Chaosium is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Its first game was a wargame called White Bear and Red Moon, which was later reworked to become Dragon Pass and its sequel, Nomad Gods. White Bear and Red Moon is notable for containing the first published material about Glorantha, later used as the primary setting for the role-playing games RuneQuest, Hero Wars and HeroQuest. Chaosium is the publisher of Call of Cthulhu, based on the stories of H. P. Lovecraft.
Background[]
The rules of RuneQuest, Chaosium's first role-playing game, were distilled down into a generic, genre-neutral format known as Basic Role-Playing (BRP). These generic rules formed the basis of many of Chaosium's later RPGs, such as Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, Nephilim, and Ringworld.
Chaosium and Greg Stafford are also responsible for Pendragon, an Arthurian RPG now published by White Wolf, Inc.'s ArtHaus imprint after a spell with Green Knight Publishing. Other games of note include Thieves' World, Mythos, Elfquest, Worlds of Wonder, Superworld, Hawkmoon, Stormbringer, and Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game.
Several notable RPG authors have written material for Chaosium, including Steve Perrin, Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis, Keith Herber, David Conyers, Ken St. Andre, Mike Mason, and Arduin creator David A. Hargrave.
New directions[]
In response to collectible card games' popularity after the emergence of Magic: The Gathering, Chaosium released the now discontinued Mythos CCG.
In the late 1990s, Chaosium effectively split up into various successor companies, each maintaining its focus on a few of the company's products. Green Knight Publishing formed to focus on Pendragon, Chaosium "proper" retained Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and Mythos, while Greg Stafford (who left Chaosium in 1998) founded Issaries, Inc. to publish HeroQuest and focus on bringing new Glorantha related material into print. Also, Wizard's Attic (no longer in business) was formed in order to act as a fulfillment house.
Chaosium continues to release roleplaying supplements for its Call of Cthulhu and BRP product lines. In 2012, Cthulhu by Gaslight won two Ennie awards at GenCon Indian;, Gold for Best Supplement and Silver for Best Cover Art.[1] Later that year Cthulhu by Gaslight also won the Diehard GameFAN award for Best Re-Make/Re-release. Chaosium successfully funded a kickstarter for a re-release of the box-set campaign, Horror on the Orient Express.[2]
In June of 2015, Chaosium announced the return of both Greg Stafford and Sandy Peterson to the the firm. According to their announcement:
| “ | Greg Stafford, founder of Chaosium and creative force during its heyday, is now President. Sandy Petersen, world renowned game designer who brought Cthulhu into the light three decades ago, has rejoined the team as well. Greg says: "Chaosium is part of my legacy. My intent is to restore it to its rightful place in the world of gaming. Something we can all take pride in, and something that fans will look forward to. Where 'what’s next?' is answered with 'I can’t wait'." [3] | „ |
Selected Publications[]
Games[]
- Arkham Horror, the board game of Lovecraftian Horror (formerly, license since transferred to Fantasy Flight Games.
- Call of Cthulhu, roleplaying game.
- Mythos, collectible card game.
- Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection, card game.
- Miskatonic Tales: Journey to Innsmouth, upcoming board game.
Fiction[]
The Cthulhu Cycle[]
A series of thematic anthologies designed to provide background and material to complement the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.
- The Hastur Cycle: 13 Tales that Created and Define Dread Hastur, the King in Yellow, Nighted Yuggoth, and Dire Carcosa, by Robert M. Price, ed. (October 1993, June 2006)
- Mysteries of the Worm, by Robert Bloch (October 1993)
- Cthulhu's Heirs: Tales of the Mythos for the New Millennium, by Thomas M. K. Stratman, ed. (March 1994)
- The Shub-Niggurath Cycle: Tales of the Black Goat with a Thousand Young, by Robert M. Price, ed. (July 1994)
- Encyclopedia Cthuliana , by Daniel Harms (December 1994, June 1998)
- The Azathoth Cycle: Tales of the Blind Idiot God, by Robert M. Price, ed. (March 1995)
- The Book of Iod, by Henry Kuttner (May 1995)
- Made in Goatswood: New Tales of Horror in the Severn Valley, by Scott David Aniolowski, ed. (July 1995)
- The Dunwich Cycle: Where the Old Gods Wait, by Robert M. Price, ed. (November 1995)
