Magic in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos Stories

[Geoffrey]

First, let me define my terms:

Lovecraft's: By this I mean only the stories written by H. P. Lovecraft and him alone. I am not including his revisions of other author's works or the stories written by August Derleth based upon plot germs in Lovecraft's notebooks.

Cthulhu Mythos Stories: I'm pretty strict in this definition. I recognize only the following eight stories by Lovecraft to be part of the Cthulhu Mythos (though there are many Cthulhu Mythos stories by authors other than Lovecraft):

The Call of Cthulhu
The Dunwich Horror
The Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Thing on the Doorstep
The Shadow Out of Time
The Haunter of the Dark

Only two of these stories have any magic spells in them: The Dunwich Horror and The Thing on the Doorstep. Here is a listing:

Spells in The Dunwich Horror:
1. Summon Yog-Sothoth
2. Dho Formula (reveals the inner city at the two magnetic poles)
3. Dho-Hna Formula (takes one to the inner city at the two magnetic poles)
4. Sabaoth (summons creatures "from the hill and not from the air")
5. Powder of Ibn-Ghazi (reveals invisible)
6. Voorish Sign (reveals invisible)
7. Banish Spawn of Yog-Sothoth and Human

Spells in The Thing on the Doorstep:
1. Immortality (allows a soul to steal the bodies of others)
2. Defense (protects one from the Immortality spell)

That is it. Lovecraft obviously made very little use of magic in his Cthulhu Mythos stories. If any CoC gamemasters want to model their games' magic system after pure Lovecraftian Cthulhu Mythos, I suggest using only the above spells, and even then only rarely.

 

[Aulayan]

Even though this does not have magic in it, The Mound should be included in your list. When I first read it, I thought it was more Mythos heavy than CoC.

Back on topic. Your suggestions are pretty good, though other spells can be used. As long as it's rare. Most Mythos books should be stripped of their spells, I think, and just be pure knowledge.

 

[Black Beard]

What is your defination of a Cthulhu Mythos story? And why do you limit them to a few of HPL's stories. What about The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Dreams of the Witch House, and my favorite HPL story Rats in the Walls.

As for spells in HPL's stories, I have always considered them more Super Science than Magic.

 

[trancejeremy]

Well, it seems to me, The Dunwich Horror is really the only story that actually has a mythos book in it used by characters in the story. And it's packed with magic spells.

The other stories have no magic spells in it, because there is no one in them that has access to them. Most of them involve characters that sort of stumble against the Mythos, and most of them are lucky to escape (but often end up dead).

The Dunwich Horror, OTOH, has a main character who is well versed in the Mythos (and magic).

It also stands to reason that if there are spells to summon and banish Yog-Sothoth, there are similar spells for the other gods.

 

[Desdichado]

Great suggestion! Now if only I agreed with your needlessly strict assumptions!

 

[Desdichado]

Great suggestion! Now, if only I agreed with your needless and senselessly strict assumptions!

 

[Desdichado]

Great suggestion! Now, if only I agreed with your needless and senselessly strict assumptions!

 

[Geoffrey]

Even though this does not have magic in it, The Mound should be included in your list. When I first read it, I thought it was more Mythos heavy than CoC.

The Mound is not pure Lovecraft. It is a revision of a story by Zealia Bishop. I agree that it is indeed a wonderful contribution to the Cthulhu Mythos.

 

[VorpalBunny]

What is your defination of a Cthulhu Mythos story? And why do you limit them to a few of HPL's stories. What about The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Dreams of the Witch House, and my favorite HPL story Rats in the Walls.

As for spells in HPL's stories, I have always considered them more Super Science than Magic.

I'm inclined to agree. Dreams in the Witch House is most certainly a "Mythos" story, as well as Rats in the Walls. I'd also submit Pickman's Model, The Haunter of the Dark and The Festival as "Mythos" tales.

But to comment on your obsveration about magic in HPL's stories: If you stick to your incredibly strict interpertation of what is and is not a "Mythos" story then yes; there were very few instances of "magic". But why would a Cthulhu GM limit himself to eight stories when there are hundreds of Mythos stories out there to draw from?

 

[Geoffrey]

What is your defination of a Cthulhu Mythos story? And why do you limit them to a few of HPL's stories. What about The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Dreams of the Witch House, and my favorite HPL story Rats in the Walls.

As for spells in HPL's stories, I have always considered them more Super Science than Magic.

I define a Cthulhu Mythos story as a story that is substantially about the Old Ones. A couple throw-away mentions is not enough (IMO) to make a story a Mythos story.

I have edited my post to make it clearer. I recognize that there are hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of Mythos stories by authors other than Lovecraft.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward has a few throw-away mentions of Yog-Sothoth, but it does not have any substantial connection to the Mythos. It feels more like a tale of Renaissance magic than Cthulhoid horror.

The Dreams in the Witch-House does not so much as mention the Old Ones, but it does deal specifically with your magic=super science observation.

The Rats in the Walls is one of my favorites, too. But I do not see any Mythos connections there at all.