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Harlem Unbound
HARLEM UNBOUND
Investigate Mythos mysteries in 1920s NYC’s Harlem Renaissance!
An RPG sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu and GUMSHOE.
PICTURE THIS...
New York City in the 1920s: Prohibition is in full swing, and bootleggers are living high. African Americans flee the oppressive South for greener pastures, creating a new culture in Harlem. The music of Fats Waller and Duke Ellington pours out of the city’s windows and doorways, and the sidewalks are crowded with women in stylish skirts with silk stockings, and men in white gloves and Chesterfield coats. There’s a feeling of possibility in the air, like never before. But even in this land of promise, Harlem is a powder keg. While classes and cultures collide, Lovecraftian horrors lurk beneath the streets, creeping through dark alleys and hidden doorways into the Dreamlands. What Great Old One shattered our reality? Can you hold it together and keep the Mythos at bay for one more song?
Investigate Mythos mysteries in 1920s NYC’s Harlem Renaissance!
An RPG sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu and GUMSHOE.
PICTURE THIS...
New York City in the 1920s: Prohibition is in full swing, and bootleggers are living high. African Americans flee the oppressive South for greener pastures, creating a new culture in Harlem. The music of Fats Waller and Duke Ellington pours out of the city’s windows and doorways, and the sidewalks are crowded with women in stylish skirts with silk stockings, and men in white gloves and Chesterfield coats. There’s a feeling of possibility in the air, like never before. But even in this land of promise, Harlem is a powder keg. While classes and cultures collide, Lovecraftian horrors lurk beneath the streets, creeping through dark alleys and hidden doorways into the Dreamlands. What Great Old One shattered our reality? Can you hold it together and keep the Mythos at bay for one more song?
- GenresRole Playing GamesHorror
276 pages, Hardcover
Published December 15, 2017
4 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Chris Spivey
9 books10 followersI am an African American war veteran who has been immersed for three decades in geekdom with a primary focus on gaming. My love of gaming and geekery started when I was five-years-old and has grown exponentially since then. Over the years I have seen the need for more diverse representation within the industry.
Why is it that in worlds filled with aliens, foreign landscapes, and fictional universes, the primary antagonists are predominantly hetero white males? And why, when I sit down to game with a new group, do people look at me with that oh-man-does-this-guy-even-know-how-to-game look?
Why is it that in worlds filled with aliens, foreign landscapes, and fictional universes, the primary antagonists are predominantly hetero white males? And why, when I sit down to game with a new group, do people look at me with that oh-man-does-this-guy-even-know-how-to-game look?
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 9, 2019
Seems I'm two for two on great Lovecraft-inspired games this week. Chris Spivey brilliantly confronts Lovecraft's racism and, perhaps, our own (depending of course on who and where you are) by reframing the Cthulhu Mythos against the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930s, making minority characters the default, and asking - but, smartly, not demanding - that players grapple with the racial politics and assumptions of the time.
Crucially, he makes it *fun*. The setting is rich and deeply researched, the game resources detailed and exhaustive, the flavour tantalising, the creative possibilities endlessly intriguing. It's a beautiful combination of fun play and serious art.
Crucially, he makes it *fun*. The setting is rich and deeply researched, the game resources detailed and exhaustive, the flavour tantalising, the creative possibilities endlessly intriguing. It's a beautiful combination of fun play and serious art.
December 12, 2022
Very solid first pass on the concept, somewhat hampered by being dual-statted for Call of Cthulhu and Trail of Cthulhu, with all of the extra burden on the layout that entails. 2nd edition has significantly improved presentation at the cost of jettisoning the Trail stats. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews