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I'a! I'a! Cthulhu Mythos Thread

Jutsei

Jutsei

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So, after talking about books, Call of Cthulhu, as well as mentioning how someone should make a Cthulhu Mythos thread in the Silent Hill thread, I thought I'd just take matters into my own hands and make a thread about the Shared Universe otherwise known as the Cthulhu Mythos
Short version, what's the Cthulhu Myhos?

A very large, very old, very cool, very well thought out setting with numerous horrific creatures, alien gods, and an uncaring universe where Humanity is but a speck of dust in the face of the cosmos.
It was set up by Howard Philips Lovecraft nearly 100 years ago, with various stories being written for it, after some references with author friends that resulted in numerous gods/characters being part of the same "universe", it became more of a setting, but even then, it's quite hard to explain.
But, to put it mildly, H.P. Lovecraft was 100% fine with people writing stories with this setting, adding onto it, and to continue writing in it, which was pretty good, because he passed away in the 1930s, but to this day, people are still writing, using, and making worlds with this setting, pretty much any Horror Setting owes something to Lovecraft. It also helps that his writing was in a time before copyrights, which means, if you're cheap, you can read all his writing on places and not get in trouble! But, you should be a good person and find a good compilation book. While Lovecraft's writing is good, it's the later additions by other authors that are much better.

I could keep talking about the finer part of the mythos, monsters, spells, the worst of the worst (Great Old Ones, Outer Gods, Elder Gods), but you can just dive right into it here if you crave details.

So, basically, talk about anything related to the Cthulhu Mythos here! Be it the original stories, new ones, short story anthologies, or decidedly non-book things, like video games (Including Dark Corners of the Earth), Board Games, references in other games, or the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game (which is REALLY awesome) it should go here!

Hope I did a decent enough job of explaining the Mythos, felt like making this thread after reading about Arkham Horror (A Board Game)

Before I end this post, I might as well post about the upcoming Call of Cthulhu game by Frogwares (Sherlock Game developers), looks good, hope it's as good as it looks!

So yeah, go (literally) nuts about Cthulhu Stuff here!
 
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Fhtagn iawesome! Man, I haven't read Lovecraft in ages, I should fix that. Also, I heard somewhere that Lovecraft shared a 'Verse with Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories. I need to look into this...

Fun fact: Little Innsmouth and Dagonian fish-people are Lovecraft references! (Shadow over Innsmouth and Dagon).

Now I want to see Ms. Fortune reform after getting hit by a boat...

Oh, here's an idea! I wonder if Lorenzo's melting appearance after losing the Life Gem will lead to a Cool Air situation.
 
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The Call of Cthulhu TTRPG (And by extension, the Mythos at whole if you like) can indeed share a universe with Conan if you like, REH also wrote quite a few things for the Mythos!

By a lot of technicalities, Shuma Gorath is also an Outer God, but he's an odd case, he was name dropped in one of Conan's stories, I believe, but nothing else, and because Marvel does Conan comics, they can use the name, and they ended up using the name to make a God.

Mythos references are everywhere if you know where to look, but that idea for Lorenzo is pretty spot on.
 
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The Public Domain strange anomaly is always such an odd, but welcome fact about the Mythos, not only are you totally allowed to add onto the universe (And who knows, maybe if people like it, it'll be referenced and be considered "part" of it in some circles), but you can potentially read every mythos bit for free before you dive in deep. I totally suggest at least reading the Lovecraft stories before you read the future (and better) stories.
 
yo, remember when they made one of the lovecraftian horrors into a cute anime girl who constantly does rider poses?
 
My favorite Cthulhu Mythos moment was when my friend streamed Dark Corners of The Earth and the game glitched out in a truly hilarious fashion...during the last minute of the ending.

Couldn't have asked for a more fitting ending.
 
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LOVECRAFT?! good thing I bought this,
2015-05-21-160030.jpg
And how can we talk about lovecraft without mentioning "The Mad Arab" Abdul Alahzred,
writer of the great "NECRONOMICAN".
okay now im a nerd
 
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Jimbob said:
LOVECRAFT?! good thing I bought this,
View attachment 9983
And how can we talk about lovecraft without mentioning "The Mad Arab" Abdul Alahzred,
writer of the great "NECRONOMICAN".
okay now im a nerd
I wanna be in this thread, now!!
 
