D I R E CT T H E AR CANE FOR CE S OF TH E SE CR ET WAR !

A MODIPHIUS
P U B L I CAT I O N

® IS SUE
N O. 3

Your c omple t e
c omp anion for
awe s ome GM-ing

emas ter’s
Gam i t
l k Too
Craf t memorable mis sions, cre at e fiendish
adve rs arie s, deliver awe s ome c amp aigns
and rule worlds o f pulp adventure!
 Credits
ACHTUNG! CTHULHU CREATED BY CHRIS BIRCH

System Design Interior Artwork Artists Head of Creative Services

Nathan Dowdell Carlos Cabrera, Sam Denmark, Chaim Jon Webb
Garcia, Boris Martsev, Dimitri Martin,
Writer Christian Quinot Video Content Producer
John Houlihan Steve Daldry
Project Manager
Editor Chris Shepperson Financial Controller
Chris Shepperson Luc Woolfenden
Achtung! Cthulhu Line
Graphic Designers Development Customer Service
Matthew Comben, Richard L. Gale, John Houlihan Lloyd Gyan
Michal E. Cross
Chief Creative Officer Office Manager
Layout Chris Birch Shaun Hocking
Steven Meyer-Rassow
Chief Operations Officer Data Analyst
Art Directors Rita Birch Benn Grayeaton
Kris Aubin, John Houlihan, Chris Birch
Managing Director Bookkeeper
Cover Artists Cameron Dicks Valya Mkrtchyan
Boris Martsev
Head of Product Playtesters
Sam Webb Massive thanks to the Achtung!
Cthulhu Kickstarter backers from
2013, the playtesters for the new 2d20
edition and everyone who’s been part
of the Modiphius family

LEGAL
Achtung! Cthulhu ® Modiphius Entertainment 2020.
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© 2012-2020 Modiphius Entertainment Ltd.

The 2d20 system and Modiphius Logos are copyright

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Modiphius Entertainment Product Number:
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 Contents

Gamemaster’s
Toolkit

Introduction ��������������������������������������������������� 2
Titling Your Adventures and Campaigns ... 3
Settings����������������������������������������������������������� 3
Background ���������������������������������������������������� 4
Battles and Operations ............................... 5
Starting Parameters ������������������������������������� 6
Antagonists and Opposition ...................... 7
Supporting Cast �������������������������������������������� 8
The Opening Scene ������������������������������������� 10
Subsequent Scenes��������������������������������������12
Plotting ����������������������������������������������������������15
Mission Creation ������������������������������������������ 25
 Gamemaster’s
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
Toolkit
Writing and creating memorable adventures from scratch
is no easy task. Even the most experienced GM may
sometimes struggle when looking for inspiration and new
ideas to surprise and delight their players. Those GMs who
are new to the role and taking their first steps along its
winding path may find this even more daunting.
But it doesn’t have to be that way and that’s where this
Gamemaster’s toolkit comes in, by aiming to take some of
the load off the hard-pressed GM’s shoulders and giving
them a range of tools to create the fast-paced, pulp-
influenced adventures which form the heart of Achtung!
Cthulhu 2d20.
Whether you’re a GM who meticulously plans every scene
and nuance in advance, or one who enjoys the unique
thrills of improvising and add-libbing at the table, you will
find plenty of material to help you here.
There’s a complete step-by-step method for creating
complete randomly generated adventures and bringing
new worlds to life which you can find on p25. You can
use the tables and charts within to suggest intriguing
plots and locations, stock them with weapons, magic and
arcane artefacts, and finally populate them with a cast
of memorable characters. It’s a really fun and interesting
2
exercise to create adventures this way, however, we
suspect most GM’s will probably mix methods, dipping
in and out of this guide on an ad hoc basis and using its
charts and tables in combination with their judgement and
imagination to shape their adventures.
Don’t forget there’s also a wealth of books, movies, TV
shows, graphic novels and culture to draw upon too. The
second world war has generated countless fascinating
stories, both fact and fiction, and many of these can be
readily adapted for Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20.
Some modern big screen movies like the Indiana Jones
series, Hellboy and Overlord are born Mythos ready,
but there’s also plenty of great war movies too. All-time
classics like The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far or
Where Eagles Dare can provide inspiration for your
own missions, while older movies like The Dam Busters,
633 Squadron and Ice Cold in Alex can also be given a
powerful Mythos twist.
Modern TV shows like Band of Brothers, The Liberator,
The Man in the High Castle, or for older readers, Colditz,
Secret Army, The World At War and possibly even ‘allo
‘allo, might cause your creative juices to flow. Historical
books like Stephen E Ambrose’s D-Day and Pegasus Bridge
are masterful, but perhaps the most powerful of all are
first-hand reportage accounts of World War II like Stud’s
Terkel’s The Good War or the Imperial War Museum’s
Forgotten Voices series, which provide excellent original
source material.
Fortunately, no GM is totally alone nowadays either,
there’s plenty of advice for GMs online with videos,
podcasts, seminars and masterclasses, like Modiphius’
own MODCON, which provide a wealth of guidance, tips,
tricks, and tactics to help hone your Gamemastering skills.
Yet, the best GM-ing advice is the simplest and most
enduring: have fun and make sure everyone at the table
(including the GM) is enjoying themselves. Give everyone
their turn in the spotlight, give individual characters a
chance to shine, give the group challenges and obstacles
to overcome by displaying teamwork and ingenuity and
you’ll usually have a happy table, an enjoyable session,
and players returning eager for more. As you end your
session and leave your players dangling on an awesome
cliffhanger, those plaintive cries of ‘When can do this
again?’ are perhaps the GM’s greatest XP reward of all.
Titling Your Adventures and Campaigns

Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

Choosing a title for your adventure always presents an
interesting dilemma. While it doesn’t matter quite as
much for games amongst friends, there’s no doubt that a
title is important, crucial even, to attract new players and
readers, especially if you’re ever intending to sell your
adventures commercially.
Why? Well, it’s every player’s first contact with your
creation and it has to grab them right away, so that they
are intrigued enough to find out more. A great title is an
elevator pitch, it gives you a head start and sets up your
grand adventure, and while there’s no hard and fast rules
for making great titles, there are a few guidelines you can
use to help you narrow down your choice.
The good news is, you don’t have to decide on it at the
beginning. Most adventures use a working title during their
creation, which is eventually dispensed with once it’s begun
to take shape, or even long after it’s finished. Very few
missions are planned out to the nth degree and sources of
inspiration for the title will often strike during the creation
process. Make sure you note it down, if one occurs!
By and large though, good titles usually reflect or
summarise some key facet about their subject, they tell
the reader what to expect or whet their appetite for what’s
to come. Think of some of the great pulp movie creations
like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Hellboy, or Overlord: the title
gives you an immediate flavour of the piece.
Fortunately, Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 lends itself to some
ripe titling opportunities, so let your imagination take
flight. You can also always use the “Operation” prefix,
for example like Operation Vanguard, and then bolt on
your own codename. If you do get stuck, there’s plenty
of generators online to help you out with some useful
suggestions. You could even make like the late, great David
Bowie and use random generation techniques, cutting up a
succession of words from newspapers and magazines and
shuffle them around in patterns, or draw them randomly
to produce titles. Don’t be afraid to mix and match, borrow
and adapt elements to create your own. A quick Google is
always advised to make sure it’s not been used before and
that you’re not stepping on someone else’s creative toes or
replicating a real-life Operation.
If you choose to go for a wholly original creation then
let’s look at a quick example from our own stable, The
Trellborg Monstrosities. When creating this title, the
intention was to make something short and snappy
using just three words. The fictional Trellborg lent a
Scandinavian air to proceedings and Monstrosities was
a bit of a word play: although there’s only one fiendish
creature in the adventure, the main antagonist becomes a
monster through his actions, hence the plural.
However you get there, when you alight on the right title,
you should find a bell just pings in your brain. In short,
you’ll know it, when you know it.

