OUTSIDER: THE CALLING “I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.” -HPL, The Outsider Notice: If you start a new thread come tell us on the IRC channel or leave a comment on the blog, I’ve noticed that several threads were started without us even knowing about it. Can’t contribute to what we don’t know is there. http://outsiderthecalling.blogspot.com/ #alientheoutsider on irc.thisisnotatrueending.com Introduction GENERAL ABILITIES Experience Point Costs SECTS Starspawned Savants - CTHULHU Shepherds of the Silver Key – YOG-SOTHOTH Young of the Thousand – SHUB-NIGGURATH Scions of the Yellow Sign – HASTUR Courtiers of the Black Pharaoh - NYARLATHOTEP Custom Sects CREEDS QUIESCENCE AND MYTHOS REJECTIONS AND RITUALS SAMPLE REJECTIONS COMMUNION MINDSCAPE DREAMSCAPE HYPERGEOMETRY POLYMORPHISM SUPERPOSITION CORRUPTION VIOLATION SAMPLE RITUALS MUTATIONS (Assets) MUTATIONS (Liabilities) SUGGESTED MERITS ARTIFACTS THE WORLD THE CITIES OF MAN RUINS OF THE OLD WORLD THE DREAMLANDS ANTAGONISTS & ALLIES Deep Ones Mi-Go COMPACT: MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY: “The College” COMPACT: DELTA GREEN: "The Group" COMPACT: Arkham Mental Health Services: “The Asylum” Legal Stuff The World of Darkness, The Storytelling System all related content is copyrighted to White Wolf publishing division of CCP, hf. Delta Green is copyrighted by Pagan Publishing. The authors of this document do not claim ownership of any such copyrighted material and any use of it is for non profit purposes only. The works of Howard Philips Lovecraft are used with the understanding they fall into the public domain. Original work is copyrighted to their respective authors and used with permission. Introduction There are things in this universe which are not meant for human eyes. There are monsters in the shadows of the world, humans just cattle, food, that sustains their cursed existence. But what of the shadows beyond reality, what beings might lurk there? Creatures of forms so sublime and terrible that would make men gouge out their own eyes as a sign of devotion. Intellects so vast that to absorb even a fraction of their knowledge would drive a man insane. Might that would extinguish stars and rearrange planets. Beings that are everything that is not. Now imagine that someone or something attracts their attention, causing the cosmos itself to recoil from the contact. Sometimes a crack forms, from which the outside seeps into the fabric of creation and when such a conduit has a will of it's own an Outsider is born. Outsider: The Calling is a game about these aberrations, trying to reclaim or just survive in a universe that rejected them long ago. They search the hidden and forgotten corners of the world for hidden lore that might shed light on their condition. Form cults that they might help them remake the world in their dark masters’ image. Some just exploit their 'gifts' to achieve dominance over those they deem inferior. Or they try to reject their own heritage and hide away from curious eyes that just won't leave them alone. Regardless of whether they choose to heed their master's Calling their very nature alters the universe as we know it and nothing will be the same again. Outsiders have come to their inhuman perspectives in a variety of ways. Some may have sought out this power, whether in forbidden tomes or occult experimentation. Some may have been born with it, whether as a result of a cosmic accident or through the machinations of some cult. Another may have been infected with a disease, or opened the wrong door or... Basically anything is an option. mIRC: #alientheoutsider on irc.thisisnotatrueending.com Blog: http://outsiderthecalling.blogspot.com/ Places to look for inspiration: CTHULHU MYTHOS TIMELINE http://www.templeofdagon.com/cthulhu-mythos/timeline-of-the-cthulhu-mythos/ Leviathan: The Tempest, similar project, semi-finished http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/LeviathanTempest:CompilationProject Cthulhu wiki http://www.yog-sothoth.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page [Comics] Alan Moore, The Courtyard Mac Carter, The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft - What if Lovecraft was a Sheppard of the Silver Key Denier Mike Mignola, Hellboy B.P.R.D. [Movies] The Village of the Damned Ghostbusters - Zuul & Vinz Clortho are Outsiders of Gozer Videodrome - LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH! In the Mouth of Madness AM1200 Hellraiser Fallen [Books] The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe - Werewolf vs Cultists [Music] Nox Arcana, Necronomicon GLOSSARY (Add to this as necessary) Abandonments: As the Outsider grows in power it sheds aspects of humanity gaining certain abilities in return. Aklo: The alien language all Outsiders speak. All rituals and secret texts use it. Callings: Gatherings of Outsiders working towards a common goal. Courtiers of the Black Pharaoh - Outsiders linked to Nyarlathotep, the messenger and voice of the Outer Gods and soul of Azathoth. Their powers generally involve socialization and bargaining, but the also benefit from a closer relationship with their God. Creed: While outsiders don’t have proper political factions they tend to align themselves along five schools of thought regarding their unnatural situation: The Servants, The Masters, The Rebels, The Deniers and The Dreamers. Cultist: A mortal who worships the Outsiders as a god in the hopes that it might grant him power or at the very least a quick death. Displacement: An Outsider is a cancer upon the fabric of reality. Displacement indicates just how much of an irritant it is. Eldritch Form: An Outsider that reaches zero Quiescence assumes a heavily mutated form and is effectively no longer human. It is possible for him to willingly decide to give in to his alien nature to assume it for a limited time. Jenkins: 1.Rat like creature with a human head and hands/paws and sharp fangs which are used to drink blood. Usually found as a witch's familiar. 2. Derogatory term for a vampire. Keepers of the Silver Key - Outsiders linked to Yog-Sothoth, the Outer God that exists beyond our reality. Their powers generally involve the manipulation of time and space. Labyrinth: A place of refuge for Outsiders and other creatures of the beyond. Keeper: Outsider whose power is attuned to a Labyrinth. Madness: The energy that Outsiders use to bend and break reality. It's not literal madness, but a way of indicating how successful an Outsider is perverting the laws of the universe. Mythos: An Outsider's connection to its alien side. The more he indulges it the more powerful he becomes, but it also becomes harder to hide its nature. Naacal: The ancient language of Mu. Penance: As a consequence of drawing directly on the energies of the outer realms Outsiders gain temporary points of Displacement. Quiescence: An Outsider's connection to the universe, its humanity. Anything that might break the laws of reality has a chance of lowering it. The lower it is, the likelier it is that the universe will notice and strike back. Quiescence is not morality, you might kill someone for a boost of power, but it’s the act of using that power to break reality that causes Quiescence to drop. Rejections: are the powers that Outsiders use. Fueled by Madness they make a mockery of the very concepts of things. Up is down, down is left, a cat will bark and the shadows will eat your face. Outsiders reject your reality and substitute their own. Rituals: Similar to Rejections they are much greater in scale and may require more than one Outsider to complete. Although the result might be similar to an atomic bomb, they are the equivalent of circumnavigating the universe's defenses as opposed to Rejections that just ram through. Scions of the Yellow Sign - Outsiders linked to Hastur, the memetic mind virus and force of entropy. Their powers revolve around madness and the alteration of reality. Sects: Outsiders can be divided according to what god gave rise to them. There are as many Sects as there are gods. This book focuses on five in particular. Senzar: The language of the ancient tribes of Atlantis. Starspawned Savants - Outsiders linked to Cthulhu, the dreaming High Priest of the Old Ones, now trapped until the stars are right. Their powers generally revolve around dreams and mental control. Young of the Thousand - Outsiders linked to Shub-Niggurath, the twisted fertility God. Their powers generally revolve around physical mutation and transformation. Literary Examples of possible Outsiders: So I was just thinking back, and trying to make a list of all the Lovecraft characters and Call of Cthulhu characters in general who we might co-opt as Outsiders. The Whateley brothers are obvious ones, though one has far lower Quiescence and higher Mythos than the other. The protagonist in The Outsider, funnily enough. Stephen Alzis, as has previously been mentioned. The Masters of the Cult of Transcendence have clearly found a way to negate the effects of high Mythos, low Quiescence. The Spawn of Nyarlathotep from from the Kenya chapter of Masks of Nyarlathotep, possibly using a Rejection that lets itself appear human. Those high-up priests of Shub-Niggurath who appear half-goat-like could easily be Outsiders. Randolph Carter, I think, was suggested as an Outsider linked to Yog-Sothoth. The Midwich Cuckoos the book of the same name and the Village of the Damned movie. GENERAL ABILITIES Favored Attribute: Becoming an outsiders alters your body and mind, but the ‘how’ depends on the sect. You buy your Sect’s favored Attribute at lesser cost [Dots X4] instead of [Dots X5]. Also, the limit for your favored stat is +1 what your Mythos level would allow. Starspawned Savant: Presence Shepard of the Silver Key: Intelligence Young of the Thousand: Strength Scion of the Yellow Sign: Wits Courtier of the Black Pharaoh: Manipulation Favored Skills: It doesn't matter whether you embrace your heritage or not, you'll still know far more than you'd want to.