Quote from: Anselyn;1097712So, you are actively rejecting the commonly accepted elements of the Mythos post-Lovecraft?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y'golonac

Not rejecting per se, but I won't write a scenario featuring the deity in question any day soon. If you add sex and perversion to the horror, well soon enough you'll sit there with a scenario that is more suited for Kult. I like to keep CoC and Kult different. And I'm not altogether familiar with what deities and beings Ramsey Campbell has brought to the fold. I just read some of his stories from the Inhabitant of the Lake & Less Welcome Tenants, mostly because of the Iron Maiden song Still Life. And if I ever publish a CoC scenario then there's the issue of copyright. I'm not 100% sure of what Mythos creatures are safe to use. Some writers are so protective of their fantasies (unlike Lovecraft). I remember back in the early Myspace Music days when me and an American wanted to title our little music project Necroscope. I got the idea from Overkills album Horrorscope, just replacing "Horror" with "Necro". It didn't take long before we were contacted by some Lumley stooge who warned us about copyright infringement. I was very surprised because I had never read Lumley. But we changed the name. It wasn't a big deal, really. But since that day I have regarded Brian Lumley as a cunt.

Quote from: Omega;1097717Except some elements are not "commonly accepted". Even Chaosium called out Derleth for example for pigeonholing the various beings into more defined good and evil camps as it were. Others havent been too thrilled with say Campbell's works. As with everything Lovecraftian it is totally YMMV.

I agree. But if we are talking about playing Chaosium's game Call of Cthulhu then Y'golonac is in it (to use if you wish). Certainly - from 2nd edition (1983) onwards. That's the earliest version I have available to check.

Quote from: Anselyn;1097752I agree. But if we are talking about playing Chaosium's game Call of Cthulhu then Y'golonac is in it (to use if you wish). Certainly - from 2nd edition (1983) onwards. That's the earliest version I have available to check.

Being in the book and being "commonly accepted" are not exactly the same thing. There is I believe some Severn Valley stuff scattered about as well. I thought there was a whole sourcebook but can not find it so may be misremembering.

Quote from: Anselyn;1097712So, you are actively rejecting the commonly accepted elements of the Mythos post-Lovecraft?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y'golonac

Yeah, I would.

Quote from: Omega;1097753There is I believe some Severn Valley stuff scattered about as well. I thought there was a whole sourcebook but can not find it so may be misremembering.

Ramsey Campbell's Goatswood and Less Pleasant Places: A Present Day Severn Valley Sourcebook and Campaign for Call of Cthulhu Paperback – 1 Jul 2001
by Scott David Aniolowski (Author, Editor), Gary Sumpter (Editor), Lynn Willis (Editor)

Quote from: Anselyn;1097847Ramsey Campbell's Goatswood and Less Pleasant Places: A Present Day Severn Valley Sourcebook and Campaign for Call of Cthulhu Paperback – 1 Jul 2001
by Scott David Aniolowski (Author, Editor), Gary Sumpter (Editor), Lynn Willis (Editor)

I have that one! I like it very much & it is useful to me. I also have the adventure book that are essentially sequels of several famous Lovecraft stories, with an optional intertwining into a grand campaign available. Solid stuff! I totally want to run the Pickman's Model one.

I hope they make another one for Laird Barron and his Leech Chronicles. I know T. E. D. Klein has his "Black Man with a Horn" shuggoran in CoC 5.5 Creature Compendium.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1097629Very glad to hear that.

Now, with regards to the material on the sexual underground of Weimar Germany, this thread has already established that it is apparently given a very thorough treatment; but is it treated in a complex way? What I mean is, I saw reference here to the idea of a group of sex-worker and LGBT investigators defeating cultists or whatever, but is that meant to imply that in the book this sexually-liberated underside of Berlin is presented only as a force of good and righteousness?

Because it certainly does seem to me that part of the Mythos concept is that the fringes of society tend to be ripe for infestation with Mythos Cultism; so is part of that underworld in the service of the Elder Gods?

IMO no group should be presented only as a "force of good and righteousness" (or vice versa). All human beings are capable of great nobility or of equally great villainy.

https://www.neverreadthelatin.com/blog/an-interview-with-david-larkins-about-berlin-the-wicked-city

"It is certainly not a setting for everyone, as it necessarily deals with issues of sexuality and hedonistic behavior that not every group wants in their horror games, but if that's something your group is comfortable tackling, the experiences baked into a Berlin-centered campaign promise to be quite removed from your classic games.

(I also like to amuse myself by thinking that Lovecraft himself would have been repelled by the contents of the book!)

 The thoroughness of the description of the LGBTQI community in Berlin at the time offers a fascinating potential for individual roleplay and fleshing out the environment and interactions in Call of Cthulhu. It's also something that hasn't really been included in past Call of Cthulhu products. What was the process that lead to the inclusion?

It's something that came out of my research. I was fascinated to learn about the massive queer community in Berlin between the wars, of people like Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Magnus Hirschfeld. It quickly became apparent that to leave this part of Berlin's cultural identity unaddressed in the text would be to commit a tremendous crime of elision.

 At that point in the writing process, I saw the opportunity presenting itself to open up a discussion about playing LGBTQI investigators in the setting, something that every single play-test group took advantage of to at least some degree. A setting like Berlin allows for players with 21st-century sensibilities and interests to jump into a place nearly a century removed from us that accommodates those mindsets--indeed, one that has many strange and chilling parallels to our own time.

 A final note: I want to give credit here to Desiree Valdez and Sam Riordan for their informed feedback and sensitivity reading of the sections covering queer culture and player-characters in the book. The text is much stronger for their contributions."

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Call of Cthulhu, like many other RPGs, is written by people who lean to the left. That's probably why you're seeing what you're seeing. As I recall, Adventurer, Conqueror, King was made by right-wingers and has even been banned by Big Purple, as I think it's called, so if you want something with right-wing credentials that might be your best bet. Of course, it's a different genre (heroic fantasy).

That said, I think 'decadence' is going to be a major theme in any game that uses Weimar Berlin as a setting--that's what it's known for, after all. It fits well with Mythos themes of corruption and things turning into what they shouldn't. The sense of impending doom with the Nazis taking over also fits Call of Cthulhu--some campaigns have even suggested (within the game setting of course) bad things in the 30s were a result of the Mythos gaining a victory.

You might prefer something in a rural setting, where these issues are less likely to intrude. Certainly there are no shortage of Cthulhu stories in those.

There's no reason not to break out one of the old globe-trotting campaigns like Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, Masks of Nyarlathotep, or Tatters of the King if you really want to do Call of Cthulhu. Weimar Berlin is pretty much going to be about these themes--it's made popular by musicals and movies like Cabaret which have similar themes-- so it's accurate to the setting.

I agree most of this would have been too kinky for Lovecraft--of course, normal sex seems to have been too kinky for Lovecraft. He was a very abnormal fellow, and I doubt a normal fellow would have come up with the Cthulhu Mythos. He actively encouraged other authors like Howard and Bloch to use his monsters and exchanged creatures with them (they even kill each other off in a pair of stories), so it's not surprising Cthulhu is going in directions he wouldn't have imagined.

Quote from: Null42;1101896Call of Cthulhu, like many other RPGs, is written by people who lean to the left. That's probably why you're seeing what you're seeing. As I recall, Adventurer, Conqueror, King was made by right-wingers and has even been banned by Big Purple, as I think it's called, so if you want something with right-wing credentials that might be your best bet. Of course, it's a different genre (heroic fantasy).

That said, I think 'decadence' is going to be a major theme in any game that uses Weimar Berlin as a setting--that's what it's known for, after all. It fits well with Mythos themes of corruption and things turning into what they shouldn't. The sense of impending doom with the Nazis taking over also fits Call of Cthulhu--some campaigns have even suggested (within the game setting of course) bad things in the 30s were a result of the Mythos gaining a victory.

You might prefer something in a rural setting, where these issues are less likely to intrude. Certainly there are no shortage of Cthulhu stories in those.

There's no reason not to break out one of the old globe-trotting campaigns like Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, Masks of Nyarlathotep, or Tatters of the King if you really want to do Call of Cthulhu. Weimar Berlin is pretty much going to be about these themes--it's made popular by musicals and movies like Cabaret which have similar themes-- so it's accurate to the setting.

I agree most of this would have been too kinky for Lovecraft--of course, normal sex seems to have been too kinky for Lovecraft. He was a very abnormal fellow, and I doubt a normal fellow would have come up with the Cthulhu Mythos. He actively encouraged other authors like Howard and Bloch to use his monsters and exchanged creatures with them (they even kill each other off in a pair of stories), so it's not surprising Cthulhu is going in directions he wouldn't have imagined.

Well, I'm not really right wing, but I get your point. I'm just tired of all the LGBTQ-propaganda. It's like everyone but me and people I know personally is intersex or transgender now or promoting the politics of it all. Yet they are such a small minority in any nation and consumer group. You're also correct that I prefer rural scenarios, away from the big city glitz and crossdressers. I find that sequin don't mesh all that well with horror. New York was just as decadent as Berlin btw. I understand the decadence of the 1920s. But it's nothing compared to the moral decay and decadence of 2019. I just found the interview odd (queer?) with phrases such as this:

"At that point in the writing process, I saw the opportunity presenting itself to open up a discussion about playing LGBTQI investigators in the setting, something that every single play-test group took advantage of to at least some degree. A setting like Berlin allows for players with 21st-century sensibilities and interests to jump into a place nearly a century removed from us that accommodates those mindsets--indeed, one that has many strange and chilling parallels to our own time."

Is there really such a demand to play Investigators who are Cabaret crossdressers or teen hookers? And it goes beyond "kinky". It's fucking perverse. It describes preteen hookers even. What campaign use do people have of that fact?

Damn, I feel so old and misplaced. I don't have that magical, rainbow-coloured 21st-century sensibility. Am I the odd duck? Or are they? Is the Gift of 21st-century Sight found in the blue hair or the Seattle neckbeard? I just want to play a horror game with twisted monsters.

Well, here's hoping for some genuine Swedish motherfucking darkness in the upcoming Swedish Cthulhu version. Otherwise I'm done giving Chaosium or anybody who supports them money. I will continue to collect the old material that was made before the plush Cthulhu days, but Chaosium won't get a cent from me ever again since I will go for used books. They can keep their crossdressers and 21st-century sensibilities, their Scooby-Doo cover art and their nagging little blurbs about the horrid racism in the 1920s (as if it was new to people who can read). In fact, they can shove it all up their woke, inclusive asses. Lovecraft would have been ashamed.


[video=youtube_share;t484dYZrq1U]https://youtu.be/t484dYZrq1U?t=2148[/youtube]