Lovecraftianesque Hero's

[runester]

Hello, all;

I was going to run a little Silver Age Super's game for my group, as an in between break from our Traveller campaign. Instead of generating Silver Age Superhero's they generated some pretty dark characters that fit with a horror theme much better, so we decided to go with a Lovecraftian type investigator's story, albeit they are fully capable and expected to kick some butt instead of just being killed or driven insane. We set the story in Boston (near where we play) and in the 1930's. The three players are all 'extraordinary gentlemen' like individuals with one mentalist, one female wearwolf, and one who's lost his soul and now can walk as a ghost and 'soul burn' his enemies. Everyone was pretty excited to start and they all surprised me by creating beautiful custom character sheets in Photoshop.

I needed to generate a scenario, so I came up within something and produced the enemies (see below). I must admit, none of us had ever played BASH! before, ever. So, we were all trying our best and I'm sure there are plenty of better ways to create these. But, be that as it may, I'm interested in any feedback. For what it's worth, these enemies were tougher than I originally thought, and the PC's won the two combat encounters more through excellent detective work and quick thinking than through knock-down-drag-out fighting.

First, I designed three levels of a 'cult' dedicated to raising one of the Old Ones through the correct application of musical theory. This involved two rival musicians who were both hipsters in the avant garde music scene in Boston, one very close to cracking the cosmic code to unlocking a gateway between the realms. Anyway, here is my write-up of the cultists. Like many cults, they are arrayed in 'levels' where the more loyal they have proven themselves, the secret knowledge has been shared with them, the more arcane abilities they have. I also added some weapons, such as a tri-foil blade, poisoned for the Lvl2 cultist, and a pneumatic pistol.

Their first combat involved three of the Lvl1's and one Lvl2 and took longer than I expected. The second combat encounter involved only two Lvl1's and one Lvl3 and a special monster I'll describe later.

Level One Cultist
Brawn: 2 Agility: 1 Mind: 2
Skills: Athletics (Running), Escapology (Contortion), Stealth (Shadowing), Occultism (Rituals)
Weapon: Tri-Foil 'Bleeder Blade' DM:x2 (dmg = 2d6x2+10)
Hits: 20

Level Two Cultist
Brawn: 2 Agility: 2 Mind: 2
Skills: Athletics (Running), Escapology (Contortion), Stealth (Shadowing), Occultism (Rituals)
Weapons:
Tri-Foil 'Bleeder Blade' DM:x2 (dmg = 2d6x2+10)
treated with poison, Weaken Agility 2 for 3 pages
Pneumatic Pistol DM:x2
Powers:
Immunity 2: Heat and Cold
Clinging climb walls / ceilings like a spider
Mind Shield 1
Hits: 25

Level Three Cultist
Brawn: 3 Agility: 2 Mind: 2
Skills: Athletics (Running), Escapology (Contortion), Stealth (Shadowing), Occultism (Rituals)
Weapons:
Tri-Foil 'Bleeder Blade' DM:x2 (dmg = 2d6x2+10)
treated with poison, Weaken Agility 2 for 3 pages
Powers:
Immunity 2: Heat and Cold
Clinging climb walls / ceilings like a spider
Super Jump (10x normal distance which is Brawn^2, 1/2 can be vertical)
"Wicked Tongue" Special Attack 3 +2DM dmg, +1DM to hit
Daze Mind attack to daze, target must beat 20 on Mind check to undaze
Mind Shield 2
Hits: 30

Then, for a special kick, I created a monster (a servitor to the Old One being summoned) that's a kind of collapsible archanomechanical automaton name "The Folding Man." [I borrowed the basic idea from a short story of the same name by Joe Lansdale, and then I modified it a bit for flavor and added the weevils!] The idea is that the Lvl3 cultist would carry around this attache case and if they encountered more resistance then they expected, he would set it on the ground, open it up, and speak a 'power word' to active it. The Folding Man would literally unfold out of the slim case and stand 8+' high with elongated arms, a tuxedo jacket (tails and all) and even a stove pipe top hat. Then it would obey commands given in the tongue of the Old One and retrieve or kill anyone it was commanded to. My innovation were the Fire Weevil's ... literally 'bugs in the system', that were nested somewhere in the multidimensional space in the Folding Man's chest where it's gear works and eldritch power supply were located. When the Folding Man was deployed, they would swarm out of his chest and down his arms, when he grappled someone they would burrow into the victim's flesh and then self-immolate leaving cigarette like burns.

