The

Dark Brood
The fecund womb of Shub-Niggurath provides a perfect tool for creating
strange new horrors, both unique and ephemeral in their existence. The
All-Mother creates and destroys, the Dark Brood issues forth briefly, only
to return whence they came without herald or explanation. If nothing else,
the brevity of their existence should add to the alien and uncaring sense
of the Mythos. The destruction, anguish and pain inflicted by the very
existence of the Dark Brood comes and goes without explanation. At the
same time, those forces in our world that seek to leverage the unknown or
tap into these aberrations must do so with haste, precision and without
conscience.

The Black Goat

The act of veneration in the name of Shub-Niggurath takes as many forms,

if not more, as the brood that spring forth from its womb. As an entity
without a form discernable by mortals, its most likely immortal essence
secluded in the chaotic heart of the Universe, any words used to describe
Shub-Niggurath doubtless fall short. Worshipped since before recorded
history, those features ascribed to Shub-Niggurath carry with them the
idiosyncrasies and attitudes of each sect or society.

While commonly referenced as fecund mother of all things or wife to one

of the other greater powers of the Mythos, this in itself allots specificity
based on all too-simple human concepts assigned to the act of birth and
creation. Shub-Niggurath manifests the raw chaos and entropy that begins
and ends all things. It both creates and destroys, bearing forth the
impossible and unthinkable, brief and unnameable children that burn hot

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like a furnace for a short time before folding back into Shub-Niggurath to
be born anew.

For The Cthulhu Hack investigations, Shub-Niggurath manifests in acts

of impossible creation, life that defies all logic in existence and burns
brighter that any star in that moment. As a deity, those who worship it
perceive a spectrum of influence and potential, and signs of veneration or
nexuses of power may commonly appear in specific locations. Most faithful
worship Shub-Niggurath in one or more of the following facets:

● Creator - Shub-Niggurath represents the oneness of being from which

all things spring, without boundary or prejudice. From here all things
shall arise and so too shall return. Before creation exists only a state of
shapeless, timeless, senseless nothingness. Signs of its influence as
Creator may appear in hospitals, covens, churches and brothels.

● Nurturer - Symbolising care and tenderness, in this familial form

Shub-Niggurath protects and preserves, clutching those threatened
close to the void. Associated with caves, mountain tops and hidden
places, often manifesting as a dark-haired she-goat.

● Sustainer - Worshipped as a source of nourishment, Shub-Niggurath

provides the wellspring from which believers sustain themselves.
Imagery of such a deity appears plant-like with a darkness at the heart
from which flows manna, sap or blood. As Sustainer the deity associates
with farms, wineries, chapels, apothecaries and natural springs.

● Guardian - As a tutelary power, Shub-Niggurath guards and preserves,

whether focused on an individual, a location, or a people. As with the
Sustainer, evidence manifests as stone rings or places comprised of
many layers, extensions and expansions, as if imbuing potential for
organic growth on worked stone, iron and timber.

● Incubator - A melting pot of possibility, a warm and comforting place

from which change may spring. Worship of this form may engage in
extreme experimentation in pursuit of change or even forced stasis.
Often associated with stables, barns, laboratories, pits and vents.

What are the Dark Brood?

The Mythos provides potential and not boundaries, a wellspring of chaos
from which spring monstrous and alien entities. That which sprang from

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the imagination of Lovecraft was not necessarily detailed or expanded on
beyond vague notions or fleeting glimpses.

Shub-Niggurath counts amongst those entities that dwell in perpetual

darkness, referenced in ritual and incantation - and only expanded on in
the derivative works that followed. The Dark Brood, too, provide a blank
canvas for the GM to work with, using their presence in an investigation in
any, or many, ways that further the story and excite the imagination.

Avatars
Common in many of Lovecraft’s tales, the avatar might function as the
leader of a sect, but more often appears as a wise and begrudging advisor or
the power behind the throne. These manifestations of the Dark Brood appear
superficially human, but possess twisted features or hidden aspects that, in
difficult situations or the height of worship, writhe forth and test the sanity
of all those that bear witness to them.

Some fragment or facet of Shub-Niggurath, the avatar possesses finite power

but the means to persist inexplicably and return, even in spite of the
destruction of the sects and structures that crumble around them.

Servitors
The Dark Brood as servitors function as bodyguards, hunters, assassins, or
a go-between, following the commands of whoever leads a sect because of
the spells they weaves or some artefact they possess. Like wild animals - or
Shoggoth - they struggle and writhe against the shackles of their Binding,
compelled to obey only while forced. The servitor may at first seem like the
worst possible enemy, but in time might present the best means to bring a
sect, or at least its leader, down.

Mindless Progeny
The simplest use of Shub-Niggurath, it exists like a dimension-spanning
spawn point from a first person shooter. The Dark Brood in this situation
function like the unremitting forces of hell seen in a game like Doom. The
touch of Shub-Niggurath changes everything, its aspect leeching into the
environment.

Worship weakens the skin between worlds, like peeling away the shielding
around a nuclear reactor - until, the region becomes a melting pot of horrible
mutation and unceasing change.

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Nothing needs to be wholly right or sensical about the changes that
manifest in the fabric of the Brood. The twisted progeny of the Black Goat
do not represent the outcome of logical evolution. If anything, they
exemplify the true chaotic forces of creation and change in full and horrific
flow, as if the need to evolve had gone into overdrive.

Genesis of the Dark Brood

If you own From Unformed Realms, you have a tool purpose made for
the creation of Shub-Niggurath’s Mindless Progeny. You can take
common creatures – or those found within the bestiaries of other games
– and turn them into the newest offspring of the illimitable cosmic womb.

That’s the purpose behind From Unformed Realms (FUR) adding a

twist of the unexpected to commonplace and clichéd opponents. Here, you
can leverage the random features and mutations that result from using
FUR to present the strange offspring of Shub-Niggurath in all their
impractical and inconceivable glory.

The Dark Brood

Samples of the bestial progeny of the Black Goat, each generated from a
base creature plus one or more random rolls using FUR:

BLACK SENTRY | HD 4 (18 hp), 2 (6!) AP � Claw (3) x2

Hug. If a player fails to defend and rolls an even number, the Black Bear
grapples and inflicts an additional 3 points of damage with teeth and
bone-crunching pressure.

Resinous shell. The Sentry can forfeit causing damage (i.e. a failed
combat action with the creature will not cause the character to suffer harm)
to close in on itself, armadillo-like, and move rapidly away. It can disengage
from combat without leaving itself vulnerable, move to any point up to
Far Away, and briefly benefits from x3 Armour Points (!).

Massive, barrel-shaped creatures covered with a gore-slick coat of black

fur, the Black Sentry possesses savage claws and rending teeth. They reek
of wet earth and sweet decay, like an open grave. Sentries retain some facet
of the Black Bears fiercely territorial nature; they roam the surroundings,
ever watchful, sniffing the air - forcing Disadvantage on any attempts
to ambush or sneak passed them.

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The touch of the Black Goat has gifted it with the means to enclose itself
in a resinous shell of gore. Closing in on the territory of the creature,
Investigators can smell nothing but blood, a nauseating stench that
requires a CON Save or render the character unconscious (see Faint in
the Shock table, p 27).

BONELESS | HD 2 (10 hp), 0 AP � Crush (3)

Unholy Fall. Cannot be bound by effects that target the mind, nor any
physical attack lacking magic or sanctification, through a ritual or strength
of faith.

Shatterproof. The lack of distinguishable organs or skeletal structure

means that blunt weapons used against the creature cause only 1 point of
harm on a successful strike.

Awkward yet fluid, the Boneless monstrosity might have been a large
creature like a moose or gnu. Now it shifts with a gelatinous squelch, like
emptying a bucket of offal down a narrow drain, accompanied with an
awful, distressed moan of pain. The Boneless possess long, grasping limbs,
a toothless yawning maw, reek like a defrosted freezer of carcasses, and
vent a terrible rage against lall ife.

DEVIL HOUND | HD 3 (12 hp), 2 AP � Bite (4)

Hellfire. Once per round of actions, the Devil Hound targets a character,
forcing a CHA Save. On a fail, the character suffers 3 points of damage as
their flesh withers as if from an invisible flame, with no protection from
normal armour or cover.

Oddly angular creatures with a roughly canine appearance, they seem to

be made up of queer curls of powdery black cinder, enveloped in a
purple-blue haze, like a clean flame. Their movement sounds like the
cacophonous collapse of leaden dominos on a tiled floor.

Close inspection, normally best attempted after the death of the entity,
reveals intricate traceries of lines and glyphs across the fragile "flesh"; touch
leaves a greasy black smear on the skin that will not wash away, causing
unsettling dreams of a womb-like darkness for 20 - CHA days. During this
period, make a Sanity check, with Advantage, each night.

The touch of the Black Goat has impressed on the Hound aspects of some
other dimension, which allows them to act and move without truly
comprehending or interacting with our world. They pass through any

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material, except solid metal or thick glass, like an insidious smoke, making
a nerve-jangling din like thumb tacks scraped across a blackboard.

OPHIDIAES | HD 3 (12 hp), 2 AP � Fangs (3)

Foulness. The bite of the Ophidiaes forces a CON Save, as the foulness
within it's mouth causes the flesh to melt and run. Failure doubles the
standard damage of the creature's bite (6) and forces the victim to Scream
in pain.

Living Waste. The Ophidiaes leaves a faecal trail of living matter, the
half-digested flesh still twitching, grasping and pulsing with unwholesome
life. As the creature moves, it leaves this disgusting matter in its wake -
and seeing the living waste forces a Sanity test. Touching the material -
even accidentally - necessitates a CON Save, causing 3 points of harm and
forcing a Scream of pain on a failure.

Massive and muscular, with bloody and raw flesh; a flat head filled with
sharp teeth in a stinking, filth-riddled maw. This never-was snake-thing
pulses with odd lumps and growths. The half-digested victims of the
Ophidiaes still shift and twitch within the grotesque mass of its body. At
home on land or in the water, it moves with unsettling speed.

POPPY SPIDER | HD 4 (18 hp), d8 AP* � Chelicerae (5)

Petals. Fleshy layers surround and overlap, soaking up damage. When
struck, roll d8, like a Resource Die, with any result 3 or greater counting
as the Poppy Spider’s armour. A result of 1 or 2 drops the protection
afforded by the petals to the next lower die.

Candy Floss. The spider exudes a neurotoxic web. On contact with skin,
it dissolves like candy floss, forming iridescent beads that rapidly vanish.
After exposure, investigators must make a CON Save to avoid suffering
the effects of the toxin, [1d4]: (1) uncontrolled aggression, (2) visual and
auditory hallucinations, (3) seizures, (4) acute agitation - for the remainder
of the Scene.

Poppy Spiders resemble excarnated human heads. Overlapping layers of

raw muscle-like flesh glistens with odourless, colourless liquid. Long bony
legs sprout laterally, making a sound like opening and closing garden shears
as they move. In their wake, they leave scattered trails of wispy floss-like
web, that cling to walls and floors or waft like dandelion fluff.

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TAKEN | HD 2 (10 hp), 1 AP � Scratch (2) x2
Cloying Scent. The sweet, clinging odour of the Taken causes confusion
and disgust unless those Close succeed with a CHA Save. On a fail, the
investigator becomes enamoured, like a person cooing over an infant. To
attack the Taken, the individual must check their Sanity to press through
the overwhelming instinctive disgust of attacking a child.

Rat Child. The Taken are opportunistic survivors, keen of senses and
worryingly intelligent. They adapt easily to their environment, sleight and
nimble - they swim, tunnel, climb and scamper with equal speed and ease,
as if the natural world smooths the way around them. Any attempt to hide
from them, lose them or chase Saves with Disadvantage.

Redeemable. The Taken are not lost. Within the context of the wider
investigation, a means should exist to recover their true mortal essence,
likely through a combination of the Elder Sign and a Ward that purges
the influence of Shub-Niggurath from their bodies.

Fragile at first glance, a Taken seen from afar looks like a young child, lost
and wandering. Up close, their skin has a queer purple tinge, their eyes
rolled back to show only the whites, and the flesh about their mouths
desiccated and curled, revealing small sharp teeth. As they move, their flesh
pulses and contorts, rudimentary limbs reaching, clawing, and thrashing
through the thin membrane.

More than one Taken will seek to swarm a target, drawing them in by
huddling close with their backs turned until curiosity brings their target
close enough. Once they attack, tooth and claw seek to draw blood (lots of
blood!), the flow quenching an intolerable and unceasing thirst.

Against the Dark Brood

The following investigation seeds contain names and locations for your
convenience, but you should adjust them to fit your own campaign. In most
cases it will be clear if an event would suit somewhere urban or natural,
for example, but your individual campaign frame or personal experience
should drive whatever adjustment seems appropriate.
The ideal group of players won’t resist the call of adventure, but each seed
includes three diverse hooks to help entangle the investigators with the
unfolding events.

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Adventure Seed #1
The Vies Clinic offer therapies designed to give couples hope when they
have failed to find any other techniques to assist in conceiving. Over the
course of the last couple of years, Doctor Vivian Reece and her team have
supported hundreds of couples through expensive and demanding
procedures. All media coverage has proved very positive, undoubtedly
influenced by the clientele, many of whom figure as key stakeholders in
online and legacy communications channels.

An investigator receives:

● a request from Robert and Nancy Byers, as they lost touch with their
son and daughter-in-law three weeks ago, soon after they booked into
the clinic

● an invitation to attend a conference at the Vies Clinic facility

● a child of friends displays unnerving aggression while the investigator

visits and later attacks with a ferocity that leaves the father in hospital
and the mother traumatized. Investigation points to the parents’
assisted conception and the the Vies Clinic

Doctor Reece spent a couple of years travelling in South America, the Far
East and Australia, returning in the company of a nameless advisor. After
that, the Vies Clinic experienced increased rates of success with their
treatment, though there was also an unreported increase in post-treatment
suicide and acts of homicidal aggression.

Reece has been grafting the flesh of Poppy Spiders into subjects under
the guidance of her advisor, an Avatar of the Incubator facet of Shub-
Niggurath. Both the Greenhouse and the Basement are off-limits at the
expansive clinic facility; the first a home for the Spiders, the second home
to a dozen traumatised and violent subjects, held for observation. All have
become involuntary hosts for the Dark Brood. They present with various
states of traumatic transformation, both physical and mental.

