ShadowsofCthulhu Cosmi cHorror Adventurei n theWorldofH. P.Lovecraft
By RussellBrown Requi resTrue20AdventureRoleplayi ngby Green Roni n Publi shi ngfor Use
Credits
Legal
Design
Declaration of Open Gaming Content: The following is designated as Product Identity, in accordance with Section 1(e) of the Open Game License, Version 1.0a: all character and place names and descriptions, all art and images. All references to Mythos Creatures including Creature names, place names and descriptions of all Elder Gods, Old Ones, Greater races, and Lesser races are Intellectual Property of Chasoium Inc. Used with permission.
Russell Brown
Contributions by
Gary “Where’s the jock?” Phillips
Playtesting
Alex Brown, Paul Drees, Darryl Van Minnen
Editing
Ed Healy, Troy E. Taylor
Art
C
The following text is Open Gaming Content: all text not previously declared Product Identity. Copyright Information: This PDF utilizes and expands on Open Gaming Content found in the System Reference Document. Reality Deviant Publications and Shadows of Cthulhu are copyright 2008 Reality Deviant Publications. All rights reserved. Intellectual properties of Chaosium Inc are reprinted under license from Chaosium Inc. and in no way constitutes a challenge to their copyrighted materials. Produced under license from Green Ronin Publishing LLC. Reference to other copyrighted material in no way constitutes a challenge to the respective copyright holders of that material. Green Ronin, True20 Companion, True20 Adventure Role-playing, and their associated logos are trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing, LLC.
Jason Walton
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Robert Stefko
The ‘WereCabbage’ logo is © Edward Reed and used with permission.
Product Manager David Jarvis
Special Thanks Lou Agresta, Ted Reed
Contents Introduction.......................................................2 Chapter 1: Hero Creation...................................4 Backgrounds........................................................... 4 New Roles.............................................................. 6 Sanity Save........................................................... 10 Mythos Traits....................................................... 10 True20 Core Roles............................................... 10 Archetypes........................................................... 11 New & Modified Skills........................................ 17 New & Modified Feats........................................ 19 Sample Heroes..................................................... 20 Chapter 2: The 1920s..........................................23 Daily Life............................................................. 23 Factions................................................................ 25 Equipment & Services......................................... 26 Chapter 3: Narrating Shadows of Cthulhu......32 The Cthulhu Mythos Setting............................... 32 Insanity & Other Impairments............................ 36 Exposure & Awareness........................................ 37 Adventure Ideas................................................... 38 Chapter 4: Insanity & Other Disorders............42 Disorder Descriptions.......................................... 42 Random Disorder Tables..................................... 49
Chapter 5: Mythos Skills, Feats, & Powers......51 Mythos Skills....................................................... 51 Mythos Feats........................................................ 52 Mythos Powers..................................................... 54 Chapter 6: Mythos Bestiary..............................65 The Gods.............................................................. 65 Creature Descriptions.......................................... 68 Chapter 7: Terrible Things................................94 Ancient Places...................................................... 94 Forbidden Books.................................................. 99 Mythos Artifacts................................................ 107 Chapter 8: Adversaries & Allies. .................... 110 Cults & Adepts.................................................. 110 Narrator Characters........................................... 113 Ordinaries.......................................................... 114 Chapter 9: The Village of Dunwich................ 116 History............................................................... 116 Places of Interest................................................ 117 Appendix: Alternate Sanity System................. 120 The Sanity Save.................................................. 120 Recovering Mental Damage.............................. 121 Disorders............................................................ 121
1
I
Introduction “There are black zones of shadow close to our daily paths, and now and then some evil soul breaks a passage through. When that happens, the man who knows must strike before reckoning the consequences.” - H.P Lovecraft, The Thing on the Doorstep In 1981, Chaosium released its groundbreaking horror roleplaying game, Call of Cthulhu. I was a student at the University of Wisconsin at the time, and I remember visiting the Call of Cthulhu boxed set day after day at Pegasus Games. I remember the great Gene Day illustration of Cthulhu on the back of the box, and the mysterious lure of a new, shrink-wrapped roleplaying game. I had no idea who H.P. Lovecraft or Cthulhu were, or what the game was about, but somehow I knew it was different and important. I finally convinced myself that it was more important than food and bought it. I was right. Call of Cthulhu did something no other roleplaying game had done up until that point. It made it all right to be afraid. By assuring that you were probably going to die or go insane, it eliminated the desperate need to develop your character’s abilities. But it replaced the drive for power and increasing numbers on a piece of paper with a true drive for character development and story. It made bad character traits and debilitating insanities fun. After nearly thirty years of publication, the world of Call of Cthulhu is now bolstered by hundreds of setting books, monographs, adventures, and pieces of interesting paraphernalia. It has stood the test of time and taken its place among the ageless tomes of the Cthulhu Mythos. It is canon. So why develop the Cthulhu Mythos setting for True20 Adventure Roleplaying? The simple answer is that there are lots of roleplayers who know and really
2
Warning: Contents may have mind-shattering properties. Reality Deviant Publications assumes no responsibility for lost or stolen sanity. Read at your own peril. love the True20 system. The longer answer has to do with the way the mechanics of True20 add to the fun of roleplaying in the Cthulhu Mythos. The Conviction point system opens up opportunities for heroes to use Mythos spells and abilities without having to wait until they level up to learn them. Conviction points also provide the model for the new Awareness points, which give the Narrator a way to control the level of insanity and Mythos power in their adventures. True20 also has a very clean, discrete feel to it. Many of the calculations have been simplified, at least when compared with other d20 systems, and it deals with wounds, spells, roles and combat in larger chunks. In Shadows of Cthulhu, this translates to quick play and no sanity points. The interesting details in True20 come from the adventure, not the rule system. So here it is. I hope you use it in the spirit in which it was written – as a tool for terrifying your friends and driving them insane. Lead them into the midst of a cult of insane cab drivers trying to bring a spawn of YogSothoth into downtown Boston, or introduce them to a rural postman who has swapped minds with a member of the Great Race of Yith. Send them on expeditions to the Antarctic, or Transylvania, or hidden Mayan ruins in the Yucatan. Give them the chance to develop their characters and create a great story. This is still Cthulhu, after all, so in the end, the story may be all they have left.
I
3
1
Chapter 1: Hero Creation This chapter presents everything you need beyond basic True20 Adventure Roleplaying to create your hero for Shadows of Cthulhu. The backgrounds, roles, feats, and skills presented here are additions or modifications to those already available in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. Your Narrator may make other traits available to you as your hero digs deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Backgrounds
The Human background from True20 Adventure Roleplaying is available to heroes in Shadows of Cthulhu, as well as the backgrounds described below. Each reflects a specific upbringing or profession that has heavily influenced the hero’s development before play begins. A few of these backgrounds are specific to the traditional 1920s setting for Lovecraftian adventure, but most work just as well in modern time periods, or even the near future.
Ancient Bloodline
Somewhere back in your family tree is a branch that isn’t completely human. There may be hints in family diaries of strange interactions with creatures from the sea or with white apes from the deep jungles of Africa. The ancient bloodline has manifested itself in you, creating an ominous resemblance to your more eccentric ancestors. Ability Adjustments: +1 Con, -1Cha Bonus Feats: Endurance, Low Profile Bonus Skills: Disguise and either Climb or Swim Favored Feats: Defensive Roll, Rage
Athlete
You have developed your natural talents in one or more sports such as football, baseball, or basketball. Your natural talents make you a hot commodity. Bonus Feats: Connected, Wealthy Bonus Skills: Choice of two chosen from Acrobatics, Climb, Concentration, Diplomacy (an athlete has to know how to give a good interview), Jump, Knowledge (Current Events - with an emphasis on sports and sports trivia), or Swim Favored Feats: Fascinate, Master Plan
Big Business 4
You come from the world of big business and big deals, and you’re on your way up the corporate ladder. You spend your days worrying about growth curves and profit margins and the competition. Though you’ve sac-
rificed much of your non-work life, it’s been worth it to get you where you are. Bonus Feats: Wealthy, Leadership Bonus Skills: Knowledge (business), Bluff Favored Feats: Master Plan, Seize Initiative
Big City
You grew up in the big city, learning to navigate the complex geography and social interactions of the streets. You met people from all over the world and you’ve learned to take care of yourself. Bonus Feats: Connected, Contacts Bonus Skills: Knowledge (streetwise), Stealth Favored Feats: Hide in Plain Sight, Weapon Bind
Cultist
You have spent your life among the rituals and trappings of a cult. You and your fellow cultists may worship one of the Old Ones, or you may follow prophets who have heard whispers of the destruction of the world from strange minds across the universe. This background isn’t available without special permission from the Narrator. Bonus Feats: Dedicated, Iron Will Bonus Skills: Mythos Knowledge (theology and philosophy), Stealth Favored Feats: Channeler, Mythos Language (choose one)
Degenerate
You come from an area where lack of communication with the outside world, interbreeding, or something in the water has created a mentally and morally degenerate group of humans. You’re uncomfortable in normal society, but not much shocks you. Ability Adjustments: +1 Str, -1 Cha Bonus Feats: Jaded, Improved Grab Bonus Skills: Language, Knowledge (supernatural) Favored Feats: Jack-of-All-Trades, Tough
High Society
You’ve grown up among the rich and powerful, so you know how to move in social circles and you know influential people. Bonus Feats: Connected, Wealthy Bonus Skills: Bluff, and one of Craft (art), Knowledge (art), Perform or Ride Favored Feats: Weapon Bind, Inspire
Maritime
You grew up in a coastal town where the sea provided both recreation and livelihood. Your first memories are of townspeople returning from the sea or lost forever beneath its waves. The ocean is freedom to you, while land presents only defined paths and restrictions. Bonus Feats: Light Sleeper, Lightning Reflexes Bonus Skills: Drive, Craft (boatbuilding) Favored Feats: Slow Fall, Tough
Old World
You’re not native to this country, and its customs are sometimes a mystery. But you still have your traditional knowledge of things the western world has forgotten. Bonus Feats: Connected, Great Fortitude Bonus Skills: Knowledge (supernatural), Language (choose one) Favored Feats: Jack-of-All-Trades, Tough
Organized Crime
Whether through family ties or your own initiative, you’ve managed to find a place among the criminal gangs. People know your allegiance by how you dress and how you talk, and they respect it. Bonus Feats: Connected, Taunt Bonus Skills: Intimidate, Stealth Favored Feats: Master Plan, Favored Opponent
Primitive
You are from a more primitive culture that is more attuned to nature and not very familiar with technology. The exact circumstances may vary depending on the time period of play. Bonus Feats: Animal Empathy, Weapon Training
Bonus Skills: Handle Animal, Survival Favored Feats: Sneak Attack, Tough
1
Religious
You grew up in a strict religious community or a highly religious household, and you’ve attended regular religious services all you life. Whether or not you still have your faith, the religious foundation will stay with you. Bonus Feats: Iron Will, Skill Focus (Knowledge (theology and philosophy)) Bonus Skills: Knowledge (theology and philosophy) plus Perform or Intimidate Favored Feats: Favored Opponent, Mind over Body
Secret Society
As you grew up you were indoctrinated into the mysteries of an ancient, secret society. The society may be dedicated to gaining power and eventually changing, ruling, or destroying the Earth—or it may exist only to guard something or destroy another group. This background isn’t available without special permission from the Narrator. Bonus Feats: Connected, Dedicated Bonus Skills: Bluff, Stealth Favored Feats: Favored Opponent, Master Plan
Small Town
You grew up in a very small, rural town. Your education was pretty basic and the styles of the big city are foreign to you. But you’re tough and you know your way around the wilderness. Bonus Feats: Firearms Training, Track Bonus Skills: Ride, Survival Favored Feats: Chokehold, Jack-of-All-Trades
5
1
Wild West
libraries, dim studies, and formaldehyde-tainted biology labs. Outside of these erudite environments, however, academics may be uncomfortable. They often leave the practical application of their knowledge to others and remain at their studies to uncover more. Even so, archaeologists might visit remote dig sites, oceanographers may descend into the ocean’s depths in diving capsules, and linguists might travel the world in search of new material.
You’ve spent considerable time on the range out west, rustling cattle and fixing fences. You are not comfortable without a good pair of boots, a tall hat, and a lot of dust on your hands. Bonus Feats: Animal Empathy, Tireless Bonus Skills: Handle Animal, Ride Favored Feats: Improvised Tools, Chokehold
New Roles
Abilities
Academic
Genius (Core Ability)
In addition to the expert and warrior roles presented in True20 Adventure Roleplaying, Shadows of Cthulhu heroes may be academics dedicated to learning and creating knowledge, investigators specializing in finding information and connecting clues, or reverents totally dedicated to a cause or belief system. Although heroes cannot start as adepts at first level, they may acquire adept levels later on.
Upon gaining any level divisible by 5 (5th, 10th, 15th, 20th), an academic’s Intelligence score increases by 1. This is in addition to the bonus ability point gained at levels divisible by 6. Academics crave knowledge, and that means they need strong Intelligence scores. Modest score in the other abilities will help the academic survive in the cruel world beyond blackboards and notebooks, but they are not as valued as Intelligence.
An academic can spend a point of Conviction to treat any Intelligence-based ability or skill check as a 20. Note this is not considered a “natural 20,” but in all other ways works as a die result of 20. The academic must spend the Conviction point to improve a roll before the
Academics spend their time in the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge’s sake. They astound others with the esoteric facts they offer up at just the right time, and their ability to study and learn new areas of knowledge is unsurpassed. Academics are truly at home in dusty
Table 1-1: The Academic Level
Combat
Fortitude
Reflex
Will
Sanity
Reputation
2
+0
+0
+1
+1
+3
+1
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
6
19
20
+0
+0
+1
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+4
+5
+0
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+5
+5
+5
+6
+6
+6
+1
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+6
+7
+7
+8
+8
+9
+9
+1
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+6
+7
+2
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7
+7
+8
+8
+9
+9
+7
+10
+8
+11
+8
+9
+9
+10
+11
+12
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+4
+5
+5
+5
+5
+6
1
7
1
Table 1-2: The Investigator Level
Combat
Fortitude
Reflex
Will
Sanity
Reputation
2
+1
+0
+3
+0
+3
+0
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
+0
+2
+3
+3
+4
+5
+6
+6
+7
+8
+9
+9
14
+10
16
+12
15
17
18
19
20
+11
+12
+13
+14
+15
+0
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+5
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7
+7
+8
+8
+9
+9
+10
+6
+11
+5
+6
+6
Skills
Choose 8 + Intelligence score starting skills (minimum of 1), plus 4 additional Knowledge skill specialties. Academics gain 8 + Int skill ranks (minimum of 1) plus 4 additional Knowledge skill ranks per additional level. Besides Knowledge, important skills for academics might include Craft, Gather Information and Language. In a modern setting, the Computer skill could also be very useful.
Feats
Choose 4 starting feats from the general or expert categories. You gain an additional general or expert feat for each level beyond 1st. Levels of academic are treated as levels of expert for determining the effectiveness of expert feats.
8
+3
+5
Narrator announces the result. In addition, an academic can use any Knowledge skill specialty untrained.
Investigator
+2
Investigators are very good at finding information in a real-world setting. They excel at tracking down facts and connecting them to develop new theories. Because getting information may mean undertaking covert operations or going into dangerous situations, an Investi-
+10
+11
+12
+0
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+5
+2
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7
+7
+8
+8
+9
+9
+5
+10
+6
+11
+5
+6
+6
+10
+11
+12
+0
+1
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+4
+5
+5
gator must be tough as well as smart. They are handy in combat and specialize in stealth and reflexes, and they are always watching and gathering information. Investigators may be journalists, genealogical researchers, police detectives, lawyers, FBI Investigators, spies, or just the town gossip. They have contacts in the right places and they usually have access to a venue for making their case, whether it’s a courtroom, a daily newspaper column, a secret government conference room, or a gathering of neighbors at the back fence.
Abilities
Investigators gather their information by actively engaging the world. While they must have reasonable Intelligence to piece everything together, in the end, it’s their Charisma that allows them to gain sources and their Dexterity that helps them get information that no one will give up willingly.
Insight (Core Ability)
An investigator can spend a point of Conviction to treat any Bluff, Gather Information, Notice, Search, Sense Motive or Stealth skill check or any Reflex save as a 20. Note this is not considered a “natural 20,” but in all other ways works as a die result of 20. You must spend the Conviction point to improve a roll before the Narrator announces the result of your roll.
Skills
Choose 6 + Intelligence score starting skills (minimum of 1). Investigators gain 6 + Int skill ranks per additional level (minimum of 1). Important skills for Investigators include Bluff, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Disguise, Gather Information, Intimidate, Notice, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand and Stealth.
Feats
Choose 4 starting feats from the general, expert or warrior categories. You gain an additional general, expert or warrior feat for each level beyond 1st. Levels of investigator are treated as levels of expert for determining the effectiveness of expert feats and as warrior levels for determining the effectiveness of warrior feats.
Reverent
Reverents rely on faith in a cause, deity, ideal, or code of conduct as a guide for life. When faced with a horrifying or tempting situation, reverents can focus on their faith and resist more effectively. Reverents are also capable of sudden insights that can save them and their companions from destruction. They are the world’s religious leaders, nationalists and activists. They build their
life around their deity or ideal and can sometimes be intolerant of those who don’t. Reverents may be ascetic monks, spending their entire lives within the confines of a monastery, but they are just as likely to be out in the world, acting on their faith. They may be teachers, motivational speakers, counselors, butlers, missionaries, politicians or ecoterrorists. They may spew damnation from a pulpit, dish out soup and bread in a homeless shelter, or visit ancient religious sites to gain some spark of divine insight.
1
Abilities
Reverents rely on their Wisdom most of all, to lead them to the right answer and to protect them from the unknown dangers and terrible realities of the world. Because many reverents express their faith through interaction with other people, a good Charisma score is also very important. Physical abilities, especially Constitution, will help reverents survive and succeed when they take their message out into the world, but they are not as important as mental abilities.
Faith (Core Ability)
A reverent can spend a point of Conviction to treat any Will save or Wisdom-based ability or skill check as a 20. Note this is not considered a “natural 20,” but in all other ways works as a die result of 20. The reverent
Table 1-3: The Reverent Level
Combat
Fortitude
Reflex
Will
Sanity
Reputation
2
+1
+3
+0
+3
+3
+1
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
+0
+1
+2
+2
+3
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7
+7
+8
+8
+9
+9
+10
+2
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7
+7
+8
+8
+9
+9
+10
+10
+11
+11
+12
+0
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+5
+5
+5
+6
+6
+6
+2
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7
+7
+8
+8
+9
+9
+10
+10
+11
+11
+12
+2
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7
+7
+8
+8
+9
+9
+10
+10
+11
+11
+12
Feats
+1
Dedicated
+1
Bonus Feat
+2
Bonus Feat
+2
Bonus Feat
+3
Bonus Feat
+3
Bonus Feat
+4
Bonus Feat
+4
Bonus Feat
+5
Bonus Feat
+5
Bonus Feat
+2
+2
+3
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
9
1
must spend the Conviction point to improve a roll before the Narrator announces the result.
Skills
Choose 8 + Intelligence score additional starting skills. Reverents gain 8 + Int skill ranks per additional level (minimum of 1). Besides Knowledge about their particular faith or cause, important skills for reverents include Diplomacy, Medicine and Sense Motive. If a reverent intends to take their message to the more remote corners of the world, Language and Survival skills might also be useful.
Feats
Choose 4 starting feats from the general or expert categories. You gain an additional general or expert feat for each level beyond 1st. In addition, you gain Dedicated as a bonus feat at 1st level, and a bonus reverent feat every two levels beginning at 3rd level. These bonus feats must be chosen from the list below. Note that many require specializations, so they may be chosen multiple times. If you already have the Dedicated feat because of your background, you may choose a bonus feat at 1st level instead. Levels of reverent are treated as levels of expert for determining the effectiveness of expert feats.
Bonus Reverent Feats
Endurance, Fascinate, Fearless, Inspire, Iron Will, Leadership, Mass Suggestion, Mind Over Body, Second Chance, Suggestion, Tireless, Vow of Poverty.
Sanity Save
Shadows of Cthulhu adds a new saving throw, the Sanity save, which is used to resist the effects of mentally disturbing events. Heroes will make Sanity save checks when they encounter terrifying and horrifically unreal knowledge, powers and creatures. If they fail their check, they will acquire one or more of a wide range of mental disorders. A Sanity save is d20 + the hero’s Charisma score and level-dependent save bonus, along with any bonuses from feats or special abilities. Unlike other saves, Sanity saves do not depend on the hero’s role. Every hero has a good Sanity save bonus, meaning the bonus starts at +2 at level one and advances at the same rate as an expert’s good save. Note that Sanity is a Charisma-based save, so the benefits of the Lucky feat do not apply.
Mythos Traits 10
Every hero in True20 has the ability to learn and use Mythos skills, feats and powers, which are not normally
accessible to characters. During play, the Narrator will grant each hero Awareness points. A hero who has been exposed to a specific Mythos trait may spend an Awareness point to unlock it, after which they can acquire it just like any other trait. An exposed Mythos trait can also be used at any time by spending a Conviction point in a manner similar to the adept and expert core abilities. More details about Exposure and Awareness are provided in Chapter 3.
True20 Core Roles
The core roles of expert and warrior from True20 Adventure Roleplaying are available to heroes in Shadows of Cthulhu. Although this chapter presents three interesting new roles, the two original roles are very flexible and will probably be chosen for many heroes in the Shadows of Cthulhu setting. Players should give the original roles due consideration when creating their characters. The adept role is not available for 1st-level heroes, as explained below.
Adept
In Shadows of Cthulhu, adepts represent those rare individuals who delve into supernatural knowledge generally hidden from the human race. A hero may not choose adept as their starting role, though they may add levels of adept later, advancing as a mixed-role hero. Note that even if mixed-role heroes advance a level in adept to obtain a power, they may only choose from those powers they have been exposed to and have unlocked by spending Awareness points. Exposure and Awareness are explained in Chapter 3. All adepts in Shadows of Cthulhu use Charisma as the key ability for their powers.
Expert
Experts are the most general role, representing those who study and practice in a particular field and become extremely competent in it. They are the world’s engineers, mechanics, nurses, doctors, accountants, thieves, entertainers, businessmen, bankers and firemen.
Warrior
Warriors are trained to defend themselves and hold their own in violent confrontations. They have more weapons training than the rest of the population and are less affected by the unique stresses of combat. In Shadows of Cthulhu, warriors might be beat cops, soldiers, FBI agents, mob enforcers, professional boxers, bodyguards, or big-game hunters.
Archetypes
Lovecraft and other horror authors and screenwriters provide a large cast of characters as archetypes for Shadows of Cthulhu heroes. The most frightening horror starts with ordinary people and things anyone can relate to, then takes terrifying twists and turns into the abyss of fear. Not all heroes need to start as paranormal investigators, or professors of archeology and ancient languages. Playing the preacher or the movie star or the schoolteacher or even the hairdresser from the beauty shop on Main Street can be just as fun. The following archetypes are designed to help you define your character by providing suggested feats and skills. These are just suggestions, not restrictions, and you should feel free to mix and match these ideas as you see fit. Sometimes a hero that doesn’t fit the archetype can be even more interesting.
Academic Archetypes
There are many good examples of academic heroes throughout Mythos literature. Professor Rice and his friends confronted the colossal Dunwich horror. Scientists from Miskatonic University explored Antarctica and the mountains of madness. The strange tales of rural folk convinced a literature instructor from that same university to search for alien creatures in the hills of Vermont. The quest for knowledge led Herbert West to his terrible discoveries about death and re-animation.
Archaeologist
Archaeologists visit the old, dead and buried places of civilization to reconstruct the past. They may spend their time searching the poorly-cataloged archives of museums, or traveling the world to dig sites, hoping for that one great discovery. Archaeologists may discover the evidence of civilizations and creatures beyond the sane understanding of the human race, and they may uncover very real dangers that aren’t as dead as they might seem. Feats: Contacts, Endurance, Skill Focus (Knowledge(history)) Skills: Climb, Knowledge (art), Knowledge (earth science), Knowledge (history), Language, Notice, Search, Survival
Linguist
The linguist specializes in translating modern languages and deciphering dead ancient languages. Linguists work as translators for international travelers, as writers reproducing foreign works in a local language, or as archaeologists visiting dusty museums and ancient dig sites to study inscriptions. Linguists may be needed to translate obscure markings found on old tablets and pottery shards. They may
even find a way to decode unknown hieroglyphs found on impossibly old monoliths and blasphemous statuettes. Feats: Skill Focus (multiple Languages), Linguist, Low Profile Skills: Diplomacy, Gather Information, Knowledge (history), Language, Sense Motive
1
Professor
Professors generally have secure positions at universities, from which they are free to follow lines of study that may appear impractical to the world outside the ivy-webbed college quadrangles. They have access to impressive libraries, and they know how to use them. Living in the university setting has exposed them to may different fields of knowledge, not just their specialty. Professors generally concentrate on developing new knowledge, teaching, and providing peer criticism on the works of other professors. Professors are sometimes called upon to give expert opinions on objects or events that the world at large doesn’t understand. These invasive encounters with the mysteries of the world might draw a professor from behind the lectern out into adventure. Feats: Eidetic Memory, Fascinate, Skill Focus (main Knowledge specialty) Skills: Craft (writing), Knowledge, Language, Perform (Oratory)
Scientist
Scientists work in laboratories and out in the field, gathering data to develop and support theories about how the world works. They may also apply that knowledge to create new materials, processes or technology. Science is always on the edge of the supernatural and is sometimes indistinguishable from it. Scientists are often the ones that draw the unknown horrors of the Mythos into the world of humanity. Feats: Eidetic Memory, Skill Focus (Knowledge (any science)), Skill Mastery Skills: Craft (science), Knowledge (earth science), Knowledge (life sciences), Knowledge (physical sciences), Knowledge (technology), Notice
Expert Archetypes
Experts come from a variety of backgrounds and their talents are the engine that keeps modern civilization running. They are well represented in Mythos stories by dozens of medical doctors and alienists who investigated strange stories and directly confronted the unknown. Experts also include Richard Upton Pickman, whose fascination with painting the supernatural put him in touch with a terrible reality, and the great magician who visited Egypt and was imprisoned with the pharaohs. Experts are the pilots for expeditions to remote regions
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until they are discovered, and that almost never happens. Artists are able to express the horror they’ve seen in real life or in dreams and visions. Their artistic creations may be nearly as frightening to the general populace as the events that inspired them were for the artists. Feats: Skill Focus (Craft (painting)), Tireless. Skills: Craft (painting), Craft (sculpting), Knowledge (art), Knowledge (life sciences), Knowledge (popular culture), Notice, Search
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Bootlegger
of the Earth, and the mechanics that take care of their planes. They are the miners who discover hidden cave systems and the shopkeepers who find mysterious artifacts among their common wares.
Antiquities Dealer
Heroes who make their living buying and selling rare antiquities will need a good understanding of archaeological periods and locations so they can identify the truly rare items. They may also be good at convincing customers that mediocre items are truly precious. Antiquities dealers may provide the link between supernatural events and archaeological finds. They have seen so many strange and ancient items that they may be able to make connections others can’t. Feats: Connected, Haggler, Hide in Plain Sight, Low Profile, Wealthy Skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Knowledge (art), Knowledge (history), Language, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Stealth
Artist 12
Artists see the world in a unique way, measuring it and absorbing it so they can reproduce it in pen, paint, stone or clay. They often lead meager, nearly destitute lives
During prohibition in the United States, bootleggers continued to produce alcoholic drinks. They sold them through rumrunners, directly to consumers or to the many speakeasy clubs that formed in urban areas. While not hardened criminals like mobsters, bootleggers do have valuable covert skills and helpful underground contacts. Feats: Contacts, Hide in Plain Sight, Vehicular Combat Skills: Bluff, Craft (brewing), Craft (scientific equipment), Disguise, Drive, Knowledge (business), Knowledge (physical sciences), Slight of Hand, Stealth
Doctor
Medical doctors help heal the sick through medication and other treatments. They can set broken bones, aid recovery from disease, and treat wounds. They are usually well-respected in their community and fairly well-off financially. Doctors may treat wounds inflicted by human cultists or terrifying creatures, or diagnose and treat bizarre diseases carried to earth from beyond the stars. Feats: Challenge (Medicine: Heal Thyself ), Notice, Skill Focus (Medicine), Wealthy Skills: Gather Information, Knowledge (life sciences), Medicine, Surgery
Explorer
Explorers travel the unknown areas of the world, which often means the sparsely-populated wilderness. They are hardy and self-sufficient, and they know how to defend themselves. They may map out uncharted regions, make trade deals with indigenous populations, or even search for oil. Explorers may come across inhuman, timeless architecture or disturbing aboriginal rituals passed down among primitive people through dark millennia. They
explore the fringes of known geography, and what they find sometimes pushes human knowledge beyond the bounds of what’s considered sane. Feats: Endurance, Firearms Training, Inspire (courage), Jack-of-All Trades, Leadership, Steady, Trailblazer, Weapon Training Skills: Climb, Handle Animal, Knowledge (earth science), Knowledge (life sciences), Language, Notice, Ride, Sense Motive, Survival
Farmer
Farmers and ranchers are the salt of the earth and among the most practical and self-sufficient archetypes. They know the land and the weather, and they have a special understanding of animals. They are accustomed to hard work and seem to know a little bit about everything. Farmers may be the owners of the remote piece of land where mysterious artifacts or alien creatures appear. They may also be among the first to notice that animals are acting strangely or plants are being destroyed by a strange purple blight. Feats: Great Fortitude, Jack-of-All-Trades, Challenge (Craft (mechanics)/fast craft), Night Vision, Tireless Skills: Craft (buildings), Craft (mechanics), Handle Animal, Knowledge (earth sciences), Knowledge (life sciences), Notice, Drive, Pilot
Fortune Teller
In western civilizations, fortune tellers are relegated to dingy, back-alley storefronts and circus sideshows, but in the east they are often respected as true oracles and guides. They make vague predictions about the future and offer cryptic interpretations using tarot cards, bones, or astrology. Even though starting heroes in Shadows of Cthulhu have no true psychic or supernatural abilities, the powerful creatures of the Mythos may find fortune tellers more open subjects for their mental contact or physical omens. Fortune tellers may also go in search of true divination powers. Feats: Fascinate, Inspire (complacency), Inspire (fear), Skill Focus (Perform (oratory)), Suggestion, Well-informed Skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Knowledge (behavioral sciences), Knowledge (supernatural), Perform (oratory), Sense Motive, Slight of Hand
Mechanic
Mechanics keep the world’s machines running and sometimes come up with new and interesting machines of their own. They know their way around electric motors and internal combustion engines. Mechanics may get the farmer’s old tractor to start after some monstrous rural creature crushes the heroes’
car, or draw a little more power out of an ocean liner’s engine to escape pursuing sea monsters. Feats: Talented (Craft (mechanics), Disable Device), Skill Mastery (Craft (mechanics), Disable Device, Drive, Pilot) Skills: Craft (mechanics), Disable Device, Drive, Knowledge (physical sciences), Knowledge (technology), Pilot
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Movie Star
Movie stars, even relatively unknown ones, are the idols of popular culture. They look, love and live in a way everyone else envies. Successful movie stars can be very rich and most influential. Movie stars may find themselves shooting in truly horrifying real-life locations, or they may discover that the lines they have been asked to memorize are actually an ancient spell or a signal that will set off a dreadful sequence of events. Feats: Attractive, Fascinate, Inspire (awe), Wealthy Skills: Bluff, Disguise, Knowledge (art), Language, Perform (acting), Perform (singing), Perform (dance)
Psychiatrist/Alienist
Psychiatrists, also known as alienists, are experts in human psychology and mental disorders. They are trained to treat patients with mental disorders through counseling, therapy, and medication. The support of a good psychologist may be vital to the mental health of the heroes. The unthinkable truths of the Cthulhu Mythos can damage the untested mind. Feats: Challenge (Psychiatry/dig deeper), Fascinate (Perform (oratory)), Skill Focus (Psychiatry), Inspire (competence) Skills: Diplomacy, Gather Information, Knowledge (behavioral sciences), Medicine, Perform (oratory), Psychiatry, Sense Motive
Stage Performer
Stage performers are magicians, sideshow acts, vaudeville comedians, or serious stage actors. They are generally well-traveled, streetwise and charismatic, and they often have unsuspected and unusual skills. In Shadows of Cthulhu, stage performers have seen the underside of major cities, studied ancient plays, and performed spectacles as close to real magic as a sane and unenlightened human can get. Feats: Animal Empathy, Exotic Weapon Training, Fascinate, Skill Focus (Perform) Skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Climb, Disguise, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Jump, Perform, Ride, Sleight of Hand 13
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Surgeon
Surgeons treat physical disorders that will not heal on their own, even under a doctor’s care. Surgeons may be call upon to repair a mangled arm, stop internal bleeding, or fix a damaged eye. Surgeons can repair many of the permanent physical injuries inflicted on the heroes during their adventures. Feats: Challenge (Surgery/radical procedure), Improvised Tools, Skill Focus (Surgery), Sneak Attack, Wealthy Skills: Knowledge (life sciences), Medicine
Wealthy Heir
The truly wealthy and privileged are at leisure to study whatever interests them, and to do just about anything within reasonable economic means. They are often patrons of favorite artists, writers, or academics, and they are usually have helpful contacts. The independently wealthy furnish other heroes with the freedom to investigate strange events without risking financial ruin. Wealthy heirs also provide contacts, significantly better equipment, and esoteric knowledge and skills that aren’t practical for anyone who has to earn a living. Feats: Connected, Inspire (awe), Lucky, Wealthy Skills: Bluff, Drive, Knowledge (art), Knowledge (popular culture), Language, Perform, Ride
Investigator Archetypes
Investigators are a curious class of characters that are not content until they understand every aspect of a mystery and have reduced it to hard facts and irrefutable deductions. They include Inspector Legrasse, who disrupted a cult ritual in the Louisiana swamps, and Detective Malone, who discovered things he would never reveal in the tunnels below the Red Hook district of Brooklyn.
Journalist
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Journalists go for the story, and some of them are not above embellishing the truth a little to make things more interesting. Journalists may be freelancers selling stories to whichever editor will pay the most or staff reporters working for a specific publication or broadcast station. Journalists may find that the supernatural spin of certain events make them more interesting, even though the supernatural angle is certainly bogus. Some readers believe that sort of thing. Feats: Benefit (press pass), Contacts, Skill Focus (Gather Information), Fascinate (Diplomacy), WellInformed Skills: Craft (writing), Diplomacy, Gather Information, Knowledge (current events), Notice, Search, Sense Motive
Paranormal Investigator
Paranormal investigators openly profess their belief in psychic powers and the supernatural, and they’re willing to help people explain unexplainable events. They are essentially private eyes who deal in the world of the supernatural. Supernatural investigators may find themselves face-to-face with real supernatural events, possibly for the first time in their careers. They may be the hook that leads all the heroes into adventure. Feats: Contacts, Jaded, Night Vision, Steady, Talented (Gather Information, Knowledge (supernatural)), Track Skills: Bluff, Disguise, Gather Information, Knowledge (supernatural), Language, Stealth, Survival
Police Detective
Police detectives investigate potential crimes to determine if a crime actually occurred and to identify the criminals. They investigate crimes ranging from petty theft to mass murder, and they have the authority and resources of the police to back them up. Police detectives may be called upon to investigate criminal activity by Mythos creatures or cults. Feats: Benefit (legal enforcement powers), Connected, Firearms Training, Talented (Gather Information, Intimidate) Skills: Gather Information, Intimidate, Knowledge (streetwise), Knowledge (civics), Notice, Search, Sense Motive
Private Eye
Private eyes are investigators for hire. They track spouses suspected of cheating, search for missing persons that may not want to be found, and sometimes solve murder cases that the police have given up on. Private eyes may find that their cases lead them to horrific discoveries of twisted cults and otherworldly creatures. Feats: Skill Focus (Gather Information), Skill Focus (Drive), Stunning Attack, Tough, Skills: Disable Device, Disguise, Drive, Gather Information, Intimidate, Knowledge (streetwise), Notice, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Stealth
Spy
Spies gather information for foreign governments. They may come from the country they’re loyal to, or someone may have recruited them from the local population. Spies keep a low profile and often have elaborate cover identities. Spies may wonder if strange Mythos events are actually part of a government project worth knowing about.
Feats: Benefit (alternate identity), Challenge (Gather Information/discretion), Low Profile, Master Plan, Skill Focus (Stealth) Skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Disguise, Gather Information, Language, Notice, Search, Sense Motive, Stealth
Town Gossip
Town gossips usually play some key role that gives them access to all kinds of juicy personal information. They might be the local hairdresser or barber, or the telephone operator, or the organist at the local church. Town gossips will latch onto any mystery like a bulldog and won’t let go until they know what’s going on and can spread the news. Feats: Contacts, Fascinate, Inspire (awe), Light Sleeper Skills: Diplomacy, Gather Information, Perform (oratory), Notice, Search, Sense Motive, Stealth
Reverent Archetypes
A reverent can be the heart and soul of a group of investigators. They provide strength of will when confronting the mind-twisting reality of the Mythos, and inspiration when the will to go on fades into despair. Although the faith and trappings of mainstream human convictions and religions seem to provide no direct counter to the horrors of the Mythos, they can be of great indirect benefit to the humans themselves.
Butlers may be the silent problem solvers, always there to provide aid when needed or to gently steer the other heroes in the right direction. They may also be the best drivers in the group. Feats: Dedicated, Inspire (competence), Low Profile, Skill Focus (Diplomacy), Skill Mastery (Diplomacy, Drive, Sense Motive, Stealth) Skills: Diplomacy, Drive, Knowledge (behavioral science), Knowledge (current events), Notice, Sense Motive, Stealth
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Nun
Nuns dedicate their lives to service within the church. They are the teachers at parochial schools and the medical caregivers at church hospitals. Nuns may get involved in Mythos mysteries because of their extensive knowledge of religion, or because the children or patients under their care are threatened. Feats: Dedicated, Inspire (courage), Iron Will, Leadership, Vow of Poverty Skills: Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (theology and philosophy), Medicine, Perform (singing), Sense Motive
Activist
You re so dedicated to a particular cause that you’ve focused your entire life around it. You might be trying to save a species of animal, keep alcohol illegal, establish female suffrage, preserve the gold standard, or unionize workers. An activist may find the object of their dedication threatened by Mythos activities, and they will certainly take action to preserve it. Feats: Dedicated, Fascinate, Perform (oratory), Inspire (fury), Iron Will, Leadership Skills: Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (civics), Perform (oratory), Sense Motive
Butler/Chauffeur
Butlers are dedicated and selfless servants who anticipate their masters’ needs and protect them from unwanted interruptions. Butlers often understand more of the world in general, and society in particular, than their masters.
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Preacher
Preachers spread their faith through inspiring sermons and one-on-one interaction. They may preach within an established church and congregation, or they may hit the road, bringing brief tent revivals to small towns across the country. Preachers may be among the first to recognize true evil in a situation where others just see more of the general failings of society. Feats: Dedicated, Fascinate (Perform (oratory)), Inspire (courage), Suggestion (Perform (oratory)), Mass Suggestion (Perform (oratory)) Skills: Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (behavioral sciences), Knowledge (theology and philosophy), Perform (oratory), Sense Motive
Buddhist Monk
Buddhist monks live contemplative lives in ancient, incense-tainted monasteries set apart from the world. They are masters of their own emotions, and ironically, extremely wise about the ways of the world. Buddhist monks may make good use of their basic combat training. They may also be able to resist more of the effects of insanity than other heroes, since they have denied much of the reality of the world already. Feats: Dedicated, Dodge Focus, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Skill Focus (Sense Motive), Slow Fall, Steady Skills: Acrobatics, Concentration, Jaded, Knowledge (theology and philosophy), Notice, Sense Motive, Stealth
Missionary
Missionaries take the message of their faith to the world and are often among the first to visit remote areas. They are hardy, selfless individuals who have given up the comforts of civilization to bring the truth to those who have not yet heard it. Missionaries will be exposed to the strangest surviving religions and rituals, including many that predate human civilization. Feats: Dedicated, Inspire (awe), Endurance, Fascinate (Diplomacy), Iron Will, Talented (Diplomacy, Sense Motive) Skills: Diplomacy, Knowledge (earth sciences), Knowledge (theology and philosophy), Language, Ride, Sense Motive, Survival
Warrior Archetypes 16
Although confronting the worst horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos directly with weapons is certain to lead to disaster, there have been many times when organized force was enough to disrupt the activities of human cult members and weak supernatural minions. The warriors of the Cthulhu Mythos include the countless police who
joined raids on cult gatherings, the Marines who explored newly-risen islands in the Pacific, and the National Guard soldiers called in to clear out degenerate towns like Innsmouth.
Beat Cop
Beat cops protect the people within their jurisdiction. They might completely ignore the battles between organized crime and the FBI, let one or two bootleggers go about their business, and take bribes from any number of sources, but in general they do their best to stay alive and protect the safety of the people. Feats: Attack Specialization (club), Benefit (legal enforcement powers), Contacts, Firearms Training, Improved Grab, Weapons Training Skills: Diplomacy, Gather Information, Knowledge (civics), Knowledge (streetwise), Notice, Sense Motive
Big Game Hunter
Big game hunters travel to the remote wilderness areas of the world to hunt the largest animals they can find, and then hang parts of them on their walls or sell them to museums. Big game hunters may be wealthy individuals funding the expeditions themselves, or talented guides hired by aspiring hunters. Big game hunters are experts at surviving in areas of the globe where the Mythos still thrives, and their skill with firearms may come in handy when the heroes are faced with mad cultists or raging beasts. Feats: Assessment, Far Shot, Firearms Training, Improved Critical (elephant gun), Steady, Track, Trailblazer Skills: Climb, Knowledge (earth sciences), Language, Notice, Ride, Survival
Bodyguard
Bodyguards are trained to protect their employer from harm, even if it means putting themselves in danger. They are trained to identify threats and neutralize them with lethal force if necessary. Bodyguards might protect other heroes from enemies, both natural and supernatural. They can provide physical protection while the other heroes do most of the thinking and social interaction. Feats: Attack Specialization, Dedicated, Firearms Training, Improved Disarm, Seize Initiative, Skill Focus (Notice), Weapons Training Skills: Concentration, Disable Device, Drive, Notice, Search, Sense Motive, Stealth
FBI Agent
FBI Agents are the foot soldiers in the battle against organized crime. They are trained to track suspects and to assault criminal strongholds. They have the latest weaponry and the best support personnel at their disposal.
FBI Agents may be called in when Mythos activity gets so out of hand that it draws the attention of the authorities. Feats: Benefit (legal enforcement powers), Favored Opponent, Firearms Training, Improved Precise Shot, Knowledge (tactics), Precise Shot, Weapons Training Skills: Disable Device, Drive, Knowledge (civics), Intimidate, Notice, Stealth
Mobster
Mobsters enforce the order of organized crime. They protect the businesses from the police, collect protection money, rough up those who won’t pay, and carry out raids on other mobs competing for territory. Mobsters may be the prime suspects for the horrible crimes perpetrated by cults or Mythos creatures. Feats: Connected, Dedicated, Firearms Training, Inspire (fear), Jaded, Skill Focus (Intimidate), Tough, Wealthy Skills: Drive, Intimidate, Search, Stealth
Soldier
Soldiers are trained for intense mass combat, and many of them have seen it first-hand. They might be in the Army, the Marines or the National Guard. They are experts at firearms, have hand-to-hand training, and understand the basics of tactics. A group of soldiers may be called in when a fight is too much for the police to handle, or a single soldier could provide extra combat force to a group of less physical heroes. Feats: Armor Training, Attack Specialization (rifle), Firearms Training, Leadership, Point Blank Shot, Weapons Training Skills: Climb, Intimidate, Knowledge (tactics), Stealth, Survival
New & Modified Skills
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All of the Skills in True20 Adventure Roleplaying are available to heroes in Shadows of Cthulhu. A few new skills are also available, as well as some new tasks and specialties for existing skills. Any skill that is not detailed here works just as described in True20 Adventure Roleplaying.
Craft (Science)
Intelligence, Trained Only, Requires Specialization, Requires Tools The Craft skill in Shadows of Cthulhu includes the new specialty of science. Craft (science) skill give a hero the ability to make and repair scientific equipment, including equipment used with scientific powers (see Chapter 5). To determine the Difficulty and cost of creating scientific equipment, consult Table 1-4: Craft (Science), starting with the Wealth Difficulty of purchasing the equipment and reading across. Each entry lists the Difficulty for the Craft (science) check to complete the item, The Craft Wealth Difficulty, which is the Wealth check you must make every time you attempt to make the item, and the time it takes for each attempt.
Knowledge
Intelligence, Trained Only, Requires Specialization The Knowledge (supernatural) specialty is available in Shadows of Cthulhu, but it covers only the common supernatural folklore available through normal education and research. A hero with good Knowledge (supernatural) skill would know all about vampires and might sense hints that there is more to witchcraft than the simple mind of man can comprehend, but that hero would know nothing about Mythos creatures or locations.
Table 1-4: Craft (Science) Purchase Wealth Difficulty
Craft Complexity
Craft Difficulty
Craft Wealth Difficulty
Time
Example
11 or less
Simple
15
5
1 hour
Radio
12-16
Moderate
20
10
12 hours
17-21
Complex
25
15
24 hours
22 or more
Advanced
30
20
60 hours
Basic chemistry lab
Scientific Imbue Life equipment
Portable Scientific Enhance Ability device
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Knowledge specific to the Cthulhu Mythos is only available to heroes with the Mythos Knowledge skill described in Chapter 5. All of the basic Knowledge skills have one additional task, as follows: Gain Familiarity (Difficulty varies): If you have access to the proper research materials and an appropriate Knowledge skill, you can study details about a particular creature, item or place to become casually familiarity with it, reducing the Difficulty of powers that required familiarity. For instance, a hero with Knowledge (streetwise) could talk to a few people and get a pretty good description of a particular warehouse or a specific crime lord. The Difficulty depends on how powerful and secret the creature, place or item is. In general, the Difficulty of becoming casually familiar with a non-Mythos creature is 20. Common, well-documented places are Difficulty 20. Very remote and secret places on Earth are Difficulty 30.
Language
Intelligence, Trained Only, Requires Specialization Languages are extremely important in Mythos adventures, especially the ancient and secret languages. Therefore, this skill is handled differently in the Shadows of Cthulhu than in other True20 settings. Each language is treated as a specialty of the Language skill, and any language task requires a skill check. The same applies to the Mythos Language skill described in Chapter 5. Heroes, and most intelligent creatures, automatically receive 8 bonus ranks in their native language. Check: Intelligence is the key ability for the Language skill. Difficulties apply to any attempt to speak, listen, read, or write in any know language based on the guidelines in Table 1-5: Language.
