The Cthulhu Hack v1.5 Progress

Steady progress on the revised edition of The Cthulhu Hack, hampered only by the eldritch horrors of Real Life!

The book basically boils down into five sections:

• Core Mechanics. This explains Saves and Resources, will particular attention to Flashlights and Smokes. Also includes mechanical discussion about Advantage and Disadvantage, Assistance (when you feel compelled to help) and Fortune (an optional re-roll mechanic).
• Characters. Details the six different types of Save, then outlines Quick Characters with Archetypes and Freeform Characters. Currently also includes Wealth and Health; might shift the second into the next section.
• Threats. Time, Movement and Fighting; then Sanity with a bunch of optional rules; Healing; then Antagonists; and finally, Chases.
• Mythos 101. Quick overview of universe; Creatures & the Mythos; and then the esoteric business of Mythos Magic.
• Adventure. Finally, Save Innsmouth has crawled into the end of the book, along with extra material around running adventures, and a random plot seed generator, too.

And, with OGL statement and a character sheet, that currently rounds out to 43-pages. I fully expect it to spread out into 44-pages, because I know where elements remain incomplete. All in all, that’s 15,000 words of material, which doubles the content of the current version.

I feel like I’ve made good progress. The new material doesn’t add flab to the game; it adds examples, optional material spun out of my own game sessions, and greater flexibility in creating your Investigators. I have also made the decision to add some interior artwork and reworked many of the tables. As with any game, you’re free to use material from this version or the original — they remain entirely compatible.

As a reminder, anyone buying the current PDF of The Cthulhu Hack has nothing to worry about – when I’m done, this version will be a free update in your Library. Of course, if you want it in print, you will need to buy again if you’ve already got a copy of an earlier version.