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Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of
tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...
s established by
Greg Stafford Francis Gregory Stafford (February 9, 1948 – October 10, 2018), usually known as Greg Stafford, was an American game designer, publisher, and practitioner of shamanism. Stafford is most famous as the creator of the fantasy world of Glorantha ...
in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the
horror fiction Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J ...
stories of H. P. Lovecraft'',
RuneQuest ''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson (game designer), Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of ...
Glorantha'', ''
Pendragon Pendragon or ( wlm, pen dreic, ''pen dragon''; composed of Welsh , 'head, chief, top' and / ''dragon'', 'dragon; warrior'; borrowed from the Latin word , plural , 'dragon , br, Penn Aerouant) literally means 'chief dragon' or 'head dragon', but ...
'', based on
Thomas Mallory Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of '' Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of '' Le Morte d' ...
's ''
Le Morte d'Arthur ' (originally written as '; inaccurate Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Rou ...
'', and '' 7th Sea'', "swashbuckling and sorcery" set in a fantasy 17th century Europe. Many of Chaosium’s product lines are based upon literary sources. While Stafford himself has been described as "one of the most decorated game designers of all time" and "the grand shaman of gaming", multiple other notable game designers have written for Chaosium. These include
David Conyers David Conyers (born 30 May 1971) is an Australian author. Conyers writes predominantly science fiction and Lovecraftian horror. Biography Convers was born in Sydney. Most of his childhood was spent in the Adelaide Hills, before moving to Me ...
,
Matthew Costello Matthew John Costello (born 1948) is an American writer specializing in the genres of horror, gothic, and science fiction. His articles have appeared in publications including the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''Sports Illustrated''. He has scripted ...
,
Larry DiTillio Lawrence G. DiTillio (February 15, 1948 – March 16, 2019) was an American film, TV series, and tabletop role-playing game writer. His creations include ''He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword'' and the award-winning ''Masks of Nyarlathotep ...
, Paul Fricker,
David A. Hargrave David Allen Hargrave (May 25, 1946 – August 29, 1988), known as ''The Dream Weaver'', was a prolific and sometimes controversial game designer and writer of fantasy and science fiction role-playing games (RPGs). Hargrave's most notable written ...
,
Rob Heinsoo Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ( ...
,
Keith Herber Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons i ...
,
Jennell Jaquays Jennell Jaquays (born Paul Jaquays, October 14, 1956) is an American game designer, Game art design, video game artist, and illustrator of tabletop role-playing games (RPGs). Her notable works include the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' modules ''Dark Towe ...
,
Katharine Kerr Katharine Kerr (born 1944) is an American science fiction and fantasy novelist, best known for her series of Celtic-influenced high fantasy novels set in the fictional land of Deverry. Biography Katharine Kerr was born in Cleveland, Ohio; h ...
,
Reiner Knizia Reiner may refer to: *Reiner (crater), a crater on the Moon, named after Vincentio Reiner *Reiner Braun, a fictional List_of_Attack_on_Titan_characters, character in the anime/manga series ''Attack on Titan'' People with the given name Reiner *Rein ...
,
Charlie Krank Charlie Krank is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Early life Charlie Krank was born in 1957 in San Francisco. Career Charlie Krank, an employee of the San Francisco game store Gambit, started volunteering to help ...
,
Robin Laws Robin D. Laws (born October 14, 1964 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of a number of novels and role-playing games as well as an anthologist. Career Robin D. Laws ...
, Penelope Love,
Mark Morrison Mark Morrison (born 3 May 1972) is a British R&B singer. His single, "Return of the Mack", became a No. 1 or top 10 hit in several European countries in 1996. The song peaked at No. 2 in the United States the following year. Career Mark Mo ...
, Steve Perrin,
Sandy Petersen Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of ''RuneQuest'' and later creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game ''Call ...
,
Ken Rolston Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game (pen and paper), role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. In February 2007, he elected to join th ...
,
Ken St. Andre Kenneth Eugene St. Andre (born April 28, 1947) is an American fantasy author and game designer, best known for his work with ''Tunnels & Trolls'' and ''Wasteland (video game), Wasteland''. He was born in Ogden, Utah, and has been an active member ...
,
Jonathan Tweet Jonathan Tweet (born 1965) is an American game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games ''Ars Magica'', ''Everway'', ''Over the Edge (game), Over the Edge'', ''Talislanta'', the third edition of ''Dungeons & Dra ...
,
John Wick ''John Wick'' is an American action thriller media franchise created by Derek Kolstad and centering around John Wick, a former hitman who is forced back into the criminal underworld he had abandoned. The franchise began with the release of ''J ...
, and
Lynn Willis Lynn Willis (died January 18, 2013) was a wargame and role-playing game designer, best known for his work with Metagaming Concepts, Game Designers' Workshop (GDW), and Chaosium. Biography Willis began by designing science fiction wargames for Me ...
, among others.


