Monster of the Week #4

Ref: KingOvRats DeviantArt

This week we have a different type of fiend in the mix.

After a short period of having no Cthulhu games to fill my existential dread, I had a short casual (if that's even possible) game of it recently. For a change I was playing the game (I tend to GM), and the game was filled to the brim with mystery, creepy set pieces and you guessed it... a monster.

This reminded me of how much I enjoy some of the mythos creatures. Organic, alien and ultimately terrifying. 

The Formless Spawn makes it on the list this week due to its versatility. As written, these creatures are a decent size and can pack a good punch to your investigators. However, this doesn't mean they couldn't be treated in other ways. Something like this could be a good foundation for a "The Thing" like creature which evolves all the time.

During the game I played, hints were dropped about this thing, but at no point did I expect to come face to face with a creature like this. A very lucky Sanity check from me saved my skin as myself and a friendly NPC emptied all our high proof booze onto this thing to set it alight.

These monsters also pack a couple of attacks per turn, making them efficient at dropping people in numbers.

With the manurer of grabbing PC and NPCs, you can quickly limit the more 'enthusiastic' members of an investigation party. Be wary of insta-swallowing your party members though, they might not be able to break out.

Lastly, in case a creature like this isn't enough to scare your players, its also immune to normal physical attacks.... And this thing isn't even one of the big threats in the handbook!

Large monstrosities are always some of my favourite monsters to bring into games. As a huge fan of horror films, I can't help but to have terrifying monsters to show my players. And this recent game reminded me why I love and have Call of Cthulhu as my go-to horror TTRPG. The monsters themselves (or even human fighting) make combat a frightening prospect. When combat does break out, the short, intense encounters - which often require brains over brawn - boast an exciting sequence of events, and often require running away!

What do you think? In stark contrast to a D&D combat sequence, Call of Cthulhu offers short and lethal combat encounters for your games. Do you have a preference? We'd love to hear it in the responses below!

-JT