Damn that books big, son!
What I opted to get was this big ole' paperback
It's got 1,000 pages but misses a few mythos stories, mostly stuff with Kingsport, which is odd because I find that one of the more interesting settings in that it's closer to the Dreamlands
 
Okay, what was your guys first lovecraft story?
I don't remember exactly, but it was either Dagon or The Beast in the Cave.
 
Well, I got my first interest in it by learning about Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, but mostly the RPG Game (I'm still hoping to play it, just waiting on 7E) and Arkham Horror (And a few other things), and I first tested the waters by watching a few adaptations on Youtube, but I'm not sure those count.

The first one I READ was The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and even with the Chase Scene spoiled to shit by Dark Corners of the Earth, i still find it very great and can see why people love love love The Deep Ones.
 
I'm currently at Reanimator in my big ole' book, gotta get to reading the rest, I'm planning to read a large number of Innsmouth/Deep One stories due to the summer heat bearing down on me coming up, thought it'd be good to have something cold and wet to sooth those aches.
 
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Jutsei said:
You mean this one?
I honestly don't know how to feel about it, I mean, Nyarly can totally become a girl if he wanted to, I'm just trying to wrap my head around how it exists
I remember this not sucking and surprisingly getting their references correct when they weren't going for moe pandering. Cthulhu being a hot teacher or something was definitely not canon.
 
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IMO best Lovecraft related video game (ie not tabletop, both COC and Arkham Horror are pretty great) is IREM's arcade shooter, X-Multiply. Might be a bit of a stretch, it doesn't have much in common beyond the disturbing art direction and monster designs (who are frequently named after Mythos Entities) and the frequently grim, oppressive soundtrack...until the ending. The minamalist plot concludes with an ambiguous, surreal, and menacing ending narration/speech ("...do you know what I am...?) that's jarring in a way that's rare for an action game.

I mostly love it for the great, unique gameplay (best player character tentacles ever) and audiovisual presentation though.

PS: The stage 4 boss masturbates while fighting. Cool video game.
 
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I figured I might as well link one of the adaptations I mentioned earlier, while there are movies of The Call of Cthulhu, as well as The Whisperer in Darkness, there are much shorter, much low budget adaptations on Youtube, ones filled with heart and great effects.
This is one of the latter.
It's a 15 minute adaptation of The Shadow Out of Time, and I honestly believe anyone interested in the Cthulhu Mythos should check this out
 
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If we're dropping videos here's a really good rendition of "From Beyond"
 
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^^^I was actually going to mention that, saw it last year. From Beyond was actually the first short story I read from HPL.

I don't like how they changed the story, making the doctor a giant steroids monster. Definitely can't capture dread of the original, but the claymation is definitely awesome.
 
That Claymation is super great, thanks for linking.
There's a body horror ridden live action made in the '80s about From Beyond, it was made in the era of The Fly so that should tell you all you'll see.
 
Yo, I totally want to get into Lovecraftian stuff but I don't know where to start.
So far I've only watched Die Farbe, the 15 minute short of Shadow out of time, and The Call of Cthulhu.
Where do I go from here?
 
Fumako said:
Yo, I totally want to get into Lovecraftian stuff but I don't know where to start.
So far I've only watched Die Farbe, the 15 minute short of Shadow out of time, and The Call of Cthulhu.
Where do I go from here?
Link?
 
Coldredblue said:
Link?
To what?
If you're talking about the movies I've posted someone posted the 15 minute short above and the other 2 can be easily found with googles or something.
 
Fumako said:
To what?
If you're talking about the movies I've posted someone posted the 15 minute short above and the other 2 can be easily found with googles or something.
Dang, son.
 
I actually own a compilation book which is still around here, somewhere. I've been meaning to continue reading it. I also got a CD audio book for The Call of Cthulu, which I should probably listen to now that I know this thread exists.
 
Fumako said:
Yo, I totally want to get into Lovecraftian stuff but I don't know where to start.
So far I've only watched Die Farbe, the 15 minute short of Shadow out of time, and The Call of Cthulhu.
Where do I go from here?
You couldn't go wrong by reading the most famous short stories, since their pretty short anyway. Shadow Over Innsmouth, At The Mountains of Madness, The Colour Out Of Space, etc.

