Put simply, he encourages readers to return to the source and recycle settings, themes and scenes that recur throughout the canon. He argues that pieces from certain stories, reassembled within the frameworks of others, create scenario ideas that run like classics while feeling original on both sides of the screen.

Luckily for us, Graham has friends in the horror world, and he's convinced them to further his thesis as well. The book is annotated throughout by Gareth Hanrahan, Kenneth Hite, and Jason Morningstar – three authors with a mountain of RPG credits to their names. Therefore, readers essentially get four takes on the subject material. Given the renaissance of Mythos gaming of the last five years of so, this is a great guidebook for Keepers and GMs playing any game.

Hefting The Tome

Stealing Cthulhu exists in both pdf and 6x9 hardcover formats, currently available at the author's website: http://www.thievesoftime.com/news/front-page/stealing-cthulhu/ . The single column type and periods at the end of every heading make the book appear contemporary to Lovecraft – although the writing style is modern. The text is footnoted throughout by the author, while the annotators' notes feature in handwritten form as well. Sometimes these glosses are written sideways along the margin, but they are all readable (albeit tricky to do so with the pdf). There are several pieces of black and white art that complement the wraparound cover.

Terrible Things to Waste Minds

There are three basic parts to Stealing Cthulhu: a discussion identifying the building blocks Lovecraft used frequently, and how to swap them in and out of various stories; an application of this method to a number of entities and monsters in the Mythos; and the rules-light Cthulhu Dark game (which is available elsewhere in pdf form).

The advice resembles literary criticism while staying wholly applicable to gaming. Rather than the traditional listing of techniques for a horror GM to use, the author identifies Lovecraft's recurring concepts and discusses how they can be interchanged to freshen up familiar story ideas. Using several stories, he notes where locations can be switched, how horror and menace can be subtly increased, and when in a story's plot the investigators might encounter the mystery. What might seem to be a trivial change to any one thing might appear totally new to even the most jaded of players.

The general analysis takes a little less than half the book before the author devotes more space to examine fifteen entities in greater detail. Although careful to note specifics for each one, he takes pains to highlight similarities across the Mythos that a GM can exploit. How does the Shans' Goatswood compare to the boreal wastes stalked by Ithaqua? Do the technological devices of the Mi-go resemble those of the Great Race, or even Nyarlathotep? What if the llogior's possession affected flora and fauna the way that a Colour Out of Space did?

The annotations are a welcome addition to the text. Many point out additional examples or highlight other facets about a topic unmentioned in the main body of work. To the author's credit, he includes comments that disagree with specific points of his analysis, but add to the discussion nonetheless.

Cthulhu Dark runs 7 pages, and is a basic resolution mechanic together with a short drop to insanity. The author's website contains some embellishments, but if you're reading Stealing Cthulhu, you probably already have other games that you use.

Nitpicks

What's not to like about this book? My greatest complaint is that there is plenty of concepts and stories the author could have examined, but doesn't. Stealing Cthulhu deals with about a dozen works, primarily those that emphasize purist themes in lieu of the pulpier side of Mythos gaming. Importantly, stories from a handful of other authors are included in this list (obviously not Derleth). Yet this means we miss out on some of Lovecraft's best known and widest regarded fiction, like “The Dunwich Horror” or “Pickman's Model” - as well as these stories' notable contents, Yog-Sothoth and ghouls.

The main reason for the low style score is the lack of an index. I will certainly understand the comments of those who consider this a harsh judgment, since many game books are guilty of this omission. However, in this almost scholarly examination of Lovecraft, readers would really benefit from one. The book cites many stories that do not get discussed in great detail, but nonetheless relate to particular subjects addressed in the text. Likewise, some of the contents of the stories - even though they may have specific entries in the last half of the book - are also mentioned throughout the first half and in the notes. While pdf readers can rely on the search function, someone with just the book in his hands might have to page through the whole book to be satisfied that he's seen all he can on a single subject.

Conclusion

Any person who wants to create truly Lovecraftian scenarios will benefit immensely from this book - regardless of system or setting. Ultimately, it gave me several new ideas, but not by merely listing them (although they are there). Instead, I was encouraged to return to Lovecraft's stories – as far as I am concerned, a satisfactory result and the best thing I might say about a Mythos gaming product. As I revisited them with a more critical eye, I found inspiration using the techniques of Stealing Cthulhu (e.g., steal material about tainted bloodlines from “The Lurking Fear” or “The Rats in the Walls” when dealing with similar elements from “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”). I fully expect other readers will have the same experience.

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