Cthulhu Dark Ages: Setting Guide (Chaosium Publication 23165) Third Edition

Welcome to Cthulhu Dark Ages! Cthulhu Dark Ages is a rules and setting supplement to the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game and focuses on investigative horror during the period 950 to 1050 CE. Your investigators risk life, limb, and sanity in a secret struggle to hold back the darkness of the Cthulhu Mythos. Working together, investigators strive to keep their homeland and communities safes from the horrors of the night.
The Dark Ages are a time of change. Old empires have collapsed, although their echoes remain. Monks toil in monasteries, reproducing books to ensure that knowledge lives on, even though most people, including many of the monks, can’t read them. Instead, the oral tradition dominates.
Skalds, troubadours, and wise folk remember the tales of old and pass them down. Stories carry wisdom, learning, and warnings. The time of the sea wolves from across the sea is fading, but it’s not over yet, and there are still plenty of riches and supplies to plunder and sack. Would-be kings are beginning to solidify their power and unite petty warlords beneath them. Peasants toil in their fields, ensuring the day’s work is done well before nightfall-before the creatures that haunt the shadows come out to hunt.
Your investigators seek to maintain order while also exploring forgotten secrets and uncovering the terrors of
the Cthulhu Mythos. Sure, there might be combat, but at its crux, this is a game of personal horror. What will your
investigators sacrifice to save their loved ones? There are no world-spanning conspiracies or globe-trotting adventures.
Instead, the darkness threatens livelihoods, communities, and reputations. Monks, bailiffs, farmers, and guards don’t
necessarily cut dashing figures, but it’s up to them to break from their everyday roles and step into harm’s way for the greater good.
Books do exist, but those few who can read guard them jealously in small libraries…