Settings
In Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 a Secret War rages beneath
the global conflict of the real second world war. One of
the setting’s real strengths is that your adventures can
be anchored in or near real-life historical events, which
provides additional depth and narrative interest. When is
your adventure set during the second world war? Where
will it take place? What was happening in the wider
conflict at this time?

The answer to these questions can provide inspiration and

context. If you decide to base your adventure in 1939-40,
then Nazi Germany will be very much on the ascendent,
America won’t have entered the war and the British and
their allies will be very fearful of invasion, leading to a
defensive mind set. Much of Europe will be occupied and
there will only be fledgling resistance movements in most
countries. In the midst of the war, these factors are in
flux, and later in the war, they are almost fully reversed.
Bearing all that in mind will help mould your adventure.
If it’s set early in the war, perhaps you’ll concentrate on
more infiltration and stealthy scenarios, as your agents
attempt to breach Fortress Europe. Later on you might
encourage them to go on the offensive as the Nazis retreat.

3
 Background
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

The first thing to decide then is your Time Period and Theatre of Operations
Theatre of Operations. This will give you your background
and help frame your overall adventure. Achtung! Cthulhu ROLL LOCATION
is set during a very specific era in history and what’s going 1 Poland
on in the wider world shapes events happening in the
parallel Secret War. 2 Czechoslovakia

3 France
Our first roll on the time period table gives us January
1941-December 1941 and North Africa as the theatre of 4 Italy
operations. A quick rummage in the historical records, 5 North Africa
reveals that Tobruk was a pivotal place during this time,
either the British capture of it early in the year, or the 6 Malta
mid-year siege, which are both excellent places to start. 7 Soviet Union (Eastern Front)

8 United Kingdom
Time Period 9 Pacific Theatre

ROLL TIME PERIOD 10 United States Home Front

1—2 Mar 1939-Sep 1939 11 Spain

3—4 Oct 1939-Dec 1939 12 Norway

5—6 Jan 1940-Dec 1940 13 Pacific Islands

7—8 Jan 1941-Dec 1941 14 Japan

9—10 Jan 1942-Dec 1942 15 Sino-Japanese War

11—12 Jan 1943-Dec 1943 16 Yugoslavia

13—14 Jan 1944-Dec 1944 17 South East Asia

15—16 Jan-1945-May 1945 18 Greece

17—18 June 1945-Sep 1945 19 Netherlands

19—20 Oct 1945-Mar 1946 20 Baltic Region

4
Battles and Operations

Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

Alternatively, you could choose a specific battle to begin Operational Background
your journey, a quick role on the Battles table gives us
Monte Cassino in 1943, an intriguing offering, while the ROLL TITLE DATE
Operational Background table, suggests Operation Long 1 Operation Sea Lion 1940
Jump, the German plan to assassinate Churchill, Roosevelt
and Stalin at the Tehran conference. 2 Operation Dynamo 1940

3 Operation Colossus 1941

Whichever course you choose, it’s often useful to bear in
mind that the Secret War underpins events in the wider 4 Operation Archery 1941
conflict. After a bit of deliberation, we opt for our original 5 The Manhattan Project 1942
background as a basis for the mission as we really like the
desert setting. Of course, we could set the action directly 6 Operation Pastorius 1942
in the Siege of Tobruk itself, but often it’s more interesting 7 Operation Jubilee 1942
to sniff around the fringes and ponder just what the occult
forces would be doing to help or hinder events in the main 8 Operation Musketoon 1942
action. How would Black Sun be supporting the siege? 9 Operation Gunnerside 1942
How would Section M be doing to help re-supply or rearm
the defenders? It’s often when pondering these kinds of 10 Operation Biting 1942
questions that inspiration strikes. 11 Operation Chariot 1942

12 Operation Mincemeat 1943

Battles 13 Operation Eiche 1943
ROLL BATTLE DATE 14 Operation Crossbow 1943
1 Invasion of Poland 1939 15 Operation Long Jump 1943
2 Battle of France 1940 16 Operation Market Garden 1944
3 Battle of Britain 1940 17 Operation Fortitude South 1944
4 Battle of the Atlantic 1940-43 18 Operation Wellhit 1944
5 Battle of Crete 1941 19 Operation Greif 1944
6 Pearl Harbour 1941 20 Operation Foxley 1944
7 Operation Barbarossa 1941

8 Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43

9 Battles of El Alamein 1942

10 Battle of Medway 1942

11 Battle of Kasserine Pass 1943

12 Battle of Leros 1943

13 Battle for Sicily 1943

14 Battle for Normandy 1944

15 Battle of Arnhem 1944

16 Battle of Hurtgen Forest 1944

17 Monte Cassino 1944

18 Battle of the Bulge 1944

19 Battle of Luzon 1945

20 Battle of Berlin 1945

5
 Starting Parameters
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

Adventures can, of course, be totally free form and

completely randomly generated, but are most effective
when they have an overarching storyline or plot which
helps frame the action and provides structure for the
way the mission will unfold. Rolling on the Story Frame
and Overarching Plot Concept tables should certainly
provide some ideas. You should feel free to ignore results
that don’t fit into your time period, campaign or even
preferences. Sometimes a plot or story frame might
be readily apparent to your agents and revealed right
away. But these often work best, especially in Achtung!
Cthulhu’s pulp-inspired world, if they are revealed
incrementally with shocking revelations, plot twists and
dramatic developments proving irresistible lures.

Our plot hook roll delivers, “A dying person”, while our

draw is “seeks revenge”. Given that we’re setting our
adventure in North Africa in 1941, this suggests to us
Aisha, an Arabic resistance fighter who has been poisoned
by the Nazis. She wants our agents to seek revenge on the
villain who has brought about her untimely demise.

Story Frame
ROLL PLOT HOOK DRAW

1 An old friend Delivers an outrageous demand

2 A passing acquaintance Passes on a forbidden tome

3 A former mentor Asks for your help

4 A cult leader Performs a strange ritual

5 A venerable academic Discovers a long-forgotten secret

6 A dying person Delivers their final wish

7 A fellow agent Seeks your help with a traitor

8 A wealthy philanthropist Offers you a rich reward

9 A debauched aristocrat Seeks revenge

10 A former adversary Begs for your forgiveness

11 A famous singer Invites you to accompany them

12 A renowned hero Has been framed for a crime they didn’t commit

13 An experienced diplomat Has information on a missing colleague

14 A minor movie star Seeks to restore their fortunes

15 A disgraced director Seeks redemption

16 An eccentric scientist Has discovered a new wonder drug or device

17 A retired general Sends a threat

18 A shady criminal Makes you an irresistible offer

19 A reformed addict Needs a favour

20 An infamous explorer Has gone missing

6
 Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
Overarching Plot Concept
ROLL PLOT CONCEPT MOTIVATION

1 Overthrow the hated occupiers Revenge

2 Complete an ancient ritual Acquire Power

3 Open a gateway to another world Hatred

4 Foment an uprising Envy

5 Destroy a person, group, creature, or facility Malice

6 Prove the existence of a creature or entity An ancient prophecy

7 Protect or assassinate a person To protect the status quo

8 Protect or destroy a place or facility A feud

9 Unleash an ancient power or creature Destruction

10 Gain power over a person or creature Exploitation

11 Cover up or expose a dirty secret To divert attention

12 Pursue or supress forbidden knowledge For the greater good

13 Find a native or unearthly creature thought long extinct To provide a cure

14 Find an ancient town, city or place thought lost To settle a debt

15 Thwart the ambitions of an alien race To save the world

16 Exact revenge for a sleight (real or imagined) To settle a score

17 Broker peace between two foes Dreams and visions

18 Recover or destroy an ancient artefact To increase power

19 Recover or destroy a long-lost tome To acquire knowledge

20 Conquer this world and beyond! Domination

Antagonists and Opposition

Of course, every great pulp adventure needs a distinctive
villain who will be doing their utmost to foil your
agents’ endeavours, but these need not be just a cackling
cardboard cut-out pastiche of evil (although sometimes
that works just fine). Who are they? What do they want?
The best villains usually have believable drives and
motivations all of their own, and the following tables will
help you determine what they are.
Creating notable villains and nemeses is one of the hidden
joys of GM-ing. Not only do they provide a shared history
and a consistent thorn in the side for your players, but you
can also have tremendous fun roleplaying them yourself.
Don’t be afraid to build them up from humble Trooper to
elite level Nemesis with accompanying truths, and never
be too hasty in killing them off (although they can appear
to die, only to reappear many times). A returning foe, is a
memorable foe.
We’re going to take a quick detour to the Villains and
Heroes section on p17 to check out some of the possibilities
on offer. You should also have a think about tempering the
level of challenge according to your group’s power level
and abilities. Will they be going up against mere sidekicks
and henchmen, or have that incurred the wrath of elite
foes, or even the mighty gods and monsters of the Mythos
themselves? The Enemy Level table on p17 will help you
decide if they are Trooper, Lieutenant, Nemesis or even God
level foes. Don’t forget the mightier the foe, the less likely
they are to engage with your agents directly and more
likely to work through agents and henchmen of their own.
You can also add some further flavour with the Traits table
(p20), and if you want to add even more depth, go back to
Quirks and Idiosyncrasies to develop them further.
But most importantly what are they after? What motivates
them? Well, the Antagonist Plot Fulfilment and
Location table can help you decide, giving you both a
goal for the villain to aim at, and a location where that
aim will be fulfilled.
Our adventure is for a group of beginner players so we
don’t want to make it too taxing and so we select a Black

7
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
Sun novice from the table on p18 and name her Helga
Schmidt. Schmidt, we decide, is seeking to make a name for
herself and is hell bent on possessing an esoteric artefact,
known as the Star of Urtuk (we flicked forward to the Items
Condition & Description p24 for some inspiration on that
and then just made up a suitable sounding name).
Where might she find it? Well, a cursed temple seems a
pretty suitable location, and this will help her realise her
goal of promotion to the ranks of the Black Sun Masters.
This has set our brain whirring. How does this interact
with our overarching plot? Did this novice somehow
trick our friend into revealing its location, somewhere
in the desert wastes, then poison her to prevent anyone
else that knowledge? The mission is starting to take an
intriguing turn.

Supporting Cast
Some of the best missions feature the unlikeliest of
characters and as well as your main group of player-
controlled agents, a series of bit part and supporting
players can add depth, flavour and variety.
The supporting cast can also prove a useful prompt for
the hard-pressed GM. If you find your players are a bit
too gung-ho or brash, a more cautious and risk averse
NPC might help rein them in. If they’re too cautious and
hesitant, a fiery NPC can add some momentum and spark
to scenes. Just like Threat and Momentum, NPCs can also
help dictate pace, drive the plot forward, add interest
and complications, or provide areas of expertise that your
agents themselves are lacking.
They’re also a great chance for the GM to do a bit of
roleplaying (why should the players have all the fun,
huh?). Particularly memorable or distinctive NPCs might
even be developed into returning characters like Archibald
Strange, Section M’s genial briefing officer, or even stand
in as substitutes for agents when they are incapacitated or
detained elsewhere.

Antagonist Plot Fulfilment and Location

ROLL REQUIREMENT TO FULFIL PLOT FROM/WHERE

1 Sacrificial victims A forgotten tomb

2 Experimental subjects Clemens Park

3 An ancient manuscript Majestic HQ

4 A sample of a person’s DNA A concealed laboratory

5 Completing a magical ritual An ancient hilltop

6 Summoning a supernatural entity A stone circle

7 Communicating with an alien species A de-sanctified church

8 Possession of an esoteric artefact A cursed temple

9 Freeing a bound entity A ruined castle

10 Placating an enraged Deep One Elder An undersea city

11 Negotiating a truce with the Mi-Go A Mi-Go Hive

12 The organ of a Mythos creature A lost city

13 Imprisoning a supernatural force for ever Underground cave system

14 Opening an ancient portal A mountain peak

15 Kidnapping a specific individual A Deep One enclave

16 A page from the Necronomicon A hidden library

17 A relic of Atlantis A drowned village

18 A Hyperborean artefact A foggy marsh

19 A Blauer Kristall mother jewel Fenrir’s Seat

20 An alignment of the stars Castle Wewelsburg

8
 Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
You could introduce NPCs at the start of an adventure
or drop them in mid-scene when your agents need some Quirks and Idiosyncrasies
help (or hindrance). The Supporting NPC table can ROLL IDIOSYNCRASY
quickly roll you a tabletop-ready NPC, with a mix of
appropriate occupation and nationality, while Quirks and 2 Heterochromia – eyes have different pupil colours
Idiosyncrasies can add a few memorable key note traits. 3 Speech impediment
If you need to decide how powerful they are, roll on the
4 Facial scarring
NPC Level table. You could also see the Achtung! Cthulhu
2d20 Gamemaster’s Guide for rules on creating detailed 5 Mysterious tattoo
NPCs of different levels and the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 6 Talks to an unseen companion
Player’s Guide for a further list of nationalities.
7 Punctuates speech with extreme profanity
8 Extremely superstitious
Supporting NPC 9
Speaks mysteriously about a set of rules
which are never revealed
ROLL NATIONALITY OCCUPATION
10 Mild kleptomania
1 British Boffin
Knows the price of everything
11
Special Operations and the cost of nothing
2 British
Executive agent 12 Selective mutism
3 British Scotland Yard police inspector 13 Is overly jocular
4 Free Polish Pilot 14 Inveterate gambler
5 Czech Army Second Lieutenant 15 Pessimistic and gloomy
6 Free French Lieutenant 16 Prone to manic episodes

