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e j Credits j
The APOCTHULHU Quickstart is published by Cthulhu Reborn. Original writing and illustration
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included in this book is copyright © 2020 by the individually contributing authors and artists. The
book in its assembled entireity is copyright © 2020 Cthulhu Reborn Publishing. APOCTHULHU
and the distinctive APOCTHULHU logo are trademarks of Cthulhu Reborn.

This Quickstart represents a streamlined and abbreviated version of the full game system, which
can be found in the APOCTHULHU core book, also published by Cthulhu Reborn.

www . cthulhureborn . com


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Original Writing: Dean Engelhardt, Chad Bowser, and Jo Kreil.


Additional Writing: Michelle Bernay-Rogers.
Illustrations: Original artwork by Reuben Dodd (of Sorrowking Studios) and Anna
Helena Szymborska. Cartography and character sheet design by Dean Engelhardt. Other
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art sourced from stock and public domain sources.


Developmental Editor, Art Direction & Book Design: Dean Engelhardt.
Copy Editing & Proof Reading: Jo Kreil and Adam Alexander
Additional help and sagely advice: Bret Kramer, Kevin Ross, Scott David Aniolowski,
Matt Puccio, Badger McInnes, Adam Alexander, Tyler Hudak, Brian Murphy, and the Weird
Works collective of tabletop horror game developers.
These rules make use of material sourced from previous publications created under the (original) Wizards of the Coast Open
Game License. For credits acknowledging these sources see the OGL statement on page 70, which also clearly describes
which elements of this title constitute Product Identity and which are Open Content.
This book makes reference to elements of the grand “shared universe” of the Cthulhu Mythos, but only incorporates mythological
elements created by H.P. Lovecraft and for which the originating stories are no longer in copyright. These mythological elements
are considered to be now part of the public domain.
Contents Amber Waves (SAMPLE Scenario) .45
Scenario Introduction . . . . . . . . . 45
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Playing APOCTHULHU . . . . . . . . . . 3 Setting Up The Scenario . . . . . . . 46
Before Play Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

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What You Need. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Rolling the Dice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Game Moderator’s Introduction.48
Percentile Dice (“1D100”) . . . . . . . . 4 Wrong Place, Wrong Time . . . . . 48

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Survivors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Starting the Scenario. . . . . . . . . . 49
The Character Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . 4
Almost There . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Character Sheet Front . . . . . . . . . 9
Character Sheet Back. . . . . . . . . 10 Colden, KS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Creating a Survivor. . . . . . . . . . . 11 Locations Around Town . . . . . . . 51

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Sample Survivors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Game System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Where to From Here?. . . . . . . . . . 57
Finding Gregory’s Car. . . . . . . . . 57
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Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Rising ‘Smoke’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Willpower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 The Clement Home. . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Finding Things in the Global
Scrapyard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 At The Hanes Farmstead. . . . . . . . 59
Combat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The Blessed Rain Compound. . . . . 61
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Damage and Death . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The Ungler Farmhouse. . . . . . . . . 62


The Barrel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Sanity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Insanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Gregory Crump, Suspended . . . 66
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Preserving Sanity. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Wrapping Things Up. . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Bonds Forged Through Shared
Rewards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Adversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Downtime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Further Adventures on the


Fecund Planet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
This Fecund Planet: A Sample
Post-Apocalyptic Setting. . . . . . 42 Statistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Introduction APOCTHULHU differs from most roleplaying
games in that it does not aim to present a single
Post-Apocalyptic setting for you to play in.
APOCTHULHU is a tabletop roleplaying game
about harsh, gritty life in a Lovecraftian Post- Rather it provides you and your friends with a
Apocalypse. Our familiar world is a memory, set of rules and resources that can be used for
swept away by the ravages of the terrifying any number of different Lovecraftian “end of
powers of the Cthulhu Mythos. Small pockets the world” settings. The game provides some
of plucky men and women live on in this dark example settings — like “This Fecund Planet”

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and dangerous time — survivors of the end of outlined on page 42 — but your group can
the world. You and your friends will take on the just as easily build your own. The core rulebook
roles of a group of such survivors as they search has a range of resources to help with this.
the scarred land. For clues to the mysterious

