What Is a Tcho-Tcho?
A Tcho-Tcho is a fictional human cult race from Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction, first written by August Derleth in 1932 and later used by H.P. Lovecraft himself. In the stories, they're a migratory, secretive people scattered across Southeast Asia who worship Great Old Ones and outer gods rather than any single deity. Petersen Games later adapted them into a playable human cultist faction for Cthulhu Wars, its flagship centerpiece game.
That's the short version. The long version splits into two different things worth keeping separate: the literary Tcho-Tcho, which is public domain and belongs to nobody, and the Cthulhu Wars faction, which is Petersen Games' own game design built on top of that shared lore. Mixing the two up is where most confusion starts, so let's take them one at a time.
Where Did the Tcho-Tcho Come From in Cosmic Horror Fiction?
They started as a side detail, not a headline monster. August Derleth, one of Lovecraft's closest correspondents and the writer who coined the term "Cthulhu Mythos" itself, introduced the Tcho-Tcho (co-written with Mark Schorer) in the 1932 short story "The Lair of the Star-Spawn," describing a short, secretive people who worshipped the entities Lloigor and Zhar. Lovecraft picked up the name himself a few years later in "The Shadow Out of Time" (1936), calling them "abominable" almost in passing, the way a seasoned narrator drops a detail he assumes the reader already half-knows.
That's a pattern worth noticing across the wider Mythos, a mythology built collaboratively by multiple pulp-era writers rather than one author working alone. Writers after Lovecraft, working in the same shared universe he and Derleth built, kept borrowing and expanding side races like this one rather than inventing everything from scratch each time. Later Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG sourcebooks describe the Tcho-Tcho as a degenerate, cannibalistic people who migrated out of Tibet toward Southeast Asia, worshipping whatever dark power crossed their path rather than one fixed god. It's grim stuff, deliberately so. Cosmic horror as a genre leans on this kind of dread-by-implication: a people defined less by what they do on the page and more by what everyone around them fears they might be doing off it.
What Makes the Tcho-Tcho Different From Other Mythos Cultists?
Most Mythos cults in the fiction serve one god. The Tcho-Tcho don't. Across the decades of stories that use them, they shift allegiance from tale to tale, latching onto whichever cosmic horror suits the plot at hand, Lloigor and Zhar in one story, other outer gods and Great Old Ones in another. That rootlessness is the whole point. They're not devoted; they're opportunistic, following power wherever it shows up.
That single trait, worship without loyalty to one god, is exactly the thread Petersen Games pulled on when it built a Cthulhu Wars faction around them decades later. Good adaptation work usually starts with the one idea in the source material that's actually playable, and this was it.
How Did Petersen Games Turn the Tcho-Tcho Into a Cthulhu Wars Faction?
The Tcho-Tchos are their own human cultist faction expansion for the Cthulhu Wars centerpiece game, priced at $59.99. Sandy Petersen has called it the game's most controversial faction, and the design explains why: rather than commanding a Great Old One of their own the way the game's core factions do, the Tcho-Tchos interfere by worshipping other players' Great Old Ones. They don't bring a deity to the table. They latch onto someone else's.
That's a direct translation of the literary trait above, the rootless, opportunistic cult that follows power rather than fielding its own, turned into an actual mechanic on the board. It's also a good example of what separates the Petersen Games catalog from a generic licensed reskin: the studio designs its own faction interpretations of Mythos lore rather than borrowing someone else's game system and slapping tentacles on it.
Is the Tcho-Tcho Faction the Same as the Yellow Sign?
No, and this trips people up constantly. Cthulhu Wars' core box ships with four factions: Great Cthulhu, Crawling Chaos (Nyarlathotep), Black Goat (Shub-Niggurath), and Yellow Sign (Hastur, the King in Yellow). The Tcho-Tchos are not a Yellow Sign unit, not a Yellow Sign sub-faction, and don't field Hastur or the King in Yellow at all. They're an entirely separate expansion faction with their own miniatures, spellbooks, and playstyle.
It's an easy mix-up. Both factions read as "cultist" flavored at a glance, and cosmic horror fiction has plenty of cults that do serve Hastur. The Tcho-Tchos of Cthulhu Wars simply aren't one of them. Worth remembering if you're shopping the faction expansions and want to know exactly what's in the box before you buy.
What Is the Tcho-Tcho Tribes Mini-Expansion?
It's a small, low-cost companion piece, not a second faction. Tcho-Tcho Tribes is listed on the Petersen Games store as a spellbook upgrade: it adds the new Tribes spellbooks to the Tcho-Tcho faction, bringing earlier printings up to parity with the current Onslaught 4 (O4) edition. You need the Tcho-Tchos faction expansion first; Tribes is the follow-on piece that keeps it current, not a standalone purchase.
If you already own an older Tcho-Tchos printing, this is the fastest, cheapest way to close that gap without rebuying the whole faction. For a fuller breakdown of how the faction actually plays, the Petersen Games blog has a separate Tcho-Tchos faction guide worth reading before you buy in.
Ready to Add the Tcho-Tcho to Your Table?
The Tcho-Tcho started as a footnote in a 1932 pulp story and ended up as one of the more unusual factions in a $249 centerpiece game. That's a strange, satisfying arc if you've followed the lore at all. Pick up Tcho-Tcho Tribes to bring an existing Tcho-Tchos faction current, or browse the wider Cthulhu Wars catalog to see the full faction lineup. In-stock orders process within 48 hours; US orders ship via USPS Ground Advantage (2-5 business days), Canada via DHL Ground (3-7 business days), with rates calculated at checkout.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Tcho-Tcho
What does "Tcho-Tcho" mean?
It's the name of a fictional cult race in Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction, not a term with real-world linguistic origin. August Derleth coined it in 1932 for "The Lair of the Star-Spawn," and H.P. Lovecraft later used the same name in "The Shadow Out of Time."
Are the Tcho-Tcho part of the Yellow Sign in Cthulhu Wars?
No. The Tcho-Tchos are their own separate human cultist faction expansion. They don't field Hastur or the King in Yellow, and they aren't a Yellow Sign unit or sub-faction. Yellow Sign is one of the four core factions in the Cthulhu Wars base box; the Tcho-Tchos are an entirely different expansion faction.
How do the Tcho-Tchos play in Cthulhu Wars?
Instead of commanding their own Great Old One like the core factions do, the Tcho-Tchos interfere by worshipping other players' Great Old Ones. Sandy Petersen has described it as the game's most controversial faction because of that unusual, opportunistic playstyle.
What is Tcho-Tcho Tribes?
It's a mini-expansion that adds new Tribes spellbooks to the existing Tcho-Tchos faction, bringing older printings up to the current Onslaught 4 edition. It's a companion upgrade, not a standalone faction, and requires the Tcho-Tchos faction expansion to use.
Does Petersen Games own the Tcho-Tcho lore?
No. The Tcho-Tcho, like the wider Cthulhu Mythos, is public domain fiction that began with H.P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, and other pulp-era writers. Petersen Games owns its own game adaptation, the Cthulhu Wars faction built on top of that shared lore, not the underlying mythos itself.
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