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Stealing Cthulhu
Many Cthulhu games feel the same. You shoot cultists. You do rituals. You unearth a buried god that's like every other god you've dug up. This book shows you how to make your games new and horrifying: by stealig from H. P. Lovecraft.
178 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 21, 2017
Years ago, I learned a number of surrealist games meant to spur creativity and put one’s mind into a frame where those playing the games could see the world in new and surprising ways. For example, “n+7” is a game in which one takes a text, say a paragraph from a novel, and identifies all the nouns. After this, the player grabs the nearest dictionary and looks up the first noun. Then, in the dictionary, the reader counts the next seven nouns and inserts the seventh noun for the one in the original text. This is an excellent way to spur the brain into an entirely different mode of thinking, having a form of logic, but with illogical, even jarring, signposts along the read.
Now imagine taking the already strange works of H.P Lovecraft, Ramsey Campbell, and Colin Wilson, pulling elements out, decontextualizing, then re-contextualizing them. Vary the levels of granularity (from such elements as a mythos monster, to a specific trait of a mythos monster, from a thematic element to a specific setting, for example), and you instantly have a multifaceted mythos mixing board from which you can subtract, to which you can add, wherein you can focus or blur – you get the picture.
This, along with the "Playing the Game" section of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook should give enough tools to any would-be horror writer (whether of games or fiction) to create a fantastic breadth of work that still retains its core “Lovecraftiness”.
This is all well and good, but my introduction to the work here seems far too mechanical. As I review books, I always like to take notes to inform my later review of the book. In this case, though, I want to give my updates to you in their raw, unadulterated form. Not because I’m lazy (though I am), but because I cannot effectively convey the utter delight I felt in reading this book, not from the post-reading perspective. This book made a strong impression on me, and I think it best to show that via the notes I made in real-time. So, here they are:
“This is one of the best arguments for plagiarism . . . er, adaption of another's material that I've ever read.”
“Well, this is definitely whisking away my reading time. Easy read, great advice.”
“The color out of space is quickly becoming my favorite "bad" guy.”
“Ah, I see, this is where we take the wisdom gleaned from earlier chapters and apply it to specific creatures of the mythos. Good stuff. I like that structure - helps the lessons to really sink in.”
“Leveraging Flying Polyps as representations of elemental creatures. Interesting. Hadn't thought of that. And substituting other elemental creatures (fire, earth, water, ???) in the seminal story "The Shadow Out of Time" to turn it into an adventure - simple, yet brilliant. Walmsley is giving a textbook lesson in adventure writing here. So glad I hunted down a hard copy of this book.”
In essence, I loved it. I can't recommend it strongly enough. And I am really glad I bought the hard copy (good luck - they're out there, but they're not cheap, and you can have mine when you pry it from my cold, dead hands). I will be returning to this book again and again. It is definitely making it near the top of my list of books about writing (which I normally despise), whether for games or for fiction. Apply these techniques to any genre you can imagine, heck, it's probably best to intentionally cross genre lines while using them. The possibilities are . . . expansive.
Now imagine taking the already strange works of H.P Lovecraft, Ramsey Campbell, and Colin Wilson, pulling elements out, decontextualizing, then re-contextualizing them. Vary the levels of granularity (from such elements as a mythos monster, to a specific trait of a mythos monster, from a thematic element to a specific setting, for example), and you instantly have a multifaceted mythos mixing board from which you can subtract, to which you can add, wherein you can focus or blur – you get the picture.
This, along with the "Playing the Game" section of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook should give enough tools to any would-be horror writer (whether of games or fiction) to create a fantastic breadth of work that still retains its core “Lovecraftiness”.
This is all well and good, but my introduction to the work here seems far too mechanical. As I review books, I always like to take notes to inform my later review of the book. In this case, though, I want to give my updates to you in their raw, unadulterated form. Not because I’m lazy (though I am), but because I cannot effectively convey the utter delight I felt in reading this book, not from the post-reading perspective. This book made a strong impression on me, and I think it best to show that via the notes I made in real-time. So, here they are:
“This is one of the best arguments for plagiarism . . . er, adaption of another's material that I've ever read.”
“Well, this is definitely whisking away my reading time. Easy read, great advice.”
“The color out of space is quickly becoming my favorite "bad" guy.”
“Ah, I see, this is where we take the wisdom gleaned from earlier chapters and apply it to specific creatures of the mythos. Good stuff. I like that structure - helps the lessons to really sink in.”
“Leveraging Flying Polyps as representations of elemental creatures. Interesting. Hadn't thought of that. And substituting other elemental creatures (fire, earth, water, ???) in the seminal story "The Shadow Out of Time" to turn it into an adventure - simple, yet brilliant. Walmsley is giving a textbook lesson in adventure writing here. So glad I hunted down a hard copy of this book.”
In essence, I loved it. I can't recommend it strongly enough. And I am really glad I bought the hard copy (good luck - they're out there, but they're not cheap, and you can have mine when you pry it from my cold, dead hands). I will be returning to this book again and again. It is definitely making it near the top of my list of books about writing (which I normally despise), whether for games or for fiction. Apply these techniques to any genre you can imagine, heck, it's probably best to intentionally cross genre lines while using them. The possibilities are . . . expansive.
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March 7, 2024Dissektion som utgår från devisen nothing is canon - ett sunt förhållningssätt till den lovecraftska mytvärlden.
Boken innehåller handskrivna annotationer, bland annat av Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan som är en av mina favoriter inom rollspelshobbyn.
Boken innehåller handskrivna annotationer, bland annat av Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan som är en av mina favoriter inom rollspelshobbyn.
November 3, 2014
This is quite enjoyable. Its breaks down H.P. Lovecraft's work into its basic elements and allows would-be Call of Cthulhu RPG Keepers that chance to understand the building blocks behind the game. I'm an experienced Cthuhlu player and keeper so there was nothing new as such in it for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and "rediscovering" Lovecraft. If you're just interested in Lovecraft's writings, you'll find this an interesting read. Be warned, though, it has excessive bookmarks that have you skimming back and forth from the notes section and your chapter. A bookmark is essential. I used the book's receipt to keep the notes section marks as I kept going back to the same parts.
October 11, 2023
Big „meh“. Would’ve been better as a blog posts, and while the „notes by the editors“ (friends/colleagues) seems like a cute idea, there’s too many instances where the note goes something like - direct quote - „Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!“. Why don’t you fix your book then before you sell it when your editor is already calling you out on wrong information?
October 14, 2011
One of the best things I've read on creating adventures for RPGs. It begins by analyzing what goes into a Mythos story by Lovecraft and how to take parts from different stories and mix them together into something new, yet still recognizably Lovecraftian. It then applies what it just discussed by giving a number of examples from different stories, most by Lovecraft but a few by other authors. Finally, it presents "Cthulhu Dark" (because "Cthulhu Light" would be genre inappropriate), a very simple set of rules to run Cthulhu games with.
Throughout the book the focus is on elements of Lovecraft that rarely make it into games, but there are still some short discussions concerning those that do. Those discussions mainly focus on trying to prevent those more commonly used elements from being cliched.
Obviously, this book is going to be most useful to those running a Mythos based RPG (Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, etc.), but I don't know too many groups that never run a Cthulhu game of some sort. Also, some of the overall concepts could be applied to other genres. Specifically the core idea of taking existing elements from different stories and mixing and matching them together to create something new.
I'm looking forward to using some of this advice in a Trail of Cthulhu game, the next time we break it out to play in our gaming catacomb.
Throughout the book the focus is on elements of Lovecraft that rarely make it into games, but there are still some short discussions concerning those that do. Those discussions mainly focus on trying to prevent those more commonly used elements from being cliched.
Obviously, this book is going to be most useful to those running a Mythos based RPG (Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, etc.), but I don't know too many groups that never run a Cthulhu game of some sort. Also, some of the overall concepts could be applied to other genres. Specifically the core idea of taking existing elements from different stories and mixing and matching them together to create something new.
I'm looking forward to using some of this advice in a Trail of Cthulhu game, the next time we break it out to play in our gaming catacomb.
June 29, 2020
This is five stars for a particular audience and probably not of much interest to other audiences.
But I'm in the target demographic, so I loved it.
This book is meant for people who are fairly familiar with H.P. Lovecraft's stories, a few in particular, and moderately familiar with Cthulhu-based role-playing games such as Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, and Delta Green.
It distills H.P. Lovecraft's writing down to the essential building blocks (or saltes if you prefer) and explains how you can mix and match them to create scenarios that feel fresh. It also comments on how different Lovecraft's actual stories are from well-known Call of Cthulhu scenarios and tropes, which is useful to remember.
The original text is excellent and is improved further by the annotations from three other role playing game designers. There's also a section on weaving plots from specific monsters or mythos gods.
Overall? It's an extremely niche book, but if you are interested in that niche, there's really nothing else that quite covers this, let alone does it better.
But I'm in the target demographic, so I loved it.
This book is meant for people who are fairly familiar with H.P. Lovecraft's stories, a few in particular, and moderately familiar with Cthulhu-based role-playing games such as Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, and Delta Green.
It distills H.P. Lovecraft's writing down to the essential building blocks (or saltes if you prefer) and explains how you can mix and match them to create scenarios that feel fresh. It also comments on how different Lovecraft's actual stories are from well-known Call of Cthulhu scenarios and tropes, which is useful to remember.
The original text is excellent and is improved further by the annotations from three other role playing game designers. There's also a section on weaving plots from specific monsters or mythos gods.
Overall? It's an extremely niche book, but if you are interested in that niche, there's really nothing else that quite covers this, let alone does it better.
February 28, 2012
Evidently Graham Walmsley knows his Lovecraft and I have the feeling he is probably an excellent 'Keeper'. I am also a fan of his output for Pelgrane Press's Trail of Cthulhu
As a Call of Cthulhu resource this is a fairly handy little read but it's over extremely quickly, even in the annotated form. Sadly I don't think it really lived up to its potential and the importance of quality content was overtaken by the author and his buddies' love for the annotated edition concept. Best digested in small pieces, possibly as a bathroom book to replace all those old Cosmopolitans, Classic Prog mags and Frankie Boyle's Autobiography.
