The Dunwich Horror

[Susano]

“I dun't keer what folks think—ef Lavinny's boy looked like his pa, he wouldn't look like nothin' ye expeck.”

 

WILBUR WHATELEY

 

[b]Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes[/b]
20	STR	10	13-	Lift 400 kg; 4d6 HTH Damage [2]
12	DEX	4	11-
15	CON	5	12-
18	INT	8	13-	PER Roll 13-
18	EGO	8	13-
15	PRE	5	12-	PRE Attack:  3d6

4	OCV	5
3	DCV	0
6	OMCV	9
6	DMCV	9
3	SPD	10		Phases:  4, 8, 12

5	PD	3		Total:  5 PD (0 rPD)
5	ED	3		Total:  5 ED (0 rED)
7	REC	3
30	END	2
13	BODY	3
30	STUN	5		[b]Total Characteristics Cost:  92

Movement:[/b]	Running:	18m/36m 
Leaping:	4m/8m
Swimming:	4m/8m

[b]Cost	Powers & Skills[/b]
5	[b]"A Score Of ... Red Sucking Mouths":[/b]  HKA 1 point, Constant (+½); No 
STR Bonus (-½), END 1
2	[b]"Almost Nine Feet Tall":[/b]  Knockback Resistance -2m
6	[b]Long Legs:[/b]  Running +6m (18m total), END 1
6	[b]"Score Of  Long ... Tentacles":[/b]  Extra Limbs  (21), Inherent (+¼)
1	[b]"Almost Nine Feet Tall":[/b]  Reach +1m

[b]Talents[/b]
3	[b]"Goatish, Chinless Face":[/b]  +1/+1d6 Striking Appearance (vs. all 
characters)

[b]Skills[/b]
6	+2 with Handguns

3	AK: Dunwich Local Area 13-
2	CK: Dunwich Township 11-
3	Cryptography 13-
3	Language:  Aklo (completely fluent)
0	Language:  English (idiomatic; literate)
3	Language:  Latin (fluent conversation; literate)
2	PS: Carpentry 11-
5	Power:  Sorcery 14-
2	SS:  Alchemy 11-
3	SS:  Mathematics 13-
1	WF:  Handguns
3	Scholar
2	1)  KS 13-
2	2)  KS: Arcane And Occult Lore 13-
2	3)  KS: Contents Of The Necronomicon 13-
2	4)  KS: Cthulhu Mythos Lore 13-
2	5)  KS: Legends And Lore 13-
2	6)  KS: Magic And Magical Theory 13-

[b]Total Powers & Skill Cost:  71
Total Cost:  163

175+	Matching Complications (50)[/b]
10	Distinctive Features:  "goatish" cast to his features (Concealable; 
Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)
20	Hunted:  dogs Very Frequently (As Pow; Harshly Punish)
10	Negative Reputation:  member of the degenerate branch of the 
Whateley clan , Frequently
10	Physical Complication:  Large (stands 3m tall; +2 OCV for others to 
hit, +2 to PER Rolls for others to perceive) (Infrequently; Slightly 
Impairing)
20	Psychological Complication:  Devoted To His Father (Common; Total)

[b]Total Complications Points:  50
Experience Points:  0[/b]

 

Background/History: Born 5 A.M. Sunday, February 2nd, 1913, Wilbur Whateley is the son of Lavinia Whateley and the extra-dimensional god known as Yog-Sothoth. Due to his rather unique heritage, he grew from an infant to an adult standing over six feet in height in 12 years. He could walk at 7 months, and could speak fluent English at around 18 months of age. By the time he was four he was the size of a 15 year-old boy, and already capable of riding a horse, or firing a pistol. Standing over nine feet tall at his death in 1928, there’s no telling how large he would have grown, nor how long he would have lived, or even if he’d still have looked even remotely human once he’d reached “adulthood.”

 

Personality/Motivation: Devoted to his father (Yog-Sothoth), Wilbur’s main desire was to expand his magical knowledge so he could open the ways from his father’s realm and Earth. He cared nothing for humanity, and while he honored his (human) grandfather, apparently thought little of his mother and may even have murdered her. He cared for his brother to the best of his ability, but may have been a more than a little jealous of his brother’s natural talent for sorcery. Certainly, Wilbur’s desire to study a proper copy of the Necronomicon caused him to act rashly, and led directly to his death at the teeth of a savage Miskatonic University watchdog.

