Cthulhu Dark Ages Game System.pdf

1 Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.75 Stéphane Gesbert

Game System

“But as it becometh disciples to obey their master, so also it becometh the master to dispose all things with prudence and

justice. Therefore, let all follow the Rule as their guide in everything, and let no one rashly depart from it” - The Holy Rule of

St. Benedict

Since Cthulhu Dark Ages is a supplement to the Call of

Cthulhu rulebook, character generation and the game

system remain basically the same. However, life in the

tenth and the eleventh centuries was quite different from

life in the nineteenth or the twentieth. This chapter

discusses Dark Ages “adventurers”, their occupations and

available skills, and focuses on specific rules for that era,

like disease and insanity.

Sex of the Adventurer

Most Dark Ages societies were unfortunately very sexist.

Men held almost all positions of power, and women of low

rank were usually assigned to menial tasks and had few

rights.

In order to enrich playing experience however, we decided

to stretch historical correctness, and opened most

occupations to female adventurers (avoid cleric, priest,

guard, and warrior). It is up to the keeper to consider

audacious women as exceptions in a hostile male society,

or to bend the medieval mentality towards gentle

integration.

Characteristic Rolls

Apart from men of Church, clerics and a few nobles,

nobody possessed any formal education in the Dark Ages,

since there was no proper schooling system. For that

reason the game concepts of Education (EDU) and Know

measure in the first place factual knowledge in Cthulhu

Dark Ages: an adventurer with a high Education may not

be schooled, but still might be studious and observant.

We note that our definition of Education does not

contradict the Call of Cthulhu rulebook – only in Cthulhu

Dark Ages the “school of life” has equal status as formal

schooling.

Adventurer Occupations

The occupations listed below are well suited for a

beginning Dark Ages adventurer.

In the Dark Ages, most people were tied to a clergy or a

lay lord. Whenever possible, we suggest “freeman” or

“high-status” versions of common occupations, which give

the player more autonomy.

All occupations allow at least one free choice of skill

among those in the skills section and weapon tables.

Remember that the Cthulhu Mythos skill cannot be

chosen, only learned during play.

New additions to the characteristic rolls are the Dexterity

roll and the Charisma roll:

DEXTERITY ROLL (DEX x5). The Dexterity roll

allows manipulation skills to be judged for which no game

skill exist. It could decide for instance, if the adventurer

was able to pick that lock (Dark Ages locks were simple),

or was able to grab the vine at the edge of the cliff.

CHARISMA ROLL (APP x5). The Charisma roll allows

communication skills to be judged for which no game skill

exist. Did he make a good impression? Did she catch

everybody's attention?

Money and Equipment

In the Middle Ages the question of currency is a complex

one, since every siege of power minted its own coins. For

the sake of playability Cthulhu Dark Ages adopts a

standardized monetary unit: the silver denier or penny .

One denier represents the minimum amount necessary to

survive one day in a city.

All occupations endow the adventurer with an amount of

deniers. The proportions granted loosely represent roughly

one year of earnings. “Buy” weapons, clothing and other

effects fit for your adventurer's occupation.

Name

Most people in the Dark Ages had no surname: John is just

John. To further describe an adventurer, give a birthplace,

as in John of Hereford, or an occupation, as in John Smith,

or a distinguishing feature, as in Erik the Red.

Classical French, German or English first names are

ideally suited for Dark Ages adventurers.

Magic

A few occupations (healer, hermit/heretic, and exorcist-

priest) allow the adventurer to select Old Grimoire spells

instead of skills. Such choice is always subject to keeper

approval – count 50 skill points for every targeted spell,

and 100 skill points for others (see Casting Spells section).

Men of Church have in principle no access to magical lore,

but may be granted miraculous powers by divine

intervention. In a Christian context, the craving for divine

powers should be regarded as a mortal sin.

Birthplace and Language

Choose the adventurer's nation of birth and own language:

the German empire (Old High German dialects spoken),

the kingdoms of France, Burgundy or Italy (Old French

dialects spoken), the kingdom of England (Old English

dialects spoken) are good starting points - see the Dark

Ages section for more details.

Stéphane Gesbert Game System 2

Occupations

HERMIT/HERETIC

You are an outcast, a drifter, a person plagued by dreams

and visions. You grasp at strange clues and bewildering

notions. You either hide in the woods or live in a secret

community.

Skills : hide, insight, natural world, occult, persuade, spot

hidden or listen, and two other skills as personal specialties

(one spell allowed).

Money : 240 deniers.

You can learn more about these people and the society

they lived in, from the Dark Ages section. Spells are found

in the Old Grimoire chapter.

BEGGAR

As a beggar you devote your life to niggling food and

money from passers by.

Skills : bargain, conceal, fast talk, insight, listen or spot

hidden, and three other skills as personal specialties.

Money : 240 deniers.

HOUSEHOLD OFFICER

You serve your lord in his urban palace or his castrum .

Select one of the following functions: seneschal, constable

or marshal. You spend much of your day bullying lesser

servants to do their work.

Skills : (craft), conceal, fast talk, hide, insight, listen or spot

hidden, sneak and one other skill as a personal specialty.

Money : 900 deniers.

CLERIC

You were the child of a rich family, or a brilliant peasant

boy once noticed by a man of Church. You received a

formal religious education in a bishopric or a monastery.

Now you are a secretary, an administrator, a jurist or an

architect at the service of a count or a bishop.

Skills : Latin, persuade, library use, own kingdom, status,

write Latin or the local chancery language, and two other

skills as personal specialties.

Money : 2400 deniers.

JUGGLER/MINSTREL

You're witty and interesting looking, and you love to get

attention. You might be adept with “chansons de geste”,

musical instruments, poems and stories that everybody

already knows, tumbling, juggling, rope walking, animal

training, or some other entertaining craft.

Skills : (art), bargain, fast talk, insight, own kingdom,

persuade, and two other skills as personal specialties.

Money : 1500 deniers.

CRAFTSMAN/SHOPKEEPER

You might be a smith, a baker or a weaver. Choose a craft.

You live in a village community or in a city.

Skills : (craft), bargain, fast talk, insight, natural world,

own kingdom, status, and one other skill as a personal

specialty.

Money : 1200 deniers.

MERCENARY/BRIGAND

As a mercenary you fight for the highest bidder and then

scavenge battlefields for trophies. As a brigand, you may

have been the victim of some natural catastrophy or some

heinous injustice that changed your life forever. Now you

hide deep in the woods and rob traveling monks or traders.

Skills : fist/punch or head butt or kick or grapple, natural

world, navigate, track, sneak, throw, one weapon skill, and

one other skill as a personal specialty.

Money : 2100 deniers.

(FREE) FARMER

You are the salt of the earth: well-to-do farmer or colonist,

the Dark Ages society depends on your crops, and you

work like a horse.

Skills : (craft), bargain, drive horses, listen, natural world,

track, and two other skills as personal specialties.

Money : 600 deniers.

GUARD

You work in a cathedral city for the burgrave or the

bishop. You have little to do but practice with your

weapons and keep you in shape.

Skills : fist/punch or head butt or kick or grapple, own

kingdom, sneak, spot hidden or listen, status, throw, one

weapon skill, and one other skill as a personal specialty.

Money : 1800 deniers.

MERCHANT

You are a Jew living in a port city or in the outskirts of a

cathedral city. You make a living from accounts and

agents. You import wine, exotic spices and silks from

heathen countries and sell them to arrogant nobles. Not

being a Christian, you are allowed to be a moneychanger

and a moneylender.

Skills : accounting, bargain, fast talk, own kingdom, other

kingdoms, other language, write language, and one other

skill as a personal specialty.

Money : 9000 deniers.

HEALER

To foreigners, you look like a villager. But villagers know

better: your mentor granted you powers of the invisible

world. Now villagers come to your hut for a cure or a

potion, or for advice about love, the promise of rain and

the evil eye. Be wary of the ever-suspicious village priest!

Skills : first aid, insight, natural world, occult, potions, spot

hidden or listen, and two other skills as personal specialties

(spells allowed).

Money : 900 deniers.

MONK/NUN

You live in a monastery, in silence and in prayer. When

you don't pray, you perform domestic tasks, or copy arcane

manuscripts from the monastery's library.

Skills : (craft) or (science) or (art), Latin, library use, listen,

occult, sign language, write Latin, and one other skill as a

personal specialty.

3 Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.75 Stéphane Gesbert

SMALL TRADER

You own a few pack animals or a small ship. You circuit

inland, up river or along the coast for the benefit of your

master. You know a lot about that route and its dangers.

Skills : bargain, drive horses or pilot boat, fast talk, insight,

own kingdom, other language: common trading speech,

navigate, and one other skill as a personal specialty.

Money : 3600 deniers.

Money : 240 deniers. Caveat: since monks and nuns should

not own anything, spend the money to buy personal

effects, and donate the rest down to a few deniers.

