[Dr Evil Voice] (Dr... Dr Lang, I didn't spend 8 years at University and another 4 part time to be called Mr, thank you very much ) [/Dr Evil Voice]
Although I've read a bit of Lovecraft, I didn't really get on with Call of Cthulhu. Mostly because the GM was a maniac. Also because the insanity system felt a little strained. I also prefer games that can be realistically used in a Campaign, which the insanity rules don't help.
You would expect a Maniacal GM to be rather good at CoC but I think it's a game that warrants a fair amount of careful balance from the GM. As with any investigation game, you have to be careful to balance the suspense with clues and action. Maniac GMs throw hundreds of clues at you, so you have no idea what is going on and then (in frustration) do something at random, which leads to half the party going mad.
I played Human Occupied Landfill (HOL) cross with SLA Industries with a different GM and that was horror cranked up to 11. And it was great. So it's not the horror genre I don't like. Although is did get a bit OTT when one of the PCs had to eat a dead baby when he lost a game of cards to a cannibal.
I will happily put my entire CoC experience down to the fact that the GM wasn't much cop and the group exploded but as such, it didn't really stick for me.
call is one of those game that is very hard to GM (paranoia being another I can think of) It requires a very controlled tempo (note for the horrors not the players) and can be turn to crap if your not careful. its a great game though
Time Fly's like an arrow! Fruit Fly's like a banana!