4CS – Cthulhu Rising Adventure Framework
The End of the World As We Know It. Unless a desperate superhero strike force with one last chance can finish a ritual to banish the big Old Octopus God. Only problem is to do that they need to get to R’lyeh.
SETTING
The near 4CS future. The crazed cultists have won. A successful ritual summoning has brought back an Old One, wreaking havoc. Heroes struggle to shepherd survivors if they are still alive. Nicole Wrath is on the run with superspeedster Emu, attempting to coordinate a global underground secret resistance. Australian Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Djira survives on stimulants and the life energy of a few acolytes trying to buy enough time before dimensional barriers are completely breached. The Band have been beaten down. The Justice Squadron are scattered. Nightblack, warrior of the decades went down fighting in Melbourne, needing an unbreakable shield to go with his sword. Corporate Industrialist Light Knight and her Light Squadron do what those types usually do. Run for a pocket universe fortress to try and come up with an idea, taking the Great Elasto with them. An exhausted Eyebeam and Eric Gale lead mobile mutant strike and rescue teams, fighting Shoggoths and other horrors. Prince Atlantis leads his people in holding off a Deep One invasion.
Barbecue is the woman with the plan. A small, versatile team on a lightning raid to R’lyeh. Then help him finish a ritual to banish the badness. The one problem: it requires a blood sacrifice. One of the heroes must die.
ISSUES
Send the Elder God back
Not Everyone Gets Out Alive
Getting Out Dead Could Be Even Worse
THE PLAYERS – PREGENS
Gulp!
Doctor Benner, melted by radiocative Big MaRS
You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Gulp! Smash
M: Remarkable (30)
C: Good (10)
B: Unearthly (100)
F: Monstrous (75)
I: Feeble (2)
A: Typical (6)
W: Remarkable (30)
Resources: Feeble (2)
Popularity: Good (-10)
Damage: 215
Fortune: 38
Other Skills
Class 1000 (1000) Invulnerability: Cold, Heat, Fire, Disease
Unearthly (100) Super Movement: Leaping only up to 50 zones a turn
Monstrous (75) Body Armor: Physical, Astral Detection
Amazing (50) Body Armor: Energy
Stunts
Anger Surge: Gulp! gets mad when fighting the same people for multiple turns. Each turn her Fighting and Strength go up (10) to a maximum of (100). When that fight is over she returns to the normal Gulp! state.
Alter Ego Betty Benner
I was a victim of shoddy fast food safety practices
A tv reporter on the scene gave me my angry nickname after seeing the manager’s reaction
M: Poor (4)
C: Typical (6)
B: Typical (6)
F: Typical (6)
I: Remarkable (30)
AI: Good (10)
W: Typical (6)
Damage: 22
Fortune: 46
Other Skills
Incredible (40) PhysiRS
Invisible Man
Father of a Mutant
A Thing For Princess Atlantia
M: Good (10)
C: Good (10)
B: Typical (6)
F: Remarkable (30)
I: Good (10)
I: Excellent (20)
W: Good (10)
Resources: Remarkable (30)
Popularity: Amazing (50)
Other Skills
Monstrous (75) Force Field: one zone
Excellent (20) Invisibility, Martial Arts
Good (10) Academics, Science
Typical (6) Flight
VanDemon
Tasmanian curmudgeon
Having a skeleton implanted at a secret military base was rather traumatic
Berserk killer
Loves a beer and a joint
M: Incredible (40)
C: Remarkable (30)
B: Good (10)
F: Remarkable (30)
I: Typical (6)
I: Monstrous (75)
W: Incredible (40)
Resources: Typical (6)
Popularity: Typical (6)
Damage: 110
Fortune: 121
Other Skills
Class 1000 (1000) Her claws vs non-living will cut through anything up to Class 1000
Unearthly (100) Resistance: Poison, Disease
Monstrous (75) Tracking
Amazing (50) Martial Arts, Sword
Remarkable (30) Regeneration (requires rest).
Excellent (20) Claws vs living, Contacts, Espionage
Good (10) Adamantium Skeleton bonus damage when using body parts as weapons
Redback
I was a teenage expatriate Soviet Super Soldier. It sucked.
The old dancer-turned footy player as spy cover story.