Psychiatry
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Wisdom, Trained Only, Requires Tools You are trained to understand how the mind works, both psychologically and physiologically, and you can treat mental disorders using counseling, drugs, and various types of therapy. Check: The Difficulty and the effect depend on the task attempted. Hypnosis (Difficulty 20): You can put willing subjects into a trance and draw information from their subconscious or repressed memories. The subjects will not remember the conversation, but you could use hypnosis to help get information they have forgotten because of Amnesia, or to question them about dreams they can’t remember. Provide Psychiatric Care (Difficulty 15 + level of disorder): Providing care means maintaining daily contact with patients and providing whatever personal care or medication they need for recovery. If a patient is al-
Table 1-5: Language Complexity Simple Moderate
Complex
Advanced
Example
Basic directions, street signs Description of a person, a newspaper
A dfficult novel or textbook, a subtle joke or involved story
A sholarly paper, streetwise idiomatic speech
Difficulty 10 15
20
25
lowed regular recovery checks for their disorder, they may add your Psychiatry skill ranks to their recovery check if you succeed on your skill check. If you fail on your skill check, they instead suffer a -2 penalty on their recovery check. You may provide psychiatric care for up to your skill rank in patients at any given time. Treat Mental Disorder (Difficulty 15 + level of disorder): If a patient’s disorder is treatable with psychiatric care, you may make a psychiatry check once per week to remove one level of the disorder. You must have contact with the patient every day during the week. If you fail your psychiatry check by 5 or more, you make things worse and the patient gains one additional level of the disorder. You may treat up to your skill rank in individual disorders at any given time. Treat Mental Episode (Difficulty 15 + level of disorder): With a medical kit, you can tend to a character who has failed a save to avoid the situational effects of a mental disorder, like a Compulsive Gambler stuck at a blackjack table or a hero with Explosive Disorder in the middle of a rage. If you succeed on your check, the patient may re-roll their save, adding your Psychiatry skill ranks as a bonus. If you know ahead of time that a patient is entering a situation that might trigger an episode, you can treat them in advance to improve their initial save, possibly preventing the episode altogether. Treating a mental episode is a standard action. You may only make one attempt to treat each mental episode. Challenges: You can take the following challenges with Psychiatry. Heal Thyself: You can provide psychiatric care for yourself, or treat your own mental disorder with a +5 increase in the difficulty of your check. You cannot treat your own mental episode. Dig Deeper: For each +5 increase in the Difficulty of your Psychiatry check while treating a mental disorder, you can remove one additional level of that disorder with a successful check.
Surgery
Dexterity, Prerequisite: Medicine Rank 4, Trained Only, Requires Tools You are trained to perform surgery to repair debilitating or life-threatening physical conditions. With a successful Surgery check, you can cure one level of another character’s injury disorder, if it is treatable by surgery. The Difficulty for this check is 15 + the level of the injury disorder, and the surgery takes one hour. If you fail your check by 5 or more, you make things worse and your patient gains one additional level of the injury disorder. One long multi-hour surgery can cure multiple levels of an injury disorder, but you must make Surgery checks every hour. You cannot perform surgery on yourself, though you can aid another character operating on you. Surgery is traumatic for the patient. Whenever you make a Surgery check, your patient must also make a Difficulty 18 Toughness save to avoid damage, as if they had been successfully attacked by a lethal weapon. Armor modifiers, including natural armor, do not apply to this save. Surgery requires the use of a modern operating room, or all checks suffer a -4 penalty. Pre-modern settings may offer substandard operating rooms that impose a -1 or -2 penalty. Note that the Improvised Tools feat cannot reduce the Surgery penalty to less than that of the standard operating room of the setting. Challenges: You can take the following challenges with Surgery. Radical Procedure: For each +5 increase in the difficulty of your Surgery check while treating an injury disorder, you can remove one additional level of that disorder with a single successful check.
New & Modified Feats
A few new feats are available to heroes in Shadows of Cthulhu. Most are related to investigating the unknown or to the modifications in the way Language skills work. Note that the benefits of the Jack-of-All-Trades feat from True20 Adventure Roleplaying have been modified.
Benefit (General)
The following additional Benefits are available in Shadows of Cthulhu. The Narrator should avoid granting these privileges to heroes that don’t have these Benefits unless they succeed on a Bluff or Craft (forgery) check to convince others that they do have them. Legal Enforcement Powers: You have the right, under the law, to arrest those suspected of committing a crime and to use force to protect law-abiding citizens.
Press Pass: Your press credentials can get you into places where the general public can’t go, as long as someone there is interested in the publicity. Alternate Identity: You have worked hard on a convincing alternate identity, building up a collection of paperwork, contacts, and correspondence as that identity. You gain a +4 bonus on any Disguise or Bluff checks supported by your alternate identity.
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Jack-of-All-Trades (Expert)
You can use any skill untrained, even skills that normally cannot be used untrained, but this does not apply to Mythos skills or the Language skill. You must still have the proper tools if a skill requires them.
Jaded (General)
You’ve seen so much violence and degradation that the truly horrifying doesn’t affect you as much anymore. You gain a +2 bonus on all Sanity saving throws.
Linguist (Expert)
You are an expert at deciphering and learning new languages. You can use any Language specialty untrained. This does not apply to the Mythos Language skill.
Haggler (General)
You are an expert at negotiating for the best price on items. Subtract one from the cost of any items you purchase before you make a wealth check to purchase them.
Steady (General)
You are disciplined and in control of your own emotions when faced with difficult or frightening situations. You get a +3 bonus on all saving throws to avoid the effects of fear auras, Calm, Heart Shaping, or any other powers that manipulate emotions. This bonus does not apply to Sanity saves.
Vow of Poverty (General)
You have taken a vow to remain poor and give any wealth you do obtain to those who need it more. If your Wealth bonus is at least +1, you may donate wealth to a cause, reducing your Wealth bonus by 1. Whenever you do this you recover one Conviction point, but your Conviction point total cannot exceed the maximum for your level. If your Wealth bonus ever exceeds +5, you must donate to the cause until your bonus is reduced to
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+5. In addition, you may never purchase or accept as a gift any item with cost higher than 14.
Sample Heroes
It can be difficult to create a new character for a roleplaying setting you’ve never played before. How do you know which skills will be important for which situations, or what type of character you’ll really enjoy playing? If you want to start playing Shadows of Cthulhu right away, you can use one of the sample heroes provided here and learn the basics before you make your own hero. Even if you’re not going to use these heroes, you may want to review them to help your understand hero creation. Skills and feats marked with a ‘B’ are bonuses from the character’s background or role. None of the backgrounds chosen for these heroes affect their base ability scores. Each starting skill begins with 4 ranks.
Dr. Clarence Allen Roche
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Associate Professor of Arabic and Classics at Brown University Doctor Roche grew up in the seaside Massachusetts town of Danvers, earned his degrees at Harvard, and only recently joined the faculty at Brown. Although still quite young, he has earned some respect from older colleagues for two papers he presented at the Harvard Archaeological Society regarding the ancient traditions of tribes of the Sinai. Doctor Roche is very precise in his work, never jumping to conclusions without sufficient evidence, careful to credit others when credit is due, and meticulous in his writing. He expects the same level of exactitude from everyone else, from his housekeeper all the way up to the president of the United States, and he can be very disparaging when he finds their work lacking. Background: Maritime Role/Level: Academic/1 Abilities: Str -1, Dex +1, Con +0, Int +4, Wis +2, Cha +0 Initiative: +1 (Dex +1) Combat Bonus: +0 Melee/Ranged Attack Bonus: +1/+1 Damage: +1 (walking cane) Dodge/Parry: +1/-1 Saving Throws: Toughness +0 (+0 Con), Fortitude +0 (+0 base, +0 Con), Reflex +4 (+1 base, +1 Dex, +2 Lightning Reflexes), Will +3 (+1 base, +2 Wis), Sanity +2 (+2 base, +0 Cha) Virtue/Vice: professional pride/highly critical Wealth/Reputation: +4 (5 + 0 Cha, reduced by camera purchase)/+1
Skills: (8 +4 Int starting skills, +4 bonus Knowledge skills) Bluff 4 (+4), Craft (boatbuilding)B 4 (+8), DriveB 4 (+5), Gather Information 4 (+4), Knowledge (art)B 4 (+8), Knowledge (earth sciences)B 4 (+8), Knowledge (history)B 4 (+8), Knowledge (supernatural)B 4 (+8), Knowledge (theology and philosophy) 4 (+8), Language (Akkadian) 4 (+10) (+2 Talented), Language (Ancient Egyptian) 4 (+8), Language (Arabic) 4 (+10) (+2 Talented), Language (French) 4 (+8), Language (Greek) 4 (+8), Language (Latin) 4 (+8), Perform (oratory) 4 (+4), Sense Motive 4 (+6), Swim 4 (+3) Feats: (4 starting feats) Fascinate (Perform(oratory)), Light SleeperB, Lightning ReflexesB, Linguist, Night Vision, Talented (Language (Arabic and Akkadian)) Equipment: backpack, bedroll, camera, flashlight, walking cane (treat as club) Conviction/Awareness: 3/0
Raymond Harding
Lead Actor at the Barker Playhouse Mr. Harding is a trained Shakespearean actor trying to hide his small town upbringing behind British accents and proper diction. He is currently appearing in two productions at the strange little Barker Playhouse on Benefit Street, Providence. He has had reasonable reviews in the Providence Journal, but nothing that could launch a respectable career in New York. To supplement his means, Mr. Harding leaves the playhouse in the evenings and goes directly to the House of Correction on Howard Avenue, where he serves as a night guard and orderly. He has spent many nights studying the nocturnal activities of the most peculiar of the inmates, hoping exposure to a wide range of human conditions might improve his acting. Background: Small Town Role/Level: Expert/1 Abilities: Str +0, Dex +1, Con +1, Int +1, Wis +0, Cha +3 Initiative: +1 (Dex +1) Combat Bonus: +0 Melee/Ranged Attack Bonus: +1/+1 Damage: +2 (Derringer) Dodge/Parry: +1/+0 Saving Throws: Toughness +1 (+1 Con), Fortitude +4 (+0 base, +1 Con, +3 Lucky), Reflex +6 (+2 base, +1 Dex, +3 Lucky), Will +3 (+0 base, +0 Wis, +3 Lucky), Sanity +5 (+2 base, +3 Cha) Virtue/Vice: friendly/self-centered Wealth/Reputation: +6 (5 +3 Char, reduced by purchase of Derringer pistol and fine clothing)/+1 Skills: (8 +1 Int starting skills) Bluff 4 (+7), Diplomacy 4 (+7), Disguise 4 (+7), Handle Animal 4 (+7), Intimidate 4 (+7), Knowledge (behavioral science) 4 (+5), Language (French) 4 (+5), Perform (acting) 4 (+7), RideB 4 (+5), Slight of Hand 4 (+5), SurvivalB 4 (+4)
Feats: (4 starting feats) Attractive, Firearms TrainingB, Inspire (awe), Lucky, TrackB, Skill Focus (Perform(acting)) Equipment: disguise kit, fine clothing, flashlight, hooded lantern, hold-out pistol Conviction/Awareness: 3/0
Lillian Brodie James
Heiress and Gossip Columnist for the Providence Journal Lillian is the daughter of Emmet James, the powerful Providence shipping magnate, and Madeline Brodie, a sardonic fashion critic of the late 19th century. Despite her high society upbringing, Lillian detests most of the trappings of the wealthy and lives, mostly by her own means, in a modest apartment building for single ladies on Dexter Street. Lillian writes the gossip column for the Providence Journal and takes great joy in rooting out the most sordid details of the lives of the rich and famous. Her connections and inborn tenacity make her very effective at her job. Although she is respected by most local journalists, her profession is a great embarrassment to her family, and they seldom mention her. Her parents have most likely taken her out of their will. Background: High Society Role/Level: Investigator/1 Abilities: Str +0, Dex -1, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +2, Cha +2 Initiative: -1 (Dex -1) Combat Bonus: +0 Melee/Ranged Attack Bonus: -1/-1 Damage: +1 (knife) Dodge/Parry: -1/+1 Saving Throws: Toughness +0 (+0 Con), Fortitude +0 (+0 base, +0 Con), Reflex +1 (+2 base, -1 Dex), Will +2 (+0 base, +2 Wis), Sanity +4 (+2 base, +2 Cha) Virtue/Vice: generous/ruthless Wealth/Reputation: +7 (5 +2 Cha, +4 Wealthy, reduced by Packard roadster purchase)/+0 Skills: (6 + 3 Int starting skills) BluffB 4 (+6), Diplomacy 4 (+6), Gather Information 4 (+6), Knowledge (business) 4 (+7), Knowledge (civics) 4 (+7), Knowledge (current events) 4 (+7), Language (French) 4 (+7), Notice 4 (+6), RideB 4 (+3), Search 4 (+7), Sense Motive 4 (+6) Feats: (4 starting feats) Attractive, Benefit (press pass), ConnectedB, Contacts, WealthyB, Well-Informed Equipment: knife, poodle, Packard roadster Conviction/Awareness: 3/0
Sister Bernadette Grace
Roman Catholic Nun of Sisters of Mercy Sister Bernadette grew up as Abigail Sweeney in one of the roughest and poorest neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Her mother died when she was very young, and she and
five of her brothers and sisters were raised by their older sister, Grace. Abigail was drawn to the convent by her compassion for the poor she saw all around her, and by her indignation at the young lives she saw wasted on the streets. Abigail took her final vows as Sister Bernadette Grace with the Sisters of Mercy. She now serves in the Rhode Island Catholic Orphan Asylum on Prairie Avenue in Providence. When the orphanage requires someone to go out into the world, it often sends Sister Bernadette because of her tough upbringing, streetwise manners and keen intuition about others. Background: Big City Role/Level: Reverent/1 Abilities: Str +1, Dex +0, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +1 Initiative: +0 (Dex +0) Combat Bonus: +0 Melee/Ranged Attack Bonus: +0/+0 Damage: +3 (sap) Dodge/Parry: +0/+1 Saving Throws: Toughness +1 (+1 Con), Fortitude +3 (+2 base, +1 Con), Reflex +0 (+0 base, +0 Dex), Will +5 (+2 base, +3 Wis), Sanity +3 (+2 base, +1 Cha) Virtue/Vice: loyal/intolerant Wealth/Reputation: +4 (5 +1 Cha, reduced by Vow of Poverty and purchase of medical kit) /+1 Skills: (8 +0 Int starting skills) Diplomacy 4 (+5), Intimidate 4 (+5), Knowledge (streetwise)B 4 (+4), Knowledge (theology and philosophy) 4 (+4), Language (Latin) 4 (+4), Medicine 4 (+7), Notice 4 (+7), Perform (stringed instruments) 4 (+5), Sense Motive 4 (+10) (+3 Skill Focus), StealthB 4 (+4) Feats: (4 starting feats) ContactsB , ConnectedB , Dedicated (children)B, Inspire (competence), Jack-ofAll-Trades, Skill Focus (Sense Motive), Vow of Poverty Equipment: candles, medical kit, sap, wine Conviction/Awareness: 3/0
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Frank Heath
Bodyguard of Lillian Brodie James Frank is a large, muscular man who dropped out of high school to help with the family business, which just happened to be distilling and smuggling alcohol. After his brother was killed during a run-in with the FBI, so his father sold the business to a local mobster, and Frank began working as a bodyguard. Frank is currently employed by Emmet James to protect his daughter, Lillian Brodie James, as she moves in dangerous circles trying to find gossip about the city’s most powerful citizens. It’s an uncomfortable arrangement for Frank, since Lillian doesn’t want his protection. She knows her father has hired him more as a nanny or a spy than a bodyguard. Frank is there to make sure Lillian doesn’t further embarrass the family.
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Background: Organized Crime Role/Level: Warrior/1 Abilities: Str +2, Dex +2, Con +2, Int -1, Wis +1, Cha +0 Initiative: +2 (Dex +2) Combat Bonus: +1 Melee/Ranged Attack Bonus: +3/+3 Damage: +3 (brass knuckles) or +3 (M&P .38 revolver) Dodge/Parry: +3/+3 Saving Throws: Toughness +2 (+2 Con), Fortitude +4 (+2 base, +2 Con), Reflex +2 (+0 base, +2 Dex), Will +1 (+0 base, +1 Wis), Sanity +2 (+2 base, +0 Cha) Virtue/Vice: dependable/rude Wealth/Reputation: +2 (5 +0 Cha, reduced by purchase of revolver)/+0 Skills: (4 -1 Int starting Skills) Bluff 4 (+4), Drive 4 (+6), IntimidateB 4 (+4), Notice 4 (+5), StealthB 4 (+6) Feats: (4 starting feats) ConnectedB, Favored Opponent (federal agents), Firearms TrainingB, Improved Grab, Point Blank Shot, Seize Initiative, TauntB Equipment: brass knuckles, flashlight, M&P .38 revolver Conviction/Awareness: 3/0
Dr. Friedrich von Essen
Psychologist at The Providence House of Corrections Doctor von Essen is a psychologist, sometimes known as an alienist, who works with the patients at the House of Corrections on Howard Avenue, in Providence. Friedrich grew up in Frankfurt, Germany, and moved to the United States when he was still a boy. He earned his psychiatry degree at Brown University and has spent very little time outside of Rhode Island, except for occasional trips back to Germany.
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During the Great War, Dr. von Essen kept a very low profile, spending most of his time at the House of Corrections and only returning to his modest apartment to sleep and study. Much of his life has passed by without any interesting events and with no real friends. He thinks it may be time to change that. Background: Old World Role/Level: Expert/1 Abilities: Str -1, Dex +0, Con +1, Int +2, Wis +3, Cha +1 Initiative: +0 (Dex +0) Combat Bonus: +1 Melee/Ranged Attack Bonus: +0/+0 Damage: +1 (sap) Dodge/Parry: +0/-1 Saving Throws: Toughness +1 (+1 Con), Fortitude +3 (+0 base, +1 Con, +2 Great Fortitude), Reflex +0 (+0 base, +0 Dex), Will +5 (+2 base, +3 Wis), Sanity +3 (+2 base, +1 Cha) Virtue/Vice: compassionate/pessimistic Wealth/Reputation: +6 (5 +1 Cha)/+1 Skills: (8 +2 Int starting skills) Diplomacy 4 (+5), Knowledge (behavioral sciences) 4 (+6), Knowledge (civics) 4 (+6), Knowledge (life sciences) 4 (+6), Knowledge (supernatural)B 4 (+6), Language (English)B 4 (+9) (+3 Skill Focus), Language (German) 12 (+14), Medicine 4 (+7), Notice 4 (+7), Psychiatry 4 (+10) (+3 Skill Focus), Sense Motive 4 (+7), Slight of Hand 4 (+5) Feats: (4 starting feats) Challenge (Psychiatry/dig deeper), ConnectedB, Great FortitudeB, Inspire (competence), Skill Focus (Language (English)), Skill Focus (Psychiatry) Equipment: flashlight, notebook, sap, psychiatry kit Conviction/Awareness: 3/0
Chapter 2: The 1920s H. P. Lovecraft wrote his stories in the 1920s and 1930s, and most of them took place in that time period or shortly before. So the 1920s have become the traditional setting for most Cthulhu Mythos roleplaying. Shadows of Cthulhu follows this tradition by using the United States of the 1920s as its default setting. Future books will provide information about other interesting settings.
Daily Life
The 1920s began with a post-war recession, then exploded into one of the largest economic booms the Unites States has ever seen, only to come tumbling down again with the stock market crash of 1929. This decade saw the beginnings of many aspects of today’s society. Telephones and automobiles became commonplace, women moved into the workforce, and mass advertising teemed up with radio broadcasters and credit banks to jump start the consumer economy.
Work
As more and more laborers moved from farms to the growing number of factories in the cities, the modern work week began. Henry Ford’s assembly line ideas had been adopted by many other industries, which now required every worker to show up on schedule and maintain output. A strong middle class emerged which could afford their own homes and automobiles. They couldn’t always afford to live where they worked, so morning commutes began, as well as traffic jams. Labor shortages and mandatory schooling during the First World War had created more opportunities for women to work outside the home, and millions of them did. Some of them kept their wartime jobs in factories and other professions that were traditionally reserved for men. The image of an independent working woman developed. She lived on her own, flouted old behavioral codes, and probably smoked filtered cigarettes to show how far she had come. Typical wages ranged from $1,000 a year for factory and office workers to $5,000 or more for middle management. Wealthy businessmen, celebrities, and mob bosses could make millions. Pensions and unions became more common, but were often accused of being communist. Servants, who were once common among the middle class, became a luxury of the rich as the middle class made do with new labor-saving devices like washing machines, vacuum cleaners and electric mixers.
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Transportation
By the end of the 19th century, the railways had opened up travel between major cities across the country and were the primary means of long-distance travel. Just a quarter century later, half of America had access to a car, and they traveled five times as far in them as they did by train. Regular bus services ran through major cities, and short hop airline services were in place across the entire country. Most of the cars on the roads were still the simple, slow models produced by Ford in the previous decade, and most of the roads were still the unpaved dirt paths built for horses and carts. But car models and technology were changing rapidly, and the Federal Highway Act of 1921 created decent two-lane roads between most major cities. These well-traveled highways were lined with traffic signs, electric traffic lights, and the first franchised filling stations. Air travel was a novelty in 1920, but by the end of the decade it was commonplace. Some of the largest airlines, like United and PanAm, were just getting off the ground with flights between major cities. Coast-tocoast airmail service reduced the time to send letters and packages from New York to San Francisco from weeks to just days. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh proved that nonstop flights across the Atlantic were possible, and interest in air travel increased dramatically. With no commercial flights between America and Europe, ocean liners were going strong and still the only way to cross the Atlantic, but their days were numbered. The transatlantic ships were grand affairs, floating palaces with ballrooms, live entertainment and expensive furnishings. Most ships also had small, cramped steerage rooms on the lower decks for immigrants and tourists on a budget.
Communication
Before the 1920s, Americans got their news from the local newspaper. They communicated with friends and family in person or by letter, and listened to live music, or maybe a Victrola. By 1930, about half the homes in the country had telephones and most of the rest were eager to be connected. Pay phones were available on most busy city streets and a call cost only a few cents. Local newspapers still thrived, as did tabloid “Jazz Journalism,” but the new national radio networks, like the National Broadcasting Company and the Columbia Broadcasting System, began broadcasting across the country. The iconic scene of the family gathered to listen to their favorite music or entertainment program had arrived. Hand-held radios were still decades away,
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so military units and anyone who needed point-topoint communication used portable telephone units connected by wires.
Fashion
Fashions, especially young woman’s fashions, changed dramatically during the 1920s. The confident, carefree “flappers” established the major trends with their simple, lightweight dresses, basic hosiery, smaller hats and short haircuts. Before the 1920s, women who wore makeup were assumed to be of questionable morals, but mass marketing and a deliberate rejection of old restrictions changed those attitudes almost completely by the end of the decade. Of course, wearing pants, which many women began to do, was still inexcusable. The young men who accompanied the flappers were called “sheiks,” and they maintained their own fashion gap with their three-piecesuit elders. They slicked their hair and parted it down the middle, wore
knickers or baggy Oxford pants, argyle socks, and sweater vests. While the younger generation experimented with new, lighter fashions, more traditional Americans fell in line behind the etiquette advice of Emily Post. In her books, she laid down firm rules like “you must never wear an evening dress and a hat! And never wear a day dress without one.”
Pasttimes
The booming economy, regular work hours, and easier travel of the 1920s opened up a wide range of new leisure activities. Americans went to the cinema more than ever before, saw more shows on Broadway, and bought more magazines. They took road vacations, increased the national obsessions with baseball and football, and discovered dieting and exercise with the help of Charles Atlas. Movies were silent and people packed huge movie palaces that could seat thousands. They got news from the newsreels before the main show and got to see their first “talkie” in 1927. Movie idols like Rudolph Valentino drew them in and showed them how to be fashionable. Music got a boost from new radio programs and corporate sponsors. Jazz was everywhere, and Americans polarized over whether they loved it or saw it as the moral downfall of the country. They even took a brief, but enthusiastic interest in “hillbilly music.” People took vacations by car, and within a few years the highways were lined with diners, billboards, campgrounds, and the new automobilefriendly hotels called “motels.” Train travel decreased dramatically and car repair became a big business.
Prohibition
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Besides jazz, flappers, and economic good times, the 1920s is most remembered for the crime and corruption that seeped into society through the financial doorways opened by prohibition. The Eighteenth Amendment of 1917 and the Volstead Act of 1919 severely restricted the manufacture and public sale of alcohol. Existing criminal organizations that had survived on drug trade, prostitution, protection rackets and imaginative cons found bootlegging and rum-running to be very profitable, low-risk ventures. Raids on speakeasies were rare, and generally resulted in only modest fines for the patrons. The speakeasy was usu-
ally shut down, but often opened again in a month or two under a different name. Some speakeasy owners got around prohibition by calling their establishments private drinking clubs and handing out membership cards to customers.
Factions
The 1920s was a decade of relative peace abroad, but intense, formative conflict at home. Dozens of factions and organized groups vied for power and a piece of the growing economic pie.
Big Business
Legitimate businesses thrived in the heady atmosphere of the mid-1920s. Banks and investment companies appeared and for the first time had ordinary workingclass customers. Local retailers expanded and stocked new personal items like deodorant, as well as an everincreasing variety of dry and canned goods from the giant, well-established food companies like Kellogg’s and General Mills. Consumer credit combined with new advertising opportunities on the radio, billboards, and in the growing selection of magazines created a marketing and sales bonanza. Americans shopped in record numbers at department stores like Gimbel’s, Marshal Fields, and Macy’s. Dozens of companies copied Sears Roebuck and began producing illustrated catalogs for consumers. The stock market crash of 1929 erased much of the accumulated profits of these businesses, but many of the companies themselves survived and led the world of commerce throughout the 20th century.
Bootleggers
Not everyone who defied the prohibition laws was a gangster. Before the big gangs got into the business, small-time, enterprising bootleggers began distilling alcohol and employing rum-runners to smuggle the goods to the speakeasies. Though they were generally less sophisticated and less violent than their gangster counterparts, they usually benefited from extensive local knowledge and long-time connections in their communities. Since they weren’t involved in other criminal activities, bootleggers often avoided the attention of the police and federal agents.
Bureau of Investigation
In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover became the head of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation, which would eventually become the FBI. Initially only comprising a few hundred special agents, the bureau grew as it took on prostitution and interstate crimes, becoming the primary arm of the government opposing organized criminal gangs.
The bureau’s agents were generally better trained and better equipped to confront the gangs, and they could concentrate a larger force for investigations and raids. As members of a federal agency, the bureau’s agents sometimes ignored local sensibilities, but they were serious about process and new what it took to convict a criminal in federal court.
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Fraternities & Sororities
Attendance at American colleges doubled during the 1920s, but college graduates still represented only an elite fraction of the entire population. The young men and women who formed social networks on college campuses and in the growing number of national fraternities and sororities would go on to run the country’s government and its most powerful businesses. They formed secret societies, like Skull and Bones, whose members favored each other for employment and business deals. They came off of the college campus with untested, high-minded ideas about change and the future, and they made many of them work.
Gangs
Organized crime gangs, led by members of the mafia families from Italy and Sicily, had established themselves in America long before the 1920s. They made money through prostitution and protection rackets, but prohibition fueled their growth into powerful, unchallengeable tyrannies. These gangs supplied the thousands of illegal speakeasies and semi-legal drinking clubs with alcohol, and money poured in. Local police generally didn’t interfere, because they received little or no funding from the Federal Government for enforcement of prohibition and were usually underpaid and open to bribes. By the end of the decade, mobsters like Al Capone in Chicago and Lucky Luciano in New York were among the richest and most powerful men in the country.
The Government
During the early 1900s, the people developed a general distrust of the U.S. government, and the government, in turn, seemed to develop a distrust of the people. Americans were swept up in the Red Scare of 1917, fearing that a copycat Bolshevik revolution was imminent in the U.S. Their fears were encouraged by a series of anarchist bombings aimed at prominent government officials and institutions, including the office charged with anti-Bolshevik investigations. President Harding’s administration was rife with corruption, including a number of blatant incidents of bribery, such as the Teapot Dome scandal. The heavy-handed tactics of J. Edgar Hoover’s Bureau of Investigation made some American’s feel safer, but left others uneasy.
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Immigrants & Minorities
Residual fear from the Red Scare and real concerns about the nation’s ability to employ both its native citizens and its immigrants led to a wave of xenophobia in America. The most definitive result of this was a series of anti-immigration laws, including the National Origins Act of 1924, which significantly limited immigration from Europe and completely cut off immigration from Asia. The fears of white Americans also made possible the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan, which was once presumed dead but was suddenly marching openly, in costume, through the streets of Washington D.C. The targets of the new KKK’s wrath included African Americans, Asians, Catholics, Irish immigrants, and union organizers.
National Guard
With the Bureau of Investigation struggling to deal with organized crime, the U.S. Marshals undermanned and local police unmotivated to do anything without federal funding, state governors were often forced to use their National Guard or state militia to keep order in potentially volatile situations. When police in Boston went on strike, for instance, the state militia had to step in. These “citizen soldiers” were poorly trained for the situations they were thrust into and it’s a credit to their leadership that more terrible situations didn’t result.
Police
Most urban police officers in the 1920s were beat cops, walking a few blocks of the city. Rural police generally waited at their station for someone to call with a complaint, while some patrolled in automobiles. Local police dealt with local crime and were usually happy to hand over responsibility for organized or interstate crime to federal agents. Police would typically pursue gang members only when they killed or injured local citizens. Police officers were generally armed with revolvers or shotguns and carried clubs. The 1920s predate Miranda rights and close scrutiny of arrest procedures,
so police had more freedom to investigate suspicious situations and make arrests with little evidence, if they believed they were promoting public safety.
Unions
Powerful unions like the National Labor Union, the Knights of Labor, and the American Federation of Labor existed long before the 1920s, but they moved to the forefront of politics in that decade. The unions included all sorts of workers, from factory workers to truck drivers to police officers. They pushed for the eight-hour work day and the elimination of child labor, and they began to feel the power of city-wide strikes and collective bargaining for wages. Workers credited them with significant improvements in working conditions, but enemies of the unions accused them of being communists and of plotting a Bolshevik-style revolution in the United States.
Equipment & Services
The following tables present the equipment and services available in the United States in the 1920s. Many of the items listed in the equipment tables in True20 Adventure Roleplaying are also available in the 1920s, and the costs remain the same because the Wealth system scales with inflation.
Adventuring Gear
It’s hard to say what equipment a hero might need during an adventure, but devices that provide basic needs of light, shelter and communication are a good start.
Portable Telephone Unit
A portable telephone unit consists of two rather bulky, battery-powered telephone handsets and receivers at either end of a two hundred foot roll of double wire. Parties at either end can speak to each other as if they had a normal telephone connection.
Table 2-1: Adventuring Gear Gear
Cost
Medium
21
Portable Telephone Unit
Medium
Box Camera
Small
Radio Transceiver Digging Tool
Medium
Flashlight
Tiny
Film
26
Size
Photo Developing Lab Tent
Tiny
Large
Medium
13 9 4 5 4
13 9
Radio Transceiver
A radio transceiver can send and receive voice signals over hundreds of miles, or Morse code signals over thousands of miles. A transceiver fits into a large suitcase and includes a microphone, a separate speaker box, and a Morse code key. Operating a transceiver under normal conditions requires a successful Difficulty 10 Knowledge (technology) check. Morse code is not a separate language, but is known by anyone with at least 4 ranks in Knowledge (technology).
Box Camera
A box camera is a film camera which has a lens mounted on one side and a track system for film rolls inside the opposite wall. Some box cameras open up so the lens can extend along a track, shielded by an accordion bellows.
Digging Tool
Tent
This is a standard canvas 4-person tent suitable for camping down to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. It can be packed up in a bag about the size of a suitcase.
Weapons
Many of the weapons in True20 Adventure Roleplaying are available in the 1920s, but the following weapon descriptions provide more specifics on the firearms of the period.
Colt .45 Revolver
These are the original large caliber six-shot revolvers. they are more common in rural areas and the American West, where longer range is important.
Deringer Pistol
A digging tool could be an axe, shovel, spade or pick.
A Derringer is a very small, single shot pistol. It is often carried concealed within clothing.
Film
Elephant Gun
This is a standard roll of photographic film in a foiled paper wrapper. Any portion of the film exposed to light is ruined. Each roll is enough for 24 photographs.
Flashlight
This is a standard 3-cell flashlight about 10 inches long. It illuminates a cone-shaped area 30 feet long and 15 feet wide at the far end. The batteries last for 3 hours.
Photo Developing Lab
A photo lab includes developing solutions, red safelights and an enlarger. It can be used to make negatives and prints from exposed film.
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An elephant gun is a very large caliber rifle firing rounds similar in weight and size to a shotgun slug. It is designed for maximum stopping power and gained its name because a shot fired from it could penetrate the thick front skull plate of a charging elephant.
M&P .38 Revolver
The M&P is a small six-shot revolver that fires .38 special ammunition. Relatively cheap and reliable, this handgun is used by everyone from police to bank robbers.
Thompson Submachine Gun
Often referred to as the “Tommy” gun, this machine gun, with its distinctive circular drum canister, is a favorite of bank robbers and mobsters. The drum holds enough ammunition for 10 autofire bursts. A more manageable
Table 2-2: Weapons Weapon Colt .45 Revolver Derringer Pistol Elephant Gun
M&P .38 Revolver
Damage Bonus
Critical
+2
20/+3
+4
20/+3
+6
20/+3
+3
20/+3
Thompson Submachine Gun
+4
20/+3
Winchester Repeating Rifle
+4
20/+3
Double-Barrel Shotgun
+5/+6
20/+3
Damage Descriptor
Range Increment
Ballistic
20’
Ballistic
Ballistic
Ballistic
Ballistic, Autofire Ballistic
Ballistic
Size
Cost
40’
Medium
18
50’
Large
19
40’
Large
18
50’
Large
17
30’
30’
Tiny
Small
Large
14
16
16
27
2
Table 2-3: Vehicles Vehicle
Strength
Curtis Jenny Biplane
Bicycle
Model A Panel Truck Model T Packard Roadster
Rolls Royce
10
Speed
20 mph
Defense
Toughness 6
Size
Medium
Cost
25
75 mph
6
8
Huge
27
35
50 mph
8
8
Huge
23
20
40 mph
9
7
Large
21
30
60 mph
8
9
Huge
28
35
60 mph
8
9
Huge
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box magazine is also available, holding enough rounds for 5 autofire bursts.
Winchester Repeating Rifle
This is the classic lever-action repeating rifle that won the West. The most common Winchester uses 30-30 ammunition and an internal tube magazine below the barrel that can hold up to 15 rounds.
Double-Barrel Shotgun
The double-barrel shotgun provides two shots before reloading is required, or both rounds can be fired together for greater damage. A shotgun does +5 damage with a +2 bonus to hit due to its spread. This bonus does not apply when firing slugs, but the damage increases to +6. Increase the damage by an additional +1 if firing both barrels at once.
Vehicles
In the 1920s, the people of the United states began to get serious about owning their own automobiles. Horsedrawn carts, which were still common in many places at the beginning of the decade, were a novelty by the end.
Bicycle
This is a basic, single-speed utility bicycle with a front lever brake and a basket for carrying small items.
Curtis Jenny Biplane
The Jenny made its way into civilian life after serving as a trainer during the war. Americans use it as a crop duster, a stunt plane, and a toy for the wealthy. It’s easy to fly and relatively cheap to operate.
Model A Panel Truck 28
The Ford Motor company produces a version of the reliable model A with a closed compartment behind the driver’s seat. It is very useful for small businessmen and delivery services.
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Model T
Henry Ford set out to produce affordable automobiles for everyone, and the Model T was the result. Despite being relatively small, very basic in its amenities, and not terribly comfortable, the Model T quickly filled the roadways and jammed the streets of large cities.
Packard Roadster
While Ford produces affordable cars for the masses, Packard creates beautifully-designed and detailed roadsters and touring sedans for movie stars and heads of state. These automobiles are also very well engineered.
Rolls Royce
The Rolls Royce Silver Ghost and Phantom are the height of automobile luxury. These cars are designed with more luxurious back seats, assuming that anyone wealthy enough to own one will have a chauffeur.
Transportation
The 1920s saw a shift in long distance travel from railroads to motor cars and airplanes. The increase in options and the booming economy meant far more travel overall.
Airline Ticket (New York to Boston)
This is a one-way trip on a small aircraft carrying up to 10 passengers. The combined boarding and flight time is about three hours.
Local Cable Car, Subway, or Bus Fare
Subways and buses are available in major cities and are often the best way to get across town. This represents the cost of a single trip of up to 10 miles.
Table 2-4: Transportation Transportation
Cost
Local Cable Car, Subway, or Bus Fare
3
Airline Ticket (New York to Boston)
2
15
Local Cab Fare
4
Train Ticket (New York to Boston)
6
Transatlantic Liner Passage
19
Transatlantic Liner Passage (Steerage)
13
Appliances & Household Items
Local Cab Fare
Taxi cabs aren’t as cheap as mass transit, but they get you exactly where you want to go and can generally get there faster.
While the world outside was being transformed by automobiles and airplanes, things where changing just as fast in the new middle class homes. Modern consumerism was born, and manufacturers were happy to provide new products.
Train Ticket (New York to Boston)
Two hundred thousand miles of railroad track crisscross America. Even with the rise of the motor car, trains remain the preferred way to travel long distances. This item represents the cost of a single trip from New York to Boston, which takes about six hours. Crosscountry trips can cost considerably more and take four or five days.
Grand Piano
This is the parlor version of the great grand pianos used in concert halls. It’s about 6 feet wide.
Locking Trunk
This is a large wooden traveling trunk that can hold about 4 cubic feet. In includes sturdy metal framing and a latch with an average lock.
Transatlantic Liner Passage
This is a standard cabin on board one of the luxury ocean liners crossing the Atlantic. It includes food, entertainment and other personal amenities.
Radio
This is a standard, but stylish household radio receiver about the size of large bread box. It requires electricity and has a few simple controls on the front.
Steerage
Steerage passengers on transatlantic ocean liners did not get their own cabins and were supplied with the simplest meals. This ticket entitles a passenger to their own bunk in a long, dark room lined with double or triple bunks on the lower decks of an ocean liner. Steerage passengers have only limited access to small areas of open deck.
Refrigerator
This is a free-standing metal box with two compartments, a large one that keeps things cold and a small one that freezes them.
Table 2-5: Appliances & Household Items Item
Grand Piano
Locking Trunk
Size
Cost
Large
11
Huge
Radio
Medium
Telegram (60 words)
–
Refrigerator
Telephone Service (per month) Typewriter
Vacuum Cleaner
Huge –
Medium Large
27 19
20 4 5
17
14
29
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Table 2-6: Miscellaneous Items Item
Size
Cost
Mink Coat
Large
29
Pocket Watch
Tiny
7
Cinema Ticket Opera Ticket
–
7
Telegram
Miscellaneous Items
Telephone Service (One Month)
Cinema Ticket
This is a short message of up to 60 words, transmitted to just about anyone in the world by Morse code over radio or cable. Telegrams remain the only practical way to communicate quickly with people overseas.
Telephones in the home are generally provided by and owned by the phone company, which also does all the wiring. This single monthly cost provides unlimited local calling. Long distance calls can be very expensive and are not available in may areas.
Typewriter
This is a standard Underwood style ribbon ink typewriter.
Vacuum Cleaner
This time-saving electric device produces suction that cleans carpets, drapes and other surfaces
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–
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The costs and descriptions of most clothing and personal items in True20 Adventure Roleplaying are valid for the 1920s, but the following items may add additional period flavor.
This is a single admission to one of the huge movie palaces. It includes the silent main feature, and possibly a newsreel or other short features.
Mink Coat
The mink coat is a bold sign of wealth and style, for men and women. Dozens of good quality mink pelts are required for each coat.
Opera Ticket
This is a single ticket to a popular New York opera house.
Pocket Watch
Though wristwatches are becoming more popular, many gentlemen still carry ornate pocket watches attached by a thin chain to a waistcoat or belt loop.
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Chapter 3: Narrating Shadows of Cthulhu The Cthulhu Mythos Setting
I...was drawn back through nameless aeons and inconceivable dimensions to worlds of elder, outer entity at which the crazed author of the Necronomicon had only guessed in the vaguest way. I was told of the pits of primal life, and of the streams that had trickled down therefrom; and finally, of the tiny rivulet from one of those streams which had become entangled with the destinies of our own earth. - H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in the Darkness The essential element of Lovecraft’s horror is the human race’s ignorance of the true nature of the universe. Our sense of superiority over nature, our post-Newtonian scientific explanations, and our timelines of the past and maps of the present, pieced together from the faintest of clues and a human-centric bias, are all wrong. Horrible, mindless creatures of unfathomable motivations, inconceivable age, and godlike power are truly in control and care nothing about our race. It is only by chance, and through no virtue of our own, that we have survived without permanent enslavement, unspeakable torment, mass insanity, or oblivion. Our ignorance is a gift that allows us to live our lives in our self-constructed reality of families, friends and day-to-day activities. It is a veil that is only drawn aside by a few individuals who risk death and insanity to learn the truth.
Themes
Lovecraftian horror stories draw from a set of common themes and situations to create their otherworldly terror. These same themes drive most of the horror and adventure in Shadows of Cthulhu.
Mindless Deities
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The universe is under the control of a pantheon of largely formless and mindless beings that exist in the void between stars or the folds between dimensions. They generally have no personal interaction with humans, though some of them can be contacted for various favors, and their avatars sometimes visit Earth disguised as humans. It is almost impossible to have any contact with these abhorrent creatures without becoming seriously mentally unhinged.
Horrifying Aliens
These are not the aliens of traditional science fiction. They don’t travel through space in sleek metal ships or demand to see our leaders. Many of them glide through interstellar space without ships, even crossing the folds of time and space to reach Earth. Many are already here, and were here long before the human race took its first bipedal steps and fashioned its first tools. Their alien motivations are incomprehensible. They may have outposts hidden in the hills where they mine the Earth’s rare metals. They may be the last remnants of a primordial civilization destroyed by even more terrible enemies or imprisoned by strange supernatural forces. They may be unimaginably powerful and godlike, floating mindlessly in the interstellar voids and imposing an order in the universe that appears insane to the limited human mind. Or they may just want to remove our brains.
Timeless Locations
The hidden places of the world are filled with abandoned alien outposts, and worship sites where prehistoric humans or unthinkably older, non-human races sacrificed captured enemies to their gods. Millions of years of discarded artifacts, indecipherable runes and disturbing architecture give enough hints about the original purpose of these sites to drive ordinary humans insane. There are alien cities high in the mountains of Antarctica, mining outposts in the remote Vermont hills, massive, preCeltic temples in huge caverns beneath English estates, and secret worship sites along the Massachusetts coast. Some of these sites are still in use by degenerate descendants of their original creators.
Ancient Books
The history of the human race is a brief interlude in the vast eons of the Earth and the universe. We know almost nothing about the sentient events that span the millions of years that precede us and the eons that will come after we are gone. It is primarily through books that the slender threads of Mythos knowledge wind their way from the distant past into our modern civilization. Most of these books are very ancient and cryptic, penned by half-mad sages and prophets who lived near the dawn of written language. Yet scholars have dared to translate these ancient tomes into modern languages, and even to subject them to careless replication using the printing press.
Family Secrets
Ancient families often possess secret, antediluvian knowledge and pass it down to new generations. Their secret could be a hereditary mutation, the practice of some ancient and criminal ritual, or a symbiotic relationship with an alien race. These families generally stay within a small geographic region and are often seen as strange by the locals. Members of the family who reject their heritage either disappear or go public with their secret and spend the rest of their lives locked in an asylum.
own acquired powers to destroy their enemies or bring their insanity to the entire world. Some of them walk among us, gathering together in unimaginably horrid temples hidden in the center of modern civilization.
Interrelated Mythos
The boundaries of science are as limitless as the boundaries of the supernatural, and at some point the two are indistinguishable. Science can restore lifelike animation to a corpse. It can remove a person’s brain, yet leave them still able to interact with the outside world. It can give us glimpses of the past and the future and make advanced aliens indistinguishable from supernatural gods. But taking science too far always has a terrible price.
Each and every mysterious supernatural object or event adds to the troubling sense that there is a single unified structure behind everything. At the core of the Mythos floats a pantheon of twisted gods and powerful beings. Humans who discern even a glimpse of this ultimate cause or purpose are labeled as insane by society and removed from general contact and communication. Yet the strange black obelisk in the mountains of Turkey is linked with the mutilated, partially dissolved body found in the streets of Chicago. The blood-red vines engulfing coffee plantations in Peru are key to the plans of a strange cult in Germany. And the aging Benedictine monk confined to a cell in an asylum because of his rants about Azathoth and the Elder Gods is more in touch with reality than the rest of the human race.
Insane Cults
Malevolent Towns
Supernatural Science
The rites, rituals and supernatural relationships of ancient humans are horrifying to modern, civilized people. The old races knew of the elder, alien gods and worshiped them, offering up terrible sacrifices and serving their deities in their unfathomable plans. In exchange, these ancient races of humans received supernatural powers, or were transformed into entirely new species to better serve their masters. The knowledge and rituals of some of these ancients have been preserved or rediscovered by secretive cults or passed down by generations of impossibly old and barely human families. Some of these demented groups hide in solitude, working toward the day when they can summon their god or use their
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Some small towns have been isolated from the outside world and under the influence of strange cults or aberrant creatures for so long that they have become twisted mockeries of their charming past. To travelers passing through, they may appear as welcoming and quaint as ever, but visitors staying for any length of time will find plenty of unfriendly locals and hear plenty of hints that staying too long is a bad idea. The ancient habits and rituals of the local population are often outside the law, or so morally unacceptable that the wrath of polite society would fall on them if discovered.
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Hidden Urban Neighborhoods
The large, old, densely-populated cities of Europe and America contain strange neighborhoods of surprisingly old buildings and disturbingly ancient culture. Visitors can only reach these huddled, oppressive barrios at certain times of day, or through half-hidden narrow alleyways, or by passing beyond closed gateways or through hedgerows commonly thought impassible. The aimless wanderer stands a better chance of stumbling upon these neighborhoods than does any deliberate and determined searcher.
