This page lists Unnatural Entities whose name begins with ‘L’ to ‘Z’; a separate page completes the list of horrors beginning ‘A’ to ‘K’.
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Semi-Human Merchants of Cruelty
Leng Folk are humanoid in general outline but have cloven-feet and horns on their head. They are natives of the Dreamlands, where they live in thrall to the terrible Moon Beasts. Every act of abuse or violence they suffer at their masters’ hands they pass on to anyone unfortunate enough to be under their power.
The Leng folk ply mercantile trade in the Dreamlands as well as serving as crew on the infamous Black Galleys that sail the seas of that other world. They are left in charge of the blasphemous monstrosities that are to be found below-decks on those vessels, pulling at their oars.
The Leng Folk sell their exotic wares in the coastal towns of the Dreamlands. They are especially known for the massive rubies which they sell in the markets of Dylath-Leen. Whenever Leng Folk must do business in the cities of more polite civilizations they routinely disguise their inhuman features. Thus, many of the people with whom they enact commerce never lay eyes upon their true, satyr-like, forms. The only feature that is impossible to conceal is their unnaturally wide mouth.
STR 10 CON 12 DEX 14 INT 13 POW 13
HP 11 WP 13
Size category: Medium.
Movement: Leng Folk can move 10 meters/yards in a combat round.
Armor: Usually wear leather armor, which provides 3 points of protection (but not against firearms).
vs Lethal Damage: NORMAL – affected by Lethal Damage the same way humans are affected.
Attacks:
Fists 50%, damage 1D4-1.
Horns 50%, damage 1D6.
Saber or Spear 50%, damage 1D8.
Skills: Alertness 60%, Athletics 50%, Disguise 70%, Stealth 30%, Unnatural 20%.
SAN Loss: 1/1D6 to see the true undisguised form of one of the Leng Folk.
The history of the Leng Folk is a sorry tale. Once forced to defend their homeland from the vicious Spiders From Leng, they were subsequently captured and enslaved by the cruel Moon Beasts. Ever since that day they have been in the thrall of those loathsome creatures. Every part of their current existence is dictated by some form of violence, deception, and untruth.
The true plight (and indeed true nature) of the Leng Folk is unknown to most peoples in the Dreamlands, since most who encounter them see only their disguised bodies.
“They leaped as though they had hooves instead of feet, and seemed to wear a sort of wig or headpiece with small horns. Of other clothing they had none, but most of them were quite furry. Behind they had dwarfish tails, and when they glanced upward he saw the excessive width of their mouths. Then he knew what they were, and that they did not wear any wigs or headpieces after all. For the cryptic folk of Leng were of one race with the uncomfortable merchants of the black galleys that traded rubies at Dylath-Leen; those not quite human merchants who are the slaves of the monstrous moon-things!”
— The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1927.
The Fungi from Yuggoth
Migo by agung sycho
The body of a Mi-Go is essentially comprised of a colony of fungal microorganisms. Each is part of a larger whole and together form an independent, functional unit that is designed for a specific task. Depending on the situation, a Mi-go’s physical form can be redesigned and reconfigured. As a result, eyewitness descriptions often differ, sometimes drastically. Some accounts describe encounters with hairy “snowman”, while others report cancerous beings. Still other people claim to have seen terrible fungal monstrosities. In fact, all are accurate reports.
In order to transport minerals and ores, Mi-go can form hair-like tentacles all over their bodies, capable of holding and carrying rocks. In combat situations, they can defend themselves with cancerous nippers.
In order to move unseen among communities of other beings, Mi-go have the ability to camouflage their exterior with a waxy substance. In this way, they can take on an almost human appearance. In some situations, Mi-Go may develop membranous wings that enable them to fly between planets (or even into the depths of interstellar space). The dense atmosphere on Earth makes these wings less effective in their natural state, limiting them to slow and graceless lurching through the air on their way to or from the void of space. However, Mi-Go who have been assigned to perform tasks on Earth are commonly modified to adapt their wings to permit them to remain aloft in its skies for an extended period. One of their favorite tactics such modified Mi-Go employ in combat is to snatch human adversaries up with their pincers (a Pin maneuver) and drag the victim upwards into the sky – dropping them from a great height.
The “shell” that comprises the outer layer of a Mi-go’s physical form interacts with visible light in an unnatural way and therefore cannot be captured on conventional film or digitally. Because of this and because Mi-go have numerous sense organs that alien to human understanding, the creatures are extremely sensitive to light. During the day they retreat into mines and cave systems, usually only coming out at night.
STR 16 CON 14 DEX 13 INT 17 POW 15
HP 15 WP 15
Size category: Medium.
Movement: Mi-Go can move 9 meters/yards in a combat round on the ground; modified (see “Yog-Sothothery” below) Mi-Go can also move 11 meters/yards while flying in Earth’s normal atmosphere.
Armor: none, but see RESILIANT TO PUNCTURE AND BULLETS and UNNATURAL ORGANISM below.
vs Lethal Damage: UNEARTHLY COMPOSITION – Mi-go are comprised of a spongy fungoid matter that absorbs some types of energy and morphs around kinetic shocks. If attacked with a traditional weapon or explosive that deals Lethal Damage, check to see whether the attack roll was an odd or even number. If odd, the Mi-go’s alien composition renders the damage ineffectual; if even, it is affected as per normal. A successful Lethality roll kills the creature.
Attacks:
Pincers 50%, damage 1D6+2
Lightning Gun 50%, range 20 yards, damage is electric shock. Can vary from simply
STUN damage to Lethal 20% damage (see ELECTRO-PULSE WEAPON below). [Note that
normal armor does not provide protection against electric shock].
Skills: Alertness 60%, Athletics 40%, Search 60%, Stealth 60%, plus numerous specialized scientific and technical skills, all at expert level (60%+).
Limited Shape Changing: The body of a Mi-Go can be reconfigured to a limited extent for its current activity. This takes a few minutes. No matter what a Mi-Go looks like from the outside, its inside remains a hideous fungal creature.
Electro-Pulse Weapons: Mi-go Lightning Weapons can be set to varying intensity levels. At the lowest level, effect is limited to STUN. At the highest level, a successful attack delivers 20% Lethality damage. Whether struck by a low-powered or high-powered blast, any target that survives is effectively immobilized as their sensory and motor nerve center is paralyzed. Each subsequent turn, the survivor can make a CON×5 test to shake off the paralysis and return to mobility next turn. Even after the immediate paralysis subsides, the victim suffers –20% on all actions for 1d20 turns. The human body is an excellent conductor of electricity. Anyone who touches the target of a Mi-Go Lightning Weapon attack will suffer the same effects.
Thought Transfer: The Mi-Go usually communicate using telepathy. Without technical aids, they are unable to audibly speak. However, through a communication implant, they can understand and imitate human language.
Sensitivity to Light: Bright light is very uncomfortable for Mi-Go and they avoid it where they can, as it confuses their senses. In strong artificial light or in broad daylight, they receive a penalty of –20% on all tests.
Advanced Technology: Mi-Go have access to many different forms technology, each superior to anything humanity has developed. This includes Lightning Projection Weapons (see above), special Communication Implants, and Brain Cylinders (capable of keeping a human brain alive outside the body indefinitely).
Resiliant to Puncture and Bullets: Damage from puncturing weapons and firearms is halved.
Unnatural Organism: The fungal colony that serves as the physical body of a Mi-Go does not have any obvious weak points or vulnerable body areas. A CALLED SHOT to increase damage is therefore not possible, and critical success on an attack roll does not deliver double damage as normal. Their weird physical composition also makes them partially resistant to Lethal damage (see above).
SAN Loss: 1/1D8.
Within our solar system, the Mi-Go’s primary base is the planet Yuggoth, which we call Pluto.
A second facet of Mi-Go behaviors is their intense scientific curiosity. Their biological experimentation extends beyond simple surgical manipulation of humans and animals. Indeed, given their extensive technological abilities and their outstanding knowledge of anatomy, biology, chemistry, etc., there is no end to the bizarre and clinical tests that the Mi-Go might carry out on terrestrial inhabitants.
Lovecraft’s original fiction notes that the natural formation of a Mi-Go’s wings are ill-suited to flying in dense atmospheres like Earth’s, but the same sources later describe Mi-Go flying and (perhaps) attacking a farmhouse from the air. Characters in the fiction opine that the Mi-Go are adapting or learning to fly. For this description, we’ve made the small leap of assuming that Mi-Go improve their flight abilities through biological self-modification of their bodies: once performed, such adapted forms are capable of agile flight.
The Mi-Go are known to worship some of the greater Unnatural Beings which comprise the Cthulhu Mythos. Most notably they demonstrate allegiance to Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, and Shub-Niggurath. It is possible that they are among the million minions of Nyarlathotep mentioned in some written accounts of the Unnatural. The same accounts hint at an enmity between the Mi-Go and The Shepherds of Hastur, a cult that reveres The Yellow Sign. Members of the cult strive to hunt down the fungi and eliminate them whenever the groups cross paths. Exactly why they do this remains unclear.
“The outer beings are perhaps the most marvelous organic things in or beyond all space and time-members of a cosmos-wide race of which all other life-forms are merely degenerate variants. They are more vegetable than animal, if these terms can be applied to the sort of matter composing them, and have a somewhat fungoid structure; though the presence of a chlorophyll-like substance and a very singular nutritive system differentiate them altogether from true cormophytic fungi. Indeed, the type is composed of a form of matter totally alien to our part of space — with electrons having a wholly different vibration rate. That is why the beings cannot be photographed on the ordinary camera films and plates of our known universe, even though our eyes can see them. With proper knowledge, however,any good chemist could make a photographic emulsion which would record their images.“
— The Whisperer in Darkness, Howard Phillips Lovecraft..
Moon Beast by Brad Hicks
Spear 25%, damage 1D10+3 Paw Strike 50%, Lethality 10%
Skills: Alertness 40%, Athletics 30%. Frenzy: As soon as a Moon Beasts tastes the blood of an opponent, the creature enters into a kind of fighting frenzy. When in the thrall of this mindless compulsion, a Moon Beast can make two melee attacks in a single combat turn, but both receive a penalty of -20%. Leap: Moon Beasts are capable of jumping more than 10 feet (3 meters) from a standing start and more than 20 feet (6 meters) with a running start. When leaping in such a fashion, the creature makes an Athletics test: if it fails, they cannot perform any further action in the turn. If the test succeeds, the agile Moon Beast has landed well and still has sufficient time to take a normal extra action this turn. Unnatural Rituals: Aklo Sabaoth (Nyarlathotep), Dominate Will. SAN Loss: 1D4/1D10.“There around a hideous fire fed by the obnoxious stems of lunar fungi, there squatted a stinking circle of the toadlike moonbeasts and their almost-human slaves.”— The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1927.
Those For Whom Death Died
In the eons before mankind walked the Earth, a race of squat intelligent reptilian creatures forged a vast empire which spanned (what is today) Arabia and the Levant. Walking on four legs, the creatures built a stunning city of low-ceilinged buildings and temples, situated in a place where a fertile valley met the sea. That metropolis served as the heart of their civilization. But as the climate became more arid, and humanity arose to contest the territory ruled by the reptilians, the race was forced to adapt in a most unorthodox way.
