Part 1 - Rules of the Game

PART I: RULES OF THE GAME

This section describes the rules that all players will need to know to play a game of Cthulhu Eternal. It describes:

• How to create characters whose roles players will adopt in the shared Lovecraftian stories;
• How characters make use of their skills and attributes to try to overcome challenges they encounter;
• How combat works, when things turn violent;
• How the fragile sanity of each player’s character may become eroded by encounters with horrors, both mundane and unnatural;
• What player characters can do during the quiet downtime between perilous adventures against unnatural entities.

Core Game Concepts

These rules tell you everything you need to know in order to play Cthulhu Eternal_._

As with most tabletop roleplaying games, when playing Cthulhu Eternal one player takes on the responsibility of setting the scene and narrating the events which make up a Cthulhu Eternal adventure. That individual is termed the Game Moderator. All other players take on the roles of individual every-day people from an era of human history who are swept up in investigating the Cthulhu Mythos. These characters are called Protagonists (with the term capitalized for clarity). Protagonists will encounter a multitude of other characters whose roles are not being played by other players – those characters are called Non-Player Characters (or NPCs) and their actions are controlled by the Game Moderator.

In this book you’ll find rules for creating Protagonists and a full set of rules for running adventures in a Lovecraftian world of your group’s choosing or devising.

In addition to this book, you also need pencils to record changes to your character sheet, scratch paper to draw sketches and take notes, and dice.

Cthulhu Eternal uses polyhedral dice common to tabletop role-playing games: four-sided, six-sided, eight-sided, ten-sided, twelve-sided, and twenty-sided. The game plays best when you have a few of each on the table. Or you can find automated dice rollers on the Web and as mobile apps.

Rolling the Dice

When the rules need you to roll dice, they use a particular nomenclature to save time and space: “#D#,” as in “1D8” or “4D6.” The first number is the number of dice. The “D” stands for “dice with the following number of sides.” The second number is the number of faces on the die. “1D8” means roll one eight-sided die. “4D6” means roll four six-sided dice and add the numbers together. Sometimes you add or subtract a number from the roll. If it says “1D6+2,” that means roll one six-sided die and add two to the result.

Percentile Dice (“1D100”)

Actions in Cthulhu Eternal are resolved using percentile dice. That means you roll two ten-sided dice to get a number from 1 to 100. To do this, you don’t add the individual die values together but instead treat each number as a digit (0—9). Before you make the roll, designate one die as the tens digit and the other as the ones digit. A zero (0) on the tens die counts as zero except when the ones die is also 0; then the 0 on the tens die counts as 10. For example:

• The tens die comes up “0” and the ones die comes up “3”: 03, or 3.
• The tens die comes up “3” and the ones die comes up “0”: 30.
• Both dice come up “0”: 100.
• The tens die comes up “6” and the ones die comes up “2”: 62.

Protagonists

Your Protagonist represents the fictional persona that you will control in the game. You will spend a lot of time navigating your Protagonist through exciting and dangerous situations, so it is worth investing time in creating a character you will enjoy playing.

What Makes a Protagonist

All Protagonists are composed of six elements:

STATISTICS (STATS): Core capabilities for every Protagonist.

DERIVED ATTRIBUTES: Ratings that indicate physical and mental resilience, derived from stats.

ARCHETYPE: The type of role your Protagonist performs, which informs how many skill points and Bonds he or she has.

SKILLS: What training and education your Protagonist has picked up from being taught, or from life in general.

RESOURCES: An abstract rating that reflects your Protagonist’s access to useful equipment or items.

BONDS: The people and communities your Protagonist fights to protect.

Protagonist Creation

Follow these steps to create a new Protagonist, or see Part 1 Summary - Creating a Protagonist for a quick reference.

STEP 0: Establish Harshness of Protagonist’s Upbringing

Most Protagonist’s upbringings will have been unremarkable – but it’s possible that yours grew up under especially challenging and punishing circumstances. For example, growing up amid a turbulent period of warfare or plague that killed most of those near-and-dear to the Protagonist. If you think that upbringing might have been harsh enough to scar your Protagonist, discuss it with your Game Moderator. Between you, decide whether the upbringing you envisage is best characterized by the descriptor Normal(-ish), Harsh, or Very Harsh. See What Makes An Upbringing Harsh? for a few examples of real-world disasters which could have brought tragedy to your Protagonist’s childhood.

Usually, an upbringing warranting the descriptor Harsh will involve the Protagonist having spent at least 3-4 years of adolescence in a highly dangerous or adverse situation that only affected the specific region. This calamity is likely to have caused the untimely death of at least a couple of the character’s immediate family.

For an upbringing to be considered Very Harsh, the whole of the Protagonists childhood and adolescence was likely marred by a dangerous, deadly, or otherwise toxic environment that was particular to their region. This terrible situation is likely to have resulted in the majority of the characters’ family suffering greatly, with at least half having perished.

Any upbringing that isn’t Harsh or Very Harsh is considered Normal(-ish).

A harsher upbringing might make him or her a little stronger or hardier (since only the strong and hardy would have survived), but at the cost of mental scarring from the many horrific sights marring their childhood.

STEP 1: Determine Statistics

Statistics are Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), Intelligence (INT), Power (POW), and Charisma (CHA). They range from 3 (the worst) to 18 (the best), with an average of 10 for an ordinary adult. Statistics represent core capabilities possessed by all Protagonists. All are important. (See Detailed Description Statistics)

You can create stats in two ways: rolling them or assigning points. Pick a method.

1. ROLL STATS: For each stat roll 4D6, drop the lowest of the four dice, and add up the other three. Place the six rolls in whichever stats you like.

2. ASSIGN STATS: Divide 72 points among the six stats however you like, or pick one of the sets from Assignable Set of Statistics and assign each score to one statistic.

After the basic values are assigned for each statistic, modify according to the Harshness Descriptor for the setting:

• For Protagonists in Harsh settings: add 1 to either STR or CON (player’s choice)
• For Protagonists in Very Harsh settings: add 1 to both STR and CON

STEP 2: Calculate Derived Attributes

Hit Points, Willpower Points, Sanity Points, and Breaking Point are derived from stats. They represent physical and mental resilience. When your Protagonist is hurt, exercises mental fortitude, or is traumatized, those scores can drop. If your Protagonist has a STR score that is outside the average range (9—12) he or she also has a modifier to the damage inflicted from hand-to-hand combat. (See Detailed Description Derived Attributes & Damage Bonus.)