Pagan Holidays
Many of the rites and rituals of the Cthulhu Mythos are tied to special days, either annual holidays like Yuletide and Walpurgisnacht, or days that come only once in centuries, heralded by the alignment of planets and stars. These holidays are not arbitrary days on the calendar, but precise temporal points where the laws of the universe change. It is on these special days that certain rituals can be performed, gates open to other worlds, and ancient cities rise from the deep ocean floor.
Dreams
Dreams are a completely separate existence, either vaguely remembered or completely forgotten by our waking souls. While we dream, or spirits wander the real world unfettered by space and time, or slip into the hauntingly beautiful and fearful Dreamlands. While dreaming, people see the past and the future, visit worlds orbiting other stars, and fight titanic battles against forces of which our waking selves only catch glimpses. To the benefit of our own sanity, this other life usually lies unremembered.
Adventure Style & Atmosphere
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Horror roleplaying is different. It’s not fantasy or superhero roleplaying, where violence is usually the answer and there is a sense that heroes will grow ever-more powerful, maybe even god-like in the end. As in modern action or adventure roleplaying, the heroes investigate and must use their wits, only resorting to combat when they can’t avoid it. But horror roleplaying also has an atmosphere of dread of the unknown and ultimate doom that doesn’t exist in other settings. This tragic fatalism has a liberating effect, encouraging players to develop heroes with depth of character instead of maximized statistics, with defining flaws instead of universal powers. Ironically, the often short-lived heroes of horror roleplaying seem to develop the most character.
Heroes in Shadows of Cthulhu go from the ordinary to the extraordinary. They may start out as college professors, beat cops and school teachers innocently going about their everyday business, but some shared event throws them together at the threshold of the supernatural. Together they investigate mysterious sightings, crimes without rational motivations, or the manifestations of a family curse. Clue after clue leads them toward conclusions their minds aren’t willing to make, until finally they confront irrefutable evidence of some terrible horror. Each new adventure leads them further into the unknown and leaves them uniquely qualified to recognize and deal with the next revelation of the Mythos. Each adventure is a mystery that draws the heroes in. They will study old documents, carefully watch the movements of suspicious people, and secretly investigate old tombs, abandoned buildings and bizarre scientific laboratories. They will fight evil cult members and servant creatures summoned from other dimensions. They will get hurt and go mad and hopefully get better again. When they reach the adventure’s horrifying conclusion, they may have to sacrifice much to save the kidnapped child, destroy a terrible creature, or keep cataclysmic events from unfolding. If they succeed, they find that the answers only lead to more questions. As the campaign progresses from adventure to adventure and the heroes see themselves primarily as investigators of the Mythos, their original identities fade to the status of convenient disguises. The terrible knowledge they gain and the mental and physical disorders that inevitably afflict them make their normal life impossible. Their friends don’t understand them anymore, and their jobs and families are no longer a priority. Their actions may draw suspicion from civil authorities who can’t comprehend what’s happening, so the heroes may end up as fugitives. As the heroes face threat after threat, they begin to see a pattern emerging. Each individual adventure might relate back, through a name, a strange symbol, or the smell of a rare flower, to a hidden organization with apocalyptic plans for the world. And only the heroes can stop them. Tragically, it’s likely that the heroes’ ultimate reward will be debilitating insanity or a horrible death. But the story of how they got there will be well worth retelling.
Dream Journeys
Dreams are a key part of many Cthulhu Mythos stories. Visions come in dreams, and the Great Old Ones use them as a way to communicate with the weak minds of humans. Entire arcs of Mythos fiction take place in a separate, shared reality known as the Dreamlands. When humans dream, they sometimes move about the mate-
rial world in incorporeal forms invisible to those who are awake. Other times they descend the seventy steps to the Cavern of Flame, where the priests Nasht and Kaman-tha guard the entrance to the vast world of the Dreamlands, where eons can pass in a single night. But these fantastic dreams are always forgotten upon awakening, or remembered through such a haze and with such uncertainty that the existence of a separate reality goes unknown to all but a few humans. Humans take on a whole new form while dreaming. Each person has a specific dream form in the real world and another in the Dreamlands. Dream selves in the real world are sometimes ethereal versions of the waking creature, like ghosts unable to interact with those around them. In rare cases, real world dreamers take the form of unseen entities made up of energy and thought, capable of destroying whole worlds. Dream selves in the Dreamlands have a form similar in physical appearance to their waking selves, but much more ancient and very different in abilities and experience. Heroes who are aware of the reality of dreams can learn the Dream skill. Heroes with the Dream skill can control whether they dream in the real world or the Dreamlands, and they can remember their dreams when they awake. They may also be able to use the skills and powers of their waking self while dreaming. Physical damage and physical disorders inflicted on a dream self do not affect the waking self. Mental disorders acquired by the dream self do affect the waking self if the dreams are remembered. When humans die in the waking world, their dream selves live on in their respective realms. When a dream self dies, the waking world human no longer dreams of that dream self ’s realm.
Dream Selves
If Heroes will be adventuring through the dreamlands, the Narrator may want to prepare character sheets for their dream selves ahead of time. It may be exciting for the heroes to discover that the forms they take in their dreams are consistent and playable as separate characters. Entire campaigns could take place in the dreamlands while the waking world heroes sleep for a single night.
Getting the Heroes Involved
Initially the heroes know nothing about the Mythos and go about their mundane lives. Sometimes the most difficult part of running an adventure is getting the heroes involved. This process is called the hook. For the first adventure, you probably need a hook tailored to each hero. Later, when all the heroes know each other, you will only need to hook one hero to bring the entire party in. As the heroes develop and see themselves as investigators of the Mythos, the hook may
be as easy as having them come across an unexplained murder reported in the newspaper, or hearing rumors of odd events from a stranger. Here are some suggested hooks, along with the types of heroes they might draw in. Investigation: The hero is sent by a client or boss to investigate disappearances, murders or other strange events. This hook works well for police detectives, private eyes, spies, FBI investigators, and journalists. Medical Emergency: The hero is sent into the situation to aid the sick, wounded or mentally unstable. This hook works for nurses, doctors, and psychiatrists. Personal Friend: A close friend of the hero saw something or was a victim of events leading into the adventure, and the hero becomes involved when the friend sends a telegram or a letter or goes missing. This hook works for any hero who is likely to have close friends in the area. Enemy: Someone the hero has offended or thwarted in the past is involved in the adventure and has decided the hero should suffer. The hero may be directly targeted by strange powers, or a friend or family member bay be taken as a human sacrifice. This hook works for any hero who has an enemy that might be involved in the adventure somehow and is especially useful when the hero has made many enemies in past adventures. Family Member: A family member is involved in the events leading up to the adventure, and authorities contact the hero when the family member disappears or dies. There may be an inheritance involved. This hook works for anyone who might have family living or traveling in the area. Scientific Colleague: A Colleague in the hero’s field of scientific work knows some of what’s going on and asks the hero to come help study the situation. The Colleague may fall victim to events before the hero even arrives. This hook works for scientists, linguists and professors. Confession: A member of the clergy hears the confession of a person, possibly a dying person, who was somehow responsible for starting the events of the adventure, or knew what was happening and was afraid to tell anyone. This hook works for members of the clergy and psychiatrists. Artifact: The hero comes across a strange artifact somewhere. The artifact is so unusual or provocative that it warrants investigation. It could be a letter tucked in an old book, a grotesque statue, the body of an unidentifiable creature, or a piece of driftwood with the name of a missing ship carved into it. This hook works for any hero curious enough to investigate the origins of the artifact. Dream or Vision: The hero has a vivid dream or waking vision related to the adventure. The hero can’t forget about it and may even develop a mild mental disorder because of it. The vision has enough real-world clues for the hero to begin investigating. This hook
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works for any hero as long as dreams and visions fit the theme of the adventure. Victim: The hero is directly involved in the adventure from the start, as a victim or direct witness to events. This hook works well in the first adventure of a campaign, when it won’t seem too coincidental.
Inspirational Reading
The best way to become familiar with the themes and general atmosphere of Shadows of Cthulhu is to read the works of H.P. Lovecraft and other Mythos authors that he inspired. Lovecraft’s horror fiction consists mainly of short stories which can be found in a variety of anthologies. Complete listings of Lovecraft’s stories are available on the Internet, but the following stories are a good place to start. They are all available in The Best of H.P. Lovecraft from Del Rey Publishing. • The Call of Cthulhu • The Dunwich Horror • The Rats in the Walls • The Shadow out of Time • The Shadow over Innsmouth • The Whisperer in the Darkness Many other authors wrote stories that further developed these themes of cosmic horror. Editors occasionally compile the important works of these authors into anthologies like Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, from Del Rey publishing.
Insanity & Other Impairments
Adventures in Shadows of Cthulhu can expose heroes to horrible creatures and events that are dangerous and beyond the comprehension of their limited minds. The result may be physical impairment or various forms of insanity. Insanity is a key part of Lovecraft’s fiction, and it is represented in Shadows of Cthulhu by a series of specific mental disorders, like phobias, addictions and delusions. Each mental disorder is described in detail in Chapter 4, including its effects on the hero’s actions.
Going Insane
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The descriptions of each of the creatures in Chapter 6 include the list of physical and mental disorders they might inflict on a hero, as well as the saves required to avoid them. Some of these conditions are only a threat under specific situations, like prolonged contact or a successful melee attack by the creature, but many are brought on simply by the creature’s presence. To avoid many of the mental disorders, the Heroes will have to use the new Sanity save described in Chapter 1. The world of Shadows of Cthulhu also contains unnerving ancient locations and artifacts that hint at the true, aw-
ful nature of the universe. Encounters with these items can also cause insanity, as indicated in their specific descriptions. Some encounters may cause mental disorders from a broader category, such as communication disorders, phobias, or anxiety disorders. If a hero fails a save for one of these categories, the Narrator can randomly determine the specific disorder using the tables in Chapter 4, or simply choose one that is appropriate for the hero and the situation. A character can acquire the same mental or physical disorder multiple times, in which case the character has more than one level of a specific disorder. The effects of multiple levels stack as specified in the disorder’s description. Characters can acquire multiple levels of a disorder during a single encounter. For every 10 points by which a character fails a Sanity save, add an additional level of the disorder. For example, a hero who needs to make a Difficulty 22 Sanity save to avoid a mental disorder would acquire two levels if the save is 12 or less, or three levels if the result was 2 or less. Very disturbing encounters can drive heroes insane very quickly. Once a hero has made a save, successful or not, against a specific effect, they are generally immune to that effect from that creature or item for 24 hours. Note, however, that a completely different creature or event may inflict the same disorder, requiring a separate save.
Curing Insanity
Each mental disorder described in Chapter 4 can have very different effects on a hero, and the cures for each may be very different. Barring some sort of supernatural intervention, a hero must undergo the treatment cure specified for their particular mental disorder. The most common treatment is psychiatric care, which is explained in the Psychiatry skill description in Chapter 1. Heroes also have the option of spending Awareness points to cure their mental disorders. This represents the heroes’ ability to overcome their insanities by facing the unknown and prevailing. In general it takes one Awareness point to cure a single level of a mental disorder. A hero who pays the Awareness cost to cure insanity does not have to undergo the specified treatment cure. See the Awareness section later in this chapter for a full explanation of how heroes acquire and spend Awareness points. Note that heroes who are fully cured of a disorder through treatment or by spending Awareness points can always acquire that same disorder at some point in the future. They do not become immune.
Keeping Insanity Secret
To build suspense, paranoia, and a little mystery, the Narrator may want to keep mental disorders secret
from the heroes for as long as possible. If a hero acquires Sleepwalking from an encounter with a haunter of the dark, the Narrator may keep it secret and just have the hero make Will saves every evening without telling them what they’re for. The hero might not realize the condition until someone witnesses one of his episodes or he suddenly wakes up in an unexpected place.
Sanity in the True20 Companion
Chapter 4 of the True20 Companion presents additional rules for sanity, including a Mental Health Track for recording mental damage. These additional rules are summarized in Appendix A and are fully compatible with Shadows of Cthulhu. You should feel free to introduce them into your campaign. If you do, your heroes will no longer save to prevent specific insanities; instead they will make a single Sanity save to prevent damage from the Terror level of the encounter and record the result on their Mental Damage Track. When mental damage reaches a specific level on the damage track, the hero may acquire some form of insanity, which the Narrator could determine randomly or choose from those normally caused by the last creature encountered.
Exposure & Awareness
The secrets of the universe are hidden from mankind, and only a few reckless souls go looking for them. Every once in a while, some hero may learn some fragment of hidden information and actually manage to use it in the fight to protect humanity.
Exposure
Chapter 5 contains descriptions of new Feats, Powers and Skills available only to those who know about the terrible secrets of the Cthulhu Mythos. In general, they will only be available to supernatural creatures and insane human cultists. However, it is possible for a hero to use these traits, as long as they have been exposed to them. The exact nature of exposure is left to the discretion of the Narrator. Seeing a ritual spell cast from a distance probably doesn’t provide enough exposure for the hero to cast and learn the spell, but studying an ancient book containing the spell could. Deities and powerful Old Ones sometimes expose their human worshipers to powers, skills and feats needed in their service, and these may be passed down through secret cults. The Narrator may decide that a hero was exposed to an trait before play began. This could be due to the hero’s strange family background, earlier contact with
the Mythos, or the fact that the hero once lived above a buried ancient city. When a hero is exposed to a Mythos trait, it becomes available to the hero during play, provided they pay Conviction point costs as described below. Exposure to Mythos Skills: Most exposure to Mythos skills come from ancient books and inscriptions. However, it is possible for a hero who has paid an Awareness point and learned a Mythos skill to pass some of that knowledge on to other intelligent creatures, exposing them to that skill. This requires a successful Difficulty 30 check in the exposed skill. The audience is normally exposed verbally, but the exposure may be passed on in writing by also succeeding on a Difficulty 30 Language check, essentially creating a new Mythos book for others to read. Any creature exposed to a Mythos skill in this way, either verbally or written, acquires a random mental disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity). Exposure to Mythos Feats: Some ancient books describe Mythos feats like Mythos Familiar, Imbue Item, and Open Mind, providing a way for heroes to gain exposure to them. Other feats reflect the hero’s background and the Narrator grants exposure to them. Heroes with a given Mythos feat have no ability to expose others to it. Exposure to Mythos Powers: Like other Mythos traits, most exposure to Mythos powers comes from books. In addition, if a hero sees a power used from start to finish and is able to concentrate the entire time, that hero may make a Difficulty 15 Intelligence check to remember the details of the power and become exposed to it.
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Spending Conviction to Use Exposed Mythos Traits
Heroes can spend a Conviction point to make use of a Mythos trait they have been exposed to. This allows the hero a single use of a power, provides the benefits of a feat for one round, or grants 4 temporary ranks in a Mythos skill for the duration of a scene. If the power has prerequisite powers, the hero must also have been exposed to them. In essence, all heroes in Shadows of Cthulhu have the adept’s Talent core ability and the expert’s Expertise core ability with respect to the Mythos traits they have been exposed to. Mythos powers, feats and skills that a hero has not been exposed to are not available for use, regardless of the hero’s core ability. For example, experts cannot use the Expertise core ability to gain temporary ranks in a Mythos skill they have not been exposed to. If a hero with no adept levels spends a Conviction point to use a power, it is possible that the calculation of spell durations and effects based on adept level will make the power useless. For any such calculations, assume the hero has at least one adept level.
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Awareness
Encounters with terrifying creatures, ruthless cults and mind-twisting otherworldly artifacts will inevitably take their toll on the heroes. The heroes will be wounded, driven to insanity, and will probably be ostracized by their community. But overcoming the terrible things they encounter will give them confidence and an awareness of the true nature of the universe that few other humans possess. In Shadows of Cthulhu, this heightened awareness is represented by Awareness points. Awareness points are similar to Conviction points, in that they are awarded at the discretion of the Narrator and are spent to provide some benefit to the hero, but they are generally awarded far less often and are used only for hero development – not to enhance or control individual actions during play.
Gaining Awareness Points
The Narrator awards Awareness points when the heroes overcome some threat of the Mythos. The points may be awarded at the conclusion of a particularly dangerous or difficult encounter, or at the end of an entire storyline. In general, heroes should each receive 1 or 2 Awareness points per major storyline and no more than 4 points during each level of heroic advancement. The Narrator can use Awareness points to influence the nature of the campaign. Giving out more than the recommended amounts will result in a more heroic campaign where the heroes have fewer crippling insanities and learn more Mythos skills and powers. Awarding small amounts of Awareness points will result in fewer Mythos traits and inevitable insanity.
Spending Awareness Points
Players choose how to spend the Awareness points their heroes earn. They can use them to eliminate mental disorders, or they can spend them to unlock Mythos abilities. The cost of eliminating a mental disorder is one point per level of the disorder. Awareness points can be spent at any time to eliminate levels of a mental disorder. The cost of unlocking a Mythos feat, skill or power is one point per feat or power, and one point per skill. In the case of skills like Mythos Knowledge that have multiple specialties, one Awareness point must be spent to unlock each specialty. Unlocked traits are available to heroes when they advance in level, as described below.
Acquiring Mythos Traits
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Heroes can acquire any unlocked powers, feats and skills during character advancement as if they were normal traits. There are no role restrictions on individual Mythos feats – if a hero pays Awareness to unlock them, they’re available. As always, only adepts learn powers when they advance. Since no hero in Shadows of Cthulhu
begins at first level as an adept, only multi-role heroes who take at least one level of adept will be able to learn Mythos powers.
Supernatural Powers From True20
The supernatural powers described in the core True20 rules are also considered Mythos powers and are subject to the same restrictions. This means that any power an adept acquires has to be revealed through exposure and unlocked using Awareness points, regardless of whether it came from the core True20 rules or Shadows of Cthulhu. See Chapter 5 for more details.
An Example of Exposure & Awareness
Journalist Lillian Brodie James and her friend Raymond Harding run into a group of Mi-go while investigating strange whistling sounds at an abandoned plantation. The Mi-go capture both heroes and restrain them. Lillian watches helplessly as the alien creatures use a strange machine to remove Raymond’s brain and preserve it inside a metal cylinder. The creatures then hook the cylinder to another machine. Raymond’s brain begins to speak in a metallic voice, and he seems to be able to see the world around him. Lillian manages to stay calm enough to pay close attention to how the Mi-go operate their machines, so the Narrator determines that she has been exposed to the Mythos Knowledge (technology) skill. While the MI-go are not around, Lillian escapes from her restraints and decides she needs to understand the machines herself in order to help Raymond. She spends one Conviction point to gain 4 temporary ranks in Mythos Knowledge (technology). She succeeds on a skill check and is able to turn on the machine that allows her to communicate with Raymond’s brain. She convinces him to let her try to restore his brain to his body. Since it’s still the same scene, Lillian doesn’t have to spend any more Conviction to use the Mythos Knowledge (technology) skill to operate the surgical machinery. Her check fails miserably, however, and Raymond dies. Lillian manages to escape, but she is so haunted by Raymond’s death that she decides to learn more about the strange technology that killed him. When she gains her next level of Investigator, she spends one Awareness point to unlock Mythos Knowledge (technology) skill and puts some of her new skill ranks in it.
Adventure Ideas
This section presents some brief descriptions of possible Shadows of Cthulhu adventures, including ideas for how to hook the heroes in. You can flesh them out and play
them, or just use them as models for your own original adventures.
Call of the Cavmeads
The Cavmeads, an extended rural family of hunters, trappers and herdsmen, have kidnapped a child from the nearby town. The brain of the great-grandfather of the Cavmeads, Caleb Cavmead, was taken long ago by Mi-go and carried across the universe. Caleb’s brain returned from time to time, and the Mi-go that escorted him enslaved members of the family while they were on Earth. The knowledge passed on by Caleb drove some family members mad, but inspired others to thrive in the world. Caleb and the Mi-go have not been back to Earth in many decades, so Eliot Cavmead, a student at Miskatonic University, has plans to perform an ancient ritual on a nearby mountain on Midsummer Eve to contact the Mi-go and bring Caleb back. He needs a human sacrifice to empower the spell. Hero Hooks: One of the heroes is from the town, or knows the child that disappeared and has reason to suspect the Cavmeads.
Don’t Go Back to Mothvale
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A member of the Great Race has swapped minds many times with humans in this time period, and she finds our bodies physically inferior. She believes she can create a portal to the past and members of the great race can migrate to our time and establish an outpost safe from the flying polyps. As an added benefit, humans can be sent back through to the past for detailed study. She has swapped minds with a young researcher at Arkham Industries named Milo Tullen and has started stealing equipment from labs to build a gate device. She intends to open the gate it in a small hamlet named Mothvale in the hills of Vermont. Hero Hooks: One of the heroes may know Milo and notice his sudden strange behavior, or the heroes may be called in to investigate missing equipment at the labs. You could even replace Milo with a hero who has a scientific job. If Milo’s plan goes unhindered, the heroes may get involved after many residents of Mothvale have disappeared and members of the Great Race have begun digging their underground chambers.
Max Macon, Janitor Philosopher
Max Macon, the old janitor and maintenance man at the Kingsport Historical Museum, decided it was time to clean off the strange film that had formed over the years on a green runic stone. The stone had been part of a pirate’s cache of ancient artifacts sold to the museum a century ago. Max rubbed the stone with his cleaning cloth and noticed that the sixpronged hieroglyph glowed brighter the faster he rubbed. He stole the stone and rigged up a rubbing machine in his basement with a piece of rug and an old pump motor. When the machine rubbed the stone at high speed, the markings glowed so brightly that the neighbors noticed the light shining from his lower windows. Max touched the glowing stone and was immediately in mental contact with the philosopher insects of Jupiter’s fourth moon, Callisto. His mind was filled with profound thoughts and esoteric knowledge, and he managed to write much of it down before the effect wore off. Max now uses his rubbing machine daily. Copies of his poems and essays, written under the pseudonym “Ento,” are spreading cult-like throughout the region and either fascinating readers into a sort of stupor or
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driving them insane. His keen, but untrained insights are also reflected in the strange rock carvings he’s created around his home. Hero Hooks: The heroes may find Max by following the trail of strange, sometimes horrific events caused by the writings of Ento. They may have difficulty connecting the plain-spoken janitor with Ento’s profound discourses, but they should eventually find his rubbing machine and the runic stone.
Beauty & the Abyss
Margaret Weathering, a beautiful and wealthy worshiper of Yog-sothoth who believes the Flying Polyps she’s read about in the Pnakotic Manuscript are actually children of Yog-sothoth, is determined to see if they still exist. After accounting for 150 million years of continental drift, she determined the current location of one of their massive underground labyrinths and invested heavily in a nearby mining operation. She used her influence to dig new test shafts which eventually struck a huge underground chamber. An exploration team sent down into the chamber never returned, and one day a freak tornado flattened every building and killed nearly everyone in the small mining town. Hero Hooks: The heroes could be survivors of the mining town’s destruction, or they may somehow discover that Ms. Weathering has a fragment of the Pnakotic Manuscript, which may lead them to investigate her further. Perhaps they are called in by a junior foreman of the mining company to investigate, or maybe he confides in a hero who is a member of the clergy.
Revenge Served Cold
Deep ones and shoggoths have attacked and destroyed a secret underwater naval base off the Atlantic coast. They attacked it in retaliation for the torpedo attacks on their city of Y’ha-nthlei in February of 1928, and because it threatens a deep one breeding ground and frequent feeding area of Father Dagon. Parts of the base and a
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few bodies begin washing ashore, and the Navy claims that, due to a series of unlikely accidents, they lost an experimental submarine with all 17 crew members on board. The underwater base was deliberately built near the deep one site and had sent teams in diving suits out to investigate. Hero Hooks: Before the attack, a young crew member named Harris McJohn hid a small, disturbing idol in some personal effects and sent them home to his parents. The heroes may know or hear about the McJohn family’s idol and decide to investigate, or one of the heroes may come across strange debris while traveling along the coast.
Heiram Gerber’s Journal
A German explorer named Heiram Gerber, traveling alone in the remote mountains of northern India, came across a village of Moani - rather short, wide-faced and dark-skinned people who spoke an ancient Sanskrit language of central Asia. Heiram lived with the Moani for weeks at a time and learned some of their language. He learned that the Moani are immortal. Heiram told no one of his discovery, hoping to keep the secret of immortality to himself. He didn’t know that the Moani kept from aging by drawing life from humans they captured once a year on the plains below for sacrifice to Shub-Niggurath on Mount Nagalaphu. When Heiram climbed mount Naglaphu with the Moani, he discovered that they intended to sacrifice him. He fled across the snow-covered mountainside and was killed in a long fall to the glacier below. A small British survey plane spotted his long-dead body and an expedition recovered it. The authorities buried Heiram and forwarded his fanciful journals and artifacts to his nearest relative. Hero Hooks: One of the heroes may be the relative who receives the journals and artifacts, or the relative may turn to the heroes for help. The relative may publish journal entries as fiction stories in “Pulp Tales” magazine, and the heroes may come across them and realize their significance.
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Chapter 4: Insanity & Other Disorders The world of the Cthulhu Mythos is so disturbing and dangerous that it will almost certainly leave permanent scars upon heroes who venture into it. This chapter describes the mental and physical disorders inflicted by encounters with Mythos creatures, artifacts, and knowledge.
Disorder Descriptions
All of the disorders described in this chapter, whether they are mental or physical, share a common set of characteristics. Each listing includes the following information: Disorder Name: This is how the disorder is referred to in the bestiary and other sections of this book. Disorder Type: This is mental or physical, and includes a category, such as control disorder or mutation disorder. Description: This is a detailed description of the disorder. Effects: These are the specific effects on game play, including trait modifiers and required saves. Stacking Effects: This explains what happens when a hero is afflicted with the disorder more than one time. Each additional acquisition of a disorder is referred to as a higher numeric level. So a hero who has acquired Cannibalism three times has level 3 Cannibalism. Treatment: This explains how to cure the disorder, if a cure is possible. Many mental disorders are treatable with psychiatric care. Physical disorders are often treatable using the Surgery skill. This section does not include cures that may be possible using supernatural or Mythos powers. Note that any save Difficulties specified as part of treatment are not affected by stacking levels of the disorder.
Agoraphobia
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Mental, Anxiety Disorder Your fear of the unknown keeps you inside. You could go outside any time you feel like it, but you just never feel like it. Why go outside when it’s comfortable inside and there are so many scary things out there and bad things that could happen to you? Effects: You must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save to leave your home. You can try again every hour if you fail. In addition, whenever you encounter a threatening situation while away from home, you must suc-
ceed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or head home immediately by a quick, safe route. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulties by 2. Treatment: Treatable with psychiatric care.
Amnesia
Mental, Dissociative Disorder Your mind has responded to the horrors you’ve witnessed by denying access to those memories, along with many others. You may not even remember who you are sometimes. You still remember how to do all the things you always did, but the details of specific past events are sketchy. Effects: Whenever you try to use an important piece of information that you gained during game play, you must first succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or you cannot remember it. You can check again every 24 hours to see if you remember. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty by 2. Treatment: If you succeed on your Will save and remember an important piece of information, you may attempt an additional Difficulty 20 Will save to remove one level of Amnesia. Amnesia is also treatable with psychiatric care.
Blindness
Physical, Injury Disorder Physical injuries, explosions or bright flashes have permanently damaged your vision. Effects: Your opponents have concealment from you, so you have a 20 percent chance to miss in combat. In addition, you suffer a -1 penalty on Strength-based and Dexterity-based skill checks. Stacking Effects: You suffer an additional -1 penalty to Strength-based and Dexterity-based skill checks. When you acquire your second level of Blindness, you move at half speed. When you have acquired 4 levels of Blindness, you are completely blinded as described in the core True20 condition descriptions, and further levels of Blindness have no effect on you. Treatment: Blindness is treatable with surgery. If the surgery fails, no further surgical treatment is possible for this disorder.
Brain Damage
Physical, Injury Disorder You have had a serious head trauma that has left you with debilitating brain damage. You sometimes can’t remember events of the recent past, and you may have trouble following complicated conversations. Effects: Whenever you make an Intelligence check or use an Intelligence-based skill, you must first make a DC 12 Fortitude check or suffer a -2 Intelligence penalty due to a period of reduced mental function. The effects of this check last for the whole scene. This check is only required once per scene. Stacking Effects: Increase the Fortitude save Difficulty by 2 and apply an additional -1 penalty to affected checks made during a reduced mental function episode. When your adjusted Intelligence ability score reaches -6 or lower, you enter a Coma and remain unconscious as long as this condition persists. Treatment: Brain damage is treatable with surgery. If the surgery fails, no further surgical treatment is possible for this disorder.
Cannibalism
Mental, Control Disorder Your desire to have power over others is intense, uncontrollable and irrational, and it manifests as cannibalism. Eating someone is the ultimate expression of your dominance over them. Effects: When you encounter a dying or recently deceased human, you must succeed on a DC 10 Will save or you are effectively dazed for the rest of the scene as you stop to eat. If you are physically removed from the sight of the corpse, or it is taken away, you get an additional Will save to try to recover normal activity. At the end of any scene where you ate part of a friend or relative, you can attempt a Difficulty 20 Will save to remove one level of Cannibalism, but you must also make a Difficulty 12 San save to avoid gaining a random mental disorder. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty by 2. Treatment: Cannibalism is treatable with psychiatric care.
Catatonia
Mental, Anxiety Disorder When threatened, you retreat from the world by remaining completely still like a statue, sometimes in an awkward pose. Parts of your body may make small, repetitive motions while in the catatonic state. Effects: Whenever you are attacked, or take any attack action against an enemy, or make a skill check under stress (in a situation where you would not be able to take 10), you must first succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or become paralyzed. You may attempt a Difficulty
20 Fortitude save every 5 rounds to return to normal activity. This check is only required once per scene. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty by 2. Treatment: Catatonia is treatable with psychiatric care.
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Compulsive Gambling
Mental, Control Disorder You see gambling as chance to get ahead without much effort. Even if you’re losing money at it, you believe you have a special gift that will allow you to come out ahead in the end. If you’re not gambling, you’re just passing up all that opportunity, and someone else is winning instead of you. Effects: You must make a Difficulty 12 Will save to pass up opportunities to gamble during play. Also, any time you receive a Wealth award during play, you must make a Difficulty 12 Will save or gamble it all away, leaving your old Wealth score unchanged. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulties by 2. Treatment: Compulsive Gambling is treatable with psychiatric care.
Deafness
Physical, Injury Disorder Physical injuries, explosions or loud noises have permanently impaired your hearing. Effects: You suffer a -1 penalty to initiative checks and a -2 penalty to Notice (listen) checks. Stacking Effects: You suffer an additional -1 penalty to initiative checks and an additional -2 penalty to Notice (listen) checks. When you have acquired 4 levels of Deafness, you are completely deafened as described in the core True20 condition descriptions and further levels of Deafness have no effect on you. Treatment: Deafness is treatable with surgery. If the surgery fails, no further surgical treatment is possible for this disorder.
De-evolution
Physical, Mutation Disorder Something is causing your mind and body to devolve back to an earlier stage of human development. Effects: You suffer a -1 penalty to your Intelligence ability and gain a +1 bonus to Strength. Whenever you are attacked, or take any attack action against an enemy, or make a skill check under stress (in a situation where you would not be able to take 10), you must first succeed on a Difficulty 12 Fortitude save or begin acting like a wild ape-man under the control of the Narrator. This wild episode lasts for one hour. If you fail this fortitude save by 5 or more points, you gain an additional level of De-evolution.
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Stacking Effects: Increase Fortitude save Difficulty by 2. Apply an additional -1 penalty to Intelligence and an additional +1 bonus to Strength. When your Intelligence ability score reaches -4, you are permanently in the wild state described above until your are cured of this disorder. Treatment: You may make a Fortitude 20 check once per day as long as you are no longer exposed to the creature or situation that caused this disorder and not in a permanent wild state. If you succeed, remove one level of De-evolution.
may attempt a single Difficulty 12 Disguise check. If you succeed, you do not suffer the Charisma penalty for that day. Stacking Effects: You suffer an additional -2 penalty on Charisma checks and Charisma-based checks. In addition, increase the Disguise check Difficulty by 2. Treatment: Disfiguration is treatable with surgery. If the surgery fails, no further surgical treatment is possible for this disorder.
Delusions of Grandeur
Mental, Control Disorder Sometimes the simplest annoyance sets you off and you lose control. Effects: Whenever you are ridiculed, take any attack action against an enemy or make a skill check under stress (in a situation where you would not be able to take 10), you must first succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or go into a violent rage. Mechanically, an Explosive Disorder has the same effects as the Rage feat, but during the 5 rounds of raging, you have no control of your actions and attack the nearest creatures or large objects with whatever weapon is at hand. Once you have had an explosive episode, you will not have any more for the rest of that day. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty by 2. Treatment: If you disable or wound a friend or relative during one of your explosive episodes, you can attempt a Difficulty 20 Will save to remove one level of Explosive Disorder. This disorder is also treatable with psychiatric care.
Mental, Psychotic Disorder Insecurity over the terrible things you’ve been through has forced your psyche to protect itself by becoming someone more secure, more important. You may believe you are a famous doctor, or a powerful lawyer, or a business owner, or a movie star, or a religious prophet, or you may switch between personae based on the situation. Effects: You suffer a -1 penalty on Charisma. Whenever any ally makes a Charisma-based skill or ability check nearby, you must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or you can’t resist your sense of superior competence and you step in to make the check yourself. The Narrator will decide when this Will check is appropriate. Stacking Effects: Suffer an additional -1 penalty on Charisma, and increase Will save Difficulty by 2. Treatment: Delusions of Grandeur are treatable with psychiatric care.
Depression
Mental, Mood Disorder You are down most of the time, unable to get motivated to do much and generally pessimistic about the world. Effects: You suffer a -2 penalty on initiative checks. In addition, you cannot spend Conviction points to reduce the penalty for challenges or to perform a surge. Stacking Effects: You suffer an additional -2 penalty to initiative checks. After gaining three levels of Depression, any additional levels gained are treated as levels of Suicidal. Treatment: Depression is treatable with psychiatric care.
Disfiguration
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Physical, Injury Disorder Physical injuries have left you terribly physically disfigured. You might be hunchbacked, have a twisted spine, a protruding bone, or burn scars over most of your body. You can function normally, but your abhorrent appearance affects your interactions with others. Effects: You suffer a -4 penalty on all Charisma checks and Charisma-based skill checks. Every day you
Explosive Disorder
Hallucinations
Mental, Psychotic Disorder You hear non-existent voices or catch brief glimpses of people that aren’t there. You may see or hear a specific individual or creature that no one else seems to notice because everyone looks away at the wrong time. Effects: Because you can’t be sure what you see, you suffer a -2 penalty on all Notice, Search and Gather Information checks. In addition, the Narrator may occasionally present you with completely hallucinatory encounters. Stacking Effects: Suffer an additional -2 penalty on all Notice, Search and Gather Information checks. Treatment: Hallucinations are treatable with psychiatric care.
Insomnia
Mental, Sleep Disorder You have a difficult time falling asleep, possibly because of all the terrible images that assail you when you let your mental guard down, or possibly because you’re afraid of what might happen while you’re asleep.
Effects: Each time you try to sleep, you must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or you stay wide awake. You may attempt a new save every hour. If you haven’t had a full night’s sleep within the last 24 hours, you gain a level of fatigue which cannot be recovered without a full night’s sleep. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty by 2. Treatment: Insomnia is treatable with psychiatric care.
Kleptomania
Mental, Control Disorder Your desire to have what is not yours is overpowering sometimes. Seeing an object that isn’t yours can make you feel inferior, and making it your own gives you a thrill and a sense of security. Effects: When a small object is a prominent part of the storyline, you must make a Difficulty 12 Will save or attempt to steal it. You must also succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or a Difficulty 20 Stealth check each week or get caught by the authorities while stealing. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulties by 2. Treatment: Kleptomania is treatable with psychiatric care.
Lame
Physical, Injury Disorder Through some terrible accident you have lost full use of one of your legs. Effects: You may not perform charge, overrun or move all out actions, and you suffer a -4 penalty on Jump checks. Stacking Effects: If you gain a second level of Lame, your other leg has been injured and you become effectively paralyzed from the waist down. You can no longer take actions or perform skills that require the use of your legs. Subsequent levels of Lame have no effect on you. Treatment: The Lame disorder is treatable with surgery. If the surgery fails, no further surgical treatment is possible for this disorder.
Life Essence Drain
Physical, Mutation Disorder Some part of the basic chemistry of life has been drained from you, leaving you disinterested and less motivated to face new situations or interact with new people. As this disorder progresses through additional levels, your skin may become gray and dry, flaking off at the slightest touch. Effects: Before interacting with a person or group of people for the first time, or performing a task you haven’t done before, you must first succeed on a Dif-
ficulty 12 Fortitude save. If you fail, you cannot interact with the person or participate in the task. You may retry this Fortitude save once per hour for a specific situation. Stacking Effects: Increase Fortitude save Difficulty by 2. You must succeed on a Fortitude check at this new Difficulty as soon as you acquire each additional level of Life Essence Drain beyond the first, or you’re entire body turns to grey dust and you die. Treatment: You may make a Difficulty 20 Fortitude save once per day as long as you are no longer exposed to the creature or situation that caused this disorder. If you succeed, remove one level of Life Essence Drain.
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Maimed Hand
Physical, Injury Disorder Through some terrible accident you have lost the use of one of your hands. Effects: You can only wield weapons with one hand. You also suffer a -2 penalty on all skill checks that normally require the use of two hands. Stacking Effects: If you gain a second level of Maimed Hand, your other hand becomes maimed. You can no longer wield any weapon or perform any task that requires the used of your hands. Subsequent levels of Maimed Hand have no effect on you. Treatment: Maimed Hand is treatable with surgery. If the surgery fails, no further surgical treatment is possible for this disorder.
Mania
Mental, Mood Disorder You are always excited about the world. New opportunities are everywhere and everything is going to work out great. Effects: You suffer a -1 penalty on Will saves. Stacking Effects: You suffer an additional -1 penalty to Will saves. If you have a level of Mania and a level of Depression, combine them into two levels of Manic Depressive. Treatment: Mania is treatable with psychiatric care.
Manic-Depressive
Mental, Mood Disorder You swing between elation over the wonderful circumstances of you life and hopeless depression. Effects: For each day of game play, the Narrator should determine if you are manic or depressed and apply the effects of Mania or Depression. Stacking Effects: Emulates the effects of one additional level of Mania or Depression. Treatment: Manic Depressive is treatable with psychiatric care.
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Multiple Personality
Mental, Dissociative Disorder You have episodes where you are a completely different personality, or at least that’s what people tell you. You can’t remember anything from those times. Effects: At the start of each day you must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or take on your alternate personality for the remainder or the day. While acting under a secondary personality, you suffer a -2 penalty on all skill checks and forfeit any Conviction or Awareness points that you gain. Any mental disorders acquired by the alternate personality, with the exception of additional levels of Multiple Personality, do not affect the primary personality until the disorder is completely cured. In addition, you may choose one mental disorder of your primary personality that does not afflict you while in your alternate personality. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty of this disorder by 2. Also apply and additional -1 penalty on all skill checks while acting under the alternate personality. You may also choose one additional mental disorder of the primary personality that does not affect the alternate personality. Treatment: Multiple Personality is treatable with psychiatric care.
Mutism
Mental, Communication Disorder Your insecurity has made you almost completely mute. You still understand language and are completely lucid, you’re just unable to speak unless you are completely comfortable with your surroundings or make a significant act of willpower. Effects: Whenever you are away from home, near anyone that is not a close acquaintance, or performing any action for which you would not be allowed to take 10, you are unable to speak unless you succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save. If you succeed, you may speak until a new person appears or a new task begins. If you fail your check, you may not try again for one hour. If you are unable to speak, you suffer a -4 penalty on all Diplomacy and Gather Information checks. Stacking Effects: Increase the Will save Difficulty of this disorder by 2. Treatment: Mutism is treatable with psychiatric care.
Night Terrors
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Mental, Sleep Disorder Your sleep is frequently plagued with nightmares. Effects: Each time you sleep, you must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or you wake up screaming and you cannot fall asleep again for at least 4 hours. If you haven’t had a full night’s sleep within the last 24 hours,
you gain a level of fatigue which cannot be recovered without a full night’s sleep. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty of this disorder by 2. Treatment: Night Terrors are treatable with psychiatric care.
Obsession
Mental, Anxiety Disorder You are obsessed with a specific object and you are fine as long as it is in your possession. When you don’t have the object, you become frantic and can concentrate on little else but getting it back. Effects: While your object is not in your possession, you must pursue it above all else. If you do something else instead, you must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or you suffer a -1 penalty on all attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks and saving throws. Stacking Effects: You suffer an additional -1 penalty on all attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws. Increase the Will save Difficulty of this disorder by 2. Treatment: If you manage to go one week without the object and you succeed on a Difficulty 20 Will save, you remove one level of Obsession. This disorder is also treatable with psychiatric care.
Obsessive-Compulsive
Mental, Anxiety Disorder You develop a set of rituals and nervous responses that you must perform. These habits could include touching everyone you encounter, untying leather straps, rocking back and forth when talking, counting things, or obsessive cleaning. Effects: If you are prevented from completing your rituals, you suffer a -1 penalty on all skill checks until you do. Stacking Effects: You suffer an additional -1 penalty on skill checks when prevented from performing your rituals. Treatment: Obsessive-Compulsive disorder is treatable with psychiatric care.
Panic Attacks
Mental, Anxiety Disorder When under stress, you may become overwhelmed and panic. Effects: Whenever you are attacked, or take any attack action against an enemy, or make a skill check under stress (in a situation where you would not be able to take 10), you must first succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or become panicked. Every 5 rounds you can attempt a Difficulty 20 Fortitude save to return to normal. Once you have had a panic attack, you will not have any more for the rest of that day.
Stacking Effects: Increase the Will save Difficulty of this disorder by 2. Treatment: Panic Attacks are treatable with psychiatric care.
Paranoia
Mental, Anxiety Disorder You’re sure that something terrible is going to happen to you soon, or that someone or a group of people is out to get you. You can’t trust anyone new, because they may be agents of your enemies. They’re trying to trick you into doing what they say, steal from you, harm you, or get you locked up. Effects: You suffer a -2 penalty on all Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks and you must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save to take action based on information provided by someone else. Stacking Effects: Increase the penalty on Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks by 2, and increase the Will save Difficulty for this disorder by 2. Treatment: Paranoia is treatable with psychiatric care.
Phobia
Mental, Anxiety Disorder You suffer from an intense, irrational fear of some common type of creature, thing, or situation. You might have a fear of heights, or insects, or churches, or confined spaces. You might have a fear of germs, or being touched, or talking on the telephone. You might even be afraid of certain words. Effects: You must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save to enter a place or situation where it is likely you will encounter the object of your fear. You must also succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save when you actually encounter the object of your fear or become panicked until you are no longer exposed to the object. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty of existing phobia by 2 or select an additional level one Phobia. Treatment: If you face and overcome your phobia during game play and succeed on a Difficulty 20 Will save, you remove one level of that Phobia. This disorder is also treatable with psychiatric care.
Premature Aging
Physical, Mutation Disorder Something is causing your mind and body to age and become feeble prematurely. Effects: You suffer a -1 penalty to your Strength, Dexterity and Constitution ability scores. Stacking Effects: Apply an additional -1 penalty to your Strength, Dexterity and Constitution ability scores. If any of your ability scores reach -6 or lower, you die of old age.
Treatment: None.
Psychopathy
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Mental, Psychotic Disorder Your experiences have left you with no clear sense of right or wrong, and no ability to love or to trust the moral judgment of others. You feel no remorse for your immoral actions. Effects: Whenever you have the opportunity to benefit or save yourself from harm at the expense of others, you must make a successful Difficulty 12 Will save or take that opportunity. You are still fully rational, so this doesn’t mean you’ll take actions that have significant risk of harming or inconveniencing yourself. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty for this disorder by 2. Treatment: The Psychopathy disorder is treatable with psychiatric care.
Pyromania
Mental, Control Disorder You love to see things burn. The way the fire spreads and engulfs and destroys things is high art and a thrill to watch. You don’t need to start the fires yourself, but usually that’s the only way to get a really good one. Effects: If you find yourself in a situation where you could easily ignite highly flammable materials, you must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save to avoid doing so. Whenever you encounter a fire that’s the equivalent of a fireplace blaze or larger, you must make a Difficulty 12 Will save or become dazed. You can attempt the Will save again each round to resist the fire’s dazed effect. You must also succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save each week or get caught by the authorities while you’re starting a fire. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulties for this disorder by 2. Treatment: Pyromania is treatable with psychiatric care.
Schizophrenia
Mental, Psychotic Disorder You perceive and interpret reality very differently. Things and events that have nothing to do with each other may seem related in a significant way. Mundane tasks which everyone else sees as unimportant or strange may become life or death struggles for you. People you’ve known your whole life seem like strangers, while a stranger becomes a trusted confidant. Basically, you’re crazy. Effects: You suffer a -1 penalty on your Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom abilities. Stacking Effects: Suffer an additional -1 penalty to Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom.
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Treatment: Schizophrenia is treatable with psychiatric care.
Self-Mutilation
Mental, Anxiety Disorder You’re disgust with your own imperfections drives you to hurt yourself. You might pull out handfuls of your own hair, cut yourself repeatedly, or even break your own fingers or toes. Effects: Because of the obvious wounds and scars, you suffer a -1 penalty to your Charisma. In addition, before any combat you must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save or inflict a hurt result on yourself before the first round of combat. Stacking Effects: Increase the Will save Difficulty by 2 and suffer an additional -1 Charisma penalty. Treatment: SelfMutilation is treatable with psychiatric care.
Separation Anxiety
Mental, Anxiety Disorder You are obsessed with a specific person, and you are fine as long as they are nearby. When you are separated, you become frantic and can concentrate on little else but getting back to them. Effects: When you are separated from your special person by more than 30 feet, or they are out of your sight, you must make every effort to be reunited with them. If you do something else instead, you must succeed on a daily Difficulty 12 Will save or suffer a -1 penalty on all attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks and saving throws. Stacking Effects: Suffer an additional -1 penalty on all attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws while separated. Increase the daily Will save Difficulty by 2. Treatment: If you manage to go one week away from the person you are obsessed with and you succeed on a Difficulty 20 Will save, you remove one level of Separation Anxiety. This disorder is also treatable with psychiatric care. 48
Sleepwalking
Mental, Sleep Disorder Your overall anxiety brings on episodes of sleepwalking. Effects: Every time you sleep you must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save. If you fail, you spend up to an hour in seemingly normal activities of the Narrator’s choosing. During a sleepwalking episode, you suffer a -1 penalty on all skill checks, ability checks, Will saves and Reflex saves. During a sleepwalking episode, you must re-roll any daily Will saves made for Control disorder’s like Substance Addiction, and for any other conditions which require periodic Will saves to resist. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty by 2 and apply an additional -1 penalty to all skill checks, ability checks, Will saves and Reflex saves while sleepwalking. Treatment: You can be woken by someone else without ill effects. Sleepwalking is treatable with psychiatric care.
