Typical Mythos Cult

THIS IS MATERIAL FROM THE ICE CAVE. IT HAS NOT YET BEEN FORMATTED.

Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 02:01:05 -0800

From: "Marco S. Subias"

In the MIB/Jeeter Karotechia wars people have been suggesting that the Boys from Brazil might be turning into a "typical mythos cult." I'm wondering, _is_ there such a thing?

OK, the funguys in Whisper(er?) in the Dark clearly had a multi-diety way of worshipping, but I suspect that at least some Mythos-based cults were narrowly-focused in their object of worship or in their membership. For example, the Innismouth cult was composed (as I remember) of hybrids and deep ones, who worshipped Hydra, Dagon, and Cthulhu, but do to their oceanic nature I don't see them worshipping Yig, for example. Some Mythos entities and races are clearly mutual enemies, so one can probably safely assume that some mythos cults were not as "multi-cultural" (sorry) as the funguys' cult.

Some cults, as I recall, were family-based, and others I suspect could have been associated with clans, ethnic groups, or other groups hostile to outsiders, even those who claimed to be fellow co-religionists.

For those who have used this phrase "typical mythos cult," what do you mean? Typical in what way? (besides being crazy)


Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 13:03:07 +0100

From: Jesper Anderson

House repair Agent Marco wrote:

<very good examples snipped>

Very good point. I'd argue there isn't. Each cult has its own distinct approach, flavor and goal. I have used the (loose) term "Yet Another Mythos Cult" to describe the various "standard" cults as depicted in the CoC rules (at least in my 2nd, 3d and 4th editions, page 155 in 4th edition). A primitive, madly worshipping, obviously insane mass of humans who care nothing about anything.

This type of cult has proven to be the exception rather than the rule. In the various supplements from Chaosium and others we have had the doubtful pleasure of making the aquaintance of several powerful, organized and quite rational cults.

In my opinion, this makes a lot of sense and also makes the need for investigators and Delta Green plausible. If all cults are frothingly insane to the point of extinguishing themselves as soon as they gain any sembleance of power, why would we need to lift a finger to stop them?

Delta Green has certainly helped heighten the awareness of how powerful the mythos influence on our world can be through using mere mortal, non-magical pawns. How many would question the power of Majestic-12? They don't have a single spell caster. The real power of the Karotechia lies in their network. They can conceivably take over a third world country (it has been done by a strike force of about a dozen mercenaries, quite unbloody) and install a puppet regime (Desmond Humbolt, anyone?). All this with no use of magic or monsters.

This is the real threat faced by DG investigators. So many of the mythos puppets can act without showing their mythos ties. Yet they have to be stopped before they have paved the way for the forces that control them. This is how most cults in the Chaosium supplements have worked. To degrade them to "Yet Another Mythos Cult" is depriving the background of its most powerful element, IMNSHO.

Rants, raves and other ideas are, as usual, more than welcome.


Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 15:50:20 +0100
From: Davide Mana

By asking

Marco raised - possibly - the question of Mythos Cyult standardization. Jesper answered by pointing out the two typical Mythos Cult Standards

. the disorganized bunch of loons in the backwoods
. the highly organized power structures

From his latest message, Jesper seems to favour the latest, and the game designers have been of a similar mind evidently: the organized cults are heavily featured in various supplements and are the standard antagonists of Mythos investigators.

« In my opinion, this makes a lot of sense and also makes the need for investigators and Delta Green plausible. If all cults are frothingly insane to the point of extinguishing themselves as soon as they gain any sembleance of power, why would we need to lift a finger to stop them? »

Fine, up to a point - Wizard Whateley was the leader of a disorganized bunch of loons (limited to his family alone, apparently) and yet the need for someone stopping his plans was strong indeed.

Also, I'd like to point out another issue - saving the universe is not the only acceptable activity for Mythos investigators.

A doomed band of "frothingly insane" cultists will probably never even get to second base, but still they can wreck a few dozens people's lives while they try. Interfering with the cult to save a few lifes is as honourable and rewarding an activity as saving the entire population of California or what else.

Delta Green operatives should _not_ be an exception to the above.

[yes, I favour small scale operations in which stakes are low and focused but the menace is there nonetheless]

By the way - none of the above has to be constructed as an attack on Jesper, who actually made some very good points. I'm simply pointing out alternatives according to my way of seeing the game in general and Delta Green in particular.

Now, back to "typical mythos cults".

I often use the expression - and my players, too - to signify a "by the book" basic cult, one lacking depth and individuality. Sort of a "villain of the week" cult. We have all seen adventures in which cultist and creatures were used with minimum regard to their character, just to provide a foe for a quick one. These "Formula Cults" seem to follow the rules, and are in the end absolutely interchangeable:

. select a suitably sinister name for the cult
. add Great Old One/Outer God of choice
. add pro-forma agenda including

- increase power
- free/awaken/summon GOO/OG
- come what may

. add nefarious cult leader - possibly undead
. add apparently legit cult front
. add cultists (at least 4 for each investigator)
. misguided pawns and exotic locales optional

This is really bad.

What the Formula Cults (aka "typical mythos cults" in my classification) are sorely lacking is depth: details, characterization, something to make them unique, to mask the basic template of the standard cult.

In this sense, the three basic organizations presented in the DG handbook are extremely well characterized groups.

They are not interchangeable, they do not interfere with each other - and I think they should not, save for a general nebulous freehand to be granted to the Fate.

Their members subscribe to radically different paradigms - they see reality in a mutually exclusive way.

It would be silly to simplify them.

In other words, the keeper or scenario designer should be good enough to dream up a situation in which Karotechia and Karotechia alone can act as the bad guy, because of its intrinsic character as a cult/group.

Easier said than done, of course.

Requires dedication and research and a certain "feel".

But on the other and, the only other choice - turning K. or any other well rounded cult into a "typical mythos cult" - represents a great loss in game terms.

End of rant for the time being.

All of which is probably terribly off topic, of which I ask your pardon.


Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 21:13:51 +0100
From: Jesper Anderson

. the disorganized bunch of loons in the backwoods
. the highly organized power structures

Excellent summary :)

<lots of good stuff snipped>

To clarify my point;

The disorganized cults, while dangerous, tend to trip themselves up and either destroy themselves (by succeeding to call Azatoth or something equally insane) or attract the attention of local or federal authorities (when enough tourists have disappeared). Yes, they need to be looked after, and that was one of Delta Green's jobs when it was official. However, the existence of these cults does not alone justify the Delta Green conspiracy.

The organized cults are a lot harder to get a grip on. Their actions are hidden by layer after layer if middle men, bureucratic red tape, silenced witnesses and carefully used spells (like consume likeness). When they get partially exposed, they carefully cover it up. While they may not destroy the world by summoning something over for dinner, they might use TV to turn a whole generation into unwitting Hastur worshippers. This is where Delta Green earns its pay.

Of course, there is no conflict of interest here. Most of the organized cults covet more power, and are actively seeking out other occult and mythos activity to gain it. By seeking out the same activity, Delta Green can discover a lot (as well as stomp some cultist booty). So on on an agent by agent, cell by cell basis, Delta Green will work by seeking out all occult or mythos activity, often getting involved in "low stakes" missions as outlined by Davide. Then they, together with A cell (and possibly other strategic minds), sift through the gathered information to try to figure out where the main opponents are hiding.

This is just one way to view the strategy and work of Delta Green. Comments are welcome.


Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 15:16:58 -0500 (EST)
From: The Man in Black

[yes, I favour small scale operations in which stakes are low and focused

but the menace is there nonetheless]

Most ops should be pretty small in scale as opposed to world-spanning epics like EH. But the occasional grand design threaded into a regular campaign provides continuity and direction that an episodic approach lacks. How else can you have Larger-than-Life climaxes that have been built up for months.

In other words, the keeper or scenario designer should be good enough to
dream up a situation in which Karotechia and Karotechia alone can act as
the bad guy, because of its intrinsic character as a cult/group.
Easier said than done, of course.

This is what EH is all about, natch. That and fleshing out the Special K's worldwide network of looney tunes.

Requires dedication and research and a certain "feel".
But on the other and, the only other choice - turning K. or any other well
rounded cult into a "typical mythos cult" - represents a great loss in game
terms.

Exactly. Which is why EH's ultimate goal is the destruction of the Karotechia before they reach the Generic Bad Guy phase of their existence. It's not only a in-character goal, but an out-of-game meta-mission.


Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 00:53:32 +0000 (GMT)

From: Stephen Joseph Ellis

Marco's recent thread on 'Typical' Mythos cults really chimed a bell with me. Has anyone noticed that most Cthulhu adventures revolve around the same types of opponent time and time again.