7 Free French Resistance Fighter 17 Is a gourmet and a glutton

8 Norwegian Saboteur 18 Secret alcoholic

9 Jewish Refugee 19 Haughty and dismissive

20 Harbours a death wish
10 American Scientist
21 Name dropper and social climber
11 Irish American FBI agent
Revolutionary – dedicated to overthrowing the
12 Native American Pathfinder Demonhunter 22
established order
Pathfinder 23 Extremely stiff and formal
13 Native American
Demonhunter Shaman
24 Loud and irritating speech patterns
14 Italian Captain
25 Hard of hearing
15 Sicilian Major
26 Walks with a limp
16 Maltese Sailor Hypochondriac or believes they are suffering
27
17 German Resistance Leader from a fatal but as yet undiscovered malady
28 Prosthetic limb
18 German Black Sun Turncoat
29 Shy and socially inept
19 German Nachtwölfe Turncoat
30 Generous to a fault
20 German Double Agent
31 Obsessed by sports and games
32 Habitual but unconvincing liar
33 Stone cold remorseless killer
NPC Level 34 Elderly and infirm
ROLL LEVEL
36 Young and boisterous
1—4 Trivial 37 Sceptical constantly questions everything
5—12 Trooper 38 Gossip and blabbermouth
13—18 Lieutenant 39 Welcoming and accepting
19—20 Nemesis 40 Overly optimistic and positive

9
 The Opening Scene
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

You know who your villain is and what she needs to do

and where she needs to do it, but every mission also has Opening Scene Generator
to have a starting point. How you play it depends on ROLL SCENE DESCRIPTION
your preferences. Sometimes, it’s an interesting technique
to plunge your agents straight into a dramatic opening 1 Jungle Sweltering
scene, which starts your adventure off with a bang, 2 Desert Arid
leaving them breathless.
3 Woodland Verdant
At other times you may wish to begin a lot more slowly, 4 Grassland Lush
and experience some preparation and build up. Because
Achtung! Cthulhu is organisationally focussed, with 5 Steppe Barren
agents usually working for Section M, Majestic or a 6 Mountain Vertiginous
resistance cell, it’s common to receive a summons to your
sponsor’s HQ, for a briefing scene and an outfitting scene 7 Seashore Rocky
where characters choose their weapons and equipment. 8 River Moist
Then it’s onto a deployment scene, as they are transported
into enemy territory to begin their mission. It’s even 9 Lake Deep
possible to combine the two, thrusting your agents 10 Fjord Breathtaking
into a dramatic opening scene, resolving it, then use a
flashback to explore the build up to current events, before 11 Island Insular
synchronizing the timeline. 12 Village Hidden

You can use the Opening Scene Generator to work 13 Town Deserted
out a starting point for your adventure and its defining 14 City Sprawling
atmosphere to get things underway. We choose a bustling
port this time, rather than roll, as this fits in with our 15 Castle Ancient
narrative, although we could have used the Specific Scene 16 Tower Ruined
Location to be more precise (these can also be re-used to
generate subsequent scenes see p12). 17 Graveyard Misty

18 Port Bustling

19 Bridge Imposing

20 Highway Endless

Every scene, including the opening one, can be populated

by groups of NPCs and you can draw on the setting to
imagine who might be there (dock workers, ship crew and
vendors in this case). You can also roll on the Civilian
NPC Type table to generate specific groups of interest,
who might interact with your agents to add a bit of extra
spice. In this case we choose some local police and consult
the NPC Disposition table to determine their attitude.
The police are indifferent at the start, but events may well
change that.

We picture a planned rendezvous with our old friend

Aisha in Cairo, an Egyptian port, where she has promised
to furnish us with vital intelligence that may affect the
battle for Tobruk. But, as our players sit down in the tea
room where the rendezvous takes place, Aisha slumps, a
poisoned dart embedded in her neck. While some agents
pursue her assassins, others try to provide medical aid,
but their efforts are in vain. Aisha dies in their arms
whispering a mysterious message about the Star of Urtuk
which resides in the lost cursed Temple of Urtuk.

10
 Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
Civilian NPC Type
ROLL NPC

1 Reporter

2 Cameraman/Photographer

3 Doctor/Nurse

4 Resistance Fighter

5 Villager

6 Fishermen

7 Hunter
If you wanted to add more detail to this scene, you might
8 Police
also think about how the NPCs in it will react. Do the
police chase the assassins, question the agents, or simply 9 Militia
turn a blind eye? Perhaps the police’s leader might be
10 Scientist
implicated in the attempt, or maybe he was trying to
prevent it? All are good jumping off points, to add layers 11 Quartermaster
of depth to your initial outline.
12 Transporter

13 Farmer
NPC Disposition 14 Priest/Nun
ROLL DISPOSITION 15 Aristocrat
1—4 Altruistic 16 Peasant
5—8 Friendly 17 Civilian
9—12 Indifferent 18 Revolutionary
13—16 Unfriendly 19 Cultist
17—20 Hostile 20 High Cultist

Structure and Pacing

There are many ways to structure adventures, but many
use the classic three-act structure borrowed from the
movies, with a beginning, a middle and an end, with
various twists and reversals along the way. Individual
scenes can offer a variety of activities. Action is almost
a certainty, given Achtung! Cthulhu’s setting, but
interspersing action scenes with investigative and social
interludes offer every type of agent a chance to take their
place in the spotlight. Scenes will often culminate in a
dramatic revelation, reversal or cliffhanger which leaves
the players wanting more and sets up the narrative for the
next scene or act.
Pacing is important too. Some groups may demand a thrill-
a-minute ride with non-stop action, but this is quite rare
(not to say pretty exhausting for a GM), so intercutting
them with quieter, less hectic, more thoughtful scenes,
can add contrast and variety, which makes the action that
much more thrilling when it does arrive. Think about your
actual players, what type of adventure will they find most
rewarding? What kind of experience do you want to give
them and yourself?
Pacing can be thought of in terms of peaks and troughs,
with moments of high drama contrasting with periods of
rest and contemplation. You can think of it like a song,
with lower-key verses setting up rousing choruses, a
middle eight which goes on a meander elsewhere, and
then returns before repeated rousing choruses usher in the
epic conclusion before finally fading out.
Most adventures will culminate in a dramatic finale,
where the villain and their dastardly scheme is finally
confronted and either fulfilled or foiled. Make sure you
keep enough of your dramatic powder dry, to make this a
memorable and rewarding conclusion.

