The room is dark. No lights. I’ve lit candles. A soft, but disturbing, droning tone comes from my laptop in the corner. I begin by telling this story.
It was 1981 and I was living in Ames, Iowa. I walked into Spencer’s Gifts with ten dollars in my pocket. On the shelf, I saw a large, white box with a cover that said "Call of Cthulhu." I thought I knew what that meant. I’d read the story in the library. I took down the box and discovered Spencer’s was trying to get rid of it; they ordered it by mistake. I bought it for ten bucks.
I took it home and read all the way through it. I didn’t quite understand it all, but I brought some friends over and we figured it out together. Because I bought it, we decided that I should be the Keeper (the GM). And I ran my first roleplaying game. My first game of Call of Cthulhu.
In college, I was the guy who ran Cthulhu. Other guys ran D&D or Traveller or Twilight: 2000, but I was the guy who ran Cthulhu. I’d show up in a black suit and I’d do my best to scare the living begeezuz out of them.
Ever since then, I’ve tried to keep a tradition. Every Halloween, I dress up in a black suit, I get a group of friends together, and I run Cthulhu. I’ve neglected the tradition the last few years, but I’m starting again tonight. The first of four short stories. Tonight, we begin…
Then, I had all four of them stand together holding hands. They closed their eyes and bowed their heads. As they waited patiently, an unearthly voice (powered by Garage Band) echoed around them.
I AM THE KEEPER OF THE WAY.
THE DOOR IS OPEN.