Cthulhu Dark - ARules-light System For Lovecraftian Horror

Cthulhu Dark.

Your Investigator

Choose a name and occupation. Describe your Investigator.

Take a green Insanity Die.

Insanity

Your Insanity starts at 1.

When you see something disturbing, roll your Insanity die.

If you get higher than your Insanity, add 1 to your Insanity

and roleplay your fear.

Doing Things

To know how well you do at something, roll:

 One die if the task is within human capabilities.

 One die if it’s within your occupational expertise.

 Your Insanity die, if you will risk your sanity to succeed.

If your Insanity die rolls higher than any other die, make

an Insanity roll, as above.

Then your highest die shows how well you do. On a 1, you

barely succeed. On a 6, you do brilliantly.

For example: you’re escaping from the window of an

Innsmouth hotel. On a 1, you crash on an adjoining roof,

attracting the attention of everyone around. On a 4, you land

quietly on the roof, but leave traces for pursuers to follow.

On a 6, you escape quietly, while your pursers continue

searching the hotel.

When you investigate, the highest die shows how much

information you get. On a 1, you get the bare minimum:

if you need information to proceed with the scenario, you

get it, but that’s all you get. On a 4, you get whatever a

competent investigator would discover. On a 5, you discover

everything humanly possible. And, on a 6, you may glimpse

beyond human knowledge (and probably make an Insanity

roll).

For example: you’re investigating your great-uncle’s

manuscripts. On a 1, you find the address “7 Thomas Street”

(the next location in the scenario). On a 6, you find that, from

February 28 to April 2, many townspeople had dreams of

gigantic nameless creatures. Simultaneously, a Californian

theosophist colony donned robes for a “glorious fulfilment”,

The dreamers included Mr Wilcox of 7 Thomas Street.

Failing

If someone thinks it would more interesting if you failed,

they describe how you might fail and roll a die. (They can’t

do this if you’re investigating and you must succeed for the

scenario to proceed).

3

If their die rolls higher than your highest die, you fail, in

the way they described. If not, you succeed as before, with

your highest die showing how well you succeed.

Returning to the example above: you’re escaping from the

hotel window. This time, someone thinks it would be more

interesting if your pursuers caught you. When you both roll,

they get the higher die. You are caught.

Rerolling

If you included your Insanity die in the roll and you’re not

happy with the result, you may reroll (all the dice). If you

didn’t include your Insanity die before, you may add it now

and reroll.

Afterwards, look at the new result. As before, the highest

die shows how well you do.

If your Insanity Die rolls higher than any other die, make an

Insanity roll, even if you made one after your previous roll.

Co-operating andcompeting

To cooperate: everyone who is cooperating rolls their dice.

The highest die, rolled by anyone, determines the outcome.

To compete: everyone who is competing rolls their dice.

Whoever gets highest wins. If it’s a tie, the person with

highest Insanity wins. If Insanity is tied, reroll.

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