QuoteI think 1920s/1930s Europe would be a good backdrop to set Mythos adventures in.
Places like Berlin, Paris, Prague, Rome, etc are a great canvas once you decide you want games further afield than Lovecraft County

Dude, you need to get out more. Call of Cthulhu's been setting stuff in Europe for decades. If GMs only stick with Murica, its not because there's a lack of material out there.

Quote from: Anselyn;1097238Because ultimately, you care about killing people (NPCs) and how to do it - not the culture they live in, what's driven them to the mythos or the milieu in which your targets sit?

I care about details like that, because I can find a nice picture of said car or revolver online and show the players. It helps immersion. And there are always players that ask "what kind of car is it?", "What kind of gun is it?" and since my players certainly know more about cars than I do, it helps me as a Keeper to be prepared with info. It kind of works like naming random NPCs, really. I have lists of the most popular names from different decades saved so it's pretty easy to make up a name on the spot and make it sound like the NPC is of some importance, has a stat block, etc.

Btw, I have no problems with prostitutes in a rpg session, but I don't research them. I doubt they were different from modern day hookers to be honest. The only thing worth researching regarding hookers would be the prices, where to find them and maybe a bit about STDs for that era/setting. But it has never come into play during a CoC session. I have watched alot of actual plays on Youtube as well, and I have never seen anyone picking up some prostitute when playing Call of Cthulhu. I actually doubt I will ever witness any podcast player longing to be balls deep in some Line-Boy named Rudi, regardless if they play any scenario in Berlin - The Wicked City.

I'm not edgy enough for playing out degenerate fuck fests with my old friends. My gaming sessions are not like some episodes of Game of Thrones where they throw in some full frontal dick just for the hell of it.

Quote from: GIMME SOME SUGAR;1097120But hey, I've got an idea of a brand new line of Cthulhu supplements for you. Call of Cthulhu in the sleazy, funky '70s. Pornshops, whores, pimp canes, Shaft vs Cthulhu? Investigators could dress like this: [ATTACH=CONFIG]3632[/ATTACH]

Yeah. That looks great. Like Boogie Nights meets Call of Cthulhu. I'd run that game.

I have rarely played Call of Cthulhu and had no interest in the Berlin supplement, but you've inadvertently sold me on it. List of guns and cars I can easily find, but history I don't know, and local colour that will allow for a different and interesting roleplaying experience, that's why I'd buy a supplement book.

//Panjumanju

Quote from: Panjumanju;1097251I have rarely played Call of Cthulhu and had no interest in the Berlin supplement, but you've inadvertently sold me on it. List of guns and cars I can easily find, but history I don't know, and local colour that will allow for a different and interesting roleplaying experience, that's why I'd buy a supplement book.

//Panjumanju

Then you should buy the Berlin supplement. It will surely give you and your gaming group a different kind of CoC setting. I prefer Lovecraftian horror to crossdressing horror, but to each his own. And like that old song went:

Hey Hey women are going mad, today
Hey Hey fellers are just as bad, I'll say
Go anywhere, just stand and stare
You'll say they're bugs when you
look at the clothes they wear

Masculine Women Feminine Men
which is the rooster which is the hen
It's hard to tell 'em apart today
And SAY...
Sister is busy learning to shave
Brother just loves his permanent wave
It's hard to tell 'em apart today
HEY HEY
Girls were girls and boys were boys
when i was a tot,
Now we don't know who is who or
even what's what
Knickers and trousers baggy and wide,
Nobody knows who's walking inside
Those Masculine Women Feminine Men

Masculine Women Feminine Men
Which is the rooster which is the hen
It's hard to tell 'em apart today
And SAY...
Auntie is smoking, rolling her own,
Uncle is always buying cologne
It's hard to tell 'em apart today
HEY HEY
You go and give your girl a kiss in the hall
But instead you find you're kissing
her brother Paul
Mama's got a sweater up to her chin,
Papa's got a girtle holding him in
Those Masculine Women Feminine Men
Stop, Look, Listen and you'll agree... with me
Things are not what they used to be... you'll see
You say hello to Uncle Joe,
Then look again and you find it's your Aunti Flo
Masculine Women Feminine Men
Which is the rooster which is the hen
It's hard to tell 'em apart today
And SAY...
Wifey is playing billiards and pool,
Hubby is dressing kiddies for school
It's hard to tell 'em apart today
HEY HEY
Ever since the Prince of Wales in
dresses was seen,
What does he intend to be the King or the Queen
Grandmother buys those tailor-made clothes
Grandfather tries to smell like a rose
Those Masculine Women Feminine Men