Adventure Seed #2
The Local Forestry Commission has reported the third missing child
in as many weeks, all vanished following family outings to the Galthorpe
Reserve. All of the missing children are pre-pubescent but seem otherwise
to have nothing in common. The local press - both newspapers and TV, as

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appropriate to the time period - have been blaming a group of travellers
who have recently taken up residence, against the wishes of the authorities,
in a cleared site at the reserve’s edge.

An investigator receives:

● a paid request from a notable figure among the travellers, a one-time

celebrity, James Erdrich, who dropped out to better his or her life,
to resolve the situation

● a plea from one of the families, Carl and Melissa Donovan, who
has lost a child, probably through some association by common
acquaintance

● a contact - perhaps an annalist or local historian - stumbles on a

connection between the disappearances and recollection of a similar
spate of vanishing children some 30 years earlier

Deep in the wooded heart of the reserve lies a circle of crude, moss-thick
standing stones, each etched with lines that mimic human faces or
animals. Passing through the circle, the children have been taken below
and emerged from nearby tunnel mouths transformed into Taken.

The travellers have nothing to do with the disappearances; indeed, two of

their children have vanished and the authorities have made nothing of
it, nor has the media. Talk
with older members of the
In the Reserve [1d6]
traveller group eke out stories
1. A clear brook filled with bone chilling of disappearances over a
water, a sensation that smarts with
generational period - roughly
every contact;
every 30 years. In this past
2. Dark, close woods thick with an under- century they happened in late
carpet of black thorns; 1923, mid 1955, early 1987, and
3. Sturdy trees with low-slung branches, late 2018 - which matches the
likely to bruise the unwary; recorded appearances of the
Aegospotami comet.
4. A round hill, looking out on a great
wood, yet not visible from afar;
The Taken stalk the reserve
5. Charred and broken ground, littered using their stealth and guile to
with bone-like fragments; lure in more targets, but also to
6. Open ground punctured by searching avoid capture. They are
roots and ugly grey stones. Servitors of the Sustainer
aspect of Shub-Niggurath. A

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meteor fragment of the Aegospotami lies beneath the surface of the woods,
a focus for the Black Goats power surfacing as the comet itself draws to its
closest point in relation to the Earth. The fragment lies beneath the ancient
circle of stones in root choked tunnels that crisscross the underworld.

Discussion with the travellers or research through off-limits archives may

uncover some form of ward to cure the Taken, but the real solution can
only come in finding the fragment and destroying it before the seventh
child is “abducted” and transformed.

Adventure Seed #3
A decade after starting Ultimate Health the rise of Mez Lekler from the
bottom rungs of the sports nutrition industry to a magazine cover story
might have been enough to ensure his immortality in the media.
Unfortunately, instead of sweeping Olympic successes achieved on the back
of Ultimate Health's massive investment in the national team, the splashes
across the press today might be the headstone that punctuates his tale.

Lurid, but indistinct and uninformative, images from the scene report
Lekler's death in a tragic road accident that inflicted injuries, fatal on site.
What's worse, the trash media throw up new evidence that Lekler led a
double-life of extra-marital hook-ups for sleazy sex, with several publicity
hungry no-bodies coming forward to fuel the exposé.

An investigator receives:

● an anonymous user sends a Snapchat video taken from above the road
as Lekler's accident happened. The viewpoint swings down from a
skyline shot as tyres screech to see Leklar's car stopped at the end of a
skid, followed by a double impact - from a lorry at the front and a taxi
at the back. What's unnerving is the sheer quantity of gore that sprays
across the inside of Leklar's windscreen before the impacts

● a call from a friend, Joshua Ward, the ex-fiance of Maya Khan,

Director of Research & Development at Differential Pharma. Joshua
claims Maya and he had a date set for their wedding and a wealth of
plans in place only for her to have become distant and insanely focused
with work after several trips away on conferences. Differential have
now announced a drug capable of not just deferring the onset of
dementia but complete reversal - for which Maya has been praised,
promoted and splashed across the media. Joshua egotistically believes
that Maya has achieved all this at his expense somehow and wants her

11
 trailed - something that will inevitably lead to an eye-witness encounter
with her horrific death

● an invitation to a social event for key social climbers and industry leads
that has all the hallmarks of being a feeder event for access to
something more amoral and lascivious

Lekler struggled through a decade in the competitive and crowded market

of nutrition supplements, before releasing Ultimate-U range last year and
heavily sponsoring the Olympic team. The gold medals never stopped
flowing throughout the event and Lekler reaped the benefits. Studies
showed that Ultimate-U effectively provided physical and mental
enhancements better than any known performance enhancing drug without
any of the side-effects or legal trip-ups.

As it happens, the release of Ultimate-U last year also coincides with many
of the stories coming out about his extra-marital sexual partners. Leklar
had been hiring companions from various high-end escort agencies over a
short period, before completely vanishing off their books.

