Well, that’s the end of another orbit around our local star without falling in! It’s been a great year in our land of fantasy escapism! I started the year with one set of intentions with this blog and ended up in an entirely different place but more of that in a moment. Over on the Game of the Year 2022 post you can read about the game ‘I’ enjoyed most but here it is time to look back at Call of Cthulhu role-playing in 2022! One thing you have to remember or be told is that ‘I’, Roll4Sanity, am part of the Cosmic Outpost, which does a bit more than just RPGs with it’s wider scope but Outpost and Sanity are pretty much the same so when I say Cosmic Outpost, that’s me here at Roll4Sanity too! Clear as mud? Good! Somethings are best left undiscovered….
So for me 2022 had three outstanding mentions:
- 40th anniversary 2nd Edition Collectors box set
- Chaosium Acquisition of Dholes House
- Regency Cthulhu
40th anniversary 2nd Edition Collectors box set
Your childhood years are governed by a couple of things I would suggest, your desire for power, the means to rise up and control the world or at least your world and the acquisition of ideas and possessions to achieve that. A complete set of scenarios and rule books for your favourite role-playing was a focus of desire. If you could acquire such a treasure your knowledge and power would be unmeasured in your friends’ group. But sadly, life is life and such desires have to slip away to more sensible acquisitions as you grow up. Imagine then fans of the game who are now in their own positions of power and able to bring together all the treasures you every desired in the past, adding more you didn’t’ know you wanted and then making it available to you to purchase! Those words above can barely do justice to capture the happiness that the 40th Anniversary 2nd Edition box set brought to us here at Roll4Sanity. So many pages of scenarios, additional rules, rare handouts all delivered in a box set with a wonderful world map and creature size comparison chart. There was a UK TV show where a host would ambush a celebrity in a nice way and whisk them away to a studio where, for half an hour, they would bring out friends and family in front of the cameras who would recount the stories of how they met or grew up. At the end of the show the host would hand the celebrity a record of everything that had been researched. Contained in a red book with a gold lettered title, the host would speak to the celebrity as it was handed over the words, “This is your life.” When that box set came through the post this year, it was my own ‘This is your life’ moment.
Chaosium Acquisition of Dholes House (Oct 2021)
So here at Roll4sanity we love making characters to put into the adventures that the Keepers of Arcane Law and anything that helps us make that easier and more fun that’s very welcome. And whilst this acquisition occurred in October 2021, it wasn’t until this year that I was able to really get into the site and see what it was all about. To quote the Chaosium Blog “The Dhole’s House was created as a fan site by Lee Carnell in 2016, and has become a popular resource for Call of Cthulhu Keepers and players world-wide, with many thousands of Investigators and handouts created every month.”
Well done to Chaosium for picking this great site up and investing in the talent behind it. And well done for keeping it subscription free as these days there seems to be a move to try and squeeze that little bit of cash out of fans and whilst we don’t mind sometimes, no cost is even better. I’ll try and find time to explore the site in a character creation video as it really has it all. Yes, you’ll need to sign up for a free account but I think this is just to stop automated programmes eating up expensive bandwidth and the sign-up allows the site to keep the character that you made. Very fun to use!
Regency Cthulhu
So, I have to admit I was hoping 7th Edition Gaslight would come out first but Regency Cthulhu has been first to market and anything we were not expecting is welcome! Regency Cthulhu is a hardcover book very similar to most era books like, Pulp Cthulhu!, Cthulhu Dark Ages and Cthulhu Down Darker Trails. A good section of the book details what the era is about, the special rules for creating characters and usually a setting in which Keepers can base characters. Then the majority of the book is ready to play adventures with hand outs and pre-generated characters. If you want to see how to make a regency character, then take a look at our Roll4Sanity Regency Character video here.
I know role-players who don’t fancy playing in this era as tea with the vicar and a Dance roll to see how well you do at the manor ball doesn’t hold any adventure for them. And there is no arguing with that as everyone is free to game how they want to game at their table. For those who are curious, the regency era is like a cold war of secrets and diplomacy where the key holes have eyes and the doors have ears. You know the lord of the manor might be an evil cultist but accusing them openly will see your reputation ruined! But speaking to the right people and getting them onside can start whispers that turn the establishment against them.
There are a couple of great Actual Plays about Regency Cthulhu that I can recommend if you to want listen to a bit of game play. First is from the Miskatonic Playhouse that the Cosmic Outpost plays in with some of the crew from the Stars Are right Podcast and the show is called Cult and Culpability
Then the Oldway Podcast was brought in shining light of the Cthulhu Community Bridgett Jeffries from Symphony entertainment for their regency adventure Echoes in the Mist
These are longer form stories for Regency Cthulhu so head over the Stream of Chaos YouTube channel for and all star one shot.