The Stars are Right! Sandy Petersen's Mythos is the definitive volume of all things Cthulhu for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game system. Sandy

Petersen, the author of roleplaying game (and first game to feature and extensively explore the ) now presents with James Jacobs, Arthur Petersen, and Ian Starcher an updated interpretation of Great Old Ones, monsters, cults and cultists, magic, artifacts and other Cthulhu lore.

Inside you'll find over 40 new Mythos monster stat blocks, as well as a separate bestiary of over 60 stat blocks of Mythos monsters reprinted from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game source books. Together with over 100 monsters, this book serves as a one stop source for any

Mythos monster encounter for your game!

New rules for encountering Great Old Ones, the vast cosmically powerful entities of the Cthulhu Mythos, are presented as well. Cthulhu and his friends are far too powerful to serve as mere encounters with a normal stat block.

Instead, this book presents them with an Elder Influence stat block, created to represent beings of enormous power. There are 25 Great Old Ones presented, from Abhoth to Yog-Sothoth, the Opener of the Way!

It includes four new playable races: Dreamlands cats, ghouls, gnorri, and zoogs, as well as character options for all. To add flavor to your campaign we designed special insanity rules and included an enormous section on the cults and cultists of the Mythos. There are forty new spells, plenty of magic items, and a new magic system of rituals for cultists to use.

This book is the most complete and comprehensive sourcebook for all things Cthulhu. We hope it does not drive you insane! Sample file We would like to dedicate this Sampletome to our spouses and familiesfile who tirelessly supported us during its writing and development. And to who must not be named. petersengames.com Credits Petersen Games Authors Great Guidance Ro-Man Sandy Petersen, James Jacobs, Arthur Petersen, Ian Starcher, Sandy Petersen David N. Ross Business Manager Development Ian Starcher James Jacobs, David N. Ross, Ian Starcher, James Frashure, Zach Starcher, Project Director Grant Petersen Arthur Petersen Co-developer for Eremite Art Director Paul Bettner Penny Platt Co-developer for Abyssal Custodian Sales Manager Dennis Colburn James Frashure Co-developer for Ghatanothoa Game Developer Jeffrey Hersh Lincoln Petersen Co-developer for Eye of the Watcher Shipping and Conventions Evan Keller Andrew Lucio Co-developer for Gobogeg Community Relations Matthew Morris Pit Lanrezac Co-developer for Slime Molds Marketing Ken Trbovich Gamerati Editing and Proofreading Website Manager Eytan Bernstein, Erik Scott de Bie, Lyz Liddell Tanya Carter Additional Proofreading Community Support Coordinator Thomas Weber Jamie Bergman Cover and Interior Artist Kent Hamilton Key Supporters Additional Art Cody Mcclurg Richard Luong Max Zaleski Layout Sheri Starcher Liz Courts, Penny Platt Miniatures Painters Director Rich Fleider Miniatures Painters Avalon (Starcher) Zalinkski—IronBrushStudio.com Ian Phillips—instagram.com/irontuskminiaturepainting Roy Duffy—facebook.com/roy.duffy.92 Chris Ewick—TheGameMatrix.com Miniatures Photographer Sheri Starcher Key Playtesters Elvin Do, Patrawadee (Pann) Yenbut, Siriwadee (Paww) Yenbut, Hector Steve Rojas-Luna, Jacob Starcher, Zach Starcher, James Frashure

We also want to thank all the many other people who playtested the material in this tome at conventions and elsewhere.

Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos, © 2017, Petersen Games. Printed in China.

ISBN-13: 978-0-9995390-0-2 Collector’s Edition: ISBN-13: 978-0-9995390-1-9

Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this declaration.) Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this Petersen Games game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission. SampleCompatibility with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game requires the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Inc.. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG file for more information on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Paizo Inc. does not guarantee compatibility, and does not endorse this product. Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Inc., and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility Logo are trademarks of Paizo Inc., and are used under the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility License. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/compatibility for more information on the compatibility license. Table of Contents

Chapter I: Getting Started vi Chapter VII: Cults 170 Using This Book ...... 1 Introduction to Cults...... 171 What is the Cthulhu Mythos?...... 2 Black Goat Cult...... 172 How to Bring Horror to Heroic Fantasy...... 3 Crawling Chaos Cult...... 174 Cthulhu Cult ...... 178 Cult ...... 180 Chapter II: Mythos Races 8 Opener of the Way Cult...... 181 The Mythos Player Character Races...... 9 Cult of the Sleeper ...... 182 Dreamlands Cats...... 10 Windwalker Cult...... 184 Ghouls...... 18 Yellow Sign Cult ...... 186 Gnorri ...... 28 Lesser Cults...... 188 Zoogs ...... 40 Tcho-Tcho Culture...... 192 Culture ...... 195 hapter haracter ptions C III: C O 52 Mythos Entities and Religion...... 198 Character Options ...... 53 Other Races and the Mythos ...... 200 Companion Options...... 70 New Profession and Feats...... 75 Chapter VIII: Great Old Ones Race Options...... 80 and Outer Gods 202 As a Foulness Shall Ye Know Them...... 203 Chapter IV: Insanity and Dreams 88 Great Old Ones, Outer Gods, and Their Ilk. . . 204 Insanity and Dreams...... 89 Abhoth...... 208 Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn: An Primer...... 100 Atlach-Nacha...... 212 The Dreamlands...... 103 Azathoth, the Daemon Sultan...... 215 Bokrug, the Water Lizard...... 218 Chapter V: Magic 106 Byatis the Serpent-Bearded ...... 222 Magic and the Mythos...... 107 Chaugnar Faugn ...... 225 Spell Lists...... 108 Cthugha...... 228 Spell Descriptions ...... 114 Great Cthulhu...... 232 Rituals...... 126 Father ...... 236 Ghatanothoa ...... 239 Chapter VI: Mythos Items and Artifacts 142 Gobogeg...... 243 Introduction to Mythos Items and Artifacts. . 143 the Unspeakable...... 246 Alchemical Items...... 144 Ithaqua the Windwalker ...... 250 Alien and Bizarre Technology...... 149 ...... 254 Artifacts...... 154 Mother Hydra...... 259 Books of the Cthulhu Mythos...... 155 , ...... 262 MythoSamples Magic Items and Artifacts...... 163 Nyogtha...... file ...... 265

iii Quachil Uttaus ...... 267 Moon-Beast...... 354 Rhan-Tegoth...... 270 Nightgaunt...... 356 Shub-Niggurath...... 274 Outer Mutant, Abomination, and Spawn . . . . . 358 , Father of Formless Spawn ...... 278 The First Stage: Outer Mutant...... 359 Tulzscha...... 281 The Second Stage: Outer Abomination...... 362 Ubbo-Sathla, The Tome Keeper ...... 283 The Third Stage: Outer Spawn...... 364 Yig, The Father of Snakes ...... 286 Satyr, Mythos...... 367 Yog-Sothoth, Opener of the Way...... 289 Serpentfolk...... 369 Servitor of the Outer Gods...... 371 Chapter IX: Mythos Bestiary 292 Shantak...... 373 Introduction to the Mythos Bestiary ...... 293 ...... 375 Abyssal Custodian...... 294 Shoggoth, Proto-...... 377 Bhole...... 296 Shub-Niggurath, Daughter of ...... 379 Bhole Hatchling...... 298 Slime Mold ...... 381 Brain Cylinder...... 300 Star Vampire ...... 383 Byakhee...... 304 Starspawn...... 385 Colour Out of Space ...... 306 Tcho-Tcho ...... 388 Dark Young...... 309 Undead, Mythos ...... 391 Deep Ones...... 312 Watcher of Green Pyramid ...... 393 Denizen of Leng...... 318 Wendigo, Ravenous...... 396 Dhole...... 320 Wendigo, Windwalker...... 398 Dhole Hatchling ...... 322 Yith, Great Race of...... 400 Dimensional Shambler...... 324 Zoog ...... 404 ...... 326 Advanced Adversaries...... 405 Eremite Symbiont ...... 329 Fire Vampire ...... 332 Chapter X: Expanded Mythos Bestiary 412 Flying Polyp...... 334 Aatheriexa ...... 413 Formless Spawn...... 337 Aboleth ...... 414 Ghast, Mythos...... 339 Adherer ...... 415 Ghoul, Mythos...... 340 Astral Leviathan...... 416 Gnoph-Keh ...... 342 Baku ...... 417 Gnorri...... 344 Bhole...... 418 Gug...... 346 Bisha Ga Tsuku...... 419 Hunting Horror...... 348 Blightspawn...... 420 Leng Spider...... 350 Bokrug...... 421 Mi-Go, the Fungi from ...... 352 Brain Ooze...... 423 Sample file iv Brethedan ...... 425 Moon-Beast...... 466 Chaos Beast...... 426 Mu Spore...... 467 Colour Out of Space ...... 427 Neh-Thalggu...... 468 Cthulhu...... 430 Neothelid...... 469 Cuero...... 432 Nightgaunt...... 470 Cytillipede...... 434 Roper...... 471 Deep One...... 436 Sagari...... 472 Deep One, Elder ...... 437 Serpentfolk...... 473 Deep One Hybrid ...... 438 Seugathi...... 474 Denizen of Leng...... 440 Shantak...... 475 Derro...... 441 Shoggoth...... 476 Dossenus...... 442 Sinspawn...... 477 Drakainia...... 443 Snallygaster...... 478 Elder Thing...... 445 Somalcygot ...... 479 Faceless Stalker...... 446 Spawn of Yog-Sothoth...... 480 Flumph ...... 447 Spider Eater...... 481 Flying Polyp...... 448 Star-Spawn of Cthulhu ...... 482 Ghorazagh...... 450 Syricta ...... 484 Ghoul, Leng...... 451 Tarrasque...... 486 Gibbering Mouther...... 453 Vemerak...... 487 Grioth ...... 454 Voonith ...... 488 Gug...... 455 Wendigo...... 490 Hastur...... 456 Wizard's Shackle...... 492 Hound of Tindalos ...... 458 Xanthos...... 494 Hundun...... 459 Yangethe ...... 495 Immortal Ichor ...... 462 Yithian...... 496 Incutilis...... 463 Zoog ...... 497 Leng Spider...... 464 Mi-Go...... 465 Index: Creatures, PC Races, & Templates I

Sidebars

Dreamlands Cat Racial Traits...... 16 Alchemical Items...... 144 Ghouls Raised by Others...... 26 Using Metamorphic Venom: Strike and Escape ���146 Gnorri Weaponry...... 33 Obliviousness and Disinterest in Action...... 217 Gnorri Builder Magic ...... 38 Non-Euclidean Geometry...... 235 Family Terminology...... 42 Using Ghatanothoa...... 242 Gnorri Ranger Combat Styles...... 85 Hastur’s Effect on Reality and Perspective. . . . 249 Dread Stages ...... 90 Caught in the Storm...... 253 OptSampleional Rule: Dread Resistance...... 92 Using Yog-Sothoth...... file ...... 291 Sanity Damage...... 94 Describing a Dimensional Shambler...... 325 Insanity-Inducing Spells...... 95 The Insane Dead...... 392 Fantasy Insanity...... 99 Yithian Technology...... 401 Gamemaster’s Note...... 104 Using Yithians...... 403 v Sample file Chapter I: Getting Started I Getting Started Using This Book

In the second part of , GMs will find new tools for challenging player characters, including descriptions of many dangerous cults and their tactics, rules for facing the overwhelming power of Great Old Ones and Outer Gods directly, and dozens of horrific Searchers after horror haunt monsters, including many new interpretations and strange, far places. reprints of Mythos monsters previously published for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game system. All of these —The Picture in the House, rules are generally useful for building antagonists in H. P. Lovecraft any campaign, but they are especially appropriate for one that involves the Mythos to some degree. All of the rules in this book can be used with just the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary, but a few optional elements are provided for groups using a wider variety of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game books. In some This book provides rules for both players and game cases, where our new foes and rules were best captured masters (GMs) to incorporate elements of the venerable by material printed in other Pathfinder Roleplaying Cthulhu Mythos into their Pathfinder Roleplaying Game books (such as Great Old Ones offering the Void Game. Inside, you will find tips on how to run fantasy domain or Father Dagon's tsunami spell-like ability), horror games, rules for new playable races, options to we reprinted those rules in the appropriate section for customize player characters' class features for cosmic ease of use. This reprinted text clearly indicates the horror games, new rules for dread and insanity in the source it came from. cosmic horror tradition, new spells and a new ritual magic system, new items and artifacts, and more. Players will find the most use in the races, class options, dread and insanity rules, spells, and items (with the exception of some spells, rituals, and items linked directly to Great Old Ones and Outer Gods). Chapter 3 includes new feats and a new skill, Profession (Yog-Sothothery philosopher), which can be used for most matters covered in this book but strains Sandy’s Notes the sanity of those who delve into matters beyond Here and there, Sandy’s Notes present Chapter 4 normalSample mortal comprehension. contains advice more directly to GMsfile from Sandy rules for fear, dread, and insanity that work with the Petersen regarding how to use these rules standard Pathfinder rules and evoke the feel of cosmic elements in a game or how to describe them to players. horror. 1 What is the Cthulhu Mythos? The Old Ones were, the Old Ones innovations was to create a sort of common mythology, are, and the Old Ones shall be. … which multiple authors would draw upon when writing Man rules now where They ruled horror tales. Most infamously, he created the fearful once; They shall soon rule where book the , which was mentioned by man rules now. After summer is dozens of other writers, giving it an aura of realism that winter, and after winter summer. is rare in fiction. The same is true for many of his other They wait patient and potent, for creations. here shall They reign again. Today, this framework he invented is usually called the Cthulhu Mythos, named after one of his —H. P. Lovecraft most famous frights. And here we are today, steeping In the 1920s and 1930s, an obscure American writer ourselves again in its awesome and terrible secrets. named H. P. Lovecraft penned a series of the most The Cthulhu Mythos is based on the principle that amazing horror tales ever written. He broached humanity is not the center of the universe. The cosmos topics never before conceived, devised a multitude of is vast and filled with unthinkable forces, many not terrifying entities, and invented a whole new approach subject to our own natural laws. Some of these forces to horror, changing the face of fantastic fiction forever. are unthinkably powerful—best considered to be Yet he did even more. He was active in the Amateur like unto gods. These include Great Old Ones and Press Association of his time, and corresponded heavily Outer Gods such as Yog-Sothoth, Azathoth, Hastur, with other authors, giving them advice and and Cthulhu. Others are lesser beings, though still mentoring them. One of his fearsome and dangerously intelligent, such as the , the deep ones, or the elder things. These forces can manifest in the physical world as well, giving supernatural potency to inanimate objects or even concepts, such as geometry and mathematics. The Mythos is nothing if not scientific, though humanity does not and indeed cannot know everything. The magic of the Mythos is all founded upon scientific principles, discovered or undiscovered. Come, let us explore Lovecraft’s dire imagination together. Sample —Sandyfile Petersen

