CthulhuTech
Erica Sullivan wished she had a air filter with her. The abandoned building's fetid basement reeked of decay and death. She motioned her team forward in a cautious advance.
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"The stink is getting stronger. We're getting close. Be on your guard," she ordered.
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"Copy" her Nazzadi second in command replied. "This place just feels wrong."
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Erica nodded, but said nothing.
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She peered around the next corner and saw a large, lit chamber ahead. With a series of quick hand motions, she ordered her team forward and to fan out. As they slowly stepped into the room, one of the soldiers muttered under his breath loud enough to be picked up by his helmet's mic. "Dear God..."
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The room was littered with the bodies of the dead, young and old. Some bodies were intact, others had been dismembered and hung around the room like some sort of demented garland. The stink of burned flesh and other unidentifiable scents clung to everything in the room. The floor was sticky with congealed gore, except the center of the room, where a ritual circle had been etched into the old tiled floor.
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"Daka, check the circle. Make sure it's dormant," Erica order her second in command.
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The Nazzadi removed his helmet, revealing the ornate white tattoos on his pitch black skin. His red eyes scanned the circle intently for a few moments before he raised his weapon and searched the room. "The circle's active! The sorcerer is still here..."
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"How very astute of you..." a voice said, filling the room. "Don't worry... I will try not to damage your corpses too much..."
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The dead bodies that littered the room, suddenly rose to their feet, grabbing soldiers and trying to wrestle their guns away. Gunfire filled the room, as soldiers fought with a small horde of undead abominations. Erica shouldered her assault rifle and squeezed off rounds at any Shade that presented a viable target. The sound of dying men filled the room, as the Shades were overwhelming them with numbers.
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"...Erica... watch..."
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Erica turned to see Daka rapidly slackening as two hands jutted out his chest. Behind her friend was a winged terror, a Bahki, that had just emerged from the ritual circle. She heard its raspy laughter at it pulled back and Daka's body fell to the floor. Firing a volley of bullets, the demon sailed around the room, always seemingly ahead of her arc of fire. As it dodged bullets, it jinked in among her squad mates, slashing at them with its blood-soaked talons.
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The Bahki swooped down to nearly floor level before lunging upward and grabbing Erica by the throat and pinning her to the wall. A soldier fired a couple rounds into the beast's back before the sorcerer appeared behind him and placed his hand on the shooter's back. Within his heavy armor, the soldier withered to a husk before collapsing to the ground.
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The sorcerer grinned an insane smile, revealing rotting teeth and milky white eyes. Any skin exposed from under his robes were dotted with tumours and lesions. "Did you think me a fool? That your puny mortal weapons could defeat me?! I am one of the chosen! You will die here, to serve me and my master!"
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Erica tried to speak, but it came out as a choked whisper. She struggled against the Bahki's grip before she started to laugh. It first came as a wheeze, but strengthened until it was a hearty belly laugh. Both the Bahki and its summoner looked confused.
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"It seems the Society was right to send me here after all. This should prove interesting..."
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Erica's body burst free from the Bahki's grip, as a second skin enveloped her. The sorcerer's nearly blind eyesight caught a glimpse as she rose up to become even taller and take on a demonic bird-like visage. The Phantom Tager loomed over the sorcerer and his minion.
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Panicked, the sorcerer barked orders at the Bahki. "Hurry up and kill it!"
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Swatting the demon aside, the Phantom crouched down and its talons widened in pouncing stance. In a deep rattle, mixed with Erica's own voice, the creature uttered a single word. "Die..."
It is the Time of the Strange Aeon.
The year is 2085 and humanity teeters on the brink of extinction.
In the early 21st century, mankind discovered among the ruins of fallen civilizations descriptions of arcane powers that the Miskatonic University studies in depth. The pioneers of this research are driven insane by their research, but the fundamentals of their work form the basis of the Ashcroft Foundation, who creates the Dimensional Engine, an inexhaustible power source.
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With the research into the arcane, a long-secret race of aliens, called the Migou fear what the humans could unwittingly unleash and steal human DNA to create a race called the Nazzadi. Taught to believe that the Earth is their ancestral home, the Nazzadi descend on Earth and wage war that costs billions of lives on both sides, before the Nazzadi realize they are puppets and actually have more in common with their opponents than their Migou masters. The Nazzadi defect and ally with the human race.
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The Human-Nazzadi alliance (called the New Earth Government (NEG) had barely begun to rebuild when a new threat emerged. Ancient Gods began to hold sway over portions of the population, swearing their allegiance to destructive forces. Creatures beyond imagination poured onto the Earth and destroyed whole portions of the surface. The Migou, not to be defeated by the Nazzadi failure descended on the Earth's poles, conquering the cold regions of the planet swiftly.
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Between the Migou, Eldritch beings and human cults, the last vestiges of civilization cling to the hope that their arcanotechnology can drive back the horrors that threaten to exterminate all life. Can you cling to your sanity long enough to beat back the darkness?
Lovecraft Meets Mecha
CthulhuTech is the original game from Wildfire Games in 2007. It is a fusion of ideas from Robotech, Neon Genesis Evangelion and similar anime with the surreal horror of H.P. Lovecraft. The game has different aspects to explore, form a civilian investigator style game, to a group of Eldritch super-soldiers called Tagers, to a giant Mech game where humans face off against Eldritch Kaiju to save cities from being destroyed. The game uses the Framewerk system; a 10-sided die system with poker mechanics included.
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A session of CthulhuTech often involves bleak odds, difficult moral choices and a slow descent into madness in a high-tech alien future with little hope for the human race. A new edition of CthulhuTech is on the horizon, focusing on the Tager story line, but presently I am willing to run any of the streams available in the original Edition of the system.
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Ideal Group Size: Any (depending on the campaign style, it varies)
Suggested Age Rating: 16+ (R Rating)
System Complexity: 3/5
Character Creation Complexity: 3/5
