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fredkiesche's review
5.0
Published in 2014, this slim volume acts as an introduction to the various settings for Chaosium's venerable Call of Cthulhu horror roleplaying game (among my favorites). Alas, as of 2020, only two of the settings here has really been fleshed out for the 7th edition of CoC, and one of them by another publisher.
The settings herein are Cthulhu Invictus (republished and expanded by Golden Goblin Press), Cthuhu Dark Ages (recently republished by Chaosium), Iceland (a setting for the BRP line from Chaosium, status unknown), Cthulhu by Gaslight (another setting that Chaosium is hopefully bringing back, Victorian-era England and beyond), the Dreamlands (also supposed to be coming back from Chaosium, a favorite setting for me, but one I feel has never been successful as published), Cthulhu Icarus (a one-shot set in space) and Cthulhu End Times (what happens after old Squid Face and his crew take over the Earth).
Gaslight, Iceland and Dreamlands all have the most detail in here (possibly because they had the most material in previous CoC editions?). Surprisingly, Invictus is somewhat thin (even thought it had previous Chaosium work), so you're better off finding old pre-CoC 7th edition work for this from Chaosium or buying the new work from Golden Goblin. Icarus is something of a one-shot, set on a spaceship, but could be fleshed out with material lifted from other books, movies or television shows (Colin Wilson, The Expanse, Space: 1999 all readily spring to mind). End Times will probably appeal to those who like imagining life after the zombie apocalypse and the like, but I personally like gaming in the time before Cthulhu rises rather than after.
The settings herein are Cthulhu Invictus (republished and expanded by Golden Goblin Press), Cthuhu Dark Ages (recently republished by Chaosium), Iceland (a setting for the BRP line from Chaosium, status unknown), Cthulhu by Gaslight (another setting that Chaosium is hopefully bringing back, Victorian-era England and beyond), the Dreamlands (also supposed to be coming back from Chaosium, a favorite setting for me, but one I feel has never been successful as published), Cthulhu Icarus (a one-shot set in space) and Cthulhu End Times (what happens after old Squid Face and his crew take over the Earth).
Gaslight, Iceland and Dreamlands all have the most detail in here (possibly because they had the most material in previous CoC editions?). Surprisingly, Invictus is somewhat thin (even thought it had previous Chaosium work), so you're better off finding old pre-CoC 7th edition work for this from Chaosium or buying the new work from Golden Goblin. Icarus is something of a one-shot, set on a spaceship, but could be fleshed out with material lifted from other books, movies or television shows (Colin Wilson, The Expanse, Space: 1999 all readily spring to mind). End Times will probably appeal to those who like imagining life after the zombie apocalypse and the like, but I personally like gaming in the time before Cthulhu rises rather than after.
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