Lovecraftesque: We Serve and Protect

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WE SERVE AND PROTECT by Kenneth Hite. A long hot summer of protests rocks the streets of Chicago in the 1970s, and you rock with them. Until the cops pen you in, snatch you up, and take you to the precinct house, where worse things than rubber hoses wait in the basement. The Chicago Police Department serves and protects… but what inhuman entity do the cops who have you serve? What dark secrets do they protect?

About the Game

Lovecraftesque is a GM-less storytelling game of creeping, existential horror. Together, players explore a slow-building mystery through the eyes of a single protagonist, taking turns shaping scenes and contributing details.

Roles rotate each scene:

• Narrator – Describes the setting and introduces mysterious clues.

• Witness – Portrays the protagonist and reacts to events.

• Whisperers – Offer ideas, imagery, and suggestions, and may look things up to enrich the story.

This is a game of cosmic horror that builds atmosphere, not body counts. The fear here is subtle, creeping, and inevitable.

Important Notes

• This is not a Lovecraft pastiche.
  While inspired by cosmic horror, Lovecraftesque rejects the racism, ableism, and xenophobia of H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction. Instead, it focuses on human vulnerability in the face of the unknowable.

  For more on this approach:
  📄 Mental Health and Lovecraft
  📄 Handling Race in Lovecraftesque

• This game may be recorded (with everyone's explicit consent).

• We’ll use a layered set of safety tools including Lines & Veils, Open Door, and X-card equivalents.

• The Open Hearth Code of Conduct applies. We play respectfully and inclusively.