At this point Leklar got involved with a very exclusive - and nameless -
agency offering speed dating to the top figures in everything from finance
to niche tech. The agency is run by an individual only referred to as Mater
(a term more commonly used in certain echelons to refer to a mother), who
only occasionally attends the events in person. Mater's slogan seems to
have been "Gratification is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent
perspiration", as the literal hotbed of talent she brought together proved
both satisfying for them and beneficial in there work.

Other individuals involved have also made the headlines, each in the after
glow of some inexplicable achievement or climbing to some pinnacle of
previously unattainable height. In all cases, their deaths have been reported
as accidents, but the facts defy easy explanation. Indeed, actual autopsy
reports attempt to gloss over the fact that massive internal trauma occurred
from inside the individual immediately before the accident. In all instance,
the reports have attempted to explain these away with freak external
disruption or barely supported pseudo-science.

Mater is an Avatar of Shub-Niggurath as Incubator, a seed-funder of a truly

niche clientele in more ways than one. After careful selection of new
inductees to the private meetings of her agency in the urban backdrop of
central London (or some other suitable metropolis), she grooms the clientele
for ideal candidates over several sessions of increasingly lurid speed dating.

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After numerous highly charged sexual encounters, Mater ultimately
chooses someone for a personal encounters that leads to the most exquisite
moment of preternatural lust, leaving them buzzing with creative energy
beyond comprehension and implanted with aa “ticking timebomb” spore.

Worship of Shub-Niggurath
Those who place their faith in Shub-Niggurath and its Dark Brood often do
so seeking to bring about change in their lives or circumstances. They may
wish to find a greater simplicity from chaos or relief from endless pain. The
uttering of the name of Shub-Niggurath, more often than not, seems to
function as a catalyst for the channeling of greater powers, a means to bind
substance and formulae into discrete concentrations of vital energy.

The proliferation of references to Shub-Niggurath in so many esoteric works

might lend credence to the possibility that it is not an entity, so much as
a binding force - the All-Parent to everything that exists or has existed. By
intoning its name within a ritual or spell, the caster invokes the power to
bring something into existence or cut something down by swallowing it
back into the primordial soup of creation.

The scattered references and subtle association with influence, change and
growth means that worshippers run the gamut from hedge practitioners of
natural magic and vexed, down-trodden home-bodies to noted scientists
and pillars of the community, seeking to drive a breakthrough at any cost.

In the Name of the Black Goat

Those who seek the embrace of the All-Parent through faith and diligent
service do so in the pursuit of [roll 1d6]:

1. Betterment. Masquerading as a niche religion or fad lifestyle track

twisted to transform the body and mind through a regimen of diet,
contemplation, core principles and lifestyle adjustment. Followers: Well
turned out, healthy-looking with strong opinions and voices. Their
doctrines of well being force CHA Saves with Disadvantage.

2. Breeding. Any business or community focused on narrowing of the

genetic stream in pursuit of a state of perfection, whether within
humanity or of another species (i.e. horse-breeding, GM-manipulated
foods). Followers: Lean flesh with fluid movement, they spout their
pseudo-science with confidence. The minions (including Brood) at their
command have +1 HD (+4 hp) and +1 AP.

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3. Contagion. Location beset with a disease outbreak, a place with strong
association to plague or an environment anathema to life. The believers
provide support, comfort, quarantine or prophylaxis. Those suffering
may remain at the site of contagion or have their needs provided for
within the local or central site of the faithful. Followers: Shadow-
rimmed but caring eyes. Hands always gloved, with a delicate touch.
The smell of antiseptic. The faithful use weaponised contagion and any
damage necessitates a CON Save to avoid infection.

4. Indulgence. Business formed around manufacture or supply of an

illicit material - from sensation enhancing drugs to extreme forms of
pornography or socialised violence. The front may instead provide an
environment in which others may be induced to 'generate' the substance
themselves, perhaps through technology or extreme behaviours.
Followers: Wide and dark pupils, sharp cheekbones, languid motion.
Individuals dress well enough but tend to live in relative squalor,
focused solely on the next fix. They roll damage and do so with
Advantage, channeling barely contained rage.

5. Philanthropy. Figureheads of significant power, reputation and even

celebrity, indulging in the preservation and custodianship of a site, a
people or a way of life. Vocal proponents of the status quo, investing
considerable wealth and exerting surprising influence in subverting
the bulldozers of change - and yet, in their own way - generating
carefully calculated transformation. Followers: Old country values and
comfortable tweed, with the trappings of wealth muted but apparent.
Gnarled, yet somehow youthful and handsome. Wealth means only the
best will do, adjusting all rolls in their favour by 1 where possessions
matter (i.e. weapons inflict +1 damage and Saves are -1 to avoid; Saves
to escape are -1 because of faster cars or better footwear). In turn,
connections mean that they make everything more costly, either by
influencing the value or blocking lines of credit (prices are +50%
normal and Wealth rolls at Disadvantage).

