Sample file Sample file Apocalypse Credits

Author: Graham Walmsley

Art: Alessandro Alaia

Art Direction: Beth Lewis

Layout: Beth Lewis

Publisher: Simon Rogers

Sample file

Playtesters: Mike Goodman, Sam Fina, Andre Fina, Mel Gibson, Christine Rambo, Matt Rambo, Simon Rogers, John Anderson, Beth Lewis, Steve Dempsey, Dave, Sergio “Lezort” Martínez, Ruben “Deheval” Marrón, Mario Grande.

© 2011 Graham Walmsley. All rights reserved. Trail of Cthulhu is published by arrangement with Chaosium, Inc. Trail of Cthulhu is a trademark of Pelgrane Press Ltd.

3 Cthulhu Apocalypse Contents

Introduction 5 Outcast 22 Investigative Afflictions 50 Aftershock 5 Outdoorsman 22 General Afflictions 51 Wasteland 5 Pilot 23 Mythos Entities 52 Police Detective 23 The Apocalypse Machine 6 52 Scientist 23 Using The Machine 6 Children 53 Survivalist 24 Colours out of Space 53 Causes 8 Trader 24 Cthonians 54 Humans 8 Veteran 25 Cthulhu 55 The Mythos 8 Farmer 25 56 Nature 9 Drives 26 Daoloth 56 Disasters 10 Adventure 26 Deep Ones 56 Monsters 10 Antiquarianism 26 Elder Things 57 Technology 10 Arrogance 26 Flying Polyp 57 Weapons 11 Curiosity 26 Great Race of Yith 58 Disease 12 Duty 26 58 Heat 12 Fate 26 Kraken 58 Floods 13 Follower 26 Martians 59 Earthquakes 13 Humanity 27 Mi-Go 59 Cold 14 Hunted 27 Red Weed 60 Meteor 15 In The Blood 27 Tips for Players 61 Wind 16 Love 27 The Central Question 61 Barbarism 16 Preservation of Knowledge 27 Regression 27 Investigate the Horror 61 Casualties 17 Revenge 27 Stay on Track 62 Reality 17 Self-preservation 27 React 62 Biology 17 Witness 28 Build Relationships 62 Water 17 Building Mysteries 63 Food 17 Investigative Abilities 29 Hide the Mythos 63 Soil 17 General Abilities 33 ScavengingSample file33 Strong Visual Images 63 Breaking the Machine 18 Monster Of The Week 63 The Dials 18 Stability and Sanity 34 The Central Question 64 The Final Picture 19 Sources Of Stability 34 The Hook 64 Pillars of Sanity 35 Occupations 20 The Spine 64 Mental Illnesses 36 Clues 64 Agitator 20 Defence Mechanisms 39 Antiquarian 20 People 65 Armourer 20 Equipment 41 Events 65 Artist 20 Failed Scavenging 41 Build the Horror 66 Clergy 21 Reserves (Optional Rule) 42 Provoke a Reaction 66 Difficulties for Finding Criminal 21 The Decaying Earth 67 Equipment 43 Socialite 21 The First Year 67 Making Equipment 43 Wanderer 21 One Year On 68 Doctor 21 The Afflicted 45 Three Years On 70 Hobo 22 Getting Afflicted 45 Ten Years On 70 Journalist 22 Afflictions and Stability 45 One Hundred Years On 70 Military 22 Weirdness and Stealth 46 Nurse 22 Psychic Afflictions 46 Equipment Table 71

4 Cthulhu Apocalypse

Introduction

On November 2nd, 1936, the world the original rules applies. Specifically, draw literary inspiration from sources died. Humanity perished, women and The Apocalypse Machine uses the rules such as H. G. Wells’ The War Of The men died in their millions. Finally, the for the Pulp mode of play. For example, Worlds and John Wyndham’s The Day stars had come right, and the things that First Aid refreshes your health pool up Of The Triffids. had lurked under the seas for eons rose to maximum (rather than a third, as in to claim their rightful place. Now, they the Purist mode of play). You’ll need Where something applies to Aftershock rule the earth, stalking it like titans. it. Note also that, although we use the adventures, it is marked with this Pulp rules, the tone of post-apocalyptic symbol: Yet you survived this destruction. Some adventures differs greatly from pulp miracle or design left you alive to watch fiction. the destruction of everything humanity built. You are doomed to wander the Additionally, The Apocalypse Machine devastated ruins, discovering what makes a distinction of its own: between Wasteland little you can. What went wrong? Are Aftershock adventures and Wasteland Wasteland adventures are set some time there others like you? How can you stay adventures. after the apocalypse. The old civilisation alive? Can you fight back? And, most has gone: a new, rougher society has importantly of all, is there a way to put Aftershock risen in its place. The Investigators this right? Aftershock adventures are set in travel across the wasteland, through the immediate aftermath of the frontier townships, destroyed The Apocalypse Machine continues the apocalypse. Perhaps the adventure buildings and poisoned farmland. As investigations of Trail of Cthulhu in a begins with the apocalypse; perhaps they travel, they meet individuals and post-apocalyptic world. In these pages, it Samplebegins immediately file after. Either communities, who will help and hinder you will find instructions on designing way, civilisation is destroyed. The them. Wasteland adventures take their your own apocalypse; new Occupations, Investigators wander their newly- fictional cue from David Brin’s The Skills and Drives, and explanations of destroyed homeland, searching for the Postman, the movie Mad Max and the how the old ones function in this post- truth and for those they love. Fallout games. apocalyptic world; and many ways for the Mythos to take over the world. On their journeys, they meet others, Rules intended for Wasteland coping with the collapse of society in adventures are marked with this Note that these rules add to, rather than various ways: with compassion, with symbol. replace, the Trail of Cthulhu ruleset. violence, by helping themselves, by Unless otherwise noted, everything in helping others. Aftershock adventures

5 Cthulhu Apocalypse

The Apocalypse Machine

It is time to discover how the world remain alive: free to wander the was destroyed. What was the nature wasteland, witness the destruction Using The Machine of the apocalypse that left civilisation and investigate. Hence, although The Apocalypse Machine lets you in ruins? Besides humanity, what eldritch horrors have arisen, they create an apocalypse. You will start by else did it destroy? And who or what are not coming for the Investigators choosing a Cause. What was ultimately was ultimately responsible for the yet. Why? Are they confined to responsible for the apocalypse? Was it apocalypse? the sea? Do they not care about a humans, overreaching themselves? few straggling humans? Are they The Mythos, whom humans were Now, not every disaster qualifies as biding their time? Do they need powerless to stop? Or nature, against an apocalypse. An apocalypse in The the humans alive, for some reason? whose fury man had no defence? Apocalypse Machine must meet the following requirements. With those conditions, we can decide Each Cause leads lead you to how the apocalypse happened. Disasters: the things that destroyed • It kills at least 99.99% of humanity. society, killed humans and created Hardly anyone is left. There are, at the wasteland. The Disasters are: a maximum, thousands left in any Monsters, Technology, Disease, country, perhaps merely hundreds Nuclear, Heat, Cold, Floods, Winds, or dozens. Certainly, there are not Meteor, Earthquakes and Winds. enough people to keep society running: power plants stand idle; water cannot be sanitised; Ancient terrors communication lines are dead. In The Apocalypse Machine, the Mythos does not just include the Human civilisation is no more. Sample file imaginings of H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It also encompasses other • It is global. The apocalypse affects horrors from post-apocalyptic fiction. Hence, H. G. Wells’ Martians are everyone that the Investigators considered honorary members of the Mythos; John Wyndham’s Triffids are know about. The Investigators similarly promoted; Richard Matheson’s vampires, and the virus that creates cannot hike across country or fly them, also join the Mythos club. In short, any monster becomes part of the over the ocean to find civilisation. Mythos. Everyone they contact is in the Often, this requires reimagining the monsters. Like those of Lovecraft, same situation. Perhaps, perhaps every creature is considered eldritch and unimaginable. So, in The Apocalypse there is a hint of a better society, Machine, Wells’ Martians are prehistoric horrors, finally awakening after far across the sea, out of reach. countless millennia. The Triffids grow from an ancient seed, revived by More probably, however, the world modern scientists. In this apocalypse, every horror is ancient. is destroyed. The Investigators are Even human science is not new, but an insight into an ancient, terrifying alone. Nobody is coming to save truth. For example, the Martian’s heat ray is not futuristic, but an ancient them. and incomprehensible weapon. General relativity is a glimpse into the • Mythos entities are rising. Perhaps fundamental and warped geometry on which the universe is built. In they caused the apocalypse; developing their science, humans perceived an underlying reality, which perhaps they are reacting to they could not understand and were not meant to know. humanity’s destruction; perhaps Throughout The Apocalypse Machine, the terms “monster” and “Mythos it is simply their time. Either way, entity” are used almost interchangeably. Everything in the Mythos is potent and incomprehensible monstrous. All monsters are part of the Mythos. Because apocalypses often horrors are stalking the Earth. involve many Mythos entities, it is often more convenient to talk about “the monsters”. • The Investigators survive. Despite the apocalypse, the Investigators

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