Cthulhu by Gaslight is an interesting time period but it's kind of tough on players even by Call of Cthulhu standards. A lot of stuff just isn't available in that era.  Even a lot of stuff that is common in the 20s era is either newly invented or not available depending on the exact year.

Quote from: yosemitemike;919257Cthulhu by Gaslight is an interesting time period but it's kind of tough on players even by Call of Cthulhu standards. A lot of stuff just isn't available in that era.  Even a lot of stuff that is common in the 20s era is either newly invented or not available depending on the exact year.

True there are no tommy guns but dynamite is available and so are machine guns (albeit a bit heavy to tote around) and vehicles (steam cars) and the telegraph for communication.

Quote from: Hermes Serpent;919261True there are no tommy guns but dynamite is available and so are machine guns (albeit a bit heavy to tote around) and vehicles (steam cars) and the telegraph for communication.

It's worth it if only for being one of the few periods in history where you could openly proclaim yourself an occultist and mess about with the Golden Dawn and Theosophists and that sort of thing.  You could probably be legit paid for being a Call of Cthulhu investigator.

Quote from: Hermes Serpent;919261True there are no tommy guns but dynamite is available and so are machine guns (albeit a bit heavy to tote around) and vehicles (steam cars) and the telegraph for communication.

It's more than just that.  Finger printing is new if it has been invented at all.  Crime labs are non-existent.  Cars are rarities.  They exist but they are very uncommon and, even if one is available, go only a few miles an hour.  Regulation delayed car development in Britain until the 20th century.  Electric lights with dry cell batteries are new or not invented yet.  The D-cell flashlight doesn't exist.  Machine guns exist but they are heavy, cumbersome and highly impractical.  A Maxim gun is not something investigators can be toting around.  There as telephone service in the UK at the time but few people had phones and only in a few areas.  There are just a lot of convenient, little things that are not available yet at that time.  The guns are not really the main thing since they are often useless in CoC anyway.

It's an interesting era and I like the atmosphere of it but it can make things hard on investigators.  That doesn't mean anything is wrong with it.  It all depends on what sort of game you want.  Things become easier in the modern era with cell phone, the internet and so on but that doesn't make that are somehow better.

Quote from: RPGPundit;918939You say this as though it's a bad thing.

Actually it is, in respect of it being a key design factor in the development of Delta Green. Introducing new characters during Masks became a real immersion-breaking chore. (The initial characters all know each other through a third-party connection that goes away).

In Delta Green (First Edition) you were all part of a wider underground conspiracy, so all the new character would require is to know the secret handshake.

Delta Green (Second Edition) is just rolling out now (like in the past couple of months), and is spectacular. It uses a variant theme of the above to reflect the post 9-11 world.


The other issue that I have seen reported, is that Masks now feels very old-school, very railroady, not necessarily what modern players are looking for.

It's also crazy long...and yet short compared to Mountains, AFAIK.

I have the core book (5.6), Dreamlands, the creature book (Martian tripods!), Delta Green, and Delta Green Countdown. (and d20 CoC, but everyone looks at me funny when I try to run that)

I am fan of CoC as any other guy. So far I have only enjoyed small scenarios (1-3 sessions) and I like like them very much. I would recommend good-old Mansions of Madness.

Quote from: remial;921103I have the core book (5.6), Dreamlands, the creature book (Martian tripods!), Delta Green, and Delta Green Countdown. (and d20 CoC, but everyone looks at me funny when I try to run that)

D20 CoC was actually fantastic.