A translation of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu RPG to Robin Laws' Gumshoe system. Why? Kenneth Hite explains that he wanted a game that focused on putting the clues together, rather than finding those clues, and Gumshoe's system was explicitly designed with that in mind. Trail is a fine game, with plenty of ways for a GM to modify the game to fit his players. There is a wealth of information on how to plan scenarios, and how to set the mood for a game set in the 1920s and 30s. Fans of horror games and fiction will find much in ToC to hold their interest. ( )

In the ongoing struggle between universality and specialization in roleplaying, the Gumshoe system that powers ToC takes a firm stance for the later. To me it is very much a halfway point between traditional, stat-based roleplaying and freeform, with stats and dice de-empathized and focusing on plot, mystery solving and effective horror. Whether you will like it will depend very much on what types of game you prefer running, obviously, since it will probably work better for some types of scenarios than others - but when it works it does so splendidly.

It is also a very good book on lovecraftian horror gaming: ToC gently redefines the mythos in a very welcome way, and features much very well-written fluff material on everything from occult thomes to racism in the 1930s. It is almost wirth picking up the book for this reason alone even if you don't play to try the system. Which you should. ( )