There's no firm line between a game supplement and a game accessory, but I like to draw a distinction between something that expands the settings or rules of the game (supplement), and something which is just a bit of fun to have (accessory). So a new fluff book is a supplement, a set of themed dice are an accessory. S. Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters I would qualify as an accessory.
Named in honor of Sandy Petersen (who created the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game) and the long-standing series of Peterson's Field Guides.
So we're already established, before we even open the cover, what this is - a parody of an established spotter's guide, only with Lovecraftian beasties. This is different from a normal monster manual because there is nothing new in these pages, and no stats because they're all in the core rulebook. Thus the S. Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters has a sort of timeless quality to it.
In dimensions it is large - taller than the average RPG book at 12 inches, and very short, only 64 pages (which is fair, because it only covers "the 27 most frequently encountered monsters.") It is, more or less, just a big art book - and it was so successful that the next year they did another one, S. Petersen's Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands.
The two Petersen's Field Guides were also heavily influenced by Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials, and include a shout-out in the recommended reading.
Anyway, let's crack the cover. The first thing you see after the title page is a picture of H.P. Lovecraft. Because this is Chaosium, and they like to make it clear that unlike the rest of RPGs, they know full well who their lord and master is.
Physical existence: 1890 - 1937
Then there's a second title page, a dedication to Robert Bloch, and then finally the introduction - an in-character piece by "Professor-Emeritus Eliphas Cordvip Fallsowrth, The School of Medieval Metaphysics, Miskatonic University" that establishes this book as supposed to be an in-character document throughout - no stats, no breaking the fourth wall, although even this early on the book is half-jocular and full of injokes. For example:
The book then goes through a spotter's chart - a two page decision-tree flowchart which helps you figure out what monster you're looking at. You start out at 1:PRENATURALIST FIELD WORK IS EXCITING and personally rewarding, but amateur preternaturalists are reminded to take appropriate precautions before initiating observations.
Obstacles to successful observation are plain. With rare exceptions, preternatural collections in museums or zoological gardens do not exist, so that the student gains little acquaintance with the entities he or she seeks to encounter. Indeed, preternatural physical evidence of any sort is difficult or impossible to come by.
The naturalist can establish blinds, follow game paths, lurk near water holes, plant video cameras, and otherwise dog the heels of his chosen species. Such ploys are unavailable to the preternaturalist, whose interest may be not only off-planet but out-of-universe. And metaphysical observation methods are available only to scholars and other trained professionals. Understandably, the successful observer must be extremely patient and have a comprehensive knowledge of previous Earthly appearances.
But the thrill of seeing your first Dark Young smashing its way, say, through the Louisiana bayous cannot be duplicated.
I REMIND READERS OF SUPERB DESCRIPTIONS to be found in the writings of Howard Phillips Lovecraft; his work remains an inspiration. An intriguing game, Call of Cthulhu, discusses these monsters and others more rare. Actual investigations are more dangerous and more tedious than the fictive adventures which the game creates; still, the tone is exactly right.
GOOD SPOTTING!
..and goes on from there, narrowing down which of the 27 Mythos beasties given in the book that it might in fact be.1. Is it invisible?
yes - got to question 2;
no - go to question 3.
In format, each entry is a double-spread - on the left is a snippet quote from Lovecraft, a description of the critter, it's habitat, life, and distinguishing features, a comparative height chart, and some little cartoon related to its characteristics in the lower left; the right-hand page is a full-page color artwork of the beastie, like so:
Sorry dude, maybe next book.
That pretty much sets the tone for the book really, and the critter descriptions continue on in that combination of weirdly clinical/specific tone and faux-scholarship (which, if you go back to the bibliography, refers to specific short stories which feature the entity in question). It's hard for me to say exactly how influential the art is, since a lot of it is obviously based on earlier art, just larger and in greater color and detail, but it's obviously an influence on, say, this statue of Nyarlathotep:
The Dreamlands guide fills out the roster with a few more classical fantastic critters like basilisks and whatnot, but considering that the Dreamlands has shit like Cats from Saturn and Zoots in it, I think they maybe needed the padding.
After critter #27 (Yog-Sothoth), is a two-page splash size comparison chart:
The level of detail and thought given to each one probably deserves a Sanity Check all on its own.Gilman, W. Duin. 1984. "Ghoul Reproduction in the Northeastern United States," Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 42:41-59.
For reasons I don't remember (I assume it came with mine when I bought it second-hand), stuck into the back of my copy is a four-page CoC Scenario "The Bleeding Stone of Iphtah." What the fhtagn!?
