Cthulhu 500 Racing Card Game Revs Up For Action

Thanks to OgreCave for pointing to a Yog Sothoth story discussing the announcement of the Cthulhu 500 card game, which is billed as "a racing [card] game with a [Cthulhu] Mythos theme." According to the president of the creators, Atlas Games: "Each player chooses a car for the race, and as the game goes on can to pick up special drivers/pit crew (such as 'The Fungi from Detroit'), and car enhancements (such as 'Rats in the Whitewalls'). And, you know, summon Elder Gods to step on your opponents' cars, and the like."

Wow

[Lowtekium]

This card game almost makes me want to appreciate Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh cards...

Copyrights?

[AtariAmarok]

What is the current status anyway on Lovecraft copyrights and characters? Last time I recalled, they had gone into public domain due to the author having died long ago, and then the copyright laws changed and they were protected again.

Re:Copyrights?

[curtisk]

good question, but Bethesda is working on a game as well, so I'd guess its probably open to public domain since neither tried to get exclusive rights on games derived from the Cthulhu mythos

Call of Cthulhu [bethsoft.com]

Re: the sig quote

[iainl]

"This stereo record can not be played on old tin boxes no matter what they are fitted with."

I recognise this, but can't place it. Brian Eno?

Tin boxes

[AtariAmarok]

It is from Mike Oldfield [slashdot.org]'s "Tubular Bells" album cover.

Re:Tin boxes

[iainl]

D'oh! And the clue is in the username, too.

Tubular Bells was great; never really got on with the 'sequels', though, apart from the Orb remixes of Sentinel. Much prefer The Songs Of Distant Earth, myself.

Re:Copyrights?

[Zangief]

AFAIK it is public domain, but you may run into some problems, because a lot of people have expanded the mythos, so probably it is not everything on the public domain.

On the other hand, Superman and Mickey Mouse will be copyrighted as long as their parent compnaies have money.

Re:Copyrights?

[Unknown Kadath]

IIRC, August Derleth renewed a bunch of copyrights in the 70's as Arkham House Publishing, and these copyrights are still in force, though AH isn't really rabid about litigating against violators, and is very liberal about licensing.

-Carolyn

Gotta catch you all!

[Lord Graga]

Here's the missing link between the RPG and the cardgame! [gamespy.com]

See kids...

[GypC]

... behold the dangers of marijuana!

Other possible cards:

[AtariAmarok]

'The Fungi from Detroit'), and car enhancements (such as 'Rats in the Whitewalls')."

How about:

Pickman's Motor
The Car of Cthulhu
The "VW Thing" on the Doorstep
The Silver Ignition Key
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Cardeath
The Dunwich Humvee
Imprisoned with the Fords
The Moon-Buggy
The Doom that Came to Sebring
Herbert West, Mechanic

That reminds me... CoC

[MegatronUK]

Anyone else waiting on the imminent release of the 6th edition of Call of Cthulhu? Supposedly due out on the 22nd of this month.

Re:That reminds me... CoC

[BerntB]

Why vote for the Lesser Evil?

Vote Cthulhu for President!

Re:That reminds me... CoC

[MegatronUK]

http://www.chaosium.com/catalog/product_info.php?c Path=41&products_id=359

Riiiight

[(trb001)]

Okay, I'm typically open minded when it comes to the CCG genre, especially when merged with all things Cthulhu, but this just sounds frickin ridiculous.

--trb

All card games are CCGs? Riiiight.

[misuba]

I have no idea where this misconception comes from. I mean, it can't be that people had never seen cards with multicolored art or rules on them before Magic came out. People remember Mille Bornes, right?

Next time you see a sticker or legend reading "Not a collectible game!" on a card game box on the game store shelf, go slap a stupid person. Those stickers are their fault. The world will thank you.

Wow! Finally!

[Lane.exe]

A use for old DeLoreans!

"My God, Marty! It's hideous... squamous... even gibbous!"

I heard of this game before...

[DjMd]

Oh ok not that game, but it very similar game [penny-arcade.com]

Re:I heard of this game before...

[NSash]

I agree. This has "clumsy hoax" written all over it. Did you see the picture in the article?

Oh boy!

[Lord_Pain]

This sounds like an indescribably horrible idea!
I really can't wrap my mortal mind around this craze, gibbering, primodial concept. Racing and the Old Ones. Balderdash!

Now if you'd excuse me I have a cauldron of oddly, viscous fluid to stir.

Fantastic!

[Thedalek]

Now there will be a nice filler game for playing between rounds of The Harlem Globetrotters RPG.

(Note: It doesn't exist... yet.)

I wouldn't count on it coming out...

[cthulhubob]

It seems like for every cool CCG Atlas comes out with, there's another one that people anticipate that gets cut before production.

Anybody ever hear about the Amber CCG? I was really looking forward to that one. A year after it was supposed to have come out, I was still waiting for it... then I found out it had been cut.

Maybe they'll bring it to term though - here's hoping :)

Re:I wouldn't count on it coming out...

[misuba]

The financial barriers to publishing a CCG are enormous compared to the cost of doing a one-off game like Cthulhu 500. Your design costs are higher, first off, because of having to playtest all the different combinations. You have to commission at least twice as much color art and send it through prepress. You have to pay for the extra card-sorting and packaging. And finally, you have to contend with retailers who increasingly don't want to stock any more collectible games because players don't want to keep

Huh

[NedR]

This reminds me an awful lot of Cthulu Karts and Nazgul Thunder, both of which can be found here: http://www.phobe.com/sfi/sigmain.html Considering this company doesn't actually exist, I wonder if they're developing any games for the Phantom . . .

Re:Huh

[Special Ed]

I thought the exact same thing. Cthulu Carts was "advertised" in the April Fools (2003) issue of Computer Games Magazine.