1) The typical Mythos cult, however intricate, unique and well characterised, they always want to do the same things (take over the world, start the apocalypse and otherwise promote their Mythos agenda) Nyarlothotep and Cthulhu have about a dozen of these between them, including the Karotechia.

2) The typical alien race up to no good, pursuing its own unfathomable goals. They sometimes have their own cults and human assistants e.g. Mi-go, deep ones etc.

3) The lone Monster, God or abomination. We've all seen these type of adventures, with some unholy organic mass in the forest or attic defending its territory or controlling some humans here or there.

4) The lone insane sorceror or Mythos individual pursuing their own agenda, usually using Mythos magic to get ahead. For example Serpent men, mad alchemists, Ygonolac etc.

What I want is something different from these 4 major types of adventure that dominate the published CoC scenarios and sourcebooks of both Chaosium and Pagan. I want something fresher, not these predictable pot-boilers.

That said, to their credit Pagan have expanded beyond these staples. (««KEEPERS EYES ONLY INFO WARNING»») For example there is MJ-12 which definitely isnt a cult (Not a Mythos spell between any of the Board) but which serves part of the Mythos (Sort of a cult that doesnt know its a cult?)

Furthermore, given that DG operatives tend to have more Mythos Lore and spells than MJ-12 then the players are in the awkward position of being more like a cult than the major bad guys, which is certainly an amusing inversion.

In other (non-DG) products such as Mortal Coils, Pagan has tried new approaches. I especially recommend the Uncle Timothy and 'God of the mountain' adventures which avoid the typical plots that players can see a mile away.

Lets face it, as soon as the characters find the weird tattoo on those three muggers who wanted their unopened parcel, then they know its time to break open the anti-Cult shotguns. The same goes for the moment when they here that so-and-so the strange lodger has never bought groceries, then its time to cast those banish alien/wizard/undead spells.

I know that I'm ranting here, but I was wondering if this was ringing a bell with anyone else and how they coped with CoC fatigue and boredom? I'm not asking for new ways to dress up the old adversarys/plots mentioned above, because I've already done that. I'm asking for entirely new ways to play Cthulhu and DG, such as having the players be the cultists, or bringing in new conventional foes to mention a few possibilities.

Good gaming.
THIS IS MATERIAL FROM THE ICE CAVE. IT HAS NOT YET BEEN FORMATTED.

Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 21:20:09 -0500 (EST)

From: The Man in Black

2-2 in the seventh. Stephen Joseph Ellis at bat. Future Hall of Famer MiB on the mound. It's the windup… and the pitch… THWACK~! A Long Fly Ball to Center Field. Ellis on base with a single.

I know that I'm ranting here, but I was wondering if this was
ringing a bell with anyone else and how they coped with CoC fatigue and
boredom? I'm not asking for new ways to dress up the old adversarys/plots
mentioned above, because I've already done that. I'm asking for entirely
new ways to play Cthulhu and DG, such as having the players be the
cultists, or bringing in new conventional foes to mention a few possibilities.

The classic way to handle this gaming ennui is Crossover. Steal and insert material from other games like the World of Darkness, Kult, Nephilhim, Over The Edge, In Nomine, GURPS Psionics etc etc.

Other alternate CoC stuff includes Bill Timmins' ENDTIMES, My shadowy and never-yet-seen New Carcosa, and also my shadowless and never-yet-seen (sic) INVISIBLE psionic conspiracy.

I've also been toying with the idea of having a CoC Campaign focusing on the modern day Dreamlands. EH deals with this somewhat, with Eibon the Black putting his program of shattering the Dreamlands into operation. This sets up for my DreamLanders Campaign, where the Investigators get to play some of the most powerful dreamers in the modern day. I also have a Dark Conspiracy-ish/ENDTIMEY idea for the near future Fall of Majestic called "The Grey War." More on these topics after EH draws to a close.


Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 04:14:07 +0000 (GMT)

From: Stephen Joseph Ellis

On Mon, 11 Jan 1999, The Man in Black stepped up to the wicket. The crowd at Old Headingly leaned forward as the bowler came up to the crease and let fly overarm with a nasty spinball. Crack! the MiB's bat connects hits for a six. But wait! The umpire behind the wicket keeper declares an LBW, and as the disheartened MiB goes for tea, the commentator remarks that that certainly wasnt cricket.

