Building the Necronomicon

[SSJ Archon]

I'm currently running a game of Horror Hero. The setting is modern, on a small island of the coast of finland, where there lies an Estate that was built in the 1300's and added onto over the years, Including extensive use in WWII.

 

The Game is a mix between Red Rose by Stephen King, House on Haunted Hill (The 1990's version) and H.P. Lovecrafts Chuthulu Mythos. The Game also revolves around the bloodline and family. One member of the party is a distant realative who has just inhertited the estate.

 

I'm looking on how to build things like:

a) The Necronomicon and other nasty books

Other Beings whose very presence drains sanity.

 

I've decided that Long lasting Drains on EGO will make for a good way to measure sanity loss. I've allowed the party to have 1 Telepath.

 

Any Ideas?

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

The first question that springs to mind is:

 

What do you mean by "Nasty Books"?

 

That could mean almost anything, (covered in dripping ichor that makes school girls retch to pulsing with such vile evil that they trigger a major transform of "Average Joe" to "Used Car Salesman")

 

You'll have to give me (at least) some boundries and basic guidelines on what you are looking for.

 

TB --Murderer of Dentists of the Old West

[SSJ Archon]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

An ancient summerian text bound in human flesh and written in virgins blood, containing the total sum of all mystic lore known at its time of creation. The secrets it holds are so horrible that no man can garner from it all its secrets and retain a shread of sanity, so alien that they are were never meant for humans to know. The book itself has gained a sort of mind of its own, and its mere presence tempts those around it to commit horrific and alien acts of sacrifice and blasphomy.

 

In actual Lovecraft history, there are several different versions of the book, mostly 4 and 5 hand translations, though 3 first hand translations remain in existance, titled Al Azif (Written in Arabic.)

 

I'm actually looking for how you would right up any book that might contain dark secrets not meant to be known, and ancient incantations.

 

Some Examples:

 

"The Flow of Aether: Hyperbolic Magnetic Fields", Unpublished Draft, Asimov and Gauss, 1855, High German, 184 pages. Text deals with extratemporal movement and includes a possible test of the theory. 4 Known copies.

 

"The Principles of War Magic, Vol I and II" Lead Sheets Bound by chain, Unknown, Approx. 200 BC, Latin and Assyrian, 32 pages. Text contains ancient combat spells and rites along with strategies. 1 Known copy.

 

--

 

This game started as at Competent Normal, but in a game like this I pretty generous with XP. I would expect a copy of Al Azif to run about 4000 points, (Huge Summons, Change Envirornments, Extradimenional movement and so forth,) while most other books would come to 3 to 20 points.

[Susano]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

I had an idea (that I've yet to flesh out further) of using PRE in the same manner as an EB. Basically, you do "PRE damage" to your target and subtract said damage from the target's total PRE. Everyone should get a basic PRE Defense in this case, and you can obviously buy this up. Going to negative PRE can cause all sorts of problems, up to and including instant insanity.

 

The Elder Gods should have a PRE of around 100, and 20d6 PRE attacks should drive Joe Normal, with his 8 PRE insane in a single shot.

 

As for books... I suggest lots of Side Effects on spells, or Gradual Effect Transforms of Drains Triggered by simply picking up and/or reading the book.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

I think Mike has the right idea with a gradual effect Transform (From sane to insane), but the Presence idea is a good one as well. I think the first thing you need to determine is what are the rules for fear in your campaign? Some ideas that I've bantered around are:

- Using Presence Attacks as is. The advantage to this is it's a hardwired rule and easily adaptable.

- Using Fear Rolls. I've thought about having players have a Fear roll much like Perception. For all intensive purposes, your Fear roll is (PRE/5+9) and can be advanced by one for 5 pts. When making a fear check, you roll your skill - the creature's PRE/10. So, having a roll of Fear 15-, you confront a Vampire (PRE 30), you have to roll 12-, as the creature is fearful. This could also work for things such as tomes (You find the King is Shadows, make a fear roll -4!), or even situations (Ugh! Look at that dead body! Make a fear roll -2!).

