13th Age designer Rob Heinsoo takes you on a tour of the monsters he has known and loved throughout his gaming career, before finally naming on a particularly powerful and clever adversary as his favorite monster.

13th Age combines the best parts of traditional d20-rolling fantasy gaming with new story-focused rules, designed so you can run the kind of game you most want to play with your group. Created by Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet, 13th Age gives you all the tools you need to make unique characters who are immediately embedded in the setting in important ways; quickly prepare adventures based on the PCs’ backgrounds and goals; create your own monsters; fight exciting battles; and focus on what’s always been cool and fun about fantasy adventure gaming. Purchase 13th Age in print and PDF at the Pelgrane Shop.

In the latest episode of their intrepid podcast, Ken and Robin talk Sense Trouble, fatbergs, William Stephenson, and doomsday predictor Albert Porta.

Building on fond memories of other random generators, what might a random Trail adventure generator look like? The tables below generate a highly random Trail of Cthulhu mystery. As with all random generators, the goal is to prompt the Keeper’s creativity in connecting disparate elements – don’t expect coherence from random rolls alone!

Adventure Hook (d12)

Why do the investigators get involved? (You can also use this as a way to determine the theme or atmosphere of the adventure if you’re not using pregenerated characters.)

1. Adventure
2. Arrogance
3. Antiquarianism
4. Artistic Sensitivity
5. Bad Luck
6. Curiosity
7. Duty
8. In the Blood
9. Revenge
10. Scholarship
11. Sudden Shock
12. Thirst For Knowledge

(The drives Ennui and Follower aren’t used in the list above.)

Location (d20)

Where does the adventure take place? The somewhat eclectic list of suggestions below is based on the locations discussed in the Trail of Cthulhu rulebook.)

1. United States – Rural
2. United States – Small Town
3. United States – Urban
4. United States – Lovecraft Country
5. Abyssinia/ Belgian Congo
6. Antarctica
7. Brazil
8. Burma
9. Egypt
10. Germany
11. Greenland
12. Haiti
13. Mongolia
14. Peru
15. Rumania
16. Saudi Arabia
17. Soviet Union
18. Easter Island/South Pacific Mandate
19. Spain
20. Thibet

Apparent Situation (roll 1d20)

What are the investigators doing here?

1. Commercial interest – it’s related to the business of an investigator, like a real estate deal
2. Investigate disappearance – of a friend, relative or other acquaintance. Or a strange, if the investigator is a police officer, detective or other specialist.
3. Investigate untimely death – as above.
4. Investigate cryptic events – lights in the sky, strange footprints, sinister letters.
5. Investigate criminal activity – bootlegging, extortion, theft
6. Investigate alleged supernatural event – ghosts, seances, vampire attacks, curses.
7. Investigate medical mystery – strange disease, sudden madness
8. Investigate prodigy – fallen meteorite, brilliant scientific discovery
9. Carry out personal errand – execute a will, return a book borrowed years before
10. Carry out mundane task – something connected to the investigator’s occupation
11. Carry out official duties – as above, but a little more formal and significant
12. Survey site – examine a location in detail, for commercial or archaeological reasons
13. Report on story of interest – even if the investigator isn’t a reporter, they might be asked to look into a local mystery
14. Research local history – as a hobby, out of antiquarian interest.
15. Visit distant cousins or aged relative – haven’t seen them in years, I wonder what they’re up to
16. Visit old friend or correspondent – as per Henry Akeley in Whisperer in Darkness
17. Vacation or (recuperation after traumatic experience) – just what you need after that last nightmarish encounter
18. Vehicle breakdown or travel delay – you’re stuck here for a while
19. Drawn here by strange dreams – because you’re a Lovecraftian protagonist
20. Seeking mysterious object or book – that has recently come to light

Horrible Truth (roll 1d12)

What’s really going on?

