List of Call of Cthulhu Campaign Settings

[ColoradoCthulhu]

I have been running my Call of Cthulhu 1920s Jazz Era campaign continuously since early May 2019 and we've covered a good deal of scenario material in that time. Before we start a proper, lengthy campaign such as Masks of Nyarlathotep, I want to give the players a chance to experience a different CoC setting for several months before we dive into a year-long Jazz Era campaign.

From my research, the official CoC 7th edition campaign settings of note other than the classic 1920s setting are as follows:

* Cthulhu Invictus (circa 100 A.D. Roman Era)

* Cthulhu Dark Ages (Middle Ages Europe)

* Down Darker Trails (late 19th century American Old West)

* Cthulhu by Gaslight (late 19th century Victorian England)

* Pulp Cthulhu (1930s Depression Era America)

* Cthulhu Now (Modern Era)

There is also the Dreamlands campaign setting, but this alternate universe can be accessed from the 1920s setting so I would probably just run Dreamlands as part of that campaign if we ever get to it.

A number of niche CoC campaign settings are/were available from Chaosium, small, third party publishers on the Miskatonic Repository, or for download/purchase from the publishers' websites:

* Achtung! Cthulhu (World War Two), published by Modiphius Entertainment

* Atomic Age Cthulhu (1950s), published by Chaosium

* Cathulhu (the Investigators are cats!), published by Sixtystone Press

* Convicts & Cthulhu (18th century Australian penal colonies), published by Cthulhu Reborn

* Cthulhu Confidential (GUMSHOE One-2-One system), published by Pelgrane Press

* Cthulhu Dark (rules light system), author Graham Walmsley

* Cthulhu End Times - "The Reaping" (22nd century, post-apocalyptic), published by Chaosium

* Cthulhu Rising/Cthulhu Icarus (late 23rd century, science fiction), published by Chaosium

* CthulhuTech (late 21st century, alien invasion), created by Wildfire LLC 

* Delta Green (mid 20th century to present, covert organizations), published by Arc Dream Publishing and also Pelgrane Press

* Punktown (cyberpunk), published by Miskatonic River Press/Chronicle City

* Trail of Cthulhu (GUMSHOE system), published by Pelgrane Press

* World War Cthulhu (World War Two, Cold War), published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment

If anyone has suggestions, I can add them to the above lists. The forum moderators may also want to pin this list to the top of the Call of Cthulhu forum for easy reference.

Edited March 19, 2020 by ColoradoCthulhu

[alter]

Delta Green is mostly from Arc Dream Publishing. Fall of Delta Green is from Pelgrane. 

[dce]

For Call of Cthulhu, you should probably add the French Revolution material by Chaosium (Reign of Terror and its forthcoming sequel).

Chaosium have also put out Cthulhu Through The Ages which has basic notes for playing in other eras as well:

• Mythic Iceland
• Cthulhu Icarus (near future space exploration)
• Cthulhu End Times aka "The Reaping (Post Apocalypse)

Two older Chaosium titles Strange Aeons and Strange Aeons II contain scenarios in unusual time periods, mostly historical (but in one case pre-historical).

Also, while World War Cthulhu from Cubicle 7 did have ambitions to cover WW1 and WW3, the line folded before they got to either of those. So, really just WW2 and Cold War.

Trail of Cthulhu doesn't exclusively deal with the 1930s; there are some excellent WW1 scenarios and sourcebook (probably the best that have been published so far for any Lovecraft RPG) and the surrealist take on the Dreamlands in Dreamhounds of Paris. A few of the excellent PDFs in the Pelgrane subscription series Ken Writes About Stuff also offer good advice on running games in intriguing settings -- the one that most readily comes to mind is Elizabethan England.

Cthulhu Dark isn't really a "setting" as much as a rule system -- although the core book did have a few unusual settings sketched out: 1850s London, Arkham 1692, and Jaiwo 2017.

There is also Punktown from Miskatonic River Press / Chronicle City.

Arguably the Laundry line from Cubicle 7 might be considered part of this list also (although it's really it's own game, with a different tone to most investigative Lovecraft games)

If you wanted to go even further afield, Lovecraftesque has tiny sketches of a lot of different unusual settings for Lovecraft gaming (of a narrative style).

