Last post I mentioned a trait called Mythos. Anyone familiar with Call of Cthulhu will recognize it as the term as an ability called Cthulhu Mythos which covers the strange esoteric knowledge of, you guessed it, the Mythos. According to Call of Cthulhu this skill is more than just a mortal knowledge and in studying it the "...burning power of a greater and more horrible reality seizes the soul." And behold we have a power stat, I went with Mythos as a new stat rather than replacing a skill because it mimics the reduction of Sanity offered by Call of Cthulhu (where both traits are rated 1-99%).
My major resource for supernatural powers for this game was World of Darkness Second Sight which has an entire chapter ('Reality Bending Horrors') dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft style antagonists and the abilities they may achieve. What really puts Mythos as a power trait on a different level from say, Blood Potency or Gnosis is that you don't have to expend experience in order to gain new dots. The closest approximation to Call of Cthulhu's Sanity in any world of darkness game is probably imbued Virtues in Hunter the Reckoning. Admittedly I am not the first person to think so. Virtues were an expression of a hunter's long term commitment to the hunt which at the highest levels cost the imbued their sanity. Virtues were gained strictly in game making in some ways the character responsible for the advancement. Similarly Mythos is gained through roleplaying, not experience allocation.
I allowed the following merits for my game and in my mind are probably some the most appropriate for this type of game play. The last Merit was something I created to accommodate those stranger examples of character's in the Cthulhu Mythos. Whether the character is of some questionable birthright, such as the narrator in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" or the product of some horrifying transmogrification like Mi Go brain swiping in "The Whispers in the Darkness." Endowments should cover it. Hunter the Vigil is an excellent resource to fully flush out your investigator and I utilized the Dread Powers section to engineer the creatures of the Mythos.
Finally Rites are found in Mythos Tomes and serve as the bedrock for magic in the game. Though you can very easily use thaumaturgy merits from World of Darkness Second Sight to develop your own Rites. If you don't own Hunter the Vigil, you can always make do with whatever powers you make up, simple dice modifiers, the same can be said for World of Darkness Reliquary.
Texts
Required: World of Darkness Second Sight
Optional: Hunter the Vigil, World of Darkness Reliquary, Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness Mirrors
Character Creation
Use mortal template.
Replace Morality with Sanity, begins at 10.
Character may exchange Sanity for 5 exp and 1 point of Mythos (to a maximum of 3).
Other Options:
Use Motivation to replace Virtue and Vice. (World of Darkness Mirrors pg.24)
Merits
Cult of Things That Must Not Be (• to •••••)
This merit can only be taken by Cultists or reformed cultists.
Reality Blasphemy (• to •••••)
This merit is limited to Great Old Ones, Outer Gods, and Elder Gods. Or any other Mythos 'sphere of influence' that the storyteller deems appropriate.
(World of Darkness Second Sight pg.137)
A Little Knowledge (•)
In this setting the character's brush with the otherworldly is Mythos related.
Good Time Management (••)
Multi-Lingual (• to •••••)
Well-Traveled (•)
Well-Traveled (•)
Relic (• to •••••)
This merit also covers the alien technology of the Mi-Go and other entities.
(World of Darkness Reliquary pg. 85)
Endowment (• to •••••)
This merit is only available at Character Creation or at Storyteller's approval. A character with an Endowment has been physiologically altered by the affects of the Mythos. They're worship of Mythos may have brought forth an Elder God which warped their body or they might descend from an ancient subterranean race of man. The player selects a number of dots of Dread Powers equal to the merit Hunter the Vigil pg.276, these may be multiple purchases of different powers or the same. All Dread Powers cost a Willpower point and use Attribute + Mythos to activate and have at least 1 point in frailties (Hunter the Vigil pg. 104). Additional Frailties add another dot of Dread Powers, to a maximum of 3 frailties.
Other Options :
A character who chooses to allow the Storyteller to design the Endowment and has no knowledge of its actual origins or effects may gain an additional dot in the Merit at no cost.
For example, Hermen bought a single dot of Endowment as a mystery. His character Edward is a reporter for the Chicago Herald who has been searching for his missing father. His family moved from a tiny Icelandic village when he was a boy and heard many stories about the 'old country'. When suddenly attacked by a guard dog he finds himself feeling a strange urge to bite the creature. The Storyteller secretly rolls Strength + Mythos (in this case 2), a success! Edwards mouth distorts outward into a series of spindling teeth (Dread Attack 2) and Hermen rolls Strength + Mythos +2, biting the creature's head clean off. His fellow investigator's gawk at what he's done, he sputters in a terrifying language (Frailty Stir Madness 1, Glossolalia) they've never heard and Edward's friends level their rifles and open fire!
Rites
Rites are the secret keys to the universe, the dread knowledge beyond mortals mans understanding. They function exactly as written with the following changes.
Rites are not purchased with experience and can be learned from a mythos tome directly (with a successful Intelligence + Occult), an individual (with a successful Wits + Intelligence), or directly from an entity of the Mythos (Resolve + Composure). All rites however require a minimum amount of Mythos rating equal to their level or the caster is penalized by the difference.
- The pool for any rolls to identify, understand, or explain the Mythos have a maximum number of dice equal to the character's Mythos rating
- Mythos offers some degree of protection against the otherworldly
- Mythos increases the number of points of Willpower that can be spent per turn Mythos RatingSupernatural ResistanceWillpower/Turn1012113114225226327338439431054
- The First time…
- Lose Sanity more than once in a scene
- Distance themselves from society to study the Mythos
- Participate in a ceremony dedicated to the Mythos
- Discover a secret at the expense of worldly possession, love, or the self
- Speak directly with a Mythos Entity
- Achieve an exceptional success to avoid becoming Unhinged by the Mythos
Mythos (•-••••••••••)
Mythos is at once understanding and damnation. It is not the knowledge that the Mythos exist (which can be held by those studied in Occult) but the ability to comprehend a natural truth of the universe, a thing that man was never meant to know.
Unlike other traits Mythos is not regulated to a maximum of 5. Similar to Willpower or other 10 rated traits it has a direct influence on your character's ability to cope with the world around her.
Nor are dots purchased normally, points in Mythos are gained by encounters with the Mythos which result in insanity, by insane insights into the true nature of the universe, and by reading forbidden books and other Mythos writings. Occasionally witnessing some ceremony or participating in some event might award points as well.
However, every dot permanently removes the topmost dot of Sanity the character potentially can possess. Any current Sanity dots removed automatically calls for a Sanity roll.
Mythos Entities
No human, even one with 10 Mythos, even approaches complete knowledge of the Mythos. It is fair to say that not even Great Old Ones do. Their 10 scores represent convenient comparisons against what humans can achieve, not a thorough plumbing of the mysteries of the Mythos. Perhaps the Outer Gods know it all, if they bother to think about such things. But only gods can cope with infinity. The cruel darkness of the Mythos extends forever. Seeming mastery of its puzzles is temporary, local, and illusory.
Gaining Mythos
Mythos may be rewarded to players during any of the following circumstances, but is no means exhaustive:
…come in contact with the mythos
…read a Mythos tome
…cast a rite
…witness a Mythos Entity
…gain a Derangement
…witness a Mythos Rite
I thoroughly enjoy the balance that you've incorporated. What has always irked me about these traits is that you normally have to sacrifice some other stat to improve them, but at the same time your Storyteller isn't using them to the fullest so if you do invest in these stats, they almost seem like a waste, and now your not as good at combat or spell casting.
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