Globule: An optional rule for Cthulhu Dark

This is an optional rule, for more traditional campaigns, where physical stuff (including combat) is important.

Your exhaustion begins at 1. You get a black die to represent it.

You can optionally roll your exhaustion die any time your character is doing something that is physically exerting, such as fighting, climbing Antarctic mountains or running away. If your exhaustion die ties with any other die that you rolled, increase your exhaustion by 1.

When your exhaustion reaches 6, you are dead.

Any time you fail a physical task, you can roll your exhaustion die after the fact as many times as you want. Each time you tie with another die you rolled, increase your exhaustion by 1.

This globule tweaks Cthulhu Dark to feel a tiny bit more like a traditional roleplaying game.

Roll 4 dice for your occupation.

You get 2 skills at 3 dice, and 3 skills at 2 dice.

Roll 1 die for everything else.

Sample Occupations:

Antiquarian, Archaeologist, Artist, Dilettante, Historian, Journalist, Linguist, Physician, Occultist

Sample Skills:

Athletics, Breaking & Entering, Driving, Fighting, Languages, Lying, Research, Sanity*, Shooting, Social Standing, Stealth, Woodsmanship

* Sanity is treated as before, but you read the highest die.

Here’s how to run a chase in Cthulhu Dark.

On the centre space of the Tracker, place one marker for each Investigator. The Dark Star, on the left, represents the pursuer. The Light Star, on the right, is safety.

Each Investigator makes a roll, as normal, to determine how successfully they flee. Also roll one die for the pursuer.

Then, take the difference between each Investigator’s highest die and the pursuer’s die. Move the Investigator’s marker that number of spaces: towards safety, if that Investigator rolled higher; and towards the pursuer, if the Investigator rolled lower.

As always, the Investigator may add their Insanity die to the roll, before or after rolling.

Continue this for three rolls. If an Investigator reaches safety, they have lost their pursuer. If they reach the pursuer, they are caught. (If the pursuer is a monster, they die.)

If, after three rolls, the pursuit is not resolved for some Investigators, pause and describe a change in the pursuit. Perhaps the Investigators reach a sheer climb. Perhaps they reach a car. Or perhaps they become lost. In any case, the challenge they face should subtly change.

Now continue the pursuit for three more rolls. This time, the pursuer gets two dice.

If that still leaves the pursuit unresolved, describe another change in the pursuit and continue for three more rolls. This time, the pursuer gets three dice.

If even that leaves the pursuit unresolved for some Investigators, those Investigators get one last roll to escape. Whatever number their highest die shows, they move that number of spaces forwards. If they reach safety, they escape. If not, they are caught.

When any die rolls a 1 in an investigation, choose a drawback:

• …it grows late.
• …someone suffers harm.
• …someone becomes noticed by the Mythos.
• …someone glimpses something horrific.
• …an informant becomes closed or furtive.

These drawbacks are invitations for the Mythos to take action, either against the Investigator or an informant.

For example. An Investigator has dissected a creature. When she looks up from her work, the sun has set. She faces a long, dark walk home, with horrors waiting in the shadows.

An alternative example. An Investigator has dissected a creature. When she looks up from her work, there are similar creatures, watching unwinkingly from the rooftops.

(Another version of this rule: choose a drawback on a high 1 or a high 4.)

This globule may need some work, but try it and tell me how it goes.

Before rolling, decide what might be revealed.

Then, what the Investigator discovers depends on the highest die rolled:

1. The bare facts. If you need information to proceed, you get it. Otherwise, you get the barest part of what might be revealed.
2. A small part. You get only part of what might be revealed.
3. What you need. You get what might be revealed. No details and no frills.
4. What you wanted. You get what might be revealed with some supporting details.
5. Everything humanly possible. You get what might be revealed, in great detail, and relate it to other things you know. In particular, you get one of the following:

• …a strange history.
• …a whispered legend.
• …a reference in ancient texts.
• …a connection to remote foreign parts.
• …a reference to similar events.

6. More than you wanted to know. You understand, not just the facts, but a glimpse of how it fits into the patterns behind the universe. In particular, you get one of the following.

• …a realisation that this is not natural or beyond human understanding.
• …a connection to other planets.
• …a connection to blasphemous creatures.
• …a suggestion of vast intelligence.
• …what happened millions of years ago.
• …what the creatures plan to do.
• …a dread name.

For example: an Investigator is searching the papers of someone who has disappeared. The answer that might be revealed is: “They were investigating a meteorite, which they believed could be found in a cave.”

What the Investigators discover now depends on the highest die rolled.

1. The bare facts.

It mentions a cave.

2. Only a part.

It mentions a cave and a comet.

3. What you need. You get the answer. No details and no frills.

They were investigating a meteorite, which they believed could be found in a cave.

4. What you wanted. You get the answer with some supporting details.

There are astronomical charts here. Clearly, they have made a detailed study of a particular meteorite. There are navigational charts, too, on which several possible paths of the meteorite have been plotted. Many of these paths lead to a cave system underlying the island you are on. Presumably, they calculated the meteorite would now be within those caves. Perhaps that is where they went.

5. Everything humanly possible. You get the answer, in great detail, and relate it to other things you know. In particular, you get one of the following.

These astronomical and navigational charts remind you of a tale you heard whispered among the sailors. They avoided sailing close to the caves, believing that something “from the stars” lived there. You had thought it superstition, but now wonder whether there were facts behind it.

6. More than you wanted to know. You understand, not just the facts, but a glimpse of how it fits into the patterns behind the universe.

The astronomical and navigation charts suggest that the meteorite descended into the caves. However, the angle of descent is unnatural, as though the meteorite were not merely falling, but gliding. You believe that the meteorite did not merely fall into the caves. It had intelligence. It aimed there.

Note: When you roll 5 or 6, you’re guaranteed to discover one of the bullet points.

Now, you might also discover one of these bullet points if you roll lower. For example, if you analyse a rock, you might discover it is a meteor from another planet, even if you roll a 1. Similarly, while reading an ancient text, you might discover the dread name “Cthulhu”, even if you roll low.

However, if you roll a 5 or 6, you are guaranteed to discover the bullet points, over and above what you’d discover if you rolled lower.

When your Insanity is 1, you are calm.

When your Insanity is 2, you are anxious.

When your Insanity is 3, you are scared.

When your Insanity is 4, you are shaking.

When your Insanity is 5, you see horror everywhere.

When your Insanity is 6, you are screaming and laughing, and must create a new Investigator.

Split important rolls into three. For example, the Innsmouth escape or long investigations should be resolved with three rolls.

Failing two out of three rolls means the whole thing fails. So does failing the third and final roll.

Often, the Investigators will discover others who have encountered the Mythos. They may talk to these others or discover their letters or diaries.

When this happens, the players may choose to become these others and play through the story they tell.

Create these others as Investigators. Play through the story. When it finishes, return to the original Investigators, who have just read or heard that story.

(Sometimes, things about the story-within-the-story will be fixed. Most obviously, the protagonists might be alive or dead at the end.)

If your Investigator dies, create a new one. This new Investigator is connected to the first one: perhaps the new Investigator received letters from or read a newspaper article about the deceased Investigator.

At a suitable point, all attention turns to your new Investigator as they arrive and encounter any living Investigators.

(If the whole group of Investigators dies, create a new group, who will investigate the disappearance of the initial Investigators.)