BTW I don't think it's accurate to call Delta Green a "minor" setting -- in the last few years their output has probably been more than Chaosium's CoC line.

 

D.

[ColoradoCthulhu]

32 minutes ago, dce said:

For Call of Cthulhu, you should probably add the French Revolution material by Chaosium (Reign of Terror and its forthcoming sequel).

As I understand it, the Reign of Terror supplement can be played as a stand-alone setting but is generally considered to be part of the 'Horror on the Orient Express' campaign from the 1920s ("a historical interlude"). I didn't include it in the main list of campaigns for this reason.

Chaosium have also put out Cthulhu Through The Ages which has basic notes for playing in other eras as well:

• Mythic Iceland
• Cthulhu Icarus (near future space exploration)
• Cthulhu End Times aka "The Reaping (Post Apocalypse)

Mythic Iceland is its own BRP game independent of Call of Cthulhu, so I didn't include it in the list. I mention both Cthulhu Icarus and Cthulhu End Times in the initial post. I found out about Cthulhu Icarus and Cthulhu End Times from the 'Cthulhu Through The Ages' supplement.

Two older Chaosium titles Strange Aeons and Strange Aeons II contain scenarios in unusual time periods, mostly historical (but in one case pre-historical).

These are supplements only, not really potential stand-alone campaign settings, so I wouldn't have put these in the list even if I had been aware of them.

Strange Aeons II

Also, while World War Cthulhu from Cubicle 7 did have ambitions to cover WW1 and WW3, the line folded before they got to either of those. So, really just WW2 and Cold War.

I will edit the description for World War Cthulhu to reflect this information.

Trail of Cthulhu doesn't exclusively deal with the 1930s; there are some excellent WW1 scenarios and sourcebook (probably the best that have been published so far for any Lovecraft RPG) and the surrealist take on the Dreamlands in Dreamhounds of Paris. A few of the excellent PDFs in the Pelgrane subscription series Ken Writes About Stuff also offer good advice on running games in intriguing settings -- the one that most readily comes to mind is Elizabethan England.

I will edit the description for Trail of Cthulhu to reflect this information.

Cthulhu Dark isn't really a "setting" as much as a rule system -- although the core book did have a few unusual settings sketched out: 1850s London, Arkham 1692, and Jaiwo 2017.

Yes, my list was mostly about stand-alone campaigns for Call of Cthulhu as opposed to just historical eras.

There is also Punktown from Miskatonic River Press / Chronicle City.

I will add Punktown to the second list of lesser known settings.

Arguably the Laundry line from Cubicle 7 might be considered part of this list also (although it's really it's own game, with a different tone to most investigative Lovecraft games).

The Laundry seems to be more of its own game and not that close to Call of Cthulhu other than its themes (but it does use the BRP system). I can leave it off the list unless other posters feel that it should be included.

The Laundry - Cubicle 7

If you wanted to go even further afield, Lovecraftesque has tiny sketches of a lot of different unusual settings for Lovecraft gaming (of a narrative style).

I will probably leave Lovecraftesque off the second list for the same reason as The Laundry.

Lovecraftesque

BTW I don't think it's accurate to call Delta Green a "minor" setting -- in the last few years their output has probably been more than Chaosium's CoC line.

Delta Green just isn't one of the main CoC settings; I can change the initial wording to "niche" instead as Delta Green is about secret agents working for covert organizations and doesn't expand much beyond that.

But thank you very much! This is an incredibly detailed response. I learned a great deal about Cthulhu gaming just from reading this single post.

 

[dce]

Also, a late thought -- you should probably also add Chaosium's  "Atomic Age Cthulhu" (mostly a book of 1950s scenario but with a tiny amount of rules material for running games in the era).

 

D.

 

[ColoradoCthulhu]

6 minutes ago, dce said:

Also, a late thought -- you should probably also add Chaosium's  "Atomic Age Cthulhu" (mostly a book of 1950s scenario but with a tiny amount of rules material for running games in the era).

 

D.

 

Added to the second list.

Atomic-Age Cthulhu

[AJ The Ronin]

Cthulhutech is basically Humanity fights the Great Old Ones with Mechas.

