Deep in the defiled monastery, Brother Calhoun leans against the scriptorium’s shelves, clinging to consciousness. He slits his wrist, holds it out, and asks his last question. Brother Hallow, his innards dangling from the Viking axe stroke, grips Calhoun’s wrist to his mouth, drinks long, and then answers with dead eyes. “The Lidless One seeks the song that keeps great Azathoth asleep, so that he may unplay it. Silence the music or all die tonight.”

And so it begins. Something from beyond sanity’s borders strives to strip away the protections that keep the mindless Outer God Azathoth unaware of the worlds of man. Those that oppose this madness are cursed to be reincarnated to fight for humanity’s survival each time the Red Eye of Azathoth looms in the heavens. Time and again across the centuries, they stand alone — in the frozen mountains of feudal Japan, in the burning streets of the Inquisition sweeping Valencia, Spain, and the New World’s doomed Roanoke Colony. Each time, at terrible cost, they uncover more of the dark design.

Desperation
In 1887, in the dying Arizona Territory mining town of Cañón de Espiración – a place that folks calls “Desperation” — a crippled gunfighter huddles over a flickering hurricane lamp in the attic above his empty firearms shop. He speaks low in a voice like sliding gravel, his words just audible over the horrid winds outside. “I’m holdin’ out, ya know. I’m still holdin’ back them urges that’s taken all the others. But my dreams are so blood-soaked I don’t want to sleep no more. The whole town’s tremblin’ on the brink.”

“Whatever’s behind all this, I can feel it comin’ now. Tonight, it’ll break through to take us all. This is our last chance, the final stand. But they got their eyes on me now, and I can’t slink about unseen with but one good leg. And… and I ain’t sure how much longer I can resist. You can’t stay here no longer, ’cause I’m beginning to… to…”

The nightmare winds tear at the shutters, and a lurid glow seeps in. The old gunfighter squeezes his eyes shut and holds his head, rocking for a minute before settling. “I’m thinking,” he whispers, drawing out two hidden pistols and turning their butts outward. “Maybe… maybe you can use these better than me.”

Take Up the Challenge!
The Red Eye of Azathoth has been 2 years in the making, and it is likely to become a classic adventure in the Call of Cthulhu canon. Numerous experienced playtesters went so far as to call it “the best Call of Cthulhu adventure I’ve ever played”. Grab your copy today!

It’s really an excellent time to be a GM; companies are falling all over themselves catering to us. The recent releases of the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 by Wizards of the Coast and the simultaneously retro and forward-thinking GameMastery Guide by Paizo are both excellent sources of advice and tools for running a game, full of insight even for a jaded old warhorse like me. The lists of noble titles and the vocabulary set in GMG made me smile; Gygax would have loved these books.

But sometimes it’s up to a small, new outfit to try wild and weird new things—wonderful experiments in GM help like Eureka, a collection of 501 half-page plot summaries, each of them enough to kick off a great RPG session. The book is a meaty 314 pages long.

This is the first big project from the blogging crew over at Gnome Stew, and let me tell you, they must have slaved over this thing for a year. Every time I thought “Yes, but that won’t work because…” they were already there, thinking it through. Much more than a simple book of plots, Eureka! stands as one of those essential tools that GMs and game designers will find themselves reaching for again and again. Here’s three reasons why…

Reason #1: The Core Plots Work. The entire book is built around the 36 Dramatic Situations, a set of conflicts first described and outlined by Georges Polti 100 years ago and which should be familiar to every writer, screenwriter, and game designer.

Depending on your perspective, the 36 situations are either classics or a hoary old chestnut in narrative, but regardless of your take on them, they work. And no one has ever used them to spin up 500 RPG plots before, an idea that seems completely brilliant and obvious only in hindsight. So, bravo gnomes!

Reason #2: Genre-Independence: While the plots are written for fantasy, for SF, and for horror, you might think that 2/3 of the book are wasted space if you prefer a single genre for most of your gaming. Guess again! The clever design of the book indicates exactly which plots are most portable to other genres, and even subgenres. The “big three” game genres are covered (though I wish they had weighted it more heavily toward fantasy, rather than giving horror and SF equal time), and they are also tagged.

