The Mythos Society Guide to New England is a sourcebook that doesn't contain any actual rules or adventures, but is well suited for use with the Call of Cthulhu and Cthulhu Live roleplaying games. The book primarily gives historical information about New England, of course--New England being the primary setting of the works of H. P. Lovecraft, creator of the Cthulhu Mythos, on which Call of Cthulhu and Cthulhu Live are based. The focus is on the myths and legends of supernatural or strange happenings in New England--the sort of things that would form the basis of a great Call of Cthulhu adventure.

A note for those who aren't familiar with it, Call of Cthulhu is a horror role-playing game published by Chaosium, that has been around since the 1980s. It is based on the work of H. P. Lovecraft, who wrote about evil alien monsters and black magic. Cthulhu Live is a live-action role-playing game based on Lovecraft's writings, in which players dress up in costume and act out their characters. Most of H. P. Lovecraft's stories were set in New England, thus this book is a useful aide for writing adventures based on Lovecraftian horror. Though, I should note that the book offers nothing specific to Call of Cthulhu. It's completely rules-agnostic, and usable in other role-playing games as an aide for writing adventures, or it may even be usable for authors writing short stories.

As for the contents of the book, it has a lot of great information on the six states of New England. The beginning features a nice overview of everything from the climate to the economy. Chapter 2 goes into the history of New England, with a focus on the period between WW1 and WW2. This includes a nice timeline of historical events through the 20s and 30s, the period in which most Call of Cthulhu games are set. This is followed by chapters that provide some early histoy of the region--largely about historical theories about the earliest of settlers and natives, as well as a great deal of information about native tribes. The last three chapters are probably of the most use to those looking for scenario ideas. Chapter 5 covers legends of monsters of New England, such as sea serpents and demonic whales. There are no stats or rules for these monsters, but ideas of monsters that could be adapted to any game with some work. Chapter 6, of course, covers witchcraft--which is a subject that Lovecraft explored in several stories. There is a nice overview of the subject and a list of individual witches that might fit into a scenario. The last chapter rounds out the book with a lengthy list of legends associated with each state. The authors of this review recognized a lot of what was in the list, but we felt there could have been a few other local legends included. The book still does a good job of covering most of the main legends in a good amount of detail. This is a great jumping-off point for writing up horror scenarios set in this region, with dozens of ideas that could form the basis of an adventure.

Overall, this is a nice book to have if you're a keeper for Cthulhu Live or Call of Cthulhu, or a game master in another horror role-playing game. It would even be useful for non-horror settings that take place in the 1920s or 1930s, such as the RPG Capers or even some Savage Worlds settings, and has some nice reference material for games set in the Prohibition or Depression era. Using the book to its full potential requires some creativity and effort on the part of a game keepr, but it can certainy plant the seed of a great adventure.

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I love this book. The writing is good, the ideas are fun, but one of the coolest things about it is the depth of the research behind it. Real history provides so much weirdness and hints at both horror and adventure, and this book gathers that all up with glee. Of course, not everything you read in the book actually happened - it's a Lovecraftian game supplement, after all - but probably a lot more than you expect is true, if expanded on to suit the purpose of the book. If you like well-researched history retasked for horror gaming, you're gonna love this.

I have been a fan of Lovecraft for a long time and this book provides a wealth of well researched knowledge for both gamers and non-gamers alike. The ties to Lovecraft and the Mythos aside, this book stands on its own merit as a reference for the interesting interesting and atmospheric settings of New England. Mr. Staples attention to detail and feel for the genre are apparent even at first glance. Well written and engaging source material like this is hard to find and even harder yet for a genre like horror. A good investment at an extremely reasonable price. Highly recommended.

This is a massive 142 page tomb of knowledge & New England lore from essentially the heart of Lovecraft country. Writing and designing this sort of supplement is tricky business because Lovecraft wove both the imaginary & factual into his material. The Skirmisher crew did a great job with this one but for the Call of Cthulhu DM this book is really nicely done. The design and layout is easy on the eyes and the author knows his material very well. I really don't think that the Call of Cthulhu crowd has given these books or product line a second glance. That's too bad because their missing out on a very well done piece of Cthulhu rpg reference that includes not only the Mythos but a large chunk of New England lore as well. This book is a really bold stroke by Skirmisher and Mr. Staples does a great job capturing the flavor and feel of New England in these pages. Your going to want to pick this book up if your even remotely interested in the Cthulhu Mythos or New England lore. I enjoyed reading the PDF but I'd love a print copy even more.