Publisher: Cthulhu Reborn
"The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them ..."
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Mankind likes to believe itself the foremost power in the world, and the universe beyond. But this is a prideful illusion. A lie. Long before we rose from the slime, other powers far greater held sway upon our planet ... and those same powers were always destined to one day return to their pre-eminence. APOCTHULHU is a roleplaying game which explores a world in which one such horrific re-emergence has already occurred, leaving the world in a Post-Apocalyptic torpor.| IMPORTANT NOTE: At present, the APOCTHULHU Core RPG rules are available as a PDF only, as finalization of a print edition is still being undertaken. If you purchase the PDF title now, when the print title becomes available you will receive a discount code enabling you to purchase the printed rulebook at a reduced price. The discount amount will be equal to the full PDF-only purchase price. This means that if your ultimate goal is to obtain both the PDF *and* print book, you will not pay any more if you purchase the PDF now rather than waiting for the print release later in 2020. |
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APOCTHULHU is a tabletop roleplaying game that is designed to allow you to explore many different past or future worlds where the Mythos somehow took control. Perhaps human civilizations fell when Shub-Niggurath bestowed a terrible gift of fertility on the Earth? Or when Nyarlathotep’s words seduced superpowers into mutual annihilation? Did R’lyeh rise, waking you-know-who?APOCTHULHU is built upon a simple yet elegant D100 system. Players take on the roles of everyday people who are Survivors in a Post-Apocalyptic world. Game mechanics emphasize the lethality of life in the fallen world, in terms of threats to health and sanity. Rules also cover scavenging equipment and resources, often the only way Survivors can obtain scarce supplies.
By investigating horrors of the Post-Apocalyptic world and defeating their schemes and agents, Survivors might just guarantee their community lives to carry on the fight. Or they might unearth secrets that can one day overthrow the Mythos overlords.
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The APOCTHULHU Core Rulebook is a beautifully and extensively illustrated 330-page book, presenting the rules of the game and copious resources for running it.D100-BASED RULES
The book contains a full and detailed set of game mechanics, streamlined and tailored for running any kind of Lovecraftian Post-Apocalypse, whether that be future, present-day, or even a "historical apocalypse":- Character Options: Flexible character archetypes allow you to build a wide range of different types of player-character Survivors, from fearful former office-workers to grizzled road warriors.
- Scavenging: Finding useful resources in the Post-Apocalyptic wastelands can be hard -- the game offers mechanics for determining what's easy to track down and what's not. And what unspecified "stuff" might be pulled from your Survivor's personal swag of belongings when the need arises.
- Societal Bonds: In a world without defined social structures, sometimes the only thing a Survivor can count on are the bonds he or she has with individuals around them, and the bonds with community groups. Both are explicitly represented by game mechanics.
- Simple But Deadly Combat: The world can be violent, but engaging in combat is never a safe option, rather a last resort that might just leave both the winner and loser permanently scarred (or dead).
- Sanity Mechanics: Lovecraftian games always feature the perilous cost of learning the truth about the horrors of the world, but in a Post-Apocalyptic world not all horrors are hidden ... nor are they necessarily uncommon.
POST-APOCALYPSE SETTING RESOURCE
The APOCTHULHU Core Rules are designed to support games set in a broad range of Lovecraftian Post-Apocalypse settings. As such there is no one "core" game setting, but rather the book provides resources for building or adapting games in many different settings:
- Build Your Own: Advice and guidelines are provided for GMs who want to take their own original idea for a Post-Apocalyptic world and turn it into a fully-fledged game setting.
- Pre-Defined "Example" Apocalypses: Eight settings are described with detailed descriptions of the origins of the Apocalypse, details of life of the setting, and some representative horrors, supernatural wonders, and "tomes".
- William Hope Hodgson's "The Night Land": An extended "sourcebook" chapter provides a lengthy description of the bizarre far-future Apocalyptic world described in Hodgon's 1913 novel. Adapted by legendary designer Kevin Ross.
READY-TO-RUN SCENARIOS
In addition to setting details, the core APOCTHULHU rulebook contains two fully-detailed "ready-to-run" Lovecraftian scenarios. Each is set in its own world:
Whether you want a ready-made one-shot, or an ongoing campaign of gritty survival horror, APOCTHULHU is your gateway to nightmarish versions of humanity’s past or future.- "Kick The Can" by Jeff Moeller: The end of the world came when the night of fire prophesied by a crazy doomsday cult ACTUALLY came to fruition. The PC are among the few who survived in cult-furnished bunkers; a year on, strange radio messages summon them. Should they listen?
- "A Yellow And Unpleasant Land" by Jo Kreil: A "historical apocalypse" set in an alternative version of 1890s Britain. Queen Victoria is gone, as are the staid traditions of the Victorian age. In its place is hedonism and decadence, mandated by a new King ... a King in Yellow.
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Do you have what it takes to be an Apocalypse Survivor?
| Intrigued by the idea, but would prefer to give the APOCTHULHU game system a test-drive first? Well, you can! Check out the APOCTHULHU Quickstart, available as a Pay-What-You-Want PDF or Softcover book. |
An APOCTHULHU resources page may be found on the Cthulhu Reborn site which offers items to supplement the Core rulebook and make it easier and quicker to start playing.
Price: $22.95
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