PILGRIM

You live from the charity of other people. You accomplish

a pilgrimage to a holy place, e.g. Jerusalem, a monastery

or a cathedral city housing holy relics. You have your own

reasons to be a pilgrim, maybe for the expiation of some

crime, the wish to elevate your soul, or simply the desire

of adventure in its noblest sense. You could be headed to

Santiago di Compostela in Spain, Mount Saint Michel in

France, Jerusalem or Rome.

Skills : bargain, own kingdom, natural world, navigate,

sneak, and three other skills as personal specialties.

Money : 240 deniers.

(FREE) WARRIOR

You are a proud miles , a professional warrior. You are a

bold adventurer on his own or hired by a warlord. Your

only possessions are a horse, a long sword and a

chainmail.

Skills : grapple, natural world, own kingdom, ride, status,

track, one weapon skill, and one other skill as a personal

specialty.

Money : 9000 deniers.

PRIEST

You are on a mission from Church to enlighten lay men

and women in the ways of God. You are an exorcist or a

full-fledged priest who is bound to a parish and collects the

tithe from the farmers, most of which goes to your greedy

lord anyway. Although celibacy is strongly recommended,

some of you have a concubine and have children!

Skills : fast talk, insight, Latin, occult, persuade, status, and

two other skills as personal specialties (religiously correct

spells allowed for exorcists).

Money : 600 deniers.

WOODSMAN/FISHERMAN

As a woodsman you exploit the forest: you might be a

hunter, a honey gatherer or a woodcutter that produces

charcoal. As a fisherman you are living in a fishing

community by a lake or by the sea.

Skills : (craft), natural world, navigate, pilot boat or track,

spot hidden or listen, swim or sneak, throw, and one other

skill as a personal specialty.

Money : 240 deniers.

SAILOR

You're skilled with sails, boats and ships, and know tides,

the wind, and the stars. You have seen Hamburg, Venice

or Constantinople. Life is glorious, except for storms,

pirates and the terrors of the deep.

Skills : climb, fast talk, natural world, navigate, other

kingdoms, pilot boat, and two other skills as a personal

specialties.

Money : 1500 deniers.

Skills

Many “modern” skills didn't exist in the Dark Ages.

Conversely, some Dark Ages skills were typical of the era.

Importantly, a number of skills have been renamed or

redefined to honor the peculiarities of the era. Beware: a

few Dark Ages skills have different base chances.

Training : formal training in a skill, as opposed to

progression from experience, implies access to a master.

Such access, in the Dark Ages, should come as a reward

for some outstanding deed or after great perseverance.

Remember that there were no public schools or

universities! An experience check comes automatically

upon completing six months of game time training.

SCHOLAR

You belong to a monastic or cathedral school. You are the

recipient and the dispenser of godly knowledge. You

spend your time reading classical authors, writing

manuals, and teaching. When you don’t teach, you’re

involved in political intrigues for some good cause.

Skills : (science), library use, Latin, own kingdom,

persuade, status, write Latin, and one other skill as a

personal specialty.

Money : 1200 deniers.

Skill Classes

Diseases, drugs or spells might affect a skill class,

typically halving skill chances for a few hours:

COMMUNICATION : (Art), bargain, fast talk, insight,

other/own language, persuade, status.

MANIPULATION : (Art), conceal, craft, first aid, missile

weapons, pilot boat, repair/devise.

PERCEPTION : Listen, spot hidden, track.

PHYSICAL MOVEMENT : (Art), climb, dodge, drive

horses, fist/punch, grapple, head butt, hide, jump, hand-to-

hand weapons, kick, ride, sneak, swim, throw.

THOUGHT : Accounting, Cthulhu Mythos, library use,

natural world, navigate, occult, other/own kingdoms,

potions, (science), spells, write language.

SERGEANT/MAYOR

You are employed by a lord or a monastery to supervise

the administration of the domain. Your main task is to

collect tax money and dues in kind.

Skills : bargain, fast talk, insight, sneak, spot hidden, status,

one weapon skill, and one other skill as a personal

specialty.

Money : 3000 deniers.

Stéphane Gesbert Game System 4

Skills Base Chance

Dark Ages skill Base % Modern equivalent

Accounting 10% Accounting

Art 05% Art

Bargain 05% Bargain

Climb 40% Climb

Conceal 15% Conceal

Craft 05% Craft

Cthulhu Mythos 00% Cthulhu Mythos

Dodge DEX x2% Dodge

Drive Horses 20% Drive Horses

Fast Talk 05% Fast Talk

First Aid 30% First Aid

Fist/Punch 50% Fist/Punch

Grapple 25% Grapple

Head Butt 10% Head Butt

Hide 10% Hide

Insight 05% Psychology

Jump 25% Jump

Kick 25% Kick

Library Use EDUx2% Library Use

Listen 25% Listen

Natural World 10% Natural History

Navigate 10% Navigate

Occult 05% Occult

Other Kingdoms 01% History

Other Language 01% Other Language

Own Kingdom 20% History

Own Language EDU x5% Own Language

Persuade 15% Persuade

Pilot Boat 01% Pilot Boat

Potions 01% Pharmacy

Repair/Devise 20% Mechanical repair

Ride 05% Ride

Science 01% Astronomy, Medicine,

etc.

Sneak 10% Sneak

Spot Hidden 25% Spot Hidden

Status 15% Credit Rating

Swim 25% Swim

Throw 25% Throw

Track 10% Track

Write Language 01% Own/Other language

Skills with different names, base chances, and scope than

in modern times are shaded. Please refer to the Skills

Definition section and to the Weapon Tables.

CRAFT (05%)

Crafts are skills used to make practical things. Specify

armorer, boat-builder, carpenter, leather-worker, mason,

potter, shipwright, weaver, woodworker, etc.

INSIGHT (05%)

The adventurer can learn another person's character and

motives with this skill. Skillful deceit cannot be

penetrated.

LIBRARY USE (EDU x2%)

Same as the rulebook skill of the same name, only the base

chance is bounded by EDU – not everybody in the Dark

Ages was literate enough to apply this skill!

NATURAL WORLD (10%)

General knowledge of animals, plants, sea life, and climate

in an environment with which the adventurer is familiar.

The keeper should halve the skill ability in unfamiliar

lands. Use Natural World to know and care for

domesticated animals.

OCCULT (05%)

The Occult skill is to non-mythos Old Grimoire magic and

Limbo creatures, what the Cthulhu Mythos skill is to

Mythos magic and monsters. Allows the user to recognize

occult symbols and paraphernalia, and provides knowledge

of astrology and (Arabian) alchemy concepts. This skill

does not apply to Mythos magic. Any evidence of Old

Grimoire magic and of Limbo creatures calls for an Occult

roll. Succeeding, the adventurer is able to recognize the

occult significance of the occurrence. The Occult skill also

helps to identify major occult texts like the Emerald Tablet

or the Sibylline Books.

OTHER KINGDOMS (01%)

With this skill, the adventurer knows something about the

peoples and the lands other than his own.

OTHER LANGUAGE (01%)

This skill represents the user's chance to speak and

understand a particular given language. The skill includes

rudimentary ability to read the language, but not to write it

(see Write Language). Local dialects may be understood at

half chance.

OWN KINGDOM (20%)

The adventurer knows something about the peoples, the

lands and the legends of his native kingdom. This

information comes from gossip and broad traditions.

Identification of a dialect is an excellent test for this skill.

OWN LANGUAGE (EDU X5%)

The skill includes a rudimentary ability to read (if the

language has a written form). This skill does not allow

writing (see Write Language).

POTIONS (01%)

With this skill, recognize, compound, and dispense the

infusions, poisons, antidotes and hallucinogens of the Dark

Ages. Finding ingredients may require considerable

Natural World skill. Preparing a plant potion takes 1-3

days. Preparing poison for a weapon takes 1 day if using

animal venom, and up to two weeks if using infectious

agents. Beware! A fumbled infusion or antidote may be a

poison.

REPAIR/DEVISE (20%)

Every adventurer can fix or devise simple equipment,

boats, and so forth. With Devise, an adventurer can create

pit-falls and other clever traps to catch animals or humans.

Tools and special materials may be needed.

Skill Definitions

ACCOUNTING (10%)

Basic knowledge of arithmetics, calculus, and the usage of

an abacus to understand and manage inventories, accounts

and crop registers.

ART (05%)

Specify acting, dancing, musical instrument, jewelry-

making, juggling, singing, sculpting, illuminating

manuscripts, etc. The adventurer sheet contains blank

spaces for different versions of this skill.

5 Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.75 Stéphane Gesbert

SCIENCE (01%)

Only monks, clerics, scholars, and possibly a few nobles

may be trained in one of the “sciences” of the Dark Ages:

specify music, astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, medicine,

theology, canonic law, etc. The adventurer sheet contains

blank spaces for different versions of this skill. See Spot

Rules section for applications of the medicine skill.

STATUS (15%)

In the narrow communities of the Dark Ages, Status

amounts to an index of personal reputation as well as

monetary worth. This is the adventurer's chance to get a

loan from a Jewish merchant, or to bluff his way past the

count's guards for a private audition.

