Has Lovecraft become required reading?

[pemerton]

I dare anyone to read Vance and not "get" the magic system. I dare anyone to read Conan and not "get" the combat system.

I've read a little bit of Vance and quite a lot of REH Conan and I don't entirely get either of these mechanics. And to the extent that I do get them, reading Vance and REH hasn't made any difference.

The 1st ed magic system doesn't have the feel of Vance at all - strange laboratories, vat-grown creatures and ancient magical formulae that are taxing on the mind of the user play almost no role in the game. Perhaps the laboratories and the formulae are lurking there in some backstory, but they don't actually feature in game play at all, most of the time. And memorising spells is a prelude to playing the game (a bit like buying your fighter's armour and equipment).

And as for the combat system - with one-minute rounds, the typical Conan fight would last a round or two at most.

This is not to criticise AD&D or its relatives. I played AD&D 1st ed and Moldvay/Cook D&D for several years with great enjoyment, and the fact that I now prefer other systems is a comment on me, not on them. But reading authors like REH and Vance has no effect at all on my interest in or appreciation of these classic forms of D&D.

 

[vagabundo]

As for Lovecraft... long story short: I've read him. He's not scary at all. The pieces are terrifically imaginative. But they don't really work as, well, fiction. Read together they do kinda form an effective psychological horror story about being H.P. Lovecraft. They didn't factor into my D&D campaigns much, if at all --my Lovecraftian horrors are more Grant Morrisonian horrors.
.

Is he suppose to be "scary"? I dont think so. It is suppose to evoke an emotional response, possibly more of a a disturbed feeling, unsettled, with a hint of madness. I don't doubt his influence, it's huge.

His writing style is very heavy, sometimes a bit of a slog, so not everyone's cup of tea I suppose. I do think he should be required reading though.

Aside: I got the two volume set of Lovecraft for Christmas. I'd lost my original complication years ago. One of the stories called Dagon I hadn't read before, it is pretty weird tale about this guy waking up in a strange fishy place and exploring it and meeting Dagon. That night I had some very weird unsettled dreams about Dagon. Mission acomplished H.P.

 

[Raven Crowking]

His specific goal was to create a sense of wonder in the universe, which he thought was best achieved in the modern era by invoking uneasiness about what we do not know. Lovecraft wrote an Astonomy column for his local paper as a teen (if memory serves); he was not anti-scientific.

A lot of his writing is basically "What if higher-dimensional beings visited us, as three-dimensional beings could visit Flatland?" If you've read Flatland & Lovecraft, you probably know what I mean. If not, probably not.


RC

 

[Umbran]

I've heard Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series is Tolkienesque.

It is almost explicitly Williams thinking, "Hey, what would Tolkien look like rewritten with a late-80s mindset and sensibilities?" I think it is an excellent read, and a fine example of how the same basic story can be done in multiple very different ways.

Has it come to the point that to truly appreciate D&D and gaming in general, a person has to read Lovecraft?

No. But that doesn't mean such reading won't be instructional and interesting.

"It isn't required," is a lousy reason to not read something.

 

[Desdichado]

It is almost explicitly Williams thinking, "Hey, what would Tolkien look like rewritten with a late-80s mindset and sensibilities?" I think it is an excellent read, and a fine example of how the same basic story can be done in multiple very different ways.

If I remember correctly, his main character even wore a skinny tie, Vans, and had a mullet.

 

[Mallus]

If I remember correctly, his main character even wore a skinny tie, Vans, and had a mullet.

A skinny leather tie.

 

[WizarDru]

It is almost explicitly Williams thinking, "Hey, what would Tolkien look like rewritten with a late-80s mindset and sensibilities?" I think it is an excellent read, and a fine example of how the same basic story can be done in multiple very different ways..

Ugh. I read Memory, Sorrow and Thorn and enjoyed it until the actual ending, which made me mad as a hornet. I felt incredibly cheated by his ending, especially as I thought it was a brilliant ride, which made the conclusion that much more of a cheat to me.

I guess it was Tolkien, if:

Spoiler

Gollum's only role was to HOLD OPEN A DOOR for the heroes when they escaped Mount Doom.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Haven't actually read the thread so someone may have stated this already, but...

Why would you think that Lovecraft may have ever NOT been required reading?

 

[Umbran]

Why would you think that Lovecraft may have ever NOT been required reading?

Because there's no such thing as required reading, other than the rulebooks themselves.

Unless by that question you mean that dread Hastur will be personally displeased should we not read of his exploits, or at least as much of them as our pitiful minds can understand....

 

[Reynard]

Because there's no such thing as required reading, other than the rulebooks themselves.

Unless by that question you mean that dread Hastur will be personally displeased should we not read of his exploits, or at least as much of them as our pitiful minds can understand....

I think The Man in the Funny Hat may in fact mean that the importance of/interest in Lovecraft as his works relate to D&D is not new. Certainly, foci wax and wane -- the last decade or so saw a heavy focus on "Tolkien via Wachowski Brothers" due to Peter Jackson's films, I think -- but the core influences are always there, even if they become softer for a time. And, ultimately, the fact is that "he's not scary" types notwithstanding, Lovecraft is the single most influential horror writer of the 20th century and fantasy -- sword & sorcery at least, but I would argue all fantasy -- is of a kind with horror, as genres go (moreso than being of a kind with science fiction).