Publisher: Pelgrane Press
Authors: Robin D. Laws, Chris Spivey, and Ruth Tillman
Year: 2017
Pages: 328 pages
Retail Price: $44.95 for the casebound book; $24.95 in PDF
I could easily put together a stand alone list of Lovecraftian roleplaying games worth a look but believe there are two big titles I really want to include in my recommendations. Knowing how I feel about Call of Cthulhu some readers may be surprised to see Cthulhu Confidential make my list. While I do like Pelgrane’s Trail of Cthulhu, I still turn to CofC when I have three or four players joining me at the table. Cthulhu Confidential earns its place on this list because it really stands out is in its focus in presenting an excellent system designed for a single player and game master. Stay tuned for my upcoming in depth review coming before Halloween by the way…
If you think about it, a great many of Lovecraft’s stories feature a single protagonist facing the terrors of the Mythos so it makes a lot of sense for Cthulhu Confidential to run with this theme. Based on Pelgrane’s core house system, Cthulhu Confidential utilizes what has been coined as Gumshoe One-2-One where the action revolves around a single investigator. Included in the core book are three noir-ish settings: 1930’s New York City, 1930’s Los Angeles, and post-World War II Washington D.C. The book even includes a trio of fully fleshed out characters for a player to assume the role of in order to jump into the game quickly.
It’s nice to see there are already a few additional adventures available which build upon the three settings in the core book. I’m certainly hoping Cthulhu Confidential does well for Pelgrane as I’d love to see some upcoming supplements which take the single investigator action into the more traditional 1920’s setting in Lovecraft Country.
