An August Lineage

Wow.

For the last week, I've been working on a post about the lack of appreciation August Derleth gets among Call of Cthulhu gamers. I was going to point out his importance in putting together the Cthulhu mythos as it is understood today by most Lovecraft fans, but more importantly I was going to point out his importance in making the mythos actually gameable. Whereas Lovecraft occasionally toyed with letting the heroes win in his stories, he was far more likely to write endings that made the hero's struggle seem futile and pointless; not exactly the kind of adventure that would bring gamers back to the table again and again. Derleth was the man who really showed us how to structure mythos stories about brave investigators pushing back the darkness at terrible cost to buy humanity another brief respite from destruction. It's the Derleth vision of small victories won in a neverending battle against unearthly horrors that really forms the spine of most Call of Cthulhu games. It was going to be a magnificent post. And then today Grognardia beat me to it. James Maliszewski says almost exactly what I was trying to say, and he says it far better than I could.

My hope is that the stars may at last be right for August Derleth to get a little recognition. CoC gamers in particular owe him a great deal. The specifics of his particular take on the mythos can be corny and ill-fitting at times, to be sure. His white-hatted Elder Gods and elemental Old Ones seem a poor fit for Lovecraft's vision. Derleth's more heroic take on humanity's role in a cosmic struggle of good and evil is also a far cry from the philosophy of HPL. But just as most gamers don't embrace Lovecraft's racism or xenophobia, they need not embrace his nihilism either. It's okay to leave a small light at the end of the dark and tentacled tunnel.