Utilizing some form of arcane technology or magick, the biology of the reptilian race was forever altered. No longer were they tied to the normal cycles of life and death. Now when their physical bodies died, their minds lived on inside ghost-like versions of their former bodies – insubstantial things floating on the wind. Eventually the reptilian race died out entirely as a physical species, but generations of their wraith-like dead survived … and live on to the present day.
The ruins of that long lost city still exist in the most desolate corner of the Arabian peninsula – in Mythos tomes it is referred to as the “Nameless City”. The airy forms of the Nameless City Reptilians are still bound to its vast broken ruins. Each night they emerge from a vault beneath it, to hunt the sandy wastes. At dawn they return en masse to the subterranean chamber they call home.
STR N/A CON N/A DEX 13 INT 14 POW 18
HP 30 WP 18
Size category: Each Nameless City Reptilian is Medium on its own, but they are usually encountered in a roiling pack which is somewhere from Very Large (+20% target size bonus) to Extremely Large (+40% target size bonus).
Movement: A Nameless City Reptilian can move 25 meters/yards while flying [Extremely Fast].
Armor: None, but unaffected by physical attacks (see TRANSCENDENT, below).
vs Lethal Damage: IMMUNE ― not affected by physical attacks yielding Lethal Damage.
Attacks:
Corrosive Touch 40%, damage 1D4 to both HP and WP (see also LIFE FORCE DRAIN and VISIONS OF THE PAST, below)
Wind Vortex 50%, see below.
Skills: Alertness 50%, Track/Hunt 70%.
Life Force Drain: Physical proximity to the wraith-like form a Nameless City Reptilian exerts a corrosive effect on living things, draining their vitality. This influence is felt across a circular area which radiates a few yards around an individual Reptilian (but extends to 20 or 30 yards around a large cluster). Any being caught in this area of effect loses HP and WP for each turn of exposure, and also visibly ages (e.g., gaining gray hair or wrinkles).
Wind Vortex: When a horde of Nameless City Reptilians is travelling together – something that happens each sunset and sunrise, and occasionally when they hunt – the group creates a howling vortex. Anyone caught within it risks being carried in its ferocious winds: victims must make STRx5 test to avoid being whisked 20 yards/meters in the direction of the gale.
Visions of the Past: Nameless City Reptilians are insane creatures destined to replay the past. As such they have an overwhelming desire to expose all minds they touch to the majesty of the Reptilian empire at its height. This might take the form or innocuous revelatory visions, or more aggressive forced insertion of the personality from the Reptilian wraith-mind into the brains of those affected (opposed test of POW vs POW to resist; possession is typically temporary with a new opposed tests attempted once per day to evict the alien passenger-mind).
Transcendent: Nameless City Reptilians are immune to normal physical damage. They are wraith-like memories of former beings and can easily pass through normal matter. They are affected normally by Unnatural Rituals and damage from psychic attacks.
Vulnerability to Sunlight: The wraith-like form of Nameless City Reptilians cannot tolerate sunlight. It causes them pain and makes them retreat to their subterranean home. Prolonged exposure to sunlight is lethal to them. For each full minute a ghostly Reptilian is exposed to direct sunlight, it suffers 1D10 points of damage. Shorter exposures to light don’t inflict damage but serve to repulse a Reptilian. It also enrages them.
Eternal Gift of Living Death:Anybody who dies as the result of an attack inflicted by a Nameless City Reptilian takes on the race’s special “gift”. The same fate befalls anyone who is whisked into the luminous abyss beyond the brass door. In both cases, the victim’s physical body perishes, but their soul lives on in twisted spectral form. Undergoing this transformation causes an immediate 1D20 SAN loss. The immaterial form of a transmigrated person retains all its memories and personality and is, in effect, a ghostly continuation of the original. Such wraith-versions have free will, but they must spend their daylight hours in the luminous chasm beneath The Nameless City or suffer 1D3 damage to permanent POW each day. Furthermore, immortality is slowly corrosive to sanity: for each year that someone lives on after physical death, their mind loses another 1D4 SAN.
SAN Loss: 1/1D4 to encounter a single Nameless City Reptilian, 1/1D6+2 to find oneself in the middle of a torrent of airy malevolence.
It was of The Nameless City – and in particular of its ghost-like immortal residents – that the “mad Arab” Abdul Ahazred dreamed just before penning his most famous couplet:
That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange aeons even death may die.
Many details about the Nameless City Reptilians remain mysterious:
Few answer exist to any of these most maddening questions. Some insights might be deduced through an examination of the well-preserved corpses of the original Nameless City Reptilians. These were interred with great care inside rows of glass coffins which line the principal tunnel winding down into the deepest part of the city. At the terminus of this ceremonial path stands a massive brass door, richly decorated with bas reliefs. On the far side lies the yawning luminous chasm where the wraith-like Reptilians live.
At sundown, this vast door swings open on ancient hinges and the horde of airy beings sweeps out through the corridors, across the ruined city, and out into the desert. At dawn, this exodus is reversed with each being returning to the luminous mist-filled abyss before the first ray of sunlight touches The Nameless City. The giant door then slams shut with a mighty clang, sealing the Reptilians in their place of eternal safety.
So it has been for countless eons, and so it shall be for many more..
“… the fury of the rushing blast was infernal – cacodaemoniacal – its voices were hideous with the pent-up viciousness of desolate eternities. Presently these voices, while still chaotic before me, seemed to my beating brain to take articulate form behind me; and down there in the grave of unnumbered aeon-dead antiquities, leagues below the dawn-lit world of men, I heard the ghastly cursing and snarling of strange-tongued fiends. Turning, I saw outlined against the luminous aether of the abyss what could not be seen against the dusk of the corridor – a nightmare horde of rushing devils; hate distorted, grotesquely panoplied, half transparent devils of a race no man might mistake – the crawling reptiles of the nameless city.”
— The Nameless City, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1921.
Horror of the night
Night-gaunt by Brad Hicks
Night-gaunts appear as black, faceless beings with rubbery skin and a horned head. With their large, membranous wings, they have the ability able to carry people and other beings, voluntarily or not. They seem to like to tickle their victims as they carry them away. It is said that Ghouls use Night-gaunts as mounts using a secret keyword. Night-gaunts make no sounds, perhaps because they lack organs to speak or call out. They are most often found in the Dreamlands, although some of these creatures have also been spotted in the Waking World. Some Mythos authorities hint that the Night-gaunts serve the Great Old One Nodens, but whether they act on their own initiative or on behalf of other powers remains a secret known only to these eerily silent beings.
STR 30 CON 20 DEX 15 INT 7 POW 12
HP 25 WP 12
Size category: Large.
Movement: Night-gaunts can move 7—8 meters/yards in a combat round on ground; 15 meters/yards while flying.
Armor: 3 points of rubbery skin (see Aura of Darkness, below).
vs Lethal Damage: NORMAL – affected by Lethal Damage the same way humans are affected.
Attacks:
Snatch 50%, damage 2D6.
Clasp 65% (if successful, the victim is pinned down and is usually pulled into the air by the Night-gaunt).
Skills: Athletics 60%, Stealth 70%.
Aura of Darkness: A cloak of unnatural darkness surrounds the body of every Night-gaunt. This darkness cannot be penetrated by light sources or night vision devices. Attacks on a Night-gaunt always receive a penalty of -20% due to poor visibility. This deduction is also applied to perception tests to notice the creature.
Flying Ability: The being can move effortlessly through the air.
Silent: Night-gaunts are silent hunters who can approach their victims in utter silence. Only their wing beat creates a faintly perceptible noise.
SAN Loss: 1/1D8.
Very little is known about this species of creatures. No one knows where they come from, where they live, whether they live in cities or comparable dwellings and so on. Equally uncertain is whether they have free will or are creatures summoned in dark rituals to carry out the will of others. The fact that they are mostly found in deserted places suggests that they were banished and cast out. Perhaps this is why, they seem to be guarding Mount Ngranek on Oriab Island.
On the other hand, a certain connection between Night-gaunts and the Ghouls of the Dreamlands cannot be denied. Also, some humans are said to have been at the service of the Night-gaunts. Perhaps there is a curse clinging to these creatures, just waiting to be dispelled in ages to come?
“Out of what crypt they crawl, I cannot tell,
But every night I see the rubbery things,
Black, horned, and slender, with membranous wings,
They come in legions on the north wind’s swell
With obscene clutch that titillates and stings,
Snatching me off on monstrous voyagings
To gray worlds hidden deep in nightmare’s well.Over the jagged peaks of Thok they sweep,
Heedless of all the cries I try to make,
And down the nether pits to that foul lake
Where the puffed shoggoths splash in doubtful sleep.
But ho! If only they would make some sound,
Or wear a face where faces should be found!“— Night-Gaunts, Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
The Lord of the Great Abyss
Nodens is a powerful yet poorly understood member of the Cthulhu Mythos. Appearing usually in human form, he usually presents himself as an elderly bearded man of classical appearance.
It is in Earth’s Dreamlands that Nodens is most active. There he is called the Lord of the Great Abyss. It may be that his influence stretches over the whole of the Dreamlands, and perhaps parts of the Waking World too.
Nodens is especially well-known for his association with the Night-gaunts, who seem to all serve or revere him.
Few have even approached an understanding of what inspires Nodens to act. His actions have sometimes been reports as having aided those humans that have encountered him, which is very unusual for a Mythos power.
POW 100
Physical Attacks: Lethality 20% (staff). All damage ignores armor.
Great Old One: Nodens is so vastly powerful that he exists and acts beyond the limits of the human imagination. As such, he has no physical stats, and the GM is free to decide the consequences of direct contact with that creature. For humans, however, an encounter usually means certain death or insanity. His physical form is man-sized.
Words of Power: Nodens commands a multitude of beings in the Dreamlands and can even give orders to Great Old Ones. Should a human be addressed directly by Nodens, his instructions can only be ignored if the hearer succeeds on a POW×1 test. Otherwise, the words must be acted upon to the individual’s best ability. Successfully ignoring one of Nodens’ commands does, however, come with its own penalty – a loss of 1D6 SAN and probable reproach from the Lord of the Abyss, who will certainly be displeased.
Unnatural Insight (+1D10): Encountering Nodens inevitably increases the character’s Unnatural skill by +1D10 points. The character then simultaneously loses sanity points of the same amount and suffers the usual consequences. No sanity check protects against this trait. The Unnatural Insight occurs immediately after the regular sanity check and regardless of its result. This only applies to the first encounter with Nodens or a vision of him.
SAN Loss: 1D10/1D20 to witness the physical form of Nodens (see also Unnatural Insight, above). Achieving mental contact with the Lord of the Abyss costs 1D6/1D10 SAN.
Nodens is sometimes referred to as a moderating influence on other more malevolent forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. This reputation may stem purely from his generally pleasant appearance. Some who have been drawn in by the apparent ‘kindness’ of Nodens have, however, ultimately been deceived into undertaking actions which have ultimately proven quite damaging. As such caution is suggested in any dealings – while human in shape, there is no knowing what goals are being pursued by the inscrutable Nodens.
