1975–1980 Greg Stafford founded "The Chaosium" in 1975, deriving the name partly from his apartment (which he described as a house of chaos), which was near the
Oakland Coliseum, combining "coliseum" with "chaos". His purpose was to publish his first fantasy war game
White Bear and Red Moon (later renamed
Dragon Pass), a board game set in his fantasy world of
Glorantha. In 1978, Chaosium published Steve Perrin's roleplaying game
RuneQuest, also set in Glorantha, following up with a second edition in 1980 and various supplements over the next six years. In 1979, Chaosium entered the
board wargame market with
Reich,
Raiders and Traders, and (in 1980)
Panzer Pranks. Although all received positive reviews, none of the games found an audience.
1980s: Growth and licensing with Avalon Hill In 1980, the company officially incorporated as Chaosium Inc. That year, Stafford and Lynn Willis simplified the
RuneQuest rules into the 16-page
Basic Role-Playing (BRP). These
simulationist, skill-based generic rules formed the basis of many of Chaosium's later
"d100" RPGs, most notably
Call of Cthulhu, first published in 1981. Chaosium entered into a licensing agreement with
Avalon Hill in 1983 to produce a third edition of
RuneQuest. Avalon Hill manufactured and marketed the game, while Chaosium was responsible for acquisitions, design, development, and layout.
Ken Rolston managed the line as "Rune Czar". One of the first RPGs by a female lead designer was published by Chaosium:
Kerie Campbell-Robson's 1986 release
Hawkmoon. 1986 also saw the release of
Ghostbusters with
West End Games. Designed by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis, and Greg Stafford, it was the first RPG to use the
dice pool mechanic. West End would also use the system as the basis of
Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and, eventually, the
D6 System.
Late 1990s–early 2010s: Financial struggle In 1996, it was prematurely reported that Chaosium had secured the rights to publish a
collectible card game based on the video game
Doom. In 1998, following the financial failure of the collectible card game
Mythos, Greg Stafford resigned as Chaosium president and left the company, along with Sandy Petersen (although they both remained shareholders). Chaosium effectively split up into various successor companies, each maintaining its focus on a few of the company's products. Stafford took the rights to his game setting Glorantha, setting up the company
Issaries, Inc. to continue publishing this line (later licensing it to
Moon Design Publications, along with the game
HeroQuest). Long-time employees and part-owners Charlie Krank and Lynn Willis remained at Chaosium as President and Editor-in-Chief respectively, continuing on with
Call of Cthulhu as the main product line. Lynn Willis retired in 2008 due to poor health and died in 2013.
Mid 2010s: The return of Stafford and Petersen Problems and delays fulfilling the
Kickstarters for the 7th edition of
Call of Cthulhu led Stafford and Petersen to return to active roles at Chaosium in June 2015. Charlie Krank subsequently left the company. Later that year at
Gen Con 2015, Stafford and Petersen announced Moon Design Publications were now part of the Chaosium ownership, and the four principals of Moon Design (
Rick Meints, Jeff Richard,
Michael O'Brien, and
Neil Robinson) had become the new Chaosium management team. Chaosium once again became the licensed publisher for
RuneQuest,
HeroQuest, and other products related to Glorantha and continued to publish the
Call of Cthulhu line. Stafford served as chair of the company board and
creative consultant until his death in October 2018. Since retiring from the board in 2019, Petersen has done occasional freelance work for the company, as did original RuneQuest creator Steve Perrin until his death in 2021. As part of its financial reorganization, the new management closed the company office and warehouse in
Hayward, California, ending Chaosium's long association with the
San Francisco Bay Area. The company is now based in
Ann Arbor,
Michigan and uses a
fulfillment house model for distribution of product. Delivery of the core rewards of the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Kickstarter finally commenced in April 2016. The new edition went on to win nine of the ten awards it was nominated for at the
Gen Con 2017
ENnie Awards.
Late 2010s to present: Expansion After the consolidation and reorganization of the mid-decade, the company was again poised to expand its offerings through a combination of acquisitions, new licenses, and distribution deals. Greg Stafford's
King Arthur Pendragon and
Prince Valiant roleplaying games returned to Chaosium ownership on December 11, 2018. On April 2, 2019, Chaosium acquired the rights to the
7th Sea product line (both Second Edition and Khitai Kickstarters) from John Wick, including back stock of books published so far. On November 30, 2019, Chaosium acquired the rights to produce a role-playing game based on
Ben Aaronovitch's
Rivers of London urban fantasy novels. In the spring of 2020, Chaosium took over distribution of the English translations of Spanish fantasy game
Aquelarre and French Ice Age roleplaying game
Würm, both of which had been successfully kickstarted by
Nocturnal Media. In February 2021, they added
Upwind, an original game kickstarted by Nocturnal Media and
Biohazard Games, to that list. On August 20, 2021, Chaosium acquired the rights to
Cthulhu Britannica and
World War Cthulhu, formerly produced under license by
Cubicle 7 until 2017. On October 26, 2021, Moon Design Publishing announced it was forming a partnership with Black Monk Games of Poland and a new company, The Chaosium Group, was being formed to manage both. ==Fiction==