Dark Designs: Occult Terrors in 1890s England (Call of Cthulhu No. 2332) [Paperback]

David Hallett (Author), Kevin W. Jacklin (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Chaosium (February 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933635753
• ISBN-13: 978-0933635753
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,791,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Extensive Scenarios for Cthulhu gaslight, November 12, 2005

By 

Alexander Scott (Birmingham, AL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Designs: Occult Terrors in 1890s England (Call of Cthulhu No. 2332) (Paperback)

"Cthulhu by Gaslight" is the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game set in the 1890s. DARK DESIGNS is the first supplement printed for Cthulhu by Gaslight and contains 3 long scenarios. Obviously, if you are playing Gaslight, you will want this collection. The scenarios have the feel of an age that has passed, so I am not sure that they would update well to the 1920s even (which is more technological and global but values rural traditions less).

"Eyes For the Blind" - a group of conspirators is trying to call up a being that is supposedly a traditional defender of England. This being has strong ties to the rural and pagan settlers of England before the Anglo-Saxons arrived. The investigators do a fair bit of traveling around southern England to follow the trail left by the conspirators. Little does the party know that there are TWO beings, and that they don't wish to be awakened. This scenario includes a nice pullout map of southern Britain.

"The Menace from Sumatra" - Normal, sane people go on scientific expedition. Crazy, cultist people return, with biological menace to society. The prime cultist isn't completely evil, and he does genuinely care for some. It's just that he does experiments involving growing a blue fungus on people that turns them into goo. He also does this to people who get in his way. And people he comes into contact with. Hell, it eventually happens to just about everyone. He does have a cure, though, and it is up to the investigators to get it out of him.

"Lord of the Dance" - it begins with a hackneyed introduction, that is, a friend or relative has had a terrible experience and now you have to investigate. In this case, her artist lover has disappeared and she has been driven mad. So of course, the investigators do what they do best. Along the way they encounter living wax, a portal across England, a wizard's house that is a dimensional anomaly, a pagan ceremony, and a hideous being using the artist's body as a host. Everybody in this scenario needs a double-barreled retirement plan. This has a sort of globetrotting feel to it, although the action is confined to England, and there is plenty of sleuthing to do.

These scenarios are all pretty decent; I think they would shine even more when set with THE GOLDEN DAWN from Pagan Publishing - the scenarios are similar in tone and would mesh well. There are some cliched elements in DARK DESIGNS, but it was published in 1991 when the RPG space was still being fleshed out. There are rules in the back for Victorian investigators and some nice tear-out handouts. There are some detailed maps as well.