This is the third edition of the Call of Cthulhu rules, published in conjunction with Games Workshop in 1986 and sold in both the US and the UK. This is the first hardcover version of the games, though Chaosium produced a box set with cover art identical to the 1st and 2nd editions.

There’s not much difference here between this and the previous editions beyond a little tidying up. Organizationally, the book is a bit of a mess – little attempt was made to reconcile the sections of the box set’s separate booklets into something that makes sense as one volume, so there are monster entries, scenarios and other bric-a-brac spread all over the place. In 2018, this strikes me as charming. If I was running Call of Cthulhu in 1986, I would likely not be amused.

This is also the first Call of Cthulhu book to have interior color plates. I love the color plates. They show up in a lot of the books from 86 until about 1991, and just feel…special. When I got a Call of Cthulhu book, they were the first thing I looked at. Many of these plates were included in the 4th edition rules, so I’m including those in tomorrow’s entry. These two never got reprinted and, honestly, you can see why. The one seems much more in the vein of Warhammer and a traditional notion of hell, the other one is just plain not very good.

Also, TFW you are flipping through a book to photograph for your RPG Instagram account and discover it was signed by Sandy Petersen. I had no idea before today!