 

Quote: “Mr Armitage, I calc'late I've got to take that book home. They's things in it I've got to try under sarten conditions that I can't git here, en' it 'ud be a mortal sin to let a red-tape rule hold me up. Let me take it along, Sir, an' I'll swar they wun't nobody know the difference. I dun't need to tell ye I'll take good keer of it. It wan't me that put this Dee copy in the shape it is....”

 

Powers/Tactics: Wilbur’s primary power is in his knowledge of the occult. Possessing a large library of ragged tomes, which he’s studied extensively, Wilbur also knowns a number of magical rituals, and as apparently either summoned and/or contact beings from other planes in order to receive further instruction. Curiously, despite his huge size and un-earthly physical form, he died rather easily when confronted by a guard dog, his body eventually dissolving into nothingness.

 

Appearance: “The thing that lay half-bent on its side in a foetid pool of greenish-yellow ichor and tarry stickiness was almost nine feet tall, and the dog had torn off all the clothing and some of the skin. … It was partly human, beyond a doubt, with very manlike hands and head, and the goatish, chinless face had the stamp of the Whateley's upon it. But the torso and lower parts of the body were teratologically fabulous, so that only generous clothing could ever have enabled it to walk on earth unchallenged or uneradicated.

 

Above the waist it was semi-anthropomorphic; though its chest, where the dog's rending paws still rested watchfully, had the leathery, reticulated hide of a crocodile or alligator. The back was piebald with yellow and black, and dimly suggested the squamous covering of certain snakes. Below the waist, though, it was the worst; for here all human resemblance left off and sheer phantasy began. The skin was thickly covered with coarse black fur, and from the abdomen a score of long greenish-grey tentacles with red sucking mouths protruded limply.

 

Their arrangement was odd, and seemed to follow the symmetries of some cosmic geometry unknown to earth or the solar system. On each of the hips, deep set in a kind of pinkish, ciliated orbit, was what seemed to be a rudimentary eye; whilst in lieu of a tail there depended a kind of trunk or feeler with purple annular markings, and with many evidences of being an undeveloped mouth or throat. The limbs, save for their black fur, roughly resembled the hind legs of prehistoric earth's giant saurians, and terminated in ridgy-veined pads that were neither hooves nor claws. When the thing breathed, its tail and tentacles rhythmically changed colour, as if from some circulatory cause normal to the non-human greenish tinge, whilst in the tail it was manifest as a yellowish appearance which alternated with a sickly grayish-white in the spaces between the purple rings. Of genuine blood there was none; only the foetid greenish-yellow ichor which trickled along the painted floor beyond the radius of the stickiness, and left a curious discoloration behind it.”

 

Designer’s Notes: Wilbur Whateley is from HP Lovecraft’s excellent short story The Dunwich Horror. The character sheet is based on things mentioned within the story, meaning GMs who wish to use Wibur in some form have a lot of leeway in expanding his character sheet. For example, he doesn’t have any spells, mainly as his magic is so vaguely described. That, and it’s not totally clear what he’s summoning (if anything). Thus, if you wish to use Wilbur, I suggest you have him summon whatever is specific to your game setting and go from there. If you wish to keep with the feel of an HPL story, then his summon will require Extra Time (lots of it), Gestures, Incantations, an immobile Foci (a ring of standing stones on a hill), and possible a Limitation of “the stars must be right” (meaning Wilbur can only cast his spells at certain times of the year).

 

(Wilbur Whateley created by Howard Philips Lovecraft, character sheet created by Michael Surbrook.)

[Susano]

Re: The Dunwich Horror

 

“Let me tell ye suthin—some day yew folks'll hear a child o' Lavinny's a-callin' its father's name on the top o' Sentinel Hill!”

 

THE DUNWICH HORROR

 

[b]Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes[/b]
40	STR	30	17-	Lift 6400 kg; 8d6 [4]
13	DEX	6	12-
30	CON	20	15-
21	INT	11	13-	PER Roll 13-
24	EGO	14	14-
40	PRE	30	17-	PRE Attack:  8d6

6	OCV	15	
3	DCV	0	
8	OMCV	15	
8	DMCV	15	
3	SPD	10		Phases:  4, 8, 12

10	PD	8		Total:  10 PD (0 rPD)
10	ED	8		Total:  10 ED (0 rED)
12	REC	8
60	END	8
24	BODY	14
60	STUN	20		[b]Total Characteristics Cost:  232

Movement:[/b]	Running:	12m/24m
Leaping:	0m
Swimming:	4m/8m

[b]Cost	Powers & Skills[/b]
75	[b]"Blasphemously Stupendous Bulk":[/b]  Area Of Effect (18m Long, 2m Tall, 
9m Wide Line; +1 ¼) for up to 40 STR, Reduced Endurance 
(0 END; +½)
13	[b]"Ten Or Twenty Maouths Or Trunks A-Stickin' Aout All Along The 
Sides":[/b]  HKA 1d6+1; No STR Bonus (-½), END 2
22	[b]"Ten Or Twenty Maouths Or Trunks A-Stickin' Aout All Along The 
Sides":[/b]  Drain BODY 1d6, Constant (+½), Reduced Endurance 
(0 END; +½), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per 
Week; +2 ½); Bite Must Do Body (-½), No Range (-½)
48	[b]"Fire From Airth Can't Burn It Nohaow":[/b]  Energy Damage Reduction, 
Resistant, 75%; Only Works Against Mundane ([i]i.e.[/i] Earthly) Fire (-¼)
48	[b]"All Like Jelly":[/b]  Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75%; Only 
Works Against Normal (i.e. Earthly) Weapons, No EfFect Versus Magic 
Attacks (-¼)
10	[b]"All Like Jelly":[/b]  No Hit Locations
36	[b]"Fire From Airth Can't Burn It Nohaow":[/b]  Resistant Protection (20 ED), 
Hardened (+¼), Impenetrable (+¼); Only Works Against Mundane 
([i]i.e.[/i] Earthly) Fire (-¼)
36	[b]"All Like Jelly":[/b]  Resistant Protection (20 PD), Hardened (+¼), 
Impenetrable (+¼); Only Works Against Normal (i.e. Earthly) 
Weapons, No EfFect Versus Magic Attacks (-¼)
-2	[b]Can't Leap:[/b]  Leaping -4m (0m total)
10	[b]"Scale A Sheer Stony Cliff Of Almost Complete Verticality":[/b]  Clinging 
(normal STR)
6	[b]"Dozens O' Legs":[/b]  Extra Limbs  (40), Inherent (+¼)
35	[b]Normally Invisible:[/b]  Invisibility to Sight Group , No Fringe, 
Persistent (+¼), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½); Always On (-½)
10	[b]"Great Bulgin' Eyes All Over It": [/b] Increased Arc Of Perception (360 
Degrees) with Sight Group
15	[b]Son Of Yog-Sothoth:[/b]  LS  (Immunity All terrestrial diseases; 
Immunity: All terrestrial diseases; Longevity: Immortal)

[b]Talents[/b]
3	Ambidexterity (no Off Hand penalty)
4	Double Jointed
12	[b]Son Of Yog-Sothoth:[/b]  +4/+4d6 Striking Appearance (vs. all 
characters)

[b]Skills[/b]
2	AK: Dunwich And Surrounding Hills 11-
3	KS: Arcane And Occult Lore 13-
3	KS: Cthulhu Mythos Lore 13-
0	Language:  English (idiomatic; literate)
7	Power:  Sorcery 16-

[b]Total Powers & Skill Cost:  396
Total Cost:  628

175+	Matching Complications[/b]
15	Distinctive Features:  horrific non-human entity (Not Concealable; 
Extreme Reaction; Detectable Only By Magical Means (normally 
invisible))
20	Physical Complication:  Huge (16m tall; +6 OCV for others to hit, +6 
to PER Rolls for others to perceive) (Frequently; Greatly Impairing)
20	Psychological Complication:  Always Hungry (requires large amounts of 
fresh meat and blood) (Common; Total)
20	Psychological Complication:  Devoted To His Father (Common; Total)

[b]Total Complications Points:  50
Experience Points:  453[/b]

 

Background/History: The twin brother to Wilbur Whateley, the Dunwich Horror “looked more like the father than [Wilbur] did.” Growing at the same rapid pace as Wilbur, the Horror was fed on cows flesh and blood for the first 15 years of its life. After Wilbur died in 1928, the Horror burst out of the farmhouse where it was being housed, and then lurked about Dunwich for a time, killing people and livestock, before being destroyed itself by a trio of men from Miskatonic University.

