''The Golden Dawn'' is a
Horror Fiction
Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J ...
supplement published under license by
Pagan Publishing
Pagan Publishing is a role-playing game publishing company founded by John Scott Tynes in 1990. It began by publishing a '' Call of Cthulhu'' role-playing game fanzine, '' The Unspeakable Oath''. In 1994, the company moved from Columbia, Misso ...
in 1996 for
Chaosium
Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon'' ...
's horror role-playing game ''
Call of Cthulhu''.
Contents
''The Golden Dawn'' is a sourcebook that describes the Victorian-era secret occult society called
the Golden Dawn that included among its members
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
and
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...
.
Gamemaster
A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...
s can use the book to bolster their campaign, and to help interested players create Investigators who are active members of the society. The book details notable members of the Golden Dawn, expected meeting places and other locales, and the society's secret rites and magical rituals.
The book also includes four adventure scenarios.
Publication history
Chaosium originally set their 1981 horror role-playing game ''Call of Cthulhu'' in 1920s New England, the same setting as many of the fictional works of
H.P. Lovecraft. 1986's ''
Cthulhu by Gaslight
''Cthulhu by Gaslight'' is a horror tabletop role-playing supplement, written by William A. Barton, with art by Kevin Ramos, and first published by Chaosium in 1986. This supplement provides information on role-playing in an alternate setting ...
'' moved the setting to Victorian England. ''The Golden Dawn'', published under license by Pagan Publishing in 1996, is also set in the Victorian era, a 192-page softcover book designed by Scott Aniolowski, Carrie Hall, Steve Hatherley, Alan Smithee, John T. Snyder, and
John Tynes, with artwork by
Dennis Detwiller
Dennis Detwiller (born July 12, 1972) is an American video game designer for Hothead Games and a role-playing game designer, writer and artist.
Career
Dennis Detwiller started volunteering at Pagan Publishing after seeing an issue of '' The U ...
and Daniel Gelon, and cover art by John T. Snyder.
Reception
In the July 1996 edition of ''Arcane'' (Issue #8), Steve Faragher gave this book an average rating of 7 out of 10 and cautioned that "There's certainly some excellent information about the Golden Dawn contained in this book, but if you're at all like me, you'll be keeping your players at the outskirts of the Golden Dawn's power structure. Beyond that I can heartily recommend this sourcebook for its superb scenarios, even though you might think it's a bit expensive for that alone."
In the November 1996 edition of ''
Dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
'' (Issue #235),
Rick Swan
Rick Swan is a game designer and author who worked for TSR.
His work for TSR, mostly for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, appeared from 1989 to 1995.
Swan also wrote ''The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' (1990), published by St. Martin's Pre ...
called this "the most ambitious supplement
or ''Call of Cthulhu''in recent memory." He suggested the book could serve as a "springboard for magic-intensive adventures," although he admitted that would be a "major departure for ''Cthulhu'', which in the past has tended to discourage the indiscriminate use of magic." In addition to the abundance of information about the society, Swan called the included scenarios "terrific
..not particular easy to run
..but they're loaded with memorable scenes." He concluded by giving the book an excellent rating of 5 out of 6.
Other reviews
*''
Pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
'' V1, #21 (Sept./Oct., 1996)
*''The Familiar'', Issue 9 (p. 47)
* ''Windgeflüster'', October 1996 (Issue 34, p. 43, in German)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Dawn
Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game) supplements
Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1996