6. Decay. Urban explorers, homeless defenders, patrons of renewal. Every

town and conurbation supports an underbelly of noxious alleyways,
dilapidated structures, forgotten tunnels and abandoned services. The
faithful make the decay their concern, seeking out those who persist
there to give them new purpose. Followers: Well-to-do dressed down,
fitted out to walk the miles; preachers on behalf of the needy. Attempts
to escape their pursuit (DEX Save) or find their meeting spots
(Investigation) suffer from Disadvantage.

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Rituals of Shub-Niggurath
The influence of Shub-Niggurath runs deep in ritualism and witchcraft that
seeks to impress change, transformation and decay upon unwilling targets.
The magic entwined with the name of the entity most often includes the
preparation of complex (al)chemical concoctions, akin to, and probably the
basis for, the poisons and potions found in fantasy and fairytales.

Those rituals outlined that concoct libations require at least a week of

gathering materials, preparation and experimentation before completion.

Emanations of Yoth. Spell (2 Moments). As the caster incants over a

wood bowl of blood harvested from a pre-pubescent child, the magic draws
forth a convulsing snarl of root-like green fire. Creeping strands bind a
Nearby target, holding them immobile until they succeed with a STR and
DEX Save in the same Moment. At the end of any Moment in contact
with the fire, the target loses 2 hit points (or tests their Hit Dice) and 1 point
of CON. Someone may attempt to assist release, making one or both Saves
for the bound target, but both suffer the ill-effects of the emanations.

Feast of the Foxes. Ritual (1d4+1 hours). The caster must catch a fox and
secure a torch to its tail, which the caster then lights, while stood upon a
hilltop. The torch must be steeped in a concoction including echinacea,
wild garlic, honey, and cinnamon. The smoke from the fire has a purging
and restorative effect, giving Advantage on CON Saves to resist disease
and infection (until the close of the next Scene), and restoring 3 hit points
(or one level of hit die).

Flesh-to-Stone. Ritual (3d4+2 days). More science than magic, the caster
concocts the tasteless, odourless and colourless liquid from a combination
of barium sulphate, calcium chloride, and various acids and catalytic
substances. Acquisition takes time and an Investigator must expend two
Investigative Resource dice (losing them as if they rolled a 1 or 2).

In combination with certain rites, the liquid produced causes rapid and
painful calcification resulting in petrification. The strength of the dose and
mass of the target affects the time taken to complete the transformation -
assume 1d20 Moments before gross mobility becomes impossible (i.e. can
no longer walk or manipulate objects) and 1d20 Minutes after that before
cold grey death sets in. The process can be averted with the right chemical
antidote or mystical formulae, but otherwise cannot be avoided.

Green Decay. Spell (1 Moment). Directed upon a single Nearby target,

the caster and victim alike become overwhelmed with the fetid and earthy

15
stench of the grave. The target can feel movement within their guts, taste
dirt in their mouth, and experience a claustrophobic narrowing of their
senses, as if falling into an open grave.

Both caster and target must make a CON Save. If both succeed, the caster
experiences a wave of nausea (effect as Rabbit, TCH p28). If both fail, each
suffers 2d4 damage (or rolls Hit Dice as if struck by 5 points of damage).
If the caster fails, they experience Paralysis (TCH, p27) and 2d4 damage
(as above). If the victim fails, they suffer Paralysis and 4d4 damage (or
roll hit dice as if struck by 10 points of damage).

Vexed Heart. Spell (2 Moment). The spell requires possession of a

physical part of the target, like a lock of hair, a scrape of flesh or a toenail.
Directed upon the target, they experience a sense of connection and
empathy that borders on friendship while in the presence of the caster.

If the target accompanies a group, their presence provides a +4 modifier on

any Reaction. Otherwise, any hostile action focussed on the caster by the
target’s friends - especially CHA Saves - rolls to the caster’s Advantage.

Obligatory Random Table

If you need a nudge to populate a location, influence a situation, or add
flavour to an encounter associated with Shub-Niggurath or the Dark Brood,
choose something from the table or roll 1d10:

1. Cocoon state. The influence of Shub-Niggurath forces a state of change

akin to the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly - except more
horrific. Those infected by the Black Goats presence become lethargic
and stiffen, their bodies slowing to a hibernation state. At some point,
their [1d4]: (1) skin thickens and encases them, at first growing over
nails and pores, but rapidly extending over vital orifices; (2) flesh
inflames, oozing blood, puffing and expanding like Mentos foam
extruding from a bottle of fizzy drink… but in a much disgusting way;
(3) pores leech thick, brown slime that reeks of blood and gradually
hardens to become a chitin-like shell; (4) fascination drives them to
flay the flesh of other creatures and encase themselves in the strips
and straps of paper-thin skin, suturing the material like a surgical
closure or graft. Whatever the nature of the transformation and the
apparent discomfort experienced, the infected remain alive though not
necessarily sane.

