Quick-Start Rules “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear.” —H. P. Lovecraft CREDITS Authors Mike Mason with Paul Fricker, Sandy Petersen, and Lynn Willis Editorial Lynne Hardy Cover Art Lin Hsiang Interior Art Lin Hsiang, Victor Leza, Rachel Kahn, Andrey Fetisov, and Albeerto Bontempi Layout Nicholas Nacario Licensing Michael O’Brien, James Lowder, and Mike Mason Call of Cthulhu Creative Director Mike Mason Clear Credit The Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game was originally written by Sandy Petersen, with later revisions by Lynn Willis and others. The 7th edition of the game was a collaboration between, and written by, Mike Mason and Paul Fricker. This Quick-Start revision written by Mike Mason and based upon work by Paul Fricker and Mike Mason. Investigator sheet design by Matt Ryan and Max Harrison. Cthulhu of Cthulhu: Quick-Start Rules © 1990, 2007, 2018, 2021 Chaosium Inc. All rights reserved. Call of Cthulhu © 1981–2021 Chaosium Inc. All rights reserved. Call of Cthulhu, Chaosium Inc., and the Chaosium logo are registered trademarks of Chaosium Inc. This is a work of fiction. This book includes descriptions and portrayals of real places, real events, and real people; these may not be presented accurately and with conformity to the real-world nature of these places, people, and events, and are reinterpreted through the lens of the Cthulhu Mythos and the Call of Cthulhu game in general. No offense to anyone living or dead, or to the inhabitants of any of these places, is intended. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Reproduction of this work by any means without written permission of Chaosium Inc., except for the use of short excerpts for the purpose of reviews and the copying of character sheets, maps, and handouts for in-game use, is expressly prohibited. Chaosium recognizes that credits and copyrights for the Cthulhu Mythos can be difficult to identify, and that some elements of the Mythos may be in the public domain. If you have corrections or additions to any credits given here, please contact us at mythos@chaosium.com. chaosium.com Chaosium Inc. 3450 Wooddale Ct. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Chaosium publication 231@@ ISBN-13: 978-1-56882-@@@-@ Printed in @@@@@. TABLE OF CONTENTS DO YOU HEAR THE CALL OF CTHULHU? 5 Overview 6 Roleplaying Dice 6 Equipment Required 7 INVESTIGATORS 8 GAME SYSTEM 10 Skill Rolls and Difficulty Levels 10 Opposed Rolls 10 Bonus and Penalty Dice 11 Luck Rolls 12 Sanity  12 Combat  12 Close Combat 13 Fighting Maneuvers 13 Outnumbered 14 Firearms 14 Hit Points, Wounds, and Healing 14 Other Forms of Damage 15 THE HAUNTING  25 Collected Player Handouts  32 READY-MADE INVESTIGATORS  34 4 welcome to DO YOU HEAR THE CALL OF CTHULHU? Call of Cthulhu is a horror-themed roleplaying game concerning both horrors from beyond and from within. The game is inspired by the 20th century horror and weird fiction written by H. P. Lovecraft and other writers like Frank Belknap Long, Lin Carter, and August Derleth, as well as contemporary writers like Ramsey Campbell (to name but a few). The game draws upon the fictional invention of what has become known as the “Cthulhu Mythos,” a selection of stories sharing common plot elements—such as mythical books of arcane lore and alien god-like entities. The game draws on the imaginative ideas and creations arising from the Cthulhu Mythos, while avoiding Lovecraft’s own distasteful personal views and racism, which have no place in the game. If you have not read any Cthulhu Mythos stories we encourage you to do so—there are many to be found alongside Lovecraft’s own, including modern reinterpretations of the Cthulhu Mythos seen through the eyes of differing cultures and heritages. These Quick-Start Rules gives you all the information you will need to begin playing and having fun with the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game, and include a brief overview of the core rules and how to play the game. If you enjoy the experience, we recommend you consider moving on to the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set, which includes the full basic rules, a simplified investigator creation system, and four introductory adventures. Once you have mastered and played through the material in the Starter Set, you’ll be ready to use the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper Rulebook, which contains the full rules and a complete investigator creation system, as well as a plethora of game information. You can purchase these products from good game and hobby stores, large bookstores, online, and directly from chaosium.com. Interested in Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu? You are not alone! Call of Cthulhu is Chaosium’s tabletop roleplaying game of mystery and horror, where ordinary people delve into weird events and lore, and confront the terrifying and alien forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. The game has won many awards for gaming excellence and is published by Chaosium Inc., one of the oldest roleplaying game companies in the world. Chaosium is famous for publishing engaging games—including Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Pendragon, 7th Sea, and many more. All you need to play Call of Cthulhu for the first time is this Quick-Start Rules guide, some polyhedral dice (or a dice-rolling app), plenty of imagination, and your friends. Welcome to the worlds of Call of Cthulhu! INTRODUCTION Call of Cthulhu is a game full of secrets, mysteries, and horror. Playing the roles of steadfast investigators, you and your friends will travel to strange and dangerous places, uncover foul plots, and stand against the terrors of the night. Within strange and forgotten tomes of lore you may discover secrets that humanity was not meant to know. Along the way, sanityblasting monsters and insane cultists work to bring about your demise. You and your companions may well decide the fate of the world! 5 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 AN OVERVIEW OF THE GAME Keeper takes on the roles of all the supporting characters and monsters in the adventure, while each of the players just plays one role—that of their investigator. “Winning” in such a situation depends on whether the investigators succeed in their goal, and “losing” is what happens if they fail to achieve it (though they may be able to try again later). During the game, investigators may become injured, suffer sanity-shattering experiences, or even die! However, someone has to make a stand against the cosmic horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos, and the death of a single investigator matters little if it means repulsing Cthulhu’s master plan to enslave the Earth! In the game, investigators are mostly ordinary people forced into heroic roles, but they are still fragile humans and prone to injury and death. If an investigator must “retire” from play, their player can pick up or create a new investigator to join the team and continue the story. Investigators who survive gain knowledge of horrendous monsters, power from arcane volumes of forgotten lore, and advancement in their skills as they become more experienced; thus, the players’ investigators continue to progress until their demise or retirement—whichever comes first. The aim of playing Call of Cthulhu is to have fun with your friends as you explore and create a story of mystery and horror. One player takes the role of game moderator, known as the Keeper of Arcane Lore (“Keeper” for short), whose role is to run the game for the rest of the players and apply the rules as necessary. Everyone else takes the parts of intrepid Investigators of the Unknown (“investigators”)—the heroes of the story— attempting to seek out, understand, and eventually confront the horrors, mysteries, and secrets of the Cthulhu Mythos. As you are the person reading this book, we will assume that you are going to take on the role of Keeper for the first few games you play. The Keeper picks a story to run—these are known as “adventures” or “scenarios.” You can find an introductory adventure at the back of this book—a scenario called The Haunting (page 17). Each adventure provides the Keeper with the structure of a story (the plot) to present to the players. The Keeper’s role is a little like that of a director making a movie in which the actors don’t know how the story will develop. The players are like actors, who have the freedom to improvise their own scripts and actions within the game. The investigators need not be anything at all like the people who play them. Indeed, it is often more rewarding and enjoyable for players to create characters entirely unlike themselves—such as tough private eyes, wisecracking journalists, or learned academics. Most of the game play is a verbal exchange. The Keeper sets the scene, describing the environment, the individuals, and encounters to the players. The players tell the Keeper what they intend for their investigators to do, how they interact with people and things, and so on. The Keeper then tells the players what happens. In play, the game takes the form of a group conversation, with many twists and turns and fun along the way. Together, everyone tells the group’s story—their version of how their characters overcame (or not) the challenges of the adventure. The game’s rules use polyhedral dice to determine if an investigator’s action succeeds or fails when a dramatic “conflict” presents itself—for example, whether the investigators are able to leap out of the way of a giant statue about to crash down upon their heads! The rules in this Quick-Start describe how to decide the outcome of such conflicts. ROLEPLAYING DICE The Keeper and players use a set of roleplaying dice in the game. These polyhedral dice include: percentile dice (D100), a foursided die (D4), a six-sided die (D6), an eight-sided die (D8), and a twenty-sided die (D20). Such sets can be purchased from game hobby stores—only one set is needed, although players often like to have their own dice sets; alternatively, you may prefer to use a dice-rolling app instead. The letter “D” stands for “dice.”The number after the D is the range of numbers available: 1D8 generates random numbers 1 through 8, for instance, while 1D100 generates the numbers 1–100. In an adventure, the text will call for different dice rolls using this terminology. So, if the text says a monster delivers 1D8 damage, then roll the 8-sided die once to determine how much damage is actually caused. Reading D100 (Percentile Dice) Winners and Losers In Call of Cthulhu there are no winners and losers in the standard competitive sense—play is cooperative. The participants work together to attain a common goal—usually to discover and then foil a nefarious plot being perpetrated by the minions of a dark cult or some devious monster. The opposition that the investigators face can often be an alien or hostile situation controlled by an impartial Keeper, not another player. The 6 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU NEVER PLAYED A ROLEPLAYING GAME BEFORE? If you’ve never played a roleplaying game before you may be wondering what this is all about. To set you on the right track, it may be useful to describe an average session of play, which can take place in person around a table or online over a video conference. responds to this, putting on the voice of their investigator to say that such things are “Complete hokum.” As the story unfolds, everyone becomes involved, describing what their characters are doing or saying. Some of the players decide to speak in the manner of their characters, such as with a New York accent, while others prefer not to “act” out their character and just speak normally. Dramatic conflicts arise and dice are rolled to determine the outcome, with John being the referee of the rules. Sometimes the players get their way, while at other times events appear to conspire against them. It is all played out simply by talking and rolling dice to determine the outcome of certain situations; people aren’t getting out of their chairs to act it out, neither are they donning costumes. Everyone ceases play at around ten-thirty, and then chat for a while before calling it a night at around eleven o’clock. Everyone is looking forward to meeting up again next week to find out how the story develops. Debbie and their partner Alex, along with their two friends Morgan and Susan, meet up at John’s house on Friday evening at around seven o’clock. After catching up on the week’s news and getting some drinks and nibbles, they sit down in the lounge, ready to play. John hands out some ready-made investigators along with some paper and pencils, and everyone is ready to start. It’s now about eight o’clock. John kicks off the game by describing the opening scene from the adventure they have chosen to play, telling how the investigators find themselves talking with a man who wants them to check out an old property he owns; rumor has it that it might be haunted! One of the players immediately Percentile dice usually consist of two 10-sided dice, which are rolled together at the same time. One die (units) is numbered 1 to 0, the other die (tens) being numbered 10 to 00. Both dice are rolled and should be read together— e.g. “30” on the tens die and “05” on the units die is read as 35%. A roll of “00” (tens die) combined with a “0” (units die) indicates a result of 100%, while a roll of “00” on the tens die combined with any other roll on the units die indicates a roll of under 10%; for example, a roll of 00 on the tens die and 3 on the units die is read as 3%. EQUIPMENT REQUIRED When you are ready to begin playing Call of Cthulhu, you’ll need a few things to start: • • • • • • This Quick-Start Rules guide. A set of polyhedral (“roleplaying”) dice or a dice-rolling app. Some notepaper. Some pencils. At least one other person to game with. A quiet place to play, such as around a kitchen table or lounge. • Two to four hours in which to play. Of course, playing online is possible too. Instead of a set of real dice you could use an online dice roller,” and you could share investigator sheets as PDFs (you can download writable PDF sheets at chaosium.com). Any video conferencing platform could be used—you just need to make sure everyone can see and hear everyone else in the game. Dice Roll Variations Sometimes, a dice notation is preceded by a number other than “1”—this means that more than one such die should be rolled, with their results added together. For instance, 2D6 means that two 6-sided dice are rolled and totaled (or roll a D6 twice and add the results together). You might also see 1D8+1 or 1D6+1, for instance. This means that the number following the plus sign should be added to the result of the die roll. For 1D6+1, the result must be 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7. If a monster claws for 1D6+1+2D4 damage, find the result of the attack by rolling the two requested dice, totaling the results, and adding 1 (rolling 1D6 and 2D4, then adding 1 to the total rolled across all of the dice). 7 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 INVESTIGATORS 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 box would be “30” (half of 60) and the lower box would be “12” (one-fifth of 60). See Skill Rolls and Difficulty Levels, page 10, for what these values mean in play. Each of the characteristics measures a certain attribute: This Quick-Start guide does not include the rules for creating investigator characters from scratch—those rules are included in the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set and the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper Rulebook. Instead, at the back of this book you will find four ready-to-play investigators—note that PDF versions of these characters are available to download from chaosium.com. The players can pick from these pre-generated characters and use them when playing the included adventure, The Haunting. To help understand the investigator sheet, here’s the lowdown on what everything means. Players record the details of their character on an investigator sheet, which holds all the information they need in the game. Each sheet is divided into sections: • STR: the raw physical power your investigator can bring to bear. • CON: the health and hardiness of your investigator. • SIZ: an abstracted value of your investigator’s height and weight. • DEX: physical agility and speed. • APP: the physical appeal or how “good looking” your investigator is. • EDU: a measure of the knowledge that your investigator has accumulated through formal education or the venerated “school of hard knocks” (i.e. street smarts). • INT: a measure of your investigator’s cunning, problem solving, and ability to make leaps of logic and intuition. • POW: a combination of force of will, spirit, and mental stability. 1. About Your Investigator: your investigator’s name, age, gender, and occupation, as well as their birthplace and current residence. In Call of Cthulhu, an investigator’s occupation determines the skills they are most proficient with. 2. Characteristics: there are eight characteristics used to measure Strength (STR), Constitution (CON), Size (SIZ), Dexterity (DEX), Appearance (APP), Education (EDU), Intelligence (INT), and Willpower (POW). Each of these has a “Regular” percentile value between 1 and 100; thus, STR 60 means Strength 60%. Note that there are two smaller boxes to the edge of each characteristic—the upper small box is half value (or “Hard” value, i.e. the Regular value divided by 2), while the lower small box is the one-fifth value (or “Extreme” value, i.e. the Regular value divided by 5). E.g. with STR 60, the upper In addition,there there are four key values for an investigator— Hit Points (HP), Magic Points (MP), Luck (Luck), and Sanity (SAN). These values may go up and down in play. • Hit Points (HP): when your investigator suffers damage, deduct damage points from hit points—at zero hit points your investigator falls unconscious and may die—see Hit Points, Wounds, and Healing, page 14. • Magic Points (MP): used to cast a spell or some other magical effect. When spent, magic points regenerate at a rate of 1-point per hour. If a character uses up all of their magic points, any further expenditure is taken from their hit points (becoming physical damage)—see Corbitt’s Spells, page 31, in The Haunting for an example of how magic points are used. • Luck: used to determine whether external circumstances are with or against your investigator (whether your investigator can find a lantern in a dark barn, and so on)—see Luck Rolls, page 12. • Sanity (SAN): measures your investigator’s ability to deal with the shock and corruption from exposure to alien and mind-bending horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. Sometimes, when such things overcome your investigator, they lose Sanity points, reflecting the lingering effect of such trauma—see Sanity, page 12. Note that “Starting” SAN begins equal to POW, but may later rise or fall through play, and the “Insane” box is used to write in one-fifth of the “Starting” SAN value. Running along the bottom of this section are Temporary Insanity, Indefinite Insanity, Major Wound, Unconscious, and Dying—these are checked when certain events happen during the game. 8 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 3. Skills: this section lists all of the common skills available. Your investigator can attempt to use most of these skills using the “base value” noted in parentheses next to the skill, e.g. “Accounting (05%)” means that everyone has a 5% skill in accountancy. On the ready-made investigator sheets you can see that each character has increased values for certain skills (these higher values supersede the base values). The ones with increased values are the skills your investigator is relatively proficient in; the higher the value, the more skilled they are. Note that there are two boxes to the right of each skill box—the middle box is half value (or “Hard” value, i.e. the Regular value divided by 2), while the box on the right is the one-fifth value (or “Extreme” value, i.e. the Regular value divided by 5). E.g. with a Charm skill of 50%, the middle box would be “25” (half of 50) and the box to the right would be “10” (one-fifth of 50). See Skill Rolls and Difficulty Levels, page 10, for what these values mean in play. 4. Weapons: notes any weapons possessed by your investigator. Each weapon has an entry for its Regular, Hard, and Extreme skill values, the damage it can inflict (usually a die roll), and the number of attacks (per round) it can be used; and, for firearms, its range, ammunition, and its malfunction number—see Combat, page 12, for more details. 5. Action Reference: this is a quick reference area showing Move (the human average is Move 8), Build, Damage Bonus (DB), and also a duplicate of your investigator’s Dodge skill value—all useful during combat and other dramatic events! 6. My Story: use this to write in the personal history of your investigator. You might add to and develop this during play. 7. Backstory: each entry is a way to further describe your investigator, whether it’s a short description of how they appear, their ideology and beliefs, or their traits and mannerisms. You can also make a note about any significant people in their life, treasured possessions, and locations that are important to them. Most times, filling in two or more of these sections helps to round out your character. Note that Injuries & Scars, Phobias & Manias, Arcane Tomes, Spell & Artifacts, and Encounters with Strange Entities are usually filled out during play rather than beforehand. 8. Gear and Possessions: record important items, equipment, and weapons carried on your investigator’s person. As a rule of thumb, an investigator would be carrying the items they would use day-to-day in their occupation, so there’s no need to write every single thing down—only the important and relevant stuff. CREDIT RATING Credit Rating is a skill on the investigator sheet, and can be used as a means to exemplify your investigators wealth (or lack of it) and social status. • • • • • • Credit Rating of 0: Penniless, living on the streets. Credit Rating of 1–9: Poor, has the bare minimum. Credit Rating of 10–49: Average, a reasonable comfort level. Credit Rating of 50–89: Wealthy, some degree of luxury. Credit Rating of 90–98: Rich, great wealth and luxury. Credit Rating of 99–100: Super rich, money is no object. 9. Wealth: don’t worry about this section—it’s just for advanced games, where a character’s money on hand and savings might be important (these are covered in the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper Rulebook)—see the nearby box about Credit Rating. 10.Fellow Investigators: record the names of the other players in your game, as well as their investigators’ names. 11.Quick Reference Rules: a handy rules reminder and something you might refer to once you have more experience of playing the game. 9 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 GAME SYSTEM 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 If you can justify it through your investigator’s actions, you can “push” a failed skill roll. Pushing a roll allows you to roll the dice a second time; however, the stakes are raised. If you fail a second time, the Keeper gets to inflict a dire consequence upon your character—you might partially succeed in your goal or not, depending on the Keeper’s determination, but either way, your investigator will pay some sort of price for failing the roll. Before a pushed roll is made, the Keeper has the option of foreshadowing what might happen if the pushed roll is failed; the player can then decide whether it’s worth the risk to take the second roll or not. “Skill rolls” may be called for during dramatic situations in the game. Walking down a well-lit hallway is not a dramatic situation, whereas running down a rubble-strewn corridor while being chased by monsters most definitely is! Only make a skill roll when the outcome is uncertain and dramatic. When attempting a skill roll, you should first agree a goal with the Keeper—what is your investigator trying to achieve? If your skill roll is successful, you achieve your goal. Additionally, when you successfully roll a skill, put a check mark in the box next to it on your investigator sheet. You can only get one check per skill at a time. At the end of the scenario, that skill could increase due to experience—your Keeper will ask you to “roll for skill increases,” if you roll over a checked skill’s value, you gain +1D10 points to that skill (with a checked Climb skill of 40, you roll 1D100 and get 58, as this is above 40, you get to add 1D10 points to Climb). In other words, the more you know, the hardier it is to learn something new or to get better. On occasion, you may need to roll a test that is not covered by the skills on your sheet. If so, look at your investigator’s characteristics and determine which one of them is best to use and treat it like a skill. Example: your investigator is trying to open the heavy stone door of a crypt—the goal is “open the crypt.” The Keeper decides this is very difficult and asks for a STR roll, specifying that a “Hard success” is required. Your investigator’s STR is 60, so a Hard success requires a roll of 30 or below. You roll the dice but the result is 43—you have failed, as you rolled above half your investigator’s STR. You ask if you can push the roll, saying that your character is picking up and using a spade to help lever the door. The Keeper permits a second roll, but warns that if you fail this roll, not only will the door still be closed but “something” may hear you and could be coming for your blood! Note that we used the STR characteristic here, as opening the door is feat of strength rather than a specific skill; if the door had a lock on it, you might