[Darius West]

I think there is also Convict Australia C'thulhu, and French Revolution C'thulhu to be added.  I am personally waiting for someone to make a Soviet (Stalin's) Russia in the 1930s setting book.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Darius West

[ColoradoCthulhu]

2 hours ago, Darius West said:

I think there is also Convict Australia C'thulhu, and French Revolution C'thulhu to be added.  I am personally waiting for someone to make a Soviet (Stalin's) Russia in the 1930s setting book.

Convicts & Cthulhu is included in the second list, and I discuss why I didn't add the 'Reign of Terror' supplement as its own campaign setting in the above thread.

[ColoradoCthulhu]

In addition to the 16th century Elizabethan England setting that has been mentioned by Chaosium as being in development, I would suggest two more settings as future projects.

A late 17th century colonial New England setting centered around the Arkham Witch Trials would be amazing, imo, and probably the scariest of all of the Call of Cthulhu settings. "Cthulhu Witch Trials" would have great atmosphere, some incredible Investigator concepts ("Inquisitor," "Witch"), and would delve into characters mentioned by H.P. Lovecraft and the Mythos writers such as Keziah Mason and Abigail Prinn. This campaign setting would be worth doing just for the artwork.

Cthulhu Rising already exists, but merits its own full supplement. As Chaosium's in-house science fiction RPG has been effectively cancelled for the foreseeable future, Cthulhu Rising could take its place to some extent and tap into the market for (horror) science fiction RPGs. This setting would combine concepts from Cthulhu Icarus as well, being partially set on Earth and its colonies on Mars and also set in outer space. An Alien/Total Recall/Event Horizon game is just waiting to happen...

Cthulhu Witch Trials and Cthulhu Rising both merit at least a single, lengthy campaign book with a set of starter scenarios like the one recently published for Cthulhu Dark Ages. Adding the three aforementioned settings to Chaosium's roster would give players a good distribution of campaigns in almost every major period, from the ancient world to several centuries into the future.

@Mike M et al., are these campaign settings that Chaosium might consider for production in the relatively near future?

Edited March 18, 2020 by ColoradoCthulhu

[Ian Absentia]

On 3/16/2020 at 4:53 AM, ajtheronin said:

Cthulhutech is basically Humanity fights the Great Old Ones with Mechas.

As I understood it (and it's been a long time since I leafed through the book), CthulhuTech posed a scenario where humans were essentially on the brink of becoming a servitor race themselves.  With mecha, of course.

!i!

[Darius West]

On 3/17/2020 at 1:15 AM, ColoradoCthulhu said:

Convicts & Cthulhu is included in the second list, and I discuss why I didn't add the 'Reign of Terror' supplement as its own campaign setting in the above thread.

My bad, Convicts & C'thulhu is indeed included, I missed it.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Darius West

[Mike M]

2 hours ago, ColoradoCthulhu said:

Cthulhu Witch Trials and Cthulhu Rising both merit at least a single, lengthy campaign book with a set of starter scenarios like the one recently published for Cthulhu Dark Ages. Adding the three aforementioned settings to Chaosium's roster would give players a good distribution of campaigns in almost every major period, from the ancient world to several centuries into the future.

@Mike M et. al., are these campaign settings that Chaosium might consider for production in the relatively near future?

Hi,

Sixtystone Press has a Colonial Lovecraftian setting for Call of Cthulhu, but it remains unreleased at present and am unable to comment more on this. 

We actually have a sci-fi/future setting for Call of Cthulhu in development at present. I can't say more, other a campaign for this setting is also in the works. Will be a while before it comes out.

[kross]

2 hours ago, ColoradoCthulhu said:

In addition to the 16th century Elizabethan England setting that has been mentioned by Chaosium as being in development, I would suggest two more settings as future projects.

A late 17th century colonial New England setting centered around the Arkham Witch Trials would be amazing, imo, and probably the scariest of all of the Call of Cthulhu settings. "Cthulhu Witch Trials" would have great atmosphere, some incredible Investigator concepts ("Inquisitor," "Witch"), and would delve into characters mentioned by H.P. Lovecraft and the Mythos writers such as Keziah Mason and Abigail Prinn. This campaign setting would be worth doing just for the artwork.

