Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Guide (2d20) 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 2d20: Player’s Guide.
The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a 271-page PDF for $19.99 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 front matter, one the Contents, two the Index and two the back matter.
Chapter One: Introduction starts with A Meeting of Minds which is a piece of fiction for the setting. What is Achtung! Cthulhu? explains that it is a setting for Lovecraftian roleplaying during World War II, and which allows players to discover the truth behind the influence of the Mythos on the Nazi war machine. There are forces on each side, as well as those that are of neither Axis nor Allies, and the Nazi Cult of the Black Sun seek to unleash Yog-Sothoth. What is the 2d20 System? explains that this is a role playing game system used to play.
Chapter Two: The Secret War starts by explaining that this is an ongoing battle between six major factions drawn from the Axis, Allies and Mythos, though other conventional and otherworldly forces are still caught up in this. On the Axis side are the Cult of the Black Sun and the Nachtwölfe, though the latter are a breakaway group. On the side of the Allies are Britain’s Section M and America’s Majestic. Finally, from the Mythos, are the Mi-Go and the Deep Ones.
It then goes into the six different factions in more detail, covering things such as their background, history, including through to the end of the war, bases, forces, missions and goals. The four human factions are covered in more detail, probably appropriately, than the two Mythos ones.
Chapter Three: Secret Weapons of the Secret War starts with some new weapon qualities and some details on energy discharge weapons, or lightning guns, with a mishap table for these. The weapons are then divided by faction, with Section M, Majestic, Black Sun, Nachtwölfe, Deep Ones and Mi-Go, as well as a section on other arcane esoterica. Players may only requisition items from Section M or Majestic; everything else would be found or looted from the dead. As well as the weapons, there are details on related items, such as the blue crystal used by Nachtwölfe. The chapter ends with weapons charts.
Chapter Four: Magic & The Mythos looks at the magical and mystic elements of the Secret War. Magic, naturally for the type of magic, has a cost. Given the war, it’s also been divided into two disciplines; what could be called battlefield magic and ritualistic magic. Mythos Magic has an overview of the magic used by the Axis and Allied magical traditions.
Allied Traditions of Battlefield Magic has the Celtic spellbook, runic spellbook, psychic and ESP talents. Axis Traditions of Battlefield Magic then gives a look at these.
Magic is divided into different categories; Tome of Cthulhu, Grimoire of Nyarlathotep, Spellbook of Yog-Sothoth and Rituals, each of which has a selection of spells; there are more ritual spells than any other.
Mythos Tomes and Arcane Sources looks at the valuable, and often dangerous, books that are sought by both sides, with rules for studying them and an explanation as to how they are laid out. A Collection of Known Mythos Tomes then covers various different books, with names, descriptions, game stats, any special rules and, sometimes, different editions.
Chapter Five: The Gamemaster first looks at what a GameMaster is – Chapter Five in a book designed for the GM seems an odd place to have it; the beginning might have been better – with an overview of what GMing can entail. Next there are tips on how to run scenes, which are the individual components of an adventure where things happen. Skill tests, which are rolling the dice to determine success or failure when an outcome’s result is uncertain, may fail or is important, is covered, explaining how to do this. Skill tests can vary in difficulty and there are some instructions on setting this. Various sidebars provide more assistance for more specific things. Opposed tests are when another character, often but not always an NPC, is opposing what the character is trying to do.
Challenges and extended tests are those tests that require more than a single skill roll. Different kinds of tests in these categories are covered, how to use them and examples are given. Truths are the framework that help describe a scene, and can have an effect; they can be positive or negative, from the players’ point of view. How to create them on the fly and how to adjudicate them are covered.
Momentum and Fortune and the currency used to improve the odds or change fate, and it looks at handling them and giving them out. Threat is discussed briefly in Chapter Three: Playing the Game in the Player’s Guide and is covered in more detail here. The Threat pool grows or shrinks as truths are introduced and dice bought for NPCs; Threat is spent by the GM to accomplish a wide variety of things, which are covered. How and when to hand out experience is covered and what to give.
Details are given on how to run actions scenes, which includes establishing zones and truths for them. NPCs are next, with different categories of them that pose different threats; in this game, there are Bystanders, Troopers, Lieutenant and Nemesis NPCs; these are their power levels, and a Nemesis NPC can easily be an ally, not a foe. Some common abilities of NPCs are followed by details on how to create everything bar Bystanders, who are inconsequential, and special rules for NPCs.
Chapter Six: Heroes & Villains of the Secret War covers NPCs from the various factions. These are divided into British, regular forces, those for the Secret War and Section M, Resistance forces, US, including regular forces, Secret War forces and Majestic, and Axis forces, including regular forces, Black Sun and Nachtwolfe. These divisions have general NPC stats as well as specific ones for important figures in the different groups.
Chapter Seven: Bestiary is divided into different categories, with details on the creatures found in each category. The categories are Animals, Creations of Abhorrent Science, Horrors & Monstrosities, Deep Ones, The Mi-Go and Elder Gods, Outer Gods, and Great Old Ones. A note in the final category explains that though the attribute scores given for these creatures may look too low, they are beings beyond what the rules are routinely designed to represent and are therefore abstracted. An attribute score above 20 doesn’t do anything in game terms. The special rules for each being are instead used to represent their unique abilities and power.
The Appendices is just the Index.
Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Guide (2d20) 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.
The first thing to note is that this isn’t a complete game and the rules needed to actually play are in the Player’s Guide. This supplement contains the GM’s material needed. The system is based on Modiphius’ standard 2d20 system, though there are changes to allow for the style of play.
A weird world war setting is not unusual, though this may be one of the more detailed games set in such. The war is familiar, and the outcome is practically certain as well, going by the text, though it’s always possible that characters could change events. A GM should, in fact, make it possible for them to do so, otherwise the entire exercise seems kind of pointless; if the enemy, including the occult opposition, is going to be defeated anyway, as per history, why bother?
The foes are also more dangerous; the two Nazi occult organisations are not the most dangerous players on the field. Much of the material should be familiar from Lovecraftian fiction, with many things coming straight from Lovecraft. Some of the material is new, of course, and the interpretation of it in some places is also different. Given the nature of the beings involved in the Secret War, a situation that is already dangerous has taken several steps up the danger scale. Achtung! Cthulhu Gamemaster’s Guide (2d20) provides interesting background material and details for playing in a far more dangerous World War II and it can be found by clicking here.
Leave a Reply