That's the question.

I'd especially like to hear from the Cthulhu-curious, though I'm also interested in the ideas of our resident cult members.

I know almost nothing about CoC mechanically, but I love the idea of it. I would definitely be interested in learning if that's an option.

I'd like to play something contemporary, something that I may live in my real life.

As an old hand and long-time Keeper, I'd like to play instead of run. I'd also like to play something rules light or ultra-light. Something where the mechanics don't inevitably get in the way of the fiction.

I know Call of Cthulhu characters are "investigators," but I don't want to investigate much, I want to do stuff. I don't want to be Professor Angel or the narrator of Call of Cthulhu. I want to be Inspector Legrasse or Mate Johansen. Yes, they technically "investigated" stuff, but they never knew the whole story and got to deal first hand with exciting and horrible stuff.

I guess that depends on which version. Lol

I'm afraid, Yaztromo, that I never set my stories in the current period. I think 1992 is the latest year I've ever used.

As for the rest of you, my characters rarely know the whole story and get downright personal with the horrible and exciting. I use a somewhat-modified 7th edition, but never let mechanics interfere with narrative, thought the dice sometimes have their way with us. And it's always a learning experience as we go along, so novices are welcome (though rules arguments are not). Don't worry, I've got your back.

Still hoping to hear from more of you out there. Also, give me a bit more concrete ideas to work with. One game might not hit all of them, but let's see what we can come up with. I've run settings from late 19th to late 20th century, mostly American but some British. Throw in some ideas!

Ideas, you say?

How about Dark Age/med. Wales (Cadfael, but tentacles :D)? Mediaeval France (the Cathars were innocent, but what if the Perfects' end-of-life rituals were inherited from something darker?)? Soviet Russia (extra paranoia on your paranoia/yet another reason cruelty to indigenous peoples and their equilibrium with their territories is a terrible idea)? Recent post-purchase Alaska (investigators are Yupik/Russian refugees pushed into Avoided Areas by the American colonial influx and wholesale seizure of homes and land)?

I think I laid out more ideas last time you did one of these threads, but how about Roman Egypt for beginners? The option for sand things, water things, would-be rebels or agents of Imperial intriguing getting their hands on Artefacts of Terror in an environment already a seething soup of small strange gods hungry for worship, that kind of thing? If picking on Egypt as a source of ancient mystery is too...ah, cliché, the same might be said of Byzantium.

Beginners might honestly like some of the simplest white bread and plain butter, though, some '20s American stuff picked off the shelf.

Well so far I've played:

• An Irish opera singer who went to Italy to join Mussolini after she had a run in with some lesser servitors
• An American journalist in Wales who thinks he's safe after killing the first lot of My-Go he met
• My own grandfather - a trawlerman in 1930s Grimsby.
• A fortune teller in the nastier parts of 1890s London who ended up dying, sane and alone in somewhere MUCH Much Nastier.

I'd quite like to play:

• In Kievan Rus when the Mongols are coming
• In Tenochtitlan before the Spanish come
• In Chad before the Sahara forest becomes a desert
• In one of the Hindu kingdoms of Indonesia when the Chinese are coming from the North and the Moslems from the West.

The Conan stories loosely tie in to the Cthulhu Mythos, bizarrely (Howard and Lovecraft were part of a group of authors who regularly corresponded). The description of some of the 'old gods' in Howard's Conan stories definitely have similarities.

‘The nameless, forgotten ones. Who knows? They have gone back into the still waters of the lakes, the quiet hearts of the hills, the gulfs beyond the stars. Gods are no more stable than men.’

Soon your ghost will talk with the ghosts of the Dark Land, and they will tell you of the old gods which are not dead, but sleep in the outer abysses, and from time to time awake.

That said, I'm a big fan of more pulpy Cthulhu, either classic 1920s or the 1930s. I have a slight preference for the 1930s (slightly more reliable technology, particularly aircraft).  Coincidentally, the 1930s are also the setting for most of the (excellent) Sherlock Holmes pastiches by Mythos author August Derleth: the Solar Pons stories.

Generally speaking, I prefer to play characters that are insanely curious but have no idea what they are investigating but they keep getting thrown into strange circumstances.  My last character was a 10-year-old female street kid that dressed as a male (because it is easier being a male) that was constantly trying to steal anything that looked "expensive".  I do not think that would work with the adult policy though.

Maybe make a tequila smuggler from Mexico that just brought a large shipment to (whatever town) and gets drawn into a strange story.

I think the Weimar Berlin sourcebook would be fun to use.

Or something contemporary. I had some vague ideas about an ancient tome being unearthed in Iraq or Syria as an unintended consequence of the Daesh atrocities against museums.

Hyborian era would be awesome (I’ve run a couple of Conan games here)

For me as important as the theme / location of the game is also the style. I much prefer story / role playing over game mechanics / roll playing.