11
 Subsequent Scenes: Developing Your Plot
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

So, we have our beginning at a port and our ending at a
cursed temple, but how do we get from one to the other?
Well, that will require additional scenes and the first thing
to decide, is how long you want your adventure to be. Is
this going to short, single play session of a couple of hours,
or do you intend to make it part of an ongoing campaign,
which will take multiple episodes to play out? Thinking
about how often your players can actually get together in
the real world, either in person or remotely, is often a good
indicator of how long an adventure should last.
or continent to another either. Achtung! Cthulhu is meant
to be a globe-spanning game which is broad in scope and
location and you can use jump cuts to move from one scene
to another half way across the world (providing there’s
sufficient transport time, and if not, that’s what mystical
portals are for).
Location and Atmosphere
ROLL LOCATION ATMOSPHERE

1 Warehouse Derelict
Further scenes can be added and populated by using the
Specific Scene Generator table (and in truth you can also 2 Military base Busy
roll on the Opening Scene table again if you wish, or the
3 Field base Ruined
other scene tables below), to bring a variety of different
scenes and locations into the mix, with the description 4 Laboratory Scorched
column providing appropriate atmospheres where necessary.
5 Fields Abandoned

As always, you can ignore any scenes which don’t fit your 6 Desert Frozen
ideas or narrative and simply choose and adapt ones which
7 Town Tranquil
leap off the page right at you. Don’t worry too much if
your adventure appears to be jumping from one country 8 City Windswept

9 Fortress Ruined
Specific Scene Location 10 Ruin Overgrown
ROLL LOCATION DESCRIPTION 11 Temple Eerie
1 Laboratory Sinister 12 Cave Flooded
2 Workshop Experimental 13 Camp Bombed
3 Ritual site Eerie 14 Compound Remote
4 Barracks Deserted 15 Mountain Enigmatic
5 Headquarters Busy 16 Beach Sinister
6 Church Sanctified 17 Coastal Crowded
7 Cave system Extensive 18 Island Subterranean
8 Temple Otherworldly 19 Port/Shipyard Lofty
9 Prison Grim 20 Submarine pen Exotic
10 Brothel Exotic

11 Hospital Spotless ADD MORE SCENES

12 Supply depot Functional A location and atmosphere are decent starting places,
13 Landing zone Empty but to make a scene memorable it needs some window
dressing and appropriate furniture to become a living
14 Massacre site Macabre breathing location. Further down the line we imagine
15 Crash site Obscure another scene we want our agents to explore and we
want this to be set at an oasis, a classic desert location
16 Crypt Crumbling that should provide plenty of opportunities for intrigue
17 Library Ancient and skulduggery. It might also suit some of the more
investigative and socially skilful members of our group,
18 Airfield Windy and those who favour a dose of roleplaying.
19 Rocket site Camouflaged
Now, we’re picturing a caravanserai, an ancient inn where
20 Submarine pen Hidden travellers and caravans of camels crossing the desert can

12
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

13
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

Buildings and Abodes Military and covert Sites

ROLL BUILDING ROLL BUILDING
1 Hut 1 Frontline
2 Tents 2 Drop zone
3 House 3 Rear lines
4 Pub/Tavern 4 Abandoned battlefield
5 Shop 5 Supply depot
6 Prison 6 Arsenal
7 Gambling Den 7 Boot camp
8 Library 8 Secret training camp
9 Country House 9 Artillery emplacement
10 Library 10 Parade ground
11 Hospital 11 Anti-aircraft battery
12 University 12 Coastal gun site
13 Temple 13 Blasted forest
14 Air Raid Shelter 14 Airfield
15 Museum 15 POW Camp
16 Asylum 16 Nissan hut
17 Sanitorium 17 Naval base
18 Castle 18 Resistance cell
19 Mansion 19 Safe house
20 Farmhouse 20 Headquarters

14

seek respite from the unrelenting sun, find water, supplies
and even fresh mounts to continue their journey. But we also
want to give it something of a twist, what kind of atmosphere
might it have? What other buildings are there, and could it
have a secret purpose, beyond its outward façade?
The Locations and Atmosphere table suggests “lofty”, so
perhaps it’s perched on a set of rocks, while “tents” from the
Buildings and Abodes table might indicate a temporary
camp formed by a passing caravan. But what if it was also
Plotting
Just linking diverse scenes and locations together may not
be enough to really enthral your players. You’ll certainly
want to add some drama and tension by scattering
obstacles, twists, reversals and misfortune in their path
and this is where the Obstacles and Reversals table
comes in.
Seldom is the path to victory smooth, and rolling or
choosing one of these elements, can, at a moment of
Obstacles and Reversals
ROLL OBSTACLE
1 Vital equipment is lost
2 A former ally turns against you
3 Resources are scarce
4 You must choose between two difficult options
5 Time is running out
6 You must cross an active front line
7 The weather is against you
8 Contact with HQ is broken
9 The path ahead is full of traps
10 Fresh intelligence is required
11 A great burden is entrusted to you
12 A superior despises you
13 Your weapons become unreliable
14 Your credentials are stolen
15 The terrain becomes challenging
16 You have been issued with faulty equipment
17 You are ambushed
18 The local authorities take an unhealthy interest
19 Someone is kidnapped
20 A new nemesis emerges to oppose you
a “gambling den”, bringing in high stakes players from
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
miles around? Finally, perhaps it has some hidden military
purpose too, which the Military and Covert Sites table
reveals? We imagine caves underneath that rock formation
which serve as a secret training base. All these additional
elements combine to bring this location to life, and now
we can start to stich them together to make an interesting
setting, with multiple strands for players to explore.
seeming triumph, give players another conundrum to
solve or overcome. This gives them a chance to display
ingenuity, lateral thinking and should prove much more
rewarding rather than everything progressing without a
hitch. Imagine, just as our players have uncovered that
covert training facility at the caravanserai, they must
choose between two difficult options, when their “greatest
ally is revealed as a traitor”. That should add a dramatic
twist.
PLOT TWIST
You must make a morally questionable choice
You must choose to tread a dark path
You must let an enemy off the hook, when they are at your mercy
You must embrace a lesser evil for their greater good
A former foe returns from the dead
You are left cut off and adrift
You must make a great personal sacrifice
Your primary objective proves worthless
Surprise relation! A villain is actually related to one of your agents.
You must abandon a stalwart ally
A sworn enemy proves to be a double agent and an unlikely ally.
Your greatest ally is actually a traitor!
You undergo a spiritual or moral crisis
Fresh intelligence reveals multiple new objectives
You arrive too late to affect a significant development
Unforeseen allies save your bacon!
The true villain is revealed!
An unexpected faction enters the fray
You have unwittingly been working for the true villain
Roll twice on this table!
15
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
So, this time we roll again and pull out a Rescue goal on
Goals and Aims and then choose an archaeologist from
the Objectives column of Personal Objectives. Suddenly
we’re picturing a hapless elderly academic who’s somehow
caught up in the search for this esoteric artefact. This
Professor Arthur Tomkins will need to be plucked from the
jaws of a peril somewhere along the line for the group to
succeed, otherwise, the knowledge he holds won’t be able
to prevent Helga Schmidt’s inexorable rise.
MAKE IT PERSONAL
Finally, while most of our group are well equipped for a
It always pays dividends for your agents to have a personal
perilous chase through the desert, one of our players is
stake in the adventure too, so, as well as the overarching
of a more studious background, but that’s no reason they
plot, you can use the Goals and Aims and Personal
shouldn’t find fulfilment in the adventure. Rolling again
Objectives tables to add some game within the game. This
on Goals and Aims results in an “Understand” goal and
can be used to explore a number of secondary and tertiary
on Personal Objectives a “Lost Language” description.
motivations for your agents and you could also roll on the
In one of the scenes, it’ll be vital for this agent to make a
Goals and Aims table for the group, and on the Personal
linguistic breakthrough, perhaps opening the way to the
Objectives table for individual characters. You should
underground temple, or unearthing some dark truth about
emphasise that leaving these secondary objectives unmet
the Star of Urtuk. Perhaps it is no mere gem, but some
will result in serious consequences. Don’t be afraid to
ancient evil is imprisoned within?
sometimes let objectives clash, meaning characters have to
compete against each another. That can raise tension and
keep things interesting.

