Call of Cthulhu is the preeminent roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror and has been for over four decades now. The roleplaying game gives the chance for the players and their Investigators to explore a world in which the latter are exposed, initially often indirectly, but as the story or investigation progresses, increasingly directly, to alien forces beyond their comprehension. So, beyond that what they encounter is often interpreted as indescribable, yet supernatural monsters or gods wielding magic, but in reality is something more, a confrontation with the true nature of the universe and the realisation as to the terrible insignificance of mankind with it and an understanding that despite, there are those that would embrace and worship the powers that be for their own ends. Such a realisation and such an understanding often leave those so foolish as to investigate the unknown clutching at, or even, losing their sanity, and condemned to a life knowing truths to which they wish they were never exposed. This blueprint has set the way in which other games—roleplaying games, board games, card games, and more—have presented Lovecraftian investigative horror, but as many as there that do follow that blueprint, there are others have explored the Mythos in different ways.
Cthulhoid Choices is a strand of reviews that examine other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror and of Cosmic, but not necessarily Horror. Previous reviews which can be considered part of this strand include Cthulhu Hack, Realms of Crawling Chaos, and the Apocthulhu Roleplaying Game.
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A calendar is useful, if boring. Start of the month, check for appointments and things you are planning to do. Cross off the days as they pass, and when you get to the end of the month, flip over the page and start on the next. Either that or you are ripping off one page, day-by-day, month-by-month, all the way to the end of the year when you will start all over again with a fabulous new calendar. Of course, a calendar can be themed or display pictures from your favourite series of books or television series, or whatever you like, as there is probably calendar for it. What though if you wanted to investigate secrets and reveal a conspiracy, tramp the foreboding streets of Arkham, uncover rumours of monsters human and inhuman, and ultimately confront things that no man was meant to know? Well, of course, the obvious option would be to play Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition with your friends and set it in Arkham. That though would only be at the weekend or of an evening, but what if you could do it every day? What if you sit at your desk every day and, just for two minutes, roll some dice and fight the Mythos? And as you play from week to week, facing ever greater threats, you imperil your Sanity, but gain greater rewards and abilities from one month to the next as you delve deeper into the the secrets of Arkham. As private investigator John Miller in 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 1926, this is what you are going to be doing for the whole of 2026! 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 1926 is the desk calendar that you want. Published by the amusingly named Sorry We Are French, the 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 is a desk calendar that you can play once a day for two minutes and fight the Mythos for the whole of the year. The first desk calendar from the publisher was a fantasy version, 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025, and Sorry We Are French has followed this up with 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2026 as well as 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026. The aim of the game is to defeat the monsters of the Mythos throughout the week before a weekly showdown with a bigger threat on Sunday. The more Mythos monsters that John Miller can defeat during the week, the easier it is for him to defeat the creature on Sunday. At the end of the month the player can then compare his core with others on the publisher’s website. Once a month is done, the player flips it over to reveal both the next month and the story of his and Jon Miller’s progress and discoveries as well as a bonus that will help them both in the subsequent months. Over the course of the month, John Miller will want to avoid accumulating Madness as this will reduce his score. This goes all the way down to the final confrontation in December.
365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026 consists of the flip calendar with a rules leaflet, five six-sided dice, and an Investigator magnet. The flip calendar is marked with days illustrated with various threats—the authorities, cultists, twisted animals, tentacled monsters, and more. Each is numbered and marked with a symbol, either a flashlight, magnifying glass, or a revolver. The five dice come in two types. The two green dice are marked the same symbols as the calendar, whilst the three black dice are numbered from one to five and have the Cthulhu symbol on the ‘six’ face. Lastly, the Investigator magnet represents John Miller. It is a huge step up in useability compared to 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025, consisting of a ring with a separate back. The ring is placed on the front of the flip calendar so that the current location can be seen through and the base is slid on the back of the location on the flip calendar. This holds John Miller firmly in place.
Each day, bar Sunday, John Miller faces down one encounter in the rest of the week. To do that, his player moves him to the day of the week where the encounter is and then rolls the dice. The aim is to roll equal to, or greater than, than the value of the encounter, and also roll the symbol on the green dice that matches the symbol attached to the encounter. The player gets to roll three times against the encounter to defeat it, deciding which dice to keep each time. The Sunday, end-of-the-week encounter works in the same way, but is much more of a challenge. For encounter defeated during the previous six days, the challenge is reduced by one. For overcoming a Sunday encounter, the player earns five points. However, if at the end of any encounter, any of the three black dice show the ‘Cthulhu’ symbol, John Miller gains a point of Madness. Fill up the Madness Meter for the month, and the player loses five points. At the very worst, this can mean that a score for the month drops into the negative. Fortunately, the Madness Meter resets at the end of the month.
Come the end of the month and the player flips over the month and reveals the next one. He also gets to read a little fiction charting John Miller’s progress and John Miller gains certain abilities having been affected by his encounters with the Mythos. For example, from February, encounters become more difficult if John has not accumulated at least one point of Madness, whilst from March, he can use a grimoire to help him against encounters, but this always incurs further Madness. Later on, agents of the Mythos lay traps to prevent him investigating any further and John Miller must find certain artefacts to help him defeat the horrors that he will face come the end of the year. These extra elements add player choice, greater complexity—if only a little, and increased challenge incrementally, adding too, to the play time needed each day—again, if only a little.
365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026 is a day-by-day monster beat ’em, but one with familiar and accessible theme which it applies in a simple, if Pulp fashion. Like any commitment for a year, a player is going to start out strong, playing it and rolling dice day-by-day, but whether he can stick it out for a year is a matter of his willpower. Likely he will lapse occasionally and race to catch up. Beyond tracking the passing of the days, as with other entries in the series, 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 1926 is not much use as a calendar as the boxes for each day is occupied by a monster or trap, but it is not designed as such, being more game than calendar. The game play is not particularly detailed or deep, and so not particularly challenging either.
Physically, the 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026 is nicely presented, full of colour and detail that make you wish some of the creatures were available as card standees for your proper roleplaying game. The art style is cartoonish, but not funny or cute as 365 Adventures: The Dungeon – 2025 was in places. The rules themselves are simple and easy to grasp, helped by an extended example of play, whilst the monthly updates are enjoyable if short and the rules additions clear and easy to understand also.
365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026 is a simple, silly product, thematic in a Pulp style, but probably too simplistic and too silly for some. Nevertheless, it is well executed and applies its theme in a clever fashion. For the devotee of Lovecraft and the fan of the Cthulhu Mythos, 365 Adventures – Cthulhu 2026 offers the player to fight the unknowable and save humanity with a little dice rolling and potentially save the good people Arkham—for the whole of 2026.
