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Down Darker Trails: Terror of Mythos in the Old West
Saddle up! Get yourself a posse together and have a look-see what's over that hill. There's strange rumors coming in from the whisperin' desert. You'd best put a round in that iron and make haste!
Down Darker Trails is a new setting for Call of Cthulhuthe American West of the late 19th century. The era of gold rushes, outlaws and lawmen, discovery and expansion.
Rub shoulders with the likes of Wild Bill Hickok, Crazy Horse, and Calamity Jane, while journeying through towns like Deadwood and Dodge Citynames and places that have transcended history to become legend. Down these dark trails the taint of the Cthulhu Mythos stirs, ready to lure the unwary and tempt the power hungry with whispered secrets of cosmic knowledge. This is a West of hidden worlds, lost treasures and cities, dubious deals and unsavory alliances. A land filled with beauty, mystery, terrorand wild adventure!
Down Darker Trails is a new setting for Call of Cthulhuthe American West of the late 19th century. The era of gold rushes, outlaws and lawmen, discovery and expansion.
Rub shoulders with the likes of Wild Bill Hickok, Crazy Horse, and Calamity Jane, while journeying through towns like Deadwood and Dodge Citynames and places that have transcended history to become legend. Down these dark trails the taint of the Cthulhu Mythos stirs, ready to lure the unwary and tempt the power hungry with whispered secrets of cosmic knowledge. This is a West of hidden worlds, lost treasures and cities, dubious deals and unsavory alliances. A land filled with beauty, mystery, terrorand wild adventure!
256 pages, Hardcover
Published November 16, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 22, 2018
3.5 stars. It pains me to give ANY Call Cthulhu supplent less than 4 stars. And maybe I've been spoiled by too many excellent "Weird West" RPG's, or quality Call of Cthulhu settings/supplements..
But this didn't really do much for me. It's not a very evocative (IMO) depiction of the Weird West. (For a fun version of that hybrid genre see the "Adios A- mi gos" dime novel for Deadlands.)
And the adventures (which are key for most any COC book) are somewhat mundane abd lackluster.
But this didn't really do much for me. It's not a very evocative (IMO) depiction of the Weird West. (For a fun version of that hybrid genre see the "Adios A- mi gos" dime novel for Deadlands.)
And the adventures (which are key for most any COC book) are somewhat mundane abd lackluster.
October 4, 2018
Down Darker Trails is another supplement/sourcebook for 7th ed. CoC, and, like Pulp Cthulhu, is more two-fisted adventure (or six-gun adventure in this case) than the mind-numbing horror of a traditional Call of Cthulhu setting. Not to say that there isn't horror (there is) or madness (there is), but many characters are likely to be more resilient, especially to brutal killings (especially if they are veterans of the American Civil War), if not to mindbending horrors beyond space time. Be warned though: treatment of psychiatric ills in the 1870s is several degrees more primitive than in the "standard" CoC 1920s or the Pulp CoC 1930s (NOTE: In true Wild West fashion, there are even rules for treating SAN loss with alcohol). Although the authors try, the overall history is rather sloppy (including undated maps of the 19th Century US) and what is included in the state-by-state history is pretty arbitrary, although the book does a good job of quick treatments of important aspects of the Wild West (cattle drives, stagecoaches and railroads, buffalo hunting, prospecting, law enforcement, attitudes towards gender, race and immigration, camps, towns and settlements, money, etc. There is also a section om “Lost Worlds of the Old West” which has some more traditional types as well as a shadow-world/dreamland and one that allows players to work out any cowboys vs. dinosaur fetishes that they might have. The book has two settlement settings (a boomtown mining camp and an established town (originally Spanish) on the Mexican border, with plots, key figures, maps and supernatural “neighbors” and occurrences. Both are pretty good, but for god’s sake, please give the Mi-go a rest; I swear, every time mining is involved you bring in the dam’ fungi from Yuggoth. The two prepackaged adventures in the book (“Something From Down There” and “Scanlon’s Daughter”) are both pretty good, the first a basic Wild West Horror scenario, the second more complicated, with the potential for some interesting social interactions. Although this book is weak in places, it’s decent overall. 3.5 stars.
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November 28, 2023How? More Cthulhu from my collection. I've read so much 7th edition CoC that I've started wondering if I could list them from favorite to least liked.
What? A setting guide for the American Old West. What does that mean?
