Down Darker Trails - TERRORS OF THE Mythos in the Old West

Oct 6, 2026

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Supplemental fiction and campaign material for Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition), reinterpreting real places, events, and people through the Cthulhu Mythos and weird-horror tradition. Provides themed content for an Old West setting, including character creation guidance, equipment and weapon options, and optional rules such as horse and vehicle chases plus Old West–focused insanity and treatment. Also covers a historical West overview, supernatural elements, monsters, Mythos books, folk magic, and cults or secret societies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time9 min

AccessFree to download

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: OLD WEST INVESTIGATORS

Creating Characters for The Old West

Quick Reference Chart for Half and Fifth Values

CHAPTER 2: EQUIPMENT AND WEAPONS

Horses, Other Mounts, and Cattle

Weapons of the Old West

CHAPTER 3: OPTIONAL RULES FOR THE OLD WEST

Horse and Vehicle Chase Rules

Insanity and its Treatment in the Old West

CHAPTER 4: THE HISTORICAL WEST

The West Before the Europeans

Timeline of Western History

CHAPTER 5: THE SUPERNATURAL WEST

Monsters of the Old West

Mythos Books

Down Darker Trails TERRORS OF THE Mythos in the Old West Kevin Ross with Keith Herber, Scott David Aniolowski, David Cole, Todd A. Woods, Nicholas Nacario, Paul Fricker, and Mike Mason CREDITS Written by Kevin Ross, Keith Herber, Scott David Aniolowski, David Cole, Todd A. Woods, Paul Fricker, and Mike Mason Fiction by Nicholas Nacario Cover Illustration Sam Lamont Interior Illustrations Rachel Kahn M. Wayne Miller Loïc Muzy Jonathan Wyke Cartography VandelJ. Arden Andrew Law Development for Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) Mike Mason Paul Fricker Editing Mike Mason Layout & Art Direction Nicholas Nacario Book Design Michal E. Cross Proofreading Doug Bailey T.R. Knight Character Sheets Dean Engelhardt DOWN DARKER TRAILS is copyright © 2017 by Chaosium Inc. All rights reserved. This supplement is best used with the Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) Roleplaying Game, and may also be used with Pulp Cthulhu, available [separately from www.chaosium.com](separately from www.chaosium.com)[ ](separately from www.chaosium.com)and your friendly local game store. This is a work of fiction. This book includes descriptions of real places, real events, and real people. These may not be presented accurately and with conformity to the real world nature of these places, people, and events, and are reinterpreted through the lens of the Cthulhu Mythos and the Call of Cthulhu game in general. No offence to anyone living or dead, or to the inhabitants of any of these places is intended. Material is fictionalized and used here as the basis for tales inspired from the imagination of H. P. Lovecraft and other writers of weird horror fiction, as well as from the tradition of pulp comics and stories. The reproduction of material from within this book for the purposes of personal or corporate profit by photographic, electronic, or other retrieval media is prohibited. Cthulhu Monsters found on pages 135-141, 220, and 235 are © 2015 Edition Sans Detour Period photographs were acquired from the Library of Congress or WikiCommons and reside in the Public Domain. Chaosium Publication 23151 ISBN 978-156882-448-2 Printed in China CREDITS Acknowledgements Thanks as always to my good friend Scott Aniolowski, who encouraged me to quit fussing around and just write this damned thing, after all these years. Thanks also to my long-time friend and sometime co-author Todd Woods. A posthumous thanks to the late Lynn Willis for his insights and discussions of an earlier incarnation of the project a few years back. A tip of the hat to friends and contributors to an even earlier unfinished version of the project: J. Todd Kingrea, C.L. Werner, and Mike Szymanski. And a very big thank-you to David Cole, who critiqued the material as it came together. Clear Credit In the Cthulhu Mythos chapter, the entries for Y’hath and Xothra were written by Scott David Aniolowski, and the Servants of the Leaden Cloud cult is the work of David Cole. In the Lost Worlds chapter, the K’nyan article was originally written by Keith Herber for the Keeper’s Companion, and the Lost Valley article was written by Todd A. Woods. Investigator creation by Kevin Ross and revised and developed by Mike Mason (based upon Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition by Paul Fricker and Mike Mason). Setting specific rules created by Kevin Ross and developed by Paul Fricker.“Establishment of Public Mental Health Hospitals” is taken from Taint of Madness, Chaosium (1995). Historical West biographies of Mary Fields, Alice Ivers, Nat Love, Phoebe Annie Moses, and Charlotte Parkhurst written by Mike Mason.Fiction by Nicholas Nacario. Spells drawn from diverse hands. Folk magic devised by Stéphane Gesbert and developed by Chad Bowser and Mike Mason. All other material in Down Darker Trails is the work of Kevin Ross. Dedication This one’s for Scott, for being my best friend for so long, and for finally kicking my ass into getting this thing done. Muc

FAQs

What game system is this supplement intended for?

It is best used with the Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) Roleplaying Game, and may also be used with Pulp Cthulhu.

How does the book handle real-world places, events, and people?

It states that real-world elements may not be presented accurately, and are reinterpreted through the lens of the Cthulhu Mythos and the Call of Cthulhu game.

What kinds of Old West rules does the supplement include?

It includes character creation guidance, equipment and weapons content, and optional rules such as horse and vehicle chase rules plus insanity and its treatment in the Old West.

Oct 6, 2026

Upload by Ophelia