Chaosium acquires Cubicle 7's Cthulhu Britannica and World War Cthulhu lines

[MOB]

Ann Arbor, MI, August 20, 2021—Chaosium, publisher of the Call of Cthulhu tabletop roleplaying game, has acquired Cthulhu Britannica and World War Cthulhu from publisher Cubicle 7.

Cthulhu Britannica was produced under license from Chaosium from 2009-2017. Cubicle 7 released twelve titles that explored the Cthulhu Mythos in the British Isles. 

The World War Cthulhu line was also published under license, from 2013 - 2017. Eight titles were released focussing on the Cthulhu Mythos in conflicts of the 20th Century including World War 2 and the Cold War.

Both lines received critical acclaim and won multiple awards. Cubicle 7's Call of Cthulhu license wound up at the end of 2017. 

Chaosium plans to rerelease these lines for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition, with all-new layout and art. New titles are also planned for each. No release dates have been announced.

Covers of various releases from Cubicle 7's Cthulhu Britannica and World War Cthulhu lines

Edited August 21, 2021 by MOB

[DreadDomain]

This is great news! I've always been on the fence between WWC and Achtung! Cthulhu but with A!C having better production value and atmosphere. Now that Modiphius does not seem to support A!C CoC 7e (beyond the pdfs and the core books) and WWC will eventually get the "Chaosium Production Value Upgrade", that will definitely tip the balance the other way. 

I can only imagine upgrading to CoC 7e rules and layout is no small task so I don't expect anything anytime soon (measured in years), but it's still good news.

[SilverSeraph]

Very cool.  I missed these.  Hoping for the originals to also be made available via pod while waiting for the new editions.

[glassneedles]

Great news! I was recently reading about these and gazing with lust at eBay listings glad I will be able to get them brand new and in colour while supporting Chaosium 🙂

One request please please keep the London boxed set a boxed set as a boxed set. I do love me some hardback RPGs but there is something magical about a boxed set.

[SentinelHillPress]

3 hours ago, MOB said:

 

Cthulhu Britannica was produced under license from Chaosium from 2009-2017. Cubicle 7 released twelve titles that explored the Cthulhu Mythos in the British Isles. 

The World War Cthulhu line was also published under license, from 2013 - 2017. Eight titles were released focussing on the Cthulhu Mythos in conflicts of the 20th Century including World War 2 and the Cold War.

 

I am very glad that these worthy books won't be lost only to collectors and completists.

But speaking as one of those types however... are you including some of the ephemera like the Cards from the Smoke and the Journal of Neve Selcibuc in your count of "Britannica" books? Even with those I can only get to eleven titles (unless the World War Cthulhu: London guidebook is included)

• Cthulhu Britannica
• Avalon: the County of Somerset
• Shadows Over Scotland
• Ballad of Bass Rock (PDF only)
• Cthulhu Britannica: Folklore
• Cthulhu Britannica: London
• Cards from the Smoke (Cards)
• CB: London - The Journal of Neve Selcibuc
• CB: London - The Journal of Reginald Campbell Thompson
• CB: London - Postcards
• The Curse of Nineveh

Also, while I realized you probably cannot say, is there any chance manuscripts for some of their announced-but-never-published books (like guides to Liverpool, Nottingham, and Oxford/Cambridge or an Elizabethan era sourcebook) were included?

[TwiceBorn]

Great news, and good timing!

Although I recently acquired several CB and WWC books, including the London boxed set new in shrink, I was about to pull the trigger on a few other CB and WWC items... glad I can save my cash and wait for the 7th ed versions to see print at non-inflated prices! 

Really looking forward to these releases, as the material I do have from both lines is of great quality.

[The Ancient One]

2 hours ago, SilverSeraph said:

Very cool.  I missed these.  Hoping for the originals to also be made available via pod while waiting for the new editions.

I hope they do that. I have all of the core books for WWC, except for "Our American Cousins", due to it's limited print run as a result of Cubicle 7's license expiring. I would like an official version, since I had to self-publish a PDF of it, because finding one is near impossible and when they are available they are either very expensive or someone buys it before you have a chance to get it. 

[MOB]

11 hours ago, SentinelHillPress said:

I am very glad that these worthy books won't be lost only to collectors and completists.

