Lovecraft's Revenge - Four Frightening Tales

With Lovecraft's Revenge close to release, here are some more examples of game play.  While the main game remains, we did tweak some rules to make the game more accessible for those not familiar with Two Hour Wargames game play.  But don't worry, the terror is still there, and your chances of survival are just as slim.

For these games, I used the Battle Board and dice representing the characters.  Green dice represent my group.  Red dice represent the enemy.  Other colored dice represent no-player characters.  And finally, white dice represent the actual rolls I made.  In addition, the white board represent outdoor locations, while the blue is for indoors.

I ran four separate games and got four very different results.  Keep that in mind; each game will be your own unique horror story!


1. My group started at a university and we were called to search the nearby mountains.  Apparently, people reported seeing multi-colored lights in the distance, and some wondered if creatures from other worlds were involved.

After conducting research at the university and later questioning people in town who reported the sightings, my characters, a scientist, a student, and a cop, reached the mountains.  Seeing ruins in the distance, they trudged through the snow and up the hill.  At this point, the Darkness Level remained low, so I figured we had a fighting chance.

However, a PEF resolved, and it wasn't pretty.

Several bears leaped out and immediately charged my group.

Your Star, which is the main character you control, gains Star Power at the beginning of each story.  These dice allow you to survive potentially deadly injuries as long as you roll low enough.  Unfortunately, I rolled ALL 6's for my Star, which means he took FULL punishment!

Our group never learned the truth about the mysterious lights as the apparently hungry bears mauled us in a matter of minutes.

Final result:  No survivors.


2.  While searching for a book that was stolen from the university, my group, 3 cops and a professor, went through an abandoned mansion, fought a number of rat creatures, and eventually ended up at a museum.  

Although we hadn't faced too much adversity, the Darkness Rating rose extremely fast, and I was determined to finish the game as quickly as possible.  

Eventually we found that the museum's curator had stolen the book to learn how to summon one of the 'Old Ones.'  We managed to kill him, but before we could get the book, the final PEF resolved:

When the Darkness Level reaches its max, a deity appears.

Suddenly, the hideous, blob-like Ghatanothoa appeared and when rolling to see who got to act first, he got the advantage.

Final result:  Entire group literally petrified.


3.  This time only two of us started the story; a police officer and a detective.  We were searching for some teenagers who had vanished after a wild party the night before.  After speaking with a number of residents at the beach-front, we learned that some of the kids had dared each other to go to the Graveyard.  Apparently that was our next goal.

Entering the mortuary, we found one of the teens who told us her friends were eaten by monsters.  Then we met the monsters.

Several ghouls emerged from the shadows and attempted to surround us.  My Star and the teen escaped, but the detective became dinner.

Final Result:  Lost 1 character but still a success!


4.  Four this one, my group, two detectives and two Explorers, set out to locate the fabled Tsdeth Idol.  While we spent some time at the library, we ended up finding more information from a priest at small cliff-side church.  This led us to an older part of town and an abandoned mental hospital.

Almost immediately after entering, we encountered some ghosts.  We escaped unharmed and continued exploring.  The building lived (and I use that term loosely) up to its atmosphere as more ghosts tortured us, either with their presence or through sounds and tossing objects at us.  They also had learned to manipulate the environment (#%#@$% mirrors!) against us, but we made it through.

We then found a switch that led us to a large secret chamber.  After facing and just barely driving off a wraith (Picture a powerful and really ticked off ghost!), we found the idol and managed to escape the hospital, almost.

Just because you complete your objective doesn't mean your story is over!  The story 'Pickman's Model' ended with, "it was a photograph from life."  'The Picture in the House' ended with the narrator barely escaping only for a bolt of lightning to destroy the house.  We use the Aftermath table to represent how the story ends.  Usually, if you survive this far, you'll only come away with some scrapes.  But other times, you'll escape only to walk right into disaster.

In this game, we did find the idol and escape the hospital, but unfortunately, things weren't over yet.

As we walked outside and turned around, we realized the huge hospital was, on the outside, barely the size of a museum mural and as two-dimensional as a piece of paper.  My Star had nightmares for months while the others spent some time recovering in padded rooms and on couches.