2 I Getting Started How to Bring Horror to Heroic Fantasy

—Sandy Petersen Mythos is full of entities that players can interact with, but all of them are malign and creepy, even the Three Basic Rules of Horror sometimes-peaceful ones. You can learn the language M. R. James was a writer in the early 20th century who of ghouls, but even when they are friendly, they are specialized in creepy ghost stories. One of Lovecraft’s always eyeing your physique with an eye to how tasty favorite authors, James wrote an essay in which he laid you look. Even the small and seemingly harmless zoogs out three rules to construct an effective ghost story. occasionally trap and eat visitors to their forest. His rules apply to any type of horror, however, and I Fortunately, the Mythos is filled with terrifying consciously apply them to scenario-building and when purpose. Sure, the fungi from Yuggoth might only say running horror-themed games. they want a quiet mining base, but there must be more The First Rule: to it than that. What are they mining? What is their Don’t Use Jargon underlying purpose? Are they using the ore to construct some sort of gigantic bio-techno-magical device? If so, Nothing spoils the sense of fear more than bringing what will it do? the player out of the game and back into real life. Every At first glance, the great race of Yith appears time you refer specifically to game rules or introduce neutral—even benign. That is, until you realize that concepts by means of technical terminology, you lose they periodically exterminate entire sentient species a bit of potential creepiness. Pathfinder is filled with by mass mind-swap to continue their existence! tactical options, all of which use precise terms, which (Humanity has only escaped this fate because it is too means you, the game master, need to find ways to puny for Yithian ambition. Thus far.) avoid saying things like, “Let’s see… the Shoggoth has +11 Initiative. He rolls and hits with an… er… engulf The Third Rule: attack, inflicting 4d6+22 damage, plus 8d6 acid. Is Set the Tale Somewhere Mundane there a saving throw vs. acid?” James points out if you set a ghost story in an esoteric Instead, do the rolls without overmuch commentary. and inaccessible locale, readers can’t easily imagine You still need to inform the players of damage inflicted themselves in that situation. As a result, he set all of his and special restrictions, but you can accomplish this stories in the places and locales he knew well: seaside without parroting specific game rules. Experienced hotels, old country churches, public libraries, and so game masters may already be doing this—it is one of forth. the basics of drawing players into an adventure. You have a major advantage here, since you are The Second Rule: running a roleplaying game. Your players normally The Enemy Must Be Malign throw themselves into the roles of their characters, empathizing with them and cross-exchanging Friendly ghosts aren’t scary—it’s a fact of life. This personality traits. As a result, they know and feel their appliesSample to monstrous forces too. If the players find out file characters, and it’s easy for them to buy into the setting that the fungi from Yuggoth are trying to establish a you choose. quiet mining base, all terror of them vanishes. The 3 You can make the story even more dangerous by drive the hardiest adventurer mad (Hastur, Azathoth, putting it right in the heart of the players’ stomping etc.). grounds. You could set up an adventure with a shoggoth The fact is that Lovecraft’s monsters aren’t just as a dangerous enemy under a distant glacier, but the monsters. They have personalities. And as such, you players will be more invested if you have that same can use them for much more than just bags of hit shoggoth patrolling the sewers under your campaign’s points. Most obviously, they need not always be capital city, sneaking up through openings and pulling treated as enemies. Yes, these monsters can be malign, victims down to feed. Knowing that exist in cannibalistic horrors, but they are most often intelligent some distant place in the world is one thing. Knowing horrors who are able to understand and sometimes that there is a shoggoth in your home city eating folks communicate with humans. They have purposes. every night is another thing entirely. For example, on a lonely road, the player characters Adding Horror to Adventures arrive at an inn run by zoogs. This simple premise is alight with possibilities. What would the zoogs want Horror is a delicate topic. When Horror is combined as payment? What do they offer in exchange, beyond with another genre, the usual result is that the other sleeping quarters and a fine meal of moonberry wine genre wins out. For example, most horror-comedies and rat-on-a-stick? The zoogs could have a gift shop, are really just comedies with a horror element. consisting of goods taken from people foolish enough Many attempts have been made to mix horror and to sleep alone and unguarded in the zoogs’ rooms. superheroes, and, again, the end result is generally a (After all, they are still zoogs.) superhero story with a horror element. Most players Even more horrendous monsters may be able to of Pathfinder understandably are focused on high interact with an adventuring party outside of mere adventure, derring-do, and sword and sorcery. And of combat. The fungi from Yuggoth maintain a secret course, when horror is added to the adventure theme, society of people who do the fungi’s will in return just as with other genres, the adventure is what remains, for technological and biological wonders. The fungi though now horror-tinged. actively evangelize for this society, and the most useful This is not necessarily a bad thing. Consider the people for their purposes are, clearly, adventurers: difference between the films Alien and Aliens. The first itinerant and well-traveled, generally individually is a horror movie. The second is an adventure movie powerful, and highly experienced. For all these with horror elements. Both are great films. reasons, they make excellent agents. While your own If you just want new enemies for your players to group of adventurers are, no doubt, unwilling to serve battle and investigate, this book has everything you the terrible goals of the fungi, there can be no doubt need, with a variety of interesting creatures you can that another party might not be so high-minded, and pull out of your back pocket to surprise and intrigue the players may therefore encounter these individuals. your players. Almost all of these entities have their That they serve the fungi would not be immediately own little tricks and traps to spring on the players. Sampleobvious, but perceptive adventurersfile will invariably They range in power from the easily-defeated (zoogs, notice signs of Yuggoth’s control… ghouls, etc.) to the almost unstoppable (flying polyps, starspawn, etc.) to truly awful impossibilities that will 4 I Getting Started

As you look through the monsters and other First, they can seek the wealth, which is genuinely elements of this book, consider many such possible there as a lure. And second, they might wish to save the uses, both obvious and subtle. You can certainly use world from the Old Ones’ return. (They may not know any adventure or situation you like, merely plugging about this aspect of the adventure until they get to the in the Lovecraftian entities. But for a memorable pyramid, or perhaps only in retrospect.) and compelling game, spend some planning time But how else could Nyarlathotep affect the dungeon considering how the situation is now different because crawl? Well, I would propose that as he has a thousand the Cthulhu Mythos is involved. forms, each separate dungeon level features its own Everyone’s familiar with the classic dungeon crawl, avatar of Nyarlathotep, starting out with comparatively commonly constructed by an insanely powerful lich weak forms, and working up to the most powerful. I or a mad wizard. Perhaps the dungeon is instead would also suggest that each time the adventurers being run by a Lovecraftian entity of enormous encounter Nyarlathotep he speak with them, mocking power. I’ll randomly select a possibility (rolls dice). their efforts and making suggestions, foul offers, and Okay, I came up with Nyarlathotep. Arbitrarily I’ve promises. named this dungeon “The Twisted Pyramid.” (Seems This is a dungeon with a kick to it, and yet in Egyptian-ish.) Now obviously the Crawling Chaos many ways, it is a normal, expected experience. The has the ability to create a vast maze full of treasure, Mythos has added that little extra touch to bring it traps, and monsters, but why would he? Let’s think beyond the mundane. With this twist, you can turn about Nyarlathotep’s personality: he is the mind and Nyarlathotep into an ongoing foil for the players and voice of the Outer Gods, and what he primarily cares for your campaign, using a mere dungeon crawl as their about is serving them. What if his goal in creating this introduction to him. dungeon is to keep up to date on how dangerous the How to Use Horror in a most powerful adventurers in the world are? He doesn’t necessarily want to kill them—he just wants to know RPG Environment how they’re doing and how to challenge them. And if Many of the creatures in the Mythos are so horrendously these top adventurers are weak enough, he can bring powerful that even a high-level group cannot kill them. back the Old Ones to destroy the world with the flick Some of the entities described in this book are literally of a metaphorical wrist. impossible to defeat. Don’t force such a confrontation Of course, the best way to ensure that he gets a upon your players without giving them warning. You good analysis of these adventurers is to tell them the don’t need much of a premonition—perhaps a shadow unvarnished truth. Let everyone know that there is suddenly darkens the moon, or the city’s dogs suddenly wealth—as well as danger—in the Twisted Pyramid to and abruptly cease their howling. draw the finest adventurers available. Once the current The entities of the Mythos almost always corrupt crop of adventurers proves too craven and feckless to those who learn of them. Adventurers who investigate braveSample the pyramid, Nyarlathotep will know the world the ancient lore of Yog-Sothoth orfile other Great Old is ready for the end times. Thus, the players have two Ones should do so through a sea of terrors and ethical reasons to brave the pyramid—one obvious, one subtle. 5 or religious quandaries. Learning more about these story culminates in an awful conclusion, where the entities should never become humdrum. heroes meet not the elder things preserved in the ice, An adventure centered on the Mythos should be put but the dread things (shoggoths) that wiped out their together in a style I call “layers of the onion.” The idea species. This is the end of the story, but clearly it would is that as the players uncover one layer of dark secrets, be possible to extend it further. they expose another. This goes on and on: just as when For instance, a gamemaster could have the heroes an onion is peeled, successive strata appear. investigate the shoggoth “civilization”, and find out At first, the players may think that a scenario that these amoeboid horrors are up to something (the involves an evil cult-worshiping nobleman or a haunted fourth layer of the onion). Since shoggoths are not castle. But as they probe more deeply, you, the game really movers and shakers, no doubt something even master, can gradually show them the significance of worse than shoggoths is directing their efforts. And for this particular nobleman or haunted castle. As the what purpose? The destruction of all surface life? The players decide to find out more information, this leads return of the star spawn? The formation of a gigantic to other adventures. device designed to break the continent free from the In Lovecraft’s epic “At ,” world’s surface and form a new moon? Who knows? the characters uncover some odd fossils, excellently The wheels within wheels keep turning, and the players preserved and reminiscent of the ancient tales of the can continue following the tale forever. Old Ones. The hero and his companion go scouting Alternatively, they could progress a certain way down and find what seems to be a huge and complex rock the stories, and then you, the game master, can switch formation inside a glacier. When they return to the to another storyline: a new civilization of nightmare camp, everyone has been killed, and the “fossils” are creatures; an ancient tome with unspeakable secrets; missing. The heroes are horrified and decide to follow something else altogether. String together Mythos the trail which leaves camp, headed toward the ice- concepts and bury the heroes deep in the darkness. bound rocks. This all occurs in the first layer of the The reason for this system of episodic revelation is onion. because horror, by its nature, is difficult to maintain They probe deep into the rocks and find tunnels for a prolonged period of time. This is why horror under the ice which lead lower and lower. As they chase movies typically have only short moments of terror, after the tracks of whoever (or whatever) killed their interspersed with sections (possibly ominous) in which companions, they gradually come to realize that it is a non-horror-based scenes take place. It is also why true city, not just an unusual formation. Furthermore, horror novels are never as consistently terrifying as nonhumanoid entities, whose history is found in short stories. carvings on the walls, built the city millions of years Thus, each time a new layer of the onion is revealed ago. This is the second layer of the onion. to your players, there is an opportunity for a new As the heroes penetrate deeper, and come upon shock, a new understanding. The players may wish Samplemore and more horrors, they realize that the “fossils” time to discuss the ramifications file (you may or may not are actual, living (albeit cryogenically-preserved) elder allow this time, depending on the adventure’s needs), things. The heroes follow the path anyway, and the 6 I Getting Started and certainly their understanding of what is going on Turning an Encounter will change. You can also use this to up the ante. Let’s use Into an Adventure another example. The town suffers from an outbreak It is perfectly plausible to plop down a gug guarding of ghouls. Of course, the players are worried because a treasure chest. The gug in this case would just be ghouls are a potent, intelligent foe. There are scary another monster—a bag of hit points hindering the moments, desperate ambushes in dark alleyways, and players from gaining loot. A gug has some unique so forth. powers that you can use to your advantage in planning Then, during the course of this conflict, the players your encounter. For example, gugs are completely uncover the second part of the storyline and learn silent, so players are likely unaware of the creature’s that the ghouls are up to something–some grandiose presence until it chooses to show itself. Since gugs have plot. So now the player’s focus changes from physical religious tendencies, perhaps it has an altar to its foul danger to worrying about a larger threat–what are the deity in its chamber. Perhaps killing the gug triggers a ghouls up to? Instead of just defending the township, curse which follows the party around. they now have to descend into the ghoul tunnels to With a little effort, the gug can be used for more. find out the secret. Now the ghouls lay traps and call For example, gugs are an intelligent species known for unholy allies to their aid. The ante has been raised for crafting organized plans. Perhaps the gug was in that the players, not just in terms of danger, but in terms of room for a reason? It’s not hard to extrapolate that after what happens if they fail? the party murders the gug for his loot, his fellow gugs When the players finally discover what the ghouls might find the corpse, and—thirsting for vengeance— are plotting, you the game master have the opportunity track down the party. All of a sudden, perhaps when to transform the adventure once again, in a third hotly engaged in another fight, a group of gugs emerges storyline, and confront them with an existential threat! silently from the darkness and joins in the fight against Perhaps the ghouls are replacing all the important the players. You’ve kept the adventure element of your humans in town with their evil changelings. Maybe the game strong, but the gugs have taken on personality ghouls have accumulated enough sacrifices to summon and perhaps even become a permanent part of your and (they think) control a monstrous dhole to destroy game. After all, even if the players manage to drive the entire town. It’s even possible they plot to magically away or kill the pursuing party of gugs, this doesn’t teleport the entire township to the Vale of Pnath, where mean they’re done with them: they might have to deal they can feast at their leisure. with gug hunting bands for the foreseeable future. In this way, you have three simple, separate plotlines, In the end, you have turned an almost random each with a different type of frightening threat, and encounter with a lone gug guarding some treasure into you can keep up the horror element far longer and a recurring enemy that may plague the heroes’ future moreSample effectively than in a one-shot adventure! endeavors, potentially for an entire filecampaign.

7 Sample file Chapter II: Mythos Races The Mythos Player Character Races

Particularly notable among Lovecraft’s high fantasy stories is the novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, from which stem the player races presented herein. Each has been chosen carefully for its interesting nature, usefulness, and utility when set alongside the standard races of a fantasy campaign. First the Dreamlands cats pad softly into view. All household or alley cats could potentially be Dreamlands The ghouls were in general respectful, cats: all that is required is the cats’ decision to return even if one did attempt to pinch from their nightly trip to the Dreamlands while him while several others eyed his retaining human-level (though not human-centric) leanness speculatively. Through intelligence and purpose. Anonymity is their ally, for patient gibbering he made inquiries few expect stray cats to pose any threat. regarding his vanished friend, and Second in a Mythos game lurk the ghouls, which found he had become a ghoul of some are emphatically not undead but rather undead-eaters. prominence in abysses nearer the These entities might be degenerated humans or else waking world. A greenish elderly “true” ghouls. Memories of their former lives–as well ghoul offered to conduct him to as the lives of others—play a prominent role in their Pickman’s present habitation, so savage society. despite a natural loathing he followed Next come the gnorri: amphibious entities the creature into a capacious burrow with little understanding of the surface world who and crawled after him for hours nevertheless wish to participate in it. The gnorri are in the blackness of rank mould. “blessed” with unusual and incredible abilities based on their astounding anatomy. —The Dream-Quest of Unknown Last but not least are the zoogs: well known to Kadath, H. P. Lovecraft readers of Lovecraft’s Dream-Quest, the zoogs are feral but diminutive horrors with secretive and enigmatic ways. Dangerous and unpredictable, they are closely tied to the cosmic entities beyond. We have enjoyed creating these races, testing them, and seeing them interact with the standard races. I Samplethink you will enjoy playing them asfile well. —Sandy Petersen

9 Dreamlands Cats

Everyone knows about cats. They’re small, sometimes- beauty to their humanoid families—at least on their obnoxious predators that people often keep as pets or own terms. And during their languorous periods of exterminators. Cats are not a sentient species. Like rest, they can walk the Dreamlands with enhanced humanoids, they have a dream life, but unlike most mental acuity and reason. people, cats are aware of this dream life. Furthermore, Occasionally, a cat decides that it wants to spend its while in their dreams, cats are as intelligent as people, waking hours as a fully sometimes more so. Of course, they are still cats, with sentient being, as cat personalities and traits. well as when it Even more remarkable, cats are able to freely sleeps. When this pass physically from the waking world happens, it becomes to the Dreamlands what is known as a and back again. This Dreamlands cat, and means that a cat can is, in effect, a player either transfer between character. Any cat may the dream and waking decide it wishes to be state in the normal a Dreamlands cat and humanoid way, by then take on that role for falling asleep and a period of time: sometimes just waking up, or it can a few days, sometimes the rest of its physically move to the Dreamlands and back. life. Likewise, a Dreamlands cat may decide to return to its normal status of being just a cat. For History those who know cats well, it will come as no surprise Cats traveling the Dreamlands run the full gamut from that such decisions seem to be made capriciously. feral to domestic. However wild they might be, almost Humanoids cannot tell whether a particular cat all player character cats have lived or currently live is a Dreamlands cat based purely upon outward in and among humanoid communities because such appearances. Typically, either the cat has to inform cats are likeliest to get along with other species and be them somehow, or the humanoid has to figure it out by willing to adventure with them. watching the cat take on tasks that would be impossible Unlike other companion animals, cats almost for a normal cat of animal intellect and awareness. certainly took the first step toward domestication, so it is arguable that cats actually mastered humanoids, Playing a Cat rather than the other way around. It has certainly been a Cats are pretty much a “love ‘em or hate ‘em” type of successful partnership. In return for protection, shelter, creature. While some people can’t stand them, others Sampleand food, cats keep down the population of rodents can’t live without them, butfile few are neutral on the and other pest animals in humanoid areas, which subject. Some people are even ailurophobes, making helps ward off both disease and famine. In addition, them neurotically afraid of cats. Even those who dislike cats provide affection, companionship, elegance, and 10 II Mythos Races

or fear felines are willing to admit that cats are graceful, not taste the sugar, and instead is reacting to whatever nimble, and often adorable. savory elements are present. Cats can’t see in complete If you’re a Dreamlands cat, darkness, but they can rely on their sense of touch, you likely: which is amplified by their whiskers, to feel their way around an area. ‘‘ are busy, active, and aloof. They do not have rigid collarbones, so they can ‘‘ are energetic when interesting things squeeze through any space through which their heads are going on, but sleep soundly for will fit. Because they are as long as the cat’s shoulders hours when no action is afoot. are wide, their whiskers also serve an additional ‘‘ occasionally force other party members purpose in indicating whether the cat can fit through a to carry you. They may or may not mind, particular opening. and you may but probably don’t care. Cats are highly vocal when needed. Normal cats ‘‘ are quiet, curious, and interested in new things. have more than 100 different vocalizations for various ‘‘ hate cats’ natural enemies (dogs, mice, purposes. Of course, Dreamlands cats have the same birds, whirring machines, etc). vocal apparatus, but with their greater intellect, they ‘‘ are easily distracted. can string different sounds together to create other ‘‘ are highly athletic and can move meanings. fast when you want to. It is said that cats have nine lives, which is due to Others probably: having a Dreamlands self. When a cat is killed, its ‘‘ are not always sure if you are sentient or not. dream self is still alive and can return to the waking (“Is it a normal cat? Can I talk to it?”) world, restoring that cat to life. For a cat to die or be ‘‘ think you are cute, but possibly useless. destroyed in a single event, both its dream and waking ‘‘ try to pet or otherwise annoy world self must die at the same moment. you when you are busy. When a Dreamlands cat is killed, its normal, non- ‘‘ do not understand you or your thought sentient self returns from the dream world, where processes, such as they are. it has been relaxing. This typically takes 4d6 hours, Physiology and the result is a normal cat. Of course, that cat may then decide (once more) to become a Dreamlands cat, Unlike many other predators, cats are exclusively resulting in the effective resurrection of the character. carnivorous. Their teeth are designed only for cutting Cats can only do this self-resurrection eight times and devouring flesh, so while they can clumsily (hence “nine lives”). Players should keep track of this chew up bread or vegetables, these are poor sources on their character sheets. of nutrition. Their digestive tracts are not adapted to Note that when a cat is resurrected by a spell or process such food either, and a cat deprived of meat an item, this does not use up one of its lives. Only will quickly suffer significant health issues. Samplepurposeful self-resurrection increases file the count. Cats have extraordinarily keen senses. Their one defect in this regard is an inability to taste sweetness. When a cat eats cantaloupe or other sweet items it does 11 The Gates of Slumber! Back to the Waking World! All cats in the Dreamlands are Dreamlands cats: A cat in the Dreamlands can always choose whether intelligent and fully sentient beings with feline it wishes to return to the waking world mentally or instincts, behavior, and skills. physically, regardless of how it got to the Dreamlands. Dreamlands cats spend so much time asleep When a cat returns from the Dreamlands, it always because that is when they enter the Dreamlands and returns to its physical body in the waking world. become intelligent. Their waking lives are somewhat If a cat returns physically to the waking world, of an afterthought, intended to seek affection, to mate, regardless of how it entered the Dreamlands, it returns to fuel their body, and for rest and relaxation. Most of through the Gates of Slumber, which always lead to a their activities take place during sleep. location within 1 mile of where the cat left. A cat can always choose whether to enter the If a cat went to the Dreamlands mentally and returns Dreamlands or the waking world, either physically or mentally, it wakes up in the waking world wherever it mentally. Most of the time, a cat enters the Dreamlands left. If the cat entered the Dreamlands physically but mentally and leaves its body behind, asleep. returns mentally, its body reappears where it entered When a cat enters the Dreamlands physically, it the Dreamlands or at an unobserved location within travels through the Gates of Slumber, a dimensional 1 mile. portal imperceptible to most beings. When doing so, A cat cannot otherwise use Dreamlands travel to the cat is no longer present in the waking world. Cats move its physical body. can only do this when they are completely unobserved. Between the Dimensions The Gates of Slumber are an actual physical location. When a cat is in the dream state, it can travel much However, they are typically open at many places at farther and faster than it could while waking. For once, and move around, so they are not always at the example, it can leap to the moon and back from the same spot. Sometimes, they may be behind a backyard earth’s surface in the Dreamlands. It can even travel to fence, or perhaps they might be found in an abandoned the stars beyond, but this is dangerous. badger burrow, or else up a spooky old tree. Only cats When in the dream state, cats may meet unusual know for sure. Humanoids can only tell the cat has left entities and objects in the Dreamlands, particularly physically when, for instance, the cat runs into the attic if they travel far from the places they know well. A and doesn’t return for a day or so. cat may well visit the Dreamlands, fill up on eating It is important to note that because a cat wishing pixies (or whatever), and then return sparkling with to enter the Dreamlands must physically find the pixie dust. A Dreamlands cat may encounter an entity Gates of Slumber and can only pass through when none was meant to see and might never return—or be entirely unobserved, a cat cannot simply escape to the profoundly changed by the experience. Dreamlands when it is, for example, caught in a trap or Sampleimprisoned. Cats can only perform this form of travel Family file when they have free and unrestricted movement. While cats often regard a particular other cat as a friend or recognize it as a relative, they do not have a true family life. Tomcats wrangle over desirable mates, 12 II Mythos Races

