Friday, July 29, 2011

More Call of Cthulhu Recommendations

OK, since you were all kind enough to offer me advice on various scenarios (of which I’m still weighing my options between running something pre-fab or writing my own), I thought I’d make another request.

My Call of Cthulhu game library—as opposed to my fiction library which is much greater—is of modest size. It contains the following:

Call of Cthulhu 1st edition boxed set (second printing)
Call of Cthulhu 4th edition
Call of Cthulhu 6th edition
Call of Cthulhu 30th Anniversary Edition (en route)
Call of Cthulhu d20
Keeper’s Kit (5th edition)

Delta Green
Delta Green: Countdown

H.P. Lovecraft’s Arkham
H.P. Lovecraft’s Kingsport
H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands
H.P. Lovecraft’s Dunwich

Secrets of Morocco
Secrets of New York

Ramsey Campbell’s Goatswood
Miskatonic University: The University Guide Book
Cthulhu Invictus
Tatters of the King

Our Ladies of Sorrow
New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley

On PDF, I have Beyond the Mountains of Madness, the Quick Start, and one or two other adventure compilations. I also have the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana which bridges the gap between Mythos fiction and game aid.

My question to those of you who play is “Aside from the above, are there any Cthulhu supplements you’d consider indispensible?” My interests lay more to the classic era as opposed to modern, but I am anticipating the reissue of Cthulhu by Gaslight supposedly coming in late summer. I would love to own a set of the original Grenadier investigator minis and a print copy of Escape from Innsmouth, but for expense and/or availability reasons, those remain beyond my grasp for the moment.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

16 comments:

Greyhawk Grognard said...

I have to put in a word for Cthulhu Invictus.

Michael Curtis said...

Already own it and have plans for it. A good suggestion, though.

Alex Osias said...

Masks of Nyarlathotep! It's a campaign, but also a good resource.

MX said...

1920s Investigators Companion and Keeper's Companion

Michael Curtis said...

1920s Investigators Companion and Keeper's Companion

What do these contain? I saw one Keepers book used at my FLGS and it had notes on tomes and a few other things, but didn't strike me a being all that necessary.

PapaJoeMambo said...

I would also include MASKS, and as many back-issues of THE UNSPEAKABLE OATH as you can find. Tons and tons of good stuff in TUO.

W.I.P: Work In Progress said...

dude thats an awsome collection, loving CoC, tho i do need a collection that impressive!

Jeff_Grubb said...

I'd recommend Dan Harms' Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia (which is the latest version of the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana from Chaosium) for source material and Malleus Monstrorum for a good monster book.

Michael Curtis said...

This is the first I've heard of the Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia. How does it differ from the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana? The Amazon reviews were not as clear on this matter as they could be.

I completely forgot about Malleus Monstrorum.

pookie said...

Here is what I think that you should have in your Call of Cthulhu collection:

For reference you should have the Keeper’s Companion and the 1920s Investigators’ Companion, and to a much lesser extent, the Keeper’s Companion 2. The first two provide plenty of background and historical detail or historical and outré detail that you will not find elsewhere.

If you want a single scenario anthology, then Mansions of Madness is the best choice for the 1920s, though if you have New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, then More Adventures in Arkham Country is a worthy addition.

Since you have Cthulhu Invictus, get The Legacy of Arrius Lurco. You will not find a better campaign. It is “gobsmackingly good, and will literally deliver two smacks to your players’ gobs.” I kid you not.

Lastly, if you have The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep, look for The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion. The campaign itself is good, but not necessarily a resource. The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion is the resource for the campaign. I hold my tentacle up for this and tell you that I co-edited this volume, which is bigger than the campaign itself, but it really does add so much detail and background. Extra scenarios. Ready-to-play investigators. Every book and Mythos tome explained. More Keeper advice than has ever appeared anywhere.

Lastly, if you have a particular question about any one Call of Cthulhu, either ask me because I read and review a great many of them, or visit yog-sothoth.com and ask there.

Anonymous said...

Alongside being a first rate campaign, 'Beyond the Mountains of Madness' is a superb resource that I think belongs in the collection of any CoC afficionado.

AndreasDavour said...

Listen to Pookie, he knows his stuff.

I's say the best two things you don't have is 1920s Investigators Companion and Mansions of Madness. the former is the best book I own for CoC. Period information and excellent list of professions with period data. Most excellent. Also, the cover is awesome!

pookie said...

Andreas is far too kind.

Jeff_Grubb said...

Both version of the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana were published by Chaosium. The Cthulhu Mythos Encylopedia is an expansion of those and published by Elder Sign Press. Same author for all three.

BK said...

Pagan Publishing has done a lot of good stuff. I am fond of "The Realm of Shadows," which I ran back in the early 2000s as a play-by-email game. But nothing beats "Walker in the Wastes" -- it's a globetrotting classic on par with "Masks of Nyarlathotep," except that, in my view, it's better. The book itself isn't very pretty; it's a lot of pretty dense text, and I'm not really a fan of the limited artwork in it. But, boy, is it evocative, and you can run a really long and quite open-ended campaign with it. I ran it in play-by-email format for over three years in the mid-2000s, totaling over 130 turns and >1,500 pages of single-spaced text. (With my gaming group scattered to the four winds these days, most of my gaming is by PBEM, but I have come to really enjoy that medium.) I think it's just about the best CoC campaign out there. Of course, there is "Delta Green" ....

H-Town said...

If your into Cthulhu - I have a few page supplement for LL or b/x on the LL forums
http://www.freeyabb.com/goblinoidgames/viewtopic.php?t=2698&view=previous&sid=815317e4abfdfb409687a0880adc9d6a&mforum=goblinoidgames