Cthulhu Now is a 154-page softcover book with two foldouts and 24 pages of perforated removable player handouts that was designed by William Barton, Keith Herber, Sandy Petersen, Michael Szymanski, G. W. Thomas, William Workman, and Lynn Willis, with interior art by Lynell McAdams, and cover art by Tom Sullivan.

[1] Four full adventures are also included: 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."

He also found the chapter on modern forensics "fascinating reading and a real help to GMs trying to add realistic touches to scenarios."

He called the first adventure, The City in the Sea, "a bit heavy-handed and linear", but found the second adventure, Dreams Dark and Deadly, "an excellent example of mystery role-playing in a horror context... As a model of mystery scenario design, and a classic horror/supernatural scenario, this is my pick of the lot."

Rolston concluded that "The rules and background essays for contemporary CoC role-playing are interesting and adequate...