For instance, a plot might be listed as “Easily adapted to: Grim and Gritty Fantasy, High Fantasy, Pulp, Romance, Sci-fi, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supers, Swashbuckling, Traditional Fantasy
Tags: (WC) difficult choice, innocent, intrigue,
investigative, politics, social, stealth, tactical planning, travel, twist”. Gives you a pretty good idea of what that one is about, no? And rather different from one that is tagged “Deadline” and “Dungeon Crawl”.

So if you need a steampunk plot, that’s already covered, and if you need a horror plot but want to adapt it for fantasy, the book makes it easy to find one. Which takes us to…

Reason #3: The Index is OMFG Awesome: Too many publishers do a crappy job with indexes these days, but not the gnomes. This is an extremely well-indexed volume, and that alone makes it much more worthwhile. As a reference work, of course it is not the sort book I want to read cover-to-cover. I don’t want to read plot after plot: I just want the right plot when I need it, with a minimum of fuss. And that’s what the tagging and subgenres do, in combination with a linked, completed index. I’ve built indexes, and it’s hard work. Bravo to whoever did the grunt work to make this book much more usable.

Summary
You may say to yourself, “But it’s $35! And it’s just plots!” Frankly, if that’s your reaction, you’re probably better off spending your hard-earned gaming dollars on new $35 adventures from WotC or each $84 adventure path in six volumes from Paizo. This satisfies a different gaming itch — Eureka is super rocket fuel for homebrewers.

I recommend it for anyone who would rather roll their own, and whose house campaign could use a twist, a curveball, or a kick in the narrative pants.

What could be the harm? It’s only a book.

If the Blind Idiot God has its way, you’ll be holding The Red Eye of Azathoth before you know it. This adventure anthology, guided by the superbly capable hands of Joshua Stevens, is Open Design’s very first Call of Cthulhu patron project, featuring a senses-shattering series of adventures cast throughout history.

The five scenarios can be run independently or linked for one time-spanning mega-scenario. Two scenarios are already in editing and the others are well on their way to completion. Consider this your handbook for the coming reign of chaos that only Azathoth can bring.

From the Mouths of Madmen

KQ: I caught up with Josh at the asylum… er, rather, while on vacation. In a rare instance of lucidity, he told me all about the project…

JS: ‘Tis said that kings die and nations crumble when the Harbinger Star arcs overhead like an angry scar across heaven’s womb. Ever since men first etched paintings onto the walls of their caves, strange murals smeared in the blood of the slain have depicted the legendary Harbinger Star. Few learned minds give these tales from the misty annals of pre-history much thought, believing the Harbinger Star to be little more than myth.

The night sky is awash with a sinister, crimson hue. After centuries of tracking it on charts etched in bile, using profane instruments that would destroy weaker men, it has finally returned from the darkest reaches of space.

The Harbinger Star is here, and the End is nigh.

The Red Eye of Azathoth is a Call of Cthulhu anthology of five disturbing adventures, spanning five different eras. The adventures are linked together with a new mechanic that allows investigators to recall events from their previous lives, or the adventures can be freely played as standalone one-shots.

What’s it all about? Over 4,000 years ago, in what we now call China, a pig herder tending his swine felt an alien presence approaching. The Harbinger Star called to him like it had no other, and the pig herder knew the star for what it truly was—a link to dread Azathoth. His mind touched that of the slumbering idiot god and was forever shattered. Climbing the nearest peak, the formerly illiterate pig herder lived out his days scribbling strange runes on the flayed skins of his pigs and collecting them in a massive tome. Known as the Codex of the Harbinger Star, this tome contains numerous queer passages presaging the coming of Azathoth and holds the secrets to summoning him.

Madness such as his could not be contained to one lifetime though. Working eldritch blood magicks upon himself, Lei Peng the pig herder became Azathoth’s one and true prophet and has worked throughout history to awaken his god, reincarnating again and again to achieve his ends.

Lei Peng has unlocked the secrets of the five Darkest Rites necessary to awaken Azathoth, cause the Harbinger Star to crash into the earth, and end life as we know it… if we’re lucky.

Unraveling the mysteries of the codex could be the investigators only hope.

Each adventure takes place during a critical moment in history, whereby Lei Peng reincarnates anew to undertake one of the five Darkest Rites. Soon, the investigators will learn that the Denizens of Leng are involved, and they share a mysterious and dark link to the mad prophet. Will the investigators be able to discover this link, stop Lei Peng, and uncover the truth behind the Red Eye of Azathoth in time?