instead use the Locksmith skill at Regular difficulty or a Mechanical Repair roll at Hard difficulty. SKILL ROLLS AND DIFFICULTY LEVELS OPPOSED SKILL ROLLS Your Keeper will tell you when you should attempt a skill roll and how difficult the task is—you just describe what your investigator is doing, and the Keeper will advise you if a skill roll is needed. If two investigators are opposing one another, or if an investigator is in a conflict with a significant Keepercontrolled character (a monster or NPC, i.e. one for whom statistics are listed in the scenario), the Keeper may require an “opposed roll.” To resolve an opposed roll, both sides make a skill (or characteristic) roll and compare their levels of success. A Regular success beats a Fail, a Hard success beats a Regular success, and an Extreme success beats a Hard success. In the case of a draw, the side with the higher skill value wins—if both skills are equal, then have both sides roll 1D100, with the lower result winning. • A regular task requires a roll of equal to or less than your skill value on 1D100 (a Regular success). • A difficult task requires a 1D100 roll result equal to or less than half your skill value (a Hard success). • A task approaching the limits of human capability requires a 1D100 roll equal to or less than one-fifth of your skill value (an Extreme success). LEVELS OF SUCCESS (worst) FAIL — REGULAR SUCCESS — HARD SUCCESS — EXTREME SUCCESS (best) 10 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU Bonus and Penalty Dice (see fig 1.) The units die reads 4 and can be paired with either of the two tens dice to give scores of 44 or 24. Malcolm’s player takes the lower result 24—a Hard success. Malcolm wins the opposed roll, and his proposal of marriage to Lady Greene is accepted. Sometimes, the prevailing conditions for the investigators, their environment, and/or the time available can hinder or benefit a skill or characteristic roll. Under certain conditions the Keeper may grant a “bonus” or a “penalty” die to a roll. One bonus die and one penalty die cancel each other out. Such bonuses and penalties operate in a similar way to raising the difficulty of a roll, and can be used instead of, or in addition to, an increased difficulty. Normally, though, bonus and penalty dice are used primarily with opposed rolls. For each penalty die: roll an additional “tens” die alongside the usual pair of percentile (D100) dice. You’re now rolling three separate dice: one “units” die and two “tens” dice. For a penalty, use the “tens” die that yields the worst (higher) result. Example: in a dire turn of events, two investigators—Felix and Harrison—have been captured by the cultists of the Scarlet Smile. The cultists decide to have some “fun” at the investigators’ expense, decreeing that both must undertake the Ordeal of Pain, from which only one can survive as the loser will be sacrificed to the cultists’ foul god. The Ordeal of Pain involves lifting a huge rock and holding it aloft. Whoever holds the rock up the longest wins. This requires an opposed STR roll from each of the investigators; however, the Keeper rules that Harrison must take a penalty die, as he recently suffered a major wound (he received an injury when he was captured by the cultists) and is still recovering. Felix’s player rolls 51 against STR 65—a Regular success. Harrison’s STR is 55. His player rolls 20 and 40 on two tens dice and 1 on the units die (see fig 2.), which can be combined to read 21 or 41. The extra die was a penalty die, so Harrison must take the higher result—a Regular success Both players have achieved a Regular success; Felix wins because he has the higher STR value. Felix is able to hold the rock above his head for longer than Harrison. The cultists jeer and lead Harrison off towards their altar… For each bonus die: roll an additional “tens” die alongside the usual pair of percentile (D100) dice when making a roll. You are now rolling three separate dice: one “units” die and two “tens” dice. To take the benefit of the bonus, use the “tens” die that yields the better (lower) result. Example: two rival investigators, Malcolm and Hugh, are vying for the affection of Lady Greene. Only one can gain her hand in marriage, so the Keeper decides that an opposed roll is needed to determine the outcome of their wooing. It is decided that an opposed Charm roll should fit the scene. The Keeper reviews the events of the scenario so far: Malcolm has visited Lady Greene twice, each time lavishing expensive gifts upon her, while Hugh has only visited once and brought no gifts at all. The Keeper states that Malcolm has an advantage and receives a bonus die in the opposed roll. Hugh’s player rolls first against his Charm skill of 55, getting 45—a Regular success. Malcolm’s player rolls against his Charm skill with one bonus die, rolling one units die and two tens dice Fig. 1 Fig. 2 11 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 LUCK ROLLS In addition, when falling insane, an investigator suffers a “bout of madness”—roll 1D10 and refer to the Bouts of Madness Table (page 29). If the investigator is in the presence of other investigators, play out the result round by round (the player has, more or less, control of their character, but should be guided by Keeper in terms of their investigator’s portrayal of madness). If the investigator is alone you may use the result to describe how the investigator is found sometime later in a bad way, perhaps hiding in a cupboard, drunk in a gutter, or unconscious under a tree. If your investigator is temporarily insane, the Keeper may decide to add a phobia or mania to your sheet (such as “fear of the dark,” “fear of confined spaces,” or “kleptomania, an irrational compulsion to steal things”). Alternatively, they may decide to rewrite one of your existing backstory entries, perhaps corrupting it in some way (where you wrote “Trusting” under Traits, the Keeper corrupts this to “Fearful.”) While temporarily insane, the Keeper may present your investigator with “Delusions” (hallucinations)—is that a zombie creeping up on you or is it just a homeless person asking for spare change? You can only be certain by asking to make a “reality check”—electing to make a Sanity roll; if you’re successful, you see through the hallucination, but if you fail, you fall deeper into the madness and believe the delusion! Once 1D10 hours have passed, the investigator is sane once more and cannot be affected by more delusions; however, altered backstories or phobias or manias gained while insane remain in effect. Unfortunately, regaining lost Sanity points can be a long and arduous process. Checking characters into some form of care while they take a break from the action, or undergo some form of psychotherapy, are ways to recover small amounts of Sanity. Successfully completing investigations also provides a way to gain Sanity points. But, such gains often do not outweigh the steady loss of Sanity, which tends to be a downward spiral. As Sanity slips away, investigators become less stable and their ability to deal with new horrors diminishes. Full rules for Sanity and Insanity in the game are more fully explained in the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper Rulebook. Luck rolls may be called for by the Keeper when circumstances external to an investigator are in question, and also when determining the fickle hand of fate. If, for example, an investigator wants to know if there is an item lying nearby that could be used as weapon, or if the flashlight they have found has any juice left in it, then call for a Luck roll. Note that if a skill or characteristic is more appropriate to a situation, then it should be used rather than Luck. To succeed with a Luck roll, the investigator must roll equal to or under their current Luck value. If the Keeper calls for a “group Luck roll,” the player whose investigator has the lowest Luck score (among those present in the scene) should make the roll on behalf of the group. Example: finding a cab doesn’t require a dice roll, but getting one before the investigators lose sight of the car that they wish to pursue could. Credit Rating could be a factor in attracting the attention of a cabdriver on the lookout for a well-dressed fare who may tip generously. However, quickly getting a ride at two o’clock in the morning on the undesirable side of town might not be so easy. Would there even be a cab to hail? No skill is going to make a cab appear at that moment. It is a matter of chance whether a cab may be driving down that road, hence a Luck roll is required. SANITY (SAN) Whenever an investigator encounters the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos or comes across something mundane yet horrific (such as stumbling across a friend’s mutilated corpse), make a percentile roll against the investigator’s current Sanity score. If you roll over your current Sanity, you lose a greater amount of Sanity points. If you roll under, you will lose less or none. The Sanity loss is generally described for an event as something like “0/1D6” or “2/1D10.” The number before the slash mark tells you how much Sanity your character loses if the roll is equal to or under their current Sanity score; the number after the slash is how much your investigator loses if you roll over their current Sanity score (the worst result). When you fail a “Sanity roll” the Keeper gets to momentarily dictate your investigator’s next action as the fear takes hold; perhaps they unwittingly scream, freeze, or squeeze the trigger of the gun they are holding. If an investigator loses 5 or more Sanity points as the consequence of a single Sanity roll, they have suffered major emotional trauma, and the player must roll 1D100. If the result is equal to or less than their Intelligence (INT), the investigator fully understands and comprehends what has been seen and goes temporarily insane (for 1D10 hours). If they fail the roll, their mind is closed to the horror and they remain sane (for now). COMBAT When you are confronted with the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos it is generally a better idea to run away or avoid confrontation altogether, as such entities are very powerful and often resistant to bullets! However, sometimes there is no other choice than to go in, guns blazing, and make the best of it. 12 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU When a combat occurs, all investigators, as well as characters and monsters controlled by the Keeper, act in order of their DEX values. The investigator, character, or monster with the highest DEX acts first and then the others go in descending order from there. The duration of a combat round is best described as “long enough for everyone to take one significant action.” The Keeper controls the flow of the round. On each character’s DEX turn, the Keeper decides or asks (if an investigator) what action is being taken; usually this is something as simple as, “I attack the monster,” “I pull out my revolver,” or “I run away!” The Keeper should give everyone a chance to do something, while being aware of the narrative flow of the events taking place. Investigators have three combat skills: Fighting, Dodge, and Firearms. Two of these skills are made up of multiple specializations, such as Fighting (Brawl) or Firearms (Rifle/Shotgun)—each investigator may have different specializations (or none at all). Note that the Fighting (Brawl) skill includes unarmed combat and the use of simple weapons (like knives and clubs); however, wielding a sword requires the Fighting (Sword) specialization. You make a combat roll using the appropriate skill, just like any other skill roll; however, you don’t get to “push” combat rolls—you simply make another attack next round. “extreme damage” if they win the combat with an Extreme success—if a blunt weapon, extreme damage deals maximum damage plus damage bonus (if any); if an impaling weapon (like a knife), extreme damage deals maximum damage (of the weapon) plus an additional dice roll for the weapon’s damage and also damage bonus (if any). E.g. when a knife with 1D4 damage causes extreme damage, it deals 4+1D4+damage bonus (if any). Close Combat If a player describes a goal in combat that is something other than simply inflicting harm, it can be resolved with a “Fighting Maneuver.” A successful maneuver allows the character to achieve one thing, such as: Example: a ghoul initiates, swinging a clawed hand at Susan, who elects to dodge. The Keeper rolls 03—an Extreme success (below one-fifth of the ghoul’s skill). Susan rolls 20 for her Dodge roll—a Hard success. The attacker has achieved a better level of success than the dodger, so Susan is hit, automatically taking maximum damage of 6+1D4 (1D6+1D4 damage bonus) because the attack was an Extreme success. The ghoul is a monster with 3 attacks per round (all of its attacks take place simultaneously on its DEX). On its second attack it tries to bite Susan, who fights back. Susan achieves