Thanks for a very informative video! I have been dming d&d for the past few years, but have been interested in running CoC for a while now. I think I prefer the 1920s era. It may require a bit more homework on the part of the keeper, but I feel like the 1920s can generate more dread and horror due to the lack of tech and "easy options." The modern day setting seems a little to "familiar" and comfortable imo.
Our favorite was a 1939 scenario I set in Washington DC right before WW II. The game went so well we continued the campaign into Istanbul during WW II using material from The Modifius Code of Honor Series written by Sarah Newton. So the first scenario was built from the ground up while the second was a combination of a module and our gameplay from the first scenario.
My group enjoys the 1920's but we also want to try the Old West and Dark Ages. When it comes to modern scenarios, I think we're going to spend a good amount of time in older eras before we start roleplaying nowadays. I have a feeling when we get to modern days it will be more so like a post apocalyptic modern day though just because with the direction the narrative is going it feels like we're heading for a Mad Max modern day roleplay/near future roleplay.
Another option is to run scenarios set in the 1970s or 80s. It's a nice compromise because there's still a lot for people to relate to, but there's no cell phones or internet. I wrote a scenario called Highway of Blood that's basically a 1970s grindhouse style scenario that pays homage to movies like The Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Race with the Devil. I also did a 1980s era scenario called The Pipeline that was heavily inspired by John Carpenter movies of that time period. There are other Call of Cthulhu time periods like 1950s atomic era, 1940s WWII, and even much older like Cthulhu Invictus that is a Roman age setting.
First time keeper, but my plan for internet in my modern campaign is to have make a computer roll and there be a decent chance that they find misinformation. If anyone has any other ideas I'd be happy to hear them!
Google is just a massive library, your skill at knowing what words to look up is the same sort of thing, same as learning what is miss-information, it's just you're digging through a larger pool of work, plus there are things with pay walls that a library would have for free and plenty of older or more obscure texts that just don't exist on any online database. Having said that, don't fall into the trap of taking away their phones and internet, that's a cheap tactic, maybe give them battery to deal with or wifi strength on areas in the map, so they feel like they're making the choice as players. since choices that sacrifice things can be more horrorfying than the frustration of outright denial. I love ideas like risking climbing up a building in the rain to try and get a signal or expending your phone battery for a light in the tunnel or for the night vision app, rather than saving it for making an emergency call.
One of the reasons I love any setting set after the year Shadow Over Innsmouth takes place because it means I have my character be an agent of Delta Green because even the Cthulhu Mythos has a secret organization fighting the bad guys.
I love to run all time frames. Cthulhu Now (modern) has so many unique ways to approach the adventure, like researching in the internet etc. But the 1920's give me that original Lovecraft feeling. I run a Lovecraft Country campaign centred around Arkham in the late 1920's and it just feels right. But especially for One Shots I love to use all kind of time settings, like World War I and II, or the 60's, 80's or 1890's. Call of Cthulhu is fun in every time frame and a unique time setting can make an adventure more interesting.
The thing about searching the internet is that you get a flood of information, much of which can be useless or flat out fraudulent. Investigators will probably find a few reliable sources eventually but generally, the library is better for esoteric or arcane knowledge. It's a bit of an excuse but I agree that the library atmosphere is just better for this type of game.
I agree for some climactic stuff, like the more obscure texts, but a more mainstream thing like the necronomicon being free online can be interesting, as it goes 2 ways, the cultists have easy access to that stuff too.
An interesting way to counter the cellphone connection thing would to be to have like... particularly concentrated mythos stuff cause cellphone interference. That way the PCs start to notice the trend for one, so they can use it to their advantage as a like... mythos detector, but they know if their going off and messing with the mythos, their going to be without a way to get help. Something something "cosmic space waves messing with cell service"
Also, on the case of weapons, you have to consider how it looks. In 1920s, everyone had a gun on them, it was kinda just the thing. But Modern times, you have to consider guns are easier to detect (metal detectors), are generally more restricted would wide, and you cant exactly walk around with ol Big Iron on your hip without people noticing. And that increased tech thing suddenly is now working against the players. If your a private investigator with a .357 revolver on your hip, someone might take a picture of you. Later on, if a body ends up being found in that area, now your characters face is gonna be shared around as a suspect. Also, the assault rifle thing is a little weird imo. You cant really walk around with an assault rifle in modern times, not openly. So you keep it in the car. And your not gonna bust the big ol rifle out every time you stop to break in somewhere. Thats just asking for luck rolls to screw you. Assault rifles would be that weapon someone buys for when they KNOW theres gonna be a big fight. Also, a lot of places require licenses for that grade of weaponry, which means time and money investment from the players. But if your really worried about the power of modern weapons, some suggestions: -Knock their damages down to be comprable to 1920. If someone questions it, point out 1d8 is still enough to kill most people with one shot. -Have the investigators live in an area with restricted gun laws, so they have to either get the guns illegally or get them out of state, which you can always bullshit an explination of "you need a state license to buy from here, and your not a citizen". Id recommend NOT this one, though. but thats just my spitballing.
The real question is why cell phones would be a problem? Yeah they can call for help but who's to say help will get there fast enough to save them? Or that the people they call will even be capable of helping? Two cops with glocks on their hips and ar15's in their squad car showing up 10~30 minutes after the call won't be any more able to stop a deep one than the investigators and if they don't believe in deep ones and walk up to compliment the guy's incredible Halloween costume and get mauled to death then calling for help didn't really solve anything. If the investigators try to search for information online you've already got skills to roll to see how effective their research is, and if they're trying to do it quickly have them find nothing but unrelated tangentially related things, or nothing but spam advertisements from shady websites, or just give them the dreaded google result of 'Your search -cthulhu mythos- did not match any documents.' As far as guns go yes that .357 magnum may be better than a .32 revolver but it still has the same max damage as a .45 revolver or .45 automatic pistol. Heck the majority of listed handguns common in the 1920's are actually 1d10 damage. The biggest detriment for modern cthulhu is that with the passing of the national firearms act in 1934 and the Hughes amendment in 1986 automatic weapons are effectively unobtainable for investigators. Gone are the days of blasting away cultists with a tommy gun without getting your investigator on the wrong end of the law.
