Has Lovecraft become required reading?

[Desdichado]

For a D&D player, I recommend reading "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Shadow over Innsmouth". I can't recall which other stories mention elements that have influenced the game much.

The DreamQuest of Unknown Kadath gave us the Underdark and expanded on ghouls (first introduced in Pickman's Model.)

 

[Raven Crowking]

Originally published in Mythos Collector #6, Winter 2004.

http://www.danieljbishop.ca/That hideous face.pdf

 

[Barastrondo]

And beyond that, the fact that Lovecraft inspired a lot of other authors who went on to inspire D&D's creation and expansion (Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, and Clark Ashton Smith all come to mind) also makes his writing important to knowing where the hobby's come from and why it is what it is today.

My favorite "Lovecraftian" story has got to be Leiber's "The Sunken Land." I think it's emblematic of just why roleplaying games in general, from a variety of genres, can borrow from Lovecraft and have it come out great; the basic ideas can adapt to a variety of writing styles and genres, so you can tune it precisely to your tastes. I wouldn't have enjoyed the same story as much with more archetypal Lovecraftian protagonists and prose, but with Leiber's half-humorous, half-sinister approach, it's great fun.

 

[BryonD]

I bet Alfred Hitchcock would have agreed

I recall seeing an interview with him that said exactly this.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Coming late....

I don't think it is Lovecraft but Call of Cthuhlu that is required. While Lovecraft may be a footnote to fantasy gaming, CoC made the mythos common to gamers, this is where a great game impact was felt more than the creator of those mythos.

 

[BryonD]

Those who - wrong or right - are officially considered pioneers are often treated more equal than others, as it were.

The field of fiction writing is no exception to this rule.

Quite true.
One must have a certain degree of brilliance to establish the area they become emblematic of. But the presumption that nothing better comes along is usually quite wrong but quite common.

Closer to home, I put Gygax in the same category. Certainly a great pioneer with some good stuff, but far from the benchmark he is referenced as.

 

[WizarDru]

Lovecraft is not required reading for D&D. You might better understand many references within D&D better after having read him, but he's not required by any measure. He's been influential in many key places throughout D&D repeatedly. More recent material has given him more transparent weight, as it were. The appearance of a 'moon calf' in a D&D 3.0 Core adventure path module, for example, or the appearance of the Hounds of Tindalos as a monster in a Pathfinder module.

Lovecraft was never "extremely popular" and still is not. He is, however, popular amongst gamers and SF/F/Horror fans and has ideas were and are extremely influential. But Lovecraft is doesn't rank anywhere on the scale of the recognition of someone like Howard, let alone someone like Dan Brown or Stephen King. He just happens to have been very influential on people who DO enjoy extreme popularity, like Hitchcock, Stephen King and others.

 

[Desdichado]

More recent material has given him more transparent weight, as it were. The appearance of a 'moon calf' in a D&D 3.0 Core adventure path module, for example, or the appearance of the Hounds of Tindalos as a monster in a Pathfinder module.

As a nitpick; while the hounds of Tindalos are certainly of a generically "Lovecraftian oeuvre", they are actually created by Frank Belknap Long (appropriately enough in his story, "The Hounds of Tindalos.")

Although if I remember correctly, they might have rated a cameo mention in "The Whisperer in Darkness."

 

[harpy]

To be a master of consumption within the "geek industrial complex" that is sci-fi/horror/comic books/gaming then Lovecraft is required reading as far as I'm concerned.

It's not really an issue of appreciation, one just ought to add it to the long list of things you need to get under your belt to be a true geek.

When you walk into a game store and want to be able to look upon all of the items for sale and have some understanding and context as to why they exist then Lovecraft is essential to geekiness.

 

[BryonD]

As a nitpick; while the hounds of Tindalos are certainly of a generically "Lovecraftian oeuvre", they are actually created by Frank Belknap Long (appropriately enough in his story, "The Hounds of Tindalos.")

Correct. Though as a counter nit-pick, I'd suggest that "the Lovecraft Circle" is a more appropriate reference than just the man himself in regard to mythos influences on gaming.

Lovecraft shared correspondence with many of the circle / kalem authors, but Long was one of them that he knew personally. The Hounds of Tindalos was very much expressly written as part of Lovecraft's shared mythos.