a Hard success; the ghoul achieves a Regular success. Susan has a better level of success than the ghoul, so she successfully fights back—not only does she avoid injury, but she also inflicts 1D3 points of damage on the ghoul. Fighting Maneuvers On a character’s turn in the DEX order, they may choose to initiate an attack against an opponent. In addition, each time a character is attacked, they get to choose how they will respond, be it by dodging (attempting to avoid the attack completely) or fighting back (attempting to avoid, block, or parry an attack while also hitting back). Both attacker and defender roll percentage dice (1D100) and compare their levels of success. • Disarm an opponent. • Knock an opponent to the floor. • Seize and hold an opponent, whereupon the opponent must apply one penalty die to their actions until they can break free with an opposed STR roll. • If you are initiating the attack: roll your Fighting skill and compare the result to your opponent. • If you are responding—fighting back: use your Fighting skill. You need to achieve a higher level of success than your attacker (you inflict damage instead of your opponent). • If you are responding—dodging: use your Dodge skill. Your attacker needs to achieve a higher level of success than you (if you equal or exceed your attacker’s level of success, you successfully dodge and avoid taking damage). A maneuver is treated the same way as a normal Fighting attack, using the Fighting (Brawl) skill. The opponent may dodge or fight back as usual. Compare the Build of the two combatants. If the character initiating the maneuver has a smaller Build than their opponent, they take a penalty die for each point of difference (to a maximum of two penalty dice). If an opponent exceeds the attacker’s Build by three or more points, any fighting maneuvers are ineffective; the attacker may be able to lay hands on their opponent, but lacks the strength and size required to take advantage of their grip. The winning side avoids receiving any damage and inflicts damage (unless they are dodging) on their opponent. Note that, when fighting back (responding to an attack on you), the best a person can achieve is “regular” damage, whereas a character initiating an attack (if successful) could achieve Example: Susan attempts to push a ghoul out of a window (a Fighting Maneuver). Susan’s Build is zero and the ghoul’s Build is 1, so Susan suffers one penalty die on her attack roll. Susan rolls 02 13 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 and 22; as she had a penalty die, she must take the higher result—a Hard success (under half Susan’s Fighting skill). The ghoul is fighting back, and it rolls a Regular success on its Fighting skill. Susan has achieved a better level of success and so her maneuver is successful—she shoves the ghoul through the window. through stabilizing the character. If a character suffers points of damage greater than or equal to their maximum hit points in a single blow, they die instantly. • Characters without a major wound naturally heal 1 hit point per day. • Characters with a major wound must make a healing roll (rolling equal to or under their CON) at the end of each week—if successful, they regain 1D3 hit points, or 2D3 points for an Extreme success. The major wound condition is removed if either an Extreme success is rolled or current hit points are healed to half their maximum value or greater. Thus, it may take a number of weeks for a major wound to heal. Outnumbered A character outnumbered by the opposition is at a disadvantage. Once a character has responded to an attack (either fought back or dodged) in the present combat round, all subsequent melee attacks on them (in the same round) are made with one bonus die. This does not apply to attacks made using firearms. Firearms You may shoot a firearm on your turn in the DEX order to initiate an attack (usually, firearms cannot be used in fighting back reactions). Make a percentile (1D100) roll and compares the result with the Firearms skill. Successful First Aid can heal 1 hit point, as well as rousing a character from unconsciousness. If First Aid is used on a dying character it, extends the character’s life so that the Medicine skill can use used. The Medicine skill can heal 1D3 hit points, but takes at least one hour and appropriate equipment and supplies. If Medicine is used on a dying character, it allows a healing roll at the end of one week. • Readied firearms act at DEX+50 for the purpose of determining the DEX turn order. • If firing 2 or 3 shots from a handgun in one round, apply one penalty die to each shot. • If at point-blank range (within one-fifth of DEX in feet), the shooter gains one bonus die on the skill roll. Example: Brian starts with 12 hit points. On Monday he gets in a barroom brawl, taking damage from three separate slugs to his jaw of 4, 2, and 4 points. This is a total of 10 damage, reducing his hit points to 2. He has not taken a major wound (as no single attack delivered significant damage) and recovers at the rate of 1 hit point per day. On Thursday, Brian (now at 5 hit points) clumsily falls out of a window; suffering 7 hit points of damage. This is a major wound (7 damage is more than half of Brian’s The target of the shot cannot fight back (you can’t dodge a bullet) but may instead “dive for cover” by rolling against their Dodge skill. If the Dodge roll is successful, the attacker’s roll(s) to hit are made with one penalty die (i.e. make the Dodge roll before the Firearms roll). A character that opts to dive for cover forfeits their next attack or action (regardless of whether they were successful or not), or if they have already used their attack this round, they forfeit their attack in the following round. WEAPON DAMAGE • • • • • • • Unarmed attacks (human): 1D3 + damage bonus Small knife: 1D4 + damage bonus Machete: 1D8 + damage bonus Small club: 1D6 + damage bonus Baseball bat: 1D8 + damage bonus Handgun: 1D10 Shotgun: 4D6 (at close range*, otherwise 2D6; does not impale) • Rifle: 2D6+4 HIT POINTS, WOUNDS, AND HEALING Points of damage are deducted from a character’s hit points. Hit points cannot fall below zero, so do not record a negative value. When a character’s hit points reach zero, they fall unconscious and, in some situations, may die. When a character takes damage of greater than or equal to half their full hit points in a single blow, they have received a “major wound”—they must make a CON roll or fall unconscious. If a character with a major wound falls to zero hit points they are close to death (dying). They must make a successful CON roll at the end of the following round and every round thereafter or die. Only successful use of the First Aid skill can alleviate the dying condition, *Close range: within DEX in feet (i.e. if DEX is 60, close range is 60 feet). 14 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU maximum 12 hit points). A friend administers First Aid and rushes him to hospital. After seven days have passed, a successful CON roll is made for Brian and he regains 2 hit points on a 1D3 die roll. At the end of the second week, Brian’s player rolls an Extreme success on the CON roll and regains 4 hit points on a 2D3 roll of the dice, and his current hit points now stand at 6. This erases his major wound marker (he has regained half his maximum hit points), after which he heals at 1 hit point per day. ABOUT THE READY-MADE INVESTIGATORS The four ready-made investigators are designed to be used with The Haunting. Give these to your players and get them each to pick whichever one they prefer. Each player can decide the name and gender of their investigator, and write these details in the top left-hand box on their character’s sheet. The four characters are a team, brought together to solve a case, although it’s ok if you have less than four players—every player takes on the role of one of these characters. OTHER FORMS OF DAMAGE Often the Keeper will be forced to judge the amount of damage caused by some random event. Whatever the cause, consider the likely injury and rate it against the left-hand column on the Other Forms of Damage Table. Each injury type is for one incident or one combat round (one round of being punched by an attacker, one bullet, one round of drowning, one round of being burned, etc.). The character takes further damage on each successive round that they are exposed to the source of the harm. • • • • A weary private detective An enthusiastic graduate student An open-minded academic An author with an interest in the occult OTHER FORMS OF DAMAGE Injury Damage Examples Minor: a person could survive numerous 1D3 occurrences of this level of damage. Punch / kick / head-butt / mild acid / breathing smoky atmosphere / a thrown fist-size rock / falling (per 10 feet) onto soft ground. Moderate: might cause a major wound; 1D6 it would take a few such attacks to kill. Falling (per 10 feet) onto grass / club / strong acid / breathing water / exposure to vacuum / small-caliber bullet / arrow / fire (burning torch). Severe: likely to cause a major wound. One or two occurrences would render a 1D10 person unconscious or dead. .38 calibre bullet / falling (per 10 feet) on to concrete / axe / fire (flamethrower, running through a burning room) / being 6 to 10 yards from an exploding hand grenade or stick of dynamite / mild poison. Deadly: the average person has a 50% 2D10 chance of dying. Hit by a car at 30 mph / being 3 to 6 yards from an exploding hand grenade or stick of dynamite / strong poison. Terminal: outright death is likely. 4D10 Hit by a speeding car / being within 3 yards of an exploding hand grenade or stick of dynamite/lethal poison. Splat: outright death is almost certain. 8D10 Being involved in a high-speed head-on collision, being hit by a train. 15 16 THE HAUNTING PREPARING FOR PLAY This scenario is designed for new Keepers and players. Advice for the Keeper is included within the text (Keeper’s Notes) on how and when to use dice and rules, as well as guidance on how to run the scenario. Once you have read through this scenario, copy or print out the ready-made investigators and ask your players to each choose one to play. The boxed text within the scenario is meant to be read aloud to the players—paraphrase these lines in your own words or just read out what is written. Player handouts are marked in the text and have been collected at the end of the scenario to allow Keepers to copy them for presentation to the players when directed. The year is 1920 and the location is Boston, Massachusetts, although this scenario could be transported to a modern setting if desired. Give each of your players one of the four ready-made investigators (pages 34–41). If you have more than four players, just duplicate the sheets as necessary. Each player can decide their character’s name and gender. When ready, tell the players the premise of the scenario. You are going to be hired to investigate an old house in 1920s Boston—rumor has it that it may be haunted! The players are a team of professional and amateur detectives who have volunteered for the task. Encourage the players to introduce their characters and write a few notes about their backgrounds in the My Story box, and discuss how they know each other. Keep it all reasonably brisk and avoid getting bogged down with unnecessary details. Note down each investigator’s name, appearance (APP), Credit Rating score, and any notable aspects of their backstory for your reference during play. THE KEEPER’S SECRET The body of Walter Corbitt is buried in the basement of the Corbitt house. The mind of Walter Corbitt still lives, aware of events within the house. He haunts the place. Corbitt knows Mythos magic that preserves his identity and enables him to animate his body after death. He sometimes vampirically preys upon residents of the house, driving away or slaying those who learn his secret. To solve the mystery posed to them, the investigators must learn about Corbitt. While they do this, Corbitt will be aware of the investigators and will try to mislead them and scare them away. Failing that, he will try to murder them. LOCATION 1: INTRODUCTION KEEPER’S NOTE: This introduction takes place with the investigators meeting up with the landlord. Perhaps in his home or in a café. The location isn’t overly important, but take a moment to set the scene. Then read the following aloud, roleplaying the landlord’s discussion with the players. . 17 17 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Handout 1 The clippings files are not open to the general public and the investigators will have to Persuade Arty Wilmot (a Boston Globe editor) of their case for access. Arty enjoys the little power he has and will try to deny the investigators access; play up his pomposity and encourage the players to strive to gain access to the morgue. A landlord, Mr. Knott, asks you to examine an old house in central Boston, known as the Corbitt House. The former tenants, the Macario family, were involved in a tragedy and the owner wishes to understand the mysterious happenings at the house and set matters straight. Mr. Knott has been unable to rent the house out since the tragedy and hopes that you can clear things up and restore its good name. He offers to pay for your time and trouble, at a rate of $20 per day. The landlord gives you the keys, the address, and $20 cash in advance. Knowing your jobs, you will want to conduct some research before you head to the house. You could check out old newspaper articles at the offices of the Boston Globe, head to the Central Library, or go to The Hall of Records. The choice is yours. Using Dice To... Gain Access To The Clippings Files KEEPER’S NOTE: Usually when encountering a neutral non-player character you should roll versus the investigator’s APP or Credit Rating; however in Arty’s case the decision is preordained—he’s unhelpful. First, establish a goal with the players, along the lines of “gain access to the clippings files.” Roleplay the interaction between Arty and the investigators. Based on the way the roleplay goes, choose one of the following options: Pass Handout 1 (page 29) to the players in case they wish to refer to it later. Give them time to absorb the information, discuss matters, and decide on a course of action. Some players will be keen to head straight to the house, but you should suggest that they would be better off conducting some research first. Mr. Steven Knott recently inherited the property and would like to make a profit on the place somehow, either by renting it or selling it, but has been unable to do either due to the terrible reputation of the place. Proceed to Location 2, 3 or 4, depending where the players decide to go next. • If the investigator is trying to win Arty round with friendliness, use the Charm skill. • If the investigator is being aggressive towards Arty, use the Intimidate skill. • If the investigator is using rational arguments to persuade Arty, use the Persuade skill. • If the investigator is trying to con Arty, use the Fast Talk skill. KEEPER’S NOTE: It is up to you to describe the locations as you wish. Use your imagination and try to evoke the feel of the places; the smell and noise of the printing presses at the Boston Globe, for example. There is no need to go in to detail when it comes to moving between locations—just cut to the investigators arriving at the a new location. Ask the player doing most of the talking to roll percentage dice (1D100) and compare the result with his or her investigator’s Persuade, Fast Talk, Charm, or Intimidate skill, as appropriate. If the roll is equal to or lower than the skill, the investigator has succeeded in gaining access for the group. KEEPER’S NOTE: Notice here how the difficulty level for the players versus Arty is Regular; Arty’s profession does not require a professional level (50%+) in Persuade, Charm, Intimidate or Psychology. If it did, the difficulty level would be Hard. LOCATION 2: THE BOSTON GLOBE Pick up the roleplay again and incorporate the outcome of the skill roll in to what Arty says: A DAILY NEWSPAPER OF GOOD REPUTE KEEPER’S NOTE: As the players make their initial enquiries at the newspaper offices, roleplay the people they could meet—the desk clerk, a journalist, or one of the editors. Be sure to mention the “morgue” (the newspaper clippings files) in the basement of the Boston Globe. • If the investigators have won, have Arty back down in a way that seems appropriate to you and allow them access to the files. • If the investigators failed, have Arty puff himself up and tell the investigators to leave. 18 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU Pushing The Roll? If an investigator flirts with or befriends Ruth Blake, the record keeper in the clippings file (don’t bother with dice here, the information isn’t crucial), she remarks that the Globe files go back no further than a fire in 1878. If the Corbitt House is mentioned earlier than that, there is no record of it here. If the players fail the roll, ask if they want to persist in their efforts to gain access to the clippings files. If they choose to do so, they may attempt a Pushed roll by continuing to pressure Arty in some way (they may change their approach and use an alternate method at this point). Depending on their course of action you should decide on what will happen if they fail (a consequence); for example: LOCATION 3: THE CENTRAL LIBRARY • If the investigators are using Intimidate, the consequence might be that Arty calls their bluff, leading to an exchange of blows. • If the investigators are using Charm or Persuade, the consequence might be that Arty takes offence and screams at them to leave. This worthy institution has several interesting items tucked away. For each half-day spent in research at the library, ask each player to make a Library Use roll (rolling equal to or less than their skill on 1D100). If failed, there is no need to push the roll; the players can simply keep trying again and again, but each roll means they have spent half a day more in research. If they spend more than a day researching, have their employer, Mr. Knott, contact them to ask how things are progressing, urging them to resolve their investigations—time is money after all. For each success, give out one of the following Handouts (in order). Whatever the consequence, ensure that it escalates beyond Arty just asking them to leave—for example, have Arty call on some strong-armed maintenance men for backup. The Clippings Files If the investigators gain access, describe the dusty shelves of the clippings files morgue. You are taken down some steps by Ruth Blake, the records keeper, into a dusty basement filled with filing cabinets and stacked high with old newspapers and other assorted junk. The whole room smells musty and the boiler system in the corner gives out a lot of heat. Handout 3 In 1835, a prosperous merchant builds the house, but immediately falls ill and sells it to a Mr. Walter Corbitt, esquire. Handout 4 The pertinent clippings are filed by street address. Since the players have already had to succeed in dice rolls to get in to the morgue it would be churlish stop them getting the one clue that is here, so it should be made obvious. Pass Handout 2 (page 30) to a player. In 1852, Walter Corbitt is sued by neighbours, who petition to force him to leave the area “in consequence of his surious [sic] habits and unauspicious demeanor.” Handout 5 Evidently Corbitt wins the lawsuit. His obituary in 1866 states that he still lived in the same place. It also states that a second lawsuit was being waged to prevent Corbitt from being buried in his basement, as provided by his will. Handout 2 Unpublished Story, Boston Globe 1918: A feature story, which was never published. It states that in 1880, a family of French immigrants moved into the house but fled after a series of violent accidents left the parents dead and three children crippled. The house long stood vacant. In 1909, another family moved in and immediately fell prey to illnesses. In 1914, the oldest brother went mad and killed himself with a kitchen knife, and the heartbroken family moved out. In 1918, a third family, the Macarios, rented the house, but they left almost immediately under mysterious circumstances. Handout 6 No outcome to the second lawsuit is recorded. 19 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 LOCATION 4: 2 HALL OF RECORDS 3 4 5 Handout 7 6 7 8 9 0 • Charm skill: A flutter of eyelids might gain access for a charming investigator. • Fast Talk skill: Perhaps this involves flashing a fake I.D. This is a risky approach given the location. Ask for a Library Use roll. If successful, pass Handout 7 to the players. Use the same guidelines as for the Central Library. If the roll is successful, pass Handout 8 to the player. If the players fail their roll, ask if they wish to continue their efforts. They need to justify a Pushed roll. If using Credit Rating, Persuade, or Charm, they risk overstepping the mark, leading to a consequence such as causing offence and earning the antipathy of the police (perhaps receiving a shakedown or threats). Civil court records show that the executor of Walter Corbitt’s will was Reverend Michael Thomas, pastor of the Chapel of Contemplation and Church of Our Lord Granter of Secrets. The register of churches (also available in the Hall of Records) notes the closure of the Chapel of Contemplation in 1912. If the players think to look up the Chapel of Contemplation in criminal court records, they find references to actions taken in 1912; however, the actual records are not present. If the investigators have been courteous to the clerk, he points out that serious crimes would be handled in the county, commonwealth, or federal courts. A successful Law skill roll can indicate the same thing. The records of city officers participating in arrests or seizures are filed at the Central Police Station. Handout 8 The file concerns a secret raid on the Chapel of Contemplation. The police raid was occasioned by affidavits swearing that members of the church were responsible for the disappearances of neighborhood children. During the raid, three policemen and seventeen cult members were killed by gunplay or fire. Autopsy reports are singularly lacking detail and uninformative, as though the coroner had not actually performed examinations. Though 54 members of the church were arrested, all but eight were released. The records hint of illegal intervention in the proceedings by an important local official offering stories of the battle—the biggest criminal action in the city’s history—that never appeared in print. Pastor Michael Thomas was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison on five counts of second-degree murder. He escaped from prison in 1917 and fled the state. LOCATION 5: HIGHER COURTS; CENTRAL POLICE STATION Gaining access to these records will prove difficult, requiring at least one player to make a successful skill roll. Players can use one of the following: LOCATION 6: THE NEIGHBORHOOD • Law skill: To establish that an investigator has an existing contact within the courts who will grant access. If failed, the player can ask to Push the Law skill roll to establish a contact. You should make a concealed roll on behalf of the player. Do not inform the players of the outcome of the roll. Regardless of the dice roll, the investigator knows Kim Debrun, a clerk in the Court offices. If the roll is successful, Kim is warm and friendly and will allow the investigators access to the file (Handout 8). If the roll is a failure, Kim is unscrupulous and will demand a bribe before reneging on the deal and claiming not to know the investigators. • Credit Rating: If the player makes a successful roll and has a Credit Rating score of 75 or more, they may impress a clerk sufficiently to gain access. • Persuade skill: The player should present a good case for why access should be granted. Most of the people who lived in the area before the Great War have moved away or died. New offices and businesses have replaced the nineteenth-century homes, and the house in question (the “Corbitt House”) with its overgrown front yard is now the only private residence on the block. If the investigators ask around they find a Mr. Dooley, a vendor of cigars and newspapers, who knows the area. Using Dice To... Gauge Mr. Dooley’s Reaction to the Investigators Establish Mr. Dooley’s reaction to investigators who speak to him by rolling 1D100 and comparing it with the investigator’s APP or Credit Rating. A dice roll that is equal to or lower than one of these yields a positive reaction from Mr. Dooley. Otherwise Dooley is less than forthcoming to 20 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU that particular investigator. A different investigator may try a Charm, Fast Talk, Persuade, or Intimidate roll to get Dooley to talk. The Keeper can answer more questions, but Gabriela is unable to give specific information. The Keeper should end the interview quickly, since the investigator’s questions will greatly upset her. The two young Macario boys are being cared for by relatives in Baltimore. The investigators can visit, but they know nothing except that they miss their parents and that in their former home they often had nightmares of a strange man with burning eyes. Dooley Talks If the players manage to get Dooley talking and ask about the Chapel of Contemplation, he is able to point out where it stood a few blocks distant. If asked about the house, he will refer to it as “the Corbitt House.” Encourage the players to roleplay and engage Mr. Dooley in conversation. Draw upon the following points and incorporate them in to the conversation: LOCATION 8: THE CHAPEL OF CONTEMPLATION • The Macario family moved into the house a couple of years ago. • A year after moving in, the father had a serious accident and shortly thereafter went violently mad. • They say he babbled about