Unspeakable Lovecraftian Whispers - Michael O’Brien

Unspeakable Lovecraftian Whispers

Voices that explore the arcane and the indescribable horror

Michael O’Brien — Vice President & co-owner Chaosium Inc

Cultists of the Círculo Lovecraftiano & Horror, the shadows summon us to gatherings where gloom transmutes into word and mystery into ancestral rites. Amid echoes of the unnamable and voices brushing the arcane, we embark upon a journey that traverses literary secrets pulsing within the unsuspected. Each encounter is a conjuration, each voice a whisper inviting us to descend into the depths of horror, where imagination becomes abyss and revelations rise as specters.

Along this path of shadows and revelations, interviews shall be held to give voice to the creators, personalities, and guardians of horror, so that their visions and works may accompany us in this shared journey—a voyage of words and echoes that illuminate the darkness.

We are honored to welcome Michael O’Brien, Vice President and co-owner of Chaosium (publisher of the role-playing game "Call of Cthulhu", "Pendragon", "RuneQuest", "7^th Sea, Rivers of London" and others). Active in the world of role-playing games since the 1990s, O’Brien has been a key figure in the dissemination and expansion of the Cthulhu Mythos, "Glorantha" (setting of the RuneQuest RPG) and other fantastic universes. His career includes co-editing the legendary fanzine "Tales of the Reaching Moon" (1989–2002), the creation of "Questlines" (1995–1998), the experimental "Gorp #1" (2000), and authorship of "Sun County" (1992), a cornerstone of the “RuneQuest Renaissance” under Avalon Hill. Later, he became co-owner of Moon Design Publications, consolidating his role as a central figure in the evolution of classic and Lovecraftian role-playing games and Executive Producer of the cosmic horror miniseries "Bookshops of Arkham" and of the actual play series "Graveyards of Arkham". Welcome to the Círculo Lovecraftiano & Horror!

Michael O'Brien — Thank you for having me!

Michael O'Brien en Hobbiton

CL&H — Let’s begin. How did you first get involved with Chaosium and the world of role-playing games, and what personal passions or circumstances drew you into this creative universe?

MOB — I first got into role-playing games with the blue box edition of Dungeons and Dragons, like many gamers of my generation. But everything changed for me when a friend at school bought a copy of Apple Lane, one of Chaosium’s first RuneQuest supplements. We worked out RuneQuest from first principles because we didn’t own the rules. But the game was so cool – there were no levels, no alignments, no armour classes, but you could cut off someone’s leg, after all! – and the world of Glorantha was so intriguing and entrancing.

CL&H — What can you reveal about your bond with Greg Stafford? What was it like to encounter a legend in the vast realm of role-playing games [founder of Chaosium, creator of RuneQuest, Pendragon, and the unfathomable universe of Glorantha], a visionary whose imagination not only shaped fantastic worlds but reconfigured the very essence of our art, as though arcane whispers had woven new mythologies into the collective consciousness of players?

MOB — I first met Greg Stafford in 1987. I am Australian, and this was on a trip to the United States. I visited the Chaosium headquarters in Oakland, California and had my first manuscript – a RuneQuest supplement – rejected, very kindly and encouragingly (and deservingly), by Greg and Sandy Petersen. But it can’t have discouraged me, because I went on to have something accepted for publication for RuneQuest several years later. This was the RuneQuest 3^rd edition release Sun County.

I was privileged to know Greg for the next three decades. Back in the 1990s Greg visited Australia several times and stayed with my wife and I, and we stayed with Greg and his family when visiting the United States. Over the years I also attended many conventions with Greg, including Gen Con. Greg, myself, and my colleagues who run the company would meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the week before Gen Con, and make our way to Indianapolis in the Chaosium van. Greg was such a fascinating person to talk with, and I cherish the memory of those road trips.

The last time I saw Greg was at Gen Con in 2018, a few months before he passed. Greg was able to witness the resurgence of his company, and his last public speech was at the ENNIE Awards, where he accepted Chaosium’s award as Fan Favorite Publisher. His death that October was a great shock. I went to Greg’s memorial in Arcata, California, where he’d spent the last ten years of his life.  There I met many people who said Greg was one of the most amazing, most interesting, most charismatic people they knew, with such a wide and diverse range of interests and passions. And some of these people said, Oh I think he did some stuff with games too– although Greg is one of the greatest game designers of all time, this was only one aspect of his life.