The description alone unsettled and skeeved out the players, so that was a plus! Here's how I wrote it up.

The Folding Man
Brawn: 2 Agility: 3 Mind: 2
Skills: Athletics (Running), Escapology (Contortion), Outdoor (Tracking), Stealth (Moving Silently)
Powers:
Immunity 3: Heat, Cold, Electricity
Clinging climb walls / ceilings like a spider
Super Jump (10x normal distance which is Brawn^2, 1/2 can be vertical)
Unarmed Mastery 1 Grappling
"Fire Weevils" Special Attack 1 +1DM dmg [These nasty bugs live within the labyrinthine workings of the Folding Man, and attack those that are being grappled by it. They burrow under the skin and then burst into flame when they reach the oxygenated blood.]
"Clockwork Horror" Daze Mind attack to daze, target must beat 20 on Mind check to undaze [When people look into the springs and clockworks of the Folding Man, they see much more space and motion than is possible in it's slight frame, and this mesmerizes and horrifies them.]
Mind Shield 3

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OK, besides my excitement and desire to share all of this, I was wondering if there were any glaring oversights or errors I should know for our next session? Also, is anyone else using BASH! for a horror campaign or even a low powered super's campaign with significant horror elements? I'd love to compare notes if you are ...

[urbwar]

I love, love the Folding Man! * awesome!

And yes, I use horror elements in my campaign. I've adapted elements of the Mythos when i ran a Cosmic level one shot (which I hope to release down the road), and Dustland is doing some art for me of a race that serve similar beings.

The GM for the Villains & Vigilantes game I play in uses a lot of Lovecraft influences, and it works great. Lovecraft & Supers go well together.

Speaking of which, have you ever seen Adventures into Darkness? It's a supplement for M&M, Hero System and Truth & Justice that features Golden Age comic characters (real ones, who were later revived by Dynamite in their Project Superpowers comic), but under the premise that Lovecraft became a comic book writer! Written by Ken Hite, guru of all things Mythos....

[runester]

Speaking of which, have you ever seen Adventures into Darkness?

I had not heard of it, but I just picked up the Truth & Justice version from RPGNow.com. Thanks for the recommendation!

[urbwar]

I had not heard of it, but I just picked up the Truth & Justice version from RPGNow.com. Thanks for the recommendation!

Your welcome. It's not that overt with the Mythos influences, but does make sense for a Golden Age comic setting. At the very least, it might be a good idea mine. I've got it for both T&J/M&M, with a print copy of the M&M version (would have preferred a print of the T&J version, but there isn't one via RPGNow's PoD service)

[Michael]

Hmm, you might want to take a look at the Arkham Horror boardgame for ideas.

[Heroglyph]

OK, besides my excitement and desire to share all of this, I was wondering if there were any glaring oversights or errors I should know for our next session? Also, is anyone else using BASH! for a horror campaign or even a low powered super's campaign with significant horror elements? I'd love to compare notes if you are ...

Just came across this thread. I've been running a supernatural themed campaign for awhile now as a PBeM and Skype session with some friends from back home. It has been a great success. I like superheroes, but they aren't much into them, they are more into fantasy..so an urban fantasy setting along the lines of Dresden Files, Blade, Hellboy, Buffy etc, hits a nice blend of the two.

I wrote some rules about the Effects Fear that Bashman liked, but have never used them in play. http://bashtalk.org/modules.php?name=Fo ... pic&t=1032

I am sure they would come in handy for a Cthulhu themed campaign.