M: Incredible (40)
C: Remarkable (30)
B: Good (10)
F: Excellent (20)
I: Good (10)
I: Incredible (40)
W: Excellent (20)
Resources: Good (10)
Popularity: Remarkble (30)
Damage: 100
Fortune: 70
Other Skills
Remarkable (30) Wallcrawling: via costume, Explosives: via belt
Amazing (50) Martial Arts, Spider Bite – Damage: Energy (20); Gas (20); 3 zone grappling hook; radio
Excellent (20) Contacts, Detective, Espionage, Military
Atlantia
Atlantean Princess
Slumming in tight shorts
M: Remarkable (30)
C: Remarkable (30)
B: Amazing (50)
F: Remarkable (30)
I: Typical (6)
I: Excellent (20)
W: Excellent (20)
Resources: Good (10)
Popularity: Good (10)
Damage: 140
Fortune: 46
Other Skills
Excellent (20) Ocean Sciences
Good (10) Body Armour: Physical, Science
Poor (4) Flight
Stunts
Atlanteans can breathe underwater and are cold resistant and swim like fish.
Barbecue
Former Soldier
Short a Leg, but I can Kit Bash one
Cooked a few teammates for Blood and Souls
M: Good (10)
C: Good (10)
B: Good (10)
F: Excellent (20)
I: Incredible (40)
I: Good (10)
W: Amazing (50)
Resources: Typical (6)
Popularity: Good (10)
Other Skills
Unearthly (100) Optics
Monstrous (75) Magic: Dimensional opening and sealing ritual only
Amazing (50) Inventing: Jury Rig pretty much anything he thinks of, Cybernetics, Electronics
Incredible (40) Spirit Sight
Stunts
She has a high-tech Headquarters with all sorts of outlandish technology.
Crimson Warlock
I should be so lucky
My mother is a bad, bad woman with an overly magnetic personality
Recovering Insane Genocidal Maniac
No, you really can’t breed with a robot
M: Good (10)
C: Good (10)
B: Typical (6)
F: Excellent (20)
I: Good (10)
I: Excellent (20)
W: Remarkable (30)
Resources: Typical (6)
Popularity: Good (10)
Damage: 46
Fortune: 60
Other Skills
Amazing (50) Probability Alteration: He can cause unlikely things to happen on a roll
Excellent (20) Mysteries, Occult, Magic: General sorcery and Eldritch bolts, Shields are Incredible (40)
Good (10) Telekinesis
Cthulhu Cultist
Fan of gibbering horrors
Worshipper of Elder Gods
Appears in all genders and sizes
M: Typical (5)
C: Typical (5)
B: Typical (5)
F: Typical (5)
I: Poor (3)
I: Poor (3)
W: Good (8)
Resources: Typical (5)
Popularity: Typical (5)
Damage: 20
Fortune: 14
Other Skills
Occult: Good (8)
Or treat as Typical (5) mooks.
Deep One
Amphibious Old One Servants
M: Typical (5)
C: Typical (5)
B: Good (8)
F: Typical (5)
I: Good (8)
A: Typical (5)
W: Typical (5)
Resources: Typical (5)
Popularity: Typical (5)
Other Skills
Good (10) Body Amour, Claws, Spear
Stunts
Water breathing
Or treat as Good (8) mooks.
Shoggoth
5 metre around nasty blob horror
Steadfast guardian
M: Typical (5)
C: Shift 0 (0)
B: Incredible (38)
F: Remarkable (28)
I: Poor (3)
A: Poor (3)
W: Typical (5)
Resources: (0)
Popularity: -Remarkable (-30)
Damage: 71
Fortune: 11
Other Skills
Excellent (18): Body Armour: Energy, Radiation
Good (8) Body Armour: Physical (smooshy and snotty)
Stunts
A Shoggoth can attack multiple targets in its area with no penalty. Tentacles. Many slimy tentacles.
Big Shoggoth
7 metre around nasty blob horror
Steadfast guardian
M: Typical (5)
C: Shift 0 (0)
B: Amazing (48)
F: Incredible (38)
I: Poor (3)
I: Poor (3)
W: Typical (5)
Damage: 91
Fortune: 11
Other Skills
Remarkable (28): Body Armour: Energy, Radiation
Excellent (18) Body Armour: Physical (smooshy and snotty)
Stunts
A Shoggoth can attack multiple targets in its area with no penalty. Even bigger slimy tentacles.
