Runes of Horror

Sarchimus gave a great overview in a post on the Runesword messageboard. Rather than blathering on (as an ardent fan is wont to do), I'll just quote him:

Speak no more the Name of THE OLD ONE, for fear of What thou might conjure...the delicate mind of Man was not meant for such things! Actually if you really don't know, go to a bookstore and look for "H. P. Lovecraft" in the Fiction (Horror) stacks. Lovecraft started writing around the turn of the century, and died in 1937. A number of his colleagues continued a few of his ideas post-mortem, which evolved into a complex collection of inter-related horror stories. Lovecraft (who was, in real life, a pretty troubled soul) had a unique approach to horror fantasy. The common theme in all of his novels and short stories is that there is a realm coinciding with ours, which we cannot ordinarily see or have contact with. Depending on the story, someone, somehow, inevitably dabbles with science or the occult, and finds a way to open a window into that realm, populated with all sorts of creatures usually too horrific to behold. The end result is naturally always catastrophic, even if only for the dabbler who winds up going completely insane simply from the realization that such horrors are ALWAYS all around us (even travelling *through* us all in their dimension). Lovecraft wrote quite a lot of such stories, and a few have been made into cheezy horror flicks ("Reanimator," and a truly frightening one called "From Beyond"). As for Cthulu specifically, that name refers to a mythical creature (one of many supposedly ancient races that once ruled the earth) that supposedly *sleeps* deep beneath the ocean somewhere, waiting to wake up and anihilate the earth, generally for no other reason than to be chaotic and scary--another common theme with Lovecraft is that the horror has no real purpose; terrible things just happen simply because they are the embodiment of Insanity itself. The Big C sorta looks like a giant human squid. The clever thing that Lovecraft did was create a vast amount of peripheral hype to support his stories. Many of them take place in real New England towns (or imaginary ones that seem real enough to be believable). He was decades ahead of "The Blair Witch Project." He actually wrote an entire book of spells called the Necronomicon, and published it under a pseudonym in order to invent a non-existent religion surrounding Cthulu and some of the other "Old Ones." To this day there are still people who are convinced the Necronomicon is a real document, as genuine as the Bible. More recently, there is a RPG based on his writings, which is probably the source of much of Count0's source material for his tome. If you can find an original printing of the AD&D "Deities and Demigods," (1980) there is a whole section in it devoted to the Cthulu Mythos, with illustrations of various creatures and more explanations. Lovecraft's estate sued TSR over it, apparently, and later printings had the entire section removed. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn! "In his house in R'lyeh dead Cthulu waits dreaming."

[Actually, while I've been a huge Lovecraft/Mythos fan for almost 15 years now and have enjoyed RPGs for almost as long, I've never had the fortune to play the Call of Cthulhu RPG. I've only met a handfull of people face-to-face who have even heard of Lovecraft. Thank the Old Ones for cyberspace! - Count0]

Links to the Old Ones

A Latter-Day Lovecraftian's Library -- by Robert M. Price and Edward P. Berglund. Mr. Price is both an eminent Lovecratian scholar and an inspiration to armchair Cthulhu hunters in this world and many others.

The Cthulhu Mythos - A Guide

MythosWeb -- Your online guide to the fiction of the Cthulhu Mythos

Mythos Online -- Wierd tales of the Lovcraft mythos

H. P. Lovecraft -- A lavish biography and bibliography of the Grand Old Gent. Unfortunately, it's in Swedish.

The Arkham House Price Guide -- Beyond Books guide to the much sought-after early published tomes of HPL.

The Cthulhu Mythos on the Internet -- a vast compedium of online resources.

Reader's Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos -- by Edward Berglund

Thousand Young.com -- This domain is intended as a store house of lovecraftian information and serves as a preservation of his ideas, creations and legacy.

De Web Mysteriis -- Fools ! You have no idea of the horrors crawling in the darkness of the ignorance of human beings. I was like you once, a long time ago. It was before I found some evidence of Their existance. You thought Old Myths couldn't resist to Science and Technology. You were wrong.

Necronomicon Press

Glossary of Cthulhu Mythos Terms --A searchable database Compiled by Chris Jarocha-Ernst.

Delta Green Case Histories -- Fiction based on the X-Files style modern suppliments to Call of Cthulhu. Very cool stuff.

Delta-Green.com -- Did I mention I love this stuff?

Lovecraftian Tales -- fanfiction

The Fungi from Lovecraft's refrigerator - My new favorite time-waster! Arrange virtual Lovecraftian refrigerator magnets.