STEP 3: Select Archetype

What does your Protagonist do for a living (or just to stay alive)? Archetype dictates what skills your Protagonist has, his or her basic resource level, and the number of Bonds he or she possesses. (See Detailed Description Archetypes)

STEP 4: Calculate Resources Rating

The Resources rating is a number between 0 and 20 that reflects the Protagonist’s access to valuable or useful equipment. A Protagonist’s base Resources rating is dictated by his or her Archetype, however during later steps, you can sacrifice other potential bonus skills in favor of a higher resources score; conversely, you can agree to drop Resources rating of 0 (entirely without access to resources) and receive additional skills. (See Detailed Description Resources)

STEP 5: Define Bonds

Bonds indicate the strength of relationships with the most important people and communities in your Protagonist’s life — like a spouse, child, a long-time travelling companion, or a local community of people. Bonds help Protagonists resist mental trauma—but as your Protagonist’s life falls apart under the stress of the Mythos-haunted world, Bonds deteriorate.

There are two types of Bonds – bonds with individuals and bonds with an entire community. The latter reflect the Protagonist’s standing as part of the community and his or her ability to influence the group.

Each Individual Bond has a value that starts equal to your Protagonist’s Charisma (CHA).

Each Community Bond has a default value equal to half the Protagonist’s Resources rating, however during creation of the Protagonist the player may elect to sacrifice potential skills in favor of a higher value. Conversely, the player may elect to take a Community Bond with a value of 1 (lowest possible social standing) and receive additional skills. (See Detailed Description Bonds)

STEP 6: Select Bonus & Adversity Skills

Skills require special training, and come from schooling, experience, or personal interest. Skills are measured from 0% (no training) to 99% (foremost expert in the world). (See Detailed Description Skills)

STEP 7: Determine Mental Damage from Harsh Environments

Protagonists that have grown up in difficult and brutal conditions are likely to have picked up some mental scarring along the way. This can leave them hardened to certain types of traumatic stimuli, distant from those around them, or afflicted with mental disorders. (see Stat Adjustments for Harsh Upbringings)

STEP 8: Add the Final Details

Start filling in the details that make your Protagonist interesting.

How old is your Protagonist? What does he or she look like? Where did he or she grow up?

What’s your Protagonist’s name? What is your Protagonist’s role in the community and what’s your personal life like?

And why, despite all the terrifying dangers, does your Protagonist venture out to pursue adventure or investigate weirdness?

Summary:

Part 1 Summary - Creating a Protagonist

Detailed Description: Statistics

Every Protagonist has six core capabilities: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Power, and Charisma. These are called his or her statistics (or “stats” for short).

Statistic	Abbreviation	Description	Stat Test Examples
Strength	STR	Physical power, size, and musculature.	Drag an innocent to safety. Break down a locked door. Hold a struggling victim down.
Constitution	CON	Health and physical resilience.	Resist illness, exhaustion, or pain. Hold your breath for a long time. Keep running longer than everyone else.
Dexterity	DEX	Agility, coordination, and nimbleness.	Keep balance. React quickly.
Intelligence	INT	How well a Protagonist notices, remembers, and connects things. Along with Archetype, it indicates education and overall brilliance.	Recall a detail. Piece together disparate data.
Power	POW	Force of personality, motivation, and psychic resilience.	Keep your head in a crisis. Stand up to pressure.
Charisma	CHA	Charm, leadership, and personal appeal. May indicate physical attractiveness.	Make a good impression. Talk your way into a private club. Look like you belong.

During Protagonist creation, you can either roll STATISTIC scores (see STEP 1 Determine Statistics) or simply divide 72 points between the six stats however you wish. The table nearby gives some examples of possible assignments.

Assignable Set of Statistics

Description	Stat 1	Stat 2	Stat 3	Stat 4	Stat 5	Stat 6
Well-Rounded	13	13	12	12	11	11
Focused	15	14	12	11	10	10
Highly Focused	17	14	12	10	10	9

Each stat has a test score equal to the stat × 5: STR×5, INT×5, POW×5, etc. This means roll five times the stat or less on percentile dice (1D100) to succeed. When your Protagonist attempts a difficult action and no skill covers it, the Game Moderator may ask you to roll a stat test for whatever stat is the closest fit.

Stat Adjustments for Harsh Upbringings

Protagonists who have managed to reach adulthood in a dangerous or deadly environment are likely to be hardier or stronger than average– weaker individuals simply don’t make it through such horrible upbringings. To reflect this, such Protagonists receive a bonus to STR and/or CON as follows:

• Normal(ish) setting: no bonus
• Harsh setting: +1 to either STR or CON (pick one)
• Very Harsh setting: +1 to both STR and CON

What Makes An Upbringing Harsh?

Medieval Era Harsh Upbringing Examples

In Medieval settings, most people live a wretched life. To reflect this, the default Harshness indicator for a Protagonist’s upbringing is Harsh. That means that characters typically begin with a +1 boost to either STR or CON (the fact that they have made it to adulthood makes them among the healthier representatives of their communities) and some bonus skill picks; however any character whose CHA or POW is below 7 will have suffered some isolation as described in STEP 7 Determine Mental Damage from Harsh Environments.

Protagonists who were born into privilege – sons and daughters of nobility or similar – may have avoided the squalor of everyday life. Such (rare) characters can be considered to come from a Normal(-ish) upbringing, gaining neither the bonus to STR/CON nor suffering the potential mental costs of a harsh upbringing.

While the default throughout the 800 years covered by this SRD is for Harsh environments, that is not to say that there weren’t isolated times and places where life was even worse – warranting a Very Harsh indicator. The Anarchy in England; the Great Famine across Europe; the Crusades across Europe and into the Mediterranean; the Black Death; the Magyar and Mongol invasions from the Steppes; Jewish massacres, expulsions, and rising antisemitism are all examples of times and places where the Game Master might want to rate a Protagonist’s upbringing as Very Harsh.

Jazz Age Harsh Upbringing Examples

For the Jazz Age, catastrophes in the characters’ background would likely have occurred in the late 19th Century. A (non-exhaustive) list of historical possibilities include:

• Wars: The Boer War in South Africa (1900—1902)

• Famines: East-Central China (1907, 1911)

• Plagues: Cholera in Europe, Asia, Africa (1899—1923), African Sleepy Sickness in Uganda (1900—1920), Malaria in Ceylon (1906)

Modern Day Harsh Upbringing Examples

For games set in the modern day, catastrophes in the characters’ background would likely have occurred in the late 20th Century. A (non-exhaustive) list of historical possibilities include:

• Wars: The Vietnam War (1955-1975), the Angolan Civil War (1975—2002), the Soviet-Afghan War (1980—1988), Yugoslav Wars (1991—2001)

• Famines: Ethiopia (1972—1973), Bangladesh (1974), Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge (1975—1979), Ethiopia (1983—1985), Somalia (1991—1992), North Korea (1994—1998), War and famine in Congo (1998—2004)

• Plagues/Accidents: Hong Kong Flu (1968—1970), Russian Flu - Worldwide (1977), Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster (1986), Swine Flu - Worldwide (2009—2010)

• Massacres: Massacres in Rwanda and Burundi (1959—1997), Indonesian anti-communist killings (1965—1966), Cultural Revolution in China (1966—1976), Indonesian occupation of East Timor (1974—1999), Violent anti-communist purges in Ethiopia (1977—1978), Iraqi destruction of Kurdish settlements (1977—1991)

Distinguishing Features

A stat below 9 or above 12 is exceptional. Spare a word or two to describe stats outside the average; see the table nearby for some examples. These descriptors help give your Protagonist personality.

