From what I can think up offhand, we've had ancient romans, medieval, 16th century, 18th century, 19th century, 1920s, 30s, 40s, and modern. Plus fantasy Cthulhu and Cthulhu in Space, but those don't count for these purposes.
Call of Cthaveman?:cool:
1960s. And further divided between two distinct periods within the decade: 1) early 1960s, the greasers, folk, & beat poets, 2) late 1960s, the hippies, glam, & psychedelica.
I think the Middle East in the time of Abdul Alhazred (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Alhazred) (circa 700AD) the writer of the Necronomicon has possibilities.
QuoteAccording to Lovecraft's "History of the Necronomicon" (written 1927, first published 1938), Alhazred was:
a mad poet of Sanaá, in Yemen, who is said to have flourished during the period of the Ommiade caliphs, circa 700 A.D. He visited the ruins of Babylon and the subterranean secret of Memphis and spent ten years alone in the great southern desert of Arabia—the Roba El Khaliyeh or "Empty Space" of the ancients—and "Dahna" or "Crimson" desert of the modern Arabs, which is held to be inhabited by protective evil spirits and monsters of death. Of this desert many strange and unbelievable marvels are told by those who pretend to have penetrated it. In his last years Alhazred dwelt in Damascus.
In 730, while still living in Damascus, Alhazred supposedly wrote a book of ultimate evil in Arabic, al-Azif, which would later become known as the Necronomicon. Those who have dealings with this book usually come to an unpleasant end, and Alhazred was no exception. Again according to Lovecraft's "History":
Of his final death or disappearance (738 A.D.) many terrible and conflicting things are told. He is said by Ebn Khallikan (12th cent. biographer) to have been seized by an invisible monster in broad daylight and devoured horribly before a large number of fright-frozen witnesses. Of his madness many things are told. He claimed to have seen the fabulous Irem, or City of Pillars, and to have found beneath the ruins of a certain nameless desert town the shocking annals and secrets of a race older than mankind. He was only an indifferent Moslem, worshipping unknown entities whom he called Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu.
Weimar Germany.
Trump America. Let's Make the Stars Right Again.
Seriously though, an Up To The Minute Modern Cthulhu, with Mythos Tentacles and Cults reaching into genetics, globalization, energy exploitation, banking empires, spirit cooking and secret getaways of the rich and powerful. Take the conspiracies of everyone, Left or Right and go to town. Delta Green for the Socially Networked generation.
Cthulhufunk - blaxploiting the Mythos
Quote from: Opaopajr;9661101960s. And further divided between two distinct periods within the decade: 1) early 1960s, the greasers, folk, & beat poets, 2) late 1960s, the hippies, glam, & psychedelica.
And surfers. I guess they fall in line with the former period more than the later. Although I want to say there was a '60s surfer themed adventure in one of the Blood Brothers adventure compilations for CoC
I think glam was more a 70s thing. T.Rex's Electric Warrior was basically the first one. And I think the 1970s would also be a good pick. Exploitation movies, disco, rock hitting its zenith, Roots, disaster movies
Think of it. Mi-Go with afros (Mi-Fro-Gos). Pimps worshiping Shub-Niggurath. Deep Ones with bell bottoms and leisure suits and strange gold chains
Quote from: JeremyR;966211And surfers. I guess they fall in line with the former period more than the later. Although I want to say there was a '60s surfer themed adventure in one of the Blood Brothers adventure compilations for CoC
I think glam was more a 70s thing. T.Rex's Electric Warrior was basically the first one. And I think the 1970s would also be a good pick. Exploitation movies, disco, rock hitting its zenith, Roots, disaster movies
Think of it. Mi-Go with afros (Mi-Fro-Gos). Pimps worshiping Shub-Niggurath. Deep Ones with bell bottoms and leisure suits and strange gold chains
I sense a new OpaOpaJr PbP campaign starting...:D
I'd like to see a crossover with the X-Files personally as a setting. I think that it would naturally go together.
Quote from: jeff37923;966215I'd like to see a crossover with the X-Files personally as a setting. I think that it would naturally go together.
TSR's Dark*Matter essentially is that. Beyond the supernatural from Palladium did as well. Just with better armed crew.
Quote from: Omega;966217TSR's Dark*Matter essentially is that. Beyond the supernatural from Palladium did as well. Just with better armed crew.
Unfortunately, I dislike both the Palladium and the Alternity systems, settings are probably cool though.
I'm guessing a book has been written suggesting how to use Cthulhu for all settings? I may already have such a book in my vault for all I know.
