Chaosium's "The Call of Cthulhu" - The Best Adaptation of Lovecraft's Stories
In a mire of middling adaptations, this game stands above the rest
Fans of H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction have long searched, struggled, and tried their own hand at finding or producing adaptations of his stories. The “unspeakable” nature of his cosmicist philosophy makes it difficult to put his prose to the screen, and general audiences’ misunderstanding or ignorance of the source material makes it difficult for such works to find mainstream success.
One element of literature and art that Lovecraft wholeheartedly embraced was the opportunity for opening creations to fellow artists, writers, and fine crafters. He welcomed additions to his intertextual “Yog-Sothothery” (which would become the Cthulhu Mythos) where writers other than himself could provide their own alien gods, maddening grimoires, and fantastic vistas accessible only by the imagination. The current most popular medium that allows for this artistic philosophy, in my opinion, is tabletop roleplaying. The nature of this medium and gaming style was intended for maximum collaboration as stories that normally cannot exist on paper or film emerge from play. Aside from Chaosium’s commercial success with Call of Cthulhu, especially in Japan,1 the content provided in its rulebooks, supplements, stand-alone scenarios, and full campaign books forms the foundation for which Keepers (game masters) and players can create their own stories of cosmic horror.
Call of Cthulhu at its heart is an investigative roleplaying game. With the monumental success of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, many newer hobbyists in the tabletop roleplaying game scene may be more familiar with the heroic action and dungeon-crawl style of play with large emphases on combat and steady development of player characters with toolboxes of fantastic powers to help thwart even the toughest of mundane and supernatural opponents. While the core rules of Call of Cthulhu have a robust combat system (which in some ways is better than even D&D’s), even the physically strongest player characters can be gunned down with ease. Call of Cthulhu utilizes Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying System, which is skill-based rather than class-based like D&D, allowing for a less restricted approach to Player Character development. PCs in Call of Cthulhu, however, do not receive any fantastic powers or features based on their occupation (the closest thing to a “class” the game has). Indeed, any powers beyond nature are dangerous to wield for friend, foe, and one’s self. PCs in Call of Cthulhu must try to simply survive rather than “win”, but they might be reduced to shadows or shells of their formers selves depending on how their experiences go.
The real heart of the gameplay is reminiscent of a traditional Lovecraft story wherein players must piece together the narrative of the adventures (or “scenarios” as modules in Call of Cthulhu are called) that may reveal fragments of the true, cosmic lore hiding in the dark spaces between the stars. Player characters are referred to as “Investigators” irrespective of their in-game occupations. Scenarios come with reams of physical handouts that may be as simple as newspaper clippings or the final, frantic notes of victims to more elaborate physical props like wooden idols depicting Great Old Ones; these items give players puzzle pieces of sorts that allow them to build the backstory of the scenario in addition to locating their next objective. Lovecraft’s original story “The Call of Cthulhu” begins with the narrator, Francis Wayland Thurston, receiving a box of what are essentially “handouts” from his deceased uncle that prompt him to construct the narrative of the short story. In doing so, however, Thurston exposes himself to the cosmic terror of existence and the threat of the Cthulhu cult with agents all over the world who eagerly await the new dark age.
The events of Lovecraft’s short story also exemplify the hazards Investigators in Call of Cthulhu encounter over the course of individual scenarios or even entire campaigns. One of the core mechanics of this system is Sanity; PCs (and most human NPCs) have a Sanity score that measures their mental stability and resistance against mind-bending creatures, events, and revelations. When faced with a scene that would cause some form of mental distress, either mundane or supernatural, PCs must make a Sanity roll in attempt to resist the horror. The Sanity mechanic is partly tied to the Cthulhu Mythos skill which PCs may only gain points in when they discover something about the Mythos. When a character’s Mythos skill increases, the maximum amount of Sanity they can ever have decreases, reflecting how their exposure to the cosmic truths degrades at their overall ability to comprehend reality.
