Children of the Storm: Call of Cthulhu in the Great Depression

Children of the Storm: Call of Cthulhu in the Great Depression

by Shae Davidson

Children of the Storm is an eighty-page black and white supplement for Call of Cthulhu in Chaosium's line of monographs. It features two columns of text per page, is largely free of typos, and includes some period photographs for flavor. The purpose of the book is to serve as a Keeper's resource for campaigns set in the United States during the Great Depression. Although the bulk of the book consists of four scenarios, there are some new occupations, skills, and sample investigators to help flesh out characters.

The Introduction includes a nice discussion of the differences between the standard 1920s setting for CoC and a campaign set during the Depression; whereas the former may be marked by post-war optimism, jazz, and fun-loving flappers, people in the latter era can often be portrayed as pessimistic, fearful of the future, and ready to turn on one another as rumors (full of xenophobia, conspiracy-theories, and more) fill the air. The author, Shae Davidson, devotes a large portion of the Introduction to how a campaign could consist solely of hobo PCs, as the popular mind during the period attributed to them the traits of "danger and dark romance".

Several new occupations are introduced: Teen Hobo, Radical, Social Worker, FBI Agent, Civilian Conservation Corpsman, Public Works Administration Construction Worker, Works Progress Administration Artist, and Documentarian. A description and suggested skills are listed for each occupation, but they lack the suggested contacts and occasional special traits that make the occupations in the 1920s Investigator's Handbook more interesting.

The book introduces three new skills: Sociology, Forensics, and Cinematography. Sociology is an interesting idea, but probably of little use in actual gameplay. Forensics could definitely be helpful to many investigators, even if it has been included in previous products. As for Cinematography, I would tend to think of this as a specific application of the Art skill that probably doesn't need to be a separate skill.

Before the full-length scenarios begin, the book lists eleven "scenario seeds." These are brief, but for the most part interesting and evocative ideas the Keeper can use to develop his or her own scenarios.

The first scenario in the book, "The Starving Ones", is set in 1935 West Virginia. The PCs are called in by the WPA to investigate a series of mysterious deaths (including one man who eaten part of himself!). Although some good background is provided into the community and its NPCs, there's not a lot here that is evocative of the Great Depression and to some degree the scenario boils down to a standard haunted house story.

"To the Dust Returned" is the second, and in my opinion best, scenario of the bunch. Although the adventure hook is of the "just passing through" variety, the scenario does a great job integrating the terrible dust storms that plagued the mid-west and the isolation and despair that many felt during the Depression. Nightmares, disappearances, and strange prophecies point to a growing problem in Rose Blossom, South Dakota, and it's up to the PCs to figure out why. It's an interesting, original adventure that keeps the tension rising without rail-roading the players.

The third scenario, "Entr'acte", moves the action to the Pacific northwest. Several children have disappeared from a carnival in Tabor's Cove, California and the PCs are meant to investigate why. Although there is an interesting "villain" in the piece, the module is not well organized and features surprisingly large SAN penalties. There is a good scene featuring a mob and racial tensions between Whites and Japanese-Americans.

The fourth and final scenario, "The Tractate", is set in the famous Miskatonic University. A lecturer has been found murdered, and his friends and colleagues inquire why. The set-up is interesting and flexible and the module includes some good hand-outs, but a key item--the mysterious and powerful "Bronze Tractate"--is insufficiently detailed.

The book ends with pages devoted to several sample investigators. A wide variety are included, such as hobos, WPA folklorists, social workers, and more. Each includes a capsule description, but by my count not all skill points are accounted for.

Overall, I found Children of the Storm to be of about average quality. It's certainly not essential to running a Depression-era campaign, as the occupations, skills, and scenarios provided could be "homemade" by adding a little period flavor to the same elements drawn from books set in the 1920s. Still, it contains enough interesting ideas that a Keeper with a little extra money to spend probably wouldn't be disappointed if he or she downloaded it.