1. The Apparent Situation is the true situation
2. There’s a CULT here, and their activities may be exposed by the Apparent Situation
3. There once was a CULT here; it’s mostly moribund, but some horror connected to the cult lies buried here and may be exposed by the Apparent Situation
4. There’s an active and ambitious CULT here; the Apparent Situation is connected to some malign intent of theirs.
5. There’s a CREATURE here, disinterested in humanity unless provoked.
6. There’s a CREATURE here, preying on humanity.
7. There’s a CREATURE here, slumbering – but it may be awoken by the Apparent Situation.
8. The Apparent Situation was triggered by a TOME OR ARTEFACT
9. Someone’s using the Mythos for personal gain using a TOME OR ARTEFACT
10. There’s a GOD OR TITAN slumbering here, and its presence disturbs the world
11. There’s an ancient ruin or tomb connected to a GOD OR TITAN here, guarded by a (1-3: CULT, 4-6: CREATURE)
12. There’s a clash between two entities (roll 1d6 for each: 1-3: CULT, 4-5 CREATURE, 6 GOD OR TITAN).

Cult

Roll on the the Cult Size, Cult Status, Cult Intent and Blasphemous Rites tables.

Cult Size (roll d6)

1. A single sorcerer
2. A small cabal (a single family, a few locals)
3. A congregation (two dozen or so)
4. Endemic in the area (lots of people in the area are involved)
5. Far-flung (only a small cabal here, but the cult is spread across the world)
6. Great conspiracy (cult is world-wide and exceedingly well connected)

Cult Status (roll 1d6)

1. Dead – no cultists left, only their works
2. In decline – only a few left
3. Secret – cult is hidden and mostly inactive, only performing rites on rare occasions
4. Active – cult continues its sinister practices
5. Recruiting – cult seeks new members
6. On the verge of triumph! – cult is about to take a major step towards its goal

Cult Intent (roll 1d6)

1. Worship of CREATURE with offerings, sacrifice
2. Worship of GOD OR TITAN
3. Study of TOME OR ARTEFACT
4. Acquisition of power
5. Keepers of CREATURE
6. Summon GOD OR TITAN, end reign of humanity.

 Blasphemous Rites Include (roll 1d10)

1. Worship outdoors at ritual site
2. Worship at hidden temple, cave or ruin
3. Bizarre surgical experiments
4. Congress with CREATURE
5. Use of drugs or extracts
6. Ritual initiation
7. Travel through dreams or magical gateways
8. Use of ritual magic
9. Ritual sacrifice
10. Transformation

Creature (roll 1d100)

1-2 Bat-Thing
3-4 Bhole
5-6 Black Winged Ones
7-8 Byakhee
9-10 Colour Out of Space
11-15 Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath
16-20 Deep One
21-22 Dimensional Shambler
23-24 Elder Thing
25-26 Flying Polyp
27-28 Elder Thing
29-30 Formless Spawn
31-32 Gaseous Wraiths
33-38 Ghoul
39-40 Gnoph-Keh
41-42 Great Race of Yith
43-44 Hound of Tindalos
45-46 Hunting Horror
47-48 K’n-Yani
49-50 Lemurian
51-52 Lloigor
53-54 Masqut
55-56 Medusa
57-60 Mi-go
61-62 Moon-beast
63-64 Nightgaunt
64-66 Raktajihva
67-68 Rat-Thing
69-70 Sand-Dweller
71-72 Serpent Folk
73-74 Servitor of the Outer Gods
75-76 Shan
77-78 Shantak
79-80 Shoggoth
81-82 Son of Yog-Sothoth
83-84 Space-Eater
85-86 Star Vampire
87-88 Ultraviolet Devourer
89-90 Tcho-Tcho
91-92 Vampirish Vapour
93-94 Wendigo
95-96 Worm-Cultist
97-98 Xothian
99-100 Y’m-bhi

Gods & Titans (roll 1d20)

1. Azathoth
2. Chaugnar Faugn
3. Cthugha
4. Cthulhu
5. Dagon
6. Daoloth
7. Ghatanothoa
8. Gol-Goroth
9. Hastur
10. Ithaqua
11. Mordiggan
12. Mormo
13. Nodens
14. Nyarlathotep
15. Quachil Uttaus
16. Shub-Niggurath
17. Tsathoggua
18. Y’golonac
19. Yig
20. Yog-Sothoth