Goals and Aims

ROLL GOAL OBJECTIVE

1 Rescue An allied NPC (Personal Objective table)

2 Prove An enemy NPC (Elite Nemeses table)

3 Deliver Identify a person (Nazi Occult Forces table)

4 Recover An opponent (Personal Objectives table)

5 Plunder An opponent (Personal Objectives table)

6 Destroy Documents or secrets (Knowledge or Personal Objective table)

7 Protect Documents or secrets (Knowledge or Personal Objective table)

8 Distract An artifact (Items and Conditions table)

9 Capture An artifact (Items and Conditions table)

10 Locate A physical location (Location and Atmosphere table)

11 Negotiate A physical location (Location and Atmosphere table)

12 Reconnoitre A physical location (Buildings and Abodes table)

13 Divert An ancient map to (Military and Covert Sites table)

14 Reveal An otherworldly creature’s body part (Abhorrent Creatures and Monstrosities table)

15 Hide New opponents (Conventional German Forces table)

16 Understand New opponents (Conventional German Forces table)

17 Explore A deadly or secret organisation (Cult and Secret Society table)

18 Disprove A deadly or secret organisation (Cult and Secret Society table)

19 Heal An ally (Allies and Comrades or Elite Hero Table)

20 Infiltrate An enemy (Nazi Occult Forces table)

16
 Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
Personal Objectives
ROLL KNOWLEDGE PERSONAL
OBJECTIVE
1 Map Civilian

2 Plans Resistance

3 Obscure chemical Soldier

4 Experimental cure Scholar

5 Weakness Warped genius

6 Forgotten secret Experimenter

7 Escape route or hidden path Fugitive

8 Conspiracy Criminal

9 Formula Spy

10 Criminal conspiracy Traitor

11 Legend Gun for hire

12 Lost language Cultist

13 Artefact Politician

14 A Black Sun secret Sorcerer

15 A Nachtwölfe secret Archaeologist

16 A Section M secret Dabbler

17 A Majestic secret Entertainer

18 A Deep One secret Intelligence officer

19 A Mi-Go secret Banker Enemy Level

20 Forbidden mythos knowledge Heir/Heiress ROLL LEVEL

1—10 Trooper

VILLAINS AND HEROES 11—15 Lieutenant

16—19 Nemesis
Naturally, every mission needs a full cast of supporting enemy
characters to oppose your agents and hinder their progress. 20 God or deity
Fortunately, Achtung! Cthulhu is packed with a wealth of
enemies, entities, beasts and monstrosities, a roving cast of
villains and horrors, ever ready to test your agents’ mettle. Conventional German Forces
ROLL NAME
If you want to impose a more orthodox challenge that
PCs might run into during the course of the war, then 1—2 German Infantry soldier
the Conventional German Forces table will provide
3—4 German Infantry Officer
you with some ready-made Trooper and Lieutenant level
adversaries. Want to increase the difficulty? Then the Nazi 5—6 Kriegsmarine
Occult Forces table will provide foes drawn from Black
7—8 Abwehr
Sun and Nachtwölfe to provide a stiffer challenge.
9—10 Gestapo
You can always expend Threat to summon lower-level
11—12 Panzergrenadiere
ones, like the Black Sun Novice or Nachtwölfe Scientist,
either alone, or in groups. More powerful foes like Die 13—14 Fallschirmjäger
Toten or the Nachtwölfe Sturmtrooper are best deployed
15—16 Brandenburger
singly, lest they overpower your agents. Alternately roll on
the Enemy Level table and let the dice decide what level 17—18 Einsatzgruppen
of foe they’ll face, but always try to keep the challenge
19—20 SS Sonderkommando/Waffen SS
balanced and achievable.

17
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

Nazi Occult Forces

ROLL OPPONENT

1 Black Sun Trooper

2 Black Sun Novice

3 Black Sun Dämonenbändiger

4 Black Sun Master

5 Black Sun Canon

6 Norn Dreamer

7 Auserwählten - The Chosen

8 Die Toten
Once you reach the Abhorrent Creatures and
9 Nachtwölfe Trooper
Monstrosities table, things are getting really serious, with
10 Nachtwölfe Scientist some entities that will test even the most experienced
group. The formidable foes of the Elite Nemeses table are
11 Nachtwölfe Field Researcher
singular characters and should only really be deployed as
12 Nachtwölfe Starkmeister extra special guest villains in extraordinary circumstances.
Your players will have to do something unique to
13 Nachtwölfe Pathfinder
attract the sanity-sapping presence of the Mythos Gods
14 Nachtwölfe Stalker themselves. Consult the Villainous Traits table if you
want to determine or assign the mood currently taking any
15 Nachtwölfe Nachtjäger
of these most capricious of foes.
16 Nachtjäger Pionier

17 Nachtwölfe Hundemeister/Bestienmaster Abhorrent Creatures and Monstrosities

18 Nachtwölfe Sturmtrooper ROLL OPPONENT

19 Nachtwölfe Wolf Guard 1 Die Draugr

20 Roll again 2 Bloodborn

3 Cold One

4 Cultist of the Old Gods

5 Ghoul

6 Fluttering Fiend
7 Halja

8 Servitor of Nyarlathotep

9 Overlord of Nyarlathotep

10 Sheehad

11 Teufel Hound

12 Serpent Man

13 Serpent Man Sorcerer

14 Deep One Warrior

15 Deep One Slaver

16 Deep One Shaman

17 Deep One Warlock

18 Mi-Go Drone

19 Augmented Mi-Go

20 Mi-Go Scientist

18
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

19
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

Mythos Gods
ROLL NAME

1—2 Nyarlathotep

3—4 Cthulhu

5—6 Father Dagon

7—8 Mother Hydra

9—10 Yog-Sothoth

11—12 Sarthothus

13—14 Hastur

15—16 Wendigo

17—18 Shub-Niggurath

19—20 Yig

Elite Nemeses Traits

ROLL OPPONENT ROLL NAME
1 Black Sun Canon 1 Vain
2 Die Toten 2 Extrovert
3 Auserwählten - The Chosen 3 Psychotic
4 Nachtwölfe Wolf Guard 4 Depressed
5 Deep One Elder 5 Introvert
6 Deep One Reefbreaker 6 Ambitious
7 Deep One High Aquamage 7 Cruel
8 Mi-Go Centurion 8 Manipulative
9 Mi-Go Princess 9 Unpredictable
10 Mi-Go Emerging Queen 10 Obsessive
11 Standartenführer Sweet’ Liesel Bohm 11 Secretive
12 Oberstleutnant Oskar Richter 12 Furtive
13 Hauptmann Gerd Schmitt 13 Sinister
14 Professor Kraft Heimberg 14 Aggressive
15 Prior Astrid Urner 15 Narcissistic
16 Prior Reiner Lang 16 Manic
17 Prior Klaudia Fleischer 17 Impulsive
18 Prior Albrecht Lohmann 18 Treacherous
19 Exarch Reinhardt Weissler 19 Extreme
20 Generaloberst Mina Wolff 20 Understated

20
WORSHIPPERS OF THE

Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

ARCANE POWERS
What would any deity be without its worshippers and
devotees? Wherever you venture in Achtung! Cthulhu, the
Cults and Secret Societies table will provide a selection
of ready-made cultists and followers, who range from
the benevolent to the malign. Most will likely be found
chanting at midnight in a circle, hoping to attract the
favours of their patron deity and making some form of
unspeakable sacrifice. So, approach with caution.
Cults and Secret Societies
ROLL OPPONENT
1 Disciples of Odin
HEROES
It’s not just Axis forces who are encountered in the Secret
War and the Allies and Comrades table gives you a
selection of troops and regiments to populate a scene
with your agents’ brothers and sisters in arms. You won’t
need to spend Threat to summon them, as they’ll usually
be on the agents’ side, but some may need convincing of
the agents’ aims and intentions, especially if you want
to keep things interesting. If the need is dire and your
agents’ backs are up against the wall, then nothing will
beat consulting the Elite Heroes table to have one of the
Secret War’s larger-than-life champions come riding to
the rescue. Again, these should be used sparingly, but can
provide a stellar cameo to really delight your players or
render some much needed aid.

2 Brotherhood of Thor
Allies and Comrades
3 Sisterhood of Freya
ROLL OPPONENT
4 Vixens of The Valkyrie
1 British Infantry
5 Worshippers of Danu, the Earth Mother
2 British Infantry Bren/PIAT
6 Devotees of the Dagda
3 British Officer
7 Hounds of Cernunnos
4 British Guards
8 Cohort of Nodens
5 Commandos
9 Fraternity of the Inner Light
6 SAS
10 Heretics of Hastur
7 Grey Watch
11 Crimson Cult of Chartotharkis
8 Badger’s Commandos
12 Scions of Sarthothus
9 Gopal’s Ghurkhas
13 Slaves of Shubb-NIgguruth
10 Bronze Berets
14 Worshippers of the Wendigo
11 Resistance Fighters
15 Followers of Yig
12 US Infantry
16 Cult of the Black Sun
13 US Infantry Bazookas/BAR
17 Servants of Cthulhu
14 US Officer
18 Devotees of Yog-Sothoth
15 US Airborne
19 Sect of Nyarlathotep
16 US Rangers
20 Adepts of Azathoth
17 Pathfinder Demonhunters

18 Foley’s Furies

19 Flaming Salamanders

20 Roll again

21
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
Elite Heroes
ROLL OPPONENT
1 Badger Harris
2 Akhee “the eye” Singh
3 Mad Jack McMasters
4 Major Seraph
5 Alec Towton
6 Peggy Walsh
7 Arthur Morris
8 Dennis Parker
9 Ariane Dubois
10 Brandon Carter
11 Richard Deadman
12 Sally Armitage
13 Wilfred C Llanfer
14 Etienne-Laurent De Marigny
15 Kiyoshi Kato
16 Roll again
17 Roll again
18 Roll again for hero + one roll from Allies table
19 Roll again for hero + two rolls on Allies table
20 Two heroes of your choosing
FORCE MULTIPLIER
You might consider mixing and match heroes, villains,
conventional forces and even civilians in a scene, which
is an effective way to generate instant conflict and
dynamism. Let’s imagine our characters have left the
caravanserai and are making their way toward the cursed
temple by camel when they hear gunshots out in the deep
desert. Quick rolls across these tables establish a troupe
of Brandenburger under the command of a Nachtwölfe
Starkmeister engaged in a pitched battle with a group of
Badger’s Commandos led by the redoubtable Eric “Badger”
Harris himself.
Should your PCs ignore this distraction and continue on
their mission, or intervene and help some of Section M’s
finest? What will they gain or lose by choosing each path?
Might they sustain injuries that would seriously hamper
or delay their mission? If they help the commandos, might
Badger Harris himself lend them advanced arms like a
Blevin Steam Pistol, some direct aid, or even accompany
them part of the way himself? Some absorbing choices
await, all generated by a few simple rolls of the dice.
22
MAGIC AND ARTEFACTS
Magic plays an important role in Achtung! Cthulhu and if
you need to inject some mystical components into a scene
or decide on what’s in an NPC’s magical mantle, then this
section is for you. The Spells and Manuscripts table
gives you a ready-made battlefield magic load out for
spellcasters and you should remember that each tradition,
or indeed research-based or dabbler spellcaster, may know
a version of this spell which has the same effects, but calls
it by a different name. A research-based spellcaster could
well know a version of the Spear of Lug, for example, but
might call it the Javelin of Might. This table also doubles
up for generating battlefield spells you might find hidden
in ancient manuscripts or mystical tomes.
The Rituals table performs exactly the same function,
but for longer form magic, and can sometimes be useful
to roll, just to know exactly what those strange cultists
are doing as they caper around that mystical symbol,
sacrificing a goat. Again, rituals can we performed by
all varieties of spellcaster and each will have their own
names for a particular ceremony, although the chances of
a successful casting will vary.
Spells and Manuscripts
ROLL SPELL
1 Spear of Lug
2 Horn of Néit
3 The Ogham Sign
4 Curse of Loki
5 Blessing of Eir
6 Hammer of Thor
7 Bounty of Baldur
8 Atavistic Rage
9 Primal Scream
10 Telekinesis
11 Gift of Cthulhu
12 Call of the Depths
13 Wave Storm
14 Loathsome Bond of ‘Umr at-Tawil
15 Binding of Yog-Sothoth
16 Gaze of the Multiverse
17 The Shape of Hate
18 Lesser Black Rain
19 Blessing of the Black Sun
20 Birth of the Overlords

Rituals
ROLL SPELL
1 Alter Weather
2 Astral Walker
3 Commune with Deity
4 Create Ward
5 Dismiss Entity
6 Dust of Ibn-Ghazi
7 Ethereal Communication
8 Evoke Deity
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
The Books and Tomes table is for those of a sorcerous
persuasion, and its sinister selection of archaic volumes
contain dark knowledge and bountiful spells to be added
to a player character’s repertoire. Those of a martial
nature will appreciate the Artefacts and Weapons table,
where a selection of powerful items and armaments
reside, providing raw firepower or useful equipment to
take on the might of the Mythos. If you fancy creating
some of your own, the Items Condition & Description
is a good starting point. Not only will this give you some
inspiration for creating your own unique magical or
mystical items, its condition column can be applied to any
book, tome, weapon or artefact to give you a summary of
its current state.