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afflictions that now blight the land. For a way to
rebuild a hint of mankind’s former civilizations. What is a Tabletop
Or maybe just for the bare essentials that will Roleplaying Game?
allow them to survive another day.
If you have never played a tabletop There is a mountain of excellent material out there on
roleplaying game before, or have no idea who the Internet which explains the principles of tabletop
H.P. Lovecraft was or what his Cthulhu Mythos roleplaying a lot better than we could here. So, if the
is like, see the nearby boxes which give some whole format is new to you, we’d suggest perhaps

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starting resources that will clue you in.
What sets APOCTHULHU apart from most
roleplaying games with Post-Apocalyptic themes
is the nature of the cataclysms that have caused
checking out some of these websites:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabletop_role-
playing_game
http://wheelhouseworkshop.com/2016/04/27/
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society to collapse, and the ways in which they
what-exactly-is-a-tabletop-role-playing-
have shaped the world that has emerged. While
game-anyway/
most games consider end-of-the-world scenarios
such as nuclear annihilation, global pandemics, • http://unpossiblejourneys.com/
A.I.s gone wild, or alien invasion, APOCTHULHU • https://wiki.roll20.net/Introduction_To_
is explicitly optimized for Apocalypses created Tabletop_RPGs
by Lovecraftian forces of cosmic horror.
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An even better way to get the hang of what tabletop


What does this mean? It means that the roleplaying is all about is to see it in action. A few
game is mostly concerned with threats from targeted searches on YouTube will discover a wealth of
powerful, perhaps cosmic, entities that might videos, e.g.:
have lurked behind the scenes on our planet
for aeons or might have been summoned to our • “actual play cthulhu”
world by insane cultists. Perhaps grand cosmic • “lovecraft tapes”
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cycles have allowed the horrors into our world,


Recordings of Lovecraftian game sessions are also
or maybe it was humanity’s folly or hubris. But
available as podcasts; an excellent site to explore is
somehow the uncaring forces have blindly
Skype of Cthulhu (www.cthulhu.me) which has over 600
swept humanity’s centuries of culture and
recordings available for free download.
civilization to the scrap heap, perhaps without
even noticing, making light of our former sense The absolute best way of learning what tabletop
of invulnerability. They rule now, where once roleplaying is about is by playing in a game yourself. If
mankind ruled. you have friends who are gamers, or if you are a member
But there is still some hope. People like the of a game club which sometimes plays roleplaying
Survivors who you will play in the game live on, games, asking to get included in a game — whatever
and while they live there is always some chance genre or rule system — will very quickly give you an
humanity can limp onwards and perhaps even appreciation of what the hobby is all about.
one day win back its place.
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Who was H.P. Lovecraft, and what is the
Cthulhu Mythos?

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H.P. Lovecraft was a horror author who lived in the early part of the 20th Century. Although somewhat
obscure during his lifetime (and for many decades afterward), his unique style of horror fiction has
become remarkably popular and influential in recent decades.

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Lovecraft and his small circle of 1920s and 1930s weird fiction writers sought to create an entirely new set
of horrific “creatures,” entirely divorced from the traditional terrors of real-world folklore (like vampires
and werewolves). They did this because, even in their time, they believed that traditional horrors had
become hackneyed and ho-hum. The collection of new monstrosities they invented during the massive
game of “collective mythology invention” came eventually to be called the Cthulhu Mythos.

Much has been written about H.P. Lovecraft and his creations. The curious reader is directed to the
following sources:

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https://www.hippocampuspress.com/h.p-lovecraft/about-hp-lovecraft/the-rise-fall-and-rise-
of-the-cthulhu-mythos
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• https://www.biography.com/people/hp-lovecraft-40102
• https://arkhambazaar.com/who-is-h-p-lovecraft/
H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction has fallen into the public domain – it is easy to find copies of his fine tales available
for free online, e.g.:
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• http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/fiction/
For the purposes of APOCTHULHU, there are three important aspects of H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction and world-
view that shape the types of stories which feature in the game:

1. Nihilistic Cosmic Horror: Lovecraft liked to highlight exactly how insignificant humanity is in the
bigger cosmos.
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2. Humanity’s Time is Over: In many of Lovecraft’s short stories the (somewhat disturbing)
revelation is made that other intelligent creatures dominated Earth before humanity arose, and
other non-human beings are destined ultimately to take — or retake — humanity’s top place.
3. Humble, Everyday Protagonists: The main characters in Lovecraft’s fictions aren’t super-human
heroic types, but average people. Physical strength or firepower doesn’t help much when one is
facing unstoppable forces from places beyond our understanding.

