SPCM

I've been reading (slowly) the SPCM book; Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos, a sourcebook for 5e D&D. It's pretty well-regarded, as near as I can tell, but so far only about ~75 pages (of ~425 or so) it's mostly character options; new races that are kinda weird, like Lovecraftian ghouls, zoogs, Dreamland cats, etc. new skills, new class options and subclasses, etc. I mean, I suppose that's what you kind of expect for a sourcebook for 5e, but I admit that it strikes me as a little strange. So far, not bad, just... strange. Not only are the races themselves strange (the class options make more sense to me; especially the Mythos tainted magic options) but the idea that they're adapting so closely Lovecraftian originals.

I've said it before, and no doubt I'll say it again, but that kind of misses the point of Yog-Sothothery. It isn't using the same elements as Lovecraft and his circle did, it's using the same themes and tone. In a lot of ways, the Warhammer Fantasy Old World setting of the RPG fame is better Yog-Sothothery than overt conversions of Lovecraft's monsters, races, or other details.

If you look at what Lovecraft, Howard, Smith, Bloch, etc. did, in every story they had a unique menace that didn't really ever get re-used. Not to say that names weren't recycled in an off-hand manner frequently; in fact, that's the biggest tell of a Lovecraftian story most of the time. There'll be a point where a number of Old Ones names or rattled off, and they'll look really familiar; Cthulhu, Azathoth, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth (of course) Tsathoggua, etc. Or maybe it'll be references to books like the Necronomicon, or the Book of Eibon, or Nameless Cults, etc. Maybe there'll be an off-hand reference to Unknown Kadath or the Plateau of Leng or Yuggoth. But none of those really make an appearance in the story. They're just references. It's the themes and the tone and make a story Lovecraftian, not the presence of specifically Lovecraftian details, monsters, or terrible gods. It's in this sense that I think Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is more Lovecraftian, in some ways, than many games specifically designed for Lovecraft. It's got the themes and the tone down quite well... but everything in it is unique and original. Instead of serpentmen and Yig, you've got Skaven and the Great Horned Rat. Instead of Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep and the rest of those guys, you've got Khorne, Tzeentch, Slaanesh and Nurgle. Which, admittedly, aren't always the coolest names, but they're very cool concepts. Even more traditional Gothic horror is done well. Nagash and the Vampire Counts is much more interesting than most of the alternatives to it in fantasy. The Von Carsteins are more interesting to me than even Strahd. 

Now, would I like it if there were an overt nod or in-joke reference to the Mythos in Warhammer? Yeah, probably. It beats in-joke references to Duran Duran or Adam Ant, and yet we had very blatant ones of those. But still, that's just a reference and in-joke. What I don't want Warhammer to do is have zoogs or shoggoths—it's hardly like they need them with all the warped chaos stuff going on already. 

So, I'm a little ambivalent about SPCM so far. I mean, it's good at what it sets out to do; I'm just a little skeptical that what it's setting out to do is what it should be doing in the first place. 

That said, I'm mostly reading it for the cults and elder gods chapters, and then so that it can lay the groundwork for the campaigns that are coming; Ghoul Island, Dark Worlds, etc. Those are what I'm even more interested in reading. Although I fear that they'll be too Lovecraftian themselves, and in doing so, actually miss the point of the theme and tone. 

Although it's worth pointing out that Lovecraft himself was not immune to pastiche. "The Dunwich Horror" is usually considered to be a pastiche of "The Great God Pan" by Arthur Machen, and "Herbert West: Re-animator" was a pastiche or perhaps even a parody of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. "The DreamQuest of Unknown Kadath" has even been called pastiche of The History of the Caliph Vathek by William Beckford before.