How Lovecraft saved role-playing games

[Michael]

How Lovecraft saved role-playing games

Although some gamers may be familiar with Call of Cthulhu, many are unaware of the tremendous legacy the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired game bequeathed to the role-playing game industry.

Call of Cthulhu was one of the first role-playing games to have a literary legacy. Because Chaosium publishes both the role-playing game and collections of Lovecraftian fiction, the game is treated on equal footing with the books that inspired it. Daniel Harms' Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia includes entries that span the entirety of Chaosium's catalogue, including both games and fiction and mixing the two. As a result, Chaosium's gaming supplements have helped shape the interpretation of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos to subsequent generations of gamers.

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I don't think I ever played Call of Cthulhu, except possibly for one afternoon when I was in college or shortly thereafter. I had several friends who just absolutely loved it.