Tainted Meat
Cliches for the creatures of the Cthulhu Mythos in the Sleepwalkers setting
I've listed some typical things a horrible inhuman entity might use its cliches for, as well as suggested die types. This is to represent the raw power of a given species; individuals may of course have more or less dice to indicate their personal competence. Also note that many of these cliches will have some other facet listed; Deep One warrior, Mi-go scientist, Serpent Man shaman. On the other hand, the more bestial or incomprehensible nonhumans might best be represented by just "Dhole (6d20)," for example.
Finally, some of these suggested uses have been written in the spirit of the 'oddball skills' used in some Chaosium products to provide cues for the GM on how to play a given NPC.
- Ghoul: (d6) or (d8) - eating corpses, sneaking in tunnels, underground lore, knowing sinister secrets
-note: In my opinion, a Ghoul is one of the few Mythos species that might make an acceptable PC. Consider "Ghoul Ambassador(3d8)," which could be entertaining in the right group.
- Serpent Men: (d6) - hiding, sneaking, ambushing, poisonous bite
-note: In my campaign, I'm using the "degenerate Serpent Men" concept, treating them like the Victorian conception of an Unseelie faerie as a devolved killer. Atavistic Serpent Men might have double-pump dice or d8's, plus spellcasting competency.
- Deep One: (d8) - being immortal, interbreeding with humans, fishing
- Mi-go: (d6) - (but will sometimes have ultratech devices granting bonus dice) - prodigious mechanical and surgical skill, talking in weird buzzy voices
- Dark Young: (d10) Marching out of the woods and eating/mating with sacrifices, looking vaguely like trees
- Shoggoth: [d10] - shapeshifiting (basically ANYTHING physical), sullenly serving OR sullenly rebelling, going "Tekeli-li!" really loudly
- Invisible Polyp: (d12) - be invisible, sucking winds, piping horribly, killing big cones
- Hound of Tindalos: [d10] tracking prey through time, manifesting through corners, horrifically killing prey
- Dimensional Shambler: (d8) - materializing, shambling, grabbing and dematerializing
- Cthonian: (d6) through (d20), depending on which instar you encounter - moving through solid rock, causing earthquakes, tracking Cthonian Eggs, swallowing things up whole
I have also (so far) refrained from generating stats for the major entities. Use them as plot devices, not people in big rubber suits stomping on models of Tokyo. If you really must, something like "Great Cthulhu [6d30]" or "Azathoth (4d100)" should suffice.
Sanity Check Task Numbers (TNs) for these creatures are on the new rules page, with the Sanity mechanics.
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