'The Rise and Call of the Cthulhu Empire' timeline
Posted by Michael O'Brien on 28th Jun 2026

TTRPG historian Shannon Appelcline ('Designers & Dragons') is putting together a timeline of Cthulhu roleplaying games, The Rise and Call of Cthulhu Empire. It charts the extraordinary success of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game in its various flavours since 1981, and the many and various TTRPGs it has influenced or inspired.
Shannon says he's tried to cover every every major, mass-market RPG released (those left out include web-published or spiral-bound published games, along with egregious clones).
View the timeline here: https://timeline.designers-and-dragons.com/cthulhu.html
Shannon is also currently writing a history of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game, with the working title 'Losing Sanity'.