Count0's bookshelf A Box of Hell The Manacles Temple of Dagon The DarcRelms The Forbidden Knowledge skill Tileset Cannibal utility New Item ideas Notes on RPG elements Runesword Info Home What is Runesword 2? Creature Images Downloads Library Notes to the Wise Resource links Notes and News Creating and RPG World Lovecraft et al. H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos Glossary of relevant Cthulhu Mythos terms Rune-Fu Links Official Runesword site Shrapnel Games Eternia open-ended sourcebook Don't have it yet - buy RuneSword II Now! Contact Count0 Link to ROH	runesword, rpg, role playing game, dungeons & dragons, dungeons and dragons, fantasy, warhammer, WebRPG, webrpg, GURP, games, science fiction, cyberpunk, convention, GM, gm, DM, dm, D&D, AD&D, card games, BattleTech, StarWars, dragon, hobby, hobbies, store,TSR, Hero, Palladium, CCG, FASA, White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, adventure, Runesword, runesowrd, rune, sword, runesword
	The Cthulhu Mythos and the writings of H. P. Lovecraft Overview \| Links runesword, rpg, role playing game, dungeons & dragons, dungeons and dragons, fantasy, warhammer, WebRPG, webrpg, GURP, games, science fiction, cyberpunk, convention, GM, gm, DM, dm, D&D, AD&D, card games, BattleTech, StarWars, dragon, hobby, hobbies, store,TSR, Hero, Palladium, CCG, FASA, White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, adventure, Runesword, runesowrd, rune, sword, runesword
	Overview Sarchimus gave a great overview in a post on the Runesword messageboard. Rather than blathering on (as an ardent fan is wont to do), I'll just quote him: Speak no more the Name of THE OLD ONE, for fear of What thou might conjure...the delicate mind of Man was not meant for such things! Actually if you really don't know, go to a bookstore and look for "H. P. Lovecraft" in the Fiction (Horror) stacks. Lovecraft started writing around the turn of the century, and died in 1937. A number of his colleagues continued a few of his ideas post-mortem, which evolved into a complex collection of inter-related horror stories. Lovecraft (who was, in real life, a pretty troubled soul) had a unique approach to horror fantasy. The common theme in all of his novels and short stories is that there is a realm coinciding with ours, which we cannot ordinarily see or have contact with. Depending on the story, someone, somehow, inevitably dabbles with science or the occult, and finds a way to open a window into that realm, populated with all sorts of creatures usually too horrific to behold. The end result is naturally always catastrophic, even if only for the dabbler who winds up going completely insane simply from the realization that such horrors are ALWAYS all around us (even travelling through us all in their dimension). Lovecraft wrote quite a lot of such stories, and a few have been made into cheezy horror flicks ("Reanimator," and a truly frightening one called "From Beyond"). As for Cthulu specifically, that name refers to a mythical creature (one of many supposedly ancient races that once ruled the earth) that supposedly sleeps deep beneath the ocean somewhere, waiting to wake up and anihilate the earth, generally for no other reason than to be chaotic and scary--another common theme with Lovecraft is that the horror has no real purpose; terrible things just happen simply because they are the embodiment of Insanity itself. The Big C sorta looks like a giant human squid. The clever thing that Lovecraft did was create a vast amount of peripheral hype to support his stories. Many of them take place in real New England towns (or imaginary ones that seem real enough to be believable). He was decades ahead of "The Blair Witch Project." He actually wrote an entire book of spells called the Necronomicon, and published it under a pseudonym in order to invent a non-existent religion surrounding Cthulu and some of the other "Old Ones." To this day there are still people who are convinced the Necronomicon is a real document, as genuine as the Bible. More recently, there is a RPG based on his writings, which is probably the source of much of Count0's source material for his tome. If you can find an original printing of the AD&D "Deities and Demigods," (1980) there is a whole section in it devoted to the Cthulu Mythos, with illustrations of various creatures and more explanations. Lovecraft's estate sued TSR over it, apparently, and later printings had the entire section removed. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn! "In his house in R'lyeh dead Cthulu waits dreaming." [Actually, while I've been a huge Lovecraft/Mythos fan for almost 15 years now and have enjoyed RPGs for almost as long, I've never had the fortune to play the Call of Cthulhu RPG. I've only met a handfull of people face-to-face who have even heard of Lovecraft. Thank the Old Ones for cyberspace! - Count0] Links to the Old Ones A Latter-Day Lovecraftian's Library -- by Robert M. Price and Edward P. Berglund. Mr. Price is both an eminent Lovecratian scholar and an inspiration to armchair Cthulhu hunters in this world and many others. The Cthulhu Mythos - A Guide MythosWeb -- Your online guide to the fiction of the Cthulhu Mythos Mythos Online -- Wierd tales of the Lovcraft mythos H. P. Lovecraft -- A lavish biography and bibliography of the Grand Old Gent. Unfortunately, it's in Swedish. The Arkham House Price Guide -- Beyond Books guide to the much sought-after early published tomes of HPL. The Cthulhu Mythos on the Internet -- a vast compedium of online resources. Reader's Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos -- by Edward Berglund Thousand Young.com -- This domain is intended as a store house of lovecraftian information and serves as a preservation of his ideas, creations and legacy. De Web Mysteriis -- Fools ! You have no idea of the horrors crawling in the darkness of the ignorance of human beings. I was like you once, a long time ago. It was before I found some evidence of Their existance. You thought Old Myths couldn't resist to Science and Technology. You were wrong. Necronomicon Press Glossary of Cthulhu Mythos Terms --A searchable database Compiled by Chris Jarocha-Ernst. Delta Green Case Histories -- Fiction based on the X-Files style modern suppliments to Call of Cthulhu. Very cool stuff. Delta-Green.com -- Did I mention I love this stuff? Lovecraftian Tales -- fanfiction The Fungi from Lovecraft's refrigerator - My new favorite time-waster! Arrange virtual Lovecraftian refrigerator magnets. The pictures displayed on this page are for your personal enjoyment only. They are protected by © Copyrights by their author. All Rights Reserved.
	runesword, rpg, role playing game, dungeons & dragons, dungeons and dragons, fantasy, warhammer, WebRPG, webrpg, GURP, games, science fiction, cyberpunk, convention, GM, gm, DM, dm, D&D, AD&D, card games, BattleTech, StarWars, dragon, hobby, hobbies, store,TSR, Hero, Palladium, CCG, FASA, White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, adventure, Runesword, runesowrd, rune, sword, runesword

	Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl fhtagn. << Go back Back to Top Go forward >> Home runesword, rpg, role playing game, dungeons & dragons, dungeons and dragons, fantasy, warhammer, WebRPG, webrpg, GURP, games, science fiction, cyberpunk, convention, GM, gm, DM, dm, D&D, AD&D, card games, BattleTech, StarWars, dragon, hobby, hobbies, store,TSR, Hero, Palladium, CCG, FASA, White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, adventure, Runesword, runesowrd, rune, sword, runesword