Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Call of Cthulhu => Topic started by: Mo! on March 28, 2012, 03:07:10 PM
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I'm toying with an idea for basing some games in a Dutch mythos setting but i'm not sure when to let it take place in the dutch historie...
In Oudewater there was a Heksenwaag that was the scene for many witchscares and trials. But that was probably befor most New England Salem/Arkham stories take place...
Thanks!
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I'm toying with an idea for basing some games in a Dutch mythos setting but i'm not sure when to let it take place in the dutch historie...
In Oudewater there was a Heksenwaag that was the scene for many witchscares and trials. But that was probably befor most New England Salem/Arkham stories take place...
Thanks!
Most was written in the 1920's to 1930's....there have been other stories similar by other writes beyond (even to modern times and there has been some stories that reference prior time periods). The nice thing about the Mythos is the timeless feel you can work into the story.
I always thought it would be fun to do either an Old West or Pirates vs Cthulu type story arc....
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Thanks for your trouble but i know when they where written but i feel the stories are set a bit if not alot earlier... some 1800 rather then 1900 but i'm not sure... Call of Cthulhu indeed takes place in the early 1900's so maybe i should stick to that too...
what i like about the original Lovecraft stuff is that there is no real "spoiling" technology... now a days you could probably find R'lyeh on Googlemaps :-[
Whats the mystery in that...
Pirates vs. Cthulhu i really would dig...
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The Lovecraft ones are generally set "present day" as far as I can tell, so that would be 20s, 30s. Some are set earlier, there are occasional ones that don't really give a clue as to when they are set, but many explicitly say the year of the events in the story. Such as...
"The Temple" (1920) is set during the Great War, as it is about a U-Boat.
"The Call of Cthulhu" is set in the mid 1920s (1924-25). "The Whisperer in Darkness" is set in 1927, "The Dunwich Horror" in 1928, and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" 1927-28. "At the Mountains of Madness" is 1930-31. These ones are generally set in the year of writing or the year before that.
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The settings for Lovecraft's own stories were pretty much all contemporary, so roughly 1915-1935, as were those of most of his immediate 'disciples'. Lovecraft's own influences date heavily from the late 1800s and early 1900s, but whether these stories actually qualify as mythos tales depends on who you ask. If you want to get into post-Lovecraft extended mythos territory though, the timeframe is pretty much wide open. I've read everything from a medieval mystery to distant-future sci-fi with a mythos edge, and it all works, given the Great Old Ones have been with us throughout our history.
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Thanks for all your imput... early 1900's it is! Dutch history here I come...
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I'm toying with an idea for basing some games in a Dutch mythos setting but i'm not sure when to let it take place in the dutch historie...
This is why I like Delta Green, as a Mythos transport. It takes all the juicy Lovercraftian things and plops them down, squarely in the modern age. Imagine a group of investigators poking around the death of an importer, only to find that Cultists of an Elder god, complete with AK-47 wielding Tcho-Tcho are behind it.
Chthullu vs automatic weapons and plastique; how much more fun could that be?
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Chaosium once did a supplement for their Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game called, as it happens "Strange Aeons" which had three one-off adventures, all of which had non-standard Mythos settings.
One had the PCs as working for the Inquisition (Inquisitors, monks, soldiers of the Inquisition, etc.) in 16th Century Spain; one was set in Elizabethan London and involving the mysterious death of playwright Christopher Marlowe; and the third had a Sci-Fi setting of a Moon base in the future. I believe there was a sequel with all kinds of other settings such as Cavemen, Ancient Greece, Roman Britain, Feudal Japan, the American Civil War, and the Woodstock Festival in 1969(!).
Other populars supplement were "Cthulhu by Gaslight" (Victorian Mythos gaming) and "Cthulhu Now" (modern Mythos gaming).
So as you can see, Mythos gaming can be done in any era you like. There is really no reason to confine yourself to a period you are unfamiliar with or find uninteresting.
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Most of the stories are set in the early 1900's but the roots of evil are often older. So you can set your games in the late 1600's for instance and your team can fight the horrible Keziah Mason and his minion Brown Jenkins (the Dreams in the Witch-House) or the terrible experiences of Joseph Curwen (The Case of Charles Dexter Ward).
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What i like alot is how the "truth" of Salem and the escape of the real baddies to made up places like Arkham...
In Holland (the place the most evil of baddies come from) there was a lot of bogus witch persecution so the Heksenwaag was instated to stop corrupt officials from burning/drowning innocent women for profit...
So i'd like to incorporate the real but fague secret dutch/european organisations to be either Mythos badguys or a secret organistation to battle it... or both Sylver Twilight Lodge style...
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In Holland (the place the most evil of baddies come from) there was a lot of bogus witch persecution so the Heksenwaag was instated to stop corrupt officials from burning/drowning innocent women for profit...
When did all these events took place?
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Lovecraft is present day and I seem to remember Sandy Petersen once telling me that you should always set Cthulhu stories/scenarios in your present day so that realism is well real.