- The Disciples of Cthulhu: Second Revised Edition, by Edward P. Berglund, ed. (February 1996)
- The Cthulhu Cycle: Thirteen Tentacles of Terror, by Robert M. Price, ed. (July 1996)
- The Necronomicon: Selected Stories and Essays Concerning the Blasphemous Tome of the Mad Arab, by Robert M. Price, ed. (November 1996)
- The Xothic Legend Cycle: The Complete Mythos Fiction of Lin Carter, by Lin Carter (1997)
Other Call of Cthulhu Fiction[]
- Castle of Eyes, by Penelope Love (January 1993)
- Singers of Strange Songs: A Celebration of Brian Lumley, by Scott David Aniolowski, ed. (January 1997)
- The Scroll of Thoth, by Richard L. Tierney (January 1997)
- The Nyarlathotep Cycle: The God of a Thousand Forms, by Robert M. Price, ed. (May 1997)
- Nightmare’s Disciple, by Joseph Pulver (January 1998)
- The Innsmouth Cycle: The Taint of the Deep Ones in 13 Tales, by Robert M. Price, ed. (February 1998)
- The Ithaqua Cycle: The Wind-Walker of the Icy Wastes, by Robert M. Price, ed. (July 1998)
- Antarktos Cycle: At the Mountains of Madness and Other Chilling Tales, by Robert M. Price (1999)
- The Book of Eibon, by Robert M. Price, ed. (1999)
- Tales Out of Innsmouth: New Stories of the Children of Dagon, by Robert M. Price, ed. (September 1999)
- Book of Dzyan: The Known Text, The Secret Doctrine, Additional Sources, A Life of Mme. Blavatsky, by Tim Maroney, ed. (February 2000)
- Song of Cthulhu: Tales of Spheres Beyond Sound, by Stephen Mark Rainey (January 2001)
- Nameless Cults: The Cthulhu Mythos Fiction of Robert E. Howard, by Robert E. Howard (October 2001)
- Disciples of Cthulhu 2: Blasphemous Tales of the Followers, by Edward P. Berglund (2003)
- The White People and Other Tales, by Arthur Machen (May 2003)
- The Yellow Sign and Other Stories, by Robert W. Chambers (July 2004)
- The Tsathoggua Cycle: Terror Tales of the Toad God, by Robert M. Price, ed. (2005)
- The Terror & Other Stories, by Arthur Machen (April 2005)
- Arkham Tales: Legends of the Haunted City, by William Jones, ed. (2006)
- The Complete Pegana, by Lord Dunsany (January 2006)
- The Three Imposters & Other Stories, by Arthur Machen (June 2007)
- The Spiraling Worm: Man vs. the Cthulhu Mythos, by David Conyers & John Sunseri (June 2007)
- Frontier Cthulhu: Ancient Horrors in the New World, by William Jones, ed. (October 2007)
- The Strange Cases of Rudolph Pearson: Horripilating Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, by William Jones (April 2008)
- The Klarkash-Ton Cycle: Clark Ashton Smith's Cthulhu Mythos Fiction, by Clark Ashton Smith (June 2008)
- Cthulhu's Dark Cults (May 2010)
- The Yith Cycle: Lovecraftian Tales of the Great Race and Time Travel (November 2010)
- Steampunk Cthulhu: Mythos Terror in the Age of Steam, by Glynn Owen Barrass and Brian M. Sammons, eds. (June 2014)
- Once Upon an Apocalypse: 23 Twisted Fairy Tales, by Scott T. Goudsward and Rachel Kenley, eds. (August 2014)
- Madness on the Orient Express: 16 Lovecraftian Tales of an Unforgettable Journey, by James Lowder, ed. (December 2014)
- Goat Mother and Others: The Complete Mythos Fiction of Pierre V. Comtois, by Pierre V. Comtois (February 2015)
- Cassilda's Song: Tales Inspired by Robert W. Chambers' King in Yellow Mythos, by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., ed. (February 2015)
- Undead & Unbound: Unexpected Tales from Beyond the Grave, by David Conyers and Brian M. Sammons (June 2015)
- Edge of Sundown: Tales of Horror in the Wild West, by Kevin Ross and Brian M. Sammons, eds. (July 2015)
- Legacy of the Reanimator: Chronicles of Dr. Herbert West, by Peter Rawlik and Brian M. Sammons, eds. (December 2015)
- Atomic-Age Cthulhu: Tales of Mythos Horror in the 1950s, by Glynn Owen Barrass and Brian M. Sammons, eds. (December 2015)
- Eldritch Chrome: Unquiet Tales of a Mythos-Haunted Future, by Glynn Owen Barrass and Brian M. Sammons, eds. (April 2016)
- Mark of the Beast: A Collection of Werewolf Stories, by Scott David Aniolowski, ed. (June 2016)
- H. P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu for Beginning Readers, by R. J. Ivankovic (August 2017)
- H. P. Lovecraft's Dagon for Beginning Readers, by R. J. Ivankovic (February 2019)
References[]
- ↑ Congratulations to the 2012 ENnie Award winners!. Ennie-awards.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2014.
- ↑ Horror on the Orient Express: Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium. Kickstarter. Retrieved on 18 December 2014.
- ↑ The Great Old Ones have returned!. Kickstarter. Retrieved on 11 June 2015.