>> Sample Distinguishing Features
Statistic	3—4	5—8	9—12	13—16	17—18
Strength	Feeble	Weak	(Average)	Muscular	Huge
Dexterity	Barely Mobile	Clumsy	(Average)	Nimble	Acrobatic
Constitution	Bedridden	Sickly	(Average)	Perfect Health	Indefatigable
Intelligence	Imbecilic	Slow	(Average)	Perceptive	Brilliant
Power	Spineless	Nervous	(Average)	Strong-Willed	Indomitable
Charisma	Unbearable	Awkward	(Average)	Charming	Magnetic

Detailed Description: Derived Attributes & Damage Bonus

The derived attributes — Hit Points, Willpower Points, Sanity Points, and Breaking Point — represent your Protagonist’s physical and mental toughness.

Damage Bonus reflects whether his or her brawn (or lack thereof) will affect damage inflicted through brawling and hand-to-hand weapons.

HIT POINTS (HP): Hit Points represent how much damage your Protagonist can sustain. When the Protagonist is injured, subtract the damage from HP. At 2 HP, your Protagonist falls unconscious. At 0 HP, your Protagonist dies. Hit Points are regained through rest and medical attention.

Hit Points equal CON plus STR, divided by two and rounded up.

WILLPOWER POINTS (WP): Willpower Points represent mental fortitude. They fall when your Protagonist attempts to suppress the symptoms of mental illness (see Resisting Insanity), becomes exhausted (see Exhaustion), attempts to resist persuasion, suffers emotional burnout (see Fumble), or tries to fuel unnatural phenomena. At 2 WP, your Protagonist has a temporary emotional collapse. At 0 WP, your Protagonist falls unconscious. Willpower Points are regained with rest. (See Willpower Points)

Willpower Points equal POW.

SANITY POINTS (SAN): Sanity Points represent mental health: how much mental trauma, or exposure to the unnatural your Protagonist can endure before going insane. In moments of mental trauma your Protagonist must make a Sanity test by rolling SAN or lower on 1D100. If that fails, your Protagonist loses SAN. (See Part 7 - Sanity.) Sanity Points are regained through remedial care or by overcoming unnatural threats. At 0 Sanity Points, your Protagonist goes irretrievably insane and becomes an NPC permanently under the control of the Game Moderator.

A Protagonist’s starting Sanity Points depends on the Harshness of his or her upbringing – the harsher the situation, the more brutality and horror the Protagonist has been scarred by.

Normal(ish) Setting: Sanity Points begin equal to POW×5.

Harsh or Very Harsh Setting: Sanity Points begin equal to POW×4.

BREAKING POINT: The Breaking Point is the point at which loss of SAN triggers a long-term mental disorder. (See Insanity and Disorders)

A Protagonist’s Breaking Point equals SAN minus POW.

The instant the Protagonist’s SAN reaches the Breaking Point, he or she gains a disorder. Reset the Breaking Point to equal the new SAN score minus POW.

MAXIMUM SAN: The is the absolute maximum number of Sanity Points your Protagonist can EVER reach, by any means. Learning more about the true nature of the Cthulhu Mythos (represented by the Unnatural skill) reduces this number.

A Protagonist’s Maximum SAN always equals 99 minus skill rating in the Unnatural Skill.

RECOVERY SAN: This is the highest Sanity Point total that your Protagonist can possibly achieve through mundane methods – relaxation, personal pursuits, caring for loved ones, and seeking help for mental illness. See Recovering Sanity

A Protagonist’s Recovery SAN equals POW×5, regardless of the harshness of the setting.

If this number would be higher than Max SAN, Recovery SAN equals Max SAN.

DAMAGE BONUS: High or low Strength modifies the DAMAGE the Protagonist inflicts through successful unarmed and hand-to-hand weapon attacks (see Damage). This modifier to damage should be recorded on the Protagonist sheet for later reference.

Damage Bonus from STR Score

1—4	5—8	9—12	13—16	17—18
-2	-1	0	+1	+2

Detailed Description: Archetypes

Each Protagonist is a representative of a broad category of character types, usually related to the job he or she performs in the game world. Each such category is called an Archetype.

An Archetype says a lot about a Protagonist. It grants a “kit” of appropriate skills. It also determines the number of Bonds your Protagonist has when the game begins, and his or her starting Resource level.

RECOMMENDED STATS: Some Archetypes require people who are particularly fit, stable, or smart. This means the recommended stats should be 10 or higher — or at least they were when your Protagonist first started out being the Archetype.

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS: Each Archetype has a predefined kit of skills with scores that replace the default skill ratings. This represents the baseline training, experience, and education for that Archetype. See Part 2 - Skills for their uses.

RESOURCES: Each Archetype dictates a base value for the Resources rating.

BONDS: Each Archetype dictates the number of Bonds your Protagonist begins with. Difficult and trying Archetypes mean fewer Bonds but more skills. The player can decide whether each of these Bonds refers to:

• a relationship to an individual (Individual Bonds) or
• standing within a community (Community Bonds).

Customizing Your Protagonist With Other Skills

Don’t worry if your Protagonist at this point looks like a generic representative of his or her chosen Archetype. While the Archetype defines a core set of abilities, those skills and ratings don’t represent the full range of everything your Protagonist can do.

Later in the character generation process you will have opportunities to pick other skills they are also good at. There are two different types of skill picks:

• Adversity Skill Point Picks (see Detailed Description Adversity Skill Points) represent abilities your Protagonist has because of the harsh environment that he or she grew up in. These picks can only be used to enhance a few specific skills, and cannot be traded in for other benefits.
• Bonus Skill Point Picks (see Detailed Description Bonus Skill Points) represent hobbies and general experience he or she learned above and beyond the basics associated with the Archetype. You start with ten such bonus picks to use later in the Protagonist generation process. These picks can be traded in for other advantages like increased availability of resources-at-hand or standing in a community.

Medieval Age: List of Archetypes

TODO

Modern Day: List of Archetypes

The following Archetypes are appropriate for Modern era games of Lovecraftian investigation. They don’t cover every possible character type but focus on likely protagonists in mystery and investigation tales. The GM is encouraged to develop other archetypes to cover other character types suggested by players. Guidelines for developing new Archetypes may be found in TODO (game building resources).

Artist / Craftsperson

RECOMMENDED STATS: DEX

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Appraise 40%

• Art (Type) 60%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Charm 60%

• Insight 60%

• Persuade 60%

• Search 60%

Choose any 5 of these that you don’t already have:

• Administration 50%

• Alertness 60%

• Anthropology 40%

• Athletics 70%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Harangue 50%

• Heavy Machinery 50%

• Regional Lore (Type) 40%

• Technology Use 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 3

BONDS: 3

Author / Blogger

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT, CHA

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Alertness 50%

• Art (Type) 50%

• Insight 60%

• Research 60%

• Search 60%

• Technology Use 20%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Anthropology 40%

• Archeology 40%

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• Harangue 50%

• History 50%

• Law (Type) 40%

• Occult 50%

• Regional Lore (Type) 40%

• Science (Type) 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 4

Conspiracy Theorist / Expert

RECOMMENDED STATS: CHA, POW

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Firearms 50%

• First Aid 40%

• Natural World 50%

• Navigate 50%

• Search 50%

• Survival (Type) 50%

• Track 50%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Firearms 60%

• Heavy Machinery 50%

• History 50%

• Melee Weapons 70%

• Occult 50%

• Pilot (Type) 40%

• Ride 50%

• Survival (Type) 50%

• Unarmed Combat 60%

STARTING RESOURCES: 3

BONDS: 4

Criminal

RECOMMENDED STATS: DEX

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Alertness 40%

• Appraise 40%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Harangue 40%

• Law (Type) 30%

• Stealth 60%

• Search 50%

Choose any 3 of these that you don’t already have:

• Administration 50%

• Art (Type) 40%

• Athletics 70%

• Charm 60%

• Dodge 70%

• Firearms 60%

• Insight 50%

• Melee Weapons 70%

• Technology Use 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 5

BONDS: 4

Doctor / Nurse

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 30%

• Charm 40%

• First Aid 50%

• Insight 50%

• Medicine 50%

• Science (Type) 40%

• Search 60%

• Surgery 40%

• Technology Use 30%

Choose any 2 of these that you don’t already have:

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Forensics 40%

• Pharmacy 40%

• Psychoanalyze 50%

• Research 50%

• Science (Type) 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 5

BONDS: 3

Historian / Genealogist

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT, CHA

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 50%

• Anthropology 50%

• Archeology 50%

• History 70%

• Research 60%

• Technology Use 30%

Choose any 3 of these that you don’t already have:

• Art (Type) 40%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• Law (Type) 40%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Persuade 60%

• Regional Lore (Type) 40%

• Search 60%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 4

Law Enforcer / Agent

RECOMMENDED STATS: CON, CHA

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Alertness 50%

• Athletics 60%

• Drive 50%

• Firearms 60%

• Harangue 60%

• Insight 50%

• Law (Type) 40%

• Search 50%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Disguise 50%

• Dodge 70%

• First Aid 50%

• Forensics 40%

• Melee Weapons 70%

• Persuade 60%

• Regional Lore (Type) 40%

• Stealth 50%

• Technology Use 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 3

Librarian / Archivist

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 60%

• Alertness 50%

• Appraise 50%

• Research 60%

• Search 50%

• Technology Use 50%

Choose any 5 of these that you don’t already have:

• Anthropology 40%

• Archeology 40%

• Art (Type) 40%

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• History 50%

• Law (Type) 40%

• Occult 50%

• Regional Lore (Type) 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 3

Researcher / Scientist

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 50%

• Persuade 60%

• Research 70%

• Science (Type) 70%

• Search 60%

• Technology Use 40%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Anthropology 40%

• Archeology 40%

• Art (Type) 40%

• Firearms 60%

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• Heavy Machinery 50%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Natural World 50%

• Psychoanalyze 50%

• Science (Type) 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 5

BONDS: 2

Technologist

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT, POW

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 50%

• Alertness 50%

• Art (Type) 40%

• Insight 50%

• Persuade 50%

• Search 50%

• Technology Use 80%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Appraise 50%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Firearms 60%

• Heavy Machinery 50%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Navigate 50%

• Pilot (Type) 40%

• Research 50%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 3

White-Collar Worker

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT, CHA

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 60%

• Charm 50%

• Insight 50%

• Persuade 50%

• Research 40%

• Technology Use 60%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Appraise 50%

• Art (Type) 40%

• First Aid 50%

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• Harangue 50%

• History 50%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Occult 50%

STARTING RESOURCES: 5

BONDS: 3

Future Age: List of Archetypes

Artist / Craftsperson

RECOMMENDED STATS: DEX

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Appraise 40%
• Art (Type) 60%
• Craft (Type) 40%
• Charm 60%
• Insight 60%
• Persuade 60%
• Search 60%

Choose any 5 of these that you don’t already have:

• Administration 50%

• Alertness 60%

• Artificial Intelligence 40%

• Athletics 70%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Harangue 50%

• Heavy Machinery 50%

• Planet/Station Lore (Type) 40%

• Technology Use 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 3

BONDS: 3

Author / Vlogger / Memlogger

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT, CHA

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Alertness 50%

• Art (Type) 50%

• Insight 60%

• Research 60%

• Search 60%

• Technology Use 20%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Cosmology 50%

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• Harangue 50%

• History 50%

• Law (Type) 40%

• Occult 50%

• Planet/Station Lore (Type) 40%

• Science (Type) 40%

• Xenoarcheology 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 4

Criminal

RECOMMENDED STATS: DEX

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Alertness 40%

• Appraise 40%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Harangue 40%

• Law (Type) 30%

• Stealth 60%

• Search 50%

Choose any 3 of these that you don’t already have:

• Art (Type) 40%

• Artificial Intelligence 40%

• Athletics 70%

• Charm 60%

• Dodge 70%

• Firearms/Beam Weapons 60%

• Hacking 40%

• Insight 50%

• Melee Weapons 70%

• Technology Use 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 5

BONDS: 4

Doctor / Nurse

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 30%

• Charm 40%

• First Aid 50%

• Insight 50%

• Medicine 50%

• Science (Type) 40%

• Search 60%

• Surgery 40%

• Technology Use 30%

Choose any 2 of these that you don’t already have:

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Forensics 40%

• Pharmacy 40%

• Psychoanalyze 50%

• Research 50%

• Science (Type) 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 5

BONDS: 3

Explorer / Pioneer

RECOMMENDED STATS: CHA, POW

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Cosmology 50%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Firearms/Beam Weapons 50%

• First Aid 40%

• Navigate 50%

• Search 50%

• Survival (Type) 50%

• Track 50%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Firearms/Beam Weapons 60%

• Hacking 40%

• Heavy Machinery 50%

• History 50%

• Melee Weapons 70%

• Occult 50%

• Pilot (Type) 40%

• Unarmed Combat 60%

• Xenoarcheology 40%

• Zero-G Maneuvering 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 3

BONDS: 4

Historian / Genealogist

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT, CHA

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 50%

• History 70%

• Planet/Station Lore (Type) 50%

• Research 60%

• Technology Use 30%

• Xenoarcheology 50%

Choose any 3 of these that you don’t already have:

• Art (Type) 40%

• Artificial Intelligence 40%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• Law (Type) 40%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Persuade 60%

