Derleth Addendum

After glancing over my last post, I was struck by the feeling that I may have come across as just a tad more deeply in love with the work of August Derleth than I meant. To be clear: I'm not saying Derleth's mythos writing is of great literary value, nor am I saying that his works should be placed alongside Lovecraft's in the 'cannon' of Cthulhu lore. I am also not saying that his philosophy is an inherently better take on such tales.

All I meant to convey was that Derleth's tales did a great service for gamers who wished to delve into the Cthulhu mythos. His failings are very easy to see, but I feel his contributions are too often overlooked. His work, though essentially fan fiction, helped to solidify the idea of a universe where horrors from beyond the stars must be battled by brave investigators. Cthulhu gaming need not always follow this mold, but I think it would be much poorer without it.

By way of example: Arkham Horror. I've only played this game a handful of times due its demands on time and (more importantly) table space, but I've always enjoyed it tremendously. To judge by the number of expansions lavished on it by Fantasy Flight Games, I would have to think there are many, many other gamers out there who get a great deal of pleasure from the Arkham Horror experience. Yet it is unlikely that there would be an Arkham Horror without August Derleth. When AH was initially pitched to Chaosium back in 1987, it was as 'The Call of Cthulhu Boardgame'. It was meant as a sort of caricature of the CoC experience. Portals are opening, monsters are everywhere, and brave investigators must race against time to keep the Ultimate Evil from descending on our universe. It's the classic CoC premise that forms the backbone of a very large percentage of the game's most beloved adventures. And it's all classic Derleth. The abundance of magic, the fearless men of action, the Elder Sign (star-shaped, as conceived by Derleth) being flashed around like a super-crucifix, the ability to use holy water and even the blessings of the church to ward off evil monsters...the game really owes as much or more to Derleth's vision as Lovecraft's. And yet this vision makes for a great game.