@@alicefrost3865 And even then in a modern game you go to buy a firearm in another state, "we can't sell you this pistol because you're not a resident of this state", or go to buy a rifle and we'll say the games set in NY, and you go to NH to buy some rifles, "we won't sell to you because you're from New York and that firearm's not legal in NY.", or you buy multiple handguns and now all of a sudden you've got the ATF at your house wanting to ask you a bunch of questions when you're trying to track down cosmic horror stuff. So yeah most of what someone would want in a modern setting would likely be illegal in where the game takes place, so now you can't risk calling the police or having them called unless you wanna end up with your investigator in prison. Hell in the modern day people get all upset and call the cops on people for open carrying firearms saying they're shooting up a place, when they're just there to buy some candy, so that's another one that kinda limits players in a modern setting is having to deal with people like that. Whereas the 20s oh yeah you want that sweet Tommy gun you saw in the Sears catalogue go ahead and mail a check off to them with the order form and the place you want it delivered, you could have an entire arsenal shipped to your house back then if you could afford it, and people really didn't care for the most part. Now granted carry laws were actually kinda stricter in the 20s with open carry flat was banned in a lot of east coast states, and concealed carry basically illegal, then if you wore a mask or face covering and carried a firearm then you also likely had to deal with laws banning specifically that, so in short modern times be wack for anyone that uses firearms, and is in many regards actually harder, on top of that like you mentioned there's typically cameras everywhere so it's really easy to tie the investigators to things they may or may not have done. Or some random person films them doing something they probably shouldn't
An excellent video. I’ve played quite a few campaigns and a good 75% have been set in the 1920s. It’s a fun period with prohibition in the US and lots of societal chance over here in Britain. I have to admit that my favourite setting is the Gaslight though, as I love the Victorian feel and the idea of foggy cobblestoned cities along with the idea that the world hasn’t yet been fully exploded with mysteries out there still to find. It helps that some of my favourite literature (Lovecraft notwithstanding) is set then such as the classics like Dracula (a Cthulhu scenario with very little work), Frankenstein and The strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
agree with everything in this video. I'm running Masks right now and 1920s strikes a good balance between familiarity of setting while restricting the benefits of modern technology.
As a new player and Keeper I was initially drawn to the Jazz Era setting but I have since seen that Sandy Petersen personally prefers modern era settings due to ease of immersion. I think he has a point but I look forward to trying ALL the different settings out like a kid in a toy store. Great video! P.S. the .357 magnum issue you mentioned is all the more complicated because there was no such thing in the 1920s. Magnum loads were something that came into being in the late 30s and beyond.
That's really interesting that Sandy Peterson prefers modern! I've certainly enjoyed both so I've gotten in the habit of asking my players what kind of feel they would prefer before starting. One era I'm really interested to try is Victorian - hopefully I'll get to try this soon!
Modern CoC works very well when you want the players to play very ordinary people. Teenagers relaxing on a shack in the mountains? Sounds very ordinary. I prefer the 1920s for writing though. Or rather the 20st century. I usually base my scenarios around historic events. For example the Spanish Civil War or the Irish War for Independence. It doesn't have to be a war though. But it helps that the investigators aren't free to travel everywhere and can't talk to everyone about what they saw without the players feeling restricted. But CoC also works very well in the medieval times. A lot of myths surround the middle ages already. When you combine them with the Cthulhu mythos you have potential for a great story.
Really good points. I think the mythos time travels beautifully and can be played in whatever era players feel inspired to play. My hurdle is not having enough time to explore all these possibilities!
If you're looking for premade scenarios for modern, the 2 best sourcebooks I have found are both by Stygian Fox. Fear's Sharp Little Needles and The Things We Leave Behind. There is also a bunch of content on the Miskatonic Repository on drivethrurpg.com, that just takes some searching to find what interests you.
@@XPLovecat Thank you for that period I was suggesting perhaps may be playing something in the eighties and nineties? Because even tho its slightly modern, technology was developing and things were still word of mouth.
Yes, absolutely. Playing in the 80s/90s would remove some of the complications of technology. I don't have any specific premades during this time but I bet you could take the core of other scenarios and adapt it to that timeframe pretty easily. Sounds like fun!
I just started a 1920s campaign but based on delta green timeline. We will be part of the Raid on Innsmouth. I hope to make it work as is my first time as keeper
The 20s every time. Personally, I loathe mobile phones whereas doing a bit of research on the 20s to help present the game is simple enough. I'm a 60s model, but grew up with jazz from the 20s and 30s and have a love of Art Deco. Just one teeny tip. Collapsible/folding cameras were easy to get in the 20s so if the PCs need a good camera, there's no problem. Developing the film, on the other hand, is best done by the PC for obvious reasons. I've only run four sessions which were re-writes of "The Crack'd and Crook'd Manse" , "Dreams in the Witch House", and "Whisperer in Darkness". Technically, all the PCs survived. One went insane, and the other three had a superb view of the universe from within their brain jars as they were flown to Yuggoth.
If you’re planning on running or playing in a modern call of Cthulhu game, I would recommend using Stephen King, Clive Barker, Wes Craven, and even the Duffer Brothers as inspiration.