Final Result:  Success and everyone survived, but three members suffered some form of Insanity.


Those were just a few games I ran over the course of a couple of days.  Each one went in its own direction and each had a very different ending.

How will your story go, and more importantly, how will it end?

Lovecraft's Revenge is coming soon from Two Hour Wargames.

Lovecraft's Revenge - When things don't go your way!

You've seen different aspects of game play and last time, you say how things go when the dice are pretty-much on your side.  Sure, one character suffered a startling revelation at the end, but everyone pretty much made it through the game in one piece.

This won't always happen.

Here's a game I recently ran where things went really bad, really fast!  This is one of the fun parts of Lovecraft's Revenge; seeing IF you can survive, because although you do have a chance, if you go by Lovecraft's stories themselves, the odds are not in your favor!

So let's see if my characters have a chance . . .

Kim Stevens and Harold Steps are detectives who discover that a boat-house has been ransacked and several boats have been sunk.  While residents reported seeing someone in the area, they never heard any sounds, even sounds of items getting destroyed.

After spending some time exploring the beach-side, they are attacked by mysterious, masked individuals wearing cloaks and attacking with clubs.  Drawing their guns, Steps and Stevens take them out, but upon removing the masks and opening the cloaks, they find not people, but millions of worms and maggots.  Steps is noticeably shaken by this revelation.

Searching the pockets, they find a note with the word; "Drouning."

Later, the duo find a dog, Rowlf, who follows them around.  After several hours, they encounter a group of cultists near the pier.

With crazed expressions, the cultists attack, but Stevens, Steps, and Rowlf take them out.  In the leader's pocket, they find another piece of paper, again with the word, "Drouning."

After questioning a local fisherman, they learn Captain Drouning died when his ship, caught in a horrible storm, crashed into the side of a cliff.  He was buried in a cemetery across the bridge.

(At this point, the Darkness Level has risen quickly; if it gets any higher, that could mean the appearance of something Very Very Bad!)


Deciding to play things safe, the three enter the cemetery in the morning, just as the sun is rising.  Safe enough, right?  Not quite.  almost immediately, two glowing figures appear; Wraiths.

One of them passes right through Steps, and the detective turns pale white, his eyes bulge, and he drops to the ground in a lifeless heap.  Seeing all of this, Rowlf vanishes into the woods.

Left on his own, Stevens takes off running.  Racing past the various tombstones, he trips and falls, landing in a recently dug-up grave.  Staring at the open coffin and the decayed corpse inside, Stevens also sees a torn-up diary detailing Captain Drouning's jealousy of other, more-successful fishermen.

All of a sudden, each page changes so the word, "Drouning," appears.  Climbing out of the grave, Stevens figures out what was going on.  Whoever robbed the grave found the diary and was possessed by the former captain to destroy as much as possible in the harbor.

Breaking any hold the ghost might have had on him, Stevens closed the coffin's lid, refilled the grave, and walked away, satisfied that he had solved the mystery and more-importantly, survived.

Not so fast!

(With the Darkness Level as high as it is, I roll on the Aftermath Table.  It's not pretty.)

Suddenly the ground opens up and a screaming Kim Stevens is dragged into the darkness, right before the hole closes again, leaving no sign of the hapless detective.

(Yep, everything went to hell, but at least the dog probably lived.)

Your own adventures could go one way or another.  And it all depends on what happens in the game.  In Lovecraft's Revenge, no two games will be the same, and not all will be pleasant.  Although your chances of survival to lie somewhat in your hands, your fate ultimately depends on the whim of the game itself, and whether it allows you a happy ending.

Lovecraft's Revenge is coming soon from Two Hour Wargames.

Once you start your first game, good luck.

You'll need it!

Lovecraft's Revenge - No map? No Minis? No problem!

For the past few previews of Lovecraft's Revenge, I've used maps and miniature figures from various games, like Mage Knight, Horror Clix, and Call of Cthulhu, since any figures can be used for the game.  But what if you don't have any miniatures?  What if you can't afford game maps?

Well none of that's a problem because you can play Lovecraft's Revenge with just paper and dice.  In some aspects, the lack of a game board is actually better for a horror game since most people can create terrors far worse in their minds than they can see.

But how does it work?

Well game-play is based on what is called a Battle Board.  When you encounter others, you place your figures, or anything you have to represent your characters, on the board opposite your opponents.  You don't need measurements as there is no range.

There are two types of boards.

The first is called Clear:

This board, represented here by white paper, is terrain in which you are out in the open, such as in the middle of a street or an open field.  You don't normally have places to hide, but at least you can see your opponents coming.

The other is cover:

This terrain, represented by construction paper, is used for those places where vision is blocked, even a little.  These could be inside buildings, the middle of a forest, or just a street at night.  Enemies are harder to see and shoot, but at least you have better chances to hide.


Here's an example of game-play, using the Battle Board.  I rolled up this adventure as I played it, meaning there was very little to set up.  I just created my first character and randomly rolled for the Investigation.  After getting a result of ,"Search for Person," I rolled University as my starting point and set off from there.

Logan Bell, a professor at Miskatonic University, entered the office of his colleague, Dr. Borne, to find the room torn to pieces with the instructor missing.  Concerned for his friend, Bell grabbed his pistol and set out to find Borne.

University - Night - Outdoors - Puzzle.

Wandering the campus, Bell found Borne's dog, Toby.  Toby followed Bell and the two continued to search.  Finding footprints, Bell recognized Borne's and followed them toward a classroom.

(Since nothing out of the ordinary occurred, the Darkness Level remained the same.)

University - Night - Classroom - Search.

On the way to the classroom, Bell encountered some archaeologists.  One of them, Glenda, offered to help as she's good friends with Borne.  Arriving at the classroom where Borne taught his most-recent class, the three began their search.  Eventually, they found notes left behind, in which Borne planned to visit one of the labs.  This was their next destination.

University - Night - Classroom - Question.

(Once again, nothing out of the ordinary occurred, but this time the Darkness Level dropped.)

Arriving at the labs, the group encountered some police officers.  After some questioning, the officers mentioned someone had broken into several of the labs.  With supervision, Bell and the others began to search the labs themselves.

(And again, the Darkness Level dropped.)

University - Night - Labs - Search.

Bell found that several cadavers were stolen from the labs.  Glenda mentioned stories about students performing experiments in the nearby graveyards, so they headed there next.

(The Darkness Level reached 1, activating the, 'It's quiet, too quiet,' rule, and raising it way Way up!)

Travel Scene - Morning.

On the way to the graveyard, the group was ambushed by cultists who appeared from behind the trees.

Here's where we used the Battle Board for the first time:

The green dice represent Bell, Toby, and Glenda, while the red dice represent the cultists.  The numbers represent their Reputation, this is the main stat used in Lovecraft's Revenge.  Finally, the white d6 at the top represents the current Darkness Level, which affects what appears, when, and how badly the situation is going.  In this case, things went bad, but they could be worse.

Pulling out his pistol, Bell shot the first cultist dead and wounded the second.  The remaining turned and fled into the forest.  That wasn't so bad.

Graveyard - Morning - Final Scene

The group entered the graveyard just as the sun appeared gleaming through the trees of the forest that surrounded the place.  As the three explored the grave sights, they heard rustling above and noticed a number of shapes quickly blocking the sun.  As the shapes suddenly plummeted from the trees, Bell, Toby, and Glenda took off running.

The group encountered creatures known as Black Winged Ones.  Rarely seen, they were believed to exist only in tales to frighten little children.  Turns out the real things work rather well on adults!

I placed the creatures on the boards opposite Bell, Toby, and Glenda.  However, seeing as we're outnumbered, I chose for Bell and his group to run.  This resulted in an opposed Escape roll.  Unfortunately, the Black Winged Ones remained right behind the group as they fled past tombstones and over hills.  Eventually, they did escape, running into a mausoleum and locking the door.

Finding one of the tombs torn open, the group noticed a cavern leading downward.  They followed it and eventually found Dr. Borne among a group of Ghouls who were munching on human body parts.  In fact, Borne was chowing down on a human arm as well.  In fact, Borne was also a ghoul!

The group checked for Insanity and no one was really shaken, strangely enough, by this sight.  Bell tried to speak with Borne, but the former instructor raised the bone above his head and attacked, along with his brethren.

In this case, the clear d6 represents Borne, while the red represent the remaining ghouls.  Since they are in a cave, I'm using the construction paper, representing covered terrain.

After a round a combat, Bell shot both Borne and one of the ghouls, while Toby injured one.  The last one charged Glenda before she could get a shot, but she smacked it over the head with the butt of her pistol.

After a round of battle, the remaining ghouls had their Reps lowered due to injury, for the rest of the round.  The next round began with Bell missing his shots, but Toby injuring one ghoul while Glenda shot the last one.  Spitting out grayish blood, the injured ghoul turned and vanished through a tunnel.

The group emerged having completed their investigation.  They couldn't save Borne, but at least they knew what happened.

Aftermath:

Sometimes an Investigation ends in an aftermath, in which one or more characters come upon a startling revelation or worse.

As the three exited the tomb, Bell opened the doors to the mausoleum to find the sun shining brightly with no terrors in sight.  Breathing a sigh of relief and wondering how he was going to explain this to the authorities, he glanced back and noticed Glenda still staring at the tomb.  As he approached, he noticed why.  The name on the tomb was Sether, Glenda's last name.

Glenda gains 1 Insanity Point for the startling discovery.


Keep watching for more news on Lovecraft's Revenge, coming soon from Two Hour Wargames!

Insanity Rules - Lovecraft Revenge messes with your mind!

I mentioned before that Lovecraft Revenge features Insanity rules that mess with both your characters' heads and your own.  Now I'll show you how it works.  In most roleplaying games, your game master would tell you what you experience and what is happening to you if you were insane.  Sometimes your character would just run away screaming, and other times, he'd dissolve into a mindless stupor.  Or maybe, your Game Master would tell you what your characters see or experience.

As with other titles from Two Hour Wargames, Lovecraft's Revenge doesn't use a game master.  You and your friends can all play together without anyone running the game.  So how then does this game mess with your perceptions if no one's running it?  Through the use of dice roll combinations and simple tables, Lovecraft Revenge alters entire events as you play them, sometimes changing the actions around you, and sometimes revealing that your character actually did something unexpected.

Want some examples?

Officers Conner and Rig face off against a duo of Deep Ones in an alley.  Both are shaken at the sight of these two monstrosities, but Conner more so.  As Rigg steps forward with his shotgun, Conner pulls out his pistol and fires.  He hears a thunk, but the deep one he was aiming at continues forward.  How can that be?

Then he blinks and sees his partner lying on the ground with a bullet in his back and realizes he had pointed his pistol at his partner the entire time.  Oops.

Example # 2:

The ghost-hunting team of Lewis and Carl explore an old mansion.  Entering one room, they notice a glowing mirror on the wall.  Both make Sanity checks.  Lewis passes; Carl doesn't.

Later, while exploring a hallway, they come upon a door that's barely cracked open.  As they step closer, they begin to hear sounds of growling and something scratching at the door from the other side.

Both men take off running down the hallway, or at least they believe they did . . .

However, when Lewis spins around, he sees his partner had actually turned right into the room.  Lewis freezes in terror as he hears screaming and gnashing of teeth, and then sees a pool of blood emerge from the room.

And here's a new look on a previous example:

Rena is being chased by a wolf-life creature.  Spotting a cabin, she races to it and bursts through the doorway.

She slams the door but finds no lock.  Panicking, her eyes dart around the room until she spots a large chest against the wall.  Taking a Physical Challenge, she pushes the chest with all her might until it blocks the door.  Exhausted, she turns . . .

And she sees the chest still resting against the wall, where she had found it.  It never moved.  This realization strikes Rena as the door behind her slowly opens.

Lovecraft's Revenge is coming soon from Two Hour Wargames.  More news to come so keep your eyes open . . . if you still trust them, that is!  And I'm sure those spectral fingers resting on your shoulder as you read this are just your imagination . . .

Lovecraft's Revenge - The Item Table

With Lovecraft's Revenge coming soon, here is another preview with another feature of the game.

If you've played other roleplaying games, you're probably familiar with collecting items to use in your adventures.  Maybe you have a small list or maybe you're required to keep track of pages of items.