Tomes & Artefacts (roll 1d20)

1. Necronomicon, original
2. Necronomicon, modern
3. Cultes des Goules
4. De Vermis Mysteriis
5. King in Yellow
6. Book of Eibon
7. Pnakotic Manuscripts
8-9 Idol of GOD or TITAN
10-11 Idol of CREATURE
12-13 Relic or Mummy of CREATURE
14. Remains of ancient sorcerer or priest
15. Ancient Stone
16. Dust or Elixir
17. Cryptic Machine
18. Weapon or Tool
19. Enchanted Place
20. Gateway or portal

Structuring the Adventure

As a starting point, assume 3-5 core clues must be discovered and 1-3 hazards must be overcome to complete the investigation.

Random Core Clues

Clue Type

1-2 Academic
3-4 Interpersonal
5-6 Technical

Academic

1. Accounting
2. Anthropology
3. Archaeology
4. Architecture
5. Art History
6. Biology
7. Cthulhu Mythos
8. Cryptography
9. Geology
10. History
11. Languages
12. Law
13. Library Use
14. Medicine
15. Occult
16. Physics
17. Theology
18. Roll again, but it’s an impossibility
19. Roll again, but it’s a personal connection
20. Roll again, but it’s a terrible revelation

An Impossibility: This rock is older than the universe! This painting is moving! This library is carnivorous!

A Personal Connection: Your Medicine can’t tell you anything about this condition – but you do know a retired physician, Doctor Black, who lives nearby. Maybe he can help.

A Terrible Revelation: Oops! I just correlated hitherto disassociated fragments of knowledge. Rookie mistake.

Interpersonal

1. Assess Honesty
2. Bargain
3. Bureaucracy
4. Cop Talk
5. Credit Rating
6. Flattery
7. Interrogation
8. Intimidation
9. Oral History
10. Reassurance
11. Streetwise
12. Roll again, but it attracts the attention of sinister forces

Sinister forces: It’s not wise to ask questions about certain topics.

Technical

1. Art
2. Astronomy
3. Chemistry
4. Craft
5. Evidence Collection
6. Forensics
7. Locksmith
8. Outdoorsman
9. Pharmacy
10. Photography
11. Roll again, but it’s an impossibility
12. Roll again, but it exposes the investigator to something toxic or hazardous

Exposure: You see a strange light as you look through the telescope; you pick the lock, but discover the door’s a twist in space and time…

Random Hazards

1. Athletics – a chase scene, a physical obstacle
2. Conceal – a hidden trap
3. Disguise – you must infiltrate a group
4. Driving – dangerous conditions or a car chase
5. Electrical Repair/Mechanical Repair – a piece of equipment is vitally needed
6. Explosives – it’s the only way to be sure
7. Filch – you must steal something
8. Firearms – a combat scene at range!
9. First Aid – someone’s dying or badly injured
10. Health – exposed to a toxin
11. Piloting – we’re on a boat
12. Riding – we’re on a horse
13. Stability – keep it together, man!
14. Scuffling – a combat scene, up close!
15. Sense Trouble – there’s something out there.
16. Shadowing – quick, after them!
17. Stealth – you must infiltrate a place
18. Weapons – a combat scene, with sharp bits
19. Roll again twice
20. It’s a combat scene, with a complication. Roll again for the second ability involved, other than a combat ability. For example, Riding implies a shoot-out on horseback; Stealth implies an assassination attempt.

Putting It All Together

Let’s roll up a random adventure and see what comes of it!

Our initial hook is SCHOLARSHIP, and our location is ANTARCTICA. Clearly, we’re on a scientific expedition – maybe the Starkweather-Moore expedition promised at the end of At The Mountains of Madness. It’s hardly worth rolling an Apparent Situation in this case. The Horrible Truth is that there’s a CREATURE preying on people – specifically, a BLACK WINGED ONE, the assassins of the Cthulhu cult.