Each adventure takes place in a different age, based upon a different foreboding line in the Codex:

1. “That which is Dead Shall Refuse to Lie,” by Tim Connors—This scenario takes place in 887 around Lindisfarne. The investigators play as either Vikings or monks.
2. “The Silence of Thousands Shall Call to Him,” by Mike Furlanetto—This scenario takes place in 1287 in Japan. The investigators play as noble samurai.
3. “Fires from Heaven Shall Stain the Sky,” by Joshua Stevens—This scenario takes place in 1487 in Valencia during the Spanish Inquisition. The investigators play as either church officials or Moors facing down mass execution.
4. “A Cold Shadow Shall Swallow Man,” by Phil Surette—This scenario takes place in 1587 in Roanoke. The investigators play as famous colonists surviving in the Lost Colony.
5. “And Waves of Blood Shall Devour the West,” by Edward Reed—This scenario takes place in 1887 around Arizona in the wild west. The investigators play as gunslingers and cowboys trying to stop Lei Peng from completing the final rite.

We have many of the pre-gens turned in for all of the adventures, and believe me, these are pre-gens you will actually want to play. The first two adventures have been turned over to the editor, the third and fifth adventures are near completion, and the Roanoke adventure is still under development.

KQ: Turns out that several of the scenario designers were staying in the same resort, so I got the scoop on their contributions straight from the source.

(Be warned. There are spoilers beyond that will twist your mind and blacken your soul. Make a POW check to continue.)

Tim Connors, “That which is Dead Shall Refuse to Lie.” It is 887 on the tidal island of Lindisfarne in English Northumbria.

Vikings have crossed the North Sea, slaughtered the monks at the holy island, and plundered its priory. Darkness falls, and the blood-spattered pagan invaders sing, drink, and dance around bonfires that ring the priory mount.

For the few surviving Christian monks now in slave chains, it is the eve of the feast of St. Walpurga—the night witches rule before the dawn. For the Viking invaders, tonight commemorates Odin’s death—the night chaos reigns and the dead have full sway upon the earth.

Just after dark, a 3-mile swathe of risen tide swamps the Pilgrim’s Way and isolates Lindisfarne from Northumbria’s east coast. A storm flashes over the North Sea and moves toward the holy island in ominous defiance of the prevailing winds. A mysterious red comet appears in the sky. The tide, which should already be at its height, continues to rise. Blood rain falls upon the bonfires. Tears stream down the captive monks’ faces as they kneel in the mud, raise their fettered wrists to the heavens, and shout fervent prayers in Latin.

As the storm swirls overhead, a man in a bishop’s miter stands atop the priory tower. He appears to command the storm, and with each lightning flash, his colossal shadow spasms upon the smoke of the bonfires.

In this scenario, investigators are a mix of pagan Viking invaders and enslaved Christian monks, forced to work together to survive the night’s horrors. If they fail to work together or if they fail to stop the mysterious figure, not only does everyone die, but a Lovecraftian nightmare swallows everything from Edinburgh to Newcastle.

Michael Furlanetto, “The Silence of Thousands Shall Call to Him.” The red comet returns from the frigid darkness in 1287 amidst the chaos of Kamakura Japan. The emperor struggles with the shoguns of Kamakura to regain the power seized from his ancestors. The great clans fight each other for dominance, respect, and honor. Although the samurai repulsed Kublai Khan’s invasions, the conflicts nearly bankrupted the state. The years to come promise rebellion, invasion, and disaster.

As samurai, the investigators are in the service of the shogun. Each—a hidden scion of an outlawed clan, a genius with the paintbrush who lets his libido run wild, a battle-mad husband desperate for glory, and his ruthlessly ambitious wife—begins determined to fulfill personal and clan goals. But the code of bushido further demands that they be willing to give their own life for their shogun’s honor and survival.

Burdened by these conflicting demands, the samurai embark upon a quest to the birch-clad, steep mountain valleys of northeastern Japan. There, the village of Iwaizumi thrives quietly. The secret of its peaceful prosperity will permit the shogun to rebuild the empire and safeguard his own position. Trapped by snow in Iwaizumi, the investigators discover that while hogs snort, chickens cluck, and rivers babble, no one laughs, no one cries, and no one speaks. Silence rules the town.

Soon, investigators learn that the secrets of Iwaizumi transcend mortal concerns. The villagers have been cultivated for decades. Now the time has come for their role in a millennium-spanning plot. The investigators must foil this plot with their courtly sophistication and their sharpened steel. If they fail, their shameful deaths only presage the horrors in store for the rest of humanity.

Joshua Stevens, “Fires from Heaven Shall Stain the Sky.” The year is 1487, the place is Valencia, and the Spanish Inquisition is in full swing.

The newly christened “Spanish Empire” is aggressively expanding across Europe like spilled ink on unsuspecting parchment. It has been a long 8 years since King Ferdinand ascended the throne of Aragon and merged his lands with that of his wife, Queen Isabella. Valencia, formerly a small independent kingdom in its own right, has begun the slow transitioning process into part of Ferdinand’s new Spanish Empire.

Before Ferdinand officially merges Valencia with Spain, however, Valencia must become a proper Christian holding. To that end, Ferdinand has appointed the young Archbishop Esteban del Cassandro, the “Bull of Valencia,” to oversee the Inquisition’s progress there. Tasked with rooting out and eliminating all remaining moriscos (Spanish Muslims who have converted to Christianity in name only, but continue to practice Islam) and other undesirables, the archbishop has taken to sanitizing the streets of Valencia in the blood of heretics, both real and imagined.

A stifling climate of fear and suspicion grips Valencia by the throat. Few people can be trusted, as neighbors turn on each other, selling friends and family to the Inquisition’s agents, never to be heard from again. The walls of every building seem to have ears ready to devour any whispered secret and deliver it unto the agents of the church. Racial tensions between the native Valencians and those of Moorish descent continue to build, spilling into open bloodshed with increasing frequency. Suspected heretics are regularly seized in the night, tortured and maimed, and soon burned at the stake in public squares following mockeries of proper trials.

Amidst this bleak landscape, rumors abound that the Moors have taken to fighting back. Several priests have recently turned up dead, gruesomely slain by Moorish assassins. As if all of this weren’t cause enough for concern, an impossibly large wingspan was seen last night against the backdrop of the full moon. Many say that it was an angel, come to pass judgment upon Valencia, as Sodom and Gomorra were judged so long ago.

With an angel’s judgment hanging heavy over the kingdom, the Holy Spanish Inquisition, tasked with separating the righteous from the condemned, will surely step up their efforts to identify the wicked for the good of the empire and all of the Christian souls within it.

Either as agents of the church given orders to find and apprehend these Moorish assassins or as Moors trying to stem the coming genocidal tide, the fates of thousands now rest on your shoulders.

The days to follow will be bloody indeed…

Edward Reed, “And Madness Shall Devour the West.” It is 1887 in the Arizona Territory as Lei Peng races to complete the final steps to summon Azathoth in this anthology’s explosive magic-and-gunpowder climax.

Sandstorms of near-hurricane force, stalked by things worse than wind, have sealed off a lonely mining town now known only as Desperation. The gale howling across the badlands carries so much sand that a false twilight of shifting shadows fills the streets by day. At night, the Harbinger Star’s lurid glow pierces the dust with uncanny clarity, creating a haunted landscape of silhouette against the red. Haunted and afraid, with little more than stealth, cunning, and swift justice of their revolvers, investigators must navigate through a community tumbling over the brink of starvation into madness in order to unravel the last skeins of the mystery before confronting the full Mythos horror of The Red Eye of Azathoth.

Check out The Red Eye of Azathoth while you still have some SAN to spare. The Crawling Chaos commands it.

• Added event-triggered flashbacks designed to encourage camaraderie between the otherwise opposed Viking and monk investigators.
• Based pregens on Cthulhu Dark Ages to tweak/balance things like armor/weapons that don’t work as well with the gaslight era rules.
• Adjusted the BBEGs armor and magical shielding, because the pre-gen Viking brute could really pummel him if reasonably lucky.
• Restructuring the overall scenario to make it easier to read during play, including read-aloud text and streamlined handouts. I discovered very quickly that it was far easier to have all the handouts together, so I could hit Print once. And the read-aloud text helped carry a consistent mood.
• Changed the island map to hide certain locations, which allowed me to make a handout of it.
• Added an optional, harder ending requiring some sacrifice. I ran this version and it made the finale truly memorable.
• Added an option to play in real time. I kicked this option into play about mid-adventure, and my players loved it.

If you’re a fan of the Call of Cthulhu, The Red Eye of Azathoth is definitely worth your attention.

