Call of Cthulhu | Empire of Shadows | Setting: 1920s Japan

Creating your character

Investigators are built using standard Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition rules. All character creation takes place at Session Zero. If you prefer to build in advance, bring your sheet and we will review it together before it is approved for play. You do not need to know the system before you arrive. I will walk every player through the process at the table. What you need is a concept. Empire of Shadows welcomes both Japanese and foreign investigators. Either choice shapes how Taisho Japan opens up to you. A Japanese physician moves through this city differently than a foreign correspondent. A Shinto priest sees different things than a Western academic on a research visa. Both have a place at this table. Build the person first and we will fit the mechanics around them. Occupation choices should reflect a life that makes sense in 1920s Imperial Japan. Physicians, journalists, scholars, detectives, lawyers, artists, diplomats, merchants, missionaries, military attachés, students. If you are unsure what fits the era, bring questions to Session Zero and we will work it out together. What you need before you arrive: who your investigator is, what they do in Tokyo, and why they are the kind of person who does not look away when something is wrong. One investigator per player. Come with a concept. Leave with a character. I will provide access to the Call of Cthulhu Player's Handbook for the group. Please do not read the Keeper's Rulebook or any extended sourcebooks before play.

Preparing for the session

A device capable of running Foundry VTT and a stable internet connection are required. Discord is used for voice. Access links and server details are sent after your seat is confirmed on StartPlaying. A copy of the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition rulebook is helpful but not required. All rules materials and official CoC assets are provided through Foundry VTT at the table. Japanese language knowledge is not required. I handle everything at the table. Come to Session Zero with a concept for your investigator and any questions about the system or the setting. That is all that is asked of you before we begin.

What Yuthika 'Fey' brings to the table

I provide all materials. You do not need to own the Call of Cthulhu rulebook to play at this table. Sessions run on a fully configured Foundry VTT setup. All maps, handouts, and investigation materials are prepared and waiting. Discord handles voice. Access links are sent after your seat is confirmed on StartPlaying. I do voices. Every contact, every witness, every thing your investigator wishes they had never spoken to. If it has a name, it has a presence. I am a formally trained teacher with 34 years at the table. If Call of Cthulhu is new to you, I will walk you through every mechanic before it matters in play. The system will not be a barrier. Neither will Taisho Tokyo. I speak Japanese, I have lived in Japan, and I carry an active Shinto-Buddhist practice into every scene set here. This is not a setting I researched. It is one I know. After every heavy session I follow up privately. That is not optional on my end.

Homebrew rules

Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition runs as written at this table. The sanity system, the skill structure, the investigation framework: these exist for a reason and they will not be altered. What makes cosmic horror function mechanically is also what makes it hurt. That is not a limitation. That is the game. This is not a homebrew table. I will not modify the system to make investigators more survivable or the Mythos more manageable. What I will consider: period-appropriate Occupations, investigator concepts, and material drawn from official Call of Cthulhu publications and licensed sourcebooks that fit the Taisho-era framework. If you have found something from official material that the core rulebook does not quite cover, bring it to Session Zero. We will look at it together and determine whether it belongs in Imperial Japan. When in doubt, ask before you arrive. Surprises at the table are for the Mythos, not the rules.

How Yuthika 'Fey' creates a safe table

Your safety matters to me. Not as a line item on a checklist set aside after the game starts, but as the foundation everything else is built on. A table where people do not feel safe does not produce good stories. It produces people managing their discomfort in silence, and that is not what anyone came here for. Content Warnings: Empire of Shadows is a cosmic horror campaign. The darkness here is not decorative. This campaign contains: psychological horror and sanity loss as central mechanical and narrative elements, Mythos entities and existential dread, body horror, violence, death of investigators including permanent character loss, themes of human insignificance in the face of incomprehensible power, cult activity and fanaticism, and the particular horror of discovering that the world you thought you understood is a very thin skin over something vast and indifferent. This campaign is also set in the Empire of Japan at the height of its colonial expansion, and it does not sanitize that history. Expect period-accurate depictions of racism, xenophobia, sexism, state surveillance, ethnic oppression, and the realities faced by colonized and marginalized peoples -- Koreans, the Ainu, and others -- under imperial rule. The era's treatment of women, from the celebrated Modern Girl to those whose lives the Empire rendered invisible, is part of this history and will be handled with the same honesty. The fictional horrors of the Mythos are never an excuse for the real ones. We will name this history honestly and handle it with the same care as everything else at this table. These are not incidental to the story. They are the story. We will establish together at Session Zero what stays on screen and what does not, and those agreements hold for the entire campaign. Safety Tools in Use: Lines and Veils: Established in Session Zero and respected without question for the duration of the campaign. Open Door Policy: Always in effect. At any point, for any reason, you may step away, take a break, or leave the session entirely. No questions. No judgment. Real people come before the game, every time. Roses and Thorns: We close every session with a debrief. One thing that worked, one thing that did not, one thing you would like to see going forward, and which player stood out at the table and why. Private Follow-Ups: I follow up privately after every heavy session. This is not optional on my end. I want to know how the session landed for you. If something came up at the table that you did not want to address in the moment, that is what the follow-up is for. If something is wrong, say the word. We stop.