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Playing APOCTHULHU
As with most tabletop roleplaying games,
when playing APOCTHULHU one player takes
on the responsibility of setting the scene
and narrating the events which make up an
APOCTHULHU adventure. That individual is

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termed the Game Moderator. This term is
often abbreviated GM.
All other players take on the roles of
individual people who have somehow

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survived the downfall of humanity. These
characters are called Survivors (with the
term capitalized for clarity). Survivors
undertake adventures and investigate
horrors that are described by the GM.
Players who control Survivors describe
how their Survivor will act and react, and
the GM will describe what happens next.
During an adventure, Survivors

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will encounter a multitude of other
characters whose roles are not being
played by other players — those
characters are called Non‑Player
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Characters (or NPCs) and their
actions are controlled by the GM.
The core APOCTHULHU rulebook
contains two fully fleshed-out adventures that
a GM can pick up and run without much effort. What
There’s also a smaller introductory adventure,
You Need
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“Amber Waves” at the end of this book. The


GM needs to read an adventure thoroughly
before running it; other players should avoid With this book you have everything you need
reading the adventure since it will spoil their to play APOCTHULHU. In this book you’ll find
enjoyment of playing it. Many GMs enjoy making rules for creating Survivors and a full set of rules
their own adventures from scratch: the core for running adventures in a Post-Apocalypse
APOCTHULHU book has resources to help world of your group’s choosing or devising.
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make that easy. In addition to this book, you also need


The ultimate goal of any APOCTHULHU pencils to record changes to your character
game is to have fun while creating a shared sheet, scratch paper to draw sketches and take
imaginary world in which dark forces threaten notes, and dice.
the very survival of the human race. There’s no APOCTHULHU uses polyhedral dice
one formula for what makes for a fun game. common to tabletop role-playing games: four-
Games which engross all players with perilous sided, six-sided, eight-sided, ten-sided, twelve-
adventures, intriguing mysteries, and terrifying sided, and twenty-sided. The game plays best
secrets are definitely a great place to start. And when you have a few of each on the table. Or
that — in a nutshell — is what you should aim you can find automated dice rollers on the Web
for in APOCTHULHU. and as mobile apps.

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Rolling the Dice Name
When the rules need you to roll dice, they use a What’s your Survivor’s name? The types of
particular nomenclature to save time and space: names that would be realistic in your group’s
“#D#,” as in “1D8” or “4D6.” The first number is the Post-Apocalyptic setting will depend on when
number of dice. The “D” stands for “dice with the and where the game is set, and how long ago
following number of sides.” The second number the world suffered its cataclysm. Work with

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is the number of faces on the die. “1D8” means your GM and the other players to develop
roll one eight-sided die. “4D6” means roll four names that sound like they might all be part of
six-sided dice and add the numbers together. the same place and time.
Sometimes you add or subtract a number from
Setting

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the roll. If it says “1D6+2,” that means roll one six-
sided die and add two to the result. Your Survivor has been shaped by the
specific conditions of the Post-Apocalyptic
Percentile Dice (“1D100”)
world he or she inhabits. Keep a note of which
Actions in APOCTHULHU are resolved using setting the Survivor has been designed for.
percentile dice. That means you roll two ten-
sided dice to get a number from 1 to 100. To do Archetype
this, you don’t add the individual die values Not everybody in the Post-Apocalyptic

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together but instead treat each number as a
digit (0—9). Before you make the roll, designate
one die as the tens digit and the other as the
ones digit. A zero (0) on the tens die counts as
world fills a similar role or purpose. Some
people survive off their brawn, others rely on
their wits or their ability to lead other people.
And other people get by thanks to their ability to
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zero except when the ones die is also 0; then the scrounge and procure rare items or resources.
0 on the tens die counts as 10. For example: To represent the differences between these
• The tens die comes up “0” and the ones types of Survivors, APOCTHULHU caters to
die comes up “3”: 03, or 3. several different character archetypes.
• The tens die comes up “3” and the ones Picking an archetype for your Survivor is
die comes up “0”: 30. perhaps the most important decision you’ll
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• Both dice come up “0”: 100. make. Archetype determines your Survivor’s
• The tens die comes up “6” and the ones skills, his or her connectedness to others, and the
die comes up “2”: 62. resources available for scrounging up unusual
gear. For games set shortly after the Apocalypse,
common archetypes are: Former Law Enforcer,
Former Scientist/Technician, Former Student,
Survivors Former Priest, and Former White-Collar Worker.
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Many other archetypes are described in the


APOCTHULHU revolves around player APOCTHULHU core rulebook, including some
character Survivors — usually just called which particularly cater to Survivors born long
Survivors. The rules define Survivors in great after the time of the Apocalypse.
detail to help you bring them to life.
Gender and Age
The Character Sheet Your Survivor can have any gender or age
Take a look at the Survivor character sheet that you like. Depending on the setting, there
on page 9 and page 10. All the ingredients may be social implications to either or both, but
of a Survivor are there. neither has any impact on game mechanics.

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Birthplace and Current Home Survivor a rating in Body Armor. There is room for
detail in the Gear section on the reverse side of the
Where was your Survivor born? Where did he sheet, but you can copy details for your Survivor’s
or she grow up? And what place is currently home? most commonly-worn protective gear here.

Statistics Hit Points and Permanent Injuries


Six statistics (stats) define what your Hit Points (HP) indicate physical health. The

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Survivor is good or bad at in very broad terms: starting/maximum value is derived from your
Strength (STR), Constitution (CON), Dexterity Survivor’s statistics, but HP may go down during
(DEX), Intelligence (INT), Power (POW), and play. A meter is provided on the character sheet
Charisma (CHA). They indicate overall qualities,
for you to track the current value. Your Survivor

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not specific training. Each has a score from 3
may become stunned due to events that occur
to 18. Most human adults have 10 or 11 in each.
in or out of combat — when this happens circle
Stats lower than 6 or higher than 15 are rare.
the “Stunned” box inside the meter.
Each stat has space for its “×5” rating.
The Permanent Injuries box below the meter
Multiply the stat by 5 and fill in that number.
is a place where you can make note of any
That’s the percent chance that your Survivor
permanent repercussions your Survivor suffers
can use the stat successfully in a crisis.
as a consequence of being injured.
Each stat has a space for “Distinguishing

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Features.” If the stat is below 9 or above 12, it
stands out in some way. Write an adjective or a
short description to illustrate it. If INT is 15 you
might write “Very clever,” for example.
Sanity Points and Mental Disorders
Sanity Points (SAN) indicate a connection
with humanity and reality as most people
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perceive it. The starting value is derived from
Other Attributes your Survivor’s statistics, but SAN may go down
(and sometimes up) during play. A meter is
Your Survivor’s Willpower Points (WP)
provided on the character sheet for you to track
indicate his or her mental fortitude and drive.
the current value.
The maximum value is derived from his or her
statistics, but WP may go down during play. There is a maximum theoretical value which
your Survivor’s SAN can ever reach. There is
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Other situations may also cause your Survivor


to become exhausted. also a Recovery SAN value which represents
If your Survivor has a STR that is either lower the highest score reachable through mundane
or higher than the human norm, he or she may recuperation.
have a Damage Bonus which modifies the harm The Breaking Point is the exact point of SAN
caused by hand-to-hand and melee weapons. at which your Survivor has been worn down
enough by trauma to develop a new, long-term
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Wearing protective equipment


may give your mental disorder. If SAN reaches that point or
below, subtract your Survivor’s POW from the
new SAN. That’s your Survivor’s new
Breaking Point.
Also below the Sanity Point meter
are two sets of three check boxes — one
for Violence, another for Helplessness.
They track how close your Survivor is to
becoming psychologically adapted to that
kind of trauma. If your Survivor loses 1 or
more SAN due to Violence or Helplessness

