Loving Lovecraft Games

I know I have a problem.  It has to do with my love of the themes and general wierdness in a lot of stories by Howard Philip Lovecraft.  And not just the Chtulhu mythos either, although I do very much enjoy those stories.  And when companies create games (both board games and video games), they tend to focus on Cthulhu as opposed to other Elder Gods, which I am perfectly okay with; plus it might be harder to sell a board game called "The Culling of Shub-Niggurath."  Thankfully though, none of the games that borrow and modify the mythos he created that I have played have mimicked Lovecrafts known racism or antisemitism.  

The point is, I recognize that I have a problem whenever I come across a game that has some element of Lovecraftian mythos attached to it, be it ones that directly reference the Great Old Ones, or simply employ some type of madness or insanity mechanic.  Presently, our go-to for Lovecraftian gaming is Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition, although I am always willing to expand beyond that New England setting.  Another large part of this, is seeing a professional artists interpretation of Lovecrafts sometimes vague and near contradicting descriptions of his creations.  The Elder Things for example, from "At The Mountains of Madness" are described as such:

Six feet end to end, three and five-tenths feet central diameter, tapering to one foot at each end. Like a barrel with five bulging ridges in place of staves. Lateral breakages, as of thinnish stalks, are at equator in middle of these ridges. In furrows between ridges are curious growths—combs or wings that fold up and spread out like fans ... which gives almost seven-foot wing spread. 

Game length can also be an issue, since building a sense of fear and dread can have more of an effect over the course of a couple of hours instead of a 15 minute game.  Card games like Lovecraft Letter and Tides of Madness, and even the dice game Cthulhu Dice are designed for faster play and employ some level a madness mechanic, but really only in name and not so much in how the player feels.  Possibly.  We have only played those three games a few times, with nights of extended gaming usually reverting (being in no way a bad thing) to Mansions of Madness.

And that is just board games.  I am currently playing Darkest Dungeon which is also heavily inspired by Lovecraftian lore and also employs a stress mechanic as well as a narrator who has recorded (presently) six collections of H.P. Lovecraft audio books.  And the new Call of Cthulhu game from Cyanide, which was recently announced as receiving a Switch release.  And I would be remiss to even talking about weird cosmic horror video games without bringing up Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, which, believe it or not, I started playing before I really into Lovecraft, which is probably why I thought that the areas in the cyclopean city under the Roivas Mansion were so odd compared to the rest of the game.

Now, there are plenty of games, both board, video, and card games that I have not played due to both time and money.  I have had my eye on the Arkham Horror, Eldritch Horror, and The Elder Sign (which wonderfully enough all take place in the same universe with the same characters, from Fantasy Flight Games), as well as the Cthulhu skinned Pandemic version aptly titled Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu and I am very amused and slightly intrigued with Yahtzee Cthulhu and Monopoly Cthulhu.  I almost wonder why there isn't a Clue: Cthulhu, although I usually just explain to people that Mansions of Madness is already like a Clue set in a Cthulhu universe.  Although I guess if and when we buy a copy of Monopoly, because what is a home without a copy of Monopoly, it might as well be one that is Lovecraft related.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Purpose to Live is Reality

P.S.  After a "very" brief search over on Amazon, this is a short list of Lovecraft-related games if you are looking for something to play in the next two days it will take for Amazon to ship you a new board game*.  And this is in no way an attempt at an exhaustive list.  That would be too long a list and too boring to use as a full article.  I also don't have the time.

Arkham Horror
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Cthulhu Dice
Cthulhu Fluxx
Cthulhu Gloom
Cthulhu in the House
Cthulhu Wars
Cultists of Cthulhu
The Elder Sign
The Eldrich Horror
The Call of Cthulhu Card Game
Lost in R'lyeh: Call of Cthulhu
Lovecraft Letter
Mansions of Madness
Mansions of Madness 2nd Edtion
Monopoly Cthulhu
Mountains of Madness
Munchkin: Cthulhu
Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu
The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31
Tides of Madness
Yahtzee Cthulhu

*This is in no way a paid advertisement to/for Amazon, they're just an easy resource for looking up available boardgames.  And we're all about being easy here.