Travel in Call of Cthulhu
Investigators cross oceans. A lead in Cairo, a cult in Shanghai, a letter postmarked Sydney: in the 1920s each of them is weeks away, and those weeks belong to the story. The ship leaves on its day, the crossing is long, and whoever follows the investigators may well be aboard.
Every figure on this page is computed by Passage from its network of 87 places, 27 lines and 49 routes, with fixed sailing days, service speeds, canal transits, boat trains and fares at each year's rate. The lines are fictional, each modelled on a real company of the period.
How long did the journey take?
Door to door, for a traveller ready to leave on 12 March 1925 or on 14 September 1933, by the fastest means the network offered that year. In the thirties the aeroplane takes over the long routes to India, Africa and the East.
| Journey | In 1925 | In 1933 | First class, 1925 |
|---|---|---|---|
| London → New York | 7 days by steamer | 6 days by steamer | $326 |
| New York → San Francisco | 4 days by train | 4 days by train | $156 |
| London → Cairo | 9 days by steamer | 3 days by air | £45 |
| London → Bombay | 20 days by steamer | 9 days by air | £120 |
| London → Cape Town | 15 days by steamer | 8 days by air | £86 10s. |
| London → Shanghai | 30 days by steamer | 20 days by air | £234 10s. |
| London → Sydney | 36 days by steamer | 33 days by steamer | £130 |
| New York → Buenos Aires | 25 days by steamer | 24 days by steamer | $857 |
| Paris → Istanbul | 2 days by train | 2 days by train | 2 400 fr. |
| Moscow → Vladivostok | 8 days by train | 8 days by train | £40 10s. |
| Arkham → London | 8 days by steamer | 6 days by steamer | £54 |
| Arkham → Cairo | 16 days by steamer | 15 days by steamer | L. 14 700 |
| Friedrichshafen → Lakehurst | no service | 2 days by airship | $814 (1933) |
A campaign across three continents
An investigation that opens in New York and follows its leads to London, Cairo and Kenya, the way globe-trotting campaigns such as Masks of Nyarlathotep do, staying at least a week at each stop and taking the first departure after it. Setting out in January 1925:
- New York to London: Columbia Line, leaves Thursday 15 January 1925, arrives 22 January 1925, 7 days, $326 in first class.
- London to Cairo: Southern Cross Line, leaves Saturday 31 January 1925, arrives 9 February 1925, 9 days, £45 in first class.
- Cairo to Nairobi: O. & I. Mail, O. & I. Mail, leaves Tuesday 17 February 1925, arrives 18 March 1925, 30 days, £108 in first class.
From the first departure to the arrival in Nairobi: 62 days, 46 of them on the way and the rest ashore, waiting for the next sailing as often as investigating. A Keeper who needs the party somewhere by a given date can count back from the sailing days.
What changes between the twenties and the thirties
The period on the ticket changes more than its typeface.
- Scheduled air routes open in January 1929 (Miami – Colón (Cristóbal)); London to Karachi follows in April 1929, flying by day and landing its passengers at a hotel every night.
- The airship crosses from Friedrichshafen to Lakehurst from October 1928 to May 1937, never in winter.
- A mail steamer's Suez Canal transit takes about 24 hours in the twenties and 15 from 1930.
- On the North Atlantic the classes sold in 1925 are First Class, Second Class, Tourist Third Cabin and Third Class; in 1933, First Class, Tourist Class and Third Class.
- London to Bombay: 20 days by steamer in 1925, 9 days by air in 1933.
Travel at the table
Sailing days are fixed. A steamer leaves on its day whether the investigators are aboard or not, and the next one may be a fortnight away: missing the boat is a consequence, not a formality.
Time aboard is play time. A week on the Atlantic is a week to read the tome recovered in the last scenario, to recover from it, or to notice that the same steward keeps passing the cabin door.
Paper is a prop. A ticket with the investigator's name, a baggage label, a landing card with an invented identity, a passenger list where one name should not be there: Passage prints all of them from the same journey, in the line's own language and currency, ready to hand out.
The period is a choice for the table. In 1925 the East is a month away by sea; in 1933 India is less than a fortnight away by air, with night stops in the desert, and the investigators arrive before the letter announcing them.
About the lines
The companies printed on the documents are invented so the documents can be printed freely; their routes, speeds, classes and fares follow the period. The atlas names the real company each one is modelled on.
Open the Passage atlas — MGS Toolbox