The Strange Events on the Eve of Christmas: Or a Nighttime Visitation from Mythic St. Nicholas

Turning over, I looked across the room to where dear Carolynn slept in her bed. In the darkness, all I could easily make out was the shape of her body beneath the heavy bed-covers, which rose and fell with the rhythm of her breathing. The top of her head, wrapped as it was in a kerchief, peeked out from the top of the enveloping mass.

As I contemplated her sleeping form, my mind drifted to our two austere children—Edward and Charles—themselves sleeping at this bewitching hour. What strange dreams they must be having, I thought, on this unusual night. Who knew what chimerical images flickered through the vistas of their slumber.

For longer than seemed possible, I lay there in that stillness, my nerves on edge.

And suddenly, I found myself leaping from my bed, stifling a cry of terror—for such a clatter came from outside that it should have rousted the dead from their graves! I turned to see that darling Carolynn had heard nothing… her slumber had been uninterrupted. My mind demanded, how could this be? How is it possible that she should not have heard this mad cacophony?

I raced to the shuttered window and threw it open, leaning into the frozen New England night, eyes blinking away the cold. The full moon hung mockingly in the sky above, casting the light of midday upon the glistening snow below me. I squinted into the night, trying to make sense of this dreadful clamor… and that is when I saw it.

An ancient sleigh, led by eight antlered things. I recognized them as reindeer. What the Eskimo people of the north call “caribou.” But natural they were not, as they walked upon the air as though it were the solid ground. Astride this mystical sledge was a miniature man of clearly antediluvian origin—yet alive with an unnatural vitality. My breath caught in my throat.

Could this eldritch elf, this haunting vision, be the legendary St. Nicholas himself? Known as Father Christmas in yellowed English tomes, Kris Kringle in crumbling Germanic texts, and Santa Claus in the secret manuscripts of the Miskatonic University’s most restricted libraries?

I stood paralyzed with fear as this sight sped toward my home faster than a bird-of-prey swooping toward its meal. A great booming voice shattered the silence as this spirit urged on his coursers.

“On, Dasher! On, Dancer! On, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

What strange names he called these enchanted be-antlered beasts! And yet, I knew them, each, from those old dusty tomes I had read in my younger days. How I had laughed at what I thought were fanciful myths! Oh the blissful ignorance! If only I had suspected that such stories could indeed be true! What new vistas of my mind were being unlocked by this nighttime apparition!

The sleigh skimmed over my yard, and then disappeared to the roof above me. I heard the sound of hooves tromping overhead and great weight shifting toward the chimney. Heart pounding, I glanced again at sleeping Carolynn. Envy crept over me… if only I, too, could be asleep—and be spared the knowledge I now possessed.

I fled from the room, and raced down the stairs in a frenzy, just in time to see the little man-thing erupt from the chimney in a cloud of soot. He was garbed in red furs to protect him from the bone-chilling cold of the arctic that clung to him like the smudges of ash from the chimneys he had stolen down this evening. Over his back was slung a great bulging burlap bag, filled near to bursting with his arcane trinkets and toys.

His unnatural appearance was accentuated by the twinkling of those ancient eyes, beholden to eras long past and witness to hoary passages of time long forgotten. His face was indescribably jolly.

Seeing me, this archaic sprite burst into booming laughter, shaking his entire form to its very core. A strange giddiness overcame me, and it was with a detachment that I became aware that I, too, had started laughing.

A preternatural calmness then came over me, freezing me to the spot. The spiritual visitor set about removing wrapped packages from his satchel, placing them beneath the tree, and stuffing our stockings. Then, without another word, he closed that bag and stepped back into the fireplace. Laying a finger upon his nose, this timeless wizard gave a nod and wink… and then rose with such blinding speed up the chimney that I could not contain a gasp.

Removed from his calming presence, cold fear again gripped my spine. I flew once more up the stairs as I heard this being stomping upon the roof and returned to the still open window of my room. There I bore witness that terrible sight once again, as the sleigh swept from the rooftop, riding atop that cold northern current.

Then I heard again that booming voice, causing my shaking legs to finally give out beneath me.

“Merry Christmas to all!” That old elf cried as he sped away. “And to all a good night!”

I was found the next morning cowering in the corner of the now frigid room. They claim I had a mental break that evening, that my stress had finally overtaken me.