Up to now I’ve always run modern day. You can soon make them nervous about using phones... Don’t forget you have Cuthulu Inviticus (Ancient Rome), Mythic Iceland, Dark Ages... I’d like to do a long running campaign that starts in Roman Britain and moves forward through each of those in turn (opportunity for a Roman Centurion to end up in 1920s for example...)
What I'm doing right now is setting my stuff in the 1970s: modern enough to get the benefits of everybody understanding the culture and whatnot, but far enough back that cell phones and the Internet are not factors.
I feel you. GenCon moved their stuff online this year so I played a couple sessions that way. So while it was definitely not as enjoyable at in person conventions, it was still a lot of fun. Conventions are a great way to try CoC so I hope you get to try it soon!
In the 6th edition adventure compilation 'Stange Aeons 2' the adventures covered a wide range of different eras and countries. It was quite an eye opener. One of the adventures was set in the Stone Age(!) That's right, you were cave men and women!
I'm at the start of the video but... here's my experience. I tried running "Delta Green" with my group and it flopped while classic 1920s "Call of Cthulhu" (tried more recently) worked great. Maybe modern "CoC" would work without the cloak and dagger restrictions of being in a secret Government agency where you can't tell others your real names for example but we've already started a campaign so... yeah... I doubt that we will switch it up any time soon. As a side note, my wife and I had a 1920s style wedding so that may be an indication of our tastes. Haha
We're currently in "The Haunting" and I think all of that creepiness and isolation that has built up would vanish in an instance if a player could make a call out or if they had modern weapons. On the subject of making calls out, they have a companion who acts like a grizzled veteran (sort of a tutorial deal). He HAS to be physically with them in the 1920s. That makes that character a great possible back up or vulnerable to the monsters. If one of them dies, boom. Here's another character for you. Let's keep going. Or I can have that character do the dumb thing that results in their untimely demise if the players don't take the bait so I still get that scary moment in if they didn't fall into the trap. On top of that, it's more immersive to hand them a newspaper they can pass around over... what? Sending them texts of what they found? No thanks. Respect to anyone who can pull that off but I don't see how. Oh, and I view it as a mystery solving game. It seemed like a good idea to have the players receive a call in DG during which someone get taken out by a monster but I now believe that having them return of their own volition, discover the body, and have to piece together what happened would work much better.
i think for running modern i would take a closer approach from vampire the masquerade, while keeping the world like it is now i would make it darker feel and also limits some of the things as things can be behind "paywalls" as big companies are a bit more monopolistic
You-Sothoth has flung the characters out of place in time and space and now they are bouncing all over alternate time/space dimensions as different people, always the same mInd.
Yes, I've looked into Pulp but have yet to run a campaign with pulp rules. It definitely seems to lend itself more towards D&D hero like play. I'd be interested to try it out!
I'm currently preparing a modern Cthulhu campaign. Do you have any suggestions how to not make the technology overpowered? An example is setting it in the early 2000s so cell phones are only for calls and texts, internet is only at home or at a computer café, etc.
This is a great question and one I'd like to dedicate an entire video to in the future. My quick tips are as follows: - Just because investigators have access to the internet doesn't mean they are able to find everything they search for - If they do find it...who says it's from a credible source? It's a good opportunity to give red herrings and your players will learn pretty quickly technology doesn't always give you the answer - Every once and a while take away tech as an option. ex. no cell signal, island that didn't update with the times etc. - Also remember just becuase they call somone doesn't mean that person has to pick up Just a few ideas! Would love to hear your thoughts as well. Thanks for watching.
I play 20s, 30s and 40s..Regular and Pulp Cthulhu. For weapons of this era, i use the Investigators weapons guide 1 and 2. For Modern, if I am the Keeper I will usually run Delta Green.
I've started running an Atomic Age campaign, and I LOOOOOVE it, as do my vict--.... I mean players. Living in a town with a NASA Center probably doesn't hurt, but all the "stars are right" stuff is great for that cultist, almost Fallout feel of the 50s.
While the guns we have today are generally more powerful, in the 1920s guns were so much more common that it would be out of place for any of the characters to not have one on them or at home
1920's. My players are D&D 5E power players and they are rather shocked at their vulnerability in CoC. But they relish it at the same time. We're at the opening of the 20s: the Spanish flu and the Great War are still fresh horrors, Pluto has not been discovered and Antarctica still mostly unexplored. Barely any homes have radio, less than one in five a telephone. No penicillin, no antibiotics, x-ray and forensics are still in their infancy. The 20s though bring great hope after a horrid decade; hope until confronted by the horrors of the Mythos!!!
I've been working on making my first campaign for Call of Cthulhu, which I'm bouncing back and forth between 20s and now, and have thought about it a lot and brought up some of the same things in the video. Cause you have a lot of huge differences, namely thing like the technology makes things easier when you can always snap a pic a do a search of what the hell you just saw. Get in contact with other people easy and all that, what I'm probably gonna do if I set it in a modern setting is do what I did for my modern D&D campaign, which was have them do a roll to see if the information they get is even true and not some bs someone wrote up for fun as others have mentioned, on top of is there even internet/phone service where they're at? And for weapons I was thinking about it myself and while the modern weapons are more powerful it kinda balances out since firearms now are harder to get a hold of in the US than the 1920. There's so many hoops to jump through getting one with what you can and can't have in addition to limits on what you can have on em in certain places and all sorts of stuff. Like the whole sections for Machine Guns, Assault Rifles, SMGs and explosives unless you're getting em from some shady black market dude good luck getting, let alone finding em, whereas yeah the 20s weapons do less damage, but you can walk into a store and purchase 10 Tommy guns, a crate of dynamite, a box of revolvers, and some booze, and no ones really gonna bat an eye at it, and you can get that stuff from really anywhere right then and there, or mail order the stuff through a Sears catalogue. So I feel that the problems of the eras kinda balance out when you look at em, and from there it just becomes personal preference
@@XPLovecat After speaking with my players I let them choose since I have no issues with any era, and it sounds like they're most interested in the classic 20s setting
While I prefer the 1920s, I have just started running a modern campaign. While tech can be convenient it can also be used to amp up the horror. In my first scenario, searching a families computer revealed more questions than answers and, when combined with other clues, just seemed to make things worse. Also, player knowledge of world history has proven useful to me as the story unravels. Most of my players have a lassing knowledge of WW2 and world events since then. Cellphones, internet, wifi. These have already proven to be useful as playerz encounter devices that do not fit the setting - how does a sheep farmer in Oregon have and afford a high-end satellite internet?
You have a great callout on using tech as a clue to investigators that something isn't right. Great way to have the tech work for you instead of against you. Thanks for watching!
My favorite times are Modern, Late 19th century and Dark Ages. Dark Ages I stay to Europe and near East, 19th century I prefer the North American West and Modern I can go anywhere but I like to stick around where I live since I know it the best.
In my opinion, I feel the Lovecraftian energy and horror falls out the more modern technology exists. One of HP Lovecraft's biggest fears was technology so, for me, his style of horror works better in times when a lot of the modern day advancements were still new and frightening. I'm not saying a modern day CoC roleplay is bad though!
I think unhelpful police for modern era, especially today, seems to be a more realistic way to delay police or cell phone calls to outside the investors circle and is a horror staple. Operator: [bored and lazy voice] 911, what's your emergency. Investigator: Help! Our friend was abducted and was taking to old McCoy's abandoned house! O: Alright. Have the person been missing for over a 24 hour period? I: What? No! They were literally just taken- O: Can you describe the person who abducted your friend? I: That's just it! It was this weird alien guy who- O: Ma'am, this is a 911, not your mellow drama. I: I'm being serious. We saw this tentacle guy in a black hooded robe grab our friend and- O: Ma'am, please understand that we are busy and might be a bit before we can help. I: We don't have time to wait! Send a police over asap to [address]. Hurry! O: We are sending dispatch right now. We will be able to help you as soon as possible. The police takes two hours to get to a location ten minutes away, by which, the investigators would have broken into the house and done plot relevant investigations and leave the house with what they need only for the police to arrest them for trespassing and possible "public intoxication" charges, which then pushed the investigators to rely less on the police and more on their close inner circle for help. It sounds a bit railroady, but if the concern is that calling the police to deal with it becomes a concern for a less interactive experience, then that might offer some aid on self reliance.
I've found that the modern world tends to balance out the more powerful firearms... particularly for the more globe trotting adventures. Sure the players have an assault rifle, but that isn't exactly the sort of thing they can take on a plane. From a Keeper standpoint that makes it a bit easier to manage them. Players can have them to go all out on some cultists, but then not have them when it comes time to confront the leader of the cult.
Modern is best. 1920's is boring, and was a terrible time in America, the Roaring 20's is rose-colored nostalgia. You should become a real Priestess of Cthulhu - www.fucc.it You can legally perform weddings, funerals, bar mitzvah's, etc.
1920s are anything but boring. Prohibition, Plantations etc in the USA give a huge amount of scope for getting the underworld involved in the investigation, for a change of pace and humour. You also have nightclubs and casinos. My players have boosted their funds considerably in Casinos. If you come to England there are loads of small villages in the middle of nowhere, old ruined churches and castles. You also are in the time period of regional languages ( not dialects), which as a keeper provides amusement. In the UK Canals were still used considerably with long canal tunnels for all sorts of ideas, everything from hidden goods to gribbly horrors. We haven't even covered fashion, far more important then, than now. Not wearing the right clothes? Not getting into that gentlemens club. Female investor? No way are you getting into certain clubs unless you want your reputation ruined. I can assure you the 1920s are not boring.
depending on what you look for on the internet, you'll find so many hoaxes & so much fake news that it's almosr impossible to find something useful, let alone googling anything in Lovecraft's world. depending on the symbol or the cult that they are googling, I'd ask for aa Hard or even an Extreme success.
Which era does your group prefer to play? Have you played any eras not 1920s or modern?
Thanks for a very informative video! I have been dming d&d for the past few years, but have been interested in running CoC for a while now. I think I prefer the 1920s era. It may require a bit more homework on the part of the keeper, but I feel like the 1920s can generate more dread and horror due to the lack of tech and "easy options." The modern day setting seems a little to "familiar" and comfortable imo.
definitely modern... kinda y i'm stuck on delta green atm... but i'm looking to do horror in space doh :)
Our favorite was a 1939 scenario I set in Washington DC right before WW II. The game went so well we continued the campaign into Istanbul during WW II using material from The Modifius Code of Honor Series written by Sarah Newton. So the first scenario was built from the ground up while the second was a combination of a module and our gameplay from the first scenario.
@@colinflanigan9153 Nice! That sounds fun. Must have been interesting to encounter Lovecraftian Horrors during WWII
My group enjoys the 1920's but we also want to try the Old West and Dark Ages. When it comes to modern scenarios, I think we're going to spend a good amount of time in older eras before we start roleplaying nowadays. I have a feeling when we get to modern days it will be more so like a post apocalyptic modern day though just because with the direction the narrative is going it feels like we're heading for a Mad Max modern day roleplay/near future roleplay.
Another option is to run scenarios set in the 1970s or 80s. It's a nice compromise because there's still a lot for people to relate to, but there's no cell phones or internet.
I wrote a scenario called Highway of Blood that's basically a 1970s grindhouse style scenario that pays homage to movies like The Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Race with the Devil. I also did a 1980s era scenario called The Pipeline that was heavily inspired by John Carpenter movies of that time period.
There are other Call of Cthulhu time periods like 1950s atomic era, 1940s WWII, and even much older like Cthulhu Invictus that is a Roman age setting.
Great callout! I love that CoC can be played in all different eras so 70s/80s is definitely a good compromise.
Sandy Petersen has a wonderful video on just this subject. He , himself uses the modern era. He specifically examines cellphone use.
That's awesome, I'll definitely give his video a watch, thanks for the info!
First time keeper, but my plan for internet in my modern campaign is to have make a computer roll and there be a decent chance that they find misinformation. If anyone has any other ideas I'd be happy to hear them!
Google is just a massive library, your skill at knowing what words to look up is the same sort of thing, same as learning what is miss-information, it's just you're digging through a larger pool of work, plus there are things with pay walls that a library would have for free and plenty of older or more obscure texts that just don't exist on any online database. Having said that, don't fall into the trap of taking away their phones and internet, that's a cheap tactic, maybe give them battery to deal with or wifi strength on areas in the map, so they feel like they're making the choice as players. since choices that sacrifice things can be more horrorfying than the frustration of outright denial. I love ideas like risking climbing up a building in the rain to try and get a signal or expending your phone battery for a light in the tunnel or for the night vision app, rather than saving it for making an emergency call.
One of the reasons I love any setting set after the year Shadow Over Innsmouth takes place because it means I have my character be an agent of Delta Green because even the Cthulhu Mythos has a secret organization fighting the bad guys.
I love to run all time frames. Cthulhu Now (modern) has so many unique ways to approach the adventure, like researching in the internet etc. But the 1920's give me that original Lovecraft feeling. I run a Lovecraft Country campaign centred around Arkham in the late 1920's and it just feels right. But especially for One Shots I love to use all kind of time settings, like World War I and II, or the 60's, 80's or 1890's. Call of Cthulhu is fun in every time frame and a unique time setting can make an adventure more interesting.
Absolutely! I also think having a unique time setting can make the system feel new and fresh for groups that want to mix it up.
The thing about searching the internet is that you get a flood of information, much of which can be useless or flat out fraudulent. Investigators will probably find a few reliable sources eventually but generally, the library is better for esoteric or arcane knowledge. It's a bit of an excuse but I agree that the library atmosphere is just better for this type of game.
I agree for some climactic stuff, like the more obscure texts, but a more mainstream thing like the necronomicon being free online can be interesting, as it goes 2 ways, the cultists have easy access to that stuff too.
I'm an odd duck. I love running Gaslight 1890's.
Nice! This is certainly a less common era to play but Call of Cthulhu is awesome in that you can adapt to whenever! Thanks for watching.
I'd be interested in seeing your opinion about Cthulhu Dark Ages and Down Darker Trails.
Just found this channel! Great video.
An interesting way to counter the cellphone connection thing would to be to have like... particularly concentrated mythos stuff cause cellphone interference. That way the PCs start to notice the trend for one, so they can use it to their advantage as a like... mythos detector, but they know if their going off and messing with the mythos, their going to be without a way to get help. Something something "cosmic space waves messing with cell service"
Also, on the case of weapons, you have to consider how it looks. In 1920s, everyone had a gun on them, it was kinda just the thing. But Modern times, you have to consider guns are easier to detect (metal detectors), are generally more restricted would wide, and you cant exactly walk around with ol Big Iron on your hip without people noticing. And that increased tech thing suddenly is now working against the players. If your a private investigator with a .357 revolver on your hip, someone might take a picture of you. Later on, if a body ends up being found in that area, now your characters face is gonna be shared around as a suspect.
Also, the assault rifle thing is a little weird imo. You cant really walk around with an assault rifle in modern times, not openly. So you keep it in the car. And your not gonna bust the big ol rifle out every time you stop to break in somewhere. Thats just asking for luck rolls to screw you. Assault rifles would be that weapon someone buys for when they KNOW theres gonna be a big fight. Also, a lot of places require licenses for that grade of weaponry, which means time and money investment from the players. But if your really worried about the power of modern weapons, some suggestions:
-Knock their damages down to be comprable to 1920. If someone questions it, point out 1d8 is still enough to kill most people with one shot.
-Have the investigators live in an area with restricted gun laws, so they have to either get the guns illegally or get them out of state, which you can always bullshit an explination of "you need a state license to buy from here, and your not a citizen". Id recommend NOT this one, though.
but thats just my spitballing.
This is a really great solution. Thanks for sharing!
The real question is why cell phones would be a problem? Yeah they can call for help but who's to say help will get there fast enough to save them? Or that the people they call will even be capable of helping? Two cops with glocks on their hips and ar15's in their squad car showing up 10~30 minutes after the call won't be any more able to stop a deep one than the investigators and if they don't believe in deep ones and walk up to compliment the guy's incredible Halloween costume and get mauled to death then calling for help didn't really solve anything.
If the investigators try to search for information online you've already got skills to roll to see how effective their research is, and if they're trying to do it quickly have them find nothing but unrelated tangentially related things, or nothing but spam advertisements from shady websites, or just give them the dreaded google result of 'Your search -cthulhu mythos- did not match any documents.'
As far as guns go yes that .357 magnum may be better than a .32 revolver but it still has the same max damage as a .45 revolver or .45 automatic pistol. Heck the majority of listed handguns common in the 1920's are actually 1d10 damage. The biggest detriment for modern cthulhu is that with the passing of the national firearms act in 1934 and the Hughes amendment in 1986 automatic weapons are effectively unobtainable for investigators. Gone are the days of blasting away cultists with a tommy gun without getting your investigator on the wrong end of the law.
@@alicefrost3865 And even then in a modern game you go to buy a firearm in another state, "we can't sell you this pistol because you're not a resident of this state", or go to buy a rifle and we'll say the games set in NY, and you go to NH to buy some rifles, "we won't sell to you because you're from New York and that firearm's not legal in NY.", or you buy multiple handguns and now all of a sudden you've got the ATF at your house wanting to ask you a bunch of questions when you're trying to track down cosmic horror stuff. So yeah most of what someone would want in a modern setting would likely be illegal in where the game takes place, so now you can't risk calling the police or having them called unless you wanna end up with your investigator in prison. Hell in the modern day people get all upset and call the cops on people for open carrying firearms saying they're shooting up a place, when they're just there to buy some candy, so that's another one that kinda limits players in a modern setting is having to deal with people like that. Whereas the 20s oh yeah you want that sweet Tommy gun you saw in the Sears catalogue go ahead and mail a check off to them with the order form and the place you want it delivered, you could have an entire arsenal shipped to your house back then if you could afford it, and people really didn't care for the most part. Now granted carry laws were actually kinda stricter in the 20s with open carry flat was banned in a lot of east coast states, and concealed carry basically illegal, then if you wore a mask or face covering and carried a firearm then you also likely had to deal with laws banning specifically that, so in short modern times be wack for anyone that uses firearms, and is in many regards actually harder, on top of that like you mentioned there's typically cameras everywhere so it's really easy to tie the investigators to things they may or may not have done. Or some random person films them doing something they probably shouldn't
An excellent video. I’ve played quite a few campaigns and a good 75% have been set in the 1920s. It’s a fun period with prohibition in the US and lots of societal chance over here in Britain. I have to admit that my favourite setting is the Gaslight though, as I love the Victorian feel and the idea of foggy cobblestoned cities along with the idea that the world hasn’t yet been fully exploded with mysteries out there still to find. It helps that some of my favourite literature (Lovecraft notwithstanding) is set then such as the classics like Dracula (a Cthulhu scenario with very little work), Frankenstein and The strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Very true, Victorian era definitely has a cool unique feel to it. I can see the appeal!
I’m about to run a modern campaign with my friends using the Delta Green sourcebook! Thank you for these pros and cons for both time periods of play!
That's awesome! You'll have to let me know how your first session goes. Thank you for watching!
Great work! You seem like a great keeper. Thanks for sharing your good ideas.
agree with everything in this video. I'm running Masks right now and 1920s strikes a good balance between familiarity of setting while restricting the benefits of modern technology.
Nice video!
Great comparison.
As a new player and Keeper I was initially drawn to the Jazz Era setting but I have since seen that Sandy Petersen personally prefers modern era settings due to ease of immersion. I think he has a point but I look forward to trying ALL the different settings out like a kid in a toy store. Great video! P.S. the .357 magnum issue you mentioned is all the more complicated because there was no such thing in the 1920s. Magnum loads were something that came into being in the late 30s and beyond.
That's really interesting that Sandy Peterson prefers modern! I've certainly enjoyed both so I've gotten in the habit of asking my players what kind of feel they would prefer before starting. One era I'm really interested to try is Victorian - hopefully I'll get to try this soon!
Modern CoC works very well when you want the players to play very ordinary people. Teenagers relaxing on a shack in the mountains? Sounds very ordinary.
I prefer the 1920s for writing though. Or rather the 20st century. I usually base my scenarios around historic events. For example the Spanish Civil War or the Irish War for Independence. It doesn't have to be a war though. But it helps that the investigators aren't free to travel everywhere and can't talk to everyone about what they saw without the players feeling restricted.
But CoC also works very well in the medieval times. A lot of myths surround the middle ages already. When you combine them with the Cthulhu mythos you have potential for a great story.
Really good points. I think the mythos time travels beautifully and can be played in whatever era players feel inspired to play. My hurdle is not having enough time to explore all these possibilities!
Perhaps something during the 80s and 90s?
Btw what call of cthulhu books do you use to play modern?
If you're looking for premade scenarios for modern, the 2 best sourcebooks I have found are both by Stygian Fox. Fear's Sharp Little Needles and The Things We Leave Behind. There is also a bunch of content on the Miskatonic Repository on drivethrurpg.com, that just takes some searching to find what interests you.
@@XPLovecat Thank you for that period I was suggesting perhaps may be playing something in the eighties and nineties? Because even tho its slightly modern, technology was developing and things were still word of mouth.
Yes, absolutely. Playing in the 80s/90s would remove some of the complications of technology. I don't have any specific premades during this time but I bet you could take the core of other scenarios and adapt it to that timeframe pretty easily. Sounds like fun!
I just started a 1920s campaign but based on delta green timeline. We will be part of the Raid on Innsmouth. I hope to make it work as is my first time as keeper
A raid on innsmouth sounds awesome. Please let me know how it is going, I love to hear RPG stories!
Just found your page, and I’d like to say Thank You. Keep up the good work, and have you tried Delta Green for a modern setting?
I have not played Delta Green yet, but I'm definitely interested in trying it out. I've heard good things! Thanks for watching.
I tend to enjoy either the mid to late 1800's or around 1939. Though for 1800's it's harder to find maps for cities and road maps.
The 20s every time. Personally, I loathe mobile phones whereas doing a bit of research on the 20s to help present the game is simple enough. I'm a 60s model, but grew up with jazz from the 20s and 30s and have a love of Art Deco. Just one teeny tip. Collapsible/folding cameras were easy to get in the 20s so if the PCs need a good camera, there's no problem. Developing the film, on the other hand, is best done by the PC for obvious reasons.
I've only run four sessions which were re-writes of "The Crack'd and Crook'd Manse" , "Dreams in the Witch House", and "Whisperer in Darkness". Technically, all the PCs survived. One went insane, and the other three had a superb view of the universe from within their brain jars as they were flown to Yuggoth.
