 Cover art by Tom Sullivan | |
| Designers |
|
|---|---|
| Publishers | Chaosium |
| Publication | 1983 |
| Genres | Horror |
| Systems | Basic Role-Playing |
| ISBN | 978-0-933635-04-3 |
The Asylum & Other Tales is an anthology of seven adventures published by Chaosium in 1983 for the horror role-playing game Call of Cthulhu .
The Asylum & Other Tales is a collection of seven short adventure scenarios for Call of Cthulhu meant to be used by Keepers (gamemasters) when stuck for an idea or to link two larger adventures together: [1]
A short introduction suggests ways in which each adventure could be used. [2]
Shortly after the release of the highly successful Call of Cthulhu role-playing game in 1981, Chaosium published a book of linked adventures, Shadows of Yog-Sothoth , whose story arc formed an entire campaign. In 1983, Chaosium decided to go in a different direction for their second CoC release, planning a commemorative anthology of unlinked short adventures. Greg Stafford invited various author to contribute to the project, and the result was The Asylum & Other Tales, an 80-page book edited by Sandy Petersen, with art direction by Lynn Willis, formatting by Charlie Krank, diagrams by Yurek Chodak, and artwork by Tom Sullivan. [1]
In the 2014 book Designers & Dragons: The '70s, Shannon Appelcline noted the change in direction: "Shadows of Yog-Sothoth set the adventure as the dominant form of Call of Cthulhu supplement. Many more would follow in the years to come. Some of them were linked adventures like Shadows, but others instead featured collections of short adventures, beginning with The Asylum & Other Tales (1983)." [3] : 260
The publication of this book also marked the end of a feud between industry pioneers Greg Stafford and Dave Hargrave. In the mid-1970s, when Stafford had just formed Chaosium, he agreed to publish Hargrave's Arduin role-playing game. However, Hargrave's submission, badly spelled, disorganized and incomplete, proved to be impossible to publish, and Stafford took back his offer. Hargrave accused Stafford of reneging on a promise.
As Appelcline relates, "Stafford managed to bury the hatchet when he asked Hargrave to contribute to The Asylum & Other Tales (1983), the second supplement for Call of Cthulhu (1981). The resulting adventure, 'Black Devil Mountain,' was essentially a dungeon [...] that Stafford thought 'really contrary to the game.' It probably was, but Stafford opted to publish it anyway. Hargrave would later apologize to Stafford for the discord between them and even authored a second 'My Life and Role-Playing' article (1983) as well as one more Call of Cthulhu adventure: 'Dark Carnival' for Curse of the Chthonians (1984). That one was a bit more in tune with Call of Cthulhu's style — though it ended with a dungeon too." [3] : 319
The Asylum & Other Tales was reprinted by Chaosium as part of crowdfunded campaign in 2022. [4]
In the November 1983 edition of White Dwarf (Issue #47), Jon Sutherland admired the supplement, giving it an excellent overall rating of 9 out of 10, while saying "Asylum is a neat collection providing short interesting adventures. I have always thought that scenarios go on too long and the vitality of the story and the players tail off.... Quality-wise it compares very favourably with Shadows [of Yog-Sothoth]." [5]
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 RuneQuest. Greg Stafford and Lynn Willis are credited as the authors. Chaosium used the percentile skill-based system as the basis for most of their games, including Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and Elfquest.
Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos. The game, often abbreviated as CoC, is published by Chaosium; it was first released in 1981 and is in its seventh edition, with licensed foreign language editions available as well. Its game system is based on Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing (BRP) with additions for the horror genre. These include special rules for sanity and luck.
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, based on Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur, and 7th Sea, "swashbuckling and sorcery" set in a fantasy 17th century Europe.
Arduin is a fictional universe and fantasy role-playing system created in the mid-1970s by David A. Hargrave. It was the first published "cross-genre" fantasy RPG, with everything from interstellar wars to horror and historical drama, although it was based primarily in the medieval fantasy genre.
Deities & Demigods, alternatively known as Legends & Lore, is a reference book for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game (D&D). The book provides descriptions and game statistics of gods and legendary creatures from various sources in mythology and fiction, and allows dungeon masters to incorporate aspects of religions and mythos into their D&D campaigns.
Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of RuneQuest and creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game Call of Cthulhu. He later joined id Software where he worked on the development of the Doom franchise and Quake. As part of Ensemble Studios, Petersen subsequently contributed to the Age of Empires franchise.
Francis Gregory Stafford was an American game designer, publisher, and practitioner of shamanism.
David Allen Hargrave, known as The Dream Weaver, was a prolific and sometimes controversial American game designer and writer of fantasy and science fiction role-playing games (RPGs). Hargrave's most notable written works were based upon his own mythical world of Arduin.
James Daniel Lowder is an American author, anthologist, and editor, working regularly within the fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror genres, and on tabletop role-playing games and critical works exploring popular culture.
Cthulhu's Dark Cults is an anthology edited by David Conyers, containing ten Cthulhu Mythos short stories set in Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu role-playing game setting. All the stories take place during the 1920s and 1930s, the era in which the game is set.
Different Worlds was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987.
American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) created a number of fictional deities throughout the course of his literary career. These entities are usually depicted as immensely powerful and utterly indifferent to humans. Humans can barely begin to comprehend them; however, some entities are worshipped by humans. These deities include the "Great Old Ones" and extraterrestrials, such as the "Elder Things", with sporadic references to other miscellaneous deities. The "Elder Gods" are a later creation of other prolific writers who expanded on Lovecraft's concepts, such as August Derleth, who was credited with formalizing the Cthulhu Mythos. Most of these deities were Lovecraft's original creations, but he also adapted words or concepts from earlier writers such as Ambrose Bierce, and later writers in turn used Lovecraft's concepts and expanded his fictional universe.
Charlie Krank is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Cults of Terror is a tabletop role-playing game supplement for RuneQuest, originally published by Chaosium in 1981. The sourcebook details nine evil deities and the cults that worship them, for use in Greg Stafford's fantasy world of Glorantha.
Shadows of Yog-Sothoth is a series of adventures published by Chaosium in 1982 for the horror role-playing game Call of Cthulhu.
The Arkham Evil is a 1983 role-playing game adventure for Call of Cthulhu published by Theatre of the Mind Enterprises.
Cthulhu Classics is an anthology of adventures published by Chaosium in 1989 for the horror role-playing game Call of Cthulhu.
Pavis: Threshold to Danger is a boxed tabletop role-playing game supplement for RuneQuest, originally published by Chaosium in 1983. This boxed set detailed the fictional city of New Pavis for use in role-playing adventures. It received positive reviews in game periodicals including White Dwarf, Dragon, Different Worlds, and Fantasy Gamer. The set was republished in 1999 by Moon Design Publications in a single volume with Big Rubble: The Deadly City as Gloranthan Classics Volume I – Pavis & Big Rubble. The 1983 edition was republished in 2019 in PDF format as part of Chaosium's RuneQuest: Classic Edition Kickstarter.
Cthulhu Casebook, subtitled "A Plethora of Plots and Adventures", is a collection of adventures published by Chaosium in 1990 for the horror role-playing game Call of Cthulhu, itself based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft.