In the October 1988 edition of "Dragon" (#138), Ken Rolston thought the introductory rationale for moving "Call of Cthulhu" up to the present day was a waste of ink — "We have already accepted the Cthulhu Mythos in spite of its shabby documentary trappings and will continue to accept it for the purposes of gaming because it’s so delightfully lurid and evil" — but he found the rest of the book "is going to make Cthulhu fans happy."