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2. Monstrous. Things grow beyond all reasonable scale, twisted and
distorted by their expansion. Vegetation towers overhead, reeking with
thick sap and fruiting bodies; animals stagger under the weight of fresh
growth, bodies distended, sporting vestigial limbs, impractical layers
of muscle, or extraneous sensory organs. Corpses bloat with stinking
gases or quiver with a burgeoning population of flies, maggots or other
carrion feeders. Said monstrous growth happens suddenly, sufficient
to demand checks upon Sanity, threatening shock or, at worst,
madness. Living creatures either show no recognition of the change or
conversely vent their agonies with horrible groans and screams.

3. Barrier. Either a location becomes overwhelmed and surrounded by

a natural barrier or once in-situ a great wall thickens and forms around
and about. Attempts to tame or pass through the barrier find it resilient
and quick to recover from damage, as if regenerating. Such a barrier
may form from [1d4]: (1) iron-hard, thorn-thick briers that force a STR
Save at Disadvantage to tame a path through, otherwise trapping
everyone within, potentially with excrutiating physical harm if
movement continues or escape attempted; (2) blackened and twisted
roots that ooze red-brown sap that causes a dullness of the senses
(Disadvantage on Personality Saves for the remainder of the Scene)
unless shrugged off with a CON Save; (3) a savage storm of hammering
rain and buffeting wind, of such power and ferocity that all attempts
at DEX Saves suffer Disadvantage and threaten a fall; (4) a deep and
noxious marsh, thick with strange brown weed stalks, evilly twisted
willows, and noisome sucking mud. The mud clings and pulls, sapping
strength and dragging the unwary down into pockets of fetid water.

Cut a path through the briers yesterday to the park gate where my supplies are left, but this
morning I found it closed. Very odd, since the bushes are barely stirring with spring sap. I
tried to go for my supplies, but found the briers twisted tightly in my path. In places the
brown, barbed vines had uncurled to astonishing heights, forming a steel-like hedge
against my egress.
- The Diary of Alonzo Typer

4. Stone circle. Ugly and irregular stones lie close by, an aspect of the
landscape that predates anything else in the vicinity. The stones are
[1d4]: (1) the crown of a rounded hill that lies some distance from the
location of interest to the Investigators, but appears the epicentre for
strange weather and the periodic meetings of local towns people; (2)

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 strewn around a local field in haphazard patterns, some smooth, other
engraved with patterns or faces; to spend time amongst them bestows
an attitude rolled on the Reaction table (TCH, p30); (3) sculpted to
depict people engaged in ordinary activities, their features weathered
and moss-riddled; recently more stones have been discovered in the
depths of the woods or marshy backwaters and seem to portray
individuals with vaguely familiar features and modern attire; (4)
difficult to find, though everyone shares common childhood memories
of having been there and spent time with friends, though which friends
and their whereabouts also seems a tough recollection to pin down.

5. Mad believers. The veneration for the Black Goat of the Woods often
runs long and deep through family lines, similar to the rugous and
weak-chinned bloodlines that worship Dagon. Inspecting the history
of certain families may uncover [1d4]: (1) portraits that reveal a strong
bestial aspect in the eyes, facial features and course dark hair; (2) the
strong desire to travel, visiting distant relations, notable clutches of
ancient stones, and leaving a trail of ill rumour, jilted lovers and
wild-tempered progeny; (3) strong connections with the traditions of
witchcraft common to the eastern States of America and western
Europe; (4) a stilted and broken familial line, with fits and spurts of
inexplicable growth and multiple births despite persistent rumour of
barren coupling.

6. Strange Find. While not commonly associated with technology, the

worship of Shub-Niggurath and the proliferation of the Brood extends
beyond our world. Investigators may discover [1d4]: (1) written volumes
encased in sheets of strange metal and written, in ciphers, upon sheets
of oily paper that will not burn; (2) a cylinder of metal that causes rapid
mutation of any organic matter stored inside (roll something suitable
in FUR or make something up!); (3) a building of inexplicable size, shape
or location, that seems to have been expanded over time, by many
owners, but without clear purpose or explanation; (4) a bracelet of
intertwining materials, none identifiable, that confers aspects of
animal, plant and other utterly alien entities upon any who wear it.