(Grounded) cyberpunk near-future, just to properly fuck with people who insist Call of Cthulhu doesn't work while players have access to smart phones and the internet.
Quote from: Opaopajr;9661101960s. And further divided between two distinct periods within the decade: 1) early 1960s, the greasers, folk, & beat poets, 2) late 1960s, the hippies, glam, & psychedelica.
Hite is doing a 60's Delta Green book for GUMSHOE. I regret not pledging on it. I had the impression it was centered on Vietnam during the Delta Green kickstarter, and I was low on cash, so I talked myself out of pledging. He's since talked about it being a much broader book. I'm definitely picking it up when it comes out.
Quote from: Cave Bear;966234(Grounded) cyberpunk near-future, just to properly fuck with people who insist Call of Cthulhu doesn't work while players have access to smart phones and the internet.
I'm not sure what level of grounded you mean, but there was Cthulhupunk for GURPS in the early '90s. It was a supplement for their Cyberworld setting (which was meant to be used with their Cyberpunk book). GURPS had the most grounded take on cyberpunk, in comparison to Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun.
Quote from: jeff37923;966220Unfortunately, I dislike both the Palladium and the Alternity systems, settings are probably cool though.
Dark*Matter Im pretty sure had a d20 or more likely a d20m edition.
BTS is from the pre-megadamage era when Palladiums systems werent so overblown.
Napoleonic era, the first half of the 19th century, between the Colonial era and the Steam era. I don't think anyone has touched that era in any genre.
Quote from: Baulderstone;966235I'm not sure what level of grounded you mean, but there was Cthulhupunk for GURPS in the early '90s. It was a supplement for their Cyberworld setting (which was meant to be used with their Cyberpunk book). GURPS had the most grounded take on cyberpunk, in comparison to Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun.
I'll take a look, thanks.
Egypt? Combining Egyptology with the Cthulhu Mythos might work. Same with the Aztecs actually.
But anyway, a post-apocalyptic/scifi Cthulhu game is surely the one that ought to happen soon?
Quote from: Cave Bear;966234(Grounded) cyberpunk near-future, just to properly fuck with people who insist Call of Cthulhu doesn't work while players have access to smart phones and the internet.
Basically that's Charlie Stross' Laundry series with an RPG done by Cubicle 7 using the BRP system modded for the different magic Charlie writes of.
Quote from: Crawford Tillinghast;966303Napoleonic era, the first half of the 19th century, between the Colonial era and the Steam era. I don't think anyone has touched that era in any genre.
Duty and Honour, Neil Gow's game of roleplaying Sharpe fits that bill although there isn't any Cthulhu (normally....)
I'd go with England following the winter of 1069-70. That winter saw the Normans carry out a series of campaigns in the North of England known as The Harrying of the North (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrying_of_the_North). They killed many and then burned field upon field of crops before, finally, salting the land. Huge swathes of Yorkshire and Lancashire (and beyond) were devastated. More than 100,000 died of starvation in the months to come and it is believed that many turned to cannibalism in order to survive.
I can imagine that certain things, things that like to lurk in the dark places of the land, may find their hiding places destroyed. Those things would need to find new haunts and maybe they would lash out in anger at the humans who have disturbed them. Many folk may seek sanctuary in dark caves and, in fear of the marauding Norman forces, delve too deep and venture into places that men and women were never meant to step foot. People driven mad from despair and hunger would do terrible things for some respite and any glimmer of hope... even offer up prayer to such names that they know should never be uttered. Dark cults would find the leverage to lure in the desperate and swell their ranks. And the cannibalism... well, maybe some of those people weren't driven to it by necessity... some cults, some "gods", will ask a lot of their initiates.
It's a pretty grim setting but one that I think offers up a lot of pretty good hooks for horror. If you wanted to you could play up the post-apocalyptic angle - food and clean water are rare, banditry widespread, some settlements lie in ruins and the few that remain are wary and desperate, and there's an aggressive enemy army roaming the land - as well as the Lovecraftian horror.
If I was going to run this then I'd likely run it with one of two systems: Maelstrom Domesday, as it covers a period not long after the Harrying and is about supernatural mysteries and horror, or Silent Legions, it does a good job with Lovecraftian stuff and, being OSR compatible, there's a whole bunch of stuff from other books (Other Dust may be useful for some things here, there's magic from Dark Albion, and Rafael Chandler's occult bestiaries have plenty of nasty things within them) that could be easily incorporated. Of course it would work just fine in CoC too!
Quote from: Hermes Serpent;966429Duty and Honour, Neil Gow's game of roleplaying Sharpe fits that bill although there isn't any Cthulhu (normally....)
Thanks. I'll take a look at that.
Quote from: 3rik;966210Cthulhufunk - blaxploiting the Mythos
That would fit right in between Mothership Connection, Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome, and The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein.
I have dibs on playing Bootsy Collins.
Quote from: Dumarest;966789That would fit right in between Mothership Connection, Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome, and The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein.
I have dibs on playing Bootsy Collins.
With Elder Sign-shaped sunglasses? :cool:
The 1960s would certainly be an interesting choice.
Has Yuggoth been done? OK, so we were told "no Cthulhu in space" but being put in a brain cylinder and taken to Yuggoth is different, right?
MesoAmerica right around the time of the Spanish Conquest, or earlier could be interesting. What if the Mythos was what really brought about teh collapse of the Classic Maya?
16th-17th Century Northeastern North America would also be interesting. The Six Nations meet the Mythos, or King Philip's War with the Mi-Go.
Years ago I ran a longish campaign of CoC set in late 60s San Francisco.
It was pretty great as a setting. Recent enough to be familiar, but distant enough to blur the details... and chock full of actual historical weirdness that it was a very easy fit. Drugs and cults and psychedelia and social unrest and the Church of Satan and Charles Manson and The Process and the Zodiac. There was even a band called H.P. Lovecraft.
It was often less of a horror game than it was urban fantasy... but definitely dark fantasy, with various cults and magicians and political factions vying for power and resources.
As a time and place it would be mighty fine fodder for a sourcebook... though I wonder if there could be complications since many of the notable figures are still alive.
I had a cool campaign set in an alternate 1950s, which I thought was pretty interesting, as it extended what might happen from Lovecraft's stories.
For other ideas:
1) A campaign in some periods referenced in Lovecraft but never detailed - like 1760s Congo or 1840s Polynesia. There is potential for a variety of cultures interacting there, which can make for intriguing games.
2) Revolutionary times are often interesting. While the French Revolution is obvious for horror, I would be interested in horror during the English Civil War (1630s) or the Haitian Revolution (1790s). The English Civil War is notable as an abortive birth of democracy, and the upheaval of philosophy and more. The Haitian Revolution is also notable as the birth of abolition, to the horror of most of the rest of the world.
Cakebread and Walton have a series of D100 sourcebooks for Lovecraftian horror during the English Civil War.
Quote from: DavetheLost;967216Cakebread and Walton have a series of D100 sourcebooks for Lovecraftian horror during the English Civil War.
Cool! I hadn't heard of it.
http://clockworkandchivalry.co.uk/games/renaissance-2/clockwork-cthulhu/
Quote from: jhkim;9672101) A campaign in some periods referenced in Lovecraft but never detailed - like 1760s Congo or 1840s Polynesia. There is potential for a variety of cultures interacting there, which can make for intriguing games.
Makes me think of the Orrish realm in Torg.
I was thinking you could borrow from William Tenn's Of Men and Monsters or Thomas Disch's The Genocides and a terrific short story by Robert Reed whose title escapes me and have a world post-Chthulu's return where the characters have to live in the interstices between the returned, lumbering Elder Gods and their minions.
Quote from: jhkim;967210The Haitian Revolution is also notable as the birth of abolition, to the horror of most of the rest of the world.
Especially if you want to tie the Haitian Revolution to the Bois Caïman Voudoun ceremony and have it be tied to the Mythos. Some tables would need a couple fainting couches and more X-cards than dice, but it would be very Lovecraftian.
But Mythos Aztecs, Jesus Wept, especially if all those sacrifices are to prevent the Stars From Coming Right.
Speaking of that, a Lovecraftian riff on Cabin in the Woods would make a badass CoC convention game. Players get caught up in investigating this Mythos Cult, get to the big ceremony, and find out they have to complete it to prevent the end of the world...by sacrificing themselves.
Kind of like Evil Hat's Dresden Files Las Vegas...without all the child slavery and rape.
Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;966142Weimar Germany.
I believe it's been done, at least in german (and unfortunately untranslated to this day).
Chaosium recently announced a campaign during that period though : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wGmW_rujns
1980s Gordon Gekko Wall Street and Bret Easton Ellis Less Than Zero mixed with Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City and Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire. Coke-addled, hair-sprayed twentysomethings seek their glittering prize and end up in the abysmal blackness of an uncaring universe of nihilism.
I like it. Has no one done a Cthulhu on 80s Wallstreet?
Quote from: JeremyR;966211And surfers. I guess they fall in line with the former period more than the later. Although I want to say there was a '60s surfer themed adventure in one of the Blood Brothers adventure compilations for CoC
I think glam was more a 70s thing. T.Rex's Electric Warrior was basically the first one. And I think the 1970s would also be a good pick. Exploitation movies, disco, rock hitting its zenith, Roots, disaster movies
Think of it. Mi-Go with afros (Mi-Fro-Gos). Pimps worshiping Shub-Niggurath. Deep Ones with bell bottoms and leisure suits and strange gold chains
Quote from: CRKrueger;966213I sense a new OpaOpaJr PbP campaign starting...:D
:D Why yes, yes I do feel the tugging strains of inspiration... :p
Quote from: jhkimThe Haitian Revolution is also notable as the birth of abolition, to the horror of most of the rest of the world.
Quote from: CRKrueger;967668Especially if you want to tie the Haitian Revolution to the Bois Caïman Voudoun ceremony and have it be tied to the Mythos. Some tables would need a couple fainting couches and more X-cards than dice, but it would be very Lovecraftian.
But Mythos Aztecs, Jesus Wept, especially if all those sacrifices are to prevent the Stars From Coming Right.
I think among the features of Lovecraftian horror is how it is distinct from traditional horror, and also how it lacks traditional good guys versus bad guys. Lovecraft was quite racist, but he also put most of the horror in his own backyard, and portrayed horrors within the quiet farmhouses of his native New England. For example, I disliked the pulpy CoC takes on WWII where good Allied troops fight against Nazi-spawned Cthulhoid horrors. I feel it is contrary to the spirit of Lovecraft's horror. In my own alternate 1950s campaign, the Nazis were rabidly anti-Cthulhu, in particular had reacted with horror to the discovery of Deep One crossbreeds, and started concentration camps of anyone suspected to have mixed blood. My divergence from history was that the leading naval powers - England, the U.S., Germany, and Japan - all allied in a world war against the Deep Ones. Having Nazi allies with Deep One concentration camps made everyone uncomfortable, which was exactly what I wanted.
So I like the idea of Aztecs fighting to stave off the stars coming right.
For Haiti, I would probably have the first horrors be the white cultists (linked to the same cults seen in New England). I wouldn't make it purely good freedom fighters vs. bad slavers, but I think that it's too easy and cliche to link Voudoun to Cthulhoid horrors.
Quote from: CRKrueger;967668Speaking of that, a Lovecraftian riff on Cabin in the Woods would make a badass CoC convention game. Players get caught up in investigating this Mythos Cult, get to the big ceremony, and find out they have to complete it to prevent the end of the world...by sacrificing themselves.
Kind of like Evil Hat's Dresden Files Las Vegas...without all the child slavery and rape.
My problem with Cabin in the Woods as a model for a game is that it's heavily railroaded as a concept. While it's common for convention games to be railroaded, and to some degree expected, I prefer the adventures that are a little more open and informed. I think there's plenty of concepts that can be done within that background, but I'd prefer to have the players know more up front rather than a forced end reveal. I might have a game centered on intrigue and maybe espionage where the PCs are working in the CitW office, for example.
Quote from: jhkim;967993...good Allied troops fight against Nazi-spawned Cthulhoid horrors. I feel it is contrary to the spirit of Lovecraft's horror.
Yes indeed.
Quote from: jhkim;967993...Aztecs fighting to stave off the stars coming right.
That sounds like a cool campaign. Can we throw in some conquistadors or is this pre-Columbian?
Quote from: NinjaWeasel;966430I'd go with England following the winter of 1069-70. That winter saw the Normans carry out a series of campaigns in the North of England known as The Harrying of the North (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrying_of_the_North). They killed many and then burned field upon field of crops before, finally, salting the land. Huge swathes of Yorkshire and Lancashire (and beyond) were devastated. More than 100,000 died of starvation in the months to come and it is believed that many turned to cannibalism in order to survive.
Hmm, how about Arthurian Cthulhu,with Christianity encroaching on the old beliefs.
I actually wonder how a CoC game would be if you were tasked with protect the old ways from Christianity. Being the crazy cultist without actually being crazy...or at least not thinking of yourself as being crazy.
Quote from: ArrozConLeche;967998Hmm, how about Arthurian Cthulhu,with Christianity encroaching on the old beliefs.
I actually wonder how a CoC game would be if you were tasked with protect the old ways from Christianity. Being the crazy cultist without actually being crazy...or at least not thinking of yourself as being crazy.
