Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide is a role playing game supplement published by Modiphius for use with Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20. This is one of two core books for the game, the other being the Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Guide (2d20).
The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a 191-page PDF for $14.99 and is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. The PDF comes in two versions, one being print friendly with no backgrounds. Two pages are the front and rear covers, two the inside covers, one the front matter, one the Contents and two the Index.
Chapter 1: Introduction begins with a piece of fiction, briefly looks at what the game is, namely a Lovecraftian RPG set during World War II where the normal menaces of war are made worse by the influences of the Mythos and a brief look at the 2d20 System, explaining it has some unique characteristics that are covered later.
Chapter 2: A Secret War? is a collection of snippets and accounts about the Secret War. This are divided into Section M, Majestic, Black Sun, Nachtwölfe, Mi-Go and Deep Ones, though most of the snippets are from members of the Allied forces and all are written from a first-person perspective. This chapter is brief and can be skipped for players who don’t want to start a campaign with foreknowledge.
Chapter 3: Playing the Game covers the basics of the game. The d20 is the most common dice used, with the second being a six-sided dice known as Challenge Dice, that have three symbols on them. A table is provided to use a regular d6 as a Challenge Dice. Challenge Dice are primarily used for inflicting stress in combat.
Skill tests involve rolling the dice. The relevant attribute and skill for the roll are determined and added together to get the target number for each d20. The difficulty level is between 0, an automatic success, and 5, with examples of these given, and is the number of successes needed to pass the test. A pool of dice is rolled, with a base of 2d20 and up to three more d20s can be bought with Momentum. Enough rolls at the target number or below is a success; a roll of 1 is a critical success and generates 2 successes and a roll of 20 is a complication. Characters may assist others or be opposed in the test and some things are too complicated for a single roll and are extended tests requiring more time and effort.
Momentum is gained by generating more successes than the difficulty. It can be used to buy d20s for a skill test, create a truth, obtain information or reduce time taken to complete a test. Unspent Momentum is added to the group pool; if it cannot be added, it’s lost. Only obtaining information can have Momentum repeatedly spent on the same matter. One Momentum is removed from the group pool at the end of a scene and, if not spent, will eventually be lost.
Truths are single words or short phrases describing an important fact about a scene; players defining a truth is therefore useful. Truths can be dangerous as well, as players are not the only ones creating them. Complications are truths that have a negative impact; they can be bought off.
Fortune can be spent to pull off things that would otherwise be impossible. Characters start with three at the start of an adventure and can have up to Five; they refresh at the beginning of every adventure. The concept is similar to such things as Hero and Fate points.
Threat is the GM’s own currency. It’s similar to Momentum and can be used to alter scenes and empower NPCs. Characters do not, in-universe, know about Threat. Momentum spends can be paid for by allowing the GM to add Threat.
Chapter 4: Action looks at action scenes in the game. It first looks at environment and zones; the system uses an abstract for of distance, being close, medium, long and extreme range. Terrain will also shape the environment, and this can include such as doors. Action scenes are divided into rounds and turns; each character takes a turn during a round. The various different kinds of action are covered, along with attacks, stress and injury and resisting such. How characters can die is another element, as is the use and effects of weapons. In the game, mental attacks are also a possibility. Momentum can also be spent to gain more options. How characters recover from stress and injuries is detailed, along with the effects of permanent physical and mental scars. Finally, it looks at fatigue.
Chapter 5: Heroes are Forged is the character creation chapter and it first states that many of the rules in the chapter apply to both PCs and NPCs. Character creation is a six-step process, and an overview is given of these steps before they are covered in more detail. It then looks at Agility, Brawn, Coordination, Insight, Reason and Will and explains what these do and then covers the various skills, ranked from 0 to 5. The skills are broad, and each has focuses allowing a character to specialise. The creation process has an example character being built.
Step 1 sees the starting attributes of Agility, Brawn, Coordination, Insight, Reason and Will, which all start at 6. The next step is to choose an archetype. Each is given an overview, when you should play it, going by what you want your character to do, what attributes and skills they change, their focuses, talents and belongings. The archetypes are Boffin, Commander, Con Artist, Grease Monkey, Infiltrator, Investigator, Occultist and Soldier.
Nationality is Step 3 and the only real game effect this has is to determine languages. It also explains that this is a pulp dramatization of the war, not a historically accurate one. There is an overview of the various Allied nations. Step 4 is backgrounds, which have an effect on attributes, skills, focuses, talents, truth and belongings. The backgrounds cover a wide range, including military and criminal.
Step 5 is characteristic, which is what marks the character as being distinct, unusual or extraordinary in some way. These also have an effect on attributes, skills, focuses, talents, truth and belongings. Step 6 is the finishing touches, things like what magic tradition an Occultist follows, the stress track, bonus languages, resistance, bonus Challenge Dice, name, personality, appearance and personal belongings, which are those other than granted at earlier steps.
After this, how characters gain and spend experience, in order to advance them, is covered, along with such as retraining, adjusting truths and scars and various medals and ranks across the Allied forces, the latter of which has been simplified for game play.
Chapter 6: Talents starts by explaining that all talents have one or more keywords which are used to group similar talents together and may restrict access to them. Archetype talents can only be picked by the appropriate archetype, Skill talents affect skill tests, Fortune talents require a Fortune point be spent, Spellcaster talents allow a character to use magic, Advanced talents require a rating of 3 or more in the associated skill and Weird talents represent the weird.
The talents are then described, grouped into the following categories: Common, Academia, Athletics, Engineering, Fighting, Medicine, Observation, Persuasion, Resilience, Stealth, Survival, Tactics, Vehicles and Weird. All the talents follow the same format; name, their keyword(s) and a description of it that combines fluff and mechanics.
Chapter 7: Tools of the Trade covers equipment. It first looks at how much a character can carry; there are three types of items for encumbrance purposes. These are trivial, and as many as are wanted can be carried of these, minor, which can be up to three, and major, and one major and three minor items can be carried without encumbrance, or two major items. Those with higher Brawn attributes can carry more.
The first type of equipment is weapons, and these have ranges, appropriate Focuses, stress and effects caused by them, rate of fire, size and qualities. Equipment is divided into melee weapons, with exotic ones being such as swords, and ranged weapons, from handguns to heavy weapons to grenades, with exotic ones being such as bows. Armour is less effective than in prior eras, but can be used. There are various types of skill kits, needed to perform certain tasks, other useful equipment, covert equipment and finally German military equipment, this being weapons.
Finally, there are rules on acquiring equipment, as some items are easier to obtain than others. Characters have personal gear dependent on their Archetype, Background, Characteristic and talents, they may get further equip0ment required for a mission and they may try and request individual items, such as those that are rare or occult. Once out in the field, equipment cannot be requisitioned under most circumstances.
Chapter 8: Vehicles is similar to the previous chapter, but covers vehicles, though it only covers ground vehicles. There are rules on operating vehicles, carrying passengers and cargo, vehicular combat including attacking passengers and the difference between vehicles operated by NPCs as opposed to PCs. The general layout of vehicle descriptions is given, including specific truths and qualities applicable to them. The different vehicles, which are mostly combat vehicles, are divided into UK/Commonwealth, which includes some US-manufactured vehicles under Lend Lease, United States Armed Forces vehicles and German vehicles; German vehicles do not list the number of Injuries as they are usually operated by NPCs and how to handle this is covered.
Chapter 9: Magic looks at magic in general, Allied traditions, the development of battlefield magic and the quest for oft-dangerous knowledge. The three different types of spellcasting are looked at next. Traditional magic users have studied an occult tradition, and these are Celtic and Runic spellcasters, researchers are research-driven and primarily self-taught, which is dangerous, or part of a secret society, and dabblers use fragments of knowledge they have stumbled across, with their spells often being flawed and dangerous. Each starts with different numbers and kinds of spells. Casting spells, and how they can go wrong, is looked at, and their different types and what these types do.
Battlefield magic, which is designed for combat, is then looked at, followed by spellbooks for Celtic and Runic traditions. Psychic and ESP talents, which are functionally little different to spells in how they work, are next. It then looks at how new spells are learned, which is difficult, before finally looking at ritualistic magic, which is magic that requires a ritual to gain a powerful result and which follow a different spellcasting method to non-ritual spells.
Chapter 10: The March of History covers the military, intelligence and auxiliary forces operational during the war. It covers the various military forces of the United Kingdom and United States, with overviews of the branches and special forces, less on France, and of Germany. It then gives background on the intelligence forces of the UK, US and Germany, as well as the French Resistance. Finally, it looks at the supporting roles; entertainment, women in the military and civilian support, civil defence and how various conscientious objectors still served.
Chapter 11: Allied Forces has stats for Allied forces, the British and the US, as well as French Resistance, and various animals that also play a military role.
The Appendices have a three-page character sheet and the Index.
Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Contents is not anywhere near as thorough. The Index is not as thorough as it could be. Navigation is fine. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of colour illustrations, often designed to look like stuck in photographs, up to full page in size. Presentation is good.
Just as with the Gamemaster’s Guide, more than the Player’s Guide is needed to play the game, though this does contain many of the rules needed to play. The game is based on the 2d20 system, though with modifications made to it.
Rather than covering the setting, although some of this is done, particularly in the backgrounds of various Allied forces, this supplement contains the rules needed to play in that setting. As this covers a conflict that actually happened, there are some details on events from later in the war included in the options. Given this is a Lovecraftian setting, in the middle of an already dangerous war, danger is common. Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide provides many of the rules needed for playing in a weird war version of World War II and it can be found by clicking here.
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