The Cthulhu Hack: The Cthulhu Hack (d20)
What's The Cthulhu Hack?
It's a standalone game of investigation horror¸ pitting ordinary people against the sanity-shattering horrors of Lovecraftian gods and monsters.
It's a fast and simple system¸ with just two mechanics - Saves and Resources - that handle your ability to escape threats and to manage your dwindling faculties for investigation and sanity.
Why Choose The Cthulhu Hack?Role-playing offers a lot of games set against a backdrop of Lovecraft's mythos; The Cthulhu Hack focuses on simple¸ accessible rules and mechanics designed to emulate the slow spiral of self-destruction that dominates Lovecraft's original tales. Campaigns become about the over-arching threat against the whole of humankind¸ rather than the insignificant lives of just a few investigators.
What's in the Core Book?Revised and expanded since the original 2016 release¸ the 52-page core book offers:
- simple mechanics to handle threats and investigation¸ using a standard set of seven polyhedral dice (from 1D4 to 1D20)
- ready-to-play archetypes for quick pick-up play or a fast and flexible character creation system to tailor Investigators to your specific needs
- a range of tweaks to the core mechanics¸ both standard and optional¸ to tailor the game to your style - including Wealth¸ Fortune¸ Adrenalin and Shock
- a shambling horde of Mythos horrors - including Mi-Go¸ Deep Ones¸ Shoggoth and more - to challenge your Investigators
- a complete and updated adventure - Save Innsmouth - as well as a 2-page example of play
If you want to learn more about the game itself¸ check out an example of adventure conversion of The Haunting and the rough-and-ready conversion guide for other popular Mythos games on the Just Crunch Games website [external link¸ use the Search to find a ton of articles]¸ or give the game a test run with the Quickstart Nocturnal Rites.
After that¸ you can create new horrors using the tools in From Unformed Realms ¸ delve into creating your own investigations using the ENnie nominated The Haunter of the Dark ¸ disturb the spawning sack of the cult of Shub-niggurath in The Dark Brood ¸ or dive right into a bunch of ready-to-run investigations in the award-winning Three Faces of the Wendigo and Thro' Centuries Fixed.
Reviews from Other SitesPaul Maclean - "The Cthulhu Hack... at The Breakfast Club¸ we love it!" (Cthulhu Breakfast Club / Yog-Sothoth.com¸ at AireCon 4)
Steven Robert - "If you want at least a little bit of butt-kicking¸ or if you like tossing dice¸ The Cthulhu Hack is the clear choice." (RPGGeek)
Eric Dodd - "I welcome the appearance of The Cthulhu Hack to the crowded Lovecraftian RPG mantlepiece. If you liked the simplicity of Cthulhu Dark but felt you needed a few more tools and levers to build a game around¸ without having to track 40 or 50 skills or detailed weapon statistics¸ then The Cthulhu Hack might be just what you're looking for." (RPGGeek)
Mike Hill - "The bottom line is that I will actually play this game. I download a lot of projects that never make it off the hard drive." (The World According to CARP)
Simon Burley - "The Cthulhu Hack hit my doorstep today and it's bloody good!" (author of superheroes classic Golden Heroes)
Note:
- Created with The Black Hack: This is a standalone product¸ including the Open Game License material of The Black Hack.
- The core rule book file is digest-sized¸ scaled to A5. Save Innsmouth was previously available as a standalone product.