I know in the RPG community this is a crazy thing to say and is darn near heracy...But I dont know squat about Cthulu.
Heres what I know:
- Big demon with wings and octopus head.
- "Old One" or "Old God" (whatever that means)
- H.P. Lovecraft books
- A Call of Cthulu RPG exists
- He was in an episode to The Real Ghostbusters cartoon
Thats pretty much it.
Ive played D&D and Stars Wars RPG and never branched out more than that.
Was Cthulu invented by H.P.Lovecraft or is he real mythology that Lovecraft wrote stories about?
I have this in the book section of the messageboard because I'd love a list of books I should read to know him and his mythos. Lovecraft wrote alot of stuff...but does it all tie to Cthulu or just some of it?
Because I'm very anal retentive Id prefer to read things in order. Im not one to skip ahead to the 3rd or 4th book about him because its a good one.
Thanks :)
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Cthulu (spelling?) was invented by Lovecraft, along with several other aspects of the mythos. Other contributors to the Cthulu Myth cycle were Clark Aston Smith, August Derleth, Frank Belknap Long, and Robert E. Howard, to name a few. They all used each others stuff when fleshing out their stories.
And I don't think here is any real order to the stories, per se. But others may know more about that than me.
If you don't mind reading white fonts on a black background, here's "Call of Cthulhu." And here's an essay that refernces various appearances by Cthulhu in Lovecraft and elsewhere.
El Skootro
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For a quick intro, you might want to take a peek at this, this and some of the books mentioned here.
I've never been able to find any kind of sequence of events in any of the books or tales, tough The call of Cthulhu could presumably be viewed as a jump-off point. Most people like different stories (my personal faves are The lurking fear and The colour out of space), but I would recommend starting with some short stories. If you like them, move on to the longer stuff.
Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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I know in the RPG community this is a crazy thing to say and is darn near heracy...But I dont know squat about Cthulu.
I have this in the book section of the messageboard because I'd love a list of books I should read to know him and his mythos.
Thanks :)
Here is the complete text of the works of H.P. Lovecraft, in html....also in white text on black background. Ia! Ia!!!
Some of MY favorites are:
The Call of Cthulhu
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
Dreams in the Witch-House
Pickman's Model
One of the great things about H.P. Lovecraft was the fact that he (intentionally or otherwise) really built a community of writers and fans. Forget Cthulhu and the necronomicon, ignore his books and stories, it's really the Mythos that shall be his greatest legacy (although I have to say that his books weren't bad).
Exactly, since then plenty of writers have at least dropped a reference somewhere.
Actually, when I was little and just started to read horror, I had read some Lovecraft and then when Stephen King had one or two Cthulhu references in his short stories, and I think someone else too, I didn't make the connection on the level of literature but thought that Cthulhu mythos is actually based on real world.I'm not sure if I was disappointed or relieved that I was wrong.
Know ye not of Dread Cthulhu?!?
When the stars align, you shall all be held for the coming of that frightful soul and messenger of infinity's Other Gods, the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep. Your souls will then writhe in agony beneath the gentle caresses of Azathoth and the Great Old Ones as they reclaim the Earth... and burn the heavens.
Heed my words! Ïa, Shub-Niggurath!
OK, I might have gotten a bit carried away. But for those of you who need game stats, Cthulhu is CR = all PCs die. :P
Actually, when I was little and just started to read horror, I had read some Lovecraft and then when Stephen King had one or two Cthulhu references in his short stories, and I think someone else too, I didn't make the connection on the level of literature but thought that Cthulhu mythos is actually based on real world.
I'm not sure if I was disappointed or relieved that I was wrong.
I had the same experience. I assumed Cthulhu must be Babylonian or Incan... Ahh, the days before wikipedia
El Skootro
If you were a fan of the X-Files, where some of the episodes were part of an ongoing theme but others stood alone, HPL's writing is a bit like that - his stories can be divided into Mythos and Non-Mythos. The mythos stuff also doesn't necessarily include Cthulhu per se, but are connected in various ways.
Other than the quintessetial big bad evil guy, HPL's other most famous creation would have to be the Necronomicon, the baddest black magic tome of all time. Its actually taken on a life of its own, and there are quite a few people who would like to believe it's a real book that HPL fictionalized.
Once you do learn about HPL and become familar with his writings, you will see his influence everywhere, including, more recently, the movie from Stephen King's the Mist and Hell Boy, as well as songs, album art, etc. You will see also lots of pop culture references, and a lot of inside geek joke type stuff, including Miskatonic University license plate frames and shirts (Go 'Pods, Fighting Cephalapods, etc.), Cthulhu type Jesus fish (w/tentacles) on the backs of cars, etc. This being an election year, you can also find Cthulhu for President shirts w/ the slogan, "Why Vote for the Lesser Evil?"
There's also a very cool quote from Stephen King somewhere along the lines of how he and most horror writers crack open the door and give you a peek at what's outside, but HPL throws it open and invites things in. That, essentially, sums up his writing. Yeah, you could try to fight a vampire or take on some zombies, but that is simply impossible with HPL's baddies. Just to see them would drive most people insane.
OK, I might have gotten a bit carried away. But for those of you who need game stats, Cthulhu is CR = all PCs die. :P
Attacks: Cthulhu eats 1d4 investigators per round, no saving throw. Also, nuclear weapons destroy Cthulhu completely, but he reforms 1d4 rounds later.
It doesn't get badder than that.
Attacks: Cthulhu eats 1d4 investigators per round, no saving throw. Also, nuclear weapons destroy Cthulhu completely, but he reforms 1d4 rounds later. It doesn't get badder than that.
Call of Cthulhu is my all-time favorite RPG :)
A Keeper's (that's the DM) first words to a group should be "you're going to lose." Not die -- lose. Players will wish they had died.
We'll always remember the game where my character pushed a buddy over a cliff -- it was best for everyone. My character's motto: Sanity is a sawed-off shotgun.
Thank you for all the info. I really apreciate it.
And a HUGE thanks to Timitius for all of HPLs work all in one place that I can read from work. :)
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Thank you for all the info. I really apreciate it.
And a HUGE thanks to Timitius for all of HPLs work all in one place that I can read from work. :)
You're welcome! Happy to introduce people to HPL's work.
That is a gem of a site, isn't it?Now, if my co-workers would stop looking at me funny when I wear my KFC (Kids for Cthulhu) shirt......;)
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Actually, when I was little and just started to read horror, I had read some Lovecraft and then when Stephen King had one or two Cthulhu references in his short stories, and I think someone else too, I didn't make the connection on the level of literature but thought that Cthulhu mythos is actually based on real world.
I'm not sure if I was disappointed or relieved that I was wrong.I had the same experience. I assumed Cthulhu must be Babylonian or Incan... Ahh, the days before wikipedia
El Skootro
Heh heh...just as they want you to believe.
My favorite Lovecraft stories are The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Rats In The Walls.
Lovecraft was a pretty racist guy, even by the standards of his time and a lot of the big horror payoffs lie in the protagonist discovering something terrible about his own lineage, which ultimately drive him mad. Howard wasn't down with Jungle Fever, apparently.
I saw a Pop-Up Cthulhu book today. You open the cover and shoggoth leaps on top of your head. If you ever close the book, a hound of Tindalos scents you, and it is all over.
the end.
Lovecraft was a pretty racist guy, even by the standards of his time and a lot of the big horror payoffs lie in the protagonist discovering something terrible about his own lineage, which ultimately drive him mad. Howard wasn't down with Jungle Fever, apparently.
Yeah I just read "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family"
Other than discovering lineage, these stories are so old that alot of the horror payoffs are nothing by today's standards.
Some of the stories just seem to end and I wonder where is the rest...Then I realize that the revelation just announced in the last sentance was supposed to make me gasp in horror at it WAS the ending.
Interesting look into what was disturbing or scary in the early 20th century.
Im reading the stories in the order they were written and published so no Cthulhu stuff yet but Im enjoying what I've read so far.
I especially liked "The Statement of Randolph Carter". It makes your mind really think up some weird stuff as to what was down in that tomb.
Creative Director
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While not all of Lovecraft's writing has aged well... the majority of it has. A fair amount of the stories he wrote were INCREDIBLY influential to modern horror and sci-fi. Take "The Colour Out Of Space" as an example; this story pretty much anticipates the horrors of radiation AND gives us the "alien fallen to earth in a meteor" convention that's pretty much a cliche today. It wasn't when he wrote it, though.
Another of his great innovations was to more or less abandon the traditional. When you DO see Lovecraft writing a story about a vampire, it's not obvious that that's what the story is about because the vampire is a mind-draining monster buried under a Shunned House. The majority of his stories focus on the creation of an entirely new mythology of fear and horror and cosmic awe. They're not really aimed at making you scared as much as they are aimed at showing you just how insignificant humanity is when you look at the universe as a whole. They're more interested in generating feelings of cosmic dread and unease than they are at providing shock endings... although many of his stories DO have shock endings. Some of them remain quite effective even today (Pickman's Model, Whisperer in the Darkness, Shadow out of Time all come to mind).
If you're interested in the Lovecraft mythos but find his writing to be too "old and stilted," you're still in luck since his ideas and themes are very much still alive today. Movies as varied as "The Thing," "The Last Winter," "Hellboy," "Ghostbusters," "The Mist", "The Hills Have Eyes", "Cloverfield", "Alien", and even "2001" have pretty strong Lovecraftian elements to them. Same goes for comics, video games, and of course, novels & short stories.
Without Lovecraft, the horror and sci-fi genres would be VERY different than they are today.
Well, for game purposes the Rifts and Palladium stuff is very easy to play with and well thought out; there is also a D20 i think book; I have it, just dont remember the title; will try to post a few titles if I ever go home and I happen to remember
As for songs about Cthulhu, check out "Cthulhu Dawn" by Cradle of Filth.
Or not.
I just bought it cuz I had an extra buck on iTunes and it had the word Cthulhu in the title. :P
Decent enough song, but it's death metal...so...
ANYWAYS, Cthulhu is a giant beast from a place beyond time who was buried under the ocean in an island prison called R'lyeh. (O R'lyeh? Ya R'lyeh!)
And in the actual short story about him, this one dude finds all this research his uncle or something did on the beast, this police constable stumbles upon a cult of Cthulhu, and a seafaring ship actually sees the thing rise from the ocean!
It became one of his most popular stories, but Cthulhu is only the tip of the iceberg. Lovecraft created an entire pantheon of entities and creatures. My personal favorite and recommended read by him would be Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. Long read, but a good one.
Oh and Pickman's Model. That's a freaky one.
I've always wanted to see a kind of "Ye Olde Shadow Over Innsmouth" adventure with Dagon worshipping Kuo-toa. I'm sure someone's already done it.
Also, if you like the vidya gaems there's Dark Corners of the Earth and Eternal Darkness with heavy Mythos inspiration and numerous others that were "touched by Cthulhu's (non-noodley) appendage."
In addition to the resources provided by others, if you want some of Lovecraft's work in PDF format (among others) you could check out manybooks.net, which - by the way - also has a lot of other great books that are now in the public domain.
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If you don't mind reading white fonts on a black background, here's "Call of Cthulhu." And here's an essay that refernces various appearances by Cthulhu in Lovecraft and elsewhere.
El Skootro
If you don't like white font on a black background, you can try the opposite here:
Gah!
Beaten to the punch by Grindor, AGAIN!
GET OUT OF MY MIND!
GET! OUT! OF! MY! MIND!
Heh, heh, heh... get out of your mind? NEVER! It's nice and cosy in here, though slightly dusty :D