The Cthulhu Mythos: Based Upon True Stories!

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-07-31 10:33am

If Lovecraft had marketed his horror tales as "based upon true stories" like if he was some sort of 1920s equivalent of Whitley Strieber, what would have happened??

Would many ordinary people suddenly claim to have encountered Great Old Ones??

And what about the Necronomicon???

Would Lovecraft's correspondents later denounce it as fraud??

This "experiment" is also interesting, considering that Lovecraft might have started that whole Ancient Astronaut thing.

Your thoughts??

Personally, I would worry about its social consequences, but I'd love to see following title upon a book: The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward - based upon a true story!

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2003-07-31 11:10am

More than likely someone would claim to have seen Cthulhu...

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-07-31 11:23am

3rd Impact wrote:More than likely someone would claim to have seen Cthulhu...

Actually, today there are people who seriously claim to have seen Cthulhu.

These are actual e-mails sent to a website about the Necronomicon.

But if Lovecraft claimed his stories to be Truth, there would be more Cthulhu sightings.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-07-31 11:24am

The people who have encountered the Old Ones are in no condition to tell you about them.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-07-31 11:40am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:The people who have encountered the Old Ones are in no condition to tell you about them.

I thought some members of the Miskatonic University expedition to Antarctica returned??? Or did they?? (It's a bit since I read "At The Mountains Of The Madness")

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-07-31 12:10pm

Simon H.Johansen wrote: I thought some members of the Miskatonic University expedition to Antarctica returned??? Or did they?? (It's a bit since I read "At The Mountains Of The Madness")

Just because they returned, doesn't mean they are in any condition to tell about their encounters.

Dizzy D · Post by **Dizzy D** » 2003-07-31 12:15pm

Simon H.Johansen wrote:
DPDarkPrimus wrote:The people who have encountered the Old Ones are in no condition to tell you about them.
I thought some members of the Miskatonic University expedition to Antarctica returned??? Or did they?? (It's a bit since I read "At The Mountains Of The Madness")

Two did, but the survivors did not really encounter anything, they found some comatose Elder Things and 1 Shoggoth (I can't remember if they actually encountered it or just heard it and ran like hell). And I believe 1 of the two survivors went insane afterwards.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-07-31 12:45pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Simon H.Johansen wrote: I thought some members of the Miskatonic University expedition to Antarctica returned??? Or did they?? (It's a bit since I read "At The Mountains Of The Madness")
Just because they returned, doesn't mean they are in any condition to tell about their encounters.

I don't think their "sanity loss" affected their ability to tell about the traumatizing events. (It was mentioned in the beginning of "At The Mountains..." that one of the survivors were ridiculed as he told of his discoveries 'neath the ice)

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2003-07-31 12:49pm

Simon H.Johansen wrote:
Actually, today there are people who seriously claim to have seen Cthulhu.

Bloody hell.

The Drunkard Kid · Post by **The Drunkard Kid** » 2003-07-31 12:51pm

I have this wierd mental image of a tabloid cover with some woman saying that she had Cthulhu's lovechild, with a poorly edited photo of their kid with a squid for a head...

LT.Hit-Man · Post by **LT.Hit-Man** » 2003-07-31 09:25pm

The Drunkard Kid wrote:I have this wierd mental image of a tabloid cover with some woman saying that she had Cthulhu's lovechild, with a poorly edited photo of their kid with a squid for a head...

Nahhh she was at a frat party and had way to much to drink and got cock blocked by a bunch of mind flayers .
That's how these things usualy happen.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-07-31 10:18pm

Hey I have done games werer Skaven, & Deepones foungt it out for control of waterdeep....

Oh, that is a thought too....

LT.Hit-Man · Post by **LT.Hit-Man** » 2003-07-31 10:29pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:Hey I have done games werer Skaven, & Deepones foungt it out for control of waterdeep....

Oh, that is a thought too....

So who won the control opf waterdeep

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-07-31 10:56pm

Depends, Obviously not Blackstaff....

As for wno wound up destroying waterdeep, well, it's bad when Mystra fights Cthutlu...

LT.Hit-Man · Post by **LT.Hit-Man** » 2003-07-31 11:32pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:Depends, Obviously not Blackstaff....

As for wno wound up destroying waterdeep, well, it's bad when Mystra fights Cthutlu...

Ic do they kiss and make up or out after the fight?

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-08-01 02:13am

The Yosemite Bear wrote:Hey I have done games werer Skaven, & Deepones foungt it out for control of waterdeep....

Oh, that is a thought too....

You have Warhammer rules for Deep Ones??

(BTW, the D&D Monster Manual has an entry for creatures called "Skum", which are unnervingly similar to Deep Ones)

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-08-01 02:42am

No I have the old AD&D stats for both Warhamer 40k and for everything in Lovecraft

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2003-08-01 01:26pm

I know *heaps* of crazy goth-fools who not only claim to have READ the Necronomicon, but that the crappy paperback they bought from a mainstream bookstore is actually the Ancient Tome of Forbidden Knowledge of Kewlness.

