Monks & Mythos

Achtung! Cthulhu is the roleplaying game of fast-paced pulp action and Mythos magic published by Modiphius Entertainment. It is pitches the Allied Agents of the Britain’s Section M, the United States’ Majestic, and the brave Resistance into a secret war against those Nazi Agents and organisations which would command and entreat with the occult and forces beyond the understanding of mankind. They are willing to risk their lives and their sanity against malicious Nazi villains and the unfathomable gods and monsters of the Mythos themselves, each striving for supremacy in mankind’s darkest yet finest hour! Yet even the darkest of drives to take advantage of the Mythos is riven by differing ideologies and approaches pandering to Hitler’s whims. The Black Sun consists of Nazi warrior-sorcerers supreme who use foul magic and summoned creatures from nameless dimensions to dominate the battlefields of men, whilst Nachtwölfe, the Night Wolves, utilise technology, biological enhancements, and wunderwaffen (wonder weapons) to win the war for Germany. Ultimately, both utilise and fall under the malign influence of the Mythos, the forces of which have their own unknowable designs…

In addition to any number of scenarios for Achtung! Cthulhu, Modiphius Entertainment also publishes what it calls ‘Section M: Priority Missions’. These are smaller missions and scenarios intended to help a Game Master is hard-pressed for time or needs an alternate scenario when there are fewer players. Alternatively, they can be used as one-shots or woven into ongoing campaigns. Each though, provides a single mission that can be played in a single session as well as adventure hooks should the Game Master want to expand the scenario.

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 – Priority Mission 2: Our Lady of the Eternal Sapphire is the second entry in the series. It opens with the Player Characters having been sent to Cairo by Section M to investigate a monastery belonging to the Order of St. Barbara, patron saint of miners. The monks of this monastery are known to wear brooches that depict a serene female face and are notably carved from a strikingly blue stone. Section M has been sent one of these brooches and has identified the stone as being Blauer Kristall. Nachtwölfe is known to have an extreme interest in this rare mineral and constantly scours the world for sources from which it can develop science, technology, progress, biological enhancements, and wonder weapons powered by Blauer Kristall. The monastery, located a few miles outside of Cairo, is also said to be home to a relic, a skull of similar blue stone, purported to be the cranium of the saint, transfigured in sapphire. The Player Characters are ordered to get into the monastery and determine if the skull really is made of Blauer Kristall and if the monks have a bigger source.

The scenario primarily consists of a map of the monastery and a description of its various buildings. The map, along with an unlabeled one for the players, is nicely done. The basic details of what is going on in the Order of St. Barbara is also described, but without any discussion of the motivations of either the monks or their Mythos allies. There are also no stats, so the Game Master will need to consult the Gamemaster’s Guide and alter the Truths as necessary. Some possible motivations and suggestions as to what might be going is instead suggested in the several adventure seeds included in the scenario. At the most basic, the monks are innocent of any Mythos connection, but Nachtwölfe are definitely interested in gaining possession of whatever Blauer Kristall is being held in the monastery. Other seeds see the Player Characters tracking Mi-Go through tunnels under Cairo and find themselves in the caves below the monastery; Nachtwölfe is there when the Player Characters arrive and they have to stop the Nazis getting away with the Blauer Kristall; and Cairo is haunted by the ‘Ghost of St. Barbara’, a glowing blue apparition stalking the streets of the city, whose appearances seem to coincide with a series of thefts of ancient manuscripts from antiquities museums and private collections.

One other way to use the scenario is as a side mission for the campaign, Achtung! Cthulhu: Shadows of Atlantis. The campaign involves Nachtwölfe and its third mission is set in Cairo and Egypt. Yet in whatever way in which the Game Master decides to use Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 – Priority Mission 2: Our Lady of the Eternal Sapphire, she will still need to develop some motivations for both the monks and the Mythos presence at the monastery. This will vary depending upon how strong the links are between the monks and the Mythos. The stronger they are, the more the scenario will need the Game Master to develop those motivations and the more the scenario needs this attention, the more input is required from the Game Master, and the less immediately useful the scenario is as written.

Physically, Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 – Priority Mission 2: Our Lady of the Eternal Sapphire is cleanly and tidily laid out. It is not illustrated, but the map of the monastery is nicely done.

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 – Priority Mission 2: Our Lady of the Eternal Sapphire is not quite ready to run, and depending upon how the Game Master wants to use it, needs more input and development than it necessarily should. Consequently, it is not quite the download and play scenario that the publisher intended.