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but doesn’t go insane, mark the appropriate • The Unnatural skill indicates knowledge
check box. If your Survivor goes insane due to of Things Man Was Not Meant to Know,
that type of trauma, erase all the marks. See the most awful secrets of reality.
ADAPTING TO SANITY LOSS on page 40 for
details. What Skill Ratings Represent
Your Survivor starts with five motivations:
Every skill has a base value in square
personal beliefs, drives, or obsessions.
brackets, like “Athletics [30%]”. Every Survivor

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Motivations aren’t as powerful as Bonds, so they
starts with at least that much of the skill. Having
don’t have scores. Bring them up in play to show a skill above the base value reflects additional
what motivates and supports your Survivor and training and experience.
makes life worth living. Each time SAN hits the

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Breaking Point, replace a motivation with your Rating What the Rating Represents
Survivor’s new mental disorder.
01% to 19% Dabbler.
Skills 20% to 29% A dedicated hobbyist; with a foreign
language you can have rudimentary
A skill is a body of specialized knowledge conversations.
that takes months or years to learn and decades
to master. Each skill has a percentile rating, from 30% to 39% Equivalent of a pre-Apocalypse
zero to 99. That’s your Survivor’s percent chance College minor or basic training.

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of using the skill in a crisis.
To the left of each skill name is a check box.
Check a skill when you attempt to use a skill
and fail. Between adventures your Survivor can
40% to 59% Equivalent of a pre-Apocalypse
College major or years of experience;
with 50% in a foreign language you
have native fluency.
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learn from his or her failures and increase the 60% to 79% Decades of experience, or equivalent
skill rating. of a pre-Apocalypse graduate or
The skills are defined in detail in the doctoral degree.
APOCTHULHU core rulebook. They’re self-
80% to 99% A lifetime’s pursuit or equivalent
explanatory with a few exceptions:
of multiple related pre-Apocalypse
• Craft is the mastery of some difficult doctorates.
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trade such as mechanics, locksmith,


farming. Jury-Rigging is a common craft Resources
in the Post-Apocalyptic world, allowing
temporary lash-ups of gear to perform As described in FINDING THINGS IN THE
some task. GLOBAL SCRAPYARD on page 33, one of the
constant challenges facing everyone in the Post-
• Insight is the study and deciphering of
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Apocalyptic world is obtaining the things needed


behavior and motivations. to survive, and finding pieces of technology to fix
• Post-Apocalypse Lore is knowledge of some or repurpose to make life bearable.
aspect of the world as it exists now, after Each Survivor has a personal collection of
the Apocalypse. resources over which he or she can claim sole
ownership. The size of this pool is represented in
• Scavenge is the ability to scrounge up
an abstract form by your Survivor’s Permanent
useful gear, buried in amongst the
Resources score. This is a number between 0
ubiquitous rubble and junk.
(bereft and close to starvation) and 20 (access
• Technology Use is knowledge of how to to an enviable amount of high-quality stuff). In
use the technological items that existed the Post-Apocalypse this number is the closest
before the Apocalypse. thing to a measure of “wealth.”

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The
abstract pool
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of resources is in addition
to the named items of gear found
elsewhere on the character sheet. It can be used the
to pull out unforeseen but useful items when remaining
they become useful during the game. 2 points either stowed
Your Survivor’s Resources rating can go in a vehicle or in storage at a
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up or down during play, for example if he or fixed location. This breakdown might become
she stumbles upon a brand new stockpile of important if your Survivor needs to rummage
unclaimed equipment, or if someone robs a through the carried resource-pile somewhere
significant proportion of stored or carried items. remote — he or she might only be able to call
on the 6 points being carried rather than the full
If your Survivor’s Permanent Resources
score of 8
score is 6 or less, he or she can carry everything
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around everywhere (in a pack or similar). Any


more than that, and some proportion of your
Bonds
Survivor’s pool of goodies will need to remain Your Survivor is not an island in this Post-
in a vehicle (“stowed”) or left at a permanent Apocalyptic world. He or she has relationships
location (“in storage”). There is a place on the with other people who represent significant
character sheet to show how your Permanent figures in daily life. Your Survivor is likely
Resources total is split between carried (“at also a member of one or more communities
hand”) items and these other two. of like-minded, or just socially co-dependent
For example, if your Survivor has a Permanent individuals.
Resources score of 8, he or she can keep 6 points Both types of relationships are represented
of resources “at hand” but will need to spread in the game by Bonds.

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