a haunting form with burning eyes. • About a month back, the old lady, Mrs. Macario, also went mad. • Mrs. Macario is with her husband over in Roxbury Sanitarium, a few miles from Boston. • The kids were taken in by relatives down in Baltimore. Read the following to the players: What is left of the old church stands at the end of a crooked, dingy street. The ruins are so weathered and overgrown with greenery that the grey stone rubble seems more like natural stone than former walls and foundation. You pass a slumping wall bearing white-painted symbols, apparently freshly swabbed—three Y’s arranged in a triangle so that the top elements of each Y touch the other two Y’s. In the center, so created, is painted a staring eye. KEEPER’S NOTE: Portray Dooley as you wish and improvise his dialogue freely—not everything spoken by a non-player character has to be true and he may well exaggerate. He is a salesman and used to engaging in banter and gossip. Handout 9 is an image of this symbol. Show it to the players. LOCATION 7: ROXBURY SANITARIUM If the players decide to visit the sanitarium, they will find Vittorio Macario is quite mad. He is clasping a bible to his chest. At some point he may open the bible at a random place (you decide where) and point to a passage (apparently quoting), “By his own weapon is the devil worsted!” While not a genuine quotation from the bible, this is a useful clue. If remembered later on in the scenario, an attentive player might realize that Corbitt may be killed with his own dagger. Don’t overplay it—leave it up to the players to take note of the clue or not. Nothing more can be gleaned from Vittorio. Gabriela Macario is conscious and approachable. She can explain that an evil presence lives in the house. At night she would sometimes wake to find “it” leaning over her. When it was angry, the thing might cause dishes or other objects to fly around the room. Mostly, it hated her husband, Vittorio, and concentrated its anger on him. While the investigators are near the signs, subtly describe to the players how they begin to feel tingles in their foreheads, like headaches, but not quite. When they leave, the irritation stops. Encourage the players to explore the ruins; try to describe the scene and ask what they are doing. Prowling the chapel, they find mostly blocks of granite, old half-burned timbers, and ancient rubbish. At some point they should become aware that the earth they stand on is covering weakened floorboards. Call for Luck rolls: those that fail their Luck 21 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 rolls must attempt a Jump roll to leap to safety or find themselves falling as the floor gives way. The fall is ten feet into the basement. The tome is a copy of the Liber Ivonis. A cursory look at the book will show that it is in Latin and deals with matters of an occult nature. An initial reading of this book (requiring either a Read Latin skill of 50% or more, or a successful Read Latin roll) will take a minimum of three hours. If an investigator takes the time to do this then have that investigator gain 2% Cthulhu Mythos knowledge (and reduce Maximum Sanity by the same amount, from 99 to 97). • If the Jump is failed, ask the players if there’s anything they can do to justify Pushing the Jump roll—perhaps they make a last minute grab for the edge. Each falling investigator loses 1D6 hit points. Increase the consequence if a player fails a Pushed roll, though perhaps rather than simply increasing the damage have that investigator lose or break a personal possession. LOCATION 9: THE OLD CORBITT PLACE KEEPER’S NOTE: This fall may be the first incident of physical damage in the game. Tell the players to subtract the damage from their current hit points. Refer to Hit Points, Wounds, and Healing (page 13) as to whether a Major wound has occurred and for rules on treatment, recovery, and healing. Read the following aloud to the players: The brick building is overshadowed by taller, newer office buildings on either side. The house fronts the street. In the rear are overgrown plantings and a half-collapsed arbor. Access to the rear exists on either side of the residence. If an investigator falls, read the following aloud: Studying the house, the observer is impressed by the way the house seems to withdraw into the shadows cast by the flanking buildings, and how the blank curtained windows hide all understanding of what lies within. You’ve fallen in to a part of the basement that was sealed off from the rest, originally reached by separate stairs now buried under tons of rubble. Within this room, next to a cabinet, are two skeletons dressed in tattered silk robes; perhaps they hid from the police and then perished in the fire. The front door is secured with a single lock. Four additional bolts seem to have been added within the last year or two. If the investigators think to test the ground floor windows, they find them all nailed shut from the inside. Study the plan provided on the next page. Sketch out each floor on a sheet of paper as the investigators explore it, or use the “investigator” version of the plan provided on page @@. If the players search the cabinet it is found to contain moldering church records. If they don’t think to look under the cabinet, ask for a Spot Hidden roll—only point out the journal and tome if player succeeds in the skill roll. Allow the players to Push the Spot Hidden roll if they volunteer to conduct a thorough, more time-consuming search. If they fail the pushed Spot Hidden roll, they might step on a nail or ruin their clothing. With a successful Spot Hidden roll allow a player to find a journal (of cult activities) and a tome. Read the following aloud: The musty old journal falls to pieces as you turn the pages, but the name Walter Corbitt catches your eye. An entry records that Walter Corbitt was buried in the basement of his house, “In accordance with his wishes and with the wishes of that one who waits in the dark”. Alongside the journal is an enormous volume, handwritten in Latin, but so rotten and worm-eaten that whole sections no longer can be understood.” 22 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU Corbitt House Map (Keeper Version) 23 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 GROUND FLOOR 2 INTERIOR 3 ROOM 1, A Storage Room 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ROOM 4, The Living Room This room contains conventional furnishings: a radio, couch, stuffed chairs, and shelves laden with gewgaws. You cannot help but notice the unusual quantities of crosses, images of the Virgin and other Catholic artifacts. The room is filled with boxes and junk, such as rusted water tanks and old bicycles. At the right end of the room is a cupboard, boarded shut. KEEPER’S NOTE: Try to build a creepy atmosphere as the players explore the house. Remember Corbitt haunts the place and at any time a noise might be heard upstairs (Bedroom 3). If the cupboard is wrenched open, three bound books are found within—the diaries of a certain W. Corbitt, a former inhabitant of the house, as the address on the flyleaf of volume one testifies. The Corbitt Diaries are in English, though sometimes strangely phrased. The three volumes take a total of two days to read, adding +4 to Cthulhu Mythos skill and losing 1D4 Sanity points. The diaries describe Corbitt’s various occult experiments, including the summoning of some unearthly spirit and other magic, and clearly describe a spell entitled “Call Forth the Opener of Ways” (an alternative title for the spell Summon / Bind Dimensional Shambler). No other spells exist in the diaries. The spell takes 2D6 weeks to learn after the diaries have been read. ROOM 5, The Dining Room This is the dining room, complete with a long mahogany table, a built-in sideboard, and seven chairs. Three places are set and unused. Scraps of rice soup rot in a tureen. ROOM 6, Kitchen A conventional kitchen, with icebox, wood-fed stove and oven, plus a meager larder. Some of the foodstuffs may be edible—there is canned soup and meat, rice kernels, several pastas, and a few bottles of homemade wine. The produce which has not spoiled has been eaten by rats, judging by the spoor left behind. KEEPER’S NOTE: This spell is not intended for use in this scenario and is included as an added feature. It is unlikely that this investigation will continue long enough for this spell to be of use—not that summoning a dimensional shambler is likely to be beneficial in any case! Details of the spell can be found in the full Call of Cthulhu: Keeper Rulebook. UPPER FLOOR ROOM 1, Main Bedroom An ordinary bedroom, with a double bed, bookshelf and window view. Apparently the room of Vittorio and Gabriela. More crosses and many candles are here, and a rosary and breviary rest on a table beside the bed. ROOM 2, A Second Storage Room This room contains old furniture that might be broken up to burn in a wood stove. ROOM 2, Children’s Bedroom ROOM 3, The Mud Room This room contains two small beds, toys, and dressers. Pictures of aircraft and cowboys mark this as the children’s bedroom. Here hang overcoats, galoshes, hats, and umbrellas. Several bags of coal for the living room’s freestanding stove are here. You notice that the side door is secured with three bolts and two locks. 24 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU ROOM 3, Spare Bedroom KEEPER’S NOTE: It is important to remain impartial as Keeper, so when inflicting a dangerous event on the investigators it is best to pick one of them at random. To do this, choose the investigator with the lowest Luck score or simply roll randomly. When selecting a player to be attacked by the bed, be clear on who is standing next to the window, and select among them at random. This room contains a bed frame, bare bedsprings, and a dresser. Though unused, this room looks like the other two bedrooms. This was once the room of old Corbitt himself. He stayed here so long that his psychic influence lingers on and he is able to will certain deeds to happen in this room. Whenever he does, a horrible smell manifests—a sure sign of the Mythos! If the investigator is struck by the bed, he or she is thrown through the window. The broken glass and fall costs the victim 1D6 + 2 hit points. Anyone who witnesses the bed move of its own accord should make a Sanity check (SAN 1/1D4). Those who pass should lose one Sanity point, and those who fail should roll 1D4 to determine how many Sanity points they lose. KEEPER’S NOTE: Though Corbitt lays low at first, if the investigators seem determined to learn the secrets of the house then Corbitt tries to convince them that this room is the centre of the psychic disturbance. To this end, he makes pools of blood appear and tries to frighten the investigators off with thumping sounds on the doors and walls. If an investigator is not convinced by Corbitt’s haunting routine, Corbitt tries to lure him or her into this room to be killed (see Bed Attack), attracting the investigator to the window by making it rattle. KEEPER’S NOTE: The bed attack has the potential to deliver a major wound to an investigator. In the unlikely event of investigator death, have Mr. Knott (the landlord) brought in for use by that player. ROOM 4, Bathroom Pick any of the following events and have them happen as and when you wish: A bathroom containing a sink, bathtub, and a water closet with an overhead tank. Towels and other possessions are still here, typical to a family of four. A brackish pool of water has collected in the bathtub, fed by a dripping faucet which cannot quite be closed off. • Corbitt can cause loud thumping noises to emanate from this room. These noises can be heard from anywhere in the house. • Corbitt can form a pool of blood on the floor or to drip down from the ceiling or walls. • Corbitt can make a rattling, scratching sound on the windowpane or door. • Corbitt can impel the bed at good speed, fast enough to strike a strong blow against anything in the room (see below). Bed Attack Corbitt will lure the investigators to inspect the window in the spare bedroom, then make the bed fly across the room at high speed toward an unfortunate investigator. Ask the player of the investigator inspecting the window to make a Spot Hidden roll: if successful the player may attempt a Dodge roll to avoid being hit by the bed. 25 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 THE BASEMENT 2 ROOM 1: Storage 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 With a successful Spot Hidden roll, the investigator finds Corbitt’s knife (see The Floating Knife) and may pick it up. Once picked up, the knife will try to wrest itself free from the investigator’s grasp and attack the investigator (see Having Hold of the Knife). If the player fails the Pushed Spot Hidden roll, the unaware investigator catches a hand on the possessed knife and it slashes him or her for 1D4+2 hit points of damage. The door to the basement has a lock and three bolts, able to be opened from the upstairs side only. Below is the main basement storage room. The stairs are in poor repair and the electric light bulb does not work. The walls of the basement are lined with closely fitted boards. KEEPER’S NOTE: Notice how you can inflict automatic damage as the result of a failed Pushed roll. There’s no need for an attack roll in this instance—the harm was the consequence of failing a Pushed roll. Corbitt has turned off the electricity to the basement at the fuse box upstairs in the kitchen—if the investigators turn it back on, Corbitt can switch it off again when it best suits him. The stairs are perilous; all the more so because Corbitt can make them move. One at a time, ask each investigator descending the stairs to make a DEX or Climb roll. Treat this as a Combined roll: the players should roll dice once and compare the result with their DEX and Climb skills. Rolling equal to or below one of these values counts as a success. Anyone failing the DEX / Climb roll should be told that the stairs are too dangerous and that to go further risks injury. They now have a choice: remain upstairs or Push the roll and risk falling. Failing the Pushed roll will result in the loss of 1D6 hit points as the investigator slips and crashes to the basement floor. The walls are lined with wooden boards, a cursory inspection of which will reveal hollow areas (rooms 2 and 3). The Floating Knife An old knife with an ornate hilt, whose blade is coated with oddly thick rust. This is Corbitt’s magic dagger and the rust is the dried blood of victims. If the players find it, Corbitt will use it to attack. If they do not find it, he will attack them with it if they begin tearing down the wooden wall that conceals his body. Attacking With the Knife The knife floats into the air and stabs at an investigator. This costs Corbitt 1 Magic point per combat round. The knife can make one attack per round. KEEPER’S NOTE: In a situation such as this, one investigator (who successfully negotiates the stairs) might volunteer to help another. You need to be a little creative with the rules in such a situation. As one investigator has already been successful, grant the second player a bonus die, but this time if the roll is failed then both fall and take damage. In this way the player who is pushing the roll has an increased chance of success, but both players are sharing the risk. This creates a moment of tension and drama, exactly as dice rolls should do. • Roll 1D100 and compare the result with Corbitt’s POW. • Ask the player to roll 1D100 and compare the result with the investigator’s Dodge roll. • Compare Levels of Success and decide whether the investigator is hit: • If Corbitt rolls a Fail (91 or over), the investigator has avoided being hit with the knife. • If Corbitt achieves a Regular success (46 to 90) and the investigator achieves a Fail, inflict 1D4+2 damage. • If Corbitt achieves a Hard success (19 to 45) and the investigator achieves a Fail or Regular success, inflict 1D4+2 damage. • If Corbitt achieves an Extreme success (18 or below) and the investigator achieves a Fail, Regular, or Hard success, the attack has impaled, driving deep into the investigator’s vitals and inflicting 6+1D4+2 damage. • If the investigator picks up a garbage can lid for protection, grant a bonus die on the Dodge roll. Tell the players that in this smallish room are scattered tools, pipe, a trash can lid, lumber, nails, screws, and so forth. If an investigator searches through the mess, ask the player to make a Spot Hidden roll. Treat this as an Obscure Clue (don’t give the clue out if the player fails the roll). The player might Push the roll by taking time to conduct a more thorough search. You can foreshadow the consequence of failure by pointing out the many sharp things among the mess and the risk of injury. 26 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU • If the investigator is unaware of the attack, ask the player to make a Spot Hidden roll to notice the dagger floating into the air. If the investigator fails to notice the dagger, award a bonus die to the attack roll and do not allow a Dodge roll. The attack inflicts 1D4+2 damage, or 6+1D4+2 if an Extreme success is rolled, and only misses if a fumble (100) is rolled. • Seeing the knife attack in this manner requires a Sanity check (SAN 1/1D4). If successful, the investigator loses 1 Sanity point. If unsuccessful, lose 1D4 Sanity points. KEEPER’S NOTE: When the knife floats in to the air you should begin a combat round. Corbitt’s DEX is low, so the investigators will probably get to act first. If they decide to flee, the knife will attack anyone left in the basement or the last person to get to the stairs (it moves quite fast). Whether it pursues people through the house is up to you. Having Hold of the Knife If an investigator has hold of the knife, Corbitt may attempt to wrench it away on future rounds: each combat round costs Corbitt another Magic point. To keep hold of the knife the player must succeed in an opposed roll, using the investigator’s STR versus Corbitt’s POW. Room 2: An Empty Storage Bin A storage bin, once intended for coal. The door to the outside coal chute has been nailed firmly shut. ROOM 3: Corbitt’s Hidden Lair Using a Fighting Maneuver to Grab the Knife The investigators can try to grab the knife out of the air using the Fighting Maneuver rules (see Fighting Maneuvers, page 13). The player’s goal is to grab the knife. The players use their investigator’s Fighting (Brawl) skill in an opposed roll against Corbitt’s POW. If the player scores a higher level of success than Corbitt then the knife has been grabbed. In the case of a draw, the side whose turn it is wins the roll (if it was Corbitt’s action, the knife would hit on a draw; if it was the investigator’s action they would grab the knife on a draw). Usually a player would compare his or her investigator’s Build with that of the opponent to resolve a fighting maneuver, but since no one is actually holding the dagger this can be ignored. If the players are creative and use a thick coat to help them in catching the knife, you may award a bonus die. KEEPER’S NOTE: All characters present in the basement get to initiate one action each combat round, and this includes Corbitt, using his floating knife. The one Magic point Corbitt spends to activate the knife covers all actions made with it during that round. 27 If the boards in the cellar are broken or removed, a crawl space is revealed between two wooden walls. Foul odors emanate from the rats that nest here. A pack of rats live in the wall. If the investigators do not give the rats room to escape, they attack whoever tries to explore this space. The rats will use their Overwhelm attack against one investigator. Once one rat has been killed, those remaining will flee. Rat Pack Individual rats are not worthy opponents; however, an infestation of rats can be daunting. Assume ten rats per pack. A successful attack by an investigator kills one or two rats and usually chases away the rest of that pack. Rat packs exist only for the purposes of gaming. WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 RAT PACK STR 35 CON 55 SIZ 35 HP: 9 Average Damage Bonus: -1 Average Build: -1 Move: 9 POW 50 OPTION: Corbitt Casts the Dominate Spell DEX 70 At any time, whether he has moved or not, Corbitt may cast his Dominate spell (see Corbitt’s Spells). He does not need to move at all to cast the spell. The casting time for the spell is instantaneous. Add 50 to Corbitt’s DEX for determining his turn in the round if he is casting this spell. Casting the spell in combat requires him to use his action for the round. He may choose to cast it as the investigators are breaking through the wall. Combat Attacks per round: 1. Fighting attacks: Rats attack with teeth and claws. ROOM 4: CORBITT’S HIDING PLACE Overwhelm (fighting maneuver): As a pack they may assault and overwhelm an individual using the Fighting maneuver rules, because of their numbers they gain one bonus die on the attack. Such an attack would involve swarming over the target, biting, and scratching as they do so. Lying motionless and seemingly dead on a pallet in the centre of the room is a drawn, wooden-looking, wizened figure of some six-feet. Skinny and naked, with ghastly wide-flaring, saucer-like eyes and a nose like a knife blade. Some sort of chain rests around his neck. He has lost all hair and his shrunken gums make his teeth look very long. From him comes a sharp, sweet, churning scent, like rotten corn. The floor is earthen and there is a table in the southwest corner with some curled papers on it. Fighting 40% (Hard 20/Extreme 8), damage 1D3 Overwhelm (fighting maneuver) damage 2D6 Dodge 42% (Hard 21/Extreme 8) Carved into the inner wall of the crawl space are the words “Chapel of Contemplation” in irregular, scratchy letters (treat this as an Obvious clue, do not ask for a Spot Hidden roll— not finding it will not add anything to the game). If the investigators break through this wall, they find themselves in Room 4. The papers on the table crumble to dust if touched. What the investigators can see upon the papers looks like a horoscope. If they retrieve or photograph this material, the Keeper should disclose its true nature in some later adventure— whatever this may be is up to the Keeper to determine and is placed here as a scenario seed for Keepers to use in future adventures with the same group of investigators. Corbitt Attacks By spending 2 Magic points, Corbitt can move his body for five combat rounds. Given the cost, he is reluctant to move at all unless threatened. SANITY ROLLS: When he rises from his pallet, ask all players who have an investigator present to make a Sanity roll (1/1D8). Those who fail the roll make one involuntary action of the Keeper’s choice, perhaps dropping their gun or screaming. If an investigator loses 5 or more Sanity points, the player should make an INT roll. If the INT roll is passed, the investigator has understood the full implications of the situation and is driven temporarily insane (see Temporary Insanity as a Result of Meeting Corbitt). If the INT roll is failed, the character is shaken but remains sane. 28 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU USING DICE TO RESOLVE COMBAT: A combat round will begin when Corbitt first moves. Draw up a list of the investigators and Corbitt in DEX order, highest first. BOUTS OF MADNESS • If a character has a gun drawn already, add 50 to the investigator’s DEX on the list. If an investigator draws a gun, it will be ready to use on the character’s regular DEX this round. • Start with the first name on the list. Given Corbitt’s DEX of 35, it is safe to assume that an investigator will go first, unless Corbitt is casting his Dominate spell, in which case he acts on his DEX + 50 (during rounds in which he does not cast the spell you should continue to use his DEX 35). Ask what the player is doing. • If an investigator is attacking Corbitt using the Fighting skill, Corbitt fights back using his Fighting skill. Corbitt will also fight back against subsequent attacks in the round using his Fighting skill. • If an investigator is attacking Corbitt using the Firearms skill, simply roll to hit. Corbitt will not Dive for Cover. If close enough, shots are made at point-blank range, granting a bonus die to the attack. • The second investigator to attack Corbitt should get a bonus die for outnumbering the target (see Outnumbered, page 13). (CHOOSE OR ROLL 1D10) 1. AMNESIA: The investigator has no memory of events that have taken place since they were last in a place of safety. It seems to them that one moment they were eating breakfast and the next they are facing a monster. This lasts for 1D10 rounds. 2. PSYCHOSOMATIC DISABILITY: The investigator suffers psychosomatic blindness, deafness, or loss of the use of a limb or limbs for 1D10 rounds. 3. VIOLENCE: A red mist of rage descends on the afflicted investigator and he or she explodes in a spree of uncontrolled violence and destruction directed at their surroundings, allies and foes alike, for 1D10 rounds. 4. PARANOIA: The investigator suffers severe paranoia for 1D10 rounds. Everyone is out to get them! No one can be trusted! They are being spied on; someone has betrayed them; what they are seeing is a trick. 5. SIGNIFICANT PERSON: Review the investigator’s background entry for Significant People. The investigator mistakes another person in the scene for their Significant Person. Consider the nature of the relationship; the investigator acts upon it. This lasts 1D10 rounds. 6. FAINT: The investigator faints, recovering after 1D10 rounds. 7. FLEE IN PANIC: The investigator is compelled to get as far away as possible by whatever means are available, even if it means taking the only vehicle and leaving everyone else behind. They travel for 1D10 rounds. 8. PHYSICAL HYSTERICS OR EMOTIONAL OUTBURST: The investigator is incapacitated laughing, crying, screaming, etc. for 1D10 rounds. 