Friday, 3 January 2014

Cthulhu Works With Everything

I've often thought that, if you wanted incontrovertible proof that the Cthulhu mythos is true, it's that you can put it into any setting and it will instantly improve it.

Way back at the start of this blog, in 2008 (it seems like only yesterday, but it is getting on for six bloody years ago), I was talking about OzCthulhu, my idea for a setting inspired by Aboriginal Australians with a heavy dose of the Cthulhu mythos on top. One of the commenters on that early entry postulated the idea of a setting mixing L. Frank Baum's Oz with the Cthulhu mythos, which works too. But other options will suggest themselves, because CTHULHU WORKS WITH EVERYTHING. Ancient Greece, but with added Cthulhu mythos. Icelandic sagas, but with added Cthulhu mythos. The Many Coloured-Land, but with added Cthulhu mythos. Star Wars, but with added Cthulhu mythos. The Incan Empire, but with added Cthulhu mythos. A Song of Ice and Fire, but with added Cthulhu mythos. Middle Earth, but with added Cthulhu mythos. The Nazis, but with added Cthulhu mythos. 1920s America, but with added C...no, hang on.


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7 comments:

  1. Jay Murphy3 January 2014 at 09:38

    Hell, it works with AA, a power greater than oneself.... Sanity checks mandatory in all rpg's, incorporate mechanism today!

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  2. Digital Orc3 January 2014 at 23:55

    They tried it with Cyberpunk: http://digitalorc.blogspot.com/2011/01/cthulhupunk-interesting-genre.html

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    1. noisms4 January 2014 at 05:45

      Interesting - sort of an added extra to Shadowrun, really.

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  3. liza4 January 2014 at 02:03

    The Many-Coloured Land + Cthulhu... oh fuck!
    So: celtic shide + psionics + aliens + arturian romance + time travel + pliocenic megafauna + Things Beyond Space and Time...
    Thank you, sir: you just give me my next campaign.

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  4. Marshall Smith7 January 2014 at 00:34

    There are some that just get silly. Like My Little Pony or Jane Austen.

    There are a few that don't work well. 7th Sea demonstrated by the end of its run that Three Musketeers plus Cthulhu is a mix that no one really wants. Similarly, if you introduced Cthulhu to four-color supers, you either lose the four-color aspects (making the supers too dark and gritty) or the Lovecraftian aspects (making the horrors into, basically, kaiju).

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  5. Eoul the Grey9 October 2016 at 14:06

    Apparently, according to the World of Ice and Fire, if you head east enough from Westros you start running into places like Carcosa, Lend, Kadath, a city so cursed that the jungle will not grow there, inbred cannibal fishmen, evil toad gods demanding human sacrifice, etc. Plus, there are some mythos references among the Ironborn as well.

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    Replies
    1. noisms16 October 2016 at 17:30

      Interesting. Is that in any of the novels? I always thought the Ironborn "drowned god" thing was a bit of an homage to Lovecraft, but hadn't noticed other references.

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