Part of why I believe Call of Cthulhu is the most successful adaptation of Lovecraft’s works is that it is not beholden to replicating solely the original stories. The sourcebooks provide enough material for Keepers to develop their own imagined worlds for their scenarios and campaigns to take place in. For the most part, Call of Cthulhu takes place on our own Earth with some alterations to accommodate for the supernatural events. When writing the Mythos, Lovecraft and most of his contemporaries had no set “canon” in mind (except for maybe August Derleth) as to allow for as much freedom and speculation when it came to adding their own inventions to the intertextual playground. A Keeper can pick and choose which Great Old Ones actually exist within their campaign world, which stories by Lovecraft or other writers in his circle can be considered “canon”, and even alter history itself to fit a particular vision of Earth.
Speaking of history, one of Call of Cthulhu’s major selling points is the capability of playing in different eras. The basic Call of Cthulhu rules and most introductory scenarios take place in the 1920s, Lovecraft’s own era, but there are options and an increasing demand of options taking place in other eras and for other styles of play. The Pulp Cthulhu supplement provides the opportunity for Indiana Jones-style action adventure in the 1930s and is one of my preferred ways to play. Chaosium also recently released sourcebooks for playing in the Victorian “Gaslight era” (the 1890s) and Regency Era England in case Keepers have some players who are on a Bridgerton bender right now. There are even options for playing after the Fall of Rome with Cthulhu Dark Ages or during the height of the Empire with Cthulhu Invictus. These supplements provide the necessary options to spread the horror beyond Jazz Age New England to setting further afield like Roman-occupied Britannia, in a Midwestern “turkey town” at the peak of the 1980s, or even as far back as Mesopotamia when the first human cults of Dagon were established.
Lovecraft usually set his stories in his present time or slightly earlier, but always tinged them with a hint of timelessness to convey that the machinations of the Great Old Ones have been going on since time immemorial and will persist long after humanity is gone. Call of Cthulhu allows for the exploration of what happens when humanity comes into contact with these great, alien forces during our brief existence within the grand cosmos. Scenarios using this system can be as confined as a single room of a haunted house or can span across most eras of human existence, culminating at the end of days. It also allows for a deeper examination of the strange worlds that compose the Mythos, places like Carcosa, the Dreamlands, and perhaps even Robert E. Howard’s Hyboria or Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique.2 These allow for Keepers and players to experiment with different playstyles and themes within the framework of Call of Cthulhu, making room for quite literally any story to be told through play.
As I said before, Call of Cthulhu’s core philosophy is being an investigative game. The goal is not to acquire material wealth or kill gods, but to uncover the mysteries of reality. While mediums like writing can impart narratives that horrify and captivate, and the art of painting, with the right hand, can display scenes of wonder only dreamed of, these are static forms of expression once they are displayed to an audience. Call of Cthulhu extends the potential of Lovecraft’s stories by being a collaborative, active experience where creative minds can come together for a few hours and spin a yarn that has never been invoked. Keepers facilitating these sessions create the settings and scenarios, presenting a cosmic “haunted house” filled with secrets and surprises, while players’ actions determine the stories that are told afterwards. Lovecraft’s stories and their influence are thriving in the roleplaying game scene; Call of Cthulhu is a massive reason for why organizations like the Howard Phillips Lovecraft Historical Society exists; NecronomiCon Providence 2024 was chockful of panels about gaming, helmed by writers from Chaosium. While the efforts of other artists inspired by Lovecraft and those with the gumption to attempt adapting his works should not be overlooked—and should indeed be applauded—the medium of gaming allows enjoyers of his art to move from being simply an audience to collaborators in their own rights, adding their own stories to his dark literary universe.
Thanks for reading this week’s post! If you’ve played Call of Cthulhu or are a fan of Lovecraft’s work, what is your favorite adaptation of the Mythos outside of the original stories? Leave a comment by hitting the button below!
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At the time of writing this post, there aren’t actually supplements for Call of Cthulhu I am aware of that feature Zothique or Hyboria. Modiphius, however, had a line of specific Conan TTRPG products and Monolith Games is currently in the playtesting phase of their own Conan RPG.