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Innsmouth MUD's Sources and Policies

Chaosium materials aren't the definitive source for Lovecraft stuff. The phrase "Cthulhu Mythos" refers to a collection not only of Lovecraft's work, but also of several others' -- Ramsey Campbell, August Derleth, and Brian Lumley for instance. Certain aspects of the other writers' stories may clash with the bleak horror of Lovecraft's original settings. Like Chaosium, Innsmouth MUD restricts itself specifically to the fiction we feel is appropriate for our use. However, we're mostly limiting ourselves to the works of the Gentleman from Providence himself.

Any unintended deviations in Innsmouth MUD from the actual works by Lovecraft will be corrected if players point them out. But bear in mind that not all settings are in exactly the situation described by Lovecraft. For instance, not every day would see Zadok Allen out to look for a tourist. But we try to maintain things in a condition where Lovecraft's stories could be a snapshot of our setting, probably at a different time. Day-to-day deviations are fine -- if Joe Sargent's bus isn't in the town square at midnight, or one day it happens to be broken down, we consider that a feature and not a bug.

There are aspects of the Chaosium materials I try not to use. Mostly, they're the parts not derived directly from Lovecraft or from actual 1920s history. That's for legal reasons as much as anything else. I greatly respect Chaosium and I have no wish to steal their intellectual property. However, I'd also prefer to avoid gratuitous differences. For instance, if we ever do Arkham we'll also use Gahan Wilson's street map. But Chaosium materials aren't definitive in Innsmouth MUD, not about situations, locations and horrors, and certainly not about what characters live at what street addresses. Deviations from Chaosium's source material are expected and encouraged.

For those of you who have played CthulhuMUD: I have no plans to allow the playing of Shoggoths, Mi-Go, Deep Ones, Yithians (Great Race), Zoogs or other nonhuman races any time soon. Having a class of players whose primary purpose involves hunting and killing human beings fits very poorly into my current plans for the MUD. I may eventually consider adding something of this kind in a very limited, very roleplaying-specific capacity. But even in that case it would have very little in common with, say, the CthulhuMUD "mi-go brain hunter" class.

Also for those of you who played CthulhuMUD: I like and respect many of the policies they maintained. For instance, those about newbie-harassment, in-character versus out-of-character interaction, and cheating. CthulhuMUD and Blood Dusk have the policies I most respect of the MUDs I've played, and the policies that have lent the most to the feel of the game. Expect some similarities. Also, expect some differences.

Some Good Policies from Elsewhere

• CthulhuMUD's policies on acceptable versus unacceptable names
• What to do and not to do as a CthulhuMUD Immortal