Preface

Kutulu is a system of rules for role-playing in the 1920s and 30s with a focus on
detective work, mysteries, problem solving and a good portion of cosmic horror in
the spirit of the author H. P. Lovecraft.
Kutulu is played by at least two players who tell a story together. One of the
players takes on the role of game leader and the others each create their own
character.
The game manager's tasks include designing environments and everyone that the
characters meet in their path. People portrayed by the game leader are called game
leader people. It is also the game leader who prepares the basic framework of the
story in advance, either entirely from his own head or by reading a finished
scenario that someone else has written. There is a wide range of scenarios written
for other Lovecraft role-playing games. These can be easily adapted to Kutulu.
The task of the other players is to portray their characters. By reacting to the
descriptions given by the game leader, making plans and describing the actions of
their characters, they drive the game forward - often towards a far from happy
ending.
Influences
• Agatha Christie's books about Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and other mystery
solvers
• The role-playing game Call of Cthulhu from Chaosium
• The role-playing game Trail of Cthulhu from Pelgrane Press
• The role-playing game Fallen Reich from Fallen Publishing
• The role-playing module Cthulhu Britannica from Cubicle 7
• Howard Philip Lovecraft's horror stories
The Characters
As in several other Lovecraft role-playing rule systems, the characters in Kutulu
are preferably academics, officers and other better-off people who have the time,
interest and financial opportunity to drive around and investigate mysteries with
occult connotations.
Valerija and Bo will create characters for Kutulu. Through discussion with each
other and their game leader, they have arrived at basic concepts.
Valerija intends to create Patricia Harcourt, a 23-year-old daydreaming dreamer who
is intellectual and quarrelsome, lives on money from her family and carves cubist
dog sculptures out of stone and marble. She is constantly on the lookout for
excitement and new experiences.
Bo intends to create Chester Wylde, a 56-year-old man who is far more reserved than
his last name suggests, has a ball stomach and lives with three cats. He is
interested in everything that tickles the intellect, especially in the occult and
the supernatural.
Background
Answer the questions below, from the role of the character, to create an idea of
the role of the character. Feel free to do research on affected places and
historical events and connect to real events. It makes the character feel more
credible and rooted in their context.
Origin Do you come from the place where the adventure or campaign begins? If not,
from where? Nationality is important, especially with the First World War fresh in
mind.
Class What social class do you come from? Have you made a class trip or inherited
economic and cultural capital from your parents? Were your parents farmers,
workers, craftsmen, civil servants, newly rich or noble?
Family Do you come from a well-known family? Does the family have any skeletons in
the closet? Was the family affected by the First World War and if so, how?
Valerija decides that Patricia was born and raised in London and that her parents
created a fortune during the First World War. Her father is educated but belonged
to the working class before his smart investments during the war made him rich. The
money has allowed him to open doors as early as possible have been closed to both
him and his family. Because the family is newly rich, they are poorly regarded
among older well-to-do families.
Bo gives Chester an Irish credit and decides that he comes from a family with a
good reputation but a weak financial position. They used to have extensive
property, but the family's finances never recovered after Chester's grandfather
completed a number of less successful real estate deals. His parents had enough
money and influence to give him a good university education at King's College
London.
Very few knew what the members of the women's club actually had in mind at their
meetings. It was probably just as good.
Employment
Decide what the role person's main occupation is. A basic assumption is that all
role players belong to the upper middle class of society. They are not stone rich
but they also do not have to work ten to sixteen hours a day in a factory or in a
field to be able to afford their livelihood. Your character is assumed to be able
to take days off and pay travel expenses. If you want to play a character from a
higher or lower social stratum, you need the game manager's approval.
Lawyer or judge You work within or in connection with the judiciary. Maybe you are
a half-retired judge who mostly lives on the return from well-placed investments or
a lawyer with a good enough reputation to not have to do all the paperwork on your
own? Most people in this area are well aware that laws should be applied
differently depending on the social status of the parties involved; dissent does
not tend to be long-lived in the profession. How do you react to that? Have you
been involved in any major or sensitive cases? If so, which ones? Is there a
context in which your legal pathos has been put to the test? What happened?
Antiquarian You earn your living by consulting and contributing expertise in
antiques and ancient culture. Are you a permanent employee at a museum, affiliated
with an antiques company or do you freelance?
Antique shop owner You may have a small bookstore or antique shop, perhaps one that
barely signs and holds occasional opening hours. Do you specialize in any
particular type of literature? Do you make your money by selling mass-produced,
easy-to-sell junk literature to the masses or do you mainly shop for rare
treasures?
Dilettant You are supported through periodic payments from a large inheritance or
by a relative who pays the expenses of your life and is thus free to follow your
own artistic impulses. Maybe you create poetry, or write a book that never seems to
be finished. You probably spend a lot of your time on festivities and events.
Author You have written one or more books that have received a sufficiently
positive reception to be able to form the basis of your livelihood or at least a
certain name knowledge within the right circles. You probably have a contract with
your publisher for the next book. What kind of books do you write? Romantic drama
with erotic undertones, dry fact books or fantastic for a small but fanatical group
of admirers?
Doctor or psychologist You probably have your own practice where you receive
patients. Another possibility is that you work at a larger hospital, nursing home
or institution. If you are a doctor, what is your specialty? What is the worst
thing you have seen in your professional life? If you are a psychologist, do you
profess Freud's psychoanalysis, Jungian psychology or other psychological
teachings? Do you think mental patients can get well, or should they be locked up
for life?
Engineer You work to develop and improve technical solutions. Do you have your own
company that is hired by others or are you a high-ranking cog in a larger company
machinery? Do you have a specialization - mining and ore processing, steam engines
and internal combustion engines, architecture and construction technology?
Journalist Your task is to report on important events and ensure that the public is
kept informed and able to participate in the democratic process. At the same time,
it is also your responsibility to write articles that sell single issues. What kind
of texts do you write - chronicles and house series or big revelations? Is your
focus perhaps on new technological innovations or on embarrassing scandals?
Dr. Chandra examined the black liquid in more detail.
Artist You have been blessed, or cursed, with an artistic disposition. Either you
live on selling your works, or you have some other form of livelihood - such as a
legacy, a scholarship or a generous patron - that allows you to focus on your
creation. Are you successful? Do you create paintings with ghostly motifs,
sculptures that seem to turn along impossible angles and scream with unheard voices
or ordinary landscape paintings and alabaster busts?
Criminals You work as a police officer and are mainly engaged in solving crimes of
a more serious nature, such as murder, manslaughter and robbery. You rarely wear a
uniform and are not expected to direct traffic, pay fines for minor offenses or
catch pickpockets. You investigate crime scenes, interrogate witnesses and put two
and two together. You probably started your career with a number of years as a
uniformed police officer to later specialize.
Are you a man of honor with a maintained pathos of justice, or do you see between
the fingers of those who can stick a penny to you? Have you ever planted or
withheld evidence in an important case, and if so, why?
Officer You have - or more likely, have had - officer service in any country's
armed forces. You probably got your degrees through contact you, creditworthiness
and the right last name. What part of his or her majesty's strength service did you
do within? How come you are now a civilian? Are you retired after long and faithful
service in the colonies or were you fired during disgraceful (and later secret
stamping) about permanence?
Professor You have dedicated your professional life to the search for and
dissemination of knowledge. You probably have a permanent position at a university
and are part of a department board. What is your main subject area? What do you
specialize in? What are your most controversial theories and which ones oppose them
the most? Do you have a professional nemesis among other academics?
Priest Your life is placed in the hands of God and your deed is to his glory. Which
church do you belong to? How is your position? Do you usually hold worship
services? Are your sermons focused on the message of love or on Old Testament fire
and brimstone? How big is your parish?
There is no doubt that Patricia agrees with the description of a dilettante. Bo
thinks for a while and comes to the conclusion that Chester should be the proud
owner of a small and rather hidden antique shop.
Address and title
Proper indictment is primarily professional; "Colonel", "Doctor", "Engineer". The
address is written in front of the name ("Dr. Johnston") and is used as a pronoun:
"Does the doctor want a cup of tea? «
If the profession is unknown or the person lacks a profession, it is used above all
by Mr., Mrs., Miss and Young Mr. The nobility should be addressed with "lord" or
"milord" and "lady" or "milady" respectively: "Does milady want refills? «
Decide what your characters' titles are and how they should be addressed.
Patricia lacks a noble title, husband and formal education, so she is addressed to
"Miss Harcourt".
Bo decides that Chester succeeded in obtaining a PhD in English literature during
his studies at King's College, which is why he is called "Doctor Wylde".
Characteristics
A character's ability to gain the upper hand in conflicts and get past obstacles is
described through a number of characteristics. Own creators are either active or
passive. The difference between them lies in how they are handled regularly
mechanically - when an active property is to be tested, dice rolls are used to
determine the result, while passive properties are instead compared with a
threshold without dice being mixed in. See page 26 for details on the property
types.
Distribute 13 points on the properties. At most a property can be given a value of
4 and the smallest possible value is 0.
Valerija and Bo discuss among themselves and decide to make sure that their group
does not completely lack ability in any trait.
The characters
Against some opponents neither weapons nor cunning help.
Active properties
The active characteristics are mainly used in contexts where a role person and a
game leader person end up in a conflict where there is reason to decide who wins.
It also happens that they are used to see if a physical act succeeds.
The active attributes are Mobility, Strength, Profitability, Distance Weapons, and
Melee.
The value of an active trait determines the role person's competence and chance of
success with actions related to the area covered by the trait.
• 0 corresponds to a completely ignorant poor thing.
• 1 corresponds to an amateur who has received some training.
• 2 corresponds to a person who has had his ability tested in some context; still
no professional but slightly above the amateur.
• 3 corresponds to one person with professional training.
• 4 corresponds to a well-trained expert.
Chester is not much for this with conflicts, but gets value 1 in Mobility, Strength
and Profitability and value 0 in Distance Weapons and Melee.
Patricia gets 1 in Mobility, Salary, Distance Weapons and Melee and 2 in Strength.
This means that she is generally slightly better than Chester in terms of active
characteristics; In total, Valerija has placed 6 points here while Bo only placed
3.
Passive properties
The passive qualities are used to give access to closed parties, gain access to
locked archives and dissolve the bonds that bind dutiful or secretive tongues. In
short, they are shortcuts to knowledge and keys to social locks you may encounter
during your research.
Which of the character's passive qualities that came more into question is in each
specific case up to the game manager. Some game leaders are unimpressed by riches
and do not allow themselves to be bribed, but always trust a person from a good
family. For others, blood ties weigh lightly - they focus more on the person's
reputation. There are clubs that are only open to those who have enough money in
the bank and there are secret archives whose guards can only be convinced by a
well-oiled silver tongue.
Reputation describes your good reputation. He who has made himself known as a
noble, righteous and generous man has a good reputation - perhaps you are a well-
known philanthropist or a folk hero who saved people from a difficult situation.
Maybe you're a war hero who got your men home unscathed.
Over la describes your mouth leather and your ability to manipulate people to act
according to your desires. If you have a good persuasive ability, you have a silver
tongue, a peculiar charm or maybe a charisma that makes people you meet tend to see
your side of the story.
Birth describes your family's status and naming skills. If you have a high birth
rate, your family may be noble or at least have what is usually called "old money".
When you state your last name, people know it and show you respect accordingly.
Credit describes your credit rating. If you have a good day, that means that banks
and other institutions trust you, you are trusted in financial matters and have no
problems trading on credit. You rarely have to deal with physical cash in your
daily routine.
None of them were ever seen again. It was as if the earth itself had devoured them.
Valerija gives Patricia value 3 in Kredit to reflect her family's wealth and value
2 in Reputation after she made a name for herself in occult circles. However, she
is not particularly good at persuading others and she does not come from a well-
respected family - therefore she gets value 1 in Persuade and Birth.
Chester has a significant personal reputation as a skilled and discreet antique
dealer and Bo gives him value 4 in Reputation. He comes from a nice and well-known
family (Born 3) and is eloquent (Persuade 3). However, his credit rating is not the
best, much because he pays off debts his family has incurred. That's why he gets
Credit 0.
Expertise
Once a character has found a clue, her expertise is used to analyze it. For most
clues, it is enough that the role of the person has a value in the right expertise
for its secrets to be revealed. For more information on how it works, see page 25.
The value of the expertise determines how competent and experienced the character
is and how deep analysis he or she is capable of doing.
• 0 corresponds to a completely ignorant layman.
• 1 corresponds to a reasonably experienced amateur.
• 2 corresponds to a professional knowledge.
• 3 corresponds to an experienced expert.
Distribute 10 points on the character's expertise.
Anthropology and ethnology Analyze, have knowledge of and relate to ethnic groups'
behaviors, customs, clothing culture and eating habits. Anthropology is about
indigenous peoples and extinct cultures, while ethnology is more focused on
European cultures with their classes, social groups and ethnicities.
• Assess which social classes and cultures the two men who meet on the pier come
from, given their speech and clothes
• Decide whether or not Miss Andersson seems to have a slightly well-refined
language and habits to be the simple mines beggar daughter she pretends to be
• See which indigenous peoples may have produced the great wooden worm, and if so,
what significance it has in their mythology.
History and archeology Be able to determine the age of ruins and associated culture
as well as assess the authenticity of ancient pots and stone tablets. Have
knowledge of historical events and an ability to assess the credibility of
historical sources.
• See the culture to which the sunken ruins in the photograph belong
• Assess whether the pot shard with Nekronomikon stanzas in cuneiform is genuine or
a recent forgery
• Connect the seal used to seal the letter to the right noble family
• Compare the cult's legend around the Battle of Lützen with accepted history
writing
• See if the book that testifies to an extraordinary event outside London in the
18th century is a credible historical source.
Libraries and archives Find in book collections and archives, access banned or
secret sections and understand different classification systems.
• Get access to the library's copy of Nekronomikon and be able to compare the
passage in the cult's document with the original
• Find archived articles related to the murder of von Strucker
• Identify the missing volumes among Father Levitz's meticulously arranged books on
obscure cults in 17th century England.
Finance and Law Review accounting, tax returns, and receipts for assets,
liabilities, and irregularities. Get access to court records, make predictions
about court cases and remember prejudicial judgments.
Investigate if Miss Morrow had any major debts or significant assets at the time of
her death
• Determine who actually owns the plot down by the water
• Trace the sources of the suspect Lord Hewitt's riches
Investigate whether Harriet Jamison is involved in any legal disputes and
anticipate their outcome
• Figure out who actually owns what in the family.
After several hours of diligent searching of the club's more obscure volumes,
Professor Conway found the symbol he was looking for.
Arts and crafts Analyze works of art and their symbolism, place works in the
context of art history and examine crafts to determine the method of production,
time required and the craftsman's competence.
• Is the rediscovered Rembrandt painting genuine?
• What process has been used to make the mysterious figurine?
• Is there any hidden symbolism in the illumination that Dr. Renfield had in his
safe?
• See what Nathan Grayson's collection of artistic photographs says about his
ability as a photographer.
Forensic science Search for crime scenes, collect and process evidence.
• Determine the shoe size, height and weight of the person who spied in through the
window by analyzing the footprints in the ground outside
• See if the door to the study has been broken open and, if so, from which
direction
• Analyze the angles of blood splatter and determine where in the room the murder
of Miss Montgomery took place
• Is the reason why you can not see the man's face in the photograph that someone
has manipulated it, or are other forces involved?
• Determine if the photograph of Lady Hawthorne was taken in the morning, as she
claims.
Medicine Carry out medical examinations, read prescriptions and medical records,
analyze health conditions and disease processes.
• Were the symbols carved into the body before or after death?
• See if Mr. Forbes, host of tonight's festivities, shows any signs of illness
• Determine whether Dr. Phlegenheimer is a quack based on the prescriptions she has
issued
• Identify the poison in the bottle that was left on the window pan.
Mechanics Analyzing machines and mechanical structures; determine their purpose and
method.
• Has anyone sabotaged Miss Green's car, or does her fiancé seem to be right that
it was just an accident?
• What is the purpose of the compact, clock-driven device built into Director
Bergh's workbench?
• Does the found clock, which does not seem to measure any earthly time, carry any
gossip about its author?
Science To have knowledge of nature and the world, for example through botany and
zoology, physics and chemistry, geology and astronomy.
• What kind of animal is dead in Miss Herrigan's travel bag?
• Which plant is it that produces the poison dipped in?
• Does the climax of the ritual coincide with any movement of the celestial bodies?
• Where can you find the black rock from which the figurine was carved?
• What is the chemical that gives off such a stench?
• Does the wolf pack behave naturally?
Occultism Recognize and identify occult symbols, recognize rituals from
descriptions and relics. This also includes knowledge of religions and myths, cults
and theology, astrology and spiritualism.
• Is it a famous occult symbol Mr Roper carved into his bedroom wall, and if so,
what does it mean?
• What do the cult's rituals and names of different beings say about the mythology
they follow? What other cults have similar myths?
• Based on Lady Henshaw's testimony, what kind of ritual does her husband and his
companions seem to have performed?
Psychology Analyze people's behavioral patterns, set agnos based on letters and
remnants, determine whether a person believes he or she is telling the truth.
• Hides Colonel Brown something, or is he just stressed by the situation?
• What does the strange correspondence between watchmaker Harrison and his wife say
about his state of mind?
• Does Lord Barrymore show any signs of the madness that befell his father?
Language Identify and translate between modern, living languages and perhaps also
some dead.
• Is the mademoiselle Delacroix accent genuine or spectacle?
• What language is the cult in? What are they invoking?
• Is there a connection between the scrapped notes of the missing monk and the
mysterious symbols that adorn the temple entrance?
Here, too, Valerija and Bo discuss how to position their points so that their small
group becomes as versatile as possible without diluting their role-playing concept.
Chester is a knowledgeable professional who specializes in Libraries and Archives,
Arts and Crafts and Finance and Accounting - all three of which are required for
his professional practice as an antique shop owner. Bo gives him value 2 in all
three. He also decides that Chester should have value 1 in Anthropology and
Ethnology, Law, Psychology and History and Archeology.
Patricia is more of a multi-tasker and Valerija gives her value 1 in Anthropology
and Ethnology, Photography, Arts and Crafts, Medicine, Mechanics, Science,
Occultism and Language. She also gives her a burning interest in Forensic Science,
where she gets value 2.
Rules
In a regular game of Kutulu, the rules in this chapter are not used to any
significant degree. The plot is mainly driven forward by players discussing with
each other, asking questions to the game leader and describing the actions of their
characters, rather than dice and rule mechanics.
In some contexts, however, a framework is needed to determine the outcome of
actions and investigations. This is when the rules below take effect.
Expertises and clues
An expertise describes your character's familiarity with an area of knowledge.
Through the mechanics described here, the character can possess knowledge that the
player lacks, and the abstraction allows the players to focus on drawing
conclusions based on the information they come across.
Your character does not need to have any expertise to cover up clues. Instead, you
just need to describe that your role person is looking in the right way and in the
right part of the environment. If there is a clue where he is looking, the game
leader will provide it. There is no room for chance here - if there are footprints
in the discount and the character examines the said discount, he will of course
discover the footprints.
On the other hand, when it comes to getting useful information out of the clue -
how big shoes have created the imprints, for example, it is required that a role
person who has the opportunity to examine the clue has relevant competence.
The vast majority of clues only require that the role of the character in the area
of expertise is greater than zero. If the character has at least one completed
circle next to the required expertise on the role form, he or she will have access
to all relevant information. More difficult-to-interpret clues may require two or
three filled circles.
If none of your characters have the right expertise, or if the expertise they have
is insufficient, then they will need to seek out some kind of expert in the field.
With this, of course, new contacts and friendships are made, which the game leader
can later use to lure the characters into further adventures.
If the character ever ends up in a situation where he himself is expected to
produce something or otherwise actively use one of the expertise, the game manager
uses the value in relevant expertise to determine the quality of the performance.
No dice roll needed.
Property type
When your character is trying to accomplish something and the outcome is uncertain,
a trait may be appropriate. This does not mean that you are supposed to roll the
dice in the quarter; save the dice for situations where it feels extra exciting. It
is always the game leader who decides whether a stroke should be made.
Some rules of thumb for when it fits with a feature type:
• Only strike when the character has limited time and can not make repeated
attempts. Otherwise, the game manager should allow the action to succeed provided
that the character's property value is at least 1
• Only strike for actions that have a reasonable chance of success
• Only beat if the game leader can come up with interesting outcomes for both
successful and unsuccessful results. Otherwise, the game manager chooses the most
interesting outcome
• Only strike if something is at stake
It was not long before Mrs Darville found the document. Now it was just a matter of
succeeding in smuggling it past the guards.
The game leader can choose to hide the feature types and only ask to describe the
effects for your players. Some players prefer to hit their own shots. Feel free to
discuss the matter in the game group in advance so that you agree on how you want
to do it.
A property type is as follows:
The game manager selects an appropriate active property. Which property is
considered appropriate should be related to the situation and dan act the battle
applies.
2. The person who is to strike the blow rolls as many six-sided dice as the
character has as a value in the selected trait.
The dice that show fours, fives or sixes are successful dice. Those that show ones,
twos or threes are failed dice.
4. If no dice are successful, the action fails. Game leader describes the effect.
It does not have to be that the character is a lump; as far as possible, the game
leader should strive to let him maintain his dignity. Instead, failures should
largely be described as a consequence of unfortunate external circumstances.
5. If a dice is successful, the action succeeds barely and evenly. The game leader
describes the result, which, although it can be considered successful, can have
undesirable consequences. Of course, this should also be done to a certain extent
- the game must not be fatherly.
6. If more than one dice is successful, the action succeeds. The more dice, the
better - if a battle against Mobility succeeds with three or four dice, the result
should, for example, be described as graceful, smooth and effortless.
The characteristics that are most often used are conflicts between characters and
game leaders. Then the following applies:
• The participant who gets the most successful dice wins the contest.
• If none of the participants gets any successful dice, none of them will win. In
the case of a protracted conflict, the game leader in this situation should make
sure that something in the circumstances changes, so that the action does not stop
while waiting for someone to succeed with a dice roll.
• If the participants get the same number of successful dice, the participant who
has hit the most sixes wins in the first place. If the participants have the same
number of sixes, the number of fives is counted and then fours.
• If the participants hit the same number of fours, fives and sixes, both succeed
in what they are trying to do. If the situation only allows one winner, both
strokes are counted as failures as above. If a winner must be chosen, the battle is
reversed until a winner is chosen.
Circumstances and equipment can give bonus dice or deductions on the number of dice
in the battle. When the number of dice is modified in that way, it is rare to have
more than two in either direction.
- The guard is on his way. Doyle, strike a blow for Wisdom to see if she sees you.
- I succeeded with two.
The game leader strikes for the Guard's Payroll to see if she manages to be more
vigilant than Doyle is good at hiding. The result is a successful dice, so Doyle
wins the conflict because he had two.
- She's just walking past you. She seems to be on her guard though, so you probably
need to be careful as you move on.
Reduced properties
The role of the character is extremely rarely raised, but it happens that they are
lowered. It is seldom good for either physical health or social reputation to dig
into occult mysteries.
If your character is injured in a battle but survives, choose an active trait to
lower permanently by one step. You and the game leader then agree on how the
reduction should be justified in the game world. Improperly healed bone fractures,
nerve damage and broken muscle mass can explain most of the trembling hands,
stiffness and decreased strength.
Passive qualities are lowered when your character acts across them:
• Reputation is lowered when the character behaves irrationally or badly in public
environments, violates social norms, is exposed to lies or makes himself impossible
in people whose reputation is equal to or higher than the character's.
• Persuasion is reduced if the character gets a hard blow to his ego, for example
by being ridiculed or humiliated in public. The character's ability to persuade can
also get a thorn in its side if its charming smile gets rid of a few teeth. It all
depends on the kind of persuasion role the person specializes in.
In the distance, the spider monster towered. Its contours were indistinct, like a
mirage. Laura knew that it would soon manifest itself completely. Then it would be
too late. She prayed a silent prayer that Anna would have time to complete the
ritual in time.
Rules
• The burden is reduced if the character acts badly enough in public environments
for the family to start distancing themselves from him. If you are a black sheep,
you can not count on being able to get any doors to open with your last name.
Burdens can also be reduced if the family's status in society declines.
• Credit is reduced if the character is too generous with his money and incurs
debts that cannot be paid. The role of the person's creditworthiness can also
deteriorate if he behaves irresponsibly and wastefully or makes bad investments.
Normally, passive properties are lowered only one step at a time. Exceptions can be
made for extraordinary circumstances, if the character, for example, goes
completely bankrupt in a short time or happens to be involved in some very
compromising scandal that irrevocably lowers its reputation.
Battle
Getting into a scuffle or - even worse - a firearms duel is definitely something
all civilized ladies and gentlemen with self-preservation drive stay away from as
much as possible. Unfortunately, it happens that the surveys conducted by the
characters put them in situations where they have no choice.
When someone takes the initiative to use violence in some form, the person in
question has the initiative, and acts first. The person who controls the person who
has the initiative declares what kind of action he intends to perform. When it
comes to choosing the ability to strike, in the case of combat acts, in principle,
Melee or Distance Battle is always in question.
People who are attacked will want to carry out a counter-attack or at the very
least try to avoid being hit by the attack directed at them.
When the attack and any counter-attack or defense has been carried out, the
initiative passes to the next person who has not yet acted or reacted. When all
participants in the battle have been given the opportunity to act or react, the
initiative is restored and everyone is again free to declare actions.
This means that the battle is divided into rounds, in which all participants must
be given an opportunity to act. In fiction, therefore, the length of the battle
rounds varies, but these are seldom longer periods of time than a second or two.
Sometimes it can be chaotic as several players want to declare actions at the same
time; then it is the game manager's role to sort out the mess as quickly as
possible and decide who is attacking whom.
The advantage of acting early and throwing yourself over the initiative is that it
gives some control over the choice of opponent in the battle. The disadvantage is
that you simultaneously unlock yourself and thus open yourself up to attacks from
another participant. Each participant can only perform one action or a reaction per
round.
A document that has been declared cannot be revoked. If it turns out to be based on
a misconception about the state of affairs, it is assumed that the character has
made a corresponding miscalculation in the stressed situation a fight nevertheless
entails.
If a player hesitates too much, this can be counted as having missed his
character's chance to act in the current round.
Patricia Chester Cultist 1 Cultist 2
1 x x x x
2 x x x x
x
x
Fig. 1. With a squared piece of paper, the game leader can easily keep track of who
has acted. In the figure, Chester and cultist 2 will be allowed to act before
Patricia or cultist 1 are allowed to act again.
The game manager has the opportunity to temporarily or permanently modify or ignore
the above rules if he deems that it serves the narrative.
Attack
When one participant in the battle attacks another, a blow is struck against the
participant's Melee Battle or Distance Battle. Melee combat is used for armed and
unarmed fighting, while Distance Battle as the name implies is used when pistols or
throwing weapons are involved.
The person who is attacked can then choose to perform a defensive act or a counter-
attack. In both cases, a blow is struck against a property value the person has.
In the event of a counter-attack, the person's value is used in the relevant combat
feature - Melee or Distance Battle. Counter-attack means that the assailant has a
chance to injure his attacker.
The results of the battles are compared, as in other conflicts (p. 28).
The winner of the conflict inflicts damage on his opponent. If there is a draw and
both combatants have successful dice, both are injured.
In defense actions, the person's value is used either in the relevant combat
characteristic or in Mobility. In a defensive act, the assailant will not be able
to inflict any injuries on his attacker but only escape himself.
This means that defensive actions are mainly used if the assailant has a
significantly better value in Mobility or is attacked from a distance and himself
lacks range armament. Melee combat can not be used to defend against distance
attacks and Mobility can not be used to inflict damage.
Arming
Armament gives a bonus on the dice roll. Most weapons give an extra dice. Heavier
firearms fired by shotguns at close range and automatic pistols give two dice.
Injuries
The damage value inflicted on the opponent is equal to the number of successful
dice in the attacking stroke. Normal people are knocked out after receiving a total
of three injuries. A knocked-out person needs immediate medical attention so as not
to die. If the value of the damage exceeds the character's endurance by a
significant amount, the game manager can decide that death occurs immediately.
When injuries occur, the game manager should describe them briefly but clearly. The
game leader decides which body part is damaged. After the battle, the game leader
describes the damage in more graphic detail in connection with you deciding which
active property to lower.
Displacement
A person involved in a battle can move without being counted as an act. Relocation
means that both the person who moves and those who try to attack him get a dice
deduction on their strokes in the round where the transfer takes place. The
movement must therefore be declared before the dice roll.
The deductions are cumulative - if two shooters run while trying to hit each other,
both will get two dice deductions on their strokes.
Movement can be performed regardless of the type of blow the person performs during
the round. A movement can take place between two adjacent parts of a room or
equivalent; a few meters.
Circumstances
In distance combat, limited visibility caused by, for example, poor light, fog or
smoke can give additional dice deductions for affected parties. The same applies to
anyone who tries to shoot at someone who is partially under protection.
A shooter who has the opportunity to take support or spend an extra round aiming
gets an extra dice to add to his attacking stroke.
In close combat, deductions or extra dice can be awarded depending on, for example,
the relative range of the weapon - a person with a knife trying to stab someone who
is armed with a solid stick can, for example, get deductions in open spaces, while
the person with the stick can get deductions in narrower spaces. It is always the
game manager who assesses whether deduction e
or extra dice come into play.
Madness
This chapter describes techniques whose purpose is to facilitate the game manager's
work in shaping the growing insanity that inevitably affects the role of people who
are confronted with truths beyond human understanding. The basic principle of the
techniques is that you as a game leader should act in what in literary contexts is
called an unreliable narrator. This clearly means that the players will not be able
to trust your statements about the fictional reality role the characters are in.
Your task around the game table is normally to describe the reality the characters
experience. By describing the world in a way that you really do not know is true,
you give players a feeling of not being able to trust their senses, which
characterizes the specific kind of madness that afflicts people who get lost in the
labyrinths of the Lovecraft mythical world.
It is worth pointing out that here we are making a distinction between lovecraft
madness on the one hand and mental function impairments of the traditional, normal
human type on the other. The latter do not deal with this chapter, out of respect
for those who live with them in reality outside the game.
They had painstakingly taken to the forest-clear diary described. Now they tried to
agree on how to go about recreating the ritual. None of them realized that the area
was protected by something from beyond the stars…
Insanity-inducing phenomena
When the characters encounter phenomena connected to the Lovecraft mythical world,
their senses are normally insufficient to absorb all the information. Their brains
activate various defense mechanisms to mitigate the effect and allow the character
to continue functioning with a minimum of per menent damage.
If the characters continue to expose themselves to insane inducing experiences,
their brains' ability to defend themselves will weaken. They are rebuilt to be able
to see more of the larger reality and translate observations of things that are
beyond human perception into more comprehensible terms. This does not mean that
they see the actual nature of things, but only that their brains become more
adapted to interpret this nature.
Here are some examples of phenomena related to the Lovecraft mythical world:
• Creatures (shoggothar, byakheer, tindaloshundar)
• Places (Carcosa, Lengplatån)
• Books (»The King in Yellow«, »Nekronomicon«, »Forbidden Cults«)
• Symbols (the yellow sign, the sign of the elderly, the seal of the gate)
In Kutulu, it is shaped by describing such phenomena according to one of these
steps:
1. Denial For example, the characters may experience a loss of time, as their
brains simply erase the memory of the experience. In games, this is embodied by the
fact that the event is simply not described. The events that lead to the meeting
with the insanity-inducing element are described in the usual order, but then the
story jumps directly to what happens after the meeting. The game leader decides
what happened and how the characters acted. Perhaps fragmentary memories can find
their way into their dreams in the future.
The encounter can be with a creature, but just as easily an insanely evocative text
or a ditto architecture. The characters can also miss symbols that their brains do
not allow them to perceive; they are simply edited out of sight.
- You go in between the monoliths. Above the otherwise pleasing scent of meadow
flowers and dew is a faint stench of something rotten and oily. You hear a sound
from above.
Suddenly you lie down. Doyle, you're holding your right hand to a large, bleeding
flesh wound in your left arm. It hurts so much that you cry, you have a hard time
focusing. What do you do?
Afterwards, none of them could describe what had attacked them.
Fumbling The characters are given contradictory and chaotic explanations and
descriptions, which touch on tongue-in-cheek speakers. Here, as a game leader, you
are recommended to both prepare descriptions and practice presenting them in as
intense, almost feverish a way as possible. By contradiction fullness is meant here
that beings can be described as being both long and short, wide and narrow, flying
and walking, dark and light, metallic and organic, that they have beaks and snouts.
Individual words in the description may be silent or in another language.
The descriptions can then advantageously be allowed to coincide into single words
that do not follow any common thread or sentence structure and then only guttural
sounds and sounds, free disconnected from all humanity.
A somewhat difficult technique to reinforce the above is to ignore the players'
attempts to interrupt the description or ask questions. It can create a feeling of
powerlessness but if it is done to exaggeration it can also break all tension and
make the players bored and resigned. In other words, use this sub-technique with
caution.
Symbols can be described here as twisting into themselves or looking like multiple
symbols lying around over stored on top of each other, whole foreign alphabets
hidden in individual characters. When a character reads an insane text, instead of
action or content, he or she may get a feeling of drowning, of fever or of being
microscopic and insignificant in the universe.
- The creature is small and covered with some kind of mucus. Its long arms slowly
grip you while its dry skin rubs against itself, causing skin flakes to loosen and
fall to the ground. Its huge body hut prevents you from… the door. With rapid slow
movements, it stands still in the middle of the room. The room, the hum, the dream.
Its eyes stare. Staring, like wells that you fall into if you are not careful. It's
blind. Blind, step, kind, hind. For each. Through the sea. Symbolism. Saaaaa hri
knnn, hrafsor knaf aaa ooo iiijnax krannn aaa iii iä…
3. Acceptance The characters' brains have begun to shape the structures and paths
required to turn the torrent of extraterrestrial information to which they are
exposed. Here the insane-inducing phenomena are described vaguely but mainly
objectively correctly. Here and there, unknown or made-up words still creep in,
sometimes a word falls away. The edges of everything are blurred, no descriptions
go into more detail than absolutely necessary.
- Something is flying towards you that is a bit reminiscent of a huge bat. It seems
very hostile. Its claws glisten like metal.
4. Adaptation The characters' brains are now as well adapted to the encounter with
the reality of the Lovecraft myth world as human physiology allows. They get
concrete, well-adapted descriptions of the phenomena and can navigate helpfully in
the new, larger world they have been introduced to.
- The creature is like a large amorphous lump of meat and seems to be joined by
body parts from many individual people. Here and there an arm or a head protrudes.
It has hundreds of eyes and they are all staring at you. It rolls around at a
leisurely pace.
You who are the game leader decide at what pace the steps are taken and what
applies to each creature. Even if the characters have certain creatures described
in step 2, there may still be creatures described in step 1. It depends on how the
creatures relate to each other - those who belong to the same part of mythology it
often follows the same step - and how insane you judge that they are.
Around the same time as the characters begin to see beings as they are and get step
3 or 4 descriptions, they also tend to have become incapable of relating to or
acting in the ordinary, mundane reality in a meaningful way. It is not uncommon for
them to get rid of all their possessions and drag their good name in the dirt by
acting too eccentrically in front of other people. Not infrequently, they have
committed crimes in their quest to understand more, or with the guidance of
hallucinations and voices only they hear. As a game leader, you can and should let
the characters suffer the consequences of the players acting based on the distorted
picture of reality you have provided.
After the theater visit, Harrison's dreams began to change. They became stranger,
more abnormal. He dreamed of strange streets and skies filled with strange things.
Notes
You should keep brief memoirs in connection with the characters experiencing
insanity-inducing events. You will later link to these notes when you create
hallucinations and other signs of mental trauma that affect the characters.
If you wish, you can of course also record particularly traumatic events, even if
they are not directly related to the Lovecraft mythical world.
A note should be concise but cover the most important. For example, it may be
relevant to note:
• Nature and properties of the mythical element ("Creature, Shoggoth")
• Which character or characters were present ("everyone except Tommy and Kristina")
• The extent to which the characters were exposed to the insanity-inducing element
("glimpsed, dark tunnel")
In individual cases, of course, other details can also be interesting, such as the
characters' state of mind, what time of day it was, et cetera.
Hallucinations
Hallucinations are the collective name for the incorrect descriptions of the
ordinary reality the characters suffer as their senses break down and are
reconstructed in order to grasp the new reality.
While the descriptions of the insanity-inducing phenomena gradually turn into more
concrete and correct descriptions, the characters' hallucinations become worse,
more obvious and an increasing obstacle for them in their everyday lives. Not
infrequently, those who investigate mysteries related to the Lovecraft myth world
end up as mentally ill patients. Admittedly, they now understand things beyond
ordinary reality, but they can no longer function in society.
That night, all New Yorkers writhed anxiously in their sleep. Few of them would
ever know how close to their sta d was to be annihilated.
The hallucinations are classified according to the following steps:
Rare dreams When the characters begin their journey into insanity, or towards
enlightenment, the hallucinations occur primarily when the character is asleep.
Through dreams, the experienced can be treated and dressed in symbolic attire.
Here, as a game leader, you can also even plant clues the characters missed -
Hastur, the Unmentionable, is perhaps the Elderly deity who is most often
associated with dreams of other worlds and times, but other beings can also
influence dreams.
2. Chimeras When the characters begin their journey in earnest, their visions will
begin to haunt them even in the waking state. A chimera is something that the
character considers and that exists in the physical world but is perceived by the
character in a way that does not correspond to reality. Chimeras thus differ from
fantasies (see below) in that they do not mean that something is added, but only
that something is modified.
3. Phantoms When the characters have begun to dive deeper into the world of
Lovecraft myths, they also begin to see and experience things that have no basis in
reality at all. In their quest to allow the characters to grasp the elusive and
understand the incomprehensible, their brains have completely lost the ability to
distinguish between the observed and that which exists only in the subconscious.
The fantasies are normally perceived as completely real by the characters, but can
of course not be observed by outsiders.
When you as a game leader introduce hallucinations, our recommendation is to do it
subtly and with fingertip feeling. Do not let the madness take over from the
beginning unless the adventure you are playing has a high frequency of phenomena
connected to the mythical world.
One day, Harrison disappeared, never to be seen again. The only clue he left behind
was a piece of paper with a single word written on it: "Carcosa!"
Nightmares shortly after a shared experience can be reasonable, for example, but
not all characters need to have them at the same time and they do not need to drip
dramatic descriptions. Nightmares are also excellent as private correspondence
between you and individual players between game meetings.
If you go too fast, there is a risk that the players will quickly start looking for
strategies to determine what is real and what is not, and the hallucinations turn
from something moody and frightening to another challenge the players need to take
on. The idea of the system is to reduce the distance between the characters 'and
players' experience, not to increase it.
Hallucinations and descriptions
When the characters have experienced something their brains deny, it is appropriate
if they are primarily affected by strange dreams, when their brains process what
they have blocked.
The next time the characters see something, they may have reached the groping
stage. After that meeting, they can suffer from both dreams and chimeras.
In other words, the increasingly accurate and clear descriptions the players
receive of mythical world phenomena escalate simultaneously with the increasingly
distorted descriptions they receive of other parts of reality. This is illustrated
by Fig. 2.
Description
1. Denial
2. Famlande
3. Acceptance
4. Adaptation
Hallucination
1. Dreams
+
2. Chimeras
+
3. Phantoms
Fig 2. Descriptions and hallucinations are related.
Themes of hallucinations
The hallucinations should first and foremost be rooted in some way in the
experiences you have recorded. At the same time, the connection should in most
cases be thematic and associative rather than direct and literal. Here are some
examples.
• If the characters have encountered flying creatures with the slightest
resemblance to birds, their hallucinations may, for example, consist of ravens
watching them vigilantly or bats scratching their hair when examining deep caves.
• If the characters have come across something slimy, they may experience surfaces
as sticky or slippery or have the feeling of sweating themselves or crying a
viscous liquid. When they drink water, they may feel as if they have brought
something unpleasant down their throat, which can not easily be cleared or coughed
away.
• If the characters encounter dead bodies, such as the victim of a bestial killer,
they can see traces of blood, smell blood or rotten meat or get the impression that
someone who is actually a completely innocent passer-by is armed with a ritual
knife of the same kind as the killer.
• If the characters encounter something insect-like, they can hear the buzzing of
insects, feel something crawling around inside their clothes, in their hair or why
not under their skin or in their eyes. Insect swarms can form mysterious geometric
patterns or be unnaturally aggressive.
• If the characters have encountered some form of vaguely humanoid creatures, there
is a risk that in the future they will see them everywhere - in the shop owner who
may be hiding a couple of gills under his collar, in the vaguely frog-like
newspaper boy or in the corpse-pale lawyer whose breath is not visible ven in the
biting January cold. After all, anyone can be one of "them".
• Symbols encountered by the characters, such as the yellow sign or the sign of the
elderly, may reappear in different contexts, perhaps in truncated or altered form.
• Stories and texts the characters read, and which contain connections to the
Lovecraft myth world, can also recur. People mentioned in the texts may suddenly
appear among the obituaries or birth announcements in regular newspapers. When
characters hear parts of a conversation between strangers they pass on the street,
it may touch on some important part of the story's symbolism or action.
Effects
The fact that the characters are increasingly unable to see and understand reality
as it is experienced by the majority naturally affects their investigations, their
private lives and their ability to function in public spaces.
In everyday life, it can be about them being alienated from their friends and
families by acting increasingly eccentrically. The effects of the character acting
on the basis of chimeras and fantasies can easily be regarded by the environment as
signs of serious delusions, persecution mania, schizophrenia or the like. This can
lead to lowered values in the passive characteristics as the character deteriorates
his social position, is considered the family's black sheep or in general begins to
be seen as unreliable and erratic. In the long run, there is a great risk that
either the family or the law enforcement will ensure that the character is declared
incompetent and forcibly taken care of.
In connection with investigations and the solution of mysteries, the hallucinations
can reinforce the characters' conspiracy thinking and paranoia. In addition, the
game manager can use them to distort clues or create new ones, which can sometimes
give the characters access to new and accurate information. However, such clues are
at least as often misleading as to risk costing them valuable time.
Group hallucinations
The easiest way to manage chimeras and fantasies in a group of characters is to let
them all share the same changing reality, even if only some of them have had the
experience that underlies the chimeras and fantasies. If necessary, you can explain
it as group psychoses or Jung's collective unconscious.
In some cases, it may be worthwhile to change only one character's reality. If you
then do not want the characters to see through your illusionism, then you need to
make sure that the difference in perceived reality can be explained away in some
reasonable way. Part of this is to avoid individual hallucinations when other
characters consider the same thing. When the characters jointly examine a room and
focus on different parts is a good example of a suitable situation, as are all
contexts where a character leaves the others to investigate something. Here are
groups that share a blessing.
Another part is to choose chimeras or fantasies that can cease when other
characters turn their attention to them, without it becoming obvious that they were
hallucinations. An example here could be statues that move, but only slowly and
only when one of the characters alone looks at them. Animals and insects can
quickly return to their normal behavioral patterns, and the ritual knife shaft in
the stranger's belt can, on closer inspection, turn out to belong to a completely
ordinary craft knife.
Changed emotional states
The hallucinations can be given stability and direction by being used to create or
reinforce pathological or abnormal emotional states. These conditions can be based
on the role person's current situation, their previous experiences, or both.
• To feel observed. Game leaders seem to stare at the character as he passes by.
Even animals follow him with their eyes.
• To feel ignored. Game characters are perceived as distracted - they seem to look
at their pocket watches, poke their nails or flick their eyes when the character
tries to talk to them.
• To feel that living things are dead or artificial. Game leaders are described as
having blank stares and rigid or mechanical movement patterns. Their skin resembles
dead things, such as leather or wax. Organic functions such as respiration can be
described in mechanical terms.
• To feel that things that are dead are alive. The role of the person experiences
statues, dolls and stuffed animals as staring, rescuing, ready for seizures or
about to say something. Use organic words to talk about dead things, such as hairy
carpets, angry weapons or colors, soft armchairs that hug anyone who sits in them.
• To feel as if others are talking about one behind one's back. Players'
conversations are silenced when the character enters the room. She can perceive
fragments of conversations where her secrets are mentioned, perhaps in ridiculous
or threatening terms.
• To feel dissociation before one's own body and one's experiences. The character's
body feels like it's a sep other things that do not belong to him. Describe
autonomous, involuntary body reactions: "Your arm jerks and hits the vase on the
floor." You can also talk about the third-person character: "Mrs. Hewlitt discovers
to her horror that the room she enters is full of bloody body parts. She screams
her lungs hoarse until her companions enter the room to investigate what is wrong
«.
Game leader
The function of this chapter is to give you as a game leader additional guidance on
how to gild the life of your players and facilitate the work for yourself.
Basically, a large part of the responsibility for the playability of the scenario
and the atmosphere of the game meetings is on your table and therefore it is
important that you have effective tools that facilitate the task.
Scenario structures
When planning for the scenario you are going to lead the game, it can be helpful to
draw up the structure of the scenario as a flow chart. Each person or place is
given its own box in the chart. Between the boxes, arrows are drawn that symbolize
the clues that can be discovered and lead on to new people or places.
When you draw the structure of the scenario as such a scheme, it is easy to see
which parts of the scenario are linear and which are more complex.
For challenge-focused scenarios, where the main part for the players is to solve
concrete and completely or partially separated challenges, a linear structure works
excellently. The characters go from challenge to challenge in a straight line until
they reach the end of the scenario.
Scene 1
Challenge 1
Scene 2
Challenge 2 Challenge 3
Scene 3
Challenge 4
Scene 4
Challenge 5 Resolution
Fig. 3. The characters move from challenge to challenge without making any choices
between different scenes.
For investigation-focused scenarios, where the main part for the players is to
investigate places and talk to people to find clues that lead to new places and
people, a more complex structure works better.
Scene 2
Clues 3, 4, 5
Scene 3
Clues 6, 7
Scene 4
Clues 8, 9
Scene 1
Clues 1, 2
Scene 5
Resolution
Fig. 4. The characters make choices in several stages about which path they should
take and which tracks they should prioritize. The arrows show the directions of the
clues.
If you want to make a linear structure more complex, there are three main tactics:
• Create new locations or people that existing clues can point to.
• Create new clues that connect existing places and people in new ways.
Create new clues that lead to new places or people, that are linked to existing
places.
A guideline for complex structures may be that each site should contain clues that
lead in at least two directions, and that it should be possible to find each site
in at least two ways.
Adaptation of scenarios
Lovecraft role-playing games have been available for over 30 years. This means that
there are a plethora of pre-written scenarios to start from. It often takes some
work to adapt them to Kutulus' intended style of play, which largely focuses on
mystery solving and exploration.
Regardless of whether the scenario you want to adapt is written for a game similar
to Kutulu or not, the first step should be to read it carefully. Familiarize
yourself with scenario locations, people, clues, monsters and so on. Draw a diagram
of the structure of the scenario.
Then go through each of the scenarios of the scenario. Keep an eye out for rule
mechanics, such as dice and point handling, and think about what the mechanics you
find have for counterparts in Kutulu.
If you come across a scene where players need to succeed with a dice roll or need
to spend points to get a clue, then you know how Kutulu handles such things. Figure
out how you can best describe the context so that the players are given the
opportunity to describe their characters' investigation of the place and what
expertise can be used to interpret the clues.
If you come across a scene where a traumatic event takes place - especially if it
has a connection to the lovecraft world of myths - then there is probably a
reference to the current game's mechanics for insanity. Here you think about which
words of support may be relevant for your notes and how you should describe the
event based on Kutulus' rules of insanity.
Clues
Not all pre-written adventures contain enough clues in their basic designs to allow
for the structure of a cobweb. Then it can be good to create your own clues so that
players have more choices.
In Kutulu, the players' challenge is not to find all the clues, but to figure out
how they are connected. The goal of this is for players to have the opportunity to
feel ingenious and skilled in the art of mystery solving.
What creates the feeling of ingenuity in the player is when the clue - new
information - meets and is combined with the player's pre-understanding. If the
pre-understanding is lacking, the player can not find out where the clue is
pointing, so for you as a game leader, it is important to try to ensure that the
players are given the necessary pre-understanding and ability to put clues in a
context.
Puzzle fitting is the simplest structure for clues. The term describes what happens
when players find a clue that alludes to something specific they already know
about. If, for example, the players first hear that a theater ensemble intends to
put on the infamous play "The King in Yellow", and the latter in the adventure find
a theater ticket to the performance, a puzzle solution arises. The piece of the
puzzle that was found in the ticket - fits into the piece of the puzzle that the
players already have in the play.
When the players on their own remember that the play has appeared earlier in the
adventure and connect it to the ticket, they get the opportunity to feel quirky.
Filtering is a more complex method of dealing with clues. This is about several
clues interacting - each clue points to many different places or people, but for
each clue that is found, there are fewer and fewer that fit into all the clues. If
the characters, for example, find remnants of red brick at the crime scene, they
may not be able to deduce much from this. There may be plenty of brickworks and
brick buildings nearby. But if they also find a rare flower that is only found in
three places nearby, they can see if there is a correlation. Are there brick
buildings or brickworks in any of the places where the flower grows?
When creating clues, it can be fruitful to keep the following in mind:
• A clue always has a bearing medium. The medium is the way the information reaches
the characters' brains. They can get the information directly by feeling a smell or
hearing a voice. They can also get the information through a completely different
medium, such as a description of a smell or a text that explains a taste. When the
characters' pre-understanding is to be established, they may feel the smell, while
the clue later describes it in words.
• A clue may appeal to a specific mind. It can be, for example, a smell, a taste or
a texture. It can too to be more abstract, such as information about someone's
habits or position in a hierarchy.
• A physical object can carry one or more clues. One photograph may contain an
obvious clue, while another hides in the background. A receipt revealing that
someone purchased components for a bomb also shows where they were purchased.
• A clue may point to one or more targets. An address only points to a single
location, while an unusual type of tobacco can point to five different specialty
stores that market it.
Missing something can also be a clue. It can be an object that has been removed
from its usual place, a sound that is suddenly not heard or a stench that no longer
bothers.
• For a clue to work, it is also required that it has a direction once it has been
interpreted - that the characters get something concrete to do once they have made
the connection and been allowed to be ingenious.
In Kutulu, not all game leaders are given a complete set of game mechanical values,
but the idea is that they should be highly improvised during games. It is a time-
consuming job to find values, especially if they are to be bought for points, and
your time as a game leader can be spent on more interesting things. The player
leaders do not have to be points balanced. If you want, you can write down the
values you improvise, so you can keep your game leaders consistent.
If you want to prepare something in advance, you can focus on the following:
• Name. To avoid repetition and to create memorable names, it can be good to spend
some time deciding names in advance. It is often difficult to improvise good names.
It is also recommended that you have a list of ready-made names close at hand,
which you can pick names from if you need to improvise a game leader.
• Occupation. A player's person's profession, together with the passive
characteristics, gives a relatively clear picture of the person's status and
position in society.
• Passive properties. The passive ones are often more important than the active
ones. You do not have to determine exact values; if you are going to improvise a
game leader person, you can be content with deciding which passive trait has the
highest value and which value this is. Then you automatically get an idea of the
other passive properties, and can determine them if necessary.
• Appearance. The appearance of game characters does not need to be described in
detail; it is enough with an overall impression and perhaps some odd detail that
attracts the eye. If you have difficulty improvising here, you can start from the
profession and the passive qualities and create an appearance that indicates the
person's profession and status.
• Voice. Some game leaders like to disguise the voice when portraying game
characters. If you are one of them, and have time to prepare, it is of course good
if you can try the game leader's voice in advance. The most important thing is not
to fall into the trap where each player leader has his own dialect or speech error.
One technique is to start from existing dialects and let English dialects and
variants of English correspond to Swedish dialects, so that, for example, Scots
speak Norrlandish and Welsh Scanian. However, it is a bit difficult, as it is based
on you as a game leader training in relevant dialects well enough so that it does
not become too parodic.
Posture. An effective way to convey a spelle darperson's personality and presence
in the room is to give the person a clear posture. For example, you may ask
yourself whether the person has a forward- or backward-leaning posture, is tense
and nervous or relaxed and confident, has a restrained body language, or uses bushy
gestures.
If the game leader is expected to participate in physical conflicts such as combat,
you can also consider the active properties and possible armament, but as a rule,
the above list is more than enough.
Concluding remarks
Leading a game of the Kutulus type is not an easy task. Players can expect you to
know the rules and techniques in the main, that you can answer the strangest
questions about the time period the game takes place and that you can improvise
players' characters, places and events when they choose to go beyond what you have
prepared.
With experience comes ability. Player leadership skills are something that is
developed over a longer period of time. If you are new to the seat, the
recommendation is that you first and foremost start from some pre-written material,
and that you make sure to communicate with your players. Ask them what they
experience works well and less well, what they want to see more or less of, if
something is unclear and so on. Do not hesitate to ask for a few minutes break when
you need to gather your thoughts.
Good luck!
Appendix A:
The Angelica Society
The Angelica Society is a long-established and respected club for well-to-do
gentlemen, and since 1922 also ladies, with an interest in exploring the natural
and the supernatural world.
The purpose of the Angelica Society is to give you as a game leader a hub around
which you can attach other stories. The company acts as a source of new characters
when new players are added or when old characters die or become too insane to be
able to continue their investigations.
If all the characters are members, this is an easy way to let them get to know each
other before the game begins. In addition, it can serve as a guarantee that the
characters have a motivation to investigate the mysteries you present to them.
After all, members of the society are expected to have some curiosity.
In addition, the company can be a rich source of clients, mysteries, loose rumors,
contacts with experts the group lacks and tickets to plays about palaces beyond the
stars. In short, it can serve as both a starting point for the characters' journey
and help along the way.
The society was founded in 1863 by Sir Robert Hamilton and his wife Laura, who
shared his interest in the strange, the fantastic and new discoveries. The name was
taken from the Victorian floriography, where kvanne - which in English is called
angelica - symbolized inspiration and magic.
The Angelica Society's exclusive premises in central London.
Sir Hamilton himself was ill and often bedridden, which meant that he himself did
not have the opportunity to carry out the expeditions to distant lands that
fascinated him. Instead, he lived through the stories the club members brought with
them from all corners of the globe and participated in only a single session.
In 1923, Sir Hamilton passed away and bequeathed his notable fortune to his beloved
wife. Laura Hamilton had by this time come of age, but still chose to embark on the
adventures she and her husband had dreamed of for so long.
After ensuring that the board of the Angelica Society had all the necessary means
to guarantee the club's continued existence, she financed an expedition to search
for the vanished city of Irem. She left in June 1925. Since then, neither Mrs.
Hamilton nor her expedition has been heard from.
The club is headquartered in London, but since 1926 the board has opened several
branches in major cities around the world. Its premises are often lavish and
exclusive.
The club is in theory open to anyone, but in practice both assets and contacts are
required. To become a member, you need a letter of recommendation from a respected
member who acts as a sponsor for the applicant. The board decides on membership
from case to case and it is generally required that new members pay a significant
part of the membership fee in advance. For the first four to five years, the
sponsor is considered responsible for the new member, which is why most people are
usually extremely careful with whom they approve.
At first, only men could become members, with Mrs. Hamilton as the only exception.
Over time, more and more exceptions were added in the form of particularly
competent women who excelled in their fields. In 1922, the statutes were rewritten
so that women could also apply for membership.
Members
Below is a brief description of some of the club members. They can act as contacts
with special expertise or as examples of characters the players can dress up. The
latter is practical first and foremost in cases where one or more players suffer
from a lack of inspiration. In addition, it happens that a new character is needed
at short notice, for example when a visiting player is quickly to be given a
temporary place at the game table or in the event of a character's sudden death
during an ongoing investigation. Investigating Lovecraft mysteries is useful for
neither physical nor mental well-being, after all.
Hermann Lamar has been the club's chairman since Sir Hamilton's death in 1923. He
had great respect for both Sir Hamilton and his widow and tries to run the club
according to their will, even though he does not really agree with some of the
decisions they made. For example, he was one of those who most loudly protested
against the granting of membership to women.
Mr. Lamar is an older, conservative gentleman who is always impeccable, albeit
somewhat outdated. He walks with a cane and now needs reading glasses. His main
interests are science and zoology; he stays away from the group's sessions and
spiritualistic activities.
Experts: Science, Language, Mechanics.
Mr. Lamar
Mrs Cheltenham
Deidre Cheltenham has been a widow for many years and one of Laura Hamilton's
oldest friends. She was the club's second female member. Her hair is gray but her
brain is as sharp as ever - she is straight, clear, logical and above all
interested in mathematics, science and hearing about expeditions to distant lands.
She herself has no desire to walk but listens and prefers to read about other
people's discoveries.
She is often in the company of her companion and unofficial mistress Rosalie
Landon, a single 23-year-old woman who has no interest at all in anything related
to the Angelica Society. The times she accompanies the club it's shopping more
about being company and support for Mrs Cheltenham.
Experts: Science, Medicine, History & Archeology.
Lady Arlington-Wright
Mr. Liegler
Lady Arlington-Wright, to the great annoyance of her more down-to-earth husband,
has begun to take an interest in spiritualism and crypto-zoo accommodation. He
would prefer to see her resign her membership, but since she pays her membership
fee herself, there is not much he can do about it. She has her own fortune that she
created by investing a modest legacy after her father and making smart cuts on the
stock market.
Every month she organizes spiritualistic attempts to travel to other planets
through meditation and magical formulas. She is very careful that only people who
have the right state of mind are offered to participate, and all participants must
make a solemn promise of silence about everything they experience.
Her full name is Miriam Henrietta Arlington-Wright and she is in her upper middle
age, smokes a cigar with a mouthpiece and dresses lavishly and fashionably.
Experts: Occultism, Economics & Law, Anthropology & Ethnology.
Stephan Liegler is a constantly enthusiastic single middle-aged gentleman with
German credentials, sprawling body language and a complete inability to think
critically. He believes in every conspiracy theory, myth and cryptozoological
monster.
He is crazy, for example, about theories about the hollow earth and the reptile men
that are said to live there. He is generally not taken very seriously by the other
members of the club and most try to avoid his lectures as much as possible. At the
same time, he fulfills a purpose, despite his eccentricity, he is also the club's
foremost expert on obscure occult writings.
Experts: Library & Archives, History & Archeology, Arts & Crafts.