Quote from: richaje;1097234Different strokes for different folks. My players (who are all Berliners who playtested the game) frankly couldn't care less about whether a car is Benz Söhne or an Opel Laubfrosch. And cares only what the damage the gun does and its chances of misfire. But they cared tremendously about having coke-fuelled session with Anita Berber and her monkey. And whether their erratic playwright investigator would adapt the events of their recent investigations into the "Stärkster Mann" series of movies. Or how they would keep their film company afloat while the city and the country went to hell. And then stuff started happening that made them really want to find cabarets and other diversions to make them forget what they just dealt with....

Different strokes indeed. Cabarets, Coke binges with crossdressers and monkeys. I'm sure the supplement will find its proper crowd. The setting has already enthralled a few in this thread. It's a far cry from older Chaosium products though.

Quote from: Omega;1097210Very YMMV. To me it lacks some crucial data and seems to overfocus on the seedier side. But that seems to be the point. And if I recall right some of the lacking info is in other books. As noted above. It meshes well with more lurid fare and by extension should work with a group that can handle such a place.

At least two players I game with online would find the book potentially interesting. So I'll be recommending it to them. Others I would not as the subject matter would repulse them to some degree.

Thanks for that. It helps.

Some players like details about guns, cars, and planes, others are interested in fashion and drinks, and others are interested in politics and culture. As a GM I try to include some aspects of all of that. Playing CoC in 1920s Berlin while ignoring (or being ignorant of) the decadence of Wiemar Berlin strikes me as odd as playing CoC in 1920s Chicago and ignoring (or being ignorant of) Prohibition and the Mob. Why bother using a different setting if it isn't going to be different?

Quote from: GIMME SOME SUGAR;1096946Is this what CoC is becoming? I know that Berlin was a lewd place in the 1920s, but I really didn't want to read all the details about different kinds of prostitutes (even teens and younger ones). What's the purpose of this? That a PC can order himself a Telephone-Girl after a hard day's investigation or cruise suburban Berlin in his Mercedes-Benz Modell K looking for Wild-Boys? Strangely enough I had to google a German car model from the 1920s because stuff like that isn't found in the pdf.

I wonder if any of this was made up. This actually sounds kind of interesting as a setting. I would also take any claims for huge numbers of various groups with a grain of salt, considering that information gathering likely wasn't done with any great discipline. That said, I imagine it wouldn't be a LGBTQ wonderland, given the economic horror and jackbooted competitions for power because communists and national socialists.

Quote from: Lynn;1097269I wonder if any of this was made up. This actually sounds kind of interesting as a setting. I would also take any claims for huge numbers of various groups with a grain of salt, considering that information gathering likely wasn't done with any great discipline. That said, I imagine it wouldn't be a LGBTQ wonderland, given the economic horror and jackbooted competitions for power because communists and national socialists.

None of this is made up. I'm hardly an expert on this era of German history, but I've read a bit about it, and I've come across a lot of the information quoted above, from the supplement. Remember that Berlin was not a Nazi town - they were not so popular in the capital as they were in other parts of Germany, and Berlin was referred to dismissively as Red Berlin, in the 20s.

I'm a bit burnt out on CoC, after running it for years, but this book has got me interested in it again. As Bren said above, some players like details on guns and cars and some like politics and culture. My players are more interested in music, cocktails, nightclubs and society - and if the game is set in Berlin in this era, then all the stuff that the OP finds so offensive will be front and centre in any game I run in 1920s Berlin. It was so much a part of the culture of the time, that any game trying to be true to the era must include it. However, that doesn't mean that PCs have to approve or be part of LGBT culture.

Different strokes for different folks, of course. If it worries you, don't buy it. Play what you want. Personally I always thought the New England supplements were rather boring - but then I like cities, not the country. It's a game at the end of the day - not part of some conspiracy to destroy roleplaying (which seems to be the OPs belief - or perhaps he is just scared by queers! )

Quote from: Gruntfuttock;1097271It's a game at the end of the day - not part of some conspiracy to destroy roleplaying (which seems to be the OPs belief - or perhaps he is just scared by queers! )

Or both. Or in English is not necessarily an XOR.

Quote from: Gruntfuttock;1097271None of this is made up. I'm hardly an expert on this era of German history, but I've read a bit about it, and I've come across a lot of the information quoted above, from the supplement. Remember that Berlin was not a Nazi town - they were not so popular in the capital as they were in other parts of Germany, and Berlin was referred to dismissively as Red Berlin, in the 20s.

