Kathulhu Mythos in Games

Much like the world of cinema, gaming has had a tricky history with the Kathulhu mythos.

While most mythos stories are filled with mystery and slow-building horror, games are very often based on the impetus of action.

That being said, I think gaming has a better chance of replicating the appeal of Lovecraft's

stories than films do. Much like the previous episode, we will not cover every game based

on the mythos, but it should serve as a solid overview. Perhaps the first notable game release

based on the mythos is the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, first

released in 1981 by Chaosium.

Departing from the heroic action of games such as Dungeons and Dragons, or Villains

and Vigilantes, Call of Cthuloo encouraged players to slowly unravel a mystery through various

clues, generally in a somewhat familiar setting of the 1920s.

Some Call of Cthulhu Adventures would veer more towards Indiana Jones than some of Lovecraft's

work, but the game was filled and expanded with numerous creatures, deities, spells, and

tomes from and inspired by the mythos.

The game is still going strong today, having recently

released a 7th edition. Chaosium also published one of the first Mythos board games,

Arkham Horror, in 1987. The game takes place primarily within Lovecraft's fictional

town of Arkham, although characters will occasionally travel to other locations,

such as Earlye and the Dreamlands. The players would be tasked with dealing with monsters

coming through various gates around Arkham, hopefully closing the gates and preventing the old

ones from taking over the world. The game was redone in 2005 by Fantasy Flight Games,

who also put out Eldridge Horror in 2013,

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