Cthulhu Rolls a 20
Well, the dreaded deadline doom (aka work) has caught up to me, so just a short piece this week. I'm still unpacking from my move from a year ago, and I came across my ancient 1st edition Dungeons and Dragons books. Those books have a lot of history. I began playing D&D when I was in junior high, and it was a part of my life up to college. I never played any of the other editions until recently; right before Covid took over our lives, I found a local group and began playing fifth edition. Certainly the details had changed (how many races are there? how is a sorcerer different from a warlock or a wizard?), but the basic mechanics, and of course the role-playing, were pretty much the same. I was able to slip into it relatively easily. But then the pandemic changed things. We stopped playing for a couple of months. We tried online. And then the guys (it was all guys except for me) decided to play in person again. That's when I tossed in my sword, so to speak.
I used to pore over these books. They are packed full of minutiae (there was a table to describe air currents - air currents!), basically anything you could think of that you'd need for building an adventure can be found. But something I have always found charming was in one of the more peripheral books, Deities & Demigods. In the first edition of Deities & Demigods (which I have), H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos was included along side the Greek, Norse, and other world myths. TSR, the company that produced the D&D books, thought they had properly procured the rights to the Cthulhu material, but it turned out another company, Chaosium had secured the rights first. Later versions were published without the Cthulhu section.
I can't even imagine how the writers came up with stats for Cthulhu and his ilk. Cthulhu has an intelligence of 20 and a wisdom of 23. How in the heck can you determine that from the Lovecraft stories? I suppose it's as good a guess as any.
But although I might question the stats they came up with for Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, and the rest, I actually think the idea of incorporating these creatures and ideas into a D&D campaign is delightful. The groups I played with never got to high enough levels to go up against gods (or god-like beings), but I get warm fuzzies just imagining a group of D&D fighters, clerics, and wizards, trying to defeat the Great Old Ones with spells and swords!
Yeah, Gygax loved his minutiae, didn't he? (Although some of it was problematic ... remember the prostitute table?) I've never been huge into the Lovecraft Mythos, but you're right about it being a natural fit for D&D. I'm not too familiar with the newer editions and I've kinda been more into Pathfinder lately (which was inspired by D&D and has some Adventure Paths that focus on Lovecraftian horror).
ReplyDeleteDid you ever check out Chaosium's Call of C'thulhu game? The horror stuff itself doesn't do much for me, but I love the 1920s setting and the modules go into great detail about the times. For example, Horror on the Orient Express has all kinds of 1920s-style accessories (like maps, passports, train schedules, and even dining car menus) to make the game feel more authentic. Pretty cool stuff.
Hey Mike, it's funny but that prostitute table came up in conversation somewhere recently -it might have been on Twitter. Now that's what all those concerned parents should have been getting upset over!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Lovecraft fan but I have read a number of the stories. I think there's material there for an interesting game setting. I did have Call of Cthulhu many moons ago but none of my friends were interested in playing. I'd still like to try it one day. Recently, I picked up a board game called Reign of Cthulhu, but I got it right before the Coronapocalypse, so I haven't had the opportunity to play with anyone. A lot of gaming to catch up on eventually!