I'm a bit burnt out on CoC, after running it for years, but this book has got me interested in it again. As Bren said above, some players like details on guns and cars and some like politics and culture. My players are more interested in music, cocktails, nightclubs and society - and if the game is set in Berlin in this era, then all the stuff that the OP finds so offensive will be front and centre in any game I run in 1920s Berlin. It was so much a part of the culture of the time, that any game trying to be true to the era must include it. However, that doesn't mean that PCs have to approve or be part of LGBT culture.

Different strokes for different folks, of course. If it worries you, don't buy it. Play what you want. Personally I always thought the New England supplements were rather boring - but then I like cities, not the country. It's a game at the end of the day - not part of some conspiracy to destroy roleplaying (which seems to be the OPs belief - or perhaps he is just scared by queers! )

I'm glad a degenerate Berlin got your CoC juices flowing again. I wonder why CoC players/Keepers act as if Berlin had something that other big cities lacked when it comes to drugs, crossdressers and prostitutes. If music, fashion, cocktails, nightclubs, hookers with whips and heroin is the gist of your gaming sessions then why did you get burnt out by CoC earlier? 1920s New York would suffice for all the things I listed.

And just because I'm slightly homophobic doesn't mean that this LGBTQIAMSOWOKE/SJW material in the newer products isn't part of a plan. How many gays, lesbians, transpeople, queers, genderfluids, etc, are playing CoC to be honest? I bet they aren't that many, but yet Chaosium feels the need to be inclusive in written products.

If a Maine supplement shows up on the market in the future, maybe some will get the juices flowing with the chance of playing a klansman who hates blacks, jews, Catholics (Irish and French-Canadians). Of course, that wouldn't be woke. But in the context of 1920s history it would be pretty accurate, wouldn't it? Just like the coked up prostitutes of Berlin?

Quote from: Marchand;1097245If it's in the book, I assume it's because the authors thought the concept of paid sex with minors might arise in game. For ME (and I'm not trying to set rules for anyone else) that's so dark and difficult to handle appropriately in-game that I just don't want to go there at all.

I see. I get where you're coming from. I took it to be there so you could be thinking:

a). This deed by the NPCs is abhorrent but legal in Berlin.
b)  That deed by the NPCs is abhorrent and illegal in Berlin.

The abhorrence is not in doubt - and all the deeds can be off-camera/stage. But - if even the concept of the acts is problematic for you then you can certainly play your X-card on the product.  

QuoteThis is not necessarily the book's fault but part of the ick factor for me is the mental image evoked of a bunch of middle-aged guys sitting around supposedly playing CoC but actually getting some sort of thrill out of "roleplaying" an underaged sex scenario.

I never imagined this possibility but if players are doing that then that's their sin not the book's. Being a jerk player and saying, "It's not me. It's the character" is a well-known problem, which I hoped we'd got past.  I don't think that this content of the book is implicit consent to do that anymore than giving something hitpoints is consent for players to kill it.

Edit/Comment: anymore than giving something hitpoints is consent for players to kill it. Shit - I'm naive aren't I ...

Quote from: GIMME SOME SUGAR;1097283How many gays, lesbians, transpeople, queers, genderfluids, etc, are playing CoC to be honest? I bet they aren't that many...

That would be my guess. You have this double whammy of both Lovecraft himself and the time period the game is set in being "problematic" for people on the woke wagon.

Btw, I must correct myself. I'm not homophobic when it comes to some people. My favourite CoC Youtube-channel with actual plays is Into the Darkness. The man behind that channel is brilliant and also married to a man as far as I recall. But one thing he doesn't do is shove propaganda down viewer's throats when he is a Keeper. When he gets to play an Investigator he doesn't feel the need to state the sexuality of his characters. I respect that very much because the channel and the players focus on the horror scenario they're playing.

Quote from: Marchand;1097245I find the concept of sex with minors not just distasteful, but abhorrent. Do I really need to explain that?

For some? Probably you do? Like what do you define as a minor or not? I assume you mean an adult and a minor? What about two minors? I can guarantee you that whatever you or I might think is going to be totally ignored by about every other minor.

As for some sort of "thrill"? Why even assume that? This is CoC afterall so isnt it more likely the players and their PCs will be the sorts to find this stuff offensive as well? Or even find it suspicious? It has all the tell-tales of a cult of Shub-Niggurath in the background.