The fools! If only they knew! These are no mere legends! St. Nicholas is real! Nothing will ever be the same again…

______

Ia ia! From the kobolds to you, have a fhtagn holiday!

Open Design’s very first Call of Cthulhu patronage project,

Mighty Azathoth Stirs

Azathoth, the blind idiot god, slumbering as he has for eons untold in the darkness between the stars, has been disturbed. Should he awaken and open just one of his uncaring red eyes, all of creation will be unmade. But such terrible beings are not awoken easily . . .

And the Red Eye of Azathoth patron project for the Call of Cthulhu system is screaming right along! The denizens of Leng have uncovered a powerful spell, millennia old yet never cast, which will summon the Harbinger Star comet from the heavens and cause it to strike the earth.

The Harbinger Star is one of several celestial flutes spinning through space, their alien harmonies the only thing which keep dread Azathoth locked into his eternal slumber. The only saving grace humankind has is that the spell is divided into 5 distinct parts, known among Harbinger Star afficionados as the “Five Darkest Rites.” As the denizens of Leng race to complete each rite, champions will arise across time to defeat them—the tally of their successes and failures determining the fate of the world itself. Tied together through the mad ravings of an ancient chinese prophet, the players will take on the roles of investigators throughout several key ages of human history, reincarnated time and again to stop the denizens of Leng, uncover the truth of the prophet’s ravings, and uncover their own mysterious ties to the prophet and each other.

Reincarnation meets prophecy. Fate is pitted against free will. Armageddon in the background.

Hey, it’s all fun and games until someone gets their eye poked out with a world-destroying comet.

I’m pleased to announce that this anthology, comprised of 5 adventures, is coming together quite nicely. We already have the following to look forward to, with more groundwork being laid daily.

1) “That Which is Dead Shall Refuse to Lie.” The introductory adventure, where the investigators might play as either Vikings or monks in 887 AD, will be penned by none other than fan favorite author, Tim Connors. The Isle of Lindisfarne is in grave trouble, and St. Cuthbert’s bones hold the secret to the first of the Five Darkest Rites.

2) “The Silence of Thousands Shall Call to Him.” The second adventure takes place in Japan in 1287 AD and will be written by project patron Michael Furlanetto, whose adventure pitch won the majority of patron votes. The denizens of Leng are stealing villagers’ voices using means best left unknown and plan to unleash the harmony of their collective silence to complete the second Darkest Rite. As the players take on the role of honor-bound samurai, will the steel of their katanas and the speed of their wits be enough to foil this scheme?

3) “Fires from Heaven Shall Stain the Skies.” I have the pleasure of writing the third adventure, taking place in 1487 AD in Valencia, Spain, during the fervor of the Spanish Inquisition. Archbishop Esteban del Cassandro has been tasked by King Ferdinand to either convert or rid Valencia of its Moors before Valencia merges with his new Spanish Empire. The Archbishop couldn’t be happier, as this provides the perfect cover for burning an entire mass of people at the stake, completing the third Darkest Rite before the very eyes of the Valencian public in a horrid spectacle, all with the Catholic Church’s official blessing. As either agents of the church suspicious of the archbishop’s motives, or Moors seeking to save their people, will the investigators uncover the archbishop’s plans in time to stop him?

4) “A Cold Shadow Shall Swallow Man.” Pitches for the fourth adventure in the anthology will be voted on by patrons next week. Taking place in 1587 AD in the colony of Roanoke, we will uncover what happened to the lost colony and, hopefully, shed some light on what “Croatoan” really means. As if that weren’t enough, fan favorite authors Stan! and Richard Pett will be among the authors anonymously pitching and vying for patron votes this round. This round promises to be incredible!

5) Last but certainly not least, the patrons are currently brainstorming various aspects of the project, reviewing and commenting upon the manuscript for the first adventure (communicating directly with Mr. Connors about what they would like to see), and they are deciding what will be included in the anthology’s appendix. Player handouts? Pre-generated characters? Historical background information? New mythos spells? A new skill for Call of Cthulhu gaming, dealing with drawing upon experiences from past lives? Only the patrons know, and their votes will determine what goes and what stays.

The project is shaping up to be amazing, comprised of 5 stand-alone adventures that can be linked together for a greater play experience. Call of Cthulhu gaming will never be the same.

Join us, won’t you?

______

Armageddon! Armageddon will come!

Join me in praise to Good King Azathoth.

