Polite Dissent

For fans of H.P. Lovecraft, the latest issue of Dragon Magazine (#324, October 2004) contains an article detailing the influence of Lovecraft’s writings on the game of Dungeons & Dragons. A brief synopsis of his life and works begins the article, and then it details adventures, monsters and concepts that the author feels are based on the work of Lovecraft.

The author does a concise job covering the convoluted history of the Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia, especially the much sought after first edition. The Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia was a Dungeons & Dragons reference book that contained statistics for various gods and mythological monsters so that they could be incorporated into the game. In addition to the more common mythologies, there were several chapters based on the works of fantasy authors. One of these was a sizable section with creatures from Lovecraft’s writings. Shortly after publication, Chaosium obtained the rights to Lovecraft’s works (for their Call of Cthulhu role-playing game) and so the later editions of Deities & Demigods did not contain this section. Similarly, Chaosium also obtained the rights to Michael Moorcock’s Elric series and so the Melnibon顮 section of the book was also missing from later editions (though this is not mentioned in the article).

Several extensive quotes culled from some of Lovecraft’s voluminous correspondence are included in the article as well. In particular, there is an interesting quote about the origin of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser that I’ve never seen before (and for the record, the Lankhmar section remained in the later editions of Deities & Demigods).

While there are passages where it feels like the author is reaching too hard for connections, it is a well written piece overall and worth reading for any Lovecraft or D&D fan.

Another must for any fan of H.P. Lovecraft is Pok鴨ulhu: The Adventure Game. Written by S. John Ross and illustrated by John Kovalic, this game somehow manages to combine the classic works of Lovecraft with Pok魯n. The results are a short hilarious game that is worth every penny of its $5.95 price tag. There are enough inside jokes for both Pok魯n players and long time Lovecraft aficionados to keep the reader in stitches for hours (check out the map on the inside front cover). Now they even make Pok鴨ulhu miniatures!

Unfortunately, Lovecraft does not always get good press. In 1987 Baen Books published a collection of Robert E. Howard stories entitled Cthulhu: The Mythos and Kindred Horrors. Being a fan of both Lovecraft and Howard, I picked it up the minute I saw it. Reading the introduction by David Drake, you would think that Howard was the sole creator and writer involved in the weird tales genre. Lovecraft is only mentioned once, and then in a derogatory fashion. This is despite the fact that his creation Cthulhu is the first word in the title and a picture of Cthulhu adorns the cover.

In no way am I maligning Howard’s work. He wrote some excellent stories in this genre, and most are collected in this book (including the incredible “Pigeons From Hell”). It just irks me the misleading way that Baen published this otherwise excellent collection.