Or just pick up any short story that interests you.
 
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At the Mountains of Madness will give you a good idea of his writing style.
 
Jutsei said:
That Claymation is super great, thanks for linking.
There's a body horror ridden live action made in the '80s about From Beyond, it was made in the era of The Fly so that should tell you all you'll see.
I remember seeing that movie on Svengoolie or something similar. It's definitely a campy film.
 
Getting around to reading me some Deep One stories, been so long since I've read a book I'm out of whack, need absolute silence and I ain't getting it.
I'm sure once I reread The Shadow Over Innsmouth I'll get back into the groove.

Also, some interesting news on the RPG front, mostly about Chaosium (publishers of Call of Cthulhu)
Literally over night, Greg Stafford, and Sandy Petersen, the progenitors/original founders of the company, returned to retake their roles as leaders of the company.
This is interesting because the past two years have been a bit of a PR nightmare for Chaosium, mostly because of constant delays and failure to ship with their kickstarted projects.
Which leads me to believe in-house the company was terminally fucked, and the original founders had to come back and fix the mess.
Their first priority is taking care of the Kickstarted books, and get them shipped out as soon as possible.

This is bit of juicy drama too, because Sandy Petersen apparently has found "unearthed secrets" of Chaosium, some good, some bad.
 
That secret? An authentic copy of the King in Yellow.
 
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So wow, I'm pretty late about this, but Chaosium's doing a blowout sale, any monograph, licensed book, or foreign book is available for 50% off!
This also included board games but I was slow on the draw, and they're all gone.
You could still get some neat licensed books while you're there though!
They're clearing out their shelves to make room for new stuff, which is...
Very very very exciting.
 
Been a month, but hey, it's Gencon! When Tabletop RPGs get lots of updates, Chaosium's no exception

And we finally got a release date for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition, that's a Halloween release.
I look forward to Eldritch Madness this Autumn!
 
Dang Gencon is this weekend isn't it? Would have liked to go.
 
Well well well, this is a thread necro, but only because I come with great news.
Not only has Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition finally shipped (With Pulp Cthulhu coming soon)
But we are set for not one, not two, not three, but at least FOUR Cthulhu related games in the near future, it's a good day to love the Necronomicon

First up is...Call of Cthulhu, based on the actual game, made by a brand new studio. Looks very promising, and appears to be a first person game just like Dark Corners of the Earth

Second is The Sinking City , which is quite clearly what Frogwares Call of Cthulhu game transmogrified into, we don't have much info aside from art, at the moment, and that it's Open World!


Thirdly , which you can actually play RIGHT NOW if you want (Though I wouldn't recommend it, because it's Early Access) is At The Mountains of Madness, it looks promising, but as with all Early Access games, be very careful, one day it might be a glittering gem, though!

And lastly is a game that's actually on Kickstarter at this very moment, Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones. This is planned to be an immersive, tactical, and throwback to classic RPGs on PC, such as Fallout, travel through a world where the Old Ones have already risen, and all is lost.

There's possibly a few other games that slipped under my radar, but those are the big four ones. Hopefully all four will actually get a proper release!
 
^^^Slightly off topic, but speaking of table top rpg's, I'm going to be engaging in some sessions next semester.

Won't be playing CoC though. I want to be a waifu and not die.
 
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Does anyone know if the kickstarter for the Mountains of Madness film from the guys who made the Die Farbe adaptation reached its goal?
 
Squire Grooktook said:
^^^Slightly off topic, but speaking of table top rpg's, I'm going to be engaging in some sessions next semester.

Won't be playing CoC though. I want to be a waifu and not die.
Call of Cthulhu isn't for everyone, but that's understandable. Pulp Cthulhu is more action/ 1920s movie and you have less chances of dying if that 's what steering you off

And A very quick check with "Mountains of Madness" on Kickstarter shows a bunch of unsuccessful projects, sadly.

Update: Who wants a trailer for the Call of Cthulhu game?
 
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Squire Grooktook said:
Won't be playing CoC though. I want to be a waifu and not die.
Don't think I've ever survived a CoC campaign. Now Delta Green I did manage to live through the one campaign.
 
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