WRITE LANGUAGE (01%)

In the Dark Ages, writing was a different skill from

reading, and was taught separately. This skill gives the

user the rudimentary ability to write the specified

language, provided he or she has proficiency in reading it,

and provided the language has a written form! In the Dark

Ages, the principal languages that had a written form were

Latin, Syriac or Greek, Arab, German, English, French,

Norse, and Slavonic.

Medicine also covers rudimentary surgery, but since

anesthetics were not known, every operation should be

treated as a wound inflicted by a knife (small or large

depending on the operation, see weapon tables); a fumble

doubles the damage done, and a critical success halves the

damage done. The keeper may also rule that an

amputation, like torture, calls for a Sanity roll, with a

potential Sanity loss of 0/1D3 to 0/1D10. For more details

about Dark Ages medical practices, see the Utilities

chapter.

Insanity

Psychoanalysis was not available in the Dark Ages, and

there were no insane asylums. Every village had its village

“fools” who were part of the community and were

entrusted with simple duties in exchange for food. The

insane were often believed to be possessed and therefore

qualified for an exorcism! Insane people were generally

not held responsible for the damage they could cause.

If not taken care of in a monastery or at home, insane

adventurers are assumed to be wandering derelicts.

Without modern treatment, the indefinitely insane’s only

hope is private care at home or in a monastery, safe from

further upset and harm. After 1D6 game months, he or she

may reenter the world.

Spot Rules

For the main part, the rules of the Call of Cthulhu rulebook

are valid in the Dark Ages. However, some emphasis,

adjustments and additions are necessary.

Poison

Most poisons are slow acting, and their symptoms

intensify over hours. In game terms, hit point loss due to

poisoning should be applied at the pro-rate of the effects'

duration (e.g. 1 HP per hour during 8 hours for the aspic

bite, if the resistance roll was failed). Like diseases,

poisons might affect one or more skill classes.

The table below lists common poisons, their potency for a

given dose and their effects. Many more poisons exist, e.g.

the African strophantus, the Asian upas-antiar, the Slavic

honey-that-drives-mad, and mineral poisons based on

arsenic, mercury or red lead (minium). The latter are easily

found in the scriptoria of monasteries, since they enter the

composition of inks used to illuminate manuscripts.

Ingesting the right antidote (requiring successful Potions

rolls to identify the poison and to prepare the antidote) will

stop the poison's effects and the ongoing hit point loss.

Medicine

Medical science was pretty basic in the Dark Ages,

especially in the Occidental parts of the world. Monks and

scholars still relied on profane books right out of Antiquity

to exercise this skill. The most common treatments of

illness consisted of bleeding and special diets. For that

reason a successful Medicine roll restores only 1D3 hit

points per week of observation and "treatment" (instead of

2D3 using modern medicine). Successful application of

Medicine may require additional Potions roll to prepare

necessary healing potions. The keeper may rule that a

fumble causes a further loss of 1D3 hit points, as a result

of bad treatment. Arabs were much more skilled in

Medicine, and also performed simple surgery. An

adventurer successfully treated by an Arab physician heals

at 2D3 hit points per game week.

POISON 1

POT 2

Dose

Onset

Duration

Symptoms, in time

Adder, aspic

1 bite

few min

hours

Pains, anguish, collapsus, necrosis, edema.

50 stings 3

Bees/Wasps

few min

2 days

Pain, shock, collapsus, lung edema.

Belladonna

1 fruit

few min

varies

Excitation, spasms, phobia of light, thirst.

Bittersweet

1 fruit

instant

varies

Sickness, diarrhea, agoraphobia, cold.

Death cap

1 cap

8-16 h

2-5 days

Sickness, colic, collapsus.

Hemlock

2-3 grams

few min

varies

Vision loss, sickness, diarrhea, paralysis.

Yellow scorpion

1 sting

few min

10 hours

Pain, anguish, lung edema.

Spurge

contact

instant

2-3 days

Anguish, fever, paralysis; blindness if sprayed in

the eyes. Used by Spanish crossbowmen.

Wolfsbane

contact

10-20 min

varies

Cold sweat, pains, vomiting, colic, failure.

1 Preparation time is 1 day for animal poisons, 1-3 days for vegetal poisons.

2 The potency of the poison is proportional to the dose, e.g. 10 fresh belladonna fruits have a potency of 10. Prepared poisons,

as opposed to fresh ones, generally work at half the listed potency.

3 The number of stings delivered each round to a single victim depends on the size of the wasp nest or the beehive: count 25

wasp stings per round for very large wasp nests, and 50 bee stings for very large beehives.

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