By James Coquillat, Time Without Tide Co-Designer and Call of Cthulhu writer/editor (Clockwork & Claws, Cthulhu by Gaslight, Reign of Terror etc)

Experienced investigators are well practiced at tangling with eldritch horrors and surviving the machinations of strange alien intelligences. Heck, they’ve practiced those skills in settings that span the course of human history! 

Chaosium’s latest TTRPG, Time Without Tide, takes those talents and mixes them up with two shots of strategic combat, one of Pulp Cthulhu’s irreverence, and a splash of Victorian-era parody. It’s an exciting gameplay cocktail that plenty of CoC players will enjoy. Will you? 

Roll on the table below and see if you’re convinced! 

1 - The Alien Unknown: A mutating fog called the Unknown has blanketed the world. It mutates everything that it touches and through this corruption births hideous monsters. These horrid (and hungry) creations are the stuff of nightmare; something Call of Cthulhu players know well. They’d be totally at home scuttling round the attic of your eccentric professor’s summer house, or secretly running the government of a nearby seaside town.

Test your finely honed skills surviving in a world where eldritch horrors aren’t just limited to the hidden parts of our world. Can you fight back when you’re on the back foot?

2 - Weird Science & Ancient Artifacts: Fans of Call of Cthulhu’s pulp-ier offerings (calling all Reanimator fans) will be able to indulge their curiosity by diving into Time Without Tide’s technical world. During the Age of Decadence, humanity had access to miraculous technology powered by shards of the moon. Now, after the apocalyptic Sundering, they’re forced to recycle scraps in smog belching factories to cobble together essentials. Mixing and matching this weird tech is a huge part of the game. What’s your tolerance for risk, arcane, explosive, or otherwise?

3 - Odd Characters: If you’re the kind of CoC fan who hunts through NPC profiles for easter eggs (like a 95% Enjoy Food skill) or who loves to amp-up the weirdness in your character cast (like the odd triplets in the Crack’d & Crook’d Manse) then Time Without Tide will give you those chances in spades. The World of Fog is a setting where mirth (and misery) is pushed to the extreme. The mutating fog that blankets the world gives you license to make every NPC, and every player, just a little bit bizarre.

4 - Almost History: Time Without Tide isn’t set on Earth. There never was a Queen Victoria, just a whole lot of coincidental Victorian aesthetics. But despite this fantastical context, there’s plenty of love for the weirder parts of the Victorian era. If you’re interested in Victorian cosmology, luminiferous aether and similar ideas, you’ll find that they appear in Time Without Tide. What’s more, they’re true (more or less).

If you’re the kind of player who wants to see real-world history explored in their games then Time Without Tide won’t disappoint. So long as you’re fine with that history being lovingly mangled, heavily parodied, and given back for you to do the same with.

5 - Stylish Setting: The World of Fog is a detailed playground, full of interesting NPCs, powerful factions working against each other, strange locations to explore, and even in-world history you can dive into. Anybody who’s ever sat down and read a Call of Cthulhu setting book cover to cover just because they love the world will find the same joy, depth, and imagination at work in Time Without Tide.

6 - Familiar Team & Familiar Style: Time Without Tide was created by two Call of Cthulhu authors, and supported by a range of wider CoC contributors, from art directors, to illustrators, to copyeditors, and more. If you’ve enjoyed Cthulhu titles like Clockwork & Claws, Reign of Terror, and No Time to Scream, then you’ll find Time Without Tide shares the same DNA.

If whatever you rolled isn’t enough to convince you, then you can always reroll! Or, you can just download the Time Without Tide: Quickstart to see for yourself, there’s no better way to get excited about the game. 

If you are convinced, Time Without Tide is currently on Backerkit, so you can pledge for your copy of the game, get involved, and be part of the foundation for this exciting new Chaosium TTRPG.