• Search 60%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 4

Law Enforcer / Agent

RECOMMENDED STATS: CON, CHA

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Alertness 50%

• Athletics 60%

• Drive 50%

• Firearms/Beam Weapons 60%

• Harangue 60%

• Insight 50%

• Law (Type) 40%

• Search 50%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Disguise 50%

• Dodge 70%

• First Aid 50%

• Forensics 40%

• Hacking 40%

• Melee Weapons 70%

• Persuade 60%

• Planet/Station Lore (Type) 40%

• Stealth 50%

• Technology Use 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 3

Librarian / Archivist

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 60%

• Alertness 50%

• Appraise 50%

• Research 60%

• Search 50%

• Technology Use 50%

Choose any 5 of these that you don’t already have:

• Art (Type) 40%

• Artificial Intelligence 40%

• Cosmology 50%

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• History 50%

• Law (Type) 40%

• Occult 50%

• Planet/Station Lore (Type) 40%

• Xenoarcheology 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 3

Researcher / Scientist

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 50%

• Artificial Intelligence 30%

• Persuade 60%

• Research 60%

• Science (Type) 60%

• Search 50%

• Technology Use 40%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Art (Type) 40%

• Cosmology 50%

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• Hacking 40%

• Heavy Machinery 50%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Psychoanalyze 50%

• Science (Type) 40%

• Xenoarcheology 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 5

BONDS: 2

Spacer

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT, POW

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 50%

• Cosmology 30%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Insight 50%

• Navigate 30%

• Pilot (Type) 40%

• Search 50%

• Technology Use 60%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Appraise 50%

• Artificial Intelligence 40%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Firearms/Beam Weapons 60%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Planet/Station Lore (Type) 40%

• Research 50%

• Survival (Type) 50%

• Zero-G Maneuvering 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 3

Technologist

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT, POW

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 50%

• Alertness 50%

• Art (Type) 40%

• Artificial Intelligence 50%

• Persuade 40%

• Search 50%

• Technology Use 80%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Appraise 50%

• Cosmology 50%

• Craft (Type) 40%

• Firearms/Beam Weapons 60%

• Insight 50%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Navigate 50%

• Pilot (Type) 40%

• Research 50%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 3

White-Collar Worker

Recommended Stats: INT, CHA

Archetypal Skills:

• Administration 60%

• Charm 50%

• Insight 50%

• Persuade 50%

• Research 40%

• Technology Use 60%

Choose any 4 of these that you don’t already have:

• Appraise 50%

• Art (Type) 40%

• Artificial Intelligence 40%

• Foreign Language (Type) 40%

• Harangue 50%

• History 50%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Occult 50%

Starting Resources: 5

Bonds: 3

Detailed Description: Adversity Skill Points

Depending on the harshness of the environment where your Protagonist grew up, he or she may gain Adversity Skill Point Picks. Each such pick provides a 20-point increase in rating for one skill from a pre-defined list.

The number of Adversity Skill Point Picks your Protagonist receives depends on the Harshness Descriptor relevant to their particular upbringing:

• Normal(ish) upbringing: no Adversity Skill Point Picks
• Harsh upbringing: 1 Adversity Skill Point Pick
• Very Harsh upbringing: 2 Adversity Skill Point Picks

Adversity Skill Point Picks can ONLY be spent to increase ratings in the following list of setting-specific adversity skills:

Medieval Age: TODO Jazz Age: TODO Modern Era: First Aid, Military Training (type), Regional Lore (type), or Survival (type).

You can pick the same skill more than once.

Detailed Description: Resources

Every Protagonist has a Resources rating between 0 and 20. This number is an abstraction that represents the size, value, and utility of the personal pool of resources to which he or she has ready access. A Protagonist who is “wealthy” in a material sense will have a high Resources rating, since they have personal ownership – and hence access – to more things. Conversely, someone who is destitute and forced to carry their meagre belongings on their back will probably have a very low Resources rating. The definition of what constitutes “wealth” and “valuable resources” might vary depending on the game setting, but the Resources rating is a handy abstract rating which compares the magnitude of the Protagonist’s material possessions against other people’s.

The Resources rating represents a pool of previously unspecified items in addition to any named pieces of equipment that appears on the Protagonist’s character sheet.

There are two ways in which Resources ratings can become important during a game of Cthulhu Eternal:

1. The rating can be used as a measure of status and wealth which dictates how Non-Player Characters react to the Protagonists; a Protagonist who has a sizeable cache of resources might find NPCs more willing to listen to what he or she has to say … or alternatively more likely to want to take some of those resources away.

2. Game encounters may involve challenges which can be overcome through possession of particular – possibly obscure – items or resources; a Protagonist who fossicks through his or her trove of (unnamed) personal items may locate just the thing that is needed. Usually this requires a successful Resources test (a 1D100 roll against Resources × 5).

A Protagonist’s Resources rating may change during play as especially significant items are pulled from the “bag of tricks”, items are destroyed, or new equipment caches are picked over for useful additions.

Determining the Starting Resources rating

Your Protagonist’s Archetype determines the starting value for his or her Resources rating; it is a number listed as part of the Archetype description.

If you would prefer this value to be higher, you have the option to “trade-in” one or more BONUS SKILL POINT picks (see Detailed Description Bonus Skill Points). For the first such skill pick traded-in, your Protagonist receives a +5 boost to Resources rating. Each additional pick you trade in beyond the first, grants your Protagonist a further +2 boost to Resources. You may sacrifice as many skill picks as you wish, although each will reduce your opportunities to round-out your Protagonist with extra skills during a later step of Protagonist creation.

Alternatively, if you would prefer to play a Protagonist who is entirely bereft of resources (i.e., has a Resources rating of 0), you can choose to do so and in return receive one extra Bonus Skill Point Pick for later use.

Rating What the Rating Represents

0 No ownership of any item of value or function. Penury. Near starvation.

1-4 Owns only basic and valueless items; barely enough to eke out a basic life. Always hungry.

5-8 Owns a sparse collection of valuable or useful items, some in terrible condition. Sometimes hungry.

9-12 Owns a modest cache of valuable, useful items. Usually has basic food.

13-16 Owns a fair stock of low-grade valuable items. Occasional access to superior food.

17-18 Owns an impressive collection of useful gear; considered wealthy / well-resourced. Regular access to superior food

19 The envy of most people; owns numerous sought-after items of impressive function. Access to the best food and beverages.

20+ Access to unparalleled quantities of valuable or useful items. A stockpile of wealth. Choice of any available food, in any quantity.

If you need to know how your Resources Rating translates to financial wealth, consult the table in the BUYING EQUIPMENT section (see Part 5 - Equipment and Resources).

Permanent Resources, Resources At-Hand, and Resource Checks

The full value established above is called the Protagonist’s Permanent Resources rating, since it measures the sum total of everything he or she owns – regardless of where it is kept.

