This is the 1989 fourth edition of the Call of Cthulhu rules. This is the first one I owned and I have a fondness for it.

Four in, this one finally marks a significant revision and reorganization by Lynn Willis, who would come to redefine the game over the next couple decades. There’s some new art, finally, too. Despite that, it still feels largely the same. This is a refinement, not a reinvention. Except in terms of the printing itself – the book is notorious for cracked and peeling spines, losing pages and detaching covers. This is my second copy because all of the above happened to my first.

It features some classic color plates. Most noteworthy for me is Les Edwards’s totally not Cthulhu Mythos painting of the Croglin Vampire, which might be familiar, as it also graced the cover of 1990 volume of Best New Horror, Daniel Cohen’s Super-Monsters and the album cover of Krokus’ Alive and Screaming (of all places). That ghoul and Mr. Shiny the human-shaped Shoggoth, are also classics.