- Transformation Attack. This is for extreme fear/sanity IMHO ... Cthuhlu pops up and hits you with a 15d6 Transform. It could be used on a smaller scale, but I don't know if it'd be as effective.

 

Once you have the rules of fear, you have some of the building blocks to work from As far as building the books, I'd almost build them as a MPs or VPPs with some set effects and then have a fear/sanity burning effect tied into reading it or even possessing it

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

I'd suggest doing the sanity loss as a Mental Transform to add one or more Psychological Limitation (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder seems like the number-one candidate).

[CDad]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

Hmmm...

 

How about building the book as an AI?

 

Maybe have the spells be Summons, usable by others, only if they can dominate the book's EGO?

 

Maybe Mental Illusion or PRE attack damage shields when touched?

 

How 'bout a cumulative transform into a total loon?

 

The entire house could have a continuous PRE suppress on it... easier to be scared just by being there...

 

This could be fun...

 

10 DEX 10

28 INT 18

20 EGO 20

2 SPD 0

 

16	Fear-Inducing Touch: Drain PRE 1d6, Damage Shield (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Continuous (+1), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per 6 Hours; +1 1/4); Extra Time (1 Minute, -1 1/2), Always On (-1/2)	0
25	Mind-Numbing Inscriptions: Suppress EGO 2d6 (standard effect: 6 points), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Damage Shield (Offensive; +3/4), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Hour; +1); Always On (-1/2)	0
16	Spells Within: Multipower, 60-point reserve, all slots Usable By Other (+1/4); all slots No Conscious Control (-2), Incantations (Requires Incantations throughout; Complex; -1), Concentration (1/2 DCV; Character is totally unaware of nearby events; -1/2), Side Effects (-1/4)
1u	1) Summon Hordlings: Summon 300-point creatures; Extra Time (1 Minute, Only to Activate, Character May Take No Other Actions, -1), Antagonistic Annoyed (-1/4)	6
1u	2) Elder Forms: Shape Shift (Sight, Touch, Smell/Taste, Hearing, Mental and Radio Groups, limited group of shapes), Cellular, Imitation, Instant Change

[Susano]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

As a side note -- THE MYSTIC WORLD builds the fabled Krypticon, of book of ancient magic, as a fairly large Multipower.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

Hmmm...

 

How about building the book as an AI?

 

Maybe have the spells be Summons, usable by others, only if they can dominate the book's EGO?

 

Maybe Mental Illusion or PRE attack damage shields when touched?

 

How 'bout a cumulative transform into a total loon?

 

The entire house could have a continuous PRE suppress on it... easier to be scared just by being there...

 

This could be fun...

 

10 DEX 10

28 INT 18

20 EGO 20

2 SPD 0

 

16	Fear-Inducing Touch: Drain PRE 1d6, Damage Shield (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Continuous (+1), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per 6 Hours; +1 1/4); Extra Time (1 Minute, -1 1/2), Always On (-1/2)	0
25	Mind-Numbing Inscriptions: Suppress EGO 2d6 (standard effect: 6 points), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Damage Shield (Offensive; +3/4), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Hour; +1); Always On (-1/2)	0
16	Spells Within: Multipower, 60-point reserve, all slots Usable By Other (+1/4); all slots No Conscious Control (-2), Incantations (Requires Incantations throughout; Complex; -1), Concentration (1/2 DCV; Character is totally unaware of nearby events; -1/2), Side Effects (-1/4)
1u	1) Summon Hordlings: Summon 300-point creatures; Extra Time (1 Minute, Only to Activate, Character May Take No Other Actions, -1), Antagonistic Annoyed (-1/4)	6
1u	2) Elder Forms: Shape Shift (Sight, Touch, Smell/Taste, Hearing, Mental and Radio Groups, limited group of shapes), Cellular, Imitation, Instant Change

This is a great idea Rep for you!