Cthulhu Rising already exists, but merits its own full supplement. As Chaosium's in-house science fiction RPG has been effectively cancelled for the foreseeable future, Cthulhu Rising could take its place to some extent and tap into the market for (horror) science fiction RPGs. This setting would combine concepts from Cthulhu Icarus as well, being partially set on Earth and its colonies on Mars and also set in outer space. An Alien/Total Recall/Event Horizon game is just waiting to happen...

Cthulhu Witch Trials and Cthulhu Rising both merit at least a single, lengthy campaign book with a set of starter scenarios like the one recently published for Cthulhu Dark Ages. Adding the three aforementioned settings to Chaosium's roster would give players a good distribution of campaigns in almost every major period, from the ancient world to several centuries into the future.

@Mike M et. al., are these campaign settings that Chaosium might consider for production in the relatively near future?

Someday (maybe) there will be a published version of Colonial Lovecraft Country, written and submitted to Sixtystone Press several years ago. It's set in the 1750s rather than the Puritan era, so as to make use of a number of important events in the fictional Lovecraft Country timeline which culminates in the raid on Joseph Curwen's farm in the 1770s. The line consists of a sourcebook, adventure anthology, and a campaign dealing with the actions of Curwen and his confederates.

[kross]

And damned if Mike M didn't ninja me on that reply.

[ColoradoCthulhu]

9 minutes ago, Mike M said:

Hi,

Sixtystone Press has a Colonial Lovecraftian setting for Call of Cthulhu, but it remains unreleased at present and am unable to comment more on this. 

We actually have a sci-fi/future setting for Call of Cthulhu in development at present. I can't say more, other a campaign for this setting is also in the works. Will be a while before it comes out.

Thanks for the reply, and for also dropping information about a Cthulhu sci-fi setting (looking forward to that one).

Sixtystone Press doesn't seem very active; even their website is down. The publisher has a very limited output on DriveThruRPG:

Sixtystone Press

Chaosium may want to pick the Cthulhu Witch Trials project up instead so that the setting eventually has a well-developed release. If Cthulhu Dark Ages has enough players to support a campaign book, Cthulhu Witch Trials would probably have at least the same level of commercial success.

[Ian Absentia]

25 minutes ago, Mike M said:

Sixtystone Press has a Colonial Lovecraftian setting for Call of Cthulhu, but it remains unreleased at present and am unable to comment more on this. 

Damns if Colonial Cthulhu won't scratch an itch I have for a game of early-1700s era North American frontier exploration (with or without the Mythos) in much the same fashion that Down Darker Trails finally scratched my itch for Old West era frontier adventure (with or without the Mythos).  I look forward to it.

!i!

[Gundamentalist]

Colonial Cthulhu is coming.

It and a companion book are all I'm working on right now.

[ColoradoCthulhu]

16 minutes ago, Gundamentalist said:

Colonial Cthulhu is coming.

It and a companion book are all I'm working on right now.

Of the four links in your signature, the only one that works is the one in German.

Edited March 18, 2020 by ColoradoCthulhu

[ColoradoCthulhu]

After checking out Sixtystone Press on DriveThruRPG, I found out that the publisher has a mini-campaign setting of sorts in which the Investigators are cats! Cathulhu added to the second list above.

Cathulhu on DriveThruRPG

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by ColoradoCthulhu

[alter]

Golden Goblin Press did something similar to Cathulhu. 

Edited March 18, 2020 by alter

[ColoradoCthulhu]

1 hour ago, alter said:

Golden Goblin Press did something similar to Cathulhu. 

"Tails of Valor is the first collection of scenarios produced for Cathulhu using the 7th edition rule system..."

Tails-of-Valor-Print-&-Digital-Combo

[Gundamentalist]

18 hours ago, ColoradoCthulhu said:

Of the four links in your signature, the only one that works is the one in German.

I don't post here very often so its out of date.

[killbotvii]

Delta Green doesn't stop in the late 20th century, it has a timeline up until sometime in 2017.

[ColoradoCthulhu]

4 hours ago, killbotvii@gmail.com said:

Delta Green doesn't stop in the late 20th century, it has a timeline up until sometime in 2017.

Edited to reflect this information.