As a Call of Cthulhu resource this is a fairly handy little read but it's over extremely quickly, even in the annotated form. Sadly I don't think it really lived up to its potential and the importance of quality content was overtaken by the author and his buddies' love for the annotated edition concept. Best digested in small pieces, possibly as a bathroom book to replace all those old Cosmopolitans, Classic Prog mags and Frankie Boyle's Autobiography.
May 29, 2024
The most important idea in this book, however, is: nothing is sacred. Nothing is canon. You need never, ever be faithful to something you’ve read.
The essay has more limited objectives than it might seem if you read only the description and this irritated me a little at first but in reality it was a wise choice on Walmsley's part.
It takes some iconic stories by Lovecraft plus some extras by other authors such as Chambers for Hastur and offers the tools to analyze them, unpack their components (characteristics of the creatures, plot developments, descriptions, etc.) and then take the latter and recombine them at will, generating something of "original" but still with the same soul as the source material.
The objective is not to distort or modernize at all costs but to learn to recycle and to work on the "original sources", on a few but significant stories by the original writer. A return to the origins without limiting itself to lazy emulation. Today it can be paradoxically fresh.
I especially appreciated the analysis of individual creatures. By reading them I rediscovered aspects that I didn't remember or underestimated. Some "recombinations" suggested by the author and the editors are themselves worthy for those who want to prepare Lovecraft-themed scenarios for role-playing.
Although I also greatly appreciated the game described at the end of the book (Cthulhu Dark in his first and basic form), I found the essay a little lacking in giving practical suggestions for managing the dynamics of the stories at table. It is no coincidence that it seems to me to be a more universal and useful essay for potential writers than a specific manual for role-playing players. I understand that the book is rules-agnostic and it is difficult to make certain dissertantions without a specific game to which to apply them, but in my opinion could have been done more.
I found Stealing Cthulhu mainly focused on the Lovecraft stories that I like least. The Call of Cthulhu is now properly pop but for me, who love stories linked to the Dreamlands such as Celephais and The Silver Key, I feel like I have only read comments on a minor part of the author's poetics. However, I recognize that I give much more weight to these things and Walmsley explains his "limited" approach at the beginning.
Therefore recommended to lovers of Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos who want creative ideas to reread and reuse these classic stories.
December 20, 2025
I was really disappointed with this, I’d heard it was a great guide to adapting Lovecraft into fresh Call of Cthulhu scenarios, a guide to mining the original stories for gameable stuff but I found the advice painfully basic and more suited as a guide to writing knock-off weird fiction than TTRPG scenarios. There was a section on making them ‘investigations’ but it was very shallow.
The annotations were better than the core text but not nearly enough to pull it back for me. Very disappointing considering the names involved and the other stuff they’ve made.
The annotations were better than the core text but not nearly enough to pull it back for me. Very disappointing considering the names involved and the other stuff they’ve made.
January 23, 2022
Contains interesting advice for making Cthulhu stories more genuinely Lovecraftian: bleak, horrific, and dreamlike. Covers many topics: patterns like increasing harm, Mythos creatures like shoggoths, and locations such as catacombs.
Better than "Play Safe." Worth reading though I found the marginalia -- by Gareth Hanrahan, Ken Hite, and Jason Morningstar -- often better than the core text.
Better than "Play Safe." Worth reading though I found the marginalia -- by Gareth Hanrahan, Ken Hite, and Jason Morningstar -- often better than the core text.
July 24, 2017
Aunque está pensado para narradores de Call of Cthulhu RPG, es útil para cualquier RPG lovecraftiano.
January 9, 2014
excellent guide to writing rpg scenarios, particularly if you want to make them feel more akin to Lovecrafts stories rather than pulp or combat based games.
I have been running games for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu since around 1986 but this book has given me a fresh insight into creating a running horror scenarios. I would highly recommend this in conjunction with Robin Laws' guide to gamesmastering, which is another must-have book.
I have been running games for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu since around 1986 but this book has given me a fresh insight into creating a running horror scenarios. I would highly recommend this in conjunction with Robin Laws' guide to gamesmastering, which is another must-have book.
July 31, 2012
Un excelente manual sobre cómo adaptar y utilizar los relatos originales de H.P. Lovecraft para La Llamada de Cthulhu. Describe acertadamente qué elementos constituyen un buen relato de Cthulhu, y cómo mezclarlos y robar sin piedad para crear tus propios escenarios. Si eres un árbitro interesado en darle a tus partidas un aire realmente lovecraftiano, este libro te será muy útil.
March 24, 2012
An excellent discussion on creating horror scenarios by disassembling Lovecraft's work and building it back up again. The ideas are also applicable to other authors and it's given me some great ideas and helped me get unstuck with some of my creative projects.
January 3, 2015
A remarkable bit of game writing. Lovecraft's stories are deconstructed with the aim of providing a toolkit for tabletop role playing. In fact, this is a complete game: a rules-light system is thrown in as an appendix. You need nothing more.
December 7, 2011
Good advice on using creepy horror in games (or pastiche?).
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews