Customer Reviews

Cthulhu Dark Ages (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying, Chaosium #2398)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cthulhu Dark Ages is a stand-alone RPG, and a "prequel" to Call of Cthulhu set around the turn of the first millennium, in the 10th century A.D. I could stop this review right there and you'd pretty much have it, but I should mention that Stephane Gesbert, the author, shows a pretty solid grasp on the grubby physicality of the era that comes out in the text. (The historical material is okay, but necessarily pretty superficial.) This is Cthulhu without shotguns, or libraries, or any of the other crutches that can vitiate the horrors of the Mythos. It's just flickering torchlight and the cold wind from the North -- and it works really quite well. I didn't begin enraptured with it, but the more I read the better I liked the material. Every so often, Gesbert throws you a curve ball, with some surprise identifier of medieval monsters with Mythos creations that evokes Delta Green in its vertiginous cleverness (star-spawn as dragons), or a well-thought adaptation of the basic rules set for medieval assumptions (the disease table goes a long way to reinforce the difference a millennium makes to us mayfly humans). A lengthy scenario completes the book; intriguingly there are no d20 Call of Cthulhu stats given.

The Dark Ages and the Dark Gods of the Cthulhu Mythos: what could be more pleasingly horrific?

Want to know how dark the "Dark Ages" could really have been, from the Lovcraftian perspective? Your wish is granted!

Curious about what happens when midieval role-play gets mixed with cosmic horror? Then this is for you!

"Cthulhu Dark Ages" opens up a new doorway on the world of "Call of Cthulhu" role-playing, providing a venue for players and Keepers who want to explore a time when the amenities of the post-Industrial Revolution world do not exist even in the wildest of dreams . . . but horrible things still lurk in the dark places of the world, and just out of sight in the corner of one's perception! This truly is a new world for CoC players, where things are VERY different from the way they're used to having them! No firearms, explosives and electric lights to fall back on here, folks!

This book is the perfect cross-over for CoC Keepers and players who want to take their Lovecraftian horror RPG into the realm of either a historic or fantasy midieval setting. It will tie in neatly with any number of popular fantasy or Middle Ages RPGs out there (I won't name them; you already know what they are if you're into them). And it's a great addition to it's own parent Call of Cthulhu system, too, of course!

This is an essential addition to any die-hard CoC player's or Keeper's collection. I can't recommend it enough!

Though a bit thin on background. Considering, however, that this is a more historical game than some other sword and sorcery style systems, it is easy to get background on the times and people from your local library. The adaptations of the Basic Role Playing System found in the standard Call of Cthulhu rules are interesting and logical. The idea of dark horror in these dark ages is interesting (like the game Vampire: The Dark Ages).

The only negative I found was the idea of point expenditure for character creation. Instead of rolling random dice you have a number of points to seperate between all attributes. One of the intriguing things about CoC is the range of characters that the random rolling method creates. However, this is a minor point, considering you can always just use the standard dice method if you prefer. The point method appears to be an attempt to achieve game balance, which is kind of funny considering your average Cthulhu entity can eat your face off even if you are armed with a machine gun.

I second most of the other reviews. It's a great stand alone game (you really don't need anything else to get informed and going). I'd add though, that they try to "fantasy" it up a bit, given that it's set in the past. They add some fantasyish magic, and a few other unrelated fantasy creatures that many might consider as taking away from the general theme of the game. It's all usable at the player's/game master's discretion, of course, so it's all good.

None of the former would cause me to give it a poor review however, but the historical overview and related tidbits on these erroneously called "dark ages" do. It is so full of factual errors, outright contradictions, and false cliche and bias that it could make someone incensed with anger. Of course, it's not all error, but if one doesn't know anything about the era, well, take it all with a grain of salt.
How much of that is done intentionally in order to promote a "dark" and "depressing" setting for the game, who knows?
Anyway, the history lesson is only a portion of the book, and information on that abounds elsewhere.

Who, having read Clark Ashton Smith's "Averoigne" fiction and having run Call of Cthulhu, would *not* wonder at length about the feasibility of setting Call of Cthulhu games in the early history of the world? Could anyone who has run Call of Cthulhu and then who comes across "The Name of the Rose" and sees the library, either on film or in their mind's eye, *not* yearn to have his or her players standing bemused and terrified in the labyrinth? Of course not.

So it was with great expectations that I purchased Cthulhu Dark Ages shortly after it became available. Most of those expectations were mostly realized. What follows is a list of the reasons for the "most"s in that sentence.

First off, the product cannot decide whether it is to be a sourcebook for a new game era or a setting for a one-off Call of Cthulhu scenario, and ends up being a poorer fit for either than if that decision had been made.

As a sourcebook it is a tad scanty. Yes, there is a bibliography of suggested reading and "titles to come", but I really feel that there should have been more Dark Ages flesh on the bones (avoiding completely the definition of "Dark Ages", which the author explains unavoidably makes some of the materials anachronistic including the scenario in the book).

The Grimoire has a High Fantasy feel to it, specifically having quick wave-o-the-hand boosts to major stats that owe much to the D&D magic system and little allegiance to the Mythos Grimiore of old.

There has been some retooling done, and some interesting ideas on how to dress old friends up in new ways that emphasize their "otherness" that are applicable to the game in general, not just this version of it. There's a new villain, and a new place to meet people (Limbo) that offers some interesting possibilities a-la Dreamland-like adventuring.

The milieu also comes with some heavy baggage that has to be factored in to play: No medical help capable of dealing with the likely damage to body and mind that characters will undoubtedly suffer, requiring a more High Fantasy style of magic to counter, and the (to me much more problematical) issue of God. In other Call of Cthulhu settings it is possible to side-step people's personal belief systems, but here the presence of The Church is so pervasive the GM is forced into having to decide the nature of God in-game (it *will* come up), and in doing so risks giving non-trivial offense to some. The wise GM will give this some thought before gaming in the Dark Ages.

The scenario included with the book is an okay but fairly unspectacular thing that runs very much to the High Fantasy model - not in itself a bad thing, but it doesn't showcase Cthulhu Dark Ages's uniqueness from such High Fantasy games as well as it might have done, and therefore doesn't "show the way" for an interested person to get the best from this particular version of the game.

What is needed now is a commission from Chaosium to the author of this piece for a full-sized sourcebook on the lines of the Dreamlands hardback so the era can be properly explored.

This book was about exactly what I expected, a good idea starter and basic (very basic) historical source primer

Cthulhu Mythos in the Dark Ages just plain makes sense. For nittier-grittier sword and sorcery, this system is probably better than any of the d20 systems. This is also a much more streamlined system which allows you to focus on story and role playing rather than mechanics and dice chucking.

While I like it, too much of it is given over to rules, not setting, etc. I would have liked to see this more as a supplement to the core Call of Cthulhu game than as a stand alone product. That said, its a good alternative for people who only are PCs, never a keeper. Keepers should have both this and the Call of Cthulhu "big book".