First Impressions

[svensson]

OK, I've played CoC off and on over the years... mostly just one-off games and the odd short campaign. Last time I owned a set of the rules was way back in the 4th or 5th edition.

I mean, what precisely do you have to learn in CoC from one edition to the other after you learn 'Don't read the book!', right? 😁🤣

But I got the Investigator's and Keeper's Handbooks for my birthday this year. I've been slowly devouring them over the last couple days and enjoying myself immensely while I'm doing it. One thing I do a lot of in multiple-era games is take a look at the technology and costs/benefits thereof... this is the historical reenactor and military historian in me. In most of my previous games, we didn't worry too much about things like cars or homes and so on and I got curious about some of the cars listed in this edition. Now, most of them look precisely like you'd expect... variations on the Model T theme... but a couple of these rides are seriously pretty. For example, the Duisenberg J [an American car company, contrary to popular belief] looks like something a supervillain would drive! [see pic below].

So I guess what I'm saying here is take the time to look up the technologies in the games you run. Not only does it give you a solid feel for 'time and place' but you might be surprised at what a Victrola phonograph player or a Kodak Brownie might add to your game.

 

[andyl]

15 hours ago, svensson said:

OK, I've played CoC off and on over the years... mostly just one-off games and the odd short campaign. Last time I owned a set of the rules was way back in the 4th or 5th edition.

I mean, what precisely do you have to learn in CoC from one edition to the other after you learn 'Don't read the book!', right? 😁🤣

But I got the Investigator's and Keeper's Handbooks for my birthday this year. I've been slowly devouring them over the last couple days and enjoying myself immensely while I'm doing it. One thing I do a lot of in multiple-era games is take a look at the technology and costs/benefits thereof... this is the historical reenactor and military historian in me. In most of my previous games, we didn't worry too much about things like cars or homes and so on and I got curious about some of the cars listed in this edition. Now, most of them look precisely like you'd expect... variations on the Model T theme... but a couple of these rides are seriously pretty. For example, the Duisenberg J [an American car company, contrary to popular belief] looks like something a supervillain would drive! [see pic below].

So I guess what I'm saying here is take the time to look up the technologies in the games you run. Not only does it give you a solid feel for 'time and place' but you might be surprised at what a Victrola phonograph player or a Kodak Brownie might add to your game.

Absolutely.  When I run a game set in the UK I take time to research what cars were around then (which is mostly different to what was available in the US - apart from the Model T which was also built in the UK).  Also in the UK the number of phone-lines was much lower than in the US.  We only reached 1 phone line per 10 people well after the end of WW2 (the US was at that point before WW1).

One of the things I like to do is create a document to help the players. What films were released in the year the game is set, what has been in the newspapers over the past year, what inventions are starting to appear in the public consciousness, etc.  I find that helps me as Keeper get in the mindset for the year, but also helps the players a great deal.

[Grimmshade]

In our pulp campaign that we just finished, the rich PC bought a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. It was cool just picturing them driving around in that awesome car.