CL&H — What has been the most defining moment in your career as a game designer, producer and publisher, and how did it reshape your vision of what role playing games could achieve culturally or artistically?

MOB — Ok, this answer is going to be a bit flippant – so my book Sun County was done as a work-for-hire. This means back in 1991 I signed away all rights to the book in exchange for being paid (which was fine, no complaints, that’s what WFH is). But decades later, I realized that because I am now a co-owner of Chaosium, and so therefore an owner of the RuneQuest – Glorantha IP, I actually have all the rights to my book Sun County back again! I actually bought the book back into print, because I could. You can even get it now in PDF, something that wasn’t possible for the original as PDFs hadn’t been invented. A new generation of RuneQuest fans has now seen and played Sun County, and this has even led to a flourishing of Sun County fan-created content in our RuneQuest independent creator program. BTW I don’t recommend this as a way to get your rights back though.  

Meeting fan at UK Games Expo

CL&H — How do you see the role of Chaosium in fostering global RPG communities today, especially in bridging diverse cultures, languages, and play styles across continents?

MOB — Many of our games are available in foreign language editions – for example, Call of Cthulhu is currently available in ten languages, and is in fact the most popular TTRPG in Japan. We work closely with our foreign language localization partners, but we have one important rule – we let our foreign language partners decide which titles they want to produce or translate because they know their own audience.  

Another of the ways we’re doing that is with our official Chaosium Cons, bringing Chaosium fans together around the world. This year we’ll be holding four different Chaosium Cons – the US (happened in April), UK (happened in June), Poland (coming up in late October) and New Zealand (November). And we’d love to have Chaosium Cons in other locations too – for this to happen we need a group of dedicated fans on the ground who are interested in helping get the event up and running. There are several potential places in new countries we are looking at.

En la Penny Arcade Expo Australia – PAX Aus con amigos cosplayers

CL&H — Could you tell us how you apply the philosophy of ‘Maximum Game Fun’ (MGF) in the workplace, and how this principle translates into both creative design and organizational culture?

MOB — What an interesting question! – I’ve never been asked anything like it before. I am very conscious that my job as vice president of Chaosium is one that many people would dearly love to have: I have turned my lifelong hobby and passion into my job. Most of the time I love 80% of my job, and 20% drives me crazy (on rare occasions I might have a 20:80 week). I guess if I was really applying MAXIMUM MGF it should be a 100:0. But I guess I have to remember in the D100 system, a roll of 96-00 is always a fail. Sorry, I don’t think I answered your question.

In terms of creative design, MGF is a paramount principle: we are producing games that are meant to be fun and enjoyable to play, first and foremost. For many games, including Call of Cthulhu, historical fidelity is an important aspect but not if stops people enjoying playing the game.

CL&H — What makes Call of Cthulhu stand out compared to other horror RPGs, not only in mechanics but in its ability to evoke dread and mystery?

MOB — I think one of the most effective aspects of Call of Cthulhu is its simplicity. The rules, the game mechanics, do not get in the way of the story. The GM can focus on the mystery and the terror because usually when the rules are called for in order to decide something, it’s simply a case of rolling percentile dice and applying the result – your character has a Jump skill of 45%, roll the dice. If you succeed you jump across the ditch, if you fail you fall in. And on you go with the story. Play doesn’t grind to a halt while you work out complicated resolution mechanics; you don’t lose the mood while looking up how a particular rule works.  

CL&H — How do you envision the Cult of Chaos program evolving in the coming years, and what role do you see it playing in nurturing new generations of Keepers and players worldwide?

MOB — We cherish our Cult of Chaos GMs! Without them we couldn’t run tables at so many conventions around the world. We are evolving the Cult of Chaos program so that its most important role is sharing our games with new fans – the best way to learn a new game is to play it, and it’s great to have someone showing you who knows and loves the game. We also cater for our existing fans, but bringing in new players is essential – the hobby will eventually die without them.

CL&H — How has the RPG industry changed since the 1990s, and where do you see it heading in terms of innovation, inclusivity, and artistic ambition?