- 24 pages on creating a new character
- 12 pages on equipment (7 alone on guns) and 8 pages on optional rules
- 82 pages on the historical west, including native tribes before and after European contact
- 28 pages on making the west supernatural
- 12 pages on weird west locations, mostly taken from Lovecraftian stories (Robert E. Howard features prominently as a source)
- 4 pages of advice on designing adventures
- 14 pages on a mining boom town and 16 on a border town as possible locations
- 14 pages of adventure (something evil down in a mine) and 19 on another adventure (a half-snake outcast accidentally stirring up feud between two ranchers)
Yeah, so? This is... a disappointing book. Let's enumerate the ways and find fixes for them:
Here's the big question: why is this setting interesting for Cthulhu? Now, White Wolf's game Werewolf, which was all about the fight against technology, had a Wild West setting; and someone recently said that that was probably just because of the alliteration, which I think misses the historical significance of the West as a place where modern technology (guns, trains, telegraphs) basically invented a lot of our modern world.
So: what's interesting about "cosmic horror and history beyond history obliterating your consciousness" in the Old West? There was certainly a tradition in the Lovecraft circle -- well, basically just Lovecraft and Howard -- of using the West as a location: less cults and old books, more "ancient civilizations used to live here." But that's, really, like 2 or 3 stories out of hundreds. Howard wrote far more boxing stories than he did Weird West, but you don't see Chaosium putting out "Punching Cthulhu" (even though that would sell).
That question isn't really answered by this book, and the adventures and settings -- which would answer that somewhat -- are pretty... dull.
Like: there's a mining town with a brewing fight between two people who maybe want to run the town, and maybe there's mi-go also mining in the hills; and there's the Mexico-US border town where maybe La Llorona is. That's all, you know, fine, but La Llorona isn't particularly Lovecraftian and mi-go miners are a staple that don't seem particularly enhanced by being placed out west.
And the adventures: one is about a mine where they dug too deep and released an ooze monster who takes over people's bodies and wants to know more about the world, which is a nice, boring intro adventure for the game, and which would be instantly 100% better if you made it in NY and about digging subway tunnels; the other adventure is about a guy who was cursed by Yig so that his wife gives birth to twin daughters, except one of them is a snake-person. Now the adventure as written is all about how this snake daughter -- who dad tried to kill at birth -- is now friendly with the other daughter, but still wild and cruel, and accidentally stirring up trouble between the two ranches; and the goal of the PCs is to figure out what's going on and kill this snake-person, who, remember, was attacked as a baby and then left for the wild. Frankly, I can't think of any way to save this adventure in Call of Cthulhu outside of totally rewriting it (the husband and father is the clear villain) or moving it to another game world (this should be an origin story for a complicated hero in a Hellboy-like universe).
OK, so, what problems do we have? The book makes no case for why this setting is particularly interesting for Cthulhu; the sample settings and adventures don't particularly either.
Second big problem: there's 82 pages on the historical west and most of it is not written to make playing this easier. There is no "day in the life" to help get players immersed; there is no lists of lost mines or anything to spark the imagination. What you get is a 101 survey of the land and people, with stats for some legendary folks of the West (Wyatt Earp, Geronimo, etc.).
Of course, you need some historical background in a historical genre book like this (or you could just say "have fun with the tropes!"), but to me it feels apiece of the lack of a thesis here re: Lovecraft in the West: I don't need a survey of the West, I need a reason for why this is an interesting place for this particular type of horror.
Otherwise, like some of the post-Gibson cyberpunks, all you're doing is playing with the aesthetics, or showing that, since people recognize Weird West as a genre, you can sell them something they recognize.
What? A setting guide for the American Old West. What does that mean?
- 24 pages on creating a new character
- 12 pages on equipment (7 alone on guns) and 8 pages on optional rules
- 82 pages on the historical west, including native tribes before and after European contact
- 28 pages on making the west supernatural
- 12 pages on weird west locations, mostly taken from Lovecraftian stories (Robert E. Howard features prominently as a source)
- 4 pages of advice on designing adventures
- 14 pages on a mining boom town and 16 on a border town as possible locations
- 14 pages of adventure (something evil down in a mine) and 19 on another adventure (a half-snake outcast accidentally stirring up feud between two ranchers)
Yeah, so? This is... a disappointing book. Let's enumerate the ways and find fixes for them:
Here's the big question: why is this setting interesting for Cthulhu? Now, White Wolf's game Werewolf, which was all about the fight against technology, had a Wild West setting; and someone recently said that that was probably just because of the alliteration, which I think misses the historical significance of the West as a place where modern technology (guns, trains, telegraphs) basically invented a lot of our modern world.