Carrying around a lot of bulky equipment everywhere is usually not practical, so Protagonists with significant Resources ratings (7+ points) will usually need to stow some of their junk in a vehicle or on a pack animal. Those with even more resources will need to store the overflow in a fixed ‘home base’ location.

The table nearby shows a breakdown of ‘at hand’ vs ‘stowed’ vs ‘in storage’ Resource rating points. There is space on the Protagonist sheet to record this breakdown of the total Permanent Resource rating into the three categories. The three numbers (‘at-hand’, ‘stowed’, and ‘in storage’) must always add up to the Permanent Resources rating.

The Permanent Resources rating measures both the quantity of items your Protagonist has dedicated access to, and their usefulness. This in turn governs how many times per adventure the Protagonist can successfully pull out useful items before the pool is temporarily exhausted.

In game terms this is represented by the number of Resource Check boxes the Protagonist has available – these are explained further below. The number of check boxes available to your Protagonist is also indicated on the table nearby: record it on the Protagonist Sheet by blacking out but those boxes available to the Protagonist (e.g., for a Protagonist with only one checkbox available, fill in all but one of the available boxes with solid black – use pencil since your Protagonist may open up more boxes later).

Resources Breakdown & Check Boxes

Permanent Resource Rating	“At Hand” / “Stowed” / “In Storage”	Check Boxes
0	0 / 0 / 0	0
1	1 / 0 / 0	1
2	2 / 0 / 0	1
3	3 / 0 / 0	1
4	4 / 0 / 0	1
5	5 / 0 / 0	1
6	6 / 0 / 0	1
7	6 / 1 / 0	2
8	6 / 2 / 0	2
9	6 / 3 / 0	2
10	6 / 4 / 0	2
11	6 / 5 / 0	2
12	6 / 6 / 0	2
13	6 / 6 / 1	3
14	6 / 6 / 2	3
15	6 / 6 / 3	3
16	6 / 6 / 4	3
17	6 / 6 / 5	3
18	6 / 6 / 6	3
19	6 / 6 / 7	3
20+	6 / 6 / 8+	3

Pushing the Limits

As indicated in the table, it is typically only possible for your Protagonist to keep 6 points of Resources on their person (‘at-hand’) and another 6 points ‘stowed’ in a handy vehicle or on a handy animal. These aren’t hard and fast limits, but represent what can comfortably be carried/transported without impacting travel speed and convenience. If situations arise where the Protagonist really needs to carry more (e.g., carry the entire 10 points of Permanent Resources by hand while fleeing a burning building), it is up to the Game Moderator to decide what is possible and what impacts might arise from your Protagonist or vehicle being ‘overloaded’. The Game Moderator might rule this has an impact on the rate of travel, or require some kind of skill test to keep moving forward under excess load.

Generally, stretching the limits beyond 12 points carried ‘at hand’ or 12 points ‘stowed’ is impossible.

There is no limit to the amount of Resources rating points that can be ‘in storage’ at a fixed location (e.g., a home base or workshop).

Which Rating for a Test?

Any time your Protagonist’s Resources rating is the subject of a test, the effective rating number that is used should reflect the situation. It should be determined by the amount of Resources available to your Protagonist at that moment. If he or she is at home base, that will probably be the full Permanent Resources amount; if your Protagonist is close to his or her vehicle (or pack animal) that might be the ‘at-hand’ value PLUS the stowed value. If your Protagonist is far away from both home base and vehicle/animal, the number is likely to be just the ‘at-hand’ number.

Which Rating for NPC Reactions?

When using Resources as a means of determining Non-Player Character reactions, the rating that is used also depends on the situation. Does the NPC in question know all about your Protagonist’s reputation as a ‘wealthy’ sort? If so, maybe the full Permanent Resources score can be used even if only some of that wealth is currently on display. Alternatively, if the NPC is suspicious of your Protagonist, it might be hard to get him or her to believe in the existence of any resources beyond what they can see for themselves.

The Bag of Tricks

The higher your Protagonist’s effective Resources rating, the higher the likelihood that his or her accessible personal cache of items may contain something helpful to a situation or problem.

• In situations where non-specialist resources or items are needed, simply make a test of your Protagonist’s Resources × 5. Success means that something helpful was found.

• In cases where a situation requires a very specialized resource or item, the Game Moderator might rule it is too rare to find in your Protagonist’s pool of gear. Alternatively, the GM may still permit a test of Resources × 5 roll to locate the rare equipment – but rule that success will permanently reduce your Protagonist’s Resources rating by a few points (the number being at the Game Moderator’s discretion).

Depending on the specific game setting, the difficulty of Resources tests and the quality of the items unearthed through successful rolls may vary. See Scrounging.

Rules of Thumb:

• Tests to find items or resource types that are considered Hard to Get in the setting are made at HALF the Protagonist’s effective Resources rating

• Tests to find items or resource types that are considered Very Hard to Get or Impossible to Get in the setting are made at QUARTER the Protagonist’s effective Resources rating

• A test that is a standard success, but which is only just under the target number might yield a sub-standard version of the item or resource. A critical success will always yield the best possible quality available.

Checkboxes and Per-Adventure Limits

While your Protagonist’s personal Resources can prove helpful during an adventure, there are practical limits to the number of times that items can be pulled from it during a single adventure.

After each Resources test resulting in success, place a check mark in one of the Resource Check boxes on the Protagonist’s character sheet. When all the boxes are full, the Protagonist’s resources pool is temporarily exhausted and can’t contribute anything more until he or she has some downtime to replenish or reorganize it (see Replenishing Resources, Removing Checkmarks).

Pooling Resources

Sometimes, it may be appropriate for two or more Protagonists to pool their personal caches of items to improve the likelihood of finding a rare but crucial component. Any Protagonist can contribute items to the pool, as long as he or she hasn’t temporarily exhausted their resource pool (by filling all check boxes).

When making a roll to search such a combined resource pool, the effective Resources rating of the collection is equal to the highest individual Resources rating included in the collection plus ONE FIFTH of the Resources rating of every additional individual stockpile added to the heap (round fractions up). This reflects duplication of items or functions.

Success on a combined test causes a check mark to be placed on the sheet of the Protagonist whose FULL Resources rating was used. Others who contributed a smaller amount to the total do not receive a check mark.

Losing Resources

A Protagonist’s Resources rating may decrease due to events that occur during play:

• As described above, producing a highly specialized item as the result of a Resources test may cause the Permanent Resources rating to be reduced by one or more.

• If the Protagonist is robbed or otherwise loses control of a significant amount of his or her personal equipment, the Game Moderator may decide this warrants a loss of a proportional amount of Resources rating.

• If a proportion of the Protagonist’s resources are stowed in a vehicle or on a pack animal, the theft or destruction of the conveyance is likely to cause some or all to be lost, the exact proportion decided by the Game Moderator.