View of the universe from within their brain jars... that's epic. Thanks for sharing!
Very informative! Thank you :)
If you’re planning on running or playing in a modern call of Cthulhu game, I would recommend using Stephen King, Clive Barker, Wes Craven, and even the Duffer Brothers as inspiration.
Great advice!
Up to now I’ve always run modern day. You can soon make them nervous about using phones...
Don’t forget you have Cuthulu Inviticus (Ancient Rome), Mythic Iceland, Dark Ages... I’d like to do a long running campaign that starts in Roman Britain and moves forward through each of those in turn (opportunity for a Roman Centurion to end up in 1920s for example...)
That would be epic!
What I'm doing right now is setting my stuff in the 1970s: modern enough to get the benefits of everybody understanding the culture and whatnot, but far enough back that cell phones and the Internet are not factors.
Great idea! I also think there is a lot of cool theme/setting options for the 70s
Haven’t played CoC yet was going to at conventions last year but everything got canceled 😢
I feel you. GenCon moved their stuff online this year so I played a couple sessions that way. So while it was definitely not as enjoyable at in person conventions, it was still a lot of fun. Conventions are a great way to try CoC so I hope you get to try it soon!
In the 6th edition adventure compilation 'Stange Aeons 2' the adventures covered a wide range of different eras and countries. It was quite an eye opener. One of the adventures was set in the Stone Age(!) That's right, you were cave men and women!
I'm at the start of the video but... here's my experience. I tried running "Delta Green" with my group and it flopped while classic 1920s "Call of Cthulhu" (tried more recently) worked great. Maybe modern "CoC" would work without the cloak and dagger restrictions of being in a secret Government agency where you can't tell others your real names for example but we've already started a campaign so... yeah... I doubt that we will switch it up any time soon.
As a side note, my wife and I had a 1920s style wedding so that may be an indication of our tastes. Haha
We're currently in "The Haunting" and I think all of that creepiness and isolation that has built up would vanish in an instance if a player could make a call out or if they had modern weapons.
On the subject of making calls out, they have a companion who acts like a grizzled veteran (sort of a tutorial deal). He HAS to be physically with them in the 1920s. That makes that character a great possible back up or vulnerable to the monsters. If one of them dies, boom. Here's another character for you. Let's keep going. Or I can have that character do the dumb thing that results in their untimely demise if the players don't take the bait so I still get that scary moment in if they didn't fall into the trap.
On top of that, it's more immersive to hand them a newspaper they can pass around over... what? Sending them texts of what they found? No thanks. Respect to anyone who can pull that off but I don't see how.
Oh, and I view it as a mystery solving game. It seemed like a good idea to have the players receive a call in DG during which someone get taken out by a monster but I now believe that having them return of their own volition, discover the body, and have to piece together what happened would work much better.
A modern Call of Cthulhu campaign is best the following two styles ”Delta green” & “kids on bikes”.
i think for running modern i would take a closer approach from vampire the masquerade, while keeping the world like it is now i would make it darker feel and also limits some of the things as things can be behind "paywalls" as big companies are a bit more monopolistic
That's a really interesting solution. More of a Masquerade/Cyberpunk feel with the corporation presence. Thanks for watching!
You-Sothoth has flung the characters out of place in time and space and now they are bouncing all over alternate time/space dimensions as different people, always the same mInd.
That is incredible, I love this.
Have you looked at Pulp Cthulhu ? Two fisted, two gunned Indiana Jones stuff
Yes, I've looked into Pulp but have yet to run a campaign with pulp rules. It definitely seems to lend itself more towards D&D hero like play. I'd be interested to try it out!
I'm currently preparing a modern Cthulhu campaign. Do you have any suggestions how to not make the technology overpowered? An example is setting it in the early 2000s so cell phones are only for calls and texts, internet is only at home or at a computer café, etc.
This is a great question and one I'd like to dedicate an entire video to in the future. My quick tips are as follows:
- Just because investigators have access to the internet doesn't mean they are able to find everything they search for
- If they do find it...who says it's from a credible source? It's a good opportunity to give red herrings and your players will learn pretty quickly technology doesn't always give you the answer
- Every once and a while take away tech as an option. ex. no cell signal, island that didn't update with the times etc.
- Also remember just becuase they call somone doesn't mean that person has to pick up
Just a few ideas! Would love to hear your thoughts as well. Thanks for watching.
I play 20s, 30s and 40s..Regular and Pulp Cthulhu. For weapons of this era, i use the Investigators weapons guide 1 and 2. For Modern, if I am the Keeper I will usually run Delta Green.
Very nice! You have a lot of experience with different eras which is cool. I've heard great things about Delta Green and hope to play it someday soon.
I've started running an Atomic Age campaign, and I LOOOOOVE it, as do my vict--.... I mean players. Living in a town with a NASA Center probably doesn't hurt, but all the "stars are right" stuff is great for that cultist, almost Fallout feel of the 50s.
Love it!
While the guns we have today are generally more powerful, in the 1920s guns were so much more common that it would be out of place for any of the characters to not have one on them or at home
1920's. My players are D&D 5E power players and they are rather shocked at their vulnerability in CoC. But they relish it at the same time. We're at the opening of the 20s: the Spanish flu and the Great War are still fresh horrors, Pluto has not been discovered and Antarctica still mostly unexplored. Barely any homes have radio, less than one in five a telephone. No penicillin, no antibiotics, x-ray and forensics are still in their infancy. The 20s though bring great hope after a horrid decade; hope until confronted by the horrors of the Mythos!!!