As the second project in a series of public updates on Open Design’s current batch of patronage projects, KQ.com presents The Red Eye of Azathoth, Open Design’s first Call of Cthulhu project.

The Harbinger Star Nears

The Red Eye of Azathoth project is now in full swing. The first adventure (of five) in this anthology has been selected by the patrons, and I’m pleased to announce that it will be written by none other than fan favorites Tim and Eileen Connors…

This first adventure will take place around the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne in 887 AD, and our investigators in the first scenario will play raiding Vikings who get wrapped up in the theft of St. Cuthbert’s bones.

Siding with the monks who inhabit the isle (and who were formerly prisoners of our stalwart Vikings), the investigators will have to unravel what’s going on with one of their own kin who moves to complete the first of five legendary black rites that will awaken the long-slumbering Azathoth.

So we’re starting off with a bang, and soon, the patrons will be selecting the second adventure in the anthology. It will take place in 1287 AD in Japan, and our reincarnated investigators play noble samurai tasked with preventing the second of the five black rites from being completed.

There’s still time to get involved and influence the design of what promises to be a fantastic collection of interconnected adventures for the Call of Cthulhu game system.

Come check The Red Eye of Azathoth out and sign up today!

Kobold Quarterly Bonus Material!

Here it is! The second and final installment of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game version of the article “A Broken Mind” from Kobold Quarterly #11.

The original article details new rules for introducing sanity and mental disorders to your 4th Edition game. So now, you can break minds no matter the edition because edition should simply never be a reason to forgo causing serious harm to your characters in fun, new ways. (And don’t think you won’t be making a sanity check yourself once you’ve read this article!)…

Mental Disorders

It is possible that I am mad now, at those times when the gulfwardsliding tide of memory sweeps me away; those times when I am lost anew in the tracts of dreadful light and unknown entity that were opened before me by the last phase of my experience. But I was sane at the outset, and I am still sane enough to write down a sober and lucid account of all that occurred.

—Clark Ashton Smith, “A Light from Beyond”

Of course, losing Sanity has consequences. If you lose 5 or more points of Sanity from a single roll, you go temporarily insane. If you lose a fifth (1/5) or more of your current Sanity in 1 game hour, you go indefinitely insane. If you lose all your Sanity, you go permanently insane, and you are bound for retirement to a nice, padded cell. Choose a disorder randomly or as appropriate from the incomplete lists below or create a new disorder.

Temporary insanity lasts 2d8 days.

Indefinite insanity has no defined timeframe. It is not something you can just slough off. You will have to try to live with it or take great effort to find a cure. A cure might be a forgotten incantation buried in a forbidden tome, years of therapy and meditation to come to terms and control the underlying problem, or addiction to a dangerous drug or artifact laden with unwanted side effects but capable of suppressing the disorder for as long as you’re willing to indulge. A cure could come in many forms, but it is always at a steep cost.

While you are temporarily or indefinitely insane, you are not immune to additional sanity loss, but you can have only one temporary disorder and one indefinite disorder at a time. If you have one of each and a conflict arises between the two, follow the indefinite disorder; if necessary, the GM should couple disorders that work well together. If you lose enough sanity to develop a second temporary disorder, instead add an extra 1d8 days duration to the existing one.

The restoration and greater restoration spells can be used to remove a temporary disorder but not an indefinite disorder. For this purpose, the disorder is considered equivalent to a permanent negative level. However, these spells can never restore lost Mind or Sanity.

Temporary Insanity during Combat

When you go temporarily insane, you develop temporary disorders as conditions. While so afflicted, you begin any encounter suffering its effects. However, with a successful Mind saving throw (see Making a Sanity Check above), you can temporarily suppress the disorder’s effects until the end of the encounter. That is, the madness affects you for a few rounds at the start of the encounter, then the PC masters it and can act normally again.

Unfortunately, the effects return during the next encounter. Once the 2d8 day duration is over, however, you no longer suffer from the disorder.

These disorders continue to affect characters outside of combat and most certainly guide character decisions, but this must be guided by roleplaying.

Afraid

The fear takes you, as well as the urge to flee.

• You must try to move at least 25 ft. away from enemies.
• You can only move while within 25 ft. of any enemy; you cannot attack until you are more than 25 ft. away.

Berserk

Die! Die, die, die!!!

• You use up all limited-use abilities as fast as possible: examples include abilities such as channel energy, ki pool, rage, spells, and wild shape; always use the most powerful options first.
• You do not benefit from healing of any sort—be it spell, ability, or item—during the encounter.