I guess set them wherever you think you won't have to much to create in addition to mythos ideas, so players don't stump you with crazy "era" questions.
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I kinda agree... but a lot of the modernday technlogy takes away a lot of mystery... gps/satelites there are no undiscovered/strange places left... modern weapons and such may add a lot of "bang" but it's the whole hopelesness "earth weapons don't affect Mythos creatures, if you escape mad you've won" fibe that make the Mythos so cool and wierd...
Besides 1700 fluff bleeding into the early 1900's isn't so hard to fathom... but that's just me >:D
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I kinda agree... but a lot of the modernday technlogy takes away a lot of mystery... gps/satelites there are no undiscovered/strange places left... modern weapons and such may add a lot of "bang" but it's the whole hopelesness "earth weapons don't affect Mythos creatures, if you escape mad you've won" fibe that make the Mythos so cool and wierd...
Besides 1700 fluff bleeding into the early 1900's isn't so hard to fathom... but that's just me >:D
That's true and for me I always play 1920/30s classic, with a little gaslight... Now I can't stand.
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Besides i'm not going for a full RPG more Strange Aeons like... I'm still in doubt whether ill make a mod for LOTOW (I love those rules) basically adding madness and mythosmagic... or make an unofficiël expension for Strange Aeons...
I also have a lot of Call of Cthulhu rpg books so probably gonna translate those stats to either LOTOW or Strange Aeons...
just really broke so no money for strange aeons rules just now... i do have all the LOTOW and LOTHS books so it's really tempting to use that...
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Yes LOTOW are great rules for skirmish and quite easy to adapt to any period or context from Lord of the Rings to WWII. If you try to use them for Cthulhu Mythos I will follow your work with great interest.
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@ Enethaeron:
The Witches Weighhouse
Much of Oudewater’s city centre is listed in the Register of Monuments. The 16th century Witches Weighhouse, located in the centre of this historic place, now serves as a museum. Here, visitors can see an audiovisual presentation and exhibition about witch hunting, and be weighed themselves, on the original scales dating from 1482.
For almost one hundred years, visitors from all over the world, have been visiting the Witches Weighhouse in Oudewater. They take their place on the large scales and, as in the past, receive their personal certificate. In this building, already in the 16th century, this weighing took place. Then it was a matter of life or death for those accused of witchcraft: many men and women ended up on the pyre. The City of Oudewater was the only one in Europe that received the privilege for a fair weighing process, granted by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Consequently, nobody here was ever convicted of being a witch.
In the Museum compelling audiovisual displays, an exhibition and of course the original scales, tell the story of the witch persecutions, and the role played by the Weighhouse. For children it is a museum where they can play as well as learn.
Do you know whether or not you are a witch, light enough to fly on a broomstick? Find out for yourself, weighed on ancient scales, and take away the proof, when you receive our ‘Certificaet of Weginghe’.
Tourists, families, school (& other) groups: everyone is welcome in Museum de Heksenwaag - the Witches Weighhouse!
We are preparing an application for nomination on the Unesco World Heritage List.
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Thanks for those informations. Maybe some day I'll try to visit. :D
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I have some French rules for LOTOW for Pulp and Cthulhu (but haven't translated them you can have the link if you want?
Savage Worlds with Realms of Cthulhu would also be great, and it's what I intend to use ruleswies....
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Oh i would like the link... my french is next to nonexistend but still... love to see your stats for Mythos creatures!
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I have some French rules for LOTOW for Pulp and Cthulhu (but haven't translated them you can have the link if you want?
Savage Worlds with Realms of Cthulhu would also be great, and it's what I intend to use ruleswies....
I'm very interested too. And the good point is that I don't need to translate them! ;)
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Once it is translated I would like to see it...
I am tinkering around with Legends of the Old West meets Strange Aeons style, mainly using the SA rules....the rules look like I could take ideas from LOTOW and make into the SA style...
I have two other projects on the backburner right now...both Black Dossiar style...
At sea...divers, sea creatures and such....
Adventure to the North pole style game with snow gear and rules for weather...
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They're not mine bu here's the link
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http://lotow.free.fr/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=31
And
http://lotow.free.fr/IMG/pdf/Variantes_LOTOW_Horreur.pdf
If you have any specific questions I'm happy to translate for you, but atleast you have the stats
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Thanks a bunch!
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Thanks a lot!
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My dad is a sci-fi nut and says he'd like to play a future kind of thing, but My mom and me like the 1930's kind of thing, just like in the X-Box 360 game.
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A lot of the books mentioned in the stories, Necronomicon etc, are described as being very old.
Some are precisely dated, Cultes des Goules 1702, Las Reglas de Ruina 1520.
Others are described as medieval etc.
So there's no reason not to have cultists active at any date you choose.
If you opt for the 16th century you have the Spanish occupation (and inquisition) to contend with. If you choose the 17th century there is the sideline of John Okey, Miles Corbet and John Barkstead arrested by British secret agents in Delft in 1662.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-16303861