Somatic Delusions
Mental, Psychotic Disorder You believe there is something terrible wrong with you physically. Maybe you can’t exert yourself or your heart will burst, or maybe you think you have a disease that is always on the verge of killing you. You might walk with a limp, even though there’s nothing wrong with your leg. You may avoid direct contact with others for fear that you’ll spread your disease. Effects: You suffer a -1 penalty on your Strength and Dexterity abilities. Stacking Effects: Apply an additional -1 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. Treatment: Somatic Delusions are treatable with psychiatric care.
Stutter
Mental, Communication Disorder Your pent-up anxiety causes you to involuntarily stutter when you try to speak. You speech difficulties can sometimes lead others to think you are less intelligent or a little crazy. Effects: Any time you use any Charisma-based skill that normally requires speech, you must succeed of a Difficulty 12 Will save or suffer a -2 penalty on all Charisma-based skill checks for the rest of the scene.
Stacking Effects: Apply and additional -1 penalty on all Charisma-based skill checks and increase the Will save by 2. Treatment: Stutter is treatable with psychiatric care.
Substance Addiction
Mental, Control Disorder You use the effects of an addictive substance, like alcohol or mind-altering drugs, to forget the terrible things you’ve experienced. Effects: You must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Will save every day or succumb to your addiction. When you succumb, you suffer a -1 penalty on all attack rolls, saves, ability score checks and skill checks for 24 hours, and you must purchase the addictive substance at a cost of 5. If you fail your Will save and then cannot acquire the substance, you suffer withdrawal. While in withdrawal, you must succeed on a Difficulty 20 Fortitude save or be nauseated for the entire day. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty by 2 and suffer an additional -1 penalty on all attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws. Increase the item cost by 1. Treatment: If you manage to go one week without using the addictive substance and you succeed on a Difficulty 20 Will save, you remove one level of Substance Addiction. Substance Addiction is also treatable with psychiatric care.
Suicidal
Mental, Mood Disorder You are so disturbed by the things you’ve experienced that you can no longer see the point of living. Effects: When you encounter an opportunity for certain death, like a very high cliff with rocks below, or a spinning propeller of an airplane, or a deadly poison, you must succeed on a Difficulty 10 Will check or use the situation to kill yourself. The exact time of this attempt is at the Narrator’s discretion. Once you have resisted suicide, you are not at risk again for the rest of the day. Stacking Effects: Increase Will save Difficulty by 2. Treatment: If you fail your Will save and somehow survive a suicide attempt, you may attempt a Difficulty 20 Will save to remove one level of Suicidal. Suicidal is also treatable with psychiatric care.
Tourette’s Syndrome
Mental, Communication Disorder You suffer from one nervous and one vocal tic. Your head might twitch to the side involuntarily, or your arm may flail outwards unexpectedly. You also involuntarily make short sounds or statements from time to time. Sometimes these statements are intelligible, and occasionally they can be offensive. Effects: When you make a Stealth check, Charisma check, or any Charisma-based skill check, you must first make a Difficulty 12 Will save. If you fail the Will save, you have an episode of Tourette’s and suffer a -2 penalty on your skill check. Stacking Effects: Increase the Will save Difficulty by 2 and apply an additional -2 penalty to affected checks made during Tourette episodes. Treatment: Tourette syndrome is treatable with psychiatric care.
4
Weak Stomach
Mental, Anxiety Disorder The slightest hint of death or injury turns your stomach. Effects: Whenever you see a wounded, disabled, dying or dead person, you must succeed on a Difficulty 12 Fortitude save or become nauseated for one minute. You must recheck every minute if still within sight of the wounded person. Stacking Effects: Increase the Fortitude save Difficulty by 2. Treatment: If you make it through a scene involving serious injuries without becoming nauseated, you may attempt a Difficulty 20 Will save. If you succeed, you remove one level of Weak Stomach. Weak Stomach is also treatable with psychiatric care.
Random Disorder Tables
Some encounters in Shadows of Cthulhu may cause mental or physical disorders from a broad category, such as “Anxiety Disorder” or “Mental Disorder.” When a character fails a save and acquires such a disorder, the Narrator can choose the specific disorder or randomly determine the result using the following tables.
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4
Table 4-1: Mental Disorders D20 1-4 5-6 7-10 11-12 13-16 17-18 19-20
Mental Disorder Category
Any Anxiety Disorder Any Commnication Disorder
Any Control Disorder Any Dissociative Disorder
Any Mood Disorder
Any Psychotic Disorder Any Sleep Disorder
Table 4-2: Anxiety Disorders D20
Disorder
1-2
Agoraphobia
5-6
Obsession
3-4
Catatonia
7-8
Obsessive-Compulsive
11-12
Paranoia
9-10
13-14 15-16 17-18 19-20
Panic Attacks Phobia
Self-Mutilation
Separation Anxiety Weak Stomach
Table 4-3: Communication Disorders D20
Disorder
8-16
Stutter
1-7
17-20
Mutism
Tourette’s Syndrome
Table 4-4: Control Disorders D20 1-2
Cannibalism
3-5
Compulsive Gambling
9-10
Kleptomania
6-8
11-13 14-20
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Disorder
Explosive Disorder Pyromania
Substance Addiction
Table 4-5: Dissociative Disorders D20
Disorder
13-20
Multiple Personality
1-12
Amnesia
Table 4-6: Mood Disorders D20
Disorder
3-7
Depression
1-2
8-15
16-20
Mania
Manic-Depressive Suicidal
Table 4-7: Psychotic Disorders D20
Disorder
1-5
Hallucinations
10-13
Schizophrenia
6-9
14-17 18-20
Psychopathy
Delusions of Grandeur Somatic Delusions
Table 4-8: Sleep Disorders D20 1-8
9-14
15-20
Disorder
Insomnia
Night Terrors Sleepwalking
Table 4-9: Injury Disorders D20 1-3
Disorder
Blindness
4-6
Brain Damage
10-13
Disfiguration
18-20
Maimed Hand
7-9
14-17
Deafness Lame
Table 4-10: Mutation Disorders D20 1-5
6-11
12-20
Disorder
De-evolution
Life Essence Drain Premature Aging
Chapter 5: Mythos Skills, Feats, & Powers The Cthulhu Mythos brings supernatural knowledge and power to the mundane, everyday world of humanity. Cult leaders summon starving, murderous creatures from the depths of space, scientists create deadly powers as they experiment beyond the bounds of human morality, and insane scholars read books by other insane scholars and gain insights too broad for even their swollen minds. This chapter describes the Mythos traits available to creatures, Narrator characters, and heroes. These are traits not normally known to mankind and not generally accessible except through great risk to health and sanity. The heroes probably know none of these skills, feats and powers at the start of play. See Chapter 3 for a complete explanation of how heroes might eventually acquire them.
Mythos Skills
Down through the ages, the creatures, cults and loathsome literature of the Mythos have propagated skills known only to the initiated. A hidden thread of understanding preserves knowledge of the Mythos and its creatures, the secret languages of the ancient past, and the ability to enter the world of dreams.
Learning Mythos Skills
The following skills represent secrets of the Mythos unknown to all but a few humans. Heroes cannot learn these skills without first being exposed to them and then paying the Awareness point cost to unlock them. Heroes must pay one Awareness point to unlock each skill, or to unlock each specialty in the case of skills like Mythos Knowledge and Mythos Language, which encompass many separate skills. Heroes pay the Awareness point cost once for each skill, and from that point on they can put as many ranks in that skill as they wish, subject to normal rank limitations.
Skill Descriptions
These skill descriptions follow the same format as those in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. Note that Mythos skills do not require Sanity saves or inflict mental disorders when used. While being exposed to these skills in the first place may be terrifying, using them once they are known is not.
5
Dream
Wisdom Most intelligent creatures dream, and when they do their consciousness sometimes travels throughout the Earth in ethereal form, or visits the Dreamlands. The Dreamlands are a separate dimension adjoining our own world, where eons can pass during a single Earthly night. These dreams are almost always forgotten, and the few that are remembered are seen through a dull, translucent lens that masks the existence of a separate dream world. This skill allows heroes to remember their dream journeys, and to control the actions of their dream selves. Check: A hero must make a skill check before going to sleep in order to begin a conscious journey through the real world or the Dreamlands. While dreaming, heroes must also make Dream skill checks to access any of the skills, traits or powers of their waking selves or dream selves (see Dream Journeys in Chapter 3). Dreamlands Dreaming (Difficulty 15): You can make a Dreaming check before going to sleep to attempt to enter the Dreamlands in your dreams and remember what happens there. If you fail you dream normally. Real World Dreaming (Difficulty 25): You can make a Dreaming check before going to sleep to attempt to travel the real world in your dreams and remember what happens there. If you fail you dream normally. Use Waking Self Trait (Difficulty 15): While dreaming, you can make a Dreaming check to use one of the skills, feats, or powers of your waking self. This trait works normally, and is modified by the your waking self ’s ability scores and disorders. For powers, a successful check allows you to use them once. For feats and skills, a successful check allows you to use them for an entire scene. When using waking traits while in the dreamlands, heroes have been known to bend the laws of the world and enhance their traits. For every 5 points by which your Use Waking Self Trait check exceeds the Difficulty, add one bonus rank to the skill used or one point to the power check for the power used. Use Dream Self Trait (Difficulty 25): You can make a Dreaming check to use one of the skills, feats, or powers of your dream self. This trait works as if used by your dream self, modified by your dream self ’s ability scores and disorders. For powers, a successful check allows you to use them once. For feats and skills, a successful check allows you to use them for an entire scene.
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5
Try Again: Once you fail to use a trait of your waking or dreaming self, you may not attempt to use it again for one hour. Special: You can take 10 when making a Dream check, but you may not take 20.
Handle Aberration
Charisma The elder races of the Cthulhu Mythos created terrible, undulating aberrations to build their great cities and fight their enemies. These creations and their descendants still roam the Earth and serve the lesser races. This skill works like the Handle Animal skill, but affects aberrations instead of animals.
Handle Supernatural Beast
Charisma The Cthulhu Mythos is full of simple-minded supernatural beasts used as minions, mounts or beasts of burden by the more sentient races and sinister cults. This skill works like the Handle Animal skill, but affects supernatural beasts instead of animals.
Mythos Knowledge
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Intelligence, Trained Only, Requires Specialization Check: This skill works like the core Knowledge skill, but reflects the hero’s knowledge of things specific to the Cthulhu Mythos. The available specialties are as follows: • Art: Artwork of the Mythos, including the origins of carved artifacts, the meaning and history of Mythos symbols (but not alphabets), and interpretation of cultic dances and music. Example: determine where a strange figurine was sculpted. • History: Events and ancient stories of the Mythos, including important places and personalities. Also includes Mythos archeology and anthropology. Example: Determine the location of an Old One city; find the name of an ancient book containing a specific power. • Life Sciences: Biology of Mythos creatures, as well as supernatural science knowledge as it applies to humans and other non-Mythos creatures. Examples: Develop theoretical formula for animating a corpse; know the physical weaknesses of a Mythos creature. • Physical Sciences: The strange scientific and mathematical systems of the Mythos. Example: Understand the behavior of a transient dimensional gate. • Technology: Mythos devices, generally of alien origin. Example: Operate an alien machine. • Theology & Philosophy: Mythos deities and their powers, relationships, cults and motivations.
Example: Determine the most likely site of a cult ritual. Gain Familiarity (Difficulty varies): If you have access to the proper research materials and an appropriate Knowledge skill, you can study details about a particular creature, item or place to become casually familiarity with it. For instance, a hero with Mythos Knowledge (Art) could study a mural depicting the deep ones. In general, the Difficulty of becoming casually familiar with a Mythos creature is 20. Very remote and secret places on Earth are Difficulty 30, while places in other dimensions might be Difficulty 35 or 40.
Mythos Language
Intelligence, Trained Only, Requires Specialization This skill works just like the Language skill described in Chapter 1, but each specialty of this skill is a mysterious Mythos language. Specific Mythos languages include the croaking and aquatic pictographs of the Deep Ones, the beautiful curvilinear hieroglyphics and rhythmic clicking and scraping of the Great Race, and the cyclopean language of Cthulhu’s worshipers. Heroes must be exposed to each individual language before learning it.
Mythos Feats
A few new feats are available to heroes who delve into the Mythos and uncover its secrets. Most of these feats relate to use of Mythos powers. Note that many nonMythos feats that are not detailed here can be used to enhance or modify Mythos feats as described below.
Acquiring Mythos Feats
Heroes acquire Mythos feats in the same way they acquire other feats, but with a few important differences. First, a hero must be sufficiently exposed to a Mythos feat to understand it. The exact requirements for expo-
Table 5-1: Mythos Languages Language
Speech
Deep One
Hoarse barking
Elder Thing
Piping, whistling
Aklo
Ghoul
None
Meeping cries
Writing
Sanskrit cipher Aquatic hieroglyphics Dot clusters None
Great Race (Yithian)
Clicking and scraping claws
Curvilinea script
Tsath-yo (Hyperborean)
Unknown
Runic script
R’lyehenian
Guttural
Runic
Channeler (Mythos)
sure are left up to the Narrator, but ancient books are usually a good source. Second, heroes must pay one Awareness point to unlock a given feat before they can acquire it. They must have an Awareness point available when they attain a new level and choose the feat, or they must have previously unlocked the feat. Note that heroes can use the Heroic Feat option to spend Conviction points and gain access for a single round to Mythos feats they’ve been exposed to. And finally, Mythos feats are not restricted to heroes of any particular roles. Once they have been unlocked, they function like general feats and are available regardless of class.
You are a natural at channeling supernatural energy from other people. When you use a ritual power, the maximum number of adepts that may attempt to aid your power check is increased by your key ability value (Charisma).
5
Imbue Item (Mythos)
You can craft supernatural items, including weapons and charms, as described in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. However, in Shadows of Cthulhu you may be risking your sanity by doing so. You can craft a charm containing any normal power, ritual power, or scientific power that you have learned. When you craft a charm, you must use the power normally and make any required saves. Anyone who uses the charm must also make the required saves for the power. You may imbue a charm with a power that you haven’t acquired yet, as long as you have been exposed to it and spend a Conviction point as if you were using the power untrained. See Spending Conviction to Use Mythos Traits in Chapter 3. When you craft a supernatural weapon, the Narrator should select a mental disorder or category of disorders from those listed in Chapter 4. The Narrator then determines the Sanity save Difficulty using Table 5-2 below. At the start of each hour of crafting, you must make this save or acquire the mental disorder. Anyone wielding the imbued weapon must make the same save. Charm Power Checks: If you imbue a charm with a power that requires a power check to determine its effects, you make that power check while imbuing. The result should be noted with the item and applied when the charm is used. You may include the power check bonus for scientific powers or ritual powers, so these can be very effective ways to create powerful charms.
True20 Adept Feats
The feats restricted to the adept class that are listed in True20 Adventure Roleplaying represent enhancements to supernatural powers that are very rare in the world of Shadows of Cthulhu. Therefore, all adept feats should be treated as Mythos feats. This means heroes must be exposed to them and pay Awareness points, but it also means they are ultimately available to all roles.
Skill Enhancement Feats
Heroes can use feats that enhance specific skills, such as Skill Focus, Skill Training and Talented to enhance Mythos skills, as long as the hero has learned the Mythos skill to be enhanced. Feats used to enhance Mythos skills are not considered Mythos feats, so heroes do not have to pay Awareness points to unlock them.
Feat Descriptions
These feat descriptions follow the same format as those in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. The type of each of these feats is listed as “Mythos,” as opposed to adept, expert, general or warrior. This means they are available to characters of any role who have met the requirements for learning a Mythos feat. With the exception of the Imbue Item feat, using Mythos feats does not generally require Sanity saves or inflict mental disorders. While being exposed to these feats in the first place may be terrifying, using them once they are known is not.
Mythos Familiar (Mythos)
You have a special bond with a supernatural creature. It may be something you summoned and bound to you, or some more powerful creature may have assigned your familiar to watch over you. Choose a 1st level aberration or supernatural beast as your familiar (see rat thing in Chapter 6 for example).
Table 5-2: Imbued Weapon/Armor Sanity Save Difficulty D20 1-2
3-6
Armor Save Difficulty
Weapon Save Difficulty
9
12
8
7-10
10
15-18
14
11-14
19-20
12
16
10
14
16
18
20
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5
The specific special abilities you share with your Mythos familiar are the same as those listed in the basic Familiar feat. In addition, you gain a gain a +4 bonus on any Sanity saves required to resist mental disorders normally caused by the presence of your familiar. Any time you use the Link or Share Powers ability with your supernatural familiar, you must succeed on a Difficulty 10 Sanity save or gain a level of Separation Anxiety with your familiar as the object of your anxiety. This check is only required once per scene.
Second, heroes must pay one Awareness point to unlock a given power before they can learn it. They must have an Awareness point available when they attain a new level and choose the power. Finally, when using a Mythos power, heroes may risk their sanity. Each power description below includes the required saves for using each power, and the consequences of failure.
Mythos Heritage (Mythos)
Any power that takes one minute or less to use also has a corresponding ritual power. Ritual powers are completely separate powers. For example, a character with the Suggestion power cannot perform the Ritual Suggestion power unless they acquire it separately. A character does not have to know the basic form of a power to learn the corresponding ritual power. When multiple adepts have access to a power, rituals offer the advantage of much more effective power checks and easier maintenance at the cost of extended completion times. Prerequisites: If a power has prerequisite powers, then the prerequisites for the corresponding ritual power must be the ritual forms of those powers. Likewise, ritual powers do not count as prerequisite powers for non-ritual powers. For example, a character may not learn the Ritual Weather Shaping unless she also knows the Ritual Water Shaping and the Ritual Wind Shaping. Aid: When an adept uses a ritual power, other adepts who know the ritual (or have been exposed to the ritual and spend a Conviction point to use it) may participate and aid the ritual leader’s power check. See Aid in the Introduction of True20 Adventure Roleplaying. If the base power requires no power check, then neither the ritual leader nor those aiding need to make one. The number of adepts attempting to aid the ritual leader is limited to the ritual leader’s adept level, so a 4th-level adept could have aid from 4 other characters. The resulting power check for a ritual with many participants can be very large, and thus the effects of a ritual are generally much more impressive than the effects of a normal power. All adepts providing aid must also make any required sanity saves for using the power. Time: The time to complete a ritual is 10 minutes, plus 1 additional minute per aiding character. If there is any serious interruption during this time, all participants must succeed on Concentration checks or the ritual fails. Duration, Maintenance, & Concentration: If the normal power on which a ritual is based has a limited duration, the ritual effects last 10 times as long. If the power requires maintenance or concentration, only one of the participants in the ritual needs to maintain or concentrate on the power, and the responsibility for
You are somehow the product of interactions between the human race and the creatures or deities of the Cthulhu Mythos. Perhaps an ancestor of yours wasn’t quite human, or your parents were avid students of the strange and supernatural. Whatever the reason, you seem to have a knack for piecing the obscure clues and faint glimpses of the unknown together into a cohesive view of the terrible truth. For each Mythos trait that you unlock by paying an Awareness point, you may unlock an additional Mythos trait without paying any Awareness points. You cannot use Conviction points to gain temporary access to this feat.
Open Mind (Mythos)
Your mind is very open to contact with other minds. You gain a +5 bonus on Mind Touch and Temporal Mind Touch power checks. You suffer a -2 penalty on saves to resist Mind Touch attempts by others.
Mythos Powers
True Cthulhu takes place in a world where people don’t believe supernatural powers exist. Stories of healing powers, psychic communication and alien technology are the domain of imaginative fantasy writers or the truly crazy. Yet secret powers do exist for those aware of the Mythos. In the hidden corners of the world, ancient cults cast ritual spells, hideous charms transform whole families into carnivorous ghouls, and advanced science allows instant travel to other worlds.
Acquiring Mythos Powers
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Heroes acquire Mythos powers when they advance adept levels, just as adepts acquire powers in True20 Adventure Roleplaying, but with some important differences. First, a hero must be sufficiently exposed to a Mythos power to understand it. The exact requirements for exposure are left up to the Narrator, but they usually involve concentrating on the power as it is used or studying it in a book.
Ritual Powers
maintaining or concentrating may be passed between ritual participants from round to round. Fatigue: If the basic power is fatiguing, then the ritual power is also fatiguing for the ritual leader, but the fatigue difficulty is increased by the number of participants attempting to provide aid. Those providing aid do not make fatigue checks. Example: Gareg McNee is a 3rd-level adept who knows the Ritual Elder Sign power and needs to seal a gateway to the Abyss. He has three friends that have all been exposed to the ritual and are willing to spend a Conviction point to use it. Two of the three friends succeed on their Difficulty 10 aid check, one of which rolls a 20. This grants Gareg a +5 aid bonus on his power check. The ritual will take 13 minutes, and, Gareg’s fatigue check Difficulty will be increased by 3. Gareg and all three of his friends must make Fortitude saves to avoid Premature Aging.
Scientific Powers
The effects of any power can be replicated through the use of advanced science. These scientific powers, and the equipment required to use them, are often of alien or supernatural origin or the result of years of disturbingly morbid scientific research. Scientific powers are separate powers; a character with the Dimension Shift power cannot use the Scientific Dimension Shift power, unless he acquires it separately. A character does not have to know the basic form of a power to learn the corresponding scientific power. For adepts with Mythos Knowledge skill and a reasonable amount of wealth, scientific powers provide improved effects over normal powers without fatigue penalties. Prerequisites: If a power has prerequisite powers, then the prerequisites for the corresponding scientific power must also be scientific powers. Likewise, scientific powers do not count as prerequisites for non-scientific powers. For example, a character may not learn the Scientific Elemental Weapon power unless she also knows a Scientific Cold, Energy, Fire, Water or Wind Shaping power. Empower: The effective rank of scientific powers is increased by +1 to +5, depending on the equipment, but the maximum bonus is limited to the user’s adept level. This bonus does not stack with effects of the Empower feat Wealth Cost: Scientific powers require special equipment and resources.
The cost of the equipment, whether it’s a laboratory, a special weapon, or a complicated machine, is 15 + 2 x rank bonus. So a laboratory setup capable of supporting the Scientific Imbue Unlife power with a +2 bonus would cost 19. The cost of the resources expended by a single use of a scientific power is 10 + 2 x rank bonus. The equipment and resources required for any prerequisite scientific powers are not required when the more advanced power is used. Portability: The equipment for a scientific power is generally heavy and must be carefully set up in a fixed location before use. Portable equipment weighs only 10 pounds and is usable after taking a move action to set it up. Making equipment portable increases its cost by 5. A portable weapon providing a +3 rank bonus for the Scientific Elemental Blast power would cost 26 (15 + 6 + 5). Mythos Knowledge: In order to operate the scientific equipment, the adept must succeed on a Difficulty 15 Mythos Knowledge (life sciences) or Mythos Knowledge (technology) check, whichever the Narrator
5
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5
deems most appropriate to the situation. This check must succeed before using the power itself. Fatigue, Maintenance, & Concentration: Scientific powers are not fatiguing, even if the powers they are based on are. They do have the same maintenance and concentration requirements as the normal power on which they are based, representing the adept’s continued operation of the scientific equipment. Try Again: The requirements for trying again are the same as the normal power, but if the normal power is fatiguing, the adept cannot take 20 when using the related scientific power. Example: Egbert Weiss is a 3rd-level expert and a 6th-level adept who has done extensive research on reanimating recently-deceased humans – enough research for the Narrator to conclude that he has been exposed to the Imbue Life scientific power. Herbert successfully purchases a +3 Scientific Imbue Life lab at a cost of 21 (15 + 6) and resources for one use at a cost of 13 (10 + 3). To restore life to a corpse, He must first succeed on a Difficulty 15 Mythos Knowledge (life sciences) check. He must then succeed on the Difficulty 25 power check specified in the power’s description, but the +3 bonus should help.
Pagan Holidays
There are rare alignments of the stars and planets and special days during each year when the dimensions of existence draw closer together and the supernatural powers that bind the order of the world temporarily weaken. During these times, adepts around the world feed off of each other’s arcane exertions in a twisted eldritch synergy. On these dark pagan holidays, adepts
get bonuses on their power checks when using normal powers and ritual powers. They are favorite times for very difficult incantations. Scientific powers are not affected by pagan holidays. Including pagan holidays in an adventure increases the sense of urgency as events lead up to a key ritual on a certain date. Heroes who dabble in Mythos powers may also gain a temporary boost of competence on these holidays.
Powerful Locations
There are certain places in the world where the convergence of dimensions or the preponderance of eons of interaction with the supernatural has weakened the barriers between the natural world and the powers of the Cthulhu Mythos. These could be as overpowering as a Mayan temple where thousands of captives where sacrificed to the Outer Gods, or as nondescript as a strange stone altar on a hill in the wilds of New England. These places may grant bonuses to all power checks, or maybe just for certain types of powers. The Narrator should consider including such places to provide focus to adventures. When all else fails, the heroes can always stake out the power spot and wait for the action to come to them. For example, Stonehenge in England, adds +5 to the power check of any powers used within its circle of monoliths, an additional +5 on the morning of the Vernal Equinox, and an additional +5 if the adept sacrifices an intelligent creature in conjunction with a power’s use.
Table 5-3: Pagan Holidays Holiday
Frequency
Power Bonus
Candlemas (Brigid’s Day)
Annual (Feb 2)
+5
Walpurgisnacht (Beltane, May Eve)
Annual (Apr 30-May 1)
+10
Midsummer’s Eve (Litha)
Annual ( Jun 21 or 24)
+5
Close contact between past, present and future. +10 power bonus for temporal powers.
+5
Death of the fertility gods.
+5
Final harvest, festival of the dead.
+2
Darkest point of the year, the time of making oaths.
+10
R’lyeh rises, +20 power bonus when calling outsiders or contacting Great Old Ones.
Lammas (Lughnasadh) Samhain (Halloween)
Yuletide (Winter Solstice) 56
Call of Cthulhu (“Stars are Right”)
Annual (Aug 1)
Annual (Oct 31)
Annual (last 12 days of Dec)
Eons (Mar 23-Apr 2, 1925)
Description
Love and inspiration. Difficulty modifier also applies to skill checks when crafting supernatural items.
The witch’s night, dropped barriers between the dead and the living. +15 power bonus for Imbue Unlife.
Totems
Special ancient items are imbued with the ability to aid adepts when using specific powers by increasing their power check bonus. These are usually in the form of small, horrific carvings in ivory or marble or the strange green stone of Leng. They may enhance the adepts’ ability to contact other minds, or help them call creatures of a specific type. For example, a deep one charm is a small inscribed stone that can be thrown into the waters of an ocean containing deep ones to provide a +10 power check bonus on attempts to call a deep one.
True20 Powers
The supernatural powers listed in True20 Adventure Roleplaying are very rare in the worlds of Shadows of Cthulhu. Therefore, all supernatural powers should be treated as Mythos powers. This means heroes must be exposed to them and pay Awareness points to learn them. Some powers from True20 are included in the power descriptions later in this chapter because they have special traits in Shadows of Cthulhu. Many powers remain exactly the same, but they probably have a sanity cost. The following table lists the sanity costs for some additional powers that play a role in the Cthulhu Mythos, but are not included in the detailed descriptions.
Power Descriptions
The powers in Shadows of Cthulhu have the same attributes as True20 Adventure Roleplaying powers, with the addition of a special mental or physical cost. Every time you successfully use a power with a cost, you must make the listed save or acquire one level of the associated disorder. If multiple disorders are listed, you must save for each separately. If an entire category of disorders is listed, like mood disorder for example, the Narrator can use the random disorder tables in Chapter 4 to determine the specific disorder, or just choose a disorder from the list. If you already have a disorder in that category, the Narrator may decide that you simply acquire an additional level of that disorder. Note that Mythos creatures do not acquire mental disorders when they use powers or special abilities.
Banish Creature Type
Fatiguing This power is actually a set of powers, each allowing the adept to banish creatures of a specific type. For example, Banish Aberration, Banish Fey, and Banish Outsider are each completely separate powers. Banishing powers allow an adept to send creatures of a specific type back to their home dimension, or wherever they came from when summoned by a call power.
Table 5-4: True20 Powers Power
Sanity Cost
Combat Sense
Explosive Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Body Control
Cure Dominate Drain Vitality Earth Shaping Energy Shaping Enhance Senses Fire Shaping Ghost Touch Illusion Light Shaping Mind Probe Mind Reading Mind Shaping Pain Phase Sleep Water Shaping Weather Shaping Wind Shaping
5
None
Any mood disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Any control disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Any mood disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Agoraphobia (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Any mood disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Any psychotic disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity) Pyromania (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Any psychotic disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Any psychotic disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Hallucinations (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Multiple Personality (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Any psychotic disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity) Any mood disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Any psychotic disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity) Any anxiety disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Any sleep disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Any mood disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Any mood disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Delusions of Grandeur (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
The adept must be able to see the creature and it must be within 30 feet. Banished creatures may remember who banished them, but for 24 hours they cannot return to a dimension they were banished from or harm the adept that banished them. If an adept banishes a creature that is not from another dimension, the creature returns back to the location from which it was called, traveling
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5
the same way it did when called. The power check Difficulty is 10 + the level of the creature. The target gets a Will save to resist. Time: Banish Creature Type is a full-round action. Sanity Cost: Any communication disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Call Creature Type
Fatiguing This power is actually a set of powers, each allowing the adept to call creatures of a specific type. For example, Call Aberration, Call Fey, and Call Outsider are each completely separate powers. In general, calling powers allow adepts to force creatures of the specific type to come to them as quickly as possible. Adepts can be as precise about the creature as they like, calling a specific individual by name, calling any creature of a chosen species, or simply taking the nearest creature of the required type. For instance, an adept could use Call Aberration to summon a specific mi-go known by name, any mi-go, or any aberration at all. If the creature is from another dimension or another planet, it is transported instantly through a one-way gateway to the adept’s location. If the creature is from the same planet, it makes its way to the adept by the fastest route possible. The called creature gets a Will save to resist. The difficulty of calling a creature is 10 + the level of the creature, modified by the adept’s familiarity with the creature. The following table should help the Narrator determine familiarity with respect to called creatures. If the adept is calling for the nearest creature of a species or creature type, use the adept’s best familiar-
Table 5-6: Creature Attitude Difficulty
Result
+0
Hostile
+5
Unfriendly
+15
Friendly
+10
Indifferent
+20
Helpful
ity with any creature of that species or creature type. For instance, an adept who has had significant closeup interaction with an elder thing would be somewhat familiar when calling that specific elder thing, as well as when calling for any elder thing or any aberrations in general. If that same adept tried to call a color out of space, which is an elemental, the encounter with the elder thing would have no impact on familiarity. If the adept calls an undead creature, apply any familiarity the adept had with the undead creature while is was still alive. When a called creature arrives, the Narrator should determine its attitude toward the caller based on the following table. The Difficulties listed are the amount by which the power check exceeds the calculated Difficulty. Note that the attitude of some called creatures can also be improved by offering sacrifices, food, or even small trinkets. Other called creatures may respond to Diplomacy or Intimidate skills. For example, if an 8th-level adept with a power check bonus of +14 tries to call a familiar 4th-level outsider at Difficulty 24 (10 base, +4 for level, +10 for familiarity), a check result of 24 or above would successfully call the creature, but it would be hostile toward the adept. If the check result is 29 or higher, the creature would be
Table 5-5: Creature Type Familiarity
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Familiarity
Difficulty
Present
+0
Very Familiar
+5
Familiar
+10
Somewhat Familiar
+15
Casually Familiar
+20
Slightly Familiar
+25
Definition
A creature visible to the naked eye or in mental contact with the adept.
Adept senses creature through another power, such as a gate, or has a close relationship with the creature. Adept has interacted with the creature many times before, or has read memory of someone very familiar with the creature.
Adept has had significant close-up interaction or mental contact with the creature, or has read memory of someone that is familiar with the creature. Adept has had brief close-up interaction with the creature, has studied them extensively, or has read memory of someone that is somewhat familiar with the creature.
Adept has a detailed description of the creature, has briefly seen one, or has read memory of someone casually familiar with the creature.
unfriendly, and at 34 or higher the creature would be indifferent. Time: Call Creature Type is a full-round action. Sanity Cost: Any anxiety disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Comprehend Language
Fatiguing You temporarily gain an understanding of a specific language in both its spoken and written form. You must have access to an example of the written language or be listening to the spoken language to use this power. If you succeed on a Difficulty 10 power check, you receive 2 bonus ranks in the specified language. If your check exceeds this difficulty, you receive additional bonus ranks as indicated in the following table. Comprehend Language can be used to improve your understanding of a language you already know. Try Again: Yes. If you take 20 while making this check, you spend 2 minutes and suffer a +20 increase in the fatigue Difficulty. Time: Comprehend Language is a standard action. The bonus lasts for one hour. Sanity Cost: Any communication disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Contact Deity
Fatiguing You can force one of the Outer Gods or a Great Old One to communicate with you. The contact power for each deity is a separate, so Contact Cthulhu and Contact Yog-Sothoth are different powers. Some form of avatar or communication channel with the deity generally appears within one hour. You then have a few minutes to make your requests of the deity. After that the deity may continue communication, or take whatever action it desires. Details about contacting each deity, including the power check Difficulty, are included in the deity descriptions in Chapter 6. Sanity Cost: Any communication disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity), plus specific Sanity effects as given in the deity description.
Table 5-7: Comprehend Language
Time: Contact Deity takes one minute, though the effects may be delayed by up to an hour. Contact generally lasts for one minute per adept level.
Cure Injury
Fatiguing This power supersedes Cure Blindness/Deafness in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. You can cure blindness or deafness, or remove all levels of a single injury disorder. The Difficulty for curing an injury disorder is 15 + the level of injury disorder. Sanity Cost: Any psychotic disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Dimension Gate
Fatiguing, Maintenance, Prerequisite: Dimension Shift You create a visible gateway to another location or dimension through which any number of medium-sized creatures may pass. The gate is generally created within the bounds of an existing physical portal, like a door or window. The gate is visible at the source, but invisible at the destination, though creatures can pass through in either direction. This power cannot be used to create a gate to the Dreamlands. The Difficulty is 10, modified by your familiarity with the other location or dimension. If you wish to create the gate so that creatures of greater size can pass through, or creatures can carry excessive additional weight, modify the base Difficulty according to the following table. Sanity Cost: Everyone who uses the Dimension Gate acquires a psychotic disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Time: Dimension Gate is a full-round action. The gate remains open for one hour, plus one hour per adept level.
Dimension Sense Minds
Prerequisite: Sense Minds As Sense Minds, except you can also sense minds that are “nearby” in another dimension. This power cannot be used by a waking person to sense minds in the Dreamlands. Sanity Cost: If you sense the minds of any intelligent, non-humanoid creature, you acquire an anxiety
Table 5-8: Dimension Gate
Difficulty
Bonus Ranks
Difficulty
15
+4
15
10 20 25 30 35
+2 +6 +8
+10 +12
5
Mass/Size
10
Up to 20 lbs.
20
100 lbs.
+10
Large creature
25
+25
50 lbs.
250 lbs.
Huge creature
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5
disorder. The Sanity save for this disorder is 5 + the level of the most powerful creature sensed.
Dimension Shift
Fatiguing As Plane Shift in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. This power cannot be used to enter or leave the Dreamlands. Sanity Cost: Everyone who participate in the Dimension Shift acquires a psychotic disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Dispel Unlife
Fatiguing You can dispel the force that animates any single undead creature within your line of sight, provided it was created with the Imbue Unlife power. The undead creature reverts to the dead, inanimate form from which it was created. The Difficulty is 15+ two times the level of the undead creature. The target creature gets no saving throw. Sanity Cost: Depression (Difficulty 10 Sanity) Time: Dispel Unlife is a full-round action.
Drain Life
Fatiguing You drain the life from another creature to eliminate the effects of aging in yourself. The subject must be of the same creature type as you (for example, humanoid) and is allowed a Fortitude save to resist. Drain life can eliminate the effects of natural aging, or remove levels of the Premature Aging physical disorder. Remove Natural Aging: The Difficulty of this power is 15. If you succeed on your power check, one ability point that you have lost due to natural ag-
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ing is restored, and the subject suffers 2 points of ability drain to the same ability. For every 5 points by which you exceed the base Difficulty, you may restore one additional ability point and drain the subjects corresponding ability by an additional 2 points. You cannot reduce any of the subject’s ability scores below -6. Remove Premature Aging: The Difficulty of this power is 20. If you succeed on your power check, you remove one level of Premature Aging from yourself and your subject acquires two levels of Premature Aging. Sanity Cost: Any psychotic disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Time: Drain Life is a full-round action.
Elder Sign
Concentration You may create a symbol that prevents any deity or creature from passing through a specific opening, dimension gate or temporal gate. Creatures cannot pass and they receive no save. This Difficulty for this power is 25. Physical Cost: Premature Aging (Difficulty 14 Fort) Sanity Cost: None Time: Elder Sign is a move action. The effects of the elder sign last until the physical sign is destroyed or erased, or the portal being blocked no longer exists.
Elemental Blast
Fatiguing, Prerequisite: Earth, Energy, Fire, Water, or Wind Shaping As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. To use a blast of a specific elemental type, you must have the prerequisite shaping power of that type. Sanity Cost: Any anxiety disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Enhance Ability
Heart Shaping
Enhance Other
Imbue Life
Fatiguing As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. Sanity Cost: None Physical Cost: Premature Aging (Difficulty 5 Fortitude, add resulting enhancement bonus to save Difficulty)
Fatiguing As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. In addition to the normal fatigue effects of this power, your target acquires one level of Premature Aging unless they make a successful Fortitude save of Difficulty 5 + the resulting enhancement of this power. Your target may choose to make a Fortitude save to resist all effects of this power. Sanity Cost: None
Exchange Personality
Fatiguing, Maintenance, Mental Contact You swap your consciousness with a consciousness from another body, taking control of the subject’s body while the subject takes control of yours. In both cases, the transferred consciousness retains its powers and its Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma ability scores, as well as all saves and skills based on these abilities and all feats that affect the retained skills, saves and abilities. The physical body retains all other feats and special traits, as well as the Dexterity, Strength and Constitution abilities and all saves and skills based on them. The subject gets a Will save to resist the exchange. While the adept is immediately in full control of the subject’s body, the subject’s consciousness in the adept’s body must make a Difficulty 20 Will save or become dazed. This save can be re-rolled every hour until successful, at which point the subject’s consciousness is no longer dazed for the duration of the power and may act freely. After the power ends, the subject of the power must succeed on another Will save or forget everything that happened while the personalities where exchanged. This works like the alter psyche ability of the Mind Shaping power. If one of the two physical creatures dies while this power is in effect, the exchange becomes permanent, trapping the wrong personality in the surviving creature. In combination with Temporal Mind Touch, Exchange Personality can be used to swap minds with creatures across time, as well as space. Sanity Cost: Dissociative disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Time: Exchange Personality is a full-round action
Fatiguing, Concentration As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. The target must be in your line of sight when you begin Heart Shaping, after which no line of sight is required. Sanity Cost: Any mood disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
5
Fatiguing, Prerequisite: Cure rank 12 As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. If successful, the subject must immediately make a Difficulty 15 Sanity save or acquire a random mental disorder, and a Difficulty 26 Fortitude save or acquire Premature Aging. Sanity Cost: Any mood disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Imbue Unlife
Fatiguing As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. In addition to creating mindless and intelligent undead, you can also use this ability to animate a corpse that has not been dead longer than your adept level in hours. See the animated corpse described in Chapter 6. The animated corpse is not under your control – it retains the memories, abilities and goals it once had in life, but it must make a Difficulty 15 Sanity save or acquire a random psychotic disorder. The Difficulty of this Sanity save is increased by the number of hours the corpse has been dead. Sanity Cost: Any mood disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Mind Touch
Maintenance As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. Mind touch can operate across other dimensions. You can also use it to contact creatures who are dreaming if both you and the subject are dreaming. The base Difficulty is 10, modified by familiarity. If you attempt to touch any mind at random, the familiarity modifier is +0. Sanity Cost: Any time you successfully establish mental contact with a non-humanoid creature, you acquire an anxiety disorder. The Sanity save for this disorder is 5 + the contacted creature’s level, but for aberrations, outsiders and vermin the save is 10 + the contacted creature’s level.
Object Reading
As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. The adept gets a +4 bonus on any saves to avoid mental disorders caused by creatures or events seen during an Object Reading vision, because the vision has an unreal, dreamlike quality. Sanity Cost: Hallucinations (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
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5
Scrying
Fatiguing, Concentration As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. You may also use this power to sense events in other dimensions. If you don’t choose a specific target for this power, essentially scrying on a random location, the familiarity modifier becomes +0. Sanity Cost: Any anxiety disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Second Sight
As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. You can also sense supernatural signatures to locate invisible dimension gates. Sanity Cost: Any anxiety disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Sense Minds
As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. Sanity Cost: If you sense the minds of any intelligent, non-humanoid creature, you acquire an anxiety disorder. The Sanity save Difficulty for this disorder is 5 + the level of the most powerful creature sensed.
Suggestion
As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. The target must be within your line of sight, or you must have mental contact, in order to make a Suggestion. Suggestion can convince the target of something that isn’t really true, effectively inducing mild hallucinations. Any time these hallucinations obviously conflict with the real world or endanger the target, the target gets to re-roll the Will saving throw. If the target attempts to ignore the suggestion and fails the Will save, the target acquires one level of Suicidal (Difficulty 14 Sanity) per day until the suggested course of action is acted upon. Sanity Cost: Hallucinations (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Supernatural Beast Link
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Fatiguing, Concentration This power is identical to the Beast Link power in True20 Adventure Roleplaying, except it works on supernatural beasts. This power does not work on regular beasts.
Sanity Cost: Any dissociative disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Supernatural Strike
Prerequisite: Improved Strike As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. Each time you make an unarmed supernatural attack, you must save to avoid the sanity cost and physical cost. Physical Cost: Maimed Hand (Difficulty 8 Reflex) Sanity Cost: Any anxiety disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Supernatural Weapon
Prerequisite: Weapon Training or Combat +3 or Greater As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. Each supernatural attack with your weapon requires a save to avoid the sanity cost and physical cost. Physical Cost: Any injury disorder (Difficulty 8 Reflex) Sanity Cost: Any anxiety disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Teleport
Fatiguing As in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. Sanity Cost: Adept and any other teleported creatures acquire an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Temporal Dimension Shift
Fatiguing, Prerequisite: Dimension Shift As Dimension Shift, but you can shift in time as well as space. Sanity Cost: Everyone who participate in the Temporal Dimension Shift acquires a psychotic disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Temporal Gate
Fatiguing, Maintenance, Prerequisite: Dimension Shift You create a visible gate to a different location or dimension, and to any time period, through which any number of medium sized creatures may pass. You may look through the gate and see whatever is on the other side. The gate is generally created within the bounds of an existing physical portal, like a door or window. In addition, the gate is invisible at the destination. The Difficulty of creating a Temporal Gate is 15, modified by
Table 5-9: Temporal Gate Difficulty
Mass/Size
10
Up to 20 lbs.
20
100 lbs.
+10
Large creature
15 25
+25
50 lbs.
250 lbs.
Huge creature
your familiarity with the destination location and time period. If you wish to create the gate so that creatures of greater size may pass through, or creatures can carry excessive additional weight, modify the base Difficulty according to the following table. Sanity Cost: Everyone who uses the Temporal Gate acquires a psychotic disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity). Time: Dimension Gate is a full-round action. The gate remains open for one hour, plus one hour per adept level.
Temporal Mind Touch
Maintenance, Prerequisite: Mind Touch As Mind Touch, but you can touch minds in the past or future. The base Difficulty is 10, modified by familiarity with the mind being contacted. If you attempt to touch any mind at random, in any time period, the familiarity modifier is +0. Sanity Cost: Any time you successfully establish mental contact with a non-humanoid creature, you acquire an anxiety disorder. The Sanity save for this disorder is 5 + the target creature’s level, but for aberrations, outsiders and vermin the save is 10 + the target creature’s level.
Temporal Scrying
Fatiguing, Concentration, Prerequisite: Scrying As Scrying, but you may sense events across time, as well and space. The base Difficulty is 15, modified by familiarity. If you don’t choose a specific time or target for this power, essentially scrying on a random time and location, the familiarity modifier becomes +0. Sanity Cost: Any anxiety disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Temporal Sense Minds
Prerequisite: Dimension Sense Minds As Sense Minds, except you can also sense minds that are “nearby” in another dimension or another time. Sanity Cost: If you sense the minds of any intelligent, non-humanoid creature, you acquire an anxiety disorder. The Sanity save for this disorder is 5 + the level of the most powerful creature sensed.
5
Visions
This power is not available in Shadows of Cthulhu. See Temporal Scrying instead.
Voorish Sign
Fatiguing The Voorish Sign is a complicated hand gesture used to reveal invisible or incorporeal things. You can use your Voorish Sign power check instead of any opposed skill check or saving throw required to resist skills or powers that fool your sense of sight. For example, you can use this power as a Will save to see a creature that has used Light Shaping to become invisible, or as a Notice check to spot someone using Stealth to hide. If you succeed on your opposed skill check or save, you see the creature or item as it truly is. Voorish Sign also reveals ethereal creatures (Difficulty 20) and inherently invisible creatures (Difficulty 25). When Voorish Sign is used, the resulting power check is treated as a new opposed skill check or new save versus any ongoing visual effects, even if you’ve previously attempted and failed to see past those effects. Sanity Cost: None Time: Voorish Sign is a move action and its effects last for one minute. You make a single power check, and the result can be used for all applicable sight checks and saves during that time.
Ward Creature Type
Concentration As Ward in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. Wards take different forms for different creatures in Shadows of Cthulhu. Therefore, wards for each creature type are separate powers. For example, Ward Outsider, Ward Aberration, and Ward Monstrous Humanoid are all separate powers. Sanity Cost: Any psychotic disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
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5
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Chapter 6: Mythos Bestiary The Cthulhu Mythos includes races of sentient creatures that pre-date humanity by eons, mindless beasts that slip though the cracks between dimensions, and powerful gods that would quickly destroy us if we ever drew their attention. Each of the creature descriptions in this chapter follows the basic format of True20 Adventure Roleplaying, with the addition of a list of mental and physical disorders each creature might cause under specific conditions. This is by no means a complete list of creatures in the Mythos, nor does it contain every creature type or power represented in Lovecraftian literature.
