Standard Call of Cthulhu is set in the 1920s, which from the start imbued it with a sense of historical roleplaying as much as horror. A box set for the 1890s appeared shortly after, followed by support for modern investigations in the 90s. It might seem a bit odd that it took until the 2000s for additional sourcebooks for other historical eras to appear. One of the first was Cthulhu Dark Ages (2004).

I like how the cover art inverts the vibes of traditional fantasy RPGs – here is a warrior exploring a secret place and finding not riches, but a sigil that likely will lead to his doom. You can feel the dread and the imminent death just pouring out of it.

Not that regular life in the Dark Ages was full of cheer. It was a brutal, violent time, where knowledge was horded in monasteries, warlords secured themselves in crude castles and poverty was widespread. With existence being so grim, it might seem overkill to introduce cosmic horror into the mix, but I think it fits nicely, even though the setting is a bit at odds with the investigative nature of Call of Cthulhu’s core systems. As such, this seems best suited for one-shots that end badly for everyone involved. One such scenario is included, a lengthy bit of awfulness involving the Mi-Go that I don’t see going well for even the cleverest players.

Curious thing: the book pretty much stands on its own, reproducing and repurposing the standard rules as needed. That means less room to describe the setting (which, being an entire continent, is a lot to tackle) which is a bummer. On the other hand, it means we get monster entries illustrated by (I think) Andy Hopp, which I very much love. And the monster descriptions cater to the time period, which often leads to surprising possibilities.