Have you ever had the urge to play a Cthulhu-themed word game?
Games like these are not as uncommon as one might think… For example, there’s the well-known cthulhu inspired game where occupantsof a car, (normally children under the age of 39), attempt to emulate the awesome power of the Great Cthulhu by driving other members of the vehicle insane by repeatedly asking ‘Are we there yet’ or better still, claiming “motion sickness” and vomiting at non-euclidian time intervals – (thinking about it, thats not really a word game is it…)
I’ve been thinking about this is great detail and, between myself and the Uberkeeper, we’ve created a few word games to be played while travelling, whether in a vehicle or not.
Almost any existing ‘car game’ can be modified to suit the purpose of serving Cthulhu – although one must be careful not to mock the god – or, lets face it, he will eat your mind…
1. ‘thulhu taboo: The active player thinks of a cthulhu-themed object, title or word (if this proves too difficult, then the game can be expanded to include other more mundan, but hopefully roleplay or horror related, genres) and describes it without mentioning the name of the object/title etc. Other players try to guess what on earth it is they are talking about.
2. Last week, Cthulhu and I went to the shops and bought… a Cthulhu plushie, three copies of the Necronomicon, five human sacrifices and… I’m sure you get the idea. Players take it in turn to recount the shopping list and add an extra item until somone gets it wrong and has to be sacrificed, or drop out of the game, until only one player remains… And He shall be the winner – Muwah ha ha…
3. O.I.H.R.T.O.A.N.F.T.O.Y: Okay.. haven’t really thought of a name for this one yet… but it’s pretty fun: Think of spurious acronyms for your favorite roleplaying games, cults and literature.. Think G.U.R.P.S, B.U.R.P.S and M.W.W.G for inspiration. Try and make yours as humourous as possible and allocate points of 10,8, and 6 to the best three suggestions respectively.
4. The alphabet game: Pretty much what it says on the tin – pick a theme and try to get to the end of the alphabet by naming things within that theme beginning with each letter. The Uberkeeper tried Lovecraftian Gods… which he found more difficult than first anticipated… give it a go!
5. Finally, our favourite – ‘I spy with my inner eye’: ‘I spy’, but only what you see in your mind… That’s pretty much all explanation necessary….
Have a fun summer…
Spawn of Uberkeeper
Inspired by the previous article on word games by the Spawn of.. I got busy one lunchtime and put together a set of clue cards and instructions for playing Cthulhian charades and taboo. Ideal for playing with a group of friends, I recommend a group of five or six, and also a few beers maybe to get the thinking muscles nicely relaxed.
