H.P. Lovecraft is an author I am hit and miss with, even before accounting for him being especially racist, even for the 1920s and 30s. I enjoyed The Shadow Over Innsmouth but kind of bounced off The Call of Cthulhu. At the Mountains of Madness leaned toward the bounce end of the spectrum for me. It was short enough, and my knowledge that it was the shoggoth book got me through, but a good amount was just really dry. In the end, even the shoggoth encounter was really dry, basically just “Oh no, the vision of the jelly monster melted my buddy’s brain!” and then they run away.This one is all build up of dread and then no real payoff in the end.But weirdly, there was a cool section right in the middle, where the narrator and a partner take a plane up to a tall Antarctic plateau and discover an ancient city partially buried in ice. There’s a whole interesting exploration of the city which is a fantastic break from Lovecraft showing off that he learned so many geologic terms for ages and types of rock. I’d love more of that middle exploration and learning about an alien culture part of the book.Also, I want more giant penguins.Something to Take AwayAncient cities are cool. Ancient cities with artwork depicting their history that players can learn from are awesome. Ancient cities created by a species and culture so different from that of your table and their characters? I think there’s some real magic to be had there.While geometry in three dimensions where there are curves is definitionally non-Euclidean, I think the term speaks to something we can add though. Different cultures all have their different architectures, their different senses of aesthetic, their different needs that come out in their homes. How might a non-human culture’s non-human needs be reflected in the use of a space? How do Elven longevity and affinity for nature get reflected in their living spaces? How does the Gnomish (at least in Golarion Gnomes) need for change and novelty affect their spaces?Definitely an aspect of world building I’ll think more on in the future.
