Splitting a core guide is a calculated danger. What info do the gamers want? What info is most vital to the GM. Within the case of Cthulhu By Gaslight Keeper’s Information, the break up give attention to issues like NPC stats for historic figures, info on Mythos beasties and forbidden tomes and a pair of adventures to get gamers wrapped up at the hours of darkness facet of the Victorian period. Chaosium supplied a duplicate of the guide for this overview. Does this guide spherical out a brand new period in Cthulhu gaming? Let’s play to seek out out.
The primary part of the guide dives into the mundane threats and penalties of being an investigator. There’s a quick primer on police proceedings for when gamers break the legislation and a brief dialogue of asylums and their terrible situations. The part ends with some maps and a chat about threats inside the poorer sections of London. Cultists may hand around in a rookery however they is perhaps the least of everybody’s issues. I’d have preferred a little bit extra dialogue about asylums and the, on the time, wild new expertise of psychoanalysis given how a lot of Cthulhu Mythos video games focuses on the lack of sanity. However the remainder of what’s right here is an effective foundation for Keepers to do their very own analysis ought to they need for extra element.
The guide then delves into the occult facet of issues. Secret societies had been detailed within the Cthulhu By Gaslight Investigator’s Information however right here there’s dialogue about whether or not or not they conceal true magical energy. The Victorian period was rife with occult actions like mediums and organizations like The Golden Daybreak. It’s as much as the Keeper to determine in the event that they had been on to one thing or if it was all charlatans and gown up. If there’s actual magic inside the cigar choked partitions, this part incorporates particulars on out there spells and journey on the astral airplane.
The guide additionally touches on lots of the historic personalities talked about within the different guide. In the event you’ve ever needed character statistics for Madam Blavatsky, your time has come. Most of the writeups additionally comprise brief entries suggesting methods to attach the individual to the mythos. They might be sudden allies, secret cultists or potential victims that gamers need to take motion to cowl up their true deaths with those we all know from historical past. Enjoying with these particulars is without doubt one of the issues I like essentially the most about historic video games. In the event you’re going to be in Victorian London, don’t you need to meet Queen Victoria?
Or, for that matter, Rely Dracula? Because the guide transitions over to the monsters and the Mythos, it incorporates a bit that includes well-known fictitious characters. That features Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Captain Nemo. Together with these characters can be a query I’d in all probability ask in a session zero. Some gamers may like having the ability to outwit these characters. Others may recommend enjoying Fortress Falkenstein as an alternative. Although surprisingly, each Sherlock Holmes and his actual life creator are absent from these sections.
The guide wraps up with a pair of adventures. I gained’t get too deep into spoilers however one is ready in a rustic manor and the opposite is ready within the depths of London’s poorer neighborhoods. The nation home episode feels extra like a lighter entry right into a Name of Cthulhu marketing campaign with a variety of secrets and techniques to uncover, purple herrings to reveal and different drawing room thriller enterprise earlier than discovering the reality behind the monster. The second journey looks like it is geared in direction of skilled investigators coping with a brand new mythos entity.
Backside line: Cthulhu By Gaslight Keeper’s Information provides loads of challenges each mundane and Mythos for investigators within the Gaslight Period.
