About the Call of Cthulhu LCG
The Cthulhu Mythos
The "Cthulhu Mythos" is a loosely interconnected series of short stories and novels that deal with a race of monstrous beings known as the Great Old Ones. These alien creatures have lived since the dawn of time among the stars and have sometimes been worshipped by cults of human beings and other, less normal creatures. Ages ago, the Old Ones were free to roam the universe, but something changed, and now they wait, imprisoned or sleeping, until "the stars are right" and they can return.
Human beings who encounter the creatures of the Mythos risk insanity, death, or worse, since the human mind is too fragile to incorporate the true cosmic horror of the Old Ones. Mankind can know sanity, or it can know the Truth, but never both.
The Cthulhu Mythos was created by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1936), in stories such as "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "At the Mountains of Madness." Over his life, Lovecraft also incorporated elements from other writer associates of his, most notably Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. In turn these writers used Lovecraftian references in their own stories, and this tradition has continued to this day, as writers such as Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley write their own new Cthulhu Mythos stories.
The term "Cthulhu Mythos" was coined after Lovecraft's death, by the young writer and friend of Lovecraft's August Derleth, who named it for Lovecraft's most famous creature, Great Cthulhu, the enormous tentacled priest of the Great Old Ones, who waits "dead but dreaming" in the sunken corpse-city of R'lyeh.
The Game
In the Call of Cthulhu LCG, investigators battle horrors from beyond time and space, risking life and sanity while conspiracies of cultists and malign servitors seek gateways for their outer gods to return. Players take on the roles of intrepid investigators trying to solve their cases, or the servants of the Mythos seeking to carry out their vile conspiracies, or any combination of the two.
The Factions
The Agency
The Blackwood Detective Agency knows the truth, and knows what they have to do about it. With its network of police officers and concerned citizens, they comb the dive bars, the docks and the back alleys, hunting the servants of the Mythos.
Miskatonic University
No human beings know more about the Mythos than the learned professors at Miskatonic U, and they have learned to fight using the tools of the enemy. But this sort of knowledge comes at great risk to sanity and soul.
The Syndicate
They are amoral criminals of all sorts, from street thugs to corrupt politicians, financiers and businessmen. But compared to the forces of the Ancient Ones, even criminals can seem like the good guys.
Cthulhu
The cult of Cthulhu can be found throughout the world's history, in all cultures, among all races, human and otherwise. They await the rising of R'lyeh, when mankind becomes as the Great Old Ones, and all shall shout and kill and revel in joy.
Hastur
The subtle cult of Hastur is composed of deranged artists and raving lunatics, many of whom do not even truly realize Who it is they serve. But their secret masters know, and they delight in the spread of insanity's slow poison.
Yog-Sothoth
Yog-Sothoth is the key to the gate, whereby the spheres meet; Its worshippers know the secret ways between the worlds. Yog-Sothoth is unknowable, and Its motives are beyond comprehension. But Yog-Sothoth is not of this world, and has no especial love for it.
Shub-Niggurath
The horrid Mother spawns uncountable servants of all forms and types, as well as attracting worshippers from the outcast, the perverse, and the deranged. In the caverns of the world they craw and scuttle, and in the rotting earth they unceasingly burrow.
