History TabletopGame / CallOfCthulhu

** ''H.P. Lovecraft's Arkham: Unveiling the Legend-Haunted City''. When one of the PlayerCharacters inherits his Uncle Silas [=McCrindle=]'s estate, he also receives the attention of a psychotic murderer who wants to obtain Uncle Silas's collection of Franchise/CthulhuMythos books.

* InheritanceBacklash

** It's also a staple of ''Call of Cthulhu'' published adventures, to the point that savvy players, if they inherit an old house, will not go there until they've stocked up on the blowtorch fuel.

** ''Adventures in Arkham Country'' adventure "With Malice Aforethought". When the investigators discover an insane asylum that has had all of its staff murdered, they are arrested by the police and tried for the killings.

** ''Adventures in Arkham County'', adventure "The Dark Woods". The small village of Dunwich, Massachusetts has only one shop: Osborn's General Store, which is housed in an old church.

** ''The Fungi from Yuggoth''. On the Day of the Beast, Edward Chandler will summon the Beast (an avatar of Nyarlathotep) in Egypt. If the investigators kill him to prevent this and the Egyptian authorities capture them, the investigators will have to either prove Chandler's guilt or be executed for murder.

** In the supplement ''Terror from the Stars'', the "Field Manual of the Theron Marks Society" explains how killing Franchise/CthulhuMythos can cause the investigators to have problems with the authorities.

%%* ArrestedForHeroism: This is noted as a potential problem for Investigators in the ''Cthulhu Companion'' and the "Field Manual of the Theron Marks Society" (''Terror from the Stars'').%%ZCE

Interested in seeing some gameplay? Check out WebVideo/CriticalRole's one-shot, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uhqZdJ8swQ "Shadow of the Crystal Palace"]].

Do not confuse with [[https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=59067 a crossover with Mario of the same name]], a CollectibleCardGame of the same name loosely based on (and licensed by) Chaosium's aforementioned RPG, a movie done in the black-and-white style of the 1920s about Cthulhu, the Youtube series WebVideo/CallsForCthulhu, or [[Literature/TheCallOfCthulhu the original short story]] by Creator/HPLovecraft that they are all named after.

The most famous campaign for the setting was ''[[TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhuMasksOfNyarlathotep Masks of Nyarlathotep]]'' which has been adapted into a radio play.

A co-op boardgame called ''Call of Cthulhu Terror Paths'' was released for the 40th anniversary.

See also ''TabletopGame/ArkhamHorror'', Cthulhu Mythos TheBoardGame; and ''VideoGame/TheSinkingCity'', a investigation ActionAdventure horror game released in 2019 that takes many cues from Lovecraft's works.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Although, this happens very, very rarely, since meeting the aforementioned {{eldritch abomination}}s usually ends badly. However, 'rarely' does not mean 'impossible', as proved by FanFic/OldManHenderson in his DyingMomentOfAwesome.[[note]](The tale of whom is archived on the 1d4chan wiki [[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Old_Man_Henderson here]].)[[/note]]

* LethalJokeCharacter: Who wants to hear the Tale of Fanfic/OldManHenderson, the character who ''won'' Call of Cthulhu?

* ScrewDestiny: Fanfic/OldManHenderson, the CoolOldGuy who [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu blew up Hastur]] and "won" Call of Cthulhu.

* InstantDeathRadius: Yig's poison kills you instantly if you don't dodge and he hits bare skin. Dholes squash you flat if you don't dodge, regardless of defenses, and any surviving investigators get a roll to see if they find enough of you to bury. Cthulhu doesn't give you a chance to dodge (you're ''really'' not intended to go into combat with any of the above). For obvious reasons, Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth both take this trope UpToEleven. The former, if not properly contained, can and will lay waste to ''entire planets''; the latter has a nasty habit of vaporizing everything in a five-mile radius with ''freaking '''energy bolts'''''.

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG 840: Even if it would have immediately solved the last six adventures, I will not throw dynamite into every well we come across]]."[[note]][[https://www.deviantart.com/henning/art/Call-of-Cthulhu-Arkham-horror-28934472] Cover art by henning][[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG 840: Even if it would have immediately solved the last six adventures, I will not throw dynamite into every well we come across]]."]]

* AllWebbedUp: What happens to you if you mess with Atlach-Nacha or Leng Spiders.

* ArrestedForHeroism: Noted as a potential problem for Investigators in the ''Cthulhu Companion'' and the "Field Manual of the Theron Marks Society" (''Terror from the Stars'').

* ''TabletopGame/TrailOfCthulhu'' - A sort of remake made by Pelgrane Press, using TabletopGame/{{GUMSHOE}}, a more narrativist and rules-lite system made for investigative games, instead of Call's traditional D100 system.

