Chaosium
Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Its first title was the board game White Bear and Red Moon, set in Stafford's fictional fantasy gaming world of Glorantha. Chaosium's major titles have included the roleplaying games Call of Cthulhu based on the horror fiction stories of H.P. Lovecraft, and RuneQuest set in Glorantha.
Many of Chaosium’s product lines are based upon literary sources. While Stafford himself has been described as "one of the most decorated game designers of all time" and "the grand shaman of gaming", many other notable game designers have written material for Chaosium. These include David Conyers, Matthew Costello, Larry DiTillio, David A. Hargrave, Rob Heinsoo, Keith Herber, Jennell Jaquays, Katharine Kerr, Reiner Knizia, Charlie Krank, Robin Laws, Penelope Love, Mark Morrison, Steve Perrin, Sandy Petersen, Ken Rolston, Ken St. Andre, Jonathan Tweet, and Lynn Willis, among others.
History
1975–1980: Early years
Greg Stafford founded "The Chaosium" in 1975 to publish his board game White Bear and Red Moon. He derived the name partly from his home, which was near the Oakland Coliseum, combining "coliseum" with "chaos."In 1978 Chaosium published Steve Perrin's roleplaying game RuneQuest, set in Stafford's mythic fantasy setting Glorantha, following up with a second edition in 1980 and various supplements over the next six years.
1980s: Growth and licensing with Avalon Hill
In 1980, the company officially incorporated as Chaosium Inc. That year, Stafford and Lynn Willis simplified the RuneQuest rules into the 16-page Basic Role-Playing. These simulationist, skill-based generic rules formed the basis of many of Chaosium's later "d100" RPGs, most notably Call of Cthulhu, first published in 1982.Chaosium entered into a licensing agreement with Avalon Hill in 1983 to produce a third edition of RuneQuest. Avalon Hill manufactured and marketed the game, while Chaosium was responsible for acquisitions, design, development and layout. Ken Rolston managed the line as "Rune Czar".
One of the first RPGs by a female lead designer was published by Chaosium: Kerie Campbell-Robson's 1986 release Hawkmoon.
Late 1990s–early 2010s: Financial struggle
In 1996 it was prematurely reported that Chaosium had secured the rights to publish a collectible card game based on the video game Doom.In 1998, following the financial failure of the collectible card game Mythos, Greg Stafford resigned as Chaosium president and left the company, along with Sandy Petersen. Chaosium effectively split up into various successor companies, each maintaining its focus on a few of the company's products. Stafford took the rights to his game setting Glorantha, setting up the company Issaries, Inc. to continue publishing this line.
Long-time employees and part-owners Charlie Krank and Lynn Willis remained at Chaosium as President and Editor-in-Chief respectively, continuing on with Call of Cthulhu as the main product line. Lynn Willis retired in 2008 due to poor health and died in 2013.
Mid 2010s: The return of Stafford and Petersen
Problems and delays fulfilling the Kickstarters for the 7th edition of Call of Cthulhu led Stafford and Petersen to return to an active role at Chaosium in June 2015. Charlie Krank subsequently left the company.Later that year at Gen Con 2015, Stafford and Petersen announced Moon Design Publications were now part of the Chaosium ownership, and the four principals of Moon Design had become the new Chaosium management team. Chaosium once again became the licensed publisher for RuneQuest, HeroQuest and other products related to Gloranthan universe, and continue to publish the Call of Cthulhu line. Stafford and Petersen remained as board members, and creative consultants to the company.
As part of its financial reorganization, the new management closed the company office and warehouse in Hayward, California, ending Chaosium's long association with the San Francisco Bay Area. The company is now based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and uses a fulfillment house model for distribution of product.
Delivery of the core rewards of the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Kickstarter finally commenced in April 2016. The new edition went on to win nine of the ten awards it was nominated for at the Gen Con 2017 ENnie Awards.
On April 2, 2019, Chaosium Inc. announced they acquired the rights to the 7th Sea product line from John Wick, including back stock of books published so far.
Fiction
Chaosium began publishing a line of non-game books in 1993. Many titles are themed around H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and related topics, although the first work published was Greg Stafford's fantasy work King of Sartar, set in his mythic world Glorantha.Cassilda's Song, a 2015 anthology based on Robert W. Chambers's King in Yellow and written entirely by women, was nominated for two 2016 World Fantasy Awards.
In May, 2017, Chaosium appointed award-winning author and editor James Lowder as executive editor of fiction. Lowder had previously served as a consultant for Chaosium, helping the company and freelancers resolve payment and contract problems with past fiction projects.
Although not published by Chaosium, the ongoing Wild Cards series of superhero science fiction originated from a long-running Superworld campaign gamemastered by Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin and his circle of fellow writers who played in his game.
Magazines
Three magazines have been published by Chaosium to promote its products:- Wyrm's Footnotes ran for fourteen issues from 1976 to 1982. For the first ten issues, it was a source of supporting material for White Bear and Red Moon. In 1981, starting with Issue #11, it became the official RuneQuest magazine. The last edition published during its initial run was Issue #14, dated April 1982. The magazine was revived in 2012 by Moon Design Publications, continuing the issue numbering at 15, despite the 30-year hiatus.
- Different Worlds. Forty-seven bimonthly issues from Different Worlds were published. Chaosium, from 1979 to 1985, published the first thirty-eight and Sleuth Publications, from 1985 to 1987, the final nine. Tadashi Ehara was the editor of the magazine during the periods concerned by both publishing houses.
- Starry Wisdom, a Lovecraft-themed magazine, three issues of which Chaosium published in 1997.