7. Unnatural Selection. Egregious changes and weird mutation that

would make Darwin turn in his grave, suggesting strange and irregular
diversions in development that defy scientific explanation. [1d4]: (1)
the appearance of fantastical or apparently mythic creatures in common
stock, showing incredible vigour and potential, but feeling utterly
wrong; (2) an upsurge in difficult births, abnormalities, conjoined twins,
and extra limbs or digits, which rational minds might explain away
with poorly tested pharmaceuticals, radiation leaks, or chemical
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 waste-infected water supplies; (3) beneficial results of trials in the wider
population to enhance muscle, support weight loss, bolster immunity
or some other advantageous change, mixed with an increase in violent
crime, odd changes in diet, and sexual proclivity; (4) disappearance of
some common domestic or urbanised feral species, followed by
inexplicable attacks that nevertheless resemble missing animals - like
scratches and bites by something that strikes while in flight.

8. Caged. Prisoners held as bait, sacrifices, test subjects, food or

something else even less pleasant. [1d4]: (1) twisted roots and branches
sprout from the floor, walls and ceiling, creating the bars that restrain,
but also skewering and impaling, (2) multiple prisoners within the great
bone cage of a sprawling carcass, their flesh melting, oozing and
catching on the bones, as if reinvigorating the dead, (3) wailing and
weeping experiments, imprisoned by the distended and expanding
cartilage of their own skeleton, (4) pulsing sacks of tough, opaque flesh
throbbing with hideous vitality, entrapping struggling living subjects.

9. Morphic Liquid. Potent transfigurative fluids leak into the

environment everyday, scurrilously dumped by the lazy, the ignorant
and the immoral. Exposure [1d4]: (1) causes benign growths to emerge
across the body that act of their own accord, curling and unfolding
spasmodically, getting in the way (Disadvantage on DEX Saves) and
complicating (-2) Reactions if not hidden; (2) results in violent and
debilitating reaction akin to cholera, gushing bodily fluids from all
orifices, culminating (after 2d3 hours) in the formation of a
doppelganger composed entirely of cloudy liquid that seeks to drown
its progenitor; (3) generates a state of apathy and indifference, then
distraction and confusion; the individual later regains focus (after 1d4
hours) but struggles with competing inner voices, as if infected with
many trains of thought, such that all Saves function at –2 until they
pass a gallon of water; (4) makes the epidermis grow thick and strangely
soft, like intestinal lining, and vice versa, as if the body were turning
inside out.

10. Gate. An aperture or avenue becomes charged with strange potential,

suggesting an unsettling presence. The gateway engenders a curious
fascination on those who see it or spend a period in the presence of it,
hinting at uncanny revelations to those witness to its opening. [1d4]:
(1) the portal or path doesn’t appear to lead anywhere unusual, however
those who pass through or along it find their perception of the world
changed, revealing physical possibilities and potentials both
informative and disturbing; (2) organic materials passing through the

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 aperture become changed and twisted, fractured and altered in a way
both familiar and clearly different; randomly swap the Saves of any
Investigator passing through the gate (an effect that persists for 1d3
days) and drop their Sanity by one step; (3) like the endless reach of
a fungal root network, the route can provide access to any place
someone passing through wishes to reach; reaching the destination the
GM may choose to change one key known fact established in the
adventure thus far, maybe switching a decision or resurrecting a key
figure from the dead; (4) the passage leads to the dread realm of
Rhan-Tegoth, littered with myriad routes to other places and worlds,
but accessible only at the price of a living sacrifice; the sacrifice becomes
a twisted and dessicated creature, akin to a Ghoul, with a taste for both
blood and revenge.

References
Lovecraft’s stories offer only peripheral reference to the elder entity known
as Shub-Niggurath, setting it in high regard with witches and practitioners
of the occult. It appeared first in tales he re-wrote or revised on behalf of
other writers, and later found a place in a few of his own stories. Details
are scant and it tends to arise specifically in the chants and ministrations
of worshippers and practitioners of dark rituals.

Individual references to her appear in (with dates showing time of

composition rather than publication):

● “The Last Test” (1927) ● “The Man of Stone” (1932)

● “The Dunwich Horror” (1928)
● “The Mound” (1930)
● “The Whisperer in Darkness” (1930)
● “The Dreams in the Witch House”
(1932)
● “The Horror in the Museum” (1933)
● “The Thing on the Doorstep” (1933)
● “Out of the Aeons” (1933)
● “The Diary of Alonzo Typer” (1935)

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The
Dark Brood
Credits
Written by
Paul Baldowski

Cover by
Dedy
https://unded.deviantart.com

Made with The Black Hack (v1.0) by

David Black

First Published in PDF - December 2017 | First Printing - May 2018

For more about the game, visit Just Crunch: www.justcrunch.com
For books & other merch, visit All Rolled Up: www.allrolledup.co.uk

To Fluffy, Arch Priest of Shub-Niggurath’s Horde

DESIGNATION OF PRODUCT IDENTITY: The names “The Cthulhu Hack”, and all proper nouns,
artefact names, creature names, places, symbols, artwork, logos, graphic design, and product layout
are Product Identity. RELEASED UNDER OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a bit.ly/OGLv01S
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: OGL v1.0 © 2000 WotC, Inc. | The Black Hack © 2016 David Black | The Cthulhu

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