The Gods
The Gods of the Cthulhu Mythos rule the worlds of our universe from grim voids reachable only through the intersections of different dimensions of existence. These deities are vast and amorphous unless they choose a solid form, and they seldom interact with humans except through avatars or unspeakable spawn. Their mindless, unintelligible state puts them beyond influence, though direct contact with them is said to be possible. Each description below includes a brief statement of the deity’s motivations, if they’re at all comprehensible, as well as details about contacting the deity. Typical creature information is not provided for these gods because they take so many different forms and it is generally impossible to harm them.
Azathoth
Azathoth is the Ultimate Chaos from which creation came, an immense, formless, idiotic bubbling mass of power at the center of all dimensions. A great void surrounds him, filled with squid-like creatures that destroy anything they touch and amorphous dancing shapes that meter his movements with eerie sounds of drums and flutes. He is lord of all things, but neither knows nor cares about any of them. To the ancient Hyperboreans he was Ubbo-Sathla, and to the classical Greeks he was Uzzi-Tahuti. Azathoth’s will is embodied in his messenger, Nyarlathotep.
Motivations
None. Azathoth is pure power, and his actions of destruction and creation seem to have no purpose, except that which Nyarlathotep gives them.
6
Contact
The Contact Azathoth power has a power check Difficulty of 40. If successful, a gate appears through which anyone can pass into the domain of Azathoth. While there, humans take the form of iridescent bubbles and are not bothered by the other trans-dimensional creatures. Anyone visiting the domain of Azathoth in this way can attempt to return through the gate once per minute with a successful Difficulty 15 Will save. The gate remains open for ten minutes. Azathoth never communicates with humans, but anyone successfully contacting him might draw the attention of Nyarlathotep.
Combat
Azathoth can use any power at will with no saving throws, and he may choose any power bonus. Azathoth cannot be damaged or destroyed. Seeing him causes Mutism (Difficulty 30 Sanity), Paranoia (Difficulty 25 Sanity) and the fear effect of the Heart Shaping power with a Will save Difficulty of 33.
Nathicana
Nathicana is the Fair Maiden of the Gardens of Zais, a land that existed before time began and now exists outside of normal dimensions of time and space. She has white skin, deep red lips and sleepy eyes. Pale robes cover her alluring figure as she moves gracefully through her magical garden. Nathicana sometimes appears in her maiden form to men in visions or dreams, and her beauty haunts them from that point on. Some scholars speculate that Nathicana appears to females in an attractive male form that is the inspiration for the Greek god Himerus.
Motivations
Nathicana is lonely in her magical garden and wishes only to meet with humans in dreams and visions for companionship. She prefers human men, because they seem more pleased to visit with her.
Contact
The Contact Nathicana power has a power check Difficulty of 35, but that can be reduced to 30 if she is offered fine wines personally brewed by the caller. If the contact is successful, the contactor falls into a trance
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and converses with Nathicana in a vision. Nathicana generally has a friendly attitude.
Combat
Nathicana can use Heart Shaping, Suggestion and Comprehend Languages at will while visiting mortals in visions. She has a power bonus of +20 for these powers and their saving throw Difficulty is 20. She can be wounded, but never actually dies. Any men seeing Nathicana acquire the Obsession disorder (Difficulty 30 Sanity) with Nathicana as the object of their obsession. Anyone obsessed with Nathicana who doesn’t see her for an entire day acquires the Suicidal mental disorder (Difficulty 18 Sanity).
Nyarlathotep, The Crawling Chaos
Shub-Niggurath
Motivations
Motivations
Nyarlathotep is the heart and soul of the Outer Gods, especially Azathoth. While the gods ignore the Earth and its races, Nyarlathotep takes every chance to become involved. Nyarlathotep possesses a thousand forms. He has appeared as a handsome charismatic leader from the line of pharaohs, a towering three-legged aberration with a long red tentacle instead of a head, and a tall lean man with hoofed feet, entirely pitch black in skin and wardrobe, who entices dreamers to give up their soul by signing the Book of Azathoth.
Nyarlathotep manifests the unfathomable will of the Outer Gods in our time and dimension. He manipulates his worshipers and twists the fate of humankind toward paths of insanity and destruction. His ultimate purpose is unclear and so incongruous that humans throughout history could only see him as the center of a steady spread of madness and death. But he has a goal – a world once again ruled by the will of the banished Outer Gods.
Contact
The Contact Nyarlathotep power has a Difficulty of 30. If successful he sends an avatar, such as a hunting horror, or appears himself in one of his many forms. He generally has a hostile attitude, but he can be indifferent or friendly to those who worship him and offer sacrifices to him. If Nyarlathotep’s attitude is friendly or better, he grants exposure to one Mythos trait. Nyarlathotep speaks all languages.
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throws. In human form, Nyarlathotep is usually leading an army or is accompanied by powerful human wizards. He can be slain in any of his thousand forms, and if slain he cannot return to that place or interact with his slayer for 24 hours. Most of his more threatening forms have damage reduction 10/- and a +30 combat bonus. His bite does +16 damage; his tentacle attacks do +15 damage and toss medium size creatures 50 ft. into the air if they hit. Seeing one of Nyarlathotep’s human forms causes Mania (Difficulty 20 Sanity). Seeing any other form causes a control disorder (Difficulty 25 Sanity) and the fear effect of the Heart Shaping Power (Difficulty 33 Will). In addition, anyone within a mile of Nyarlathotep acquires Night Terrors (Difficulty 18 Sanity).
Nyarlathotep has all fascination feats and can use any power. His power bonus is +35 with Difficulty 33 saving
Shub-Niggurath, “The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!” is the most elusive of the Outer Gods. She appears to be the focus of many ancient fertility rituals, probably because of her amazing and malignant ability to produce spawn. She is worshiped by druids and other cults that are associated with nature and fertility. Shub-Niggurath is rarely seen, but the few sources that mention her appearance claim that she is a gigantic floating mass of forming and reforming body parts, flailing tentacles and dripping mouths. Occasionally a pair of the thick hoofed legs that sprout from this mass will separate completely, forming one of her dark young.
Shub-Niggurath’s motivations are unclear, but she favors the woods and other areas that are densely populated with life, and she seems to be constantly producing her own young. It would seem that she desires to propagate life by whatever method, no matter how harsh or ghastly.
Contact
The Contact Shub-Niggurath power has a Difficulty of 30, and if successful a dark young appears to attack any non-worshipers present and do the bidding of the contacting adept. If the power check to Contact Shub-Niggurath equals or exceeds 42, Shub-Niggurath herself appears instead. She immediately attacks nonworshipers and begins to produce one dark young every minute. When non-worshipers are dead, she will listen to requests from worshipers. Her attitude toward worshipers is indifferent unless they provide a sacrifice. Shub-Niggurath speaks all languages.
Combat
Shub-Niggurath spawns dark young to attack her enemies, and she also attacks with one of her flailing tentacles every round with an attack bonus of +35 and +8 damage. If she hits any huge or smaller creature with a tentacle, she can automatically grab then and draw them to one of her mouths, which drains the victim’s blood, causing 1 point of Strength damage per round. Shub-Niggurath holds the victim until she is forced to leave or the tentacle is destroyed. She can continue to attack with one tentacle each round, even if other tentacles are holding victims. Shub-Niggurath’s roiling, gargantuan form cannot be harmed, but the individual body parts and tentacles can be. Each appendage has Toughness +10, damage resistance 2/supernatural, and a dodge bonus of +30, which is reduced to +8 for tentacles that are holding creatures. If an appendage is reduced to dying, it is destroyed. Shub-Niggurath disappears as soon as three of her appendages have been destroyed, taking any creatures she still holds in her remaining tentacles with her back into the void. In addition to her other abilities, Shub-Niggurath can use the following powers at will with a power bonus of +35 , Difficulty 33 saves, and no fatigue costs: Drain Vitality, Earth Shaping, Move Object, Plant Shaping, Water Shaping, Weather Shaping, Wind Shaping. Anyone who sees Shub-Niggurath gains a control disorder (Difficulty 26 Sanity) and suffers the fear effect of the Heart Shaping Power (Difficulty 33 Will).
Umr at-Tawil & Ancient Ones
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Umr At-Tawil is known as the Most Ancient One, or the Guardian of the Ultimate Gate. He is the first of the Ancient Ones, who appear as 10-feet tall, heavily-robed and completely shrouded humanoids. All but Umr AtTawil sit dreaming upon thrones atop hexagonal pedestals beyond the First Gate of the Void. Umr At-Tawil controls the dreams of the other Ancient Ones using chants emanating from a glowing quasi-sphere. Their dreams, in turn, control the angles and intersections of dimensions of existence. It is only with the aid of Umr At-Tawil that anyone can pass beyond the First Gate to the Second Gate of Void, which leads to a point where all dimensions intersect. Creatures passing through the Second Gate lose their identity and become simultaneously conscious of all variations of their existence in all dimensions. If they succeed on a Difficulty 30 Will save they may return to their original identity and gain exposure to all Mythos Knowledge Skills. If travelers fail their Will saves, their consciousnesses settle in the bodies of different versions of themselves in other dimensions. Because of his control of all dimensions and travel between them, it is possible that Umr At-Tawil and the Ancient Ones are actually a manifestation of Yog-Sothoth. Or perhaps Umr At-Tawil is a separate deity who brings order to the will of Yog-Sothoth in a similar way that Nyarlathotep serves Azathoth.
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Motivations
Umr At-Tawil keeps the dimensions in place through his control of the Ancient Ones. He will banish anyone who enters through the First Gate with intentions to manipulate the dimensions or interfere with the dreams of the Ancient Ones. He will occasionally escort worthy creatures beyond the Second Gate.
Contact
The Contact Umr At-Tawil power has a Difficulty of 40. If successful, the adept will Dimension Shift beyond the First Gate of the Void, into the presence of Umr AtTawil and the Ancient Ones. Umr At-Tawil speaks all languages and is generally indifferent to visitors as long as they don’t interfere.
Combat
Umr At-Tawil can use any temporal or dimension power at will with complete success and no saving throws. The Ancient Ones can be attacked normally, but wounds affect only one of their infinite selves throughout the dimensions, effectively making them invulnerable. Standing in the presence of the Ancient Ones causes an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 16 Sanity), and hearing the chants from Umr At-Tawil’s sphere causes Brain Damage (Difficulty 16 Will).
Yog-Sothoth
Yog-Sothoth is perhaps the most widely-worshiped deity in the Cthulhu Mythos. He is known to the Mi-go of Yoggoth as the Beyond-one, and is named only with the untranslatable sign by the vaporous brains of the Spiral Nebula. He exists in the intersections between dimensions but has no existence in any single dimension unless summoned.
Motivations
Yog-Sothoth serves his worshipers and gives them the power to destroy. He may do this by revealing feats and powers to them or by putting terrible creatures under their control. Yog-Sothoth cannot remain in our dimension for long periods, so he works primarily through his cults, servitors and spawn.
Contact
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The Contact Yog-Sothoth power has a Difficulty of 35 and calls forth a rapidly shifting and pulsating mass of protoplasmic globes that is the projection of infinite Yog-Sothoth in our dimension. Contacting YogSothoth also causes an earthquake as described in the Earth Shaping power. Yog-Sothoth is generally hostile when he appears, unless those contacting him have pro-
vided an intelligent sacrifice or a young maiden capable of bearing his spawn.
Combat
Manifestations of Yog-Sothoth can use any elemental, life, or unlife powers at will, with a power bonus of +30 and Difficulty 30 saving throws. Each manifestation only remains for one minute per level of the contacting adept. During that time, it will kill whatever sacrifices are provided and impregnate any maidens with spawn. If there are non-worshipers present or an offering was not made, Yog-Sothoth attacks with 1d20 spheres each round, each with an attack bonus of +20, doing +8 damage, and causing Premature Aging in any creature hit (Difficulty 22 Fortitude). Each rapidly shifting sphere has a defense of +20, with a +4 Toughness save. Any wounded or worse result destroys a sphere, while anything less has no effect. When at least three spheres have been destroyed, the manifestation disappears. Seeing a manifestation of Yog-Sothoth causes a psychotic disorder (Difficulty 25 Sanity) as well as the fear effect of the Heart Shaping Power (Difficulty 30 Will).
Creature Descriptions
The following creatures follow the format used in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. Although many of them, especially the Great Old Ones, are so powerful that most other races view them as Gods, they are still of the material world and can be confronted and defeated.
Animated Corpse
Type: 1st Level Undead Size: Medium Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +2 (-2 Somatic Delusions), Dex +0 (+2, -2 Somatic Delusions), Con -, Int -1, Wis +1, Cha +0 Skills: Bluff 4 (+4), Climb 4 (+4), Intimidate 4 (+4), Notice 4 (+5), Stealth 4 (+4) Feats: Accurate Attack, Connected, Firearms Training, Improved Grab, Point Blank Shot, Seize Initiative, Taunt Traits: Somatic Delusions disorder (2 levels) Combat: Attack +1 (+1 base, +0 Dex), Damage +2 (club) or +3 (light pistol), Defense: Dodge/Parry +1/+1 (+1 base, +0 Dex/+0 Str), Initiative +0 Saves: Toughness +0, Fortitude -, Reflex +0 (+0 base, +0 Dex), Will +1 (+0 base, +1 Wis), Sanity +2 (+2 base, +0 Cha) Animated corpses are dead human bodies that have been brought back to life with their memories and skills intact, though they often acquire a serious psychotic disorder in the process. Animated corpses retain all their
traits from life, but they no longer have a constitution score. They do not acquire any of the immunities or special traits normally associated with undead. These are not mindless zombies, but intelligent beings restored to the living and often able to resume their place in society. They are still undead, however. The information given above is for the animated corpse of a typical 1st-level warrior.
Combat
Animated corpses fight just as they did in real life, but perhaps with more abandon because they know they can be re-animated if they die.
Ecology
Animated corpses are usually the result of an adept using the Imbue Unlife power. Although they are undead, they still eat, sleep, and breathe, just like they did in real life. The effects of the Imbue Unlife power can be reversed with the Dispel Unlife power, returning the animated corpse to its dead corpse state, with all retroactive aging of the corpse taking place immediately. Animated corpses have a mind of their own, but out of gratitude they may serve the adept that re-animated them.
Adventure Hook
The heroes may come across an old acquaintance who is now an animated corpse. They may notice strange things about him, and their curiosity may lead them to the demented adept who re-animated him.
Byakhee, Winged Servitors
Type: 3rd Level Supernatural Beast (Lesser Servitor Race) Size: Medium Speed: 20 ft., fly 50 ft. (average) Abilities: Str +4, Dex +1, Con +2, Int -1, Wis +1, Cha +2 Skills: Stealth 6 (+7) Feats: Night Vision, Open Mind, Powers(3)B Traits: Drain Blood, Powers (rank 6, Cha, save Difficulty 14; Mind Probe +8, Mind Touch +8, Pain +8) Combat: Attack +4 (+3 base, +1 Dex), Damage +7 (claws) or +6 (bite), Defense: Dodge/Parry +4/- (+3 base, +1 Dex), Initiative +1
Saves: Toughness +4 (+2 natural, +2 Con), Fortitude +5 (+3 base, +2 Con), Reflex +4 (+3 base, +1 Dex), Will +2 (+1 base, +1 Wis) Byakhees are winged servants of Mythos deities and cultists. They are pitch black and bipedal, with ant-like limbs, great bat-like wings, and a head like a vulture or crow. Their hands and feet are armed with razor-sharp claws, and their long, pointed tongues can pierce any flesh to suck blood. Some appear almost undead, with patches of missing or pealing flesh and gaping holes in their wings. Byakee’s ability to fly is partially supernatural, allowing their seemingly slight frames to carry riders up to medium size.
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Combat
Byakhee attack with their claws, alternating between attacks with their hands and feet as they hop in a half-flying state. They can also attack with their long beak and try to latch onto their opponent’s flesh. Drain Blood: If a byakhee successfully bites an opponent, it remains attached and drains blood each subsequent round, doing 1 point of Strength damage. Any staggered or wounded or higher damage to the byakhee causes it to loose its grasp. Sanity: Seeing a byakhee causes Panic Attacks (Difficulty 13 Sanity).
Ecology
Byakee live near other stars and are the servants of Hastur, but they are sometimes brought to Earth by Outer Gods or Great Old Ones to collect sacrifices. More often, they are called by Mythos cultists to use as steeds or to kill enemies.
Adventure Hook
Police have found the dead body of Mabel March hanging from the clock tower of City Hall. She was the old, beloved librarian in the seaside town of Kingsport. Her body had been raked by claws and lost a lot of blood. As the heroes investigate her death, they discover that she had once received and ignored the Yellow Sign. 69
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Coleopteran Collective
Type: 6th Level Vermin (Swarm, Lesser Independent Race) Size: Tiny Speed: 20 ft., climb 20 ft. Abilities: Str -5, Dex +3, Con +2, Int +4, Wis +1, Cha +1 Skills: Climb 0 (+3), +Craft (science) 9 (+12), Gather Information 9 (+10), Mythos Knowledge (history, physical sciences, technology) 9 (+13), Notice 0 (+5), Stealth 9 (+20) Feats: Great Fortitude, Improved Defense, Powers(3)B, Track Traits: Darkvision 60 ft., Distraction, Half Damage from Slashing and Piercing, Powers (rank 10, Cha, save Difficulty 14, +5 for scientific equipment, Scientific Temporal Mind Touch +16, Scientific Exchange Personality +16, Scientific Comprehend Languages +16), Sanity, Swarm Traits Combat: Swarm, Damage +4, Defense: Dodge/ Parry +9/ - (+4 base, +2 size, +3 Dex), Initiative +3 Saves: Toughness +1 (+2 Con, +1 natural, -2 size), Fortitude +9 (+5 base, +2 Con, Great Fortitude), Reflex +5 (+2 base, +3 Dex), Will +3 (+2 base, +1 Wis) The coleopterans are a hardy race. They develop from beetles millions of years in the future, after the human race has died out. Hundreds of these tiny creatures swarm together to form hive-minds capable of intelligent thought. They are the species that the Great Race of Yith chose as hosts for the mass migration of their minds forward in time. Each Yithian mind takes control of an entire hive-mind. The knowledge and genius of the coleopterans with Yithian minds will be so superior that they will quickly dominate and change their entire society. The coleopterans eventually reproduce much of the ancient Yithian technology, including their personality transfer devices and language translators.
Combat
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Coleopterans avoid combat if possible, preferring to communicate with other creatures using their translator device. The Yithians projected their minds far in the future to escape their enemies and are not well prepared for combat. If they are forced to fight, they swarm and attack until the enemy is disabled, then they back off and try to communicate again. Distraction: Any living creature that begins its turn with a coleopteran swarm in its immediate vicinity must succeed on a Difficulty 15 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round. The save Difficulty is Constitutionbased. Sanity: Being inside a swarm of coleopterans causes a Phobia disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity). Seeing a swarm exhibit signs of intelligence causes an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity).
Skills: Coleopterans have a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and a +4 bonus on Notice checks. Powers: All coleopteran collectives use the most effective scientific equipment to gain a +5 modifier on power checks (already included above).
Ecology
Male and female beetles from each coleopteran collective are designated for reproduction when more members are needed. They lay hundreds of eggs in special underground larvae chambers tended by non-Yithian collectives. When a group of larvae develop into adults, they leave the larvae chambers as a group and join their parent collective. If the number of beetles in a collective gets too low to support a Yithian mind, that mind transfers to another available collective.
Advneture Hook
Mental contact with minds in the future, or an accidental opening of a Temporal Gate, could result in contact with the coleapterans. It’s also likely that the coleopterans have swapped minds with humans in our own time in an attempt to assess the fate of their old enemy, the flying polyps.
Color Out of Space
Type: 3rd Level Elemental (Aquatic, Greater Independent Race) Size: Diminutive Speed: swim 5 ft. Abilities: Str -, Dex -, Con +1, Int +1, Wis +0, Cha +3 Skills: Perform (dance) 6 (+9), Sense Motive 6 (+6) Feats: Fascinate, Suggestion Traits: Elemental traits, Life Drain, lifesight 90 ft., Sanity, Vulnerable to Electricity Combat: Attack none, Defense: Dodge/Parry +1/ (+2 base, +4 size, -5 Dex), Initiative -5 Saves: Toughness -1 (+1 Con, +2 natural, -4 size), Fortitude +4 (+3 base, +1 Con), Reflex -4 (+1 base, -5 Dex), Will +1 (+1 base, +0 Wis) The color out of space is a simple alien life form that resembles a small meteor. It requires water to survive and reproduce, and goes into a slowly-deteriorating dormant state when exposed to air. When it has access to water, it emits a glowing display of prismatic light and mildly radioactive energy. It weaves its waves of light through the air in a translucent, dancing pattern, draining the life force from any living thing it engulfs and corrupting the development of nearby plants and animals. Its hypnotic color patterns can also dominate or break the minds of intelligent creatures.
Combat
The color out of space grows from a mysterious meteor that falls from space, and that meteor remains the base of the creature’s waving light patterns. Though nearly immobile, the color out of space is protected by the long reach of its devastating power to drain life. Life Drain: A fully-developed color out of space can lash out at a living target up to 30 ft. away with its prismatic waves of color. A successful Difficulty 14 Reflex save avoids the color’s touch. If touched, the target acquires one level of the Life Essence Drain disorder (Difficulty 12 Fortitude). Lifesight: This operates like blindsight, but the color out of space can sense only living creatures, nothing
else. Invisibility and darkness have no effect on the color out of space, and it automatically senses living creatures within range without a Notice check.
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Suggestion: The color out of space uses its Suggestion ability by creating unearthly patterns of light and color, drawing living creatures in close. The target can resist with a Difficulty 14 Will save. Sanity: Looking at the dancing lights of the color out of space causes Explosive Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity) and Depression (Difficulty 14 Sanity).
Ecology
The color out of space travels through the universe in the form of a small, inorganic meteor until it crashes to the surface of a planet. If one of these meteors encounters water and life, it drains both and blooms into its colorful and deadly prismatic display, eventually maturing enough to reproduce and launch more meteor-like spawn into space.
Adventure Hook
Color out of space meteors are frequently crashing to earth, but the those that don’t hit water die off, and the ones that do land in water drain nearby life and return to space within days. The rare color out of space that lands in water near civilization is the one that will draw the heroes’ attention.
Cthulhu
Type: 34th Level Outsider (Great Old One) Size: Colossal Speed: 90 ft., swim 60 ft., fly 90 ft. Abilities: Str +14, Dex +3, Con +8, Int +5, Wis +5, Cha +8 Skills: Bluff 37 (+45), Climb 37 (+51), Craft (architecture) 37 (+42), Intimidate 37 (+45), Knowledge (supernatural) 37 (+42), Mythos Knowledge (history, life sciences, physical sciences, theology and philosophy) 37 (+42), Notice 37 (+42), Sense Motive 37 (+42) Feats: All-out Attack, Cleave, Double Strike, Great Cleave, Hover, Imbue Item, Improved Grab, Iron Will, Move-By Action, PowersB, Seize Initiative, Tough, Wingover Traits: Amphibious, Damage Reduction 8/supernatural, Darkvision 120 ft., Fast Healing, Fear Aura, Powers (rank 37, Cha, save Difficulty 35, all powers except elemental powers and curing powers +45), Sanity, Tear. Combat: Attack +27 (-8 Size, +34 base, +3 Dex, -2 two-weapon), Damage +18 (2 x claws), Defense: Dodge/Parry +29/ - (-8 Size, +34 base, +3 Dex), Initiative +3
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Saves: Toughness +20 (+8 Size, +8 Con, +4 natural), Fortitude +27 (+19 base, +8 Con), Reflex +22 (+19 base, +3 Dex), Will +26 (+19 base, +5 Wis, +2 Iron Will) Great Cthulhu is hundreds of feet tall, with leathery wings, and a roughly humanoid body. His head is octopoidal, with dozens of tentacles extending all around and from the lower half of his face. He is the prehistoric priest of Azathoth and bringer of destruction. He plunged to Earth from the stars eons ago, long before men walked upright, and his spawn and servants created the great city of R’lyeh and taught the world to fear him.
Combat
Cthulhu can rake though crowds of creatures each round with two attacks from his massive hands, taking advantage of his cleaving ability. He can substitute attacks with one or two of the tentacles on his face, which are each capable of grappling and crushing creatures up to Large size. Cthulhu seeks to destroy any nonworshipers in his vicinity, pursuing them through water, across land, or through the air. If Cthulhu is slain, his body disintegrates and reforms in a slumbering state back in the depths of R’lyeh, which immediately sinks back to the bottom of the ocean. Amphibious: Cthulhu can breathe both air and water. Fast Healing: Cthulhu is not made of the stuff of this earth, so earthly weapons cannot damage him permanently. He makes recovery checks once per round for staggered or unconscious, and once per minute for wounded, disabled or dying. Any damage caused by supernatural weapons heals at the normal rate. Fear Aura: Anyone who sees Great Cthulhu must succeed on a Difficulty 35 Will save or be affected as though by the fear effect of the Heart Shaping power. A creature that successfully saves is immune to Cthulhu’s appearance for 24 hours. The save Difficulty is Charisma-based. Sanity: Seeing Cthulhu causes an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 35 Sanity) and a mood disorder (Difficulty 39 Sanity). Tear: If Cthulhu successfully grapples a creature with one of his facial tentacles, he may try to tear the creature apart as a move action. The target of this attack must succeed on a Difficulty 41 Fortitude save or be torn in half.
Ecology
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Great Cthulhu’s flesh is of the stars, and only when they are in certain positions can he awake and move freely on the Earth. At such times his great non-euclidean city of R’lyeh rises from the depths of the ocean and he can be called forth by his worshipers from behind the great doors of the chamber where he has slept for eons. He slept while the first humans learned to use fire, and still
slept while they created great cities, fought wars and named the stars. As he slept he dreamed, and he entered the dreams of humankind so that they might learn his name and worship him when the stars are once again right.
Contact
While sleeping behind the massive doors of his chamber in R’lyeh, Great Cthulhu can use the Mind Touch power at will to contact intelligent dreaming minds anywhere in the world (Difficulty 35 Will save to resist). Cthulhu has used this ability since the dawn of humankind to create his cults and advance plans for his resurrection. Those contacted cannot always remember what happened, but are agitated and disturbed by vague recollections. Such contact with Cthulhu causes Insomnia (Difficulty 20 Sanity) and counts as exposure to the Dream skill. A successful Difficulty 15 Dream check after the fact allows the subject to remember the details of the contact, which causes an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 27 Sanity). The Contact Cthulhu power has a Difficulty of 27. If successful, the contacting creature falls into a trance and Cthulhu appears in a dream-like vision. Cthulhu’s attitude toward those who contact him is generally indifferent. He will, however, reveal information to them that may help prepare the world for his dominance and lead to his revival when the stars are right. Those contacting Cthulhu are affected mentally as if he had contacted them with his Mind Touch.
Adventure Hook
There are Cthulhu cults all around the world, preparing for the dark day when they will all join together to raise their master and rule the Earth. They practice their sacrifices and dark rituals, and they seek after other Mythos powers that might help them. The heroes may encounter these cultists or directly contact Cthulhu in a poorly-remembered dream.
Dagon
Type: 13th Level Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic) Size: Large Speed: 30 ft., swim 50 ft. Abilities: Str +6, Dex +1, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +2 Skills: Notice 16 (+17), Sense Motive 16 (+17), Swim 0 (+14) Feats: Great Fortitude, Cleave, Diehard, Powers(1B, Powers(2) Traits: Amphibious, Damage Reduction 2/supernatural, Darkvision 60 ft., Fear Aura, Powers (rank 16, Cha, save Difficulty 19, Call Animal +18, Mind Touch +18, Pain +18, Water Shaping +18), Sanity
Combat: Attack +13 (-1 Size, +13 base, +1 Dex), Damage +10 (claws) or +9 (bite), Defense: Dodge/Parry +13/ - (-1 Size, +13 base, +1 Dex), Initiative +1 Saves: Toughness +9 (+2 Size, +2 Con, +5 natural), Fortitude +8 (+4 base, +2 Con), Reflex +9 (+8 base, +1 Dex), Will +9 (+8 base, +1 Wis) Dagon appears to be a grotesquely large deep one. He is worshiped by deep ones and some groups of humans as a demi-god second only to Great Cthulhu. They offer him humanoid sacrifices, and in exchange he calls abundant fish for their livelihood. Just his presence nearby gives sentient creatures terrible dreams, and if Dagon is aware of a creature, he can make direct mental contact and cause terrible mental anguish.
Combat
Dagon fights like an animal, ripping and tearing with claws and teeth. If wounded he uses his Fear Aura to drive attackers away, or he retreats to deep water and calls on sharks and other vicious sea creatures to aid him. Amphibious: Dagon can breathe both air and water. Fear Aura: Dagon radiates a 60-foot radius fear aura as a free action. This fear aura also affects anyone within sight of Dagon, or anyone dreaming within one mile. A creature in the area must succeed on a Difficulty 18 Will save or be affected as though by the fear effect of the Heart Shaping Supernatural power. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by Dagon’s aura for 24 hours. The save Difficulty is Charisma-based. Sanity: Seeing Dagon causes a random anxiety disorder (Difficulty 16 Sanity). Mental contact with Dagon causes a random sleep disorder (Difficulty 16 Sanity). Skills: Dagon has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim checks to perform special actions or avoid hazards. He can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. He can use the run ac-
tion while swimming, provided he swims in a straight line.
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Ecology
Dagon appears to be a deep one that has grown terribly large and powerful over many thousands of years. He hunts in the deep Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean and seems to prefer intelligent prey. Dagon was already a demi-god worshiped by the sea peoples four thousand years ago, so he must be incredibly ancient.
Adventure Hook
Dagon is still worshiped by the deep ones and may be called by them if they need his help against the heroes. The heroes may also come across isolated groups of seafaring humans that sacrifice to Dagon.
Dark Young of ShubNiggurath
Type: 8th Level Aberration (Greater Servitor Race) Size: Huge Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +9, Dex +1, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +2 Cha +3 Skills: Disguise 11 (+14), Notice 11 (+13), Stealth 11 (+7) Feats: All-out Attack, Improved Grab, Skill Focus (Stealth), Traits: Blindsight, Damage Reduction 5/supernatural or slashing, Drain Blood, Immunities, Maim, Sanity, Trample Combat: Attack +5 (-2 size, +6 base, +1 Dex), Damage +12 and Maim (tentacle), Defense: Dodge/Parry +5/ - (-2 size, +6 base, +1 Dex), Initiative +1 Saves: Toughness +10 (+4 size, +2 Con, +4 natural), Fortitude +4 (+2 base, +2 Con), Reflex +3 (+2 base, +1 Dex), Will +8 (+6 base, +2 Wis) Dark young are gnarled upright masses that vaguely resemble trees. Thick, short, hoofed legs support a torso of twisted tentacles and gaping maws. Four thick, ropey tentacles emerge from the top of the torso, flailing in the air until they find a tar-
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get. Dark young can be up to 20 feet high, and although they may be mistaken for trees, they can move surprisingly fast when roused.
Combat
Dark young are vicious fighters, confident in their own invulnerability. They attack without regard for their own protection, smashing opponents with their tentacles, or grabbing them and holding them helpless. Drain Blood: If a dark young grapples a creature of Medium size or smaller, it may draw it to one of its many mouths as a move action. Once at a mouth, the grappled creature takes 1 point of Strength damage each round until it breaks free, the dark young is disabled, or the tentacle is destroyed. A single dark young can hold one victim in each of its four large tentacles. Tentacles that are grappling opponents can be targeted separately. They have a dodge bonus of +10 and a Toughness of +6. The dark young’s damage reduction and immunities still apply to the tentacle. Any wounded or better result while attacking a tentacle means the tentacle is destroyed. Immunities: Dark young are immune to damage caused by heat, explosions, acid, electricity and poison. Maim: If a dark young hits an opponent with a tentacle and chooses not to grapple, the dark young may instead inflict an injury disorder upon the opponent (Difficulty 23 Fortitude). Sanity: Seeing a dark young causes a control disorder (Difficulty 17 Sanity). Trample: Damage +13, Difficulty 23 Reflex save for half damage. The save Difficulty is Strength-based.
Ecology
Dark young are spawned from the manifested body of Shub-Niggurath herself. Some of them may be many thousands of years old, sitting nearly dormant for centuries as guardians of primeval forests or dense jungles. Others may be newly spawned by Shub-Niggurath to accept a sacrifice on her behalf or to satisfy the request of a worshiper. Once spawned, dark ones live forever unless they are destroyed. Dark young have no spoken language.
Adventure Hook
The heroes may hear about hikers killed by some unusual wild animal in a remote forest area. As the heroes investigate, they uncover a cult of neo-druids who worship Shub-Niggurath and have surprised themselves by successfully calling a dark young.
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Deep Ones
Type: 3rd Level Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic, Lesser Servitor Race) Size: Medium Speed: 20 ft., swim 40 ft. Abilities: Str +2, Dex -1, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +0 Skills: Handle Aberration 6 (+6), Mythos Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 6 (+6), Swim 0 (+10) Feats: Stunning Attack, Tough, Weapon Training Traits: Amphibious, Darkvision 60 ft., Sanity Combat: Attack +2 (+3 base, -1 Dex), Damage +6 (claws) or +5 (bite) or +5 (spear), Defense: Dodge/Parry +2/ +5 (+3 base, -1 Dex/+2 Str), Initiative -1 Saves: Toughness +3 (+1 Con, +1 natural, +1 Tough), Fortitude +2 (+1 base, +1 Con), Reflex +0 (+1 base, -1 Dex), Will +4 (+3 base, +1 Wis) The deep ones are a race of fish-headed humanoid creatures that live in large, fantastic cities on the ocean floor. Their bodies are slippery and scaly and vary in color from gray to green. The have bulging eyes, rounded white bellies, prominent gills, and large feet that slap as they shamble along dry ground but make them exceptionally fast swimmers. They speak their own language in a series of guttural croaks and stops. The deep ones worship Dagon and are somehow involved with the Cult of Cthulhu.
Combat
Deep ones are not inherently brave unless they are underwater, in a group, or have a shoggoth at hand. If caught alone they will generally flee. They can fight with natural weapons, but when on land they prefer to use clubs or spears or whatever is at hand. If they outnumber their opponents, they use Stunning Attacks so they can save their victims a sacrifices to Dagon. If a deep one is wounded, it will usually attempt to escape to the nearest body of water. Amphibious: Deep ones can breathe both air and water. Sanity: Seeing a deep one causes a random anxiety disorder (Difficulty 11 Sanity). Skills: Deep ones have a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform special actions or avoid hazards. They can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. They can use the run action while swimming, provided they swim in a straight line.
Ecology
Deep ones are a hardy race that feed on the bounty of the sea and can live for thousands of years. All animals domesticated by man hate and fear the deep ones and their hybrid offspring, but the deep ones have learned to domesticate shoggoths, which they use to construct
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their marvelous cities below the seas, and sometimes to hunt humans on dry land. As part of a plan to conquer the land, deep ones interbreed with humans, creating hybrid creatures. These hybrids appear human at birth but develop deep one features and are drawn to the sea as they grow older. They eventually develop gills and leave the land for good. The deep ones’ relationships with humans, sometimes with entire coastal towns, provide them with the sentient sacrifices they require to remain in Dagon’s favor.
Adventure Hook
Heroes may become involved when deep ones capture humans along lonely coastlines and offer them as sacrifices to Dagon. The heroes may also come across hybrid humans that will eventually become part of the deep ones’ plan to colonize the dry land.
Elder Things
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Type: 5th Level Aberration (Lesser Independent Race) Size: Large Speed: 40 ft., swim 30 ft. Abilities: Str +4, Dex +2, Con +3, Int +4, Wis +1, Cha +2 Skills: Craft (mechanics) 8 (+12), Mythos Knowledge (art, history, life sciences, technology) 8 (+12), Notice 8 (+9) Feats: Endurance, Lightning Reflexes, Weapon TrainingB Traits: Amphibious, Darkvision 60 ft., Hibernation, Sanity Combat: Attack +4 (+3 base, -1 size +2 Dex), Damage +7 (claws) or +8 (blades), Defense: Dodge/Parry +4/ +6 (-1 size, +3 base, +2 Dex/+4 Str), Initiative +2 Saves: Toughness +10 (+3 Con, +5 natural, +2 size), Fortitude +4 (+1 base, +3 Con), Reflex +5 (+1 base, +2 Dex, +2 Lightning Reflexes), Will +5 (+4 base, +1 Wis) Elder things look like large, barrel-shaped vegetables ringed and topped with tentacles and cilia of various sizes and shapes. Their central barrel shape is six feet high and lined with five vertical ridges. The body tapers at the top to a thick neck marked with gill slits, atop which sits a yellowish starfish shape that serves as the creature’s head. The head is covered in short cilia, and each thick point of the starfish ends in a hallow tube, as do five short stalks that project from the inside angles of the star. Seven-foot, membranous wings extend from two of the body’s ridge lines. While these wings may have once given the elder things the power of flight, that ability was lost many millions of years ago. Now the wings seem to merely provide extra control and propulsion underwater.
Five muscular arms extend from the points where a horizontal ridge around the creature’s widest point intersects the vertical ridges. Each arm extends a couple feet before branching into three stalks, which each eventually branch into three thin finger-like structures. Each elder thing rests on five thick legs capable of fast movement and able to lift them to a height of well over eight feet.
Combat
Elder things traditionally fight with five blades held between three of the fingers of each of their five arms, spinning as they rapidly attack with all five weapons. The favorite weapon of the elder things during their battles with the shoggoths was the molecular disturbance device (see Chapter 7). If there are still elder things alive in the remote areas of the world, it may be because they have these devices to protect themselves. Though they are made of natural material, the skin of an elder thing is exceptionally tough. Amphibious: Elder things can breathe both air and water. Hibernation: When elder things find themselves in harsh environments in which they cannot survive, they can enter a state of suspended animation that lasts until they are physically disturbed. This state can last for a few hours or millions of years. It takes elder things one full day to awake from their hibernating state.
Sanity: Hearing the otherworldly piping, whistling language of the elder things causes Paranoia (Difficulty 10 Sanity), while actually seeing a living elder thing causes an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity).
Ecology
The elder things flew from the stars to Earth billions of years ago and settled in great cities under the ocean. They manipulated the primitive life of earth into the species they needed for their survival. It is even possible that they created the first life on Earth from primordial ingredients. The elder things eventually settled the land, building their most magnificent city on the great plateau of Antarctica. The elder things had rich traditions of art and history, and a written language consisting of patterns of dots. Millions of elder things lived in their cities for millions of years, until glaciers drove them from their southern settlements and their most fearsome creations, the shoggoths, rebelled and forced them to leave most of their undersea cities.
Over all those years they had lost the ability to fly back to the stars, so they huddled in hidden places and their race degenerated.
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Adventure Hook
Elder things may still lurk in hidden cities beneath the ocean or deep underground. The heroes may stumble upon clues that lead them to hibernating elder things, which may eventually lead them to this race’s lost cities.
Flying Polyps
Type: 10th Level Aberration (Greater Independent Race) Size: Huge Speed: 20 ft., fly 50 ft. (good) Abilities: Str +8, Dex +3, Con +2, Int +2, Wis -1, Cha +3 Skills: Concentration 13 (+12), Intimidate 13 (+16), Mythos Knowledge (physical sciences) 13 (+15), Notice 13 (+12) Feats: Empower, Move-by Attack, Hover, Widen Power, Powers(3)B Traits: Blindsight, Damage Reduction 4/electricity or supernatural, Fear Aura, Immunities, Powers (rank 13, Cha, save Difficulty 18; Enhance Senses +16, Scrying +16, Wind Shaping +16), Shriek, Call Flying Polyp, Temporary Invisibility, Vulnerable to Electricity Combat: Attack +8 (+7 base, -2 size +3 Dex), Damage +12 (tentacle), Defense: Dodge/Parry +8/ - (+7 base, -2 size, +3 Dex), Initiative +3 Saves: Toughness +6 (+2 size, +2 Con, +2 natural), Fortitude +5 (+3 base, +2 Con), Reflex +6 (+3 base, +3 Dex), Will +6 (+7 base, -1 Wis) Flying polyps are malevolent floating, undulating masses of growing and shrinking bulbous polyps and tentacle-like appendages. They can stretch to nearly 30 feet in length and normally move about by flying. When they must land to fulfill their unfathomable alien purposes, they leave behind large footprints consisting of five circular depressions.
Combat
Flying polyps destroy other living things whenever they get the chance. While hovering, they attack with transient tentacles that suddenly protrude from between their polyps and then disappear. They may use their Move-by Attack ability against dangerous opponents to stay just out of reach, or back away and use an Empowered Wind Shaping
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power. If seriously threatened, they become invisible and try to escape, but they often fight to the death. Fear Aura: Flying polyps can emit a fear aura at will as a free action. All creatures within 60 ft. must succeed on a Difficulty 18 Will save or be affected as though by the fear effect of the Heart Shaping power. A creature that successfully saves is immune to auras of all flying polyps for 24 hours. The save Difficulty is Charismabased. Immunities: Flying polyps are immune to Mind Touch, Temporal Mind Touch, Heart Shaping, and any powers that require mental contact. Sanity: Anyone seeing a flying polyp gains a Panic Attack disorder (Difficulty 18 Sanity). Shriek: A flying polyp can emit a nauseating shriek as a standard action. Any creature within 120 ft. must succeed on a Difficulty 17 Fortitude save or become nauseated for 5 rounds. The save and duration of this ability are Constitution-based. Call Flying Polyp: Once per scene a flying polyp can attempt to call another flying polyp with 50 percent chance of success (11 or better on d20). Temporary Invisibility: Flying Polyps can become invisible as a move action, but they take one level of fatigue when they do so. They remain invisible indefinitely, but they cannot change shape while invisible, and therefore cannot use their tentacle attack. The can move normally and they can become visible at any time as a free action.
Ecology
Flying Polyps first came to this part of the galaxy over 700 million years ago. They quickly conquered half a dozen planets, including Earth. They were the unchallenged rulers of Earth for 150 million years, until the great race of Yith arrived and drove them into deep caverns underground. The flying polyps remained trapped in vast subterranean chambers until they escaped 50 million years ago and drove the great race into the far future. Flying polyps still survive far underground, and no one knows what happened on the other planets they conquered.
Adventure Hook
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In the Third Dynasty of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, King Imhotep ordered a special tunnel dug beneath the tomb of his predecessor, King Djoser. Imhotep believed that Djoser’s obsessions with the Old Gods had left his soul restless in the Land of the Dead, and it needed to descend to the depths of N’Kai. Hundreds of Imhotep’s subjects worked beneath the pyramid day and night for years, many of them dying of exhaustion or being buried alive in terrible cave-ins. Three diggers died when they finally broke through into a seemingly bottomless chamber, and surviving workers spoke in half-mad sentences of strange smells and sounds from below. Imho-
tep ordered them to dump Djoser’s mummy into the void and then the seal the tunnel. One of the heroes receives a barely-coherent letter from an Egyptologist friend who was present when the closed tunnel was discovered and reopened and a great wind destroyed the expedition’s camp.
Ghoul
Type: 2nd Level Undead (Lesser Independent Race) Size: Medium Speed: 20 ft. Abilities: Str +3, Dex +0, Con -, Int -1, Wis +2, Cha -1 Skills: Climb 5 (+8), Escape Artist 5 (+5), Stealth 5 (+5), Feats: Track Traits: Darkvision 60 ft., Light Sensitivity, Sanity, Scent, Undead Traits. Combat: Attack +1 (+1 base, +0 Dex), Damage +6 (claws) or +5 (club), Defense: Dodge/Parry +1/+4 (+1 base, +0 Dex/+3 Str), Initiative +0 Saves: Toughness +2 (+1 undead, +1 natural), Fortitude -, Reflex +0 (+0 base, +0 Dex), Will +5 (+3 base, +2 Wis) Ghouls are the undead forms of deceased humans. They have rubbery skin, elongated, almost canine faces and hairy, hoofed legs. Ghouls speak their own language of yelps and whining cries.
Combat
Most ghouls are fairly timid and prefer to fight in large numbers, but if they are desperate for flesh they may hunt alone aboveground. They fight with their claws and teeth, and will usually retreat if wounded. Light Sensitivity: Ghouls are dazed for the first round in bright sunlight or the equivalent, and dazzled (-1 on attack rolls, Notice checks, and Search checks) while they remain in the light. Sanity: Anyone seeing a ghoul eat human flesh acquires the Cannibalism disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity).
Ecology
Not all humans become ghouls, and it is unclear how the transformation happens. People of certain demeanors may be destined to become ghouls, and there are cases of the transformation happening even before death took place. Some ghouls may also be the result of adepts using the Imbue Unlife power. When a corpse transforms into a ghoul, the creature is weak and thin and must eat the flesh of the living or the recently deceased in order to gain strength. Ghouls constantly lose strength and vitality and must continue to consume flesh to remain strong and grow into large specimens. Newly-created ghouls seek out communities of ghouls below the earth or in deserted places of death. Ghouls also seem to be one of a rare class of creature that can somehow cross into the Dreamlands without sleeping or dreaming. Although they kill to get fresh flesh, they are also creatures of their word, and they cooperate and form alliances with other subterranean races.
Adventure Hooks
Ghouls are common underground in the waking world and the Dreamlands. Adventurers may run into them in old family tombs, or in the sewers of major cities. Where there are ghouls there may be members of other, more powerful races they sometimes serve.