• If a proportion of the Protagonist’s resources are stored in a fixed location, a disaster that outright destroys or significantly damages the location will likewise cause a reduction to permanent Resources. The points lost are based on the number of ‘in storage’ rating points stored at the location (i.e., not carried or stowed). The same loss may occur if the permanent location becomes invaded or overtaken by a hostile party – although in that situation the loss might be temporary, assuming the Protagonists can win back their former stronghold at some future date.

Whenever Resource rating decreases, the player should recalculate the “at-hand”/stowed/stored breakdown of points as well as the number of check boxes available to the Protagonist.

Increasing the Resources Rating During Play

During a Cthulhu Eternal adventure your Protagonist may gain access to a cache of items ripe for the taking. When this occurs, the Game Moderator will decide the number of Resources rating points each Protagonist might potentially plunder. For a small find this might be modest (1 point or 1D2 points), but for a massive discovery it could be a healthy improvement (1D6 or higher).

Increasing your Protagonist’s Permanent Resources rating requires a die roll. With percentile dice, attempt to roll above Permanent Resources rating × 5. This reflects the fact that the more your Protagonist already owns, the harder it is to acquire additional new items he or she does not already have. If the test is successful, increase the Resources rating by the amount or die roll indicated by the GM.

Whenever Resource rating increases, the player should recalculate the “at-hand”/stowed/stored breakdown of points as well as the number of check boxes available to the Protagonist.

Replenishing Resources, Removing Checkmarks

The Game Moderator will determine when your Protagonist group can take the time to replenish or reorganize their Resources pools. Usually this happens between missions, expeditions, or adventures (see Reorganizing and Replenishing Personal Resources). Once the Protagonists have invested an appropriate period of downtime all check marks can be erased from the character sheet.

Detailed Description: Bonds

Bonds measure your Protagonist’s relationships with the vital people and societies in his or her life: loved ones, family members, and wider communities. A Bond can protect your Protagonist from SAN loss (see Projecting Onto A Bond) or offer a chance to repress the effects of a disorder or temporary insanity (see Using Bonds to Repress Insanity).

Bonds are not merely motivations or things your Protagonist likes. They are your Protagonist’s connection to humanity and its social structures. A Protagonist with no Bonds is more susceptible to psychological trauma than one who has people waiting back home.

Your Protagonist’s Archetype determines how many Bonds your Protagonist begins with. The more trying and time-consuming the Archetype, the fewer Bonds your Protagonist is able to maintain.

There are two distinct types of Bonds, each handled slightly differently – they are Individual Bonds and Community Bonds. When creating a Protagonist, you are free to choose which of his or her starting bonds is of each type.

Individual Bonds

An Individual Bond is an emotional connection to a single person. It could be familial or marital, or it could just be a close friendship or association. To qualify as an Individual Bond the person must be someone the Protagonist believes (hopes?) to be still alive.

Each Individual Bond begins with a score equal to your Protagonist’s CHA. It cannot typically go above this value.

Sample Individual Bonds

• Spouse or ex-spouse
• Son or daughter
• Parent or grandparent
• Best friend
• Members of the same gang or band (see BONDS FORMED THROUGH SHARED ADVERSITY, below)
• Spiritual counsellor

Changes to Individual Bonds During Play

Bonds’ scores often deteriorate because of your Protagonist’s experiences of the horrors of the Mythos-haunted world. A Bond increases if it is cultivated between adventures (Fulfill Responsibilities to Individuals). An Individual Bond can never have a score higher than your Protagonist’s CHA. Any time CHA drops, each Individual Bond drops by the same amount.

Individual Bonds are vulnerable. If the Protagonist learns that the individual has died or gone permanently insane, the Bond is destroyed. The Bond is also permanently broken when its score drops to 0 (see broken).

Community Bonds

A Community Bond is a relationship between the Protagonist and a broader community of individuals; it reflects the Protagonist’s status within that community, and the likelihood of other people following his or her instructions or desires.

A community may be a geographical association of people or it may be a society of like-minded individuals (e.g., a club, congregation, or association). A Protagonist can have more than one Community Bond, each describing his or her status within the hierarchy of a different societal structure.

Community Bonds are measured on a scale of 1 to 20, with an indicative meaning shown below:

Rating What the Rating Represents

1 Disgraced member; on the verge of being banished from the society.

2-4 Shunned member of the community; someone who is actively looked down on by most

5-8 Standard member of the community; one of the pack, whose opinion is unlikely to matter

9-12 Well-regarded member of the community; favorably viewed by many other members

13-16 Important member of the community; respected by most other members

17-18 Influential member of community, involved in most decision-making; liked by most

19 An extremely influential member of the community, looked up to by virtually everyone

20 Top-tier of leadership in the community; the head honcho.

If a Community Bond is chosen during the creation of your Protagonist, it typically begins with a default rating of half the Protagonist’s Permanent Resources rating, rounded up (see Detailed Description Resources). In a few cases, a Protagonist’s Archetype indicates that he or she has a Community Bond with a certain fixed rating – the final rating should be either that value or half the Permanent Resources rating, whichever is higher.

This value can be optionally increased during the creation of your Protagonist by sacrificing one or more BONUS SKILL POINT picks (see Detailed Description Bonus Skill Points); the first skill pick sacrificed in this manner gives a bonus of +5 to the Community Bond’s rating; each subsequent sacrifice adds +2 (to a maximum of 20).

It is also possible to elect for your Protagonist to take a Community Bond with a rating of 1 (and suffer the social effects of being a pariah to fellow members) and receive one extra Bonus Skill Point Pick to use on purchasing skills later in the process.

Sample Community Bonds

• Group which shelters in the same place
• Church or support group
• Craft or trade guild
• Secret society

Changes to Community Bonds During Play

The rating for a Community Bond applies individually to every member of that community, and to the community as a whole. If a Community Bond decreases in value, the relationship with each member of the community deteriorates. A Community Bond is permanently broken when its score drops to 0 (and the Protagonist is likely cast out of the nominated community).

If the community itself is entirely destroyed (e.g., every member killed or sent insane), or if the Protagonist permanently leaves it (e.g., by relocating to live in a new region) the bond is destroyed.

If a Community Bond is broken by either means, the Protagonist will likely suffer negative impacts (see BROKEN BONDS, nearby).

During play, events may arise where the reactions of NPCs from the Protagonist’s bonded community (or the community as a whole) have an impact. In some cases, the Protagonist may instigate such situations (e.g., by requesting aid from the community or trying to convince them of impending danger). In such situations the Game Moderator may ask for a test against Community Bond Rating × 5. Success means that the NPC or the community reacts favorably.

Describing Bonds

Identify each Individual and Community Bond: “My Wife.” “My Husband and Kids.” “My church congregation.” “The Society of Amateur Sleuths.”

An Individual Bond must be a real person or group of people who the Protagonist believes to be alive, and with which there is some (potential) opportunity to interact.