Our key clues are: BUREAUCRACY, ART and OUTDOORSMAN, and our random hazards are FILCH and RIDING.

So… the expedition to the Antarctic includes a secret worshipper of Cthulhu. He summons up a Black Winged One to kill other members of the expedition, for he seeks to get to the glacier where Cthulhu slumbers. Bureaucracy reveals that someone infiltrated the expedition under an assumed name, Art (plus Filch) means the investigators steal the cultist’s sketchbook and see his crazed scribblings of a buried god, and Outdoorsman & Riding imply a desperate sleigh-dog chase scene across the frozen wastes!

Another random attempt yields:

ARROGANCE for our hook, SPAIN for our location, VACATION for our Apparent Situation. That sounds like a bunch of idealists charging off to volunteer in the Spanish civil war. The horrible truth is that there’s a clash between two Cults.

The first Cult is a lone sorcerer who’s on the verge of triumph – he seeks to acquire power, and his blasphemous rites include Ritual Initiation.

He’s opposed by a second cult that Endemic in the Area, highly Secret, and worships… hmm. The Tcho-Tcho. Their rites include congress with a creature – rather an involving a second race, let’s assume it’s congress with Tcho-Tcho. Presumably, there’s a connection between the Plateau of Leng and the Meseta Central.

Obviously, if it’s the Spanish civil war, then the two cults are on opposite sides. A Communist sorcerer? Fascist Tcho-tchos? Or the other way around?

Our core clues are INTIMIDATION (Interrogating a prisoner, maybe?), OCCULT and COP TALK; hazards are Piloting and Sense Trouble.

So – the investigators are volunteers on the Republican side. Interrogating a prisoner, they learn of a fascist plot to bomb mountain villages. (Time to do some research on aerial bombardment and air power during the Spanish civil war; Guernica can be a touchstone here). OCCULT discovers the villages are being targeted because of their connection to the Tcho-Tcho cult; the investigators need to use Piloting and a borrowed biplane to shoot one bomber down before it commits the mass sacrifice needed a portal to Leng and the triumph of the Nazi sorcerer behind the bombing plan. Cop Talk and Sense Trouble warn the investigators that their Tcho-Tcho-worshipping allies will turn on them after the fighting’s done, and they should head back to the safely of the lowlands if they hope to survive…

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.

A group of unknown antagonists recently rescued a reporter from a kill squad in Marrakesh; they were then spotted in London at the site of an assassination. What follows is an intercepted internal memo from a mysterious organization calling itself EDOM. Interested agents who want a more detailed account of the events as they transpired should click here.

Recruit your team of 2-3 players, or play as a solo contestant, as Pelgrane Press brings convention camaraderie to your screen with its first Pub Quiz. Join us on Zoom on May 27, 2020 at 5 PM Eastern. Vie for semi-valuable prizes with your mastery of Pelgrane game trivia and regular trivial trivia, with questions posed by such stalwarts as Kenneth Hite, Robin D. Laws, Rob Heinsoo, Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Wade Rockett. Hoist the beverage of your choice toward the gallery view!

For Zoom link and password, hop on over to the Pelgrane Discord channel. If you have yet to join us there, get your Invite link to our Discord by dropping us a line at support@pelgranepress.com.

If you can’t join us at the appointed time, you can try to beat the champs when the event is later posted on YouTube.

Among the reasons for running my light-hearted Fall of Delta Green home variant with QuickShock rules: I can share custom cards I create for it here with you.

In the first scenario, intrepid agents of the Dominion Bureau of Research, an unacknowledged Canadian spy outfit, tracked a mole in the Avro Arrow plant in Malton, ON. Before they could figure out whether he had reestablished contact with a new Soviet handler, they found him melted to goo on the floor of his Kensington Market rooming house.

The possibility existed that they too would find themselves on the receiving end of a MAJESTIC melting ray. Due to their admirable caution in confronting this newly discovered adversary, they skirted this fate and, with it, the following QuickShock Injury cards.

The Minor card suggests an indirect hit from a heatless melting ray that works by breaking down cellular walls. The Major card comes with a direct hit, one that potentially touches off a cellular cascade that turns the victim to goo at scenario’s end.

