rules.json

Quick-Start Rules
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear.”
—H. P. Lovecraft

CREDITS
Authors

Mike Mason with Paul Fricker,
Sandy Petersen, and Lynn Willis

Editorial

Lynne Hardy

Cover Art
Lin Hsiang

Interior Art

Lin Hsiang, Victor Leza, Rachel Kahn,
Andrey Fetisov, and Albeerto Bontempi

Layout

Nicholas Nacario

Licensing

Michael O’Brien, James Lowder, and Mike Mason

Call of Cthulhu Creative Director
Mike Mason

Clear Credit

The Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game was originally written by Sandy Petersen, with later revisions by Lynn Willis and others. The 7th edition of the
game was a collaboration between, and written by, Mike Mason and Paul Fricker. This Quick-Start revision written by Mike Mason and based upon
work by Paul Fricker and Mike Mason. Investigator sheet design by Matt Ryan and Max Harrison.
Cthulhu of Cthulhu: Quick-Start Rules © 1990, 2007, 2018, 2021 Chaosium Inc. All rights reserved.
Call of Cthulhu © 1981–2021 Chaosium Inc. All rights reserved.
Call of Cthulhu, Chaosium Inc., and the Chaosium logo are registered trademarks of Chaosium Inc.
This is a work of fiction. This book includes descriptions and portrayals of real places, real events, and real people; these may not be presented
accurately and with conformity to the real-world nature of these places, people, and events, and are reinterpreted through the lens of the Cthulhu
Mythos and the Call of Cthulhu game in general. No offense to anyone living or dead, or to the inhabitants of any of these places, is intended.
This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Reproduction of this work by any means without written
permission of Chaosium Inc., except for the use of short excerpts for the purpose of reviews and the copying of character sheets, maps, and handouts
for in-game use, is expressly prohibited.
Chaosium recognizes that credits and copyrights for the Cthulhu Mythos can be difficult to identify, and that some elements of the Mythos may be
in the public domain. If you have corrections or additions to any credits given here, please contact us at mythos@chaosium.com.
chaosium.com
Chaosium Inc.
3450 Wooddale Ct.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Chaosium publication 231@@
ISBN-13: 978-1-56882-@@@-@
Printed in @@@@@.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DO YOU HEAR THE CALL OF CTHULHU?                                                 5
Overview                                                                                                                                                 6
Roleplaying Dice                                                                                                                                     6
Equipment Required                                                                                                                               7

INVESTIGATORS                                                                                                     8
GAME SYSTEM                                                                                                       10
Skill Rolls and Difficulty Levels                                                                                                            10
Opposed Rolls                                                                                                                                        10
Bonus and Penalty Dice                                                                                                                         11
Luck Rolls                                                                                                                                              12
Sanity                                                                                                                                                     12
Combat                                                                                                                                                  12
Close Combat                                                                                                                                        13
Fighting Maneuvers                                                                                                                               13
Outnumbered                                                                                                                                        14
Firearms                                                                                                                                                 14
Hit Points, Wounds, and Healing                                                                                                          14
Other Forms of Damage                                                                                                                       15

THE HAUNTING                                                                                                    25
Collected Player Handouts                                                                                                                    32

READY-MADE INVESTIGATORS                                                                    34

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welcome to

DO YOU HEAR
THE CALL OF CTHULHU?

Call of Cthulhu is a horror-themed roleplaying game
concerning both horrors from beyond and from within. The
game is inspired by the 20th century horror and weird fiction
written by H. P. Lovecraft and other writers like Frank
Belknap Long, Lin Carter, and August Derleth, as well as
contemporary writers like Ramsey Campbell (to name but
a few). The game draws upon the fictional invention of what
has become known as the “Cthulhu Mythos,” a selection of
stories sharing common plot elements—such as mythical
books of arcane lore and alien god-like entities. The game
draws on the imaginative ideas and creations arising from
the Cthulhu Mythos, while avoiding Lovecraft’s own
distasteful personal views and racism, which have no place
in the game. If you have not read any Cthulhu Mythos
stories we encourage you to do so—there are many to
be found alongside Lovecraft’s own, including modern
reinterpretations of the Cthulhu Mythos seen through the
eyes of differing cultures and heritages.
These Quick-Start Rules gives you all the information
you will need to begin playing and having fun with the Call
of Cthulhu roleplaying game, and include a brief overview
of the core rules and how to play the game. If you enjoy
the experience, we recommend you consider moving on to
the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set, which includes the full basic
rules, a simplified investigator creation system, and four
introductory adventures. Once you have mastered and played
through the material in the Starter Set, you’ll be ready to use
the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper Rulebook, which contains the full
rules and a complete investigator creation system, as well
as a plethora of game information. You can purchase these
products from good game and hobby stores, large bookstores,
online, and directly from chaosium.com.

Interested in Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu? You are not alone!
Call of Cthulhu is Chaosium’s tabletop roleplaying game of
mystery and horror, where ordinary people delve into weird
events and lore, and confront the terrifying and alien forces
of the Cthulhu Mythos.
The game has won many awards for gaming excellence and
is published by Chaosium Inc., one of the oldest roleplaying
game companies in the world. Chaosium is famous for
publishing engaging games—including Call of Cthulhu,
RuneQuest, Pendragon, 7th Sea, and many more.
All you need to play Call of Cthulhu for the first time is
this Quick-Start Rules guide, some polyhedral dice (or a
dice-rolling app), plenty of imagination, and your friends.
Welcome to the worlds of Call of Cthulhu!

INTRODUCTION

Call of Cthulhu is a game full of secrets, mysteries, and horror.
Playing the roles of steadfast investigators, you and your
friends will travel to strange and dangerous places, uncover
foul plots, and stand against the terrors of the night. Within
strange and forgotten tomes of lore you may discover secrets
that humanity was not meant to know. Along the way, sanityblasting monsters and insane cultists work to bring about
your demise. You and your companions may well decide the
fate of the world!

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AN OVERVIEW
OF THE GAME

Keeper takes on the roles of all the supporting characters and
monsters in the adventure, while each of the players just plays
one role—that of their investigator.
“Winning” in such a situation depends on whether the
investigators succeed in their goal, and “losing” is what happens
if they fail to achieve it (though they may be able to try again
later). During the game, investigators may become injured,
suffer sanity-shattering experiences, or even die! However,
someone has to make a stand against the cosmic horrors of the
Cthulhu Mythos, and the death of a single investigator matters
little if it means repulsing Cthulhu’s master plan to enslave the
Earth! In the game, investigators are mostly ordinary people
forced into heroic roles, but they are still fragile humans and
prone to injury and death. If an investigator must “retire” from
play, their player can pick up or create a new investigator to
join the team and continue the story.
Investigators who survive gain knowledge of horrendous
monsters, power from arcane volumes of forgotten lore, and
advancement in their skills as they become more experienced;
thus, the players’ investigators continue to progress until their
demise or retirement—whichever comes first.

The aim of playing Call of Cthulhu is to have fun with your
friends as you explore and create a story of mystery and horror.
One player takes the role of game moderator, known as the
Keeper of Arcane Lore (“Keeper” for short), whose role is to
run the game for the rest of the players and apply the rules as
necessary. Everyone else takes the parts of intrepid Investigators
of the Unknown (“investigators”)—the heroes of the story—
attempting to seek out, understand, and eventually confront the
horrors, mysteries, and secrets of the Cthulhu Mythos.
As you are the person reading this book, we will assume
that you are going to take on the role of Keeper for the first
few games you play. The Keeper picks a story to run—these
are known as “adventures” or “scenarios.” You can find an
introductory adventure at the back of this book—a scenario
called The Haunting (page 17). Each adventure provides the
Keeper with the structure of a story (the plot) to present to
the players. The Keeper’s role is a little like that of a director
making a movie in which the actors don’t know how the story
will develop. The players are like actors, who have the freedom
to improvise their own scripts and actions within the game.
The investigators need not be anything at all like the
people who play them. Indeed, it is often more rewarding
and enjoyable for players to create characters entirely unlike
themselves—such as tough private eyes, wisecracking
journalists, or learned academics. Most of the game play is
a verbal exchange. The Keeper sets the scene, describing the
environment, the individuals, and encounters to the players.
The players tell the Keeper what they intend for their
investigators to do, how they interact with people and things,
and so on. The Keeper then tells the players what happens.
In play, the game takes the form of a group conversation,
with many twists and turns and fun along the way. Together,
everyone tells the group’s story—their version of how their
characters overcame (or not) the challenges of the adventure.
The game’s rules use polyhedral dice to determine if an
investigator’s action succeeds or fails when a dramatic “conflict”
presents itself—for example, whether the investigators are able
to leap out of the way of a giant statue about to crash down
upon their heads! The rules in this Quick-Start describe how
to decide the outcome of such conflicts.

ROLEPLAYING DICE

The Keeper and players use a set of roleplaying dice in the game.
These polyhedral dice include: percentile dice (D100), a foursided die (D4), a six-sided die (D6), an eight-sided die (D8),
and a twenty-sided die (D20). Such sets can be purchased from
game hobby stores—only one set is needed, although players
often like to have their own dice sets; alternatively, you may
prefer to use a dice-rolling app instead. The letter “D” stands for
“dice.”The number after the D is the range of numbers available:
1D8 generates random numbers 1 through 8, for instance, while
1D100 generates the numbers 1–100. In an adventure, the text
will call for different dice rolls using this terminology. So, if the
text says a monster delivers 1D8 damage, then roll the 8-sided
die once to determine how much damage is actually caused.
Reading D100 (Percentile Dice)

Winners and Losers

In Call of Cthulhu there are no winners and losers in the standard
competitive sense—play is cooperative. The participants work
together to attain a common goal—usually to discover and
then foil a nefarious plot being perpetrated by the minions
of a dark cult or some devious monster. The opposition that
the investigators face can often be an alien or hostile situation
controlled by an impartial Keeper, not another player. The

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NEVER PLAYED A ROLEPLAYING GAME BEFORE?
If you’ve never played a roleplaying game before you may
be wondering what this is all about. To set you on the right
track, it may be useful to describe an average session of play,
which can take place in person around a table or online over
a video conference.

responds to this, putting on the voice of their investigator to say
that such things are “Complete hokum.” As the story unfolds,
everyone becomes involved, describing what their characters are
doing or saying. Some of the players decide to speak in the manner
of their characters, such as with a New York accent, while others
prefer not to “act” out their character and just speak normally.
Dramatic conflicts arise and dice are rolled to determine the
outcome, with John being the referee of the rules.
Sometimes the players get their way, while at other times
events appear to conspire against them. It is all played out simply
by talking and rolling dice to determine the outcome of certain
situations; people aren’t getting out of their chairs to act it out,
neither are they donning costumes.
Everyone ceases play at around ten-thirty, and then chat for a
while before calling it a night at around eleven o’clock. Everyone
is looking forward to meeting up again next week to find out how
the story develops.

Debbie and their partner Alex, along with their two friends
Morgan and Susan, meet up at John’s house on Friday evening
at around seven o’clock. After catching up on the week’s news and
getting some drinks and nibbles, they sit down in the lounge,
ready to play. John hands out some ready-made investigators
along with some paper and pencils, and everyone is ready to start.
It’s now about eight o’clock. John kicks off the game by describing
the opening scene from the adventure they have chosen to play,
telling how the investigators find themselves talking with a man
who wants them to check out an old property he owns; rumor
has it that it might be haunted! One of the players immediately

Percentile dice usually consist of two 10-sided dice, which
are rolled together at the same time. One die (units) is
numbered 1 to 0, the other die (tens) being numbered 10
to 00. Both dice are rolled and should be read together—
e.g. “30” on the tens die and “05” on the units die is read as
35%. A roll of “00” (tens die) combined with a “0” (units die)
indicates a result of 100%, while a roll of “00” on the tens die
combined with any other roll on the units die indicates a roll
of under 10%; for example, a roll of 00 on the tens die and 3
on the units die is read as 3%.

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
When you are ready to begin playing Call of Cthulhu, you’ll
need a few things to start:
•
•
•
•
•
•

This Quick-Start Rules guide.
A set of polyhedral (“roleplaying”) dice or a dice-rolling app.
Some notepaper.
Some pencils.
At least one other person to game with.
A quiet place to play, such as around a kitchen table or
lounge.
• Two to four hours in which to play.
Of course, playing online is possible too. Instead of
a set of real dice you could use an online dice roller,” and
you could share investigator sheets as PDFs (you can
download writable PDF sheets at chaosium.com). Any video
conferencing platform could be used—you just need to make
sure everyone can see and hear everyone else in the game.

Dice Roll Variations
Sometimes, a dice notation is preceded by a number other
than “1”—this means that more than one such die should be
rolled, with their results added together. For instance, 2D6
means that two 6-sided dice are rolled and totaled (or roll a
D6 twice and add the results together).
You might also see 1D8+1 or 1D6+1, for instance. This
means that the number following the plus sign should be
added to the result of the die roll. For 1D6+1, the result must
be 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7. If a monster claws for 1D6+1+2D4 damage,
find the result of the attack by rolling the two requested dice,
totaling the results, and adding 1 (rolling 1D6 and 2D4, then
adding 1 to the total rolled across all of the dice).

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box would be “30” (half of 60) and the lower box would be
“12” (one-fifth of 60). See Skill Rolls and Difficulty Levels,
page 10, for what these values mean in play.
Each of the characteristics measures a certain attribute:

This Quick-Start guide does not include the rules for creating
investigator characters from scratch—those rules are included
in the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set and the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper
Rulebook. Instead, at the back of this book you will find four
ready-to-play investigators—note that PDF versions of these
characters are available to download from chaosium.com. The
players can pick from these pre-generated characters and use
them when playing the included adventure, The Haunting. To
help understand the investigator sheet, here’s the lowdown on
what everything means.
Players record the details of their character on an
investigator sheet, which holds all the information they need
in the game. Each sheet is divided into sections:

• STR: the raw physical power your investigator can bring
to bear.

• CON: the health and hardiness of your investigator.
• SIZ: an abstracted value of your investigator’s height and weight.
• DEX: physical agility and speed.
• APP: the physical appeal or how “good looking” your
investigator is.
• EDU: a measure of the knowledge that your investigator
has accumulated through formal education or the venerated
“school of hard knocks” (i.e. street smarts).
• INT: a measure of your investigator’s cunning, problem
solving, and ability to make leaps of logic and intuition.
• POW: a combination of force of will, spirit, and mental stability.

1.	About Your Investigator: your investigator’s name, age,
gender, and occupation, as well as their birthplace and current
residence. In Call of Cthulhu, an investigator’s occupation
determines the skills they are most proficient with.
2.	Characteristics: there are eight characteristics used to measure
Strength (STR), Constitution (CON), Size (SIZ), Dexterity
(DEX), Appearance (APP), Education (EDU), Intelligence
(INT), and Willpower (POW). Each of these has a “Regular”
percentile value between 1 and 100; thus, STR 60 means
Strength 60%. Note that there are two smaller boxes to the
edge of each characteristic—the upper small box is half value
(or “Hard” value, i.e. the Regular value divided by 2), while the
lower small box is the one-fifth value (or “Extreme” value, i.e.
the Regular value divided by 5). E.g. with STR 60, the upper

In addition,there there are four key values for an investigator—
Hit Points (HP), Magic Points (MP), Luck (Luck), and Sanity
(SAN). These values may go up and down in play.
• Hit Points (HP): when your investigator suffers damage,
deduct damage points from hit points—at zero hit points
your investigator falls unconscious and may die—see Hit
Points, Wounds, and Healing, page 14.
• Magic Points (MP): used to cast a spell or some other magical
effect. When spent, magic points regenerate at a rate of 1-point
per hour. If a character uses up all of their magic points, any
further expenditure is taken from their hit points (becoming
physical damage)—see Corbitt’s Spells, page 31, in The
Haunting for an example of how magic points are used.
• Luck: used to determine whether external circumstances are
with or against your investigator (whether your investigator
can find a lantern in a dark barn, and so on)—see Luck
Rolls, page 12.
• Sanity (SAN): measures your investigator’s ability to deal
with the shock and corruption from exposure to alien and
mind-bending horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. Sometimes,
when such things overcome your investigator, they lose Sanity
points, reflecting the lingering effect of such trauma—see
Sanity, page 12. Note that “Starting” SAN begins equal to
POW, but may later rise or fall through play, and the “Insane”
box is used to write in one-fifth of the “Starting” SAN value.
Running along the bottom of this section are Temporary
Insanity, Indefinite Insanity, Major Wound, Unconscious,
and Dying—these are checked when certain events happen
during the game.

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3.	Skills: this section lists all of the common skills available.
Your investigator can attempt to use most of these skills
using the “base value” noted in parentheses next to the skill,
e.g. “Accounting (05%)” means that everyone has a 5% skill
in accountancy. On the ready-made investigator sheets you
can see that each character has increased values for certain
skills (these higher values supersede the base values). The
ones with increased values are the skills your investigator
is relatively proficient in; the higher the value, the more
skilled they are.
Note that there are two boxes to the right of each skill
box—the middle box is half value (or “Hard” value, i.e.
the Regular value divided by 2), while the box on the
right is the one-fifth value (or “Extreme” value, i.e. the
Regular value divided by 5). E.g. with a Charm skill of
50%, the middle box would be “25” (half of 50) and the
box to the right would be “10” (one-fifth of 50). See Skill
Rolls and Difficulty Levels, page 10, for what these
values mean in play.
4.	Weapons: notes any weapons possessed by your investigator.
Each weapon has an entry for its Regular, Hard, and
Extreme skill values, the damage it can inflict (usually a die
roll), and the number of attacks (per round) it can be used;
and, for firearms, its range, ammunition, and its malfunction
number—see Combat, page 12, for more details.
5.	Action Reference: this is a quick reference area showing
Move (the human average is Move 8), Build, Damage Bonus
(DB), and also a duplicate of your investigator’s Dodge skill
value—all useful during combat and other dramatic events!
6.	My Story: use this to write in the personal history of your
investigator. You might add to and develop this during play.
7.	Backstory: each entry is a way to further describe your
investigator, whether it’s a short description of how they
appear, their ideology and beliefs, or their traits and
mannerisms. You can also make a note about any significant
people in their life, treasured possessions, and locations that
are important to them. Most times, filling in two or more of
these sections helps to round out your character. Note that
Injuries & Scars, Phobias & Manias, Arcane Tomes, Spell &
Artifacts, and Encounters with Strange Entities are usually
filled out during play rather than beforehand.
8.	Gear and Possessions: record important items, equipment,
and weapons carried on your investigator’s person. As a rule
of thumb, an investigator would be carrying the items they
would use day-to-day in their occupation, so there’s no need
to write every single thing down—only the important and
relevant stuff.

CREDIT RATING
Credit Rating is a skill on the investigator sheet, and can be
used as a means to exemplify your investigators wealth (or
lack of it) and social status.
•
•
•
•
•
•

Credit Rating of 0: Penniless, living on the streets.
Credit Rating of 1–9: Poor, has the bare minimum.
Credit Rating of 10–49: Average, a reasonable comfort level.
Credit Rating of 50–89: Wealthy, some degree of luxury.
Credit Rating of 90–98: Rich, great wealth and luxury.
Credit Rating of 99–100: Super rich, money is no object.

9.	Wealth: don’t worry about this section—it’s just for advanced
games, where a character’s money on hand and savings might
be important (these are covered in the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper
Rulebook)—see the nearby box about Credit Rating.
10.Fellow Investigators: record the names of the other
players in your game, as well as their investigators’ names.
11.Quick Reference Rules: a handy rules reminder and
something you might refer to once you have more
experience of playing the game.

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If you can justify it through your investigator’s actions, you
can “push” a failed skill roll. Pushing a roll allows you to roll the
dice a second time; however, the stakes are raised. If you fail a
second time, the Keeper gets to inflict a dire consequence upon
your character—you might partially succeed in your goal or not,
depending on the Keeper’s determination, but either way, your
investigator will pay some sort of price for failing the roll. Before a
pushed roll is made, the Keeper has the option of foreshadowing
what might happen if the pushed roll is failed; the player can then
decide whether it’s worth the risk to take the second roll or not.

“Skill rolls” may be called for during dramatic situations in
the game. Walking down a well-lit hallway is not a dramatic
situation, whereas running down a rubble-strewn corridor
while being chased by monsters most definitely is! Only
make a skill roll when the outcome is uncertain and dramatic.
When attempting a skill roll, you should first agree a
goal with the Keeper—what is your investigator trying to
achieve? If your skill roll is successful, you achieve your goal.
Additionally, when you successfully roll a skill, put a check
mark in the box next to it on your investigator sheet. You
can only get one check per skill at a time. At the end of the
scenario, that skill could increase due to experience—your
Keeper will ask you to “roll for skill increases,” if you roll over
a checked skill’s value, you gain +1D10 points to that skill
(with a checked Climb skill of 40, you roll 1D100 and get
58, as this is above 40, you get to add 1D10 points to Climb).
In other words, the more you know, the hardier it is to learn
something new or to get better.
On occasion, you may need to roll a test that is not covered
by the skills on your sheet. If so, look at your investigator’s
characteristics and determine which one of them is best to
use and treat it like a skill.

Example: your investigator is trying to open the heavy stone
door of a crypt—the goal is “open the crypt.” The Keeper decides
this is very difficult and asks for a STR roll, specifying that a
“Hard success” is required. Your investigator’s STR is 60, so a
Hard success requires a roll of 30 or below. You roll the dice but
the result is 43—you have failed, as you rolled above half your
investigator’s STR. You ask if you can push the roll, saying that
your character is picking up and using a spade to help lever the
door. The Keeper permits a second roll, but warns that if you fail
this roll, not only will the door still be closed but “something”
may hear you and could be coming for your blood! Note that we
used the STR characteristic here, as opening the door is feat of
strength rather than a specific skill; if the door had a lock on it,
you might instead use the Locksmith skill at Regular difficulty or
a Mechanical Repair roll at Hard difficulty.

SKILL ROLLS AND
DIFFICULTY LEVELS

OPPOSED SKILL ROLLS

Your Keeper will tell you when you should attempt a skill
roll and how difficult the task is—you just describe what your
investigator is doing, and the Keeper will advise you if a skill
roll is needed.

If two investigators are opposing one another, or if an
investigator is in a conflict with a significant Keepercontrolled character (a monster or NPC, i.e. one for whom
statistics are listed in the scenario), the Keeper may require
an “opposed roll.” To resolve an opposed roll, both sides
make a skill (or characteristic) roll and compare their levels
of success. A Regular success beats a Fail, a Hard success
beats a Regular success, and an Extreme success beats a Hard
success. In the case of a draw, the side with the higher skill
value wins—if both skills are equal, then have both sides roll
1D100, with the lower result winning.

• A regular task requires a roll of equal to or less than your
skill value on 1D100 (a Regular success).
• A difficult task requires a 1D100 roll result equal to or less
than half your skill value (a Hard success).
• A task approaching the limits of human capability requires a
1D100 roll equal to or less than one-fifth of your skill value
(an Extreme success).

LEVELS OF SUCCESS
(worst) FAIL — REGULAR SUCCESS — HARD SUCCESS — EXTREME SUCCESS (best)

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Bonus and Penalty Dice

(see fig 1.) The units die reads 4 and can be paired with either of
the two tens dice to give scores of 44 or 24. Malcolm’s player takes
the lower result 24—a Hard success. Malcolm wins the opposed
roll, and his proposal of marriage to Lady Greene is accepted.

Sometimes, the prevailing conditions for the investigators,
their environment, and/or the time available can hinder or
benefit a skill or characteristic roll. Under certain conditions
the Keeper may grant a “bonus” or a “penalty” die to a roll.
One bonus die and one penalty die cancel each other out.
Such bonuses and penalties operate in a similar way to
raising the difficulty of a roll, and can be used instead of,
or in addition to, an increased difficulty. Normally, though,
bonus and penalty dice are used primarily with opposed rolls.

For each penalty die: roll an additional “tens” die alongside
the usual pair of percentile (D100) dice. You’re now rolling
three separate dice: one “units” die and two “tens” dice. For a
penalty, use the “tens” die that yields the worst (higher) result.
Example: in a dire turn of events, two investigators—Felix and
Harrison—have been captured by the cultists of the Scarlet Smile. The
cultists decide to have some “fun” at the investigators’ expense, decreeing
that both must undertake the Ordeal of Pain, from which only one can
survive as the loser will be sacrificed to the cultists’ foul god.
The Ordeal of Pain involves lifting a huge rock and holding it
aloft. Whoever holds the rock up the longest wins. This requires an
opposed STR roll from each of the investigators; however, the Keeper
rules that Harrison must take a penalty die, as he recently suffered a
major wound (he received an injury when he was captured by the
cultists) and is still recovering. Felix’s player rolls 51 against STR
65—a Regular success. Harrison’s STR is 55. His player rolls 20
and 40 on two tens dice and 1 on the units die (see fig 2.), which
can be combined to read 21 or 41. The extra die was a penalty die, so
Harrison must take the higher result—a Regular success
Both players have achieved a Regular success; Felix wins
because he has the higher STR value. Felix is able to hold the rock
above his head for longer than Harrison. The cultists jeer and lead
Harrison off towards their altar…

For each bonus die: roll an additional “tens” die alongside
the usual pair of percentile (D100) dice when making a roll.
You are now rolling three separate dice: one “units” die and
two “tens” dice. To take the benefit of the bonus, use the
“tens” die that yields the better (lower) result.
Example: two rival investigators, Malcolm and Hugh, are vying
for the affection of Lady Greene. Only one can gain her hand in
marriage, so the Keeper decides that an opposed roll is needed to
determine the outcome of their wooing. It is decided that an opposed
Charm roll should fit the scene. The Keeper reviews the events of the
scenario so far: Malcolm has visited Lady Greene twice, each time
lavishing expensive gifts upon her, while Hugh has only visited
once and brought no gifts at all. The Keeper states that Malcolm has
an advantage and receives a bonus die in the opposed roll.
Hugh’s player rolls first against his Charm skill of 55, getting
45—a Regular success. Malcolm’s player rolls against his Charm
skill with one bonus die, rolling one units die and two tens dice

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

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LUCK ROLLS

In addition, when falling insane, an investigator suffers
a “bout of madness”—roll 1D10 and refer to the Bouts
of Madness Table (page 29). If the investigator is in the
presence of other investigators, play out the result round
by round (the player has, more or less, control of their
character, but should be guided by Keeper in terms of their
investigator’s portrayal of madness). If the investigator is
alone you may use the result to describe how the investigator
is found sometime later in a bad way, perhaps hiding in a
cupboard, drunk in a gutter, or unconscious under a tree.
If your investigator is temporarily insane, the Keeper
may decide to add a phobia or mania to your sheet
(such as “fear of the dark,” “fear of confined spaces,” or
“kleptomania, an irrational compulsion to steal things”).
Alternatively, they may decide to rewrite one of your
existing backstory entries, perhaps corrupting it in some
way (where you wrote “Trusting” under Traits, the Keeper
corrupts this to “Fearful.”)
While temporarily insane, the Keeper may present your
investigator with “Delusions” (hallucinations)—is that a
zombie creeping up on you or is it just a homeless person
asking for spare change? You can only be certain by asking
to make a “reality check”—electing to make a Sanity roll;
if you’re successful, you see through the hallucination, but
if you fail, you fall deeper into the madness and believe
the delusion!
Once 1D10 hours have passed, the investigator is sane
once more and cannot be affected by more delusions;
however, altered backstories or phobias or manias gained
while insane remain in effect.
Unfortunately, regaining lost Sanity points can be a long
and arduous process. Checking characters into some form
of care while they take a break from the action, or undergo
some form of psychotherapy, are ways to recover small
amounts of Sanity. Successfully completing investigations
also provides a way to gain Sanity points. But, such gains
often do not outweigh the steady loss of Sanity, which tends
to be a downward spiral. As Sanity slips away, investigators
become less stable and their ability to deal with new horrors
diminishes. Full rules for Sanity and Insanity in the game are
more fully explained in the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper Rulebook.

Luck rolls may be called for by the Keeper when
circumstances external to an investigator are in question,
and also when determining the fickle hand of fate. If, for
example, an investigator wants to know if there is an item
lying nearby that could be used as weapon, or if the flashlight
they have found has any juice left in it, then call for a Luck
roll. Note that if a skill or characteristic is more appropriate
to a situation, then it should be used rather than Luck. To
succeed with a Luck roll, the investigator must roll equal to
or under their current Luck value.
If the Keeper calls for a “group Luck roll,” the player whose
investigator has the lowest Luck score (among those present
in the scene) should make the roll on behalf of the group.
Example: finding a cab doesn’t require a dice roll, but getting one
before the investigators lose sight of the car that they wish to pursue
could. Credit Rating could be a factor in attracting the attention
of a cabdriver on the lookout for a well-dressed fare who may tip
generously. However, quickly getting a ride at two o’clock in the
morning on the undesirable side of town might not be so easy.
Would there even be a cab to hail? No skill is going to make a cab
appear at that moment. It is a matter of chance whether a cab may
be driving down that road, hence a Luck roll is required.

SANITY (SAN)

Whenever an investigator encounters the horrors of the
Cthulhu Mythos or comes across something mundane yet
horrific (such as stumbling across a friend’s mutilated corpse),
make a percentile roll against the investigator’s current Sanity
score. If you roll over your current Sanity, you lose a greater
amount of Sanity points. If you roll under, you will lose less
or none. The Sanity loss is generally described for an event as
something like “0/1D6” or “2/1D10.” The number before the
slash mark tells you how much Sanity your character loses
if the roll is equal to or under their current Sanity score; the
number after the slash is how much your investigator loses
if you roll over their current Sanity score (the worst result).
When you fail a “Sanity roll” the Keeper gets to
momentarily dictate your investigator’s next action as the
fear takes hold; perhaps they unwittingly scream, freeze, or
squeeze the trigger of the gun they are holding.
If an investigator loses 5 or more Sanity points as the
consequence of a single Sanity roll, they have suffered major
emotional trauma, and the player must roll 1D100. If the
result is equal to or less than their Intelligence (INT), the
investigator fully understands and comprehends what has
been seen and goes temporarily insane (for 1D10 hours). If
they fail the roll, their mind is closed to the horror and they
remain sane (for now).

COMBAT

When you are confronted with the horrors of the Cthulhu
Mythos it is generally a better idea to run away or avoid
confrontation altogether, as such entities are very powerful
and often resistant to bullets! However, sometimes there is
no other choice than to go in, guns blazing, and make the
best of it.

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When a combat occurs, all investigators, as well as
characters and monsters controlled by the Keeper, act in
order of their DEX values. The investigator, character, or
monster with the highest DEX acts first and then the others
go in descending order from there.
The duration of a combat round is best described as “long
enough for everyone to take one significant action.” The
Keeper controls the flow of the round. On each character’s
DEX turn, the Keeper decides or asks (if an investigator)
what action is being taken; usually this is something as
simple as, “I attack the monster,” “I pull out my revolver,” or “I
run away!” The Keeper should give everyone a chance to do
something, while being aware of the narrative flow of the
events taking place.
Investigators have three combat skills: Fighting, Dodge,
and Firearms. Two of these skills are made up of multiple
specializations, such as Fighting (Brawl) or Firearms
(Rifle/Shotgun)—each investigator may have different
specializations (or none at all). Note that the Fighting
(Brawl) skill includes unarmed combat and the use of simple
weapons (like knives and clubs); however, wielding a sword
requires the Fighting (Sword) specialization.
You make a combat roll using the appropriate skill, just
like any other skill roll; however, you don’t get to “push”
combat rolls—you simply make another attack next round.

“extreme damage” if they win the combat with an Extreme
success—if a blunt weapon, extreme damage deals maximum
damage plus damage bonus (if any); if an impaling weapon
(like a knife), extreme damage deals maximum damage (of
the weapon) plus an additional dice roll for the weapon’s
damage and also damage bonus (if any). E.g. when a
knife with 1D4 damage causes extreme damage, it deals
4+1D4+damage bonus (if any).

Close Combat

If a player describes a goal in combat that is something
other than simply inflicting harm, it can be resolved with
a “Fighting Maneuver.” A successful maneuver allows the
character to achieve one thing, such as:

Example: a ghoul initiates, swinging a clawed hand at Susan,
who elects to dodge. The Keeper rolls 03—an Extreme success
(below one-fifth of the ghoul’s skill). Susan rolls 20 for her Dodge
roll—a Hard success. The attacker has achieved a better level
of success than the dodger, so Susan is hit, automatically taking
maximum damage of 6+1D4 (1D6+1D4 damage bonus) because
the attack was an Extreme success.
The ghoul is a monster with 3 attacks per round (all of its
attacks take place simultaneously on its DEX). On its second
attack it tries to bite Susan, who fights back. Susan achieves a
Hard success; the ghoul achieves a Regular success. Susan has
a better level of success than the ghoul, so she successfully fights
back—not only does she avoid injury, but she also inflicts 1D3
points of damage on the ghoul.

Fighting Maneuvers

On a character’s turn in the DEX order, they may choose
to initiate an attack against an opponent. In addition, each
time a character is attacked, they get to choose how they will
respond, be it by dodging (attempting to avoid the attack
completely) or fighting back (attempting to avoid, block, or
parry an attack while also hitting back). Both attacker and
defender roll percentage dice (1D100) and compare their
levels of success.

• Disarm an opponent.
• Knock an opponent to the floor.
• Seize and hold an opponent, whereupon the opponent must
apply one penalty die to their actions until they can break
free with an opposed STR roll.

• If you are initiating the attack: roll your Fighting skill and
compare the result to your opponent.
• If you are responding—fighting back: use your Fighting
skill. You need to achieve a higher level of success than
your attacker (you inflict damage instead of your opponent).
• If you are responding—dodging: use your Dodge skill. Your
attacker needs to achieve a higher level of success than you
(if you equal or exceed your attacker’s level of success, you
successfully dodge and avoid taking damage).

A maneuver is treated the same way as a normal Fighting
attack, using the Fighting (Brawl) skill. The opponent may
dodge or fight back as usual. Compare the Build of the two
combatants. If the character initiating the maneuver has a
smaller Build than their opponent, they take a penalty die for
each point of difference (to a maximum of two penalty dice).
If an opponent exceeds the attacker’s Build by three or more
points, any fighting maneuvers are ineffective; the attacker
may be able to lay hands on their opponent, but lacks the
strength and size required to take advantage of their grip.

The winning side avoids receiving any damage and inflicts
damage (unless they are dodging) on their opponent. Note
that, when fighting back (responding to an attack on you),
the best a person can achieve is “regular” damage, whereas
a character initiating an attack (if successful) could achieve

Example: Susan attempts to push a ghoul out of a window (a
Fighting Maneuver). Susan’s Build is zero and the ghoul’s Build is
1, so Susan suffers one penalty die on her attack roll. Susan rolls 02

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and 22; as she had a penalty die, she must take the higher result—a
Hard success (under half Susan’s Fighting skill). The ghoul is
fighting back, and it rolls a Regular success on its Fighting skill.
Susan has achieved a better level of success and so her maneuver is
successful—she shoves the ghoul through the window.

through stabilizing the character. If a character suffers points
of damage greater than or equal to their maximum hit points
in a single blow, they die instantly.
• Characters without a major wound naturally heal 1 hit point
per day.
• Characters with a major wound must make a healing roll
(rolling equal to or under their CON) at the end of each
week—if successful, they regain 1D3 hit points, or 2D3
points for an Extreme success. The major wound condition
is removed if either an Extreme success is rolled or current hit
points are healed to half their maximum value or greater. Thus,
it may take a number of weeks for a major wound to heal.

Outnumbered

A character outnumbered by the opposition is at a disadvantage.
Once a character has responded to an attack (either fought back
or dodged) in the present combat round, all subsequent melee
attacks on them (in the same round) are made with one bonus
die. This does not apply to attacks made using firearms.

Firearms

You may shoot a firearm on your turn in the DEX order
to initiate an attack (usually, firearms cannot be used in
fighting back reactions). Make a percentile (1D100) roll and
compares the result with the Firearms skill.

Successful First Aid can heal 1 hit point, as well as rousing
a character from unconsciousness. If First Aid is used on
a dying character it, extends the character’s life so that the
Medicine skill can use used. The Medicine skill can heal
1D3 hit points, but takes at least one hour and appropriate
equipment and supplies. If Medicine is used on a dying
character, it allows a healing roll at the end of one week.

• Readied firearms act at DEX+50 for the purpose of
determining the DEX turn order.
• If firing 2 or 3 shots from a handgun in one round, apply
one penalty die to each shot.
• If at point-blank range (within one-fifth of DEX in feet),
the shooter gains one bonus die on the skill roll.

Example: Brian starts with 12 hit points. On Monday he gets in
a barroom brawl, taking damage from three separate slugs to his
jaw of 4, 2, and 4 points. This is a total of 10 damage, reducing
his hit points to 2. He has not taken a major wound (as no single
attack delivered significant damage) and recovers at the rate of
1 hit point per day. On Thursday, Brian (now at 5 hit points)
clumsily falls out of a window; suffering 7 hit points of damage.
This is a major wound (7 damage is more than half of Brian’s

The target of the shot cannot fight back (you can’t
dodge a bullet) but may instead “dive for cover” by rolling
against their Dodge skill. If the Dodge roll is successful, the
attacker’s roll(s) to hit are made with one penalty die (i.e.
make the Dodge roll before the Firearms roll). A character
that opts to dive for cover forfeits their next attack or action
(regardless of whether they were successful or not), or if they
have already used their attack this round, they forfeit their
attack in the following round.

WEAPON DAMAGE
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Unarmed attacks (human): 1D3 + damage bonus
Small knife: 1D4 + damage bonus
Machete: 1D8 + damage bonus
Small club: 1D6 + damage bonus
Baseball bat: 1D8 + damage bonus
Handgun: 1D10
Shotgun: 4D6 (at close range*, otherwise 2D6; does not
impale)
• Rifle: 2D6+4

HIT POINTS,
WOUNDS, AND HEALING

Points of damage are deducted from a character’s hit points.
Hit points cannot fall below zero, so do not record a negative
value. When a character’s hit points reach zero, they fall
unconscious and, in some situations, may die.
When a character takes damage of greater than or equal
to half their full hit points in a single blow, they have
received a “major wound”—they must make a CON roll or
fall unconscious. If a character with a major wound falls to
zero hit points they are close to death (dying). They must
make a successful CON roll at the end of the following
round and every round thereafter or die. Only successful
use of the First Aid skill can alleviate the dying condition,

*Close range: within DEX in feet (i.e. if DEX is 60, close
range is 60 feet).

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maximum 12 hit points). A friend administers First Aid and
rushes him to hospital. After seven days have passed, a successful
CON roll is made for Brian and he regains 2 hit points on a
1D3 die roll. At the end of the second week, Brian’s player rolls
an Extreme success on the CON roll and regains 4 hit points on
a 2D3 roll of the dice, and his current hit points now stand at
6. This erases his major wound marker (he has regained half his
maximum hit points), after which he heals at 1 hit point per day.

ABOUT THE READY-MADE INVESTIGATORS
The four ready-made investigators are designed to be used
with The Haunting. Give these to your players and get them
each to pick whichever one they prefer. Each player can decide
the name and gender of their investigator, and write these
details in the top left-hand box on their character’s sheet. The
four characters are a team, brought together to solve a case,
although it’s ok if you have less than four players—every
player takes on the role of one of these characters.

OTHER FORMS OF DAMAGE

Often the Keeper will be forced to judge the amount of
damage caused by some random event. Whatever the cause,
consider the likely injury and rate it against the left-hand
column on the Other Forms of Damage Table. Each injury
type is for one incident or one combat round (one round
of being punched by an attacker, one bullet, one round of
drowning, one round of being burned, etc.). The character
takes further damage on each successive round that they are
exposed to the source of the harm.

•
•
•
•

A weary private detective
An enthusiastic graduate student
An open-minded academic
An author with an interest in the occult

OTHER FORMS OF DAMAGE
Injury

Damage

Examples

Minor: a person could survive numerous
1D3
occurrences of this level of damage.

Punch / kick / head-butt / mild acid / breathing smoky atmosphere / a
thrown fist-size rock / falling (per 10 feet) onto soft ground.

Moderate: might cause a major wound;
1D6
it would take a few such attacks to kill.

Falling (per 10 feet) onto grass / club / strong acid / breathing water /
exposure to vacuum / small-caliber bullet / arrow / fire (burning torch).

Severe: likely to cause a major wound.
One or two occurrences would render a 1D10
person unconscious or dead.

.38 calibre bullet / falling (per 10 feet) on to concrete / axe / fire
(flamethrower, running through a burning room) / being 6 to 10 yards
from an exploding hand grenade or stick of dynamite / mild poison.

Deadly: the average person has a 50%
2D10
chance of dying.

Hit by a car at 30 mph / being 3 to 6 yards from an exploding hand
grenade or stick of dynamite / strong poison.

Terminal: outright death is likely.

4D10

Hit by a speeding car / being within 3 yards of an exploding hand
grenade or stick of dynamite/lethal poison.

Splat: outright death is almost certain.

8D10

Being involved in a high-speed head-on collision, being hit by a train.

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THE
HAUNTING
PREPARING FOR PLAY

This scenario is designed for new Keepers and players. Advice
for the Keeper is included within the text (Keeper’s Notes) on
how and when to use dice and rules, as well as guidance on how
to run the scenario. Once you have read through this scenario,
copy or print out the ready-made investigators and ask your
players to each choose one to play.
The boxed text within the scenario is meant to be read aloud
to the players—paraphrase these lines in your own words or
just read out what is written.
Player handouts are marked in the text and have been
collected at the end of the scenario to allow Keepers to copy
them for presentation to the players when directed.
The year is 1920 and the location is Boston, Massachusetts,
although this scenario could be transported to a modern setting
if desired.

Give each of your players one of the four ready-made
investigators (pages 34–41). If you have more than four players,
just duplicate the sheets as necessary. Each player can decide
their character’s name and gender. When ready, tell the players
the premise of the scenario.
You are going to be hired to investigate an old house in 1920s
Boston—rumor has it that it may be haunted!
The players are a team of professional and amateur detectives
who have volunteered for the task. Encourage the players to
introduce their characters and write a few notes about their
backgrounds in the My Story box, and discuss how they know
each other. Keep it all reasonably brisk and avoid getting
bogged down with unnecessary details.
Note down each investigator’s name, appearance (APP),
Credit Rating score, and any notable aspects of their backstory
for your reference during play.

THE KEEPER’S SECRET

The body of Walter Corbitt is buried in the basement of the
Corbitt house. The mind of Walter Corbitt still lives, aware of
events within the house. He haunts the place. Corbitt knows
Mythos magic that preserves his identity and enables him to
animate his body after death. He sometimes vampirically preys
upon residents of the house, driving away or slaying those who
learn his secret.
To solve the mystery posed to them, the investigators must
learn about Corbitt. While they do this, Corbitt will be aware
of the investigators and will try to mislead them and scare them
away. Failing that, he will try to murder them.

LOCATION 1:
INTRODUCTION
KEEPER’S NOTE: This introduction takes place with
the investigators meeting up with the landlord. Perhaps in
his home or in a café. The location isn’t overly important, but
take a moment to set the scene. Then read the following aloud,
roleplaying the landlord’s discussion with the players. .

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Handout 1

The clippings files are not open to the general public and the
investigators will have to Persuade Arty Wilmot (a Boston
Globe editor) of their case for access. Arty enjoys the little
power he has and will try to deny the investigators access;
play up his pomposity and encourage the players to strive to
gain access to the morgue.

A landlord, Mr. Knott, asks you to examine an old house
in central Boston, known as the Corbitt House. The former
tenants, the Macario family, were involved in a tragedy and
the owner wishes to understand the mysterious happenings at
the house and set matters straight. Mr. Knott has been unable
to rent the house out since the tragedy and hopes that you can
clear things up and restore its good name. He offers to pay for
your time and trouble, at a rate of $20 per day. The landlord
gives you the keys, the address, and $20 cash in advance.
Knowing your jobs, you will want to conduct some
research before you head to the house. You could check out old
newspaper articles at the offices of the Boston Globe, head
to the Central Library, or go to The Hall of Records. The
choice is yours.

Using Dice To...
Gain Access To The Clippings Files
KEEPER’S NOTE: Usually when encountering a
neutral non-player character you should roll versus the
investigator’s APP or Credit Rating; however in Arty’s case
the decision is preordained—he’s unhelpful.
First, establish a goal with the players, along the lines of
“gain access to the clippings files.”
Roleplay the interaction between Arty and the
investigators. Based on the way the roleplay goes, choose one
of the following options:

Pass Handout 1 (page 29) to the players in case they
wish to refer to it later. Give them time to absorb the
information, discuss matters, and decide on a course of
action. Some players will be keen to head straight to the
house, but you should suggest that they would be better off
conducting some research first.
Mr. Steven Knott recently inherited the property and
would like to make a profit on the place somehow, either by
renting it or selling it, but has been unable to do either due
to the terrible reputation of the place.
Proceed to Location 2, 3 or 4, depending where the
players decide to go next.

• If the investigator is trying to win Arty round with
friendliness, use the Charm skill.
• If the investigator is being aggressive towards Arty, use the
Intimidate skill.
• If the investigator is using rational arguments to persuade
Arty, use the Persuade skill.
• If the investigator is trying to con Arty, use the Fast Talk
skill.

KEEPER’S NOTE: It is up to you to describe the locations
as you wish. Use your imagination and try to evoke the feel
of the places; the smell and noise of the printing presses at the
Boston Globe, for example. There is no need to go in to detail
when it comes to moving between locations—just cut to the
investigators arriving at the a new location.

Ask the player doing most of the talking to roll percentage dice
(1D100) and compare the result with his or her investigator’s
Persuade, Fast Talk, Charm, or Intimidate skill, as appropriate.
If the roll is equal to or lower than the skill, the investigator has
succeeded in gaining access for the group.
KEEPER’S NOTE: Notice here how the difficulty level
for the players versus Arty is Regular; Arty’s profession
does not require a professional level (50%+) in Persuade,
Charm, Intimidate or Psychology. If it did, the difficulty
level would be Hard.

LOCATION 2:
THE BOSTON GLOBE

Pick up the roleplay again and incorporate the outcome of
the skill roll in to what Arty says:

A DAILY NEWSPAPER OF GOOD REPUTE
KEEPER’S NOTE: As the players make their initial
enquiries at the newspaper offices, roleplay the people they
could meet—the desk clerk, a journalist, or one of the editors.
Be sure to mention the “morgue” (the newspaper clippings
files) in the basement of the Boston Globe.

• If the investigators have won, have Arty back down in a
way that seems appropriate to you and allow them access
to the files.
• If the investigators failed, have Arty puff himself up and tell
the investigators to leave.

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Pushing The Roll?

If an investigator flirts with or befriends Ruth Blake, the
record keeper in the clippings file (don’t bother with dice
here, the information isn’t crucial), she remarks that the
Globe files go back no further than a fire in 1878. If the
Corbitt House is mentioned earlier than that, there is no
record of it here.

If the players fail the roll, ask if they want to persist in their
efforts to gain access to the clippings files. If they choose
to do so, they may attempt a Pushed roll by continuing to
pressure Arty in some way (they may change their approach
and use an alternate method at this point).
Depending on their course of action you should decide on
what will happen if they fail (a consequence); for example:

LOCATION 3:
THE CENTRAL LIBRARY

• If the investigators are using Intimidate, the consequence
might be that Arty calls their bluff, leading to an exchange
of blows.
• If the investigators are using Charm or Persuade, the
consequence might be that Arty takes offence and screams
at them to leave.

This worthy institution has several interesting items tucked
away. For each half-day spent in research at the library, ask
each player to make a Library Use roll (rolling equal to or
less than their skill on 1D100). If failed, there is no need to
push the roll; the players can simply keep trying again and
again, but each roll means they have spent half a day more
in research. If they spend more than a day researching, have
their employer, Mr. Knott, contact them to ask how things are
progressing, urging them to resolve their investigations—time
is money after all.
For each success, give out one of the following Handouts
(in order).

Whatever the consequence, ensure that it escalates beyond
Arty just asking them to leave—for example, have Arty call
on some strong-armed maintenance men for backup.

The Clippings Files

If the investigators gain access, describe the dusty shelves of
the clippings files morgue.
You are taken down some steps by Ruth Blake, the records
keeper, into a dusty basement filled with filing cabinets and
stacked high with old newspapers and other assorted junk.
The whole room smells musty and the boiler system in the
corner gives out a lot of heat.

Handout 3

In 1835, a prosperous merchant builds the house, but
immediately falls ill and sells it to a Mr. Walter Corbitt, esquire.

Handout 4

The pertinent clippings are filed by street address. Since
the players have already had to succeed in dice rolls to get
in to the morgue it would be churlish stop them getting
the one clue that is here, so it should be made obvious. Pass
Handout 2 (page 30) to a player.

In 1852, Walter Corbitt is sued by neighbours, who petition
to force him to leave the area “in consequence of his surious [sic]
habits and unauspicious demeanor.”

Handout 5

Evidently Corbitt wins the lawsuit. His obituary in 1866
states that he still lived in the same place. It also states that
a second lawsuit was being waged to prevent Corbitt from
being buried in his basement, as provided by his will.

Handout 2

Unpublished Story, Boston Globe 1918: A feature story,
which was never published. It states that in 1880, a family
of French immigrants moved into the house but fled after
a series of violent accidents left the parents dead and three
children crippled. The house long stood vacant.
In 1909, another family moved in and immediately fell
prey to illnesses. In 1914, the oldest brother went mad and
killed himself with a kitchen knife, and the heartbroken
family moved out. In 1918, a third family, the Macarios,
rented the house, but they left almost immediately under
mysterious circumstances.

Handout 6

No outcome to the second lawsuit is recorded.

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1 LOCATION 4:
2 HALL OF RECORDS
3
4
5 Handout 7
6
7
8
9
0

• Charm skill: A flutter of eyelids might gain access for a
charming investigator.
• Fast Talk skill: Perhaps this involves flashing a fake I.D.
This is a risky approach given the location.

Ask for a Library Use roll. If successful, pass Handout 7
to the players. Use the same guidelines as for the Central
Library.

If the roll is successful, pass Handout 8 to the player.
If the players fail their roll, ask if they wish to continue
their efforts. They need to justify a Pushed roll. If using
Credit Rating, Persuade, or Charm, they risk overstepping
the mark, leading to a consequence such as causing offence
and earning the antipathy of the police (perhaps receiving a
shakedown or threats).

Civil court records show that the executor of Walter Corbitt’s
will was Reverend Michael Thomas, pastor of the Chapel of
Contemplation and Church of Our Lord Granter of Secrets.
The register of churches (also available in the Hall of Records)
notes the closure of the Chapel of Contemplation in 1912.
If the players think to look up the Chapel of Contemplation
in criminal court records, they find references to actions
taken in 1912; however, the actual records are not present. If
the investigators have been courteous to the clerk, he points
out that serious crimes would be handled in the county,
commonwealth, or federal courts. A successful Law skill
roll can indicate the same thing. The records of city officers
participating in arrests or seizures are filed at the Central
Police Station.

Handout 8

The file concerns a secret raid on the Chapel of
Contemplation. The police raid was occasioned by affidavits
swearing that members of the church were responsible for
the disappearances of neighborhood children. During the
raid, three policemen and seventeen cult members were
killed by gunplay or fire. Autopsy reports are singularly
lacking detail and uninformative, as though the coroner had
not actually performed examinations.
Though 54 members of the church were arrested, all but
eight were released. The records hint of illegal intervention
in the proceedings by an important local official offering
stories of the battle—the biggest criminal action in the city’s
history—that never appeared in print.
Pastor Michael Thomas was arrested and sentenced to 40
years in prison on five counts of second-degree murder. He
escaped from prison in 1917 and fled the state.

LOCATION 5:
HIGHER COURTS;
CENTRAL POLICE STATION

Gaining access to these records will prove difficult, requiring
at least one player to make a successful skill roll. Players can
use one of the following:

LOCATION 6:
THE NEIGHBORHOOD

• Law skill: To establish that an investigator has an existing
contact within the courts who will grant access. If failed,
the player can ask to Push the Law skill roll to establish a
contact. You should make a concealed roll on behalf of the
player. Do not inform the players of the outcome of the
roll. Regardless of the dice roll, the investigator knows Kim
Debrun, a clerk in the Court offices. If the roll is successful,
Kim is warm and friendly and will allow the investigators
access to the file (Handout 8). If the roll is a failure, Kim is
unscrupulous and will demand a bribe before reneging on
the deal and claiming not to know the investigators.
• Credit Rating: If the player makes a successful roll and has
a Credit Rating score of 75 or more, they may impress a
clerk sufficiently to gain access.
• Persuade skill: The player should present a good case for
why access should be granted.

Most of the people who lived in the area before the Great
War have moved away or died. New offices and businesses
have replaced the nineteenth-century homes, and the house
in question (the “Corbitt House”) with its overgrown front
yard is now the only private residence on the block. If the
investigators ask around they find a Mr. Dooley, a vendor of
cigars and newspapers, who knows the area.

Using Dice To...
Gauge Mr. Dooley’s Reaction to the Investigators

Establish Mr. Dooley’s reaction to investigators who
speak to him by rolling 1D100 and comparing it with the
investigator’s APP or Credit Rating. A dice roll that is equal
to or lower than one of these yields a positive reaction from
Mr. Dooley. Otherwise Dooley is less than forthcoming to

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WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU

that particular investigator. A different investigator may try
a Charm, Fast Talk, Persuade, or Intimidate roll to get
Dooley to talk.

The Keeper can answer more questions, but Gabriela is
unable to give specific information.
The Keeper should end the interview quickly, since the
investigator’s questions will greatly upset her.
The two young Macario boys are being cared for by relatives
in Baltimore. The investigators can visit, but they know
nothing except that they miss their parents and that in their
former home they often had nightmares of a strange man with
burning eyes.

Dooley Talks

If the players manage to get Dooley talking and ask about
the Chapel of Contemplation, he is able to point out where
it stood a few blocks distant. If asked about the house, he will
refer to it as “the Corbitt House.”
Encourage the players to roleplay and engage Mr. Dooley
in conversation. Draw upon the following points and
incorporate them in to the conversation:

LOCATION 8:
THE CHAPEL OF
CONTEMPLATION

• The Macario family moved into the house a couple of years ago.
• A year after moving in, the father had a serious accident and
shortly thereafter went violently mad.
• They say he babbled about a haunting form with burning
eyes.
• About a month back, the old lady, Mrs. Macario, also went
mad.
• Mrs. Macario is with her husband over in Roxbury
Sanitarium, a few miles from Boston.
• The kids were taken in by relatives down in Baltimore.

Read the following to the players:

What is left of the old church stands at the end of a crooked,
dingy street. The ruins are so weathered and overgrown
with greenery that the grey stone rubble seems more like
natural stone than former walls and foundation. You pass a
slumping wall bearing white-painted symbols, apparently
freshly swabbed—three Y’s arranged in a triangle so that
the top elements of each Y touch the other two Y’s. In the
center, so created, is painted a staring eye.

KEEPER’S NOTE: Portray Dooley as you wish and
improvise his dialogue freely—not everything spoken
by a non-player character has to be true and he may well
exaggerate. He is a salesman and used to engaging in banter
and gossip.

Handout 9 is an image of this symbol. Show it to the players.

LOCATION 7:
ROXBURY SANITARIUM

If the players decide to visit the sanitarium, they will find
Vittorio Macario is quite mad. He is clasping a bible to his
chest. At some point he may open the bible at a random
place (you decide where) and point to a passage (apparently
quoting), “By his own weapon is the devil worsted!” While
not a genuine quotation from the bible, this is a useful clue.
If remembered later on in the scenario, an attentive player
might realize that Corbitt may be killed with his own dagger.
Don’t overplay it—leave it up to the players to take note of
the clue or not. Nothing more can be gleaned from Vittorio.
Gabriela Macario is conscious and approachable. She can
explain that an evil presence lives in the house. At night she
would sometimes wake to find “it” leaning over her. When it
was angry, the thing might cause dishes or other objects to
fly around the room. Mostly, it hated her husband, Vittorio,
and concentrated its anger on him.

While the investigators are near the signs, subtly describe
to the players how they begin to feel tingles in their
foreheads, like headaches, but not quite. When they leave,
the irritation stops.
Encourage the players to explore the ruins; try to describe
the scene and ask what they are doing. Prowling the chapel,
they find mostly blocks of granite, old half-burned timbers,
and ancient rubbish. At some point they should become
aware that the earth they stand on is covering weakened
floorboards. Call for Luck rolls: those that fail their Luck

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WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0

rolls must attempt a Jump roll to leap to safety or find
themselves falling as the floor gives way. The fall is ten feet
into the basement.

The tome is a copy of the Liber Ivonis. A cursory look at the
book will show that it is in Latin and deals with matters of an
occult nature. An initial reading of this book (requiring either
a Read Latin skill of 50% or more, or a successful Read Latin
roll) will take a minimum of three hours. If an investigator
takes the time to do this then have that investigator gain 2%
Cthulhu Mythos knowledge (and reduce Maximum Sanity
by the same amount, from 99 to 97).

• If the Jump is failed, ask the players if there’s anything they
can do to justify Pushing the Jump roll—perhaps they make
a last minute grab for the edge.
Each falling investigator loses 1D6 hit points. Increase
the consequence if a player fails a Pushed roll, though
perhaps rather than simply increasing the damage have that
investigator lose or break a personal possession.

LOCATION 9:
THE OLD CORBITT PLACE

KEEPER’S NOTE: This fall may be the first incident of
physical damage in the game. Tell the players to subtract the
damage from their current hit points. Refer to Hit Points,
Wounds, and Healing (page 13) as to whether a Major
wound has occurred and for rules on treatment, recovery,
and healing.

Read the following aloud to the players:

The brick building is overshadowed by taller, newer office
buildings on either side. The house fronts the street. In the
rear are overgrown plantings and a half-collapsed arbor.
Access to the rear exists on either side of the residence.

If an investigator falls, read the following aloud:

Studying the house, the observer is impressed by the way
the house seems to withdraw into the shadows cast by the
flanking buildings, and how the blank curtained windows
hide all understanding of what lies within.

You’ve fallen in to a part of the basement that was sealed off
from the rest, originally reached by separate stairs now buried
under tons of rubble. Within this room, next to a cabinet, are
two skeletons dressed in tattered silk robes; perhaps they hid
from the police and then perished in the fire.

The front door is secured with a single lock. Four additional
bolts seem to have been added within the last year or two.
If the investigators think to test the ground floor windows,
they find them all nailed shut from the inside.
Study the plan provided on the next page. Sketch out each
floor on a sheet of paper as the investigators explore it, or use
the “investigator” version of the plan provided on page @@.

If the players search the cabinet it is found to contain
moldering church records. If they don’t think to look under
the cabinet, ask for a Spot Hidden roll—only point out the
journal and tome if player succeeds in the skill roll. Allow
the players to Push the Spot Hidden roll if they volunteer to
conduct a thorough, more time-consuming search. If
they fail the pushed Spot Hidden roll, they might step
on a nail or ruin their clothing.
With a successful Spot Hidden roll allow a player
to find a journal (of cult activities) and a tome. Read
the following aloud:
The musty old journal falls to pieces as you turn the
pages, but the name Walter Corbitt catches your eye.
An entry records that Walter Corbitt was buried in
the basement of his house, “In accordance with his
wishes and with the wishes of that one who waits
in the dark”.
Alongside the journal is an enormous volume,
handwritten in Latin, but so rotten and worm-eaten
that whole sections no longer can be understood.”

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WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU
Corbitt House Map (Keeper Version)

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WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU

1 GROUND FLOOR
2 INTERIOR
3 ROOM 1, A Storage Room
4
5
6
7
8
9
0

ROOM 4, The Living Room
This room contains conventional furnishings: a radio, couch,
stuffed chairs, and shelves laden with gewgaws. You cannot
help but notice the unusual quantities of crosses, images of
the Virgin and other Catholic artifacts.

The room is filled with boxes and junk, such as rusted water
tanks and old bicycles. At the right end of the room is a
cupboard, boarded shut.

KEEPER’S NOTE: Try to build a creepy atmosphere
as the players explore the house. Remember Corbitt haunts
the place and at any time a noise might be heard upstairs
(Bedroom 3).

If the cupboard is wrenched open, three bound books are
found within—the diaries of a certain W. Corbitt, a former
inhabitant of the house, as the address on the flyleaf of
volume one testifies.
The Corbitt Diaries are in English, though sometimes
strangely phrased. The three volumes take a total of two days
to read, adding +4 to Cthulhu Mythos skill and losing 1D4
Sanity points.
The diaries describe Corbitt’s various occult experiments,
including the summoning of some unearthly spirit and other
magic, and clearly describe a spell entitled “Call Forth the
Opener of Ways” (an alternative title for the spell Summon
/ Bind Dimensional Shambler). No other spells exist in the
diaries. The spell takes 2D6 weeks to learn after the diaries
have been read.

ROOM 5, The Dining Room
This is the dining room, complete with a long mahogany
table, a built-in sideboard, and seven chairs. Three places are
set and unused. Scraps of rice soup rot in a tureen.

ROOM 6, Kitchen

A conventional kitchen, with icebox, wood-fed stove and
oven, plus a meager larder. Some of the foodstuffs may be
edible—there is canned soup and meat, rice kernels, several
pastas, and a few bottles of homemade wine. The produce
which has not spoiled has been eaten by rats, judging by the
spoor left behind.

KEEPER’S NOTE: This spell is not intended for use in
this scenario and is included as an added feature. It is unlikely
that this investigation will continue long enough for this spell
to be of use—not that summoning a dimensional shambler is
likely to be beneficial in any case! Details of the spell can be
found in the full Call of Cthulhu: Keeper Rulebook.

UPPER FLOOR
ROOM 1, Main Bedroom
An ordinary bedroom, with a double bed, bookshelf and
window view. Apparently the room of Vittorio and
Gabriela. More crosses and many candles are here, and a
rosary and breviary rest on a table beside the bed.

ROOM 2, A Second Storage Room
This room contains old furniture that might be broken up to
burn in a wood stove.

ROOM 2, Children’s Bedroom

ROOM 3, The Mud Room

This room contains two small beds, toys, and dressers.
Pictures of aircraft and cowboys mark this as the children’s
bedroom.

Here hang overcoats, galoshes, hats, and umbrellas. Several
bags of coal for the living room’s freestanding stove are here.
You notice that the side door is secured with three bolts and
two locks.

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WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU

ROOM 3, Spare Bedroom

KEEPER’S NOTE: It is important to remain impartial
as Keeper, so when inflicting a dangerous event on the
investigators it is best to pick one of them at random. To do
this, choose the investigator with the lowest Luck score or
simply roll randomly. When selecting a player to be attacked
by the bed, be clear on who is standing next to the window,
and select among them at random.

This room contains a bed frame, bare bedsprings, and a
dresser. Though unused, this room looks like the other two
bedrooms.
This was once the room of old Corbitt himself. He stayed
here so long that his psychic influence lingers on and he is able
to will certain deeds to happen in this room. Whenever he
does, a horrible smell manifests—a sure sign of the Mythos!

If the investigator is struck by the bed, he or she is thrown
through the window. The broken glass and fall costs the
victim 1D6 + 2 hit points.
Anyone who witnesses the bed move of its own accord
should make a Sanity check (SAN 1/1D4). Those who pass
should lose one Sanity point, and those who fail should roll
1D4 to determine how many Sanity points they lose.

KEEPER’S NOTE: Though Corbitt lays low at first, if
the investigators seem determined to learn the secrets of the
house then Corbitt tries to convince them that this room is
the centre of the psychic disturbance. To this end, he makes
pools of blood appear and tries to frighten the investigators
off with thumping sounds on the doors and walls. If an
investigator is not convinced by Corbitt’s haunting routine,
Corbitt tries to lure him or her into this room to be killed (see
Bed Attack), attracting the investigator to the window by
making it rattle.

KEEPER’S NOTE: The bed attack has the potential to
deliver a major wound to an investigator. In the unlikely
event of investigator death, have Mr. Knott (the landlord)
brought in for use by that player.

ROOM 4, Bathroom

Pick any of the following events and have them happen as
and when you wish:

A bathroom containing a sink, bathtub, and a water closet with
an overhead tank. Towels and other possessions are still here,
typical to a family of four. A brackish pool of water has collected
in the bathtub, fed by a dripping faucet which cannot quite be
closed off.

• Corbitt can cause loud thumping noises to emanate from
this room. These noises can be heard from anywhere in
the house.
• Corbitt can form a pool of blood on the floor or to drip
down from the ceiling or walls.
• Corbitt can make a rattling, scratching sound on the
windowpane or door.
• Corbitt can impel the bed at good
speed, fast enough to strike a strong
blow against anything in the room
(see below).

Bed Attack

Corbitt will lure the investigators to
inspect the window in the spare bedroom,
then make the bed fly across the room
at high speed toward an unfortunate
investigator. Ask the player of the
investigator inspecting the window to
make a Spot Hidden roll: if successful
the player may attempt a Dodge roll to
avoid being hit by the bed.

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WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU

1 THE BASEMENT
2 ROOM 1: Storage
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0

With a successful Spot Hidden roll, the investigator finds
Corbitt’s knife (see The Floating Knife) and may pick it up.
Once picked up, the knife will try to wrest itself free from the
investigator’s grasp and attack the investigator (see Having
Hold of the Knife).
If the player fails the Pushed Spot Hidden roll, the
unaware investigator catches a hand on the possessed knife
and it slashes him or her for 1D4+2 hit points of damage.

The door to the basement has a lock and three bolts, able to
be opened from the upstairs side only. Below is the main
basement storage room. The stairs are in poor repair and the
electric light bulb does not work. The walls of the basement
are lined with closely fitted boards.

KEEPER’S NOTE: Notice how you can inflict automatic
damage as the result of a failed Pushed roll. There’s no need
for an attack roll in this instance—the harm was the
consequence of failing a Pushed roll.

Corbitt has turned off the electricity to the basement at the
fuse box upstairs in the kitchen—if the investigators turn it
back on, Corbitt can switch it off again when it best suits him.
The stairs are perilous; all the more so because Corbitt
can make them move. One at a time, ask each investigator
descending the stairs to make a DEX or Climb roll. Treat
this as a Combined roll: the players should roll dice once and
compare the result with their DEX and Climb skills. Rolling
equal to or below one of these values counts as a success.
Anyone failing the DEX / Climb roll should be told
that the stairs are too dangerous and that to go further risks
injury. They now have a choice: remain upstairs or Push the
roll and risk falling. Failing the Pushed roll will result in the
loss of 1D6 hit points as the investigator slips and crashes to
the basement floor.