9. PHOBIA: Investigator gains a new phobia, such as Claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces), Demonophobia (fear of spirits or demons), or Katsaridaphobia (fear of cockroaches). Even if the source of the phobia is not present, the investigator imagines it is there for the next 1D10 rounds. 10. MANIA: The investigator gains a new mania, such as Ablutomania (compulsion for washing oneself ), Pseudomania (irrational compulsion for lying), or Helminthomania (an excessive liking for worms). The investigator seeks to indulge in this new mania for the next 1D10 rounds. Temporary Insanity as a Result of Meeting Corbitt Bout of Madness: If an investigator goes temporarily insane roll 1D10 and refer to the Bouts of Madness table. If the investigator is in the presence of other investigators, play out the result round by round. If the investigator is alone you may use the result to tell how the investigator is found sometime later in a bad way, perhaps locked in a cupboard or drunk in a gutter. Backstory: Take the investigator sheet and add a suitable entry based upon the nature of the investigator’s bout of madness. Delusions: The investigator will remain insane for 1D10 hours or until leaving the Corbitt House and having a good night’s rest. Until then, the investigator will be prone to delusions; however, given that the only event that has the potential to cause insanity in this scenario is likely to occur in the final scene, the scope for using delusions is limited. Here are some suggestions: • If the deluded investigator flees the cellar, have him or her find a photo in the house that appears to be evidence that Corbitt is his or her ancestor; it shows Corbitt and the investigator’s grandfather together and names them as 29 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Extension brothers (though in actuality is nothing more than a scrap of old newspaper). • If the deluded investigator stays in the cellar, pass the player a note to the effect that another investigator’s face and voice have somehow changed and that he or she is mumbling something in Latin (this is of course only a delusion). Keepers will have noticed the freshly painted sign on the rubble at the Chapel, as well as the evidence of the cover-up following the raid in 1912. Connections to what may be a great conspiracy are available and might be returned to at some later time. Also, consider the strange, crumbling paper that looked like a horoscope—is this connected to the conspiracy or something altogether different? Both of these clues could lead the way into further adventures of your own devising for this group of investigators. Reality Checks: If the player questions a delusion, suggest to the player that a Reality Check roll might be made if the investigator wishes to discern the truth. If the player wishes to make a reality check, ask for a Sanity roll: Walter Corbitt, Undead Fiend • If successful, drop the delusions and don’t present that player with any more. • If failed, have that investigator lose 1 Sanity point and experience another Bout of Madness, and escalate the delusions. STR 90 CON 115 SIZ 55 INT 80 POW 90 DEX 35 APP 05 EDU 80 SAN: 0 (ignore Sanity costs for spells) HP: 16 Damage bonus: +1D4 Build: 1 Move: 8 Magic points: 18 (if spent, recover 1 per hour) Given that the temporary insanity is caused by a manifestation of the Cthulhu Mythos, 5% should be added to the investigator’s Cthulhu Mythos skill. Roleplaying hooks: • Corbitt is full of malice and will seek to divide investigators and turn them against one another. • Corbitt seeks excitement and perverse amusement at the investigators’ expense. • He will seek to acquire any sources of Mythos knowledge that are bought in to the house (such as the Liber Ivonis). CONCLUSION If the investigators have solved the mystery and overthrown Corbitt, Mr. Knott the landlord pays them promptly and happily. If they fail to dispose of Corbitt and simply report to Mr. Knott that nothing was wrong, he spends a night in the house to make sure and is stabbed to death in the basement by Corbitt’s magic dagger. The investigators will then be sought by the police and must then seek to prove their innocence. Of course things may not go so well for the investigators. Both the knife and Corbitt are dangerous and, depending how the dice roll, the players may find their investigation ends in death or madness. One possible ending would be to describe a brief epilogue for each player: dead investigators are perhaps reanimated by Corbitt’s magic, to repair the basement walls before their bodies crumble to dust. Insane investigators flee screaming into the night, never to return. If the investigators are victorious then you may wish to ignore the ongoing effects of Corbitt’s Claw attacks. KEEPER’S NOTE: Keep careful track of Corbitt’s Magic points. Be sure to remember that he recovers at the rate of 1 point per hour. Corbitt casts Flesh Ward as soon as anyone enters the house. If intruders head straight to his body, they may encounter Corbitt before he has regained those two points. Combat Attacks per round: 1 Fighting attacks: When animated, Corbitt is able to make all regular attacks (kick, punch, etc.). Being wounded by Corbitt’s clawed fingernails risks serious disease; if he lands a successful attack upon an investigator, a Luck roll should be made. If it is failed, the investigator has been raked by Corbitt’s claws and a day later the victim becomes delirious and must make a CON roll: Rewards If Corbitt is conquered and destroyed, each participating investigator gains 1D6 Sanity points. The investigators can claim the worm-eaten book from the Chapel for their own. Finally, the landlord gladly pays their fee plus a bonus of $30. • Failure: Delirium lasts 1D10 days; lose 1D10 CON. • Success: Delirium lasts 1D6 days; no further CON loss. • Repeat the procedure until the investigator recovers or dies. CON lost does not regenerate. 30 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU Corbitt’s Spells Weapon: Floating magical dagger. See The Floating Knife (see page 23). Spending a Magic point to cause the dagger to attack for 1 round counts as Corbitt’s combat action for the round. Fighting Dodge DOMINATE (Corbitt’s variant): Costs Corbitt 1 Magic point and takes one round to cast. With his version of the Dominate spell, Corbitt can mentally cloud the mind of one investigator at a time, as long as the target is physically in the Corbitt house. The player should make an opposed POW roll versus Corbitt’s POW of 90. If Corbitt succeeds, the target is in a daze for 1D6+1 combat rounds. While in this dazed state, the victim is subject to telepathic commands from Corbitt. These may take the form of subtle and creepy hallucinations or direct commands at the Keeper’s discretion. He or she will not commit suicidal acts, though homicidal, idiotic, or reckless acts (such as trying to swallow a butcher’s knife) might be attempted. Waking, the victim will not recall what happened. 50% (Hard 25%/Extreme10%), damage 1D3 + damage bonus(1D4) + possible infection (see above). 17% (Hard 8%/Extreme 3%). Skills Cthulhu Mythos 17%, Intimidate 64%, Listen 60%, Sleight of hand 30%, Stealth 72%. KEEPER’S NOTE: Only a few skills are listed for Corbitt—those that might come into play. You may improvise others if required. Armor: Each point of armor reduces the damage received by 1 point. Corbitt has cast Flesh Ward already. Roll 2D6 for his armor. Reduce his armor by one point for each point of damage he suffers. Spells: Dominate (variant, see below), Flesh Ward, Summon/Bind Dimensional Shambler. Magical Artifact: Floating dagger. Sanity Loss: 1/1D8 Sanity points to see him move. FLESH WARD: Corbitt will already have cast this spell before the investigators get to him, to provide himself with armor (see Armor above). • Cost: variable magic points • Casting Time: 5 rounds Grants protection against physical attack. Each magic point spent gives the caster or the chosen target 1D6 points of armor against non-magical attacks. This protection wears off as it blocks damage. For example, if a character has 12 points of Flesh Ward as armor and suffers 8 points of damage, the character suffers no damage but the Flesh Ward is reduced to 4 points. The spell lasts 24 hours or until the protection is used up. Once cast, the spell may not be reinforced with further magic points, nor recast until the old spell’s protection has been used up. ABOUT W. CORBITT, ESQ He might be silent at first, but at some point during the confrontation with the investigators it will be more convincing to have him growl, screech, cackle, or mock. He does not breathe at all. Corbitt is not truly a vampire, nor any recognizable monster— he is a sorcerer in the process of transforming himself into something entirely inhuman. Sunlight causes him pain and is too bright for him to see comfortably. It might kill him, but whether it does so is for the Keeper to determine. Although he drinks blood for food, he could also eat carrots—drinking blood is just more fun. His Flesh Ward spell operates as described below, but characterise its effect like this: bullets and blows only chip off pieces of his body, making him look even more horrific than he already does. His dried, iron-hard flesh is invulnerable so long as the spell holds. If damage exceeds the armor, his hit points reduce normally. He never heals and cannot be knocked unconscious. Reaching zero hit points, Corbitt crumbles into dust and never returns. Corbitt controls the floating dagger, but if the investigators manage to wrest control of it and successfully stab Corbitt with it, he will quickly turn to ashes and dust, regardless of any spells. 31 WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Handout 5 Handout 1 Evidently Corbitt wins the lawsuit. His obituary in 1866 states that he still lived in the same place. It also states that a second lawsuit was being waged to prevent Corbitt from being buried in his basement, as provided by his will. A landlord, Mr. Knott, asks you to examine an old house in central Boston, known as the Corbitt House. The former tenants, the Macario family, were involved in a tragedy and the owner wishes to understand the mysterious happenings at the house and set matters straight. Mr. Knott has been unable to rent the house out since the tragedy and hopes that you can clear things up and restore its good name. He offers to pay for your time and trouble, at a rate of $20 per day. The landlord gives you the keys, the address, and $20 cash in advance. Handout 7 Civil court records show that the executor of Walter Corbitt’s will was Reverend Michael Thomas, pastor of the Chapel of Contemplation & Church of Our Lord Granter of Secrets. The register of churches (also available in the Hall or Records), notes the closure of the Chapel of Contemplation in 1912. Knowing your jobs, you will want to conduct some research before you head to the house. You could check out old newspaper articles at the offices of the Boston Globe, head to the Central Library, or go to The Hall of Records. The choice is yours. Handout 8 The file concerns a secret raid on the Chapel of Contemplation. The police raid was occasioned by affidavits swearing that members of the church were responsible for the disappearances of neighborhood children. During the raid, three policemen and seventeen cult members were killed by gunplay or fire. Autopsy reports are singularly lacking detail and uninformative, as though the coroner had not actually performed examinations. Handout 2 Unpublished story, Boston Globe 1918. 1918 feature story, which was never published. It states that in 1880, a family of French immigrants moved into the house but fled after a series of violent accidents left the parents dead and three children crippled. The house long stood vacant. Though 54 members of the church were arrested, all but eight were released. The records hint of illegal intervention in the proceedings by an important local official, offering stories of the battle—the biggest criminal action in the city’s history—that never appeared in print. In 1909 another family moved in, and immediately fell prey to illnesses. In 1914, the oldest brother went mad and killed himself with a kitchen knife, and the heartbroken family moved out. In 1918, a third family, the Macarios, rented the house, but they left almost immediately after they all became ill at the same time. Pastor Michael Thomas was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison on five counts of second-degree murder. He escaped from prison in 1917 and fled the state. Handout 3 Handout 9 In 1835, a prosperous merchant builds the house, but immediately falls ill and sells it to a Mr. Walter Corbitt, esquire. Handout 4 In 1852, Walter Corbitt is sued by neighbors, who petition to force him to leave the area “in consequence of his surious [sic] habits and unauspicious demeanor.” Handout 6 No outcome to the second lawsuit is recorded.