Cthulhu by Gaslight, Third Edition
Details
Publisher: Chaosium
Product Code: Not yet allocated
Announce Date: February, 2010
Expected Publication Date: August/September, 2011
Project Status: Alive
Expected Page Count: approximately 180 to 190
Author(s): Kevin A. Ross, William A. Barton, Scott David Aniolowski, Dave Hallett, Richard Watts, Glyn White
Artist(s): To be announced
Setting(s): 1890s
Format(s): Softcover
ISBN: Not yet allocated
Contents
Kevin Ross has been given the go-ahead to radically overhaul this (long out-of-print) sourcebook for running Call of Cthulhu adventures in Victorian England.
From the publisher:
Victorian England. The era of Sherlock Holmes and Dracula, and a horrific real-life mystery in the form of Jack the Ripper. Thousands of books, films, and stories have featured these characters over the past 120+ years -- Holmes and Dracula have become the most commonly-used fictional characters of all time. Little wonder then that this era, with its foggy atmosphere, gross social and economic inequality, and the vast history of England to draw from, should spawn a setting for Call of Cthulhu. For what is Call of Cthulhu if not the first truly great roleplaying game combining mystery and horror?
In 1986, avid Sherlockian Bill Barton produced the award-winning first edition of Cthulhu by Gaslight. A second edition, with only slight changes, appeared two years later. Since then a handful of Call of Cthulhu books set in the Victorian era have appeared, and articles and scenarios still crop up from time to time. But it’s been over 20 years (!) since the Gaslight book itself was reprinted or updated.
This new edition of Cthulhu by Gaslight has been thoroughly revamped, expanding the book by nearly 50% and adding new material roughly equivalent to the original book’s length. We have more thoroughly developed the Victorian England setting. Character creation has been reworked, with some new wrinkles added, and there are new articles on the Victorian world, crime, politics, personalities, and so forth. There are also extensive new sections on the Cthulhu Mythos in Britain -- creatures, cults, books, etc. -- including a précis of Ramsey Campbell’s Severn River Valley. Also included are tips on running various types of Gaslight era campaigns, a gazetteer of intriguing British myths and legends, a selection of friends and foes from Victorian fiction, and a lengthy new bibliography/filmography of suggested reading and viewing. Rounding out this new edition are a pair of new Victorian era scenarios -- one an urban adventure set in London, the other set in rural Dartmoor.
With this book and a copy of the Call of Cthulhu core rulebook, a prospective Keeper can run a campaign set in Victorian England. This edition provides a strong background in both the Victorian world and the activities of the Cthulhu Mythos within it. So grab your coat, hat, and walking stick, and have the doctor bring his bag and revolver. It’s time to step into a world of Victorian occult adventure -- the world of Cthulhu by Gaslight!
Includes a fold-out map of 1890s London.
In Forum threads, Kevin Ross said: "This won't be a simple repackaging of the previous material, but an overhaul of the whole works. We're dropping the Holmes and Wells material and the Time Travel article, and replacing these items with a more elaborate character creation system, more information on the Victorian world (emphasizing London and the UK -- see later comment), and several new articles and expansions to existing ones. Since the big Holmes scenario is being dropped, we're plugging in two new ones more suitable for beginning Gaslight characters. There'll also be articles on fictional characters from the period, British legend and folklore and, most importantly, the Cthulhu Mythos in Britain. All told, the new edition should be about half again as long as the original book, with new material making up almost 2/3 of that total."
And: "The new edition throws out virtually all of the Holmes material, save stats for Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty. We also included a short article on Jack the Ripper and various suspects and sources. While we nixed some of the Wells stuff, we did decide to keep the Martians (but not the Morlocks), and Scott added Moreau and Griffin, and Dave Conyers gave Scott permission to use his stats for Moreau's beast-men. So there's still a fair chunk of Wells in there. (There are also stats for Nemo and Challenger and a bunch of other Victorian and early Edwardian fictional characters)."
And: "The new edition keeps the emphasis on Social Class that had played such a big part of almost all of the Gaslight supplements produced so far. BUT, we've played down it's importance SOMEWHAT, allowing more room for middle class investigators and even lower class ones, within reason."
He also said that the book: "has expanded coach chase rules, a gazeteer of British weird places, short articles on British universities, regions, several Victorian fictional characters, and so forth. One of the two lengthy adventures deals with a mummy in London."
Scenarios: Scenario 1, Scenario 2
Front Cover Text
List all the text from the front cover.
Back Cover Text
List all the text on the back cover.
Comments / Trivia
List dedication, color plates, rarity of the book, etc.
Links
Forum discussions on this upcoming product:
Spoilers - Keepers Eyes Only
Players should not read any further.
Comment here to Keepers about this book. Comments on specific Scenarios and Campaigns go on their respective pages. Keep DISCUSSION on the talk page.