MOB — One of the biggest things that has changed since the 90s is the phenomenon of Actual Play. If you’d told me back then people would pay big bucks to watch roleplayers play a game on stage I’d think that was crazy. And now I produce these shows and even appear in them myself, that’s how much I believe in the concept and love it. Actual Play has helped bring TTRPGs into the mainstream.  I also think through casting Actual Play has been a great way to put a spotlight on issues like inclusion and diversity.

CL&H — What has been the impact of live shows like Bookshops of Arkham and Graveyards of Arkham on the perception of Chaosium’s games, and how do you think these performances expand the reach of tabletop RPGs into mainstream culture?

MOB — Shows like Bookshops and Graveyards of Arkham were certainly very effective in raising Chaosium’s profile to the wider gamer audience. Doing stuff on stage, such as at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the five city  tour of the UK we did last year, brings Call of Cthulhu to the general public – we were delighted to see that these shows were the first such experience for many attendees. This year we are also co-producing a 13 city Call of Cthulhu Live tour of the United States by the Glass Cannon Network. A great feature of these shows is we commissioned 14 new Modern Day Call of Cthulhu one shots for these shows (13 shows, plus one back-up) and many of the writers were drawn from the Miskatonic Repository, our community content program for aspiring creators. It is very exciting for them to see their work portrayed on stage.

CL&H — What role do you think online platforms and streaming will play in the future of tabletop RPGs, and how might they redefine the communal experience of storytelling?

MOB — Streaming and online play is a big part of the future. During Covid, because people had no choice, they discovered playing games online isn’t bad, and can actually be really, really good fun. And streaming is a great to learn about games and watch others play. These days, and going into the future, watching someone else play, is the primary way many – maybe even most – people experience a new game, and learn how to play it.

CL&H — Can you share any upcoming Chaosium releases or initiatives that excite you the most, and what creative horizons they aim to explore?

MOB — Soon we’ll be releasing the new edition of Credo. This brilliant board game is about the Council of Nicaea, the meeting of bishops called by the Emperor Constantine in AD 325 to define what the Christian Church actually believed. Chaosium did a version of this game in the 1990s that is to this day very well-regarded, but for its very poor production values (it came in a plastic bag). We’ve produced a truly gorgeous new version of the game, in a box, and with beautiful new artwork and design. In June this year I was in Turkey, and with my Chaosium colleagues Nick Brooke and Andrew Bean, travelled to the Turkish city of Iznik, formerly known as Nicaea. There with the new edition of the game, we played Credo at the very site of the Council of Nicaea, 1701 years later.

CL&H — What advice would you give to new players who are just discovering Call of Cthulhu, especially those approaching the game from cultures or traditions less familiar with Lovecraftian horror?

MOB — My advice is start with the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set! It’s designed specifically for newcomers, you don’t even have to know anything about roleplaying games. The Starter Set even has a solo scenario that introduces the premise and the setting and the rules, all while you play through it. So in about 20-30 minutes of solo play you pretty much have everything you need to know about the game. From there we have various different scenarios designed specifically for new players and new Keepers in various time periods and settings.

CL&H — What legacy would you like Chaosium to leave in the RPG industry, and how do you hope future generations will remember its contribution to the art of collaborative storytelling?

MOB — Chaosium is now the oldest tabletop roleplaying game publisher, having endured for half a century, and I am confident that it will continue on, long into the future. So rather than gamers of the future remembering its contribution, I hope they will see the company as a continuing presence, continuing Greg Stafford’s legacy of publishing games that are original in style of play, content and design. 

CL&H — In conclusion, our conversation with Michael O’Brien reaffirms Chaosium’s enduring role as a cornerstone of the role-playing game industry. His journey from fanzines to leadership reflects both passion and vision, bridging decades of creativity and community. Through his stewardship, the legacy of Lovecraftian horror and the imaginative worlds of RuneQuest and Glorantha continue to thrive, reminding us that role-playing games are not only entertainment but living myths that connect players across generations. We sincerely thank Michael O’Brien for the time he dedicated to CL&H in this interview.

MOB — My pleasure!

For more information about Chaosium and the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu, visit their official website

https://www.chaosium.com/call-of-cthulhu-rules/