So: what's interesting about "cosmic horror and history beyond history obliterating your consciousness" in the Old West? There was certainly a tradition in the Lovecraft circle -- well, basically just Lovecraft and Howard -- of using the West as a location: less cults and old books, more "ancient civilizations used to live here." But that's, really, like 2 or 3 stories out of hundreds. Howard wrote far more boxing stories than he did Weird West, but you don't see Chaosium putting out "Punching Cthulhu" (even though that would sell).
That question isn't really answered by this book, and the adventures and settings -- which would answer that somewhat -- are pretty... dull.
Like: there's a mining town with a brewing fight between two people who maybe want to run the town, and maybe there's mi-go also mining in the hills; and there's the Mexico-US border town where maybe La Llorona is. That's all, you know, fine, but La Llorona isn't particularly Lovecraftian and mi-go miners are a staple that don't seem particularly enhanced by being placed out west.
And the adventures: one is about a mine where they dug too deep and released an ooze monster who takes over people's bodies and wants to know more about the world, which is a nice, boring intro adventure for the game, and which would be instantly 100% better if you made it in NY and about digging subway tunnels; the other adventure is about a guy who was cursed by Yig so that his wife gives birth to twin daughters, except one of them is a snake-person. Now the adventure as written is all about how this snake daughter -- who dad tried to kill at birth -- is now friendly with the other daughter, but still wild and cruel, and accidentally stirring up trouble between the two ranches; and the goal of the PCs is to figure out what's going on and kill this snake-person, who, remember, was attacked as a baby and then left for the wild. Frankly, I can't think of any way to save this adventure in Call of Cthulhu outside of totally rewriting it (the husband and father is the clear villain) or moving it to another game world (this should be an origin story for a complicated hero in a Hellboy-like universe).
OK, so, what problems do we have? The book makes no case for why this setting is particularly interesting for Cthulhu; the sample settings and adventures don't particularly either.
Second big problem: there's 82 pages on the historical west and most of it is not written to make playing this easier. There is no "day in the life" to help get players immersed; there is no lists of lost mines or anything to spark the imagination. What you get is a 101 survey of the land and people, with stats for some legendary folks of the West (Wyatt Earp, Geronimo, etc.).
Of course, you need some historical background in a historical genre book like this (or you could just say "have fun with the tropes!"), but to me it feels apiece of the lack of a thesis here re: Lovecraft in the West: I don't need a survey of the West, I need a reason for why this is an interesting place for this particular type of horror.
Otherwise, like some of the post-Gibson cyberpunks, all you're doing is playing with the aesthetics, or showing that, since people recognize Weird West as a genre, you can sell them something they recognize.
August 15, 2022
Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Down Darker trails
Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!
Product-Down Darker Trails
System- Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed
Producer- Chaosium
Price- $44.99 here https://www.chaosium.com/down-darker-trails-hardcover/
TL; DR- Cowboys and Cthulhu! 97%
Basics- What’s that ahead on the trail? Down Darker Trails is a wild west source book for Call of Cthulhu. This book has information for both the game master and players to build anything, from gunslingers to wild west cults serving dark gods all across the west. Let’s look at the parts.
Mechanics or Crunch- This book is an interesting and well done mix of old and new. Arguably there are LOTS of reskins of stuff we have seen before, but honestly, that’s what I need. I need to know what the fire rate for guns in that time was and and the prices. There are some major changes between 1880 and 1920, but the damage really doesn’t change that much in this game. That said, this book adds a lot of new stuff, from spells to real life states for characters, to excellent new options for investigators/players. I like everything that is here and it adds the right amount of depth and crunch for a game in this time. 5/5
Theme or Fluff- I like what’s here, but I have some minor issues. I mentioned before that there is a lot of reskinning for the time. That’s true and it’s true here too. But, I don’t see anything crazy new here regarding the mythos. It doesn’t invent a ton of new monsters or elder things. Lovecraft didn’t do a ton out west, so thats part of it, but I would like to see more new in the story of the mythos. That said, what is here is excellent. Amazing history summaries, great write ups on persons of the time, solid respect to the cultures of the west and its people, and character options that will let a person who is new to the old west beyond Back to the Future III into the world of what really went on out there. There is always more to be learned, but as a first pass into this world and the idea that a book can’t continue for forever, this is a great way to build mythos into the west and the west into the mythos. 4.5/5
Execution- Chaosium knows book publishing with the art, layout, readability, and book mechanics like hyperlinks and such all on point. This book even has real pictures of people from the time to so you can see the real faces of the west. Furthermore, since the real west was a lot more racist than the fun and wholly-pretend cowboy and Indians I played as a child, the book treats the indigenous peoples of the west with respect in art, writing, and design. 5/5
Summary- This is a phenomenal book. I love Call of Cthulhu, and recently lots of my video games have been old west as well. The pretend old west is fun, but the real west is far more entertaining and deep. This book gives me the keeper/gm the tools I need to merge those loves and it gives my players the tools they need to jump right in as well. I have some minor issues, but like all the products I love that quibble about it comes down to wanting more. What I do have is a well done book with crunch and stories to build a fun western adventure and a book that easily revealed its secrets. If you want cowboys in the mythos, then you need this book. 96%
May 9, 2018
Disclaimer: I was not interested in the game stats for Call of Cthulhu, I was instead interested in the book as a resource to play RPGs in the west with a different ruleset.