History


1975–1980: Early years

Greg Stafford founded "The Chaosium" in 1975, deriving the name partly from his home, which was near the
Oakland Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. The Coliseum is the home b ...
, combining "coliseum" with "chaos". His purpose was to publish his first board game '' White Bear and Red Moon'' (later renamed ''Dragon Pass''), a board game set in his fantasy world of
Glorantha Glorantha is a fantasy world created by Greg Stafford. It was first introduced in the board game ''White Bear and Red Moon'' (1975) by Chaosium and then in a number of other board, roleplaying and computer games, including ''RuneQuest'' and ''Her ...
. In 1978, Chaosium published Steve Perrin's roleplaying game ''
RuneQuest ''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson (game designer), Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of ...
'', also set in Glorantha, following up with a second edition in 1980 and various supplements over the next six years.


1980s: Growth and licensing with Avalon Hill

In 1980, the company officially incorporated as Chaosium Inc. That year, Stafford and Lynn Willis simplified the ''RuneQuest'' rules into the 16-page
Basic Role-Playing ''Basic Role-Playing'' (''BRP'') is a tabletop role-playing game which originated in the ''RuneQuest'' fantasy role-playing game. Chaosium released the ''BRP'' standalone booklet in 1980 in the boxed set release of the second edition of ''RuneQu ...
(BRP). These
simulationist GNS theory is an informal field of study developed by Ron Edwards which attempts to create a unified theory of how role-playing games work. Focused on player behavior, in GNS theory participants in role-playing games organize their interactions ...
, skill-based generic rules formed the basis of many of Chaosium's later "d100" RPGs, most notably '' Call of Cthulhu'', first published in 1982. Chaosium entered into a licensing agreement with
Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company' ...
in 1983 to produce a third edition of ''RuneQuest''. Avalon Hill manufactured and marketed the game, while Chaosium was responsible for acquisitions, design, development, and layout.
Ken Rolston Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game (pen and paper), role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. In February 2007, he elected to join th ...
managed the line as "Rune Czar". One of the first RPGs by a female lead designer was published by Chaosium: Kerie Campbell-Robson's 1986 release Hawkmoon. 1986 also saw the release of ''
Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and ...
'' with
West End Games West End Games (WEG) was a company that made Board game, board, Role-playing game, role-playing, and wargaming, war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product line ...
. Designed by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis, and Greg Stafford, it was the first RPG to use the
dice pool In some role-playing game (RPG) systems, the dice pool is the number of dice that a player is allowed to roll when attempting to perform a certain action. Mechanics In many RPG systems, non-trivial actions often require dice rolls. Some RPGs ro ...
mechanic. West End would also use the system as the basis of '' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game'' and, eventually, the
D6 System The ''D6 System'' is a role-playing game system published by West End Games (WEG) and licensees. While the system is primarily intended for pen-and-paper role-playing games, variations of the system have also been used in live action role-playi ...
.


Late 1990s–early 2010s: Financial struggle

In 1996, it was prematurely reported that Chaosium had secured the rights to publish a collectible card game based on the video game
Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...
. In 1998, following the financial failure of the collectible card game ''
Mythos Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...
'', Greg Stafford resigned as Chaosium president and left the company, along with Sandy Petersen (although they both remained shareholders). Chaosium effectively split up into various successor companies, each maintaining its focus on a few of the company's products. Stafford took the rights to his game setting Glorantha, setting up the company
Issaries, Inc. Issaries, Inc. was a game publisher incorporated in California in 1999 by Greg Stafford to control and manage products using Stafford's fictional world of Glorantha. It partnered with Moon Design Publications to develop the flagship roleplaying ga ...
to continue publishing this line (later licensing it to
Moon Design Publications Moon Design Publications are publishers of tabletop role-playing game books set in Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha. They were founded in 1998 by Rick Meints and Colin Phillips in the UK. History In the 1990s, American expatriate Rick Meints wa ...
, along with the game
HeroQuest ''HeroQuest'', sometimes written as ''Hero Quest'', is an adventure board game created by Milton Bradley in conjunction with the British company Games Workshop. The game was loosely based around archetypes of fantasy role-playing games: the ...
). Long-time employees and part-owners Charlie Krank and Lynn Willis remained at Chaosium as President and Editor-in-Chief respectively, continuing on with ''Call of Cthulhu'' as the main product line. Lynn Willis retired in 2008 due to poor health and died in 2013.


