A game based on the horror books of H. P. Lovecraft. Human beings are insignificant pawns in the games of ancient, malevolent, and supremely powerful deities. Some humans worship these foul beings, in exchange for transient power and influence over their fellow mortals, but they are equally damned, and only serve to advance the inevitable day of mankind's ignominous destruction.
A cheerful little game, usually set in the 1920s, although supplements are available for the 1890s and 1990s. Call of Cthulhu spawned a whole new style of roleplaying really, with characters designed more for an investigative role than an action/adventure/combat one. They say "If you're doing it with dynamite, you're doing it wrong".
Characters are so ludicrously outclassed and overpowered by their true opponents that to an extent any combat training or weapons will make little difference to the outcome of the scenario. Having said this, however, experienced Cthulhu players will be able to identify the skills and equipment that can raise life expectancy, although sadly not by much. Expect a high mortality rate amongst your party, and try not to get too attached to your character.
The game mechanics are basically a cut-down version of RuneQuest, with skills from 1-100, and a total-body hit-point system, rather than a locational one. They're really easy to learn, and basically adequate.
A game of many editions. Now on the 5th edition, costing about £15. There's nothing wrong with the earlier editions, but they did add more into the later ones, and tidied them up a bit. Since the rules are easy to learn, there's no need for all the players to buy a rule book. This is a game where the less your players know, the better the game will be. Players who know all the spells and monsters may well last longer, but the game will lose that sense of mystery and discovery that's half the atmosphere.
There are some truly excellent official modules out there. Masks of Nyarlathotep is particularly wonderful. Now re-released with additional material previously removed from the original edition. It's an entire campaign module, and you won't need to buy another module for months, if ever. It's so full of background and source material, that you can add-in your own adventures easilly, and the players need never know. These official modules are well worth buying, and reading very, very carefully. Remember, there's an awful lot more plot in a Cthulhu adventure than in most other games, so a mistake by the referee can be very costly.
There are also a number of licensed Cthulhu modules produced by Pagan Publishing which come recommended, such as "Walker in the wastes", which is very detailed, and well researched. Their latest offering, Delta Green is the best example of modern-day Cthulhu adventuring I've ever seen. It's mainly source material, although it does contain some example adventures.
You can write your own module too of course, but unless you know the period really well, you're unlikely to match the feel (and quality of hand-outs) you get from the official ones. The Call of Cthulhu game system works fine in a non-Lovecraft setting too. Any kind of horror genre can be expressed quite well with a minimal amount of rules changes.
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