Harlan Regan is a tall man whose carved features and deep-set eyes give a slightly
lugubrious impression. He holds a professorship in anthropology at King's College,
with a special interest in the burjats on the shores of Lake Baikal and their
shamanism. However, his interest in this does not stop at distant studies. After
falling ill with a severe fever during his fieldwork, during which he received
treatment from a Buryat shaman, he is fascinated by the notion of travel to alien
planes by reality. It is for this reason that he has also been drawn to the
Angelica Society, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the diversity of
occult notions described in its collections. Professor Regan has a monoantive
trait, which has probably endowed him with successes in his narrow subject as well
as adversities in private life; his social life outside the Angelica Society is
non-existent.
Professor Regan was a power man in the spring of his youth, but since returning
from his field studies, late nights and forgotten meals have made his resilience
leach out and his facial features erode. Nevertheless, the broad shoulders are
clearly visible under the tweed jacket, and the hollow-eyed gaze has a harsh
vitality. At present, the professor begins to feel the urge to travel, either in
the world around him or in consciousness.
Experts: Anthropology & Ethnology, Library & Archives, Ock ultism.
Prof Regan
Dr. Ashbury
Dr. Cecile Ashbury is one of the more down-to-earth members of the society, perhaps
a consequence of her work as a psychologist predisposing her to see irregularities
in people's consciousness rather than in their surroundings. Nevertheless,
membership provides an opportunity to take part in exciting theories about the
psyche and its boundaries, something that Dr. Ashbury incorporates into his private
research. She is very interested in experiments intended to solder the depths of
consciousness, provided that they take place in somewhat scientific forms. Pure
mysticism, which Lady Arlington-Wright engages in, she thanks herself for.
Dr. Ashbury has a calm and controlled appearance, where occasional sharp remarks
testify to both acumen and a measure of cynicism. As she does not spend time with
the Angelica Society, she is an enthusiastic amateur boxer, something that is also
reflected in her somewhat square physiognomy. Outside the ring, she is never seen
without her pair of small gold-rimmed glasses.
Experts: Library & Archives, Medicine, Psychology.
Donald Maxwell Grant is one of the more indispensable members of the London
Society. If you want it, it is said, Donald can arrange it, whether it is a silver
mirror from the Timurid kingdom, erotic ceramics from the Mochefolk or
hallucinogenic iboga root from Cameroon. For Mr Grant, the Angelica Society is a
vital link in his distribution chain: here he finds people who can acquire the most
astonishing
Mr. Grant
Miss Berkley
objects, as well as people willing to pay imaginary sums for the right clay tablet
or figurine. Concerning the actual scientific activity, Donald is fairly pleased;
even though he is fascinated by historical discoveries, he lacks a critical
mindset, but is more inclined to believe in the best story.
Mr. Grant is an eloquent and handsome man around thirty who behaves in a way that
speaks of growing up t in the top strata of society. His taste for well-being has
given him an incipient ron die, and he always dresses according to the latest
fashions. Although he gives the impression of being a superficial jerk, he is a
fairly easily moved and helpful man, although not always a sensitive one.
Experts: Economics & Law, History & Archeology, Arts & Crafts.
Florica Berkley is a neat young lady, whose interest in the Angelica Society is
primarily concerned with its well-stocked but sometimes poorly organized
collections of writings. Since childhood, Miss Berkley has had a sense of language,
and she has quickly gained a reputation through her well-executed translations of
ancient text fragments. She herself makes sure to stay informed about developments
in linguistics, and is currently corresponding with a number of American linguists
regarding attempts to decipher the written language of the Maya Indians.
Unfortunately, this is an unlucrative business, and Miss Berkley therefore spends
most of her time as a tutor in French and Latin. In addition to her interest in
languages, she has a domestic passion for detective novels and has herself
published three shorter ones under the pseudonym Walton Young. The conclusions of
the crime investigation appeal to her in the same way as the puzzling of language
interpretation.
Miss Berkley is impeccably dressed and co-opted, with a skin tone that testifies
that she prefers the reading room to the sunlight. She has a tendency towards
religious brooding, where she swings between the sane methodism of her upbringing
and the deeper, darker truths she sometimes seems to discern when she compares
ancient texts from wildly foreign cultures. In this way, she is reserved and
friendly, but a few years' experience of the teaching profession has given her the
habit of hitting when needed. In a society, she is seldom the one who is most
noticeable, nor the one who is the first to understand a joke, but her diligence
and conscientiousness have made her respected among all society members who are
interested in ancient texts.
Experts: Forensic Science, Psychology, Language.
Frances Greville has recently become a full-scale member of the Angelica Society,
after she barely escaped causing any major scandals for her sponsor. She is a
chain-smoking young wild brain, a constant main concern for her respectable
parents, but has been able to manage her own finances since her favorite uncle left
her a significant legacy. Miss Greville has a penchant for all sorts of things that
are inappropriate for a lady: fast cars and revolutionary politics, cocktails and
jazz music, but also the mysteries that are hidden in the human psyche. This
fascination was aroused precisely by her late uncle Dunbar, who was politely
described as an "eccentric risk" after witnessing some form of unhealthy ritual
during his service in Burma. Of course, this is not something that has diminished
Miss Greville's desire to examine the shadowy sides of the world herself.
Miss Greville
Mrs. Dubois
Miss Greville is modernly cut short and usually dresses as if she had just returned
from a car trip (possibly because that is so often the case), complete with
trousers. Physics testifies to an active lifestyle and outdoors she likes to wear
sunglasses, which for the most part is a matter of vanity; since a sword duel
during her studies had a fatal outcome, her right eye has been replaced by a glass
prosthesis. She has a great desire to travel and is interested in all kinds of
expeditions, but also has a politically narrow mind that is above all expressed in
political poetry according to the Russian futuristic model.
Experts: Mechanics, Psychology, Language.
Christine Dubois is the manager of a small clothing factory in London and also
designs the clothes that are made there. She is a confident and energetic lady in
her upper forties who joined the Angelica Society due to a spiritual interest she
has carried with her from her mother as a child, an Afro-Caribbean maid who had
children with a colonial officer in Jamaica. Her appearance, with brown skin and
dark curls, gossips about this scandalous descent, but despite the prejudices of
the rewarding society, she has managed to make a good profit on her fashion
creation, where she also took the influence from her upbringing. Christine is
married to Achille Dubois, a French matchmaker she met while volunteering as a
nurse during World War II.
Dr. Bruce
Mrs. Levits
Within the club, Mrs. Dubois is involved in the spiritualistic issues, where she is
happy to bring with her a knowledge based on the Jamaican tales and myths she heard
as a child from her mother. As she rarely hesitates to say what she thinks, she has
also ended up in clashes with some members who have a more old-fashioned colonial
view of non-European peoples, but at the same time she probably possesses unique
skills to be a respected member.
Expertises: Economics & Law, Mechanics, Occultism.
Dr. James Michea's Bruce is a furious man who when mast seems to be an inventory at
the club. He's an old friend of Herman Lamar and was often seen conversing with
him. This is the closest a family life Dr. Bruce has; he is a widower and his three
sons all died in World War II. He himself began his career as a field doctor during
the Crimean War, then traveled wherever the empire needed medical care for twenty-
five years, but switched to forensic medicine when he felt he was too old for life
in the field. The death of his sons has taken a heavy toll on him, with the result
that he all too often uses the club's well-stocked bar to try to drown his grief.
After his travels, he has a rich stock of stories about foreign peoples and
customs, but it is necessary to get him close to life because he wants to tell.
Dr. Bruce's gloomy appearance is shaped by a strict Presbyterian upbringing,
military discipline, and personal loss. Even though he is over seventy years old,
he is still strong and tough as a windswept pine, and his low-key Scottish carries
with him a ton of authority. He would never feel it, but young men reminiscent of
his sons evoke intense fatherly feelings in him.
Experts: Anthropology & Ethnology, Forensics, Medicine.
Euphrosyne Levits has made a name for herself in the London art world over the past
decade. She represents an expressionism that is also influenced by the earlier
symbolist movement, but combines this with an accuracy that borders on the detailed
study of the dissection protocol, a skill she acquired through diligent work as a
forensic assistant during her studies. Her membership in the Angelica Society has
given her the opportunity to study in detail both fascinating zoological specimens
and overseas art traditions. Despite her hallucinatory world of images, Mrs. Levits
is a skeptic of the supernatural and prefers to seek the pen of science, especially
biology, to marvel at the world. She has an interest in scientific discoveries and
would like to take part in expeditions dedicated to them.
Mrs. Levits is in her younger middle age, introspective to the way and melancholy
to the temperament. Her husband, David Levits, is also an artist, but less
interested in Euphrosyne's scientific orientation. During her time as a forensic
pathologist, Mrs. Levits worked with Dr. Bruce, and his current sad condition makes
her uneasy.
Experts: Arts & Crafts, Forensics, Natural Sciences.