Chaosium facts for kids
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| Founded | 1975 |
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| Founder | Greg Stafford |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| Key people |
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| Publication types | Games, Books |
| Fiction genres | Role-playing games, Board games, Fantasy fiction, Horror fiction, Weird fiction |
| No. of employees | 16 |
Chaosium Inc. is a company that publishes exciting tabletop role-playing games. It was started by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium is famous for games like Call of Cthulhu, which is based on spooky horror fiction stories. Other popular games include RuneQuest Glorantha and Pendragon, which is about the legends of King Arthur. They also made 7th Sea, a game full of adventure and magic.
Many of Chaosium's games are inspired by books and stories. Greg Stafford was a very well-known game designer. Many other talented game designers have also created games for Chaosium.
Contents
The Story of Chaosium
Early Years: 1975–1980
Greg Stafford started "The Chaosium" in 1975. He named it partly after his apartment, which he called a "house of chaos." It was also near the Oakland Coliseum, so he combined "coliseum" with "chaos." His first goal was to publish his fantasy war game called White Bear and Red Moon. This board game was set in his own fantasy world, Glorantha.
In 1978, Chaosium released RuneQuest, a role-playing game also set in Glorantha. They updated it in 1980 and added more content over the next few years. Chaosium also tried making board wargames like Reich and Panzer Pranks. These games received good reviews, but they didn't become very popular.
Growing Up: The 1980s
In 1980, the company officially became Chaosium Inc. That same year, Greg Stafford and Lynn Willis created a simpler set of rules called Basic Role-Playing (BRP). These rules became the foundation for many of Chaosium's later role-playing games. The most famous game using these rules was Call of Cthulhu, first published in 1981.
In 1983, Chaosium teamed up with another company, Avalon Hill, to create a new version of RuneQuest. Avalon Hill handled making and selling the game. Chaosium focused on designing and developing it. In 1986, Chaosium published Hawkmoon, one of the first role-playing games designed by a woman, Kerie Campbell-Robson. They also released Ghostbusters in 1986. This game was special because it introduced a new way of using dice called the "dice pool" system. This system was later used in the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.
Tough Times: Late 1990s–Early 2010s
In 1998, after a card game called Mythos didn't do well, Greg Stafford stepped down as president. He left the company along with Sandy Petersen, though they still owned parts of it. Chaosium then split into different smaller companies. Greg Stafford took the rights to his Glorantha game world and started a new company called Issaries, Inc..
Long-time employees Charlie Krank and Lynn Willis stayed at Chaosium. They continued to focus on Call of Cthulhu as the main game. Lynn Willis retired in 2008 and sadly passed away in 2013.
A Fresh Start: Mid-2010s
In 2015, there were some problems and delays with a crowdfunding project for the 7th edition of Call of Cthulhu. Because of this, Greg Stafford and Sandy Petersen returned to help Chaosium. Charlie Krank then left the company.
Later in 2015, at a big game convention called Gen Con, Stafford and Petersen announced big news. Another company, Moon Design Publications, joined Chaosium. The leaders of Moon Design became the new management team for Chaosium. This meant Chaosium once again published RuneQuest and other games related to Glorantha. They also continued to publish the Call of Cthulhu games. Greg Stafford was the chairman of the company board until he passed away in 2018.
As part of these changes, Chaosium moved its main office from California to Ann Arbor, Michigan. They now use special companies to help distribute their games. The delayed Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition finally shipped in 2016. It won many awards at the Gen Con 2017 ENnie Awards.
Growing Bigger: Late 2010s to Today
After getting reorganized, Chaosium started to grow again. They added more games by buying rights to them or making new deals.
In 2018, Greg Stafford's games King Arthur Pendragon and Prince Valiant returned to Chaosium. In 2019, Chaosium also bought the rights to the 7th Sea game series. Later that year, they gained the rights to create a role-playing game based on the Rivers of London fantasy novels.
In 2020, Chaosium began distributing English versions of other popular games. These included the Spanish fantasy game Aquelarre and the French Ice Age game Würm. In 2021, they added Upwind to this list. Chaosium also reacquired the rights to Cthulhu Britannica and World War Cthulhu in 2021.
In October 2021, Moon Design Publishing announced a partnership with a Polish company, Black Monk Games. They formed a new company called The Chaosium Group to manage both.
Books and Stories
Chaosium started publishing books, mostly fiction, in 1993. Many of these books are connected to H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos stories. However, the first book they published was Greg Stafford's fantasy work King of Sartar, set in his Glorantha world.
Cassilda's Song, a book of short stories from 2015, was written entirely by women. It was nominated for two awards in 2016. In 2017, Chaosium hired James Lowder, a well-known author and editor, to lead their fiction publishing.
Magazines
Chaosium has published a few magazines to share news and extra content for their games:
- Wyrm's Footnotes was published from 1976 to 1982. It provided extra material for White Bear and Red Moon and later became the official RuneQuest magazine. It was brought back in 2012 after a long break.
- Different Worlds was a bimonthly magazine. Chaosium published the first 38 issues from 1979 to 1985.
- Starry Wisdom was a magazine focused on Lovecraft's stories. Chaosium published three issues in 1997.
See also
In Spanish: Chaosium para niños