“Trident-bearing Neptune was there, and sportive tritons and fantastic nereids, and upon dolphins’ backs was balanced a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the gay and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss. And the conchs of the tritons gave weird blasts, and the nereids made strange sounds by striking on the grotesque resonant shells of unknown lurkers in black seacaves.”
— The Strange High House in the Mist, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1931.
Crawling Chaos and Messenger of the Old Gods
Haunter in the Dark by Brad Hicks
Nyarlathotep is the bringer chaos and the enemy of order. The methods used by the terrible alien entity vary, but always involve manipulation, deception, deceit and betrayal. No other force in the Cthulhu Mythos interferes so directly in the affairs of men. For millennia, Nyarlathotep has walked upon our planet wearing many different guise – his avatars. Sometimes it arrives wearing the shape of an Egyptian pharaoh, sometimes a dark-skinned man, or a formless cloud. On rare occasions, Nyarlathotep manifests in one of its more nightmarish apparitions.
No one can say what motivates the scheming wrought by Nyarlathotep. Does it advance the goals of the Outer Gods or Great Old Ones, to whom (say some sources) he is “messenger”? Or are its byzantine plots designed for even more unknowable ends? Regardless, one thing is agreed by all sources: Nyarlathotep delights in extinguishing the sanity of those humans it enmeshes in its machinations, relishing in the moment when some cruel fate robs them of the last spark of their reason. The greater the misery brought by such moments of realization, the more fulfilling they are to the crawling chaos.
Numerous reports have been written which depict Nyarlathotep — in one of his human guises — holding some high office in a major government or organization here in Earth. In such roles, he seems to exhibit a beguiling appearance, exuding wealth and opulence to ensnare shallow mortals who are impressed by such things.
POW 100
Physical Attacks: varies based on form with human forms typically using weapons; monstrous forms have Lethality 60%.
Outer God: Nyarlathotep is so powerful that it exists and acts beyond the limits of the human imagination. As such, it has no physical stats, and the GM is free to decide the consequences of direct contact. For regular people, however, an encounter usually means certain death or insanity.
Avatars of crawling chaos: Nyarlathotep appears in many different physical guises, which human scholars have taken to calling its “avatars” or “masks”. Whether any of these reported outlines are the true form — if such even exists — is an open question. In truth, Nyarlathotep walks among mankind in various disguises, playing its games in secret. Whenever Nyarlathotep use a different guise to deceive, the revelation of the deceit — once it comes to light — usually unravels the sanity of those so tricked. In game terms, whenever such a “mask” is dropped, the GM should mete out appropriate SAN loss (and, possibly, increases to Unnatural skill ratings).
(Some of) Nyarlathotep’s Known Forms Egyptian Pharaoh: A tall, slender man with a youthful face. Clad in colorful robes, he wears an ancient Egyptian gilded double crown. He has the charm of a fallen angel, a capricious glint in forever his eye and when he speaks, his voice is soft and alluring. When wearing this form, he may even go by the name Nyarlathotep. This is the crawling chaos’ most common form when manifesting in the Dreamlands. The Haunter in the Dark: The being that dwells in The Shining Trapezohedron is also considered a probable avatar of Nyarlathotep. This terrifying beast, with its characteristic three-lobed burning eye, has for eons promised secret knowledge to anyone willing to listen. The Dark Man: Called upon by witches, Nyarlathotep in this form appears like a tall, slender man with pitch-black skin and no hair or beard. He wears a shapeless robe of heavy black cloth. This form appears to have hooves instead of feet, and for the most part he does not speak, but makes himself understood by gestures alone. High Priest-Who-Must-Not-Be-Described: This figure – considered by some to be a manifestation of Nyarlathotep – resides in a monastery on the plateau of Leng. |
Seductive Deceiver: Nyarlathotep breaks rules, creates conflicts, provokes and manipulates. It is ambivalent, apparently benevolent one moment, while displaying in the next the true horror beneath its mask.
Unnatural Insight (+1D20): Encountering this creature inevitably increases the character’s Unnatural Knowledge by +1D20 points. The character then simultaneously loses sanity points of the same amount and suffers the usual consequences. No sanity check protects against this trait. The Unnatural Realization occurs immediately after the regular sanity check and regardless of its result. A face-to-face encounter with the crawling chaos leads to both profound insights into the truths of our universe and inevitable madness.
SAN Loss: 1D10/1D100 to witness one of the monstrous physical forms of Nyarlathotep (see also Unnatural Insight, above). Achieving mental contact with Nyarlathotep costs 1D3/1D6 SAN.
The role of the Crawling Chaos, who on the one hand is a messenger of the Mythos gods and on the other hand seems to pursue his own agenda, offers almost unlimited material for human motivations and schemes. Does that offer of employment just seem, on the surface of it, far too good to be true? Does that overseas business partner really desire no reward as part of the extraordinary and generous bargain? Is there some catch? Will someone call in a favor when you least expect it? Nyarlathotep works through little deceits as well as grand ones, and its goals are so unknowable that only the crawling chaos itself can truly plumb their depths.
“Nyarlathotep … the crawling chaos … I am the last … I will tell the audient void …”
— Nyarlathotep, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1920
“It is understood in the land of dream that the Other Gods have many agents moving among men; and all these agents, whether wholly human or slightly less than human, are eager to work the will of those blind and mindless things in return for the favour of their hideous soul and messenger, the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep.”
— The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1927.
Invisible and Semi-Substantial Masters of the Winds
These strange alien entities are only partially material, existing somewhere between corporeality as we know it and wholly unknown states of matter. They perceive the world not through sight but through senses completely unknown to human experience. Thus, they behave in a manner that seems particularly otherworldly to us, guided less by visual impressions and more by perception of life-essence. Despite their strange physicality, Polyp Horrors can interact with the world in a tangible way.
In the long-distant past of our planet – some 750 million years ago – these Polyp-formed creatures came to Earth, building great cities filled with windowless towers of basalt. When The Great Race of Yith arrived on our planet (taking over the bodies of unintelligent terrestrial beings some 600 million years ago), they were appalled by the Polyps and drove them into deep caverns beneath the surface. There they imprisoned them using certain arcane seals. The Yithians proceeded to take over the structures built by the Polyps but lived in perpetual fear that the imprisoned horrors might escape their bonds. This, eventually, did occur and triggered another mass-migration of the intelligences of the Great Race.
STR 100 CON 100 DEX 15 INT 25 POW 30
HP 100 WP 30
Size category: Very Large (target size bonus: +20%).
Movement: Polyps Horrors can move 10 meters/yards in a combat round on the ground; 15 meters/yards while flying. When moving across surfaces they leave behind characteristic colossal footprints comprising five circular toe marks.
Armor: None (but see UNNNATURAL MATTER, below).
vs Lethal Damage: PARTIALLY NON‐CORPOREAL – apart from electrical attacks (see below), lethal attacks with a Lethality Rating < 15% cannot damage a Polyp at all. Such attacks with a higher rating do not destroy the Polyp but may yield Hit Point damage if they strike at a moment when the Polyp is corporeal. If the die roll made for the Lethal Damage was an odd number, the Polyp was insubstantial at the crucial moment and the attack passes through it; if the die roll was an even number the Polyp suffers Hit Point damage equal to the Lethality Rating.
Attacks:
Tentacle Slash 60%, Lethality 50% (and KNOCK DOWN).
Wind Blast 99%, see below.
Skills: Alertness 60%, Athletics 80%, Stealth 60%.
Penetrating Attacks: All attacks made by a Polyp Horror ignore Armor entirely.
Invisibility: Polyp Horrors can become invisible at will, changing from physical beings to vortices of air. While invisible, they are difficult to see and hit in combat, although their invisible does not protect them from damage. Even while invisible, however, the Polyps continue to emit their characteristic whooshing and whistling noises, particularly while flying.
Flying Ability: The being can move effortlessly through the air.
Knock Down: A successful physical attack from a Polyp Horror will usually result in the target being thrown to the ground. This can be avoided using a Dodge action.
Vulnerability to Electricity: The physical form of Polyp Horrors is especially susceptible to electricity, suffering double damage. Electrical damage is not subject to the damage reduction caused by their UNNATURAL MATTER and lethal attacks which damage through electricity affect Polyps as they would a normal human victim (i.e., killing the Polyp outright if the Lethality roll is below the target number).
Unnatural Matter: A Polyp Horror is made of unnatural matter which absorbs most physical attacks without incurring significant damage. Any normal (non-Lethal) attack that succeeds will yield a maximum of 1 HP of damage. Lethal attacks are also much less destructive than usual against a Polyp (see above).
Wind Blast: Polyp Horrors can create a violent directional gust of wind and can use such blasts as combat attacks. Anyone struck by such a gust is likely to be physically dislodged and knocked to the ground. The wind blasts from a Polyp doesn’t affect especially massive combatants and objects (those with size category Large or above) or those who have purposefully braced themselves in some way to avoid the gale. Polyps can, for example, use this power to propel smaller vehicles in combat.
Anyone attempting to avoid being dislodged by a Polyp’s wind blast will require a successful Athletics test. Placing oneself in a position with significant cover from the wind may, at the GM’s discretion, provide a +20% or +40% bonus to this test.
A wind blast attack usually has an Area of Effect of 3 yards/meters. Because it is supernaturally created, the gust can strike at any distance so long as the Polyp can perceive the target. Damage created by a wind blast attack depends on the environment – if an individual falls from a height, they will suffer normal falling attack; if they are struck by (or into) a hard object they will likely suffer 1D8 or 1D10 damage. The GM should decide damage based on the specific situation.
SAN Loss: 1D6/1D12.
Following their defeat in the ancient battles against the Great Race of Yith, the Polyp beings weren’t destroyed but sealed in prisons deep underground. It is possible that in the eons since, the imprisoned horrors have perished completely … but it is equally possible that they remain alive but trapped in their subterranean basalt cities, waiting for the day when the seals which bind them shall be broken. It is also possible that the Polyp Horrors trapped in antiquity were not the only members of their race that exist in the cosmos: perhaps there are others who reside beyond the Earth who will one day emerge from the stars to liberate their kin?
“According to these scraps of information, the basis of the fear was a horrible elder race of half-polypous, utterly alien entities which had come through space from immeasurably distant universes and had dominated the earth and three other solar planets about 600 million years ago. They were only partly material—as we understand matter—and their type of consciousness and media of perception differed widely from those of terrestrial organisms. For example, their senses did not include that of sight; their mental world being a strange, non-visual pattern of impressions.”
— The Shadow Out of Time, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1936.
Brown Jenkins’ Kin
Rat Thing by Lola Valola
Rat Things are curious supernatural beasts, no larger than a normal rat. They possess a human-like face, beard, sharp teeth, and tiny human hands although these odd features are usually only detectable on a second glance (or very close inspection). Rat Things often serve as familiars for those with mystical or occult knowledge, and are often used as messengers since they seem to be able to speak many human languages.
