Best of Fenix - 51 Mythos Dooms

Since almost any Mythos entity might trigger the apocalypse, this column from Kenneth Hite offers a choice of dooms, one for every entry in the Trail of Cthulhu core rulebook.

If Lovecraftian gaming offers anything, it is opportunities for apocalypse. The universe of the Cthulhu Mythos is so dangerous, so replete with opportunities for catastrophe, so hostile to the very concept of human existence, that it almost drives one to Derlethian heresy in an attempt to explain how we got this far. This can be exaggerated, of course. Most Mythos threats are long-dead (except for that one survivor …), impossibly obscure (except for that one tome …), or simply uninterested in mankind (except that one cult is trying to attract them …), so the human race and indeed the planet Earth has a brief respite before Something awakens, emerges, or approaches. Perhaps as long as a century.

Since almost any Mythos entity might trigger the apocalypse, this column offers a choice of dooms, one for every entry in the Trail of Cthulhu core rulebook. Feel free to mix and match: Dagon’s rise might free Ithaqua, the Yithian destruction of the time stream could awaken the Flying Polyps, or rival cults could summon Cthugha and Hastur simultaneously. Lots of room for multiple dooms, in other words. Use this column not just as a menu for destruction but as an ongoing inspiration for your ongoing Cthulhoid campaign, in whichever system you prefer. These dooms needn’t close off play, in other words: they can drive it.

Any of these dooms could be merely the plan of some cult, sorcerer, mad mathematician, or dream-worker encountered in your scenario. You don’t even have to necessarily introduce the monstrosity involved: a few thematic hints, a mysterious bas-relief, and an eerie dream or two can be enough. One eerie dream can become a whole series of nightmares, revealing the true extent of the horrific cataclysm looming over mankind. Are they visions of the hellish future, or perhaps windows into alternate dimensions? Only the Keeper knows for sure. With time-travel and non-Euclidean gates in the campaign, the investigators can visit either one!

You can find this material Askfageln’s anthology Best of Fenix Volume 2. If you like it, don’t miss the rest of the material from Best of Fenix!