Yet another in an endless series of rpgs, this one offered an appeal that others did not. After many printings, the game is still in play. Simply put, the players take the role of various characters battling unspeakable evil in the world of the1920s. For H.P. Lovecraft, the great pulp writer, there were unspeakable monstrosities lurking just on the edge of reality and ready to manifest themselves to destroy the sanity or physical being of any who dared to confront them.

I bought my first copy at The Compleat Strategist on 33rd Street in NYC. The cashier that night assured me the game was focused more on shootouts between investigators and cultists. Happily, he was incorrect. The monsters are well catalogued and as readily sap the sanity as life from the players.

The quality of an rpg can often be judged by supplements and expansions in which case the game stands third only to Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer. Of course, this means lots of miniatures, first from Grenadier, and currently from RAFM.

So it is time to look at the combat system underlying encounters. What I find is likely the simplest of combat systems with figures exchanging blows until one succumbs or flees. The 7th edition expands on the basic combat rules but the system remains simplistic and heavily dependent on the presence of a keeper, a sort of referee and author of the adventure. Unlike many other RPGs, this one stresses avoidance of combat. The close combat system offers limited interest as a game in itself.