All these things are, in their superior forms, simply by-products of excess intellectuality—which I haven’t the honour to possess. In their inferior forms they are of course simply avenues of escape for persons with too poorly proportioned and correlated a perspective to distinguish betwixt the frivolous and the relevant . . .

H.P. Lovecraft to James F. Morton, February 3, 1932

. . . I feel quite justified in believing that games and sports ought not be ranked among the major phenomena of life.

H.P. Lovecraft to Robert E. Howard, October 3–5–7, 1932

In spite of Lovecraft’s protestations, there are countless games that have been inspired by his works. However, these pages are a departure from the other pages in the “Popular Culture” section since games are rarely adaptations of existing works. Instead, these pages list those games which are explicitly or strongly influenced by Lovecraft and not those many games which merely include passing references to his creations.

Roleplaying Games

The best-known roleplaying game set in Lovecraft’s world is Chaosium’s award-winning Call of Cthulhu, although several other roleplaying systems have used his creations.

Board Games

Soon after the success of the “Call of Cthulhu” roleplaying game, Lovecraftian board, card, and dice games followed.

Digital Games

Once it became practical (and profitable) to do so, Lovecraft-inspired digital games also appeared on the scene.