Work-in-Progress: Cthulhu by Gaslight London Map

[MOB]

A new edition of Cthulhu by Gaslight, Horror Roleplaying in 1890s England, is in development, and accomplished cartographer Alyssa Faden is creating some of the maps for it.

One of Alyssa's commissions is this amazing poster map of Gaslight London, nearing completion. About it, Alyssa writes:

"Chaosium gave me 2-3 weeks to get as many labels on the Gaslight London map as possible, so I've been crunching. Every street, every alley. I've been looking at maps from the period, and where the scan or original has corruption (or the street is missing a label), trying to reference more modern maps in an effort to figure out what it should be. It is amazing how much change can happen in a short period of time ... streets disappearing, names changing, entire city blocks rebuilt ... and sometimes the original names carry forwards into a nearby park or even pub name! it's quite a unique view of the last 150 years of London growth and change.

My plan is to creep the labels up towards the title here and then ... done!"

See a time-lapse of Alyssa's work on the map here:

Please note, we do not yet have a release date for the new edition of Cthulhu by Gaslight, but when it comes it's going to look amazing! 

The previous 2012 version, for 6th edition Call of Cthulhu, is available in PDF.

[rsanford]

Wow - incredible work. This is an insta-buy for me!

[Grimmshade]

Same! Can't wait to buy it.

[g33k]

I must say, this map makes me want to retro the upcoming Rivers of London, and run a Gaslight RoL game...

[Bill Mize]

17 hours ago, MOB said:

A new edition of Cthulhu by Gaslight, Horror Roleplaying in 1890s England, is in development

THIS is just wonderful news!

I've got my fingers crossed for a nice, two volume, hardcover edition in a beautiful slipcase, a la Masks or 7th Edition.

- Bill

[Closterphobia]

So nice. This will probably end up as my “ go to” setting once it’s available. 

[SunlessNick]

Superb.  I am really looking forward to this one.

[EricW]

I think its difficult to capture how interesting London can be if you haven't spent time there.

There is (was?) a tunnel entrance to Waterloo Station which at times is full of drug addicts - extremely dangerous, like Skid Row but underground.

There are dark places and violence, even today, streets where muggers hang out in dark corners, like Roupell st between Southwark and Waterloo stations, which have probably been a mugger's haunt for centuries - yet nobody provides street lights, the locals just know to avoid that street at night.

All those old little pubs, some of them seem to go out of their way to hide themselves - yet they are full of people. 

The old shops around Leister Square, where you really can find ancient tomes covered in dust, that can't be found anywhere else. Or that open market book stall under London Bridge, which nobody can remember when it started.

A city full of life - yet turn a corner and you can suddenly find yourself in a very dark place. A place where people know each other but don't. Gangs and strange alliances and desperation bubbling just under the surface. An impersonal place - but sit down and very someone will approach you, for their own reasons - to ask you if you are OK, or to beg for a place to stay that night, or to invite you to a Dyanetics meeting, a political protest, or their small church group, or who knows what purpose.

** Don't worry I never get mugged. When you are 6'2 and 150Kg, muggers tend to approach you then change their minds...

Edited August 26, 2022 by EricW

[PMárk]

Can we at least get some estimates on the estimated start of the Kickstarter (if I remember correctly, there will be one)? Please, pretty pleeeeasee? 😄

[MOB]

7 hours ago, PMárk said:

Can we at least get some estimates on the estimated start of the Kickstarter (if I remember correctly, there will be one)? Please, pretty pleeeeasee? 😄

Gaslight is not going to be Kickstarted.

[AlHazred]

6 hours ago, MOB said:

Gaslight is not going to be Kickstarted.

THANK YOU! I like Kickstarters, sure, but not everything needs to be a Kickstarter nowadays...

[Grimmshade]

8 hours ago, AlHazred said:

THANK YOU! I like Kickstarters, sure, but not everything needs to be a Kickstarter nowadays...

Agreed! It will be pretty sweet to simply preorder instead of wait for a Kickstarter to fulfill. 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Grimmshade

[Rick Meints]

Chaosium decided a few years ago that we would only use Kickstarter for special projects. A main component of that is Kickstarter allows us to gauge the actual interest in the product and provides us with a base print run size.

Products like Cthulhu by Gaslight are special, of course. Cthulhu by Gaslight isn't a product we have to guess at gauging the interest of, though. Thus, we are just producing it, not Kickstarting it.