The walls are lined with wooden boards, a cursory inspection
of which will reveal hollow areas (rooms 2 and 3).

The Floating Knife

An old knife with an ornate hilt, whose blade is coated with
oddly thick rust. This is Corbitt’s magic dagger and the rust
is the dried blood of victims. If the players find it, Corbitt
will use it to attack. If they do not find it, he will attack
them with it if they begin tearing down the wooden wall that
conceals his body.
Attacking With the Knife
The knife floats into the air and stabs at an investigator. This
costs Corbitt 1 Magic point per combat round. The knife can
make one attack per round.

KEEPER’S NOTE: In a situation such as this, one
investigator (who successfully negotiates the stairs) might
volunteer to help another. You need to be a little creative
with the rules in such a situation. As one investigator has
already been successful, grant the second player a bonus die,
but this time if the roll is failed then both fall and take
damage. In this way the player who is pushing the roll has
an increased chance of success, but both players are sharing
the risk. This creates a moment of tension and drama, exactly
as dice rolls should do.

• Roll 1D100 and compare the result with Corbitt’s POW.
• Ask the player to roll 1D100 and compare the result with the
investigator’s Dodge roll.
• Compare Levels of Success and decide whether the
investigator is hit:
• If Corbitt rolls a Fail (91 or over), the investigator has
avoided being hit with the knife.
• If Corbitt achieves a Regular success (46 to 90) and the
investigator achieves a Fail, inflict 1D4+2 damage.
• If Corbitt achieves a Hard success (19 to 45) and the
investigator achieves a Fail or Regular success, inflict 1D4+2
damage.
• If Corbitt achieves an Extreme success (18 or below) and
the investigator achieves a Fail, Regular, or Hard success,
the attack has impaled, driving deep into the investigator’s
vitals and inflicting 6+1D4+2 damage.
• If the investigator picks up a garbage can lid for protection,
grant a bonus die on the Dodge roll.

Tell the players that in this smallish room are scattered
tools, pipe, a trash can lid, lumber, nails, screws, and so
forth. If an investigator searches through the mess, ask the
player to make a Spot Hidden roll. Treat this as an Obscure
Clue (don’t give the clue out if the player fails the roll). The
player might Push the roll by taking time to conduct a more
thorough search. You can foreshadow the consequence of
failure by pointing out the many sharp things among the
mess and the risk of injury.

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WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU

• If the investigator is unaware of the attack, ask the player to
make a Spot Hidden roll to notice the dagger floating into the
air. If the investigator fails to notice the dagger, award a bonus
die to the attack roll and do not allow a Dodge roll. The attack
inflicts 1D4+2 damage, or 6+1D4+2 if an Extreme success is
rolled, and only misses if a fumble (100) is rolled.
• Seeing the knife attack in this manner requires a Sanity check
(SAN 1/1D4). If successful, the investigator loses 1 Sanity point.
If unsuccessful, lose 1D4 Sanity points.
KEEPER’S NOTE: When the knife floats in to the air you
should begin a combat round. Corbitt’s DEX is low, so the
investigators will probably get to act first. If they decide to flee,
the knife will attack anyone left in the basement or the last person
to get to the stairs (it moves quite fast). Whether it pursues people
through the house is up to you.

Having Hold of the Knife

If an investigator has hold of the knife, Corbitt may attempt
to wrench it away on future rounds: each combat round
costs Corbitt another Magic point. To keep hold of the
knife the player must succeed in an opposed roll, using the
investigator’s STR versus Corbitt’s POW.

Room 2:
An Empty Storage Bin

A storage bin, once intended for coal. The door to the outside
coal chute has been nailed firmly shut.

ROOM 3: Corbitt’s Hidden Lair

Using a Fighting Maneuver to Grab the Knife
The investigators can try to grab the knife out of the air using
the Fighting Maneuver rules (see Fighting Maneuvers, page
13). The player’s goal is to grab the knife. The players use their
investigator’s Fighting (Brawl) skill in an opposed roll against
Corbitt’s POW.
If the player scores a higher level of success than Corbitt then
the knife has been grabbed. In the case of a draw, the side whose
turn it is wins the roll (if it was Corbitt’s action, the knife would
hit on a draw; if it was the investigator’s action they would grab
the knife on a draw). Usually a player would compare his or
her investigator’s Build with that of the opponent to resolve
a fighting maneuver, but since no one is actually holding the
dagger this can be ignored. If the players are creative and use a
thick coat to help them in catching the knife, you
may award a bonus die.
KEEPER’S NOTE: All characters present in
the basement get to initiate one action each combat
round, and this includes Corbitt, using his floating
knife. The one Magic point Corbitt spends to
activate the knife covers all actions made with it
during that round.

27

If the boards in the cellar are broken or removed, a crawl
space is revealed between two wooden walls. Foul odors
emanate from the rats that nest here.
A pack of rats live in the wall. If the investigators do not
give the rats room to escape, they attack whoever tries to
explore this space. The rats will use their Overwhelm attack
against one investigator. Once one rat has been killed, those
remaining will flee.

Rat Pack

Individual rats are not worthy opponents; however, an
infestation of rats can be daunting. Assume ten rats per pack.
A successful attack by an investigator kills one or two rats
and usually chases away the rest of that pack.
Rat packs exist only for the purposes of gaming.

WELCOME TO CALL OF CTHULHU

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0

RAT PACK

STR 35
CON 55 SIZ 35
HP: 9
Average Damage Bonus: -1
Average Build: -1
Move: 9

POW 50

OPTION: Corbitt Casts the Dominate Spell

DEX 70

At any time, whether he has moved or not, Corbitt may cast
his Dominate spell (see Corbitt’s Spells). He does not need
to move at all to cast the spell. The casting time for the spell
is instantaneous. Add 50 to Corbitt’s DEX for determining
his turn in the round if he is casting this spell. Casting the
spell in combat requires him to use his action for the round.
He may choose to cast it as the investigators are breaking
through the wall.

Combat
Attacks per round: 1.
Fighting attacks: Rats attack with teeth and claws.

ROOM 4:
CORBITT’S HIDING PLACE

Overwhelm (fighting maneuver): As a pack they may assault
and overwhelm an individual using the Fighting maneuver
rules, because of their numbers they gain one bonus die on
the attack. Such an attack would involve swarming over the
target, biting, and scratching as they do so.

Lying motionless and seemingly dead on a pallet in the
centre of the room is a drawn, wooden-looking, wizened
figure of some six-feet. Skinny and naked, with ghastly
wide-flaring, saucer-like eyes and a nose like a knife blade.
Some sort of chain rests around his neck. He has lost all hair
and his shrunken gums make his teeth look very long. From
him comes a sharp, sweet, churning scent, like rotten corn.
The floor is earthen and there is a table in the southwest
corner with some curled papers on it.

Fighting 40% (Hard 20/Extreme 8), damage 1D3
Overwhelm (fighting maneuver) damage 2D6
Dodge
42% (Hard 21/Extreme 8)
Carved into the inner wall of the crawl space are the words
“Chapel of Contemplation” in irregular, scratchy letters (treat
this as an Obvious clue, do not ask for a Spot Hidden roll—
not finding it will not add anything to the game).
If the investigators break through this wall, they find
themselves in Room 4.

The papers on the table crumble to dust if touched. What the
investigators can see upon the papers looks like a horoscope.
If they retrieve or photograph this material, the Keeper
should disclose its true nature in some later adventure—
whatever this may be is up to the Keeper to determine and
is placed here as a scenario seed for Keepers to
use in future adventures with the same group of
investigators.

Corbitt Attacks

By spending 2 Magic points, Corbitt can move
his body for five combat rounds. Given the cost,
he is reluctant to move at all unless threatened.
SANITY ROLLS: When he rises from his pallet,
ask all players who have an investigator present to
make a Sanity roll (1/1D8). Those who fail the
roll make one involuntary action of the Keeper’s
choice, perhaps dropping their gun or screaming.
If an investigator loses 5 or more Sanity points,
the player should make an INT roll. If the INT
roll is passed, the investigator has understood the
full implications of the situation and is driven
temporarily insane (see Temporary Insanity as
a Result of Meeting Corbitt). If the INT roll is
failed, the character is shaken but remains sane.

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USING DICE TO RESOLVE COMBAT: A combat
round will begin when Corbitt first moves. Draw up a list
of the investigators and Corbitt in DEX order, highest first.

BOUTS OF MADNESS

• If a character has a gun drawn already, add 50 to the
investigator’s DEX on the list. If an investigator draws a
gun, it will be ready to use on the character’s regular DEX
this round.
• Start with the first name on the list. Given Corbitt’s DEX
of 35, it is safe to assume that an investigator will go first,
unless Corbitt is casting his Dominate spell, in which case
he acts on his DEX + 50 (during rounds in which he does
not cast the spell you should continue to use his DEX 35).
Ask what the player is doing.
• If an investigator is attacking Corbitt using the Fighting
skill, Corbitt fights back using his Fighting skill. Corbitt
will also fight back against subsequent attacks in the round
using his Fighting skill.
• If an investigator is attacking Corbitt using the Firearms
skill, simply roll to hit. Corbitt will not Dive for Cover. If
close enough, shots are made at point-blank range, granting
a bonus die to the attack.
• The second investigator to attack Corbitt should get a bonus
die for outnumbering the target (see Outnumbered, page 13).

(CHOOSE OR ROLL 1D10)

1.	AMNESIA: The investigator has no memory of events that
have taken place since they were last in a place of safety. It seems
to them that one moment they were eating breakfast and the
next they are facing a monster. This lasts for 1D10 rounds.
2.	PSYCHOSOMATIC DISABILITY: The investigator
suffers psychosomatic blindness, deafness, or loss of the use
of a limb or limbs for 1D10 rounds.
3.	VIOLENCE: A red mist of rage descends on the afflicted
investigator and he or she explodes in a spree of uncontrolled
violence and destruction directed at their surroundings, allies
and foes alike, for 1D10 rounds.
4.	PARANOIA: The investigator suffers severe paranoia for
1D10 rounds. Everyone is out to get them! No one can
be trusted! They are being spied on; someone has betrayed
them; what they are seeing is a trick.
5.	SIGNIFICANT PERSON: Review the investigator’s
background entry for Significant People. The investigator
mistakes another person in the scene for their Significant
Person. Consider the nature of the relationship; the
investigator acts upon it. This lasts 1D10 rounds.
6.	FAINT: The investigator faints, recovering after 1D10
rounds.
7.	FLEE IN PANIC: The investigator is compelled to get as
far away as possible by whatever means are available, even
if it means taking the only vehicle and leaving everyone else
behind. They travel for 1D10 rounds.
8.	PHYSICAL HYSTERICS OR EMOTIONAL
OUTBURST: The investigator is incapacitated laughing,
crying, screaming, etc. for 1D10 rounds.
9.	PHOBIA: Investigator gains a new phobia, such as
Claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces), Demonophobia
(fear of spirits or demons), or Katsaridaphobia (fear
of cockroaches). Even if the source of the phobia is not
present, the investigator imagines it is there for the next
1D10 rounds.
10. MANIA: The investigator gains a new mania, such
as Ablutomania (compulsion for washing oneself ),
Pseudomania (irrational compulsion for lying), or
Helminthomania (an excessive liking for worms). The
investigator seeks to indulge in this new mania for the
next 1D10 rounds.

