How Lovecraft saved role-playing games

June 1, 8:30 AMRPG ExaminerMichael Tresca

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the RPG Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

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.

Courtesy Wikimedia.

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.

Dungeons & Dragons owes much to Call of Cthulhu. This is most evident in its monsters: Ghouls, Kuo-toa (Deep Ones), Mind Flayers (Star Spawn of Cthulhu), and Black Pudding (Shoggoth) all are directly or indirectly inspired by their Lovecraftian counterparts. ^ Jacobs, James (October 2004). "The Shadow Over D&D: H. P. Lovecraft's Influence on Dungeons & Dragons". Dragon (#324).

Call of Cthulhu introduced a form of role-playing in the early 1980s that was unknown up to that point: investigation. Instead of just shooting up monsters and taking their stuff, investigators were encouraged to follow a trail of clues to help defeat the villain. These props became more and more elaborate, paving the way for live action role-playing games that use props in much the same way.

Call of Cthulhu also focused on a specific time period and created a separate and unique identity firmly based in the real world. Unlike other role-playing games where the game master largely created a world out of his imagination, Call of Cthulhu was a template placed over the actual events of the 1920s.

Call of Cthulhu introduced the notion of character's degrading. Investigators suffer sanity loss from each encounter with the supernatural they experience, and enough encounters of this sort eventually renders the investigator completely insane. This style of play lends itself to horror as it discourages openly investigating anything unknown, instead encouraging a partial understanding of paranormal foes through clues and hints. It also provides an opportunity to role-play undesirable traits like insanity.

In the 1990s, Call of Cthulhu became a sensation yet again with the advent of Pagan Publishing's Delta Green setting. This setting drew its inspiration from modern conspiracy theory, casting the investigators as agents in pursuit of everything from dark cults to UFOs. Although many imitators followed, the Delta Green setting set the standard for modern conspiracy theory gaming and won numerous awards, including the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement and Best Game-Related Novel.

If it weren't for August Derleth and Chaosium's efforts, H.P. Lovecraft might well have fallen into obscurity. But thanks to Call of Cthulhu, the weird fiction of H.P. Lovecraft continues to influence role-playing games even today.