Not what I expected. Very little information about daily life in the West which could be used to make games feel more true to the setting. Badly presented historical information: long lists of names, dates and battles with almost no context and meaning. Instead of a timeline of the West we get separate timelines broken down by US states, which makes it hard to get a feeling of the historical moment. Very little advice on running games in the setting, about half of the book feels lifted from a history book (and a poorly written one at that) instead of trying to help running an RPG in the West. No exploration of the themes that make a Western feel like one (man against nature, civilization against barbarism, opression against freedom, trying to make right in a lawless land). The chapter about Cthulhu Mythos in this setting is uninspired, just some notes about dropping classic Mythos monsters in the setting, no attempt to relate legends and mythologies of the setting with the Mythos. The two adventures included are quite bad: one is basically a bunch of random encounters with a big monster fight at the end, the other one has a rather ridiculous premise (a snake-girl is unwittingly killing people because she doesn't know how to seduce handsome boys).
A disappointing book. I'd recommend GURPS Old West instead.
Not what I expected. Very little information about daily life in the West which could be used to make games feel more true to the setting. Badly presented historical information: long lists of names, dates and battles with almost no context and meaning. Instead of a timeline of the West we get separate timelines broken down by US states, which makes it hard to get a feeling of the historical moment. Very little advice on running games in the setting, about half of the book feels lifted from a history book (and a poorly written one at that) instead of trying to help running an RPG in the West. No exploration of the themes that make a Western feel like one (man against nature, civilization against barbarism, opression against freedom, trying to make right in a lawless land). The chapter about Cthulhu Mythos in this setting is uninspired, just some notes about dropping classic Mythos monsters in the setting, no attempt to relate legends and mythologies of the setting with the Mythos. The two adventures included are quite bad: one is basically a bunch of random encounters with a big monster fight at the end, the other one has a rather ridiculous premise (a snake-girl is unwittingly killing people because she doesn't know how to seduce handsome boys).
A disappointing book. I'd recommend GURPS Old West instead.
November 27, 2024
This was one of a large lot of books sent to me by the same friend that got me the Alien RPG starter set. I actually had a PDF of this one given to me by a GM that I played under back in 2021.
This is a campaign setting for Call of Cthulhu games that take place in the days of the Old West here in the US. It features a few altered rules and several setting-appropriate skills and items.
It's a great setting, particularly with things like the Civil War as set dressing, and the book itself is awesome. I love seeing CoC putting out books that compete with 5E's books in terms of being visually stunning, and I especially love that a large chunk of the book is dedicated to giving a condensed but still detailed overview of the important figures and events of the Old West.
This is a campaign setting for Call of Cthulhu games that take place in the days of the Old West here in the US. It features a few altered rules and several setting-appropriate skills and items.
It's a great setting, particularly with things like the Civil War as set dressing, and the book itself is awesome. I love seeing CoC putting out books that compete with 5E's books in terms of being visually stunning, and I especially love that a large chunk of the book is dedicated to giving a condensed but still detailed overview of the important figures and events of the Old West.
May 5, 2021
A great expansion of the Call of Cthulu gaming system from Chaosium. It's very comprehensive in its descriptions of setting specific rules, equipment, etc. It even gives a few sample locations, NPCs, etc. to get a keeper started.
The only thing that would have pushed this up to a 5 star review would be if there were one or two more scenarios in it to really showcase the variety of the setting.
All in all, a great book.
The only thing that would have pushed this up to a 5 star review would be if there were one or two more scenarios in it to really showcase the variety of the setting.
All in all, a great book.
December 7, 2022
Excellent, sensitive treatment of the Old West which doesn't turn a blind eye to some of the more awkward historical aspects, or to the diversity often overlooked by subsequent depictions. Not just good for Call of Cthulhu, if you set aside the supernatural stuff this would provide the excellent basis for a BRP-powered Western game. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
December 22, 2018
Great resource for the Call of Cthulhu game.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews