Monster of the Week #5

 

We were playing an impromptu game of Call of Cthulhu last night and I revisited a 'bad guy' that I have used in the past.

The Abomination from The Gateways To Terror handbook is a strong but manageable creature in The Necropolis.

The scenario is designed much more like an introduction game to Call of Cthulhu - its very brief, relies on investigating, learning lore, simple roles and one dangerous but killable threat. To summarise, several people discover a new tomb or cave in Egypt and once inside are trapped - left dropped into darkness and have to discover a way out. The game is layered with Cthulhu Mythos and an imposing creature that reveals itself later in the game. The creature being The Abomination.

The Abomination is a large, mummified hybrid dog-man who awakens around 40 minutes into your play session, announcing it's entry with large growls, howls and rock smashing.

It has a very strong fighting ability and a chunky 3d6 damage bonus, so head on collision is not recommended for your players. In the game I ran last night, one of the players were at 1HP after one attack.

What makes this creature really cool for me is only in part the Egyptian theme and menacing presence this thing has. The main attraction for me is how this encounter can happen almost entirely in the dark, relying on players to use brains-over-brawn to sneak around the creature and use avoidance tactics to survive. It's almost a unique mechanic for this creature in the game, where torchlight can act almost like a beacon for this creature to go towards.

It has 2 main goals, to break out of the tomb and.... eat. It's simple goals can lead to players learning how to handle the creature outside of combat, and last night's game was a great example of how avoiding combat can be just as fun as being in it.

It has 17 HP (for any D&D players, that can be almost double what normal investigators can get), but can be killed by destroying its heart - which is hidden deeper in the tomb, hidden inside a canopic jar in a treasury which the beast was resting in front of.

With the recent influx of D&D themed games I have ran, it's been nice to play a vanilla horror experience with Call of Cthulhu - which can offer short but deadly combat encounters to keep the game moving quick.

The Abomination can also offer several lessons of how confrontation works in Call of Cthulhu, and can introduce new players (which there were a few of yesterday) that combat is deadly and damaging for all parties. 

Overall, The Abomination is cool creature concept, but with the backdrop of plunging players into darkness, or else be hunted by the blood-starved beast, can create a unique encounter that is full of dice rolls through gritted teeth, and ultimate payoff when the players kill it off.

The Necropolis is a nice, short adventure that can introduce players into Call of Cthulhu - I recommend this to any GMs wishing to introduce their friends to the game, or even new GMs who want to dip their toes into running something.

That''s the monster for this week - what's your thoughts? Have you run this scenario? Do you have any recommendations? Let us know in the comments of this post. 

Thanks again!

-KJ