Crazy cultist vs. crazy cultist. Sounds like a fun game; makes me think of Spy vs. Spy from Mad magazine.
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Quote from: ArrozConLeche;967998Hmm, how about Arthurian Cthulhu,with Christianity encroaching on the old beliefs.
I actually wonder how a CoC game would be if you were tasked with protect the old ways from Christianity. Being the crazy cultist without actually being crazy...or at least not thinking of yourself as being crazy.
Has there never been an Arthurian CoC supplement? I thought I'd seen one once upon a time but I could be misremembering. Or thinking of a fan made module or supplement.
In the absence of such things, I think an Arthurian or Harrying of the North (sometimes incorrectly, but more atmospherically, called The Harrowing of the North) game could be run quite nicely with RQ6/Mythras and it's Mythic Britain supplement. It wouldn't be too difficult to convert Lovecraftian entities, from Malleus Monstrorum & other CoC books, over to Mythras.
Quote from: Dumarest;968002Crazy cultist vs. crazy cultist. Sounds like a fun game; makes me think of Spy vs. Spy from Mad magazine.
True enough. Hey, maybe the Christians are the crazy ones after all, hiding from reality with their delusions.
Quote from: NinjaWeasel;968188Has there never been an Arthurian CoC supplement? I thought I'd seen one once upon a time but I could be misremembering. Or thinking of a fan made module or supplement.
In the absence of such things, I think an Arthurian or Harrying of the North (sometimes incorrectly, but more atmospherically, called The Harrowing of the North) game could be run quite nicely with RQ6/Mythras and it's Mythic Britain supplement. It wouldn't be too difficult to convert Lovecraftian entities, from Malleus Monstrorum & other CoC books, over to Mythras.
I did a cursory google search but did not find anything. Thinking about it more, it'd be kind of surprising if there wasn't some official setting given that Chaosium also created Pendragon.
Someone (@Blackvulmea) already thought of the idea before I did (did you ever do anything with this, Blackvulmea?):
https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?610745-campaign-idea-King-Arthur-versus-Cthulhu!
The Golden Dawn, from Pagan Publishing, is set in Victorian era England, but it has some Arthurian material in it.
Regarding Aztecs, I personally would set it roughly pre-contact, so there is the possibility that conquistadors (and thus doom) may come during the course of the campaign but it's not a given.
Quote from: jhkim;968223The Golden Dawn, from Pagan Publishing, is set in Victorian era England, but it has some Arthurian material in it.
Actually, the main campaign has Arthur returning. See, all those centuries ago, he drank Milk of Shubby, and he's been in a coma, until some idiot wakes him up. He's not evil, or even amoral, but he's very much a product of his time, and considers Victoria to be a pretender...
Quote from: jhkim;968223Regarding Aztecs, I personally would set it roughly pre-contact, so there is the possibility that conquistadors (and thus doom) may come during the course of the campaign but it's not a given.
The coming of Cortez means that the
stars are beginning to come right! Hmnn, some weird looking Sea People have sacked the old Mayan cities. The end of civilization is upon us, and as foretold, there is no escape.
it may not be what you intended with your question, but I'd like a sword and sorcery game with Cthulhu. d20 CoC had crossover rules for porting it to 3rd ed, but I don't want that, I'd rather port fantasy into d%CoC. maybe a runequest crossover book, I don't know.
something like that probably already exists.
I've also toyed with running Superworld x CoC.
(I did run a short game of Stargate-SG1 x CoC, and everyone walked away from the table angry with me. some as fans of SG1, and others as fans of CoC)
What about an Inner Space setting, where weird science is used by the investigators try to eradicate microscopic or psychic alien invasions inside the body of a powerful politician attempting to corrupt the world?
For the Arthurian Pagan vs. Christianity you could really twist the comfort level by having Christianity be the Mythos inspired belief. Remember how Nyarlathotep dropped the bomb that he was Jesus in The Dreaming Stone adventure?
Quote from: 3rik;966210Cthulhufunk - blaxploiting the Mythos
On a more serious note, apart from the eagerly awaited Down Darker Trails (= Old West Cthulhu) and Colonial Lovecraft Country I personally don't really need more different historical periods for CoC. There's always room for more locations, though. I'd love a 1920s sourcebook for Mexico City and surrounding areas, for example.
Quote from: TrippyHippy;969821What about an Inner Space setting, where weird science is used by the investigators try to eradicate microscopic or psychic alien invasions inside the body of a powerful politician attempting to corrupt the world?
Um... not sure if that's really very 'mythos'.