Bloodthirsty

Does that hurt? How much does it hurt? Ha ha ha!

• You gain a +1 bonus to hit but deal only half damage as you savor each strike.
• You must perform a coup de grace on any helpless enemy.
• You take no prisoners; you leave no survivors, chasing down any escapees.

Compelled

That monstrosity must die, and soon!

• You focus on the closest enemy to you and can make no attack that doesn’t include that target.
• You take a -10 penalty to Perception checks, except against your focused target.
• You are considered flat-footed to all targets other than your focused target, and you grant them a flanking bonus even when not actually flanking you.

Delusional

Why do you dog me so?! Your face is everywhere!
(Roll a d6 to determine your actions for the round.)

1. Act normally.
2. You are afraid (see the afraid temporary disorder above).
3. Do nothing but babble incoherently, arguing with imaginary beings and unresponsive to reality. (You are considered flat-footed.)
4. Stand in place and act as if berserk (see the berserk temporary disorder above). However, all abilities and spells harmlessly target an imaginary assailant. You chase the imaginary assailant in a random direction with any remaining move actions.
5. You are compelled (see the compelled temporary disorder above).
6. You are reckless (see the reckless temporary disorder below).

Reckless

I am invincible! I dare you to strike!

• You must enter melee at any opportunity, charging directly in the fray.
• You are considered flat-footed.
• You take a -2 penalty to AC and all saves.

Indefinite Insanity

When you go indefinitely insane, you develop an indefinite disorder. There is no clear-cut cure for it, and you can’t simply suppress it with a saving throw.

Design Note. These disorders are intended to roughly be a wash for their total penalty and benefit, providing primarily a fun mechanic to help flavor a character. For more gritty and grim adventuring, it is easy to ramp up the penalties or ramp down the benefits.

Fear

You are irrationally and intensely afraid of something.

Effect You take a -5 penalty to saving throws against fear effects. When in the presence of your trigger, you gain an extra move action, but you take a -2 penalty to attack rolls and a -5 penalty to Perception checks made for any reason not associated with your trigger.
(Trigger) You have a specific trigger that sets you off; if you successfully contend with your fear in an encounter, you gain 1d12 Sanity.

Hallucinations

Your mind is a jumble of disorganized thought, and those ideas are frequently intractable with what’s real.

Effect You gain a +10 bonus to saves against enchantment spells and effects, and you suffer a -10 penalty to saves against illusion spells and effects.

Melancholic Mania

You careen back and forth between the dizzying heights of mania and the lows of dismal loneliness and self-loathing.

Effect You cycle between mania and depression; roll 1d2 each day to determine (1 is depression, 2 is mania).
(Depression) You gain immunity to mind-affecting effects, but you constantly suffer the effects of slow.
(Mania) Your speed is doubled, and you require half the sleep, but you can only gain half the benefit from any healing. Each consecutive day of mania adds a cumulative -1 penalty to all saving throws.

Memory Loss

You just can’t seem to remember certain things.

Effect You gain a +5 bonus on all Charisma-based skills and a +5 bonus to saving throws against fear effects, but each encounter, you randomly “forget” one of your class abilities and can’t use it for that encounter.

Obsession/Compulsion

Your mind is filled with anxious and intrusive thoughts, triggering your obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

Effect The obsession and compulsion components below are both always present.
(Obsession) Casting times on spells and incantations are increased (standard actions replace move or swift actions, full rounds replace standard actions, two rounds replace full rounds, etc.), but durations are doubled. You gain a +5 bonus on both Perception and Stealth checks, but you can never take 10 on them, and they take twice as long as usual. You take a -5 penalty on initiative rolls.
(Compulsion) Choose a small set of behaviors; you must perform these at least daily. Failure to perform the behaviors regularly leaves you incredibly distracted until you perform them, suffering a -4 penalty to all d20 rolls.

Paranoia

You are convinced that certain individuals are coming for you.

Effect You gain a +5 bonus on Perception and Sense Motive checks and a +10 bonus on initiative rolls, but you automatically fail saves for all fear effects.

(This post is Product Identity.)

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Everyone roll san checks! And, for hygiene’s sake, clean your brain matter off my copy of Kobold Quarterly #11. Now, convince me that you are indeed not after my bag of magic beans?