The Old Ones Shall Be - Planning the Next Cthulhu Campaign



After some discussions with my gaming group and time spent in creative pondering it appears that up next is some form of the Cthulhu Mythos. I'm in the process of drilling down to see just what that means.

We could continue one of two previous campaigns, a traditional 1920s game and a pulp Gaslight-era one. While the Gaslight-era was fun, my inclination is to return to a more traditional 1920s or 1930s period. New characters might be in order as our group has gotten a bit smaller since then (truthfully I found the group a little too large for Call of Cthulhu though it did help when the body count got high).

I'm considering three possible campaigns. The first is your "traditional" 1920-something era campaign, most likely set in Lovecraft country. I found my players tend to do very well when faced with the "impossible" odds a normal Cthulhu game presents. That's not to say such a game is safe - far from it.

We did enjoy a number of pulp elements in our Gaslight-era campaign, to the extent I'm giving some consideration to a more straightforward pulp game set in the 1930s, with globetrotting, Nazis to punch, and forbidden cults to defeat.

The final option would also be in the 1930s, making use of Pelgrane Press' Trail of Cthulhu game. I'm a bit torn on this option - the Call of Cthulhu RPG is one of my favorite RPG systems. But I have an admiration for the laser focus of Pelgrane's Gumshoe system, with everything designed to drive an investigation forward. I love the hard-boiled detective tales of the likes of Raymond Chandler and would like to take it for a spin.



Image Credit - "The Call of Cthulhu" by Hugh Rankin, Weird Tales (February 1928)


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