Cthulhu Tales

“In relating the circumstances which have led to my confinement within this refuge for the demented, I am aware that my present position will create a natural doubt of the authenticity of my narrative.”

• The Tomb, by H.P. Lovecraft

The early 20th century. New England, America. Lovecraft country.

Home to university libraries filled with worm-eaten tomes, legend-haunted towns populated with degenerate locals and their rustic superstitions, Cyclopean ruins from long-forgotten aeons, and the disquieting glimpses of things from beyond…

You are the unwilling guests of an antiquated sanatorium, perhaps the infamous Arkham Sanatorium, or maybe the Danvers State Asylum.

Your only hope of escape is to convince the authorities, and perhaps yourself, that you do not belong here. And so you begin to explain the sinister series of events that led to your unjust incarceration.

Unfortunately, your memories are populated by the stuff of nightmares…

Cthulhu Tales is a storytelling card game for people who enjoy the weird tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, love games and have a sense of humour with a touch of darkness to it…

Incarcerated in a sanatorium, you must convince the staff that you are sane by telling the story of the terrifying events that led you there. The other players try to disrupt your tale to make themselves look more sane in comparison, and the success of your tale determines which misguided therapies and medication are administered by the terrifying medical staff. These treatments are the way the game is scored, the player ending with the least amount of treatment is the winner, and is free to go.

Cthulhu Tales is very much a game, rather than simply a guided storytelling activity – it features structured and elegant rules for the telling of the tale, and for Hazard card interruptions. Players use the symbols on the cards to determine whether a card can be played, and its effect on the Narrator's tale. The die introduces an element of luck into the proceedings – perhaps that Viscous Black Slime was merely a passing detail, or perhaps its arrival was the precursor to something far more sinister and madness inducing…