A Community Bond must be a real group who recognizes the Protagonist as a member.

Broken Bonds

When a Bond deteriorates, that relationship becomes strained. Exactly what shape that takes in play is up to you and the Game Moderator (playing the NPCs).

Bonds often fall apart because of events beyond your Protagonist’s control. An example for Individual Bonds: your Protagonist’s husband might leave for another woman. An example for Community Bonds: a new leader might ascend to power who is actively antagonistic towards your Protagonist.

If such a disaster harms the subject of a Bond, that reduces the Bond’s value by 1D4. If that disaster permanently removes the subject of the Bond, that Bond is gone. Cross it off the sheet.

When damage to a Bond reduces it to 0, the relationship is damaged beyond repair. Cross it off the sheet. The only way to regain a Bond with that character or community is to build it from scratch as if it had never existed (see Part 8 - Downtime for details on creating new Bonds).

The breaking of any Bond is almost certainly traumatic and is likely to trigger a Sanity test due to Helplessness (see Threats to SAN).

When you cross a Bond off your Protagonist’s character sheet, don’t erase it. After all, there’s no forgetting a vital relationship that went bad.

Bonds Forged Through Shared Adversity

Protagonists often band together into small tight-knit groups, to enhance their chances. This is true when the group is alone in the wasteland; it’s often also true even when they are outsiders in a larger settlement. If those tight-knit groups go through terrifying ordeals together, there is a strong chance that they will become psychologically bound together through that shared experience.

In game terms, groups of Protagonists tend to form individual bonds to one another when they spend most of their time fighting the forces of the Mythos. Whenever your Protagonist is part of a team that completes a harrowing adventure, there’s a chance of such trauma-generated bonds forming or deepening. This is the case if the scenario played out in a way where:

• One or more members of the team suffered temporary insanity, or
• One or more members of the team gained a new psychological disorder, or
• One or more members of the team died or was incapacitated by physical injuries, or
• Any other event occurred that the Game Moderator thinks was shocking enough to constitute severe trauma.

In the downtime after the adventure (see Part 8 - Downtime), all Protagonists that made it back must make a SAN test. If the roll succeeds, nothing changes. If your Protagonist fails the SAN roll, he or she gains or strengthens an individual bond with EACH fellow Protagonist who also made it through the same trauma (up to a maximum of five fellow Protagonists).

For each such fellow trauma-sufferer,

• If your Protagonist has no previous bond with that person, he or she gains a brand-new individual Bond to that person at a rating equal to half your Protagonist’s CHA. Add the new Bond to your Protagonist’s character sheet. This focusing of attention comes at a detrimental cost to other pre-existing Bonds – you must lose 1D4 points from one other bond of your choice (either an Individual or Community Bond).

• If your Protagonist already has an Individual Bond with that person, the bond is increased by 1D4 points (up to a maximum value equal to CHA); at the same time 1 point must be subtracted from another bond of the player’s choice (either an Individual or Community Bond). Note that even if all your Protagonist’s existing bonds are already at the maximum score (and hence can’t increase), you still need to pick a bond to weaken by 1.

Remember that if a Bond is ever reduced to 0 or less it is broken, as per the previous section.

When choosing a Bond to weaken during this process you CANNOT pick a bond to an individual who was with your Protagonist on the recently completed adventure. You MAY, however, pick an Individual Bond gained from an earlier shared traumatic encounter.

Rather than treating this as a mechanical process, you and your Game Moderator are encouraged to work together to describe the changed dynamic between your Protagonist and those around them. If points have been gained with fellow adventurers, does that mean they are beginning to feel comfort that their colleagues will always have their back? Or has the shared experience kindled a romance of sorts? Conversely, if a bond has been weakened, does that mean the Protagonist has been neglecting a member of their circle of friends and both are now feeling their friendship is slipping away?

If a community bond has weakened does it mean that the excessive time spent socializing with the tight-knit group has alienated others in the community to the point that they have lost confidence in the Protagonist? Or has he or she just missed so many gatherings that their standing as a high-status member of society has eroded?

Detailed Description: Bonus Skill Points

The skill package associated with your Protagonist’s Archetype coupled with the Adversity skills from the harshness of his or her upbringing, represent his or her core proficiencies. But they certainly aren’t the full story about everything the Protagonist is good at.

Each Protagonist begins with ten Bonus Skill Point Picks. Each pick provides a boost of 20 points to whichever skill it is applied. Alternatively, some of these skill picks can be traded-in for non-skill benefits instead (see box nearby).

When applying a skill pick to a skill which has NOT been set by the Protagonist’s Archetype or increased through Adversity Skill Picks, then add the 20 to its base rating. Otherwise, add 20 to its current score. This allows your Protagonist to specialize in certain Archetypal skills or to learn a little about skills not included in his or her Archetype. You can even boost a single skill more than once, adding +20 each time.

Unless the Game Moderator says otherwise, you can’t raise a skill higher than 80% during Protagonist creation. You must assign (or trade-in) all bonus points to skills before play begins.

Trading-in Skill Point Picks

As described in previous sections on RESOURCES (Detailed Description Resources) and BONDS (Detailed Description Bonds), you have the option during Protagonist creation to trade-in one or more Bonus Skill Picks in return for non-skill advantages. Alternatively, your Protagonist can earn an extra Bonus Skill Pick or two if you are willing to sacrifice some of the normal benefits of those other starting ratings.

Trading Skill Point Picks for Resources Rating

You may elect to sacrifice one or more Bonus Skill Point Picks to improve your Protagonist’s starting rating in Permanent Resources:

• Sacrificing one Bonus Skill Point Pick grants a +5 increase to Permanent Resources.
• Sacrificing further Bonus Picks grants +2 for each extra pick sacrificed.
• There is no limit to how high the Permanent Resources rating can go.
• Note that boosting Permanent Resources rating will also increase the starting value of all Community Bonds (which start equal to half this value).

As an alternative, if you are willing for your Protagonist to have a Resources rating of 0 (absolutely without any worldly goods), that sacrifice earns one EXTRA Bonus Skill Point Pick.

Trading Skill Point Picks for Community Bond Rating

You can elect to sacrifice one or more Bonus Skill Point Picks to improve the starting rating of your Protagonist’s Community Bonds.

• Sacrificing one Bonus Skill Point Pick grants a +5 increase to the value of one Community Bond.
• Sacrificing further Bonus Picks to the same Bond grants +2 for each extra pick sacrificed. Sacrificing a pick towards a different Bond achieves the full increase stated above.
• Community Bond strengths can only be increased to a maximum of 20 (at which point your Protagonist is the community’s top leader).

As an alternative, if you are willing for your Protagonist to set a Community Bond to a value of 1 (ready to break at the slightest provocation, with possibly disastrous social outcome), that sacrifice earns one EXTRA Bonus Skill Point Pick. You can claim this reward multiple times if you wish to set several Community Bonds to 1