The Plain People of Gaming: Sects in the City

A Dispatch From Cthulhu City4_bookshop

Cults are a major part of Cthulhu City. The setting mashes Arkham, Dunwich, Innsmouth and Kingport together with the Mythos’ other great cities – the City of the Elder Things, the City of Pillars, Carcosa, Pnakatos, Rlyeh, the Marvellous Sunset City of the Dreamland – and each of those cities has its own age-old cults and secret cabals. In Cthulhu City, the cults all vie for power and the favour of the Old Ones. The city was founded by cults:  Great Arkham remembers Joseph Curwen as its founding father. It’s been ruled by cults: the Esoteric Order of Dagon ran the Gilman House political machine that dominated city politics for decades, and it’s been guided by cults: the Church of the Conciliator is the dominant faith in the city, and although that church traces its origins to a lone preacher in Dunwich in the 1830s, the rites it celebrates are far more ancient.

Even the city’s enemies can be treated as a cult. Look at the recent scandal at Miskatonic University, where it was discovered that the head librarian was also head of a secret cell of anarcho-Communistic radicals who intended to blow up City Hall! Fortunately, a joint investigation by the city police and the FBI thwarted that fiendish plan, but Armitage and some of his co-conspirators escaped capture, and like any cult, they may have allies and contacts in the underworld.

Any of the many non-player characters detailed in Cthulhu City (all using the by-now-familiar Neutral/Villain/Potential Ally breakdown pioneered in the Armitage Files) could be a cultist. Therefore, each cult write up provides a template of adjustments that the Keeper can quickly apply to that NPC’s statistics to reflect their secret cult affiliation. If the Servant or the Gadabout is secretly a member of the Witch Coven, then the Keeper need only check the Witch Coven write up in the Cults chapter to discover that initiates of the Coven gain +2 Health, +4 Magic, +2 Weapons, and the spells Contact Rat-Thing and Open Witch Gate (expect many new spells in Cthulhu City). Of course, that’s only for initiates – adepts and masters of a cult have considerably more potent adjustments to their base statistics, not to mention more far-reaching and subtle ways to strike back at meddling investigators. Any NPC might secretly be a powerful cultist (or even be promoted on the fly by an improvising Keeper).

You can’t fight City Hall, especially when City Hall is a cyclopean temple to nameless evil and ruled by wizards.

Fortunately, each cult has tells that the investigators can discover. Some are obvious – the bulging eyes, bilious skin and bloated physique that make up the Innsmouth look bespeaks a connection to the Esoteric Order. Others are more subtle – what does it mean when you detect the faint smell of formaldehyde, or experience a sudden rush of vertigo? As a foulness shall ye know them…

Trail of Cthulhu is an award-winning 1930s horror roleplaying game by Kenneth Hite, produced under license from Chaosium. Whether you’re playing in two-fisted Pulp mode or sanity-shredding Purist mode, its GUMSHOE system enables taut, thrilling investigative adventures where the challenge is in interpreting clues, not finding them. Purchase Trail of Cthulhu, and its many supplements and adventures, in print and PDF at the Pelgrane Shop.

 

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