What is your favorite historical time period to run or play Call of Cthulhu games?
Why?

20s/30s, because it's a great era that's often overlooked by people producing game settings.

That, and jazz, man.  Jazz.  

Me too. I'm not reluctant to play play any other era, but the 1920s win me over. It's just iconic to the genre, to me, and I love to role play a character from that time period, with all that entails of similarities and differences in terms of society, ethics, morals etc when compared to ours.

Why does it have to be historical? Cthulhupunk, baby!

Otherwise, I like my Cthulhu set in the time period in which it was written--the present-day.

Classic for me, although it's the only time period i've played, so my choices are limited.

I would dearly like to play Invictus though.

20's/30's.

As to why:  it is post WWI.  The horrors that man can inflict on itself, and I'm thinking specifically of the war, are still fresh in people's minds.  "Science" exists but as a vague, amorphous idea.  The totally humanist view of the universe, that it is cold and pitiless, is beginning to sink in to the western worldview.  All of these things, I think, are what shaped HPL's writings and as such playing without them leaves me flat.  CoC in a Roman era steps too close to D&D or WHFRP.  Cthulhu Now is just The X-Files monster of the week episodes.    Cthulhu by Gaslight might be okay, as it's close enough to 30's cthulhu, but there's still the idea of science in the 20's and 30's allowing people to dig where they shouldn't have, making the world a tad smaller (at the same time too small and not small enough).

Quote from: two_fishes;377440Why does it have to be historical? Cthulhupunk, baby!

Or Pokethulhu.

Classic or Victorian. I am familiar enough with these time periods to easily create and run adventures.

Quote from: two_fishes;377440Why does it have to be historical? Cthulhupunk, baby!

Dude, that's totally cool. You voted "Other", right? That's what I would have done.

Quote from: Benoist;377459Dude, that's totally cool. You voted "Other", right? That's what I would have done.

I did. I had the GURPS Cthulhupunk book and never got to play it, and that made me sad.

I think it works for the same sorts of reasons dungeondelver mentioned (though not precisely the same reasons.) Cthulhu stories set in a backdrop of growing inhumanity and failure of social institutions, the decline of western culture, and the obsolescence of humanity in the face of technology.

Quote from: two_fishes;377464I think it works for the same sorts of reasons dungeondelver mentioned (though not precisely the same reasons.) Cthulhu stories set in a backdrop of growing inhumanity and failure of social institutions, the decline of western culture, and the obsolescence of humanity in the face of technology.

I thought that's what I said

I like the 1850s-1860s era.  You have the gangs of New York, the height of the British Empire, when all those New England families were making deals witht he deep ones, there was still dark and mysterious places all over the world but a great sense of hubris none the less.  I'd also like to eveole the game into a 1920s game, maybe the protagonists get displaced in time and space.

Can't decide. I'd like to run a Classic-Dreamlands-Carcosa game.

I said 'other' because my longest running COC campaign so far was set in and around 1969 San Francisco... lots of wild things going on and all that open-mindedness was perfect cover for some really nasty cults to get some new members.
You've got Charles Manson, Robert DeGrimston, The Zodiac Killer, H.R. Puffenstuff... and Anton LaVey on the Hammond Organ.
Oh, and all that hallucinogenic sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll stuff.

I've always wanted to play COC set in the '50s... with beat poet stuff mixed in with Mickey Spillane flavored sleaze (watching 'Kiss Me Deadly' always brings Lovecraft to mind)... with a back ground of Tiki bars, hot rods and strip clubs. Maybe do it up as an earlier era's Delta Green with lots of old 'Dragnet' flavor.
The '50s just seem really decadent to me.

Quote from: Aos;377495Can't decide. I'd like to run a Classic-Dreamlands-Carcosa game.

Carcosa as part of the Dreamlands... now, that does have potential...