Mid 2010s: The return of Stafford and Petersen

Problems and delays fulfilling the
Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
s for the 7th edition of ''Call of Cthulhu'' led Stafford and Petersen to return to active roles at Chaosium in June 2015. Charlie Krank subsequently left the company. Later that year at
Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...
2015, Stafford and Petersen announced Moon Design Publications were now part of the Chaosium ownership, and the four principals of Moon Design (
Rick Meints Rick Meints is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career In the 1990s, American expatriate Rick Meints was a member of the Reaching Moon Megacorp, the British fan publisher that was the center of Glorantha culture ...
, Jeff Richard, Michael O'Brien, and Neil Robinson) had become the new Chaosium management team. Chaosium once again became the licensed publisher for ''RuneQuest'', ''HeroQuest'', and other products related to Glorantha and continued to publish the ''Call of Cthulhu'' line. Stafford served as chair of the company board and creative consultant until his death in October 2018. Since retiring from the board in 2019, Petersen has done occasional freelance work for the company, as did original RuneQuest creator Steve Perrin until his death in 2021. As part of its financial reorganization, the new management closed the company office and warehouse in
Hayward, California Hayward () is a city located in Alameda County, California in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda Coun ...
, ending Chaosium's long association with the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
. The company is now based in
Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...
,
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
and uses a
fulfillment house Fulfillment house and fulfillment center (in British English: fulfilment house and fulfilment centre) are modern terms for a packing warehouse. The terms were coined in the middle of the 1990s, and "fulfillment center" is usually used about an i ...
model for distribution of product. Delivery of the core rewards of the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Kickstarter finally commenced in April 2016. The new edition went on to win nine of the ten awards it was nominated for at the
Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...
2017
ENnie Awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World i ...
.


Late 2010s to Present: Expansion

After the consolidation and reorganization of the mid-decade, the company was again poised to expand its offerings through a combination of acquisitions, new licenses, and distribution deals. Greg Stafford's ''
King Arthur Pendragon ''Pendragon'', or ''King Arthur Pendragon'', is a Tabletop role-playing game (RPG) in which players take the role of knights performing chivalric deeds in the tradition of Arthurian legend. It was originally written by Greg Stafford and published ...
'' and ''
Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...
'' roleplaying games returned to Chaosium ownership on December 11, 2018. On April 2, 2019, Chaosium acquired the rights to the '' 7th Sea'' product line (both Second Edition and Khitai Kickstarters) from John Wick, including back stock of books published so far. On November 30, 2019, Chaosium acquired the rights to produce a role-playing game based on
Ben Aaronovitch Ben Dylan Aaronovitch (born 22 February 1964) is an English author and screenwriter. He is the author of the ''Peter Grant (book series), Rivers of London'' series of novels. He also wrote two ''Doctor Who'' serials in the late 1980s and spin-of ...
's ''
Rivers of London Rivers of London may refer to * Blue Ribbon Network, a policy element of the London Plan relating to the navigable waterways of London * ''Rivers of London'' (novel), a 2011 urban fantasy novel by Ben Aaronovitch :* Peter Grant (book series) - t ...
'' urban fantasy novels. In the spring of 2020, Chaosium took over distribution of the English translations of Spanish fantasy game '' Aquelarre'' and French Ice Age roleplaying game ''Würm'', both of which had been successfully kickstarted by Nocturnal Media. In February 2021, they added ''Upwind'', an original game kickstarted by Nocturnal Media and Biohazard Games, to that list. On August 20, 2021, Chaosium acquired the rights to ''Cthulhu Britannica'' and ''World War Cthulhu'', formerly produced under license by
Cubicle 7 Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd is an Irish games company that creates and publishes tabletop games. Best known for its ''Doctor Who'' and ''Lord of the Rings'' games, Cubicle 7 offers titles covering a range of licensed and self-developed properties ...
until 2017. On October 26, 2021, Moon Design Publishing announced it was forming a partnership with Black Monk Games of Poland and a new company, The Chaosium Group, was being formed to manage both.