MELT SCAR

Injury

-1 to Focus tests.

MELTED FLESH

Injury

Gain 2 Health when you receive this card. Lose 2 Health on any failed Physical test. If Health ever drops to 0, and this card is still in hand at end of scenario, you die.

Discard by finding the cure.

In The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, this is exactly the sort of sinister technology that might have gone missing from Castaigne regime armories during the revolution depicted in Aftermath. In This is Normal Now, the melt ray could be wielded by scientists developing technologies they believe to come from a crashed UFO access, but are really of Carcosan origin.

The Yellow King Roleplaying Game takes you on a brain-bending spiral through multiple selves and timelines, pitting characters against the reality-altering horror of The King in Yellow. When read, this suppressed play invites madness, and remolds our world into a colony of the alien planet Carcosa. Four core books, served up together in a beautiful slipcase, confront layers with an epic journey into horror in four alternate-reality settings: Belle Epoque Paris, The Wars, Aftermath, and This Is Normal Now. Purchase The Yellow King Roleplaying Game in print and PDF at the Pelgrane Shop.

In the latest episode of their easily spotted podcast, Ken and Robin talk Invisible Men, coarse vs granular ability lists, and Ken’s last book raid for the duration.

In our latest virtual panel, Kenneth Hite, Robin D. Laws, and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan are joined by special guest, Chaosium’s Lynne Hardy, to discuss the perennial connection between H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. We cover the core elements of Cthulhu gaming, Call of Cthulhu’s impact on the hobby, striking a balance between hopelessness and flipping out, how gaming changed the mythos, our favorite bits of Yog-Sothothery, and more.

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 the Pelgrane Shop.

For five more days, the GUMSHOE One-2-One core books Cthulhu Confidential and Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops are available in the Bundle of Holding!

This bundle gives you the entire One-2-One line for a bargain price. For just US$12.95 you get all four titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $46), including the complete standalone 328-page Cthulhu Confidential rulebook and three investigations: The Howling Fog, The House Up in the Hills, and One For the Money.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $26.42, you’ll level up and also get the Bonus Collection with five more titles worth an additional $53, including the complete 282-page Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops, Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s adaptation of Kenneth Hite’s vampire-espionage GUMSHOE game; the first Solo Ops investigation, The Best of Intentions; and three more Cthulhu Confidential investigations: High Voltage Kill, Ex Astoria, and The Shadow Over Washington.

Check it out now! 

We continue to be in the grip of the toughest pandemic of our lifetimes, and we’ve shifted towards a more virtual way of living here in the Pelgrane’s Nest. Find out what’s new and happening in the Pelgrane in the Time of the Corona below, and check out new pre-orders Swords of the Serpentine, Honey & Hot Wax – An Erotic Art Games Anthology PDF, and the 13th Age Book of the Underworld.

New Releases

• • • Swords of the Serpentine: The Adventurer’s Edition pre-order – A GUMSHOE sword & sorcery game of daring heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city rife with skullduggery and death. Pre-order now and get a limited edition colour print map of Eversink.
    • Honey & Hot Wax – An Erotic Art Games Anthology PDF pre-order – A digital-only anthology of games about sex by a diverse group of 10 designers, which will challenge how you think about roleplaying, sexuality, and human relationships.
    • Book of the Underworld pre-order– Pre-order this campaign setting for 13th Age, revealing the secrets of the Dragon Empire’s Underworld, and get the final PDF now.
    • Book of the Underworld PDF – A campaign setting for 13th Age, revealing the secrets of the Dragon Empire’s Underworld.
    • The Yellow King RPG – Four full-colour 6″ x 9″ hardback books in a slipcase, with accompanying GM screen. The dread horror of Robert Chambers’ King in Yellow stories take RPG form, confronting your players with an epic journey across four Carcosan-drenched time periods.
    • The Yellow King RPG Basic Shock & Injury decks – These optional accessories allow The Yellow King Roleplaying Game GMs to quickly grab and dish out Shock and Injury cards during face-to-face play.
    • Absinthe in Carcosa – An 8.5″ x 11″, full-colour hardback, this indispensable city guide for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game is yoked together from travelogues, newspapers, and the disquieting ephemera of the occult tradition.
    • The Missing and the Lost – A thrilling, thought-provoking novel, which can be read as a mystery of a dread-drenched alternate reality, or use it as a model for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game when you play its Aftermath setting.
    • Mutant City Blues 2nd Edition – Pre-order the updated and expanded mutant-powered police procedural GUMSHOE game, and get the final PDF now.
    • Mutant City Blues 2nd Edition PDF – Pre-order the updated and expanded mutant-powered police procedural GUMSHOE game, and get the final PDF now.
    • Even Death Can Die – Pre-order this adventure collection for Cthulhu Confidential and get the pre-edit draft PDF now.

Articles

• • • Video View from the Pelgrane’s Nest – Cat Tobin with what’s new in the Nest, this month in video format.
    • Pelgrane in the Time of the Corona – An update on what we’ve been doing while we’re sheltering in place.
    • See Page XX: Creating Scenario-Specific Yellow King Cards – Robin D. Laws on creating your own single-use Injury and Shock cards keyed to specific adventures.
    • The Call of Chicago: The CAS For The UFO – Kenneth Hite on bringing Providence, RI’s role as HQ for the New England Mafia into your The Fall of DELTA GREEN game
    • The Plain People of Gaming: Mythos Prompts – Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan is inspired by a random Cthulhu scenario generator
    • The Iconic Hero: Fantasy Classics in Swords of the Serpentine – Kevin Kulp on the hero’s journey in the forthcoming Swords of the Serpentine
    • The Call of Chicago: Bug Hunters – Kenneth Hite stats up some Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) agents for your The Fall of DELTA GREEN game
    • Gaming for Kids – Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan with advice on running RPGs for the smallest members of your self-isolating household
    • Pelgrane Press is Virtual – Noah Lloyd with a round-up of the Pelgrane games available on Virtual Tabletops, and some hints and advice for online play
    • GUMSHOE Scenario Sparks – Bryant Durrell on using Investigative abilities to provide structure in improvised GUMSHOE adventures
    • 9 Tips for Remote Tabletop RPG Play – Robin D. Laws switched his home game to a remote one; here’s what he’s learned.
    • Unknown Monsters – Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan on elegant ways of giving players the information they need to defeat a monster, without making it less scary
    • Refresh Your Health Pools With This Weird Piece of Plastic Junk – Robin D. Laws breaks character to talk about fitness in a time of pandemic
    • Heat – Adam Gauntlett looks at how the Heat mechanic works in Night’s Black Agents play
    • GUMSHOE Community program expansion – Design your own Ashen Stars, Esoterrorists, Fear Itself and TimeWatch adventures, characters and settings with the GUMSHOE Community program.
    • An Unconscionable Omission from The YKRPG – Imagine Robin D. Laws’ surprise when he realized that he hadn’t designed Yellow King RPG Injury cards to portray one of the most common injuries of the Belle Époque
    • Try the Black Book – Steven Hammond is extending free trials of the GUMSHOE character generator during the lockdown
    • May playtesting: GUMSHOE Kids – We’re looking for playtesters with groups of two or more 7-12-year-olds to test a rough draft of a younger player-friendly adaptation of GUMSHOE.

13th Age

• • • 13th Sage: Roll20 Tips for 13th Age GMs – Wade Rockett asks the master of 13th Age on Roll20 for advice on running adventures on the VTT
    • That Wide-Screen Underworld Feel – Rob Heinsoo on the area-control and route-carving wargame potential of the forthcoming Book of the Underworld
    • The Iconic podcast is now up to their fourth season! You can listen to the most recent episodes here:
      • S3-E25: Interview with Rob Heinsoo
      • S3-E26: Random Encounters: The Planes of Dust and Ash
      • S4-E01: Welcome to Season 4!
      • S4-E02: Interview with Gareth
      • S4-E03: Class Acts – Necromancer