But speaking as one of those types however... are you including some of the ephemera like the Cards from the Smoke and the Journal of Neve Selcibuc in your count of "Britannica" books? Even with those I can only get to eleven titles (unless the World War Cthulhu: London guidebook is included)

So we don't get asked "but what about X?" we decided to just go with (and link to) the comprehensive product lists as given on RPGGeek. All the ephemeral titles are listed separately there. WWC: London is considered both a Cthulhu Britannica and World War Cthulhu title.

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by MOB

[TrippyHippy]

That’s a pretty impressive haul of material to republish. Good purchase. 

[Travern]

12 hours ago, MOB said:

Chaosium plans to rerelease these lines for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition, with all-new layout and art. New titles are also planned for each.

This is great news and a big surprise! Cubicle 7’s Cthulhu Britannica and World War Cthulhu were excellent product lines, with some absolutely superb titles. 

Are you going to contact any of the original line editors or contributors about the Chaosium editions?  What are your plans for working with them on these and future projects in these series?

[SAVeira]

Great news.  Now I might be able to get copies.  Hoping that Age of Cthulhu from Goodman Games comes back as well.

[Rick Meints]

3 hours ago, Travern said:

This is great news and a big surprise! Cubicle 7’s Cthulhu Britannica and World War Cthulhu were excellent product lines, with some absolutely superb titles. 

Are you going to contact any of the original line editors or contributors about the Chaosium editions?  What are your plans for working with them on these and future projects in these series?

Mike Mason has begun figuring out and planning those sorts of things. He was involved with a number of these titles back in the day. It's still early days on where we go from here. The first step was purchasing the IP. As we have more information we will announce it.

[Earnest Bunbury]

I re-entered the hobby too late to get these when they were in print, so this is great news to me!

I'd be very happy to see a slip case edition for the London set: a setting book, the campaign book, and the two journals. Though, saying that, I'll buy this stuff in whatever form you put it out.

[TrippyHippy]

Actually, on the matter, would there be any plans to pick up and re-release The Laundry?

[rsanford]

What a genius move! This will give you a whole bunch of high quality CoC materials to sell and I would imagine there might be some pent up demand. I have several of these but I will probably fill out my Cthulhu Britannica selection!

 

[MOB]

2 hours ago, TrippyHippy said:

Actually, on the matter, would there be any plans to pick up and re-release The Laundry?

The Laundry was not included in our recent acquisition. Last we heard C7 were going to do their own rules for The Laundry: 

https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/cubicle-7-and-call-of-cthulhu.820320

[TrippyHippy]

47 minutes ago, MOB said:

The Laundry was not included in our recent acquisition. Last we heard C7 were going to do their own rules for The Laundry: 

https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/cubicle-7-and-call-of-cthulhu.820320

Ah right. Considering that was a message from 2017, I wouldn’t hold out for anything then. 

I was just wondering because it was a BRP game, of a Cthulhu-esque set of spy thriller/comedy novels, which might have been an intriguing line for Chaosium to do in the same way Rivers of London is. 

[SAVeira]

3 minutes ago, TrippyHippy said:

Ah right. Considering that was a message from 2017, I wouldn’t hold out for anything then. 

I was just wondering because it was a BRP game, of a Cthulhu-esque set of spy thriller/comedy novels, which might have been an intriguing line for Chaosium to do in the same way Rivers of London is. 

It is possible that Cubicle 7 does not even have the Laundry licence from Charles Stross anymore.  They normally have expiration dates and possible if nothing done with a set period the rights could be lost. 

[TrippyHippy]

1 hour ago, SAVeira said:

It is possible that Cubicle 7 does not even have the Laundry licence from Charles Stross anymore.  They normally have expiration dates and possible if nothing done with a set period the rights could be lost. 

True.

[Mankcam]

I'm unsure if we will see more of The Laundry from Cubicle 7, and I doubt that they will develop a completely new engine for it given that it will no longer be BRP-based. The Laundry licence may well have expired by now, so it could easily just fade away.

I'm not sure how the novels are selling these days, but if they are catching the eyes of new readers then we are just as likely to see the rpg resurface as a 2D20 or a PbtA game.

Cubicle 7 seem to have trimmed many of their lines in recent times, notably The One Ring, and more recently Lone Wolf. I think Cubicle 7 will be predominantly producing products for their Warhammer and Dr Who licences. I'm happy with that, as both of those game lines are excellent and will further benefit from focused efforts. Personally I can't keep my hands off their WFRP 4E books, so I'm happy they keep going with it as a major line.