Great Race of Yith
Type: 8th Level Aberration (Greater Independent Race) Size: Huge Speed: 20 ft., Burrow 10 ft. Abilities: Str +6, Dex -1, Con +2, Int +6, Wis +2, Cha +1 Skills: Bluff 11 (+12), Craft (electrical, science) 11 (+17), Gather Information 11 (+12), Mythos Knowledge (history, life sciences, technology) 11 (+17), Knowledge (behavioral sciences, history, technology) 11 (+17), Notice 11 (+13) Feats: Defensive Attack, Eidetic Memory, Open Mind, Powers(5)B, Weapon TrainingB Traits: Powers (rank 11, Cha, save Difficulty 15, +5 scientific equipment; Scientific Exchange Personality +17, Mind Shaping +17, Scientific Temporal Mind Touch +22, Scientific Temporal Scrying +17, Scientific Temporal Sense Minds +17), Sanity Combat: Attack +3 (+6 base, -2 size -1 Dex), Damage +10 (claws), Defense: Dodge/Parry +3(+6 base, -1 Dex, -2 size)/ +10 (+6 base, +6 Str, -2 size), Initiative -1 Saves: Toughness +8 (+2 Con, +2 natural, +4 size), Fortitude +4 (+2 base, +2 Con), Reflex +1 (+2 base, -1 Dex), Will +8 (+6 base, +2 Wis) Members of the great race of Yith are fleshy, iridescent cones about 10 feet tall that move by expansion and contraction of rings hidden under their bulk. Thick appendages protrude from the top of their cone, two of them ending in pairs of massive, opposed claws, one ending in four red trumpet-like organs, and the last terminating in a fleshy yellow sphere. The sphere is about two feet in diameter and serves as a head. It has three big, dark eyes around its circumference, and it is topped by four gray stalks that seem to bloom at the ends. A mass of thin green tentacles dangles from the bottom of the sphere. Yithians manipulate tools, such as their books and writing instruments, with the tentacles beneath their head, and with the massive claws at the end of their arms. They communicate in the Yithian language by
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clicking and scraping their claws, and their written language is an elegant, curved script.
ing to the location of one of the ancient library cities of the great race.
Combat
Hastur the Unspeakable
Members of the great race avoid combat if at all possible and try to communicate with their enemies. If they are forced to defend themselves, they use their huge claws to attack. Sanity: Seeing a member of the great race causes an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 15 Sanity), and creatures who exchange personalities with a member of the great race acquire a dissociative disorder (Difficulty 15 Sanity).
Ecology
The great race of Yith inhabited the earth 150 million years ago, living in great cities that contained libraries filled with the knowledge they pulled from time and space. To aid them in their search for knowledge, they developed machines capable of swapping their minds with the minds of any other creatures throughout time and space. This allowed the Yithians to experience history and the future first-hand. Non-Yithian minds inhabiting bodies of the great race where treated well and encouraged to record everything they could about their native time and place. Before the mind swap was reversed, the great race would use Scientific Mind Shaping to erase all memories of the experience from the subject. When the great race was finally threatened with destruction by the race of flying polyps, they swapped their minds into the coleopteran race of the far future, condemning the collective minds of many of those insects to die in alien bodies at the hands of the Yithian’s ancient enemies.
Adventure Hook
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The heroes could encounter the great race because one of them, or someone they know, was once the subject of a mind swap and suddenly remembered things while under hypnosis. Or someone they know could be acting suspicious because they are really under the control of a Yithian! The heroes may also stumble across clues lead-
Type: 35th Level Outsider (Great Old One) Size: Gargantuan Speed: 60 ft., swim 40 ft. Abilities: Str +12, Dex +4, Con +5, Int +5, Wis +7, Cha +9 Skills: Concentration 38 (+45), Craft (writing) 38 (+43), Diplomacy 38 (+47), Disguise 38 (+42), Intimidate 38 (+47), Mythos Knowledge (art, history, physical sciences, theology and philosophy) 38 (+42), Notice 38 (+45), Sense Motive 38 (+45) Feats: Canny Dodge, Chokehold, Cleave, Eidetic Memory, Great Cleave, Imbue Item, Improved Grab, Iron Will, Move-by Action, PowersB, Quicken Power, Uncanny Dodge, Widen Power, Traits: Amphibious, Damage Reduction 6/supernatural, Darkvision 120 ft., Fast Healing, Fear Aura, Powers (see description), Sanity Combat: Attack +35 (-4 Size, +35 base, +4 Dex), Damage +15 (tentacle), Defense: Dodge/Parry +42/ - (-4 size, +35 base, +4 Dex, +7 Wis), Initiative +4 Saves: Toughness +12 (+6 Size, +5 Con, +1 natural), Fortitude +24 (+19 base, +5 Con), Reflex +23 (+19 base, +4 Dex), Will +28 (+19 base, +7 Wis, +2 Iron Will) Hastur’s appearance varies widely, ranging from a king in pale robes to a monstrous octopoid with dozens of tentacles (the form detailed here). Indeed, he may have no preferred form. To the People of Carcosa in the Dreamlands he is Haita, the shepherd god. To those who scribe the Yellow Sign, he is the terrible King in Yellow. Hastur’s motivations are unclear, and many actions taken in his name may only serve the goals of his power-mad worshipers, for he seems to attract those in pursuit of personal power.
Combat
Hastur prefers to attack his enemies with mental powers, either destroying their minds of forcing them to fight each other. He is also capable of defeating opponents in melee, especially when in his tentacled form. Amphibious: Hastur can breathe both air and water in his tentacled form.
Fast Healing: Hastur is not made of the stuff of this earth, so earthly weapons cannot damage him permanently. He makes recovery checks once per round for staggered or unconscious, and once per minute for wounded, disabled or dying. Any damage caused by supernatural weapons heals at the normal rate. Fear Aura: Hastur can emit a fear aura at will. All creatures within 60 ft. must succeed on a Difficulty 36 Will save or be affected as though by the fear effect of the Heart Shaping power. A creature that successfully saves is immune to Hastur’s aura for 24 hours. The save Difficulty is Charisma-based. Powers: Hastur can use any powers with a power check bonus of +48 and a save Difficulty of 37. His Widen Power and Quicken Power feats allow him to make mental contact with all creatures within a 70 ft. radius as a move action. In addition, he can maintain mental contact with up to 20 creatures at a time. Sanity: Seeing Hastur in his tentacled form causes a control disorder (Difficulty 36 Sanity). Mental contact with Hastur in any of his forms causes a communication disorder (Difficulty 32 Sanity).
Ecology
Hastur is said to dwell near the star Aldebaran, and if so, his remoteness may help explain his mystery a n d the
infrequency and indirectness of his interaction with the affairs of Earth. There is a disturbing contrast between his subversive, destructive influence in the waking world, and his central position as a keeper of order in the Dreamlands. The two images of Hastur may represent a yin and yang split between light and dark, and order and chaos.
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Contact
The Contact Hastur power has a power check Difficulty of 30. Hastur will normally speak to the caller through a byakee, in a language the caller understands. If the power check is 40 or higher, Hastur himself appears in one of his many forms, usually with an indifferent attitude toward the caller.
Adventure Hook
The mysterious Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign is somehow linked to Hastur’s plans for the world. One of the heroes may come across evidence that the yellow sign was delivered to a friend, or one of the heroes in a prominent position in business or government might receive the sign themselves.
Hound of Leng
Type: 5th Level Supernatural Beast (Lesser Servitor Race) Size: Large Speed: 40 ft., fly 40 ft. (average) Abilities: Str +4, Dex +2, Con +1, Int -3, Wis +1, Cha +1 Skills: Survival 12 (+13) Feats: Power(1), Track Traits: Damage Reduction 2/supernatural, Darkvision 60 ft., Frightful Presence, Power (rank 8, Cha, save Difficulty 14, Scrying +9), Sanity, Scent Combat: Attack +6 (+5 base, -1 size +2 Dex), Damage +8 (claws), Defense: Dodge/Parry +6(+5 base, -1 size, +2 Dex)/ -, Initiative +2 Saves: Toughness +4 (+1 Con, +1 natural, +2 size), Fortitude +5 (+4 base, +1 Con), Reflex +6 (+4 base, +2 Dex), Will +2 (+1 base, +1 Wis) The hound of Leng is a hulking sphinx-like creature with a canine head. Its muscular body and fearsome paws are covered in coarse black fur. It is a single-minded hunter.
Ecology
These hounds are usually called up by supernatural forces to hunt and kill specific creatures or protect valuable items. They are entirely supernatural creations.
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Combat
The hound of Leng automatically recognizes the scent of the creature it has been ordered to hunt, and it has a +0 familiarity bonus when Scrying on the hunted creature. Frightful Presence: Creatures who hear the baying of the hound of Leng must succeed on a Difficulty 13 Will save or become shaken. Any creature that succeeds on this saving throw becomes immune to the same creature’s frightful presence for 24 hours. Sanity: Seeing a hound of Leng causes Paranoia (Difficulty 13 Sanity).
Adventure Hook
A woman hunted by a hound of Leng approaches the heroes for help, and they must determine why the person is being hunted, by what, and how to stop it. Perhaps she has worn a hound of Leng amulet.
Hunting Horror, The Haunter of the Dark
Type: 9th Level Outsider (Greater Servitor Race) Size: Large Speed: 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (average) Abilities: Str +5, Dex +1, Con +0, Int +6, Wis +6, Cha +3 Skills: Intimidate 12 (+15), Mythos Knowledge (art, history, life science, physical sciences, technology, theology and philosophy) 12 (+18), Notice 12 (+18), Search 12 (+18), Sense Motive 12 (+18), Stealth 12 (+17), Survival 12 (+18) Feats: Hover, Tireless, Track, Improved Initiative Traits: All Knowing Gaze, Darkvision 60 ft., Incorporeality, Light Sensitivity, Sanity, Scent Combat: Attack +9 (+9 base, -1 size +1 Dex), Damage +8 (claws), Defense: Dodge/Parry +9(+9 base, -1 size, +1 Dex)/ -, Initiative +5 Saves: Toughness +4 (+0 Con, +2 natural, +2 size), Fortitude +6 (+6 base, +0 Con), Reflex +7 (+6 base, +1 Dex), Will +12 (+6 base, +6 Wis) The hunting horror is an avatar of Nyarlathotep. It is a giant black winged creature that can take incorporeal form as a dense black cloud. It has claws and teeth to rend with, but its victims often die of fear when faced with the terrible realities this creature can conjure in their minds. Hunting Horrors speak the language of those who called them.
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Hunting horrors will attack any non-worshipers present when they are called. If any creatures approach within 30 ft. of a hunting horror, the hunting horror gains their scent and hunts them, whenever darkness allows, until they are dead. Though they can fight with
teeth and claw, and will often do so to rend sacrifices, hunting horrors seem to prefer to drain the life essence from those they hunt. All Knowing Gaze: If any creature looks into the hunting horror’s face while it is in corporeal form, the hunting horror may inflict Premature Aging on that creature (Difficulty 30 Fortitude). This ability works even in total darkness. If the hunting horror, and therefore Nyarlathotep, favors the creature it gazes upon, it may instead grant exposure to one Mythos skill, feat or power. Incorporeality: The hunting horror may become incorporeal or change back to its corporeal form as a full-round action. In its incorporeal form, the hunting horror appears as a dense black cloud and it has a fly speed of 90 ft. (good). Sanity: If the hunting horror gains the scent of intelligent creatures, they immediately acquire the Sleepwalking disorder (Difficulty 17 Sanity). Whenever the victims sleepwalk, they will attempt to return to the spot where the hunting horror gained their scent. Sensitive to Light: When exposed to any light other than starlight, even the light of a small candle, a hunting horror must make a fortitude save (Difficulty 15) or suffer a level of fatigue. It must repeat this save every minute it remains in the light. A very bright light, like a nearby lightning flash, can banish a hunting horror. Skills: Hunting horrors gain a +8 racial bonus to the Stealth checks in darkness.
Ecology
A hunting horror is a manifestation of Nyarlethotep and has no existence outside of his service. It is a creature of pure darkness, so light, even the flicker of a candle, will eventually destroy it. Hunting horrors have no will of their own, and they cannot be summoned with the Call Outsider power. They generally remain until they have drained the life of an intelligent creature.
Adventure Hook
Hunting horrors are associated with the Shining Trapezohedron and the Starry Wisdom Cult. A hunting horror may also appear as an avatar when an adept contacts Nyarlathotep, then find itself trapped in some dark place, waiting for prey to come to it.
Insect Philosophers of Callisto
Type: 4th Level Vermin (Lesser Independent Race) Size: Medium Speed: 30 ft., climb 20 ft. Abilities: Str +2, Dex +0, Con +4, Int +4, Wis +6, Cha +0
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Skills: Diplomacy 7 (+13), Mythos Knowledge (art, history, philosophy and theology) 7 (+11), Perform (oratory) 7 (+13), Sense Motive 7 (+13) Feats: Evasion, Improved Trip, Powers(3)B Traits: Darkvision 60 ft., Mind Merge, Powers (rank 7, Cha, save Difficulty 12; Cold Resistance +7, Cold Shaping +7, Earth Shaping +7), Sanity Combat: Attack +3 (+3 base, +0 Dex), Damage +6 plus poison (mandibles), Defense: Dodge/Parry +3(+3 base, +0 Dex)/ -, Initiative +0 Saves: Toughness +6 (+4 Con, +2 natural), Fortitude +8 (+4 base, +4 Con), Reflex +1 (+1 base, +0 Dex), Will +7 (+1 base, +6 Wis) Jupiter’s fourth moon, Callisto, is home to a race of insect-like creatures with long, armored bodies, dozens of short, powerful legs, and a thick, kite-shaped head armed with four viciously serrated mandibles. Fullgrown insect philosophers can be up to ten feet long.
Combat
Insect philosophers move quickly and can rear up to attack taller targets with their mandibles. However, they are more likely to retreat into one of the thousands of tunnels they have cut through Callisto. Poison: Mandibles; Fortitude Difficulty 16; initial damage 1 Str, secondary damage 1 Str. The save Difficulty is Constitution-based. Sanity: Seeing an insect philosopher causes a Phobia (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Ecology
Insect philosophers live in intricate burrows deep in the crust of Callisto, just above a layer of salty sea warmed by the planet’s interior. They feed on the gelatinous life forms in the briny water and enter its hidden depths to lay eggs. For some unknown reason, they make regular trips to the moon’s lethally cold surface, where they can survive for only an hour or two before returning to the more temperate depths. The insect philosophers have developed the ability to merge minds with each other over long distances. This has profoundly affected their view of themselves and their purpose in the universe. They have become obsessed with the concept of universal perfection and spend much of their time merging minds to contemplate it.
Special Notes
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Mind Merge: Insect philosophers have extremely developed brains capable of reaching out across space to touch other minds. An insect philosopher can merge its mind with that of any other intelligent creature in the galaxy. While merged, both minds share their abilities and skills, choosing the highest Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma scores from the two creatures and the
most advanced Intelligence, Wisdom and Charismabased skills. They also share any known powers. Both creatures are aware of each other during the merge, and any humans that participate in a merge acquire a dissociative Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity).
Adventure Hook
Someone may call upon the heroes because they have heard voices in the home of Mason Hayes, the town simpleton. The voices seem to be discussing very strange and sophisticated subjects. Mason has denied having anyone else in his home, but some townspeople think he has kidnapped someone, perhaps a professor from the local university. In reality, Mason has been in contact with insect philosophers and the overheard conversations where just him talking to himself.
Mi-go, The Fungi From Yoggoth
Type: 3rd Level Aberration (Lesser Independent Race) Size: Medium Speed: 20 ft., fly 30 ft. (poor) Abilities: Str +0, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +4, Wis +1, Cha +1 Skills: Craft (electronics, science) 6 (+10), Mythos Knowledge (life sciences, technology, theology and philosophy) 6 (+13), Perform (oratory) 6 (+7) Feats: Fascinate (Perform(oratory), Powers(4)B, Skill Focus (Mythos Knowledge (technology)) Traits: Brain Removal, Damage Reduction 4/bludgeoning, Darkvision 60 ft., Light Sensitivity, Resistance to Cold 6, Electricity 6, Sanity, Scientific Powers (rank 6, Cha, +3 equipment, save Difficulty 13; Comprehend Language +10, Cure Injury +10, Dominance +10, Sleep +10) Combat: Attack +4 (+2 base, +2 Dex), Damage +6 electricity (electric weapon) or +3 (pincers), Defense: Dodge/Parry +2(+2 base, +2 Dex)/ -, Initiative +2 Saves: Toughness +1 (+1 Con), Fortitude +2 (+1 base, +1 Con), Reflex +3 (+1 base, +2 Dex), Will +4 (+3 base, +1 Wis) Long before the human race evolved, mi-go came to Earth from their colony on the planet Yoggoth, known today as Pluto. They are plant-like in many ways, but behave more like intelligent flying crustaceans. Though they vary widely in appearance, a typical mi-go is a pink crustacean about five feet long, with a large pair of membranous wings extending from the center of its back. It has many pairs of chitinous limbs ending in pincers, and a tapering tail used for balance in flight and when walking upright on only the hindmost limbs. Its heads is an oblate spheroid covered with short antennae that glow different colors when communicating with other mi-go.
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Mi-go can speak the language of most other creatures by using scientific implants and their Scientific Comprehend Language power, but their voice still sounds like the buzzing of an insect. Mi-go are used to much lower gravity and almost no atmosphere, so on Earth they are clumsy fliers and react poorly to bright light.
Combat
Mi-go can fly, but they are so poor at it in Earth’s thick atmosphere and high gravity that they tend to fight from solid ground. They may attack with an electrical weapon if they have one, or they may slash and jab with their sharp pincers. If wounded they try to fly away. There is very little on Earth that could motivate a migo to fight to the death. Light Sensitivity: Mi-go are dazed for the first round in bright sunlight or the equivalent, and dazzled (-1 on attack rolls, Notice checks and Search checks) while they remain in the light. Sanity: Anyone seeing a mi-go acquires a Phobia (Difficulty 12 Sanity). Anyone interacting with a disembodied brain acquires a dissociative disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity), and any creatures who have their brain removed acquire a psychotic disorder (Difficulty 16 Sanity).
Ecology
The mi-go have set up outposts on Earth to mine rare metals which they can’t get elsewhere. They protect their operations by recruiting help from local humans, and there are rumors that, through their agents, they control whole agencies of many national governments. Their appearance and methods are abhorrent to sane humans, but many of their goals are beneficial to the human race. They protect earth from destructive threats, if only to protect their precious mines, and they have taken an interest in human physiology. They are perhaps the most scientifically and technologically advanced of the Mythos races, especially in the areas of life sciences and bio-technology. On Yuggoth they have devices capable of completely transforming the appearance and physiology of any living thing, but they bring only a few necessary devices with them when they visit the Earth. Mi-go remain deep in their mines during the day, performing necessary surface tasks and meeting with human servants at night when the darkness suits them. They worship Nyarlathotep, Shib-Niggurth, and all the Outer Gods, and perform rituals in their names when the world is darkest. They encourage their human servants to worship with them. 86
Special Notes
Mi-go have developed devices for many different biological tasks, but the one they most commonly bring with them to earth is a surgical machine that removes brains. Brain Removal: Mi-go have devices that can remove a human brain and place it in a life-sustaining cylinder. When the cylinder is hooked up to another machine, the brain is able to perceive the outside world and communicate in the buzzing voice of the mi-go. The mi-go have removed the brains of many sentient species across the galaxy and carried them through space in their protective canisters. They have taken them back to Yoggoth, and even to their ancient home planet. They seem to find value in exposing the limited human brains to the vast universe. The mi-go can animate the brainless body left over from this process as a sort of puppet. Most often they just let the body die. Successfully operating each piece of machinery involved in the Brain Removal process requires a Difficulty 20 Mythos Knowledge (technology) check.
Adventure Hook
Mining exploration in the hills of West Virginia has come too close to a long-time mi-go mining site. There are no mi-go there right now, but Jeb Orrick, a local man who got wealthy in the mi-go’s employ, tried to operate an alien communication devices to warn them. His incoherent talk of Yuggoth and “old ones” came through on a local radio station during a popular jazz music program.
Rat Thing
Type: 1st Level Aberration (Lesser Servitor Race) Size: Tiny Speed: 20 ft., climb 20 ft. Abilities: Str -3, Dex +1, Con +0, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +2 Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+5), Notice 4 (+5), Stealth (+5) Feats: Power(1) Traits: Darkvision 60 ft., Lock Jaw, Power (rank 4, Cha, save Difficulty 13; Mind Probe +6), Sanity Combat: Attack +3 (+0 base, +2 size, +1 Dex), Damage +0 (bite), Defense: Dodge/Parry +3 (+0 base, +1 Dex, +2 size)/ -, Initiative +1 Saves: Toughness +8 (-2 size, +0 Con, +2 natural), Fortitude +0 (+0 base, +0 Con), Reflex +1 (+0 base, +1 Dex), Will +3 (+2 base, +1 Wis) Rat things are twisted combinations of humans and rats. They are the size of a large rat and the same basic shape, but they have elongated human faces and tiny human hands at the ends of all four of their legs.
sible that a hero might acquire a rat thing as a familiar themselves.
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Shoggoth
Type: 12th Level Aberration (Lesser Servitor Race) Size: Gargantuan Speed: 40 ft., swim 40 ft., climb 20 ft. Abilities: Str +13, Dex -1, Con +2, Int -1, Wis +0, Cha +4 Skills: Language (Elder Thing) 0 (+7), Notice 15 (+15) Feats: All-out Attack, Cleave, Favored Enemy (elder thing), Improved Grab, Jack-of-AllTrades Traits: Amphibious, Damage Reduction 6/supernatural, Darkvision 60 ft., Decapitate, Resistance to Cold 6, Sanity Combat: Attack +4 (+9 base, -4 size, -1 Dex), Damage +17 (slam), Defense: Dodge/Parry +4(+9 base, -1 Dex, -4 size)/ -, Initiative -1 Saves: Toughness +8 (+2 Con, +6 size), Fortitude +6 (+4 base, +2 Con), Reflex +3 (+4 base, -1 Dex), Will +8 (+8 base, +0 Wis) Shoggoths are mammoth creatures of bubbling polymorphic goo and protoplasm, capable of taking any shape suitable to the task at hand. They form eyes and mouths and appendages at will and reabsorb them just as quickly.
Combat
Rat things fearlessly climb and bite and latch onto their enemies. Lock Jaw: If a rat thing does any damage with its bite attack, it locks its jaw and continues to bite into the flesh, doing automatic bite damage every round. Sanity: Seeing a rat thing causes a phobia (Difficulty 12 Sanity).
Ecology
Rat things live for hundreds of years and often serve wizards and priests as familiars. They are creations of powerful wizards who have perverted the bodies of cultists and followers. Anyone who knew the rat thing’s human form during their normal life can recognize them in the tiny face of this creature.
Adventure Hook
The heroes will most likely encounter rat things as familiars of more powerful Mythos adepts. It is also pos-
Combat
Shoggoths can slam opponents with spontaneous pseudopods, behead them with vice-like jaws, or smother them below their massive gelatinous bulk. As a move action, shoggoths can reshape themselves in order to use any weapon or device, or to fit through any opening at least two feet wide. Decapitate: If a shoggoth grapples an opponent, it may attempt to rip the opponents head off with one of its many mouths as a move action. A Successful Difficulty 29 Fortitude save avoids this fate, and this attack does not work on creatures without heads. Decapitated creatures die instantly. Regeneration: Each round, a shoggoth gains an extra recovery check with a +2 bonus. Damage dealt by supernatural weapons cannot be healed in this way. A shoggoth that loses a piece of its body can reform it as a free action. Sanity: Seeing a shoggoth causes a psychotic disorder (Difficulty 24 Sanity). Anyone who hears a shoggoth chant its call of “Tikeli-li! Tikeli-li” acquires a communication disorder (Difficulty 20 Sanity).
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Trample: Damage +19, Difficulty 29 Reflex save for half damage. The save Difficulty is Strength-based.
Ecology
The elder things created the shoggoths a billion years ago from the primordial matter of Earth. These creatures were their most useful creation, helping them dig tunnels into the Earth and build their great cities. But the elder things gave shoggoths intelligence, and a talent for their language. The shoggoths rebelled and killed nearly all of the elder things, then retreated to dark places in the deep ocean or far underground. Some of them now serve other races, like the deep ones. The shoggoth’s dream-selves live in the Pit of the Shoggoths in the Dreamlands, at the foot of the six thousand steps.
Adventure Hook
Shoggoths still roam the Earth, and some of them serve other races deep underwater or underground. The heroes may come across evidence of shoggoths after a mining operation breaks through into a huge underground chamber, or they may discover that a sinister cult is calling these monstrosities to do its dirty work.
Spawn of YogSothoth, Greater
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Type: 9th Level Outsider (Lesser Servitor Race) Size: Gargantuan Speed: 40 ft., Abilities: Str +15, Dex -1, Con +3, Int -2, Wis +0, Cha +3 Skills: Climb 12 (+25), Mythos Knowledge (theology and philosophy) 12 (+10), Sense Motive 12 (+15) Feats: Accurate Attack, Attack Focus (tentacle), Move-by Action, Trailblazer Traits: Damage Reduction 4/supernatural, Darkvision 60 ft., Consume, Invisibility, No Home Dimension, Path of Destruction, Sanity Combat: Attack +0 (+1 tentacle) (-8 size, +9 base, -1 Dex), Damage +18 (slam or tentacle), Defense: Dodge/Parry +0 (-8 size, +9 base, -1 Dex)/ -, Initiative -1 Saves: Toughness +11 (+8 size, +3 Con), Fortitude +9 (+6 base, +3 Con), Reflex +5 (+6 base, -1 Dex), Will +6 (+6 base, +0 Wis) Greater spawn of Yog-Sothoth are immense, invisible creatures that leave a path of physical destruction and awful-smelling tar-like substance wherever they go. They push trees aside, flatten buildings and crush anyone in their path. They have elongated,
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bloated bodies supported by dozens of clusters of octopoid tentacles of various lengths. Their heads are flattened lumps atop their bodies, but have hideous, stretched out versions of human faces, including ragged patches of human hair.
Combat
Greater spawn of Yog-Sothoth crush their opponents by trampling them or smashing them with one of their tentacles. They are driven to destroy, especially at night, when they seek out buildings to crush or gatherings of people to kill. Without their twin lesser spawn to calm them down, they frequently enter terrifying rages of destruction. Consume: If a greater spawn of Yog-Sothoth reduces a creature of Medium size or larger to a state of unconscious, dying or dead, it will take a full-round action to consume the body. Any creature not dead when consumed takes +20 crushing damage and +8 acid damage every round. A greater spawn’s stomach Toughness save is +3 and it can hold 2 Large, or 8 Medium opponents. Invisibility: Greater spawn of Yog-Sothoth are invisible. They gain a +2 bonus to hit defenders unaware of them, and those defenders lose their dodge bonus to defense. Attacks against invisible spawn have a 50 percent miss chance. No Home Dimension: If a Banish Outsider power successfully banishes a greater spawn of Yog-Sothoth before Yog-Sothoth takes control of it (see below), the greater spawn is destroyed. Path of Destruction: A greater spawn of Yog-Sothoth can use its Trample attack to destroy inanimate objects up to its own size. Sanity: Anyone seeing a greater spawn of YogSothoth while it is visible acquires an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 17 Sanity). Trample: Damage +25, Difficulty 29 Reflex save for half damage. The save Difficulty is Strength-based.
Ecology
Greater spawn of Yog-Sothoth are born of a human mother impregnated by an avatar of Yog-Sothoth. The gestation period is about three months, and the greater spawn is born with a twin lesser spawn of Yog-Sothoth. The greater spawn grows to full size in about 15 years, consuming stupendous amounts of flesh as it develops. When the greater spawn is fully grown, the lesser spawn calls Yog-Sothoth, and the deity takes control of the greater spawn as an avatar. As an avatar, the greater spawn gains all the supernatural powers of Yog-Sothoth himself. 90
Adventure Hook
Any worshiper of Yog-Sothoth insane enough to undertake raising a pair of spawn will probably go to great lengths to hide and control the greater spawn. Even though the greater spawn is invisible, its destructive effects could draw unwanted attention before the day of the final contact with Yog-Sothoth. The heroes may hear rumors or strange events that lead them to the spawn.
Spawn of YogSothoth, Lesser
Type: 4th Level Outsider (Lesser Servitor Race) Size: Large Speed: 30 ft., Abilities: Str +2, Dex +1, Con +1, Int +4, Wis +2, Cha +3 Skills: Bluff 7 (+10), Concentration 7 (+9), Gather Information 7 (+10), Mythos Knowledge (life sciences, theology and philosophy) 7 (+11), Mythos Language (Aklo) 7 (+11), Notice 7 (+9), Search 7 (+11), Sense Motive 7 (+9), Stealth 7 (+8) Feats: Eidetic Memory, Linguist, Night VisionB, Powers(3)B, Weapon TrainingB Traits: Calm Twin, Dog Bane, Powers (rank 7, Cha, save Difficulty 15; Call Outsider +10, Contact YogSothoth +10, Voorish Sign +10, Ward Outsider +10), Sanity Combat: Attack +4 (-1 size, +4 base, +1 Dex), Damage +3 (knife), Defense: Dodge/Parry +4 /+5 (-1 size, +4 base, +1 Dex/+2 Str), Initiative +1 Saves: Toughness +4 (+2 size, +1 Con, +1 natural), Fortitude +5 (+4 base, +1 Con), Reflex +5 (+4 base, +1 Dex), Will +6 (+4 base, +2 Wis) Lesser spawn of Yog-Sothoth look like very tall humans whose faces have elongated, goat-like features, yellowish skin and thick lips. Coarse black fur covers their legs, which end in hooves, and masses of tentacles ending in sucking mouths extend downward from their waist. Each hip contains a short stalk ending in a proto-eye. A thick tube marked with purple rings extends from where a tail would be and ends in another orifice that could be a mouth. Their skin from the neck down is more like scaly reptilian hide. The entire creature gives off an unearthly smell of decay and strange chemicals. Lesser spawn are very intelligent and generally able to function in human society if they can somehow keep their obscene lower halves hidden.
Combat
Lesser spawn of Yog-Sothoth concentrate more on esoteric learning than the art of combat, so they are relatively poor fighters. They may carry melee weapons or even firearms.
If a lesser spawn feels threatened, it may use its Call Outsider power to call its twin greater spawn. The two spawn are so linked that the lesser spawn gets a +5 power bonus when calling its twin. If a lesser spawn is killed, its body quickly dissolves into a pool of grayish-white fluid. Calm Twin: A lesser spawn of Yog-Sothoth can calm its twin greater spawn as if using the Calm power. Mental contact is not required. The greater spawn can make a Difficulty 15 Will save to resist. Dog Bane: Domesticated dogs have an intense hatred of lesser spawn of Yog-Sothoth and instantly attack them. While a dog is attacking a spawn of Yog-Sothoth, it enters a rage as described in the Rage feat. Sanity: Anyone seeing a lesser spawn of Yog-Sothoth with the lower half visible acquires a control disorder (Difficulty 15 Sanity).
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Ecology
Lesser spawn of Yog-Sothoth are born of a human mother impregnated by an avatar of Yog-Sothoth. The gestation period is about three months, and the lesser spawn is born with a twin greater spawn of Yog-Sothoth. The lesser spawn grows to full size and maturity in about 8 years, absorbing knowledge at a superhuman rate. Their odd skin and obscenities on their lower half develop only after they reach maturity, so they can easily blend in with human society as they grow. Each lesser spawn is responsible for keeping its twin greater spawn safe until it matures, and for making the final contact with Yog-Sothoth that will transform the greater spawn into the deity’s instrument of destruction.
Adventure Hook
Lesser spawn of Yog-Sothoth are constantly searching for arcane knowledge that could help them protect and control their twins. The heroes may come across one of these strange-smelling creatures as it seeks knowledge. If the heroes have reputations, the lesser spawn may even seek them out to find information. However the heroes discover the presence of the spawn, it will be their job to stop the final contact with Yog-Sothoth.
Tsathoggua
Type: 31st Level Outsider (Great Old One) Size: Gargantuan Speed: 50 ft., burrow 30 ft. Abilities: Str +13, Dex +1, Con +7, Int +4, Wis +3, Cha +7 Skills: Concentration 34 (+37), Craft (blacksmithing, architecture) 34 (+38), Intimidate 34 (+41), Jump 34 (+47), Mythos Knowledge (history, physical sciences, theology and philosophy) 34 (+38), Notice 34 (+37), Sense Motive 34 (+37)
Feats: All-out Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Hide in Plain Sight, Imbue Item, Improved Grab, Iron Will, Light Sleeper, PowersB, Tough, Widen Power (Imbue Unlife) Traits: Damage Reduction 6/fire, electricity or supernatural, Darkvision 120 ft., Fast Healing, Fear Aura, Powers (see description), Sanity, Swallow Whole Combat: Attack +28 (+31 base, -4 size, +1 Dex), Damage +17 (claws), Defense: Dodge/Parry +28/ (+31 base, -4 size, +1 Dex), Initiative +1 Saves: Toughness +16 (+6 Size, +7 Con, +2 natural, +1 Tough), Fortitude +24 (+17 base, +7 Con), Reflex +18 (+17 base, +1 Dex), Will +22 (+17 base, +3 Wis, +2 Iron Will) Tsathoggua is a Great Old One who fell to Earth millions of years ago and stayed in the black pits of N’Kai, far below the surface. There he is served by an army of his amorphous, viscous spawn. His form appears to be somewhat fixed as a squat, toadlike colossus with a bat-like face. Tsathoggua speaks Tsath-yo.
Combat
Tsathoggua grabs his enemies in his massive hands and swallows them whole. He moves very little during combat, grabbing anything or anyone close at hand and using his powers to attack creatures that don’t approach him. Tsathoggua is a careless fighter, often mistaking his worshipers for enemies or sacrifices. Fast Healing: Tsathoggua is not made of the stuff of this earth, so earthly weapons cannot damage him permanently. He makes recovery checks once per round
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for staggered or unconscious, and once per minute for wounded, disabled or dying. Any damage caused by supernatural weapons heals at the normal rate. Fear Aura: Anyone who sees Tsathoggua open his eyes or consume a living creature must succeed on a Difficulty 32 Will save or be affected as though by the fear effect of the Heart Shaping power. A creature that successfully saves is immune to Tsathoggua’s aura for 24 hours. The save Difficulty is Charisma-based. Powers: Tsathoggua can use any power dealing with sleep, gates, dimensions or teleporting with a +41 power check bonus and a saving throw of 33. He can also use Imbue Unlife with the same bonuses, and his Widen Power feat means it can animate all dead within a 62 foot radius. Sanity: Seeing Tsathoggua causes a sleep disorder (Difficulty 32 Sanity). Swallow Whole: If Tsathoggua grapples a Large creatures or smaller, he may swallow them whole on the following round as a move action; +26 bludgeoning damage and +5 acid damage per round; Tsathoggua’s stomach Toughness save is +9 and it can hold 2 Large, or 8 Medium opponents.
Ecology
Unlike many other Old Ones, Tsathoggua appears to have actively intervened on behalf of his human worshipers throughout human history. He sleeps most of the time, but his opponents are mistaken if they think that will give them an advantage. He was a primary deity of the Voormi of ancient Hyperborea, as well as the proto-humans who conquered them. It is likely that Tsathogua personally taught his followers the basics of Hyperborean civilization and gave them his own language of Tsath-yo. In exchange for his help, his followers offer him sacrifices in some of the most abhorrent and violent ceremonies of any known cult.
Contact
The Contact Tsathoggua power has a Difficulty of 26. If successfully contacted, Tsathoggua may personally appear using Teleport, or he may just speak through a very small dimensional gate. If an intelligent sacrifice is offered, Tsathoggua is more likely to come himself, and if he is satisfied with the sacrifice he may grant those who contacted him exposure to one Mythos trait. If Tsathoggua comes and no sacrifice is provided, the Great Old One attacks and kills everyone in sight.
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Tsathoggua is still worshiped by primitive cultures around the world, and as those cultures are absorbed into modern society, so are his followers. The heroes may come across cultists trying to contact Tsathog-
gua to offer a sacrifice, or archaeologists may discover tunnels below an Egyptian burial chamber that lead to caves near Tsathoggua’s home of N’Kai.
Yig, Father of Serpents
Type: 27th Level Outsider (Great Old One) Size: Huge Speed: 50 ft., burrow 30 ft. Abilities: Str +9, Dex +5, Con +6, Int +3, Wis +4, Cha +6 Skills: Concentration 30 (+34), Diplomacy 30 (+36), Knowledge (tactics) 30 (+32), Handle Animal 30 (+36), Intimidate 30 (+36), Mythos Knowledge (theology and philosophy) 30 (+32), Notice 30 (+34), Sense Motive 30 (+34), Stealth 30 (+27) Feats: Animal Empathy, Assessment, Canny Dodge, Cleave, Evasion, Improved Grab, Imbue Item, Improved Initiative, Jack-of-All-Trades, PowersB, Tough Traits: Call Sacred Snake, Damage Reduction 4/ cold or supernatural, Darkvision 60 ft., Fast Healing, Fear Aura, Maim, Poison, Powers (see description), Sanity, Squeeze.
Combat: Attack +28 (+27 base, +3 Dex, -2 size), Damage +13 (claw) or +12 plus poison (bite), Defense: Dodge/Parry +32/ - (-2 Size, +27 base, +3 Dex, +4 Wis), Initiative +3 Saves: Toughness +16 (+4 Size, +6 Con, +5 natural, +1 Tough), Fortitude +21 (+15 base, +6 Con), Reflex +18 (+15 base, +3 Dex), Will +19 (+15 base, +4 Wis) Yig takes the form of a huge, scale-covered man with the head of a snake and long claws instead of fingers. He is always accompanied by dozens of poisonous snakes.
Combat
Yig is a fearsome, fast fighter, slashing with his huge claws to cause terrible and sometimes permanent damage to his opponents. Call Sacred Snake: As a standard action, Yig can call a large specimen of a local snake species and imbue it with some of his power. That snake then relentlessly pursues one of his enemies, trying to bite it. Anyone bitten is subject to poison as if Yig himself bit them (see below). Fast Healing: Yig is not made of the stuff of this earth, so earthly weapons cannot damage him permanently. He makes recovery checks once per round for staggered or unconscious, and once per minute for wounded, disabled or dying. Any damage caused by supernatural weapons heals at the normal rate. Fear Aura: Anyone who sees Yig must succeed on a Difficulty 30 Will save or be affected as though by the fear effect of the Heart Shaping power. A creature that successfully saves is immune to Yig’s aura for 24 hours. The save Difficulty is Charisma-based. Maim: If Yig hits an opponent with a claw and chooses not to grapple, he may instead inflict an injury disorder upon the opponent (Difficulty 32 Fortitude). The save is Strength-based. Poison: Bite; Fortitude Difficulty 29; initial damage 2 Con, secondary damage 4 Con. The save is Constitution-based. Powers: Yig can use any power with a +36 power check bonus and a saving throw of 30. However, Yig cannot use plant, animal or elemental powers when not on land controlled by his worshipers.
Sanity: Seeing Yig causes an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 29 Sanity) and a Phobia of reptiles (Difficulty 17 Sanity). Squeeze: If Yig grapples a Medium creatures or smaller, he may squeeze it each round for +15 damage. Yig can hold up to two creatures in his claws.
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Ecology
Yig is the dominant old one in the New World. He came to North America long before humans migrated over from Asia, so his origins are unclear, but he appears to have been worshiped by a race of intelligent serpent people at some time in the distant past. He was worshiped by many native American tribes under various names, such as Quetzalcoatl, Kukalkan, or the Snake-man. Thousands of years ago he guided the tribes of the central plains into a period of brutal warfare and heartless sacrifice. The northern tribes rebelled against the priests of Yig and freed themselves from his bloodthirsty tyranny, but the Aztec peoples to the south continued in the ways of Yig until the arrival of the Europeans. Today Yig has few followers and has lost some of his power.
Contact
The Contact Yig power has a Difficulty of 24. If successfully contacted, Yig will appear with his army of poisonous snakes. He typically arrives with an indifferent attitude and gives those present a brief chance to state their reasons for contacting him. If those who contact him also provide an intelligent sacrifice, his attitude becomes friendly and he exposes them to one Mythos trait, or he reveals a serious weakness of their enemies. Regardless of Yig’s attitude, his snakes will attack if threatened or startled.
Adventure Hook
Some native Americans still worship Yig, and it is possible that there are serpent people surviving in remote areas. Yig may directly intervene if even more of his worshipers’ lands are threatened.
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Chapter 7: Terrible Things If human interaction with the Cthulhu Mythos was limited to fleeting visions of other worlds or brief encounters with creatures that embody all of our primal horrors, we could preserve our sanity by confining these things to the corners of our mind, locking them away with labels like “dreams” or “waking visions.” But the terror and insanity of the Mythos is not always so ethereal. It is anchored in the tangible things of our reality — mysterious artifacts, ancient books and tainted locations that we can’t just dismiss as hallucinations.
Ancient Places
The fiction of the Cthulhu Mythos is filled with disturbing ancient places that challenge the human race’s view of history, the universe, and themselves. This section describes some of the places that are most significant to the Mythos or appear frequently throughout Mythos stories.
Arkham & Miskatonic University
This small colonial settlement of about 20,000 residents in northeastern Massachusetts is somehow involved in many of the horrific tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. There is something about this old riverfront town that seems to draw even more macabre and bizarre events than its sister city of Salem, just five miles to the south. Arkham strides the Miskatonic River and is a travel hub between many of the smaller coastal towns, like Innsmouth and Kingsport, that sit below the seaside cliffs and bluffs of the area. Arkham is also home to the prestigious Miskatonic University, which provides a more open-minded alternative to Harvard, Yale or Brown. Miskatonic’s faculty and graduate students are academic leaders in such diverse areas as psychology, archeology, and advanced medical techniques. The research carried out by the university and the field work it funds is so groundbreaking that many local residents feel they are delving into things that should be left alone.
Atlantis
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Great kings ruled the ancient island of Atlantis in the center of the Atlantic, massive fleets defended its shores, and powerful wizards and devout priests of Poseidon protected it from the slippery abominations that sometimes crawled from the ocean depths to destroy it. Plato dates the height of Atlantean power, and its destruction, to around 9,000 B.C. Traditional theories of
the cause of this great calamity center on natural disasters like earthquakes or volcanoes, but more ancient and less circulated texts provide hints that the Atlanteans brought about their own destruction through misuse of their supernatural powers. Modern scholars may never know just what terrible, unimaginable fate the Atlanteans conjured up. What on Earth is capable of erasing an entire continent and civilization in a matter of days? Atlantis is gone, but it left its mark all around the rim of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. It inspired the stone circles of the British Isles, the marvelous pyramids of Egypt and Central America, and the entire culture of the Sea Peoples who settled around the Mediterranean before 2,000 B.C. It may have been the final haven for the great prehistoric civilization of Hyperborea, and the lifeboat though which much of the wisdom of those truly ancient humans survived into classical times. The true treasures of Atlantis may yet rest on the ocean floor, covered by miles of ocean under crushing pressures. Sailors tell of glimpses of underwater temples where the ocean floor is not too deep and the water is clear. They also claim that some of those who drown at sea are called to the crumbling, silt-covered deep ocean cities of Atlantis to live on as a sort of animated underwater corpse.
Dreamlands
The Dreamlands are a completely separate and utterly fantastic realm of existence reachable only during sleep. They are a consistent and persistent world, where eons may pass away during a single night’s dreaming on Earth. Every dreaming creature has a counterpart in the Dreamlands, another self which may be very similar in form, but is most likely much more ancient. The Dreamlands are unknown to waking creatures because all dreams of it are forgotten, or the memory of them is so clouded that their reality is masked. Remembering and controlling access to the Dreamlands is a skill developed by very few humans. Once a dreamer acquires this skill, the waking world may begin to seem the less significant of the two. Dreamers reach the Dreamlands by descending the seventy steps to the Cavern of Flame, where they must convince the priests Nasth and Kaman-thah to let them descend the seven hundred steps to the Gate of Deep Slumber which leads to the Dreamlands. This is the land of the Enchanted Wood, the city of Ulthar on the river Skai, the shining Cerenean Sea, and the valley of Ooth-Nagai wherein lies the fabulous city of Celephias. Here the dreamer will find Zar, land of forgotten dreams and beauty, and Mighty Thalarion, city of wonders from which no dreamer returns. Far to the south lie
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Xura, land of pleasure unattained, Sona-Nyl, the Land of Fancy, marked by a great crystal arch rising out of the sea, and the huge Basalt Pillars through which a strong current is said to lead to Cathuria, the Land of Hope. A complete description of the Dreamlands is beyond the scope of this book, but there is no better introduction to them than H.P. Lovecraft’s short novel, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.
Hyperborea
Ancient Greek writers mention a far older civilization known as Hyperborea, which controlled a vast area of land somewhere to the northwest of Europe. This is evidence of how powerful and important the legacy of Hyperborea was, for that great pre-human empire had been gone for hundreds of thousands of years when Greek scholars wrote of its power. Hyperborea controlled lush, fertile lands covering modern Greenland. The area was originally the home of primitive hunters, the Yeti-like Voormi who worshiped Tsathoggua. Another race of furry pre-humans invaded the lands from the southeast, pushed the Voormi back into the remotest mountains, and established the Hyperborean empire. The pre-humans adopted the local worship of Tsathoggua and their language transformed under the deity’s influence to become Tsath-yo, which they spoke thereafter until the end of the empire. The ice sheets of the Pleistocene advanced southward, gradually shrinking the extent and power of the empire. As the ice threatened the last great cities, Hyperborean sorcerers desperately called upon all the unnameable forces in the universe to save them, but to no avail. Many of the residents of Hyperborea fled to islands to the south, and this migration may have been the genesis of the great island empire of Atlantis. The compacted snow and great glaciers that cover modern Greenland hide evidence of a pre-human civilization so advanced and so different in outlook than our own culture that it could radically change our view of ourselves if it were brought to light. The Inuit, who are the heirs of that barren land, tell terrible legends about the curse of the “Old Peoples” and they destroy any Hyperborean artifacts they find.
Kingsport
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Colonists from southern England settled the old coastal town of Kingsport, Massachusetts, and it became a thriving seaport and shipbuilding town by the end of the seventeenth century. As other towns grew, Kingsport stagnated and lost much of its advantage and it ceased to be a destination. It has been an insular and isolated community for so long that its residents have taken on a peculiar squat and wide-faced look, not unlike the residents of Innsmouth up the coast. There are rumors of strange rituals performed in Kingsport on
pagan holidays, drawing participation from the entire population and involving ancient rites in caves below the town. The same rumors speak of contact with unwholesome minions of the abyss. Despite the fantastic rumors, or maybe because of them, Kingsport has recently become a modestly popular tourist destination again.
Innsmouth
Innsmouth is a small Massachusetts coastal town tucked around a small harbor beneath inland cliffs. Its buildings are old and poorly kept, and it has maintained little of the colonial charm that has made the nearby town of Kingsport a tourist destination. In fact, the people in the towns around Innsmouth avoid it if they can, and they also avoid the only public transportation that passes through Innsmouth — an old private bus that makes the circuit between Arkam and Innsmouth a few times a day. The problems in Innsmouth seem to have started in 1846, with an event referred to by locals as the “epidemic.” Prior to that year, nothing distinguished Innsmouth from the other fishing towns along the coast, except perhaps the romantic tales of her acting as a haven for privateers and pirates after the American Revolution. But in that year there were riots in the town, and nearly half the population disappeared. The town has faded ever since, and ended up with only three or four hundred residents. Not only did the people in the area never go into Innsmouth, but it appears its residents seldom came out, especially the older residents. The people of Innsmouth made a living selling strange artwork and jewelry made of gold, presumably left over from some hidden pirate’s cache. And their interbreeding gave them all a singular look, with wide faces and bulging eyes. Investigations in the winter of 1927 led to a series of raids by federal agents and the Coast Guard. The nature and results of those raids remain classified, but the town today is almost entirely deserted.
