Cthulhu by Gaslight - The Spirits of London - Sourcebook for Cthulhu by Gaslight

The Spirits of London - Sourcebook for Cthulhu by Gaslight

The Spirits of London is a supporting booklet for Hudson & Brand¸ Inquiry Agents of the Obscure for 7th edition Call of Cthulhu¸ and is an official Cthulhu by Gaslight product. This chapbook takes a small part of the setting¸ that of hauntings and spirits¸ of spiritualism and the occult¸ and expands upon it for the benefit of Keepers who wish to add something a little unusual to their games.

The Spirits of London

While there are no chapters¸ the 19 different sections of the book can be grouped together¸ roughly¸ as follows:

Sections 1-4: Introduction. While introducing the shining beacon of culture and learning that London is¸ these sections also cover:

Spirits in Fiction in London covers the era of the Penny Dreadful and authors such as Dickens and Le Fanu.
Spirits in London visits sites throughout history¸ from pre-Roman times¸ The Great Famine¸ The Plague¸ and as recently as the Regents Park Ice Skating Tragedy (and many more)¸ providing Keepers with plenty of ideas for hauntings.
Spirit Sites contains several places that would have been known as possibly haunted sites to Londoners in the late 19th century¸ giving investigators ample sites to check out.

Sections 5-6: Victorian Era Call of Cthulhu Crunchy Bits:

How concerned should you be with getting ALL the details 'just right' for a game set nearly 130 years ago?
Where can you go for more information if you and your group need more accuracy?
There's two full-page tables of 'random encounters' covering spooky street scenes and sinister portents for your investigators to be unnerved by.

Sections 7-10: Spiritualism in Victorian Britain:

The Gateway to Beyond gives a brief overview of what spiritualism was¸ various methods used by practioners around the world¸ and a few famous people who¸ despite detractors¸ so wished to connect with loved ones that they believed.
A Brief History of Spiritualism covers its origins in 1840s New York¸ with the Fox sisters¸ to when it made the jump overseas in 1852. Various spritualist societies popped up¸ with membership across Great Britain¸ but London was always the heart of such movements.
Séances covers different methods that mediums used to commune with the dead.
Spirit Photography began in the 1860s¸ again in America¸ but crossed the Atlantic as a more tanglible means of offering proof of the existence of spirits.

Sections 11-12: The Chester House Society:

One of the more respectable spiritualism societies in London¸ dating back to the 1850s and 1860s.
Written for the investigators who need help or assitance in questioning those who've moved beyond this world¸ this society can easily be placed into an ongoing scenario or campaign.

Sections 13-19:

Engaging in Spiritualism provides a few ways in which the practice of spiritualism can be modeled in Call of Cthulhu¸ 7th edition. In includes game stats and suggested skill rolls for both true practitioners and fraudulent charlatans.
Polybius Van Der Gracht and Dr. Dee
No-No's Nasties revisits the Tcho-Tcho crime lord¸ Namdak 'No-No' Yuying¸ and a few of his supernatural tactics.
Where Mythos Meets Myth presents a few possible crossovers where creatures of the Mythos might be mistaken for ghosts and spirits.
Devices and Equipment features a small selection of 'mundane' supernatural and Mythos items that investigators may encounter¸ including three new Mythos tomes.
Additions to the Grimoire list either existing spells but with a more spirit-focus to them¸