I'm glad that Cthulhu Britannica has come back to Chaosium, given it is Call of Cthulhu/BRP. The Cubicle 7 products are excellent, but going forward it feels like something Chaosium should be pursuing with CoC 7E.

Edited August 22, 2021 by Mankcam

[DreadDomain]

3 hours ago, TrippyHippy said:

Ah right. Considering that was a message from 2017, I wouldn’t hold out for anything then. 

I was just wondering because it was a BRP game, of a Cthulhu-esque set of spy thriller/comedy novels, which might have been an intriguing line for Chaosium to do in the same way Rivers of London is. 

I suspect that while they are different, The Laundry and Rivers of London fill more or less the same niche and since I would guess that RoL is way more popular at the moment, not pursuing The Laundry kind of makes sense.

All this clever analysis based on no evidence whatsoever.

[NickMiddleton]

1 hour ago, Mankcam said:

Cubicle 7 seem to have trimmed many of their lines in recent times, notably The One Ring, and more recently Lone Wolf. I think Cubicle 7 will be predominantly producing products for their Warhammer and Dr Who licences.

Given that they had announced new editions of both the One Ring and Lone Wolf and then suddenly weren’t doing them anymore I think “trimmed” is generous: for whatever reasons, those licenses unexpectedly ceased to be viable and the relationships were dissolved. Combined with the long silence over the Laundry and whilst C7 retain two very high profile licenses in Who and Warhammer, they are not the force they once were. And Modiphius in contrast seem to be on a real roll… …as a d100 fan and a fan of C7s Laundry as well as the novels, I’d rather Stross found another partner: either with a license to re do the game as CoC variant or one for one of the other d100 family of games.

As for the lines Chaosium have acquired, it will be great to see some of the material receive a new lease of life. Cthulhu Brittanica started a little shaky IMO (I was not that impressed by the Avalon book for example) but massively improved over time; and what I saw of the World War Cthulhu series was very good.

[Mankcam]

1 hour ago, NickMiddleton said:

Combined with the long silence over the Laundry and whilst C7 retain two very high profile licenses in Who and Warhammer, they are not the force they once were. And Modiphius in contrast seem to be on a real roll… …as a d100 fan and a fan of C7s Laundry as well as the novels, I’d rather Stross found another partner: either with a license to re do the game as CoC variant or one for one of the other d100 family of games.

I own The Laundry and feel BRP is a good fit for it, it's essientially a quirky British take on Call of Cthulhu. 

I really would not want to see it in 2D20 or PbtA, but these are the kind of systems that it could easily show up in. 

If I had my choice, I would prefer the next edition in OpenQuest; that way it's more or less compatible to an extent with earlier C7 BRP versions. The OQ core engoine would be fine, and any magic, equipment, etc can be ported almost as it is from the previous edition of The Laundry. I think it would be pretty easy to run C7 Laundry resources with an OQ Laundry, and vice versa.

Although who knows what will happen with it all...?

Edited August 22, 2021 by Mankcam

[TrippyHippy]

2 hours ago, Mankcam said:

I own The Laundry and feel BRP is a good fit for it, it's essientially a quirky British take on Call of Cthulhu. 

I really would not want to see it in 2D20 or PbtA, but these are the kind of systems that it could easily show up in. 

If I had my choice, I would prefer the next edition in OpenQuest; that way it's more or less compatible to an extent with earlier C7 BRP versions. The OQ core engoine would be fine, and any magic, equipment, etc can be ported almost as it is from the previous edition of The Laundry. I think it would be pretty easy to run C7 Laundry resources with an OQ Laundry, and vice versa.

Although who knows what will happen with it all...?

PbtA possibly, but unlikely to be 2D20 as that is a house system for Modiphius. I’m not sure Modiphius would see The Laundry as a likely money spinner for them. 

To be honest, though, I think part of The Laundry’s appeal was it gave another spin on the Cthulhu Mythos which contrasted nicely with the traditional Call of Cthulhu game. It is what caught the eye. If they converted it to another system, I doubt it would be that much of a financial success. 

 

[stadi]

I somehow missed all these products (or disregarded them when I've seen them). I see there are some campaigns among these, so if those get re-released I'm in. I can't have enough campaigns (or even adventures). I'm not so much interested in setting books, but if those add something to the campaigns or come with their own adventures, then why not.

And while we are at "all-new layout and art", I'm still waiting for the core books the get this treatment 🙂