I've been working on making my first campaign for Call of Cthulhu, which I'm bouncing back and forth between 20s and now, and have thought about it a lot and brought up some of the same things in the video. Cause you have a lot of huge differences, namely thing like the technology makes things easier when you can always snap a pic a do a search of what the hell you just saw. Get in contact with other people easy and all that, what I'm probably gonna do if I set it in a modern setting is do what I did for my modern D&D campaign, which was have them do a roll to see if the information they get is even true and not some bs someone wrote up for fun as others have mentioned, on top of is there even internet/phone service where they're at? And for weapons I was thinking about it myself and while the modern weapons are more powerful it kinda balances out since firearms now are harder to get a hold of in the US than the 1920. There's so many hoops to jump through getting one with what you can and can't have in addition to limits on what you can have on em in certain places and all sorts of stuff. Like the whole sections for Machine Guns, Assault Rifles, SMGs and explosives unless you're getting em from some shady black market dude good luck getting, let alone finding em, whereas yeah the 20s weapons do less damage, but you can walk into a store and purchase 10 Tommy guns, a crate of dynamite, a box of revolvers, and some booze, and no ones really gonna bat an eye at it, and you can get that stuff from really anywhere right then and there, or mail order the stuff through a Sears catalogue. So I feel that the problems of the eras kinda balance out when you look at em, and from there it just becomes personal preference
You make some really great points! You'll have to let me know what era you decide on.
@@XPLovecat After speaking with my players I let them choose since I have no issues with any era, and it sounds like they're most interested in the classic 20s setting
@@ThrashTillDeth85 Fantastic! I hope your group has a great time with the game.
While I prefer the 1920s, I have just started running a modern campaign. While tech can be convenient it can also be used to amp up the horror.
In my first scenario, searching a families computer revealed more questions than answers and, when combined with other clues, just seemed to make things worse. Also, player knowledge of world history has proven useful to me as the story unravels. Most of my players have a lassing knowledge of WW2 and world events since then. Cellphones, internet, wifi. These have already proven to be useful as playerz encounter devices that do not fit the setting - how does a sheep farmer in Oregon have and afford a high-end satellite internet?
You have a great callout on using tech as a clue to investigators that something isn't right. Great way to have the tech work for you instead of against you. Thanks for watching!
My favorite times are Modern, Late 19th century and Dark Ages. Dark Ages I stay to Europe and near East, 19th century I prefer the North American West and Modern I can go anywhere but I like to stick around where I live since I know it the best.
That makes sense. It's certainly easier to improv when your familiar with the area.
In my opinion, I feel the Lovecraftian energy and horror falls out the more modern technology exists. One of HP Lovecraft's biggest fears was technology so, for me, his style of horror works better in times when a lot of the modern day advancements were still new and frightening. I'm not saying a modern day CoC roleplay is bad though!
That's a great point! It actually makes me think about a scenario where tech is the horror... that could be fun.
I think unhelpful police for modern era, especially today, seems to be a more realistic way to delay police or cell phone calls to outside the investors circle and is a horror staple.
Operator: [bored and lazy voice] 911, what's your emergency.
Investigator: Help! Our friend was abducted and was taking to old McCoy's abandoned house!
O: Alright. Have the person been missing for over a 24 hour period?
I: What? No! They were literally just taken-
O: Can you describe the person who abducted your friend?
I: That's just it! It was this weird alien guy who-
O: Ma'am, this is a 911, not your mellow drama.
I: I'm being serious. We saw this tentacle guy in a black hooded robe grab our friend and-
O: Ma'am, please understand that we are busy and might be a bit before we can help.
I: We don't have time to wait! Send a police over asap to [address]. Hurry!
O: We are sending dispatch right now. We will be able to help you as soon as possible.
The police takes two hours to get to a location ten minutes away, by which, the investigators would have broken into the house and done plot relevant investigations and leave the house with what they need only for the police to arrest them for trespassing and possible "public intoxication" charges, which then pushed the investigators to rely less on the police and more on their close inner circle for help.
It sounds a bit railroady, but if the concern is that calling the police to deal with it becomes a concern for a less interactive experience, then that might offer some aid on self reliance.
This is a FANTASTIC example. I love it and will be stealing it for a future police interaction.
I've found that the modern world tends to balance out the more powerful firearms... particularly for the more globe trotting adventures. Sure the players have an assault rifle, but that isn't exactly the sort of thing they can take on a plane.
From a Keeper standpoint that makes it a bit easier to manage them. Players can have them to go all out on some cultists, but then not have them when it comes time to confront the leader of the cult.
¡SUBS! YES. :DDD
Mmm .........
Modern is best. 1920's is boring, and was a terrible time in America, the Roaring 20's is rose-colored nostalgia. You should become a real Priestess of Cthulhu - www.fucc.it You can legally perform weddings, funerals, bar mitzvah's, etc.
1920s are anything but boring. Prohibition, Plantations etc in the USA give a huge amount of scope for getting the underworld involved in the investigation, for a change of pace and humour. You also have nightclubs and casinos. My players have boosted their funds considerably in Casinos.
If you come to England there are loads of small villages in the middle of nowhere, old ruined churches and castles. You also are in the time period of regional languages ( not dialects), which as a keeper provides amusement. In the UK Canals were still used considerably with long canal tunnels for all sorts of ideas, everything from hidden goods to gribbly horrors.
We haven't even covered fashion, far more important then, than now. Not wearing the right clothes? Not getting into that gentlemens club. Female investor? No way are you getting into certain clubs unless you want your reputation ruined.
I can assure you the 1920s are not boring.
depending on what you look for on the internet, you'll find so many hoaxes & so much fake news that it's almosr impossible to find something useful, let alone googling anything in Lovecraft's world. depending on the symbol or the cult that they are googling, I'd ask for aa Hard or even an Extreme success.