''Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'' is a reference guide to the invented places, beings, and concepts from the Cthulhu Mythos developed by H. P. Lovecraft and others. It was published by

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon ...

in 1994.

Description

''Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'' is a 400-page book by

Daniel Harms Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

that contains an alphabetized listing of entities, cults and lore from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos 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, and Stephen King, 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'' 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's Pr ...

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 game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...

Reviews

*'' Dragon'' #252 *''

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

References

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