The Gaslight Equipment guide should be part of the library for any Victorian or Steampunk game. Cthulhu, Space 1889, Red Sands etc gamers should all have it for their group.

Sections are separated by topic. Only a few are directly related to combat or combat mechanics. Combat mechanics are written for Cthulhu/BRP. These you can easily replace with those of your used game system or make up stats for the mechanics in use.

Other sections give numerous entries. It shows alot of what things where available in the setting. For instance "backpacks" aren't what must of modern people would think.

The amount of desciption by item is enhanced by articles explaining things in general. This is exceptionally useful as the modern player hasn't lived in Victorian times so might not even know how men shaved or ladies pampered in the morning.

For roleplayers the articles, non-combat items, prices, descriptions all give you content to make use of in descriping your character's action. Pack-rats and combat-focus will appreciate being able to figure out what they really caring and the differences in weapons.

All in all ... you should have it for any game in Victorian/Steampunk setting. For a PDF you can print a copy or simply show it on a screen to the different players.

Personally I use a laptop now. So I like having PDF books that I can pop-up easily. The laptop with 100s of PDF is alot easier to carry to the game then a stack of merely 12 books.

Although written for Call of Cthulhu, this is a fantastic resource for any historical game set during the Victorian era (including the Wild West). I had spent a bit of time researching similar info for my own games but I'm thrilled that Chaosium has made this available -- It's so much more extensive and complete!

In addition to lists of items and prices theres also valuable info on the years certain things were invented. This makes it a good resource for world building and campaign design in general.

While it has a simple design and layout the book more than makes up for this in information and utility. If a book of "Victorian Era Equipment" for an RPG sounds like something you could use in your game - this will make you very happy.

Call of Cthulhu is as much about horror as it is about history. Keepers and players everywhere enjoy the handouts, the props, and the attention to detail of the era. Although the Victorian era (known colloquially as "Gaslight" in Call of Cthulhu terms) has never been as mainstream at the 1920s setting it's just as creepy. This straightforward catalog rounds out the setting by providing equipment lists drawn from real mail-order catalogs.

The Gaslight Equipment Catalogue includes everything from currency to camping gear, toiletries to transportation. Throughout are sprinkled helpful facts about different pieces of equipment: the importance of hats, timelines of technological development, how cameras worked, and so on. With the exception of the weapons sections, there are surprisingly few rules for Call of Cthulhu. This is a good thing, as much of the equipment doesn't affect the game either way but merely provides color to an existing campaign.

The entire PDF seems to have been formatted in an older version of Microsoft Word; I recognize the table format. It's a little rough, with clipart pictures of varying clarity sprinkled throughout. But that's also part of the Catalogue's charm – it feels like a real Victorian catalogue. It's an excellent supplement for any game master looking to run a Victorian-era game.

Equipment books always interest me – ‘Aurora’s Whole Realms Catalogue’ has pride of place on my shelf, as well as the ‘Arms and Equipment Guide’ – so why shouldn’t Cthulhu benefit from a similar sourcebook. The Gaslight Equipment Guide is very simply presented – in many ways reminiscent of a Victorian-era catalogue. Whether this was intentional or a happy coincidence doesn’t really matter as it adds to the atmosphere of the game. The illustrations look like those found in ‘The Times’ or similar newspapers of the era (I doubt any are original works commissioned for the sourcebook, but rather that Choasium has a number of copyright free images they have been able to use instead. A timeline with most sections gives an overview of the progress of certain goods (especially helpful in communications and any form of technology) which can, at a glance, tell the Keeper what is in theme with their chosen year, and even highlight advancements in the field as the chronicle progresses. Whilst there is some interesting information here such as postage, currency conversion and general historical notes, some of it strikes me as trivial (do I need the price of a sheet of blotting paper?), but actual play may find a use for such data. Overall, worth the price of admission, if only for the historical sections.