I got my first edition of Call of Cthulhu in a nice big box back in the early 80s. Does anyone know if there were any other Lovecraft games that pre-dated Call of Cthulhu?

Its not its own game but didnt the original D&D Gods and Demi-Gods have Cthulhu mythos in it?

Not specific game brands, as far as I know, but treatments of the material in, e.g., The Dragon and later Deities & Demigods (for D&D), and Sorcerer's Apprentice (not system-specific, iirc, despite the periodical's association with Tunnels & Trolls).

It is much the same with Vance, Leiber, Moorcock and other authors prior to licensing, although TSR's Battle of Five Armies may have -- I don't know -- flouted the rights of the Tolkien estate. Said estate caused the removal of some references from later printings of Chainmail and D&D (which also included encounter tables for Barsoom).

Early licensed games with some relation to the role-playing scene treated Barsoom, Hyborian Age, Saberhagen's Berserkers and Flash Gordon. TSR published a Lankhmar board game based on Harry Fischer's and Fritz Leiber's own design from the 1930s. The Chaosium was rather a pioneer in making licenced properties so central to its RPG line.

Quote from: Phillip;770620Not specific game brands, as far as I know, but treatments of the material in, e.g., The Dragon and later Deities & Demigods (for D&D), and Sorcerer's Apprentice (not system-specific, iirc, despite the periodical's association with Tunnels & Trolls).

It is much the same with Vance, Leiber, Moorcock and other authors prior to licensing, although TSR's Battle of Five Armies may have -- I don't know -- flouted the rights of the Tolkien estate. Said estate caused the removal of some references from later printings of Chainmail and D&D (which also included encounter tables for Barsoom).

Early licensed games with some relation to the role-playing scene treated Barsoom, Hyborian Age, Saberhagen's Berserkers and Flash Gordon. TSR published a Lankhmar board game based on Harry Fischer's and Fritz Leiber's own design from the 1930s. The Chaosium was rather a pioneer in making licenced properties so central to its RPG line.

Prior to Call of Cthulhu? Not even a board game far as I can discern aside from the appearance in Dragon and AD&D..

The late 60s to early 70s saw a gradual increase in interest in Lovecrafts works. There were appearances in Night Gallery in 72. Before that there were some movie adaptions like Colour out of Space, Charles Dexter Ward, etc in the mid to late 60s.

Leiber wrote for Dragon magazine too.

Quote from: Ronin;770619Its not its own game but didnt the original D&D Gods and Demi-Gods have Cthulhu mythos in it?

The first Deities & Demigods for AD&D 1st Edition had them. I have that one.

Quote from: Lynn;770682The first Deities & Demigods for AD&D 1st Edition had them. I have that one.

Yeah, that book was released in 1980. But Chaosium had the rights to CoC, and published its first edition in 1981.

More details:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deities_%26_Demigods

It's kinda amazing how mainstream Cthulhu has become. There was a day not so very long ago when Lovecraft and his works were the ultimate obscure nerd "Secret handshake".

Yeah, it's really amazing how popular he is now. I think the RPG played a fairly big role.

But you would see HPL pop up now and then in popular culture before then. For instance, there was a radio show adaption of The Dunwich Horror for some radio show. Had Ronald Colman as Dr. Armitage, which is quite cool.

Anyway, Zenopus had a post on Cthulhu in D&D

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-cthulhu-mythos-in-d-in-1970s.html

Basically just mentions until Dragon #12, Feb 1978, where you have an article about the mythos with stats (a la the original D&DG)

Quote from: JeremyR;770854Yeah, it's really amazing how popular he is now. I think the RPG played a fairly big role.

It wasnt the RPG.

It was Arkham House publishing and August Derleth getting the stories out there and encouraging new writers to add to it just as Lovecraft had.

The late 60s seems to be when it started to enter into media awareness as Roger Corman and Hammer adapted stories, and others started projects as well. From there it gradually accumulated into the 70s. And Lovecraftian horrors make for some very interesting creatures. Moreso since Lovecraft himself dabbled in fantasy and Howard would even drop mention of Mythos beings into his stories and vis-a-vis so Gygax and co would be bumping into Mythose reffrences from the fantasy angle.

The RPG though showed that you could do a game based on the era and material and go in very different directions than D&D. Gahan Wilson had a very long review of the first edition CoC in the Twilight Zone magazine.

From there its progressed further and further. Though some modern writers and movie makers have drifted far from the core into gore and slasher-level movies.

Quote from: Omega;770863It wasnt the RPG.

It was Arkham Hose publishing and August Derleth getting the stories out there and encouraging new writers to add to it just as Lovecraft had.

Beware the Arkham Hose! ;)

Quote from: Mark Plemmons;770940Beware the Arkham Hose! ;)

Chaugnar Faugn or Yag-Kosha?

Quote from: Omega;770863It wasnt the RPG.

It was Arkham House publishing and August Derleth getting the stories out there and encouraging new writers to add to it just as Lovecraft had.

From what I read, Arkham House was created specifically to keep his works published.

But the game has had its influence as well. There are a whole lot of newer writers who cut their teeth on the RPG. They seem to gather over on Yog-Sothoth.com.

Yeah, nothing specific but early D&D was sprinkled with references throughout. Holmes was a big fan as you can see from his writings.

Quote from: Omega;770863It wasnt the RPG.

It was Arkham House publishing and August Derleth getting the stories out there and encouraging new writers to add to it just as Lovecraft had.

I would disagree.

Have you ever actually seen an Arkham House book? They're pretty much just for collectors - expensive, small print runs, have to special order them. Unless you knew they exist, you never would have heard of them (or HPL).

Lin Carter actually deserves more credit than Arkham House for popularizing Lovecraft, he made Lovecraft available in bookstores in paperback form in the 70s by starting Ballantine's Adult Fantasy Line.

And it was really when Del Rey picked it up that they published HPL's Mythos stories, not just his Dreamlands stuff.

And it was the RPG that made Cthulhu a household name, eventually. It made nerds & geeks aware of Cthulhu, and that filtered through the rest of the media.

As proof, look at how Cthulhu is pronounced these days. Not the way HPL pronounced it (which was "Kloo-loo"), but how Chaosium pronounced it.

Quote from: JeremyR;771191Lin Carter actually deserves more credit than Arkham House for popularizing Lovecraft, he made Lovecraft available in bookstores in paperback form in the 70s by starting Ballantine's Adult Fantasy Line.

YES. Lin Carter deserves credit for popularizing many cool writers whose works would otherwise be quite obscure.