 

Personality/Motivation: Far more alien than Wilbur, the Dunwich Horror only cares about pleasing its father. Thus, it treats the people of Dunwich as little more than cattle, destroying two farmhouses and devouring everyone within in order to sate its hunger. It also wishes to bring its father to Earth, so the world can be cleansed and he (and his father) can assume mastery of the remains.

 

Quote: “Ygnailh... ygnaiih... thflthkh'ngha.... Yog-Sothoth ... Y'bthnk... h'ehye-n'grkdl'lh... Eh-y-ya-ya-yahaah-e'yayayaaaa... ngh'aaaaa... ngh'aaa... h'yuh... h'yuh... HELP! HELP! ...ff -- ff – ff-FATHER! FATHER! YOG-SOTHOTH!...”

 

Powers/Tactics: The Horror’s primary power is its immense size, coupled with its inability to be seen due to its extra-dimensional make up.. It simply batters things down, such as trees, fences, and buildings, and either crushes what’s left under its bulk, or snatches up anything living with its tentacles and either drinks their blood or devours them whole (or both). Intelligent and capable of speech, the Horror can cast spells, probably the same sort of summoning spells Wilbur knows, but the Horror’s spell-casting skills is somewhat greater.

 

Appearance: “Bigger'n a barn... all made o' squirmin' ropes... hull thing sort o' shaped like a hen's egg bigger'n anything with dozens o' legs like hogs-heads that haff shut up when they step... nothin' solid abaout it -- all like jelly, an' made o' sep'rit wrigglin' ropes pushed clost together... great bulgin' eyes all over it... ten or twenty maouths or trunks a-stickin' aout all along the sides, big as stove-pipes an all a-tossin' an openin' an' shuttin'... all grey, with kinder blue or purple rings... an' Gawd in Heaven -- that haff face on top... that face with the red eyes an' crinkly albino hair, an' no chin, like the Whateleys.... It was a octopus, centipede, spider kind o' thing, but they was a haff-shaped man's face on top of it, an' it looked like Wizard Whateley's, only it was yards an' yards acrost....”

 

Designer’s Notes: The Dunwich Horror is from the HP Lovecraft story of the same name. As with my character sheet for Wilbur Whateley, I’ve built this based strictly on things mentioned and described in the story. Thus, you have room to expand on the Horror’s capabilities, mainly in its use of magic and spells. See Wilbur Whateley for more information.

 

(The Dunwich Horror created by Howard Philips Lovecraft, character sheet created by Michael Surbrook.)

[Susano]

Re: The Dunwich Horror

 

Added: SS: Alchemy 11- and SS: Mathematics 13- to Wilbur's character sheet.

[Drhoz]

Re: The Dunwich Horror

 

Wilbur was getting that gold from somewhere, too. Presumably alchemically. A shame he didn't spend any of it on a better pistol.

[starblaze]

Re: The Dunwich Horror

 

Family reunions must have been interesting. Can you try doing some of the heroes as well?

[Susano]

Re: The Dunwich Horror

 

Family reunions must have been interesting. Can you try doing some of the heroes as well?

 

I might. If I do, I'll take a swing at Randolph Carter.

[Susano]

Re: The Dunwich Horror

 

Wilbur was getting that gold from somewhere' date=' too. Presumably alchemically. A shame he didn't spend any of it on a better pistol.[/quote']

 

It was supposed to be of ancient coins. So he might have had a horde of really old British or Spanish coins somewhere. Not sure when the first US gold coins where made, but I don't think they were that old (for 1914ish).

[Drhoz]

Re: The Dunwich Horror

 

What would "Teratologically fabulous" give him? Apart from a completely inhuman arrangement of organs, clotting factors, etc.

[Susano]

Re: The Dunwich Horror

 

What would "Teratologically fabulous" give him? Apart from a completely inhuman arrangement of organs' date=' clotting factors, etc.[/quote']

 

Things like: No Hit Locations, Does Not Bleed, possible Damage Reduction due to his inhuman physiology.

[Drhoz]

Re: The Dunwich Horror

 

Things like: No Hit Locations' date=' Does Not Bleed, possible Damage Reduction due to his inhuman physiology.[/quote']

 

I'd go with the first and last - he bled all over the place after that guard dog bit his throat out.