ADVENTURING
Really designed as a one shot adventure, if they really liked the setting it could be Shoggoth and deep one and crazed cultist fighting time afterwards. Or engineering work, too. Or creepy Call of Cthulhu what did we miss style subplots for afterwards. Then the character that died comes back as an evil horror leader and really, really wants the rest of the heroes to join them.
If the players want to use their own characters and there are several, then suggestions:
A Brick [use a Barbecue kit bashed tech boost if the PC is not strong/hardy enough for the scenario] – Shoggoths are tough
Lethal Killers – for occupying servitors
Sneaky Types – for getting by and/or hiding others
Magic Users – for the ritual and support
Super Genius – for building and ancient languages
Protectors – that can use shields, forcefields, barrier creation, etc.
If only one PC is playing, just add them to the team if they want to use their own character.
Barbecue has kit bashed some gear to let the players survive underwater and Atlantia is along for support, given her natural abilities. The gear could get damaged, particularly in a succeed with cost or taken out and other such combat scenarios. She could get someone that can’t breathe out at least alive. Allow them more standard type weapons that will work underwater if they want to take them. Spear guns, knives, swords, etc. Assume the gear warm will have an underwater knife in a calf sheath.
SCENARIO SEQUENCE
The Underwater City has been located, the players assemble off New England. Have a cultist patrol attack if you fancy a warmup.
The heroes must traverse an ever blackening sea, harassed by Deep Ones. Using lighting is a beacon to draw attacks with higher probability. Which they should quickly discover.
Finding the city might cause Willpower checks to stay the course. Or Fortune if they fail, to preserve their sanity.
Definitely a whole bunch of attackers to get through, or to delay while part of the group searches for the ritual site. Just some perhaps slightly tougher Deep Ones, even led by a Mage if more than one sorcery capable hero. Not enough to need a Brick though.
Traps. Give them at least one Indiana Jones or D&D classic to survive on entering the ritual chamber. Plus a spears from the wall trap. Deep Ones love their spears. Then one from the floor. And one from the ceiling. If you can’t think of one, the classic stone in floor opens so you fall into a pit of slavering eldritch horrors works wonders.
The tough hero came for a reason. Shoggoths. If it is Gulp!, plenty of them and the chamber is big enough. Otherwise, enough to challenge our super strong friend. Shoggoths have tentacles, so even sneaking past gives them at least one chance to attack.
The idea is to get the ritual done, not beat all the Shoggoths. If the Gulp! smashes them too quickly, throw some more at him, pile on with tougher ones even.
If two magic capable characters make it, the ritual can be performed more quickly with an easier difficulty. Having the main person doing the ritual decide to sacrifice themselves during the performance will definitely go badly wrong if they are dumb enough. The assistant could, but will make a really nasty bad guy later when they return from the dead and the depths.
If only one original PC playing, the Redback will volunteer to take the ritual knife in the heart. Vandemon will overrule her, reasoning that there’s a chance he will survive. Or anybody, if no-one is pretty much dead already. Whether having a pseudo immortal in the ritual messes it up slightly is a GM call. If he makes it back, maybe he has a hybrid infection. Hate Brood and Mythos then.
If the characters don’t work out that using Karma etc. on the ritual roll is a good one, then becoming smooshed Shoggoth stains is pretty well deserved. If you are feeling nice, have a massive aquatic monster smash the walls in to give them a clue this is an even more desperate situation.
After an evil magical ritual in a trapped underwater city, of course the city will fall down around their ears. So they have to survive rubble, any opponents in the city, and an extra few on the way back and if feeling mean, an armed cultist welcoming party. Which a rather grumpy hero group is likely to treat very meanly. If they have done a good job and are almost dead, have someone else take them out. Otherwise, let Gulp! smash puny humans.
REFERENCES
4RS
http://hazardstudio.net/id18.html
http://www.lulu.com/shop/public-domain/4c-system/ebook/product-17558944.html
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?filters=0_0_31808_0_0
http://dorkland.blogspot.com.au/p/the-4c-rules.html
Cthulhu: Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu