Lovecraftian horror tabletop RPGs and "what if we made losing Sanity good?"

There's a perennial discussion that arises around Lovecraftian horror that takes as its central question the following:

In Lovecraftian horror stories, since what seems to be insanity is actually insight into how the world really works, couldn't we replace "insanity" mechanics with some kind of "clarity" or "insight" mechanics?

This blog post is my long way of saying "I don't think so."  

Before we get started, as always, please don't take my comments to be about the advisability of a game design direction. I have nothing to say to game designers; they have bigger problems to worry about  than anything I could raise.  As always I'm really talking about campaign construction within constraints of group decisions, what game you've decided to play, etc. If you're going to play this type of game, here is my advice. I'm definitely not saying anything about what type of game should be designed or selected.  People who say "well, let's just not do Lovecraftian horror", cool, don't do it. Nothing that follows applies to you.

Review: World War Cthulhu: The Darkest Hour

Cubicle 7 came out with two really interesting Call of Cthulhu supplements over the last few years in their "World War Cthulhu" line. One, The Darkest Hour, focused on World War II.  The other, Cold War, was focused on the postwar conflicts of the world.  Both were remarkable to me as an aficionado of historical settings for RPGs as they seemed to embrace what  made the original Call of Cthulhu's 1920s setting work.  They didn't grab for the obvious "Nazi sorcerer will summon a monster and win the war" nonsense that has been thoroughly played out and was never really worth pursuing in the first place.

Nevertheless since the materials have gone out of print, it's now difficult to access my 2016 Feature Review of The Darkest Hour on drivethrurpg.com.  If you're interested, it's below the cut:

Fate Core Is Good, Actually. A series of play principles by JDCorley

People always yell at me when I say "but Fate is good, actually". Then I explain how I run it and they look really thoughtful and have to sit down for a while.  Here's how Fate is good, actually, at least when I run it:

The Division (1), Tom Clancy, and the decline of conservative entertainment

Did you remember that The Division is a Tom Clancy game?

JD's History/Music Corner: Frank Hutchison

The last post rescued from G+ (for now)

Let's talk about Frank Hutchison!

JD's History/Music Corner: Jimmie Lunceford and his Dance Orchestra, Phil Spitalny's All-Girl Orchestra, LaVern Baker

More history/music posts from g+!

JD's History/Music Corner: The Coasters, Eazy-E, Johnny Cash at Sun Records, Sophie Tucker

Yet even more musical/historical posts from g+

JD's History/Music Corner: Big Walter Horton, Muddy Waters, Ricky Nelson

More posts migrating from G+. Hope you like em!

JD's History/Music Corner: Jim Reeves, Charles Mingus, Early Duke Ellington

As with my Streaming Nonsense posts, I posted a whole bunch of historical musicial bios/analyses on G+ and I'm pulling them here.Sorry I can't guarantee the sales listed will still be good (though shockingly, many of them still are.)