Lovecraft’s (Cthulhu) Mythos
Lovecraft’s (Cthulhu) Mythos
This central chapter examines the importance of H.P. Lovecraft in how realized worlds are conceptualized in Dread Trident, especially within the context of TRPGs. It sees in Lovecraft, not just a writer of Weird fiction, but a writer of cosmic fiction who also, inadvertently, helped create a mythos. This ‘Cthulhu’ Mythos acts as a supreme example of how a realized world works because of how it incorporates a broad canvas of elements from a variety of individuals. Also, Lovecraft’s poetics of creating a sense of dread with Weird writing hints how he often sidesteps rather than directly draws the ultimate horror. Yet, his later writing embraced a materialistic categorizing of scientific and biological forms. This chapter looks through Lovecraftian scholarship, as well as a few of his own pieces of fiction, as well as the TRPG The Call of Cthulhu, for examples of how his mythos works and examples of his granular style.
Keywords: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mythos, The Call of Cthulhu, Call of Cthulhu, ‘Cthulhu’ Mythos, Cosmic horror, H. P. Lovecraft, Weird Fiction, Tabletop Role-Playing games
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