The 1920s Investigator's Companion: A Core Game Book for Players (Call of Cthulhu) [Paperback]

Keith Herber (Author), John Crowe (Author), Kenneth (Author), Jr. Faig (Author), Keith Herber (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Chaosium Inc.; 3rd edition (August 12, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568821069
• ISBN-13: 978-1568821061
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,025,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book, with one or two "hmm"s..., June 12, 2002

By 

Noah Gibbs (San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The 1920s Investigator's Companion: A Core Game Book for Players (Call of Cthulhu) (Paperback)

The book quickly skims 1920's songs, fashion and general lifestyle and has many hundreds of cool little gems of information -- What was the main newspaper of Amsterdam in the 1920s? What hours was the Library of Congress open to the public? What songs were popular in 1924?

It also has a small but reasonable set of purchasable items like clothes, vehicles and weaponry which the main sourcebook sorely lacks and wonderful information on 1920's forensics and criminal investigation.

Unfortunately, there's a section of occupations in the middle which takes up half the book. There are little nuggets of information like famous members of that occupation in the 1920's -- Woodie Guthrie the Hobo, Howard Carter the Archaeologist and so on -- but overall, it's just a set of additional sets of skills the player can take and extra benefits and powers. None of it is as unbalancing as Unearthed Arcana was to first-edition AD&D, but it's still a step in the wrong direction, and having it take up half the book is pretty silly.

Still, the good far outweighs the bad and unless you're already an expert on the 1920's, you'll find a very large amount here to like and to learn from. If you're only buying one Call of Cthulhu sourcebook beyond the basic, I'd still recommend getting one of the Arkham Country books (Arkham Unveiled, Kingsport: City in the Mists, Return to Dunwich and Escape From Innsmouth) instead of this one since they address specific settings. The Arkham book in particular gives excellent specifics that will be more useful to you than the grand, worldwide events of the 1920's Investigator's Guide.

Of course if you're willing to spend the money, both/all are good purchases.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The essential supplement, May 21, 2002

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The 1920s Investigator's Companion: A Core Game Book for Players (Call of Cthulhu) (Paperback)

As the saying goes, "If you must buy one supplement to Call of Cthulhu..." A great role-playing game is generally playable out of a single book. Core rules, including character generation, should be simple enough to fit easily. Expansion books then add new elements to your main book.

For "Call of Cthulhu," I find the "The 1920S Investigator's Companion" to be the only expansion I use every game. The additional Investigator occupations add an exciting element and allow for more customization for players. For the Keeper, the "Investigator's Companion" does not add any complication to game play, as many expansion and optional rule books do.

The book is packed with information about the 1920's, and can really fill out your campaign. The optional character classes, such as "Athlete," are adaptable to other eras. "The 1920S Investigator's Companion" is a very well put-together supplement, and is easy to navigate.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Utility, July 2, 2002

By 

William D. Bolden "book addict" (Huntsville, AL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The 1920s Investigator's Companion: A Core Game Book for Players (Call of Cthulhu) (Paperback)

The Call of Cthulhu RPG core rule book is amazingly good (I am want to think of a single core rule book which is fuller or better); and being such, I am not sure whether I should find it odd that the source books tend to be more "sturdy tools" than full fleshed additions. Take the 1920's Companion, it is largely dry reading, strong on the fleshing out of a 1920's campaign but not something that you will read and reread unless you need to look up the data. But, at the same time, the amount of stuff that this book gives you (and makes you realize that you might have forgot to account for in your 1920's game) is pretty astounding. You characters are aided in the assembly of their personality and personal belongings. Timelines are good even in "alternate history" campaigns, and can help you to rewrite history if you wish. Essays and charts flesh out more hard data on procedure and product of the 1920's. On the more technical side, there is one piece of errata that I know of and typos are minimal (besides that one mistake, none come to my mind). The specific page layout is not always attractive...but still, this is one sturdy tool to use. Highly recommended as an extension to the already wonderfully complete world of the CoC RPG.