Fiction

Chaosium began publishing a line of non-game books (primarily fiction) in 1993. Many titles are themed around H. P. Lovecraft's
Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an ...
and related topics, although the first work published was Greg Stafford's fantasy work ''King of Sartar'', set in his mythic world
Glorantha Glorantha is a fantasy world created by Greg Stafford. It was first introduced in the board game ''White Bear and Red Moon'' (1975) by Chaosium and then in a number of other board, roleplaying and computer games, including ''RuneQuest'' and ''Her ...
. ''Cassilda's Song'', a 2015 anthology based on
Robert W. Chambers Robert William Chambers (May 26, 1865 – December 16, 1933) was an American artist and fiction writer, best known for his book of short stories titled '' The King in Yellow'', published in 1895. Life Chambers was born in Brooklyn, New York, t ...
's King in Yellow and written entirely by women, was nominated for two 2016
World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy literature, fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year a ...
s. In May, 2017, Chaosium appointed award-winning author and editor
James Lowder James Daniel Lowder (born January 2, 1963 in Quincy, Massachusetts) is an American author and editor, working regularly within the fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror genres, and on tabletop role-playing games and critical works exploring popular ...
as executive editor of fiction. Lowder had previously served as a consultant for Chaosium, helping the company and freelancers resolve payment and contract problems with past fiction projects. Although not published by Chaosium, the ongoing ''
Wild Cards ''Wild Cards'' is a series of science fiction superhero shared universe anthologies, mosaic novels, and solo novels. They are written by a collection of more than forty authors (referred to as the "Wild Cards Trust") and are edited by George R. ...
'' series of
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
science fiction originated from a long-running ''
Superworld ''Superworld'' is a superhero-themed role-playing game published by Chaosium in 1983 that uses the generic ''Basic Role-Playing'' rules system. The game began as just one part of the '' Worlds of Wonder'' product before being published as a stand ...
'' campaign gamemastered by
Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...
author
George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...
and his circle of fellow writers who played in his game.


Magazines

Three magazines have been published by Chaosium to promote its products: * ''Wyrm's Footnotes'' ran for fourteen issues from 1976 to 1982. For the first ten issues, it was a source of supporting material for ''White Bear and Red Moon''. In 1981, starting with Issue #11, it became the official ''RuneQuest'' magazine. The last edition published during its initial run was Issue #14, dated April 1982. The magazine was revived in 2012 by
Moon Design Publications Moon Design Publications are publishers of tabletop role-playing game books set in Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha. They were founded in 1998 by Rick Meints and Colin Phillips in the UK. History In the 1990s, American expatriate Rick Meints wa ...
, continuing the issue numbering at 15, despite the 30-year hiatus. Issues 1 to 14 were republished in PDF format in 2019. * ''
Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...
''. Forty-seven bimonthly issues from ''Different Worlds'' were published. Chaosium, from 1979 to 1985, published the first thirty-eight and Sleuth Publications, from 1985 to 1987, the final nine.
Tadashi Ehara Tadashi Ehara is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Tadashi Ehara, the buyer for the San Francisco game store Gambit, became the second employee of Chaosium. ''Different Worlds'' magazine was launched in 1979 ...
was the editor of the magazine during the periods concerned by both publishing houses. * ''
Starry Wisdom Starry may refer to: * ''Starry'' (The Killjoys album), 1994 * Starry (Purr Machine album) *Donn A. Starry (1925–2011), United States Army general *Starry Lee Starry Lee Wai-king, SBS, JP (, born 13 March 1974 in British Hong Kong) is a ...
'', a Lovecraft-themed magazine, three issues of which Chaosium published in 1997.


Reception

Chaosium won the 2017 Silver
Ennie Award The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...
for "Fan’s Choice for Best Publisher".


See also

Chaosium is part of the
Bits and Mortar Bits and Mortar is an online organization of publishers who support brick and mortar game stores. Background Bits and Mortar was established in July 2010, alternately referred to as a ''publisher's alliance, initiative, or coalition'', which adv ...
alliance. Publishers Who Support Bits and Mortar


References

{{Reflist


External links


Chaosium's official website

A 3rd-party Chaosium history guide
1975 establishments in California American companies established in 1975 Companies based in Ann Arbor, Michigan Design companies established in 1975 ENnies winners History of Hayward, California History of Oakland, California Publishing companies established in 1975 Publishing companies of the United States Role-playing game publishing companies Trading card companies