''Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'' is a reference guide to the invented places, beings, and concepts from the

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American Horror fiction, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, t ...

developed by

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

and others. It was published by

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. ( ) is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford (game designer), Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fic ...

in 1994.

Description

''Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'' is a 400-page book by Daniel Harms that contains an alphabetized listing of entities, cults and lore from H.P. Lovecraft's

that were published during the twentieth century. Sources include works by

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime fiction, crime, psychological horror fiction, horror and Fantasy Fiction, fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and ...

, and

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

, as well as scenarios from the ''Call of Cthulhu'' game. There are also suggestions about how this information could be included in a ''Call of Cthulhu'' adventure or campaign. An expanded 423-page second edition was published in 1998.

Reception

In ''

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

'' magazine #218 (June 1995),

Rick Swan Rick Swan is a game designer and author who worked for TSR. His work for TSR, mostly for ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'', appeared from 1989 to 1995. Swan also wrote '' The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' (1990), published by St. Martin' ...

stated that this book possessed "a diligence on the part of the researchers that borders on the superhuman".

Awards

''Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'' won a Special Achievement Award at the 1995

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the gaming industry. They are presented by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for games released in the preceding year. For example, t ...

Reviews

*''

'' #252 *''

Pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

References

1994 books 1998 books Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedias of fictional worlds Origins Award winners Works based on The Call of Cthulhu {{ref-book-stub