The classic way to handle this gaming ennui is Crossover. Steal and insert

I tend to find crossovers lose the uniqueness of Cthulhu, though varying the genre and tone of the game to match certain films does work. Different system backgrounds dont mesh well into the background of CoC, especially WW. Giving psychic powers is fine, but if you use magic points and no san loss, then players have a big advantage.

Other alternate CoC stuff includes Bill Timmins' ENDTIMES, My shadowy and
never-yet-seen New Carcosa, and also my shadowless and never-yet-seen
(sic) INVISIBLE psionic conspiracy.>

Where can I find the ENDTIMES material. I'd also be interested in the Carcosa idea. What is the premise?

I've also been toying with the idea of having a CoC Campaign focusing on
the modern day Dreamlands. EH deals with this somewhat, with Eibon the
Black putting his program of shattering the Dreamlands into operation.
This sets up for my DreamLanders Campaign, where the Investigators get to
play some of the most powerful dreamers in the modern day. I also have a
Dark Conspiracy-ish/ENDTIMEY idea for the near future Fall of Majestic
called "The Grey War." More on these topics after EH draws to a close.

Dreamlands is dodgy in my opinion. The trouble is that HPL and most subsequent works emphasise the fantastic element of the Dreamlands. Sure there are Forbidden Places (TM) aplenty, but there are also lots of comical fluffy areas where cats talk to humans. The attraction and horror of CoC is more confined to the earth. Furthermore, if the bad guys are the same (mad dreamers with magic, GOO's etc.) then my original point still stands. Been there, seen it, nuked the site from orbit and bought the T-shirt. However, there is promise in the idea that you make the PC's powerful dreamers who need to defend their Dreamland kingdoms and run nations.

The other possibility is that the PC's dreaming powers are so strong that they are causing their own personal nightmares to materialise in the real world.(similar to 'Flatliners' or certain Stephen King stories)

Imagine it. As a Keeper, you get your players to write down their worst nightmares (or if their a bit nervous or extremely good roleplayers, their characters worst nightmares) Then you have their DG characters investigate some unrelated stuff. Enough time passes to let the players forget that they told you about their inner demons. Then they start investigating some unusual crimes that match their nightmares. For example the common 'spiders crawling over me' nightmare could start happenng to other people. They are found dead, either scared to death or poisoned with lots of cobwebs and crushed spiders around. Then you spook the player with him starting to notice spiders much more often. Then his or her siblings start reporting arachnid infestations at the family home….

Eventually the character will have to confront and banish by force of will (or maybe just force) their nightmare before it consumes more innocents.


Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 22:14:50 -0500 (EST)
From: The Man in Black

British cricket commentator Stephen Joseph Ellis was found brutally killed at his Windhaven Flat early this morning. Scotland Yard reports that the murder weapon was a totally black cricket bat named "BobsyerUncle" The words "Everything is Baseball" were found scrawled on the walls in Ellis' blood and faeces.

I tend to find crossovers lose the uniqueness of Cthulhu, though
varying the genre and tone of the game to match certain films does work.
Different system backgrounds dont mesh well into the background of CoC,
especially WW. Giving psychic powers is fine, but if you use magic points
and no san loss, then players have a big advantage.

I use GURPS Psionics with lots of Secret Disadvantages, Fright Checks and GASP! Mythos Fright Checks.

Where can I find the ENDTIMES material. I'd also be interested in
the Carcosa idea. What is the premise?

ENDTIMES is at soong.club.cc.cmu.edu/~pooh/campaign last I checked.

New Carcosa is like a Deadlands + Castle Falkenstien + Space 1889 + Anime + Chi Chuian + Dreamlands + other wierd steampunk which takes place in a well-populated Carcosa. Very SuRrEaL. Wallow through the mess of the archives for more.

Dreamlands is dodgy in my opinion. The trouble is that HPL and
most subsequent works emphasise the fantastic element of the Dreamlands.
Sure there are Forbidden Places (TM) aplenty, but there are also lots of
comical fluffy areas where cats talk to humans.

The idea behind Eibon's plan is to thrust all the Dreamlands into endless conflict. This is a campaign where WAR enters into every dream, every nightmare. Armies march and die. Celephais, Kadath, Leng, all will be forever changed by Eibon's Eternal Nightmare (9th level invocation spell) Comical fluffy parts will soon be burnt by the fires of war and trod over by iron shod boots of Dream Armies.

It's less horror and more traditional fantasy, but still hangs in the mythos. Not every game of CoC has to be nihilistic and sanity shattering, but it helps :)

it, nuked the site from orbit and bought the T-shirt. However, there is
promise in the idea that you make the PC's powerful dreamers who need to
defend their Dreamland kingdoms and run nations.

They would have to work up to that :)

The other possibility is that the PC's dreaming powers are so
strong that they are causing their own personal nightmares to materialise
in the real world.(similar to 'Flatliners' or certain Stephen King stories)

Not a bad idea for a waking adventure for the Dreamlanders.


From: "Aaron Litz"
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 01:30:40 PST

This is just a thought ( obviously ), but how about a small research group, mostly physicists and mathematicians, who have stumbled upon an ancient copy of, say, the book of Eibon, or, heaven forbid, Necronomicon. The group has cut through most of the insane gibberish and started to see the real meat of the document, namely the spells in it and how they affect reality. This would be similar to that MJ-12 scientist who became obsessed with the spell that generated gravity on the Grey's space craft. This group would probably dismiss the " They are coming! " tone of the book as paranoid schizophrenia on the part of the author, or they may not and actually try to find ways to combat the eminent return of the Great Old Ones using things from within the book. If not, the group may be using the spells they find to try to help mankind, or to try to TAKE OVER THE WORLD ( HA HA HA HA ! ) and you could have a Mad Scientist/Mythos storyline. Well, its very late and I'm babbling, so I'll stop now.


Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 18:41:12 +0000 (GMT)
From: Stephen Joseph Ellis

On Tue, 12 Jan 1999, The Man in Black triumphantly pulled up his jockstrap and MIB Groin Guard (TM) and strode out to the new Baseball pith at old Headingly where his 'All Blacks' were about to teach the limeys a thing or two about ball games. At the first base he reached down to adjust himself for comfort. Looking up he saw in surprise his arch-nemesis,umpire Stephen 'Alzis' Ellis collecting the white jumpers from the English team. Little did he know that Alzis had had some very itchy extra-rashes Boston Chilli peppers to the MiBs underwear. As the MiB's face went red, and his hand exploded into action, trying to scratch away the inflammation he sqeauled "Nyaaaa, Its too painful!".

With that the MiB took his regulation-issue Swiss penknife/laser cutter and applied it to his privates as a last ditch effort to end the torment. Throughout the stands men crossed their legs and winced while women laughed and pointed as a very small plop was heard. The now Eunuch-in-Black minced in a very high pitched, and now effeminate voice

ENDTIMES is at soong.club.cc.cmu.edu/~pooh/campaign last I checked.

Just checked it out, it looks pretty good and parallels a number of ideas I've had on re-addressing traditional DG and CoC. My thanks MiB

:)

1. A truly Majestic campaign. The characters are Bronskis, whose job description is very much like DG agents, stop threats to the country and cover everything up. Of course, they will also have to stop those rogue elements in the government with their illegal and egotistical ideas, as well as assist our friends the greys.

Naturally as time progresses and the players uncover more about the Accord, their feeling might change, especially after Groversville. On the other hand, the greys will provide them with some advanced weaponry to help defeat all those unauthorised threats- Colours out of space, Travellers, Deep Ones etc. They may even be in a position to seriously harm the Fate, if they discover their repeated contacts with extra-dimensional EBE's.

2. The Enemy Among Us. Now traditionally its always been the characters matching wits against the Keepers evil cults. But why not spread the joy and paranoia by getting one of the characters to be the secret cult leader bent on world domination. Think of it, during the night he schemes and plots and orders his cult around, and then during the day he and his cell investigate and decry all these nasty cult activities. What better way to succeed, if your the man responsible for stopping your own nefarious plans. Of course, it requires the right player for you to pull off this type of campaign, someone whose very good at roleplaying and who is a natural intriguer. Let them come up with some grandiose and acheivable plan for summoning Cthulhu or something, tell them how many cultists and what kind of magical resources they can call upon, and then let the game proceed. The player will have great fun drawing maps of cult temples and planning intersting diversions and red herrings for the rest of the Cell. But to give the rest of the cell a chance, you might want to have a Deep Throat in the cult who gives them an idea of the cults real plans, but who doesnt personally know the cult leader. That way the cultist PC will have another roleplaying challenge- to identify his leak before too much damage is done, while keeping this wetwork secret from the others.

3.'Cower before me petty mortals'- Another way of turning the game upon its head, is to make the players Mythos entities. You know, such beings as Nyarly, Cthulhu, Ygonolac, Cthuga etc. Their character sheets will have to look a bit different of course, not only will they have the stats from the rule book, but as keeper you'll have to tell them how many cults they have, which world leaders do they control, how many servitor races will do what they say, and also give them some conflicting goals. For example, Cthulhu might want to wake up and rule the earth, while Cthuga wants to destroy it and every living being. They cant both be right. And what about Nyarly, he could have any conceivable goal up to and including maintaining the status quo of the 1990s. Fair enough this wont be traditional team based CoC, its more akin to Paranoia in terms of infighting, and Birthright in terms of resource management and organisational leadership. But it could be fun, after all this way the players really do get to determine how the Endtimes will occur. Plus, as keeper, you'll be able to endlessly annoy your players by telling them that their latest plan to win has failed due to a pesky band of mere humans who knew too much:)

New Carcosa is like a Deadlands + Castle Falkenstien + Space 1889 + Anime

Chi Chuian + Dreamlands + other wierd steampunk which takes place in a

well-populated Carcosa. Very SuRrEaL. Wallow through the mess of the
archives for more.

Gah!! Crossover hell!! :)

Hope this sparks some ideas and comments.


Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 21:04:42 +0100
From: Davide Mana <ti.loi|eed.rotcod#ti.loi|eed.rotcod>

If you feel like a one off to change your player's outlook, then try coupling Stephen's

and

3.'Cower before me petty mortals'- Another way of turning the game

with Mark MacFadden's

An avatar of Nyarlathotep should not be played like The Crawling
Chaos wearing a human mask. An avatar doesn't necessarily know what it
really is. An avatar of Nyarlathotep can be in the same room with an
avatar of Nyarlathotep, no paradox required.

What you get is the "Unholy Fuzion" (TM) game system. All the players are avataras of Nyarlathotep, each one pushing his agenda. And they do not know or recognize each other till the end of the campaign.

This way, you can limit the powers of the players, spreading among them the many resources of the Crawling Chaos.

And the Keeper is called "Will of Azathot".


Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 16:30:23 -0500 (EST)

From: The Man in Black

Throughout the stands men crossed their legs and winced while
women laughed and pointed as a very small plop was heard. The now
Eunuch-in-Black minced in a very high pitched, and now effeminate voice

Fortunately, I brought my Extra-Penis (TM). So ladies, it's All Good. Also, I like spicy food. Pepper spray isn't so bad, It's an acquired taste.

3.'Cower before me petty mortals'- Another way of turning the game
upon its head, is to make the players Mythos entities. You know, such
beings as Nyarly, Cthulhu, Ygonolac, Cthuga etc.

This would work better as a Board or Card (or both) Game. Creatures and Cultits anyone?


Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 23:07:46 +0000 (GMT)

From: Stephen Joseph Ellis

This would work better as a Board or Card (or both) Game. Creatures and
Cultits anyone?

Now I think about it, how about a small email-PBM? Six players could each have one of big Mythos entities and a Seventh could GM it all. The GM would write up what resources, special abilities and disadvantages of each GOO or God, and then adjudicate each players turn.

For example, Cthulhu will obviously have a few cults, you know one in Greenland, others in Louisiania, New Zealand, Norway etc, as well as all the Deep One cults. As for his major servitors or Lieutenants, he can have a couple of Starspawn, Dagon and Hydra naturally, but no personal avatar. We also know from his game stats in the rulebook that he's one of the hardest and most dangerous entities and could easily take down an avatar of Nyarly. Unfortunately, Cthulhu is stuck in R'yleh and so cant be personally deployed until he manages to get a 'Raise R'yleh' spell cast by either 4 of his cults working together or another major GOO/God. Meanwhile Nyarly, who isnt as tough will have more cults, lots of avatars, and more temporal and magical power, so he's still in with a chance.

Mix in a few secret goals, allow players to power game to their hearts content and Wallah!!- A brilliant (albeit shortish) campaign with all the diplomancy, intrigue and backstabbing of 'Diplomacy', and the humour of 'Illuminati'. The turn summarys could be hilarious as the Big Six of Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu, Shub-Niggurath, Hastur, and probably Shudde'Mell and Yog-Sothoth fight it out, ally, betray each other and otherwise bring about the end times.

I'll have a bit more time soon, but is anyone provisionally interested?

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