Has Lovecraft become required reading?

[jdrakeh]

Wasn't Cthuhlu himself in the original deities and demigods?

Yep.

 

[pawsplay]

Lovecraft was influential on R. E. Howard and Moorcock, who in turn, along with Leiber, Vance, and Dunsancy, were some of Gygax's primary inspirations for D&D. Arguably, Tsathoggua inspired both the dretch and the slaad. Apart from dark fantasy and science-fictional elements, Lovecraft's Kadath has been very influential as well as a fantasy world.

 

[mythago]

Lovecraft, while influential, wasn't the first or last word in 'fantasy horror' or 'cosmic horror' or whatever you prefer to call it. You can also pick up Kenneth Hite's Tour de Lovecraft, which is a summary of Lovecraft's fiction that will get you the gist of the references without your having to sit down and read it all.

 

[El Mahdi]

deleted

 

[Crothian]

No. It's kind of in the game but reading the books I think would not help one appriciate what D&D has done to the mythos.

 

[Doug McCrae]

The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun is probably the most outstanding example of Lovecraftian influence on early D&D. According to the wikipedia article:

The thematic elements of nightmare and insanity which are introduced when the PCs are exposed to the evil influence of Tharizdun's temple bring elements of Lovecraftian horror to Dungeons & Dragons, not for the first time. The concept of a trapped, malevolent god, intent upon the destruction of all that is, harkens to the dark and insane Great Old Ones. In his comprehensive article on the topic of Lovecraftian influence on D&D – "The Shadow Over D&D" – James Jacobs says of The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun and Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, "Tharizdun [...] obviously owes his pedigree to Lovecraft."[4]

The module was published in 1982, which interestingly is not long after the rpg Call of Cthulhu came out in 1981.

I agree that Lovecraft seems to have become more popular in D&D (and rpging in general) in recent years. The Far Realm. The chaos beast and kaorti in 3e. The treatment of aberrations in Eberron. Foulspawn in the 4e MM. Outwith D&D you have the longevity of CoC, plush Cthulhu toys, Cthulhutech.

I want to say that I've heard mention of Lovecraftian influence from Paizo in regards to some of their modules. I could be misremembering.

You're not. Even my limited collection of Paizo products provides one example of Lovecraftian influence - Crucible of Chaos, by Wolfgang Bauer. The adventure actually features an actual shoggoth, and the whole thing is very Lovecraftian in tone, with the PCs exploring a weirdly disturbing cyclopean ruin.

Paizo seem keen on horror in general. Pathfinder #2 and #3 have strong horror elements. In the Intro to #2, James Jacobs writes:

I've noticed that horror-themed and "gritty" adventures are usually the ones that become the most popular.

I don't think D&D is, strictly speaking, in the horror genre. The PCs are too powerful relative to the opposition for that to be the case. Rather, D&D uses the trappings of horror in its insatiable search for new monsters for the PCs to hack to pieces. The horror movie-inspired undead that have been part of D&D since the very beginning are the main example.

 

[Ourph]

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of horror. I get that Lovecraft is a highly influential writer and I respect that, but I'd rather not delve into the realm of horror if I don't have to.

Don't deprive yourself of the pleasure of reading Lovecraft because of the (arguably misapplied) label of "horror". Calling Lovecraft "horror" in today's culture is like calling the old, silent Keystone Cops movies "crime drama". Lovecraft wrote weird fiction with suspenseful overtones, nothing "horrific" compared to today's standard in literature and cinema.

 

[Dice4Hire]

No.

Knowing Lovedraft is vital for one sector of gaming (Cuthulu and its ilk) but I have never needed it in all my years of gaming.

 

[Chainsaw]

Don't deprive yourself of the pleasure of reading Lovecraft because of the (arguably misapplied) label of "horror". Calling Lovecraft "horror" in today's culture is like calling the old, silent Keystone Cops movies "crime drama". Lovecraft wrote weird fiction with suspenseful overtones, nothing "horrific" compared to today's standard in literature and cinema.

Probably fair. It's not really exploitative at all - I don't recall much wallowing in brutality and gore, but I haven't read it all.

 

[Wycen]

He was required reading in the Philosophy of Science Fiction class I took, but then again, it could have just as easily been War of the Worlds or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. And probably half the class hadn't done the required reading by the time we were to discuss it.