With Lovecraft's Revenge, we do something a little different.  While you still keep track of the 'big things' like forbidden books and artifacts, for little things, we use the Item Table.

When you roll on the Item Table, you are determining if you're carrying something, whether a flashlight, keys, or notebook.  Success depends on the rarity of the item and your profession.  If you're a book seller, you have a greater chance of carrying a bestiary and less chance of carrying a fireman's ax.

Here's an example:

Hopal the clown and his terror-hunting friends, are enjoying time in a bar when they're approached by three mysterious individuals.  These beings are led by something wearing a cloak.

"Give us the book," it says in several high-pitch voices, and it pulls back the hood, revealing a creature made of millions of worms.

Hopal, who experienced something years ago that turned his skin white and hair green, assuring the only work he'd find was as a clown and stage magician, and who now hates supernatural creatures with a passion, doesn't back down.  He searches through his pockets for a lighter.  Now Hopal doesn't smoke, so he receives no bonuses for his rolling, but he does pass on the Item Table and finds a lighter in his pocket (possibly used for lighting candles, etc.).

Finding the lighter, he flings it into the creature's face, causing it to catch fire.  With thousands of shrieks, the creature falls to the ground in agony, and its allies tend to it as Hopal and his friends bolt out of the bar.


You can also use the Item table to see if other characters are carrying items, such as shop-keepers.

In this scene, Simon, a ghost hunter, enters the used book store to find a book on hauntings in the area.  This time, I roll on the table for the book store clerk and receive a bonus since it fits his profession.  Unfortunately, I don't succeed, and the clerk sadly tells Simon that he has no books about hauntings in stock at the moment.


Finally, you can use the Item Table to search rooms for whatever you may need at that moment.

Rena is being chased by a wolf-like creature.  Spotting a cabin nearby, she races towards it.

Darting inside, she slams the door shut but finds the lock is broken.  Frantically, she searches the room, and I roll on the Item Table, for something large enough to block the door.

Success!  Spotting a chest, she performs a Physical Challenge, succeeds again, and pushes the chest across the room and against the door, keeping her safe . . . for the moment.


Oh, in case you're wondering, you cannot use this to see if the book of spells you've been searching for has been in your pocket the entire time.  Nice try!


Next time, we'll show you the rules for Insanity, rules for messing with your character's mind, and your own!


Lovecraft's Revenge is coming soon so keep an eye out (or three) for it!

Lovecraft's Revenge - Darkness Level

First a belated Happy Birthday to Uncle Howard, who turned 126 this past Saturday.  And what better way to celebrate then with another preview of Lovecraft's Revenge?  And this time, we're revealing a feature that controls a good portion of the game play.

So you're playing a game in which your characters face terrors of all shapes and sizes.  What's to keep the terrors from showing up right away?  In fact, what's to keep beings like Cthulhu from ripping your characters' minds apart 5 seconds into your adventure?

While a number of factors influence what you encounter in each adventure, such as locations and random dice rolls, the main factor is the Darkness Level.  The DL is a number that determines how far you've entered into your horror story and how badly the universe is against you.  The higher the number, the greater the horror.

The Darkness Level is actually used to determine a number of factors, from the chance of encountering opponents bent on digesting you, to how many opponents you face, and to what opponents you face.

It also rises and lowers, depending on events in your game, your actions, and those of non-player characters.

Here are some examples:

The police officers enter a graveyard where, because the DL is lower, they encounter a lone worker maintaining the graves.  He seems friendly enough and answers the cops' questions without hesitation.

Now what happens if the Darkness Level was a little higher . . .

The officers get halfway through the graveyard when they hear the sounds of growls.  From behind tombstones, three ghouls appear and begin stalking our heroes.

Here's how an NPC's actions can raise the DL Level:

These ghost hunters enter a mansion and confront Lady Tundra, who has found a rare and mysterious book.  For several minutes, nothing unusual happens.  Then Lady Tundra, in her curiosity, decides to open the book and inspect its contents.

This raises the DL, and our heroes spin around to find several ghosts appearing and floating towards them.

In addition, if the DL gets too high, you could encounter Really Bad Things!

While investigating rumors of horrible beasts in this coastal town, two police officers encounter a Deep One.  Although they manage to defeat the creature, this raises the DL all the way up . . .

"Don't worry, Bob, I'm sure the worst is over."

Finally, we'll throw you one little bone.  Although most of the time, the Darkness Level increases as you move further into your game, there is also the chance is could go down, allowing you brief moments to catch your breath.  Cherish these moments, for they don't happen often.

Oh but don't drop your guard.  If the DL gets too low, a rule called, 'It's Quiet, too quiet,' kicks in, and things can fall to pieces really Really fast.


Lovecraft's Revenge is coming soon from Two Hour Wargames, and it's a game you won't forget.  It's also a game that doesn't play fair!

Lovecraft's Revenge - taking THW to new levels of horror!

The time for terror has arrived!  

Lovecraft's Revenge is the newest game from Two Hour Wargames that takes you through the mind of horror writer HP Lovecraft.  Think you've played other THW and can handle horror games?  Ready for a surprise or two?

While Lovecraft's Revenge uses rules from Two Hour Wargames, it is not just another THW title.  Nearly every rule and table has been tweaked to fit right in the the atmosphere of the game.

For those unfamiliar with Two Hour Wargames, THW titles are all designed to be played without a dungeon or game master.  And while you can play the games head-to-head, you can also play them solitaire and with everyone on the same team.

Lovecraft's Revenge takes it a step further.  Instead of a game master throwing tentacled horrors at you, everything you face in this game is generated by the game itself, based on random dice rolls, your group's actions, and those actions of non-player characters.  That's right; NPC's can actually influence your game!  A bookstore clerk reading a passage from an obscure book could summon monsters right then and there.  A group of soldiers arriving just in time could save your day, or make it worse.

That's where the title comes from.  After a while, you feel like the game is alive and playing itself.  Or maybe Lovecraft himself has returned from the grave to remind you of true horror!

Let's start with a few game play tweaks.  Note though that while we're using maps and miniatures to illustrate game play, you do not need any special figures or boards.  In fact, you can play the entire game with dice, a pencil, some paper, and your imagination.

Felix is on the run from a pack of hungry ghouls.  Instead of performing a Fast Move test that usually exists in THW games, we instead roll for what is called, 'The Chase.'  In The Chase, one or more characters tries to escape from others.  They could escape, get a lead and much-needed breather, or they could get caught.

Oh yeah, there's also this:

In his haste, Felix tripped . . .

 . . . and became dinner.  Moral of the story, no matter what's chasing you, watch your step!

Here's another example:

While investigating a basement, Bret discovers it leads to a cave, and is ambushed by a Sand Dweller.  Pulling out his pistol, he aims and pulls the trigger.

*Click*

He doesn't even get a shot off before the creature lurches forward and . . . well, let's just say it isn't a pretty sight!

In this example, the two officers search a warehouse when they hear a noise around the corner (The d6 represents the unknown element, also called a PEF or Possible Enemy Force).  This is usually either nothing at all, your mind playing tricks on you, or someone or something else.

This time, however, they find a mutilated body and nervously begin searching for whatever caused this.  At times, in your games, your characters will find dead bodies, and sometimes, you'll also find what killed them.  Hopefully, they'll at least give you a fighting chance.

And finally, there's magic.

Magic in Lovecraft's Revenge represents any unconventional ranged attacks.  These could be a Mi-Go's ray gun, a creature's ability to stun you with just a glance, or a witch's collection of spells.

And speaking of spells, your characters might also find ancient tomes with a rather colorful assortment of them.  Use at your own risk!

In addition, we've tweaked magical effects a bit.  Now the effects might differ depending on the power of the caster.  In the above picture, a cultist throws a ball of fire at the police but only hits one officer.

However this ball of fire becomes an enormous explosion, incinerating everything in and around the building, when cast by something much larger with tentacles . . .

This is just a sneak peak of Lovecraft's Revenge, coming soon from Two Hour Wargames.  Keep your eyes open for more previews in the near future.

Oh, and be careful about those ancient books.  Who knows what glibbering, tentacled, terrors that appear!