Temporary Insanity
as a Result of Meeting Corbitt

Bout of Madness: If an investigator goes temporarily insane
roll 1D10 and refer to the Bouts of Madness table. If the
investigator is in the presence of other investigators, play
out the result round by round. If the investigator is alone
you may use the result to tell how the investigator is found
sometime later in a bad way, perhaps locked in a cupboard or
drunk in a gutter.
Backstory: Take the investigator sheet and add a suitable
entry based upon the nature of the investigator’s bout of
madness.
Delusions: The investigator will remain insane for 1D10
hours or until leaving the Corbitt House and having a good
night’s rest. Until then, the investigator will be prone to
delusions; however, given that the only event that has the
potential to cause insanity in this scenario is likely to occur in
the final scene, the scope for using delusions is limited. Here
are some suggestions:
• If the deluded investigator flees the cellar, have him or her
find a photo in the house that appears to be evidence that
Corbitt is his or her ancestor; it shows Corbitt and the
investigator’s grandfather together and names them as

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Extension

brothers (though in actuality is nothing more than a scrap
of old newspaper).
• If the deluded investigator stays in the cellar, pass the player
a note to the effect that another investigator’s face and voice
have somehow changed and that he or she is mumbling
something in Latin (this is of course only a delusion).

Keepers will have noticed the freshly painted sign on the rubble
at the Chapel, as well as the evidence of the cover-up following
the raid in 1912. Connections to what may be a great conspiracy
are available and might be returned to at some later time.
Also, consider the strange, crumbling paper that looked
like a horoscope—is this connected to the conspiracy or
something altogether different?
Both of these clues could lead the way into further
adventures of your own devising for this group of
investigators.

Reality Checks: If the player questions a delusion, suggest
to the player that a Reality Check roll might be made if the
investigator wishes to discern the truth. If the player wishes
to make a reality check, ask for a Sanity roll:

Walter Corbitt, Undead Fiend

• If successful, drop the delusions and don’t present that player
with any more.
• If failed, have that investigator lose 1 Sanity point and
experience another Bout of Madness, and escalate the
delusions.

STR 90
CON 115 SIZ 55
INT 80
POW 90 DEX 35
APP 05
EDU 80
SAN: 0 (ignore Sanity costs for spells)
HP: 16
Damage bonus: +1D4
Build: 1
Move: 8
Magic points: 18 (if spent, recover 1 per hour)

Given that the temporary insanity is caused by a
manifestation of the Cthulhu Mythos, 5% should be added
to the investigator’s Cthulhu Mythos skill.

Roleplaying hooks:
• Corbitt is full of malice and will seek to divide investigators
and turn them against one another.
• Corbitt seeks excitement and perverse amusement at the
investigators’ expense.
• He will seek to acquire any sources of Mythos knowledge
that are bought in to the house (such as the Liber Ivonis).

CONCLUSION

If the investigators have solved the mystery and
overthrown Corbitt, Mr. Knott the landlord pays them
promptly and happily.
If they fail to dispose of Corbitt and simply report to Mr.
Knott that nothing was wrong, he spends a night in the house
to make sure and is stabbed to death in the basement by
Corbitt’s magic dagger. The investigators will then be sought
by the police and must then seek to prove their innocence.
Of course things may not go so well for the investigators.
Both the knife and Corbitt are dangerous and, depending
how the dice roll, the players may find their investigation
ends in death or madness.
One possible ending would be to describe a brief epilogue
for each player: dead investigators are perhaps reanimated
by Corbitt’s magic, to repair the basement walls before their
bodies crumble to dust. Insane investigators flee screaming
into the night, never to return.
If the investigators are victorious then you may wish to
ignore the ongoing effects of Corbitt’s Claw attacks.

KEEPER’S NOTE: Keep careful track of Corbitt’s Magic
points. Be sure to remember that he recovers at the rate of 1
point per hour. Corbitt casts Flesh Ward as soon as anyone
enters the house. If intruders head straight to his body, they
may encounter Corbitt before he has regained those two
points.
Combat
Attacks per round: 1
Fighting attacks: When animated, Corbitt is able to make
all regular attacks (kick, punch, etc.). Being wounded by
Corbitt’s clawed fingernails risks serious disease; if he lands
a successful attack upon an investigator, a Luck roll should
be made. If it is failed, the investigator has been raked by
Corbitt’s claws and a day later the victim becomes delirious
and must make a CON roll:

Rewards

If Corbitt is conquered and destroyed, each participating
investigator gains 1D6 Sanity points.
The investigators can claim the worm-eaten book from
the Chapel for their own.
Finally, the landlord gladly pays their fee plus a bonus of $30.

• Failure: Delirium lasts 1D10 days; lose 1D10 CON.
• Success: Delirium lasts 1D6 days; no further CON loss.
• Repeat the procedure until the investigator recovers or dies.
CON lost does not regenerate.

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Corbitt’s Spells

Weapon: Floating magical dagger. See The Floating Knife (see
page 23). Spending a Magic point to cause the dagger to attack
for 1 round counts as Corbitt’s combat action for the round.
Fighting
Dodge

DOMINATE (Corbitt’s variant): Costs Corbitt 1 Magic
point and takes one round to cast.
With his version of the Dominate spell, Corbitt can
mentally cloud the mind of one investigator at a time, as long as
the target is physically in the Corbitt house. The player should
make an opposed POW roll versus Corbitt’s POW of 90.
If Corbitt succeeds, the target is in a daze for 1D6+1
combat rounds. While in this dazed state, the victim is
subject to telepathic commands from Corbitt. These may
take the form of subtle and creepy hallucinations or direct
commands at the Keeper’s discretion. He or she will not
commit suicidal acts, though homicidal, idiotic, or reckless
acts (such as trying to swallow a butcher’s knife) might be
attempted. Waking, the victim will not recall what happened.

50% (Hard 25%/Extreme10%), damage 1D3 +
damage bonus(1D4) + possible infection (see above).
17% (Hard 8%/Extreme 3%).

Skills
Cthulhu Mythos 17%, Intimidate 64%, Listen 60%, Sleight
of hand 30%, Stealth 72%.
KEEPER’S NOTE: Only a few skills are listed for
Corbitt—those that might come into play. You may
improvise others if required.
Armor: Each point of armor reduces the damage received by
1 point. Corbitt has cast Flesh Ward already. Roll 2D6 for
his armor. Reduce his armor by one point for each point of
damage he suffers.
Spells: Dominate (variant, see below), Flesh Ward,
Summon/Bind Dimensional Shambler.
Magical Artifact: Floating dagger.
Sanity Loss: 1/1D8 Sanity points to see him move.

FLESH WARD: Corbitt will already have cast this spell
before the investigators get to him, to provide himself with
armor (see Armor above).
• Cost: variable magic points
• Casting Time: 5 rounds
Grants protection against physical attack. Each magic point
spent gives the caster or the chosen target 1D6 points of
armor against non-magical attacks. This protection wears off
as it blocks damage. For example, if a character has 12 points
of Flesh Ward as armor and suffers 8 points of damage, the
character suffers no damage but the Flesh Ward is reduced to 4
points. The spell lasts 24 hours or until the protection is used up.
Once cast, the spell may not be reinforced with further magic
points, nor recast until the old spell’s protection has been used up.

ABOUT W. CORBITT, ESQ

He might be silent at first, but at some point during the
confrontation with the investigators it will be more
convincing to have him growl, screech, cackle, or mock. He
does not breathe at all.
Corbitt is not truly a vampire, nor any recognizable monster—
he is a sorcerer in the process of transforming himself into
something entirely inhuman.
Sunlight causes him pain and is too bright for him to see
comfortably. It might kill him, but whether it does so is for
the Keeper to determine. Although he drinks blood for food,
he could also eat carrots—drinking blood is just more fun.
His Flesh Ward spell operates as described below, but
characterise its effect like this: bullets and blows only
chip off pieces of his body, making him look even more
horrific than he already does. His dried, iron-hard flesh is
invulnerable so long as the spell holds. If damage exceeds
the armor, his hit points reduce normally. He never heals
and cannot be knocked unconscious. Reaching zero hit
points, Corbitt crumbles into dust and never returns.
Corbitt controls the floating dagger, but if the
investigators manage to wrest control of it and successfully
stab Corbitt with it, he will quickly turn to ashes and dust,
regardless of any spells.

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Handout 5

Handout 1

Evidently Corbitt wins the lawsuit. His obituary in 1866
states that he still lived in the same place. It also states that
a second lawsuit was being waged to prevent Corbitt from
being buried in his basement, as provided by his will.

A landlord, Mr. Knott, asks you to examine an old house
in central Boston, known as the Corbitt House. The former
tenants, the Macario family, were involved in a tragedy and
the owner wishes to understand the mysterious happenings at
the house and set matters straight. Mr. Knott has been unable
to rent the house out since the tragedy and hopes that you can
clear things up and restore its good name. He offers to pay for
your time and trouble, at a rate of $20 per day. The landlord
gives you the keys, the address, and $20 cash in advance.

Handout 7

Civil court records show that the executor of Walter
Corbitt’s will was Reverend Michael Thomas, pastor
of the Chapel of Contemplation & Church of Our Lord
Granter of Secrets. The register of churches (also available
in the Hall or Records), notes the closure of the Chapel of
Contemplation in 1912.

Knowing your jobs, you will want to conduct some
research before you head to the house. You could check out
old newspaper articles at the offices of the Boston Globe,
head to the Central Library, or go to The Hall of Records.
The choice is yours.

Handout 8

The file concerns a secret raid on the Chapel of
Contemplation. The police raid was occasioned by affidavits
swearing that members of the church were responsible for
the disappearances of neighborhood children. During the
raid, three policemen and seventeen cult members were
killed by gunplay or fire. Autopsy reports are singularly
lacking detail and uninformative, as though the coroner
had not actually performed examinations.

Handout 2

Unpublished story, Boston Globe 1918.
1918 feature story, which was never published. It states that
in 1880, a family of French immigrants moved into the house
but fled after a series of violent accidents left the parents dead
and three children crippled. The house long stood vacant.

Though 54 members of the church were arrested, all but
eight were released. The records hint of illegal intervention
in the proceedings by an important local official, offering
stories of the battle—the biggest criminal action in the
city’s history—that never appeared in print.

In 1909 another family moved in, and immediately fell
prey to illnesses. In 1914, the oldest brother went mad and
killed himself with a kitchen knife, and the heartbroken
family moved out. In 1918, a third family, the Macarios,
rented the house, but they left almost immediately after
they all became ill at the same time.

Pastor Michael Thomas was arrested and sentenced to 40
years in prison on five counts of second-degree murder. He
escaped from prison in 1917 and fled the state.

Handout 3

Handout 9

In 1835, a prosperous merchant builds the house, but
immediately falls ill and sells it to a Mr. Walter Corbitt,
esquire.

Handout 4

In 1852, Walter Corbitt is sued by neighbors, who petition
to force him to leave the area “in consequence of his surious
[sic] habits and unauspicious demeanor.”

Handout 6

No outcome to the second lawsuit is recorded.