It saves passing your premium hardcover around the table with greasy pizza fingers.
Advanced Keeper’s Choice
If you have been running games since the 6th Edition days, you might have skipped the Starter Set. Do not overlook it in this bundle.
It includes Paper Chase, Edge of Darkness, and Dead Man Stomp. These are classic scenarios updated for 7th Edition rules. Having modernised, cohesive PDFs of these classics makes introducing new players significantly smoother than trying to convert on the fly from older books.
Who is this actually for?
- The VTT Convert: If you are moving your campaign to Foundry or Roll20 and don’t want to manually type text from your physical books, these watermarked PDFs are copy-paste-friendly.
- The Commuting GM: Having the entire 7th Edition reference library on a tablet beats hauling 4kg of hardcovers on the train.
