H.P. Lovecraft is arguably the father of cosmic horror, introducing readers to the idea of unspeakable horrors that live beyond our knowledge or understanding. In his stories, many of these beings existed here before man even walked the earth, and are trying to return again, often with the aid of human agents that have been corrupted by these beings. Chief among these is the dread Cthulhu, an enormous winged “Great Old One” with a tentacled mouth. Of course, that’s all purely fictional. But the Nazi interest in the occult during World War II was all too real.
The German Worker’s Party, which would eventually become the Nazi Party, was founded in part by members of the Thule Society, a group dedicated to studying the mythological origins of the Aryan race. Several prominent Nazis, including Hitler’s deputy führer Rudolph Hess, were active in the Thule Society. Some of the organization’s beliefs would influence the Nazi state, such as the power of magic runes, and the idea that a proto-Aryan race lived on the mythological island of Thule, also alternately known as Hyperborea or Atlantis. Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer to the SS, had a personal occultist, Karl Wiligut. Himmler made decisions for the SS based on Wiligut’s prophecies.
Since World War II, there have been other, unsubstantiated rumors about Nazis and their active pursuit of magic and the supernatural. So it’s no surprise that the blending of the Nazi’s occultism and the cosmic horrors of Lovecraft’s writing results in the setting for Modiphius’ Achtung! Cthulhu, which is in its seventh edition after first being released in 2012.
What Is the Achtung! Chthulhu 2D20 Starter Set?
Achtung! Cthulhu is a fast-paced, pulp-influenced tabletop roleplaying game using the 2D20 system, created by Chris Birch and published by Modiphius. It combines the works of H.P. Lovecraft with a World War II setting:
Amidst the battles of World War II, brave Allied heroes fight a Secret War against the Nazi forces of the occult, the fearsome Black Sun who favour magic and monsters, and their fierce rivals Nachtwölfe-–The Night Wolves—who use unholy biological enhancements to make terrifying wonder weapons powered by a strange source of energy, Blauer Kristall, or blue crystal.
The Achtung! Cthulhu 2D20 Starter Set is a boxed set that includes the basic rules, a short adventure, dice, tokens, maps, and pre-generated characters: basically everything needed to run an introductory game of Achtung! Cthulhu. It retails for $41.74 and is available from Amazon or directly from the Modiphius webstore.
Achtung! Cthulhu 2D20 Starter Set Components
The box for the Achtung! Cthulhu 2D20 Starter Set is roughly the thickness of two average tabletop roleplaying rulebooks but still manages to pack a great amount of content inside.
It contains:
- Starter rules to quickly launch you into Achtung! Cthulhu’s cinematic world of pulp adventures.
- Among the Wolves, a thrilling 60-page, three-act starter mission that takes you from Dunkirk to the heart of an alien hive city.
- Six pre-generated characters so you can play right away.
- Six huge maps and over 100 tokens to run battles and encounters.
- Quick reference sheets to help players master the rules.
- Limited Edition Elder Sign Dice Set with 2d20 and 4 challenge dice.
There are two booklets in the box: a 16-page set of Basic Rules, and the Among the Wolves adventure, which clocks in at 57 pages. Both are printed on high-quality, glossy stock. There are copious illustrations and rule sidebars throughout both booklets.
While the rules cover the skills and attributes of the characters, you won’t find any guidance for character creation in the Starter Set. For that, you’ll need to turn to the Achtung! Cthulhu 2D20 Player’s Guide. Instead, you’ll find 6 pre-generated characters with the set.
The characters, as well as NPCs and effects, are to be found on two double-sided token sheets. It would have been nice to have standees for the characters, but the tokens do the job.
There are six maps for the adventure, printed on three glossy, folded posters. Only a couple of the maps are at a 1:1 scale, with the others used for approximate reference.
The set comes with two d20 dice and 4 “Challenge” d6 dice. While the 20-sided dice are fairly standard, the Challenge Dice have only four possible results. Challenge dice inflict Stress, which can lead to injuries or death.
Additionally, there are 6 double-sided reference sheets, enough for each player. While not as comprehensive as the rules booklet, it’s still a very handy reference for the players.
Finally, in lieu of a traditional Game Master’s screen, the box lid provides a number of useful tables that the GM can refer to throughout play.
Playing Achtung! Cthulhu
Anyone familiar with playing other tabletop RPGs will immediately find themselves at home learning and playing Achtung! Cthulhu. As such, I’m not going to go over every rule, but, rather, highlight some important concepts in gameplay specific to this game.
Like most tabletop roleplaying games, Achtung! Cthulhu endows its characters, known as Agents, with various stats. They have attributes, in this case, Agility, Brawn, Coordination, Insight, Reason, and Will. There are also a variety of skills, some of which can receive a greater specialization via focuses.
Skill Tests
With the 2D20 system, when characters attempt an action, whether it’s to hotwire a Jeep or shoot an enemy, the Game Master will choose an appropriate attribute and skill for a skill test, along with any applicable focuses.
- The player adds their attribute and skill scores. For example, if someone was playing Kailash and was asked to do an Agility + Fighting test, they would have a target number for the skill test of 10 (8+2).
- The Game Master sets the difficulty level from 0-5. This number represents the total number of successes the player must roll in their dice pool to succeed with the test.
- Players roll their dice pool, taking 2d20s. They may purchase up to three additional d20s by spending Momentum, adding to Threat, or using Fortune. (Don’t worry, we’ll get to what those terms mean shortly.)
- Each die result equal to or less than the target number scores a single success.
- If the successes equal or exceed the difficulty of the test, the player accomplishes the test. Successes in excess of the target number generate Momentum. Finally, the Game Master describes the outcome of the test.
Momentum
The entire party can only have a maximum of 6 Momentum in their pool at any time. Some situations, items, and talents will generate bonus Momentum. As previously stated, you can use Momentum to purchase additional dice for tests, as well as increase Stress on enemies, generate Truths, obtain information from the GM, or reduce the time it takes to accomplish a test.
Threat
Threat is a resource that the GM can spend to alter scenes, empower NPCs, and generally increase the challenge or peril in a scene. Game Masters start the adventure with two Threat per player. While GMs may add to the Threat pool via their NPCs taking Skill Tests, it is often players that will increase that pool, by purchasing additional dice or avoiding complications during their own Skill Tests.
Fortune
Fortune is another resource, one that can be used to pull off extraordinary actions or give an edge in critical situations. Each agent starts a mission with 3 Fortune points, and may never have more than 5 at any time. Fortune points can be used to generate a Critical Success on a skill test, to reroll a dice pool, to take an additional Major Action, to avoid defeat, or to introduce a new Truth about a scene.
Truths
A truth is a single word or short phrase that describes a single significant fact or aspect about its subject. Truths define what is and isn’t possible, and whether skill tests are easier or harder to accomplish.
Combat
Like in most RPGs, combat in Achtung! Cthulhu takes place over a series of rounds. There is no initiative; rather, turns alternate between players and NPCs.
During combat, Agents can attempt a single major action and a single minor action. Attacking an enemy is accomplished via Skill Tests: Agility + Fighting for Melee attacks, Coordination + Fighting for Ranged attacks, and Will + Academia for Mental attacks.
On a successful Skill Test, the attack will inflict Stress:
- Agents roll a number of Challenge dice indicated by the weapon used. Total the number of Stress inflicted, as well as any effects rolled.
- If the target is wearing Armour or behind Cover, then add the Armour and Cover ratings together and subtract that from the attacker’s total.
- The target then adds any remaining Stress to their Stress track, checking to see if they have received any injuries. Injuries result from filling the character’s Stress track or suffering 5 or more Stress in a single attack.
Magic
Given the occult setting for Achtung! Cthulhu, there are characters on both the Axis and Allies side that can wield Magic. There are two forms of Magic in the game: Battlefield Magic, which are spells used in combat, and Ritual Magic, used for communicating with strange forces or permanently effecting change in the world.
Among the Wolves
The included introductory adventure Among the Wolves is designed for six players and should take either one long play session or several smaller ones to complete.
The adventure is presented in three acts, each of which is broken down into individual scenes. In case you’re reading this and planning on being a player, I’m not going to give away too much information on the story. Suffice it to say that you will be playing as Allied characters, and you will encounter not just German soldiers, but also agents of the major factions from the Achtung! Cthulhu universe.
Among the Wolves is very friendly not just to new players, but also to Game Masters new to Achtung! Cthulhu. It introduces game concepts gradually to the players, starting off at a slower pace before the story turns up the heat. By relying on the pre-generated characters, the adventure ensures complementary skills for the Agents, as well as providing dialogue that the GM can use to draw the players into the story.
For scenes that provide conflict, the NPC stat blocks appear right along with the scene, so that Game Masters can instantly reference them. There are also several player handouts, but, unfortunately, these are printed in the adventure’s Appendix rather than individually. If you actually want to hand them out to your players, you’ll have to make copies yourself.
Achtung! Cthulhu 2D20 Starter Set – The Verdict
I’ve had an interest in Achtung! Cthulhu for several years, and this is the first I’ve gotten my hands on any of the materials from the game. I was very happy to find in the Achtung! Cthulhu 2D20 Starter Set a very solid introduction to both the setting and the game system overall.
The included Basic Rules may seem short at 16 pages, but it gives a solid understanding of the Achtung! Cthulhu mechanisms. The booklet is well-organized and includes not just rules but many examples to help clarify said rules in the minds of the GM and players.
This is reinforced in Among the Wolves, which introduces multiple opportunities to learn and use different rules in ways that are organic to the story of the adventure. Both books have a graphic design that is evocative of World War II, and the adventure booklet especially has copious illustrations that add to the immersion factor.
The pre-generated characters and additional components ensure that a Game Master and players can get the game up and running on the table with little more than a few pencils in addition to the box set. It would have been nice to have had separate handouts for the adventure in the box; hopefully, at some point, Modiphius will at least release those as free downloads on their website so GMs can print them easily at home.
All in all, the Achtung! Cthulhu 2D20 Starter Set is a great way to try out Achtung! Cthulhu. While by no means comprehensive, the Starter Set is a well-designed way to get players’ toes wet, and will likely inspire many to move on to the full ruleset for the setting.
For more information, head to the Modiphius website.
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