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Call of Cthulhu RPG, 7th Edition
Cults of Cthulhu
Secrets of the Cthulhu Cult
Cults of Cthulhu delves into the human side of the dark and horrific world of those who worship the dead yet dreaming abomination known as Great Cthulhu. Here, twisted humans try to find meaning in a hopeless universe, and seek purpose in their fleeting and insignificant lives. This is the world of the Cthulhu Cult and those who hear its master's dark call.
In Call of Cthulhu, there are many who serve the alien forces of the universe and seek to trade favor for power. But, there is one insidious cult that rises above the rest. One that has secretly permeated human civilization since before human civilization even existed: the Cthulhu Cult. From the history of its varied forms through to its notable personalities, this sourcebook presents not only ready to use Cthulhu cults but also advice on designing unique cults to trouble your investigators in your games and campaigns.
Herein, a horrific doorway is thrown open. Inside, the intricacies of Cthulhu cults and their varying permutations are explored in depth. As a Keeper, writer, or storyteller, this book can be used as a tool to help inspire you to expand and create something totally new, but still rooted in the twisted brambles and sunken seaweed of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Cults of Cthulhu guides you in the creation of complex and believable antagonists for your scenarios and campaigns - villains who are more than just faceless, robed minions and who perhaps embody the most terrifying threat in all of the Mythos.
Inside this book, you'll find:
• A history of Cthulhu cults.
• Five fully fleshed out Cthulhu cults, ready to be incorporated into games.
• Covering the Victorian era through to the Modern-Day.
• Never before seen secrets of the Deathless Masters.
• Detailed guidance on designing cults and their leaders for campaigns.
• Special “Cult Worksheet” to record the various cults created.
• Profiles for a wide range of cultists, new Cthulhu-connected monsters, artifacts, and spells.
• Three scenarios covering Cthulhu by Gaslight, the Roaring Twenties, and the Modern-Day.
• Cthulhu in Mythos tomes.
Mature Content: This book deals with mature themes and is intended for mature players.
This supplement is best used with Call of Cthulhu 7E and optionally the Pulp Cthulhu sourcebook, both available separately.
Cults of Cthulhu delves into the human side of the dark and horrific world of those who worship the dead yet dreaming abomination known as Great Cthulhu. Here, twisted humans try to find meaning in a hopeless universe, and seek purpose in their fleeting and insignificant lives. This is the world of the Cthulhu Cult and those who hear its master's dark call.
In Call of Cthulhu, there are many who serve the alien forces of the universe and seek to trade favor for power. But, there is one insidious cult that rises above the rest. One that has secretly permeated human civilization since before human civilization even existed: the Cthulhu Cult. From the history of its varied forms through to its notable personalities, this sourcebook presents not only ready to use Cthulhu cults but also advice on designing unique cults to trouble your investigators in your games and campaigns.
Herein, a horrific doorway is thrown open. Inside, the intricacies of Cthulhu cults and their varying permutations are explored in depth. As a Keeper, writer, or storyteller, this book can be used as a tool to help inspire you to expand and create something totally new, but still rooted in the twisted brambles and sunken seaweed of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Cults of Cthulhu guides you in the creation of complex and believable antagonists for your scenarios and campaigns - villains who are more than just faceless, robed minions and who perhaps embody the most terrifying threat in all of the Mythos.
Inside this book, you'll find:
• A history of Cthulhu cults.
• Five fully fleshed out Cthulhu cults, ready to be incorporated into games.
• Covering the Victorian era through to the Modern-Day.
• Never before seen secrets of the Deathless Masters.
• Detailed guidance on designing cults and their leaders for campaigns.
• Special “Cult Worksheet” to record the various cults created.
• Profiles for a wide range of cultists, new Cthulhu-connected monsters, artifacts, and spells.
• Three scenarios covering Cthulhu by Gaslight, the Roaring Twenties, and the Modern-Day.
• Cthulhu in Mythos tomes.
Mature Content: This book deals with mature themes and is intended for mature players.
This supplement is best used with Call of Cthulhu 7E and optionally the Pulp Cthulhu sourcebook, both available separately.
366 pages, Unknown Binding
Published October 31, 2021
6 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Mike Mason
12 books48 followersLine Developer and Editor for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game, freelance author and game designer.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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October 17, 2023How? A cross between my RPG "read all" project and my Call of Cthulhu "buy all" project.
What? All about the cults who worship Cthulhu (who I guess hasn't been the prime mover of some of Chaosium's biggest adventures.) So we get
* an (in-character) history of the Cthulhu cults;
* a look at a few cults:
* The Elevated Order of Morpheus (for your gaslit Victoriana);
* The Louisiana swamp cult (from _Call of Cthulhu_);
* The Society of the Angelic Ones (for your roaring 20s California);
* The Esoteric Order of Dagon (from The Shadow Over Innsmouth); and
* The Church of Perfect Science (for your modern day... Scientology needs);
* a guide to creating your own cult;
* some monsters;
* three adventures heavily using the cults outlined in chapter 2 (the Elevated Order of Morpheus is putting on an evil play, the Society of Angelic Ones has gotten mobsters involved and is going to do a ritual, the CPS is investigating a witch house).
Yeah, so? I am not a big fan of books that provide supplementary material and then run adventures that are either boringly pedestrian ("of course a cursed play is the first thing I would think of when I hear about 'artist cult'") or use up the material ("wait, is the end state for this adventure the destruction of the cult?"). The adventures in this book kind of lean that way.
BUT the stuff in this book about the cults looks so fun, especially the guide to creating your own cult, and especially the notes about how cults do not understand the gods they worship. I don't know if/when I'll ever play CoC or have need for this specifically, but I feel like I could get a lot of mileage from that one insight into how to play cults.
What? All about the cults who worship Cthulhu (who I guess hasn't been the prime mover of some of Chaosium's biggest adventures.) So we get
* an (in-character) history of the Cthulhu cults;
* a look at a few cults:
* The Elevated Order of Morpheus (for your gaslit Victoriana);
* The Louisiana swamp cult (from _Call of Cthulhu_);
* The Society of the Angelic Ones (for your roaring 20s California);
* The Esoteric Order of Dagon (from The Shadow Over Innsmouth); and
* The Church of Perfect Science (for your modern day... Scientology needs);
* a guide to creating your own cult;
* some monsters;
* three adventures heavily using the cults outlined in chapter 2 (the Elevated Order of Morpheus is putting on an evil play, the Society of Angelic Ones has gotten mobsters involved and is going to do a ritual, the CPS is investigating a witch house).
Yeah, so? I am not a big fan of books that provide supplementary material and then run adventures that are either boringly pedestrian ("of course a cursed play is the first thing I would think of when I hear about 'artist cult'") or use up the material ("wait, is the end state for this adventure the destruction of the cult?"). The adventures in this book kind of lean that way.
BUT the stuff in this book about the cults looks so fun, especially the guide to creating your own cult, and especially the notes about how cults do not understand the gods they worship. I don't know if/when I'll ever play CoC or have need for this specifically, but I feel like I could get a lot of mileage from that one insight into how to play cults.
June 15, 2024
One of the better CoC books I have read. The historic background was good, with a smattering of ideas to use.
The chapter about a bunch of different cults through the last 200 years was brilliant. Some new ones, some background to cults that Lovecraft mentioned and one great cult that in no way is a rip-off of mr Cruises favourite cult.
The "make your own cult" chapter was good as well. Even if I probably wont get around to use it, and so was the deathless masters. With an old friend.
The book ends with three decent sized adventures in three different times (that I havent run, so that is said).
Nr 1 was the worst part of the book. There is some decent investigation in it, but also some hard railroading. And the ending. That was just crap. Could have worked fine as a shortish story, but not as an rpg adventure.
Nr 2 was really good. I will run that one. Good investigation and good action. I think it might work both for CoC and for pulp.
Nr 3 was good as well. There is some deus ex machina going on that I dislike, but I think it is possible to work around it. And some ideas towards that is given. But I still dont like the main theme of this deus machine. But that might just be a personal preference, others might like it.
All in all a great book based on a great idea. More like this please Chaosium.
The chapter about a bunch of different cults through the last 200 years was brilliant. Some new ones, some background to cults that Lovecraft mentioned and one great cult that in no way is a rip-off of mr Cruises favourite cult.
The "make your own cult" chapter was good as well. Even if I probably wont get around to use it, and so was the deathless masters. With an old friend.
The book ends with three decent sized adventures in three different times (that I havent run, so that is said).
Nr 1 was the worst part of the book. There is some decent investigation in it, but also some hard railroading. And the ending. That was just crap. Could have worked fine as a shortish story, but not as an rpg adventure.
Nr 2 was really good. I will run that one. Good investigation and good action. I think it might work both for CoC and for pulp.
Nr 3 was good as well. There is some deus ex machina going on that I dislike, but I think it is possible to work around it. And some ideas towards that is given. But I still dont like the main theme of this deus machine. But that might just be a personal preference, others might like it.
All in all a great book based on a great idea. More like this please Chaosium.
November 9, 2022
Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!
Product- Cults of Cthulhu
System- Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed
Producer- Chaosium
Price- $25 here https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-cthulhu-pdf/
TL; DR- Solid Book of bad guys, set ups, and tools 100%
Basics- Ia! Ia! Cults of Cthulhu gives you… exactly what it says! This book is a book of four different cults, adventures to go against each cult, and tools to build your own cthulhu cult.
Mechanics or Crunch- This book is VERY much a Keeper’s book and not a players’ book, and that's ok. This book has new monsters and stats for them, variant spells, and tips for building your own cult. I am honestly impressed by the depth of ideas for building a cult. I play too many fantasy games where the idea of how a cult is financed doesn't come up. But here, how the money happens is a very important way to build your cult. Even optional crunch for Pulp Cthulhu is presented! Players will find nothing in this book, but Call of Cthulhu doesn't really ever give players much more beyond the basic investigator book. The crunch doesn't disappoint in this one. 5/5
Theme or Fluff- Again, this is a Keeper book, but built in a fun, informative way to help the Keeper build a world. Each of the four presented cults have real depth and personality with individual people and their goals presented. My one minor negative is like most Cthulhu books, you really only get the 1920s as a playground. It’s the most popular time for Call of Cthulhu, so I understand why, but I do seriously appreciate the one modern cult that is presented here. Also, adventures! There are four adventures against these four cults. So even if you need a one shot, this book has you covered. 5/5
Execution- I don’t think Chaosium has ever disappointed me. Hyperlinks, solid handouts, easy reading, separate files, pictures of monsters, and everything else makes this the whole nine yards. Its 25 bucks as a PDF, which is a decent chunk for a PDF, but even if you just used this for four one-shots, that brings the price down to manageable levels of any other market adventure for CoC. And it seems that Chaosium is listening and , while I love them, the handwritten notes are hard to read, Chaosium is making just nice plain text ones as well. My one complaint is I want pregens for each of the adventures, but that is just begging for more on an already solid product. 5/5
Summary- Cthulhu is gonna be the main draw for a game called Call of Cthulhu, so why not have some humans doing bad things for him? This book is a solid resource that, even if I just wanted some quick adventures and handouts, is well worth the price of admission. If you want to build your own cults, then this is the book you might want to check out as well. NOW DO YOG! 100%
January 25, 2025
TL;DR a good book, buy if you want to have a good read and love Lovecraft Mythos legendarium (even you don't play the TTRPG) or if you want to run it and you are an experienced DM. The scenarios have a lot of stuff going on and my judgement is that it will be stressful to run if it is one of your first games.
A really decent bang for a buck kind of book. A TON of material to draw inspiration from. Now, onwards to the details:
1) The cults: the books describes several cults, tied to different eras. They are different enough and interesting to follow. A plenty of little and big points to use when preparing for a scenario or campaign.
2) Cult creation tools are also great to those who is planning on using them.
------------If you are a player, further down below you may see some minor spoilers-----------
3) The scenarios (haven't ran them, feedback is based solely on reading the book):
- the first one is very "vanilla" if you know what I mean. Not a huge fan, but might be interesting if people haven't read the books/played the board games.
- the second one is really good. I've liked the setting and the ability to actually find a very uncommon if temporary ally among the local mafia circles, love it!
- the third is the odd one. It has this very specific "fleur" of being railroaded and not being railroaded at the same time. I assume it would not be a simple task to tweak the scenario in a way the players actually feel like something weird is going on and we are not sure what exactly. Definitely requires some careful planning and, ideally, a decent DM experience.
A really decent bang for a buck kind of book. A TON of material to draw inspiration from. Now, onwards to the details:
1) The cults: the books describes several cults, tied to different eras. They are different enough and interesting to follow. A plenty of little and big points to use when preparing for a scenario or campaign.
2) Cult creation tools are also great to those who is planning on using them.
------------If you are a player, further down below you may see some minor spoilers-----------
3) The scenarios (haven't ran them, feedback is based solely on reading the book):
- the first one is very "vanilla" if you know what I mean. Not a huge fan, but might be interesting if people haven't read the books/played the board games.
- the second one is really good. I've liked the setting and the ability to actually find a very uncommon if temporary ally among the local mafia circles, love it!
- the third is the odd one. It has this very specific "fleur" of being railroaded and not being railroaded at the same time. I assume it would not be a simple task to tweak the scenario in a way the players actually feel like something weird is going on and we are not sure what exactly. Definitely requires some careful planning and, ideally, a decent DM experience.
December 24, 2022
If you are a Keeper running games for Call of Cthulhu and you want to do more with Cults and sects within the game. Or just have groups of crazy people that work towards a common goal. This book will give you a lot of great ideas. Just leafing through the book for a good 5 minutes after the book arrived via mail, i already had the foundations of a campaign from just a few snippets of the book.
Though this book focuses mainly on the Cults looking to Cthulhu. For some reason i was expecting more on the Cult of Dagon in Innsmouth, i dont know why, but that is something that made me sad, that the book did not have more. More cults, more information. Id gladly trade out the 3 Scenarios in the book for that. But the scenarios are still worth having. It is 1 scenario for each of the 3 main times of CoC. 1890's, 1920's and Modern age. Also, all stats for NPCs and monsters also include Pulp additions. Which was a very nice added bonus.
But this book brings good inspiration and ideas, it has much source material on various cults out there too, with a few new spells, few new monsters and quite a bit of evil npcs be it in form of ancient sorcerers or just rabbid cultists that want to sacrifice you for the greater glory of Cthulhu!
Anyway, can recommend if you are someone looking to run Call of Cthulhu. There is not much value in this for players. Unless you are looking for ideas on how to run your own cult in the game world maybe.
Though this book focuses mainly on the Cults looking to Cthulhu. For some reason i was expecting more on the Cult of Dagon in Innsmouth, i dont know why, but that is something that made me sad, that the book did not have more. More cults, more information. Id gladly trade out the 3 Scenarios in the book for that. But the scenarios are still worth having. It is 1 scenario for each of the 3 main times of CoC. 1890's, 1920's and Modern age. Also, all stats for NPCs and monsters also include Pulp additions. Which was a very nice added bonus.
But this book brings good inspiration and ideas, it has much source material on various cults out there too, with a few new spells, few new monsters and quite a bit of evil npcs be it in form of ancient sorcerers or just rabbid cultists that want to sacrifice you for the greater glory of Cthulhu!
Anyway, can recommend if you are someone looking to run Call of Cthulhu. There is not much value in this for players. Unless you are looking for ideas on how to run your own cult in the game world maybe.
May 23, 2024
A supplement for 7th edition Call of Cthulhu (the roleplaying game), this is what I'd call a 'luxury supplement', in that you don't NEED it, but it is FUN. It gives detailed information about five nefarious cults dedicated to the worship of Cthulhu, each in their own period of history, and each with their own style and influence, from two Lovecraft Classics (the Esoteric Order of Dagon, and the Louisiana swamp cult as seen in the Call of Cthulhu story itself) to a few of original invention- the Elevated Order of Morpheus (an old-fashioned, olde-timey gentleman's club of london), the Society of the Angelic Ones (A distinctly 'churchy' feeling cult) and the Church of Perfect Science (A clear takeoff of Scientology). After this the book discusses ideas for how one might design their own cult and gives you some crunchy stuff in the form of character stat blocks, monsters and spells. Finally there are three scenarios to be played. I have not played them myself and cannot attest to their fun and value, but like most Chaosium supplements they seem stuffed with great handouts, maps, character write-ups and all of that.
SO: If you're a Call of Cthulhu player (or rather, specifically, a keeper) I'd say this book isn't a MUST have, but if you're tempted by it, go ahead and surrender to temptation.
SO: If you're a Call of Cthulhu player (or rather, specifically, a keeper) I'd say this book isn't a MUST have, but if you're tempted by it, go ahead and surrender to temptation.
January 8, 2025
¿Es un suplemento necesario? No es un suplemento necesario. Con la cantidad de material publicado para el juego a estas alturas sería mejor que todos aprovechásemos el trabajo ya hecho en vez de ponernos a diseñar nuestra propia secta de Cthulhu; aún así, seguro que hay personas que le sacan mucho partido y hacen cosas maravillosas con ello.
Lo que sí es interesante es la trilogía/campaña de tres aventuras con hilo conductor que viene al final, que pueden dar mucho juego y están muy bien organizadas.
Lo que sí es interesante es la trilogía/campaña de tres aventuras con hilo conductor que viene al final, que pueden dar mucho juego y están muy bien organizadas.
August 3, 2022
I liked it. Probably will never play it. I just loving reading secret histories. The first two scenarios were good, the last way too rail roady as well as putting Cthulhu in a weird light.
January 15, 2023
Excellent adversaries supplement. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews