Let's face it - Call of Cthulhu players are book-lovers. At least they should be. Or at least, I think that they should be. Most tales of the Cthulhu Mythos revolve around the mayhem and chaos that comes from poking around in tomes that were better left for the bookworms to dipose of. Some of my favourite stories are the ones that focus on the sinister pages of crazy writers and the games that I run revolve around foetid tomes of unspeakable evil. When I put together material for games and other forums, I become fascinated by the histories, contents and the physical properties of various books - it's probably due to the fact that I work with old books for a living and I like what I do.
What bothers me - and it's from the perspective of a bibliophile and bookseller that I speak - is when writers for the Lovecraftian genre throw stuff together that's blatantly wrong. Like getting the publishing house of a book incorrect. Or mistranslating XVth Century French. I know it's a bit obscure, but I always feel that if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right. After all, the fundamental aim of most roleplaying games is to enact a story in the context of a past time or era; if you play a wrong note in your scene-setting overture, the rest of the symphony is going to collapse in a heap.
So, I'm throwing this blog together. It will contain various musings, writings and other source material which I'm happy to put out there free for others to use in their own games and other Cthulhoid efforts. Some of it will take the form of cranky rants - so be it. I'm opinionated and forthright (at least about my Mythos cogitations) and I'm happy to start an argument over things I'm passionate about. This is a Debating Club after all.
I hope you enjoy what is to follow!
Cthulhu f'tagh'n!
No comments:
Post a Comment