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

As long as we're on the subject of Tomes Most Malign, how about that deightfully

diabolical creation of Marvel Comics -- the Darkhold? Granted, having a book

that can suck out your soul just by using it can put a serious crimp in your lifestyle, but on the upside, it does have a rather useful document called

the

Montesi Formula (also known as the Spell of Mass Vampire Destruction) contained

within its pages.

 

Now let's see someone just try to write this bad boy up...

 

Major Tom

[Susano]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

However you do it, I'm betting you're going to need to use the MegaScale Advantage.

[AlHazred]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

I've actually given this some thought (surprised? ) and I'd say it depends on what you want the Necronomicon to do in your game.

 

Check out Cthulhu Triumphant on the Necronomicon Files page, especially the section that starts "Multiple Incarnations."

 

Basically, the function of the Necronomicon in your story will probably be one of four things:

 

1) Source of Lore: In this scenario, the book functions only as a source of information on the entities and events of the Cthulhu Mythos. In that case, it only needs to have a number of knowledge skills relating to various areas of the Mythos:

 

THE NECRONOMICON

Effect: Various Knowledge Skills

Target/Area Affected: Self

Duration: Constant

Range: Self

END Cost: 0

Breakability: Fragile

Game Information:

5 Chronicles Of An Elder Age: KS: The Cthulhu Mythos 20- (20 Active Points); OAF Fragile (-1 1/4), Independent (-2)

5 Secrets Of Many Cults: KS: Forgotten Gods And Religions 20- (20 Active Points); OAF Fragile (-1 1/4), Independent (-2)

5 A Sort Of Demonology: KS: Unknown Horrors 20- (20 Active Points); OAF Fragile (-1 1/4), Independent (-2)

5 The Book Of The Ways Of The Dead: KS: Secrets Of Death 20- (20 Active Points); OAF Fragile (-1 1/4), Independent (-2)

 

If you want to reflect exactly stories where the Necronomicon is a source of lore, don't bother even with this little; in such a case, the Necronomicon has only that information you want to give the players! It should be short, vague, cryptic even, and give them only enough information to get themselves in trouble. Probably a paragraph or so of text; bonus points if you translate it into another language or print it out on parchment with creepy fonts.

 

2) Source of Protection: In some stories the heroes learn to fight the bad guy with the knowledge contained in the book. These stories usually trace their origin to The Dunwich Horror, in which Armitage studies Wilbur Whateley's copy and discovers not only a formula which makes the invisible horror visible, but also a way to send it elsewhere (we never find out exactly where).

 

This version is like the one above, but in addition we have to add:

 

Game Information:

4 Source Of Protective Enchantments: +10 to Spell Research (Inventor) rolls (20 Active Points); OAF Fragile (-1 1/4), Independent (-2), Only For Protective Enchantments (-1/2)

 

In addition, the book now makes it possible for the heroes to learn spells (i.e., they are now allowed to pay points for them). I wouldn't make anything protective without an Activation Roll of 11- or worse, just because it's Lovecraft...

 

3) Soure of Occult Knowledge: Many stories place the Necronomicon as the source of the villain's infernal knowledge. In this case, we can remove the Spell Research ability, and add the following:

 

Game Information:

6 Key To Elder Arcana: +5 to Magic rolls (25 Active Points); OAF Fragile (-1 1/4), Independent (-2)

2 Source Of Dark Enchantments: +5 to Spell Research (Inventor) rolls (20 Active Points); OAF Fragile (-1 1/4), Independent (-2), Only For Black Magic (-1/2)

6 Key To Black Magic: KS: Black Magic 20- (20 Active Points); OAF Fragile (-1 1/4), Independent (-2)

 

If you go this route, make sure to have a list of spells that the book supplies. Most of the spells should have really disgusting or difficult-to-obtain Expendable Focus components (i.e., human body parts [heart, brain], copious quantities of blood, etc.), specific Windows Of Opportunity (see Fantasy Hero for a description of that limitation), and lengthy Extra Time requirements, to be in the spirit of the genre.

 

4) Sentient Book: In a few stories (the two the author mentions are both in the recent Chaosium anthology The Necronomicon) the book seems to be sentient and have a mind (and goals) of its own. If you go this route, then I would recommend CDad's writeup above; minor tweaking should enable you to suit it for your campaign. All sentient versions of the Necronomicon have the ability to change the language they're written in to suit their intended reader (Universal Translator with an Extra Time requirement, or possibly Shape Shift), but seem to be unable to actually use their own spells themselves (so, some powers of the AI should be No Conscious Control).

 

 

I'd love to hear how you use the book in a game!

[Guest Champsguy]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

I just wouldn't build it. Giving it game stats will limit what you can do with it. Get a general idea of what you want it to do, and run with it. He reads the book, you roll some dice, and say "Hmm..." and then mark it down. It doesn't matter what you rolled. Just ask to see his character sheet, look over it like you're looking for something important, and then write down something cryptic in the corner of his sheet.

 

So the character reads the Necronomicon? Don't tell him "you lose 4 points of Ego". Tell him that the book has made him uneasy. Then, days later, tell him he starts hearing noises in the house. Noises that aren't there, that can't be there. "You hear a thumping, like someone is stomping on the floor, on the other side of that wall." "But that's the wall to the outside, and we're 4 floors up." "That's what you hear."

 

It doesn't matter if the player knows what the effect was. Heck, its much better if the player doesn't know. You don't even have to know what the book does. You don't have to decide if the footsteps he's hearing actually belong to somebody or not. In fact, one of the easier things to do would be to have the opposite of what the player assumes be the truth. "Oh, that must be the book making me hallucinate." Then its definitely the real thing. "Oh, there's something out there! There's... something on the wing! Some... thing!" That's the surest way that it'll be a hallucination. Of course, until everyone thinks he's nuts, and then he'll discover that he was right all along (or is he just crazy?).

 

Part of the nasty thing about those Lovecraftian books was that they didn't really make you "insane". They just made you realize that certain "insane" things were true. It's like opening a Batman comic and having him peek out at you and say "Hey, it's our little secret, buddy. Don't tell anyone that I'm real." Is it real, or are you crazy?

[paigeoliver]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

You need a copy of Horror Hero from 4th edition, it has a lot of good stuff in it.

[AlHazred]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

I actually liked a lot of the stuff in Horror Hero, but I think that Dark Champions is better. Among other things, it's being supported...

[rjcurrie]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

But just because you are using Dark Champions as the basis for your game, doesn't mean that you can't borrow some of the ideas and techniques presented in Horror Hero.

[Markdoc]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

Depends on the kind of book. Some evil books allow you to read them and thus spend XP.s on useful topics such as KS: undead; creation, care and feeding of. They may skew your worldview a bit but I don't use any game mechanics; just allowing the players to create undead will inevitably tempt them to do things they shouldn't.

 

Other evil books have genuinely mind-wrenching content and/or something that man was not meant to mess with actually accessible through the pages. These books are magical artifacts and have the following general characteristics.

 

1. By reading them you can gain access to instant neato-kewl powers.

 

2. These instant neato-kewl powers come with a side effect (sometimes triggered by a roll: what that is, depends on the kind of book). Sometimes there's no roll, just a side effect. Cthuloid-type books of evil lore tend to have a side effect made by failing an EGO roll - a transformation either into an insane person or by giving a physical lim - usually it makes you "visible" and susceptible to attacks from things that can't reach the average person. Since many of the powers include letting you see or interact with things that are there, but normally unreachable, this is fair enough.

 

These rolls are usually cumulative and only a few dice, so that you can look at and read the thing for a bit before getting the effect. Thus if you inherit a copy of the necronomicon from your strangely-deceased uncle and just use it from time to time to check the spelling of "Shub-Niggurath", you will probably be OK. You'll heal the transformation damage. If, on the other hand, you routinely use the spells contained therein for summoning nameless horrors, or just spend a whole evening reading the thing cover to cover, you will inevitably get transformed and develop an amusing (to the GM) mental abberation. Much like the Harry Potter books, incidentally.

 

This naturally generates the desired player behaviour - they know that such books are bad news - but they are also desirable.....

 

Naturally, I don't tell the the player "you are now insane". I simply tell them that they can see or hear things that aren't actually there, or suggest appropriate conclusions when they are considering something. Since the players know that ancient instant neato-kewl powers can be obtained from such books - and that they can have varied side effects, it's not necessarily clear to the player if the malevolent things stalking him are actually figments of his imagination, or if he really IS being stalked by the Hounds of Tindalos and had better start stocking up on putty.

 

Of course sometimes they really ARE being stalked by the Hounds of Tindalos - the side effect in this case being a summoning.

 

This also naturally generates the desired player behaviour - even if they are not mad, they soon start behaving as though they were.

 

cheers, Mark

[Sketchpad]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

The whole access thing can be resolved with RSR ... have any of the powers RSR Mythos Lore ([iNT/5]+9)

[zornwil]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

Different genre, so this may be untenable for your purposes, but we just roleplayed the effects of the Necronomicon on the PC who got it in our Champions game. That might be reasonable, depending on your players, both for that and similar tomes if appropriate. I'm not so sure it is, just giving an alternative view. I'd probably tend towards creating a SANity characteristic, whether derived, in a Horror game and having it affect that directly via a very slow Drain with a Invisible Power Effects as far as the reader is concerned or a Transformation (itself, as opposed to the SAN loss with IPE) to a Disad: Obsessed with maddening supernatural book.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

Some specific magical tomes known throughout history for your perusal:

 

Clavicula Solomonis (The Key of Solomon)

 

De Septum Secundeis (The Seven Secondary Causes) Angels rule the earth.

 

Setganographia (Secret Writings) Angelic Magic

 

The Three Books of Occult Philosophy

 

LEMEGETON

CLAVICULA SALOMONIS (The Lesser Key of Solomon)

 

All of the above and many more magical tomes can be found here.

 

Enjoy!!!

[Curufea]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

Or you could create a sanity stat, figured from Ego and Int.

 

If you take too much damage to it (exceeds EGO), you go temporarily insane.

If it goes negative, you're permanently insane.

 

Psychotherapy would be represented as Healing (SAN), a specialty subclass of the healing power.

[zornwil]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

Or you could create a sanity stat, figured from Ego and Int.

 

If you take too much damage to it (exceeds EGO), you go temporarily insane.

If it goes negative, you're permanently insane.

 

Psychotherapy would be represented as Healing (SAN), a specialty subclass of the healing power.

You could even use the same leveling as for STUN damage, with "GM's discretion" either being permanent or just creating more levels consistent with the Time Chart (e.g., -30--39 = 1 day, -40--49 = 1 week, and so on).

[Susano]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

You could even use the same leveling as for STUN damage' date=' with "GM's discretion" either being permanent or just creating more levels consistent with the Time Chart (e.g., -30--39 = 1 day, -40--49 = 1 week, and so on).[/quote']

 

I suggested this exact same idea to Steve Long. Basically PRE Attacks versus EGO with the damage done was with STUN (although using EGO to create a STUN stat works as well). At -31 SAN you were insane (i.e. GM's option).

[Curufea]

Re: Building the Necronomicon

 

SAN as a STUN-equivalent based on EGO is a very nifty idea. Depending on how hard it is to recover, of course. You don't want it to take 12 seconds for them to get over Cthulhu.

 

I'm not sure about the -31 though for permanent insanity, I'd make it "negative your initial EGO" instead. So -10 for normal EGO characteristics.

 

You could have that when the SAN characteristic is between 0 and negative EGO, the character is catatonic.