I don't like Lovecraft. I never have.
There, I said it. The heresy is out in the world. I, a cis white man in his 40s who still plays roleplaying games does not like the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.
It is not from a lack of trying, mind you. I have struggled with this since I was fourteen years old and played in my first Call of Cthulhu game.
That game was lots of fun and perfect for when you are fourteen. We made tough as nails Treasury Agents loaded with shotguns, tommy guns, and .38s. We roared through Chicago in our Studebakers, hunting cultist bootleggers. All so we could eventually put our guns in our mouths from the insanity of what we saw in a warehouse or something...
After that game, I rushed out to get an anthology of his short stories. I had to read them. My older friends I had just played with talked about the writings as if the words changed their lives. So off to Waldenbooks I went and returned with one of the many paperback anthologies of his work, to be devoured in the deep night.
Unfortunately, what I found bored the shit out of me.