STR 2 CON 5 DEX 13 INT 16 POW 4
HP 4 WP 4
Size category: Very Small (target size penalty -20%).
Movement: Rat Things can move 11 meters/yards in a combat round.
Armor: None (but see Unnatural Swiftness, below)
vs Lethal Damage: SUSCEPTIBLE – any Lethal Attack successful against a Rat Thing automatically kills it, without the need to roll against Lethality Rating.
Attacks:
Bite 40%, damage 1D4, Armor Piercing 3.
Skills: Alertness 60%, Athletics 30%, Dodge 60%, Foreign Languages (various? all?) 80%, Stealth 60%, Unnatural 60%.
Telepathy: Rat Things can interact with other beings through telepathy. They can, for example, send dream messages, mentally project a voice into someone’s head or read their thoughts and memories.
Teleportation: Rat Things have knowledge of certain “rat holes” in space-time, via which they can very quickly transport themselves to distant places. The Rat Thing can only take a few small objects with it, items no larger than the creature itself. Opening and going through such a portal costs the rat creature one turn.
Unnatural Swiftness: Rat Things are considered fast-moving targets in combat. They can also use the Dodge action against firearms.
SAN Loss: 1/1D4.
Written accounts describing Rat Things are sketchy at best. They would seem to play an important role as occult messengers and confidants, especially employed by witches. In the context of the Salem witch trials of the witch Keziah Mason, a being named “Brown Jenkin” is mentioned in reports. It remains unclear whether and to what extent these creatures pursue their own goals in addition to being willing “familiars”. Their apparent ability to speak all the languages of the world and their possibly profound knowledge of trans-dimensional travel to distant places and times also make them an interesting subject of study.
“Witnesses said it had long hair and the shape of a rat, but that its sharp-toothed, bearded face was evilly human while its paws were like tiny human hands. It took messages betwixt old Keziah and the devil, and was nursed on the witch’s blood, which it sucked like a vampire.”
— Dreams in the Witch House, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1932.
Failed Attempts to Meddle With Life and Death
Resurrected Abomination by Tayna Rezunenko
Raising someone from the dead using any form of Resurrection ritual or procedure is a complicated process with many steps. Things can go wrong. It may be that the Essential Saltes being used are not complete (for example if the body obtained was missing some parts). It may be that the corpse wasn’t fresh enough … or the individual preparing the ritual did not correctly mix the Elixir of Life. Or it could be any one of a dozen different mistakes that someone might make. When errors like this are made, the Resurrection may still work to some extent … but the thing that comes back little resembles the living form of the desired person. Usually what comes back is a screaming, drooling, misshapen lump of flesh with just too many limbs and mouths, driven by sheer madness and primitive instincts.
However, as disgusting as such a being may be, the Resurrected Abomination still possesses some glimmer of the memories of the original person. This may prove of (usually limited) help if the purpose for undertaking the ritual was to obtain information known to the dead person. These potential benefits are, however, severely offset by the bestial nature of the Abomination, which is usually difficult to control. Communicating with such a horror can also prove difficult, especially since the process of dragging its spirit into such a misshapen abomination will almost certainly drive it insane (adding to any normal challenges due to languages).
STR 18 CON 12 DEX 4 INT 4 POW 10
HP 30 WP 10
Size category: Medium.
Movement: Resurrected Abominations can move 7½ meters/yards in a combat turn.
Armor: None (but see RESILIENT TO PUNCTURE AND BULLETS and UNNATURAL ORGANISM, below).
vs Lethal Damage: RESILIENT – a successful Lethality roll does not kill a Resurrected Abomination but inflicts normal Hit Point damage. Take the percentile roll made for Lethal Damage, treat each of the dice as a D10 and add them together. his is the amount of Hit Point damage inflicted.
Attacks:
(2×) Slash/Bite 30%, damage 1D6+2. See also FRENZY, below.
Skills: Alertness 50%, Athletics 30%, Stealth 20%.
Frenzy: This horribly disfigured creature lashes and bites frantically, performing two melee attacks each combat turn. These can be against the same or different targets.
Unnatural Organism: These hideously misshapen lumps of flesh reveal no obvious weaknesses or particularly significant body areas. Targeting to increase damage is therefore not possible, nor are critical hits. However, the creature still takes regular damage.
Unnatural Toughness: Resurrected Abominations possess a number of additional HP that are not derived directly from CON or STR using the usual formula.
Hybrid Horror (optional): Accidentally co-mixing the Essential Saltes of multiple people during ritual preparations can result in the production of a much greater horror whose disgusting anatomies fuse features from both bodies. Such a hybrid horror is a single entity but with too many limbs and appendages, each of which can act independently. The combined mass moves together, but can attack twice in a turn for each person fused into the horror (assuming each had a pair of limbs). The hideous mass has 30 HP for each person in the mix — every time the hybrid entity loses 30 HP, a part of it dies and those two limbs can no longer attack. Encountering this kind of hybrid entity is more shocking than usual (see SAN Loss).
Resilient to Puncture and Bullets: Damage from puncturing weapons and firearms is halved.
SAN Loss: 1D4/1D10 for a normal Resurrected Abomination; 1D6/1D12 for a Hybrid Horror.
The idea of use either the Essential Saltes or Elixir of Life rituals as a way of extracting knowledge from long-dead people might prove tempting to NPCs in an adventure. It could even be appealing to Protagonists who have reached a dead-end in an investigation. However, an encounter with a disgusting example of what happens when the ritual does not go perfectly is likely to give anyone pause to consider the moral and practical consequences of such tactics. The Game Moderator is encouraged to use downtime or small scenes in the game to allow players to grapple with such dilemmas.
“There had, it seems, been some truth in chimerical old Borellus when he wrote of preparing from even the most antique remains certain “Essential Saltes” from which the shade of a long-dead living thing might be raised up. There was a formula for evoking such a shade, and another for putting it down; […] One must be careful about evocations, for the markers of old graves are not always accurate.”
— The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1927.
The Re-Animated
While regular science has yet to find a way to bring the dead back to life, the same is not true of the arcane arts of the Cthulhu Mythos and the fringes explored by madmen. Indeed, several such outré methods exist – some voodoo, some black magic, and some based on “weird science”. All such methods create resurrected creatures which might resemble the original person and have some of his or her memories but are actually the living dead.
The characteristics and abilities of such unnatural beings are highly unpredictable – in part because the methods used to create them have many variables and are often poorly understood by those making the attempt. The Resurrected Corpses are themselves highly unpredictable, possessing motivations that are inhuman and perhaps unknowable. Because they may have gained supernatural abilities, these mercurial abominations can prove highly dangerous opponents. Those that still remember unnatural rituals they knew when alive are an even greater threat.
Regardless of which unnatural method was used to breathe life back into the corpse (e.g., Essential Saltes or Elixir of Life), one thing always holds true: the quality and completeness of the “raw materials” is an important factor in achieving success. If a resurrection attempt is made with incomplete, mixed-up, or unfresh body parts the method is much more likely to produce a Resurrected Abomination (see separate entry).
STR 8-16 CON 8-16 DEX 6-14 INT 4-12 POW 10-18
HP 8-16* WP 10-18
* double this if Unnatural Toughness was conferred as an UNEXPECTED SIDE-EFFECT, see below.
Size category: Medium.
Movement: Resurrected Corpses can move 7½ meters/yards in a combat turn.
Armor: Only if wearing armor (but see RESILIENT TO PUNCTURE AND BULLETS, below).
vs Lethal Damage: RESILIENT – a successful Lethality roll does not kill a Resurrected Abomination but inflicts normal Hit Point damage. Take the percentile roll made for Lethal Damage, treat each of the dice as a D10 and add them together. his is the amount of Hit Point damage inflicted.
Attacks:
Slam or Bite 30%-60%, damage 1D4+2.
Skills: Alertness 40%, Athletics 30-60%, Stealth 20%.
Resilient to Puncture and Bullets: Damage from puncturing weapons and firearms is halved.
Unexpected Side Effects: The process of re-animating the dead is highly unpredictable and may result in the creature possessing unexpected physical properties. The following offer some possibilities, but GMs should feel free to invent other abilities. Not every Resurrected Corpse gains a side-effect ability, and those that do usually only have one such ability. If the resurrection method involves augmenting the body in some way the Frenzy and Unnatural Speed abilities are most likely; methods that invoke supernatural forces are most likely to impart the defenses of Unnatural Organism or Unnatural Toughness. If the corpse died from a disease or was retrieved from an infested place Transmit Disease is a possible side-effect.
SAN Loss: 1/1D6.
While the very idea of resurrecting the dead through foul rituals or charnel science is enough to challenge anyone’s sanity, there is a very special horror in realizing someone you know and love (e.g., an Individual Bond) has been abused in this way. Undergoing the experience oneself is an utterly terrifying prospect.
Resurrected Corpses may also be the source of considerable disease, which make their presence in crowded environments especially problematic. More than once this contagion has led to incidents of large-scale panic.
Those who would experiment with resurrection have many difficult hurdles to overcome – in particular, obtaining bodies that are of sufficient quality. This is especially important if the goal is to converse with the Resurrected Corpse or somehow have them pose as their former self.
It goes without saying that experiments with raising the dead can only take place in secret, as any attention from authorities (or even the general public) is likely to lead to severe complications.
“It was West who first noticed the falling plaster on that part of the wall where the ancient tomb masonry had been covered up. I was going to run, but he stopped me. Then I saw a small black aperture, felt a ghoulish wind of ice, and smelled the charnel bowels of a putrescent earth. There was no sound, but just then the electric lights went out and I saw outlined against some phosphorescence of the nether world a horde of silent toiling things which only insanity – or worse – could create. Their outlines were human, semi-human, fractionally human, and not human at all – the horde was grotesquely heterogeneous. They were removing the stones quietly, one by one, from the centuried wall. And then, as the breach became large enough, they came out into the laboratory in single file; led by a talking thing with a beautiful head made of wax. A sort of mad-eyed monstrosity behind the leader seized on Herbert West. West did not resist or utter a sound. Then they all sprang at him and tore him to pieces before my eyes, bearing the fragments away into that subterranean vault of fabulous abominations. West’s head was carried off by the wax-headed leader, who wore a Canadian officer’s uniform.”
— Herbert West – Reanimator, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1922.
Masters of the Skies
Shantak by Tayna Rezunenko
Shantaks are curious creatures, most commonly found in Earth’s Dreamlands but occasionally discovered elsewhere as well. In form they resemble huge birds, but in place of feathers, they wear a kind of scaly coat which is very slippery. Adult specimens are larger than an elephant, with a head not unlike that of a horse. Shantaks are often used as mounts. They have been reported to make sounds that some describe as resembling giggling tones, while others say are reminiscent of the scratching of glass on stone.
Shantaks are said to have a great fear of Night-gaunts. Colossal in size and extremely tasty, Shantak eggs are a prized commodity throughout the Dreamlands. Obtaining such eggs, however, is a dangerous task that has already cost many people their lives. The perilous quests involve scaling to dizzying heights and fending off the mighty creatures (who defend their clutch vehemently).
