Call of Cthulhu: Terror Paths adapts the horror RPG into a co-op board game
Don’t let the doom rise.
A new board game based on tabletop roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu, Terror Paths, is on its way.
Adapted from the classic horror RPG, Call of Cthulhu: Terror Paths is a board game that takes inspiration from the Cthulhu mythos. According to co-designer and original Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen, Terror Paths will be a “fast and easy to play board game” but will have “depth and detail to fascinate even the most experienced gamer”.
Petersen - who co-created Terror Paths alongside Lincoln Petersen - was widely criticised over the summer for making transphobic comments on Twitter, as well as being aggressively dismissive towards an article from The Atlantic about the issue of board games requiring players to reenact colonisation. Other instances of problematic behaviour from Petersen includes the designer using misogynistic language, including in an essay about creating Call of Cthulhu scenarios, and making light of serious issues such as the need for diverse representation.
A co-op board game for one to six players, Terror Paths sees players becoming a group of investigators who must complete a series of scenarios. Players are able to tackle the tabletop title in individual sessions or as a complete campaign, with a variety of different maps included within the game. During the game, players are able to act and move simultaneously, using their investigator’s abilities and equipment to overcome obstacles. As the game progresses, the players will need to keep track of the rising doom and potentially face terrible events along the way. If players manage to achieve their objectives before the doom reaches its peak, then they win the game.
Call of Cthulhu: Terror Paths will be published by Petersen Games, the studio responsible for releasing the Cthulhu Mythos roleplaying game series and board game Cthulhu Wars, using the licence for Call of Cthulhu from Chaosium - the publisher behind the roleplaying game.
Originally released in 1981, Call of Cthulhu is a horror roleplaying game inspired by the Cthulhu mythos that sees players becoming investigators looking into strange goings-on. The most recent edition of the game is Call of Cthulhu: 7th Edition, which was successfully funded via a Kickstarter campaign launched in 2013 and is currently the most popular roleplaying game in Japan. Arkham Horror, a horror board game first published by Chaosium in 1987, was initially a direct adaptation of Call of Cthulhu before the rights for the tabletop title were obtained by Fantasy Flight Games and it became part of the studio’s own Arkham Horror Files universe.
Call of Cthulhu: Terror Paths is set to be released sometime in 2022, with a retail price yet to be confirmed.