9 Dismiss Deity Books and Tomes

10 Enchant Item ROLL OPPONENT
11 Forecast Future 1 Azeus Demonicium
12 Inflict/Cure Insanity 2 The Batley Notebooks
13 Inflict/Cure Curse 3 Boken Der Jaeger de Wildinis (Hunter of the Wilderness)
14 Planewalker 4 The Book of Shrouds
15 Plague Swarm 5 Cult of the Idisi
16 Steal Immortality 6 Dee's Hidden Treatises
17 Summon Mythos Creature 7 The Germania
18 Protection 8 Fiesta de los Muertos
19 Visit Dreamlands 9 The Grayston Essays
20 Voorish Sign 10 The Lure of the Deeps

11 Mysteries of the Proctoria

12 Pnakotic Manuscripts

13 The R'lyeh Tablets – Commentaries

14 Secret Cults and Obscure Orders

15 Magickal Endevourz
16 The Germania: De Origine et Situ Germanorum

17 The Germania: Monstres and Beastes

18 The Book of Azathoth

19 Necronomicon (English version)

20 Necronomicon (Original Arabic)

“From thietless depths

lim came
they and none could
resist them.”
23
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit

Artefacts and Weapons Items Condition and Description

ROLL SPELL ROLL DESCRIPTION CONDITION
1 Black Sun Degen 1 Manuscript Ancient
2 Shaggai Sword 2 Tome Cursed
3 Gungnir Wotan’s Staff-Spear 3 Key Forgotten
4 Blevins Steam Pistol 4 Necklace Unique
5 Whisperer BB Gun 5 Ring Empty
6 Heavy Electric Gun 6 Icon Sentient
7 Green Knight Energy Weapon 7 Statuette Full
8 Turpin’s Bane 8 Mirror Shining
9 EBAR Arclight Rifle 9 Compound Secret
10 Foeseeker Sniper Rifle 10 Narcotic Worn
11 Totenkopfring 11 Potion Blessed
12 Thornwood Ammunition (3 x Ammo) 12 Armour Hidden
13 Andresseher-Helm 13 Runic Artefact Lucky
14 Breather 14 Celtic Artefact Broken
15 Bio-Cloak 15 Psychic Amplifier Shape shifting
16 Mistweaver Armour 16 Deep One Artefact Buried
17 Matter Transplacer 17 Mi-Go Artefact Lost
18 Elder Thing Staff 18 Blauer Kristall Toxic
19 Yithian Mind Stamp 19 Secret Weapon Weak
20 Shoggoth Goad 20 Legendary Weapon Powerful

CLOSING THOUGHTS Above all, remember that as a GM you’re there to have

Throughout this process we’ve tried to show how some fun too and you deserve to have as good a time as any
randomly generated tools and tables can inspire and help player at the table. Sometimes that comes from planning
shape your adventures and storytelling, but the one golden and running great adventures and campaigns. Sometimes
rule is, there are no golden rules. If you don’t like a result, it’s from seeing your players gasp in horror as you surprise
roll again, or simply choose something that feels more them with an eldritch beastie. Sometimes it’s improvising
appropriate. If you have a better idea, ignore the rolls to create something unique when they depart from your
completely and use that instead. A GM’s imagination is the carefully prepared script. Sometimes it’s just having a
most powerful force at a gaming table. chance to deploy a terrible French accent and hear your
players groan as you promise to say zis only wunce.
Gamemastering, like everything, improves with practice;
the more you do it, the better you’ll get. Don’t be afraid
to fail sometimes either. We often learn more when we
don’t succeed, than we ever do when we triumph. Samuel
Beckett’s aphorism, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better”, is as true of GM-ing as
it is of any other skill.

24
Step by Step Guide to Mission Creation Summary
This is a quick reference guide for creating your own
missions and adventures with a step-by-step process for
you to follow. Steps one to five should probably be tackled
in order to complete the basic parameters, but after that,
you may wish to swap things around. For example, once
you’ve created a subsequent scene in step six, you might
populate it with some Villains and Heroes (step eight) or
Magic and Artefacts (step nine) before proceeding. Mix
and match steps and stages to achieve what suits your
mission best.
Step One: Background
Decide on when your adventure will be set by consulting
the Time Period table. You may then choose to roll on
the Theatre of Operations, Battles and Operational
Background tables to narrow it down, and fix a time
and place.
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
Step Two: Starting Parameters
It’s here that you’ll decide on the overarching storyline
and plot which will determine the adventure’s progress,
providing structure to how the mission will unfold. The
Story Frame table can determine a hook and a draw
for your plot, while the Overarching Plot Concept will
deliver guidance and motivation.
Step Three: Antagonist and Supporting Cast
You’ll need someone to oppose your agents’ efforts; a
foe worthy of their steel. After deciding on an Enemy
level, take a quick detour to the Villains and Heroes
section to decide on some possible candidates. Return to
the Antagonist Plot Fulfilment and Location table, to
discover what this antagonist wants and where they aim
to get it.
You might also want to think about some bit part
supporting NPCs who can help your agents at this stage
25
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Toolkit
and the Supporting Cast, NPC Level and Quirks and
Idiosyncrasies tables will help you generate some
distinctive companions to accompany them on their
travels.
Step Four: Opening Scene
Every mission has to start somewhere and the Opening
Scene Generator will give you both a place and a
description to kickstart your adventure. You can populate
it with some incidental NPCs using the Civilian NPC type
table and decide on their general attitude towards your
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agents with the NPC Disposition table. Alternatively
begin with a mission briefing at your sponsor’s HQ.
Step Five: Structure and Pacing
Now’s a good time to think about your overall mission
structure. How are you going to organise it to add interest
and engagement? What kind of adventure will your
players appreciate? What kind of themes and styles does
the table enjoy? How will you pace it? These will be
important decisions as they will determine many of your
next choices.
Step Six: Subsequent Scenes
Now you have your mission’s beginning, end, overall
structure and you know who your antagonist is and what
they want, you can start linking it all together with some
further scenes. Think of appropriate locations that would
work well and fit in with the structure you’ve decided on.
What will work for those peaks and troughs, or that steady
acceleration in pace? The Location and Atmosphere
table provides further suggestions, while the Buildings
and Abodes and Military and Covert Sites tables should
provide inspiration for appropriate locales.
Step Seven: Plotting
Now’s the time to really have a proper delve into the
plotting of your adventure, adding spice and flavour to
your scenes to really make it come alive. How do you do
that? Often this is done by adding dramatic plot twists and
the Obstacles and Reversals table will furnish you with
some choice ideas. Add further interest for your agents by
making it personal and giving them Goals and Aims and
Personal Objectives: side quests and missions within the
main mission, that must be fulfilled en route.
Step Eight: Villains and Heroes
One of the most fun steps is populating your adventure
with the cast of nefarious bad guys who will appear in the
various scenes and locations you’ve created. These might
range from dangerous Conventional German Forces
to the menace of the Nazi Occult Forces, or even the
Abhorrent Creatures and Monstrosities of the Mythos.
If you really want to challenge your agents, call on Elite
Nemeses or even the Mythos Gods themselves and use
the Traits table to decide their disposition. You might
also recruit some worshippers from the Cults and Secret
Societies table to act as extras, or call on forces like Allies
and Comrades and Elite Heroes to lend a hand in your
agents’ hour of need.
Step Nine: Magic and Artefacts
Achtung! Cthulhu is rich with mystical forces and dread
lore and if you want to add these elements to any scene,
then there’s plenty here to satisfy you. The Spells and
Manuscripts and Rituals tables are a repository of arcane
options, while the Books and Tomes and Artefacts and
Weapons tables provide a veritable horde of treasures.
You might even decide to create your own custom one,
using the Items Condition & Description table.