Leng, The Nightmare Plateau
Of all the mysterious and ancient places of Earth, only Unknown Kadath, where the Old Gods dwell, is more feared than the dark and sinister Plateau of Leng. This barren, rocky land, high in the mountains, is somehow a nexus for many different realities. It exists simultaneously, although in slightly different form and scale, in Antarctica, central China, and in the far north of the Dreamlands. Little is known about it, although rumors from the Dreamlands claim that at its center is a huge, ancient stone monastery wherein dwells a high priest in a pale yellow mask who sits on a golden throne and
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prays to the Outer Gods. The priest may, in fact, be an avatar of Nyarlethotep himself. The monastery contains miles of labyrinthine passages and a series of deep pits that descend to the lower reaches of the Dreamlands, which are populated by ghouls and much more terrible creatures. The massive building is surrounded by the stone villages of horned, hoofed, wide-mouthed humanoid creatures that dance around huge fires and serve the high priest as slaves. The plateau itself has supernatural powers and is somehow the key to reaching Unknown Kadath, the mountain on which the Old Gods dwell. Leng may also be the source of the strange green soapstone favored for carving totems.
Pnakotus, Library City of the Great Race
A vast, abandoned underground city lies below Western Australia’s Desert. This was the library city of Pnakotus, where the great race lived 150 million years ago. It was a city of wide roads and giant buildings, curving up to rooftop gardens overlooking cavernous plazas. The chambers of the largest buildings were lined with metal cases containing large books of celluloid paper. In these books the great race recorded historical and cultural details from the past and future of the Earth and other nearby planets. In other parts of the city, enormous cylindrical towers, black and windowless, stood guard over doorways that led down to the vast subterranean chambers of the ancient and terrible enemy of the great race, the flying polyps. Although no longer inhabited by members of the great race, Pnakotus still lies below Western Austra-
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lia’s Gibson Desert. Many of its buildings still stand, and many of the ancient books still rest in their cases. This prehistoric, dead city was probably where the elder things found the first chapters of the Pnakotic Manuscript. The entrance to the city may lie near a collection of carved stones at 22° 3’ 14” South Latitude, 125° 0’ 39” East Longitude. Pnakotus still lies above impossibly large chambers in the Earth that are inhabited by flying polyps, the terrible enemy that forced the great race to abandon the city long before humans arose. Many of the windowless black towers have fallen, and the massive gates holding back the flying polyps now lie open.
R’lyeh
R’lyeh is the city of Great Cthulhu. It rests on the ocean floor of the far South Pacific, approximately 3,000 miles west of Cape Horn and 3,500 miles east of New Zealand. Cthulhu and his minions slumber in a colossal, monolith-capped vault beneath this city’s dark, oozecovered, non-euclidean architecture. When the stars are right, Cthulhu will stir from his dormancy and the entire city of R’lyeh will rise above the ocean. Great Cthulhu’s call of nightmares and visions will go out to the world, and cults of his followers, human and nonhuman alike, will come to R’lyeh to draw him forth from his vault.
Whitcomb House
The old Whitcomb House lies along Hope Street in Providence, just a short walk south of the Dexter Asylum. Captain Forbearance Whitcomb originally built the two-story, gambrel-roofed house in 1765, high
above the thriving colonial port. He personally supervised much of the construction and furnished the home with items from his voyages in the Near East. He allowed only a small band of Libyan sailors to handle certain aspects of the construction. Whitcomb seldom left the house, and when he died in 1799 he left the house to one of the Libyans, who abandoned it a few years later and set sail for his homeland. Ownership of the house fell to the city, then a series of landlords and tenants. Tenant after tenant abandoned the house, reporting rare dreams of strange places and horrible events that were so vivid they drove some dreamers to a more permanent residency up the street at Dexter’s. By 1860 no one would rent the place, and it became a billet for soldiers and a hospital during the War. It has had only temporary squatters since that time and has fallen into embarrassing disrepair. The parlor of the Whitcomb House contains an ornate doorway to an empty room barely large enough for a man to stand in. The door frame is worked in silver and inlaid with small, dull stones marked with strange runes, all of which seem to have aged considerably better than the rest of the house. The doorway is a window to other times and places, manifesting the Temporal Scrying power at midnight on the eve of every new moon. Captain Whitcomb was able to control it, but now it merely shows a random location in time and space.
Yoggoth
Ancient writers referred to the planet we know as Pluto thousands of years before scientists discovered it. In the ancient writings it is Yoggoth, the local colony of the fungoid mi-go race of crab-like aliens. The mi-go live in great cities with multiple tiers and terraced towers of black stone and ice, built by an even more ancient race that abandoned the planet long before man walked upright. The mi-go survive terrible cold and almost total darkness, relying on their advanced technology to protect them and give them access to other worlds of the galaxy. Yoggoth is a bizarre place of vertical structure on an unimaginable scale, where the inhabitants have wings and the gravity is light. It’s a hub station for creatures moving to and from different worlds, many just bodiless minds shepherded by the mi-go and trapped in their horrifying brain canisters. Yoggoth is so far beyond anything in human experience that just seeing it causes a psychotic disorder (Difficulty 18 Sanity).
Y’ha-Nthlei
The undersea city of Y’ha-Nthlei lies about two hundred miles off the coast of Massachusetts, where the ocean floor drops away to crushing depths beyond the edge of the continental shelf. The oldest deep ones have lived in its phosphorescent palaces and terraced gardens of strange coral since before even the Native Ameri-
cans crossed from Asia and settled along the coasts of North America. After the raids on Innsmouth during the winter of 1927-28, the American military attacked Y’ha-Nthlei with torpedoes and depth charges, but it survived and the destroyed parts were rebuilt by shoggoth servants. From the city’s cold, dark dwellings, the deep ones patiently plan their next infiltration of the land above, their next rejuvenating union with the humans of New England.
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Forbidden Books
More than through any other means, the terrible secrets of the Cthulhu Mythos have become known to the human race through ancient books. Forbidden tomes like the Necronomicon and the impossibly old Pnakotic Manuscripts tell the truth of a world hostile to humanity, but they also offer humans insight into the true powers of the universe. The histories, taxonomies and rituals contained in these books are often too much for the mundane human mind to comprehend, so readers may forfeit their sanity in payment for their curiosity.
Reading Books
Heroes read Mythos books a section at a time, whether it’s a chapter of the Pnakotic Manuscripts or a single act of The King in Yellow. Reading a section of a book exposes the reader to the Mythos powers, feats and skills listed for that section and may increase the reader’s familiarity with a particular place or creature. Most book sections are so frightening and mindexpanding that they cause mental disorders. Descriptions for each book below include the mental disorders caused by each section, along with the required save. Heroes only have to make Sanity saves the first time they read a section. Re-reading does not cause further disorders. Reading each book section requires a Language skill check using the language and Difficulty listed for the particular book. Failure means the reader didn’t comprehend anything read, so no benefits are gained and no disorders risked. Each attempt to read a section takes one full day. Retries are allowed and the reader can take 10. Note that many of these books may be found in an incomplete state, with only a small set of the sections listed here. Heroes may also find the essence of one or two chapters of a book in a scholar’s notes, or carved into the wall of an ancient monolith or temple. Poor translations of books are also available, providing only a fraction of the exposure of the original.
Skimming Sections
If a the reader of a book knows what they are looking for — specifically a single power, feat or skill they want to be exposed to — they can skim a book for it. The
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reader briefly scans each section, looking for signs of the desired information. Skimming a section takes one minute and requires a successful Language check based on the Difficulty of the book. If the Language check is successful, the reader determines whether or not the desired trait is in that section. When heroes successfully skims a section of a book, they must also succeed on a Difficulty 10 Wisdom check or they understand too much and must make any Sanity saves associated with that section. They cannot take 10 on this Wisdom check. Skimming a section never fully exposes the reader to the traits listed for that section, but if the reader is forced to make the Sanity saves due to a poor Wisdom check, they do not have to make those saves again when they actually read the section.
Adapting Books to the Adventure
The contents provided in these book descriptions are merely a starting point, and the Narrator should feel free to change the content of a section or add whole new sections. If your heroes desperately need the power to banish an outsider, then maybe the book they just found should contain it, even if it’s not listed here. You can also use these descriptions as a guide for creating entirely new ancient books that fit your adventures.
Book Descriptions
Each book description below includes the title of the book, a brief description of its origins and history, and a list of the languages in which it is available. A table provided with each book lists details of each section of the book, including the exposed Mythos traits and the sanity cost of reading that specific section.
Borellus
The book of Borellus is a collection of lectures and notes by a gifted 15th-century French alchemist known only as “Borellus.” It has had at lease two limited printings, one in French and one in English. Though it is not an exceedingly rare book, it is a difficult book to understand, even for those with a modest background in the subject. Language: English (Difficulty 18), French (Difficulty 16). Because of the depth of the subject, the reader of any chapter must also succeed on a Difficulty 16 Mythos Knowledge (life sciences) check. If the Mythos Knowledge check fails, the reader gains neither the listed exposures nor disorders.
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The Book of Dzyan
Madame Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy, claimed to have seen a copy of the ancient Book of Dzyan when
Table 7-1: Borellus Section
Exposure
Lecture 1
Imbue Item
Lecture 2
Lecture 3
Dispel Unlife
Imbue Unlife
Sanity
Obsession (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Control Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Control Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
“...call up the shape of any dead Ancestor from the Dust whereinto his Bodie has been incinerated.” she studied with the masters of the ancient wisdom in Tibet from 1868 to 1870. According to Blavatsky, the scrolls of the Book of Dzyan and other ancient manuscripts where kept from the sight of the unworthy by a group of supernatural beings called the Great White Brotherhood, or the Ascended Masters. There seems to be some relationship between the Ascended Masters and the Ancient Ones beyond the First Gate of the void. Madame Blavatsky wrote the Secret Doctrine based on her recollection of the Stanzas of the Book of Dzyan. Correspondence between Blavatsky and other prominent Theosophists shortly before her death hints at the existence of at least one complete copy of the Book of Dzyan. Fifty years later, in 1936, a used book shop near Federal Hill in Providence sold a handwritten copy of a book by that title to two men claiming to be Theosophists. Language: Tibetan (Difficulty 14), coded in the Aklo Cypher (Difficulty 22)
Cultes de Goules
Written by the Comte d’Erlette around 1700, this small book describes a completely unexpected and ancient necromantic cult that still existed at that time throughout Europe. This book was suppressed by the church and never reprinted, and copies are exceedingly rare. Language: French (Difficulty 16)
Curwen Papers
This is a collection of papers, letters and a journal written by or Joseph Curwen of Providence, who was killed in a battle with customs officials in April of 1771. These papers and letters were collected and organized by his descendant, Charles Dexter Ward, into three sheaves. Some of the notes and letters are in archaic English or Czech, but additional notes include translations and interpretations of these difficult items.
Table 7-2: The Book of Dyzan Section
Exposure
7
Sanity
Mythos Knowledge (History), Contact Azathoth
Mood Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Mythos Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy)
Mood Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Stanza III
Mythos Knowledge (Life Sciences)
Stanza IV
Mythos Knowledge (Physical Sciences)
Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Stanza V
Contact Nyarlathotep
Stanza I
“Alone the one form of existence stretched boundless, infinite, causeless, in dreamless sleep; and life pulsated unconscious in universal space” Stanza II
“Darkness alone was father-mother, Svabhavat; and Svabhavat was in darkness.”
Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Control Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
“They make of him the messenger of their will. the Dzyu becomes Fohat” Stanza VI
Contact Yog-Sothoth, Contact Cthulhu
Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Call Elemental, Call Aberration
Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
“There were battles fought between the Creators and the Destroyers, and battles fought for space.” Stanza VII
“Said the Flame to the Spark. Thou art myself, my image, and my shadow”
Table 7-3: Cultes de Goules Section
Exposure
Chapter 1
Mythos Knowledge (Life Sciences), casual familiarity with ghouls
Chapter 2
Ritual Imbue Unlife
Chapter 3
Mythos Language (Ghoul), Call Undead
Chapter 4
Dream, Ritual Ward Giant
Chapter 5
Call Outsider, Contact ShubNiggurath
Chapter 6
Drain Life
Table 7-4: Curwen Papers
Sanity
Section
Exposure
Cannibalism (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Sheaf 1
Imbue Unlife, Drain Life
Cannibalism (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Sheaf 2
Communication Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity) Sleep Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Sanity
Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
“Do not calle up That which ye cannot put downe” Dispel Unlife
Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
“ Yog-Sothoth ‘Ngah’ng Ai’y Zhro!” Sheaf 3
Scrying, Temporal Scrying, Mythos Knowledge (History)
Journal
Contact YogSothoth
Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity) Dissociative Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Mood Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
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Charles Dexter Ward disappeared from a hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1928, and his papers were last seen in the possession of his physician, Doctor Marinus Bicknell Willett, who claims he destroyed them at the Ward family’s request. Rumors that the papers survived and have been copied circulate among the would-be alchemists of old New England. Language: English (Difficulty 14)
printed copies became a personal, ruthless crusade of Pope Paul III. He couldn’t destroy them all before his death, and his successor took little interest in the book. A few complete printed copies still exist, and scholars have circulated a few hand-written copies of some sections. Language: Latin (Difficulty 20)
Forms of Hesy-Ra
De Vermis Mysteriis
Ludvig Prinn penned this book in the sixteenth century while in prison awaiting trial and torture by the inquisition. Friends smuggled the book and published it in Cologne less than a year after his death. Destruction of the few
Table 7-5: De Vermis Mysteriis Section Chapter 1
Exposure
Mythos Knowledge (Life Sciences)
Chapter 2
Contact Yig
Chapter 3
Mythos Familiar, Call Outsider, casual familiarity with hunting horror
Sanity
Mental Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity) Communication Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
“Tibi Magnum Innominandum, signa stellarum nigrarum et bufaniformis Sadoquae sigillum...”
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Chapter 4
Second Sight
Chapter 5
Drain Life
Chapter 6
Mythos Knowledge (History)
Paranoia (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Mood Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity) Mood Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
The Forms of Hesy-ra are a series of notebooks containing hieroglyphics that describe the secret medical rituals of the Ancient Egyptians. They are all attributed to Hesy-ra, a physician of the 27th century B.C., and the style of the hieroglyphics fits that period. The original source of the forms is unknown, but the brief notes written in French, and the arrangement of lines and breaks, suggest the characters were copied from inscriptions on the interior walls of a temple. The transcriber has never come forward and is certainly no longer alive. The origi-
Table 7-6: Forms of Hesy-Ra Section
Exposure
Journal I
Mythos Knowledge (Life Sciences)
Sanity
Mental Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Control Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Journal II
Body Control
Journal III
Enhance Senses, Cure Injury
Hallucinations (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Journal IV
Cure, Drain Vitality
Mood Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Journal V
Heart Shaping
“King Djoser brushed at the sun as though it were within his grasp. He looked at me and laughed as he counted his slaves far out in Goshen.”
Mood Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
nal journals are locked deep in the Library of Archeology and Art History in the Sarbonne University, Paris. Replicas of a few of the journals are available on request. Poor French translations of “the Forms” have been widely circulated, but are so badly done that they offer no significant insights or exposure to Mythos traits. Language: Ancient Egyptian (Difficulty 16)
Fragments of the Book of Eibon, Liber Ivonis
The Fragments of Eibon are the collected writings of the wizard Eibon of the lost prehistoric land of Hyperborea. Based on references in the text itself, the fragments appear to be the remnants of what was once an immense volume describing his travels to different worlds and the dark myths and powerful spells he discovered. The original, lost volume was written in Tsath-yo, the ancient language of the Hyperboreans, but sections have been translated to Greek and then to French. Though both translations are exceedingly rare, the French is more easily obtained. Language: Greek (Difficulty 18), French (Difficulty 20)
Golden Bough
Written by Sir James George Frazer and first published in 1890, the Golden Bough is widely available in many languages after about 1925, but the English edition is most common. The Golden Bough is a long work, pub-
lished in anywhere from two to twelve volumes. The section table below assumes a six volume set. Frazer was writing for a wide, uninitiated audience, so the books are easy to read. However, the innocence and propriety of most of his readers required that he hide the true meanings in the work behind well-known symbols and popular, though naive mythologies. Language: English (Difficulty 16), and most other European languages (Difficulty 18). The Golden Bough is long, and its true meanings hidden, so the reader must make a Wisdom check (Difficulty 16) for each section read. If the Wisdom check fails, the reader does not gain the listed exposures or disorders.
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The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a two-act play set in the hidden dream city of Carcosa on the shores of lake Hali. The author of the play is unknown, but it was probably written sometime between 1890 and 1920. Copies circulated widely in French and English society prior to 1920, bringing suffering to many and threatening public order. Those who read the play became depressed, even suicidal. Most of the French copies were confiscated and destroyed by the French government, but many English editions still rest forgotten and unread on bookshelves in private homes and libraries in England and America. This book is somehow associated with the Cult of the Yellow Sign, but its purpose is unclear. Language: English (Difficulty 14)
Table 7-7: The Book of Eibon Section Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Exposure
Mythos Knowledge (History), casual familiarity with Hyperborea Mythos Language (Tsath-yo), Voorish Sign
Mythos Knowledge (Art), Imbue Item
Sanity
Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Communication Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity) Mood Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
“..a cloudy stone, orb-like and somewhat flattened at the ends, in which he could behold many visions of the Terrene past...” Chapter 15
Call Outsider, Banish Outsider, Contact Azathoth
Chapter 17
Call Aberration, Banish Aberration
Chapter 18
Handle Aberration
Chapter 21
Water Shaping, Wind Shaping
Chapter 22
Ritual Fire Shaping
Chapter 24
Ritual Dimension Shift
Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity) Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Control Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity) Mutism (Difficulty 14 Sanity) Pyromania (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Agoraphobia (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
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Table 7-8: Golden Bough Section
Exposure
Sanity
Volume 1: Magic Chapters 1-16
Ritual Water Shaping, Ritual Wind Shaping, Ritual Weather Shaping
Control Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Volume 2: Taboos Chapters 17-23
Mythos Knowledge (Life Sciences)
Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
“I knok this rag upone this stane, To raise the wind in the divellis name, It sall not lye till I please againe.”
Volume 3: Royal Sacrifice Chapters 25-28
None. Adds +2 bonus to Wisdom check when reading Volume 5
Volume 5: Divine Sacrifice Chapters 50-52
Enhance Ability, Enhance Other
Volume 4: Gods Chapters 29-49
Mythos Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy)
None Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity) Mood Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
“...do you imagine that anybody is so insane as to believe that the thing he feeds upon is a god?
Volume 6: Evil Chapters 53-69
Ritual Banish Outsider, Ritual Ward Outsider
Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
“...a death-like silence reigns, the priest lifts up his voice and addresses the spirits in their own language”
Table 7-9: The King in Yellow Section Act 1
Exposure CASSILDA: Indeed it’s time. We all have laid aside disguise but you. STRANGER: I wear no mask
Act 2
Necronomicon
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None
Sanity
Dream, Open Mind
Written by the mad Arab Abdul Al-hazred after the terrible visions he had while sleeping outside the ancient Nameless City in Arabia, this book is the most comprehensive collection of the most unacceptable secrets of the Cthulhu Mythos. Rumors insist that handwritten copies of the original Arabic version still exist, guarded by ancient cults or moldering in long-forgotten desert caches. The original copies are said to be nearly two thousand pages of meticulous Arabic script, bound in ebony covers set with silver and blood-red garnets. No one knows how many times this cursed book was translated to other languages and then destroyed. The Latin translation of Olaus Wormus survived to reach the printing press in the 17th century, and hundreds of copies were made. Although the Catholic Church denounced the book and forbade any good Christian from reading it, it spread to the east, survived in secret in the west, and made its way to America with the earliest colonists. At least six Latin copies are known to have survived. The Latin translation appears to have introduced errors and omissions into the text, and these were severely
None
Hallucinations (Difficulty 14 Sanity), Suicidal (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Table 7-10: Necronomicon Section
Exposure
Chapter 1
Mythos Knowledge (Art)
Chapter 2
Imbue Item
Chapter 3
Mythos Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy)
Sanity
Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity) Obsession (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Mood Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
“That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.” Chapter 4
Mythos Familiar “For he who passes the gateways always wins a shadow, and never again can he be alone.”
Chapter 5
Mind Touch, Exchange Personality
Chapter 6*
Imbue Unlife, Dispel Unlife, Call Undead
* This chapter only exists in the original Arabic versions. Temporal Mind Touch*, Suggestion
Chapter 7
Ritual Call Outsider, Banish Outsider * Contact Yog-Sothoth*
Chapter 8
“ Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate.” Chapter 9
Mythos Knowledge (History), Contact Nyarlathotep
Chapter 10
Elder Sign*
Chapter 11
Dimension Gate*, Temporal Gate*
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Paranoia (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Dissociative Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Psychotic Disorder (Difficult 14 Sanity)
Dissociative Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity) Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
Communication Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity) Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 20 Sanity) Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 16 Sanity)
“Nor may those who pass ever return, for in the vastness transcending our world are shapes of darkness that seize and bind.” * Items in italics are missing or corrupted in the English translation.
compounded in Dr. Dee’s hasty English translation, which is more widely available than the Latin. Language: Arabic (Difficulty 18), Latin (Difficulty 22), English (Difficulty 20)
Pnakotic Manuscripts
The great race of Yith began the Pnakotic Manuscript 150 million years ago in their vast library city of Pnakotus, on the combined post-Pangaean continent of what is today Antarctica and Australia. The text was expanded by the elder things that thrived on Earth after the minds of the great race had fled forward in time. The original document, written on the large, resilient green cellulose paper of the great race, has never been found. Since the parts of the manuscript written by the
great race (Chapters 1-5), the elder things (Chapters 6-8), and the Hyperboreans (Chapters 9-10) cover such different topics, they are often copied and circulated as separate documents called the Pnakotic Fragments. The Pnakotic Manuscripts, or fragments of them, are known to have been translated into Tsath-yo (Hyperborean), Greek, and English, but they are exceedingly rare and all known copies were transcribed by hand. Language: Tsath-yo (Difficulty 16), Greek (Difficulty 20), English (Difficulty 20)
Unaussprechlichen Kulten
Written by Friedrich Wilhelm von Juntz and first published in 1839 in Germany, this disturbing book contains a thorough account of the rites, practices and his-
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Table 7-11: Pnakotic Manuscripts Section Chapter 1
Exposure
Mythos Language (Great Race), casual familiarity with great race, Scientific Comprehend Language
Chapter 2
Mythos Knowledge (History), Mythos Knowledge (Physical Sciences)
Chapter 3
Mythos Knowledge (Technology)
Chapter 4
Scientific Mind Touch, Scientific Exchange Personality
Chapter 5
Scientific Temporal Mind Touch
Chapter 6
Mythos Language (Elder Thing), Mythos Knowledge (History), casual familiarity with elder things
Chapter 7
Call Aberration, Banish Aberration
Chapter 8
Mythos Knowledge (Life Sciences), Handle Aberration
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Sanity Communication Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Mythos Language (Tsath-yo), Channeler, casual familiarity with Hyperborea, Voorish Sign Ritual Contact Tsathoggua, Mythos Knowledge (Physical Sciences)
Mood Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Mood Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Paranoia (Difficulty 14 Sanity) Mood Disorder Difficulty 10 Sanity) Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Mood Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity) Sleep Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity) Dissociative Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
“Six and twenty thousand years have revolv’d, and I return to the spot where now I burn.”
Table 7-12: Unauchsprechlichen Kulten Section Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Exposure
Mythos Language (Deep One), casual familiarity with deep ones, Ritual Call Aberration*
Sanity Phobia of Water (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Call Monstrous Humanoid, casual familiarity with Byakhee, Ritual Contact Tsathoggua*
Control Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Scrying, Open Mind, Contact Nyarlathotep*
Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Mythos Knowledge(Theology & Philosophy), Call Undead*
Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 10 Sanity)
Mind Touch, Ritual Contact Cthulhu*
Psychotic Disorder (Difficulty 12 Sanity)
Visions, Sense Minds*, Mythos Language(Aklo)
Anxiety Disorder (Difficulty 14 Sanity)
* Due to poor translation, exposures in italics are not provided by the Golden Goblin Edition. 106
tory of some of the most horrible cults known to man. Two English translations exist, the rare Bridewell translation of 1845, and the relatively poor Golden Goblin edition of Unspeakable Cults published in 1909. Language: English (Difficulty 18)
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Mythos Artifacts
The demi-gods, alien visitors and advanced pre-human civilizations of the Mythos have brought all sorts of profane and powerful artifacts to Earth. Some may be useful to an enterprising group of investigators, but most will bring only death or uncontrollable, salivating insanity to all who interact with them. The following artifacts are provided as examples. You should feel free to create new artifacts that fit your adventures.
Black Stone of Stregoicavar
This great hexagonal black column rises from atop a hill above the Hungarian village of Stregoicavar. The column is sixteen feet high and a foot and a half thick, and it’s pitted near the bottom where villagers tried to destroy it with hammers and axes. The stone once capped the roof of a great citadel which is now buried beneath the hill, and it was the site of terrible ceremonies and sacrifices to a disgusting, toad-like avatar of Tsathoggua. Anyone who looks closely at the stone will begin to see some translucency in its surface. Anyone staring into the stone for an hour or more, or sleeping within 30 feet of it, must succeed on a Difficulty 10 Will save or see visions of the terrible ceremonies and the avatar. The Difficulty of this Will save increases to 25 on Midsummer’s Night. Anyone seeing these visions acquires an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 22 Sanity). Anyone attempting to destroy the stone (like the villagers who chipped away at it) is hunted by a byakhee or other servitor creature until they are dead. Similar stones may exist in other locations. 107
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Calling Stones
Electrical Weapon
Crystal of Zon Mezzamalech
Elixir of Eternal Life
These are small stones marked with runes that aid in the calling of specific creature types or individual creatures. Deep one calling stones, for instance, are small, smooth stones marked with aquatic pictographs. When you drop a deep one calling stone into the ocean, it grants you a +10 bonus on your power check to call a deep one. Some calling stones are actually charms imbued with the calling power and can be activated by anyone.
The Crystal of Zon Mezzamalech is a cloudy orb-like stone, somewhat flattened at the ends. The great Hyperborean sorcerer Zon Mezzamalech originally found this orb hundreds of thousands of years ago in what is now Greenland. By using it, he was able to peer into the past, all the way to a time before the Elder Gods, when only Ubbo-Sathla (Azathoth) existed. Zon Mezzamalech vanished and the crystal was lost, but it seems to resurface every so often to tempt a new owner into gazing into its depths. If you gaze into the crystal for one full round, you see a random place and time as if using the Temporal Scrying power. If you are able to use the Temporal Scrying power yourself, you may attempt to control the target location and time as if using the power, but if you fail your power check, you see a random target like anyone else. After three full rounds gazing into the crystal, you make contact with a random intelligent creature in the target time and location as if using Temporal Mind Touch (Difficulty 20 Will save). You attempt to make mental contact with a different creature each round until successful. Two rounds after mental contact is established, the crystal forces you to take control of the target as if using the Dominate power (Difficulty 20 Will save). No concentration is required by you to maintain dominance, but you must concentrate to control the actions of the target. After you have dominated the target for 5 rounds, the dominance becomes permanent and the crystal absorbs your body and disappears, trapping your mind in the target body. You may not look away from the crystal unless you succeed on a Difficulty 20 Will save, which you may retry each round. If you are physically removed from the area, or the crystal is removed from your line of sight, your save is automatic.
The Great Race of Yith created weapons resembling cameras that emitted electrical charges similar to lightning. They used them to some effect against the fearsome flying polyps, keeping that ancient enemy at bay for a while. The weapon itself requires a successful Difficulty 18 Mythos Knowledge (technology) check to operate. It is a ranged weapon with a 50 ft. range increment and +5 electricity damage.
The recipe for the Elixir of Eternal life has been sought by alchemists since the dawn of civilization. What the teaming throngs of fleetingly mortal humans don’t realize is that the elixir exists. It has been known to a few immortal alchemists throughout history, and they keep it secret and to themselves. The Elixir is a foul-smelling bluish liquid that requires a human sacrifice and three days of Yuletide to create. When consumed, it removes all effects of aging, including all levels of the Premature Aging disorder.
Hound of Leng Amulet
This amulet is a small figure of a winged sphinx with a canine face. Each such amulet has an actual hound of Leng that serves the amulet’s owner. If you wear the amulet, you must succeed on a Difficulty 18 Charisma check to become its owner. If you fail to become the amulet’s owner, you may not try again and you acquire the Obsession mental disorder with the amulet as the focus (Difficulty 22 San save). If you fail to become its owner, you are also hunted by the hound of Leng. If you are killed by the hound, the amulet’s owner is affected as if he used the Drain Life power on you. If the amulet’s owner is dead when the hound kills, the owner revives as if the target of an Imbue Life power. If the hound is killed, the amulet disappears.
Molecular Disturbance Device
This is the weapon that nearly saved the elder things in their epic war against the shoggoth uprising. It is a small, silver, star-shaped device that could disrupt the dynamic shoggoth molecules and bind them in a form easily destroyed by other weapons. This weapon requires a Difficulty 15 Mythos Knowledge (technology) skill to
operate. When discharged, it emits a cone of energy 120 ft. long and 30 ft. wide at the end. Any non-shoggoth creatures caught in the cone take +8 electrical damage (Difficulty 14 Reflex save for half damage). Any shoggoths hit by the beam take no direct damage, but lose their damage reduction and regeneration abilities for 4 rounds. This device takes one minute to recharge.
Powder of Ibn Gazi
The powder if Ibn Gazi is a fine dust imbued with the power to make invisible things visible. When you blow the Powder at an invisible creature, it’s as if you used a Voorish Sign power. However, the Powder of Ibn Gazi can make the invisible creature visible to any other creature within line of sight, provided the power check value of the powder is high enough. (see Imbue Item in Chapter 5). Truly ancient samples of the Powder of Ibn Gazi were created in rituals and have power checks as high as 30 or 35.
The Shining Trapezohedron
The Shining Trapezohedron is a many-faceted egg-shaped object about four inches across. The mi-go created it and brought it to Earth, and it may be related to the Crystal of Zon Mezzamalech. The elder things found it and placed it in its asymmetrical metal box. It was used for millions of years by serpent people before falling into the hands of the humans of Atlantis. The Pharaoh Neprenka worshiped it and built a great temple for it, and time buried it beneath the sands of Egypt until it was uncovered again in the 19th century. It is the central artifact of the Starry Wisdom Cult. When you stare intently into the Shining Trapezohedron for at least one full round, you gain the effects of Temporal Scrying on a random time and subject, with no power check necessary. Once the scrying visions begin, you must make a Difficulty 14 Wisdom save each round to stop looking into the Shining Trapezohedron. The Temporal Scrying effects continue as long as you continue to stare. If you stare into the Shining Trapezohedron for three full rounds, you call a hunting horror. The called hunting horror is actually an avatar of Nyarlathotep which the Starry Wisdom Cult calls the haunter of the dark. The haunter stays until it is de-
stroyed, banished, or collects an intelligent living sacrifice to drag back into the void.
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The Silver Key
The Silver Key is a huge key of tarnished silver, obtained by crusaders in the middle east and handed down in secret through generations of the Carter family of New England. The Silver Key comes from beyond the First Gate of the Void and has the power, when used with the correct incantations, to cut through all dimensions of existence. If you hold the Silver Key and turn it a specific way, you receive a +15 bonus on a power check for one of the following powers: Contact Umr At-Tawil, Dimension Gate, Dimension Sense Minds, Mind Touch, Scrying, Sense Minds, Temporal Mind Touch, Temporal Scrying, and Temporal Sense Minds. Each use of the silver key causes an anxiety disorder (Difficulty 18 Sanity) in addition to any disorders caused by the powers themselves.
Translator of the Great Race
In their fabulous library cities, the great race of Yith used their Temporal Personality Exchange powers to trade minds with creatures from all over time and space. The great race used this translator to communicate with the bewildered minds inhabiting the bodies of the Yithian explorers. The translator appeared to be some sort of musical instrument, which members of the great race played with the delicate appendages of their heads. Anyone can use a translator by making a Difficulty 14 Mythos Knowledge (technology) check. Its effects, including Sanity costs, are the same as the Comprehend Language power.
The Yellow Sign
The Yellow Sign is a curious symbol, usually written or engraved in gold upon a piece of jewelry or a scrap of parchment. The sign is a tool of the Cult of the Yellow Sign, servants of the King in Yellow and Hastur the Unspeakable. Each sign is a charm, usually imbued with a Suggestion that the recipient visit the sender to be initiated into the secrets of the cult. Those who ignore the sign do so at great peril.
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Chapter 8: Adversaries & Allies As heroes struggle to stop the bizarre, destructive forces of the Cthulhu Mythos, other humans who worship the Outer Gods or share the goals of terrible, inhuman creatures, will oppose them. This chapter gives examples of some of the cults and individual adversaries the heroes may have to face. It also includes everyday people that heroes might encounter, either as potential enemies or as allies.
Cults & Adepts
Even the races that lived on Earth long before humans evolved created cultic practices centered on deities and very powerful creatures. The purpose of such a cult is to garner the favor and intervention of the deity, or simply to assuage its wrath. Being a member of a cult can affect one’s sanity, so some of the detailed descriptions in this section include disorders that characters have already accumulated.
The Esoteric Order of Dagon
The Esoteric Order of Dagon is the cult of Dagon worship for deep one hybrids. Gatherings of the Esoteric Order take place in abandoned churches and seaside caves along the coastlines where the deep ones have interbred with humans in the past. The Esoteric Order has two goals. The first, and most mundane, is to gain Dagon’s favor so he will maintain a good supply of fish in nearby seas. The second is to colonize the land with hybrids, replacing all humans if necessary. If any outsiders witness this cult’s ceremonies or discover the truth about the hybrids, deep ones hunt them down as sacrifices to Dagon, possibly using trained shoggoths as trackers.
High Priest of Dagon
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Deep one adept/4 Speed: 20 ft., swim 40 ft. Abilities: Str +2, Dex -1, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +1 Skills: Handle Aberration 10 (+11), Intimidate 4 (+5), Mythos Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 10 (+10), Language (elder thing) 4 (+4), Swim 0 (+10)
Feats: Powers(rank 10, Cha, save Difficulty 13; Banish Aberration +13, Call Aberration +16, Ritual Call Monstrous Humanoid +13), Supernatural Focus (Call Aberration), Stunning Attack, Tough Traits (see deep one): Amphibious, Darkvision 60 ft., Sanity Combat: Attack +4 (+3 base, +2 adept, -1 Dex), Damage +6 (claws) or +5 (bite) or +4 (club), Defense: Dodge/Parry +4/ +7 (+3 base, +2 adept, -1 Dex/+2 Str), Initiative -1 Saves: Toughness +4 (+1 Con, +1 natural, +1 robes, +1 Tough), Fortitude +3 (+1 base, +1 adept, +1 Con), Reflex +1 (+1 base, +1 adept, -1 Dex), Will +8 (+3 base, +4 adept, +1 Wis) The high priests of the Esoteric Order of Dagon are full-blooded deep ones. They emerge from the sea with an entourage of deep one minions to lead the hybrids in chanting, ancient rituals, and sacrifices to Dagon. The high priests wear long robes and high golden tiaras. The tiaras grant them a +2 bonus to power checks, which is already included in the bonuses above.
Member of the Esoteric Order of Dagon
Human adept/1 minion (deep one hybrid), Ancient Bloodline background Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +1, Dex +0, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha -1 Skills: DisguiseB 4 (+3), Intimidate 4 (+3), Mythos Knowledge (theology and philosophy) 4 (+4), Mythos Language (deep one) 4 (+4), Notice 4 (+4), SwimB 4 (+5) Feats: Dedicated (to secrecy), EnduranceB, Low ProfileB, Night Vision, Powers (rank 4, Cha, save Difficulty 10; Ritual Call Monstrous Humanoid +3), Startle Combat: Attack +0 (+0 adept, +0 Dex), Damage +3 (club), Defense: Dodge/Parry +0/ +0 (+0 adept, +0 Dex), Initiative +0 Saves: Toughness +1 (+1 Con), Fortitude +1 (+0 adept, +1 Con), Reflex +0 (+0 adept, +0 Dex), Will +2 (+2 adept, +0 Wis), Sanity +1 (+2 adept, -1 Cha) Disorders: Any Level 2 anxiety disorder. Hybrid deep one cult members try to maintain their disguise as normal humans until their transformation is far enough along for them to start a new life in the sea.
Prophets of Perfection (Oraculum Perfectus)
This is a loosely-organized cult based around the words and writings of prophets who have been in mental contact with the philosopher insects of Jupiter’s fourth moon, Callisto. An insect philosopher may contact an individual prophet dozens of times, but each time contact is severed, the prophet is generally unable to remember or comprehend much of what transpired. The prophets have caught glimpses of perfection, and each prophet’s followers move toward it in their own way. Each prophet is unaware or unable to grasp the combined “perfect” result of all their individual visions of perfection, but it may be the complete destruction of the Earth. The university library in Arkham contains transcripts of secret philosophical debates in ancient Greece that mention a transcendent state which felt like having many legs. This is the first suspected evidence of the Prophets of Perfection, but the document is hardly conclusive. By three hundred years later, the Roman government knew of the society and openly documented its own efforts to eradicate a group of insane, extremist academics calling themselves Oraculum Perfectus. Today the Prophets of Perfection are shrouded once again in secrecy. It isn’t clear how much contact the insect philosophers currently have with humans, but the Prophets of Perfection still exist and are still seeking for all the pieces of the great plan of perfection.
Follower of a Prophet of Perfection
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Human Academic/4, Cultist background Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str -1, Dex +0, Con +1, Int +3, Wis +2, Cha +1 Skills: Bluff 7 (+8), Craft(mechanics, electrical) 7 (+10), Disable Device 7 (+10), Gather Information 7 (+8), Knowledge (earth sciences, life sciences, physical sciences, technology, theology and philosophy) 7 (+10), Language (German) 4 (+7), Mythos Knowledge (theology and philosophy)B 7 (+13), Notice 7 (+9), Search 7 (+10), Sense Motive 7 (+8), Sleight of Hand 7 (+7), StealthB 4 (+4), Feats: Benefit (security clearance), Dedicated (ultimate perfection)B, Eidetic Memory, Firearms Training, Iron WillB, Low Profile, Maser Plan, Skill Focus (Mythos Knowledge (theology and philosophy)), Tireless Combat: Attack +1 (+1 academic, +0 Dex), Damage +2 (Derringer), Defense: Dodge/Parry +1/ +0 (+1 academic, +0 Dex/-1 Str), Initiative +0 Saves: Toughness +1 (+1 Con), Fortitude +2 (+1 academic, +1 Con), Reflex +2 (+2 academic, +0 Dex), Will +6 (+2 academic, +2 Wis, Iron Will), Sanity +5 (+4 academic, +1 Cha) Disorders: Level 1 Stutter Followers of the prophets adhere to the instructions given to them regarding how to make just a few pieces of the world “perfect” in the eyes of the insect philosophers. It may mean slightly changing the formula for the plastic used in airplane windshields, finding a way to cross-breed specific strains of wheat and barley, or calculating the last number in a finite mathematical sequence. Whatever the tasks, these followers will do anything to accomplish them, even if it means subterfuge or violence.
Vessels of the Great Race
Many thousands of years ago in Hyperborea, a group of scholars used information from the rare Pnakotic Manuscripts to prove that one among them was the subject of a Yithian mind swap. Shortly after being discovered, the Yithian mind returned to its rightful place. The Hyperboeans began looking for evidence of other minds from the great race and researching ways to make themselves more attractive subjects for mind swaps. They called their secret cult the Vessels of the Great Race and passed down their knowledge in secret ceremonies and rites meant to test the loyalty of new initiates. Some of them studied the Pnakotic Manuscripts in depth, along with other ancient documents, trying to learn the Temporal Exchange Personality power so they could initiate the swap themselves. This so offended the
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Yithians that they denied any special status they might have granted the vessels. There were vessels of the Great Race in Atlantis, in ancient Egypt, throughout the Roman Empire, and in Medieval Europe. Today the vessels form sub-cults within powerful societies like the Freemasons or the Trilateral Commission, or they work ruthlessly to gain access to classified government information, all to make themselves more attractive hosts.
Elder Vessel of the Great Race
Human expert/4, adept/1, Secret Society background Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +0, Dex +1, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +1, Cha +1 Skills: BluffB 4 (+5), Diplomacy 7 (+8), Gather Information 7 (+8), Knowledge (Art, Current Events, History, Technology) 8 (+11), Mythos Knowledge (history, technology) 8 (+11), Mythos Language (great race) 8 (+11), Notice 7 (+8), Sense Motive 7 (+8), StealthB 4 (+5)
Feats: Attractive, Contacts, ConnectedB, Dedicated (great race)B, Eidetic Memory, Firearms Training, Inspire(competence), Open Mind, Powers (rank 4, Cha, save Difficulty 12, scientific equipment +1; Scientific Mind Touch +6), Wealthy Combat: Attack +4 (+3 expert, +0 adept, +1 Dex), Damage +3 (M&P 38 revolver), Defense: Dodge/Parry +4/ +3 (+3 expert, +0 adept, +1 Dex/+0 Str), Initiative +1 Saves: Toughness +0 (+0 Con), Fortitude +4 (+4 expert, +0 adept, +0 Con), Reflex +2 (+1 expert, +0 adept, +1 Dex), Will +2 (+1 expert, +0 adept, +1 Wis), Sanity +5 (+4 academic, +0 adept, +1 Cha) Disorders: Level 2 Manic-Depressive Cult members initiated into all the secrets of the Vessels of the Great Race have open minds, ready to accept contact at any time. They already know the basics of the Yithian language, so they’re ready to begin recording their knowledge as soon as they get used to their new alien physical form. Vessels will go to great lengths to gain access to new information or to follow clues that might lead to a Yithian among us.
Yezidi Malektaus Cult
The Yezidi cult of central Asia is loosely associated with Abrahamic faiths, especially Islam, but it appears to have developed much earlier, possibly in conjunction with Zoroastrianism. Yezidis do not accept the story of the fall of Malek Taus, or Shaitan (Satan), but believe he still reigns from the heavens as the primary architect of the physical world. Some Mythos scholars have linked the Yezidis’ image of Shaitan back to its earlier rendering of “Uro-Sattal”, or “Ubbo-Sathla” – Azathoth. The rituals that the most secret Yezidi cults employ to contact Shaitan are actually directed at Azathoth, or more specifically, his messenger Nyarlathotep. The Yezidis are generally a quiet, isolated people, but groups of them will occasionally be inspired by Shaitan to seemingly senseless acts of violence throughout the world. The native language of most Yezidis is Kurdish.
Yezidi Cultic Sheikh
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Human adept/6, Old World background Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +1, Dex +0, Con +1, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +3 Skills: Bluff 9 (+12), Concentration 9 (+10), Knowledge (supernatural)B 4 (+5), Language (French)B 4 (+5), Notice 9 (+10), Perform (singing) 9 (+12), Sense Motive 9 (+10)
Feats: ConnectedB, Great FortitudeB, Iron Will, Lucky, Powers (rank 9, Cha, save Difficulty 16; Call Animal +12, Ritual Contact Nyarlathotep (Malek Taus) +12, Ritual Object Reading +12, Ritual Scrying +12), Quick Draw, Weapon Training Combat: Attack +3 (+3 adept, +0 Dex), Damage +4 (scimitar), Defense: Dodge/Parry +3/ +4 (+3 adept, +0 Dex/+1 Str), Initiative +0 Saves: Toughness +1 (+1 Con), Fortitude +8 (+2 adept, +1 Con, Great Fortitude, Lucky), Reflex +5 (+2 adept, +0 Dex, Lucky), Will +11 (+5 adept, +1 Wis, Iron Will, Lucky), Sanity +8 (+5 adept, +3 Cha) Disorders: Level 3 Cannibalism The sheikh is the religious leader among the Yezidi people. Some of these Sheikhs attain such power and knowledge that they are able to contact Malek Taus himself and discover his will for them. These cultic Sheikhs gather a small group of trained killers to help them carry out Shaitan’s plans.
Yezidi Assassin
Human expert/2 minion, Primitive background Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +2, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +0 Skills: Acrobatics 5 (+7), Climb 5 (+7), Craft (poison) 5 (+5), Disable Device 5 (+5), Handle AnimalB 4 (+4), Notice 5 (+5), Ride 5 (+7), Search 5 (+5), Stealth 5 (+7), SurvivalB 4 (+4) Feats: All-out Attack, Animal EmpathyB, Crippling Strike, Dedicated (mission), Hide in Plain Sight, Sneak Attack, Weapon TrainingB Combat: Attack +3 (+1 expert, +2 Dex), Damage +3 plus poison (knife), Defense: Dodge/Parry +3/ +3 (+1 expert, +2 Dex/+2 Str), Initiative +2 Saves: Toughness +1 (+1 Con), Fortitude +1 (+0 expert, +1 Con), Reflex +2 (+0 expert, +2 Dex), Will +3 (+3 expert, +0 Wis), Sanity +3 (+3 expert, +0 Cha) Disorders: Level 1 Cannibalism Yezidi assassins train for months to carry out whatever mission Malek Taus assigns them through their Sheikh. Poison: Yezidi assassins can apply scorpion poison to their weapons by making a successful Difficulty 10 Craft (poison) check. Applying poison is a full-round action. The poison takes effect only if the weapon’s next attack does lethal damage. Fortitude Difficulty 11; initial Damage 1 Str, secondary damage 1 Str.
Narrator Characters
Shadows of Cthulhu adventures should be populated with enough Narrator characters to support roleplaying and help generate story. These are not the ordinaries that
appear for a single scene or have a one-dimensional role to fill. They are the characters that reappear throughout your adventure and may become friends, employers, love interests, or bitter enemies for the heroes.