** For the most part, it's still quite [[{{GameplayAndStoryIntegration}} integrated]] with some amounts of [[{{ZigZaggedTrope}} zig-zagging]], and it depends at what a Keeper is willing to throw at his players. As far as deity-level Mythos entities (Great Old Ones, Elder Gods, not even to mention the Outer Gods) are concerned, they ''are'' by definition immortal, being able to reform and come back some time (minutes to years) after being banished, and functionally invulnerable. The latter also goes for the higher-level Mythos entities (dholes, Cthonians, Star-spawn, the iconic shoggoths, Flying Polyps, hunting horrors, star vampires, Terrors from Beyond...), any of which will generally kill the entire party two times over before they manage to put more than a scratch on it, unless the party is exceptionally lucky ''and'' marvelously well-equipped. However, the lower-level entities that could pass for "Mythos footsoldiers" (ghouls, zombies, Deep Ones, the occasional dimensional shambler or two) can indeed be kept at bay and killed with [[{{MoreDakka}} sufficient firepower]] or the right kind of weapons, although it's still not exactly trivial. Human cultists, being mostly equal in stats to player characters, can be slaughtered in numbers if the investigators have the tactical advantage. Unless the cultists have one or several Mythos sorcerers with them, then the party is screwed once again. (And of course, another problem with human cultist enemies is that, while substantially weaker than almost any Mythos entity, they have the ability to use human technology just as well as the investigators - so the wondrous properties of shotguns detailed below can also work ''against'' the party...)

* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: Most Great Old Ones (and a few species) are described thus, possibly overlapping with outright godhood. Despite common belief, Cthulhu is ''not'' a god; terrifyingly he is the alien high priest of a god far, ''far'' more horrible than he is.

''Call of Cthulhu'' has a number of similarities to that [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons other popular TTRPG system]], but is lighter on rules and easier to play. There are no classes and [[HalfHumanHybrid except in very exceptional cases]], every character is human. Each character has an array of ''D&D''-style attributes (STR, DEX, CON, INT, POW, EDU, APP and SIZ) as percentile scores. There are also a dizzying number of skills that each investigator might have a percentile score in. To perform an action, players simply roll a d100 and try to get under their score to succeed; depending on the difficulty of the action, modifiers and bonus or penalty die may be applied, or a hard or critical success (rolling under half or one-fifth of the appropriate skill, respectively) may be called for. Character progression is organic and gradual as skill points are accumulated gradually for successful rolls - if you want to learn lockpicking in ''D&D'', you'd need to take a level in rogue or have the lockpick proficiency, but here you simply get practicing, just like real life. Starting skills are determined by a vast number of occupations to choose from; from petty criminals to law enforcement (police and private detective), military types to academics, elected officials and blue-collar working men.

* VampireVannabe: ''Cthulhu Companion'', adventure "The Rescue". Jocko wants to become a werewolf like Rafe Pelton. Pelton lies to him and cruelly makes him perform useless humiliating acts.

* FieryRedhead: Supplement ''Cthulhu Companion'', adventure "The Rescue". The {{NPC}} Dr. Dare has red hair and "... his temper gets the best of him sometimes."

** ''The Asylum and Other Tales'', adventure "Black Devil Mountain". The town of Indian River only has one general store. When the owner found that the recently arrived {{NPC}} Albert Goddard was living on Black Devil Mountain, he refused to sell anything to him and Goddard had to travel seven miles away to the town of Addison for supplies.

* SpeedDemon: The ''Fearful Passages'' supplement, adventure "Furious Driving" has Rupert Putney, the main {{NPC}}. He [[DrivesLikeCrazy drives like a maniac]] at incredibly high speeds (for the 1920's, anyway).

* RealityEnsues:
** Combat in purist ''Call of Cthulhu'' is a messy, nerve-wracking affair that should be avoided if at all possible. Being stabbed or shot at close range has a very good chance of killing the average Investigator almost outright, and surviving still means a long recovery in a hospital ward, weeks lying in a bed before the Investigator is fit to be going anywhere.
** The rules state that your TomeOfEldritchLore will take many weeks, maybe months, to study. The books are written in obscure occult jargon and bizarre ciphers (as black magic and forbidden knowledge is something you would want to keep a SECRET), the standards of literacy were much lower in ancient times so don't expect good grammar or spelling, and the guy who wrote it was probably a lunatic so do expect repetitive ranting and badly communicated instructions. Also, even if you can glean a spell out of it, it may not work (or even backfire) because a page is missing or some line was blurred.