then depart to live alone. A mother cat has a powerful defend themselves as a race. An example of this is when love of her kittens and will die to protect them. But the Dreamlands cats’ militia preempted an attack even for her, once a kitten grows up and moves on, that by the zoogs. Dreamlands cats can very effectively consuming love fades and is replaced by a lower level fight in a coordinated fashion as demonstrated of affection. against moonbeasts. The mother trains and teaches her kittens how The cat vocal apparatus is not built very well to to hunt, where to hide, and all about her habitat, speak humanoid languages. However, cats are perfectly so the kittens reach adulthood with a near perfect capable of understanding these languages, and they understanding of the area around their home and the can learn any of the languages spoken in their home creatures and wildlife that populate it. area. Other people must learn the cat language to Life Cycle communicate with their fickle feline companions. Fortunately, the cat language is fairly easy to learn. In The age of sexual maturity varies from cat to cat, and fact, most people who own a cat are probably halfway can range from 4–10 months. Most cats are considered there already. A one-week association with a specific to have reached adolescence by the age of 5–6 months. cat allows a character to understand that specific cat A cat’s pregnancy lasts 64–67 days, at which time without needing to learn the Cat language. This does she gives birth to a litter of kittens. The young cats not allow them to understand other cats unless they are born blind, deaf, and helpless. At about two weeks, spend a week with those cats as well. The character their eyes and ears open, and the kittens begin to react can spend one week with multiple cats and understand to their siblings and others. Usually, the kittens are them all after that week. weaned around the age of six weeks, though they still When a cat speaks, it meows or caterwauls, but stay with their mother. At 12 weeks, though they are when humanoids speak to cats, they speak in their not fully grown, they are fully socialized and able to normal tongues. It is quite a different situation leave their mother. from most communication, in which both parties A Dreamlands cat often mates with normal cats, and must speak the same tongue to get anything done. any kittens it produces are normal kittens, though the Communicating with cats is a combination of learning kittens, as with all cats, may later become Dreamlands what some of their meows and whines mean and also cats themselves. understanding patterns of behavior. A cat understands Society what party members are saying, and soon enough those As normally solitary and often capricious hunters, cats party members usually learn how to talk with the cat. don’t really have a society in the humanoid sense of Cats do not have any sort of written language, the word. Cats are able to live in large groups, but do but a Dreamlands cat is able to learn how to read or not cooperatively hunt or organize. With their greater even write, though its lack of thumbs does handicap it intelligence, Dreamlands cats can work together somewhat in this regard. to Samplego to war, gather for raids, and hold celebrations. file Otherworld Cats Dreamlands cats have been known to form a militia of Many other worlds have cat-like organisms of their sorts, including having military ranks, to proactively own. This is so common that many researchers theorize 13