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FBI Agent
Ernest Whye
Human investigator/3, Big City background Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +1, Dex +1, Con +0, Int +2, Wis +1, Cha +0 Skills: Bluff 6 (+6), Drive 6 (+7), Gather Information 6 (+6), Intimidate 6 (+6), Knowledge (civics) 6 (+8), Knowledge(streetwise)B 4 (+6), Notice 6 (+7), Search 6 (+8), StealthB 4 (+5) Feats: Assessment, Benefit (law enforcement powers), ConnectedB, ContactsB, Firearms Training, Point Blank Shot, Seize Initiative, Set-up Combat: Attack +3 (+2 investigator, +1 Dex), Damage +4 (Colt 45 revolver), Defense: Dodge/Parry +3/ +3 (+2 investigator, +1 Dex/+1 Str), Initiative +1 Saves: Toughness +1 (+0 Con, +1 leather jacket), Fortitude +1 (+1 investigator, +0 Con), Reflex +4 (+3 investigator, +1 Dex), Will +2 (+1 investigator, +1 Wis), Sanity +3 (+3 investigator, +0 Cha) Agent Whye is about as straight-laced and by-thebook as the come. He grew up on the streets of Chicago’s south side and always had to play a cop in the “cops and robbers” games. He got beat up a lot. Other agents may grumble when they find out he’s assigned to their case, but they’re happy to have him in the end to make sure all the paperwork gets done properly and the suspect doesn’t get off on a technicality.
Mob Boss
Martin Castilletti
Human expert/6, Old World background Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +1, Dex +1, Con +2, Int +2, Wis +1, Cha +2 Skills: Bluff 9 (+11), Craft (blacksmith) 9 (+11), Diplomacy 9 (+11), Disguise 9 (+11), Intimidate 9 (+11), Knowledge (business, civics) 9 (+11), Knowledge (supernatural)B 4 (+6), Language (Italian)B 4 (+6), Notice 9 (+10), Perform (singing) 9 (+11), Sense Motive 9 (+10) Feats: Canny Dodge, ConnectedB, Firearms Training, Great FortitudeB, Inspire (fear), Iron Will, Lucky, Point Blank Shot, Sneak Attack, Taunt, Weapon Training Combat: Attack +5 (+4 expert, +1 Dex), Damage +3 (M&P 38 revolver), Defense: Dodge/Parry +5/+5 (+4 expert, +1 Dex/+1 Str), Initiative +1 Saves: Toughness +2 (+2 Con), Fortitude +9 (+5 expert, +1 Con, Great Fortitude, Lucky), Reflex +8 (+2
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expert, +2 Dex, Canny Dodge, Lucky), Will +7 (+2 expert, +1 Wis, Iron Will, Lucky), Sanity +7 (+5 expert, +2 Cha) “Cast Iron” Castilletti, also known as “Castrated” Castilletti because of his pinched voice and fondness for singing alto in operas, is a ruthless crime boss from Boston who’s trying to set up operations in Providence. He’s starting with liquor by strong-arming all the independent bootleggers, then he’ll move in on prostitution and the more organized vices.
Pawn Broker
Nellie Shaeffer
Human expert/3, Religious background Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +0, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +2, Wis +0, Cha +1 Skills: Bluff 6 (+7), Climb 6 (+6), Craft(jewelry) 6 (+8), Intimidate 6 (+7), Knowledge(theology and philosophy)B 4 (+9), Notice 6 (+6), Perform (stringed instruments)B 4 (+5), Sense Motive 6 (+6), Sleight of Hand 6 (+8), Stealth 6 (+8) Feats: Firearms Training, Haggler, Iron Will, Jaded, Quick Draw, Skill FocusB (Knowledge(theology and philosophy))B, Second Chance (falling) Combat: Attack +4 (+2 expert, +2 Dex), Damage +5 (double-barrel shotgun) or +2 (knife), Defense: Dodge/ Parry +4/ +2 (+2 expert, +2 Dex/+0 Str), Initiative +2 Saves: Toughness +1 (+1 Con), Fortitude +2 (+1 expert, +1 Con), Reflex +5 (+3 expert, +2 Dex), Will +3 (+1 expert, +0 Wis, Iron Will), Sanity +6 (+3 expert, +1 Char, Jaded) Nellie owns and operates the First Collateral Loan Bank of Providence, a pawn shop on Hope street, near the Dexter Asylum. She was once a thief, and a pretty good one, but she spent time in the state women’s prison and quickly realized there were no fences on the inside. Only the thieves went to prison. She saw the light and opened her pawn shop as soon as she got out, with money borrowed from her widower father. In the eyes of the police she’s gone legitimate, but through all her old colleagues she now makes more money from petty theft than ever.
Surgeon
Dr. J. John Allen
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Human expert/4 Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +0, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +3, Wis +0, Cha -1 Skills: Bluff 7 (+6), Diplomacy 7 (+6), Disguise 7 (+6), Intimidate 7 (+6), Knowledge (civics, life sciences) 7 (+10), Language (Italian)B 4 (+7), Medicine 7 (+7),
Notice 7 (+7), Sense Motive 7 (+7), Sleight of Hand 7 (+9), Surgery 7 (+12) Feats: Connected, Dodge Focus, Iron Will, JadedB, Low Profile, Skill Focus (Surgery), Sneak Attack, Weapons Training Combat: Attack +5 (+3 expert, +2 Dex), Damage +2 (knife), Defense: Dodge/Parry +6/+3 (+3 expert, +2 Dex/+0 Str, Dodge Focus), Initiative +2 Saves: Toughness +1 (+1 Con), Fortitude +5 (+4 expert, +1 Con), Reflex +3 (+1 expert, +2 Dex), Will +3 (+1 expert, +0 Wis, Iron Will), Sanity +5 (+4 expert, -1 Cha, Jaded) Although Doctor Allen has never officially been part of organized crime in America, the strong family crime connections he purposely left behind in the old country have followed him to Providence. Shortly after he set up shop, he found himself doing covert surgeries on gunshot and knife wounds for strangers who somehow knew his father back in Italy. Now most of his business comes from criminals who pay extra for no questions asked and no medical record of their visit.
Thug
Patrick Doherty
Human warrior/3, Wild West background Speed: 30 ft. Abilities: Str +3, Dex +1, Con +2, Int -1, Wis -1, Cha +0 Skills: Drive 6 (+7), Handle AnimalB 4 (+4), Intimidate 6 (+6), RideB 4 (+5), Sense Motive 6 (+5) Feats: Animal EmpathyB, Far Shot, Firearms Training, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Ranged Pin, TirelessB, Tough Combat: Attack +4 (+3 warrior, +1 Dex), Damage +4 (repeating rifle) or +5 (club), Defense: Dodge/Parry +4/+6 (+3 warrior, +1 Dex/+3 Str), Initiative +1 Saves: Toughness +3 (+2 Con, Tough), Fortitude +5 (+3 warrior, +2 Con), Reflex +2 (+1 warrior, +1 Dex), Will +0 (+1 warrior, -1 Wis), Sanity +3 (+3 warrior, +0 Cha) Patrick is a simple farm boy from north-central Massachusetts who left school early and made his way to Oklahoma looking for adventure. He spent three years working on a cattle ranch, then decided to return to east and ended up in Providence, still wearing his tall hat and boots and carrying his Winchester when needed. He had a hard time finding a job and ended up as a hired thug.
Ordinaries
The ordinary people in your adventures make every scene feel alive. Making up new ordinaries is a simple process, but here is a short list for inspiration.
Accountant
Roy Chizek; Lvl 4; Gather Information +7, Knowledge (business, technology) +7, Search +7
Actress
Mabel May; Lvl 5; Disguise +8, Knowledge (art) +8, Perform (acting, dancing) +8; Attractive
Archeology Professor
Prof. Richard D. Weiser; Lvl 5; Int +1; Knowledge (history, earth sciences) +9, Language (ancient Egyptian) +9, Search +9
Bootlegger
Clarence Sagnol; Lvl 3; Craft (brewing) +6, Drive +6, Sense Motive +6, Stealth +6
Cab Driver
Sasha Helzeg; Lvl 3; Drive +6, Knowledge (streetwise) +6, Notice +6, Bluff +6; Haggler
Doctor
Dr. Seth Ornesby; Lvl 4; Diplomacy +7, Knowledge (life sciences, technology) +7, Medicine +7
Farmer
Flapper
Emma Fahrenhorst; Lvl 2; Cha +1; Bluff +6, Diplomacy +6, Knowledge (popular culture) +5, Perform(dance) +6
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Librarian
Clara Anne Wendt; Lvl 3; Craft (writing) +6, Gather Information +6, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (history) +6
Mobster
Maria Panucci; Lvl 2; Bluff +5, Intimidate +5, Notice +5, Sense Motive +5; Connected
Police Officer
John McLaren; Lvl 3; Drive +6, Gather Information +6, Knowledge (civics) +6, Notice +6; Benefit (legal enforcement powers)
Psychiatrist
Oliver Orst; Lvl 5; Knowledge (physical sciences) +8, Notice +8, Psychiatry +8, Sense Motive +8
Reporter
Sarah Zanetti; Lvl 3; Craft (writing) +6, Diplomacy +6, Gather Information +6, Search +6
Pal Parker; Lvl 4; Craft (machinery) +7,Handle Animal +7, Ride +7, Survival +7; Firearms Training
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Chapter 9: The Village of Dunwich “Across a covered bridge one sees a small village huddled between the stream and the vertical slope of Round Mountain, and wonders at the cluster of rotting gambrel roofs bespeaking an earlier architectural period than that of the neighbouring region. It is not reassuring to see, on a closer glance, that most of the houses are deserted and falling to ruin, and that the broken-steepled church now harbours the one slovenly mercantile establishment of the hamlet. One dreads to trust the tenebrous tunnel of the bridge, yet there is no way to avoid it. Once across, it is hard to prevent the impression of a faint, malign odour about the village street, as of the massed mould and decay of centuries. It is always a relief to get clear of the place, and to follow the narrow road around the base of the hills and across the level country beyond till it rejoins the Aylesbury pike. Afterwards one sometimes learns that one has been through Dunwich.” - H.P. Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror The Village of Dunwich is an ancient settlement along one of the many fast streams that run through the hills of northwestern Massachusetts. It could be an ideal setting for your first Shadows of Cthulhu adventure. This chapter describes the town as it was in the fall of 1928, shortly before the events known as the Dunwich Horror, which are detailed in H.P. Lovecraft’s short story by that same title.
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History
In 1692, three families, the Bishops, Whateleys and Corey’s, left Salem and moved west. They followed the twisting line of the Miskatonic River to a remote region of deep ravines and rounded hills. It appears that the Whateleys had been attracted to the area because of native American stories of powerful magic. The families built fine houses and a mill where a clear stream ran below the slope of Round Mountain. They soon called a preacher and built the Congregational Church of Dunwich Village, a fine stone structure with a tall, prominent bell tower and a crenelated roof. Dunwich remained alone in the area for decades before nearby towns like Aylesbury and Dean’s Corners appeared. That isolation cost the town dearly, as poor breeding and backward thinking created degenerate lines of each of the original families. These degenerate groups, led by the gruff, keen-eyed Whateleys, returned to the witchcraft and ancient knowledge the families had left behind them in Salem. The reverend at the time recognized what was happening and preached a damning sermon against the degenerates. He soon disappeared and no preacher could be found to fill his place. Although a few outsiders moved to Dunwich from the new nearby towns, far more people left the ailing
village for more sane environs. The population of the town declined, the mill fell into ruin, and most of the houses were abandoned.
Places of Interest
The land around Dunwich is marked by mysterious and archaic features that predate the founding of the village. The only occupied buildings in the Village of Dunwich itself are Osborne’s general store, the old mill at the falls, and a few crumbling houses. However, the Glen Road that runs south out of the village along Bishop’s Brook is peppered with a half-dozen working farms that generate some goods and keep what’s left of Dunwich alive.
Ancient Bishop House
When the three families first settled Dunwich, they dreamed of building fine gabled cedar houses like those they had seen in Salem. The ancient Bishop house was the only attempt to reach that dream. In its prime, it had seven gables and three chimneys and a fine solarium with large glass windows. Unfortunately, it became a haven for the degenerate branch of the Bishop family and fell into ruin. No one will dare live there now, and it has been picked down to its skeleton in places, salvaged by the degenerates to build their shacks up on Round Mountain.
Cold Spring Glen
Cold Spring Glen is a deep, densely-wooded ravine that runs for two miles from the Frye farm southwest of the village, to the Bishop farm down along the Glen Road. Even the least superstitious of the locals don’t go down into it for fear of some undefined evil that lives there. The glen is a favorite haunt of swarms of whippoorwills that the locals fear as soul-stealing agents of the Devil.
Bishop Farm
The Bishop farm, which is run reasonably well by Seth Bishop, lies south of town along the Glen Road, just beyond the Corey farm. Seth raises dairy cattle and grazes them on the common pastures to the south and east of his land. He is from the undecayed branch of the Bishop family. Seth Bishop: Lvl 4 ordinary farmer, Str +1, Wis +1, Handle Animal +7, Intimidate +7, Ride +7, Notice +8. Seth is a widower and a strong voice in the community. He detests the degenerate Bishops. Silas Bishop: Lvl 1 ordinary hunter, Wis +1, Climb +4, Notice +5, Search +4, Survival +5, Firearms Training. Silas is the grown son of Seth.
Sally Sawyer: Lvl 1 ordinary housekeeper, Craft (cooking, weaving) +4, Diplomacy +4, Sense Motive +4. Sally is the housekeeper for the Bishop men and the daughter of Magnus Sawyer, the fish peddler. Chauncey Sawyer: ordinary young boy, all abilities -1, no skills. Cauncey is Sally’s son. He’s overprotected and suffers from Night Terrors.
9
Corey Farm
The undecayed Coreys run a farm about a mile down the Glen Road, just before the junction. They raise cows and compete with Seth Bishop for the best pasture lands. George Corey: Lvl 4 ordinary farmer, Craft (machinery) +7, Drive +7, Handle Animal +7, Notice +7, Firearms Training. George is a quiet man who usually lets his wife do the talking for the family. Rose Corey: Lvl 3 ordinary housekeeper, Cha +1, Bluff +7, Diplomacy +7, Gather information +7, Search +6. Rose is the center of communication among the farms south of the village. She uses the party line telephone often. Wesley Corey: Lvl 1 ordinary farmer, Intimidate +4, Notice +4, Search +4, Survival +4, Firearms Training. The Coreys’ grown son. Luther Brown: Lvl 1 ordinary hired boy, all abilities -1, no skills. Luther is a young runaway from Arkham who settled in Dunwich.
Curtis Whateley Farm
Curtis Whateley, of the undecayed branch of the Whateley family, manages a modestly successful dairy farm on the Dunwich road, just across the covered bridge from the village. He has ample pasture land to the north and has hired Henry Wheeler to clear even more. He has more cows than anyone else in the area. Curtis Whateley: Lvl 3 ordinary farmer, Int +1, Bluff +6, Knowledge (business) +7, Handle Animal +6, Ride +6. Curtis is the son of Zacharia Whateley. Henry Wheeler: Lvl 2 ordinary hired hand, Str +1, Wis +1, Climb +6, Notice +6, Search +5, Survival +6, Weapons Training. Henry is a keen young man only recently arrived in Dunwich.
Devils Hopyard
The Devil’s Hop Yard is the locals’ name for the desolate slopes of an unnamed hill to the east of town, beyond the communal upper pastures. The southern slopes of the hill are dry and sterile. No tree, shrub or grass has grown there since before explorers and settlers came.
Frye Farm
Elmer and Selina Frye run a clean, well-kept farm about a mile southwest of town, near the western head of Cold Spring Glen. The Fryes have a large barn, a few
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outbuildings and a charming old farmhouse filled with children (the neighbors have lost count). They raise dairy cows and have a small herd of sheep that Elmer grazes in the low meadow to the east. He keeps four dogs to help with the sheep and to make him feel more secure about living next to the glen. Elmer Frye: Lvl 3 ordinary farmer, Climb +6, Handle Animal +6, Ride +6, Survival +6. Elmer is a simple but proud and hard-working man. He is very friendly and welcoming to visitors. Selina Frye: Lvl 3 ordinary farmer, Diplomacy +6, Knowledge (current events) +6, Notice +6, Search +6. Selina is a loyal wife and nearly-overwhelmed mother. Eva Frye: Lvl 1 ordinary housekeeper, Bluff+4, Craft (sewing) +4, Stealth +4, Perform (singing) +4. Eva is the grown daughter of the Fryes, kept at home to help with the farm and the children. She is not much help and is secretly seeing one of the many degenerate Bishop boys that live in shacks on Round Mountain. Henry, Clara, Albert, Nellie, Minnie and Ida Frye: ordinary children, all abilities -2, no skills. Dogs (x4): See True20 Adventure Roleplaying.
Hilltop Circles
Many of the round hills in the area around Dunwich are crowned with rings of crude stone columns placed there by an earlier civilization. Anthropologists have difficulty linking them to the native Americans who inhabited the area when Europeans arrived. Many of the circles provide power check bonuses for certain types of powers used within them.
Hutchins Farm
Old Sam Hutchins runs a small vegetable farm all by himself just south of the Village. Sam Hutchins: Lvl 5 ordinary farmer, Craft (buildings) +8, Knowledge (earth sciences) +8, Notice +8, Survival +8, Firearms Training. Sam is good friends with the Fryes but deathly afraid of Cold Spring Glen.
Mill at the Falls
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The mill at the falls, built in 1806, is actually one of the newest buildings in the village. It has lain in ruins for decades with its water wheel broken and jammed. Old Squire Sawyer uses the mill as a distillery to make his moonshine, which he mostly sells to the locals. He occasionally meets a well-dressed Aylelsbury man at a lonely spot on the north side of Round Mountain and sells him his best brews. Squire Sawyer: Lvl 5 ordinary bootlegger, Cha +1, Craft (brewing) +8, Diplomacy +9, Stealth +8, Language (French) +8, Weapons Training. The old squire is the father of Magnus Sawyer, the fish peddler.
Osborne’s General Store
Joe Osborn sells general goods, including basic firearms and ammunition, from the sanctuary of the old Congregational Church. The proud steeple is collapsing and is shored up with planks and long beams that descend to the floor between the shelves of canned goods and the racks of rope and hand tools. A few of the old, dark church pews rest against the walls, and one sits outside, exposed to the weather. The pews provide a place for the village’s loungers and ne’er-do-wells to congregate and spread gossip. Osborne’s is the closest thing Dunwich has to a town hall. Osborne’s is also the primary source of information in Dunwich. The mail arrives here, as does news of the outside world in the form of the Aylesbury Transcript, the Arkham Advisor, and the Boston Globe. Joe also has the only telephone in town that isn’t hooked up to the area’s party line, so anyone wanting privacy for an outside call comes here. Finally, anyone who wants to spread news or influence the opinion of the community visits Osborne’s first to mobilize the pew-sitters. Joe Osborn: Lvl 3 ordinary shopkeeper, Int +1, Wis +1, Diplomacy +6, Knowledge (business) +7, Notice +7, Sense Motive +6. Joe runs the shop and has regular contact with people from the outside world. Zechariah Whateley: Lvl 5 ordinary farmer, Diplomacy +8, Handle Animal +8, Knowledge (history) +8, Ride +8, Firearms Training. Zechariah is old, and has left his farm east of town to his son, Curtis. Earl Sawyer: Lvl 2 ordinary delivery man, Wis +1, Gather Information +5, Knowledge (current events) +5, Notice +6, Perform (oratory) +5. Earl runs deliveries for Osborne’s and acts as the village’s unofficial mailman. Mamie Bishop: Lvl 2 ordinary seamstress, Wis +1, Craft (sewing) +5, Diplomacy +5, Medicine +6, Survival +6. Mamie is Seth Bishop’s daughter and Earl Sawyer’s common law wife. She serves as village midwife and doctor for minor issues. Old Zebulon Whateley: Lvl 4 ordinary farmer, Con -1, Int -1, Craft (metalworking) +6, Knowledge (supernatural) +6, Notice +7, Sense Motive +7. Old Zeb’s rantings about evil places and events around Dunwich are more true that people realize. Magnus Sawyer: Lvl 3 ordinary delivery man, Dex +1, Diplomacy +6, Knowledge (current event) +6, Ride +7, Swim +6. Magnus rides up to Aylesbury nearly every morning to buy fresh fish from the Aylesbury pond, and then he sells them directly to the farms around Dunwich. He is the father of Sally Sawyer, the housekeeper at the Bishop farm
Sentinel Hill
Sentinel Hill is a rocky hill with steep slopes about 4 miles south of the village, directly across the Glen Road from Wizard Whateley’s farm. A flat, table-like rock, reputedly used by ancient inhabitants of the area for
strange sacrifices, sits in a small clearing at the top of the hill. It was at this rock that Wizard Whateley contacted Yog-Sothoth back in 1912 and offered up his daughter Lavinia. It is also here that Wilbur Whateley comes every Halloween and Candlemas to build fires and recite alien rituals that cause trembling deep within the Earth. It is here that the final summoning of Yog-Sothoth will occur when the greater spawn of Yog-Sothoth living at the Whateley farm is ready. Any contact or call powers used at this site gain a +5 bonus on their power check, or a +10 bonus if the adept sacrifices an intelligent creature and pours its blood on the flat stone.
Whateley Farm
The current focus of evil and corruption in Dunwich is Wizard Whateley’s farm, which lies about 4 miles south of the village along the Glen Road. Old Wizard Whateley has been dead for years, and his albino daughter, Lavinia, disappeared on Halloween in 1926. The an-
cient farm, without telephone or a decent water source, is now solely run by Lavinia’s son, Wilbur Whateley. Wilbur is a strange, tall lad with goat-like features who matured at twice the rate of normal boys. Wilbur has repaired a couple dilapidated work sheds and remodeling the old farmhouse, which is set snug against the cliffs behind it so there are no doors or windows on the back side. He removed the house’s central chimney and replaced it with an external stove pipe in the front. Then he boarded up all the upper widows and added huge double doors on the second floor, reachable from the ground by a sturdy wooden ramp. Wilbur is actually a lesser spawn of Yog-Sothoth. His twin is now nearly mature and fills almost the entire second story of the house. Wilbur Whateley: Lesser spawn of Yog-Sothtoth (see Chapter 6). Wilbur Whateley’s “twin”: Greater spawn of YogSothoth (see Chapter 6).
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Appendix: Alternate Sanity System The True20 Companion from Green Ronin Publishing presents Fear and Terror systems based on a Mental Health Track for sanity damage. It works very much like the Damage Track for physical damage. This appendix presents a summary of that system and explains how you can use it in your Shadows of Cthulhu adventures. For even more information about Fear and Terror, check out the True20 Companion.
If the Sanity save fails, the target suffers mental health damage. The effect depends on the type of check and degree of failure. If a Fear save barely fails, mark off the startled condition on the Mental Health track. If the save fails by 5 or more, mark off spooked. If the save fails by 10 or more, the target is frightened, and if the save fails by 15 or more, mark off terrified. If a Terror save barely fails, mark off the scared condition on the Mental Health track. If the save fails by 5 or more, mark off confused. If the save fails by 10 or more, the target is unhinged, and if the save fails by 15 or more, mark off psychotic. As with physical damage, if the target suffers a result that is already checked off (other than startled and scared, which can be marked multiple times), check off the next highest result. Terror effects cause fear effects as well. Whenever a hero suffers a terror effect, check off the corresponding Fear box, too. So, a hero who is confused is also spooked, a hero who is scared is also startled. The effects of the mental health conditions are cumulative, except for startled and scared conditions, where only the highest value applies.
The Sanity Save
With the Fear and Terror system, the Sanity save is still d20 + the character’s Sanity bonus, plus any relevant feats. The Narrator can require Sanity saves any time the characters encounter something that could cause Fear, which is generally an earthly threat of some kind, or Terror, which is caused by something so horrifying or unusual that it disrupts the characters’ conventional, sane view of the world. Fear and Sanity are two different things, with different effects. Instead of requiring a Sanity save to avoid acquiring disorders, the Fear and Terror system uses it to avoid mental damage, similar to the way the Toughness save is used to avoid physical damage in True20 Adventure Roleplaying. A Sanity save versus Fear or Terror has a base Difficulty of 15 plus a modifier equal to the Fear or Terror Level of the encounter. In general, the Fear or Terror level of a creature is the creature’s level, though this can be adjusted up or down for particularly terrifying or less threatening creatures. Any creature with a Fear or Terror Level forces an appropriate Sanity save and is immune to the effects of Fear and Terror. The Fear or Terror level of a non-creature encounter is left up to the Narrator, but examples include -5 for finding a corpse (Terror Difficulty 10), -5 when trapped in a dangerous situation (Fear Difficulty 10), 0 for hearing a sudden scream nearby (Fear Difficulty 15), 5 for seeing someone sacrificed in a dark ritual (Terror Difficulty 20), or 10 or more for casting a powerful spell (Terror Difficulty 25).
Fear Effects
The specific effects of each of the levels of fear checked off on the Mental Health Track are as follows: • Startled: A startled character receives a –1 penalty to further saves against Fear for each startled result. • Spooked: A spooked character receives a –1 penalty to further saves against Fear. The character flees as fast as possible for one full round or cowers, dazed, if unable to get away. He defends normally, but cannot attack. The following round, he can act normally. • Frightened: A frightened character loses one full round action. They can take no action, lose their dodge bonus to Defense, and have a –2 penalty to Defense. In the following rounds, frightened characters can only take a standard or move action.
Table A-1: Mental Health Track +0
Startled 120
Scared
+5
+10
+15
+20
Spooked
Frightened
Terrified
Confused
Unhinged
Psychotic
Insane
• Terrified: A terrified character falls to the floor, catatonic and helpless until he recovers.
Terror Effects
The specific effects of each of the levels of terror checked off on the Mental Health Track are as follows: • Scared: A scared character receives a –1 penalty to further Sanity saves versus Fear and Terror. • Confused: A confused character is shaken. They receive a –2 penalty on all checks, including attack rolls and Fortitude, Reflex and Will saving throws. This persists until the confused condition is lifted. Additionally, a confused character is stunned for one round after being confused. They can take no actions, lose their dodge bonus to Defense, and have a –2 penalty to Defense. • Unhinged: An unhinged character suffers a –2 penalty to effective Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma until this condition is lifted. • Psychotic: Psychotic characters suffer a –3 penalty to effective Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma until this condition is lifted and may only take a single action each turn. If a character was previously unhinged, these penalties replace those. • Insane: This character is unable to interact meaningfully with the world. This usually means the end for the character, as he is a gibbering shadow of his former self. Powerful sorceries or long-term counseling can restore sanity in some, but not all, cases.
Recovering Mental Damage
Recovering from mental health damage requires a Wisdom check (Difficulty 10). A successful check erases the mental condition, while an unsuccessful check means there is no significant improvement for that time pe-
riod. You can make a recovery check once per minute for frightened and terrified, once per hour for confused, once per day for unhinged and once per week for psychotic. Insane characters are over the brink and can only be returned to sanity (and to play) by special dispensation of the Narrator. You can spend a Conviction point to get an immediate recovery check from Fear effects, rather than having to wait a minute. You can also spend Conviction on your recovery check. Startled and spooked conditions fade automatically at a rate of one per minute. Scared conditions do the same at a rate of one per hour. Characters may use the Provide Psychiatric Care task if they have Psychiatry skill to improve Mental Health recovery checks.
A
Disorders
When using the Fear and Terror system, encounters with terrifying creatures and situations no longer directly inflict mental disorders on characters. Any creature or situation that could cause mental disorders under the Shadows of Cthulhu sanity system should be assigned a Terror level in this alternate system. The new Terror level of a mental disorder-causing, non-creature encounter should be about equal to the original save Difficulty minus 10. For example, if casting a spell normally causes an anxiety disorder with a save Difficulty of 16, that spell would have a Terror level of 6 and a resulting Terror save Difficulty of 21. Characters can still acquire disorders in this alternate Sanity system. Characters reduced to unhinged or worse on the mental health track can eliminate all mental health conditions in exchange for one level of a disorder. This disorder should be chosen by the narrator and could be one of the disorders normally caused by the creatures and events encountered recently. A Narrator can also automatically give a character a disorder if the player rolls a natural 1 on the Sanity save or recovery check.
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Index
I A
Adventure Ideas......................................................... 38 Animated Corpse...................................................... 68 Archetypes................................................................. 11 Academic............................................................. 11 Expert.................................................................. 11 Investigator.......................................................... 14 Reverent............................................................... 15 Warrior................................................................. 16 Arkham..................................................................... 94 Atlantis...................................................................... 94 Awareness.................................................................. 38
B
Backgrounds................................................................ 4 Ancient Bloodline.................................................. 4 Athlete................................................................... 4 Big Business........................................................... 4 Big City.................................................................. 4 Cultist.................................................................... 4 Degenerate............................................................. 4 High Society.......................................................... 4 Maritime................................................................ 5 Old World.............................................................. 5 Organized Crime................................................... 5 Primitive................................................................. 5 Religious................................................................ 5 Secret Society......................................................... 5 Small Town............................................................ 5 Wild West.............................................................. 6 Big Business.............................................................. 25 Black Stone of Stregoicavar..................................... 107 Books....................................................................32, 99 Reading Books..................................................... 99 Skimming............................................................. 99 Bootleggers................................................................ 25 Bureau of Investigation.............................................. 25 Byakhee..................................................................... 69
C
Calling Stones......................................................... 108 Coleopteran Collective.............................................. 70 Color Out of Space................................................... 70 Communication........................................................ 23 Conviction................................................................. 37 Crystal of Zon Mezzamalech.................................. 108 Cthulhu..................................................................... 71 Cults...................................................................33, 110
D 122
Dagon........................................................................ 72 Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath................................ 73
Deep Ones................................................................. 74 Deities..................................................................32, 65 Azathoth.............................................................. 65 Nathicana............................................................. 65 Nyarlathotep...................................................66, 82 Shub-Niggurath..............................................66, 74 Umrat-Tawl.......................................................... 67 Yog-Sothoth.............................................. 68, 90, 91 Disorders...................................................... 42, 49, 121 Agoraphobia......................................................... 42 Amnesia............................................................... 42 Blindness.............................................................. 42 Brain Damage...................................................... 43 Cannibalism......................................................... 43 Catatonia.............................................................. 43 Compulsive Gambling......................................... 43 Deafness............................................................... 43 De-evolution........................................................ 43 Delusions of Grandeur......................................... 44 Depression........................................................... 44 Disfiguration........................................................ 44 Explosive Disorder............................................... 44 Hallucinations...................................................... 44 Insomnia.............................................................. 44 Kleptomania......................................................... 45 Life Essence Drain............................................... 45 Maimed Hand...................................................... 45 Mania................................................................... 45 Manic-Depressive................................................ 45 Multiple Personality............................................. 46 Mutism................................................................ 46 Night Terrors........................................................ 46 Obsession............................................................. 46 Obsessive-Compulsive......................................... 46 Panic Attacks....................................................... 46 Paranoia............................................................... 47 Phobia.................................................................. 47 Premature Aging.................................................. 47 Psychopathy......................................................... 47 Pyromania............................................................ 47 Schizophrenia...................................................... 47 Self-Mutilation.................................................... 48 Separation Anxiety............................................... 48 Sleepwalking........................................................ 48 Somatic Delusions............................................... 48 Stutter.................................................................. 48 Substance Addiction............................................ 49 Suicidal................................................................. 49 Tourette’s Syndrome............................................. 49 Weak Stomach..................................................... 49 Dreamlands.............................................. 34, 80, 88, 94 Dreams...................................................................... 34 Dunwich.................................................................. 116
E
Elder Things.........................................................76, 88 Electrical Weapon................................................... 108 Elixir of Eternal Life............................................... 108 Equipment & Services.............................................. 26 Camera................................................................. 27 Radio.................................................................... 27 Telegram.............................................................. 30 Telephone........................................................26, 30 Transportation...................................................... 28 Vehicles................................................................ 28 Weapons............................................................... 27 Esoteric Order of Dagon......................................... 110 Exposure.................................................................... 37
F
Familiarity............................................................58, 99 Fashion...................................................................... 24 FBI.....................................................................25, 113 Fear.......................................................................... 120 Feats.....................................................................19, 52 Benefit.................................................................. 19 Channeler............................................................. 53 Haggler................................................................ 19 Imbue Item.......................................................... 53 Jack-of-All-Trades................................................ 19 Jaded.................................................................... 19 Linguist................................................................ 19 Mythos Familiar................................................... 53 Mythos Heritage.................................................. 54 Open Mind.......................................................... 54 Skill Enhancement Feats...................................... 53 Steady................................................................... 19 Vow of Poverty..................................................... 19 Flying Polyps............................................................. 77
G
Gangs........................................................................ 25 Ghoul.................................................................78, 101 Great Race of Yith.................................................... 79
H
Hastur....................................................................... 80 Haunter of the Dark.................................................. 82 Hero Creation............................................................. 4 Hooks........................................................................ 35 Hound of Leng..................................................81, 108 Hunting Horror........................................................ 82 Hyperborea........................................... 92, 96, 105, 108
I
Immigrants................................................................ 26 Innsmouth................................................................. 96 Insanity.................................................................36, 42 Curing Insanity.................................................... 36 Insect Philosophers................................................... 82
K
Kingsport................................................................... 96
I
L
Leng.......................................................................... 96
M
Mental Health Track............................................... 120 Mi-go...................................................................38, 84 Miskatonic University............................................... 94 Molecular Disturbance Device................................ 108 Mythos...................................................................... 33 Mythos Knowledge................................................... 38
N
Narrator Characters................................................. 113 National Guard......................................................... 26
O
Oraculum Perfectus................................................. 111 Ordinaries................................................................ 114
P
Pagan Holidays.....................................................34, 56 Pnakotus.............................................................98, 105 Police......................................................................... 26 Powder of Ibn Gazi................................................. 109 Powers............................................................ 38, 54, 57 Ritual Powers....................................................... 54 Scientific Powers.................................................. 55 Prohibition................................................................ 24 Prophets of Perfection............................................. 111
R
Rat Thing................................................................... 86 R’lyeh...................................................................72, 98 Roles............................................................................ 6 Academic............................................................... 6 Adept................................................................... 10 Expert.................................................................. 10 Investigator............................................................ 8 Reverent................................................................. 9 Warrior................................................................. 10
S
Sanity...................................................................... 120 Sanity Save.........................................................10, 120 Science....................................................................... 33 Shining Trapezohedron........................................... 109 Shoggoth..............................................................77, 87 Silver Key................................................................ 109 Skills.....................................................................17, 51 Craft..................................................................... 17 Dream.................................................................. 51 Handle Aberration............................................... 52
123
I
Handle Supernatural Beast.................................. 52 Knowledge........................................................... 17 Language.............................................................. 18 Mythos Knowledge.............................................. 52 Mythos Language................................................ 52 Psychiatry............................................................. 18 Surgery................................................................. 19 Spawn of Yog-Sothoth.........................................88, 90
T
Terror...................................................................... 121 Themes...................................................................... 32 Totems....................................................................... 57 Translator of the Great Race................................... 109 Transportation........................................................... 23 Tsathoggua................................................................ 91
124
U
Unions....................................................................... 26
V
Vessels of the Great Race........................................ 111
W
Winged Servitors...................................................... 69
Y
Yellow Sign.......................................................103, 109 Yezidi Malektaus Cult............................................. 112 Y’ha-Nthlei............................................................... 99 Yig............................................................................. 92 Yith........................................................................... 79 Yoggoth................................................................84, 99
OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc (“Wizards”). All Rights Reserved. 1. Definitions: (a)”Contributors” means the copyright and/ or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)”Derivative Material” means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) “Distribute” means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)”Open Game Content” means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) “Product Identity” means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f ) “Trademark” means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) “Use”, “Used” or “Using” means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) “You” or “Your” means the licensee in terms of this agreement. 2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License. 3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License. 4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content. 5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License. 6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder’s name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute. 7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any
Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity. 8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content. 9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License. 10 Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute. 11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so. 12 Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected. 13 Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License. 14 Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable. 15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Open Game License v 1.0 © 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. System Reference Document, © 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc., Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Modern System Reference Document © 2002-2004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, Eric Cagle, David Noonan, Stan!, Christopher Perkins, Rodney Thompson, and JD Wiker, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, Peter Adkison, Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker. Advanced Player’s Manual, © 2005, Green Ronin Publishing: Author Skip Williams. Advanced Player’s Guide, © 2004, White Wolf Publishing, Inc. Algernon Files, © 2004, Blackwyrm Games; Authors Aaron Sullivan and Dave Mattingly. Armies of the Abyss, © 2002, Green Ronin Publishing; Authors Erik Mona and Chris Pramas. The Avatar’s Handbook, © 2003, Green Ronin Publishing; Authors Jesse Decker and Chris Tomasson. Bastards & Bloodlines, © 2003, Green Ronin Publishing, Author Owen K.C. Stephens Blue Rose, © 2005, Green Ronin Publishing; Authors Jeremy Crawford, Dawn Elliot, Steve Kenson, and John Snead. Blue Rose Companion, © 2005, Green Ronin Publishing; Editor Jeremy Crawford. The Book of Fiends, © 2003, Green Ronin Publishing; Authors Aaron Loeb, Erik Mona, Chris Pramas, and Robert J. Schwalb. Book of the Righteous, © 2002, Aaron Loeb. Challenging Challenge Ratings: Immortal’s Handbook, © 2003, Craig Cochrane. Conan The Roleplaying Game, © 2003 Conan Properties International LCC; Authorized Publisher Mongoose Publishing Ltd; Author Ian Sturrock. CORE Explanatory Notice, © 2003, Benjamin R. Durbin Creatures of Freeport, © 2004, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC; Authors Graeme Davis and Keith Baker. Crime and Punishment, © 2003, Author Keith Baker Crooks!, © 2003, Green Ronin Publishing; Authors Sean Glenn, Kyle Hunter, and Erik Mona. Cry Havoc, © 2003, Skip Williams. All rights reserved. Challenging Challenge Ratings: Immortal’s Handbook, © 2003, Craig Cochrane. Darwin’s World 2nd Edition, © 2003, RPG Objects; Authors Dominic Covey and Chris Davis.
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Design Parameters: Immortal’s Handbook, © 2003, Craig Cochrane. Fading Suns d20 ©2001 Holistic Design, Inc. Galactic Races, © 2001, Fantasy Flight Games. Gimmick’s Guide to Gadgets, © 2005, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Mike Mearls. Grim Tales, © 2004, Benjamin R. Durbin, published by Bad Axe Games, LCC. Grim Tales, Cyberware game mechanics; © 2003, Benjamin R. Durbin, published by Bad Axe Games, LCC. Grim Tales, Firearms game mechanics; © 2003, Benjamin R. Durbin, published by Bad Axe Games, LCC. Grim Tales, Horror game mechanics; © 2003, Benjamin R. Durbin, published by Bad Axe Games, LCC. Grim Tales, Spellcasting game mechanics; © 2003, Benjamin R. Durbin, published by Bad Axe Games, LCC. Grim Tales, Vehicle game mechanics; © 2003, Benjamin R. Durbin, published by Bad Axe Games, LCC. Hot Pursuit, © 2005, Corey Reid, published by Adamant Entertainment, Inc. Immortals Handbook, © 2003, Craig Cochrane. Legions of Hell, © 2001, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Chris Pramas. A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe, © 2003, Expeditious Retreat Press; Authors Suzi Yee and Joseph Browning. The Mastermind’s Manual, © 2006, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Steve Kenson. Modern Player’s Companion, © 2003, The Game Mechanics, Inc; Author: Stan! Monster’s Handbook, © 2002, Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. Monte Cook Presents: Iron Heroes, © 2005, Monte J. Cook. All rights reserved. Monte Cook’s: Arcana Unearthed, © 2003, Monte J. Cook. All rights reserved. Mutants & Masterminds, © 2002, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Steve Kenson. Mutants & Masterminds, Second Edition, © 2005, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Steve Kenson. Mutants & Masterminds Annual #1, © 2004, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC; Editor Erik Mona. Mythic Heroes, © 2005, Benjamin R. Durbin, published by Bad Axe Games, LLC. OGL Horror, © 2003, Mongoose Publishing Limited. Possessors: Children of the Outer Gods, © 2003, Philip Reed and Christopher Shy, www.philipjreed.com and www.studioronin.com. The Psychic’s Handbook, © 2004, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Steve Kenson. The Quintessential Fighter, © 2001 Mongoose Publishing Relics and Rituals: Excalibur,© 2004, White Wolf Publishing, Inc. Rokugan, © 2001 AEG Sea of Blood ©2001 Mongoose Publishing The Seven Saxons, by Benjamin R. Durbin and Ryan Smalley, © 2005, Bad Axe Games, LLC. Silver Age Sentinels d20, © 2002, Guardians of Order, Inc.; Authors Stephen Kenson, Mark C. Mackinnon, Jeff Mackintosh, Jesse Scoble. Skull & Bones ©2003, Green Ronin, Green Ronin Publishing, Authors Ian Sturrock, T.S. Luikart, and Gareth-Michael Skarka. Spycraft © 2002, Alderac Entertainment Group. Spycraft Espionage Handbook, © 2002, Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.; Authors Patrick Kapera and Kevin Wilson. Spycraft Faceman/Snoop Class Guide, © 2003, Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.; Authors Alexander Flagg, Clayton A. Oliver. Spycraft Fixer/Pointman Class Guide, © 2003, Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.; Authors Scott Gearin.
Spycraft Mastermind Guide, © 2004, Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.; Steve Crow, Alexander Flagg, B. D. Flory, Clayton A. Oliver. Spycraft Modern Arms Guide, © 2002, Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.; Authors Chad Brunner, Tim D’Allard, Rob Drake, Michael Fish, Scott Gearin, Owen Hershey, Patrick Kapera, Michael Petrovich, Jim Wardrip, Stephen Wilcoxon. Spycraft Soldier/Wheelman Class Guide, © 2003, Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.; Authors Chad Brunner, Shawn Carman, B. D. Flory, Scott Gearin, Patrick Kapera. Spycraft U.S. Militaries Guide, © 2004, Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.; Authors Dave McAlister, Clayton A. Oliver, Patrick Kapera. Spycraft, © 2005, Alderac Entertainment Group. Swords of Our Fathers, © 2003, The Game Mechanics Tales of the Caliphate Nights, © 2006, Paradigm Concepts, Inc., Author Aaron Infante-Levy Tome of Horrors, © 2002, Necromancer Games., Inc.; Author Scott Greene, based on original material by Gary Gygax. True20 Adventure Roleplaying, © 2005, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Steve Kenson. True20 Bestiary, © 2006, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Matthew E. Kaiser. The Unholy Warrior’s Handbook, © 2003, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Robert J. Schwalb. Ultramodern Firearms, © 2002, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Charles McManus Ryan. Unearthed Arcana, © 2004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Rich Redman. Future: Heroes -- Cyborgs, Copyright 2004, Philip Reed. Published by Ronin Arts. Future Player’s Companion: Tomorrow’s Foundation, Copyright 2005 The Game Mechanics, Inc.; Authors: Gary Astleford, Rodney Thompson, & JD Wiker. Future Player’s Companion: Tomorrow’s Hero, Copyright 2005 The Game Mechanics, Inc.; Authors: Gary Astleford, Neil Spicer, Rodney Thompson, & JD Wiker. Future Player’s Companion: Tomorrow’s Evolution, Copyright 2005 The Game Mechanics, Inc.; Authors: Gary Astleford, Neil Spicer, & Rodney Thompson. Future Player’s Companion (Print), Copyright 2005 The Game Mechanics, Inc.; Authors: Gary Astleford, Neil Spicer, Rodney Thompson, & JD Wiker. Wrath & Rage, © 2002, Green Ronin Publishing, Author Jim Bishop Caliphate Knights, Copyright 2006, Paradigm Concepts; Author Aaron Infante–Levy. Lux Aeternum, Copyright 2006, Blackwyrm Games; Author Ryan Wolfe, with Dave Mattingly, Aaron Sullivan, and Derrick Thomas. Mecha vs. Kaiju, Copyright 2006, Big Finger Games; Author JohnathanWright. Borrowed Time, Copyright 2006, Golden Elm Media; Authors Bruce Baugh andDavid Bolack. Out for Blood, Copyright 2003, Bastion Press; Author E.W. Morton True20 Companion, Copyright 2007, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC; Authors Erica Balsley (Horror Adventures), Dave Jarvis (Modern Adventures), Matthew Kaiser (Fantasy and Space Adventures), Steve Kenson (Role Creation), SeanPreston (Horror Adventures) Ultimate Equipment Guide, Copyright 2002, Mongoose Publishing. The Heartlands: Land of Reverie, Copyright 2007, Expeditious Retreat Press;Author Joseph Miller. True20 Expert’s Handbook, Copyright 2007, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC; Author Joseph Miller. Shadows of Cthulhu, Copyright 2008, Reality Deviant Publications, Author Russ Brown.
Name: Origin: Age: Sex: Height: Weight: Eyes: Skin: Hair: Background: Role: Size:
Speed: Virtue: Vice: Affiliation: Language(s): History:
Ability Scores Strength
Saving Throws
STR
Dexterity
Fortitude
DEX
Constitution
CON
Wisdom
WIS
Intelligence
Reflex
INT
Charisma
Fort Ref
Will
Will
Toughness
Tough
Sanity
CHA
San
Feats & Disorders
Combat Statistics Initiative Dodge
Shadows of Cthulhu Skills Skill
Bonus
Base Attack Melee
Bluff
CHA
Climb
STR
Computers
INT
Concentration
WIS
Craft (
)
Craft (
)
CHA
Disable Device
INT
Disguise
CHA
Dream*
WIS
Drive
DEX
Escape Artist
DEX
Gather Information
CHA
Handle Aberration*
CHA
Handle Animal
CHA
Handle Supernatural Beast*
CHA
Intimidate
CHA STR
Knowledge (
)
INT
Knowledge (
)
INT WIS
Ranged
)*
Mythos Knowledge (
)*
Wealth & Reputation
Notice
INT
)
CHA
Pilot
Conviction
Damage Track +5
+10
+15
Bruised
Dazed
Staggered
Unconscious
Hurt
Wounded
Disabled
Dying
/
/
/
+20
Winded
Fatigued
WIS
Ride
DEX
Search
INT
Sense Motive
WIS
Sleight-of-Hand
DEX
Stealth
DEX
Surgery
DEX
Survival
WIS
Swim
STR * Mythos skill.
Weapons Weapon
Att
Dmg
Crit
Rng
Exhausted
Startled
Spooked
Frightened
Terrified
Scared
Confused
Unhinged
Psychotic
/
Psychiatry
Dead
Equipment
Mental Health Track /
DEX
Fatigue Track
/
INT WIS
Perform (
Reputation
/
INT
Diplomacy
Mythos Knowledge (
Prof. Skill
Misc
INT
Medicine
Wealth
Ability DEX
Jump
Parry
+0
Ranks
Acrobatics
/
Item Insane
©2008 by Reality Deviant Publications. Permission is granted to photocopy this sheet for personal, non-profit use only.
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