LAWS | HITE DEMPSEY LAWS PELGT36PELGT38 Follow the Trail of Cthulhu into the Dreamlands From the 1920s to the coming of the Occupation, a new breed of artist prowled the fabled streets of Paris. Combative, disrespectful, irresponsible, the surrealists broke aesthetic conventions, moral boundaries—and sometimes, arms. They sought nothing less than to change humanity by means of a worldwide psychic revolution. Their names resound through pop culture and the annals of art history. DREAMHOUNDS OF PARIS But until now, no one has revealed what they were really up to. In this comprehensive campaign guide for Trail of Cthulhu, you recreate their mundane and mystical adventures as you stumble onto the Dreamlands, a fantastical realm found far beyond the wall of sleep. At first by happenstance and later by implacable design, you remake it in the fiery image of your own art. Will you save the world, or destroy it? Choose your player character from a roster of 19 visionaries and madmen. Put up your dukes as two-fisted filmmaker LUIS BUÑUEL. Flee a formless entity as Dada impresario TRISTAN TZARA. Photograph tentacled entities as American expat MAN RAY. Personify the joy and decadence of the city as chanteuse KIKI DE MONTPARNASSE. Wield the magic cane that will end the world as theater of cruelty inventor ANTONIN ARTAUD. Or arrive in Paris as fresh-faced young painter SALVADOR DALÍ, who has come to tear the movement all down and rebuild it in his image. Includes: • A guide to Paris in the 20s and 30s, from the swirl and sin of Montmartre to the staged atrocities of the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol. • A tour of its occult depths, from primeval Druids to today’s opium-addled ritualists. • A survival manual for invaders of dream. Do you shape the Dreamlands to your will, or surrender to its madness? • A gazetteer of 43 dream locales, from the meandering River Ai to the furnaces of Zar, where yesterday’s useless poets burn. • 13 monsters of dream, from the familiar yet terrifying gugs and ghasts to the new grotesqueries like the bulbhead and putrefacto. • Brilliant advice to help you pull off the campaign of your GMing career. • And a full introductory adventure, in which the characters meet that notorious icon of Gallic literary madness, Maldoror. The Dreamlands are as strange as you can imagine. PELGT38 $34.95 By Robin D. Laws With Kenneth Hite & Steve Dempsey By: Robin D. Laws, Kenneth Hite, and Steve Dempsey Credits Publisher: Cathriona Tobin Written and designed by: Robin D. Laws, Kenneth Hite (Paris occulte), Steve Dempsey (Les rues de Paris, Georges Bataille) Art direction: Cathriona Tobin Cover: Jérôme Huguenin Interior artwork: Tyler Clark, Emilien Francois, Melissa Gay, Leah Huete, Rachel A. Kahn, David Lewis Johnson, Jeff Porter, Patricia Smith, Jeff Strand. Color plates artwork: Tyler Clark, Melissa Gay, Leah Huete, Rachel A. Kahn, Anna Kryczkowska, Pat Loboyko, Rich Longmore. Playtesters: Damian Kraemer, Paul JaCkson, Chris Hüth, RaChel A. Kahn, Justin Mohareb, Scott WaChter, Matt Bevilacqua, Mike Crowley, Andrew Baillie, Christopher Robin Baillie, Gino Vasconcelos, Lisa Padol, Gaylord Tang, Michele (Misha) Rizack, Alden Strock, Kay Strock, Catherine Ramen, Justin T. Spotten, Patrick Ferguson, Noam Samuel Doten, Liz StoCkwell, Lisa Padol, NiCole Galvan, Alysha Jones, Jonathan S. Kwiat, Dylan, Søren Holm, Kim Grønvig Hansen, Thomas Tandrup Jensen, Christina Nørdehøne Brink HestbeCh, Paul “The Bastard” Douglas, David Parkinson, Jenny Muirhead, Katie Moore, Elizabeth Whannell, Michael ‘Dubious Virtue’ Blackwell © 2014 Pelgrane Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Trail of Cthulhu is published by arrangement with Chaosium, Inc. Trail of Cthulhu is a trademark of Pelgrane Press Ltd. 3 TRAIL OF CTHULHU Contents Votre avant-gardiste 61 lA cour du drAgoN 78 QuArtIer lAtIN 78 Ce n’est pas une préface 6 PlAyINg hIstorIcAl surreAlIsts 61 Float Points 61 Colour Plates 81 A Note oN ImAges 6 Free Abilities 61 bNAzIc desert 81 Chiens de rêve 7 Revealing New Abilities in Play 61 the eNchANted wood 82 creAtINg AhIstorIcAl surreAlIsts 61 PArIs 83 A surreAlIst Nutshell 7 Your Motifs 61 ghoul crAg 84 tImelINe 7 Your Movement Status 61 ulthAr 85 Precursors 8 drIves 61 kAdAth 86 eveNts ANd PossIbIlItIes 10 PlAteAu of leNg 87 breAkINg It dowN 11 Fraternity 62 celePhAïs 88 dreAmlANds eNtry dAtes tAble 12 Protection 62 PlAyer chArActers 13 Remorse 62 People 91 how to PlAy A surreAlIst 14 INvestIgAtIve AbIlItIes 62 ANtoNIN ArtAud 15 Charm (Interpersonal) 62 Paris Occulte 93 georges bAtAIlle 18 Dream Lore (Academic) 62 A brIef ANd secret hIstory of PArIs 94 luIs buñuel 21 Literature (Academic) 62 Occult Societies 95 Homosexuality and the Surrealists 22 Seduction (Interpersonal) 62 George Gurdjieff 96 clAude cAhuN 23 Deprecated Ability: Art 63 mythos PArIs 98 leoNorA cArrINgtoN 24 geNerAl AbIlItIes 63 Core Book Cults 98 JeAN cocteAu 26 Art-Making 63 New Cults 100 Why the Surrealists Hate Cocteau 27 Dreamscaping 63 bookhouNds of PArIs 103 sAlvAdor dAlí 28 Instability 64 gIorgIo de chIrIco 32 Rue de rêve 104 Drives, Pillars and Sources 64 robert desNos 33 AesthetIcs ANd crItIcAl recePtIoN 64 NAvIgAtINg the dreAmlANds 104 mArcel duchAmP 36 Ideology and Taste 65 Getting There 104 PAul ÉluArd 37 Bringing Objects From Dream 105 mAx erNst 38 Hate, Love, and Misunderstanding 65 Influencing the Dreamlands 106 gAlA 41 Masterpieces and Dreamscaping 66 rtIstIc ANd NeIrIc eAth Transforming the Dreamlands 107 Card Reading 42 A o d 66 dreAm INflueNce dIffIculty tAble 107 Exquisite Corpses 44 Damage in the Dreamlands 66 Contagious Transformation 108 Medium 45 Losing Instability in the Dreamlands 66 The Shock of Dawning 108 kIkI 46 Why No Arts Management Ability? 66 Transformation reNÉ mAgrItte 46 Waking Up 67 The Surrealists’ Woman Problem 47 Losing Instability in the 68 Traversing a Nonlinear Geography 108 ANdrÉ mAssoN 48 Waking World Dreamscaping Contests 108 dreAmINg your wAy to PArIs 109 PAblo PIcAsso 49 A Glimmer of Hope 68 dyINg whIle dreAmINg 110 mAN rAy 51 Recovering Instability in the 69 oNeIrogrAPhy 110 trIstAN tzArA 53 Dreamlands The River Ai 110 Secondary Figures 54 Recovering Instability in the 69 Aira 110 dIstANt dreAmers 55 Waking World suPPortINg chArActers 55 Baharna 110 André Breton 55 Les rues de Paris 70 Bnazic Desert 110 Louis Aragon 57 Places 72 Celephaïs 111 gettINg stArted 58 kINg kurANes 111 Start Date 59 bArs 72 Dother 112 Start Dates Table 59 moNtmArtre 72 Dylath-Leen 112 How Much to Read 60 moNtPArNAsse 75 The Enchanted Wood 113 4 Table of Contents The Forbidden Lands 113 Xura 119 What If the Group Only Wants to 131 Fungal Forest 113 Zais 119 Hang Around Paris? Ghoul Crag 113 Zar 120 mAkINg It INvestIgAtIve 131 Gug City 113 creAtures 120 Places as Clues 131 The Great Cataract 114 Bulbhead 120 Objects as Clues 132 Hatheg-Kla 114 loPloP, kINg of bIrds 120 Using Investigative Abilities 132 Hlanith 114 the dreAm-form of JAcQues vAchÉ 120 in Dream Ilarnek 114 Celebesians 121 suPPortINg surreAlIsts 134 Inganok 114 Gnoph-Keh 121 usINg the book of ANts 134 Kadath in the Cold Waste 115 Goblin 122 AlterNAte cAmPAIgN frAmes 134 the chArActer-hoPPINg cAmPAIgN 135 Kadatheron 115 Ghast 122 A hoAr-rImed seQuel 135 The Jungle of Kled 115 Gug 122 The Plateau of Leng 115 Man-Bird 123 La Forteresse de Maldoror 136 Minotaur 123 Sex Hitler 115 INtroductory vIgNette 136 Lomar 116 Moon-Beast 123 A subtle dIsorder 138 The Moon 116 One-Off Beasts 123 Dream Dusted 138 The Nameless Rock 116 Pianotaur 124 the greeN membrANe of sPAce 139 Oonai 116 Putrefacto 124 Maldoror and Lautréamont 140 Oukranos River 116 Vitreal Horror 124 comPArINg Notes 141 It Is Impossible for a Surrealist to 116 Zoog 125 Precursors 142 See a Dreamlands Cat Kadath aujourd’hui, 126 PIoNeers 143 Sarnath 117 demain le monde wAtcher 144 bAck to dreAm 144 Serannian 117 the shAPe of meltINg dreAms (PremIse) 126 old guArdIANs 145 Sona-Nyl 117 A grANd dIsorder (Arc) 126 PsychIc revolutIoN 147 Sunken City 117 Pivot Tracker 126 AttAck of the yellow leAgue 147 Teloth 118 With Every Arc Comes an Ending 128 thAlArIoN 147 Thalarion 118 Modifying the Arc 128 Dreamlands Names 147 Peaks of Thok 118 comPlIcAted lIves (vIgNettes) 128 gug PIt 149 Thorabon 118 Extrapolated Vignettes 129 Dreamscaping vs. Lathi 149 INg rAvAN k c 118 AccelerAtINg INto hIstory 129 the cAstle 150 Thraa 119 As you kNow, my deAr erNst… 129 where Now? 151 Thran 119 serIously JokINg 130 Other Dreamscapers 151 Ulthar 119 defy the footNote 130 Appendices 152 The Underground Sea 119 hIstorIcAl ImmuNIty 130 Vale of Pnath 119 What If the Group Only Wants to 131 mAIN cAst QuIck refereNce 152 Vaults of Zin 119 Hang Around the Dreamlands? select bIblIogrAPhy 154 geNerAl INdex 155 chArActer sheet 160 5 TRAIL OF CTHULHU and exploit them, and finally try to here detail them in both pristine and Ce n’est pas une reverse the epiC Catastrophe they transmogrified Conditions. themselves have put in motion. préface Six — Kadath aujourd’hui, demain “There is no drawing a line betwixt The tools to assemble this epic tale le monde: A strange new Campaign what is to be Called extreme fantasy appear in the following chapters: frame demands innovative new Keeper of a traditional type and what is to be techniques. This section shows you how Called surrealism; and I have no doubt One — Chiens de rêve: A history of to shape a Dreamhounds saga into an but that the nightmare landsCapes of the surrealist movement, as told through arC with a Consistent tone while also some of the surrealists Correspond, as its major figures, with seCond-person fostering a player-driven dynamic. well as any aCtual Creations Could, to biographies presented in pre-generated the iConographiC horrors attributed by charaCter format.