And they REALLY mean it. They'll argue all day that it's not a fictional book invented by a pulp author in the 20s. 'He must have KNOWN!' they cry, wide eyed... lol

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-08-01 02:10pm

Stark wrote:I know *heaps* of crazy goth-fools who not only claim to have READ the Necronomicon, but that the crappy paperback they bought from a mainstream bookstore is actually the Ancient Tome of Forbidden Knowledge of Kewlness.

And they REALLY mean it. They'll argue all day that it's not a fictional book invented by a pulp author in the 20s. 'He must have KNOWN!' they cry, wide eyed... lol

....
This is a true story, about a guy I knew in college.
He was a Lovecraft fanatic. Read the stories, bought every Call of Cthulu gaming accessory, and owned a copy of the Necronomicon that he used for his 'spells'.
Now, belief is a powerful thing. I hated to go into his room, because it always had this very nasty 'feel' to it: dark and heavy, even when the sun was shining. He knew this, and loved to play off it. One night he dropped his Necronomicon into my hand, and it shocked me. Literally an electric shock, making my hand spasm so I dropped the book. Now, looking back, it could have simply been static... but at the time it scared me to half to death!

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2003-08-01 02:28pm

I think the government and church would have came down on lovecraft like 'Oprah on a baked ham' (to qoute Al Bundy)

However, I think that there are enough 'it's real, it's real!' nuts out there to show would would have happened,

Just triple the number

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-08-01 02:29pm

LadyTevar wrote:
Stark wrote:I know *heaps* of crazy goth-fools who not only claim to have READ the Necronomicon, but that the crappy paperback they bought from a mainstream bookstore is actually the Ancient Tome of Forbidden Knowledge of Kewlness.

And they REALLY mean it. They'll argue all day that it's not a fictional book invented by a pulp author in the 20s. 'He must have KNOWN!' they cry, wide eyed... lol
....
This is a true story, about a guy I knew in college.
He was a Lovecraft fanatic. Read the stories, bought every Call of Cthulu gaming accessory, and owned a copy of the Necronomicon that he used for his 'spells'.

Which Necronomicon?? That black paperback from Avon Books filled with all sorts of hokey Sumerian mythology??

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-08-01 04:55pm

Simon H.Johansen wrote:
LadyTevar wrote:
Stark wrote:I know *heaps* of crazy goth-fools who not only claim to have READ the Necronomicon, but that the crappy paperback they bought from a mainstream bookstore is actually the Ancient Tome of Forbidden Knowledge of Kewlness.

And they REALLY mean it. They'll argue all day that it's not a fictional book invented by a pulp author in the 20s. 'He must have KNOWN!' they cry, wide eyed... lol
....
This is a true story, about a guy I knew in college.
He was a Lovecraft fanatic. Read the stories, bought every Call of Cthulu gaming accessory, and owned a copy of the Necronomicon that he used for his 'spells'.
Which Necronomicon?? That black paperback from Avon Books filled with all sorts of hokey Sumerian mythology??

The paperback on available back in the '80's, yes.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-08-02 02:44am

LadyTevar wrote:
Simon H.Johansen wrote:
LadyTevar wrote: ....
This is a true story, about a guy I knew in college.
He was a Lovecraft fanatic. Read the stories, bought every Call of Cthulu gaming accessory, and owned a copy of the Necronomicon that he used for his 'spells'.
Which Necronomicon?? That black paperback from Avon Books filled with all sorts of hokey Sumerian mythology??
The paperback on available back in the '80's, yes.

Well, don't count on it being the Necronomicon which Lovecraft spoke of.

For example, it speaks of the Great Old Ones as "chthonic deities" even though they are from outer space. And Nyarlathotep isn't even mentioned.

LT.Hit-Man · Post by **LT.Hit-Man** » 2003-08-02 01:45pm

LadyTevar wrote:
Stark wrote:I know *heaps* of crazy goth-fools who not only claim to have READ the Necronomicon, but that the crappy paperback they bought from a mainstream bookstore is actually the Ancient Tome of Forbidden Knowledge of Kewlness.

And they REALLY mean it. They'll argue all day that it's not a fictional book invented by a pulp author in the 20s. 'He must have KNOWN!' they cry, wide eyed... lol
....
This is a true story, about a guy I knew in college.
He was a Lovecraft fanatic. Read the stories, bought every Call of Cthulu gaming accessory, and owned a copy of the Necronomicon that he used for his 'spells'.
Now, belief is a powerful thing. I hated to go into his room, because it always had this very nasty 'feel' to it: dark and heavy, even when the sun was shining. He knew this, and loved to play off it. One night he dropped his Necronomicon into my hand, and it shocked me. Literally an electric shock, making my hand spasm so I dropped the book. Now, looking back, it could have simply been static... but at the time it scared me to half to death!

A psi shock I hate that

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-08-03 10:29am

LT.Hit-Man wrote:A psi shock I hate that