STR 50 CON 50 DEX 10 INT 4 POW 10
HP 50 WP 10
Size category: Very Large (target size bonus: +20%).
Movement: Shantaks can move 7½ meters/yards in a combat turn on the ground; 38 meters/yards while flying.
Armor: 8 points of thick skin.
vs Lethal Damage: RESILIENT – a successful Lethality roll does not kill a Shantak but inflicts normal Hit Point damage. Take the percentile roll made for Lethal Damage, treat each of the dice as a D10 and add them together. This is the amount of Hit Point damage inflicted, less the normal armor rating (minimum 1 HP).
Attacks:
Bite 20%, Lethality 25% and KNOCKDOWN (see below).
Skills: Alertness 50%, Athletics 25%.
Flying: Shantaks move through the air.
Massive: A massive target loses hit points from common attacks, but lethality attacks are less efficient. They only deal damage equal to their lethality value.
Knockdown: On a successful attack by a Shantak, the target is knocked prone. This effect can only be avoided by dodging.
SAN Loss: 1D4/1D10.
Shantaks can be tamed and used as mounts. Indeed, they are a tried and tested means of transportation for many beings in Earth’s Dreamlands. They are often rumored to perform services for the Great Old Ones, although whether they do so voluntary or under duress is unclear. Some report suggest that Shantaks can also move through interplanetary space and have even been used to drag some poor souls to the cosmic throne of Azathoth.
“Trapped though he was by fabulous and hippocephalic winged nightmares that pressed around in great unholy circles, Randolph Carter did not lose consciousness. Lofty and horrible those titan gargoyles towered above him, while the slant-eyed merchant leaped down from his yak and stood grinning before the captive. […] It was hard work ascending, for the Shantak-bird has scales instead of feathers, and those scales are very slippery.”
— The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1927.
Formless Horrors from Ancient Eons
Shoggoth by Brad Hicks
Shoggoths were once used as slaves by the Elder Things to build their cities and perform heavy labor. It is said that they were bred specifically for this purpose. As a bio-engineered life form they are impressive in almost every aspect: strong, resilient, and able to adapt to a wide variety of environments.
A Shoggoth’s physical form is fully made up of a type of unnatural protoplasm, which can be reshaped by the creatures at will. This allows them to take on any shape and extrude any type of limbs or organs. In their “native” form, Shoggoths are about the size of a locomotive, and their bodies are commonly covered with countless sensory organs and mouths that a constantly forming and unforming.
Because many of the cities built by the Elder Thing were underwater, Shoggoths are very well adapted to life in the sea and are excellent swimmers.
Shoggoths have an excellent ability to imitate the forms of other living creatures. Whether this was an intentional design of the Elder Things’ experiment, or an adaptation that arose after aeons of evolution, no one knows. Regardless, Shoggoths are known to be able to imitate physical forms, sounds, and perhaps even behavioral and thought patterns of other species. This mimicry is especially powerful when copying the form of a creature that has been engulfed and absorbed inside their protoplasmic body.
While the sound “Tekeli-li!” is often associated with Shoggoths, it is unknown whether this is a sound produced by the blasphemous horrors, a sound which the Elder Things formerly used to communicate with their slaves, or even an expression in their own language. The last option is especially terrifying, since the notion of a Shoggoth race intelligent enough to have a sophisticated language implies that they may be on the brink of self-determination and pursuing their own schemes.
STR 100 CON 100 DEX 10 INT 12 POW 18
HP 100 WP 18
Size category: normally Very Large (target size bonus: +20%), but can vary (see SHAPE SHIFTING below).
Movement: Shoggoths can move 13 meters/yards in a combat round while rolling along the ground.
Armor: none, but see UNNATURAL MATTER below.
vs Lethal Damage: PARTIALLY IMMUNE – when struck by a Lethal attack, percentile dice are rolled as normal even though the test will automatically fail. The Shoggoth, instead takes Hit Point damage equal to the lesser of the two digits on the Lethality roll.
Attacks:
Tentacle Lash 50%, Lethality 50% and knocked down.
Bash 50%, Lethality 50% and Pinned.
Engulf 50%, damage 1D4 HP per turn, and 1D6 SAN per turn (see below).
Skills: Alertness 80%, Stealth 70%, Swim 90%.
Engulf: When a living creature is engulfed within the gelatinous body of the Shoggoth, it is fully absorbed within minutes. Some Shoggoths may be able to absorb the memories of a sentient creature that has been dissolved in this manner. The process of being absorbed alive is especially terrifying: victims suffer 1D4 HP damage each combat turn, and also lose 1D6 SAN per turn.
Shape Shifting: A Shoggoth can alter its shape, appearance, and size at will. This affords them an excellent means of disguise. By exercising this power, a Shoggoth can change its Size category. Some Shoggoths may be able to shift their form to mimic the appearance of a person they have previously absorbed. The gelatinous nature of the Shoggoth’s physical form means that they can squeeze through even the smallest of openings.
Unnatural Matter: A Shoggoth is made of unnatural matter which absorbs most physical attacks without incurring significant damage. Any normal (non-Lethal) attack that succeeds will yield a maximum of 1 HP of damage. Lethal attacks are also much less destructive than usual against a Shoggoth (see above).
Unnatural Organism: A Shoggoth’s physiology reveals no weaknesses or particularly significant areas of the body. Targeting to increase damage is therefore not possible, nor are critical hits.
SAN Loss: 1D8/1D20.
Shoggoths were created as a servitor race for the Elder Things, performing physical labor under their direction. They were engineered to be perfectly adapted to conditions present on Earth, and as such they have survived very well in the absence of their former masters. Indeed, it is not uncommon for these horrific beasts to be found lurking in the abandoned cities in Antarctica which once housed the Elder Things. However, over the vast eons the Shoggoths have evolved and adapted, allowing some to break free from their prisons and spread to many other dark corners of the planet. Groups of such Shoggoth “escapees” Shoggoths — especially the ones which have also developed some level of intelligence — are possibly the most dangerous Mythos threats anywhere on our planet. A concerted attack by such a cluster could easily create huge devastation, perhaps wiping out entire cities.
The alien protoplasm which makes up the Shoggoths’ bodies is a miracle of bio-engineering, way beyond anything human science has achieved. It is possible that someone who has a scientific interest in such matters (or just a purpose for such an amazing substance) might view this “wonder” substance as an amazing discovery. One can only wonder at the horrors that might come from such a “miraculous research breakthrough.”
“I came only just short of echoing his cry myself; for I had seen those primal sculptures, too, and had shudderingly admired the way the nameless artist had suggested that hideous slime coating found on certain incomplete and prostrate Old Ones—those whom the frightful Shoggoths had characteristically slain and sucked to a ghastly headlessness in the great war of re-subjugation. They were infamous, nightmare sculptures even when telling of age-old, bygone things; for Shoggoths and their work ought not to be seen by human beings or portrayed by any beings. The mad author of the Necronomicon had nervously tried to swear that none had been bred on this planet, and that only drugged dreamers had even conceived them. Formless protoplasm able to mock and reflect all forms and organs and processes—viscous agglutinations of bubbling cells—rubbery fifteen-foot spheroids infinitely plastic and ductile—slaves of suggestion, builders of cities—more and more sullen, more and more intelligent, more and more amphibious, more and more imitative! Great God! What madness made even those blasphemous Old Ones willing to use and carve such things?”
— At the Mountains of Madness, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1931.
The Black Goat of the Woods with a thousand young
Shub-Niggurath by Brad Hicks
Shub-Niggurath is the cosmic incarnation of the eternal power of fertility and life, albeit perverted and distorted (relative to humanity’s conception of such things). Shub-Niggurath may have generated the first spark of life in the cold and empty universe eons ago, although its essence is both life-giver and devastating reaper. It unites all genders, all DNA, all characteristics of all living species. All are one in Shub-Niggurath.
Throughout history people have always prayed to her, and her names were many: Osiris, Demeter, Ceres or Freya. Under such guises, Shub-Niggurath has a slew of cults that worship and pay homage to it. Doubtless this is also the reason why Shub-Niggurath features in many Mythos rituals and is named in countless invocations and scriptures.
POW 70
Physical Attacks: Lethality 33% with Kill Radius 2 meters/yards (seize, bite, or trample).
Great Old One: Shub-Niggurath is so vastly powerful that it exists and acts beyond the limits of the human imagination. As such, it has no physical stats, and the GM is free to decide the consequences of direct contact with that creature. For humans, however, an encounter usually means certain death or insanity. Its physical form is enormous (roughly the size of a jumbo jet).
Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath: Shub-Niggurath and her children may often be found in the deepest, darkest corners of ancient forests, where fertile nature thrives unchecked. On numerous occasions, reports from such places have mentioned “living trees” – some or the more obscure accounts even claim that such animated flora can literally devour people. These are the “children” of Shub-Niggurath, and they are terrible to behold. Encountering one such terror on its own is enough to strike fear into anyone’s heart – suddenly finding oneself in a grove of such horrors is enough to rend anyone (even a devout cultist) permanently insane.
Lifegiver: Shub-Niggurath can create life from nothing. Such spontaneous life can be anything from unicellular life forms to complex fungi, plants and even animals.
Mutate Life: In the presence of the Great Old Ones, life on earth tends to warp and mutate. In the case of exposure to Shub-Niggurath this commonly begins as increased growth of plants and small animals, especially insects. As time progresses, the mutations become more pronounced begin to warp (or generate) complex life forms.
Black Milk: The black milk of Shub-Niggurath is held sacred by her followers and cults. It has immense mutagenic effects on the human body.
Unnatural Insight (+1D20): Encountering this creature inevitably increases a character’s Unnatural skill by +1D20 points. The character simultaneously loses SAN points of the same amount and suffers the usual consequences. No sanity test protects against this trait. The Unnatural Insight occurs immediately after the regular sanity check and irrespective of its result.
SAN Loss: 1D10/1D100 to witness the physical form of Shub-Niggurath (see also Unnatural Insight, above). Making mental contact costs 1D6/1D20 SAN.
The exact whereabouts and precise appearance of Shub-Niggurath are unknown. As she has been worshiped by many cultures through the ages, she may well manifest in different places. Some blasphemous writings attempt to place Shub-Niggurath and other Great Old Ones in a context that seems profoundly contrary to all human conception. Perhaps more is known to the high priests of the several cults which worship Shub-Niggurath, but to date such secrets have been well guarded.
“… is the Lord of the Wood, even to … and the gifts of the men of Leng … so from the wells of night to the gulfs of space, and from the gulfs of space to the wells of night, ever the praises of Great Cthulhu, of Tsathoggua, and of Him Who is not to be Named. Ever their praises, and abundance to the Black Goat of the Woods. Yes! Shub-Niggurath! The Goat with a Thousand Young! […] Yes! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!”
— The Whisperer in Darkness, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1931.
Hunters on the desolate plains of Leng
Spider From Leng by Brad Hicks
Leng Spiders have physical forms that greatly resemble mundane earthly spiders, but are many times larger than any known terrestrial species – and far more dangerous. Their bloated purple bodies are their most distinctive feature, although their gargantuan size (some grow to the size of a truck) is also unique. In addition to their physical scale, the Leng Spiders possess a surprising level of intelligence which makes them deadly hunters.
The species once ruled the plains and valleys of Leng, but were largely driven out by the human-like Leng Folk. Very little is known about the social structures and behaviors of the Leng Spiders. Questions as to whether or not they build colonies, or have a Queen, are matters very much open to speculation.
Because the Plateau of Leng has always been a place where the boundaries between the Dreamlands and the Waking World are blurred, it is likely that the influence of the Spiders is not limited to just Leng itself. This is a frightening thought for those in the waking world.
STR 20 CON 20 DEX 16 INT 14 POW 12
HP 20 WP 12
Size category: Large.
Movement: Spiders From Leng can move 12 meters/yards in a combat turn.
Armor: 5 points of chitinous carapace.
vs Lethal Damage: LARGE – a successful Lethality roll does not kill a Leng Spider but inflicts normal Hit Point damage equal to the Lethality Rating, less the normal armor rating (minimum 1 HP).
Attacks:
Bite 60%, damage 2D6, armor piercing 3 points. See also KNOCKDOWN and VENOM, below.
Skills: Alertness 40%, Athletics 40%, Stealth 60%.
Egg Laying: There is a widespread fear that spiders might laying their eggs inside living creatures. Leng Spiders are one of a small number of species that actually reproduce in such a disgusting fashion. Considering the size to which these spiders grow (a hatchling starts small, but grows to be over 6 feet/2 meters tall in a very short time), the hosts from which they hatch usually suffer greatly.
Sense Vibrations: A Leng Spider can sense even the smallest vibrations in its environment and detect its victim’s location with some precision.
Venom: If the poison from a Leng Spider enters a person’s bloodstream via a bite, the effects are rapid and dramatic. The victim immediately becomes Stunned and must make a CON test after 1D6 turns. If that test fails, the victim falls into a type of coma, with their metabolism and normal bodily functions slowed to a minimum. The duration of this comatose state, how long someone can survive, and what happens when/if someone wakes up, are all entirely at the discretion of the Game Moderator.
After a successful bite attack a Leng Spider will usually retreat, waiting for its venom to take effect. It then returns to drag the sleeping victim back to its den, for consumption there. Sometimes comatose victims are not immediately eaten, but stored in a larder. Such unfortunates may be kept as future food or used as a host to house a clutch of eggs.
There are obscure rumors that suggest that the venom from a Leng Spider – if administered in just the right dose – can allow a person to travel from the waking world to the Dreamlands and remain there for an extended period of time.
Knockdown: If the victim is still alive after a successful attack, the force of the attack knocks them to the ground.
Unnatural Speed: Leng Spiders are always considered a target with fast movement. It can use the Dodge action against firearm attacks.
Camouflage: Spiders From Leng are deadly hunters that can adapt their appearance to match their surroundings. Such powers are so extensive that in some cases the spiders almost completely merge with the surrounding environment, making them effectively invisible. To see a camouflaged Spider of Leng lurking motionless in close proximity requires a successful Search test; if viewing at a distance, a penalty of up to -40% should be applied to this test.
Climb Walls: A Leng Spider can easily crawl along ceilings and walls.
SAN Loss: 1/1D8.
Many scholars of the Mythos have speculated that there may be a more powerful force that presides over the Leng Spiders, perhaps even one of the Great Old Ones. It has been suggested that such a being — effectively the “mother of all spiders” might have considerable powers to weave the very fabric of our reality. The complex semi-coterminous relationship between the Plateau of Leng and certain locations in the waking world would seem to support this theory. But has the vast cosmic web spun by the Spiders From Leng already been woven … or are they still working to ensnare space and time in its strands? Several myths and legends speculate as to what might happen if the strands of this web were ever to be broken.
“There were scenes of old wars, wherein Leng’s almost-humans fought with the bloated purple spiders of the neighboring vales; and there were also scenes of the coming of the black galleys from the moon, and of the submission of Leng’s people to the polypous and amorphous blasphemies that hopped and floundered and wriggled out of them.”
— The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1927.
Dreaming Servants of the Great Old One
Star Spawn by Brad Hicks
These beings descended from the stars with their master, the Great Old One Cthulhu. During Cthulhu’s dominion on Earth they served his will, crafting vast and alien cities, and waging terrible war against the Elder Things.
In appearance, the Star Spawn greatly resemble their high priest, Cthulhu. They have huge, shapeless white bodies with massive black wings and glowing eyes. While this is their native form, certain ancient stone tablets suggest that the Star Spawn also have the ability to alter their physical form, perhaps even assuming human-like bodies. If this is true, Cthulhu’s Kin may present a far greater threat to humanity than most people recognize. This is particularly the case because these alien horrors remain intensely loyal to their ancient master, and strive ever to find a way to overturn its cosmic imprisonment until the stars come right. It is conceivable that the Star Spawn are already working in partnership with the international Cthulhu Cult, who are likewise working at the behest of Cthulhu’s call.
STR 100 CON 120 DEX 12 INT 20 POW 20
HP 110 WP 20
Size category: Extremely Large (target size bonus: +40%).
Movement: Star Spawn can move 25 meters/yards in a combat round either on the ground, flying or swimming.
Armor: 20 points from titanic physique (see also REGENERATION, below).
vs Lethal Damage: PARTIALLY IMMUNE – Lethal attacks with a Lethality rating less than 50% are largely ineffective against the alien matter of a Star Spawn, dealing just 1 HP of damage for a successful hit. Attacks with a Lethality rating of 50%+ are rolled as normal. A failed test generates HP damage as normal (treating the dice as two D10s and summing). However, a successful roll against a Lethality 50% attack results in the Star‐Spawn spontaneously exploding in a disgusting shower of protoplasmic matter. Whether such a scattered Spawn is truly dead, or whether the millions of tiny components will slowly draw themselves together to eventually reform a body is left as a decision for the Game Moderator.
Attacks:
Tentacles 75%, Lethality 20% with Kill Radius 2 yards/meters. See also PINNING, below.
Claw Rake 65%, Lethality 60%.
Skills: Alertness 60%, Athletics 30%, Flying 75%, Swim 90%, Unnatural 90%.
Pinning: After a successful tentacle attack by a Star Spawn, the target (and everyone else in a 5 yard/meter radius) is pinned by the creatures vast tendril. This can only be avoided with a successful Dodge test.
Flight: Star Spawn can move rapidly through the air.
Shape Shifting: A Starspawn can change shape, morphing from its default form (a smaller version of Cthulhu) to a shape that resembles the form of certain (pre-)human beings. Alternatively, the Spawn can adopt other forms if it so wishes.
Regeneration: In each combat turn, the creature first regenerates +1D4 Hit Points prior to performing its action.
Unnatural Organism: A Star Spawn’s physiology reveals no weaknesses or particularly significant areas of the body. Targeting to increase damage is therefore not possible, nor are critical hits.
Unnatural Rituals: Aklo Sabaoth (Great Cthulhu), DHO-HNA Formula, Summon Entity (Great Cthulhu)
SAN Loss: 1D8/1D20.
Some scholars of the Mythos believe that not all of Cthulhu’s servants are confined to slumber alongside him in the sunken city of R’lyeh. If arcane lore is accurate, then Cthulhu’s Kin might actively be working to free their trapped master, using the vast eons to explore ways to overturn his cosmic imprisonment. If the rumors are true, and their abilities to warp their physical form has grown sophisticated enough that they can mimic the human form … then it is possible that members of this ancient alien species might even walk among us. That is a very disturbing thought.
“With the upheaval of new land in the South Pacific tremendous events began. Some of the marine cities were hopelessly shattered, yet that was not the worst misfortune. Another race – a land race of beings shaped like octopi and probably corresponding to fabulous pre-human spawn of Cthulhu – soon began filtering down from cosmic infinity and precipitated a monstrous war which for a time drove the Old Ones wholly back to the sea – a colossal blow in view of the increasing land settlements. Later peace was made, and the new lands were given to the Cthulhu spawn whilst the Old Ones held the sea and the older lands. New land cities were founded – the greatest of them in the antarctic, for this region of first arrival was sacred. From then on, as before, the antarctic remained the center of the Old Ones’ civilization, and all the cities built there by the Cthulhu spawn were blotted out. Then suddenly the lands of the Pacific sank again, taking with them the frightful stone city of R’lyeh and all the cosmic octopi, so that the Old Ones were again supreme on the planet except for one shadowy fear about which they did not like to speak.”
— At the Mountains of Madness, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1931.
Space-borne Eldritch Horrors from Beyond
Winged Servants are a bizarre species of extraterrestrial beings capable of flying through the cold blackness of space, borne on great black wings. They are well-adapted to surviving in even the most harsh and inhospitable environments. This allows them to traverse virtually any environment, be it air, water, or the vacuum of deep space.
In appearance, Winged Servants defy easy description as they seem to comprise an obscene mixture of different forms drawn from a diversity of terrestrial biology – membranous wings, webbed feet, insectoid features, disgusting brush-like fur.
Human scholars of the Cthulhu Mythos sometimes employ Winged Servants as part of their invocations, or as mounts to ride to other planets. Anyone who climbs on the back of such an alien monstrosity would do well to contemplate the dangers that might arise if their faithful steed should take an objection to them part-way through such a voyage.
STR 22 CON 22 DEX 11 INT 4 POW 8
HP 22 WP 8
Size category: Large.
Movement: Winged Servants can move 6 meters/yards in a combat round along the ground or 25 meters/yards while flying.
Armor: 3 points from unnaturally thick hide.
vs Lethal Damage: NORMAL – affected by Lethal Damage the same way humans are affected.
Attacks:
Claw 40%, damage 2D6.
Skills: Alertness 40%, Athletics 30%, Flying 60%.
Flying Ability: The being can move effortlessly through the air and also the vacuum of space. By such flight, they can reach anywhere on Earth as well as traverse interplanetary and/or interstellar space.
Warp Physical Reality: Winged Servants have the ability to unnaturally warp the space around them, through special movements of their great wings. This ability allows them to quickly jump from one part of the Universe to another, and perhaps even to reach other dimensions. Anybody riding a Winged Servant at the time it bends the laws of physics will find the experience highly disturbing (1D4/1D10 SAN each time).
Unnatural Organism: A Winged Servant’s physiology reveals no weaknesses or particularly significant areas of the body. Targeting to increase damage is therefore not possible, nor are critical hits. However, the creature still takes regular damage.
SAN Loss: 1/1D8.
Ritual casters frequently summon Winged Servants to Earth to serve either as a means of transport or as a messenger.
When invoked as a method of travel, sorcerers sometimes rely on the Winged Servants’ abilities to quickly fly through our atmosphere but may also call upon their more impressive powers of flight through interplanetary (or even interstellar) space. In the former case, riding on the back of a Winged Servant can allow a person to reach any corner of our world within a day or so. When traversing the inky blackness of space the trips may be longer in duration, but in many cases still represent an incredible means of making otherwise impossible journeys.
Although Winged Servants are not known for their intelligence, sorcerers would be wise to not entirely dismiss their abilities to reason. On more than one occasion the poor treatment of a Winged mount has resulted in the rider receiving a very messy death – either thrown from their position to fall vast distances to ground, or even worse to float to their deaths in the vacuum of space.
“Out of the unimaginable blackness beyond the gangrenous glare of that cold flame, out of the tartarean leagues through which that oily river rolled uncanny, unheard, and unsuspected, there flopped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things that no sound eye could ever wholly grasp, or sound brain ever wholly remember. They were not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor vampire bats, nor decomposed human beings; but something I cannot and must not recall. They flopped limply along, helped with their webbed feet and helped with their membranous wings; and as they reached the throng of celebrants the cowled figures seized and mounted them, and rode off one by one along the reaches of that unlighted river, into pits and galleries of panic where poison springs feed frightful and undiscoverable cataracts.”
— The Festival, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1925.
The Key and The Gate
Yog-Sothoth by Brad Hicks
Yog-Sothoth is the key and the gate. Yog-Sothoth is time and space. Yog-Sothoth is ruler of dimensions and guardian of realities. This Outer God exists in all ages and in all places. He was witness to the beginning of our universe, and will be present at its end. As vast and powerful as the other gods and Great Old Ones are, Yog-Sothoth stands outside of any hierarchy or Mythos “pantheon”, if such a concept even exists.
It would be presumptuous to think that Yog- Sothoth might have even the slightest interest in either the earth or humanity. Nevertheless, he is the subject of worship by many human cults and a central figure in many rituals. People hope to gain great power by invoking Yog-Sothoth. However, becoming enmeshed with Yog-Sothoth is more than a little perilous. Not only are its physical manifestations — often perceived as vast congeries of colored spheres – utterly impossible for any human to control, their potential for destruction truly knows no bounds.
POW 100
Physical Attacks: Lethality 98% with Kill Radius 5 meters/yards (contact with unearthly matter).
Outer God: Yog-Sothoth is so powerful that it exists and acts beyond the limits of the human imagination. As such, it has no physical stats, and the GM is free to decide the consequences of direct contact. For regular people, however, an encounter usually means certain death or insanity. An earthly manifestation of Yog-Sothoth might begin as a relatively local phenomenon (say, 100 yards across), but the scale of the incursion expands exponentially over time until its form covers an area miles wide.
Omniscience: The All-in-One and One-in-All has limitless knowledge that encompasses everything that exists in all timelines. Desiring to acquire this knowledge is a dangerous process and can lead to a significant loss of sanity, as the human mind is simply overwhelmed with this concept.
Space-Time Warping: The presence of Yog-Sothoth can cause space-time to stretch, warp, or fold. It is not known whether this effect is caused by mass and gravity, as Einstein postulated, or by other forces. As a result of Yog-Sothoth’s influence distortions are created in the fabric of reality, bringing together distant places, creating wormholes and crossing timelines. The Game Moderator should determine the specific effects such bending of space and time have on witnesses and the environment.
Unnatural Knowledge (+1d100): Encountering this creature inevitably increases the character’s Unnatural Knowledge by +1D100 points. The character then simultaneously loses sanity points of the same amount and suffers the usual consequences. No sanity check protects against this trait. The Unnatural Realization occurs immediately after the regular sanity check and regardless of its result. A face-to-face encounter with Yog-Sothoth leads to both profound insights into the truths of our universe and inevitable madness.
SAN Loss: 1D10/1D100 to witness the physical form of Yog-Sothoth (see also Unnatural Insight, above). Achieving mental contact with its alien intelligence 1D6/1D20 SAN.
Time and place mean very little in the context of Yog-Sothoth. Perhaps this fluid relationship with our physical reality is the reason Yog-Sothoth’s worship is so widespread amongst Mythos scholars who seek to transcend earthly bounds. If viewed as a philosophy, such beliefs run through many human religions and systems of belief. The ambiguous belief that something can be both the “key and the gate” is, after all, not terribly far things like the Chinese conceptualization of “ying” and “yang.”
“The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and unseen to us. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the old ones broke through of old, and where they shall break through again. He knows where They had trod earth’s fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread.”
— The Dunwich Horror, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1928.
Inquisitive Forest Dwellers of the Dreamlands
Zoogs are small brown furry creatures that inhabit subterranean caves and the trunks of mighty oak trees in Earth’s Dreamlands. Intelligent, mischievous, and inquisitive, Zoogs covertly explore much of the Dreamlands – and some even claim to have seen them in the waking world. From their sojourns they bring back secret knowledge about the wider Dreamlands (and perhaps the Waking World as well). They converse with one another using a fluttering, trilling kind of language which some humans have also learned to understand.
Excellent tool and weapon smiths, the Zoogs make use of a variety of manufactured implements. They mostly live off a diet of fungus, although they are not averse to eating meat. In certain places in the Dreamlands they are particularly known for the moon wine that they make. The production of this drink is a highly secretive process.
Zoogs live in village-like communities and have a social structure, being governed by the oldest as wisest of their number – the council of Elder Zoogs.
The Zoogs and the Cats of the Dreamlands have a long-standing mutual hatred of one another, something which has spawned numerous battles and wars.
STR 4 CON 5 DEX 20 INT 12 POW 11
HP 5 WP 11
Size category: Extremely Small (target size penalty -20%).
Movement: Zoogs can move 10 meters/yards in a combat turn.
Armor: None.
vs Lethal Damage: NORMAL – affected by Lethal Damage the same way humans are affected.
Attacks:
Bite 35%, damage 1.
Slingshot 45%, damage 1D4.
Skills: Alertness 55%, Athletics 45%, Craft (Winemaking) 75%, Dodge 40%, Dreamlands Lore 40%, Military Science (Zoog) 40%, Stealth 65%, Track (Smell) 50%.
Create Minor Bad Luck: While close to Zoogs, humans are more likely to mislay small items like coins, jewelry, or items of stationary. A Luck test is required to avoid losing important items.
SAN Loss: 0/1.
Elder ZoogsOlder and wiser than the average Zoog, these elders form their leaders. Many have learned to converse in the languages of humans. STR 3 CON 4 DEX 13 INT 16 POW 16 Size category: Extremely Small (target size penalty -20%). Movement: Elder Zoogs can move 7½ meters/yards in a combat turn. Armor: None. Attacks: Bite 20%, damage 1. Skills: Dreamlands Lore 75%, Foreign Language (a human tongue) 20%, History 45%, Military Science (Zoog) 50%, Unnatural 20%. Rituals: Accelerated Healing, Dominate Will, Erase Memories (brewed into moon wine), Inflict Harm. |
Zoogs are energetic, curious, and inventive. In the enchanted woods and forests of the Dreamlands it may be that the Zoogs know many secret pathways to cross into the Waking World. Certainly, there is plenty in our world which they would like to explore and purloin. They might be responsible for small items that go missing, or a loss of some ingredient that is important to their moon wine. If traveling to the Waking World the Zoogs may also get into battles with mundane cats, continuing the great feud that exists in the Dreamlands albeit in a much more modest form.
It is believed that some Zoogs are capable of learning unnatural rituals, and occasionally scholars seek out such individuals to be taught some obscure magick. Understanding the language of the Zoogs is not a simple undertaking, however, and usually requires someone to develop a substantial skill in Dreamlands Lore.
“In the tunnels of that twisted wood, whose low prodigious oaks twine groping boughs and shine dim with the phosphorescence of strange fungi, dwell the furtive and secretive zoogs; who know many obscure secrets of the dream world and a few of the waking world, since the wood at two places touches the lands of men, though it would be disastrous to say where. Certain unexplained rumors, events, and vanishments occur among men where the Zoogs have access, and it is well that they cannot travel far outside the world of dream. But over the nearer parts of the dream world they pass freely, flitting small and brown and unseen and bearing back piquant tales to beguile the hours around their hearts in the forest they love.”
— The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1927.
Lovecraft’s stories already contain many unnatural entities. Game statistics for many of them are included on this page and its ‘A’ to ‘K’ companion. However, much of the appeal of a horror TTRPG is facing the unknown. To help the Game Moderator keep creating new unnatural threats, we present some guidelines that can assist with building descriptions of brand new horrors drawn from your own inspiration.
If you want to create a Great Old One of massively powerful “god-like” entity, you don’t need to use any of these suggestions. Such creatures are so powerful that they are not bound by any rules. Therefore, they only get a description, a POW stat, some special powers, and a SAN loss. No other game stats are very important to such titanic powers – any encounters between the Protagonists and such horrors will be guided by the needs of the story, not by the dice.
For everything else, the following steps can guide the process of developing a set of game stats:
We describe each of these steps separately in sections below.
Some of an entity’s physical game stats are strongly correlated with its physical size and mass. For the purposes of easily describing the scale of an entity we define six size categories, ranging from Extremely Small to Extremely Large. Human-sized beings fall into the Medium category. The size category has the biggest influence on an entity’s STR and CON, but also plays a part in the entity’s combat stats.
Choosing a size category is a good way to start developing stats for a new entity. The table below gives some rough guides in the form of mundane (and not-so-mundane) real-world animals which can be helpful comparisons. The STR and CON values listed for each category should be thought of as an “average” or “indicative” range – there is no reason a particular creature or entity can’t be unusually strong or unusually healthy compared to the norm (if you want to formally recognize this, you can give the creature the UNNATURAL STRENGTH or UNNATURAL CONSTITUTION special ability later on). Alternatively, your entity can be weaker than the typical values shown in the table, representing something feeble or unhealthy for its size.
| Size category | Body mass | STR & CON | Examples (approximate STR and CON value) |
| Extremely Small | < 5Kg (below 11lbs) | 1-5 | rat (2), tarantula (1), mouse (1), domestic cat (3), ferret (3) |
| Small | 5 to 35 Kg (11-77 lbs) | 5-10 | dog (5), badger (7), king cobra (5), lynx (5), velociraptor (10) |
| Medium | 35 to 200 Kg (77-440 lbs) | 10-20 | large dog (15), puma (15), jaguar (15), wild boar (15), alligator (20), gorilla (20) |
| Large | 200Kg to 2Tonnes (440lbs to 2.2 tons) | 20-50 | horse (30), cattle (30), bear (25), lion (25), tiger (25), great white shark (50), crocodile (30), hippo (50) |
| Very Large | 2 to 10 Tonnes (2.2 – 11 tons) | 50-100 | elephant (70), white rhinoceros (50), tyrannosaurus (80), triceratops (60), killer whale (80) |
| Extremely Large | >10 Tonnes (11+ tons) | 100+ | sperm whale (150), blue whale (200), brachiosaurus (150), brontosaurus (100). |
Unnatural entities get the same set of game stats as Protagonists (except for CHArisma – although some human-like entities might have that too). The range of values is the same as for humans. Use the table below and pick some values that match your conception of the creature’s nimbleness (DEX), smarts (INT), and strength of will (POW).
| Stat | 1-4 | 5-8 | 9-12 | 13-16 | 17-20 | 21+ |
| DEX | Ponderous | Slow | – | Nimble | Catlike | Unnatural |
| INT | Instinctive | Primitive | – | Cunning | Clever | Unnatural |
| POW | Cowardly | Reticent | – | Strong-willed | Fearless | Unnatural |
Calculate Hit Points and Willpower Points using the same formulae you use for Protagonists. If you really want your creature to have more HP than its stats would normally deliver, you can always give it an Unnatural Ability later on that provides such a boost. Note that Unnatural Entities don’t have SAN points or a Breaking Point – they are far beyond the human concepts of sanity and insanity; they are Unnatural.
HP = (STR + CON) ÷ 2, rounded up.
WP = POW.
Next pick some appropriate skills for your entity. Animals usually have values between 20% and 80% for just their most relevant skills, usually those related to their physical athleticism. Unnatural entities can of course have higher values. Combat values are not given by skills, but are determined separately in the next step. Common skills possessed by entities:
An entity’s size can affect how easy or difficult it is for an opponent to strike in combat. Particularly large targets are easier to hit, and very small ones are more difficult to target. This is reflected in the Targeting Adjustment shown in the table below. This bonus or penalty is applied to attacks made against the entity by human-sized attackers (like the Protagonists). If the attacker is itself very large or very small, judge the bonus based on the comparison between attacker and defender size categories – if they are different by more than two levels, apply a bonus or penalty. Otherwise ignore size as a factor.
An entity’s Armor rating is mostly determined by physical qualities like the thickness of its hide or fur, or by unnatural factors such as supernaturally impenetrable skin. However, the size category can give a starting point for Armor rating – after all, creatures who are particularly large usually benefit from having solid bodies, which are needed for them to be able to move around.
| Size Category | Targeting Adjustment | Base Armor |
| Extremely Small | -20% penalty | 0-1 |
| Small | None | 0-2 |
| Medium | None | 0-3 |
| Large | None | 3-5 |
| Very Large | +20% bonus | 5-10, solid |
| Extremely Large | +40% bonus | 10-25, massive |
Another important protective factor for an entity is its susceptibility or resilience to forms of damage that would normally be Lethal to humans. Natural creatures which aren’t vastly larger than human-sized will likely be affected by Lethal damage in the same way as a
person. However, creatures which have supernatural compositions or are massive in size will likely be less affected.
Here are a few common forms of reduced susceptibility to Lethal damage that you can apply to your entity. Alternatively, you can invent some variant mechanic based on the special properties of the creature or individual in question.
An entity’s speed of movement is a factor that can be important in combat or pursuit type situations. The table below provides some general ranges that represent slower or faster rates of movement; pick a range that seems right for your entity and then assign a rate within that range.
If the entity can fly or swim especially well, it is usually worth allocating them a different rate of movement in these different media. They can be similar to their normal rate over land, or vastly different – whatever matches your conception of their physical capacities for self-propelled motion.
| Speed Descriptor | Distance covered in a turn |
| Extremely Slow | < 4 meters/yards |
| Slow | 4-8 meters/yards |
| Medium | 8-12 meters/yards |
| Fast | 12-16 meters/yards |
| Very Fast | 16-20 meters/yards |
| Extremely Fast | > 20 meters/yards |
Entities may have just one method of inflicting harm upon their opponents, or they may have several. For each method, you will need to determine the likelihood that the attack successfully affects an opponent, and the magnitude of the damage inflicted by the attack. Usually the likelihood of an attack hitting is based on the general hunting and combat experience of the entity – if they are well-seasoned and battle-hardened warriors, they will have a high chance to hit, if they are reluctant fighters, it will be low. The table below gives some suggested chances for different categories of pacifist or martial entities.
| Attack chance | Meaning |
| 20% | Very slow and/or passive |
| 30% | Slow and/or passive creature |
| 40% | Stealthy or defensive fighter |
| 60% | Experienced predator |
| 80% | Killing machine |
The amount of damage caused by an attack is, to some extent, a product of the entity’s size category. After all, even a mild strike from the limb of a behemoth is likely to have sufficient momentum and force to cause a deadly injury. The table below gives some suggestions. Note that if the entity has a STR that is 20 or higher, it is common for any attacks powered by that superhuman strength to inflict Lethal damage equal to (STR÷2)%. Naturally, you can ignore this and assign a lesser value if it seems more appropriate to the situation.
| Size Category | Base Damage |
| Extremely Small | 1 HP; 1D4 HP |
| Small | 1D4 HP; 1D6 HP |
| Medium | 1D6 HP; 1D8 HP; 1D10 HP; 1D12 HP; 2D6 HP; 10% Lethality |
| Large | 10% Lethality to 25% Lethality |
| Very Large | 25% Lethality to 50% Lethality |
| Extremely Large | 50%+ Lethality |
Unnatural entities usually have at least one special ability that is beyond what is possible for animals or humans. The lists below provide some examples of offensive, defensive and miscellaneous special abilities you can use as a starting point. Or you can invent something brand new based on the game mechanics scattered through the entity entries in this chapter. It is usually best to give your creation a few iconic (and thus memorable) special abilities rather than overloading it with a whole arsenal of unusual powers.
| Offensive Ability | Description |
| Blood Drain | The bite of the entity drains blood from the victim each turn until forcibly detached. For each turn of blood loss, the victim loses 1D6 STR. If STR reaches zero the victim dies. Survivors slowly regain lost points at a rate determined by the Game Moderator. |
| Cling & Bite | After the entity bites a victim, it will cling to it unless forcibly removed. Each subsequent turn inflicts further Hit Points of damage to the victim, depending on the size and nature of the entity. |
| Engulf Victims | If a victim is pulled into the entity’s mass it becomes absorbed within it. An individual trapped inside the entity must separately make an opposed test comparing his or her STR against the entity’s STR. If the test is failed, the victim takes Lethal Damage with rating equal to 1% × the entity’s CON. Trapped targets inside the entity find it difficult to move or attack: only by making a percentile roll below their STR can such individuals make an attack while inside the entity. |
| Frenzy | Entity can make two melee attacks in the same combat turn, both with a penalty of -20%. |
| Knock Down | The force of the entity’s strike knocks victims through the air landing them on the ground. Depending on the attack, this might cause additional damage. For Large, Very Large and Extremely Large entities, the only means of avoiding this is through a successful Dodge test. |
| Mental Drain | If the entity wishes to mentally weaken those in its proximity, it can compel an individual to perform an opposed test which matches the entity’s POW versus the victim’s INT. If the victim is defeated in this test, he or she immediately loses 1D6 Willpower Points + 1D6 SAN. The WPs are added to the attacker’s total. |
| Pin | On a successful attack, the target is pinned. This can also cause additional damage, depending on the creature. Exactly what pinning looks like depends on the nature of the creature. For Large, Very Large and Extremely Large entities, the only means of avoiding this is through a successful Dodge test. |
| Penetrating Attacks | This attack type penetrates any known armor, completely ignoring a target’s armor value. |
| Toxic Venom | The bite of the entity injects a potent toxin with a Lethality Rating equal to the entity’s CON. |
| Unnatural Speed | The creature is always considered a very fast-moving target (-40% to hit). It can also use the Dodge action against firearms. |
| Defensive Ability | Description |
| Flicker | The entity is partially on another plane of existence or uses it to move around. Therefore, some attacks simply pass through it. The likelihood of the target lingering outside the normal plane of existence is given as a percentage. |
| Immune to Damage Types | The entity loses no hit points from the specific damage type (e.g., firearms, puncturing weapons, fire). |
| Regeneration | In each combat turn, before performing its action, the creature first regenerates hit points equal to the specified amount. |
| Resistant to Damage Types | Any damage of the named damage type is halved before being charged to the armor value. This also means that the lethality value of weapons is halved on lethality rolls against a resistant target. |
| Transcendent | The entity is immune to physical damage. Perhaps it exists in dimensions we cannot perceive or are built in such a way that pure force and matter cannot harm them. Such entities can easily penetrate matter. |
| Unnatural Armor | The entity’s armor also provides full protection against armor piercing weapons. |
| Unnatural Organism | The entity’s physiology reveals no weaknesses or particularly significant areas of the body. Targeting to increase damage is therefore not possible, nor are critical hits. |
| Unnatural Toughness | The creature has a number of additional HP not derived from its CON or STR. A common version of this ability is for the entity to have 2x the normal amount of HP. |
| Other Ability | Description |
| Great Old One | The entity is so vastly powerful that it exists and acts beyond the limits of the human imagination. As such, it has no physical stats, and the GM is free to decide the consequences of direct contact with that creature. For humans, however, an encounter usually means certain death or insanity. Great Old Ones also usually also inspire UNNATURAL KNOWLEDGE |
| Invisible | The entity has the power to become invisible to normal vision through a supernatural effect; attempts to hit the entity while it is invisible are halved. |
| Mental Control | The entity has the power to control humans via mental dominance. Resolve such attempts as an opposed POW vs POW test; if the target’s will is overcome, he or she is compelled to remain in close proximity to the area where the mental control was initiated. Once controlled, a dominated human can be mentally contacted by the entity regardless of where it is, anywhere on Earth. This communication costs the entity 1 Willpower Point. |
| Shapeshifter | The entity can mimic the appearance of objects and other creatures to disguise itself. |
| Special Sense | The entity has special perceptive abilities. These could include echolocation, heat vision, vibration sense, as well as particularly acute senses such as a keen sense of smell, acute hearing, or eagle eyes. |
| Unnatural Knowledge | Encountering this entity inevitably increases the character’s Unnatural Knowledge. The character then simultaneously loses sanity points of the same amount and suffers the usual consequences. No sanity check protects against this trait. The Unnatural Realization occurs immediately after the regular sanity check and regardless of its result. |
| Unnatural Strength / Constitution | The entity has an unnaturally high STR or CON, beyond those normally associated with its size category. This creature does not adhere to the rules of the natural order and is much stronger or tougher than can be explained by its stature. |
An encounter with an unnatural entity results in a loss of SAN in humans, the corrosive effect of the damage these alien monstrosities inflict on the human psyche. Entities that are greater – in terms of physical size or significance – tend to cause more significant damage.
The table below provides some suggestions for SAN losses based on the scale of the entity and their level of ‘alien-ness’ as defined by the following categories:
In addition to damaging the SAN of those who encounter them, Unnatural Entities may be the source of significant wisdom about the true nature of reality. Encounters with entities who have the UNNATURAL KNOWLEDGE characteristic in particular are likely to trigger gains in Unnatural skill … for better or worse.
| Size Category | Disturbing | Uncanny | Shocking | Grotesque |
| Extremely Small / Small | 0/1 | 1/1D4 | 1/1D6 | 1/1D8 |
| Medium | 1/1D4 | 1/1D6 | 1/1D8 | 1D4/1D10 |
| Large | 1/1D6 | 1/1D8 | 1D4/1D10 | 1D6/1D12 |
| Very Large | 1/1D8 | 1D4/1D10 | 1D6/1D12 | 1D8/1D20 |
| Extremely Large | 1D4/1D10 | 1D6/1D12 | 1D8/1D20 | 1D10/1D100 |
