When I stopped by the office yesterday, I got a nifty bonus. David from Chaosium gave me a peek at a near-final draft of the creatures chapter from Secrets of Japan, the upcoming sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu. The chapter contained some excellent artwork of rather disturbing creatures, including a samurai-like beast that… well, I wouldn’t want to make that sanity check. A brief section at the end of the chapter mentions the influence various Great Old Ones have had on Japan’s development. It was here that the book mentions Cthulhu’s dreams may have influenced the anime industry, causing “tentacle horror” anime to be created. Gotta love a sourcebook that can explain that. Watch for Secrets of Japan to arrive this fall. [EDIT: While it took a bit longer to arrive, OgreCave reviewed Secrets of Japan when we finally got our hands on it. Click here to see what we thought of it.]